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Tuesday, February 01, 2005
More bulldozers needed?
Slums in Mumbai are going down. Meanwhile, slums in Jharkand are coming up. The Telegraph quotes experts as saying that "Jharkhand will become the largest urban slum in the country by 2015." This is happening because more and more of the state's rural population is migrating to the cities in search of a livelihood. The article elaborates:
Decline in agriculture and the flawed policies of the state, they [the experts] said, were responsible for the looming crisis. Like Middle-Eastern countries, they said, the government of Jharkhand should also pay royalty to villagers for mining activities. In the Middle East, they pointed out, people are being paid royalty if oil is struck. By the same logic, villagers in Jharkhand should get royalty on a continuing basis rather than compensation for displacement. The royalty would help them plough back the money into agriculture.
