Introduction
Shanghai is the new mantra of development in the world. Flashy buildings, super fast trains and rightly fits into the "show piece" stature it is given in the face of booming economy of mainland China. India adopts this Shanghai model in which development becomes the face of the city. It matters only how it looks from the outside.
Slums are one of the biggest challenge in the beautification of any cities. They are the direct consequence of unplanned urbanization. The exclusion in space, resources, livelihood and dignity produces slums. UN habitat- State of the world cities 2006-2007 suggests some steps to improve slums, which also explains their current status is.
Shanghai is the new mantra of development in the world. Flashy buildings, super fast trains and rightly fits into the "show piece" stature it is given in the face of booming economy of mainland China. India adopts this Shanghai model in which development becomes the face of the city. It matters only how it looks from the outside.
Slums are one of the biggest challenge in the beautification of any cities. They are the direct consequence of unplanned urbanization. The exclusion in space, resources, livelihood and dignity produces slums. UN habitat- State of the world cities 2006-2007 suggests some steps to improve slums, which also explains their current status is.
1. Durable housing of a permanent nature that protects against extreme climate conditions.
2. Sufficient living space which means not more than three people sharing the same room.
3. Easy access to safe water in sufficient amounts at an affordable price.
4. Access to adequate sanitation in the form of a private or public toilet shared by a reasonable number of people.
5. Security of tenure that prevents forced evictions.
Not through the lens of "beauty", but even in a view of necessity, housing is a major challenge of central and state governments in India and elsewhere. It is a basic requisite for any person. What are the governmental and non-governmental bodies that are dealing with the housing issues? What are the government programmes? What are the issues in slum clearance? Does development entails displacement? I would like to look into the special case of Chennai in this housing scenario. Ezhil Nagar andOkkium Thoraipakkam are two slums in Chennai which had problems which the housing scheme programmes of Tamil nadu government. I will try to read into more of that issue.
"God, we shall see, in the smile of the poor"
This is the motto of Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board. Let us hear more from the horse's mouth.
The website http://www.tnscb.org.in/ tells us that the objectives of Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) are
"God, we shall see, in the smile of the poor"
This is the motto of Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board. Let us hear more from the horse's mouth.
The website http://www.tnscb.org.in/ tells us that the objectives of Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) are
- To clear all the slums in Chennai & to provide self contained hygienic tenements.
- To prevent the growth of slums & encroachments
- To prevent the eviction of slum dwellers by private owners and to provide the slum families with security of tenure.
- To provide basic amenities like water supply, street lights, storm water drains, sewer line, etc to the slum areas.
The board was founded in 1970 for "development and rehabilitation of urban slums". Most of their policies are in tune with the principles of UN habitat and they have programmes chalked out with the support of World Bank funds. One such project is the Resettlement Action Plan for Project Affected families at AIR land and Okkium Thoraipakkam. This is a "major initiative for construction of 3616 multi storied tenements at All India Radio (A.I.R) Land Thiruvottiyur and 2064 families at Okkium Thoraipakkam for the Tsunami affected slum dwellers under the World Bank Assistance".
The detailed report on the project is given below
http://www.tnscb.org.in/AnnualReport.htm
The report shows us an extensive survey outputs touching upon almost all categories of socio-economic-political-religious status of slum dwellers. The survey brings out gender specific problems too and it is sub-tiled "Gender issues in the project" which acknowledges the issue of vulnerability.
Most part of the survey is the evaluation of the loss concurred by Tsunami and assessment of materiality for the proper dispensation of compensation. The reports assures that the participation of the slum-dwellers was there in all stages of the planning. After assessing the loss, the report discusses "reconstruction" in the means of skill development and employment training. An attempt to ensure stable livelihood is indeed a way of reconstruction. It should be seen in the light that a shift in housing entails a change in their entire life as there is no distinction between home and workplace for most of the slum dwellers. If that is not the case, their employment sites will be closer to the slum, which is soon to be evacuated. This uprooting is a serious issue in the sense that daily commutation to the work place can be tiring and could take an economic toll on them. This situation is double challenge to the women workers as they are in charge of the child-care to0.
Slumming story
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
http://www.tamilnetonline.com/the-modern-genocide-of-chennai-city/
The Phenomenology of Slums
Magnitude of Impact
The following table shows the impact of displacement from the sites All India Radio and Okkium Thoraioppakom
Statistics on Migration
One of the important factors in the creation of slums is the migration to cities. As most of the people migrating from rural areas are not qualified for organised sector of labour , they settle down forming a part of the slums. Thus we see a direct proportion of migration to cities and formation of slums.
The table below shows the rate of migration to Chennai compared to other major cities in India.
 
The table below shows the slum population through the years 1981-2001
Identified / Estimated & Slum Population in Urban India and Tamil Nadu during 1981-2001.
Source:- Compendium of Environment Statistics, 2001.
Slum dwellers resist eviction! As any middle class person , I wondered at this news title
When Chennai started to follow the Shanghai model in the new millennium, it had to usurp the untidy occupations in the inner city. One among many was the tenements on the shores of Buckingham canal. Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board built new apartments for about 50,000 of these slum dwellers at Okkium- Thoraippakkom area outside the city. So what was the problem? Why would they resist such a good-will action from the government? As my sources are secondary (newspaper articles, journalistic blogs), I do not want to alter their voice once again. Let me echo there concerns directly:
On july 30 2002, there appeared another article in The Hindu titled "Evicted slum dwellers shifted to Okkium-Thoraippakkom". The article reported one of the settler saying that they were forced to shift here as their former homes were bulldozed. They did not have anywhere else to go. Some of them moved in with their friends and relatives in a hope that their homes near Buckingham canal will be restored. Evidently, as per the news dates, their resistance could not hold for more than two days. This mass shifting of people was done without their consent and they were not moved to a better place than their earlier settlement even though government claims it to be. The people's reality talks otherwise.
"We were before living near Mylapore Sileterpuram. During rainy seasons, drainage water use to flow behind our houses. Then, before 8 years they had brought us here. Our houses here are very small with 150 square meter. Thought that we were given with concrete houses but there is no basic facility for us to live here. No water, hospital, bus, electricity, school, road….nothing we have here. Though in Mylapore we were to live near the drainage canal, it was ok for us to live with unavailable facilities here. There, we were not affected with all such diseases here what we experiencing. We are easily affected with all sort of diseases here. There I was earning at least 900 rupees a month doing household jobs, here even that possibility is not available. This is Saritha’s story which common to everyone here." (http://www.tamilnetonline.com/the-modern-genocide-of-chennai-city/)
The way in which the government body asked them to leave is also very insensitive as their approach completely denied any say for the subject of slum eviction.
``We were told to pack our belongings immediately. Otherwise, everything would be bulldozed,'' a resident of Palavakkam said...``If they want to beautify the city, should it be at our cost,'' asks Kalaimurthy of Avvai Nagar, adding that ``the Government should make adequate arrangements for accommodation and take our consent before rehousing us.' (http://www.thehindujobs.com/thehindu/2002/07/28/stories/2002072806860100.htm)
Isaiayarasu, organiser of "Slum People's Right to Live Organization" says that the government is aiming at a complete slum eviction by the year 2013. She also points out that if it was about legal issues relating to public land encroachment, why is the government turning a blind eye towards many clubs and business firms along the coovam river? Isaiyarasu also made a documentary on the reactions of slum people towards giovernment policies titled "Our Land, Our Efforts, Whom for Modern Chennai?"
"Kannagi Nagar, billed as Asia’s largest slum resettlement site in Okkiyam Thoraipakkam, houses 15,000 families, about 90,000 people resettled from over 50 slums of the city, and continues to be a hot spot of school drop outs silently entering the labour market." (http://www.karunalaya.in/who-will-ensure-their-childhood-the-new-indian-express/)
It is ironical that people are driven by poverty to slums and government, in the name of welfare, drive them out from the slums. People did not want to "rehabilitate" to government settlements in Okkium-Thoraippakom. They resisted. The appealed to courts to do forestall the forced eviction. But they could not defend themselves for long. A news on 29 July 2010 in New Indian Express, after eight years of slum eviction and new settlement) tells us that "The Madras High Court has rejected a plea to restrain the TN Slum Clearance Board and other authorities from carrying out any reclamation and/or construction activity at Okkiyam-Thoraipakkam village and to restore the land to its original state". Now that they are resettled and their plea has been rejected by the High court, the state should atleast ensure that their new place is not just a "concreted slum". The place has been uninhabitable even after nine years of struggle and resistance. In The Hindu article published on 16 October 2011"Will Civic Body Expansion Usher in More Ameneties" by K Manikandan writes "A grouse of Okkiam Thoraipakkam residents is that two ponds and a considerable amount of open space were taken over by the State government for widening Rajiv Gandhi Salai and construction of Kannagi Nagar tenements respectively. Suchetha Kumaradev says: “We don't have any space left for hospitals, schools or parks. Even the Pallikaranai marsh and the Buckingham Canal, which are supposed to be open spaces, have been encroached upon in many places.” Of course, rules speak louder when it speak to the poor! These hospitals, schools, parks and clubs are restricted spaces for the poor. They are evicted from their homes for spaces they will never have access to. City's slum clearance reflects the same criticism triggered by dependency theory that resources "flow" from the periphery to the centre to nourish the centre. The city owes its prosperity to the exploitation of the periphery which is slum. The Story ends (at least in the media)
This is the latest piece of news I could gather on the Okkium-Thoraippakom issue. Things seem to be moving in a optimistic direction. Government seems to have understood its flaws and has promised to work on the amenities. They understood that their claims are rightful and legitimate. However, they all lost their earlier homes near the Buckingham canal. New as on 17 November 2012.
 
Conclusion
I remember writer-activist Arundathi Roy saying in an interview long back that one thing she learnt from her architecture course is that cities are essentially formed through exclusion. It is not always the lack of wealth which throws people out of the cities, but watertight spacing denies people access to opportunities. The structural critique of urbanisation is very powerful in the post-war era.
When World Bank and IMF become new tools of imperialism, third world slums suffer the worst with the intersection of corruption, capitalism and international interference in local administration. Structural adjustment programmes devised by these institutions did more harm to people in lower economic cadre in the name of poverty eradication. The modernisation is limited to appearances and democracy is boiled down to "welfare programmes" without the participation of the affected people. The top-down process enforced through SAP's stripped people of homes, jobs and voices. The world bank funds/loans were to be used for developmental purposes as directed by them and their developmental constructions broadly included fly-overs, wide roads and multi-storied buildings which smoothly displaces millions of people throughout the country. World bank's official website says that their mission is to reduce poverty but it seems they are more focussed on eradicating poor people.
The official excuse of the state in pulling down the slums are that it is the abode of criminals. This criminalisation of space justifies the power unleashed on them. The imposed nexus of poverty, illiteracy, violence and illegal activities construct a peculiar subject-hood for the slum-dwellers. The formation of such an individual and their representation by the state legitimises the policies and their implication even though they are not useful for these people. The displacement of these slum-dwellers becomes important for the welfare of the people. This attitude reworks the concept of people and affirms that only a certain category of people qualifies as people to the state. People who are those who add "beauty" to the city. The definition of people in the eyes of the state, evidently, does not include these slum dwellers.
The problem of housing is not just a problem of just a space to lean on at the end of a tiring day. It is also function discussing identity and subject-hood. His or her body becomes a site of resistance, if denied a home. The Okkium-Thoraipakkom resettlement is the story of thousands who were forced out of their home by their own government. They definitely need more than just basic amenities.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No comments:
Post a Comment