Question

What are the various steps taken by the government to improve rural infrastructure?

Answer 1

Slums are informal settlement characterized by substandard housing, overcrowding and squalor. Nearly 1 billion people live in the slums worldwide and this is projected to grow to 2 billion by 2030. Slums lack basic sanitation services, supply of clean water, reliable electricity, timely law enforcement, schools, hospitals and other basic services. Slums lead to epidemics, are vulnerable to natural and unnatural hazards, unemployment, rampant child labor, increase in crime rates and violence, informal economy etc. Slum-dwellers stay in shanty structures in unhygienic environment, not by choice but by compelling circumstances as they were thrown out of the formal housing sector, the latter being expensive and much beyond their income levels. It is imperative to enhance their standard of living and for which an authorized dwelling unit is a first step in the right direction. This, in turn, will bring about a marked improvement in their hygiene and health as well as raise the level of public hygiene which has fallen to very low ebb. SLUM UPGRADING: Through this the informal areas are gradually improved, incorporated into the city itself, through extending land, services and citizenship to slum dwellers. It involves providing slum dwellers with the economic, social, institutional and community services available to other citizens. These services include land tenure, infrastructure development, education, transport and communication. Slum upgrading is not simply about water or drainage or housing. It is about putting into motion the economic, social, institutional and community activities that are needed to turn around downward trends in an area. These activities should be undertaken cooperatively among the political groups and society The activities tend to include the provision of basic services such as housing, streets, footpaths, drainage, clean water, sanitation, and sewage disposal, access to education and health care. Ultimately, upgrading efforts aim to create a dynamic in the community where there is a sense of ownership, entitlement and inward investment in the area. Slum upgrading is most effective when linked with other initiatives or goals, such as: •Poverty alleviation •Health and education •Environmental and sanitation improvement •City-wide infrastructure and transportation expansion. The actual focus should be on removal and relocation and rehabilitation of the slum areas. For this the governments must undertake vigorous urban planning, city management, infrastructure development, slum upgrading and poverty reduction. Governments often fail to recognize the rights of the urban poor and incorporate them into urban planning, thereby contributing to the growth of slums. In addition, many countries simply cannot respond to rapid urbanization quickly enough. People are coming to cities far faster than the planning process can incorporate them. Often, they find their own land and build a shack before the government has a chance to learn of their existence. The Slum Rehabilitation Act 1995 was passed by the government of the Indian state Maharashtra to protect the rights of slum dwellers and promote the development of slum areas. The Act protected from eviction, anyone who could produce a document proving they lived in the city of Mumbai before January 1995, regardless if they lived on the pavement or other kinds of municipal land. The ACT was the result of policy development that included grassroots slum dweller organisations, particularly SPARC. Through the Act pavement dwellers were for the first time into the classification of households that are entitled to land for relocation. Following the enactment of this legislation, the government of Maharashtra and the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai set out a special policy for planning the relocation of the 20,000 households, using the information from a census Mahila Milan and NSDF completed in 1995.

Answer 2

Yes,it is called slum uogaradation Slums are informal settlement characterized by substandard housing, overcrowding and squalor. Nearly 1 billion people live in the slums worldwide and this is projected to grow to 2 billion by 2030. Slums lack basic sanitation services, supply of clean water, reliable electricity, timely law enforcement, schools, hospitals and other basic services. Slums lead to epidemics, are vulnerable to natural and unnatural hazards, unemployment, rampant child labor, increase in crime rates and violence, informal economy etc. Slum-dwellers stay in shanty structures in unhygienic environment, not by choice but by compelling circumstances as they were thrown out of the formal housing sector, the latter being expensive and much beyond their income levels. It is imperative to enhance their standard of living and for which an authorized dwelling unit is a first step in the right direction. This, in turn, will bring about a marked improvement in their hygiene and health as well as raise the level of public hygiene which has fallen to very low ebb. SLUM UPGRADING: Through this the informal areas are gradually improved, incorporated into the city itself, through extending land, services and citizenship to slum dwellers. It involves providing slum dwellers with the economic, social, institutional and community services available to other citizens. These services include land tenure, infrastructure development, education, transport and communication. Slum upgrading is not simply about water or drainage or housing. It is about putting into motion the economic, social, institutional and community activities that are needed to turn around downward trends in an area