Nearly 68 million Indians continue to live in unhygienic conditions without basic facilities in 17.35 million slum dwellings across the country. Interestingly, though, over 70 per cent own their houses, has mobile phones and televisions even as around 5 per cent boasts of four-wheelers.
And Visakhapatnam and Jabalpur top the list of cities with the maximum slums, even more than Greater Mumbai and Delhi, as per the 2011 Census.
However, the actual number might be on the higher side as the Census of India in its latest report has considered the old definition of slum as a settlement of at least 60 households of poorly built congested tenements in unhygienic environment usually with inadequate infrastructure and lacking in drinking water and sanitation facilities.
As per new definition by the Planning Commission committee on slums headed by Pronob Sen, a settlement of at least 20 households in such conditions is defined as a slum. “Analysis on the basis of the new definition may increase the number of slum households,” said Dr C Chandramouli, Registrar General and Census Commissioner.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a function where report on ‘Housing Stock, Amenities and Assets in Slums based on House listing and Housing Census 2011,’ was released by Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Ajay Maken and Minister of State for Home RPN Singh.
The first-ever survey of slum households in close to 4,000 statutory towns (having municipalities) across the country says that slum households comprise 17.4 per cent of the 78.8 million households in the country with Visakhapatnam topping the list with 44 per cent of slum households followed by Jabalpur (43 per cent), Greater Mumbai (41 per cent), Meerut (40 per cent) and Raipur with 39 per cent.
Among States, Andhra Pradesh has the largest number of such households at 35 per cent, followed by Chhattisgarh (31 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (28.3 per cent), Maharashtra (22.7 per cent), West Bengal (21 per cent) and Jammu and Kashmir reporting 18.8 per cent. Delhi reported 11.8 per cent slum households while Haryana has 18 per cent slum households.
To ensure better facilities to the slum-dwellers, Maken said, “We have decided to frame a Slum Upgradation Index for every city and state now. We are going to set up a committee which will give us a report in three months suggesting us ways to prepare the Index.”
He also said that his Ministry will not discriminate between any slums while providing financial aid to the states under the Rajiv Awaas Yojana (RAY) Scheme.