Informal housing - Question of Cities

25 years on, Mumbai’s SRA model eludes housing crisis but yields hefty profits for builders

When slum dwellers are rehabilitated, they face a new set of problems and challenges. They are pushed into cramped tenements in multi-storeyed buildings, and their struggles continue. The Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) model became the default way to rehouse slum…

Housing as a way to claim citizenship and exercise rights in Indian cities

The city is a key site where various notions of citizenship are claimed and contested. Since much of urban India lives and works in the realm of “informality”, urban residents often gain their rights over housing not through formal legal…

Jaga: Odisha’s land title to slum dwellers worthy of emulation

In a landmark move, pushed by slum dwellers’ movements, the Odisha government introduced a law which made the Jaga Mission possible. Instead of evicting slum dwellers from nearly 3,000 slums in its cities, including from prime areas in the capital…

Living the homeless life as Delhi’s shelter homes lie vacant

With thousands of shelterless people battling Delhi’s inclement weather on the streets, the Right to the City seems to be a far-fetched dream. Most pavements and spaces under flyovers in India’s capital, Delhi, have people living there. The number of…