OTHER HOUSING SCHEMES 15. In accordance with the provisions of the Plantation Labour Act, 1951, it is obligatory for every plantation to provide houses of prescribed standards for workers and their families residing in the plantations. While the larger plantations are able to fulfil this condition., for the smaller plantations Government assistance by way of loans is needed. During the second five year plan Rs. 2 crores are to be provided for this purpose. About 11,000 houses are expected to be built under this scheme.
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16. For several years attempts have been made to provide im- proved houses for labour in the coal mines. In view especially of the large expansion programmes of the coal industry, the provision of houses for miners has considerable importance during the second five year plan. On the basis of the experience pined in working earlier proposals a new scheme has been recently formulated. The scheme is financed through a cess of six annas per ton of coal and coke despatched from the collieries, the annual income being almost Rs. 1 crore. Under the scheme the Coal Mines Labour Welfare Board will obtain land from colliery owners on lease for a period of 40 years free of cost or at nominal rent. Houses will be constructed by the Board and the colliery owners will pay the Board rent at Rs. 2 per tenement per month and workers will be charged rent not exceeding the contribution made to the Board. About Rs. 8 crores are expected to be made available for this purpose, and it is hoped to construct about 30,000 houses during the plan period.
17. The Mica Mines Labour Welfare Fund Act 1946 has prescribed an ad valorem excise duty of 2 1/2 per cent on mica exported from India. The annual income of the fund is about 15 lakhs. A subsidised housing scheme for mica miners was approved in 1953.
18. With effect from 1956-57, the Central Government have revived the scheme for the grant of house building advances to Central Government servants which was discontinued some years ago. Under the present scheme, advances upto 24 months' pay, subject to a maximum of Rs. 25,000 for new houses and Rs. 10,000 for extensions can be made. These will be repayable at 4 1/2 per cent interest per annum over a period of 20 years.
19. A provision of Rs. 3 crores has been made in the second plan for a middle income group housing scheme. The scheme envisaged collaboration with insurance companies and, according to the terms originally proposed, each loan was to be jointly approved by Government and an insurance company, the loan being limited to 80 per cent of the cost of a house, including the cost of land, of which Government was to provide 25 per cent and the insurance company the balance of 75 per cent. Following the nationalisation of life insurance, further details of the scheme are at present under consideration.
HOUSING STATISTICS AND SURVEYS 20. The housing problem has grown steadily over the past few decades, both in rural and in urban areas. There have been few systematic surveys of housing conditions in India. Housing statistics are also extremely deficient and incomplete and data are not available showing either the progress of new construction or the extent of shortage. For organising housing programmes or. any scale it is essential that accurate statistics should-become available at regular intervals. The Central Statistical Organisation are taking steps, in collaboration with State statistical bureaux, to collect data on housing and building materials, both in the public and in the private sectors. Increasing building activity and construction will come to be an important factor in the regulation of the economy. The importance of statistical information in this field cannot therefore be too much stressed.
21. In its seventh round (October 1953 to March 1954) the National Sample Survey investigated housing conditions in 943 sample villages as well as in 53 sample towns and in the four cities of Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi and Madras. Of the 53 sample towns 14 had a population of 100,000 and above, 9 of 50,000 to 100,000, 14 of 15,000 to 50,000 and 16 had a population of less than 15,000. The data obtained in the survey have been recently tabulated and, although they are still provisional, they throw light on certain aspects of the housing situation in the country. The investigation showed that in rural areas about 85 per cent of houses have mud plinths, 83 per cent walls of mud, bamboo and reed and about 70 per cent. roofs of straw, grass, reed, mud etc. About 7 per cent. of the houses have plinths and walls of brick, cement or stone and roofs of corrugated sheets, tiles etc. More than 95 per cent of the houses have no latrines attached to them. As regards sources of drinking water, about 70 per cent. depended on wells, 13 per cent. on tanks and ponds, 12 per cent on natural sources like lakes, springs and rivers, 3 per cent. on tubewells, less than 1.5 per cent. on tap water supply and about 1.5 per cent on other sources. About 81 per cent. of the houses had three rooms or less, one-roomed houses accounted for 34 per cent. and two roomed houses for 32 per cent. of the houses studied in the survey. About 38.5 per cent of the households had less than 100 square feet pet head of floor space and about 32.5 per cent between 100 and 200 square feet.
22. In the urban areas studied during the investigation, nearly one-fourth of the houses had plinths, walls and roofs of mud. The study confirmed the impression that over the past two decades new construction has not kept pace with the growth of urban population. From the data available it appears that as against increase in urban population at a rate varying from 3 to 4 per cent. per annum new houses have been built at a rate varying, say, from 2 to 2.5 per cent About 44 percent of the houses in urban areas have only one room, 28 per cent two rooms, 12 per cent 3 rooms and 16 per cent. 4 or more rooms. About 46 per cent of houses had less than 100 square feet per head. These facts illustrate the congestion which exists in urban areas and, as matters stand, is likely further to increase.
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23. The extent of the housing shortage which exists in urban areas can only be broadly estimated. For an urban population of 62 million there were in 1951 about 10 million houses. The shortage of houses in that year was roughly reckoned at about 2.5 million. The population of towns increased by 10.6 million between 1931 and 1941 and by 18.1 million between 1941 and 1953. During these decades the number of occupied houses in urban areas increased respectively by 1.8 and 1.7 million. Even apart from the question of the quality of housing, the quantitative shortage increased considerably during the period 1941-51. Alongside post war developments and Partition there has been accelerated urban growth. Between 1951 and 1961 the total urban population is expected to increase by about 33 per cent. So that, in the absence of effective measures and carefully formulated programmes of urban development, the shortage in 1961 may be twice as much as in 1951. Comprehensive housing policies and programmes are likely to emerge only after a few years of practical experience in working various housing schemes in the private sector and through public authorities. In this chapter an attempt is made to formulate a broad approach to housing policy and urban development in the context of economic planning and programmes for the development of both large- scale and small-scale industries.
HOUSING PROBLEMS 24 Programmes for the expansion of housing to be implemented during the second five year plan by various public authorities and the anticipations in regard to construction in the private sector have been described earlier. In expanding housing facilities, during the past two, or three years the main problems which have arisen and to which attention has to be given are the following.
(1) in rapidly growing towns developed sites are not available to a sufficient extent,
(2) construction in the private sector tends to concentrate on expensive houses intended to fetch high rents and the needs of the lower middle and middle classes are not adequately catered for;
(3)apart from assistance which the Government now pro- vides, adequate intstitutional arrangements for housing finance do not exist;
(4) cooperative housing has made comparatively little progress;
(5) there is considerable need for research in building materials and techniques and for prescribing standards of construction want due regard to the availability of local materials and the economic use of scarce materials, and
(6) with a few exceptions, State Governments are not yet adequately organised for undertaking and assisting extensive housing programmes.
25. The question of providing sites or plots for the construc- tion of houses especially by persons of small or moderate means has been mentioned earlier. It has been suggested that a proportion of funds provided under the low income group housing scheme may be used on land development on a planned basis, so that plots can be made available at reasonable prices to persons who apply for loans under the scheme as well as to other persons with low incomes. Speculation in land, which occurs frequently, should be dealt with through control of land use and regulation of transfers of land,
26. The greater part of construction which occurs in the private sector is for rent and generally rents are high in relation to the rent-paying capacity of the vast majority. In developing private construction, the emphasis should be on providing facilities to enable persons of moderate means to build houses for themselves, and public authorities should take the necessary initiative. In the nautre of things, the low income-group housing scheme introduced by the Central Government can meet only a fraction of the total demand. There is need for adequate arrangements of an institutional character for housing finance. In 1955 the Housing Ministers' Conference suggested examination by States of the possibility of constituting State Housing Finance Corporations. In the past a limited amount of housing finance has been made available by insurance companies. In view of the nationalisation, of life insurance and the urgent need for the provision of additional housing in most urban areas, we recommend that a special study should be undertaken by the Central Government of the institutions and methods which could be best developed in the special conditions of India for providing real estate credit on an adequate scale. House building has an important role in expanding employment opportunities and stimulating capital formation and private saving. From this aspect also it is desirable to take early steps to evolve appropriate institutions for providing financial and other assistance. In this connection, the experience of cooperative housing societies in various urban areas and amongst industrial workers should be examined with a view to determining the directions in which cooperative housing schemes may be pursued with special advantage and the character of the institutional and other facilities required for the development of cooperative housing.
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27. In accordance with a recommendation in the First Five Year Plan, for developing building research and techniques, the National Buildings Organisation was established in 1954 in the Ministry of Works, Housing & Supply. The functions of the Organisation are to recommend measures for promoting quicker, cheaper and better construction and economy in the use of scarce materials and manpower. The Organisation is also attempting to compile and collect statistics relating to building activity and building materials and to serve as a clearing house for information regarding the technology of building designs, materials and construction. The National Buildings Organisation has drawn up a comprehensive programme of research through the various research laboratories and institutions. On the development side, the problems under investigation include measures to improve the quality of bricks, the manufacture, of boards, partition walls, tiles, hollow bricks, etc. The use of seasoned and treated timbers and bamboos in construction, cheap methods of fixing doors and windows to masonry, current uses of scarce materials in construction and possibilities of reducing the use of cement and replacing it by lime where possible, are also being studied. The National Buildings Organisation is also investigating the production of kankar lime and other limes. Work on mud plaster is being undertaken from the point of view of moisture resistance. In view of the need to economise in the use of scarce materials and reduce housing costs, steps are being taken to evolve standards of housing which will be satisfactory without being expensive or ostentatious and will involve the use of the maximum extent of local materials after appropriate processing.
28. The question of Organisation for carrying out housing programmes was considered at the Housing Ministers' Conference which was held in 1955. The Conference recommended that in each State there should be a department or agency to coordinate the various aspects of housing, especially, in regard to the assessment of housing needs, preparation of master plans, acquisition of land and implementation of house building programmes. As housing and other construction programmes are undertaken on a large scale, the need has been felt for organising systematic training of masons, brick-layers, carpenters, plumbers and other personnel. Some steps in this direction have been recently taken both by the Ministry of Works, Housing and Supply and by a few States, but considerable expansion of training programmes is required.
URBAN DEVELOPMENT 29. The shortage of housing in urban areas calls for a series of measures for the expansion of housing facilities. If attention is concentrated only on these measures, in face of the present trends in urban development, the shortage of housing will continue to be accen- tuated. It is necessary, therefore to consider urban housing, not merely as a problem by itself or as an attempt continually to catch up with events but as part of the wider problem of the planning of urban areas and of their economic and other relationships with the regions in which they are. situated.
30. Between 1921 and 1951, the urban population rose from about 27 million to about 62 million, the proportion of the urban to the total population increasing from about 11 to more than 17 per cent As the national economy has become more closely integrated, the economic, social and political importance of towns has increased. In the nature of things, much of the development in the past has been of an unplanned character. Large towns have attracted to themselves new industries and services and the problems of providing housing and other amenities have become increasingly acute. Rise in land values, speculative buying of lands in the proximity of growing towns, high rentals and the development of slum areas are features common to most large towns. Few municipal administrations have been able to cope with the problems which have thus grown cumulatively. With a view to the closer understanding of those aspects of urban growth which bear specially on rural-urban migration and the development of employment opportunities, the Research Programmes Committee of the Planning Commission has initiated surveys of 21 leading cities and towns.* In recent years, much thought has been given to problems of rural planning; similar attention has now to be given to the complex problems of urban development and re-development. India is on the threshold of rapid industrial development Unless there is adequte forethought and planning, industrial progress will be accompanied by serious social and other problems in urban areas which may become increasingly difficult to manage. It is, therefore, necessary that from now on the future course of urban development should be viewed by public authorities at the Centre, in the States and in each region in its correct perspective. Even though quick results may not be forthcoming, appropriate policies should be laid down from the start and determined efforts should be made to follow them with the support of enlightened public opinion.
31. If urban development and re-development and housing policies are viewed in the context of planned economic development and rapid industrialisation, three problems claim special study, namely, (a) methods of securing planned development in urban areas, (b) expansion of housing facilities, and (c) development of civic administrations along sound and
*Agra, Allahabad, Aligarh, Amritsar, Baroda, Bhopal, Bombay, Calcutta, Cuttack, Delhi, Gorakhpur, Hyderabad, Hubli Jaipur, Jamshedpur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Madras, Poona, Surat and Visakhapatnam.
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progressive lines. The second problem has been examined at some length in this chapter. On the third aspect it is sufficient to remark here that for urban development to proceed on desirable lines, competent municipal administrations with adequate powers, resources and admininistrative and technical staffs are essential. Urban development and redevelopment throws increasing responsibility on municipal administrations which few of them are at present able to discharge. In many western countries, local authorities are the principal agencies for implementing housing and other civic programmes. In India also, it is essential to use local authorities more and more as agencies of the State for providing housing and other civic amenities in keeping with the requirement of economic develop- ment.
32. If planned urban development is to be undertaken and the lines along which various urban or potentially urban centres are to develop over the course of the next ten or fifteen years, there is need for a clear conception of the pattern of economic development and especially of industrialisation which is to be followed in determining the distribution, location and size of various industrial and other undertakings. These questions have been considered in the appropriate chapters. Within the frame work of plans drawn up on the basis of territories such as districts and States and for different sectors of development such as agriculture, industry, transport, etc. and-for their more efficient implementation, it is also necessary to Work out physical and economic plans based upon the study of urban-rural regions, viewing each region as an area for integrated. local planning. The regional planning approach is required especially for lagre and growing towns and for river valley areas which are being developed through new irrigation and power projects. The aim ultimately must be to evolve balanced urban-rural regions which would provide stable and diverse employment and, through the provision of the necessary economic and social over-beads, achieve development at reasonable social and economic cost
33. To achieve this objective, action has to be taken in each State along five principal directions:
(1) Each State should have a phased programme for the survey and preparation of master plans for all important towns. These should provide for integration of land use and zoning principles in each town or area with a view to obtaining the maximum amount of efficiency and economy in working and living conditions. In this connection towns and cities such as Delhi Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Poona etc. would require early attention.
(2) A number of new towns have recently come into existence; others are likely to develop rapidly during the second and subsequent plans as industrialisation proceeds. Sindri, Durgapur, Bhilai, Rourkela, Chittaranjan and Neiveli are illustrations of towns in this group. As early as possible, the preparation of regional plans for such towns should be taken in hand.
(3) Development of river valley areas should be based on careful surveys of their topography, resources and development needs and potential. A pilot project for a regional planning survey of the Damodar Valley are will shortly be undertaken. Surveys en similar lines are required, for instance, in areas served by the Bhakra Nangal, Hirakud, Chambal, Tungabhadra, Koyna and other important projects.
(4) Town and country planning legislation has been so far enacted in four States, namely, Madras, Bombay, Hyderabad and Saurashtra. Uttar Pradesh has such legislation tinder consideration. It is recommended that town and country planning legislation should be enacted in all States and the necessary machinery for its implementation. should be set up. The preparation of town plans is at present often field up for lack of qualified personnel. The expansion of existing facilities for the training of town planners and architects has been provided for in the plan.
(5) There are a number of programmes in the second five year plan which have considerable hearing on urban development and redevelopment such as, large industrial and other undertakings whose location is determined or influenced by the Government, development of village and small industries and of industrial estates and townships, major irrigation and power projects, small town an rural electrification schemes, establishment of warehouses and marketing centres for agricultural produce, urban water supply and sanitation schemes, industrial and low-income group housing schemes, expansion of transport facilities etc. These and other programmes should be implemented in an integrated manner with careful attention to their impact on urban and regional development and with reference to the present and future requirements of planning in different parts of each State or region. Such coordinated planning will ensure that the resources devoted to these programmes will yield satisfactory results, and the costs of economic development as well as of providing civic amenities will be reduced.