Most projects under one of the Centre’s signature schemes violate community participation norms

In Ranchi, the Lohara koccha, Nagkhumb, Baryatur and Mohavatoli communities await homes through cluster development under the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY). The process has begun but slum-dwellers don’t know anything about it.

Ranchi is not the only city where slum-dwellers are unaware of what is happening to their homes. A recent report on RAY’s record shows that most projects are in violation of community participation norms. Slum-dwellers are not even aware of the guidelines, says the report which the Tata Institute of Social Studies prepared, along with other housing organisations nationwide.

The report traces the implementation of the Centre’s much-touted scheme. The researchers analysed 55 pilot projects approved across 16 States, covering 48 cities and 42,488 homes. RAY envisages a slum-free India, in which “every citizen has access to basic civic and social services and decent shelter.”

The report is crucial in the backdrop of the Lok Sabha election. Last week, the Maharashtra government passed the Slum Protection Bill to extend the cut-off date for legal slums to 2000.

According to the report, only eight of the 16 States have garnered more than 75 per cent of the projects. More than half of the approved projects are of in-situ redevelopment and 16 per cent are relocation projects. Only seven per cent have been undertaken to upgrade slums. In such a scenario, slum-dwellers are also apprehensive of displacement — a fear not unfounded, going by their experience with other schemes.

“While the scheme is welcome, the pace … of implementation is not up to the mark,” says activist Simpreet Singh, who wrote the report with Raju Bhise of the Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action. “Apart from Chennai, no other major metro city has started implementing RAY.”