Think India Foundation

6,419 slum-dwellers to get proper houses in Nagpur

NAGPUR: Though a slum-free city seems to be a distant dream, 6,300 slum-dwellers in 44 areas are set to get posh houses along with various basic amenities under the Central government's ambitious Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP) scheme. In another scheme, 119 slum-dwellers have obtained funds for construction of houses and 3,600 houses will get funds to build toilets in their houses.

Municipal commissioner Shyam Wardhane told TOI the BSUP scheme being implemented by NMC and Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) is getting immense response from slum-dwellers. "Some 6,300 slum-dwellers submitted applications under the scheme. Tenders were floated to appoint agencies for construction of houses. The bids submitted are 10.36% higher than estimated cost, but much below the earlier tenders, which were up to 29% higher. Estimated cost has increased by Rs 10.53 crore due to the fresh bids. A proposal to get approval for this has been submitted to chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, who is also chairman of SRA," he said. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

1000 crore plan for slum-free Uttar Pradesh

The Uttar Pradesh government is preparing a blueprint for 'slum-free cities' in 21 urban centres under the centrally-sponsored Rajiv Awas Yojana

The Uttar Pradesh government is preparing a blueprint for 'slum-free cities' in 21 urban centres under the centrally-sponsored Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY).

The projects estimated at Rs 1,000 crore would be finalised and sent for central approval by month-end. Read more

Source : www.igovernment.in

Slum removal scheme tweaked to make it more effective

New Delhi: The Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY), billed as the government’s most ambitious scheme for ridding the country of slums, is to be tweaked by changing the norms relating to its funding pattern and granting property rights to make it more effective. 

The government had launched RAY in June 2011 to bring about a “slum-free India” by tackling inequalities in urban planning and land management practices. India's slum population was estimated at 93 million in 2011. Read more

Source : zeenews.india.com

Survey conducted to develop slums

Rajahmundry: Urbanisation and migration of  wage seekers is the cause of  the sharp rise in slums in the city. 

In East Godavari, both the commercial city Rajahmundry and port city Kakinada are plagued with increasing slums in the last decade. As per Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (MEPMA) statistics gathered by East Godavari unit, 92 slums exist in Rajahmundry and 98 in Kakinada. Read more

Source : www.deccanchronicle.com

Nashik Municipal Corporation breaks deadlock over Anandvalli plot

NASHIK: The Nashik Municipal Corporation's general body on Saturday approved the civic administration's proposal to get the MIDC Anandvalli plot transferred to itself for a housing project under the Centre's JNNURM for slum dwellers and poor people.

The NMC also revised the amount to be paid to the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation as compensation from Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.12 crore. With the general body's nod, the way is now clear for the commencement of the work on the housing project at Anandvalli. Mayor Yatin Wagh approved the proposal at the general body meeting on Saturday. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Bhubaneswar civic body turns to slum dwellers ahead of urban polls

BHUBANESWAR: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) appears to be making sincere efforts to appease the slum population in the city, with an eye on the urban local body (ULB) election, scheduled later this year.

The civic body, which has roped in a Hyderabad-based private company for demarcation of slum areas as per geographic information system (GIS) survey, has asked the company to put up demarcation pillars in all the 427 slums. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Slum dwellers near Cooum against relocation

CHENNAI : The restoration and river front development of the Cooum were opposed by those who feared that the project would be undertaken at the expense of resettling slums on its banks to far off places.

Environmental activists, NGOs, former bureaucrats and people from different walks of life voiced their opinions at a public consultation on Thursday, conducted by Chennai River Restoration Trust, Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Limited (TNUIFSL) and Spanish technical consultant of the project LKS. Read more

Source : newindianexpress.com

‘Area near IAF depot turning into urban slum’

Gurgaon : The members of Gurgaon Citizens’ Council on Sunday wrote a letter to Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, highlighting the problems faced by residents living within the 900 m radius of the Air Force ammunition depot.

The letter, a copy of which was also sent to Gurgaon deputy commissioner PC Meena, pointed out lack of basic civic amenities such as electricity, water and sewage system in the 11,347 unauthorised households and commercial establishments within the 900 m radius. Read more

Source : www.hindustantimes.com

Do the urban poor contribute?

Most informal enterprises in slums employ local residents, generating benefits for the local economy. They make profits, pay rent and taxes

India's urban poverty is over 25 per cent. Rightly, the Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to bring metropolitan areas under the lead bank scheme for the first time since 1969, a move aimed at providing to the urban poor doorstep banking and direct transfer of cash benefits under social welfare programmes. The central bank has admitted that financial exclusion is not merely a rural phenomenon.

Since policy makers have always viewed the urban poor as burdens on public services and infrastructure, the apex bank's initiative is a step in the right direction. Studies we have completed at the Public Affairs Centre in Bangalore and Chennai show that, while the urban poor contribute significantly to the city economies where they are located, only 5 per cent of the informal enterprises in Bengaluru and 2 per cent of surveyed enterprises in Chennai approached a bank for a loan. Only 30 per cent and 35 per cent of respondents respectively in Bengaluru and Chennai's slums had a bank account. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

Contractor gets the axe as PMC speeds up slum rehab project

In an attempt to complete the slum rehabilitation project under JNNURM before the deadline of March 2014, PMC Wednesday replaced the contractor who expressed inability to complete the work on time.

The Centre had earmarked Rs 522.4 crore for the project, but PMC could spend only Rs 165.17 crore. Read more

Source : www.indianexpress.com

Planning: Why slums can’t be separated from Mumbai

From a scattered, notional presence in Mumbai till the 1950s, slums have become so dominant a feature that they can no longer be ignored when planning for the city. Hitherto, slums were where the ‘other’ lived, deserving of platitudes, and also of patronage for political purposes. They have been the ‘outland’.

An aircraft prepares to land at the airport surrounded by slums in Mumbai. Reuters

It may change, if one goes by the city’s civic body’s chairman Rahul Shewale’s admission recently that the slums “cannot be left out of the planning process”. That is what Mumbai has been doing all along, side step the slums as a habitat where fellow citizens—or humans?—lived. But even now, while welcome, it remains a glimmer of hope. Read more

Source : www.firstpost.com

Bill Gates to showcase designs of waterless toilets in India in 2014

MUMBAI: In March next year, India will host a unique show on a much neglected health parameter—namely sanitation. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will showcase various designs of waterless toilets—a project on which the world's richest man has been working on for over a year.

In an exclusive interview to TOI last week, Bill Gates said, "We care a lot about the urban poor. A lot of mass migration to cities is such that the growth ends up in the poor parts of the city. Making sure that slums have access to sanitation, healthcare and education is a top problem for India.'' Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Slum dwellers demand right to live with dignity

RANCHI: Rehabilitation of slum dwellers, the issue of displacement owing to mining activities and industrial projects in rural Jharkhand, have long been part of debate, discussions and deliberations.

But all in vain. Therefore, urban dwellers ousted from their slums owing to legal problems have decided to take the matter in their hands. Deprived of basic amenities, they have decided to come together to demand their right to live with dignity. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

NGO focus shifts to slum kids

GUWAHATI: Universal Team for Social Action and Help (UTSAH), an NGO, which works in the Hafiznagar slum here, has now shifted its focus on the protection of children living in the slum at Bamunimaidam area of East Guwahati.

The organization is running a transitory development programme for the protection of human rights and the rights of children in slums. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Mumbai airport terminates HDIL contract

Real estate firm writes off Rs.441.98 cr, leading to a loss of Rs.279.9 cr in the March quarter, initiates legal action 

Banglaore/ Mumbai: Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd (MIAL) has terminated the slum rehabilitation contract given to Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL), forcing the real estate firm to write off the costs incurred and report a loss for the March quarter.

The scrapping of the contract may further delay the proposed expansion and modernization of the Mumbai airport. Photo: Hindustan Times

The slum rehabilitation project that entails shifting and re-housing thousands of slum-dwellers to free land for the airport hadn’t progressed much in the past two years. Read more

Source : www.livemint.com

DP will also map slums, specially planned areas

BMC will also include mapping of slums and specially planned areas (SPAs) in its 2013-2014 development plan (DP).

At a meeting with citizens and Urban Development Research Institute (UDRI), it said discussions would be held with state planning agencies such as MMRDA and Airports Authority of India to include SPAs. Read more

Source : www.indianexpress.com

Rajiv Awaas Yojana to make Allahabad slum-free

ALLAHABAD: The city slums are set for a makeover. The slum dwellers would be provided concrete houses under a comprehensive project under the Rajiv Awaas Yojana. On Monday, a workshop was organized for the same where corporators and district authorities exchanged views, complaints and suggestions over it.

District magistrate Raj Shekhar briefed corporators about the comprehensive project and said that fund estimates of every slum would depend on the basis of its requirement. The entire project would be available on internet, he said. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Orissa's public-pvt health model gets UPA govt pat

New Delhi : Despite not ranking high in health indicators, Orissa was the star at the recently held first ever workshop of state health secretaries on National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) with spotlight on the state's public-private partnership in health sector. Keeping political differences aside, the UPA government felt the model was worth emulating. Earlier the Urban Development Ministry had lauded Gujarat for its land-use policy.

At the workshop, the PPP guidelines for urban slum health projects in seven cities in Orissa along with that for urban health centres drawn up by National Rural Health Mission Directorate were distributed as models that other states could adopt. In fact, all the materials given to state representatives were sourced from Orissa and there were no materials from any other state. Read more

Source : www.indianexpress.com

Thiruvananthapuram slums present a grim picture

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Response to workshop on a Central project presents RAY of hope

The results of an ongoing survey of slums within the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation — which is almost complete — reveals high figures of unemployment, alcoholism, and drinking water shortage, highlighting the need for inclusive development, as promised by the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY), a ‘slum-free India’ programme by the Union government.

Mayor K. Chandrika presented the facts, based on the 75 per cent of the data obtained, during the first stakeholders’ consultation workshop held earlier this month by the city Corporation’s RAY technical cell. As much as 41 per cent of around 52,190 people interviewed so far are addicted to alcohol or drugs, 43 per cent are unemployed, and 52 per cent of those with pipe water connection get erratic supply. According to officials, the physical survey is complete and all that remains is for it to be entered into a Management Information System (MIS). Read more

Source : www.thehindu.com

MP govt woos urban poor with title deeds

JABALPUR: Eyeing a hat-trick of assembly poll victories, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has now come up with a land scheme for the urban poor.

Under the programme, unauthorized slum dwellers will be granted pattas (title deeds) by July 30 — well before the model code of conduct comes into force for the elections that will be held later this year. The government's target is to distribute title deeds among 75,000 people. Government sources say the process of identifying the beneficiaries is under way. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

IHDSPs housing benefits over 23,000 families in MP

BHOPAL: So far, 23,000 houses have been constructed for poor urban slum dwellers under Integrated Housing and Slums Development Programme ( IHDSP), according to a press release here on Tuesday. 

Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme targets the poor living conditions of slums and clusters in cities and mofussil towns and attempts to improve the housing stock and basic infrastructure and coverage service delivery to the poor. The programme runs on a project mode. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Slums turn haven for consumer firms

Mumbai : About 6% of India's population, or about 7.2 crore people, live in slums, according to the 2011 census.

Consumer companies have been going that extra mile to tap rising incomes and product awareness in hinterlands.

However, they need not go that far as a huge potential lay in the backyard: city slums. 
With products like Maggi noodles also becoming a staple for slum kids and branded talcum powder, hair oils household items, a huge entry-level premium product market awaits consumer firms, according to a report by Ritika Mankar Mukherjee, research analyst of Ambit Capital. Read more

Source : www.dnaindia.com

Civic body survey of 35% slums complete in Aurangabad

AURANGABAD: The Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has completed more than 35% of the survey of the city's slums as part of the first phase of the Rajiv Awas Yojna (RAY). 

AMC executive engineer Sikandar Ali on Sunday said the rest of the survey would be completed in the next six months. "As part of the Rajiv Awas Yojana, the government conducts a socio-economic survey of slum dwellers. Other procedures carried out include the issuance of biometric identity cards, generation of web-enabled database, development of maps and preparation of slum rehabilitation plans. The government will plan a housing scheme for slum dwellers after all the other procedures are completed," Ali said. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Despite success stories, most cities still offer a dark reality

While the majority of Indians still live in rural areas, this, too, is changing fast. From 1970 to 2010, India's urban population grew by 250 million. The next quarter-billion will be added in half that time. By 2030, 70 per cent of India's GDP will come from its cities.

But cities are simply unable to cope with the influx of migrants on the current scale. The fast-growing metropolises of India, China, Brazil, and other major emerging economies offer plenty of jobs, but basic amenities are lacking; as a result, many of the urban poor live in slums, without adequate health care, water supplies, or electricity. Read more

Source : www.timesofoman.com

K'taka Polls: Money, alcohol flow freely in Bangalore slums

Bangalore : Come elections, slums spread across India's IT hub wear festive look. As state is all set to vote for Karnataka Assembly Elections 2013 slated on May 5, money, freebies and alcohol are flowing freely in the slum areas of the city.

Slum-dwellers have suddenly become much sought after by political parties of all hues with loads of cash to lure them to election rallies. Many of the slum dwellers openly admitted that their vote would go to those doling out more money. Read more

Source : news.oneindia.in

Slum-dwellers losing faith in public health facilities

 Mumbai : AROUND 18 per cent of people in low-income slums are moving from above poverty line to below it, reveals a new study on the health of urban poor by International Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai.

The study, which covered Pune, Bhubaneswar and Jaipur, attributes this to the fact that a large majority of the urban poor is opting for expensive private health services, leading to massive "out-of-the-pocket expenditure". Read more

Source : www.indianexpress.com

Is urbanization the key to poverty reduction?

MUMBAI: A new report released recently by supra-national agencies the World Bank and International Monetary Fund states that urbanization, if managed well, helps pull people out of poverty.

The Global Monitoring Report 2013 which compares well-being in cities versus rural areas describes urbanization as being a major force behind poverty reduction and progress towards other millennium development goals. "Urban infant mortality rates range from 8-9 percentage points lower than the rural rates in Latin America and Central Asia; to 10-16 percentage points in the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa and highest in East Asia (21 percentage points)," it states. It points out that 60% of urban dwellers in South Asia have access to sanitation amenities as compared to 28% in rural areas. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Punjab slums rise to success

CHANDIGARH: Punjab's slum dwellers are no more the have-nots of society. The latest data on slums in the state has thrown up startling facts - four out of every five slum households possess a television, three out of every four households have a telephone, 4.3% own a laptop with internet access and 7% have computers without internet, every third house has a two-wheeler and 7.3% of the populace owns cars.

Life in the slums of Punjab might not be cushy but these are thriving hotspots for business as well. Punjab has 14.2% of slums in the urban areas - out of 143 statutory towns in Punjab, 71 have slums spread over 18 districts in the state. The census data shows that slums are vibranteconomic clusters and entrepreneurial hubs where the poor are climbing up the ladder of opportunity and income. In Punjab, 17.7% of the slum houses are being used for non-residential purposes such as shop, office, hotel, lodge, hospital and dispensary. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Slum kids get a reason to dance at Nagpur

NAGPUR: With no fancy trappings of the high-end dance workshops being held in the city, the event at Wankar Bhavan in Laxmi Nagar was one of its kind. Organized by the Slum Development Committee of Rotary Club of Nagpur, in association with Bivash Academy of Dance, Kolkata, 'Dancing Stars' was for the underprivileged kids from the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) schools and slums around the city.

To encourage these kids, the club has been organizing cultural programmes on festive occasions. "But through this activity we decided to widen the scope and provide a bigger platform to them," said Atul Shah, president of the club. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Illegal Districts Dot New Delhi as City Swells

NEW DELHI — New Ashok Nagar is a typical crosscut of Indian urban chaos: Dust rises off battered, narrow lanes, tangles of telephone and electricity lines hang between poorly constructed, mismatched brick buildings. Sewage overflows from uncovered channels. And people are in the streets, in the doorways, everywhere.

New Ashok Nagar, an “unauthorized colony” in New Delhi.

What is also fairly typical about New Ashok Nagar is that it is not supposed to exist. The district, on the eastern edge of New Delhi, is an “unauthorized colony,” with an estimated 200,000 residents despite its lack of government approvals or full city services. Across New Delhi, as many as 5 million of the city’s 17 million residents live in unauthorized colonies, whether in slums, middle-class areas or even a few illegally constructed enclaves of the rich. Read more

Source : www.nytimes.com

A count that just does not add up

Imprecise estimates of slums in the 2011 census could affect welfare programmes for least privileged groups

Mumbai’s Dharavi slum

The recently published census 2011 report on housing stock, amenities and assets in slums, the first of its kind in the country, reassuringly announced that the number of urban slums has declined and the percentage of households in slums has dropped from 23.5 (2001) to 17.4. On the face of it, this reduction appears to be a significant accomplishment and calls for praise. The government has concluded that cities are not as worse off as they were assumed to be since the new numbers reveal a lower percentage of slums. But the truth is far from it. Not only have the absolute numbers increased, but even the enumerated figures are inaccurate. It is a gross underestimate that can mislead and undermine social housing programmes. Read more

Source : www.thehindu.com

Evicted slum-dwellers camp outside LG office in New Delhi

NEW DELHI: Sixty-year-old Sakina was among those camping outside lieutenant governor Tejendra Khanna's office on Monday afternoon. They planned to make the place their home till the Delhi Development Authority made good the LG's directions for just allotment and relocation of those evicted from various slums and relegated to the peripheries of Bawana. Among the protesters were families who had lost their bare essentials and dwellings after a blaze engulfed their cluster in Bawana earlier this month. 

Men, women and children started gathering on the route to Raj Niwas in the morning. They peacefully camped on the road after the police set up barricades to keep the LG's house out of bounds. It was only around 3.30 pm that senior officials took note of their presence and acknowledged their memorandum of demands. The LG's office confirmed they had met the evictees, and Khanna had summoned DDA officers to learn about the cause for delay. The slum-dwellers have protested outside his house twice in the past two years. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Study finds high levels of literacy in urban slums of Coimbatore

COIMBATORE : The survey covered 456 respondents in 26 urban slums

98.25 percent of children between the ages six and 12 years are enrolled in school, finds a study on literacy levels. File photo: K. Ananthan

A study undertaken in slums within the city has revealed that urban poor placed huge importance on educating their children, which they see as a key to securing a better future. Read more

Source : www.thehindu.com

Awaiting government nod to give housing loans to poor

KOCHI : With the state government failing to take up the request of the Kochi Corporation for an exemption to provide individual housing loans to BPL families under the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) scheme, apprehensions have been raised about the successful implementation of the scheme.

As per Rajiv Awas Yojana  guidelines, the Central Government will provide funds for the development of slums by constructing housing units as clusters. Read more

Source : newindianexpress.com

Umeed project for Bandra's slum children

MUMBAI: The project Umeed, as the name suggests focuses on fulfilling the hopes of children and the communities in Bandra. Umeed project hopes to enhance the lives of urban slum children in the areas of child protection, education, vocational training, child participation and health in the project area.

With this aim the Umeed project is being implemented since June 2009 and reaches out to approximately 1800 families (specifically in four communities in Bandra named Garibnagar, Pipeline, Patel nagar and Kherwadi). 'Basti Ki Dhamal' is an event organized to let the community and stakeholders (children, women, parents, local groups etc) get a platform to bring the community together and create a space for innovative expression. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Is the glass half full or half empty?

Slums have reported significant improvement in terms of access to basic amenities and possession of consumer assets, reducing thereby gaps between slum and non-slum areas over time, according to the recently-released Population Census of 2011. The percentages of households having electricity,education, healthcare facilities and consumer assets like cellphones, television, etc, in slums are not much below those of non-slum areas. Furthermore, by most of these indicators of well-being, slum-dwellers are better off than the rural population. The news has been welcomed because all these are being taken as an indication of inclusivity of the cities and opportunities they offer to migrants in slums to get integrated with city lifestyle. 

Urban slums, indeed, offer a plethora of opportunities to the rural population to escape unemployment and improve socio-economic conditions and quality of life. Unfortunately, what has received little attention among the media, researchers and policy-makers is the fact that the percentage of slum population has come down drastically during the past decade. Arun Kumar Misra, secretary in the ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation, has observed that “our own projections were that the all-India slum population would be 27.5% by 2011, so the new data comes as a pleasant surprise.” Is the reported figure of slum population as 17% indeed pleasant and satisfying? Read more

Source : www.hindustantimes.com

Bengaluru rues rapid growth as India's IT hub

Technology boom has brought higher incomes but slums proliferate and services are squeezed in crowded 'garden city'
• Urbanisation can be 'force for good'

People walk through Infosys headquarters in Bengaluru, India. Photograph: Getty

Bengaluru was a lovely city until the IT crowd ruined it, so goes the joke. 

"The reason the IT sector came to the city was its reputation as a great city to live in," a resident told me on a recent visit. "Of course, technology created jobs, but the city has grown so fast and become too crowded." Read more

Source : www.guardian.co.uk

Gujarat government's housing policy for urban areas soon

GANDHINAGAR: Gujarat government is ready with its housing policy for urban areas. The policy is expected to be unveiled within a month. Sources say that the government will be announcing two sub-policies on slum rehabilitation and affordable housing in the cities simultaneously.

The government plans to build 22 lakh houses in the urban areas over the next five years out of which seven lakh are meant for rehabilitation of slum dwellers. The government has already got a survey of slums done in various cities. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Rajiv Awas Yojna in pilot stage in Madhya Pradesh

Authorises the state govt to extend financial aid and assign property rights to slum-dwellers for shelter and basic civic and social services

Quality housing is still a dream for slum-dwellers in Madhya Pradesh. This has happened even as the centre's Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) mandates each state to ensure proper infrastructure, basic amenities and housing to slum-dwellers.

Though Madhya Pradesh government has claimed that 16 cities have joined RAY, the authorities have a daunting task to make the state slum-free by upgrading or creating new housing infrastructure in slum areas. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

Slum makeover

The Slum Rehabilitation Authority in Mumbai is silent on how future slums can be prevented

The biggest challenge in slum upgrade or redevelopment is to establish the ownership of the house built on a plot of encroached land.

And, once houses are handed over, the challenge is to ensure that these remain with slum dwellers and do not get sold off to agents - paving the way for more encroachments. Neither government redevelopment policies nor non-governmental organisations are addressing the need for rental housing for the poor. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

Plight of poor children highlights need for education reform

New Delhi (ANI): Millions of children, many of them street children, are leaving school even without learning basic literacy and numeracy skills.

Salma lives in a slum next to a rubbish dump on the in the outskirts of New Delhi. Read more

Source : www.newstrackindia.com

Maharashtra to plug loopholes in slum rehabilitation projects

MUMBAI: With a view to curtail trading of the letter of intent (LoI) secured by builders in slum schemes, the state government is proposing a mechanism in which the credentials of a builder applying for a Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) project will be scrutinized, said minister of state for housing Sachin Ahir.

"Under the mechanism, the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) will verify the builder's past record, financial stability, schemes completed before an LoI or approval is given," said the minister. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Pneumonia rife in Mumbai city’s overcrowded slums

MUMBAI: Paediatrician Dr Deepak Ugra, who was the former head of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics, said pneumonia is the biggest killer of Indian children. "There would be a higher incidence in Mumbai's slum children because they live in overcrowded and unhygienic surroundings," he said.

Of course, these grim statistics are quite lower than they were two decades ago. In 2011, globally, around 7 million children younger than 5 years died from preventable causes while the corresponding toll 20 years ago was 12 million. In India, under-five mortality fell from 100 children dying for every 1,000 live births in 1995 to 60 deaths in 2010. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Nashik civic body to revise offer for Anandvalli housing land deal

NASHIK: The Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) has decided to revise its offer for the Anandvalli land deal with the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) which might end the year-long impasse between the two.

The civic body requires the 9,700 sq metres plot in Anandvalli to rehabilitate the slum-dwellers and people below the poverty line under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) announced by the central government in 2010. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

India’s slum housing crisis

Slums should be seen as symbols of urban mis-governance and we must look to find solutions to the housing crisis

Illustration: Jayachandran/Mint

The popular debate on slums in India is often hijacked by two opposing camps. One sees slums as grotesque markers of poverty and economic inefficiency. The opposing camp sees such settlements as thriving hives of economic activity, or as the inevitable consequence of India’s rapid growth over the past three decades. The truth is often hard to establish because of a paucity of credible slum data. Read more

Source : www.livemint.com

Surat beats metros with sharp drop in number of slum-dwellers

Surat : With just nine per cent of its population residing in slums, Surat has the least number of slum-dwellers in terms of percentage when compared to metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi, according to the latest census date shared by the city's civic body chief.

"With just nine per cent of our residents living in slums, we have better off than large cities in the country in terms of percentage of population living in slums," Surat Municipal Commissioner M K Das told The Indian Express. Read more

Source : www.indianexpress.com

Fresh plea in VACB case against Deputy Mayor

KOZHIKODE : The case relates to siphoning of funds from a slum development project.

A file photo of Deputy Mayor PT Abdul Latheef.

Anti-corruption activist K.P. Vijayakumar on Monday moved a petition before the Kozhikode Inquiry Commissioner and Special Vigilance Judge against the Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau (VACB) for not arraigning Deputy Mayor P.T. Abdul Latheef as an accused in the case relating to diversion of the Cherottuvayal slum development project fund in the city. Read more

Source : www.thehindu.com

At last, HUDA conducts draw of plots for Economically Weaker Section beneficiaries

GURGAON: The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) has finally held the draw of plots earmarked for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category in Sector 10A.

In each sector, HUDA earmarks a certain number and size of plots for the EWS category, for which separate applications are called and then allotment is done based on a lucky draw. In Sector 10A, HUDA could not announce the EWS plots because of litigation. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Study says 34% of Chennai city slum dwellers could have high BP

CHENNAI : A study of the slum population in Chennai Corporation limits has revealed that 34 per cent have high blood pressure levels. A total of 1,003 persons in the 17 to 89 age group were screened of which 345 were found to have high BP levels. The study was conducted in a locality in Walltax Road.

Doctors said that bad food habits, stress and sedentary lifestyle were some of the reasons for increasing number of high BP cases — Photo: R. Ragu

Doctors from the Institute of Community Medicine of Madras Medical College, who conducted the screening, termed the findings preliminary but said sedentary lifestyle and the kind of food consumed had a major role to play. Assistant professor A. Chithra, who led the study, said, “Their diet is rich in salt and saturated fatty acids. They eat dried fish and reuse oil regularly; salted packaged snacks are common in these households and carbonated beverages consumed. They don’t eat enough vegetables and fruits,” she added. Read more

Source : www.thehindu.com

PM may hand over CHB slum rehab flats

Chandigarh : If all goes well, soon, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could be handing over the possession of over 8,400 flats in Dhanas next month to the beneficiaries. These flats were constructed as part of the ambitious slum rehabilitation scheme under the JNNURM by the UT Administration and is one of the biggest slum rehabilitation schemes in the country.

The Chandigarh Housing Board officials have already invited Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to be the chief guest at the mega event. Sources in the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) say that officials are making all-out efforts to ensure that the PM makes it to the event. Read more

Source : www.indianexpress.com