SLUMS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT
Slums come about because of, and are perpetuated by, a number of forces. Among these are rapid rural-to-urban migration, increasing urban poverty and inequality, insecure tenure, and globalization all contribute to the creation and continuation of slums.
Insecure tenure: The lack of secure tenure is a primary reason why slums persist. Without secure tenure, slum-dwellers have few ways and little incentive to improve their surroundings. Secure tenure is often a precondition for access to other economic and social opportunities, including credit, public services, and livelihood opportunities.
Globalisation: As it clearly differentiated Skilled and Unskilled labors and created an inequality in wages and living standards leading to improper allocation of resources in terms of infrastructure and others.
Rapid rural-urban migration:
People often come to urban areas to get better work and living conditions. Since they are people with very low income or no income at all, finding a place to live in is a challenge for them. This is the major reason of why slums develop in a developing city.
Problems and suggested measures
1. Access to improved water: Due to the lack of proper supply, they often get water from places that are highly unhygienic but they are left with no other choice.
* Government should take effective measures to supply sufficient quantity of quality of water for family use, at an affordable price and should be freely available without any extreme effort.
2. Access to improved sanitation: Unhygienic sanitation system is another critical problem that is facing the slums. The diseases that breed in unhygienic conditions are developing very rapidly in slum areas which are later spreading in the city areas.
* The Government should provide an excreta disposal system especially designed for slum areas. This could be done by providing a disposal waste system either in the form of a private toilet or a public toilet shared with a reasonable number of people.
3. Security of tenure: People staying in slums always have that insecurity of being thrown away from the land where they are staying.
* Slum eradication measures should be taken by the government but in a positive way. Government should allot some land for these people with proper hygienic facilities and give them evidence of their security of their homes.
4. Durability of housing: The materials used by the people in the slums are mostly substandard that is hazardous to the environment. The materials dont last long and also prove hazardous to the society.
* Materials of construction should be made available to slums at cheaper costs or the Government must bear the expenses for the housing of the poor
5. Sufficient housing Area: People living in slums do not have sufficient living space. They have to sleep outside their hut during night times and stay outside during the day time irrespective of the kind of climate.
* Government should provide sufficient living space for these people. Not more than two people sharing the same room.
Vidya Sagar Jagati
