INTRODUCTION

WHAT ARE SLUMS? The word slum which first appeared in Veuxs Flash Dictionary in 1812 was derived from slumber which means a sleepy unknown back alley. Slum meant wet mire where working class housing was built during British Industrial revolution in order to be near the factories. These were uncontrolled settlements and lacked basic services and only poor people lived there According to an Expert Group of the United NationsA slum is an area that combines to various extents the following characteristics namely (I) inadequate access to safe water, (II) Inadequate access to sanitation and other infrastructure; (III) Poor structural quality of housing; (IV) Overcrowding and (V) Insecure residential status. Areas which satisfy the conditions such as the following have been counted as slums. Towns and cities with population of 50,000 and above as per 1991 Census; and ii. Areas notified as slums by the State or Local Body; or iii. A compact area of at least 300 persons or 60-70 households living in poorly built congested tenements in unhygienic environment usually with inadequate infrastructure and lacking in proper sanitary and drinking water facilities. Living conditions in slums i. ii. The houses are usually inadequately ventilated and made up of mud, un-burnt bricks, bamboo, gunny bags and plastic sheets etc and also lead to congestion. There is no proper water supply, no proper sanitary and no drainage system. i.

iii.

There is no hygiene, lack of good roads, pollution and these are places of high levels of crimes. UPGRADATION

WHAT IS UPGRADATION OF SLUMS Slum Upgradation This implies improving the habitat of existing slums. Technology on this front concerns access to infrastructure such as electricity and water, and improved habitation. - This approach attempts to keep dwellers in the same location by building infrastructure and seek regularize property titles. This means that both dwellers and authority share responsibility of the implementation of this approach. - While the dwellers improve or upgrade/repair their deteriorated houses and may obtain free-interest loans for such work, the authority provides the slum with necessary services such as sewage, electricity, pavement, etc. Upgradation changes slum dwellers environments and lives from: Powerlessness to participation Vulnerability to assets Violence to security The alternative of moving people or replacing their homes is upgrading. Upgrading consists of improving the existing infrastructure, e.g. water reticulation, sanitation, storm drainage and electricity, up to a satisfactory standard. Usually upgrading does not involve home construction, since the residents can do this themselves, but instead offers optional loans for home improvements. Further actions include the removal of environmental hazards, providing incentives for community management and maintenance, as well as the construction of clinics and schools. An essential part of upgrading is transferring tenure rights to the occupants at prices they can afford. The security provided by transferring these tenure rights has been shown to motivate occupants to invest two to four times the amount of funds that the government invests in infrastructure improvements in a slum area.
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Thus we can infer that up gradation of slums delivers a combination of improvements like: systematic disposal of solid waste, access paths, lighting, reduced environmental risks, tenure security, safe water, sanitation, drainage.

WHAT ARE THE MERITS & DEMERITS OF SLUM UPGRADATION MERITS: 1) It is an affordable alternative than clearance and relocation (which cost up to 10 times more than upgrading). 2) It minimizes as well the disturbance to the social and economic life of the community. The results of upgrading are highly visible, immediate and make a significant difference in the quality of life of the urban poor. 3) Another aspect is the positive effect of the community participation in the process of regeneration. Upgrading, when done well, can strengthen the communities' voice and ability to transform its condition. 4) Upgrading consists of regularization of the rights to land and housing and improving the existing infrastructure, such as the availability of water, sanitation, storm drainage and electricity. 5) Other actions include the removal of environmental hazards, providing incentives for community management and maintenance, as well as the construction of clinics and schools. 6) NGOs or international agencies financially and technically assist in these authoritarian activities. 7) The satisfaction of dwellers with their residence and also in terms of facilities, utilities as well as other related issues. 8) Availability and easy access to job is necessary. 9) Provides benefit in the form of a free-interest loan of easy instalments or reduced rental. 10) Basic services such as water supply, sanitation, waste collection or infrastructure are made easily available which will reduce or almost eliminate disease, crime and natural disasters during such upgradation. 11) Upgrading of slums and settlements is a viable and effective way to help the urban poor solve their need for shelter and a clean, safe and healthy living environment. 12) Upgrading of urban slums is an effective response for the hundreds of millions living lives of degradation in slums who: (a) are excluded
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from the citys services because they are living in illegal or unrecognized settlements, (b) have little voice in the public decisions that control their destiny, (c) are suffering from high rates of infant mortality and disease because of the dense conditions, and lack access to basic services such as water, sanitation, drainage, roads, footpaths, and street lighting. 13) The ability of the poor to organize themselves to identify and demand services from service providers is an important part of this process. DEMERITS: 1) The key issue or instrument in improving slum urban, social, economic, and environmental conditions is securing tenure rights of dwellers. However, Slum dwellers always live in fear that they might be removed from their dwellings. 2) The sewage network only covers limited area. Likewise, public facilities such as schools are limited because of the high density of population. 3) Governments have tried to deal with various problems in different ways. However, their urban policies often failed because of bad governance, corruption, inappropriate regulation, dysfunctional land markets, and, above all, an absence of political will. 4) The lack or misuse of financial resources at the national and city levels (including weak tax systems); A shortage of adequately trained personnel in most municipalities, meaning that resources are not used effectively; Limited access to credit for the poor and inadequate housing finance systems; and misuse and poor targeting of subsidies for the urban poor. 5) Slum upgradation means giving all facilities at once, of good standard, even if high budgets cover a very few at a time. But the problem is individual slums have different priorities and will pay in instalments for one facility at a time: water or toilets or power or drainage or paved lanes or improved housing. 6) Upgrading initiatives never reach the level of implementation. After having a look at the whole process of upgradation of slums, its advantages & disadvantages we observe that though it is beneficial to the slum-dwellers and eventually the city, it may hamper the rapid economical and infrastructural development of that place.
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Then what is the next alternative??? Probably it is RELOCATION!

RELOCATION

WHAT IS RELOCATION OF SLUMS Slum Relocation The other form of intervention in a slum is eradicating the site and relocating its residents to a housing project usually on the outskirts of the city. This means shifting slum people from their original habitat to new locations. Here again there are problems of technological infrastructure and housing construction. In recent years, there have been complaints by slum dwellers that when landowners entice them to new sites, they are often deceived into thinking that the appropriate infrastructure will be provided on these sites. WHAT ARE THE MERITS & DEMERITS OF RELOCATION MERITS: 1) Relocation if done systematically provides a new and a better place to the slum-dwellers. 2) In this process the slum-dwellers are provided with basic and better housing facilities 3) The low level of income of most families is also being considered in financial planning of a new housing project. 4) The presence of a high rate of families with 5-7 members each indicates that there is a family environment which is being
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considered in the spatial planning and design of any housing project set for relocating the dwellers. 5) Psychological aspects of relocation are much more complex and fundamental for relocation is usually intended to have therapeutic influence on social and psychological problems. 6) It enables better utilization of high-rate property (land) to reap more benefits through commercial activities. 7) When slums are relocated, the place available may be utilized for the infrastructural development, for eg. Construction of roads & bridges or extension of railway platforms, airports etc. DEMERITS: 1) Unlike upgradation of slums, the method of relocation has proved ineffective overtime as relocated residents often left their new homes and moved back to new slums. They give away their new homes on rental basis earning rent as their source of income. 2) The slum dwellers are unwilling to move from their present shacks, (roughly built hut or cabin) which are near their work places, to their new homes because they face the problem of transportation. They have to spend a lot of money for transportation from their new homes to their place of work which curbs half of their income. 3) Slum clearance often takes the form of political revenge. 4) In relocation of slums there arises a problem of geographical location and type of housing. 5) Relocation does not work because adequate open land at prices affordable to the public sector cannot be found at suitable locations for the low-income residents who will occupy it. They are too far from employment areas 6) Slums emerged in city centres because these were places where the poor can find work more easily. Consequently, moving the people or replacing their physical facilities did not work well. Governments not only had to spend resources clearing slums and resettling inhabitants, but also later had to finance public transportation to facilitate access to employment in the central city. 7) The majority slum dwellers would not be in a position to afford the improved housing facilities even on a rental basis and were also not willing to shift from their existing locations.

UPGRADATION Vs RELOCATION

Sr. No
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UPGRADATION This implies improving habitat of existing slums. Upgradation builds communities and not just an infrastructure. The slum dwellers dont face the problem of finding new jobs or transportation problem as they dont have to change their original habitat Upgrading of slums and settlements is a viable and effective way to help the urban poor solve their need for shelter and a clean, safe and healthy living environment.

RELOCATION This means shifting slum people from their original habitat to new locations. Relocation destroys communities and social capital. The slum dwellers face the problem of transportation and hence they are not willing to move to the new location. Unlike upgradation of slums, the method of relocation has proved ineffective overtime as relocated residents often left their new homes and moved back to new slums. They give away their new homes on rental basis earning rent as their source of income. In relocation - new places are allocated with ownership rights It costs more than 10 times than upgradation Slum relocation involves construction of houses and providing housing facilities Ready housing facilities are provided with interest free loan facilities

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In upgradation tenure rights are given to the slum dwellers It is an affordable alternative to clearance Upgradation involves housing facilities, sanitation, electricity, water facility up to a satisfactory standard. The slum dwellers improve or upgrade / repair their deteriorated houses and may obtain free-interest loans for such work

CONCLUSION
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It is imperative to enhance the standard of living of the people living in slums and for which an authorized dwelling unit is a first step in the right direction. This in turn will bring about a marked improvement in their hygiene and health as well as rise in the level of public hygiene which has fallen to a very low ebb. This can be done through successful upgradation of slums. But then it the development of the city is at stake. Dharavi's transformation is the latest example of a conflict that is sweeping India. On one side is a government committed to India's go-go growth; on the other are millions of poor citizens who feel left behind. A majority of the slum dwellers are in the favour of upgradation of slums, but the so called middle-class demands for relocation. They feel that slum problem in the city is hinders the development of city and it is source of those anti-social elements which contribute to the growing urban crime. It is difficult to build sympathy for the slum dwellers in the minds of middle class, who mostly applaud the current anti-slum campaign. But this same middle class benefits from the cheap labour that slum dwellers provide in cleaning their homes, looking after their children, chauffeuring their cars, and cooking their food. One thing the common man needs to understand about this issue is that if they don't like slum dwellers, then the best way to get rid of them is to stop giving them employment. Then their life will come to a grinding halt! This debate can go on as long as one wishes. The only solution is to strike a balance between relocation, upgradation & development. Relocation should be done only at the places where it is urgently necessary or there are illegal slum dwellings. All slum people should get an apartment in the process of relocation. But after there are no slums, it is the duty of government to prevent new slums from being built. Otherwise the government should go in for systematic Upgradation which incorporatesaccess paths, lighting, reduced environmental risks, safe water, tenure security, sanitation, drainage. The slums are reality of today and cities are collective future of human beings. We should take collective responsibility for their future development.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

IMAGES:
a. b. c. d. e. f.

www.blogger.com www.flicker.com www.worldbank.org picasaweb.google.com www.nationalgeographic.com www.enirvotoons.com

INFORMATION:
a. b. c.

www.wbdma.gov.in www.downtoearth.org.in www.expressindia.com

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FOUNDATION COURSE II
Group Project Presented to: Mrs.Anamika Banerjee

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