Relevance: Mains: G.S paper I: Society
- FACT – Official lists under identify slums and undercount slum populations
• Census 2001 first included slums but only in a small number of cities. Census 2011 was the first to look at this category of settlements in all urban centres.
• The definition of slums and enumeration methodologies differ among official agencies, but commonly they underestimate the slum population. - FACT- Slums in each city have a variety of living conditions that fall along the continuum. People’s need vary at different points of the continuum. Standardised slum policies are, therefore, not helpful.
• The UN- Habitat employs five criteria to identify slums; each related to a living condition that households in slums usually lack: durable housing of a permanent nature; sufficient living space; easy access to safe water; access to adequate sanitation; and security of tenure.
• Residents of slums at different points have diverse needs and require different kinds of public support. - FACT- Traditional survey methods are inadequate to keep up with rapid changes. Satellite image
analysis helps generate slum maps and sort slums into types. - MISCONCEPTION: Official notification is required for getting basic services and saleable property titles.
• The Law lays down that slum residents can only avail themselves of municipal services and property titles after their slum has been officially notifies following a prescribed procedure.
• In theory, a city should provide municipal services such as garbage pickup, piped drinking water, sewerage, internal roads, and street lighting- only after a slum has been notified.
• Public expenditures cannot be justifiably incurred for places that do not exist in the official record.
• In Practice, many non-notified slums are provided with services and infrastructure, while many notified slums are left uncovered. The scope of corrupt practices gets accelerated by such administrative indiscretions. - MISCONCEPTION: Lacking property titles, slum residents cannot sell or mortgage properties.
• In practice, slum properties with all types of papers are freely transacted. An active informal market exists that produces official-looking documents.
• It helps buyers and sellers transact informal properties, overcoming the limitations of their property papers. No taxes are paid on these transactions, leading to a loss of potential municipal revenue. - MISCONCEPTION: Slums are temporary halting points that work as conveyor belts leading rural migrants into urban middle class.
• Lack of movement more accurately characterises slum conditions. Overall, a situation of
stasis- stuck-in-placidness- is characteristic of slums, whether examined at the household or at the neighbourhood level.
• Improving their prospects for upward mobility requires progressively reducing the risk and
vulnerability that are induced by living and work in informal conditions.
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