Report Entitled Primary Census Abstract for Slum Released

Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India on 30 September 2013 released report on families living in slum areas. The slum report highlighted Households Population, sex ratio and growth rate, Child population and child sex ratio and Scheduled Caste population etc.

Highlights of slum census report

1. The people who are living in slums increased from 52 million in 2001 to 65 million 2011.
2. Slum population grown slower than the average urban population over 2001-2011.
3. Women living in slums participate at a higher rate in the workforce than the urban average.
4. More Scheduled Castes (SCs) are living in slums with 1 out of every five slums residents belonging to SC, compared to just over one out of 10 for urban India as a whole. The proportion of SCs living in slums has risen over the last decade.
5. Scheduled Castes in slums have shown far better sex ratios than other urban communities.
6. According to census 2001 total number of towns having slums 1743.The number of towns increased to 2613 in 2011.
7. The child sex ratio (0-6 years) of an average slum household is 922 girls for every 1000 boys, compared to 905 for urban India.
8. Top five states in slum population are Maharashtra(12 million),Andhra Pradesh(10 million), West Bengal(6.4 million), Utter Pradesh(6.2 million ) and Tamil Nadu(5.8 million)
9. Three types of slums have been defined in Census — notified, recognised and identified.
10. In 2011 census slums have been earmarked in all the statutory towns irrespective of their population size based on the same definition as in 2001.
11. States/Union territories not reporting Slums Census 2001 are Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep. But in 2011 only Manipur, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep not reported any slums.

Probable reasons for upcoming slums

• Urbanization
• Industrialization
• Higher productivity in the secondary and tertiary sector against primary sector.It makes cities and towns centres of economic growth and jobs.
•Cities act as beacons for the rural population as they represent a higher standard of living and offer opportunities to people not available in rural areas. This results in large scale migration from rural to urban areas.
Census report also highlighted the negative consequences of urban pull. It results in upcoming of slums characterised by housing shortage and critical inadequacies in public utilities, overcrowding, unhygienic conditions etc.

Definition of slums

According to the Slum Area Improvement and Clearance Act, 1956 slums have been defined as mainly those residential areas where dwellings are in any respect unfit for human habitation by reasons of dilapidation, overcrowding, faulty arrangements and designs of such buildings, narrowness or faulty arrangement of streets, lack of ventilation, light, sanitation facilities or any combination of these factors which are detrimental to safety, health and morals.

According to UN Habitat a slum is characterized by lack of durable housing, insufficient living area, and lack of access to clean water, inadequate sanitation and insecure tenure.