Dharavi in 2002:

Dharavi in 2010:

Outbursts of growth in the slum pocket of Mumbai. It is good to see India acquiring a fancy skyline but it is disheartening to see the condition of slum dwellers.

Cornerstones

Population aged under 15 years in 2005:

Sourced from Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth

In a country like India, with over 400 million youth by 2022, the three most important policies that form the cornerstones of an economy include:

Basic Education Needless to say basic education, expected to be achieved through the Right To Education Act, is the most important step that has been taken in this direction.

However, it is unlikely that Indian economy can provide so many white collar jobs and therefore may result in inadequate returns to education. Besides, of course the issue of supply of education remains, after all only so many graduate out of the IIT and IIM. What is required is vocational training.

Given that cities are the places where a large proportion of this youth is likely to be employed, Housing policies assume as much importance as the above two. With the present land demand and supply dynamics, the real estate costs make it prohibitive for a large proportion to access affordable housing. Capabilities that enable one to earn livelihood but not enough to afford shelter are rendered useless! Constant exclusion makes white collar jobs with remunerative returns seem like the only solution to the issue of housing in cities. Govt. policies targeted towards provision of low cost housing are thus the third supporting pillar.

The life you wouldn't want...

8.9 mn shelterless households in India by 2012.

Picture above of squatters outside Mumbai local train station. (Source - Author)

In 2007, the housing shortage was estimated to be 24.7 mn housing units. Of this, new housing units requirement was estimated to be 7.5 mn. About 15 mn housing units were estimated to require upgradation or expansion. Over 2 mn houses were estimated to be in a 'bad' condition, or over 80 years old, requiring replacement. By 2012, shelterless households are estimated to increase to 8.9 mn and the housing shortage to rise to 26.5 mn units.

Why land titling does not work? It doesn't teach you how to earn!

Land titling is an incomplete solution. It does give the inhabitants a house but not the assured stream of income to maintain the house. Government should extend the policy purview (Rajiv Awas Yojna for slum rehabilitation) to include establishment of vocational training institutes that will provide the dwellers with the skill set required for sustenance. This can be implemented through a government financed slum development authority or through involvement of private developers.

Land titling is successful in so far it eliminates the need for the presence of an adult member in the house at all times to protect eviction from property. Thus, property rights provided to an x number of households makes available a comparable number of adults and consequently an equivalent amount of productive labour. Since the households become registered and therefore legal, numerous other problems such as electricity theft are alleviated.

However, any significant increase in access to credit has not been recorded, as a study in Peru, the developing country with the largest land titling program revealed. Plausible reasons are the costs associated with small ticket credit approval process; determination of creditworthiness of a borrower which entails evaluation of individuals on accounts of land available for collateral besides employment and level of income, education level, counter-guarantee, purpose of loan (productive or consumption) etc.

A potential problem with the land titling policy: reversion of the targeted group to slum dwelling and renting out the newly possessed property.

Slum rehabilitation authority with an initial paid up capital allocated in the budget. This authority should plan, aid and oversee the construction of a complete township. The house area, if we assume to be of double carpet area of the initial slum houses, and three storied, will leave almost one-third area available for workshops and other commercial trade centers.

This authority should undertake the establishment of vocational training institutes. Depending on the supply side feasibility, each slum can create a niche in some craft. The onus of marketing and the brand building exercise should also be on the authority. This is analogous to the highly successful state emporia model, an initiative of the state governments to showcase and sell its state’s traditional handicrafts.

This would also bring a sizable number of taxable transactions or sometimes even the flourishing black economy under the government net.

The program can also be designed to involve private developers who can use the land available commercially, while also showcasing the crafts associated with the slum.

Slums are a large part of the informal economy.