9

QUALITY OF LIFE IN SLUMS OF COIMBATORE CITY: A
COMPARATIVE STUDY
A.Sreebhagyalakshmi
&
Sherly Thomas
Abstract:
The Government of India has defined slum as areas where buildings are unfit for human
habitation by reason of dilapidation, overcrowding, faulty arrangement and design of such
buildings, narrowness or faulty arrangements of streets, lack of ventilation, light or sanitation
facilities, or any combination of these factors detrimental to safety, health or morals Moreover; 7
million people continue to migrate to urban India every year with most of them finding their way
to slums within and on the fringes of cities. (Dasra and Forbes, 2012). Urban Slums are always
the evidence of increasing migrants towards the cities and towns in need of employment
opportunities and living. There is increasing rate of slum settlers indicating the failure of
agriculture to support the ever increasing population. The slum settlers are the representatives of
the social exclusion and those marginal population are in need of the concern and helping hand
from government and various organizations ,by which they can be lifted out of the vicious circle
that prevents them from getting out of poverty and lead a better life. Their poor quality of life
reduces their productivity and even from getting education .Therefore, there is a strong need for
the upliftment of those marginalized society by which their quality of life can be improved and
they can lead a healthy and decent life in the society.
Keywords: Slum, social exclusion, marginal population
Introduction
According to the global report on Human Settlements (United Nations Human Settlement
Programme, 2003), almost 924 million people in 2001 or 32 percent of the world‟s urban
population lived in slums, the majority in the developing world. Seven million people continue to
migrate to urban India every year with most of them finding their way to slums within and on the
JAN, 2018. VOL.10. SPECIAL ISSUE FOR

INTERNATIONAL YOUTH SYMPOSIUM www.ascgujarat.org Page | 99
Towards Excellence: An Indexed Refereed Journal of Higher Education / A.Sreebhagyalakshmi
& Sherly Thomas / Page 99-107
fringes of cities. (Dasra and Forbes, 2012). Quality of human life rests upon better accessibility
to sanitation. Access to safe drinking water and sanitation is considered to be fundamental
human right that acts as a safeguard of health and human dignity .The quality of human life is
portrayed as very poor in many studies. Yet the analyses on various parameters substantiate the
real scenario. Hence with the main objective of analyzing the quality of life of urban slum the
present study is attempted in the slums of Coimbatore city with the following objectives:
1. To determine and examine the Quality Of Life (QOL) of different slums of Coimbatore
city.
2. To suggest inclusive measures to urban planning for improve the QOL in slums.
Review of Literature:
The literature on urban slums is enriched with numerous studies where few studies
analyzed their living condition(Sundari (2003), COHRE (2008), Owoeye (2013), Sufaira (2013))
,some have thrown light on the poor sanitation condition( Begam (2010), Alam, et.al (2013),
Lukeman, et.al (2014), Naveed and Anwar (2014), Joshi et.al (2014), Fuller (2015 ). Living
conditions in slum are very poor. People have to live in adverse conditions in slum areas. Slums
are generally dirty and unclean; there is not a proper way of cleanliness. Shortage of water
supply and inadequate sanitation creates issues for households (Bandyopadhyay and Agrawal
2013). According to UN-Habitat report (2002), a contagious settlement with households that lack
security of tenure, structural quality, access to safe water, access to sanitation facilities is known
as slum. Durand and Royston (2002) estimated that between 25 to 70 percent of urban dwellers
in developing world are living in slum like conditions. In a study conducted by Sheuya (2007), it
was revealed that overall a billion people in the world live in slums where, environmental
determinants lead to diseases. The current study aims at analyzing the quality of life of the slum
dwellers in Coimbatore.
Methodology:
The study is based on secondary as well as primary data. Secondary data are collected
from Census and District Urban Development Authority (DUDA), Coimbatore. Primary data are
collected through an interview schedule by field survey of 75 households of randomly selected
slums (Kamarajapuram, Ukkadam- CMC colony, Ambedkar nagar) of Coimbatore city. For
determining the Quality of Life in slums Composite Index and Standard Deviation techniques
(R.L. Singh and Rana P.B. Singh, 1979) have been used. To calculate the composite index 10
variables were chosen to determine QOL. Statistically each variable was powered with 1, 2 etc.
Reasonable weightages was assigned to each variable. Composite Scores of all variable are taken
as value and Mean value is calculated. After that SD value is calculated. The quality of Life
under deviation is grouped and finally comparative analysis is done to show QOL in different
slums.
The study area
Rapid urbanization has increased urban problems. Lopsided urbanization, faulty urban
planning, and urbanization with poor economic base and without having functional categories
led to some basic problems in the city like, housing, slums, transport, water supply and
sanitation, water pollution and air pollution, inadequate provision for social infrastructure etc.
Coimbatore city is also one of the highly developing cities with increase in migrants from rural

areas in search of better employment opportunities. These migrants settle anywhere they find a
dwelling and hence there is increase in the slum population. Coimbatore has slums spread over
all the five zones. The slums within the city highly characterized by the characteristic features of
urban slums are selected for the study, namely Ambedkar nagar, CMC colony in Ukkadam and
Kammarajapuram. The data are collected through interview and well-designed questionnaire.
The information collected were analysed to assess their quality of life.
Parameters of quality of life
In the present study altogether 10 variables have been carefully chosen to determine the existing
quality of life in slums of Varanasi city.
Source of lighting ( ):
Electricity is considered as a parameter of measurement of development and quality of life.
Regarding this parameter it is seen that 72% of sample households in slums used electricity,
while 18% household used kerosene as a source of lighting. But it is notable that majority of
household had no legal connection.
Fuel used for cooking ( ):
Regarding this as a parameter of the measurement of quality of life, it is seen that for the cooking
LPG (59%) is used by the majority of sample household. Though much of them have got LPG
connection, they feel difficult to pay for LPG cylinders and hence when they don‟t have
sufficient money to buy LPG, they switch over to kerosene stoves. Kerosene, coal and cow-dug-
cakes are others fuels which are used for cooking.
Source of drinking water ( ):
Safe and pure drinking water is basic need for life. The sample survey reveals that 80% residents
of slum areas use water of municipal tap for drinking water .Though there are no individual
water supply connections; people travel long distance to fetch water from public pipes. Other
needs of water for bathing, washing and cleaning are meet by common water supply of bore
water by the corporation.
Housing condition ( ):
One billion people of the world live in inadequate housing, mostly in slums and squatter
settlements. The situation is worst in urban areas of developing country, where one quarter of
housing units are temporary structure.
The type of houses basically depends upon the geographical environment as well as economic
and social structure of the people (Sahay, 2006). A deplorable scenario exist in sample region,
where all of the sample slums dominated by kachha and semi-pucca housing structure.
Sewage disposal facility ( ):
Sanitation is not only important for healthy living but also ensuring a non-polluted environment.
The majority of sample households had average sewage facility.
Place of waste dumping ( ):
The risk to human health are compounded in these slums, where garbage collection is
nonexistent in most cases and drainage tends to be poor, promoting the growth of insects and

other diseases vectors (Sundari, 2003). Even though there is adequate arrangement for the
dumping of domestic wastes, people are giving least importance in proper waste disposal.
Medical facilities ( ):
Around half the urban population in developing countries is suffering from one or more of the
diseases associated with inadequate provision of water and sanitation (DFID, 2001).Therefore
medical facility is a significant parameter of measurement of quality of life. The 42% slum
dwellers used private clinic and 40% government hospital and various reasons like distance, non-
availability of proper medical facilities were reported as reasons for not using the government
hospitals.
Literacy ( ):
Due to wide spread poverty in the slum areas, illiteracy prevails and even it can be said that
poverty exists because illiteracy exists. The literacy is most significant indicator of socio-
economic condition and quality of life .Literacy is not very poor in slums of Coimbatore city.
Female Literacy ( ):
Female literacy is not only an indicator of the status of women in society but also a pointer of
economic development. The selected sample had very poor female literacy. The sample survey
shows very poor female literacy which indicates bad condition of women in slums of Coimbatore
city.
Ration card type ( ):
Ration card is a significant indicator of poverty in India. Red ration card holders are people
below poverty line while yellow card holders are people above poverty line. Some people reside
in slums don‟t have any kind of ration card. The reason for not getting any card is lack of
awareness and lengthy procedure.
TABLE 1
Selected Variables for Quality of Life of slum dwellers of Coimbatore city and their value
Ambedkar
Kammarajapuram Ukkadam
Nagar
Weightage
Variables Parameters Indicators
of Value % %
% of
value of of Valve
HH Value
HH HH
Sources of
1 Electricity 2 78 1.56 65 1.30 73 1.46
lighting

Kerosene 1 22 0.22 35 0.35 17 0.17
LPG 5 65 3.25 55 2.75 57 2.85

Electricity 4 5 0.20 3 0.12 2 0.08
2 Fuel Kerosene 3 20 0.60 25 0.75 25 0.75
Coal 2 7 0.14 8 0.16 9 0.18
Cow dung 1 3 0.03 9 0.09 7 0.07
Municipality
2 80 1.6 78 1.56 82 1.64
Source of Tap
3 drinking
water
Hand Pump 1 20 0.2 22 0.22 18 0.18
Pucca 3 4 0.12 3 0.09 4 0.12

Housing
4
condition Semi pucca 2 83 1.66 85 1.70 86 1.72
Kutcha 1 12 0.12 12 0.12 10 0.10
Average 2 65 1.30 55 1.10 67 1.34

Sewage
5
disposal
Poor 1 35 0.35 45 0.45 13 0.13
Dust bins 3 65 1.95 63 1.89 61 1.83

Place of
6 waste
dumping Road side 2 20 0.40 17 0.34 21 0.42
Open
1 15 0.15 20 0.20 18 0.18
ground
Government
1 45 1.35 40 1.20 35 1.05
Medical Hospitals
7
facilities
Private
2 50 1.0 57 1.14 62 1.24
hospitals

Self
3 5 0.05 3 0.03 3 0.03
treatment
Literate 2 52 1.04 47 0.94 49 0.98

8 Literaracy
Illliterate 1 48 0.48 53 0.53 51 0.51
Literate 2 35 0.7 33 0.66 37 0.74

Female
9
literacy
Illiterate 1 65 0.65 67 0.67 63 0.63
APL 3 4 0.12 2 0.06 5 0.15
Ration BPL 2 93 1.86 92 1.84 91 1.82

10
card
NO CARD 1 3 0.03 6 0.06 4 0.04
Source: Field Survey (2017)
Levels of quality of life:

To determine the level of quality of life, quantitative analysis of data has been done. Aggregates
of all the variables have been taken. A composite score has been calculated by adding up the
total of all the variables for different slums separately.
Table 2
Composite Score for Slums of Coimbatore City
Slum 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -̅ ̅̅̅̅
-
Kamarajapuram 1.78 4.22 2.8 1.90 3.60 2.50 2.40 1.52 1.35 0.12 22.190.000529
0.023
-
Ukkadam 1.65 3.87 1.78 1.91 3.44 2.43 2.37 1.47 1.33 1.96 22.21 0.000009
0.003
Ambedkarnagar 1.63 3.93 1.82 1.94 3.30 2.43 2.32 1.49 1.37 2.01 22.24 0.027 0.000729

TOTAL 66.64 0.001267
The mean value of composite score is 22.213 with standard deviation is 0.2055. The levels of
quality of life under deviation are grouped (Table-3).
Table 3
Levels of Quality of Life in Slums of Coimbatore City.
Statistical Value Composite Score Name of Slum

Levels of
Quality of Life
Good To +2 22.4185-22.6240 -
Medium To+ 22.213-22.4185 Ambedkarnagar

Poor To+ 22.0075-22.213 Ukkadam
Very poor To-2 21.8020-22.0075 Kamarajapuram
The qualitative and quantitative processing is fully justified and four level of quality of life have
emerged. The quality of slum life is not good in any of the selected samples .Ambedkarnagar
slum has medium quality of life and Ukkadam slum have poor quality of life and a very poor
quality of life is revealed in Kammarajapuram slum. The situation with reference to sanitation
facilities is worst in all the slums. Garbage spread over the road, drainage blocked and over
flowing at places, foul smell is observed in the study area. The study reveals that 92% of
population in sample slum is below poverty line as they possess BPL cards .The UN-MDG and
India Vision 2020 document advocates continuous expansion of the physical infrastructure and
reversal of loss of environmental resources to achieve social equity and environmental
sustainability.
This comparison of the status of slum dwellers with global and national goals portrays a
pitiable picture. Therefore the problems in slums are multi-dimensional and complicated because
it is both the efforts by the Government as well as the attitude of the people that can improve the
quality of life and also their problems need special attention not only for improving QOL in
slums but also to achieve the targets of UN Millennium Development Goals and India Vision
2020. “If cities do not deal with the problems of the slums in constructive way, they will deal
with the cities in a destructive way” Says Robert McNamara, former president of World Bank.
Coimbatore has lot of industries that attract migrant work force from various part of India and
hence special attention should be given for improving the slum dwellers life.

Conclusion:
The study reveals that, poor and very poor quality of life exists in the slums of Coimbatore... The
housing, literacy and medical facilities are poor, the lack of piped water supply in the slum areas
leading to high dependence on ground water, the lack of proper waste disposal facility and poor
sewage system leading to pollution and health related problems and the level of disparity is
related to the socio-economic setup of the city. Though quality of life is low in all sample slums
but it varies from one to other. The study strongly suggests improving the socio-economic
condition which led to improvement of quality of life in slums. There is a strong need of
strengthening the role of NGO‟s and private sector in slum up-gradation, participatory planning
for slum areas, gender based planning and other inclusive planning measures. Also ,there is a
need of holistic work to understand the above mention issues at city level as well as to analyze
linkage among proliferation of slums, „urbanization of poverty‟ and „poverty in planning‟. In
principle, cities offer a more favorable setting for the resolution of social and environmental
problems than rural areas (UNFPA, 2007). The future of humanity depends on how we deal
problems and challenges of urbanization and unequal development .Finally the attitude of people
towards better living should be developed through proper intervention and educational
programmes.
Reference:
1. Alam.et.al (2013), “Water Supply and Sanitation Facilities in Urban Slums: A Case Study of
Rajshahi C city Corporation Slums, American Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture,
Vol: 1, No: 1, pp.1-6.
2. Bandyopadhyay, A., & V. Agrawal (2013). "Slums In India: From Past To Present."
international Refereed Journal of Engineering and Science, 2(4), 55-59.
3. Durand, L. and Royston, L. (2002), “ Holding their grounds, secure land tenure for the urban
poor in developing countries”, In: Banerjee, B. (Ed.), Earthscan Publication Ltd., London, pp. 1-
32.
4. Joshi, et.al (2014), “Water and Sanitation Hygiene Knowledge Attitude Practice in Urban
Slum Settings Global”, Journal of Health Science, Vol: 6, No: 2, ISSN 1916-9736.
5. Lukeman.et.al(2014), “Environmental Health Condition of Slum Dwellers of Ijora-Badia Area
of Lagos State, Nigeria”, Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies MCSER Publishing,
Rome-Italy, Vol: 3, No: 4, pp.79.
6. Naveed and Anwar (2014), “Socio-Economic Condition and Health Status of Urban Slums: A
Case Study of Jogo Chak, Sialkot, Leena and Luna International”, Oyama, Japan. Pp.279.
7. Owoeye(2013), Poverty, Sanitation and Public Health Neus – Implications on Core
Residential Neighbourhood of Akure, Nigeria, International Journal of Developing Societies,
Vol: 2, No: 3, pp. 96-104.
8. Sufaira (2013), “Socio Economic Conditions of Urban Slum Dwellers in Kannur
Municipality”, IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 10, Issue
5, pp. 12-24.

9. Cohre (2008), “Women, Slums And Urbanisation: Eamining the Causes and Consequences”,
Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions COHRE) Women and Housing Rights Programme, May
2008.
10. Sheuya, S., Champman, P.H. and Patel, S., (2007), “The design of housing and shelter
programme: the social and environment determinants of inequalities”, Journal of Urban Health,
Vol. 84, pp. 98-108.
11.Sundari 2003), “Quality Of Life Of Migrant Households In Urban Slums” , Proceedings of
the Third International Conference on Environment and Health, Chennai, India, 15-17
December, 2003, Chennai: Department of Geography, University of Madras and Faculty of
Environmental Studies, York University, pp. 537 – 55
12. Dasra and Forbes, (2012),”Squatting Rights –Access to Toiletsin Urban India”
13. Singh,R.L and Singh,Rana.P.B.(1979):”Spatial Planning in Indian Perspective”,N.G.S.I
Research Bulletin
14. UN-HABITAT (2002), “Defining slums: Towards an operational definition for measuring
slums”, Background Paper 2, Expert Group Meeting on Slum Indicators, October. Nairobi,
United Nations
A.Sreebhagyalakshmi Dr.Sherly Thomas

Ph.D Research Scholar Professor
Avinashilingam Institute for Economics Department,
Avinashilingam Institute for
Homescience and Higher
Homescience and Higher
Education,Coimbatore. Education,Coimbatore.
Mail: sreebhakya@gmail.com Mail: stambattu@gmail.com


9

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

9

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

QUALITY OF LIFE IN SLUMS OF COIMBATORE CITY: A

Keywords: Slum, social exclusion, marginal population

JAN, 2018. VOL.10. SPECIAL ISSUE FOR

JAN, 2018. VOL.10. SPECIAL ISSUE FOR

JAN, 2018. VOL.10. SPECIAL ISSUE FOR

JAN, 2018. VOL.10. SPECIAL ISSUE FOR

Kerosene 1 22 0.22 35 0.35 17 0.17

LPG 5 65 3.25 55 2.75 57 2.85

Pucca 3 4 0.12 3 0.09 4 0.12

Kutcha 1 12 0.12 12 0.12 10 0.10

Average 2 65 1.30 55 1.10 67 1.34

Dust bins 3 65 1.95 63 1.89 61 1.83

JAN, 2018. VOL.10. SPECIAL ISSUE FOR

Literate 2 52 1.04 47 0.94 49 0.98

Illliterate 1 48 0.48 53 0.53 51 0.51

Literate 2 35 0.7 33 0.66 37 0.74

APL 3 4 0.12 2 0.06 5 0.15

Ration BPL 2 93 1.86 92 1.84 91 1.82

Source: Field Survey (2017)

Levels of quality of life:

JAN, 2018. VOL.10. SPECIAL ISSUE FOR

TOTAL 66.64 0.001267

Statistical Value Composite Score Name of Slum

Medium To+ 22.213-22.4185 Ambedkarnagar

JAN, 2018. VOL.10. SPECIAL ISSUE FOR

JAN, 2018. VOL.10. SPECIAL ISSUE FOR

A.Sreebhagyalakshmi Dr.Sherly Thomas

JAN, 2018. VOL.10. SPECIAL ISSUE FOR

You might also like