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A Study of Slums in Hyderabad — Secunderabad*

A Study of Slums in Hyderabad — Secunderabad*

A STUDY OF SLUMS IN — *

RATNA NAIDU**

Drawing on the analysis of data collected by the Department of Urban Community Development, of Hyderabad and other secondary sources, this paper discusses (1) locational factors in slum growth, (2) congestion and (3) social and shelter profile of slum dwellers in Hyderabad. In the final section a critical analysis of policies on slums in this city is presented. Ratna Naidu (nee Dutta) is Senior Fellow, ICSSR, , Hydera­ bad 500 001. One hundred and six slums were identifi­ 25 per cent of the total population res­ ed in Hyderabad-Secunderabad in 19621, pectively (Government of 1975: 14). the number increased to 283 in 1972, and 74 new slums were added to the list at In so far as growth of the slum pheno­ the end of 1976.3 Since 1962, therefore, mena as is known today is associated with there has been a threefold increase of slums growth of modern industries, we need to in the . While the city popula­ remember that Hyderabad until recently, tion increased by 43.72 per cent during the was the of a feudal state and years 1961-71, the slum population during industrialisation is a recent development. 1962-72 increased by 132.3 per cent. The The phenomenal growth of slums in recent slum population in 1962 was 10 per cent years can therefore be taken as a pointer of the total city population and it is now to the much more serious slum situation 19 per cent of the city population. This which is likely to develop if left uncon­ percentage of course is much higher for trolled. other metropolitan cities such as Bombay, In the first part of this study on slums Calcutta, Madras and where it is in Hyderabad, we present the analysis of 25 per cent, 34 per cent, 24 per cent and data collected by the Department of Urban

* This report is a part of the project on "Optimal Metropolitan Development of Hyderabad", administered by the Indian Institute of Economics and financed by Hyderabad Urban Development Authority. **The author is indebted to Dr. Surya Rao, Director, Urban Community Development Project of the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad for permission to use the data collected by their office through a survey in 1972 and to Prof. V. L. S. Prakash Rao for allowing to dip into his rich experience from time to time to solve research problems encountered on this project. Thanks are also due to Mrs. Renu Khator for her valuable assistance in the collection and the analysis of data, to Mr. K. Ramchander for his research assistance and to Mr. Ashoke Banerjee the cartographer for the map. 1. For 1962 data on slums see Report on the Socio-Economic Survey of Slum-Dwellers in Hyderabad City, 1964, Bureau of Economics and Statistics, Hyderabad, (mimeo). 2. The 1972 survey of slums was made under the supervision of Dr. Surya Rao, Project Director, Department of Urban Community Development, Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad. The Bureau of Economics and Statistics did a survey of slums in Hyderabad in 1962. See the reference in the footnote above. They are currently (March 77) doing another survey and we are able to obtain the data on the identification of new slums since 1972 from this source. However, for all the Surveys, the Bureau of Economics and Statistics identify and obtain the list of slums through" the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad. Definition and identification of slums stem from the Slum Act of 1956. Essentially the Act defines slums in terms of sanitation and inability of houses in terms of human habitation (that is ventilation, structural conditions and so on). Further, the definition applies to a cluster of houses rather than to single or isolated buildings which may happen to be in poor condition. Since the definition stems from sanitary conceptions slums are identified by the Sanitary Inspectors employed by the health authorities of the Municipality. 298 RATNA NAIDU

Community Development, Municipal Cor­ classes remain near the central business poration of Hyderabad through its survey district, and land values around these areas in 1972. Dr. Surya Rao, Project Director remain perhaps highest in the . for the Department of Urban Community And yet we find that slums have invaded Development designed the survey and even such areas in Hyderabad at an acce­ supervised the collection of data. We have lerated rate in recent years. tabulated some portion of the data gene­ rated by that survey. Basing ourselves on The commercial belt stretching from those tabulations we select the following through Afzalgunj across the topics for discussion: (1) locational factors Musi and into and beyond (with in slum growth; (2) congestion, and (3) bifurcation into Nampally road) have been developing over many decades. This con­ social and shelter profile of slum dwellers. gested commercial complex has developed In the final section we present a critical in a compact form along arterial roads, analysis of policies on slums in this city while just behind and parallel to these are in the context of the ongoing debate on residential quarters and vacant land. These policy alternatives available in the literature. stretches of vacant land have been slowly absorbed by the growth of slums. The 1962 I. Locational Factors in the Growth of survey indicates only two slums around Slums this commercial belt, one in and another in Irani Galli near Pathar The shortest possible distance from the Gatti area. The 1972 survey registered place of work is a major determining more than a dozen slums around this com­ factor in the choice of location of housing. mercial belt (ten of these being on govern­ In the technologically advanced affluent ment land). Whereas there were no slums societies the upper classes violate this around Abids and Nampally Road, the principle in their search for pleasant areas survey taken in 1976 shows that slums of residence. Earnest W. Burgess in his have emerged just off these roads. classic studies of American cities (Burgess, 1925) found that early in the development It is obvious that the reasons for the of a city, the central business district is growth of slums around these business dis­ the home of the upper classes. But as tricts have to be attributed to a different these neighbourhoods become increasingly set of factors relative to what is known infiltrated with industrial operations and usually from studies of cities in the West. with low-income housing for labourers and It is more likely that the employment gene­ migrants, the more well-to-do search out ration from these areas put tremendous for their residence more pleasant areas. In load on the housing capacity especially for the course of time low income groups low income groups in the area, and willy- become the exclusive inhabitants of the nilly occupation of vacant land and the neighbourhood around the dominant com­ process of slum formation have taken place. mercial and industrial districts of the city. Industrial growth was initiated in Hydera­ In the poor countries where infrastruc- bad much later than in other metropolitan tural facilities for transportation, school­ cities in the country. The first industrial ing, shopping, amusement and so on re­ estate was initiated as late as in 1931 on main low in spite of accelerated growth of a 120 acre site in Azamabad. A decade later the city peripheries, the middle and upper another 120 acre industrial estate was A STUDY OF SLUMS IN HYDERABAD — SECUNDERABAD 299

developed in . The Chandular of Khairatabad, , Charminar, Baradari Industrial Estate was set up in Secunderabad, Bazar and so on. the south, more recently. A number of Other major establishments which have industrial units came up in Secunderabad spawned slums in Hyderabad are notably but they are not concentrated in any one hospitals whose low-income employees find ward. The early starters and especially the shelter in slums (such as the slum near factories in Azamabad area (sugar, tobacco, the Victoria Hospital) and the Nehru and cigarette factories, leather industries, Zoological Park whose low-income emplo­ steel works, spinning mills and so on) yees live in a nearby slum. received a boost from the wartime boom. However, post-war industrial stagnation in With the exception of the slums in the country affected industrial growth in Azamabad, the 1962 survey indicates that the city negatively for many years and the until that date the slums in this city appear­ tempo of industrialization in Hyderabad ed almost exclusively near grave-yards, in picked up momentum only after 1956, after difficult terrain as in hill and rocky areas, the Second Five Year Plan had been and along water flows and railway tracts, launched3. all places where land was easily available. Water of course is essential for slum dwel­ This chronology of locational growth of in­ lers who lack piped water and latrine dustries is also reflected in the chronology of amenities, and so the choice of wafer-front the growth of slums. The 1962 survey shows is in any case easily explained. The rocky extensive slum housing in Azamabad (ward and inferior land at Naubat Pahar and Pahar 1) and only a very few in Sanathnagar area Jahannuma were occupied by the slum (ward 7) and none in Chandulal Baradari dwellers some decades ago. These of course area. The 1972 survey indicates that slums have now become choice locations. The have mushroomed around all the industrial grave-yards in Hyderabad are located in concentrations mentioned above. The 1962 residential areas. The poor of the city found survey indicates only one slum area in shelter around these grave-yards, locations Sanathnagar. By the time of 1972 survey which would be normally rejected by the these areas had increased to a dozen. more well-to-do. One might say that during the earlier decades the location of sub-stan­ Besides commercial and industrial com­ dard houses, as are the slums, were mainly plexes, the other major establishments which the spin-off of the general locational pattern spawn slum areas are railway stations, of housing in the city. Since 1962 as the railway workshops, wholesale markets for tempo of industrialization increased, and fruits, vegetables etc. Railway the agglomeration of large numbers of people Station has spawned two slums in ward near the industrial areas increased, the rate number 2. Dwellers in eleven other slums of growth of slums near such work-centres in different wards find employment in also increased. In the same measure, as new Khairatabad, Nallagutta, Hyderabad and residential areas spread over the city, the Railway Stations. Similarly slums slums inevitably followed first to provide give shelter to hundreds of people who cheap labour for construction and then to find employment in the vegetable markets provide labour for the households, shops

3. For details see "Industrial Structure and Trends" in Metropolitan Hyderabad And Its Region, A Strategy For Development by S. Manzoor Alam. Asia Publishing House, New York, 1972, pp. 195-227. 300 RATNA NAIDU and so on. Thus it is that even Banjara population, and Table II gives the frequency Hills, a relatively new residential area, has distribution of slums according to the num­ now its share of slums. ber of persons per acre. The survey also yields figures on conges­ Slum growth since 1972 does not reveal tion of people per house and congestion any specific pattern. The survey taken by of houses per acre of land. (See Tables IV the Bureau of Economics and Statistics last and V). The average slum-household size year reveals the appearance of slums near in this city is 5.88. The average house­ water flows: Tallabasti slum (ward 1, hold size seems to have increased over the block 3), huts (ward 1, block 8). decade. According to the 1962 survey, it Yadgar Hussain Kunta (ward 20, block 1), was 4.7. There are 13 slums in the twin Motilal Nehru Slum (ward 6, block 1), near cities where the average household size is industries as Viveknagar slum (Ward 1, 10 or more members. In Wadder Basti block 1) Sineari Kunta slum near D. B. R. Slum of Old Hyderabad (Ward No. 1, Mills ("ward 1, block 3) Zinda Tilasmath Block No. 2), on an average, more than slum ("ward 2. block 3). near shopping centre 20 persons were living in a single house. as Zebabaeh slum (ward 12, block 3), Jala Kowtha slum (ward 20, block 3), and in the The 1972 survey data indicate that there heart of congested residential areas as are more than 300 houses on an acre of slum (ward 16, block 1), Feroz land in the case of 12 slums. Eleven of Gandhi Nagar slum (ward 2, block 2), Sukh these are located in Hyderabad and 1 in Dev nagar slum in . However, Secunderabad. In Yousufnagar slum (Ward a comparison of the '62, '72, and '76 surveys No. 13, Block No. 5), there are 125 houses certainly indicate one trend, that is, the so that the density works out at 595 houses more frequent occupation of choice land by per acre which means that on an average, slum dwellers in the metropolis. less than 75 sq. feet of land is available for each house. Nearly 13 per cent of the II. Congestion slums have more than 150 houses per acre. In the twin cities, on an average, there are According to the Urban community 70 slum houses on an acre of land. Some­ Development Project Survey (1972), the times congested slums are found in areas average slum density in the twin cities is having high density figures. Twelve out of about 400 persons per acre. The density the 22 slums in Hyderabad which have figure goes up to as high as 3,571 persons density of more than 1,000 persons per per acre in Yousufnagar (Tappa Chabutra) acre are located in those areas of the city slum where there are 750 persons living in where the ward density is more than 76 1,000 sq. yds. This slum is located in Ward persons per acre; 6 slums are situated in No. 13 and Block No. 5 of Old Hyderabad areas where the ward densities are more near Sabjimandi which is a large wholesale than 150 persons per acre. Moosanagar market. The density in 10 per cent of the slum (Ward No. 16, Block No. 2), Chan- slums in the twin cities is more than 1,000 danwadi slum (Ward No. 14, Block No. 2) persons per acre. These are 26 in number, of Suryanagar slum (Ward No. 1, Block which 5 are located south of the , No. 8), Nallakunta slum (Ward No. 2, 17 north of the Musi river and 4 in Secun- Block No. 1) and Bazar Ghat Slum derabad. Table I shows the frequency distri­ (Ward No. 11, Block No. 4) are few exam­ bution of slums simply according to ples of congested slums in congested areas. A STUDY OF SLUMS IN HYDERABAD — SECUNDERABAD 301

The most congested slums are • in Ward TABLE II No. 20 where the slum density is 1869 NUMBER OF PERSONS PER ACRE IN SLUMS** persons per acre, in other words only No. of Persons Frequency % 23.3 sq. feet of land is available for one per Acre person. These slums are near Panch 0- 50 1 0.37 Mahal Palace, Makka Maszid and Char- 51- 100 16 5.99 minar. Ward density in this area is more 101- 150 21 7.87 than 76 persons per acre. The density in 151- 200 20 7.49 Block 1 and 5 of this ward is as high as 201- 250 21 7.87 150-300 persons per acre. These slums are 251- 300 20 7.49 very old and it seems that migrants have 301- 350 21 7.87 been attracted there over many decades 351- 400 13 4.87 because of the existence of religion, caste 401- 450 10 3.75 and /or blood relations. Density figures for 451- 500 27 10.11 Ward No. 6 of Secunderabad ( 501- 550 8 3.00 551- 600 9 and Bansilalpet) also indicate more than 3.37 601- 700 18 6.74 76 persons per acre, and predictably the 701- 800 15 5.62 slum density figure is as high as 807 per­ 801- 900 13 4.87 sons per acre. Congestion in the slums in 901-1000 8 3.00 this area is high also because of employ - 1001-2000 16 5.99 2001 & Above 10 3.75

TABLE I Total 267 100.00 POPULATION OF SLUMS* ** The minimum number of persons per acre was 49 and the maximum was 3571 in the Population of Frequency % twin cities. Information about the number Slums of persons per acre was available for only 267 slums out of the total 283 slums which 0- 100 14 5.09 were identified by the survey. 101- 200 31 11.27 201- 300 .24 8,72... TABLE III 301- 400 19 6.91 NUMBER OF . PERSONS PER HOUSE IN SLUMS* 7.27 401- 500 20 No. of Persons per house Frequency 501- 600 22 8.00 601- 700 8 2.91 1-2 3 701- 800 16 5.82 2- 3 4 801- 900 10 3.64 3- 4 11 901-1000 15 5.45 4-5 69 1001-1500 41 14.91 5-6 82 1501-2000 28 7.27 6-7 52 2001-2500 13 4.73 7-8 24 2501-3000 8 2.91 8-9 10 3001 & Above 14 5.09 9-10 9 10 & Above 13

Total 275 100.00 Total 277

* The Minimum number of population in slums The minimum number of persons per house was 50 and the maximum 9958 in the twin was 1.5 and the maximum 20.6 in the twin cities. Information about population was avai­ cities. Information about household size was lable for 275 slums out of the 283 slums available for 277 slums out of the 283 slums identified by the survey. identified by the survey. 302 RATNA NAIDU

TABLE IV able. This seems to be the reason for con­

NUMBER OF SLUM HOUSES PER ACRE** gestion in Kavadiguda, Nallagutta and Nampally slums. In Ward No. 1, the job No. of Houses Frequency % potentiality is very high due to lots of in­ Per Acre dustries and factories, but since land is not that easily available here, degree of conges­ 8.08 10- 20 22 tion in the 5 slums is more than 1,000 21- 30 18 6.62 persons per acre. These slums are Gandhi- 31- 40 28 10.29 nagar, Harinagar, Suryanagar, Ramnagar and Jamistanpura. Generally, the slums 41- 50 31 11.40 near vegetable markets, shopping centres 51- 60 20 7.35 and business complexes are relatively over­ 61- 70 17 6.25 crowded. There are 3 slums near Nampally railway station which are highly congested. 71- 80 27 9.93 The slums in Charminar area such as 81- 90 15 5.51 Kamala Yadgar Huts and Macca Maszid huts are badly overcrowded (the former 91-100 13 4.78 had the density of 3500 persons per acre). 101-110 10 3.67 111-120 6 2.21 On the other hand, if jobs are difficult 121-130 10 3.67 to get but land is available, then there is low congestion in the slums such as those 131-140 8 2.94 near railway tracks and around grave-yards. 141-150 11 4.04 In Hyderabad, grave-yards also happen to 151 & Above 36 13.24 be in residential areas. The Bandika Adda Slum (Ward No. 22, Block No. 3) and Chadarghat Darwaza slum (Ward No. 22, Total 272 100.00 Block No. 1) are along the boundary of ** The minimum number of houses per acre grave yards. These slums have very low was 10 and the maximum 595 in the twin density, less than 60 persons per acre. In cities. Information about the number of houses per acre was available for only 272 slums Secunderabad, there are 3 slums near grave­ out of the total of 283 slums identified by yards in Ward No. 12, Block No. 1 which the survey. had the density of less than 65 persons per acre. ment potential in industries and the near­ by railway station. Slums are also congest­ ed in Ward No. 7 (Sanathnagar, Amirpet) Old slums are generally more congested and Ward No. 23 (, Lal Dar- as these slums get more and more migrants waza). The densities are 725 persons per due to religion, caste and blood relation­ acre in Sanathnagar and 750 in . ship of the slum dwellers. A survey con­ ducted by the Indian Institute of Econo­ Slums are more congested in areas where mics* shows that 20 per cent of the migrant there are more jobs but less land is avail­ households received some kind of financial,

4. The Indian Institute of Economics, Hyderabad did a sample Survey of Socio-Economic Conditions of Slum in 1975-76. The project was sponsored by National Buildings Orga­ nization, New . The report of this survey is available with the Indian Institute of Economics, Hyderabad, A STUDY OF SLUMS IN HYDERABAD — SECUNDERABAD 303 accommodation, boarding or lodging help has remained the same whereas that of from earlier slum dwellers. Moreover 38 the city population has increased during the per cent of those who received help from decade. According to the 1961 census the other slum dwellers in the city, have now level of literacy in Hyderabad was 47 per settled down with them in the same slum. cent whereas the 1962 survey indicates that 23 per cent of the slum dwellers were Seven out of 22 most congested slums in literate. Hyderabad were in existence before 1962. Three of those, i.e. Kamala Yadgar huts, For comparison we may note that the Suryanagar and Fathe Sultan Lane now level of literacy of the slum population in have density of more than 2,000 persons Hyderabad is lower than in Delhi where it per acre. Bholakpur slum in Secunderabad was 32 per cent (Bharat Sevak Samaj, is also very old and now has the density 1958: 78) and Madras, where it was 34 of 2760 persons per acre (the slum has per cent (Nambiar, 1970: 183) according 8249 persons living on 3 acres of land). to surveys taken in the fifties.

According to the 1972 survey the average The increasing congestion in the slums monthly income of the slum dwellers in in the twin cities is due to the population the twin cities is Rs. 155/- per month, explosion in the last few decades, the rela­ nearly 1 per cent of the slum dwellers earn tive lag in house construction, and related more than Rs. 400/- per month, 58 per amenities. In the next section we look at cent earn upto a maximum of Rs. 150/- the socio-economic profile of this popula­ (See Table VI). Whereas according to the tion and the profile of their shelter 1962 survey (Bureau of Economics and condition. Statistics, 1964) 20 per cent of the slum dwellers earned less than Rs. 50/- per III. Social and Shelter Profile of Slum month, the survey a decade later shows Dwellers in Hyderabad only 4 per cent of the slum dwellers earned less than Rs. 50/- per month. As is to be expected scheduled castes and scheduled tribes constitute the majori­ The survey in 1972 indicates that only ty (59%) of the slum-dwellers in the city. 10 per cent of the houses in slums are of 34.46 per cent of the slum population are pucca material (as defined by the census) Muslims.5 and 42 per cent are huts (see Table VII). The kacha and hut classification of houses Whereas 53 per cent of the Hyderabad in the M.C.H. survey may be combined to urban population are literates according to make the categories comparable with other the 1971 census only 23 per cent of the cities. Whereas in (D'Souza, slum dwelling population are literate. If we 1970: 230), kacha houses are only 52 per compare this data with the data from the cent of the total slum houses, for Hydera­ survey carried out in 1962 by the Bureau bad the figure is 64 per cent and in Madras of Economics and Statistics, we find that (Nambiar, 1970: 191) the figure goes up to the literacy level of the slum population 79 per cent.

5. The Muslim slum population in the twin-cities consist of economically depressed com­ munities such as the laddafs (cotton weavers), mehtaras (sweepers), mochis (leather weavers) julahas (weavers), mewa faroosh (fruit sellers) and so on. 304 RATNA NAIDU

Certain kinds of amenities such as piped TABLE VI water, sewerage-latrine facilities and paved INCOME AMONG SLUM DWELLERS access into houses become essential when shelter is built in the urban context. In Income per Total Households rural areas lack of some of these facilities Month (in Rs.) % does not lead to disproportionate hardship No Income 691 1.42 or insanitary conditions because of the Below 50 1,059 generous spatial dimension around the 2.17 rural habitat. The villager is also used to 50—99 12,367 25.37 carrying water over long distances as a way 100—149 14,255 29.24 of life. But the urban dweller has neces­ 150—199 11,108 22.78 sarily a different pace of work and a diffe­ 200 — 249 5,598 11.48 rent value for time. 250 — 299 2,300 4.72 300 — 399 888 1.82 According to this survey, only 62 per cent of the total slums in the twin cities 400 — 499 333 0.68 had communal water taps (compare this with 500 & Above 154 0.32 Calcutta's 54 per cent (Sen, 1970: 199) and on an average 500 persons or nearly 100 Total 48,753 100.00 families were sharing a water tap. Thirty- eight per cent of the slums have no com­ TABLE VII munal water facility at all. The dwellers in such slums have to get water from DESCRIPTION OF HOUSES Municipal taps located at some distance Total Households Type of House % outside the slums if they do not have their own water connection. Lavatory facilities Katcha 11,103 22.77 at the slum level are in existence only in Pucca 4,652 9.54 32 per cent of the slums. Hut 20,339 41.72 Mixed Type 12,659 25.97 TABLE V

RELIGIONS AND CASTE AFFILIATION OF SLUM Total 48,753 100.00 DWELLERS, 1972

Half the slums in the twin-cities are Religion Total Households % without street lights (the figure was 68 per cent for Madras (Nambiar, 1970: 197) in Caste Hindus 3,282 6.73 the late fifties. On an average there is one street-light post for 157 slum-dwellers. Scheduled Castes and Tribes 28,662 58.79 The data regarding the condition of roads, Muslims 16,799 34.46 both within the slum area and approach­ ing the slums were tabulated from the 10 0.02 Others 1972 survey. Only half the slums in the twin cities have cemented approach roads, Total 48,753 100.00 23 per cent have kacha and 11.3 per cent have asphalt approach roads. If the condi- A STUDY OF SLUMS IN HYDERABAD — SECUNDERABAD 305 tion of the roads linking the cluster of into the city, there are also (3) unusual slum houses is good then at least safe and crises such as wars, or natural disasters sanitary access to the house is possible. which create refugees who seek shelter in The internal roads in the slums in the the city. Obviously when the genesis of twin cities are poor. According to the 1972 slums in the city is mainly due to (1) and survey 2 per cent of the slums had cement­ (3) above, increased tempo of housing and ed internal roads, 11 per cent had shaha- welfare programmes would alleviate the badi stone internal roads and 62 per cent problem of urban blight. If however, the had kacha internal roads. genesis of slums is mainly due to (2) above, namely, uneven socio-economic develop­ IV. Policy Issues ments in the region, then the solutions for the problem of urban blight has to be re­ The slum can be seen as part of the pro­ lated to the strategies which are relevant blem of overall shortage of housing, but for development problems of the region as it can be also seen as an aspect of the a whole. socio-economic process of regional develop­ ment and the city-periphery or city-region Charles J. Stokes' basic premise (Stokes, equation. 1962: 187-197) that slums play a func­ tional role in the city and plea that we The process of slum formation will be need to understand this function in order accelerated if house construction activity is to have an explanatory framework for the depressed, and demand for the existing growth of slums is useful. The migrant" stock of houses is high. In such a situation comes to the city in search of jobs. Essen­ the more inferior quality houses will dete­ tially, better opportunities in terms of riorate into slums due to the occupation earning a livelihood constitute the lure of by low income groups and the lack of the cities. The new migrant into the city incentive among house-owners to renovate is especially useful for his willingness to since tenant turn-over is low. do jobs for which labour is in short supply or for which he has special skills. The city The more frequent situation, however, is having an immensely more complex and the occupation of land by migrants who wide-ranging economic framework than its build shelter of inferior quality which lack rural counterpart can absorb people at many amenities considered standard by the different levels and with differing types of norms of that city. Since such construction skills. In the under-developed countries, activity is also unauthorised there is a moreover, the migrant and the slum dwel­ double loss of standards because of the in­ ler can always find employment since the frastructure such as roads, drainage, water level of skill required is low. The slum and sewerage connections are not provid­ dweller of the "escalator" class (Stokes, ed by the municipal corporation. The ge­ 1962: 197) if he has the personality, the nesis of slums in this manner has to be ability and the ambition can even move understood in the socio-economic context out of the slum to better residential parts of the development of the region. of the city. The crucial difference which Apart from (1) the housing shortage Stokes makes between slums in under-deve­ relative to the population in the city, and loped and developed countries is that tech­ (2) the uneven city-region equation which nological complexity and sophistication is results in accelerated rates of migration so high in the developed countries that the 306 RATNA NAIDU slums there contain many more people for The typology provides other useful in­ whom there are few channels of mobility sights. Among the slum-dwellers of Hydera­ out of the slum condition. He says that bad unemployment was less than 7 per in developed countries — cent in 19726. This relatively low level of unemployment among slum dwellers is ".... slums persist because they are an easily explained in terms of the perspective index of a paradox. Rising standards of outlined above. Common sense also would living are accompanied by rising stan­ lead us to expect that unemployment among dards of ability and competence. In the the lower middle income educated class is United States poverty has become a term much more severe than among the able- which describes the conditions of a class bodied of the low income groups in the more and more composed of the "in­ metropolis. Apart from the job opportuni­ capable". These are people who because ties in industries, factories, and so on, the of society's standards of entrance into metropolis can absorb ad infinitum semi­ job opportunities have not been integrat­ skilled and skilled labourers in the enor­ ed into full participation in the economic mous informal sector. Further, the Indian life of the community. How to provide metropolis and especially Hyderabad has for these unfortunates lest their presence continued to allow services which one might yield a costly dividend of crime and associate more often with smaller towns, disease remains the problems of highly such as rickshaw transportation, coolie developed society." (Stokes, 1962:194). service the push-cart sale of vegetables fruits, etc. The crucial difference, therefore, which Stokes seems to make between slums of the It is reasonable to associate city size with type described above and the slums of -the resource-base, that is, the larger the city, "'less developed days and countries" (Stokes, the greater its resource base, and therefore 1962:197) is that one is a sign of decay the higher and more complex its techno­ and the other "an index of growth and of logical base. The larger the city the greater unabsorbed immigration to cities" (Stokes, should be its capacity to provide cheap 1962:197). Obviously different types of fuel-operated transport on well-planned acci­ policy implications emerge from such a dent-free roads. But the capacity to develop typology. these metropolitan functions and delivering metropolitan services may remain stunted From the point of view of such a typo­ as along as more primitive modes of techno­ logy, in a city such as Hyderabad the slum logy (such as in the area of sewerage dis­ problem is not predominantly one of deal­ posal and drainage) remain and traditional ing with social-psychological variables (i.e. modes of transport dominate the city roads. "the slum mentality"), but it is more a problem of extending the cities amenities so While the point of view that the slums as to reach the population as a whole of the metropolis in countries such as ours including the slum-dwellers who have the are an index (paradoxically) of health and capacity to achieve acceptable standards of growth since the slum-dweller plays a dyna­ living. mic and useful role (and in our context,

6. The 1972 M.C.H. survey requested information on unemployment. The total number of unemployed were 10,283. To obtain the percentage figure we used the figure which specified the total number of the slum population above 19 years. This figure was 1,36,631. The percentage worked out to 7.53%. Since we could not take into account, the retired age group, we are suggesting that unemployment is less than 7%. A STUDY OF SLUMS IN HYDERABAD — SECUNDERABAD 307 especially in bridging the gap in energy weighted and individual centered is that it shortages) is well taken, we do need to in­ may further encourage unauthorized growth troduce into this perspective the most intrac­ of low income housing. If unauthorized table variable in our cities, the potential occupation of land is legitimized, and if for endless explosion of population from loans for building on such land become the countryside. more easily available, obviously the city We may assess the State Government's has an added attraction for would be mig- policies on slums in Hyderabad in the rants from the surrounding region. The most context of these developmental problems. difficult problem the policy makers must The current policies on slums in Hyderabad face is the endless infiltration and expan­ include the usual package consisting of sion of slum areas. Even if the industries programmes of slum clearance and slum are only allowed location outside the city improvement and the sanction of patta limits, as we have indicated earlier, the rights. A novel feature is a scheme called migrant can always draw adequate income "sites and services" whereby government from the enormous and expanding informal acquires land for distribution to slum dwel­ sector. The sample survey carried out by lers and the banks are expected to finance the Indian Institute of Economics shows construction with' one-fifth contribution by that 38 per cent of the families in the slums occupants (each house is expected to cost are migrants (Indian Institute of Economics, Rs. 5000/-). Infrastructure and engineering 1975-76:37). Twenty three per cent of the services are provided free. population in the city in 1971 were migrants (census). The rate of migration into the The programmes for slum dwellers in Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration ranged Hyderabad are channelled mostly through between 18 to 44 per cent over the 1961-71 the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad. decade (census). For some years, the MCH has had under The problem of low-income housing needs its wing the Urban Community Develop­ to be tackled in the context of the overall ment Project which implemented welfare planning for the city. It may be noted that programmes for slum dwellers with UNI- the Director of the Urban Community CEF assistance. It has fallen logically to Development Project is not directly repre­ them therefore to take the lead in imple­ sented at any level of the Hyderabad Urban menting the new programmes. Development Authority working groups; The Urban Community Development nor is any representative of HUDA repre­ Project having been welfare-based, the new sented or consulted for the slum house­ programmes also are heavily biased in that building activities of the Urban Community direction7. The problem of such a bias, Development Project. In fact HUDA has (well-meaning and good as it is) is that its own slum-housing programmes. Thus it takes little account of the need for plan­ there is the lack of an integrated approach ning on the basis of the developmental to the slum problems of the city. The ad imperatives of the city as a whole. The hoc and dispersed approach of the civic danger of too much of a micro approach, authorities to the slum question will surely an approach which is heavily welfare further strain the civic amenities of the city8. 7. See the report, "CM to lay stone for new MCH Scheme," The , Jan. 25, 1977. 8. The civic amenities in the city are now severely strained. The author has written on this elesewhere. See "Urban Land Ceiling and Development of Social Infrastructure" in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XI, No. 52, Dec. 25, 1976 pp. 1985-1987. 308 RATNA NAIDU A STUDY OF SLUMS IN HYDERABAD — SECUNDEUABAD 309

The slum question should be tackled in and if such slum dwellers can at some the context of the development of the re­ later stage be conveniently relocated else­ gion as a whole and in the context of the where. Thus, instead of the land passing planning for the urban agglomeration of the into private inheritance, the government Metropolis in particular. Since HUDA will would have the option of retaining the land logically and increasingly take a federating for the welfare of the community as a whole. role vis-a-vis all other agencies for urban As it is now, slums which are an encroach­ planning, development, and urban renewal ment on private land are not benefited by in the city, one might expect that the major the programmes of the government9. As is policies especially those dealing with allo­ obvious from Table VIII most of the slums cation of land and the award of patta rights are on private land. should emanate from that office. As yet HUDA has not taken on this role of fede­ One other suggestion comes to mind from rating decisions in the context of an over­ our reading of survey data on slums collec- all planned perspective on the Metropolis. ted by the Indian Institute of Economics. The survey shows that 33 per cent of the earn­ One might suggest that while exercises ing members of the slum households had in that direction take place, the main ap­ employment with large institutions such the proach to the slum problem could have zoo, hospitals, big industries, government been environmental cleaning. The slums concerns and so on10. Perhaps at some stage could be given paved roads, covered of our development, such large institutions drainage, water supply, street lighting and could be persuaded to make arrangements so on, irrespective of whether the slum for housing for their low-income employees. happens to be on private land or govern­ Policy directives could be initiated in that ment land and whether the slum dweller direction; special concessions and incentives owns the land or is encroaching on it. In could be given to employers to solve the the last two years 13,000 families in 86 housing problem. With our limited stock of slums have been given patta (ownership) houses, it is obvious that each investment rights in the twin cities. Most of this land which generates employment also generates belonged to the government. Perhaps the demand for dwellings. Logically therefore question of ownership could have been sanction for such investments should be tied indefinitely postponed, especially if the slum to the investors' capacity for providing happens to be on choice government land housing.

9. This is because the owner of the land has to agree to these improvements and very often of course the owner does not give permission. 10. The author did a secondary analysis of the data collected by the survey of the Indian Institute of Economics and this information will not be available in the report cited. 310 RATNA NAIDU

TABLE VIII

SLUM POPULATION & CLASSIFICATION OF LAND* (1972) HYDERABAD

* In parenthesis figures are in percentages. A STUDY OF SLUMS IN HYDERABAD — SECUNDERABAD 311

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The Indian Journal of Social Work, Vol. XXXIX, No. 3, (October 1978)

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