ActionAid drives change for deprived urban communities’ rights to land, housing, and basic amenities
Bengaluru : Shri B. Venkatesh, Commissioner of the Karnataka Slum Development Board, while inaugurating a two-day Convention on Land Rights, Housing and Basic Amenities for Deprived Urban Communities, shared that more than one lakh slum dwellers across the state have been awarded land titles in the past two years. It was in November 2020 that the Government of Karnataka passed the order to grant land rights to slum dwellers. Shri Venkatesh stated that the Board is working on ensuring a suitable living environment for slum dwellers and emphasised the need to form slum dwellers collectives to advance their rights.
The convention “Where will the City-Maker stay?” was organised by Slum Jana Sangathane and ActionAid Association in Bengaluru on 25th and 26th May 2023. Civil society leaders, policymakers and academicians from 11 states across India gathered at the convention. Shri Deepak Sanan, former Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Himachal Pradesh, noted the pressing need to address the vast scale of the issues at hand and that the two-day convention was a vital endeavour in that direction. Shri Shivaji Rao Dhavale, a former Chairperson of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority, Nasik, spoke of the need to interlink government schemes to provide access to housing to marginalised communities.
Shri Isaac Amrutha Raj, leader of Slum Jana Sangathane, the community-based organisation that has led communities in the assertion for urban land rights, spoke about the campaigns and collective efforts that led to securing of land titles and that more work is needed to advance the rights of deprived urban communities.
During the two days, teams from 11 states across India presented their strategies and struggles to ensure the rights of the deprived urban communities on land, housing and basic amenities. People shared testimonies of how entire slums have been created and evicted on account of infrastructure development, in the name of city beautification, because of natural disasters and the emerging effects of climate change. In case of evictions, people, when relocated, are often moved to the peripheries of the cities, far away from their place of livelihood and in housing which often lacks basic amenities. People also shared testimonies on how all land in some cities is owned by a few corporate entities, which leads to issues with governance in a country where decentralisation of governance to the city level is already an idea not yet implemented.
However, not all hope seems lost, as could be understood from the discussions where people shared their experiences organising people on the ground to realise their rights. We heard testimonies of people’s movements and civil society organisations conducting awareness drives, capacity-building workshops, enumeration surveys and interfacing with government agencies. Such efforts have led to many states introducing policies and legislations to address the issues of land and housing rights for urban deprived communities. Some such examples include the Odisha Land Rights to Slum Dwellers Act of 2017, the Punjab Slum Dwellers (Proprietary Rights) Act 2020 and the Karnataka Government Order No: HD 88 SBM of 2020 recognising land rights of slum dwellers. All these legislations and policies have identified the land rights of slum dwellers in urban areas of their respective states, albeit with some differences among them.
The convention concluded that there is an urgent need to stop all kinds of evictions across the country. However, in cases where habitation is in untenable land, resettlement has to be preceded by implementing rehabilitation policies built out of participatory processes involving the communities concerned. In addition, there is a need for national frameworks on minimum standards of housing. However, since land and housing are state subjects, and every state and region within has different requirements, the state government’s proactive involvement in preparing people-centric legislation is paramount. Other issues of concern that emerged include the need to establish workers’ colonies in the urban cores, provide livelihood space for people in resettlement colonies, and secure land rights for deprived urban communities.
Land rights for the deprived urban community should be the means and not the end for ensuring a dignified life for deprived urban communities. Access to essential services like dignified housing, water and sanitation facilities, electricity and other utility services should follow the right to urban land. Land or housing should not be viewed only as an asset but also as an essential means, which leads to realising the right to a dignified living and livelihood, not just for the current generation but also for future generations. There is a need for grounded people’s action across the country to ensure that such rights can be realised for all.
Nandini K, who leads ActionAid Association’s efforts in Karnataka, said, “Urbanisation is not by accident but a systematic plan of the state, akin to economic growth. However, with urbanisation also comes a big cohort of people who have been pushed to live in slums across the cities. Slum dwellers are not eyesores, but they are the CityMakers. We need to recognise the contribution of these CityMakers in running the cities. We have to replace the notion that policy making for the urban deprived communities is an act of benevolence of the state with the fact that it is a recognition of their rights.”