Slum redevelopment and rehabilitation projects are often in a state of deadlock: any significant change requires more resources and land. However, availing of more resources and land requires significant change on the ground. Reflecting the magnitude of the challenge, several ambitious slum redevelopment projects have either been ineffective or have become notorious non-starters. For example [...]
Sharadha, aged 14, lives in one of Hyderabad’s slums. Her mother works as domestic help in local housing complexes. Sharadha likes going to school and aspires to be a teacher someday. However, because she has a poor attendance record, she may not be able to move onto the next grade. She has invariably been skipping [...]
In March 2013, the Registrar General of India (RGI) published, for the very first time, comprehensive datasets on housing, amenities and assets in Indian slums, based on information collected during the 2011 Census. Up until this report, the assessment of challenges pertaining to urban poverty had no disaggregated numbers to substantiate or inform policy design. [...]
After a slew of scams and controversies for India’s ruling UPA (United Progressive Alliance) coalition, the newly unveiled 2013-2014 budget signals a return to the UPA’s primary agenda of economic growth. At various points in his speech, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram assured investors and voters that the UPA government was firmly committed to the “Indian [...]
Today, 43% of the world’s children–19 years old or younger–live in urban areas. Since 1955 when the urban child population was 27%, every succeeding decade has seen this rate grow by approximately 3%. Informal settlements or slum communities offer a hard lifestyle for adults, but arguably more so for children. Urban life may make facilities [...]
April 20, 2012
In cities across South Asia there are children working and living on the streets. While UNICEF has quoted the numbers as running into the tens of millions across the world, nobody has as yet provided a credible estimate. It seems clear that the number of children living on urban streets are increasing due to population [...]
March 21, 2012
India has progressed in education over the past decade, and today, there are near universal enrollment rates in primary school. With the recent Right to Education Act, the focus on children’s schooling has further intensified. However, while enrollment rates are now impressively high for primary schools, secondary schooling, especially for girls, is seeing much lower [...]
March 21, 2012
Like in much of the world, India’s road accidents are attributed to challenges such as drunk-driving or lax enforcement of driving safety standards. With the rise of mobile telephony, a negative externality has been the increase in traffic accidents due to mobile phone use while driving. But there is also the larger issue of infrastructure, [...]
March 21, 2012
Cities have grown at thunderous rates in the last few decades. Settlements have proliferated wherever space is available, even in disaster-prone hillsides, floodplains or along water bodies. Ad-hoc or absent city planning across a patchwork of disconnected city and state offices has left residents at risk on a number of fronts. In South Asia, however, [...]
March 21, 2012
Everyday life in urban slums is difficult for women. Shacks are inadequately equipped for daily needs, forcing women and girls to make early morning and late night treks to collect water or use the public toilet. These seemingly innocuous events become sources of great risk and anxiety for urban poor women who fear for their [...]
April 20, 2012
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