After the change in the state government, various parts of Delhi witnessed the demolition of slums. This demolition can continue in Delhi and elsewhere, but even if they come to a halt, we still have a very serious problem. Demolition is painful, but they are also a visible memory of a continuous, otherwise quiet and deep -rooted problem. Life in slums and even in many unauthorized constructions is, all said and done, difficult, unsanitary, unsafe and even inhuman.
The future of a whole generation that grows up there is often at stake, and there are many negative “external effects” for the city in general. It’s not just delhi. Almost half of the urban population in India lives in slums! And possibly another 10-25 percent people live, which are in one way or another non-authorized constructions.
Why? Prices of real estate are generally very high in the big cities. So a market for illegal or semi-legal real estate schemes evolves at different levels. The price for such a scheme is relatively low. This is a “system” of parallel homes next to legal homes. And there is corruption and intimidation. But there is also a household name on the part of the government, many of whom are in a dilemma.
There are broadly two views on this whole issue. First, because many real estate developments are illegal and cause negative “external effects”, they must be demolished. Secondly, the users are poor or not well -fed, and so they must stay. There is a dilemma. And yet this whole way of thinking actually misses the bigger image!
In fact, the focus is usually, if not almost always, in the short term. It is time for us to think seriously about a meaningful long -term solution. It is true that such a solution can last 5-10 years and possibly even more. But at a certain moment we have to make a start if we don’t want the problem to get bigger.
The heart of the problem is a limited delivery of housing, and this is actually because of policy reasons. Expanding the existing large cities is now very messy and very expensive. So we have to come up with a solution outside the existing large cities. We need new cities or extensions of existing small cities. We can also treat these as new cities.
Smart cities
An important mission of the Union Government in 2014 was to build 100 new cities that would also be smart. Quick enough, however, there was a shift to a mission in which 100 mainly existing cities would become smart. The idea of 100 new cities was broadly suspended. The main reason seems to be that public money and state capacity are limited, and this was an almost impossible mission. But there is another route; This is mainly due to a possible public policy to build some new cities.
Consider economics. It is true that the development of new cities has a very high opportunity costs. It is even debatable whether we should have new cities. However, note that this approach has assumed that the resources are currently more or less fully used. But this is not true. In India, we have under -utilization and inefficient allocation of the various production factors – Land, Labor, Capital and Organization.
As an example, the top 10 cities only occupy about 0.2 percent of the land mass! This is contrary to the common perception that there is a land shortage for urbanization. We have an enormous underlying for cities, where the value of (rough) country is very high. This amounts to serious under -utilization. It is true that the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 can get in the way of developing new cities.
However, if we make a very large change in the policy, it is not just about affordable homes and decongesties in the existing cities. It is also about higher economic growth and greater employment. And a major change in policy can free up the way, or at least make it less difficult to change the Land Acquisition Act, 2013.
This is not the room to get into the detailed economy why it is actually less difficult to improve the use and allocation of resources by developing new cities, rather than a substantial improvement in another economy sector. But it will help to work out a bit about the use of one of the production factors here – labor in developing the new cities.
Job corner
A new city can come – with possible hiccups – about what is now a rural area. The density of the population in the countryside of India is understandably low. This clearly means that when there is the development of an entire city over an (now) rural area, there is a need for hiring people from outside. Where can these people come from?
In the existing cities we not only have people who live in poor conditions in slums, and even unauthorized constructions, most of these people also have strange jobs, underworks and low income. There is then a space for a mutual affordable and voluntary “trade”.
Some of these people can shift to the new areas and get better professions, close to full -time jobs, higher incomes and cheaper, decent and legal accommodation. And the new cities are useful for absorbing other people in the future. Uribanization in India is only 34 percent. Anyway, it helps to have new cities. In conclusion, the way out of the problem of slums and unauthorized constructions is mainly in creating new cities, which is possible. Sooner or later many people have to live and work there.
The writer is an independent economist. He taught at Ashoka University, ISI (Delhi) and JNU
Published on July 19, 2025
#Slumson #search #longterm #solution