This presentation is based on the poem ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CLASSROOM IN A SLUM by Stephen Spender prescribed for class xii-english(CBSE). This is done by one of my very creative students..AMRUTHA.

1. ENGLISH PROJECT WORK

2. SLUMS AND SLUM LIFE

4. What Causes Slums in the Cities in the First Place? It is vicious cycle of population growth, opportunities in the cities (leading to migration to the cities), poverty with low incomes, tendency to be closer to work hence occupying any land in the vicinity etc. The key reason out of all is the slow economic progress. After independence in 1947, commercial and industrial activity needed cheap labor in the cities. Plentiful was available in the rural area. They were encouraged to come to cities and work. People, who migrated to the cities and found work, brought their cousins and rest of the families to the cities. Unable to find housing and afford it, they decided to build their shelter closer to work. First, one shelter was built, then two and then two thousand and then ten thousand and on and on. Conniving governments provided electricity and drinking water. Politicians looked at the slums as vote bank. They organized these unauthorized dwellers into a political force; hence slums took a bit of a permanent shape. More slums developed as more population moved to the cities. By mid sixties Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai and all other large cities dotted with slums.

5. Very poor people live in slums. They are not the only one dwelling there. Fairly well to do people also reside there. They are either offspring of the slum dwellers that found education and an occupation. They have prospered but are unable to find affordable housing, hence have continued to stay in the shantytowns. Others are avoiding paying rent and property taxes. The latter is more often the case. It is not unusual that in the dirtiest of slums, where misery prevails that TV sets, refrigerators and radios are also blaring music. This is quite a contrast from the image which one gets in the media or from the opportunist politicians. India’s capital of Delhi has a million and a half out of fourteen million living in slums. Mumbai is worst with greater percentage living in slums. Other big urban centers have done no better. Newly built cities like Chandigarh and surrounding towns where shantytowns could have been avoided altogether have now slums. The forgoing is India’s shame despite huge progress.

8. Early Slums Before 1950 slums were predominantly found around the mills, on the western part of the island, predominantly in an area called Byculla. They were mostly industrial workers in one room tenements. Health and provisions to these areas were issues that were ignored by the head policy makers. Instead of going away, the slums have just spread. From 1950 to1968 the amount of slums increased 18%, in the 1970s they had a huge surge and by 1980 slum dwellers were half of the entire city's population. All this despite the fact that the city underwent slum clearance, implemented by the Municipal Corporationin 1954.

11. Slums Today Today slum dwellers make up 60% of Mumbai's population, that is approximately 7 million people. The eventually spread into the areas neighboring Byculla, such as: Mahim Creek, Parel, Dadar and Matunga and wherever else they can find space, even in roads. The conditions in the slums are terrible. Slum inhabitants constantly have to deal with issues such as, constant migration, lack of water, no sewage or solid waste facilities, lack of public transit, pollution and housing shortages. Infant mortality is as high as it is in rural India where there are no amenities. General Hospitals in the Greater Mumbai region are overcrowded and under resourced. In fact, most people rely on private doctors, many of which do not have any qualifications or official training. The World Bank has funded development of 176 Primary Care Dispensaries, but they are finding that those efforts are underused and the water supplies to the area are problematic. It seems that the water supply is always to much or too little, for when monsoon season hits some slums are submerged knee deep in water.

12. In 1985, the government tried to rectify the problem by passing the Slum Upgradation Project. It offered secure long-term legal plot tenure to slum households on the basis that they would invest in their housing. By giving people an interest in their housing and by guaranteeing home ownership, they hoped to oblitterate slums. Unfortunately the program targeted only 10-12% of the slum population, those who were capable of upgrading their homes. It disregarded those who did not have homes at all.

15. How will the growing Economy impact Poverty and the Slum dwellers? As stated above, 8% growth rate of Indian economy will push per capita GDP to $2,000 level in about twenty to twenty-five years (PPP per capita GDP will be much higher). The forgoing presupposes that the population does not explode in the near future but continue a healthy 1.5 to 2% growth. That is where the magic equilibrium of prosperity and desire to live a better life begins. These two together usually vanish poverty and slums. With availability of affordable housing and jobs, slum dwelling is the last thought on people’s mind.

16. On the other hand if the above does not happen then slums dwellers will triple in 25 years and so will the poverty. Delhi will have four and a half million-slum dwellers. Kolkata and Mumbai will have even bigger numbers. India’s shame will have no end. To avoid that, India’s economy has to remain at a high state of growth. Jobs created by the economic growth, hence higher incomes are key criteria for poverty reduction and slums elimination. The forgoing together with the current urban renewal in progress in the urban areas today will give cities in India a new look. Higher incomes will create a demand for in-expensive housing, which will have to be met with innovative use of land and building techniques. Government provided housing would be a great failure as it has been elsewhere in the world. Instead sufficient cash has to be placed in the people’s hands together with in-expensive land that people’s housing program become efficient and affordable. In addition slum living has to be made unattractive with land taxes and denial of social services. Slum colonies, which opt out of current hopelessness, should get a better deal in housing which replaces the slums. This followed with rapidly growing rural economy will kill migration. That will also reduce pressure on housing.

17. No single policy has ever brought an end to poverty and slums. It is a concerted effort and better policies, which will end it. No country in the world has ever been able to end poverty and slums completely. That includes the richest nation of the world – USA. The point is that if economy progresses and special effort is made to uplift the poor, poverty and slums will be overtaken by better economic conditions of the people.

20. Urban Renewal In India Urban renewal is in progress in India in a big way for the last 50 years. The British starved cities in India of the funds for two hundred years. They only built regal palaces for themselves in Delhi, Shimla and Kolkota. No new monies was made available to the people to renew and rebuild, hence Moghul Delhi presented a decaying and a rundown look, when they finally left India in 1947. The problem got compounded with migration of people from rural areas. Expanding industry and commerce needed them hence migration was encouraged. Thus urban slums and squatting began in a big way. Today, some estimates place 10 to 15% of Delhi population as slum dwellers. Slums in Kolkata predate Delhi slums. So do the Mumbai slums. They all began the same way – people’s livelihood was destroyed or they were invited to work in factories without adequate housing. The problem grew acute with huge population growth after 1950. From 1950 to today, cities lacked funds to renew themselves and help build additional housing. People lacked adequate jobs hence are caught in the poverty cycle.

21. Only recently a huge building and construction boom has started in all cities in India. Whereas governments are concentrating on building infrastructure and industrial base, private construction is building work places, shopping districts and housing for the middle class. The poor and slum dwellers are not there in any building equation. Cheap housing projects are lowest in the category. Hence slum dwelling has become a way of life.

23. How Long the Poor have to wait? If the experience elsewhere is a guide then poverty, slums and urban squat will be a vanishing phenomenon, if the rapid economic progress keeps its pace. Today we would have smaller of the slums, had economic policies of the present were in place 50 years back. Only now, all signs point to a rapidly rising GDP together with rising per capita GDP. With rise in income level, tendency to head to the slums has lessened. Die-hard slum dwellers that wish to pay no taxes and spend nothing on housing will most certainly continue to stay there. Others will prefer to move out. This is a normal phenomenon. It happened in US and elsewhere. It will happen in India too. An economic equilibrium has not been reached in the society yet, where enough money in people’s pocket will persuade them to vacate the slums. This won’t we reached for another 20 to 25 years. By about middle of this period with increased availability of housing and higher incomes, the growth in slum dwelling will be arrested. Decline will begin only when much higher incomes are reached (as stated above), provided India does not make the mistake of regularizing the slums with land tenure on tenable land and other amenities. That is a sure fire method to keep the slums going. People will always wait for free grant of land ownership even if these grants never materialize. Even the possibility of this ever happening in a distant future will keep the slum dwellers in the slums.

24. Slum Dwellers as % of Urban Population Other Developed Europe Oceania South-eastern Asia North Africa Latin America Western Asia Eastern Asia South-Central Asia Sub-Saharan Africa 40 80 0 20 60 Source:UN Habitat.

26. HOW TO TACKLE THE SITUATION

28. Set long term city & national targets;

30. Ensure open & transparent land markets;

32. Engage private sector as risk-sharing partner;

33. Slum dweller involvement & investmentLeverage Resources

34. The Cities Without Slums Initiative is a creative and daring response to urban poverty. Poverty reduction will not be possible unless cities are productive and efficient, and capable of providing the poor with economic opportunities to build their assets and incomes.

38. Ability to plan

40. Corruption

42. Immediate health benefits

44. Highest prices for poorest

45. High health risks

47. Limited private sector involvement

48. Potential for community cohesion

49. Women able to enter economy

50. Children at school

51. Communities are divided

52. Most negative impact on women and children ECONOMIC GROWTH IS POSSIBLE POVERTY INCREASES

54. Support political will;

55. Reinforce local initiative;

56. Learn from cities;

57. Move beyond projects;

58. Long term framework;

60. 32% of urban poor live in slums (14% of global);

62. 72% of current urban population already in slums;

64. Unprecedented urbanisation over next 30 years;

67. Done by:- p.Amrutha Xi-commerce