HOUSING

SUBSIDISED INDUSTRIAL HOUSING SCHEME • While the improvement of rural housing is an aspect of general rural
• The subsidized industrial housing scheme was at first "approved for development and there will be greater progress in housing as rural
industrial workers governed by the Factories Act, but now includes prosperity increases, there are certain directions in which specific action is
• The Second Plan focused on the development of
also mine-workers other than those engaged in the coal and mica called for. Such action may be on a small scale at first but can be readily
the Public Sector and "Rapid Industrialization“. industries for whom there are separate schemes. extended in due course.
• An economic development model developed by the • Under the industrial housing scheme loans and grants are given by the • In all villages the need for introducing improved methods of excreta
Indian statistician P. C. Mahalanobis in 1953. The plan Central Government to State Governments and public authorities, to disposal is being increasingly felt and the time has come for a large-scale
attempted to determine the optimal allocation of employers and to co-operatives of industrial workers. effort in this direction. Finally, improved lay-outs for village abides have to
investment between productive low sectors in order to • For one-room tenements, the maximum cost prescribed is Rs. 4,500 for be
maximizing-run economic growth. multistoried tenements in Bombay and Calcutta and Rs. 2,700
• This included a subsidized industrial housing and a • SLUM CLEARANCE AND SWEEPERS' HOUSING
elsewhere.
low income group housing scheme. Housing schemes • For two-roomed tenements the corresponding figures are Rs. 5,430 (now The existence of slums in every large town is a matter of serious concern.
for plantation labor and for labor in coal and mica raised to Rs. 5,930) in Bombay and Calcutta and at other places Rs. 3,340 During the past two or three years a fraction of slum dwellers have been moved
mines were also implemented as part of the program. for single-storied tenements and Rs. 3,490 for double-storied tenements. out of their habitations as a result of the subsidized industrial housing
These programs are being substantially expanded during • For State Governments 50 % of the cost is given by way of loan and 50 scheme.
the second five year plan, in the course of which it is % as subsidy, for co-operatives.
proposed to take up three new programs, .For preventing the growth of slums there are two sets of measures to be
• For employers 37% as loan and 25% as subsidy.
1. Rural housing, taken.
• The period of repayment is 15 years in the case of employers and 25
2. Slum clearance and sweepers housing years in other cases. • In the first place, municipal by-laws must be enforced with the utmost
3. Middle income group housing strictness.
• Secondly, master plans should be approved for every town, beginning
with towns which are already large or have expanded much in recent years
• Total provision in the first plan of Rs. 38.5 crores, the LOW INCOME GROUP HOUSING or are likely to grow rapidly in the next few years.
second plan has allotted a sum ofrs. 120 crores which is • The loans provides for the grant of long-term house building at a • For enforcing master plans, local authorities should have the requisite
distributed as follows, reasonable rate of interest to persons whose income does not exceed rs. powers to implement zoning schemes, control the use of land and prevent
Sr. no. Housing Rs.(cr.)
6,000 per annum. ribbon development.
• Loans are given to individuals as well as to co-operatives whose members
1 Subsidized industrial housing 45 • Where necessary, new authorities may be set up in Delhi a Special
fulfil this condition.
2 Low income group housing 40 • The assistance is restricted to 80% of the estimated cost of construction, Development Authority has been recently constituted.
3 Rural housing 18 including land, and is subject to a maximum of Rs. 8,000. • While action is taken to prevent the development of slums in the future,
4 Slum clearance and sweepers' housing 20 • The scheme also provides for loans to State Governments at 3%. it is also essential to tackle the problems of existing slums. To a large extent
5 Middle income group housing 3 Interest repayable in three years for acquisition and development of there is no alternative to their demolition and clearance, but there may
6 Plantation-housing 2 land by local authorities and its allotment to prospective builders, Local be cases where measures for improvement are feasible.
  Total 120 bodies, charitable institutions, hospitals, etc., can obtain assistance under
this scheme for building houses to be let to their low paid employees or on
For housing programs to be undertaken during the hire purchase terms.
second five year plan the following targets have been • By the end of the second plan loans amounting to about Rs. 21.5 cores
Hitherto proposals for slum clearance have been held back because of
adopted: had been sanctioned for about 40,000 houses and for various land
three difficulties,
Number of houses/ Tenements development schemes.
• The high cost of acquisition of slums.
Subsidized industrial housing 128,000
• The unwillingness of slum dwellers to move to distant places on
Low Income group housing 68,000
RURAL HOUSING account of the fear that their social and economic life will be dislocated.
Re-housing of slum dwellers, including sweepers 110,000 • A large proportion of the 54 million houses in rural areas need to be • The need for subsidizing the construction of houses so that they can be
Middle income group housing 5,000 rebuilt or substantially improved. Sooner or later, every village should let to slum dwellers at rates which they can afford to pay.
Plantation labor housing 11,000 have a plan which provides for wide streets with drains, proper spacing
Total 322,000 of houses, and the location of community buildings and a playground
for children.
SCHOOL OF PLANNING
SECOND FIVE YEAR PLAN (1956-61) Akanksha Singh AND ARCHITECTURE,
NEW DELHI
 HOUSING
These aspects have been kept in view by the Central • Under the scheme the Coal Mines Labor Welfare Board will obtain • In its seventh round (October 1953 to March 1954) the National
Government in evolving a new scheme for slum land from colliery owners on lease for a period of 40 years free of Sample Survey investigated housing conditions in 943 sample
clearance and sweepers' housing for which a total
cost or at nominal rent. Houses will be constructed by the Board and villages as well as in 53 sample towns and in the four cities of Bombay,
provision of Rs. 20 crores has been made in the second
five year plan. the colliery owners will pay the Board rent at Rs. 2 per tenement Calcutta, Delhi and Madras. Of the 53 sample towns 14 had a
• The scheme is based on two main principles. per month and workers will be charged rent not exceeding the population of 100,000 and above, 9 of 50,000 to 100,000,14 of 15,000
o The first principle is that there should be the contribution made to the Board. About Rs. 8 crores are expected to to 50,000 and 16 had a population of less than 15,000. The data
minimum dislocation of slum dwellers and the
be made available for this purpose, and it is hoped to construct obtained in the survey have been recently tabulated and, although they
effort should be to rehouse them as far as possible at about 30,000 houses during the plan period. are still provisional, they throw light on certain aspects of the housing
or near the existing sites of slums, so that they may • A provision of Rs. 3 cores has been made in the second plan for a situation in the country. The investigation showed that in rural areas
not be uprooted from their fields of employment. middle income group housing scheme. The scheme envisaged about 85% of houses have mud plinths, 83% walls of mud, bamboo
o The second principle is that in order to keep rents collaboration with insurance companies and, according to the and reed and about 70% roofs of straw, grass, reed, mud etc. About 7
within the paying capacity of the slum dwellers. terms originally proposed. % of the houses have plinths and walls of brick, cement or stone
• each loan was to be jointly approved by Government and an and roofs of corrugated sheets, tiles etc.
insurance company, the loan being limited to 80 % of the cost of a
Within the allocation made in the plan, it is house, including the cost of land, of which Government was to
proposed that the Central Government should provide 25 % and the insurance company the balance of 75 per
HOUSING PROBLEMS
provide 25 % of the cost as subsidy and 50 % by cent..
way of loan repayable in 30 years. In expanding housing facilities, during the past two or three years the main
State Governments being required to find the problems which have arisen and to which attention has to be given are the
remaining 25 per cent of the cost as subsidy from following:
their own resources. • In rapidly growing towns developed sites are not available to a sufficient
extent,
HOUSING STATISTICS AND SURVEYS
• Construction in the private sector tends to concentrate on expensive
State Governments and local bodies should provide • The housing problem has grown steadily over the past few decades,
houses intended to fetch high rents and the needs of the lower middle and
slum dwellers with developed and demarcated plots of both in rural and in urban areas. There have been few systematic middle classes are not adequately catered for.
land varying from 1000 to 1200 sq. surveys of housing conditions in India. Housing statistics are also
The rehousing benefits to be provided under the • Apart from assistance which the Government now provides, adequate
extremely deficient and incomplete and data are not available
scheme are intended for those slum families whose institutional arrangements for housing finance do not exist;
showing either the progress of new construction or the extent of
income does not exceed Rs. 250 per men in • Cooperative housing has made comparatively little progress.
shortage.
Bombay and Calcutta and Rs, 175 per men • For organizing housing programs on any scale it is essential that • There is considerable need for research in building materials, and
elsewhere. techniques and for prescribing standards of construction with due regard to
accurate statistics should become available at regular intervals. the availability of local materials and the economic use of scarce
• The Central Statistical Organization are taking steps, in collaboration materials.
with State statistical bureau, to collect data on housing and • With a few exceptions. State Governments are not yet adequately organized
OTHER HOUSING SCHEMES building materials, both in the public and in the private sectors. for undertaking and assisting extensive housing programs.
• In accordance with the provisions of the Plantation Labor Act, Increasing building activity and construction will come to be an • If urban development and re development and housing policies are viewed in
1951, it is obligatory for every plantation to provide houses of important factor in the regulation of the economy. The importance the context of planned economic development and rapid industrialization ,
prescribed standards for workers and their families residing in of statistical information in this field cannot therefore be too much three problems claim special study, namely
the plantations. stressed.
• During the second five year plan Rs. 2 crores are to be provided
for this purpose. About 11,000 houses are expected to be built
under this scheme.
SCHOOL OF PLANNING
SECOND FIVE YEAR PLAN (1956-61) Akanksha Singh AND ARCHITECTURE,
NEW DELHI