Ethnographic Study of Habitat in Rural Pockets around Wadi, Karnataka

About Wadi

Wadi is a census town in Gulbarga district in the Indian state of Karnataka.The Wadi railway junction is an important railway junction on Indian railways. Trains from metro cities of Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai pass through this town. Wadi is home to two cement plants of Associated Cement Company Limited ( ACC ) .The ACC has two cement plants of capacity 2.11 and 2.6 million tonnes per annum (mtpa).The cement plants are one of the largest in the country. Wadi is also famous for its Limestone mines. Main source of income is ACC, Railway’s and Working in Lime Stone Mines. The growth of cement plants(ACC) and railways in the region has brought in people from diverse regions and cultures. 

Collaborators 

The IIT team from Shenoy Innovation Studio, IDC was supported by Mr. Nand Kumar and ACC’s CSR team lead by Ms. Merine John, Mr. Niteshwar Kumar and Mr. Merline for the visit. The team looked into the newly developed flood relief houses built by ACC near Wadi for 40 families. The team then compared these houses with traditional rural houses of the nearby areas. The need for the visit was identified by Prof. Uday Athavankar and Prof. B. K. Chakravarthy during the 1st phase research presentation to ACC team consisting of Mr. Nand Kumar, Mr. A. N. Singh, Mr. P. R. Majumdar, Mr. Bipin R. Khale and Mr. Shyam Narayan to initiate the tabletop concept design as suggested by Mr. Kuldeep Kaura, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, ACC in the meeting at ACC on 6th September 2011.   

Objective of the study

Ethnographic study of  living patterns, local materials, skills, building technologies and conditions was undertaken in areas around ACC plant at Wadi, Karnataka, where rehabilitation work is in progress. The research focus was  users’ perspective  towards the new and traditional houses alongwith local materials, technology and skills.

Study Method

Two kinds of housing cluster was selected - the newly built rehabilitation houses by ACC and the traditional houses.Observational research through videos and photographs was conducted to map the spatial arrangements of the living spaces and common spaces, both inside and outside the house. Next, one-to-one interviews as well as focussed group interviews were conducted.

Ethnographic Research in Rural Pockets of Maharastra (Khandi & Nilshi)

About nilshi & khandi

Khandi and Nilshi are two villages located in Pune district. The villages are located in the Sahyadri Hills and are surrounded by the Andhra Lake. The villages are 80 kms from Pune. The vilages fall under the Mawal Tehsil. They share the same panchayat.

Collaborators 

IIT Team

The team consisted of 11 students from Humanities department with background in economics, sociology, architecture and management, 3 students from Industrial Design Centre with experience in architecture, product design and interaction design, Prof. A. Ramanathan and Prof. D. Parthasarathy from Humanities and Social Sciences Department, Prof. Uday Athavankar and Prof. B. K. Chakravarthy from Industrial Design Centre and Prof. Shishi Kumar Jha from School of Management and professionals from Industrial Design Department. Prof. A. Ramanathan is a professor of economics in the department of Humanities and Social Sciences. His current areas of interest are managerial economics, monetary economics, applied econometrics and cost benifit analysis. Prof.  D. Parthasarathy is a professor of sociology in the department of Humanities and Social Sciences and his current areas of research interest are sociology of agriculture, sustainable development and ethnic conflicts. Prof. Uday Athavankar is Emeritus Professor at IDC, IIT Bombay. With his strong architectural background and long experience in industrial design and ethnographic research is one of the key leaders of the research group and for the project. Prof. B. K. Chakravarthy is the chair professor for the Affordable and Sustainable Habitat Project  being undertaken at IDC with ACC Ltd. The field trip was organized under his championship. Prof. Shishir Kumar Jha from Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay gave his valuable inputs on various manegerial aspects. His areas of research are theorizing and analyzing sustainable and democratic alternatives of globalization, digital economy, copyright & public domain in the digital economy, geo-political environment and international business, impact of globalization on Indian society, WTO and global political economy, Indian society and political economy of the Third World and international relations. 

ACC Team

A team from ACC consisting of Mr. Anuj Kumar Singh, (Manager, The Indian Concrete Journal), Mr. Shyam Narayan (Manager-Sustainable Development, ACC Ltd.) and Mr. Bipin Khale (Head-Commercial Training, ACC Ltd.) also visited the IIT team for a day and gave their valuable insights.

Thus a thorough study of the rural setup was conducted from a multi-disciplinary view point. The trip was sponsored from the joint project fund of ACC and IIT Bombay on Affordable and Sustainable Habitat.

Objective of the study

• Baseline Study of the villages and household
• Village demographics
• Census of every household
• Study of routine activities
• Daily
• Seasonal
• Lifetime(Eg: Child Birth, Marriage, Funeral rites, etc)

• Needs assessment
• Socio-cultural 
• Economic livelihoods/ Status 
• Resources 
• Affordability
• Migration
• Skills
• Unforeseen events
• Essential vs. desired needs

• Village mapping
• Spatial segregation
• Land holdings 
• Occupational pattern 
• Caste based
• Resource mapping 
• Mapping of services

• Design & planning
• Village maps 
• Weather
• Space requirement and arrangement
• Resources management
• Local materials
• Organic growth pattern of habitat

Study Method

Initially an overview of the two villages was made by visiting few households. The village sarpanch and gram sewak were also consulted to obtain deeper insight into the villages. The panchayat provided the team with census data, maps and information regarding various government schemes that are running in the villages. Thereafter a detailed census was obtained by visiting each house at Nilshi, the data was clustered and thereafter a detailed questionnaire was prepared for one-to-one interview as well as focussed group interviews. Observational research through videos and photographs was conducted to map the spatial arrangements of the living spaces and common spaces, both inside and outside the house.

Inspiration on parametric housing design

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EhjUli4cYEg

Integrated Plan for Rural Habitats

Source : The Economic Times Mumbai; Date:2011 Oct 06; Section:Political Theatre; Govt may Converge Schemes to Improve Quality of Life  - URMI A GOSWAMI, NEW DELHI

After guaranteeing rural employment, the UPA government is now attempting address basic quality of life issues in the rural area. In an effort to ensure better use of resources to improve the lives of the rural poor, the government is working on converging schemes that impact basic quality of life. 

The rural development and drinking water and sanitation ministries have prepared an “integrated habitat development scheme,” which is a convergence of three existing schemes — rural housing, drinking water and total sanitation schemes. To cover as much ground as possible before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections , the scheme may be rolled out December 2012. The Centre is looking to bring in private partner HDFC for the scheme. 

The aim is to ensure integrated development of habitations. Drinking water and sanitation facilities are absolute essentials in any housing project, however, providing all three requirements seldom happens at the same in the rural areas. The ministry hopes that an intergrated programme will have a positive impact in improving the quality of life of villages as an entity. This in turn would have tangible health benefits. The integrated approach comes at a time when India accounts for 58% of all open defecations in the world. This has important and adverse health feedback. For the government, the proposal comes at a time when it is seeking to re-establish its credentials as the voice of the poor and marginalized. For maximum impact, it has been suggested that the village or habitation, a compact cluster of at least ten houses, be the unit for the scheme. In rolling out the programme, it is recommended that simultaneous sanctions be given to adjacent units, so as to ensure developing common infrastructure for sanitation and drinking water. The proposed houses would be permanent constructions of at least 300 square feet, with toilet facilities and a minimum of three taps from the common water supply source, which should have 24 hours supply. 

State governments will provide their fund requirement. Since this proposed integrated is a convergence scheme, it would draw on funds provisioned for the existing schemes and the gap will be funded under this scheme. To ensure that no one district corners the scheme benefits, it has been suggested that not more than five projects can be taken up in a district.
The ministry is understood to be consulting with HDFC for partnering the project. 

The ministry’s proposal suggests that the gram panchayat executes, supervises and runs the project. However, it is not clear how the scheme would ensure that gram panchayats are actively involved and have a stake in the successful implementation of the scheme. Another aspect that is currently under discussion is working out the role of the private sector and the households. 

Integrated Plan for Rural Habitats 
• Rural housing, drinking water and total sanitation schemes will be merged for integrated habitat development

• The scheme may be rolled out in December 2012, well ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls

• The Centre is looking to bring in private partner HDFC for the integrated scheme

• The proposed houses will be permanent constructions of at least 300 square feet, with toilet facilities and a minimum of three taps from the common water supply source

• For maximum impact, it has been suggested that a compact cluster of at least ten houses be the unit for the scheme

Ethnographic Study in Three Slums of Mumbai

A pilot ethnographic research was conducted in three slums of Mumbai. The slums are located as shown in the map below.

Figure1: Location of the slums studied

Following images give a glimpse of life in these slums.

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Figure 2: Maximization and not optimization is the mantra of the slum dwellers. Thus efficient use of 3D space is done so that the family does not lack in amenities like TV, refrigerator, music system. The next house has the most bare minimum washing area where only one person can crawl in and wash or bathe. The list of essential items vs. The desired items is strange. The slum dwellers interviewed claimed that open space, light and ventilation, water supply, wash area, cooking platform, burner/stove, cylinder, utensils storage, cupboard, mirror, bed, tv unit, music system, electricity and fan as essential amenities while tap, w.C., Sink, water storage tank, drainage facility, gas pipeline, refrigerator, mixer, drying area, washing machine and social interaction areas as desirable amenities.

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Figure 3: Kitchen is regarded as a private space and hence placed in the house layout so that someone passing by the house can’t peek into the lady cooking in the kitchen.

Stainless steel is widely used in all products from utensils, racks to cupboards due to the long maintenance free life.

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Figure 4: A large part of kitchen space is consumed in storing water in vessels.

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 Figure 5: No demarcation between spaces exist as every space is multi-purpose.

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 Figure 6: Bathing and washing space is combined and usually each house has this space. Toilet blocks are usually not present in the house due to various reason, one of them being non-availability of sewage disposal system.

All the houses have very poor ventilation due to lack of any windows.

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Figure 7: Use of tiles and kadappa shelves is widespread due to its low cost and maintenance.

Richer neighborhoods are usually smaller in size, have higher rent and larger number of amenities at home since the dwellers serve a more premium market. The slum houses are also rented out to students.

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Key Insights

• The slums present a very efficient volume space utilization
• Maximization in the mantra rather than optimization
• Modularity of space utilization is very high. The modularity is both in terms of 3D volume modularity and time - dependant modularity.
• The private space is minimal and social space is maximum.
• The essential and desirable needs and wants of the slum dwellers are very different. A TV, refrigerator and music system are essential whereas a toilet is desirable.
• Identification of socio-economic-cultural triggers to community participation is very important to ensure community participation.
• Spending capacity of slum dwellers is not very low. Hence backup of a strong micro-finance system can further boost their capacity.
• Slum redevelopment is an option but it is not acceptable to the slum dwellers because of high maintenance cost of new buildings, political issues and skepticism towards the intent of builders.
• Slum improvement appears as a more acceptable option