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The Official Print-Newsletter of LOCOA

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Habitat II & After
Istanbul Declaration

CISRS: Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society
By Rabial Mallick

The Istanbul Declaration emphasized that the two major themes of the Habitat-II Conference - adequate shelter for all and sustainable human settlements development in an urbanining world have been inspired by the Charter of the United Nations and are aimed at reaffirming existing and forging new partnerships for action at the international, national and local levels to improve our living environment.
(i) The Habitat Agenda reaffirmed the commitment to the full and progressive realisation of the right to adequate housing and to enable people to obtain shelter and to protect and improve dwellings and neighbourhoods. We commit ourselves to the goal of improving living and working conditions on an equitable and sustainable basis so that everyone will have adequate shelter that is healthy, safe, secure, accessible and affordable and that includes basic services, facilities and amenities, and will enjoy freedom from discrimination in housing and legal security of tenure.
(ii) Similarly sustainable human development, another major area of emphasis, is such development that gives priority to the poor that enlarges their choices and opportunities, and that provides for their participation in events and decisions that shape their lives. We commit ourselves to the goal of sustainable human settlements by providing all people, in particular those belonging to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, with equal opportunities for a healthy, safe and productive life in harmony with nature and their cultural heritage and spiritual and cultural values, and which ensures economic and social development and envionmental protection

Priority Areas of Action

After the Habitat-II conference, many workshops and seminars were organised by CISRS and its networks in various parts of the country to spread the message of the need for a sustainable shelter for the poorer sections of society. There were also several interactions with the Govrnment and local authority recently the priority areas of action were formulated keeping in view the Istanbul +5 meeting.
i)      Apart from the Government, NGOs. CBOs and the private sector should be encouraged in a big way to take up land development and construction activities by providing financial and technological support.
ii)     Reforms in techno-legal and techno-financial regime have been initiated in strengthening and extending the housing delivery system to the private sector and the NGOs and model laws and guidelines are being formulated for modifying the relevant acts by the state governments for optimising land use, making use of land as a resource, adopting low-rise high density urban form and providing statutory support for land assembly, land pooling and land sharing.
iii)    Function and activities of the urban local bodies and other development agencies should be restructured so that they function in a cohesive and coordinated manner for housing development and for enabling them to play the role of facilitator and enabler for housing and shelter improvement.
iv)    Latest technology should be used for upgrading and modernsing the housing sector to increase efficiency, productivity, energy saving and improving the quality of housing.
v) Strategy for slums and squatter settlements should focus on in situ as well as redevelopment of slummish settlements and informal housing. Also night shelter with basic sanitary facilities should be constructed for pavement dwellers and homeless population.

CISRS Study

CISRS undertook a study on Urban Poverty vis-a-vis Urban Governance in the cities of Calcutta and Delhi. The project, sponsored-by TUGI, UNDP was to assess the views of a cross section of people on the state of urban governance and its responsiveness and concern for the poorer sections of society, specially those living in slums and squatter settlements. Extensive interviews discussions and workshop with the municipal officials, academicians, urban experts and NGOs and CBOs were conducted in Calcutta and Delhi. The Mayors of Delhi Municipal Corporation and Calcutta Municipal Corporation were also interviewed. The project was co-ordinated by Mr. Rabial Mallick and Mr. Dhurjati Mukherjee.

Human Settlements : People's Agenda

Human settlements and the right of the individual to own a shelter of his own has been the subject of much discussion and debate, especially after the Habitat-II Conference at Istanbul. CISRS with the assistance of some NGOs and also UNDP AP-2000 organised a series of regional workshops in 1998 at Mysore, Mumbai and Calcutta to discuss various aspects of habitat and environment where not only experts but also social activists, students, youths, CBOs and NGOs actively participated in the deliberations.

Mysore Workshop 17-18 March

The future development of cities with respect to the conditions of the urban poor has been a subject of much discussion and debate because of the deteriorating conditions of the poorer segments of society. It is well known that the private and / or the metropolitan cities have been overcrowded with an increasing influx of people from the neighbouring areas in search of employment, most of whom find their place in slums and squatter settlements. The challenges are indeed enormous and considering the dimension of the problem CISRS in collaboration with Rural Literacy and Health Programme (RLHP) Mysore, organised a three-day workshop on Future Cities and the Urban Poor at Mysore. Most of the speakers made an analysis of the problem considering the situation and the future scenario. However, the discussions were fruitful to the extent that the delegates were made aware of the possible challenges ahead if proper steps are not taken to make any city livable, sustainable and healthy. More than 80 participants from different CBOs and NGOs of Mysore, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Trivandrum and Madras and students from Mysore took part in the three-day workshop. The workshop identified the following problems:
I.     Imbalance in the pattern of urbanisation and injustice in the distribution of land
2.     Growth of urban population at a phenomenal pace resulting in an increase of slums and squatter colonies;
3.     Non availability of basic amenities to the poorer sections
4. Environment problems due to rapid urbanisation and industrialization
5. Need for development of satellite towns as also of medium and small towns ; and
6. Need for political will to change the face of the urban poor through united action of the NGOs and CBOs,

Mumbai Workshop 15-l7 May

The need to reorient strategies, keeping in view the emerging realities in tackling the problem of shelter of the urban poor was emphasised by eminent social scientists, planners, social activists etc. at the three-day regional workshop on Housing for the Urban Poor organised by CISRS and the Mumbai Urban Poor Forum in collaboration with Asia Pacific 2000 of the UNDP. Around 100 participants from different NGOs, CBOs and academic institutions from Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad and other pans of the region took part in the deliberations. Among the resolutions adopted were:
I.     Pressurising the Municipal and Local Government authorities to constitute city level advisory forums for regular meetings on the problems of the urban poor.
2.     Conferring security of land tenure on the urban slum dwellers and protecting the vulnerable sections from arbitrary and avoidable evictions to encourage investment by them in shelter development.
3.     Getting necessary finance from national agencies, state government and international agencies to construct and upgrade slums as also acquire credit (at minimum rates of interest) to the urban poor.
4. Giving adequate responsibilities to NGOs or a group of NGOs to carry out specific tasks in the major metropolises, and
5. Banning nuclear blasts and other wasteful expenditure in this regard and channelise the money for the social and economic development of the poor and the deprived.

Calcutta Workshop 6-7 June

That the future of Indian cities appeared quite distressing keeping in view the realities of the situation was emphasized by experts at a two day workshop on Sustainable Cities of the 21st Century organised by CISRS jointly with the All India Institute of Hygiene & Public Health and the State Habitat & Environment Forum. Among the resolutions adopted at the workshop was the need ;
i) to abhor nuclear explosions and utilise the money for basic development, specially for the poorer sections of society;
ii) to formulate an effective policy on urban environment keeping into consideration issues such as public health, pollution etc.;
iii) to give more attention to the planning and development of cities while improving conditions in the older cities, specially relating to slum improvement, drainage and sanitation;
iv) strengthening local government units, financially and institutionally; and
v) encouraging public-private-NGO participation in a bigger way.

National Workshop

Housing is a basic human right and a special law is not needed at this juncture. This was staled by Justice Rajindra Sachar, the former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, while speaking at the valedictory session of the National Workshop on Habitat and Environment organised in collaboration with Delhi Forum for the Urban Poor under the aegis of UNDP AP-2000 at New Delhi. Article 21 of the Constitution has clearly stated the right to housing and the right to a dignified existence, Justice Sachar pointed out. He suggested that homeless people should be made into groups and the Government should provide land to these groups at a low price as also loans at very low rates of interest.

Keeping in view to the objectives and recommendations of the ISTANBUL SUMMIT, the workshop evolved some suggestions for consideration on following issues:

I.   Land
+ Need for review of various land ceiling acts so that excess lands could be utilised for houses as well as for agricultural purposes.
+    Need for reserving areas in the peripheral regions of metro cities and also in big cities to be given to the poor and the shelterless for constructing dwelling units.
+   Waste land should be developed for housing and large holdings should be discouraged and contained.
+   Slum areas should be judiciously developed under a mixed land use pattern for residential and commercial purposes, involving different income categories of population with financial schemes of gross subsidy etc.

II. Construction
+   Providing construction materials at subsidised rates through Governmental channels or through social services organisations to shelterless people and also to economically weaker sections who do not have proper shelter.
+ Evolving cost-effective and eco-friendly technology involving new methods and materials with a focus towards solar passive architecture by involving various research organisations in the work.
+    Evolving regulations to stop illegal high-rise in slums and make flexible and supportive rules in promoting slum houses.
+   Construction to be taken up on mass scale particularly for the shelterless, weaker sections and lower middle class and also liberal funding to be provided at lower interest rates taking into account the income of various groups.
+.   Keeping in mind the need for preserving the forests, wood-based products have to be steadily replaced by sustainable materials.

III. Materials
+   Restrict use of national resources such as mud, coal, gas for preparation of bricks, wood etc. White sand, stone, laterite and fly ash etc., be encouraged for intensive use of building construction.
+   Encourage alluvial deposit collection from the river beds and tired in clamp-burnt, bricks or by low grade coal for preparation of bricks.
+   People be encouraged to use chemical stabilised bricks to eliminate energy consumption in brick making, also chemical may be supplied at subsidised prices when cast at site in rural areas.
+   House construction with clay motar with thatched of tiled roof be encouraged made from locally made materials.
+. Industrial wastes and by products be processed for use in construction.
+ Use of conventional materials may he minimised and appropriate designs evolved whereby usage of local materials could he used efficiently in rural housing.
+ Proper arrangement be made by the government for free supply of different environmental-friendly effluent materials to NGOs for properly utilising this material in research work and manufacture of different products.

IV. Social Commitments
+   Strengthening the efforts and struggle of people in solving the problems of shelterlessness so that the UN objective of eradicating shelterlessness by the beginning of the next century is achieved.
+   Involving social organisations, educational institutions and other voluntary bodies in organising and developing low cost construction materials such as compressed sub-burnt bricks / stahilised unhurnt bricks etc.
+ Involving students (during vacation) and social workers in construction of houses for the economically weaker sections and the shelterless.
+   Eviction of slum and pavement-dwellers to be done only after they have been provided suitable alternative shelter which have basic civic amenities like sanitation, water, electricity and transport.
+   Sanitation and potable water be made available to all within a given time frame.

V. Fund Generation
+. Special funds be created both by the Central and the State Governments for providing assistance to the economically weaker sections to build their own houses.
+ Donations from corporate houses and individuals for construction of houses for the poor be given tax rebates.
+ People of Middle Income Group be encouraged in building their own dwelling by making 50% of the expenditure incurred on housing as tax-free.

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