OBJECTIVES

The main objectives of this policy are:

1. To integrate slum settlements and the communities residing within them into the urban area as a whole by creating awareness amongst the public and in Government of the underlying principles that guide the process of slum development and improvement and the options that are available for bringing about the integration.

2. To strengthen the legal and policy framework to facilitate the process of slum development and improvement on a sustainable basis.

3. To establish a framework for involving all stakeholders for the efficient and smooth implementation of Policy objectives.

Slums are an integral part of urban areas and contribute significantly to their economy both through their labour market contributions and informal production activities. This Policy, therefore, endorses an upgrading and improvement approach in all slums. It does not advocate the concept of slum clearance except under strict guidelines set down for resettlement and rehabilitation in respect of certain slums located on untenable sites.

The poor represent an extremely important element of the urban labour force and contribute substantially to total productivity and labour market competitiveness. It is vital that all Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) recognise the contribution of the urban poor in helping to build urban prosperity and make sufficient provision for them to have access to affordable land, house sites and services. The present planning and development framework is exclusive of slums and informal settlements. It views slums as "problem areas" requiring corrective action. The legal framework with its origin in the pre-independence socio-economic context requires modifications and progressive change. There is a need for a greater commitment to institutional re-orientation by adopting a more 'enabling' approach to the delivery of basic services accessible to the poor through the more effective mobilisation of community resources and skills to complement public resource allocations. Major areas of attention include: town planning, land management, poverty alleviation, basic service delivery and capacity building.

The Policy embodies the core principle that households in all urban informal settlements should have access to certain basic minimum services irrespective of land tenure or occupancy status.

Cities without slums should be the goal and objective of all urban planning for social and economic development. To reach this goal, it will be necessary to re-vision our urban development processes to make towns and cities fully democratic, economically productive, socially just, environmentally sustainable, and culturally vibrant.

Urban growth and development should lay greater emphasis on equity and distributive justice. This will mean adopting policies and processes that promote balanced, equitable and sustainable development. The Policy aims to support the planned growth of urban areas in a manner that will help to upgrade all existing slums and informal settlements with due regard for the protection of the wider public interest.

The proliferation of slums and informal settlements can be obviated by ensuring continuous supply/recycling of serviced and semi-serviced land suitable for high density occupation by lower income groups. Institutional, planning and fiscal mechanisms should be devised to prevent the idle use of land in urban areas. In those few cases where land needs to be conserved for future use in the wider public interest, more effective safeguarding measures must be evolved by the land owning agencies concerned.

Urban local bodies should work in collaboration with all other stakeholders to enhance the impact of slum development and improvement activity by building the capacities of the poor and empowering them to improve their own living conditions. Urban management systems need to be improved in three critical areas: i) resource allocation and use; ii) service delivery; and iii) urban governance - democratic, efficient, transparent and gender sensitive.

Greater participation of communities and civil society in all areas of planning, capacity building and development is envisaged. The 74th Constitution Amendment represents the context within which this Policy document is set, recognising that it is the ultimate responsibility of States and urban local bodies to interpret and implement this policy to the best of their ability. This Policy reinforces the emphasis in the 74th Constitutional Amendment on decentralised participatory structures such as Ward Committees and Municipal Planning Committees in support of local initiatives by community groups. This Policy stresses, inter-alia, a priority role for local bodies in the discharge of functions listed in the Twelfth Schedule viz: i) slum improvement and upgradation, ii) urban poverty alleviation, iii) regulation of land use and construction of buildings, iv) provision of urban amenities, and v) public health and sanitation including provision of water supply.

In line with the 74th Amendment this Policy presumes that all public land not identified for specific government use should be vested with the ULB.

While different State laws have adopted different definitions of the word slum, the Census of India 2001 has proposed to treat the following as 'Slum' areas: -

1. All areas notified as 'Slum' by State/Local Government and UT Administration under any Act;

2. All areas recognized as 'Slum' by State/Local Government ad UT Administration which have not been formally notified as slum under any Act;

3. A compact area of at least 300 population or about 60-70 households of poorly built congested tenements, in unhygienic environment usually with inadequate infrastructure and lacking in proper sanitary and drinking water facilities.

This definition appears to be satisfactory at all India level.

1. In general, all under-serviced settlements, be they unauthorised occupation of land, congested inner-city built up areas, fringe area unauthorised developments, villages within urban areas and in the periphery, irrespective of tenure or ownership or land use shall be covered under the definition of a slum/informal settlement.

2. The criteria for defining a slum/informal settlement shall take into consideration economic and social parameters (including health indicators) as well as physical conditions. Each State/Union Territory shall lay down the norms/criteria for categorising an area as under-serviced and the local body of each town shall list all such areas as slums.

The National Slum Policy is in the consideration stage. The draft of the policy in detail is published in the website of HUDCO. Its essential features are listed in the following article.

The immediate steps recommended under policy are as under:-

1. All State Governments should establish a working group to ensure that institutional arrangements, legislative frameworks and other necessary actions achieve conformity with the National Slum Policy.

2. All States that have not formulated a Slum Act should consider formulating and notifying an Act which reflects the current Policy principles and guidelines.

3. It is essential that States re-examine the implementation of the relevant sections of the Slum Act with a view to ensuring that the land acquisition procedures in respect of slums and informal settlements are simplified to ensure the speedy resolution of disputes and negotiations and that the proceedings should not last longer than a period of six calendar months from initiation.

4. States should take immediate action to ensure that all laws relating to encroachments on government land are revised and modified in the light of the National Slum Policy.

5. States should take immediate action to compile clear guidelines on resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) in accordance with the principles laid down in Section C.6 of the Draft Slum Policy

6. States should identify the main training and capacity building requirements for the efficient implementation of the National Slum Policy and devise a programme of action to address skill gaps and needs.

7. ULBs must compile a comprehensive list of all slums/ informal settlements in the urban area within a period of one calendar year from the announcement of this Policy and must establish a system for the on-going registration and issuing of identity cards for all urban poor households regardless of their current tenurial status in accordance with Section C.2 of the Draft Slum Policy

8. ULBs must ensure that the land status of all listed slums/informal settlements is classified as either Tenable or Untenable strictly according to the definition outlined in this Policy in Section C.4 of the Draft Slum Policy

9. Wherever slums/informal settlements are classified as Tenable, the ULB must facilitate the granting of tenure on all government occupied land and initiate acquisition proceedings and/ or negotiations on all privately occupied land in accordance with Section C.5 of the Draft ASlum Policy

10. ULBs should take necessary action to formulate an Integrated Municipal Development Plan which will converge all development activities and resources to provide a clear picture of the different levels of infrastructure and services in the ULB area and the relative gap or deficiency in infrastructure and services between the better serviced and under serviced wards and neighbourhoods. As a priority the IMDP should then propose actions and financial allocations to reduce this gap as far as possible in accordance with Section C.7 of the Policy.

11. ULBs should also take action to modify their bye-laws and building regulations so as to facilitate the implementation of the National Slum Policy

12. ULBs should implement slum development and urban poverty programmes in conformity with this National Slum Policy emphasising the principle of community participation in all aspects of policy implementation. Each ULB must establish concrete structures and systems for ensuring community participation in environmental improvement, social development and economic development for the urban poor.

13. ULBs must take immediate action to identify specific financial resources that may be converged for slum development in accordance with Section C.12 of this Policy.

14. ULBs should identify any competent organisations/agencies with expertise in group savings and credit schemes that would be able to work in the ULB area to promote financial services for the poor including the operation of a revolving shelter fund using the minimum 10% housing allocation under NSDP.

Incorporating some of the important features being outlined in this policy document a loan cum subsidy central sector scheme is being firmed up for launching soon. As announced by the Hon'ble Prime Minister for Independence Day, 2001 the scheme will be taken up with Central Government Subsidy of Rs 1000 crores and a loan component from HUDCO of Rs 1000 to Rs 2000 crores for construction of 4 lakh dwelling units for slum dwellers. The maximum cost of a dwelling unit to be financed will be Rs 60,000 in the six mega cities, Rs 50,000 in cities with population more than one million and Rs 40,000 in other urban areas. There will be provision for upgradation of existing slum tenements and also for basic amenities like water supply and sanitation.

To integrate sanitation as part of the housing development and to achieve cent per cent sanitation coverage in all the state capitals and cities having more than one million population, this sub-component of the above programme is intended to be launched. New individual toilets or conversion of existing toilets into sanitary latrines and community based group toilet scheme in slum areas will be financed under this scheme. Effluents and wastes from such toilets constructed under this scheme will be used for production of manure, vermiculture, biogas etc. In the first year one lakh toilet seats in 10 cities on a demand driven basis with an outlay of Rs 400 crores is being launched soon. The outlay will consist of Rs 200 crores subsidy from Government of India under the Valmiki-Ambedkar Malin Basti Awas Yojana (VAMBAY) and the balance amount as loan from HUDCO. To start with, pilot projects will be initiated in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Guwahati. The most novel features are - (a) maintenance of community toilet blocks by community based groups elected from among slum dwellers themselves; (b) family pass for each slum household @ Rs 20 per month per family for daily use of such toilets.