HOUSING, URBAN, DEVELOPMENT AND WATER SUPPLY
The urban population of India is small as a proportion of the total population of the country, estimated to be only about 21.8 per cent of the total in 1980. However, the absolute size of more than 109 million people (in 1971) living in urban areas is large by any standards. Urban development, therefore, requires serious attention in its own right, though in the context of overall development planning. In a country still largely rural and agricultural in character, it is natural that programmes for agricultural and rural development should receive the greatest emphasis; in particular those for rural employment creation and assistance to the rural poor. Urban development should, however, be seen as complementary to rural development and policies affecting the process of urbanisation should be such as to strengthen the links between towns and cities and their hinterland. Urban areas of all sizes operate as market centres for agricultural output and provide a variety of service functions in addition to operating as centres of manufacturing activity. These functions should be strengthened such that towns and cities serve the rural areas more effectively. The process of urbanisation should then be seen as aiding employment and income generation in rural areas rather than as a competitive process. Larger towns serve as distribu- tion centres for seed, fertilisers and credit for farmers as well as serving as organised markets for their produce. The bigger cities provide services and facilities to both the smaller towns as well as rural areas in their hinterland. Thus, national policy on Urban Development should view the whole range of urban settlements as having a role to play in the national development Process.
23.2 That having been said, it is also important to view the provision of services in rural areas in an integrated manner. Availability of shelter, a safe water supply and facilities for hygienic sanitation are as necessary in the rural areas as in the urban. Owing to different residential densities, however, different technologies can be used in different sizes of settlements in providing these services. The Sixth Plan, therefore, addresses the problems of the spatial dis- tribution of population, housing, water supply and sanitation in an integrated manner. Given the resource constraints, public intervention in these fields has to be highly selective and centred on the areas of greatest need. The thrust of planning measures must inevitably be toward the assistance of the poor in rural as well as in urban areas. Priority is being given to providing sites to the rural landless along with construction assistance wherever possible. Simi- larly, priority is attached to providing atleast one source of safe water supply in every problem village.
23.3 The provision of safe drinking water and of sanitation is essential for all settlements whether large or small. Higher residential densities necessitate greater care in providing for efficient and timely disposal of human wastes. The current methods of excreta disposal are a serious health hazard and until these are improved, the benefits derived from other programmes will be vitiated on account of the propagation of stomach-related infections caused by the existing environmental conditions in the poor areas of our towns and cities. In particular, the health benefits derived from the provision of safe drinking water are nullified unless accompanied by appropriate sanitation measures. The Sixth Plan, therefore, views the problems of shelter and urban development as being inexorably connected with the provision of safe water supply and adequate sanitation. It is only through purposive public programmes providing essential services like water and sewerage along with low cost shelter programmes like sites and services that the urban landscape of the country can be improved to enable the urban population to function more efficiently. Particular attention must be paid to the functioning of the small, medium and intermediate cities in order to aid them in their role as market centres and as suppliers of goods and services for agriculture. The environmental and infrastructural conditions in some of these towns and cities have been neglected so long that their efficient functioning is beginning to be hampered.
23.4 As in the past, the bulk of housing for the higher income groups will continue to be provided by the private sector. in addition, in view of the constraints on public resources, there should be greater encouragement of the private sector to step UP its activities in the construction of housing for low and middle. income groups. Imaginative schemes of improved facilities for financial intermediation in this sector will have to be investigated in order to achieve this objective
389
390
HOUSING
Review 23.5 Housing is an activity that is typically labour intensive and, therefore, fits in well with the pattern of development envisaged in this Plan. The provision of shelter is a basic need which must be met. Housing construction also creates much-needed employment for the unskilled and, therefore, income for the relatively poor.
23.6 Over the last three decades, public investments in housing through the Plans have been of the order of Rs. 1253 crores. In addition, investments by public sector enterprises, departmental undertakings and grants-in-aid institutions were about Rs. 1800 crores. Investment by the private sector during the corresponding period has been estimated to amount to about Rs. 12740 crores. It is difficult to compile adequate statistics on the number of housing units constructed through planned investments in the public sector. Housing is constructed by all levels of the Government including local Governments, State Housing Boards, State Governments, public under- takings and the Central Government.
23.7 Apart from housing constructed for government employees, the role of the public sector in the provision of housing has been small. Subsidised dwellings have been provided to certain selected economically weaker sections of the community. Between 1950-51 and December 1979, 2.05 lakh houses were constructed for plantation labour and industrial workers. Housing for other low income groups totalled 3.36 lakhs. Construction of housing under various other schemes for somewhat higher income groups totalled about 1.42 lakhs. In the rural areas, about 77 lakb sites have been distributed and about 5.6 lakh houses constructed under the Rural House-Site-curn-House Construction Scheme.
23.8 As is evident from the above, the role of Government in the field of housing has necessarily been rather limited. It was only during the Fifth Plan that provision was made to provide house sites to some of the rural landless as well in addition to the schemes operating in urban areas.
23.9 A review of the various social housing schemes implemented by State Governments and their agencies has revealed some problems in these programmes. These schemes were intended to create housing for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) with house hold income below Rs. 350 per month and households in Low Income Group (LIG) with incomes between Rs. 350 to Rs. 600 per month. It now appears that houses constructed for a particular income category are largely occupied by families in the next higher income group since the instalment payments required for the house are clearly beyond the paying capacity of the income groups for which the houses were meant. Those allottees/tenants who do continue to occupy their house tend to run up payment of arrears of their instalments/ rents. This has, therefore, become a major problem for the State Governments and Housing Boards. As a result , future provision of social housing schemes will need to make a more realistic appraisal of the paying capacity of the recipients:this will mean a modification of standards with a view to economy. In addition to the groups mentioned above, the only class of people who have benefited substantially from public sector support in housing have been employees of Government, of public sector corporations and other autonomous bodies.
23.10 A review of past performance in public sector as well as private sector housing investments makes it clear that the country's housing problems-both rural as well as urban-cannot be solved in the Sixth Plan period. It should, however, be feasible to catch up with the housing requirements of the country if a sustained programme of investment and construction is undertaken over the next 20 years. This programme would attempt to cover the existing housing shortfalls as well as providing for the expanding population. For the Sixth Plan period, the combined public and private sector outlay is expected to be about Rs. 12900 crores; Rs. 3500 crores for rural housing and Rs. 9400 crores for urban housing. Such an outlay would yield about 13 million dwelling units in rural areas and 5.7 million units in urban areas. Reliable data on investment in private housing are not easily available. However, the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) has estimated that gross capital formation in residential buildings in the private sector (including public sector undertakings) was about Rs. 2243 crores in 1976-77. If we assume the share of public sector undertakings to be not more than Rs. 50 crores, gross capital formation in housing in the private sector would have been around Rs. 2200 crores in 1976-77. It is then safe to assure that private sector investment will not be less than Rs. 11500 crores during 1980-85 Sixth Plan period. An investment of Rs. 1302 crores is proposed in the public sector. Additional investments by public sector enterprises, departmental undertakings and grants-in-aid institutions may be of the order of Rs. 250-300 crores. Since the public sector outlay will necessarily be small in relation to the total investment, maximum benefit from such an outlay will he achieved if public resources are largely devoted to low cost schemes such as "sites and services".
Objectives 23.11 It is clear that housing conditions in the country are rather poor. A large number of people either live without any shelter whatsoever or in units below the lowest possible standards. The objectives of the Man Pre. therefore, to reduce substantially the num- ber of absolutely shelterless people and to provide conditions for others to improve their housing environment, Specifically,the objective of the Sixth Five Year Plan are as follows:
(i) Provision of house-sites and assistance for the construction of dwellings for rural landless labourers. This will normally include an element of housing extension services to assist in proper planning of layouts, sanitation. etc.
391
(ii) In view of the severe constraints of public resources, public sector social housing schemes will be designed to benefit the maximum number of people. They will, therefore, be directed towards the economically weaker sections of the community and designed so that they are within their paying capacity. For the rest, investment policies would be framed so as to promote and encourage self-help housing. In addition, resources of institutional agencies like HUDCO and State Housing Boards will need to be augmented to enable them, to provide infrastructural facilities as a means of encouraging housing in the private sector. Care, however, must be taken to avoid subsidies in these activities.
(iii) Specific efforts must be made to secure a reduction in costs in public housing schemes by reviewing standards and by using cheap and alternative building materials. This will necessitate the promotion of research in building technology and the development of cheap and local building materials. Attention should also be paid to the possibilities of energy conservation in construction technology by utilising existing materials in local use in the construction of shelter. The programme for the provision of shelter should be linked with sanitation programmes such that the potential of deriving energy from human wastes can also be realised.
23.12 In order to achieve these objectives, specific attention will have to be given to:
(a) housing activity in small, medium and intermediate towns which have been neglected hitherto;
(b) low cost housing techniques including existing local methods so as to bring down unit costs;
(c) the modification of existing building byelaws, land use controls, minimum plot requirements and land requirements for roads which often make it difficult to reduce the costs of shelter;
(d) the avoidance of direct subsidies in urban housing. In the case of higher and middle income housing, subsidies should be totally avoided. For low income housing, where some direct subsidies are inevitable, they should preferably be in the form of infrastructural and sanitation facilities which improve the environment for people to invest in their own shelter;
(e) greater stimulus and support to private housing in the middle and lower income groups so that there are incentives to channelise savings into housing construction.
Rural Housing 23.13 The Minimum Needs Programme, places a high priority on the provision of house sites and assistance for construction of houses for the rural landless workers. It is estimated that the number of eligible families needing housing assistance would be around 14.5 million families by March 1985. Of these, 7.7 million landless families have already been allotted house situ, leaving about 6.8 million families who are still without a site. The Plan proposes to provide sites to all the remaining landless families. Of the families who have been provided sites only, about 0.56 million families have so far been given construction assistance. This leaves about 13.9 million families who will still need such housing construction assistance. About 25 per cent of these eligible families, i.e. about 3.6 million families, will be provided assistance with construction during 1980-85, with the balance being provided for in the following years. Provision is being made for Rs. 250 per family for developed plots, approach roads and a masonry tube,well for each cluster of 30 to 40 families. Construction assistance is expected to amount to Rs. 500 per family. This assumes that all labour inputs will be supplied by the beneficiaries. These provisions involve a total outlay of about Rs. 354 crores for the programme, Rs. 170 crores for the provision of sites and about Rs. 184 crores for construction assistance.
23.14 It should be the endeavour of all States to provide outlays of at least this magnitude in the Sixth Plan and Annual Plans. While it is expected that all families currently without sites will be provided sites under this programme by 1985, the next Plan will have to ensure that construction assistance is available for those remaining in need.
23.15 It is recognised that with this kind of assistance houses will have to be built with only mud walls and tiled roofs but it is essential that an attempt is made in the next five years that this highly deprived group of landless rural labour, who currently have no land, are able to obtain this barest minimum of shelter. Therefore,in order to implement this programme, it is proposed that in every district, organisations are set up at the tehsil, taluka and block level for the disbursement of the housing subsidy to the eligible families. These organisations should assist in developing layouts and housing plans for these clusters of houses such that appropriate access as well as drainage is available for these sites. Where possible and desired, community latrines and bathing places will also be established. Attempts should also be made to obtain all materials locally, e.g., roof tiles and drain tiles from local potteries. It would also help if the beneficiaries of these local organisations can help with guidance in the design of their houses within the given constraints. The National Buildings Organisation, State Housing Boards and the HUDCO have plans on hand to prefer improved design types for use in the rural areas.
21.16 In general. the State Governments are implementing the programme on the basis of norms and standards visualised in the Plan. However,
392
some State Governments are currently implementing the programme on a more ambitious scale involving larger amounts of subsidies and loans. Given the limitations of resources, State Governments will make every effort to adhere to the norms and standards suggested in the Plan in order to ensure that the target of constructing 3.6 million houses is achieved during the Plan.
23.17 In addition to the requirements of the rural landless under the Minimum Needs Programme, there is obviously need for other housing as well in rural areas. Because of the scarcity of resources there is only very limited additional public provision for rural housing in the State Plans. The Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) and General Insurance Corporation (GIC) have also entered the field of rural housing and have begun to provide loans for construction in rural areas.
Urban Housing 23.18 The public sector has only a marginal, though promotional, role to play in the provision of urban housing. It is clear, that the need is great for better and more housing in urban areas. As stated earlier, given the overall resources constraints and more pressing competing claims on public resources, the vast majority of additional housing in urban areas will have to be met from private resources. The role of the public sector will have to be restricted to the improvement of slums, the direct provision of housing to some of the urban Poor and encouragement of agencies such as HUDCO which can promote the marshalling of private resource into housing in a constructive manner.
23.19 It is proposed that the strategy of attempting massive relocation of slums in urban areas should be given up in the future. Such relocation not only involves substantial hardship to those affected in terms of loss of easy access to employment centres and other amenities, but results in unnecessary destruction of existing housing capital, however sub-standard it may be. It is, therefore, important that substantially increased investments be made in the environmental improvement of slum areas. Low cost sanitation and drainage are key areas of much needed investment in the slums of our cities.
23.20 Direct public sector assistance is proposed for housing the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of the population. The strategy here is to provide 'Sites and Services' Schemes with enough funds for a minimum structure, the beneficiaries to be given loans upto Rs. 3000 per unit repayable over a period of 20-25 years at concessional rates of interest. The Scheme relies on the expectation that the beneficiaries will themselves gradually improve the quality of accommodation in course of time. A provision of about Rs. 485 crores has been made in the Plan, with a target of about 16.2 lakh units to be constructed.