The urban poor need shelter as much as they need food, health, education…

When you are in our line of work, reading a news item titled “Spend Rs 32 a day? Govt says you can’t be poor” (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-09-21/india/30183983_1_urban-areas-poverty-line-norms) makes us see red!

New poverty lines suggested by the Planning Commission to the Supreme Court earlier this week suggest that anyone spending more than Rs 965 per month in urban India and Rs 781 in rural India will be deemed not to be poor. This translated to those spending in excess of Rs 32 a day in urban areas or Rs 26 a day in villages no longer being eligible to draw benefits of central and state government welfare schemes meant for those living below the poverty line (BPL). This amount is expected to cover expenditure on food, health and education and the figures are supposed to have taken into consideration revised calorie intake norms as well as June 2011 prices.

To us, the figure sounds low even for these expenditure items. But what about housing, we ask? Shouldn’t shelter be as basic a right as food, health or education?

In the work that micro Home Solutions has done in the resettlement colonies and more recently, slums in Delhi, we have observe first hand the obsession of low income families with cards, identity documents and their corresponding entitlements. Being BPL is a badge many of these families wear with pride as it entitles them to subsidies that enable them to subsist. Since the poverty line estimated do not take access to shelter into account, does it also mean that those just above the BPL status will not be counted when new schemes for low-income housing are unrolled? Will the RAY scheme for a slum free India only give preferential treatment to BPL families? What is the relationship between poverty and housing and why is the Planning Commission not even putting this on its list of considerations for poverty?

These are real questions. As you walk through the lanes of a Delhi slum, you can talk to several slum dwellers whose kids attend school. They will tell you that they manage to scrape together a couple of square meals a day and the government health facilities do attend to most health concerns (after standing in long queues and dealing with menacing staff, or course). Point to the condition of their homes and they shrug. Open drains, poorly ventilated and barely lit homes, roofing constructed from tarpaulin and plastic that can barely keep out the rain, not to mention structurally unsafe walls that can crack and cave in in the event of a strong tremor—these are the conditions in which they live. On the other hand, the rickshaw puller and the daily wage labour living on the streets are not even looking for a home in the slum. They want the cheapest place to rest- which is often on the road divider or under a flyover. Interestingly, even they don’t prioritize their need for shelter.

However, poor living conditions have a direct impact on health and economic productivity. In fact, healthcare costs will be higher if you live in such poor conditions. How beneficial is education when the child does not have enough space or sufficient light in her home to study? The relationship of shelter (as the most important manifestation of living conditions) to poverty is obvious but always overlooked!

The poverty line, we understand, is a tool for the government to decide who is eligible for subsidies. These are, therefore, also related to how much the government can spend on the poor.  The new poverty estimates for 2009-10 to be released soon on the basis of NSSO data may actually have a smaller BPL population than 2004-05. Good news for government spending. Maybe the funds saved this way need to go into building the poor decent homes!

Mukta Naik

Baby steps towards a more rational approach to housing the urban poor

When the government starts talking about measures to avoid creation of slums rather than merely making cities ‘slum-free’, there should be reason to cheer for those of us who have been watching with frustration the increasingly haphazard and inequitable way Indian cities are growing.

Union Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja and Delhi’s Chief Minister went into a huddle a few days ago, along with a number of key officials, to decide on measures to implement in Delhi the ambitious Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) that envisages a slum-free India.

The group seems to have established the need for reforms to adopt inclusive urban planning and a need to coordinate the efforts of Delhi’s multiple planning and implementing agencies. The group also prioritized the provision of basic services, schools and health facilities in slums and, perhaps for the first time, lent an urgency to the discussion around creating large-scale rental housing stock like dormitory housing and housing on hire/purchase to increase housing supply for low income groups.  With a clear cut agenda to increase the supply of affordable housing and redeveloping slums (the shelter board has apparently been given three months to put up pilot projects!), this seems prima-facie to be an about turn from Delhi’s policy of moving slums out to flats in resettlement colonies on the fringes of the city.

So, does this mean the slum is no longer the unsightly pariah or does it still mean slum populations will be temporarily placated but ultimately moved away?

Confusing though the governments motivations and decisions are, the move away from eradication of slums to working towards preventing their creation in the long-term is a welcome one, if indeed that is what can be read into these recent developments.

In fact, providing viable housing options to low income groups is vital to Delhi’s survival. The first tranche of data to come of the 2011 Census shows the Delhi is losing its growth momentum to neighbouring satellite cities like Gurgaon, Noida and Faridabad. Delhi grew only 21% this past decade from 2001-2011 as opposed to 47% in the decade 1991-2011. The city centre has emptied in the past decade, with New Delhi’s growth falling by 25.35% and the central districts depleting of people by 10.48%. This means not only a falling rate of migration into the city, but also a rapid rate of out-migration to the suburbs. A corresponding increasing in suburban population seems to support this (Gurgaon grew by 74% and Noida by 51% in this past decade).  Rising crime rates, falling quality of life, congestion and lack of affordable housing options are perceived to be the major reasons that Delhi could be appearing as a less attractive destination for people to live in.

Policy makers needs to read these figures as alarm bells to plan for a city that is far more inclusive, offering employment and housing opportunities to all the income groups and categories of people that contribute towards making Delhi a viable place to live and do business in. In this context, the question of housing the urban poor is brought sharply into focus. A city that has no place for the people who form its sweat and blood is indeed doomed. If the measures initiated by the Union and Chief Minister do take shape, though, a more sustainable future can be hoped for.

Mukta Naik, Apr 8, 2011

Malegam Committee Reactions

While the Malegam Committee (MC) recommendations gave the much-needed jolt to the micro finance sector, they have incorrectly stereotyped micro finance institutions (MFIs) and the roles they can play ensuring financial inclusion. The highly conservative and backward looking recommendations fail to understand the complexity around poor households, their livelihoods, cash flows and lifecycle needs. My gut is that the MG report recommendations are designed for MFIs to be a delivery channel for government financial programs & priority sector lending to reach a limited pre-identified segment. Nothing less, nothing more.

The microfinance sector definitely required waking-up. It was surprising to see a sector known for innovation & risk taking become highly conservative in approach. It only offered standardized products piggybacking on groundwork of others. Even more strange is that this happened despite high levels of competition where one would expect MFI leaders to look at new markets, innovative products and competitive pricing to differentiate themselves. The pressure to enhance scale, generate quick surpluses meant reducing key investment costs. This changed the entire culture of the MFI industry.

However the MC recommendations seem to have been made on selectively analyzed data and thus provide partial diagnosis. For e.g  there maybe two major reasons (amongst many others) why borrowers may have engaged in multiple lending. One as identified by the report, led to over-indebtedness of ‘greedy’ customers encouraged by over-zealous agents/field offices. However, another possibility for multiple borrowings could be for the actual need for larger ticket size of finance. For e.g The MC report highlights that ~22% of SHG loans are taken for housing related expenditure. From our field work over 8 months in different cities of India, some customers we met in Hyderabad had borrowed Rs15,000 from 4 sources to build a floor, others in Bangalore had multiple borrowings for education, similar for enterprise machinery purchase. While I understand that 25% of the loan portfolio can be put to other than livelihood uses- households must still meet highly restrictive eligibility criteria set forth.

While over indebtedness can be tackled by much better due-diligence practices and end-use monitoring etc.- by imposing a cap on the loan amount to Rs 25,000- recommendations will do more harm than good. This will ‘exclude’ households in the other category who have a genuine need and ability to pay for a non-consumption financial need? Instead of designing a varied tenured & interest rate options for loans such as education or housing- this instead will incentivize a customer to meet her need by engaging in multi-lending (through creative proxies mechanisms of course!) For this segment, I see the MG recommendations leading to further over indebtedness by forcing customers with monthly payment burden in same limited time period of 2 years that is currently recommended. Not because of un-affordability, but purely a debt-trapped product design.

My other point of contention with the MC reco is that it has crafted recommendations looking backward and only with a small select target population in mind (rural BPL category). What about the financial needs of urban  population- a segment growing at 3% a year? Formal banks despite branch banking penetration have not been able to reach this population and are afraid to do so despite government interest rate subsidy programs.  Urban household needs for finance are quite different and for different financial offerings. Btw, which household (not person!) in the urban areas earns less than Rs 5,000?

Sadly, the MC recommendations have been overly prescriptive. This is not what is good for an agenda of financial inclusion. What we need is a transparent, facilitative regulatory framework with checks and balance in place. That is still not in sight.

- Rakhi

Co-founder, micro Home Solutions

Questioning Assumptions with the Delhi Metro

Questioning Assumptions with the Delhi Metro

In this train system, impeccably clean trains pull into the station every 2.5 minutes. They carry 1.5 million daily commuters over 100 miles of track to 132 stations around the city. No trash lies on the ground of the station, no rats scurry between the tracks, no one eats or drinks inside the cars, and a clear voice makes announcements over the loud speaker.  Despite appearances, we are not in Singapore, or Japan, or the United States. We are in Delhi, India.

India is notorious for its red tape and corruption, especially when it comes to large-scale infrastructure development. The Calcutta metro, for example, the only other metro system in the country, took 22 years to construct and was 12 times over budget due to “political meddling, technical problems and bureaucratic delays.”[1] These characteristic barriers to large government-led projects in India can be cause for pessimism and frustration, and in some cases, inaction.

But the Delhi metro paints a different picture. It defies the expectations of Indian infrastructure development and has been described as “nothing short of a miracle.” One that has come none too soon for the 18 million residents of Delhi. The first phase of the Delhi metro was completed in 2006, on budget and three years ahead of schedule. In 10 years, 100 miles of track have been laid and 132 stations opened. The process ran smoothly and efficiently, resulting in a train system that is state of the art, not just for India, but also for the world.  It certainly beats the metro in my former home, New York City.

Yet, I am confident that the Delhi metro is not merely an once-in-a-lifetime “miracle” and could be the birth of a new set of expectations that will become the norm for Indian infrastructure development. It was not chance, but a few concrete mechanisms that allowed it to proceed so effectively. These strategies can be emulated by new infrastructure projects across India.

First, Indian infrastructure projects are often stalled due to a lack of clarity over which government agency has authority and responsibility for the project. The result is a confusing web of players with no accountability and conditions that are perfectly set up for skirting obligations and passing off blame. As someone working on affordable housing in Delhi, I see this problem play out constantly.  Yet in the case of the Delhi metro, full power was given to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC)—an agency developed purely to carry out this project—to hire people, give tenders, and control all funds. This did wonders for overall efficiency and for the level of accountability and clarity on roles and responsibilities.

Second, many large scale projects in India start and stall due to a lack of funds. This contributed significantly to the painfully slow progress of the Calcutta metro. Instead of waiting for the Indian government to fund 100% of the project, the DMRC decided to tap foreign investment and secured 60% of the financing from the Japan Bank of International Cooperation. As a result, the speed at which DMRC moved forward was in its control instead of dependent on the periodic release of funds from the government.

Finally, the Delhi metro is one of only 5 metro systems globally that is profitable without government subsidy. It achieved this partly by prioritizing high quality design and construction practices to reduce the need for maintenance and by tapping into alternative revenue from advertising and leasing out its trains for film shoots.

But perhaps more interesting than the magnificent success on the infrastructure development side is the different way in which Delhi’s citizens treat the metro. While Indians pride themselves on their immaculately clean homes, public spaces are traditionally not awarded nearly the same level of respect and care. The streets are littered with trash and spit stains cover the sidewalks and floors of public buildings.

But entering the metro is almost like entering a new cultural context. There is no garbage on the ground, no stains on the train walls, no smell of urine in the corners. It is as if the riders take collective responsibility for maintaining it. It is hard for me to think of another example of a public space in India that is treated this well by its users. Many would not think twice about throwing trash on the ground of a beautiful park, but the metro is a different story.

Even so, there’s no mistaking that we are still in South Asia. The mosh pit-esque crowds are of South Asian size and women clad in colorful saris congregate together in the designated “Ladies Car.” The metro is a retreat from the typical grime of urban India, but it has not lost its Desi flavor.

Why do citizens treat the metro so differently? The only reason I can deduce is that Delhittes take great pride in their outstanding metro and so they take care of it. The metro is a symbol of modern India and its potential to build world-class cities. When I told an Indian colleague that the Delhi metro is cleaner than the metro in New York, he gleamed and exclaimed, “Sweet, let’s keep it that way!” Pride is a powerful thing. Perhaps more powerful than we think.

All this gives me great hope for the ability of Indians to overcome expectations and cut through red tape and corruption in order to build, and then take care of, exceptional infrastructure around the country.

Contributed by

Aden van Noppen

Associate micro Home Solutions

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[1] “Delhi Metro showcases public sector success”. The Indian Express. 2007-04-13. Retrieved 2009-09-10.

When it rained mangoes

When it rained mangoes

I never saw it coming when I had joined my internship… that I will fall in love with this field (of architecture) all over again…. Sometimes I feel living in a city gives us exposure but somehow also pulls us away from the zest or to say the sheer joy of designing.

Everyone has a different perception of things but to me it always came naturally that the definition of a pleasing design is the one that blends in so perfectly with its surrounding’s topography its vegetation that it looks like an organ of the whole organism. I say organism because I feel that the design blends the living and the non living components of the form and its surrounding so perfectly that they look complete with each other both aesthetically and functionally.

Our trip to the villages Taiwa and Saur, two small settlements, both in the valleys of Uttrakhand embraced by the mountains and forests was a delightful experience both personally and professionally. The refreshing cool winds with a warm welcoming sun on our heads, the smell of pine and the taste of dew when we drove through the clouds, we felt home the moment we entered the mountains. The camping the trekking was so much easier than accepting the last morning that this is it, now its time to head back to the city.

Our journey started a little late in the day from Delhi to Dehradoon for the first night and I must say that the drive through UP turned out to be a tough one but quite entertaining. Entertaining because I had never before seen a foreigner (Marco) throwing mango peels on cars and abusing fighting people on the road who drove the Indian way i.e. zig zaggin at high speeds, over taking at curves, honking etc. the usual.

But this wasn’t the biggest problem, the actual pain was to somehow see the match or know the score of that days qualifying match between Italy and Slovenia, which was solved only when we found a little dhaba with a TV.

By the time we reached the guesthouse in dehradoon it had rained and the weather was beautiful. Even better cause we were staying in a guesthouse outside the city, away from its crowd. Also it was the last stop for mechanical sanitation and we sure did use it well.

Next beautiful morning we met Mr. Mukul of the Due North team, a short witty man with a whimsical mood. He was to accompany us to the village taiwa and so began our ascend to the mountains. The curved roads, the tall deodhars, the clouds touching the peaks everything about the mountains was amazing. We felt so free… from the noise, the worries it was blissful.

Moreover Taiwa turned out to be a small settlement of around 25 houses, away from the road, deep in the valley, on the edge of a forest; it was a complete solitude. A short meeting with the pradhan of the village, tea of course no meeting is complete without it in the mountains and we were off to work. We climbed up to the house to be restored which was inherited by a sweet couple and their children. I couldn’t figure how many children the couple had cause there were many running around. All excited to meet the outsiders and especially Marco. After a quick chat with the owners and off course another tea we arranged for a local carpenter and started measuring every log, every stone on the property. It took us some hours and many teas before we got the work done. And mind you the tea… is just water and loads of sugar, with some traces of tea in it. By the end of our first day I never wanted to have tea again in my life.

We got all the measurements and pictures we needed, packed up and trekked in search for a good place to put up our tents for the night. Finally we found a small patch of plain land on the mountain side just above the village and we started putting up our camp. Marco and Rakhi have always been campers but it was new for me and Vyas, still we managed to pull and tie the tent somehow and arrange for a roof over our heads. Arranged some dry twigs and logs and we had our bonfire going in no time. It was just amazing. It was one of those experiences one never forgets in his life. Out in the open on a full moon night next to the forests and the village below us, sitting besides the bonfire we had dinner accompanied by chit chats and laughter. And then off to a peaceful sleep in the quiet.

The next morning we were off to the next village. When we were about to reach saur we could see it from the kacha road that we were driving on and it was beautiful. Its a very old abandoned village more in the valley than on the hill slope. The sad part being that the inhabitants have moved out to the top next to the main road and this village just lies there in ruins between their fields. But this ignorance has acted as bliss and the authentic beauty of these houses is still intact.

Again a small meeting with the villagers and the owner but this time sorry I don’t drink tea, thank you. When we started the work it came as a surprise to me that the local mason practices within a few kilometers of a state were quite different. The wall thickness and laying of the slabs differed. Also it was interesting to notice these native techniques were very well thought. Thick walls for withstanding vertical loads and wooden beams and brackets were provided along the walls to provide horizontal resistance. It made me realize that concrete might have seen its glorious years but these native structures and techniques have stood there and evolved through centuries.

So our day passed trying to learn and measure these techniques. And the night turned out to be equally amazing and we spent it camping next to the village.

The next morning was when it got tough as we packed up everything and stuffed it back in the car. Said our goodbyes to the mountains and the valley and set off for dehradoon again. A beautiful, refreshing drive back through the mountains and the clouds, we reached dehradoon by the evening and with us arrived a storm.

We had to make a quick stop at Rakhi’s great grandfather’s house and we were told that noone lived there now except for a caretaker’s family. But the house was beautiful. Sharing one wall with the main road and another with a gorge, it had a big lawn next to it which was full of trees bearing fruits. How I wish I had had my childhood there. And as my imagination started taking flights it began to rain. The winds grew stronger and the leaves, branches started to whistle, everything sank in the darkness of the clouds and chilled water started pouring, filtering and dripping through the leaves. It was a storm in the mountains…it was perfect. I stood there smiling below the trees when I heard this loud thud on the tin roof behind, like a stone had dropped from the clouds. Within no time the thud became a roaring beat but I just couldn’t see any hail. I stood there confused when this lady of the caretaker’s family shouted out to me and told me to get in quickly or I’ll be bruised by mangoes…mangoes?!

To my surprise I hadn’t noticed that the trees were showering mangoes which the kids were collecting from below the roof and putting them away for later.  Mangoes!! Hahaha… and so I’ll always remember that day as the day when it rained mangoes.

We spent the night back in the guest house and drove back next morning to Delhi. But it still feels that some part of me was left behind in those mountains and valleys. The one which is calling me… to just come back home…

Varun

Varun is a 4th year  student at the Sushant School of Art and Architecture. He will be interning with micro Home Solutions for 6 months

Holambi-kala

On both sides, vast green fields stretched to the horizon. Suddenly, Vyas pointed towards the left, and I saw a massive cloud of dust approaching us. Soon, we took a left turn and were in the middle of the storm. As we moved into Holambi-kala, fierce winds and flying tin sheets greeted us. We rushed out of the cars and towards the village centre of the Baliga Trust. I couldn’t look ahead, because everytime I would raise my head, specks of dust would fly into my eyes. By the time I reached the centre, I could feel the dust in my mouth.

Holambi-kala is a basti founded in 2001-2, in which about 7000 people eke out their existence as autorickshaw- drivers, masons, and Grade 4 government employees. This is right at the northern edge of Delhi, about an hour and fifteen minutes’ drive from North Campus. Until yesterday, I used to think that North Campus was towards the northern edge of Delhi. My visit to Narela and Holambi-kala made me realise the smallness of my imagination.

We were travelling with the field team of BASIX, one of India’s largest MFIs. They haven’t yet begun their operations in Holambi-kala. This workshop was their first meeting with the residents, introducing them to microfinance, joint liability contracts, and positive-assortive matching. Earlier, we had conducted a similar workshop in Narela, another large resettlement colony close to Holambi-kala. The group was now much smaller, more willing to understand and also appeared to me to be better educated than the Narela group, even though payment capacity appeared to be lower. Some of the residents could speak English- one of the ladies answered her phone, “I am in office, will call you later,” which was rather surprising because I hadn’t expect this person to be as confident at first sight. It turned out that she had passed class 12 and worked as a field officer with SKS Microfinance. She didn’t like SKS (or maybe she was saying that because she thought I was from BASIX; BASIX and SKS are competing for every last slum-dweller as they roll out their operations in urban India). Now she was working with the Baliga Trust.

Currently, mHS, BASIX, and the Baliga Trust have formed a tripartite partnership for a pilot project in Mangolpuri, which we plan to extend to Narela and Holambi-kala. BASIX provides finance for everything- livelihood, education, housing, insurance etc. mHS comes in when the loan is a housing loan. Most such loans are for home improvements- adding kitchen, adding a toilet, adding another room, adding another floor. A majority of these houses are not built with strong foundations. They don’t have beam-and-pillar structures and hence cannot support additional floors that could provide either more space to accommodate the growing family or more income through rent. Moreover, they are not designed properly, so there isn’t enough light and inefficient use of space. mHS’s job is to first see if the “improvement” can be made to the existing structure or will it have to be demolished, then give cost estimates to the microfinance company (this is the minimum amount of loan that must be sanctioned, otherwise money will run out before the project is completed and the project will have to be abandoned midway), and once the loan is cleared, we have to give technical assistance to the borrower: provide him with customised drawings, cost estimates and monitor the construction.

Baliga is an NGO, unlike mHS and BASIX, which are for-profit companies (technically, it is BASIX’s subsidiary BSFL which deals with microfinance and which is for-profit) . Baliga has been operating in these areas for the last three decades, in the area of education, nutrition, vocational training, family planning etc. and hence has deep connection among the residents. mHS and BASIX rely on the Baliga Trust for providing credibility, introductions, and for organising the sort of meetings that I described earlier.

So, I was telling you about that meeting in Holambi-kala. What I found very interesting as Venkat from BASIX described their products, was to encounter the exact theoretical arguments that I had read earlier, say in Debraj Ray’s Development Economics textbook. And what was more interesting was to see how the people responded. This internship is exciting is because one can test the theoretical arguments on people, and see how they respond, see how they come up with potential problems and alternative solutions. Joint liability proved to be a difficult concept to get across. “Why will I take responsibility for paying for those who default, even if they are in my group? How can I take the responsibility, I can hardly repay my own loan,” a gentleman persistently wanted to know. He was under the impression that the MFI will not pressurise or threaten the defaulter at all and only insist on recovery from the other group members. This will make default very convenient. He was reassured when Venkat told him that the MFI will assist the others in the group to extract repayment from the defaulter. Another problem was BASIX’s insistence on repayment at a particular date, and no consideration of restructuring. So if I don’t have money today, the others in my group have to make the payment today; we can’t get an extension. This is a problem because employment opportunities fluctuate for the daily wagers. Basix argues that if they restructure the loan for one borrower, then there will be no end to other borrowers, whose circumstances may not even be as dire, requesting for restructuring.

But microfinance is clearly needed, the same guy who had earlier had a problem with the group system admitted. He said that in the beginning, they had to pay Rs. 5000 to the MCD to get a possession slip for their plots. He borrowed this 5000 from a money-lender, but because he could not repay the initial instalments on time, the interest accumulated and he has now paid back 3 lakhs and still has another lakh to pay, failing which he will get evicted from his plot. The repayment almost becomes like a bribe to the lender to allow him to retain his house. (The woman who’d earlier worked with SKS told me that to overcome this, SKS forms very large groups. Not of 5 people, but 20 or 25 people, so that in case someone defaults, the repayment burden on the others is very small)

At that time, it started raining, and I sat and heard the drops falling on the tin sheet above us. After the meeting, I really wanted to pee, so one of the residents took me to the communal toilets, which are used by nearly 95% of the people in the area. Most toilets are locked up, because the residents used to steal the fittings, a typical example of the tragedy of the commons, of the desire to usurp common resources. This gentleman was from Kalimpong (Darjeeling) and was telling me how money lenders (“financiers”) get people evicted with the help of the police and pehlwaans, and how once NDTV was in the area and he asked the reporter to just record one such eviction. Ever since then, the financiers have become more subtle.

We passed by a landscape of pigs, dirty dogs, dead birds, open garbage, keechad, all under the beautiful overcast sky. The toilets were in a horrible condition, all wet and dirty and the faeces had not been flushed, but I kept reminding myself how this is so ordinary for so many people.

Karan

For a portfolio of housing solutions- Economic Times

For a portfolio of housing solutions

RAKHI MEHRA Co-founder, micro Home Solutions

IN A BRAVE AND COMMENDABLE MOVE, THE government catapulted low-income housing to the top of national agenda with a call for a slum-free India by 2015. Subsequent policy drafts, however, have fallen woefully short of the vision.

Adequate shelter is a basic necessity for breaking the vicious cycle of poverty. It is estimated that over 170 million people in the country live in slums without adequate access to clean water, sanitation and security of tenure, and another two million are homeless. With a 3% urban growth rate, the country’s 25 million housing shortfall is only set to rise, leading to more slums.

The answer to creation of a slum-free country, therefore, cannot simply lie in a rampage to eradicate slums. Rather, we must answer the question of how to create a low-income urban housing market that addresses the diverse and changing needs of lower income groups. We must not forget the integral part such groups play in the urban ecosystem and, thus, policy must acknowledge and design for it. Without doing this, not only do we fail the Indian people, we also risk damaging our centres of economic growth. By 2030, urban areas are estimated to drive over 70% of the country’s GDP growth and provide for 65% of incremental employment.

A slum-free India policy, therefore, must demonstrate the following criteria: Inclusive:Policies must recognise all existing slum dwellers including long-term occupants, short-term tenants and the homeless people. Addresses diverse needs of slum dwellers:The urban poor are a highly-segmented group with diverse needs depending on demographics, income capacity, family structure and livelihood choices. Includes user contributions:The allotment of free or heavily-subsidised housing can lead to creation of perverse incentives. Ensures retention of stock of low-income housing:Through community-owned structures, regulatory and monitoring mechanisms to prevent loss of critical housing stock to the speculative market. Involves community groups:For the long-term prosperity of a community, mechanisms for maintenance and livelihood promotion must be encouraged. Promotion of housing cooperatives and involvement of community-based organisations are the best options.

So, how does government policy fare on each of these criteria at this stage? While a step in the right direction, Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY), the government’s mission scheme to create a slum-free country, has not met expectations. The focus is still on providing heavily-subsidised home ownership to a few, rather than shelter for all. This means that housing allotment is reduced to creating an onerous list of eligibility criteria. In the case of Delhi, criteria include household income, settlement date and possession of voting cards, among others. About 20% of existing slum dwellers will be eligible. The scheme is exclusive and lobbying to increase the cutoff date for entitlement is not the solution.

Our proposal is to replace the one-size-fits-all allotment model with a portfolio of housing solutions, each with greater user contributions and based on ability to pay. Options include dormitories, short- to longterm rental, rent to ownership models and direct ownership with access to finance.

Through the promotion of housing boards, a new genre of socially-minded developers and housing associations, the government can maximise its reach by supplementing its contribution with private sector debt and rental income. Providing the poor with options and shifting to a self-selection model also removes the need for onerous regulation and difficultto-implement eligibility criteria.

To illustrate, consider slums in Mongolpuri in northwest Delhi marked for rehabilitation this year. The block consists of 400 dwellings, many of which have been occupied since late 1970s. Under draft policy guidelines, barely 20% of households will be eligible. That too, it will be given on a 15-year licence basis, on receipt of a bank-funded contribution of Rs 60,000. The best-case scenario for the remaining 80% households, or 1,600 people, will be relocation to temporary camps outside the city. The worst-case scenario will see homelessness. Excluding cost associated with the camps, the total cost of housing 20% of households for the government will be Rs 2.2 crore, that is a percapita cost of Rs 54,800. For rehabilitating 100% of dwellers, the cost would be over Rs 11 crore.

Now consider a low-income housing model as suggested above with multiple housing options and with affordable user contribution. The net present value cost to the government (net of user contribution) for rehabilitating all the 400 dwellings, or 2,000 dwellers, — not just 20% of them — would be less: only Rs 2.12 crore. We have used the following assumptions:

If the government follows a similar model, we would succeed in creating an inclusive policy that achieves a shelter for all as a primary objective — incidentally, a fundamental human right — and provides an incentive for the dormitory user to progress to a rentaluse and finally work towards an ownership solution.

But shouldn’t the poorest get maximum benefit and, thus, home ownership instead of rentals? This is not a one-shot game: by handing out free assets to the poorest, we risk creating an incentive for them to remain poor and those not poor to become poor.

To achieving the vision of a slum-free India, we have to look at smarter and more efficient ways to allocate scarce resources and bring better living conditions to larger numbers. If we fail to look at alternatives such as rental accommodation, if we fail to address the question of how to create and retain a stock of lowincome urban housing, we will be denying people access to shelter, and everything we demolish today will inevitably return tomorrow.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=RVRELzIwMTAvMDYvMDMjQXIwMTEwMA==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

European style shared bathrooms in Indian slums- it’s acceptable & workable.

It works in Rome, Barcelona, and in Dharavi….why not in the slums of the world-class city, Delhi? While for many Indian families a personal bathroom and toilet is considered a step-up in social status, Europeans families have been sharing bathrooms and toilets for generations. Even today in many hotels across Europe, often an entire floor shares bathrooms. In India, in some forums there is still an argument to make personal bathrooms and toilet mandatory features for EWS and LIG housing. Anyways, that’s a debate for a later time.

We visited a few sites in Delhi and were appalled to see the use and abuse of the infrastructure that were poor maintained and managed.

At first, we were convinced it was a capacity issue- the bathrooms were made for 1100 families in 1980s, which is now tripled to 3000 families as the units have vertically expanded. It partially can be attributed to that, but that didn’t explain the visibly poor conditions.

Then we looked to blame it on the poor management by the contractor; not doing their duty well enough. But when you have people from community coming-in to steal the fixtures and hardware- you wonder whose fault is it. Possibly but there is only so much that can be managed and only that much security provided. We left the community bathing and toilet of Ekta Vihar and Mangolpuri without many answers and a sense of hopelessness seeing the dire situation of water, sanitation and basic hygiene.

It’s possible- come see it in Dharavi. Visiting the slums of Dharavi can be amazing for all the right or wrong reasons. However, seeing this rather beautifully managed community toilet centre was area eye-opener and once again bought to light the power of a community managed model.

The Mahila Milan Committee of the area manages the Dharavi toilet and bathing centre. Those living in the area are ‘member’s contributing a monthly membership fee, and get free usage. Outsiders are permitted to use on a per usage fee. I spoke to one lady, Uma, who travels 30 minutes from her locality to use the bathroom here- ‘‘is much cleaner, hygienic, she says and worth the distance’’- today she’s bought a newcomer to see the place. The bathrooms are kept extremely clean, separate section for members, separate for daily users- but its not till I go to the terrace that I’m truly in for a surprise.

The roof top terrace is one of the nicest spaces I’ve seen in Mumbai- it’s used for community meetings, theatre, workshops- the mosaic tiles and plants making it a perfect spot for a bar-b-que overlooking the sunset. At some point, looking around Dharavi from the this terrace, I forget I’m standing on a community toilet in a slum – synonymous with stink, filthiness, unhygienic conditions.

So what makes this community toilet work and why is it so hard to replicate:

Community ownership- In other areas you have problems such as all the fittings etc are broken of, no lights and all hardware is stolen. It’s the attitude when you’re being provided something virtually free; you take it as your birthright. There is no real ownership and involvement. Somehow there is no incentive/punishment/accountability and it’s the age-old problem in economics of ‘tragedy of the commons’.

User-friendly- the centre is kept open for hours decided by the community and workable for the caretaker. Management- A caretaker family is appointed to manage the shelter and given a large airy room on the terrace to stay with her family. Not a dingy quarter and shoebox to sleep in.

Operations & B-model- The committee gets over 500 people using the bathroom everyday. At an average spend of Rs 2/- that’s a minimum earnings of 30,000 per month. They can easily employ 4 sweepers, put aside the profit for maintenance and up-gradation of the equiment. They close the bathroom periodically for cleaning. Sulabh International made the concept of pay for toilet use possible and hence widely accessible to the people.

Now if we go one set further in case of a community/cluster areas and let people manage it- the entire approach will be sustainable.

Planning Commission, Member Mihir Shah wrote in the Economic Times (24^th May 2010); that constructing a toilet and showing 100% use of funds is hardly an outcome we should be measuring. While he was talking of the rural context, it’s similar in urban areas. As we speak of the JNNURM and Urban Renewal of 62 towns and cities- it is the use, adoption and longer-term sustenance that is more critical than hardware. Otherwise it money down the drain, and we’ll be constructing and destroying to reach target numbers. So the next time government approves a state budget for infrastructure- lets also make sure to evaluate the extent of community involvement and the strength of the business plan.

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A comic strip on technical assistance!

The comic strip is to explain the need of technical assistance during a construction/upgradation of a house.

We projected and presented this work during a workshop in Mangolpuri with a great success!

[Vyas: study of characters]

Thanks to Vyas and Robi for the hard work!!

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Voice of the Client- Workshop No.1 in Mangolpuri, Delhi

Its 1 pm on a Sunday at the ‘Centre’ and we have a packed room with over 50 women, few husbands, and some kids all colourfully dressed in their Sunday’s best. See the pictures, you’ll also recognize some member of BASIX, Baliga Trust, our partners.

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This is the first formal workshop with the community on ‘need for safe building standards and role of professional design expertise’. We’re also here to hear the voice of our potential clients.

We have a great set of comic strips thanks to Vyas, Robi and Marco. This is truly multidisciplinary. Lets go through them….

We talk of what will ever happen (touch wood) if Earthquake hits, already in Zone 5 areas- what earthquake resistant being means; forget earthquakes, even a big aandhi (storm) like the one that came last week.

We talk of why infectious illnesses spread? How better ventilation can make a slight difference.

We ask what they would like to change in their homes- more storage space, more privacy, a bathing/toilet area, consistent supply of electricity….

We speak of home-improvement loans, design assistance, community groups – our vision and what this partnership aims to achieve…

There is only so much you can do with 25 sqm of a plot, but we believe whatever little we bring to Mangolpuri could make a big difference.