URBIZEN

A report from NPR : "One of India's most squalid slums sits on extremely valuable property. The government has a plan to let private developers build projects for the rich in exchange for free housing, schools and health clinics for the poor. But many long-time residents oppose the plan." Listen

This is an excerpt from a letter from "Jan Sangharsh Vahini": "Thousands displaced in Delhi by the demolition squad of DDAOn May 3rd, 2007 DDA's demolition squad along with a large number of policemen and three bulldozers came to demolish Shayam Colony, Buddha Vihar in Rohini area of Northwest Delhi. Before the residents could understand anything, police started canning people and DDA's bulldozers began to demolish House no 512A in the Gali Number 23 of Mr Rajit Prasad. It looked as if the locality has been invaded by some enemies of the nation. The cries of young men, women, older people, children meant nothing for the goons in khaki. The land was purchased by the people of the colony from the colonisers, many of whom have turned to politics today. They not only got their power of attorney papers verified by the registrar's office as well as Noteries acknowledged by the government authorities. The people of the colony begged the authorities to give them some

Though the country has experienced an economic boom, the number of Indians living in slums has increased 100 percent in the last two decades. "The number of people living in slums in India has more than doubled in the past two decades and now exceeds the entire population of Britain, the Indian Government has announced. India’s slum-dwelling population had risen from 27.9 million in 1981 to 61.8 million in 2001, when the last census was done, Kumari Selja, the Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, said. The figure is the latest illustration of how India’s recent economic boom has left behind millions of the country’s poorest people, raising fears that social unrest could undermine further growth." "The expansion of India’s slums is partly due to the rise in India’s total population, which increased from 683 million in 1981 to 1.03 billion in 2001." Source: Source: Times Online UK, May 17, 2007 Full Story: Indian slum population doubles in two decades