Planning Policy: Review and Critique
Planning Policy: Review and Critique
Planning Policy: Review and Critique
Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) envisages a Slum Free India with inclusive and
equitable cities in which every citizen has access to basic civic infrastructure,
social amenities and decent shelter.
2. Mission
3. Objectives
3.1 . Improving and provisioning of housing, basic civic infrastructure and social
amenities in intervened slums.
3.2 Enabling reforms to address some of the causes leading to creation of slums.
4.2 RAY will also extend financial support to States for creation of affordable
housing stock through public-private partnership (PPP) under the Affordable
Housing in Partnership (AHP) component of the scheme.
The policies which have been envisaged by the governments over the years have
been some modification of Housing for All 2022 (HFA) policy that has currently
been introduced. The HFA policy envisages providing, according to the Presidents
Speech, every family with a pucca house with water connection, toilet facilities, 24x7
electricity supply and access.
The housing shortage in the country is divided into 4 parts as per the MHUPA report
on HFA 2022:
1. Slum dwellers
2. Urban poor living in non-slum areas
3. Prospective migrants
4. Homeless and destitute
The government policy for slum dweller and urban poor living in non-slum areas
would have to be considered. The policy for slum dwellers is itself divided into 3
parts:
1. Slums on public land
2. Slums on private land
3. Unauthorized colonies as slums
The major points under the strategy for slums on public land are:
In-situ redevelopment or up gradation of the public land on the basis of private
partnership by using land as a resource.
Provision of higher FSI to such lands.
Private party to exploit part of the land with increased FSI for commercial
purpose .
Private party to build part of the land for eligible slum dwellers at free of cost
(cross subsidization) .
GOI and State Governments to share the burden of the viability gap, if any.
The major points under the strategy for slums on private land are:
In-situ redevelopment or upgradation of the slums by the freeing up part of the
land for commercial use with higher FSI to the owner and the shifting the slum
to a lesser area with higher FSI.
Government to provide technical specification and area norms.
The major point under the strategy for slums living in untenable land such as river
bed, forests, drain, high tension line, etc. is to shift such slums to other tenable
areas. The major points under the strategy for slums on unauthorized colonies are:
Regularization of these colonies
Provision and improvement of basic municipal services such as roads,
sanitation, sewerage, water services and electricity in these areas
Improvement of general infrastructure
Review and Critique
This policy tries to leverage the government occupied land in a small way by
utilizing the currently government land occupied by squatters. The policy in a
way tries to free up that land by separating it into 2 parts- one for affordable
housing and the other for commercial purpose. However, it would have been
even better if there would have been a policy clause where the government
bodies which are sitting on vast pieces of unoccupied and unused land were
made to give up their lands or asked why the lands currently vacant or under
suboptimal use should not be taken away for public use / housing
development. There is likely to be considerable resistance from the public
bodies against any such move. Hence, the proposed policy of usage of
occupied government land by slum dwellers in itself can be seen as a first
step to a more radical but necessary measure of making the public bodies
relinquish the unoccupied piece of land, or to put them to optimal use. Lands
available with the government could have been traded for other lands or
directly used in development of affordable housing projects instead of letting it
out into the market. This way while the supply of dwelling units in market will
increase, it will also then be in the affordable housing segment.
The HFA-2022 policy tries to leverage the private land under dispute by
providing higher FSI to the private party and simultaneously providing for
Affordable Housing in the same land. Also, the HFA 2022 aims at regularizing
the unauthorized colonies, provision and improvement of basic municipal
services such as roads, sanitation, sewerage, water services and electricity in
these areas and a general improvement in the infrastructure. However, the
policy is silent on many aspects of property rights/tenure rights of the people
currently living in slums. The policy does not try to resolve the property rights
problems that are one of the primary reasons for poor conditions of the
existing slums.