Poverty in Pune

A simple and popular way to define poverty is to use monetary indicators and proxies linked to
estimates of income and consumption. The value of a basket of goods essential for daily living
can be used as a monetary indicator. The ‘poor’ can be defined as those who do not earn
enough to purchase the basket, or whose expenditure is less than the value of the basket. The
percentage of people who cannot afford the basket of basic goods is called the ‘poverty rate’ of
a given population.

Accordingly, in India, the formal ‘headcount’ of the poor uses the average, minimum daily
calorie requirements per person, estimated in 1979 by a government-appointed taskforce as
2,400 calories in rural and 2,100 calories in urban India. The monetary equivalent of these
requirements, or the poverty line, is based on the 28th Round of the National Sample Survey
(NSS) for 1973-74. It was found that, on average, at 1973-74 prices, consumer expenditure of Rs
49 per capita per month was associated with an intake of 2,400 calories per day in rural areas
and Rs 57 per capita per month with an intake of 2,100 calories per day in urban areas.

In the Urban context, Poor people mostly live In slums but all people living in slums are not
necessarily poor; many slum-dwellers own assets like TV sets and motorcycles, which are not
generally associated with the notion of poverty. 

A more useful definition of a slum can be obtained from the Maharashtra Slum Areas
(Improvement, Clearance, and Redevelopment) Act, 1971, which states that a “slum area” is
one that “is or maybe a source of danger to the health, safety or convenience of the public of
that area or its neighborhood, because of the area having inadequate or no basic amenities, or
being unsanitary, squalid, overcrowded or otherwise”; and one in which buildings used for
human habitation are “unfit” for this purpose, on account of dilapidation, overcrowding, “faulty
arrangement and design of such building”, lack of ventilation, light or sanitation facilities, or any
combination of these factors, which is “detrimental to the health, safety or convenience of the
public of that area”.

1
 The UN-Habitat defined a slum as a contiguous settlement where inhabitants have inadequate
housing and basic services. Characteristic features of slums are:

 Inadequate access to safe water.

 Inadequate access to sanitation and infrastructure.
 The poor structural quality of housing.
 Insecure residential status.

Using these definitions, particularly the last, one can calculate the number of slums in the city,
and the number of households and persons living in slums. However, in the case of Pune, and
probably all other Indian cities, we have no up-to-date and reliable data on slums or slum
populations. What we have is different sets of questionable data:

 According to Census 2001, Pune had a slum population of 0.49 million people,
constituting 19.39% of the total population (2.53 million). Enumeration of slum population was
limited to slums having a population of at least 300 persons living in “poorly built, congested
tenements”, and as such the data does not give us a total slum population.
 Using unspecified internal sources of data, the PMC has been routinely saying that
around 40% of the population of the city lives in slums. For example, without giving any source
of data, the PMC’s revised City Development Plan (CDP) for JNNURM funding (May 2012) stated
that the city’s slum population in 2001 was 1.1-1.2 million, or more than twice the Census 2001
figure, and using that figure, the CDP estimated that the city’s slum population was
“approximately 40%” of the total population in 2012. The CDP stated that there were 564 slums
in the city, of which 353 were notified, and the remaining 211 were not. However, this data is
also suspect as according to the PMC’s draft Development Plan (DP) for 2007-27, this was the
number of notified and non-notified slums in 2009—there would surely have been an increase
in the number of non-notified slums since that year (the PMC stopped notifying slums in 2001).

With income as the only indicator, an absurd 5% of Pune’s population would be classified as
poor. But the Pune Municipal Corporation itself accepts that 40% of the city lives in

2
multidimensional poverty, suffering residential, occupational, and social vulnerabilities. While
Pune’s poor have relatively higher levels of access to public services than the poor in other
cities, a closer look reveals the extent of their vulnerability.

Urban Transport in Pune

Pune's public transport consists primarily of a bus service, a suburban rail service, public taxis,
and auto-rickshaws. Metro is under construction as of 2019.

1. Public Buses - Public buses within the city and its suburbs are operated by the Pune
Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML). The PMPML operates the
Rainbow Bus Rapid Transit System, the first in India, in which dedicated bus lanes exist
to allow buses to travel quicker through the city. Maharashtra State Road Transport
Corporation (MSRTC) runs buses, popularly known as ST (State Transport), from its three
main bus stations in Shivajinagar, Pune Station, and Swargate to all major cities and
towns in Maharashtra and neighboring states. Private companies too run buses to major
cities throughout India.
2. Pune Suburban Railway - Pune Suburban Railway is a suburban rail system
connecting Pune to its suburbs and neighboring villages in Pune District, Maharashtra. It
is operated by Central Railway. Pune's suburban railway operates on two routes, i.e.
from Pune Junction to Lonavla and its part, from Pune Junction to Talegaon. 5 trains
operate on Pune Junction - Talegaon route while 18 trains operate on Pune Junction -
Lonavla route.
3. Pune Metro - Pune Metro is currently under construction rapid transit system to serve
the cities of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. As of March 2018, Line 1 (Pimpri-Chinchwad -
Swargate) and Line 2 (Vanaz - Ram wadi) with a combined length of 31.25 km are being
constructed by Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MahaMetro), a 50:50 joint
venture of the State and Central Governments. MahaMetro expects these two lines to

3
 be operational by 2021. Line 3, which will cover 23.3 km between Hinjewadi and
Shivajinagar, has been approved by the State and Central Governments. The Pune
Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) will implement the project on a
public-private partnership (PPP) basis, for which it has shortlisted three companies: Tata
Realty and Siemens, IRB in consortium with Chinese and Malaysian companies, and
IL&FS.[8] The bidding for Line 3 is expected by June 2018. All three lines will align at the
Civil Court interchange station.

Reference

 Multidimensional Poverty in Pune. (2015, April). Retrieved from

https://udayindia.in/2015/04/04/multidimensional-poverty-in-pune/
 Transport in Pune. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_in_Pune