Urban Poverty in India: Whittling or Withstanding

Presentation by CityMakers Collective, IGSSS

World Scenario : Global Facts

• In 2000, 47% of the world population was urbanised • Since 2008, more than half of world’s population has

been living in urban areas. • Almost 180,000 people are added to the urban

population each day• It is estimated that there are almost a billion poor

people in the world, of which over 750 million live in urban areas without adequate shelter

Urban India Reality • Currently, 286 million Indians live in urban areas which

constitute 28% population.

• As per the latest National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) survey reports there are over 80 million poor people living in cities and towns of India who are mainly migrants.

• The Slum population has also been increasing and as per TCPO estimates 2001, over 61.80 million people live in slums.

Contd…• Mumbai and Delhi are among the top six cities as world’s largest

urban agglomerations. In 2005, Mumbai had a population of 18,196,000 while Delhi was inhabited by 15,048,000 people.

• Currently, there is a shortage of 27.71 mn (As per govt figures at the end of 10th Five Year Plan)+1.82mn (during the 11th plan end, 2012) = 26.53 million housing shortage. 99.9 per cent of the shortage effects the EWS and LIG (This is a classic case of skewed prioritisation of govt. E.g. DDA caters to HIG, MIG and housing is unaffordable for LIG and very poor. This forces people to live in precarious conditions - on streets, slums, etc. Govt. Driving people into illegalities through eviction drives.)

Rural to Urban Migration• Migration from rural areas to urban areas is DISTRESS migration. • PUSH from rural areas Reasons for staying in Urban areas* - Poverty & Hunger - Income & job (Livelihoods) - Marginal/No land holdings - Education - Unemployment - Standard of living - CastExclusion - Basic Services - Communal Riots : Gujarat, Odisha... - Health - Drought/Natural Disaster - Lack of basic services - Family/Marriage/Women’s Oppression - Illness - Displacement*The Pull factors that make a person migrate to urban areas are determined by PUSH factors

Migration• Migration (distress) towards metropolitan cities indicates that

economic reforms have not been able to create much employment opportunities in medium towns and in rural areas.

• The Unsung CityMakers* shows that 75 per cent of the homeless come to Delhi due to unemployment and poverty.

• A complete lack of livelihood is one among the main reasons for many to migrate.

• The migrants who have come in from the villages live in the worst housing conditions, are unorganised, and, if they find work, provide the essential services (like picking up garbage from houses, rickshaw pullers etc) from which others benefit.

* A study by Indo-Global Social Service Society.

What creates homelessness?

• Migrants cannot afford housing in the cities and end up living on the streets, braving extreme weather – round the year, hunger and face a range of vulnerabilities.

• Forced evictions in the cities• Abandonment/family break down• Non functioning welfare schemes & services (how Planning Commission

defines poverty line - has resulted in a large section of people being left out from government schemes and services

• loss of land/livelihood due to expansion in SEZs, and also closure of labour intensive factories, mills

• absence of well located/functioning shelter spaces for different groups (our experience in Delhi …)

• limited employment opportunities and no support for small enterprise

CityMakers• We, at IGSSS, call the Homeless Residents, CityMakers because they are the

ones through whose labour, drudgery and sweat, any city gets made. They are the unsung builders of any nation. They continue to remain on the fringes. CityMakers is a positive connotation on what they do in the city. While homeless term is a situational description. CityMakers also subsumes the worth of the makers and their values, who might be poor due to lack of reach / access to resources; but they are rich in terms of their labour, which brings the being of a city into existence. It’s a tribute to the sacrifices the CityMakers have made.

• Should we still call them Homeless (who actually are nation builders, CityMakers, inner/ spirit resource rich, hope rich, faith rich, rights rich, UN covenants, conventions, declarations rich)?

• We believe that both approaches – the Humanitarian approach and the Rights Based Approach – are justified.

Issues/Challenges• No place for habitat & lack of identity-not enumerated properly, by

the Government; both in 2001 & 2011 Census• Denial of basic Rights & Entitlements• Apathy of Bureaucracy • Unwillingness of any political party to have issues of urban poor on

their manifesto and agenda • Social Exclusion• Unemployment/underemployment & lack of skills• Illiteracy & exploitations• Poor health • Alcoholism & Drug Addiction

PROJECTIONS

• As per the 2011 Census, for the first time since independence there is an absolute increase in population of urban areas than that of rural areas.

• In 2001 the urbanisation was at 27.81 % which has increased to 31.16 % in 2011. Currently, the rural-urban distribution stands at 68.84% & 31.16%.

• As per the 2011 Census, out of total population of 1210.19 million, about 377.1 million people live in urban areas accounting for 31.15 % of total population.

Data on Homeless Residents in India

Year Census (national) Census (Delhi) AAA IGSSS

1991 12,00,000 29,000 - -

2001 19,43,476 24,966 52,756 (June 2000)

88,410 (May 2008)

Contd…• The Eleventh Plan noted that the contribution of urban sector to India’s

GDP has grown from 29 % in 1950-51 to 62-63 % in 2011-12 and is expected to increase to 70-75 % by 2030.

• Initially, the homeless in Delhi were largely individuals. However, now

families are seen too and most of these families are former jhuggi-owners who have been evicted.

• By 2030, with over 575 million people, India will have 41% of its population living in cities and towns. And by 2050 the India’s urban population will grow to 820 million compared to 285 million in 2001.

• It is estimated that by 2015 Mumbai will have a population of 21,869,000 while Delhi will inhabited by 18,604,000 people.

CONCLUSION•Soon, we may see the poor being wiped out of our country.

• The poverty estimates by the Planning Commission show that 29.8% or 360 million Indians were poor in 2009-10 as compared to 37.2% or 400 million in 2004-05. After all, the Planning Commission has learnt from the Census department on how to exclude the poorest of the poor from national data.

• The Planning Commission’s new poverty line figures are : Rs 28.65 in urban area and Rs 22.42 in rural areas. An individual above a monthly consumption of Rs 859.6 in urban and Rs 672.8 in rural areas is not considered poor, as per the controversial formula.

Contd…• The figures stated above are close to starvation line not poverty line. The poverty line should be higher than starvation line.

• Do you really feel that Poverty has diminished?

(privatizing profits and publicizing poverty : P Sainath)

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