The Report About The Slums of Kolkata

The Slums of Kolkata
A truth we know and a truth we dont see: The Past, The Present and The Future
September 2013
Shanto Baksi
The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see
Table of Contents
Serial A. B. C. D. 1. 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 2. 2.1 2.2 3. 3.1 3.2 3.2.1 3.2.2 List of Acronyms The Glossary Preface Acknowledgements Introduction The Background The Outline of the Report The Slums visited for this Study Study Methodology The Past The City of Kolkata The Early Slums of Kolkata The Present The Kolkata Metropolitan Area The Urban Poor How much a person / family needs to earn to get-out of the tag of urban poor? Is it possible to get-out of the situation of being urban poor in one lifetime / is it only the second generations which can / may be able to drag themselves out of this situation of living like refugees in their own country? Titles Page 05 07 08 09 10 10 12 14 16 18 18 18 20 20 21 22 22
Shanto Baksi: September 2013
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3.3 3.3.1 3.4
What role Education can play in bringing Changes Children living in the slums What are the main obstacles in the way of slum dwellers development: their backgrounds, present social status, livelihoods, future plans / lack of it and issues like lack civic facilities inside the slums Housing: viable, low cost and eco-friendly Health: situations, habits and facilities Rights: as humans and as citizens of India A case study: Durbar Disha Mahila Grihasramik Samanwaya Committee Area study: Dhapa, garbage dumping ground for Kolkata The Future The population The Government Efforts for the Urban Poor The Future Ahead The Government Support The Support from Civil Society Organizations: NGOs CBOs and Private Companies Join Ventures: PPP Appendixes Appendix 1) Definition of Slum Appendix 2) Important legal and Constitutional Provisions in India: Childhood Appendix 3) Important Union laws Guaranteeing Rights and Entitlement to Children Appendix 4) Map of Kolkata Metropolitan Area Appendix 5) Map of Kolkata Municipal Corporation Wards
23 27 29
3.4.1 3.4.2 3.5 3.6 3.7 4. 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 5. 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5.1
30 32 33 35 38 40 40 40 41 42 43 43 45 45 46 47 48 49
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5.5.2
Appendix 6) Map of Kolkata Municipal corporation showing the percentage of distribution of Slum Population References Resources available Online Resources available as Published Material Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4 Table 5 Table 6 Image 1 Image 2
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6. 6.1 6.2
50 50 52 11 16 24 25 42 44 19 39
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List of Acronyms
A. D. AIE BIP BPL BSUP CASS CBO CDC CESC CLPOA COSTFORD CSR DDMGSC DFYWA DMSC FGD FCI HDSLNSN HUDCO IPC IPER JNNURM KC KMA KMCP School KMDA KSUP Anno Domini Alternative Innovative Education Bustee Improvement Programmme Below Poverty Line Basic Services for the Urban Poor Care Awareness Support and Sustainability Community Based Organization Child Development Center Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation City Level Program Of Action Centre of Science and Technology for Rural Development Corporate Social Responsibility Durbar Disha Mahila Grihasramik Samanwaya Committee District Fishermens Youth Welfare Association Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee Focus Group Discussion Food Corporation of India Howrah Danesh Sheikh Lane Navadoy Seva Niketan The Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited Indian Pinal Code Institute of Psychological & Education Research Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission Koikala Chetana Kolkata Metropolitan Area Kolkata Municipal Corporation Primary School Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority Kolkata Urban Services for the Poor
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NFHR NGO PPP PRAYAS RAY SEED UWK VAMBAY WWW
National Forum for Housing Rights Non-Government Organization Public and Private Partnership Progressive Rural Active Youths Action for Society Rajiv Awas Yojana Society for Socio-Economic and Ecological Development United Way of Kolkata Valmiki Amebedkar Malin Basti Awas Yojana World Wide Web
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The Glossary
Badli Child Crore and Lakh Replacement Any person whos age is below 18 years A) 1 Crore = 100 Lakh = 10 million, B) 1 million = 10 Lakh: 1 Lakh is = 100 thousand, C) 1 billion = 1000 million = 100 Crore, D)1 trillion = 1000 billion = 1 Lakh Crore Katha Kutcha Nalla Pucca Rickshaw Slum One Katha = approximately 720 square feet of space Temporary structure Narrow Canal, sometime the word Khal also used for describing a Canal Permanent structure Tricycle / manually pulled two-wheeled vehicle used as passenger carrier (2 passengers and 1 cyclist/puller) These words are used to describe slums in Kolkata: Bustee / Basti, Udbastu (Refugee) colonies, Jhupri (temporary shelter): synonyms used in other parts of India are, Katras, Jhuggis (Delhi), Jhopad-patties, Chawls (Maharashtra; could also be pucca), Cheris (Chennai) and Katchi Basties (Rajasthan) Terracotta clay roofing tiles: its made just like Bricks, and its used for making /\ shaped semi-permanent roofs Temporary contractual labor/business agreement Landlords
Tali Thika Zamindars
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A. Preface
The Slums of Kolkata, a very interesting proposition for study, so many organizations have worked for so many years in the slums of Kolkata for its development, but still there is a lot to do, this study is also a small part of that big effort for betterment of people living in slums, and more than anything this study will try to raise more questions which are worth following for answers.
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B. Acknowledgements
First and foremost I must thank Mr. Mrugesh Daniel Macwan, the Secretary, SWAMAN TRUST, Bharuch, Gujarat, India. Its he who first informed me about the National Forum for Housing Rights (NFHR) meet planned at Bengaluru, Karnataka; in September 2013; and its his support and inspiration which motivated me to prepare this report about the slums of Kolkata. Special thanks go to Mr. Dipankar Sinha, Director General (Town Planning) Kolkata Municipal Corporation. I couldnt have done this work without the help from all my friends: who are integral parts of my personal and professional life, just like the city of Kolkata. They are:Ms. Rina Singh, Mr. Supriyo Chowdhury, Mr. Mrinal Bhattacharya, Mr. Tarunkumar Debnath, Mr. Saikat Mukherjee, Ms. Paromita Chowdhury, Ms. Dipmala Saha, Mr. Biswajit Modak, Mr. Renihard Fichtl, and many others Some organizations also helped me to complete this study: Koikala Chetana (KC), Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC), Progressive Rural Active Youths Action for Society (PRAYAS), Care Awareness Support and Sustainability (CASS) and Howrah Danesh Sheikh Lane Navadoy Seva Niketan (HDSLNSN) Most significant support came from the SEED (Society for Socio-Economic and Ecological Development) Registered Office: 17 / 1, Naktala Road, Kolkata 700 047, West Bengal, India Email: - seed.naktala@gmail.com, Website: www.seedin.org: I work for SEED and the management of SEED and my colleagues allowed me to conduct this study and provided all possible assistance regarding this work. Also last but not the least: the Internet / the WWW (World Wide Web) for countless free downloadable resource materials1.
1
Please Note: - its a non-funded study inspired by the Slums of Kolkata. It received influences and contributions from various people, and anyone who thinks that this document can provide any assistance to their efforts for the underprivileged, can use it without any prior permission: its a free document in the public domain. Shanto Baksi: September 2013 Page 9
1. Introduction
1.1 The Background In the year 2008 we have reached an invisible but momentous milestone: for the first time in the story of human civilization about half of its population, 3.3 billion people, is living in the urban areas; and by the year 2030 this is expected to be almost 5 billion. Many of the new urbanites are and will be poor. Their future, the future of cities in the developing countries, the future of the world itself, all depend very much on decisions made now in preparation for this enormous growth in population in the cities around the world2. This will be particularly visible in Africa and Asia where the urban population is going to be double between 2000 and 2030: That is to say, the accumulated urban growth of these two regions during their entire Past will be duplicated within the span of a single generation. Like many other developing countries India also faces the same problem of rapid and economic compulsion driven growth of the urban population in its major cities, such as Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore and Delhi. In India employment options are mostly in and around these major cities and thats why this leads to a situation where people from all walks of life are coming to these big cities for work. Add to that the growth of the already residing population of these cities. In India the phenomenon of growth of population in the cities / urbanization is not an option. It is an inevitable outcome of the faster rates of growth to which the economy has now transited. Indias urban population will reach a figure close to 600 million by 2031: the growth of India cannot be sustained if urbanization is not actively facilitated. The exodus from rural areas towards the big cities in India may be presented in this manner: table 1.
The worlds urban population grew very rapidly (from 220 million to 2.8 billion) over the 20th century; the next few decades will see an unprecedented scale of urban growth in the developing world. Shanto Baksi: September 2013 Page 10
Table 1 The Core Issue The livelihood options are better in the big cities and, then there is also the attraction of city life and, a chance to make a difference that pull people towards the cities. The Process The migrations towards the cities are not always planned and in various circumstances they cannot be planned; migration for better life by vulnerable people is mostly unsafe. The Destination The population which comes to the big cities need to adapt to situations and circumstances which are not always conducive to decent life; hence the emergence and existence of slums. Possible Impacts over the Lives of the People When families go through situations like these then women and children suffer most. Frustration / Alcohol addiction etc. for men and often all the rights of women and girls are violated: domestic violence Vagabond youth3 Children do not go to or dropout from schools
Possible Reasons
Consequences
Lack of sectorial / state development plans / poor implementation of sanctioned rural and urban development plans.
Circumstances like these are very hard and create destabilization / joblessness and push people to accept any and every job opportunity, and The development in most cases people end in exploitative efforts for up situations. underprivileged people are not implemented properly Unemployment or and consequently underemployment people continue to stay underdeveloped. Working for very low wages for very long Note: - situations like war hours for a very long and natural calamities time also contribute in people getting displaced and
3
The juvenile IPC-recognized crimes in 2011 have increased by 10.5% over those of 2010 as 22,740 IPC-recognized crimes by juveniles were registered during 2010 which increased to 25,125 cases in 2011. Major Juvenile crimes were under the heads of Theft (21.17%), Hurt (16.3%) and Burglary (10.38%) in 2011. Shanto Baksi: September 2013 Page 11
coming towards the cities in search of new beginning in life.
Doing things / work unwillingly Unsafe migration ending in trafficking Possibility of getting involved with crime: in many situations it has been seen that people with insecure future are easy to be misled / pursued for doing improper activities. Working as child labor4 Girls getting married and becoming pregnant before 18 years of age, consequently facing many problems and giving birth to premature babies and many children do not live beyond 5 years age5.
The featured city in this report is Kolkata, the capital of the state of West Bengal, India. The slums of Kolkata are very important part of this very unique and, historically speaking rather new city of India. The lives in the slums of Kolkata are as matchless as the city itself is matchless among the other big metropolitan cities of India. 1.2 The Outline of the Report The Past of the slums of Kolkata: the beginning why and when the slums started to become visible and became an important part of Kolkatas habitat. The Present situation of the slums of Kolkata: its nature (facilities, advantages and disadvantages), main livelihoods of people (for the female, children and also
Around the world, an estimated 215 million boys and girls aged 517 years were engaged in child labor in 2008, 115 million of them in hazardous work: report of International Labour Office.
5
Worldwide in the year 2010, 7.6 million children died before their fifth birthday and there were nearly 360,000 maternal deaths. Almost all child and maternal deaths occur in developing countriesa fifth of under-five deaths and more than a quarter of neonatal deaths (deaths during the first month of life, which account for two-fifths of all child deaths) occur in India alone. Shanto Baksi: September 2013 Page 12
for the male) and the quality of life of children living and growing up in these slums. The Future of these slums: what possible shape these settlements can take and what will happen to the lives of the people living in these places: the impact of rising rents and other costs of living in the urban areas and, that of the coming social transformation of the ever changing Indian society. The report is planned as a qualitative study only to inspire a bigger study / studies in the near future for better understanding of the life in the slums of Kolkata: under the following areas of human development: Livelihoods + Housing Growth + Health and Education and, Rights + Empowerment This report is not at all about how much is done by whom and, what is the actual situation of the slums regarding caste, class, religion and ethnicity related problems and divides. This study will try to take an unbiased snapshot of the life in the slums of Kolkata today, to know as a citizen of India, which rights are being violated in our slums, so that plans can be made about a better future for the people living in these areas. This study will try to find answers to some key questions, from two perspectives: from the point of view of people living in the slums, and from the point of view of people who are not living in the slums: Who are the urban poor? 1. How much a person / family needs to earn to get-out of the tag of urban poor? 2. Is it possible to get-out of the situation of being urban poor in one lifetime / is it only the second generations which can / may be able to drag themselves out of this situation of living like refugees in their own country?
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What role education can play in bring changes 1. Children living in the slums What is the main obstacle in the way of slum dwellers development: their backgrounds, present social status, livelihoods, future plans / lack of it and issues like lack civic facilities inside the slums 1. Housing: viable, low cost and eco-friendly 2. Health: situations, habits and facilities Rights: as humans and as citizens of India 1.3 The Slums visited for this Study As per the report published by the Census of India on March 31, 2011, the state of West Bengal has got a total population of 91, 347, 736, and its approximately 7.55 % of the country's total population6. It is the fourth most populous state in India, with a population density of 1029 persons per square kilometer. In the cities the density is higher. Around 8000 persons live within a square kilometer in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area. The population pressure in the state inevitably puts more pressure on its basic infrastructure. The extremely high population density obviously affects per capita resource availability. The slums are one of the first places to get the feel of lack of facilities. Pressure of population and high price rise make the lives of people in the slums of Kolkata very difficult. There are approximately 7,000 notified and un-notified slums in and around Kolkata. The slums can be divided into 2 board groups, given below: The pre-independence (1690-1947) unplanned development of settlements to provide accommodation to the migrant labor force which arrived from different parts of West Bengal and India: to serve the new class of rich people (traders turned Zamindars) or, to work in the new industries.
6
The population of India according to the Census of 2011 is 1,210,193,422, and 7.55% of that is 91,369,603.36. Shanto Baksi: September 2013 Page 14
The planned and unplanned settlements to provide place to postindependence (1947- ) forced migration of people towards Kolkata, for various reasons: refugees from caste and gender based oppression, communal riots, India-Pakistan partition, war in neighboring countries 7, and lack of planned growth in other parts of West Bengal, eastern India and, in the neighboring countries. Another general statement which can be made about the slums of Kolkata is this: most of the slums that are inside the city are notified / recognized settlements and majority of the slums that are un-notified / unrecognized settlements can be found in-and-around Kolkata / in the suburban areas. These areas / slums have been selected for the present study on the basis of a single criterion: wherever an individual / organization has offered help to willingly support and participate in this study without any payment, since its a non-funded project, there only voluntary assistance has been used to conduct this study. The names of slums that were visited for this study are: The areas inside Kolkata: 1. Bidhan Palli, near Dum-Dum Railway Station: courtesy DMSC 2. Dhapa, the garbage dumping ground of Kolkata: courtesy SEED 3. Ghashbagan, Tiljala and Darapara, Park Circus area, Municipal ward 67: courtesy Mr. Supriyo Chowdhury 4. Basti number 10, close to Ajanta Housing Quarters, Behala, Municipal ward 132: courtesy CASS 5. Slum at Mayurvanj Road, close to G.C.G. Polytechnic College, Municipal ward 78: courtesy Ms. Dipmala Saha
The archetypical example of forced migration is that of the refugee, who, according to the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951), must be outside his or her country of nationality and unable or unwilling to return due to a well-founded fear of persecution for any one of the following five reasons: race, religion, nationality, membership of a social group, or political opinion. It is this definition that has been endorsed by 135 UN member states and that guides the work of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Shanto Baksi: September 2013 Page 15
In other parts of West Bengal: 6. Slum near 57 Bus Stand, Howrah: courtesy PRAYAS 7. Baxara (Khalerdhar / by the side of Canal) close to the Botanical Graden, Howrah: courtesy HDSLNSN 8. Slum close to Tarakeshwar Railway Station, Hooghly: courtesy KC 9. Chaigada (Ashes dump) close to FCI (Food Corporation of India) warehouse / CESC (Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation) Power Plant, Budge-Budge, South 24 Parganas: courtesy Ms. Rina Singh 1.4 Study Methodology The intervention logic used for this study is given below, in table 2. Table 2 Analysis of Data / Information during the Study assembled
The Key Questions
Conclusions: On the basis of 3 sources, the Interviews listing of common and FGDs uncommon answers / Facility mapping feedbacks about the Information from the Government key questions about development efforts for the urban poor Interventions by other agencies (beside the Government) about development of urban poor
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The study has been conducted in participatory manner with volunteer contributions from various involved and concerned people and organizations, and information about slums and people living in the slums has been collected through these methods: Facility mapping in-and-around the slums One-to-one interactions and FGDs to know about the life in the slums: their past, present and future Information about Government efforts for the Urban Poor Study of other reports made about slums of Kolkata and about those in the other parts of the world The sample size of the survey: visit to 9 areas / slums (making a kind of CV of the slums) and interview with 30 people living in the slums.
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2. The Past
2.1 The City of Kolkata Kolkata is a kind of unique / freak city; this city was nowhere in Indian Past until the English East India Company (British) came to India and, then suddenly within few years it became one of the most important cities of India 8 and then within a very short span of time it became the second most significant city of the transcontinental British Empire. The very old traditions / heritage of India was present in and around this city / area but never made a rigid impact over the lives of people of this area, and thats why the modern western ideas / systems that came with the British got a very good reception and breeding ground in Kolkata. Those ideas / systems created a new class of educated people who later on took part very pro- actively, in the freedom movement of India to free India from British rule. The unique mix of western education and Indian traditions makes Kolkata a city which is at the same time a part of the Indian society and also very different from the rest of the Indian society, therefore it may not be a surprise if we find that the hypothesis that the slums of Kolkata are also different from the slums of other cities of India is true. 2.2 The Early Slums of Kolkata The arrival of the British not only brought new commerce, new ideas and knowledge; but, as the industrial revolution unfolded in England, it also brought new technology and industrialization, with the new factories becoming the new places for work and prosperity. The demands for labor for the new commerce and factories became higher and, that demand increased rapidly. The people of rural areas started to come to the city of Kolkata for work in the factories; and they got jobs, but no place for their stay was organized by the factory owners. The new workers in and around Kolkata started to build their own small and temporary housing facilities: the slums of Kolkata became visible. Life started to change around the city of Kolkata, which sprang up from three very insignificant villages, into the most important city of India within 200 years [roughly from 1700 to 1900]. The journey was very fast for Kolkata and her
8
Since the later part of 1400 A.D. the reference of Kolkata (Kalikata and Kalighat: a temple site in the city) started to appear in literature, for instance, such reference can be found in Bipradas Pipalais Manasabijoy Kabya (1495 A.D.) and, in Abul Fazals Ain-e-Akbari (1592 A.D.). Shanto Baksi: September 2013 Page 18
people. Its rapid growth created a new class of rich people and subsequently demands for a big service sector industry. This need could not be handled by the villagers of Sutanuti, Kolkata, and Govindapur 9, therefore a migration was inevitable to fill this gap / shortage of labor The migration was not only from within Bengal; people from all parts of India started to come to this city for fortune hunting. Not all the service sector industry labors got the chance to stay in the houses / hotels, and other establishments where they were employed, and that is why they also started to take shelter in the slums. Kolkata was clearly divided into 2 parts: the White Town and the Black Town. Slowly but steadily the slums become an important and integral part of this city, and now the city cannot be described without its slum population 10. Image 1) Old Map Kolkata Area
These three villages were combined to create the city of Kolkata.
10
In the year 1772 Calcutta became the capital of British India when the first Governor-General Warren Hastings, transferred all important offices to this city from Murshidabad. The capital of India was moved from Calcutta to Delhi in the year 1911, with that official act Calcuttas dominance as the number one city of India came to an end. In the year 2001 Calcutta was officially renamed as 'Kolkata'. Shanto Baksi: September 2013 Page 19
3. The Present
3.1 The Kolkata Metropolitan Area The city is growing very fast: the population of Kolkata Metropolitan Area11 (KMA) was projected at 17 million in 2011, 20 million in 2021 and 21.1 million in 2025. According to the 2001 census, the slum population of the Indian cities is estimated to be 61.8 million, which is roughly 14.12 percent of the urban population. A significant proportion of this slum population is without access to even the most basic services. KMA is no exception to this phenomenon. The socioeconomic profile of the households in KMA undertaken in 1996 1997 by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) revealed that about 45% of the households lived in slum like environments. We may go into the details of actual population of the slums of Kolkata and, into other issues like what is a slum and which places cannot be called / considered as slum etc. but, that will take us away from the real problems of people living in the slums. This study is also not interested about finding the social and cultural profiles of the people that are visible among the slum dwellers of Kolkata.
For example, in India, 30% of the population now lives in cities, and 50 cities have population of over 1 million. An important feature of urbanization in India during the period of 1981-2001 was the relatively small contribution of migration (this definition of migration does not include seasonal migration) to the increase in urban population: net migration from rural areas is responsible for growth of approximately 20% of the present urban population of India.
Different opinions about a particular subject is natural in a democracy, that is why the estimates of the % of people living in the Indian cities is oscillating between more than 30% and less than 50%, and same is also applicable about the estimates about the number of people who are coming from villages to cities, which oscillate between more than 20% and less than 30%.
11
Kolkata Metropolitan Area should not be confused with Kolkata District as Kolkata Metropolitan Area is larger than Kolkata district or Kolkata City. Kolkata District and Kolkata City are same. The Kolkata Metropolitan Area consists of Kolkata District along with some of the Sub-urban areas. Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) extended due North up to Kalyani (Nadia district) and Bansberia (Hooghly district), in the South up to Budge Budge (South 24 Parganas district), due East up to Baruipur (South 24 Parganas), and in the West up to Uluberia (Howrah district). Kolkata Metropolitan Area consists of 3 Municipal Corporations (including Kolkata Municipal Corporation) and 38 Municipalities and 22 rural Panchayat Samities. Shanto Baksi: September 2013 Page 20
3.2 The Urban Poor To describe the phenomenon called urban Varying Definitions of the word Urban poor is a very interesting task: if someone in India: all statutory places with a earns around Rs. 17,000.00+ per month Municipality, Corporation, Cantonment Board, or Notified Town Area (for a family of 3 persons including Committee; and, all places satisfying herself / himself), that is Rs. 200,000.00+ the following three criteria per year then that persons income simultaneously: (i) a minimum becomes taxable ; and, that person will population of 5000; (ii) at least 75 per not be considered a poor person. cent of male working population However, if that person takes a one room engaged in non-agricultural pursuits; and (iii) a population density of at least rented accommodation (with toilet and 400 per sq. km (1000 per sq. mile). kitchen) / flat in a non-slum area of a city, then s/he will have to pay something between Rs. 6,000.00 and 8,000.00 per month (excluding electricity bill and other maintenance charges). While in the slums s/he can get a room for less than Rs. 2,000.00 per month (with electricity) with common toilet, and most of the time they cook inside that same room. A cluster of reasons like these makes a family stay in the slums with very poor living conditions, though they not be, technically speaking, poor according to the manuals of the government. The slums are also a place where lot wealth is generated, and many slum dwellers are living with / using lot of modern equipment for their daily life. It is not a criticism, its a statement of fact; and, they can only enjoy these facilities because of the cheap / low-cost living conditions in the slums. The urban poor are persons who have no property in the city: first generation of migrant laborers / internally displaced people / refugees from other places or countries. The urban poor are people, who earn in-and-around Rs. 1,000 per month, and then there are the people who are situated BPL 12.
12
BPL (Below Poverty Line): an income of Rs 32 per day is the poverty line in India; i.e., Rs. 32 X 30 = Rs. 960.00 per month or, Rs. 32 X 365 - Rs. 11,680.00 per year. Based on the recommendations of the Tendulkar Committee, the Planning Commission has set the poverty line in India at Rs 965 per capita per month in the urban areas; and, Rs 781 per capita per month in the rural areas. Shanto Baksi: September 2013 Page 21
3.2.1 How much a person / family needs to earn to get-out of the tag of urban poor? Its a joint consensus among the people who have contributed to this report that if a person earns Rs. 2,500 in a month, and a family of 4 persons as a whole earns Rs. 10,000 in a month, then they should not be considered as poor people in a urban setting, nevertheless this kind of earning cannot help you to get out of the slums inside the city limits and build / purchase a house for yourself / family. Its easier for those persons to buy property who are doing their own businesses, for people who are working for a fixed salary its very difficult for them to save some money to buy some property for his future: approximately 100 km. away from Kolkata you may get 1 Katha of land for Rs. 20,000, where the roads are temporally made with bricks, and if you move towards Kolkata for another 15 / 20 km. then the price of 1 Katha is Rs. 80,000, here you will get roads of asphalt or concrete or macadam. 3.2.2 Is it possible to get-out of the situation of being urban poor in one lifetime / is it only the second generations which can / may be able to drag themselves out of this situation of living like refugees in their own country? Its a majority opinion that most of the people (first generation that has come to the city as migrant) find it very difficult to get-out of the slums in their lifetime; its the second generation which is most likely to move to a better living condition during their lifetime. For the second generation also its true that people who are trying to make a living by doing a business of their own has the better chance to move from a slum to a better place of living: building entrepreneurs kind of holds the key to the success of backward peoples empowerment and social mobilization. Note: - Additionally another thing was also observed that sometimes the second generation is reluctant about hard work, which was the key for survival and recognition for their parents, the new generation becomes more ambitious about making it big in one life time, but fails to understand the value of hard work, and in many situations they end-up frustrated and aimless in life, and gets involved with anti-social activities.
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3.3 What role Education can play in bringing Changes To live is to fight for existence. A fight is part of a war, and if its a war for existence, then education is the best weapon that a person can carry with herself/himself: the more you use it, the better it becomes. To educate a child one needs to invest a lot of knowledge, time, energy and money, especially when that child is young: from the age of 0-5 years and onwards. Near the slums inside any metropolitan city of India mainly 3 types of Schools are available: Government, Private Aided and Private Unaided (Private unaided schools are schools that do not receive any funding from the government. They manage their financial obligations through fee collection, donation and endowment. Private unaided schools can be either recognized [by the government] or unrecognized). The unrecognized schools takes help from recognized schools regarding admitting their students into Government recognized schools: the students of unrecognized schools give their last exam (mostly class IV final exam) under the umbrella of a recognized school, so that their students can get admitted in Government schools / recognized private schools in class V. Additionally there are NGO, CBO and Community run schools which will come under the type called school running on the basis of an external funding from another organization, but these schools are mostly part of projects thus they can only run till the project is there / fund is available, and thats where sometimes they fail to sustain a process of development after a great start regarding the education of underprivileged children. These NGO, CBO and Community run schools / CDC are very pro-active in nature and create lot of interest among children and, they have also created lot of mass mobilization / public awareness; they have made a very significant contribution towards bringing out of school children back into mainstream school system13.
13
One such project was Sikshalaya Prakalpa, a project which is jointly implemented by City Level Program Of Action (CLPOA) and Loreto Day School, Sealdah. The project was about educational development of children living in slums of Kolkata, under this intervention 600 Alternative Innovative Education (AIE) centers were opened allover Kolkata and 29,000+ children receiving education and 60 NGOs working in the project. Shanto Baksi: September 2013 Page 23
The Government Schools: - the student teacher ratio is very high; and in some schools there are more than 50 students per teacher: additionally the teachers are absent from schools for various reasons (Election duty, data collection for Government projects, administrative reasons for visiting the district headquarter, etc.). The Private Aided Schools: - are the new elite schools of modern Indian society, consequently they are very expensive and for the children of elite people (some Private Unaided Schools also comes under the criteria of elite schools). Private Unaided Schools: - are the best deals for the urban poor, these are mostly within their reach and also most of the time within the neighborhood. The NGO, CBO and Community run schools are mostly working as some kind of backup support system for the children of the people of slums: children go to these schools mostly to complete their homework. A comparison of fees in private unaided schools of Kolkata is given in table 3 below. Table 3 Within the reach: less than Rs. 300 per month The private unaided schools were divided into three categories, Reasonable: between Rs. 300 to 600 per according to monthly fees month charged for providing education. Out of the reach: more than Rs. 600 per month
Note: - beside the monthly fees of the school there are several other expenditures related to providing education to a child: food, dress, travel, private tuition and educational materials are the major areas of related expenses for a poor family. The Government Schools are much less costly, but people have the belief that, private schools are better focused about providing education to children and, they also think that a child coming out of a private school system is more prepared for the job market: there is more emphasis on teaching spoken English in private
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schools, than in Government schools, and the capability of speaking English do provide an edge to a person looking for jobs in the present Indian job market. A series of FGDs were conducted earlier this year, in the slums to know more about peoples 14 spending priorities for their family; and, to see where they put education related costs in their rankings; among the participants of FGDs18 persons were selected for this exercise 15, and the corresponding summery of lists of priorities is given in table 4 below Table 4) Priority 1 Priority 2 Priority 3 Priority 4 Priority 5 Priority 6 Priority 7 Priority 8 Priority 9 Food / Health (Doctor and Medicine) Food / Education / Rent / Electricity / Health Education / Rent / Electricity / Health Festival / Garments / Travel / Gusts / Rent / Electricity / Health Repaying Loan / Festival / Garments / Travel / Rent / Electricity / Health Cosmetics / Dress / Gusts / Education / Rent / Electricity / Travel / Festival / Miscellaneous Sending Money / Travel / Festival / Cosmetics / Miscellaneous Cosmetics / Garments / Miscellaneous Miscellaneous
14
The men are: - Daily laborers, Drivers, Electricians, doing small odd jobs, in small businesses, earning between Rs. 5,000 and Rs.7,000 per month; and, the women are: - Housewives, Maid Servants, in small businesses, earning between Rs 2,000 and Rs. 4,000 per month.
15
This exercise was conducted for the Institute of Psychological & Education Research (IPER) is selected by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to do a situational analysis / impact assessment of the educational services provided in a KMC Primary School located at 5/1 Dr. Radha Kumud Mukherjee Road, Kolkata 700 019, inside ward number 68. The assignment was undertaken in collaboration with United Way of Kolkata (UWK), in January 2013. Shanto Baksi: September 2013 Page 25
After the lists of priorities were made, we found that among our respondents 95%16 of the people put food on the top of their list of priorities, which is natural and most common. Among the lists of items of priorities maximum number of respondents mentioned list number 9, and minimum number went for list number 6. Miscellaneous was indicated as the last priority. 1. For 50% (9 families) of the respondents number of priorities are 7 items 2. For 39%17 (7 families) of the respondents number of priorities are 8 items 3. For 5.5% (1family) of the respondents number of priorities are 9 items 4. For 5.5% (1family) of the respondents number of priorities are 6 items All the families spend most for food: maximum 35% of their earning, and minimum 20% of their earning. For education: the maximum that a family spends is 22% of their earning, and minimum 8% of their earning The findings show that the people are willing to pay for education of their children: these days the backward / underprivileged people do understand the value of education for betterment of their children. Among the respondents, 18 in total: 8 had put education as number 2 in their list of priorities, 7 of them had put education as number 3, and for 3 respondents education related expense are not inside top 3 priorities of their family The first 3 priorities take most of every familys income: maximum 77% and, minimum 47%, of their total income The future of private unaided schools is promising from a business as well as social prospective, because its the best tool which can be used for betterment of
16
17 out of 18 is 94.44% 7 out of 18 is 38.88% Page 26
17
children living in slums of Kolkata: a proper business related intervention with organized and systematic approach about providing good quality education with not very high price can make a lasting impact over the lives of these children and create better citizens of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Additionally educated children and youth are more likely to stay away / can save themselves from these things / situations18 listed below: Sexual abuse and exploitation Early pregnancy Alcohol and drug addiction 3.3.1 Children living in the slums The kids are kids all over the world, and all the children are born with same amount of intellect, equal amount of potential and similar kind of nature: poor, rich, rural, urban everywhere its potentially the same. The children living in the slums in many cases get less opportunities for growth in comparison with the children not living in slums (in the same city), so in many situations the children living in the slums dont do well in the race of life to become successful. In very near future the population of the cities in India is going to be very high and consequently the population in the slums will also rise, therefore number of children living in the slums wills also increase 19 and, so will their need for better support system for their development. Many children from slums dont get the right opportunities regarding personal development and a big percentage of them get lot in the following situations: -
18
It is alarming that, in 2011, the Crimes against children reported a 24% increase from the previous year with a total of 33,098 cases of crimes against Children reported in the country during 2011 as compared to 26,694 cases during 2010.
19
India has one of the largest proportions of population in the younger age groups in the world. 35.3% of the population of the country has been in the age group 0-14 years at the Census 2001. 41% of the population account for less than 18 years of age. Shanto Baksi: September 2013 Page 27
Working for the family Not getting the chance to study: staying at home due to bad financial and unequal social circumstances Not completing their study: dropouts (due to migration, bad financial and unequal social circumstances) Early marriage: lack of awareness about child development, inequality about the value of a girl child In this way the society is at a loss, and the skills and abilities of these children are not getting fully used in the process of development of the society. In this context a table is presented as appendix and it provides a view at a glance about the laws and acts related to child and childhood in India: appendix 2. The enormous number of children living in the slums is a large part of the future population of India, and this vast human resource needs to be developed for the betterment20 of the Indian society.
20
The Census found an increase in the number of child laborers from 11.28 million in 1991 to 12.66 million in 2001. The major occupations engaging child labor are agriculture (68.14%), manufacturing (16.55%), trade and hotel (8.45%), commerce (3.41%), construction (1.95%), transport (0.66%), finance (0.57%), mining and quarrying (0.25%), electricity and water (0.02%), as of 2004-05 [resource available online, number 17]. There is considerable increase in the absolute number of child labor between 1991 and 2001 in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Bihar, West Bengal, Haryana, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya, and Delhi, whereas the States of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Orissa, Gujarat and Kerala have shown significant decline in the number of child laborers. Shanto Baksi: September 2013 Page 28
3.4 What is the main obstacle in the way of slum dwellers development: their backgrounds, present social status, livelihoods, future plans / lack of it and issues like lack civic facilities inside the slums The origin of slum dwellers is that they are migrants, from within the state and also from other parts of the country21, and additional population in the slums are the refugees from neighboring countries, therefore they start their lives in the city slums as people with very little rights, and they also prefer to maintain a low profile so that the indigenous / local people dont get annoyed with their presence. For survival the migrants accept all kinds of odd job / things that the local people dont consider as a proper employment; it leads to situation which marks the slum population as people who do dirty22 jobs. These people also do many other service sector related jobs like working in shops, as industrial laborers, drivers, electricians, plumbers, Rickshaw-pullers, and other odd jobs. Since the first-class citizens of a city dont live in the slums (wh o are in most cases the people who have occupied majority of Government positions regarding decision making especially about their own city) the development efforts regarding the slums in most of the cases takes a back sit, and the development related activities around the slums mostly happen spontaneously / in unplanned manner. At first these people live with the philosophy of earning for day and living for a day, and no one can blame them for this mindset; its kind of natural for a person / family which is fighting for survival, and because of this in many situation all the members of the family are engaged in earning for the family; if the children are at home and not earning for the family then they are looking after their smaller siblings so that both the parents can go out of the house to earn for the family.
21
Each year, millions of persons are compulsorily displaced by development projects, whether dams, roads, reservoirs or oil, gas and mining projects. Although such projects can bring enormous benefits to society, but they also create displacement and they also inflict cost increase in the project areas, which are often leads to problems for the poorest and most marginalized members.
22
Not criminal activities, but all kinds of low wage blue collar jobs: garbage collectors, janitors (toilet cleaners), domestic worker and etc. Shanto Baksi: September 2013 Page 29
In these kinds of situations girls suffer more (receive less opportunities regarding personal development: education), because they are the customary first choice as babysitters and also as domestic helpers for their mothers23. To have a better future you need have a plan, and to make a plan for the future you need a relatively peaceful present situation, and most of people in the slums are very busy about their today: present time, therefore they find very little time to make plans for their future and consequently their children get trapped in a cycle of vulnerability / insecurity. To take people out from a vulnerable situation, we need overall improvement of basic Infrastructure: housing, health, education and transport system, and additionally targeted interventions about specific needs of people regarding their personal development related issues. 3.4.1 Housing: viable, low cost and eco-friendly The living condition of slums are not at all appropriate for growth of any human being, and therefore making good quality houses for slum dwellers is one of the most important need of the hour. The Government of India is planning to do a lot of activities for betterment of the urban poor, and that includes housing development for the urban poor, but still it will need a lot of proactive individual efforts on behalf of slums dwellers for their betterment and by others for the slum dwellers, otherwise it is not going to be possible only on the basis of Government efforts to improve the living conditions of the slums. The main areas work here is: Reorganizing the space inside the slums Relocating the slums in new places Alongside Government efforts individuals have also worked for the development of low cost housing for the poor people, and one such person was Mr. Laurie
23
The female literacy rate in India according to the Census of 2011 is 53.7% whereas the male literacy rate is 75.3%; in rural areas female literacy rate is 46.1% and male literacy rate is 70.7%; its better in the urban areas where the female literacy rate is 72.9% and male literacy rate is 86.3%. http://www.censusindia.gov.in Shanto Baksi: September 2013 Page 30
Baker24 who has worked for housing development related projects in India and created the Centre of Science and Technology for Rural Development (COSTFORD): http://www.costford.com/. A place is not only an area / house its also related to the identity of a person and the fear of displacement is a permanent fear in the minds of slum dwellers, and because of this many times housing projects to resettle slum dwellers have failed in the past owing to the thought that: if I change the place I will lose my identity. In Andhra Pradesh for the reasons of development many villages of Fishworkers were shifted from the seacoast to a place which is just 20 / 25 km. inside the main land and this shifting has led to a situation where older Fishworkers who have grown up by the shoreline watching the sea in front of them became psychologically sick because of depression and lost their lives this information has been provided by the District Fis hermens Youth Welfare Association (DFYWA), an organization working for rights of the traditional Fishworkers of Gajuwaka, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. To motivate the people living in the slums to get voluntarily relocated in safe, affordable and culture-friendly housing sites is the basic human challenge for our housing policy makers and slum-improvers.
24
Born in Birmingham, England, in 1917, Laurie Baker studied architecture at the Birmingham School of Architecture from where he graduated in 1937 and became an associate member of the, Royal Institute of British Architects. During the World War II he was an anesthetist to a surgical team in China where he also worked on disease control and treatment. On his way back to England he had to wait for about three months for a boat in Bombay. There he met Gandhiji and was influenced by him. He decided that he would come back to India and work here. During 1945 - 1966, apart from his general freelance architectural practice throughout his life in India, Baker was architect to leprosy institutions in India and 1ived and worked in a hill village in Uttar Pradesh. In 1966, Baker moved south and worked with the tribals of Peerumede in Kerala. In 1970, he came to Trivandrum and has since been designing and constructing buildings all over Kerala. He has served at various times as Governor of HUDCO, on the working group on Housing of the Planning Commission, and on several expert committees at the national and state level. He died in 2007. Shanto Baksi: September 2013 Page 31
3.4.2 Health: situations, habits and facilities The slums are generally dense-packed settlements, there is lack of open space, and its always over crowded 25.
The displaced / migrant people coming from different parts of rural India into the big Indian cities are coming with their culture and social habits, and one of the habits is related to health and hygiene: garbage disposal. The slums are mostly living areas of villagers in the cities, and they find it very difficult to control garbage disposal inside the slum, because the way they are accustomed about dealing with this issue in the village is inadequate inside the slums / cities. As a whole the knowledge about garbage disposal is very backward / unscientific: very few people in India have appropriate ideas about biodegradable and nonbiodegradable garbage, and even fewer have the habit of separating biodegradable and non-biodegradable garbage in different places / packets at the time of garbage disposal.
When homes are made with no adequate space inbetween them, then its natural that condition of hygiene is going to be the most prominent issue of concern, and many health problems start from lack of cleanliness in the neighborhood, and as result of that the people of slums get sick more often than the other citizens of the same town. Many slums are by side of a broad / narrow Nalla, and its the main source of unclean atmosphere inside the slums. For the people of slums lack of cleanliness and lack of basic civic facilities 26 is kind of obligatory evil which they have to accept as slums dwellers. Lack of own toilet (in many slums 12 / 15 persons are using 1 toilet): in many slums the water source is located in open place / neutral ground and for women it become very difficult to use that area for their needs related to bathing, washing etc.
25
Slum dwellings have high occupancy rates in all-purpose rooms. Cooking, sleeping, and living with 13.4 people per 45 m2 room, as in the slums of Kolkata, India, places residents at risk of respiratory infections, meningitis, and asthma. In Manila, the Philippines, children living in squatter settlements are nine times more likely than other children to have tuberculosis.
26
Source of drinking water: from treated source 65.3%, Source of lighting: electricity: 90.5%, Drainage connectivity for waste water outlet: closed drainage 36.9%, open drainage 44.3% and no drainage 18.8%, Type of latrine facility: latrine within the premises 66% and no latrine within the premises 34%. An additional information: 63.5% of the households in the slums in India have mobile phones [Source: Housing Stock, Amenities & Assets in Slums - CENSUS 2011] Shanto Baksi: September 2013 Page 32
Lack of safe drinking water (many families buy water costing Rs. 300 / 500 in month / spend 1 / 2 hours of time in bring water from a safe source) Lack of cleanliness: garbage (lot of waste: biodegradable and nonbiodegradable are left here and there inside the slum) Another issue of big concern is lack of safety: fire is the most likely threat, and there occur countless incidents of fire related accidents in the slums all over India. Only architecturally safe townships can eliminate this risk, otherwise fire is going to stay as the biggest threat for the slum dwellers of India. Government-run health-care system is available inside the metropolitan cities of India; therefore that facility is available for the people of slums in the big cities, but its the situations inside the slums, which is the main reason of concern regarding health related problems of slums-dwellers. The space inside the slums / lack of it is not only the reason for creating unhealthy atmosphere, but also in situations of firefighting it becomes the most prominent obstacle for all kinds of aid workers, and in many cases its the biggest reason for not being able provide aid in time for people in need inside a slum thats under fire. 3.5 Rights: as humans and as citizens of India People come to cities for work and a better life, but not everyone is ready to face the challenges of life in the cities and many of them end-up in the slums as the last asylum for them.
Inside the heartland of Kolkata the area of Park Circus is a place where there are many illegal houses, and a very big area which used to be a slum is now turning into an area of multistoried buildings, and many of them are illegal, just one thing is good enough to prove this point and thats the space between 2 buildings, in some case its less than 100 centimeters. Every year approximately 200,000 Lakh square fit of floor space is added to the city of Kolkata and Rs. 7,000 Crore is spent for doing this work.
The slums are illegal at first: by occupying land without permission / authorization. In the beginning slums have evolved in vacant lands, which were not prime property at that time, but later on when the city starts to expand its limits the land where the slums are located become valuable property, and thats where the story of eviction of slums becomes alive for re-acquiring the land.
Shanto Baksi: September 2013 Page 33
We have found that many slums are located by the side of Railway lines and these lands are property of Indian Railways but since these places are kept open / empty by Railways as part of standard procedure / safety measures these places stay empty and its easy to build a slum there, but its always very dangerous especially for children: only when extension of Railway lines take place these slums are evicted. A very new type of eviction is going on in the slums of Kolkata, at the place of a semi-permanent house a big building is getting made and people are either getting paid to leave the area / they are getting a very small room (8 x 8 and in many cases without a window) at the basement. The big buildings are made very unscientifically and they are also very unsafe in every possible way they can be, which creates an atmosphere of very unhygienic living conditions for all the people of that area. These are the cases of our new-look high-rise slums. Additionally there is always the case of removing slums in the name of development of the city; one such contemporary issue is of Nonadanga slum eviction, and this is just another case of unimportant land becoming prime property, and people are being displaced from their homes.
Chhaigada a slum in Budge-Budge - South 24 Parganas, where most of the people are engaged in these 2 occupations / trades: 1) working as substitute workers for permanent staff of FCI, doing their work on the basis of an illegal system of working as Badli getting paid less than half of official wage, and 2) stealing Coal from the railway wagons carrying Coal for CESC Power Plant and selling it outside: often the Coal is wet and for selling it outside they have to burn it to make it ready for use for domestic purposes, and this exercise of making the Coal ready for use leads to a very unscientific and unhealthy situation which later becomes the main reason for respiratory sickness / Tuberculosis for many dwellers of this slum.
Most of migrants start their lives in a new place as tenants, and the same is applicable for slums dwellers, but at the time of eviction most of the dialogue takes place with minority landlords and often the rights of tenants are violated. Over the years many laws are made about regulations related to rented places / tenants, a list of few is given below: -
Calcutta Thika Tenancy Act of 1949 The Calcutta Slum Clearance Bill of 1957
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Thika Tenancy Act of 1981 The National and regional Governments have started many activities / schemes of development for slums dwellers / urban poor, such as: The Bustee Improvement Programmme (BIP) in late 1960s The Kolkata Environmental Improvement Project by KMC: to improve the slums of Kolkata, the efforts started after formation of Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority 1972 The Basic Services for the Urban Poor (BSUP) The Kolkata Urban Services for the Poor (KSUP)
The slums are also an easy place for running manufacturing related ventures: due to availability of labor force and low infrastructural costs / overheads, therefore slums work as an area where lowcost / small business can run very easily: these ventures dont follow any rules regarding safety of people that are involved with these efforts, thus many accidents take place in slums.
Nevertheless whenever the land become valuable / profitable for housing projects inside a city the slums are going to be evicted and this process will continue for some time to come, until and unless we start to acknowledged the slums dwellers as equal citizens of India. 3.6 A case study: Durbar Disha Mahila Grihasramik Samanwaya Committee Background: The issue of slum development is a subject of decision for a long time and many efforts are been made for development of slums and the people that are living in these places. Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC)27 is an organization working for the rights of Sexworkers and their children since 1995 and also for the rights of other marginalized population. One such effort supported by DMSC is Durbar Disha Mahila Grihasramik Samanwaya Committee (DDMGSC) organization of domestic servants / housemaids living in slums of Kolkata, mostly in-and-around Dum-Dum Railway Station (north end of Kolkata). The Slum: The name of the slum is Bidhan Palli and its divided with number tags like section 1, 2 5. About more than 40 years back (1968-69) this slum was
27
http://www.durbar.org/ Page 35
established by displaced / migrant people who came from various parts of West Bengal and Bangladesh (then East Pakistan), by occupying this land, which according to slum dwellers belong to the Indian Railways, and around 7 / 8 years back the slum dwellers got their land rights, and now they pay tax, and most of the people have electricity connection in their homes: not everyone has a proper connection, some have acquired electricity illegally by hooking , nevertheless still rumors that the slum will be evicted / demolished goes around in the slum. Rent: to rent for a room of 10x10 the rent is Rs. 1,000 / 1,200 with one light for a month, and for additional electrical things its like this, Fan Rs. 350 / 400, TV Rs. 250 and for night lamp Rs. 50 per month. Some landlords provide sub-meters (temporary arrangement to calculate electric bill) to their tenants and charge Rs. 10 per unit of electricity consumed. The slum has around 250+ (under section / part number 1 are 30 houses, under section 2 are 40 houses like that) houses and on an average each house has a population of 18 / 20 people: 250 x 18 / 20 = 4,500 / 5,000 inhabitants. The houses are semi-permanent (walls are made of bricks and concrete and the roof is temporary: made of Tali). The place is by the side of a Railway Track and a Canal. The water comes 3 times a day, for total 10 hours, but it not good for drinking, and people buy water (10 liters for Rs. 5.00.) or some people go up to 1 / 2 km to bring drinking water. Majority of the taps are on the road (maintaining a certain distance between 2 taps) and it takes 1 / 2 hours every day to collect water. Almost every house has a toilet inside the premise, but on an average 15 / 18 persons are using one toilet (more than 90% of the people have their own toilets and less than 10% people use Government made toilets); some toilets that are personal were made by the Government, and others are made by slum dwellers and among them some are makeshift ones and they are not at all hygienic. Garbage is strewn everywhere and the place is very unclean, and in rainy season water gets logged in many parts of the slum and it stays stagnant for around 2 / 3 months in every year. Main livelihood of people: most of the women are domestic servants / housemaids (members of DDMGSC) and, most of the men are Rickshaw-pullers; the others are doing all kinds of odd jobs: many Rickshaw-pullers also do part-time odd jobs for extra income.
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The family where husband and wife both are working they can earn around Rs. 10,000 / 12,000 per month, but most of the husbands are alcoholic and spend a lot of their earning on alcohol: Rs. 3,000 / 4,000 per month. Private Doctors are available and people take their help at the time of crisis, but Government Hospital is far away from the slum (R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital: approximately 10 km away); there also only the treatment is for free, but you have to buy all the medicine from outside. Main sicknesses among the people of these slums are jaundice, various fever and diarrhea. Most of the children of go to schools, but majority of them dont complete class X, for reasons like, chance of earning easy money, lack of financial stability, negative role models, early marriage and etc. Durbar Disha Mahila Grihasramik Samanwaya Committee: The women of these slums are very focused about development of their lives, and thats how they have got connected with DMSC and formed their own organization DDMGSC in the year 2011; they are fighting for getting registration as a trade union under the trade union act of India. The women also reached to other slums which are located nearby and have been able to make many women members of their organization, as of now they have more than 350 members in their organization. Activities conducted by DDMGSC for betterment of people and slum: Education center for 40 children Primary health center for the entire population of the slum (this component is now closed due to lack of funds) Awareness program of various kinds about rights of domestic servants / housemaids By doing these kind of social mobilizations related activities DDMGSC has made a very effective start about a community led movement of development for slum dwellers. These women hold the key to slum development in this area, and womens group s like these hold the key for other slums of Kolkata and West Bengal. They need systematic support and legal guidance, so that they can become advocates of their rights and live with dignity as citizens of India.
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Still the best method of intervention / accessing people to influence changes in their lives is through peer model of intervention: by the people for the people; in this regard in Mumbai, an intervention was done in which urban slum-dweller women's groups worked to improve local perinatal health28. 3.7 Area study: Dhapa, garbage dumping ground for Kolkata The area of Dhapa is serving Kolkata as a dumping ground since 1981; and the area is approximately 125 square km. Its also one of biggest slums around Kolkata, and many people are living in these slums in very difficult situations. The city of Kolkata generates approximately about of 3,500 tons of garbage on a daily basis. Thousands of people are earning their living by transporting and redistributing this garbage into recyclable and non-recyclable items, and for that they are living inside this garbage dump. Another source of income for people of this area is growing vegetable; for that recyclable garbage is used for farming of vegetables and approximately 50% of green vegetables for the markets of Kolkata come from Dhapa. One of the main problems of this area is unsafe drinking water for the people, many hand-pumps are inside / very close to the dumping area and the chance of water is getting contaminated is very real. The slums are as usual temporary housing facilities for the people of this area, and these kind of housing facilities are destined to create an unclean atmosphere and its very clearly visible; this life on the garbage dumping ground is leading to sickness and unhealthy life and lifestyle (of scavengers) and people are stacked and locked inside a loop of, living for the garbage inside garbage.
28
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3389036/#pmed.1001257-Filippi1 Page 38
Image 2) Outline of Dhapa Area
The only possible way out for these people is a systematic approach from the Government to upgrade the system of garbage disposal and distribution of garbage: recyclable and non-recyclable items, and providing training to these people to convert them into modern / scientific workers about cleaning / sanitizing, and making Kolkata a modern Indian city. How their housing conditions, water supply and health may be improved by them remain open questions.
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4. The Future
4.1 The population As we know that the population of India is growing29 and consequently the population of the slums of India30. The slums of Kolkata are also going face the same problem of overpopulation. As predicted, by the year 2025 the population of Kolkata / KMA will be more than 20 million , then the population of slum will be approximately 1.4 million /1,416,00031 in Kolkata and for KMA it will 9,000,000 / 9 million people32. 4.2 The Government Efforts for the Urban Poor The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM): Rationale for the JNNURM: 1. National Common Minimum Programme of the Government of India: The National Common Minimum Programme attaches the highest priority to the development and expansion of physical infrastructure. Accordingly, it is proposed to take up a comprehensive programme of urban renewal and expansion of social housing in towns and cities, paying attention to the needs of slum dwellers. 2. Commitment to Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: The Millennium Development Goals commit the international community, including India, to an expanded vision of development as a key to sustaining social and economic progress. As a part of its commitment to meet the
29
Its been predicted that by the year 2030, the towns and cities of the developing world will make up for 80 per cent of the urban humanity.
30
The investment for urban infrastructure over the 20-year period is estimated at Rs 39.2 lakh Crore at 2009-10 prices. Of this, Rs 17.3 lakh Crore (or 44 per cent) is accounted for by urban roads. The backlog for this sector is very large, ranging from 50 per cent to 80 per cent across the cities of India. Sectors delivering urban services such as water supply, sewerage, solid waste management, and storm water drains will need Rs 8 lakh Crore (or 20 per cent). The responsible Committee has made explicit provision of Rs 4 lakh Crore towards investment in renewal and redevelopment including those of the slums.
31
This is been made according to the calculation used in the census of 2001. According to KMDA Page 40
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Millennium Development Goals, the Government of India proposes to: (i) facilitate investments in the urban sector; and (ii) strengthen the existing policies in order to achieve these goals. 3. Need for a Mission-led Initiative: Since cities and towns in India constitute the second largest urban system in the world, and contribute over 50 per cent of the countrys GDP, they are central to economic growth. For the cities to realise their full potential and become effective engines of growth, it is necessary that focused attention be given to the improvement of infrastructure33. The Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) was announced by Government India in year 2009-2010, which aims at promoting a slum-free India in five years and would focus on according property rights to slum dwellers. It would provide basic amenities such as water supply, sewerage, drainage, internal and approach roads, street lighting and social infrastructure facilities in slums and low income settlements adopting a 'whole city' approach. RAY also suggests in situ development programs with basic amenities and an enabling strategy for affordable housing in the case of tenable slums. The Government of India Ministry of Urban Development has recently launched Valmiki Amebedkar Malin Basti Awas Yojana (VAMBAY), which will be operated through HUDCO (The Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited). The objective of the new scheme is to provide shelter and to upgrade existing shelter for Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in urban areas. Note: - in many issues the efforts of JNNURM, RAY, VAMBAY and BSUP are intertwined and these schemes / programs are complementing each other to create a better tomorrow for the urban poor and as whole and a better India for all the Indian citizens. 4.3 The Future Ahead The needs of development related issues of urban poor can be divided into these 3 broad categories: Overall development of infrastructure in the cities
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http://jnnurm.nic.in/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/PMSpeechOverviewE.pdf Page 41
Housing Empowerment of backward / underprivileged people The above mention areas of development can only be achieved through public and private joint interventions and in no other way it can be achieved for the betterment of people in need of support regarding materialistic and psychological needs for their development. 4.4 The Government Support The support from Government is always going to be on large scale for overall development of the country and as well as for a particular area / state. There will be gaps in the efforts and its natural in any large scale interv ention. The civil society organizations can help the Government in filling up gaps to have a better impact oriented interventions. The Governments intentions are visible in Eleventh Five Year Plan of India (2007 - 2012) see: table 5. Table 5 Accelerate GDP growth from 8% to 10%. Increase agricultural GDP growth rate to 4% per year. Create 70 million new work opportunities and reduce educated unemployment to below 5%. Raise real wage rate of unskilled workers by 20 percent. Reduce dropout rates of children from elementary school from 52.2% in 2003-04 to 20% by 2011-12. Increase literacy rate for persons of age 7 years or above to 85%. Lower gender gap in literacy to 10 percentage point. Increase the percentage of each cohort going to higher education from the present 10% to 15%. Reduce infant mortality rate to 28 and maternal mortality ratio to 1 per 1000 live births Reduce Total Fertility Rate to 2.1 Provide clean drinking water for all by 2009. Reduce malnutrition among children
Shanto Baksi: September 2013 Page 42
between 0-3 years to half its present level. Reduce anaemia among women and girls by 50%. Raise the sex ratio for age group 0-6 to 935 by 2011-12 and to 950 by 2016-17 Ensure that at least 33 percent of the direct and indirect beneficiaries of all government schemes are women and girl children Ensure all-weather road connection to all habitation with population 1000 and above (500 in hilly and tribal areas) by 2009, and ensure coverage of all significant habitation by 2015 Connect every village by telephone by November 2007 and provide broadband connectivity to all villages by 2012 Increase forest and tree cover by 5 percentage points. Attain WHO standards of air quality in all major cities by 2011-12. Treat all urban waste water by 2011-12 to clean river waters. Increase energy efficiency by 20 percentage points by 2016-17. 4.5 The Support from Civil Society Organizations: NGOs CBOs and Private Companies The assistance from NGOs, CBOs and private companies (under Corporate Social Responsibility CSR) can be used for targeted interventions to bring an area / problem under focus to draw attraction of the lager society to provide a sustainable solution of the particular problem. 4.6 Join Ventures: PPP The areas of infrastructure and housing development related issues can only be handled by the Government in a big country like India, but in the areas related to human interaction the NGOs, CBOs and private companies can always help the Government in reaching a target in a short span of time to make a better result oriented effort for the underprivileged population of India.
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For example Government Primary Schools are being used to present a model of future PPP (public and private partnership) joint ventures: its just an outline, for implementation lot of detailing is needed: see table 6. Table 6 Improvement of Government Primary Schools Government contributions Building Teachers Educational materials (books, uniforms, etc.) Food (midday meal) Possible contributions Organizing / providing additional funds for extra staff: from NGOs, CBOs and social worker, additional teachers private companies Making an effective Parents and Teachers Association Collecting a monthly donation from parents for betterment of the schools Doing awareness programs inside the community to prevent children from becoming dropout from schools Organizing extra-curricular activities on holidays / Sunday: sports, drawing, singing, dance, drama etc.
The future of human civilization is going to face a major problem of over population in the big cities and Indian is also going to have the same problem, for betterment of big Indian cities we need to start now, and the steps taken today are going to play a vital role in shaping up the lives of urban poor and additionally the coming future of India.
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5. Appendixes
5.1 Appendix 1) Definition of Slum A slum, as defined by the United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing, squalor, and lacking in tenure security. A Slum, for the purpose of Census 2011, has been defined as residential areas where dwellings are unfit for human habitation for reasons of dilapidation, overcrowding, faulty arrangements and design of such buildings, narrowness or faulty arrangement of street, lack of ventilation, light, or sanitation facilities or any combination of these factors which are detrimental to the safety and health. The Slum is densely populated area of substandard housing, usually in a city, characterized by unsanitary conditions and social disorganization. Rapid industrialization in 19th-century Europe was accompanied by rapid population growth and the concentration of working-class people in overcrowded, poorly built housing [Encyclopedia Britannica]. The definition of poor involves the judgment regarding the basic human necessities and is quantitatively expressed by pricing those basic necessities. The prices so arrived, act as the benchmark for the poverty line and the people whose earning fall below this line or figure, are identified as the poor. Urban poor are also defined following the same principle. The Planning commission estimates the proportion and number of poor based on the projection of minimum needs and effective consumption. Such a projection was based on a norm of 2100 calories per capita per day consumption for an urban area (Ref.: Urban Management, A Journal of The Institute of Local Government & Urban Studies, October 2002). The calorie norms are expressed in monetary terms that change with time vis-vis the changing consumer price index. It is important to acknowledge that though most of the urban poor do live either in slums or squatter settlements, all the people living in such places need not be identified as urban poor. The populations living in slums or squatter settlements are often heterogeneous in terms of their skills and nature of their employment that have invariable bearing on their income, asset and housing.
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5.2 Appendix 2) Important legal and Constitutional Provisions in India: Childhood Article 45 of Constitution of India states - the State shall endeavor to provide free and compulsory education for all children till they complete the age of fourteen years Different Acts under Labor Laws declare different age criteria : The Apprentices Act (1961) A person is qualified to be engaged as an apprentice only if he is not less than fourteen years of age . A child below 14 years of age is not allowed to work in any factory. An adolescent between 15 and 18 years can be employed in a factory only if he obtains a certificate of fitness from an authorized medical doctor. Child means a person who has not completed his fourteenth year of age.
The Factories Act (1948)
The Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act (1986)
Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (2006) declares Child means a person who, if a male, has not completed twenty-one years of age and, if a female, has not completed eighteen years of age. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000, amended in 2006, 2010 declares juvenile or child means a person who has not completed eighteenth year of age. Indian Penal Code in its Criminal law states Nothing is an offence which is done by a child under age of 7 years. The age of criminal responsibility is raised to 12 years if the child is found to have not attained the ability to understand the nature and consequences of his/her act.
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5.3 Appendix 3) Important Union laws Guaranteeing Rights and Entitlement to Children 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. The Guardian and Wards Act, 1890 The Reformatory Schools Act, 1897 The prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 The Apprentices Act, 1961 The Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, 1933 The Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 The Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Ac, 1956 The Immoral Traffic prevention Act, 1956 The Womens and Childrens Institutions (Licensing) Act, 1956 The Young Persons harmful Publications Act, 1956 The Probation of Offenders Act, 1958 Orphanages and Other Charitable Homes (Supervision and Control) Act, 1960 The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, repealed the Juvenile Justice Act 1986. The 2000 act also has been amended in 2006 and 2010 The Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding bottles and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply Distribution) Act, 1992 and its amendment of 2003 The Pre- conception & Pre-natal Diagnostic Technique (Regulation, Prevention and Misuse) Act, 1994 and its amendment of 2002 The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 The factories Act 1948 The Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005
15. 16. 17. 18. 19.
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5.4 Appendix 4) Map of Kolkata Metropolitan Area
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5.5.1 Appendix 5) Map of Kolkata Municipal Corporation Wards
5.5.2 Appendix 6) Map of Kolkata Municipal corporation showing the percentage of distribution of Slum Population 34
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6. References
Key words: - Urban Poor / Slums / Eviction / Kolkata / Migration / Development of urban poor Serial 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 6.1 Resources available Online Access to Land for Housing the Urban Poor Opportunities & Challenges A Portrait of Black Town in Calcutta, 1791-1804 Basic Services for the Urban Poor (BSUP), Kolkata 2012 Children in India 2012 Effect of Urban Sprawl on Human Habitation in Urban Fringe and PeriUrban Areas in Kolkata Metropolitan Area Effect of mothers education on childs nutritional status in the slums of Nairobi Eviction or Inclusion [The Politics of Resettlement in Calcutta's Squatter Settlements] Homelessness in the cities and Towns of India and Action taken by Government Homelessness: An Outcome of Structural Cruelty Introducing KMA [Annual Report], 2010 Involuntary Resettlement Safeguards India, Report on employment and unemployment survey 2011-12, Vol. I India, Report on employment and unemployment survey 2011-12, Vol. II India's Urban Demographic Transition, 2001-2011 Kolkata [Slums 1981-2001] Learning about Children in Urban Slums: a Rapid Ethnographic Study in two Urban Slums in Mombasa of community-based Child Protection Mechanisms and their linkage with the Kenyan National Child Protection System Magnitude of Child Labour in India An Analysis Maternal and neonatal health expenditure in Mumbai slums (India) A cross
17. 18.
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sectional study 19. 20. 21. 22. Mapping Calcutta Migration in India, 1961-2011 Planet of Slums Pregnant Women's and Community Health Workers' Perceptions of Root Causes of Malnutrition Among Infants and Young Children in the Slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh Report on Indian Urban Infrastructure and Services: The High Powered Expert Committee (HPEC) for Estimating the Investment Requirements for Urban Infrastructure Services Risks and Rights: The Causes, Consequences, and Challenges of Development-Induced Displacement Report of the Expert Group to review the Methodology for Estimation of Poverty Report on the Committee on Slum Statistics / Census Regional Disparities of Slums, 2013 An Overview with special emphasis to Kolkata Roundtable on Urban Living Environment Research (RULER) Research Study on Slum Typology and Grading for Improvement Inputs Reclaiming Childhood Slum Population in India Slum Diversity in Kolkata Status Report on RAY (Rajiv Awas Yojana), 31 March 2013 Slum Health From Understanding to Action The White Town of Calcutta under the Rule of the East India Company The Far from Complete Spatial Transformation of Calcutta, [Kolkata] The Seven Myths of Slums The 2005 census and mapping of slums in Bangladesh design, select results and application The Private School Revolution in Bihar Typology of Slums and Tenure in Indian Cities, 2012
23.
24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40.
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41. 42.
Understanding Slums, The case of Kolkata, India 2012 UNICEF The state of Worlds Children 2012 - Children in an Urban World 6.2 Resources available as Published Material Action Plan for Strengthening KMCP School, Institute of Psychological & Educational Research (IPER), supported by United Way of Kolkata Anthropological Profile of the Muslims of Calcutta, Anthropological Survey of India Ministry of Human Resource Development Department of Culture, Government of India Beggars ok Kalighat Calcutta, Anthropological Survey of India Ministry of Human Resource Development Department of Culture, Government of India Problems and prospects regarding formation of SHGs among rag pickers in East Kolkata, Society for Socio-Economic & Ecological Development (SEED), sponsored by CARE West Bengal
Serial 1.
2.
3.
4.
The author: Shanto Baksi, is associated with development / humanitarian aid related work for more than 12 years, since year 2000, and has worked for the rights of the Children of Sexworkers and minor Sexworkers, and also for the Children living in the slums of Kolkata, for the Children of migrant brickfield workers in different places of West Bengal, for the Children of Fishworkers in different places in Orissa, for alternative livelihoods for the traditional Fishworkers of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, also for income enhancement program in West Bengal for the rural poor. Additionally he has conducted trainings about Project Cycle Management and evaluation of various organizations in West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, the Andaman Islands and, Gujarat.
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The Slums of Kolkata

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

Shanto Baksi: September 2013

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

3.3 3.3.1 3.4

Shanto Baksi: September 2013

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

Shanto Baksi: September 2013

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

Shanto Baksi: September 2013

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

NFHR NGO PPP PRAYAS RAY SEED UWK VAMBAY WWW

Shanto Baksi: September 2013

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

Tali Thika Zamindars

Shanto Baksi: September 2013

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

Shanto Baksi: September 2013

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

coming towards the cities in search of new beginning in life.

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

Shanto Baksi: September 2013

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

The Key Questions

Shanto Baksi: September 2013

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

Shanto Baksi: September 2013

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

These three villages were combined to create the city of Kolkata.

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

Shanto Baksi: September 2013

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

Shanto Baksi: September 2013

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

17 out of 18 is 94.44% 7 out of 18 is 38.88% Page 26

Shanto Baksi: September 2013

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

Shanto Baksi: September 2013

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

Shanto Baksi: September 2013

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

Shanto Baksi: September 2013

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

Shanto Baksi: September 2013

The Slums of Kolkata: A truth we know and a truth we dont see

Shanto Baksi: September 2013