TERM PAPER

Urban Poverty and Governance in India: A Case Study of Urban Poor in

Kolkata
Bushra Hussain

Abstract
In recent times rapid growth in urban population in the developing nations has been
accompanied by a parallel growth in the incidence of urban poverty. Earlier there had been
concerted efforts to reduce rural poverty, while urban poverty was given less priority by
policy-makers. However, urban areas are not free of the maladies of poverty. Urbanisation of
poverty has emerged as a new phenomenon. This paper attempts to analyse the issue of urban
poverty in India with special reference to the urban poor in the city of Kolkata. The paper
examines the trends of urbanization and urban poverty in the city based on secondary data.
This will be helpful for city planners, policy makers and social workers in realizing the goal
of urban development and making cities slum free.
Keywords
Urban Poverty, Developing Nations, Rural Poverty, Urbanization of Poverty, Urban Poor,
Kolkata, Slum
Introduction
Poverty is the largest and most serious developmental challenge of India. According to the
World Bank poverty is “pronounced deprivation in well-being” and comprises many
dimensions. It includes low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and services
necessary for survival with dignity. Poverty also encompasses low levels of health and
education, poor access to clean water and sanitation, inadequate physical security, lack of
voice and insufficient capacity and opportunity to better one’s life.1 Until the beginning of
1990s, poverty in India was regarded as a rural issue and the rural poor were the focus of
poverty reduction policies. However in recent years, due to rapid urbanization and urban
economic reforms, urban poverty in India has come to be seen as a major problem and the
gap between the rich and the poor in cities has increased. Eradicating urban poverty has
become an important agenda of local governments in India. Although there has been
sustained overall economic growth performance in the country, the reduction in the rate of
poverty has been extremely slow.
In the last few decades, India has experienced an unprecedented rate of urbanization, which
has led to chaotic growth, violence, pollution, disease and extreme destitution. Urban centres
have experienced drinking water shortages, inadequate sanitation and waste management,
problems of traffic management, unaffordable housing and lack of cheap electricity in the

1 Jonathan Haughton and Shahidur R. Khandker, Handbook on Poverty and Inequality, The World Bank,
Washington DC, 2009, p.1
wake of such urbanization. Increased urbanization has also resulted in concomitant increase
in Urban Poverty. According to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) urban
poverty in India is over 25 percent and over 80 million poor people live in the cities and
towns of India. At the national level, rural poverty remains higher than urban poverty, but the
gap is closing.2 In addition to negatively affecting health, education, sanitation and general
livelihoods, urban poverty creates serious difficulties for groups like women, children and the
elderly. The 2011 Census of India indicated that the number of slums have decreased while
the population of slum dwellers have increased. About 17 percent of the urban population or
an estimated 65 million people live in slums and close to half of them suffer from respiratory
diseases and spend a tenth of their income on related treatment. 3 Despite government
schemes on subsidised food, free mid-day meals to school going children and subsidised
cooking gas to poor households, India faces a paradoxical situation, that is, its rapid
economic growth is coupled with a much slower decline in undernutrition.
Like many developing countries, urban poverty in India is a direct effect of rural migration. It
has created massive unemployment and underemployment as well as problems of
disproportionate housing. Over 50 percent of urban slums lack access to toilets, proper
healthcare, social security, hygienic public facilities and clean water. 4 Over-crowded slums,
without access to these basic civic amenities and social welfare services are constantly
associated with uncertainties of evictions and loss of livelihood. It is also becoming a major
cause of social evils like drugs and crime.
Urban poverty, unlike rural poverty, imposes considerable negative impact on the society and
economy. The urban population in India has increased to 28.53 percent according to 2001
census and is crossing 30 percent as per 2011 Census. The pace of urbanisation is likely to
accelerate over time and it is estimated that by 2030, another 250 million people would be
added to the Indian cities. If not handled appropriately, this will give rise to creation of more
slums and rise in urban poor. Along with the ongoing migration from rural to urban areas, the
rise of the unskilled labour force is contributing to the widening gap in urban income levels.
Most of the urban poor are involved in informal sector activities where there is a constant
threat of eviction, removal, confiscation of goods and almost non-existent social security
cover.
Earlier the poverty alleviation programmes of the government of India were completely rural
centric. It was only after the Seventh Five Year Plan that urban poverty was considered as a
separate issue by the policy makers.5 This shift in understanding that urban poverty is not a
mere spill over of rural poverty and hence needs to be dealt with separately was a positive

2 India: Urban Poverty Report 2009 Factsheet,

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/india/docs/india_urban_poverty_report_2009.pdf, (Accessed on: April 22,
2017)
3 Sayantan Bera, “Poverty is becoming an urban problem, warns global food policy report”, Livemint, August
20, 2013, http://www.livemint.com/Politics/DDyfaVD4NOwuEXOmHYJVMK/Poverty-is-becoming-an-urban-
problem-warns-global-food-poli.html, (Accessed on: April 22, 2017)
4 Kristy Liao, “Rise of Urban Poverty in India”, Borgen Magazine, May 28, 2014,
http://www.borgenmagazine.com/rise-urban-poverty-india/ (Accessed on: April 23, 2017)
5 Amar Chanchal, “Urban poor in India : Addressing the challenges”, Employment News Weekly, Vol. 39, No. 24,
(September 19, 2014), p. 48
step forward. However, the rate of decline in urban poverty is much slower and also uneven
compared to rural poverty. Around 40 percent of the urban poor are concentrated in the States
of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Average urban
consumption has been rising much faster than rural consumption. In fact, the gap between the
two has widened considerably over the last few decades and has been accompanied by
increasing inequality between different sections of urban society.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA) is the nodal agency at
the level of Union government responsible for development of urban poor. Urban poverty
being multi-dimensional, various vulnerabilities are faced by the poor in cities and towns.
The government policy therefore addresses the occupational, residential and social needs
simultaneously in a comprehensive and integrated manner with a targeted focus on the
vulnerable groups so that a definitive impact can be made on the ground. The most significant
policy intervention in urban development in recent times is the emphasis on urban renewal
through the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in the Tenth Five
Year Plan (FYP). There are also other schemes which address various vulnerabilities of the
urban poor, for instance, Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rojgar Yojana (SJSRY), Jawaharlal Nehru
National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), National Urban Livelihoods Mission, and
Rajiv Rinn Yojana.6
Objective of Study
This paper tries to analyse the socio-economic conditions of the urban poor particularly the
slum dwellers and pavement dwellers in the city of Kolkata. The city suffers from all the
problems that a rapidly growing urban centre has to face. There is lack of adequate
employment, infrastructure is limited and the population has to live in dilapidated and often
over-crowded conditions. According to the 2011 Census, there are 70,000 homeless living in
Kolkata, up from 55,000 in 2001.7 There are thousands of slums in the city. Some of these
slums, known as Bustees, are officially recognised and so have some basic services.
However, the majority are unofficial, these are located near railway tracks and roads or on the
sides of canals or garbage dumps.
The objective of the paper is to assess the current situation of poverty in Kolkata and
investigate through the research who are the urban poor? Where are they located in the city?
What is their socio-economic condition and are the specific government programs reaching
the poorest in the city? The following paragraphs will try to address the above questions
posed.
Poverty in Kolkata- A Brief Overview of the Urban Poor
The city of Kolkata is home to around 70,000 pavement dwellers according to the Census of
2011. The city has been home to immigrants from a large variety of sources like Bangladesh,
6 Government of India Schemes for Housing And Urban Poverty Alleviation,
http://www.newincept.com/central-government-entrepreneur-schemes-for-housing-and-urban-poverty-
alleviation.html, (Accessed on: April 24, 2017)
7 Subhro Niyogi, “Kolkata's poor poorer than the rest”, The Times of India, September 12, 2012,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Kolkatas-poor-poorer-than-the-
rest/articleshow/16367595.cms, (Accessed on: April 24, 2017)
Bihar, Orissa, and Jharkhand. There is also diversity in religious beliefs, a large proportion of
Muslims live alongside the Hindus. Many men, women and children are born and brought up
entirely in the streets. They form an active part of the vibrant informal sector, which is an
integral part of the economy of Kolkata. There are many common problems that the
pavement dwellers face such as identification, nutrition, health, education, sanitation and
income. They lack many freedoms that the average citizen of Kolkata enjoys. The pavement
dwellers of Kolkata are vulnerable to gross violations of fundamental human rights that are
guaranteed by the constitution and championed by many global conventions.
Due to the wide range of people and activities, the population density is extremely high with
over 4.6 million people, thus overcrowding is an immediate issue. 8 Kolkata has one third of
its population living in slums which is only second highest share of slum population after
Mumbai. The city follows the national trend of a growing income gap with over 80 percent of
its population earning under INR 5000. According to Urmi Sengupta, West Bengal shares 8.2
percent of the national poverty while its population share is 7.8 percent and much of the
poverty is concentrated in Kolkata.9 As Kolkata is the only urban centre in whole of the
Eastern and North Eastern India, poor people from neighbouring districts of Kolkata,
neighbouring states of Orissa, Assam, Bihar and Bangladesh migrate to Kolkata in search of a
secure livelihood. The city’s unregulated informal economic sector supports the livelihood of
these migrants and so migration continues and this continuous rise in population proliferates
the slum settlements and thus population of the urban poor. The urban poor are largely
understood as those living in overcrowded and dilapidated slums or in squatters built on
pavements, along railway tracks, under bridges, besides canals or on ill-drained marshlands
and any vacant land available to them in urban areas. Most of the urban poor who drive cycle
rickshaws and work on construction sites or in small, hazardous factories prefer to sleep on
the streets. The absence of basic civic amenities such as safe and adequate water supply,
sewerage and sanitation and toilets pose severe challenges for health, safety and the comfort
of such communities. While living in these conditions leaves them vulnerable and unsafe, it
allows them to send a few meagre savings home. More than 90 percent of Kolkata’s poor do
not have access to their own toilet and where available, more than 38 persons share the same
toilet and 88 people use the single tap.10
This extreme form of poverty in Kolkata stems from several factors. The partition of Bengal
in 1947 left raw material suppliers of commodities like jute in East Bengal (now Bangladesh)
and the mills in West Bengal, particularly around Kolkata which was then a flourishing port.
By the 1970s, aided by the political unrest, major industries like jute were dead, leading to
the loss of jobs and livelihoods. In 1971, the city opened its arms to around 10 million
refugees from Bangladesh after the Bangladeshi Liberation War. 11 The sudden massive spike
in population led to rampant unemployment for both the 1.5 million immigrants who stayed

8 Population of Kolkata 2017, World Population Review, March 6, 2017,

http://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/kolkata-population/, (Accessed on: June 30, 2017)
9 Urmi Sengupta, “The hindered self-help: Housing policies, politics and poverty in Kolkata, India”, Habitat
International, Vol. 34, No. 3, (2010), p. 326
10 Somshankar Bandyopadhyay, “City slums to get $ 10 mn facelift”, The Times of India, August 12, 2001,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/City-slums-to-get-10-mn-
facelift/articleshow/1119355298.cms, (Accessed on: June 30, 2017)
back after the war as well as for local Bengalis. The infrastructural stagnation of the city
ensured that hardly any new jobs were added even when unemployment threw masses into
abject poverty. While most migrants come in with aspirations of making it in the city and
having remittances to send home to their families, they often end up trapped in a vicious
cycle of underemployment and chronic poverty that compels them to stay in decrepit
conditions just to make a few extra rupees. They then become the population inhabiting the
slums of Kolkata.
Living Arrangements of Kolkata’s Urban Poor: An Analysis of Slum Area
Increasing urban poverty is the fallout of the increasing concentration of the urban population
in slum areas. Slums represent the worst of urban poverty and inequality. Slums have the
highest concentration of poor people and the worst living and environmental conditions.
Thus, the increase in slum population in third world cities is slowly leading to what is
understood as the ‘urbanisation of poverty’. Slum-dwellers account for one-third of Kolkata’s
total population living without adequate basic amenities in over-crowded and unsanitary
settlements. In Kolkata the general term slum refers to both bustees and squatter settlements.
A bustee is officially defined as “a collection of huts standing on a plot of land of at least one-
sixth of an acre.”12 Bustees are legally recognized settlements that the Kolkata Municipal
Corporation supplies with services such as water, latrines, trash removal and occasionally
electricity. Squatter settlements are illegal clusters of impermanent houses predominantly
located along canals and railways. The municipality usually does not supply squatters with
basic amenities, so residents must seek access to water and other resources from the
settlement’s vicinity, including other slums and waterways. However distinction between
these two does not embody the diversity of slum life. Over 40 percent of Kolkata’s slum
residents have been slum dwellers for two generations or longer and more than half originate
from the Kolkata hinterland. With the majority engaged in the informal sector, with average
monthly income between 500 and 1700 rupees and a household size of five to six persons,
some three-quarters of the Kolkata slum population are below the poverty line.13
The slums of Kolkata can be divided into three groups: the older ones, up to 150 years’ old, in
the heart of the city, are associated with early urbanization. The second group dates from the
1940s and 1950s and emerged as an outcome of industrialization based rural- urban
migration, locating themselves around industrial sites and near infrastructural arteries. The
third group came into being after the independence of India and took vacant urban lands and
areas along roads, canals and on marginal lands. In 2001, 1.5 million people, or one third of
Kolkata’s population, lived in 2,011 registered and 3,500 unregistered slums within 141
municipal wards.14

11 Jing Song, “UNHCR honoured by Bangladesh for helping millions in 1971 conflict”, The UN Refugee Agency,
March 27, 2012, http://www.unhcr.org/news/makingdifference/2012/3/4f71c0e46/unhcr-honoured-
bangladesh-helping-millions-1971-conflict.html, (Accessed on: June 30, 2017)
12 N.K. Sinha, Swapna Banerjee Guha, Kolkata, Encyclopaedia Britannica,
https://www.britannica.com/place/Kolkata, (Accessed on: April 24, 2017)
13 United Nations Human Settlements Programme, The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human
Settlements, 2003, Earthscan Publications Limited, London, 2003, p. 213
14 Ibid. p. 213
The hundred year old Tangra slum originated because of proximity to chemical and rubber
industries but it has expanded largely due to employment opportunities in nearby tanning and
shoe making industries as well as “pilkhana” or the slaughter house. Bibi Bagan one of the
oldest slums near “pilkhana” situated in ward number 56 resembles the proximity of plastic
making industries and mostly composed of Muslims who are engaged in plastic slipper
making industries and slaughter house. Similarly the Tiljala Bustee was formed after Indian
independence. Factory owners imported Chamars from Bihar province and they developed
their own slum around the periphery of the factory. Approximately 95 percent of the Tiljala
Shibtala lanes, ward number 65, is engaged in leatherworks as well as straps of slipper
making, their traditional occupation. This slum provides evidences that industries can create
unique, long term social pattern in a slum. The Christopher Slum area located in ward no 58,
reveals a different picture where most residents are involved in small private jobs, manual
workers as well as in their own small business.
The National Forum for Housing Rights report states:
A sizeable number of (Kolkata’s) population are living in slums, pavements, beside railway tracks,
bridges and canals. Habitable land has not been made available to these working class people at an
affordable price within the legal framework. The inquiry team found one of the highest displacements
from the Calcutta Metropolitan Region. Though these working class inhabitants had ration cards and
names in the voters’ list. These sections constitute a stable vote bank (for) political parties and yet they are
under the threat of multiple forced evictions. There are at present second and third generation of local
inhabitants who face a constant threat of eviction.15

However urban poverty is not concentrated in slums alone. People who do not live in
buildings or census houses but live in the open on the roadside, on pavements, in large
sewage pipes, under flyovers, at places of worship, on railway platforms are referred to as
‘homeless’ and they too constitute the urban poor population in the city. Walking down the
streets of Kolkata, the most visible section of the society is the families settled on the streets
with their children. The number of street living families in Kolkata has steadily increased
over the years because of urbanization. These families have migrated from poverty stricken
districts and states and immigrated to the city in search of a suitable livelihood options.
Though this section is visible on the streets they are invisible in the official records. No
official figures are available about the actual number of families living on the pavements
without any shelter and other amenities of life.
Socio-economic Condition of the Pavement Dwellers
Pavement dwellers are among the most deprived poor in urban areas, in terms of living
conditions, access to basic facilities and health indicators. The pull factors of these people
toward city are job opportunities, rural poverty, urban way of living etc. These people
residing on the streets work in low-paid, high risk-prone, unorganised sectors of the urban
economy. Consequently they are undernourished, prone to different types of diseases and
illness and cannot afford to give proper education to their children. The poverty turns them
vulnerable to drug abuse, alcoholism, crime, vandalism, escapism, apathy and ultimately
social exclusion.

15 Sabir Ali, Dimensions of Urban poverty, Rawat Publications, New Delhi, 2006, pp. 28-29
 a. Demographic Profile: Since Kolkata is located within 50 kms from the international
border of Bangladesh, an illegal cross border migration is an ancient phenomenon.
Therefore the impact is evident when surveys reveal the fact that most of the
pavement dwellers have internationally migrated. Some traces of people migrating
from neighbouring states i.e. Bihar and Orissa is also a major issue of concern.
Districts like Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas also push migrants towards
Kolkata. Sex ratio which is a notable demographic issue, results above the district,
state and national level.
b. Educational Profile: Kolkata is a well-known educational and cultural pit in the
country. But the educational status of the pavement dwellers is infinitely poor. In
almost all the families aged members are illiterate and young children are beginners in
the schools. Amongst North, South and Central Kolkata, South Kolkata exhibits a
better scenario in case of total literacy. Moreover the status of women education is
seriously lagging behind. With increasing level of education percentage of enrolment
going on decreasing.
c. Economic Profile: Looking into the sprawling families living in a mess of polythene
sheets and mosquito nets on the streets, one doesn’t have to guess very hard how
much these people earn a month. Surveyors who prepare the BPL list fail to notice
them. Moreover ward or borough officers refuse to display the list. Far from
providing assistance to the illiterates, scores of perfectly valid applications from the
homeless families are rejected without citing proper reasons. 16 With all the
discriminations suffered since forgotten past, pavement dwellers engage themselves
into unorganised and informal sectors like: Rag picking, Begging, Maid servant, Wage
labour, Rickshaw puller, Masonry, Sweeping, Hawkery, Catering, Astrology, Poster
pasting etc. They mainly work near to the place of their stay or somewhere away but
within Kolkata. They do not travel further outside Kolkata in search of job
opportunities.
d. Infrastructure and Amenities: Due to lack of resources to buy or rent better housing,
pavement dwellers are forced to live under the open sky, under a flyover, in a
temporary polythene sheet draped hut or outside a private building under merciful
considerations. Seasonal change of weather with varying intensity of temperature and
rainfall ruthlessly affect their living in Kolkata all throughout the year. No special
provision is set up by Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) authorities to provide
them drinking water facility. Due to unavailability of proper sanitation facility,
pavement dwellers manage to take bath often very less. To avail toilet and latrine
facilities, families are forced to use ‘Pay and Use’ sanitation system which are set at
selected areas of Kolkata by KMC. A number of surveys have revealed that the
families lack minimum basic household amenities also. For instance warm clothes for
winter season, bed and mattress, mosquito net, cooking utensils, furniture for
household purpose, sanitary items for personal cleanliness, radio for entertainment
and mobile phone for interpersonal communication.

16 Somak Ghoshal, “Listless In The City”, The Telegraph, March 25, 2008,
https://admin.telegraphindia.com/1080325/jsp/opinion/story_9029723.jsp, (Accessed on: July 3, 2017)
Thus, the glitter of Kolkata‘s urban life has been attracting the poor rural families, but they
find themselves totally disappointed because the city has failed to fulfil their aspirations. In
Kolkata, the huge number of marginalized children from these family, who are robbed of
their childhood, are compelled to negotiate their precarious existence in the world of crime,
misery, abuse and exploitation. They have difficulties in accessing basic services and are
verbally, physically and sexually abused. Fast urbanization, high unemployment and
aggravated poverty has resulted in the increase of the numbers of children on the street. They
are trapped in cycle of poverty-violence-abuse and are forced to accept social exclusion from
early childhood.
Urban Poverty Alleviation Programmes
Urban poverty alleviation and slum development have been on the government agenda for
more than three decades in India. There are several central and state government sponsored
programmes for shelter and basic services delivery for the urban poor. But their forms, focus
and implementation strategies have changed overtime. The focus is now on targeted
development and emphasis is on decentralized and participatory implementation. In the
recent times the Government of India has implemented various programmes and policies like
Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for the purpose of integrating
development of basic services to urban poor. However, the municipal bodies are supposed to
play a more crucial role in implementation of the programmes for infrastructure development
and poverty alleviation including slum improvement after the mandate of the 74 th
Constitutional Amendment Act. With a substantial number of population (14 lakh or nearly
one-third of total city population at present) living in slums in Kolkata city, slum
development has been a major rhetoric of all the political parties, especially before any
election. Kolkata city has a long history of slum development initiatives under the aegis of
government and other donor agencies like the Ford Foundation, World Bank and presently
Asian Development Bank.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has played a leading role to launch numerous projects
and schemes adopted by the Government of India and West Bengal. Sensing the need of the
time, a comprehensive Department of Social Welfare and Urban Poverty Alleviation came
into existence for the first time in November, 2005, headed by the Joint Municipal
Commissioner (Development & General), for catering the basic amenities and benefits to the
destitute and economically bonded people in this metropolis to reduce urban poverty by way
of creating and encouraging self-employment through judicious, sustainable and optimum
utilization of resources, through various and projects, sponsored by the Government of India
and Government of West Bengal. The Department of Social Welfare and Urban Poverty
Alleviation has been set up for implementation of the various schemes, projects and
programmes sponsored by the Central Government of India and the State Government. From
its very inception, this department has been successfully implementing all the State sponsored
schemes, targeting to eradicate the urban poverty and to provide an opportunity to the
underprivileged and financially weaker section of the citizens for self-employment and
providing pension to the poverty-stricken elderly, widow and disabled people of Kolkata to
enable them to live with dignity.
There are important central Government schemes for urban poverty reduction such as:

 Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rojgar Yojana (SJSRY) – This scheme emphasizes on the
provision of basic services to urban poor by enhancing their employment and income
generation opportunities through programmes like micro credit and their close
participation in urban project implementation. But there are large number of slum
dwellers who are unable to get loans because of long processing time. Further poor
educational level and the inability of destitute women to get engaged in income
generating activities are the main constraints of getting loans from self-employment
schemes. Number of beneficiaries seem to be very low among the total slum
population.
 National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS) – This scheme aims at providing
pensions to the people above 65 years of age living below the poverty line and whose
annual income is less than Rs. 4000 per annum. The Department of Social Welfare
and Urban Poverty Alleviation is responsible for disbursing pension to these people.
 Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana (VAMBAY) - This programme was launched during
2001-2002 by the Central Government. It aims at providing shelter or upgrading the
existing shelter for people living below the poverty line in urban slums. The target
group under VAMBAY are all slum dwellers in urban areas.
 National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) - As per this scheme in case of death of
primary bread winner, one time assistance of Rs. 40,000/- is given to the family of the
deceased to face the immediate challenges and uncertainty through account payee
cheques. This is a centrally sponsored scheme and targeted to the people below
poverty line. The deceased person should be of the age group of 18-59 years. The
applicant should be the present Head of the Family with valid BPL ID as per list
adopted by KMC.
 Apart from the above government sponsored schemes an initiative has been taken to
build night-shelters at different parts of the city for homeless people of Kolkata. KMC
in collaboration with 2 NGOs has commissioned 2 night shelters at Chetla Hat Road
and Galiff Street with a capacity of 120 beds each. All the basis amenities are
provided in those centres.17
Despite several policies and programmes at various governmental levels no radical change
has been seen in the ownership of assets, process of production and basic amenities of the
urban poor in the city. In this way poverty alleviation programmes have proved failure due to
insufficient resources and lack of proper implementation, active participation of poor, proper
identification of poor and infrastructure.

17 Kolkata Municipal Corporation, “Budget Statement by Shri Shovan Chatterjee Mayor, Kolkata”, Central
Municipal Office, (July 9, 2015), p. 25
Conclusion
Urban poverty requires the critical attention of policymakers. Unless urban poverty is
addressed, continued urbanization would result in increases in urban poverty and inequality
which might strain the city life. It will affect relations between the different economic groups
and may lead to rising levels of insecurity, which in turn could lead to conflict. Poverty
related conflicts are already in existence in the rural parts of India. Studies on poverty and
conflicts in contemporary India shows that there are more conflicts between the poverty
affected social groups and others in the urban areas in recent decades and poverty related
conflicts have positive and negative potential in the context of political and economic
reforms.
Urban poverty reduction therefore requires different kinds of approaches because it is
different from rural poverty in many respects. The urban poor are affected by the highly
monetized nature of urban living which forces them to spend far more on accommodation,
food, transport and other services than the rural poor. Unlike rural poverty, urban poverty is
characterized by the exclusion of the poor from the benefits of urban development. To escape
urban poor from the multiple vulnerabilities of urban living and to benefit them from the
inclusive growth process, Central Government's intervention is therefore critical. Attention
needs to be given to ensure access to affordable healthcare, improvement in the conditions of
housing and social security as these are the priority for all unorganized workers in the urban
settings. Moreover, the nature of urban communities is distinct and urban poverty is not
easily addressed by the community-based approaches developed for rural poverty reduction.
As the urban population of the region is growing, so is urban poverty.
With the increase of urbanization in every corner of the world there is a growing inequality,
among the privileged and the under privileged. In case of the city of Kolkata also there is a
similar scenario where with the increase in the levels of urbanization there has been a clear
cut distinction between the haves and the have not's. Although some considerable success has
been achieved, there is a long way to go for Kolkata in terms of addressing the issues related
to urban poverty and slums. There is an urgent need to establish clear long-term strategies
that address issues such as land titles in bustees, unauthorized new slums around canal and
roads, greater effectiveness of urban poverty eradication programmes, public awareness-
building programmes on slum population, the role of each actor and stakeholder and
inadequate municipal institutional arrangements, including co-ordination of the activities of
various actors.
As we are already aware, that the state has enormous power to transform people’s lives and at
the same time can destroy aspirations and condemn entire community to deprivation and
neglect. In the case of the urban poor, we conclude that the state has failed to live up to its
claims of development. It cannot be denied that under the Left Front Government, institutions
that delivered better health to the marginalised were set up. It cannot be denied that under the
Trinamool Congress rule, there has been less political violence. However, for the pavement
dwellers and slum dwellers of Kolkata, the success stories are lost in the numerous cases of
human rights violation and steadfast deprivation.
References
1. Ali, Sabir, Dimensions of Urban poverty, Rawat Publications, New Delhi, 2006
2. Bandyopadhyay, Somshankar, “City slums to get $ 10 mn facelift”, The Times of
India, August 12, 2001, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/City-slums-
to-get-10-mn-facelift/articleshow/1119355298.cms, (Accessed on: June 30, 2017)
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