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1. Addressing Product Diversification in Public Housing Supply/Importance of Product Diversification in Public Housing Supply

Author:
Shubhagato Dasgupta, Anindita Mukherjee, Abhinav Kumar, and Shaurya Gupta
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
Despite the government’s efforts on augmenting the supply of houses, recent estimates suggest that the housing shortage in urban areas have widened. It is a result of the mismatch between the housing needs of the urban poor and the typology of housing supply. The present study analyses and assesses the housing needs of the urban poor using secondary data from 76th round of NSS (2018-19) on housing and living condition vis-à-vis the typologies of housing supplied by public sector. Through this analysis, we highlight in the report the mismatch between the need and supply of public housing and suggest ways to bridge this gap through policy interventions. The choice of housing, its tenure and location for the urban poor is guided by nature of employment they are engaged in, their stage of life and household size. We find that casual wage workers and urban poor are more likely to compromise on housing conditions, amenities, and privacy to locate themselves near to their livelihood opportunities. Urban housing for urban poor is predominantly supplied by the small households that form part of the informal sector however, the quality of housing remains a concern. Housing provided by formal private sector is a miniscule proportion of total housing constructed by them and is not affordable for most urban poor. The current public housing supply is designed to cater to the urban poor remains mostly at the periphery of the cities making them less desirable to the targeted population – lacks tenure diversity and often disrupts livelihoods linages. The study recommends that public sector should focus on diversifying their housing supply based on the needs of urban poor. It should strive to create a robust housing ecosystem that is responsive to the urban growth, evolving economic structure of the city as well as local preference and aspirations. It should also establish modalities for collaboration with formal private sector to develop newer models of public-private partnerships that also involves and incentivizes, informal private sector, especially the small households that are categorized as subsistence landlords, non-profit sector and communities, to supply better quality housing for the urban poor residents.
Topic:
Poverty, Public Policy, Diversification, Urban, and Housing
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

2. Poverty of Circumstances and Poverty of Opportunity

Author:
Anirudh Krishna and Sujeet Kumar
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
Ordinary people in rural Bihar and in Patna and Delhi have virtually no opportunity to be tested for a hidden talent, be it for athletics or singing or chess or mathematics or art. Not one of more than 800 young people we interviewed has ever competed at the national, state or district level in any of eight activities of different kinds. Alternative careers pass them by. Future champions can remain unidentified and unrewarded. Something better is necessary to make equality of opportunity less a slogan and more a reality. Examples from across the world show what can be done.
Topic:
Poverty, Economic Inequality, and Opportunity
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

3. The Missing Link: Understanding Rental Housing for Urban Poor

Author:
Anindita Mukherjee, Shubhagato Dasgupta, Abhinav Kumar, Aastha Jain, and Isha Khurana
Publication Date:
11-2022
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
More than 30 million urban households in India, including urban poor, depend on the rental housing market for their housing needs, out of which around 70 per cent rely on informal rental arrangements. According to the NSSO 76th round (2017-18), 19 million households, 64 per cent of the total rental housing stock, belong to the economically weaker section. This reaffirms the important role of rental housing in providing housing for urban poor, albeit still remains understudied. This study contributes to the emerging discourse on state of rental housing for urban poor while highlighting the emerging policy direction from the analysis therein. Drawing from primary data from a household survey of 1800 urban poor households that included landlord and tenants across Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, and Cochin across slum or non-slum low income neighborhoods; the findings reveal poorer housing condition in slums than those living in non-slum areas. It also shows that the households providing rental services to urban poor are also urban poor and they continue to rely on informal rental practices. This further perpetuates the deficient access to basic civic infrastructure both for the renter and rent provider, further marginalizing the renter. These findings suggest that there is an imminent need to recognize urban poor households as a critical supplier of rental housing stock for the urban poor and to develop comprehensive approaches for incentivizing them to improve the quality of living in renting arrangements. It further highlights the need to involve communities to create quasi legal structures for easier and faster dispute resolution, preferably outside the formal legal structure – cost of compliance to the Model Tenancy Act (MTA) may end up exacerbating poverty among the renters. The report further highlights the importance of policy and planning measures including earmarking land for affordable rental housing near and around high growth areas, servicing areas where poor urban tenants live, among others. As the fast-urbanising countries debate over the best ways to provide affordable housing at scale in the global south, providing affordable rental housing near places with economic opportunities is emerging as most crucial for fulfilling the vision of ‘Housing for All’. Affordable rent structure, universal access to safe water, sanitation, and connectivity through public transport have the potential to improve the living conditions and quality of life of urban poor enhancing their economic contribution in city making.
Topic:
Poverty, Urban, Housing, and Rent
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

4. Pradhan Mantri KIsan SAmman Nidhi

Author:
Vastav Irava and Avani Kapur
Publication Date:
02-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
Pradhan Mantri KIsan SAmman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) is an income support scheme by the Government of India (GoI) in which small and marginal farmers get up to Rs 6,000 per year to supplement their financial needs. Using government data, this brief reports on trends in PM-KISAN along the following parameters: Trends in allocations and releases; Receipt of funds by beneficiaries; Status of coverage.
Topic:
Government, Poverty, Budget, Social Policy, and Rural
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

5. State of Urban Poor Rental Housing in India and Emerging Policy trends

Author:
Anindita Mukherjee, Shubhagato Dasgupta, and Aparna Das
Publication Date:
04-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
“Housing for All”, an often-stated vision for housing policies in India, has come to mean ownership houses for all residents. This singular focus has been part of programs from the early 1970s and has failed to recognize the range of housing tenures that may enable a viable, sustainable market. This paper reviews the evolution of housing policies since independence and shows that the emphasis on rental housing has not been a central part of housing programs to date. It then broadly characterizes the rental housing market in India, based on national statistics, to show how rental housing for the urban poor, is half of the rental housing market and is the least understood. Thereafter based on primary survey findings, it identifies the main issues that may inform a comprehensive rental housing program was to be developed in India.
Topic:
Poverty, Inequality, Urban, and Housing
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

6. Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Slum Upgradation and Delisting in Odisha

Author:
Scaling City Institutions for India (SCI-FI)
Publication Date:
09-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
In continuation to the Government of Odisha’s landmark initiative of the Odisha Liveable Habitat Mission (OLHM), also known as the JAGA Mission, launched in 2018, and the successful implementation of the Odisha Land Rights to Slum Dwellers Act 2017, basic infrastructure upgradation and delisting of slums emerge as the next critical steps towards transforming these informal settlements into liveable habitats, integrated with the urban area. Towards this end the Scaling City Institutions for India (SCI-FI) initiative at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) as knowledge partner supported Housing and Urban Development Department, GoO to prepare a 'Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Participatory Slum Upgradation and Delisting’. The SOP intends to benefit the key stakeholders by laying down the procedure and benchmarks for undertaking participatory integrated slum level infrastructure upgradation and establishing procedure and documentation for delisting of the slum, to integrate it to the rest of the urban area. This SOP will act as an enabler for ULBs partnering with the Slum Dwellers’ Associations to ensure the availability of adequate basic services to mainstream the slums into the city fabric. This SOP lays down the integral steps to realise community-level benefits building on land rights distribution towards achieving the broader vision of a Liveable Habitat for all.
Topic:
Development, Poverty, Urban, Land Rights, and Slums
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

7. Improving Housing for Urban Poor: Learnings from BLC Implementation in Kerala

Author:
Aparna Das, Anindita Mukherjee, Baisakhi Sarkar Dhar, Sudeshna Chatterjee, Arushi Gupta, and Aastha Jain
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
The Government of Kerala dovetailed its state housing programme with the national scheme of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in 2015 to realise the vision for ‘Housing for All’. The State Poverty Eradication Mission of the Government of Kerala, or Kudumbashree, is the state-level nodal agency for implementing the scheme in Kerala. The PMAY (U) is converged with the LIFE Mission (Livelihood, Inclusion and Financial Empowerment), the comprehensive housing scheme of the Kerala government, and is implemented as PMAY (U)-LIFE. In Kerala, the PMAY’s Beneficiary-led Individual House Construction or Enhancement (BLC) vertical emerged as the most preferred vertical, owing to an increased subsidy outlay by the Government of Kerala. Further, recognising the lack of state-owned land as a significant hindrance to the uptake of the BLC scheme, the state government converged the implementation of the BLC scheme with the third phase of the LIFE Mission in 2017. This convergence provided an additional subsidy to the landless households to purchase private land, thereby enabling their inclusion under the ambit of the BLC scheme in the state. This report is based on a primary assessment of the state of habitat improvement in Kerala, under the ambit of PMAY (U)-LIFE, through a quantitative household survey in three cities of Kerala – Kochi, Trivandrum and Mukkam. It finds that the State’s interventions towards the Housing for All agenda have underscored the importance attributed to the landless and the homeless in the state, rather than slum dwellers exclusively. The State’s interventions have also successfully demonstrated an approach towards enabling livelihoods through housing and imbibing financial empowerment among women. While the Kerala model has exhibited various successful interventions to achieve a higher uptake of the BLC under PMAY, Kerala now needs to focus on adopting a city-wide, inclusive spatial planning approach. This report concludes by advocating for the provision of allied basic civic infrastructure across the new and existing housing in the state and for a spatial integration of the beneficiaries, to ensure habitat improvement.
Topic:
Poverty, Governance, Urban, and Housing
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

8. Improving Housing for Urban Poor: Learnings from BLC Implementation in Odisha

Author:
Aparna Das, Anindita Mukherjee, Baisakhi Sarkar Dhar, Sudeshna Chatterjee, Arushi Gupta, and Aastha Jain
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
In response to the national housing scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), the Government of Odisha designed the Odisha Urban Housing Mission – Awaas in 2015 to realise the goal of housing for all in the state. With an additional outlay as subsidy from the state government and the Centre to the economically weaker sections for building houses on their own land, the Beneficiary-led ‘Individual House’ Construction or Enhancement (BLC) vertical emerged as the most preferred. During the initial days of implementation, the lack of documentary evidence for the land occupied by slum dwellers continued to exclude the majority from the purview of the BLC subsidy. To address this impediment and to enable a wider traction of the scheme, the State introduced the Odisha Land Rights to Slum Dwellers Act, 2017, entitling the urban poor to rights on the land parcels they had been residing on, depending on the tenability. After the completion of the pilot phase of the Act, the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha launched the JAGA Mission, to expand the land rights programme and to transform the existing slums into liveable habitats, with the provision of all essential civic urban infrastructure. Against this background, this report aims to understand (a) the impact of the distribution of Land Rights Certificates (LRCs) among the urban poor on their ability to leverage the housing subsidy under BLC and (b) the existing conditions and challenges in the construction of houses through BLC under PMAY in Odisha. For this purpose, a stratified sample survey of 250 households was carried out in three cities of Odisha – Dhenkanal, Gopalpur and Berhampur – in addition to Key Informant Interviews (KIIs). The study finds that the dissemination of land rights to the urban poor, after the commencement of the JAGA Mission, enhanced the potential beneficiary base in the state for leveraging available BLC housing subsidies. However, the ensuing ‘house only’ approach in the State and the limited focus on improving access to basic services require urgent redressal. While the steps adopted by the Government of Odisha are vital to address the issues of urban planning and housing for slum dwellers, there is now a looming need to adopt a multi-pronged approach towards ensuring an overall habitat improvement and an integration of slums into the city fabric.
Topic:
Poverty, Governance, Urban, and Housing
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

9. Slipping Through the Cracks: The Demolition of a Government Homeless Shelter in an Informal Settlement: The Case of Amir Khusro Park

Author:
Ashwin Parulkar, Manish, and Sunil Kumar
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
In May 2017, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) demolished a Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) shelter located in an informal settlement in South Delhi’s Amir Khusro Park. DUSIB had built the shelter in response to a 2014 Delhi High Court Order. DDA demolished the same structure in cognizance of a 2015 Delhi High Court Order, issued in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a private citizen urging the state to remove illegal encroachments in the area. The demolition of the shelter led to the eviction of various groups of people in Khusro Park: families in self-constructed ‘jhuggis’; women in the DUSIB shelter managed by a local NGO; and various people in a temporary shelter not authorized by government agencies. Field visits revealed connections between these settlements. Women and children of some jhuggi families, for instance, lived in the shelter where food, nutrition, documentation, education and health services were provided by the managing NGO for shelter residents and joint and nuclear jhuggi families. In this context, the report raises and responds to two salient questions. What makes homeless shelters in Delhi vulnerable to government sanctioned demolition and eviction? What is the implication of the particular case of Amir Khusro Park on the fate of shelters in Delhi’s other numerous informal geographies? The authors examine events that preceded and unfolded during and after the demolition through ethnographic research in Khusro Park, interviews with government officials and NGO social workers, and legal analysis of both Supreme and High Court Orders and policies that assign powers to various federal, state and municipal land owning agencies. The report finds that Khusro Park residents’ Court-substantiated, though broadly defined, rights to live in shelters and urban informal settlements were violated by government agencies, such as DDA. Such government agencies are permitted to undermine general rights urban poor people have to city spaces and resettlement through the existence of specific provisions that categorize jhuggi and shelter residents on government land ‘encroachers’. The authors conclude that due process measures of DUSIB’s current resettlement policy – land surveys, provision of notice and rehousing – should be based on a thorough understanding of (a) types and nature of settlements along the informal urban housing continuum (b) infrastructure and services used by residents and (c) the nature of contracts between (i) state and federal agencies and (ii) government agencies and NGOs that authorize land use and service provision.
Topic:
Government, Poverty, Public Policy, Resettlement, Urban, Informal Settlement, and Homelessness
Political Geography:
South Asia, India, and Asia

10. Budget Brief 2019-20: Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana - Gramin (PMAY - G)

Author:
Sahithya Venkatesan and Avani Kapur
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana - Gramin (PMAY - G) is Government of India’s (GoI’s) flagship ‘Housing for All’ scheme. The scheme was launched in November 2016 and aims to provide monetary assistance for the construction of a pucca house with basic amenities to all rural houseless households and those living in dilapidated and kutcha houses. Using government data, this brief reports on trends in PMAY-G along the following parameters: Allocations and cost estimates; Releases and expenditures ; Beneficiary selection and target setting ; Target completion and physical progress of house construction ; Payments to Beneficiaries.
Topic:
Government, Poverty, Budget, and Rural
Political Geography:
South Asia, India, and Asia

11. Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban): Need vs Planning

Author:
Sama Khan
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
This paper analyses the effectiveness of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) by analyzing the financial and physical progress of the mission and the manner in which funds have been allocated and sanctioned to different activities in various states. It examines the planned allocation of central funds (i) between the SBM (Urban) and the rural component, SBM (Gramin) (ii) among the various components of SBM-U, i.e., Construction of Individual Household Latrines and Community Toilets (IHHLs and CTs), Solid Waste Management (SWM), Information, Education and Communication (IEC) and Capacity Building (CB) and (iii) across different states and UTs. It finds that the disparity in funding between the SBM-U and SBM-G does not reflect the risk-adjusted need of urban areas, given their complexities of urban congestion and poverty that lead to higher health and environmental risk. The allocation of funds between the various components of SBM-U undervalues the need for proper solid waste management, IEC and Capacity Building and appears to ignore their effect on sanitation practices, the importance of building capacity to properly manage waste from the increasing number of toilets constructed and more organized solid waste disposal. Finally, the pattern of the allocation of funds between states does not benefit states that need it the most, in terms of states that have a lower share of in-house toilets, because the funds were allocated on the basis of the share of urban population and statutory towns. The paper concludes with recommendations to rectify some of these shortcomings.
Topic:
Environment, Poverty, Finance, Economy, and Urban
Political Geography:
South Asia, India, and Asia

12. Becoming Homeless, Surviving Homelessness: The lives of six working homeless men in Yamuna Pushta, Delhi

Author:
Ashwin Parulkar
Publication Date:
04-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
This working paper from CPR’s and TISS' Understanding Metropolitan Homelessness project tells stories of six migrant homeless men from Uttar Pradesh and Nagaland who live, for various durations, in shelters along the western bank of the Yamuna river in North Delhi, locally referred to as ‘Yamuna Pushta’. Through tracing their journeys from villages and towns to Delhi’s streets, the paper explores how these men became homeless and how they survive homelessness in Delhi. This project, which is funded by ICSSR and is being conducted by CPR and TISS is led by Partha Mukhopadhyay and Ashwin Parulkar at CPR and Tarique Mohammed at TISS. A key objective of the project in general, and this paper in particular, is to better understand the structural causes of homelessness (e.g. poverty, unemployment) and how these are interlinked – through capturing the lived experiences of the homeless in their voice. This research aims to inform successful policy and implementation responses to address the current ineffectiveness of outreach efforts to homeless people in Delhi, despite interventions by the Supreme Court and support schemes designed by the government. The six stories in the paper uncover conditions, and combinations, of extreme poverty and physical abuse experienced by these men in their native places before they left home. It traces how they secure jobs, and survive, in daily wage, informal economies without housing, as well as access social services like shelter, health and drug de-addiction programs to endure the streets of Delhi. According to a 2010 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) survey, 87% of nearly 55,955 homeless adults worked jobs in the informal economy, entailing ‘the most rigorous activities which are essential for movement and building in the city.’ This paper describes in detail the varied experiences these six men have in such jobs that they find through contractors in informal labour ‘markets’ (mandis); as cooks and servers in small eateries (dhabas), and as wedding catering party workers. Through their trajectories, Parulkar also explores differences between working homeless men who return home to support families and those who have no ties with their native places and live on the streets indefinitely. For a sense of how these men became homeless and the work conditions they experience while homeless, listen to audio samples of interviews (above) conducted during field research.
Topic:
Migration, Poverty, Social Policy, Unemployment, and Homelessness
Political Geography:
South Asia, India, and Asia