HOUSING POLICIES AND PATTERNS

INDIA'S HOUSING SITUATION

ROSHAN KISHORE

Government of India had launched so many schemes to improve the current situation of
housing in India, by reaching the demands of housing shortage and improving the quality of life.
One of such scheme is PMAY (Housing for all) launched by central government in June 2015, with
the objective of constructing 20 million houses for the urban poor (EWS sector) by 2022. In this
article, Roshan Kishore argues it is still early days to assess the scheme’s progress, what exactly is
the housing situation in India? And he presents five charts representing the current state of
India’s housing sector.
First chart talks about percentage of households by ownership status of houses in India for 2001
and 2011 census. Number of total households was 19.2 crore (13.8 crore rural and 5.4 crore
urban) in 2001 and 24.7 crore (16.8 crore rural and 7.9 crore urban) in 2011 census. As Majority of
households live in owned houses are in rural areas. 37% of American households were living in
rented houses in 2014. Owning a house in India does not mean unambiguous opulence like it
would mean in an advanced country.
Second chart talks about percentage of households with own house and a TV set in the house.
Statistics (census data) explains that in rural India, 95% of households own a house, but only 33%
own a TV set. But the question raises that owning a TV set far easier to own a house. This suggests
that the size and quality of houses isn’t up to the mark. Only 53% of households described their
houses as being in “good” condition in India in the 2011 round (census).Around 41% described
them as “livable”, while 5% said they were “dilapidated”.
Third chart talks about not having enough room for half of India.
More than 40% of households have just one room or no exclusive room in their houses, whether
rented or owned. Less than 13% of households have more than three rooms. That means five
people have to share a room in the name of a house.
Fourth chart talks about Total floor area in rural and urban areas of India.
Kumar’s EPW paper also provides data for the average area of each dwelling unit (house) which
was 431 and 422 sq. ft. for rural and urban areas. Which is very less for per person area. And
comparing it US scenario. These figures shows India’s housing sector scenario in a better view.
Fifth chart talks share of vacant houses in India according census data.
The paper argues that there is shocking statistics on vacant houses in India. According to the 2011
census figures, the number of vacant houses in India was 24.7 million (13.6 million rural and 11.1
million urban), or 90% of the number of rented houses in the country (greater than that in the
number of total houses or occupied houses).

The paper concludes with two main reasons why there are vacant houses in India: black money
finds an easier entry in real estate than in financial assets; and the messed up state of tenancy
laws in the country. While the objective of housing for all is laudable, it seems the key to
affordable and egalitarian housing ought to unlock India’s vacant houses first.
Keywords: affordable housing, ownership, consumer good, vacant houses, real estate, tenants law

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 HOUSING POLICIES AND PATTERNS

HOUSING – MEANING, ROLE AND MAGNITUDE OF

HOUSING PROBLEM IN INDIA
POOJA MEHTA

This paper argues that Housing is a primary requirement as other need like food and clothing
and increases the efficiency and productivity of the people. But talking about housing in India
the focus goes on problems of housing, as there is a wide gap between supply and demand of
houses where growth of slums in cities.
Further the article talks about what is housing, house and home?
Housing as an architectural unit for accommodation in order to protect from natural forces and
Wider meaning housing covers all the ancillary services and community facilities which are
essential to human wellbeing.
House being narrower term, may represent only an architectural structure for accommodation.
Home being wider term, includes the family relationships and bonds of affection which are
nurtured within this architectural structure.
The articles then talks about what is the Role of housing?
Housing is a process of socio-economic development and provides shelter and raises quality of
life. It provides employment opportunities to the rural and urban people. Moreover it helps to
improve urban rural equality by narrowing down the difference in the standard of living.
The articles goes on with Socio-cultural variables in Housing, which decides the quality and
quantity of housing in India. (i)The caste divide in Indian rural society mainly affects the
distribution of houses and also the quality of housing. (ii)Kinship and family structure are other
variables which affect the quality and quantity of housing. (iii)The household size is also important
variable of housing quality and quantity. (iv)The occupational pattern and tradition also affect the
housing layout. When we here the term Housing the usually term that comes to our mind is
housing problems in the country

The article concludes with the magnitude of housing problem in India in terms of quantitative
and qualitative aspect. Qualitative speaking the housing shortage was 18.5 million dwelling units,
out of which 13.7 million for rural areas and 4.8 million for urban areas 41.6. % was living in pucca
houses, 30.9% was living in semi-pucca houses and 27.5% was living in kutcha houses.
Quantitative speaking there is shortage of 310 lakh houses in India. Out of which 206 lakh houses
are in rural area and 104 lakh houses in urban areas.

Keywords: Human wellbeing, social-economic, socio-cultural, housing shortage

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 HOUSING POLICIES AND PATTERNS

HOUSING MARKETS AND HOUSING POLICIES IN INDIA

PIYUSH TIWARI AND JYOTI RAO

Post-independence investment strategies of the government led to the migration of the

population from rural to urban areas as new employment opportunities emerged in cities while
the rural economy was stagnating. This paper has two purposes: (i) it reviews the economic,
urban, and housing context for India to assess the housing situation through various indicators;
and (ii) it assesses the trajectory of housing programs in India since independence and the
housing policy since 2007, and evaluates them within the context of economic, political, and
historical forces that have shaped India’s market economy and society.
This paper discusses the economic and demographic context of India. During the leadership of
Jawaharlal Nehru from 1947 to 1964, Indian economic policies focused on development of
capital goods industries, and most resources were channeled into these sector. The
industrialization that followed led to migration from rural hinterland to cities. Migration to
urban areas continued unabated, creating deplorable living conditions in cities and causing
formation of slums (post-Nehru period 1965–1990). Cities continued to grow and the backlog of
poor living conditions was huge. After 2004, the economy moved into the globalization and
privatization period, which is largely privately led, service sector oriented, and cities-driven.
Cities were back in focus through programs such as reform-led infrastructure investment
programs for cities, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), and
housing programs such as Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) and, more recently, Housing for All (Urban)
2015–2022.
This paper examines the existing challenges of adequate housing in India by presenting key
indicators like housing shortage (scale of problem), house area and congestion, house
affordability. The housing shortage in India does not appear very big, considering the size of the
homeless population in the country in 2011 was only 1.77 million. Physical structure of the
house is a much bigger concern in rural areas than in urban areas where issues of congestion
need to be addressed. Lack of privacy is a serious concern in rural areas where 3–4 persons
share one room, where it is comparable to the situation in urban slums.
The discussion further concludes with Housing policies and programs during the four
phases of political and economic growth in India (discussed in section 2). These phases were
immediately after independence (1947–1964), here termed the Nehru Era; during the
Green Revolution (1965–1990), termed the Gandhi Era; during the privatization phase of
the economy (1991–2000), termed the Post-Liberalization Era; and, finally, during the
economic globalization phase (post-2000).
The lack of emphasis on urbanization at the political and policy levels has resulted in the
emergence of unplanned cities that lack the basic infrastructure required for better quality
of living and work environments for their inhabitants.

Keywords: urbanization, migration, state of housing, political and policy, unplanned cities

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