Changes in Infrastructural Condition of Slums in India

Addressing the importance of infrastructure development towards an inclusive city, the study aims to see the change in the condition of housing, roads, latrines, drainage, sewerage, etc. within the slums across states and over time in India. The study has been done with the help of three rounds (49th, 58th, and 69th) of NSSO data on slums. Though the condition of slums seems to have improved over time, it is not satisfactory.

However, it seems the improvement of one infrastructural aspect in the slum is very much associated with the improvement of others. The factors like ‘Workforce Participation Rate of slums and the overall infrastructure of the state have a positive influence on the infrastructural condition of slums, whereas, per capita, NSDP is affecting it negatively. The ‘associations made by the residents of slums for improvement’ within the slums seem to have played no role in improving it.

The world is now experiencing a rapid expansion of urban areas with growing urban population. One of the main reasons behind the rapid growth of the urban population is migration from rural to urban areas either due to pulling Lewis (1954), Harris-Todaro (1969) or pushing Davis (2004) and Harvey (2008) of the population and among those migrants, most of them are poor and take shelter in slums. This phenomenon has created an over congestion in the slum as well as non-slum areas, which is putting pressure on infrastructure facilities available to the cities.

Also Read: Redevelopment, Subjectivity, and Difference in Mumbai’s Slum Frontier