International Journal of Management (IJM)

Volume 11, Issue 10, October 2020, pp. 2347-2353. Article ID: IJM_11_10_228
Available online at https://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJM?Volume=11&Issue=10
ISSN Print: 0976-6502 and ISSN Online: 0976-6510
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34218/IJM.11.10.2020.228

© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed

URBAN LIVELIHOOD CAPITALS WITH

SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE RESETTLED
FAMILIES IN COOUM RIVER RESTORATION
PROJECT, CHENNAI METROPOLITAN
J. Renee Arathi
Assistant Professor of Social Work, School of Social Sciences,
Tamilnadu Open University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Dr. A. Sivagami
Assistant Professor & Head, Department of Social work, Government Arts and Science
College for Women, Orathanadu, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India

ABSTRACT
The living conditions in slums are usually unhygienic and contrary to all norms of
planned urban growth and are an important factor in accelerating the transmission of
various air and water borne diseases. This increased stress on urban settings is caused
by existing shortages of land, housing, and urban infrastructure, which are worsened
by fast rising cities. Many urban infrastructure and transportation development
projects, including slum eradication and upgrading, the establishment of industrial and
commercial estates, and the construction and upgrading of sewerage systems, schools,
hospitals, and ports, have been designed and implemented under these conditions. The
Cooum River Restoration is one such landmark effort of the Tamilnadu Government,
through which slum inhabitants on the Cooum River's banks were relocated.
Key words: Livelihood Capitals, Children’s Education, Housing, Income, Transport,
Safety of Materials.
Cite this Article: J. Renee Arathi and A. Sivagami, Urban Livelihood Capitals with
Special Reference to the Resettled Families in Cooum River Restoration Project,
Chennai Metropolitan, International Journal of Management (IJM), 11(10), 2020,
pp. 2347-2353.
https://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJM?Volume=11&Issue=10

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study
The requirement for investments and infrastructure expansion is influenced by economic
growth and urban growth. Land redevelopment becomes necessary to accommodate such
growth. However, because so much of that land is already inhabited, relocation and

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 Urban Livelihood Capitals with Special Reference to the Resettled Families in Cooum River
Restoration Project, Chennai Metropolitan

displacement of the current population are common features of development initiatives in urban
settings. Sundari.S. (2003) developed a thorough and understandable image of urban slums
while researching the quality of immigrant homes in Coimbatore, Chennai, and Tiruppur.
Dilapidated housing, poor ventilation, severe congestion, incorrect street alignment, bad
lighting, a lack of access to safe drinking water, flooding during rainstorms, improper sanitary
facilities, and a lack of basic physical and social services are some of the basic features.

2. METHODOLOGY
The aim of this paper is to study the implication of resettlement upon the basic livelihood
capitals like, Children’s education, Income, Toilets and Bathroom Facilities, Transport,
Healthcare and Safety of materials, of the population selected to contextualize and establish the
relevant speculations. The variables taken for this study constitute the significant elements of
Physical, Social, Human and Financial capitals described by the Department of International
Development, UK. The Livelihood capital Framework of DFID have been applied in various
research studies among rural people. This paper concentrates on the resettled and Rehabilitated
families of the Cooum River Restoration Project carried out by Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat
Development Board previously called as Tamilnadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) in
Chennai metropolitan city. Slum-dwellers on the bank of Cooum River were resettled in
Perumbakkam, TNSCB tenements which constituted the universe of this study. The researcher
used Systematic Random sampling to select samples from the universe. Information about socio
demographic factors and livelihood capitals was collected using structured interview schedule.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The overall index of the seven variables namely Children’s Education, Housing, Income, Toilet
and Bathroom facilities, Transport, Health Care and Safety of materials which are main focus
of this research paper. Information on the experience of the respondents before and after
resettlement were collected and the same was compared for a clear understanding of the
availability of basic amenities or facilities required for their sustainability and day to day life.
The data on each variable has been explained and discussed discretely with the references of
similar research studies.

60
50.4
48.26
50
39.78
40

29.04
30
19.89
20

8.33
10
2.96
0.54 0.54 0.26
0
Very Good Good No-difference Bad Very Bad

Before After

Figure 1 Facilities for their Children’s Studies

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 J. Renee Arathi and A. Sivagami

Fig.1 displays the condition of the target group’s studies before and after resettlement. It is
very clearly stated that Children’s education was comparatively good before resettlement.
48.26% of the respondents said that their children’s education was very good before
resettlement while 50.4 % said that it is very good after resettlement. 29%.04 and 39.78% of
the respondents said that after resettlement their children’s studies are very good and good
respectively, During the Focus group discussion, the participants said that the nearby Higher
secondary School is located near cremation ground and also the there is no toilet facility, hence
the children often go home for using toilets. After complaining about this a new school in a
better location is under construction and the people are happy about it.

Income
70 65.15
60
50 41.67
40.9
40
30 22.52
20
10.48 10.72
10 5.6
1.35 1.61 0
0
Very Good Good No-difference Bad Very Bad

Income Before Income After

Figure 2 Income of The Respondents Before and After Resettlement

The Figure 2. shows that a majority of the subjects had an adverse experience after
resettlement, when their income is considered. Loss of income is a major source of socio-
economic problems. Madhubala (2017), she in her study on resettlement in the perception of
Rawl’s theory has revealed that, Allocation of resources coupled with Livelihood options as
entailed in Rawl’s Theory of social Justice, encompasses the right to livelihood and right to
work which makes the theory extremely relevant and significant to the discourse on
resettlement and rehabilitation. Women and youth as human resources can immensely
contribute to the growth and economic development of a community. Rajamani & Prasad 2012,
[9] confirms in their studies that women empowerment through self-help groups would lead to
benefits not only to the individual women but also the family and community through collective
action for development. Empowering women is not just for meeting their economic needs but
for more holistic social development. The potentials of youth and women tapped through
appropriate training and necessary resources with the support of NGOs functioning in the area
will be determinant of income generation.
The Figure 3. shows that unlike the income variable, a majority of the subjects, 44.89 and
46.51 had responded as good and very good respectively. All the respondents were from the
slums near Cooum river. They acknowledged that their present housing condition is good when
compared to their previous houses. Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project (TNUDP), 2014
End Term Evaluation report on resettlement and rehabilitation by Highways department and
Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority states that, the standard of living of the resettled
and rehabilitated families had improved comparing the parameters taken during baseline study.
Separate kitchen has been increased doubly (57.5 percent) comparing the previous period (27.5
percent). Similarly, the facility of having separate toilet has also increased from 32.85 percent

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 Urban Livelihood Capitals with Special Reference to the Resettled Families in Cooum River
Restoration Project, Chennai Metropolitan

to 67.7 percent. About 50 percent of the project affected families have mixer and Grinder at
home and only 29.5 percent of them had mixer and grinder previously.

House
70
61.83
60

50 44.89 46.51

40

30
17.48 15.32
20

10 4.03 3.49 1.88 1.34 3.23

0
Very Good Good No-difference Bad Very Bad

Before After

Figure 3 Housing of The Respondents Before and After Resettlement

The maximum of 72.4 percent of them possess colour television comparing 36.8 percent of
PAFs had television and at present 63 percent of them have mobile phones. Previously they
were dwelling in huts and semi pucca houses on the banks of Cooum river and prone for
inundation during rainy and monsoon seasons. Currently they were allotted concrete safe
buildings with basic amenities such as separate kitchen, bath room and toilet, a hall and one
room with water supply and electricity connection. The multi storied tenements provided with
lift.

Toilet Facility
70
57.8 55.77
60

50

40 33.87
30
20.64
20 13.4
10 6.7
3.49 3.76 3.76
0.81
0
Very Good Good No-difference Bad Very Bad

Toilet Facilty Before Toilet Facilty After

Figure 4 Toilet facilities Before and After Resettlement

Previously they were dwelling in huts and semi pucca houses on the banks of Cooum river
and prone for inundation during rainy and monsoon seasons. Currently they were allotted
concrete safe buildings with basic amenities such as separate kitchen, bath room and toilet, a

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 J. Renee Arathi and A. Sivagami

hall and one room with water supply and electricity connection. The multi storied tenements
provided with lift.
Fig.4 shows that 55.76 % of the respondents had bad experiences with reference to their
previous place and 20% of them had mentioned it as very bad facility. 33.87% and 57.8%
perceived that the present toilet facilities are very good and good respectively. It may be noted
that many of the slums did not have any public toilet/urinal as these slum dwellers were using
individual connections or were resorting to open defecation. It is also very evident from the
demand assessment surveys that the respondents revealed that a majority of them resort to other
means of latrine.(Sujatha .P, 2019)

Bathroom Facility

60 56.45

50 45.92

40
32.36
30
17.74
20 14.52 14.25
10 4.57 6.72 4.51
2.96
0
Very Good Good No-difference Bad Very Bad

Bathroom Before Bathroom After

Figure 5 Bathroom Facilities Before and After Resettlement

Fig.5 shows that the bathroom facility is better in their present habitat when compared to
their previous place. Every house has its individual, covered bathrooms inbuilt in their flats. In
their previous place which happened to be a slum on the bank of Cooum river, inbuilt private
bathrooms were not feasible due to space and financial constraints. The focus group discussion
with the female respondents revealed that they used paid public or shared bathrooms and the
private bathrooms were covered by thatches or sheets.

Transport Facility

50
42.63
38.33
40

30 26.07 27.15 25.54

20
10.19 12.1
9.14 6.97
10
1.88
0
Very Good Good No-difference Bad Very Bad

Transport Before Transport After

Figure 6 Transport Before and After Resettlement

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 Urban Livelihood Capitals with Special Reference to the Resettled Families in Cooum River
Restoration Project, Chennai Metropolitan

The figure 6 indicates that the subjects are not happy with the transport facilities in their
current place when compared to their previous location. As they had been in the suburbs of
Chennai city, the distance to their workplace and the insufficient transport facilities available
have a greater implication upon the livelihoods of the resettled population. During the focus
group discussion, women respondents stated that most of them were go to the city by bus.
formal activities and high transport cost to commute to the previous workplaces. Time available
to take part in income earning activity for households has, therefore, gone down. In contrast,
some respondents mentioned that the number of labour force in household has increased
following relocation. In the study area, increasing dependence upon others, unemployment and
under employment are, therefore, the serious problems faced by majority of respondents due to
the direct and indirect impacts of relocation. Relocation project, therefore, did not make much
attempt to facilitate relocated people replace or sustain their former income earning activities.

Health Care Facility

60
48.11
50
41.01 38.71
40
30.56
30
17.43
20
7.51 6.72
10 3.23 3.49 3.23
0
Very Good Good No-difference Bad Very Bad

Health care – Hospital Before Health care – Hospital After

Figure 7 Health care Facility

Figure 7 portrays the experience of the subjects with reference to access for health care
facilities. Majority of the respondents, 61% had expressed that it was good in their previous
place while 56.72 % told that their experience in the current place is good. The respondents
stated that they had Government and Private medical facilities near to their preceding place and
there are health care facilities within 3 km vicinity of their present location.

Safety of Materials
45 41.28
40
34.41
35
30 24.73
25 22.31
20.11
20 17.43 16.89
14.52
15
10
4.03 4.29
5
0
Very Good Good No-difference Bad Very Bad

Safety of materials Before Safety of materials After

Figure 8 Safety of Materials Before and After Resettlement

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 J. Renee Arathi and A. Sivagami

Figure 8 shows that the safety of their materials is a major concern. More than 60 % of the
subjects said that they could safeguard their materials better in their previous place when
compared to the present residence. Though a very meagre difference, Experience of material
safety was good before resettlement.

4. CONCLUSION
This paper has analyzed the experience of the resettled people who were dislocated from the
slums on the banks of cooum river and replaced in the TNHB tenements at Perumbakkam. The
variable considered for investigation were Children’s Education, House, Income, transport,
Health care and Safety of Materials. After a thorough analysis of the data gathered it is found
that, the target group had a positive experience with reference to their children’s education,
house and health care access, while their experience regarding transport and income were
negative and the safety of materials is more or less the same in comparison. In the perspectives
of Rawl’s theory of Social Justice, the right to work and livelihood need to be given significant
priority in the flagship initiatives for urban development. Skill development centres and
workshops to engage the youth in various trades for their economic benefits will overpower
their difficulties in access to livelihood resources. Problems in transportation may be countered
with vehicle pooling managed by the community with the support of Government and NGOs.
Women empowerment is a great contributor for the socio-economic development of a
community. Empowering the women with appropriate training and skill development based on
the available demands and needs will improve their productivity for a greater cause. Though
women self help groups are operating in the study area, there are barriers to access banks and
other necessary services. Cooperative bank or other nationalized bank and more ATMs in their
vicinity will support women empowerment.

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