Rajiv Awas Yojana to get a Facelift

Indian states are expressing reluctance to comply with the mandatory provisions for availing central funds under the scheme. This is due to the scheme mandatory provisions such as according property rights to slum dwellers and earmarking 25% of the municipal budget for spending in colonies and slums where the urban poor live. This reluctance has now forced the Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation ministry, which is implementing RAY, to reconsider the policy provisions so as to make it more acceptable to the states.

Mumbai Rag Pickers - Warriors for Creating a Sustainable Environment

Mumbai's rag pickers are the cities warriors who are striving hard to create a sustainable environment. These women under the aegis of Parisar Bhagini Vikas Sangh are helping to train rag pickers in the city on waste segregation, recycling, environment friendly disposal and making money through selling dry waste.This has reduced the load on the municipality and the landfills of Mumbai.

Rural areas of India have left behind the urban areas in demand for solar power

Solar electricity generating system - the new addition to the dowry list of rural regions of Bihar and eastern UP - is putting such high demand to the emerging market that manufacturers are finding it very difficult to match it. This is a recent phenomenon, around two years old.

Other remote areas like the Sundarbans in West Bengal are looking towards solar too as reaching grid electricity to these areas is economically infeasible.

Bigger Homes under Low-Cost Housing Scheme

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has expressed concerns regarding creation of vertical slums under the low-cost housing schemes. Hence he has issued orders that the size of houses being built under the MMRDA's rental housing scheme, which has now partially been converted into a low-cost housing scheme, should be increased from 160 sq. ft. to 300 sq. ft.

Boost for affordable housing as landowners, Mhada joins hands in Mumbai

In Mumbai, keeping in view the shortage of affordable housing, the state government has approved a policy that enables private landowners to lease out land to the state housing agency Mhada in exchange for incentive in development rights. This could create around 1 lakh additional homes, which could be auctioned through the Mhada lottery.

Ideas for affordable housing (rural)

This is some of our ongoing work on affordable housing for rural India. The brief for the house is based on an understanding of rural patterns of living across three different regions. The presentation focuses on a few, selected insights from field studies and shows how these have helped shape our proposal. The house schemes presented here are consistent with the guidelines specified in the Indira Awaas Yojana (for BPL families).

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.