This piece was originally published on 4 October, 2015.
The United Nations celebrates the first Monday of October of every year as World Habitat Day. The aim of World Habitat Day is to reflect on the state of our towns and cities, and on the basic right of all to shelter.
Given the increasing rate of migration to the cities, it may not be an easy task for the government to provide housing for all. Here’s how the urban housing schemes can throw up major challenges for the government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched three housing missions – Smart Cities Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana for urban areas – on June 25 in a bid to improve the quality of life in urban areas and use construction of some 20 million homes and other urban infrastructure to drive growth over the next seven years.
About 31% per cent Indians lived in urban areas at the time of Census 2011, and that number is set to swell, putting more pressure on urban infrastructure, as more people move to urban areas in search of alternate livelihood. Some analysts estimate that the urban population would rise to about 600 million by 2030 or about 40% of India’s population, from about 377 million in 2011.
Providing decent accommodation to these people, with all basic facilities, will be one of the biggest challenges before state governments and municipal authorities. It is already a challenge, as many cities are unable to cope with heavy migration from rural areas. Most of these migrants, who take up odd jobs as household helps, masons and rickshaw pullers, live in pitiable conditions on the fringes of developed colonies across cities. Rejuvenating older towns and cities is also needed to prevent further decay.
Here are five striking aspects of the dreadful side of urban areas that the urban missions launched on June 25 are expected to address.