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HOUSING: MYTHS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
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INTRODUCTION: A house has a very pivotal role to play in Teething our objectives of developing better citizens. A person living in a better-designed house in the midst of nature would certainly have a healthier growth with a more positive outlook towards life than the one living in multistoried flats. DEVELOPMENT OF THOUGHT: The projected shortage of housing has attracted wide public attention. The shortage has been estimated at 31 million dwelling units with the requirement of financial resources put at Rs 87,000 crore. In this write up the housing shortage and the corresponding requirement of resources have been objectively analysed and practical solutions offered. CONCLUSION: In short, a well-built house with the congenial atmosphere has a salutary impact on the life of every citizen and it is the dream of everybody to have a home as a first step towards the achievement of higher aims in life. Housing is a complex phenomenon encompassing a host of factors. For the sake of simplicity, they are broadly classified into Quantitative and Qualitative aspects. Quantitative aspects include a physical number of housing units and financial resources required to tackle the problem. A look at quantitative aspects first would allow us to understand the magnitude of the problem before we get into other finer qualitative aspects. |
The Planning Commission has estimated the housing shortage at 31 million units in 1991. According to the latest FICCI estimates the shortage would be around 41 million by the turn of the century. Shortage of housing has assumed these alarming proportions mainly on two counts: a) increase in population and b) acceleration in the pace of urbanization.
Increase in population obviously needs the creation of new housing stock while the process of urbanization poses a different kind of problem. People who own ancestral rural houses are shifting to the urban areas in search of employment/opportunities which are made available mostly in urban areas due to the location of all governmental/non-governmental offices in urban areas. It is pertinent to point out here that many private sector offices are located close to the government offices since most of the government offices generate a lot of business. Regulatory procedures also necessitate too many visits to government offices. In addition, the litre is other socio-psycho factors that attract people to the cities. An appropriate house in the context of such people is beyond their financial reach, hence, they settle for something that can, at best, only be termed as a shelter. Incidentally, this gives rise to various definitions of slums.
According to the Planning Commission estimates, 8.2 million units would be required in the rural areas during the Eighth Plan period. Since there are 452 districts in the country, this means an average requirement of 18,142 housing units per district and 36 units per village on the assumption of an average of 500 villages per district. Thus we need to construct on an average, seven units per village per year during the Eighth Plan period. Of course, in reality, there may be some villages where new housing units may not be required while some other villages where the requirement may be many times of this average number. On the financial front, considering the requirement of Rs 50,000 per unit, there would be a need to mobilise resources at the rate of Rs. 3.50 lakh per village per year. As can be seen, this is not an impossible figure.
7.8 million units would be required during the Eighth Plan period in urban areas, again, according to Planning commission estimates. There are 4,689 towns in the country. Hence the average requirement per town works out at 1.663 units during the Plan period which gives us a figure of 333 units per town per year and considering a need of Rs 1,00,000 per unit, an amount of Rs 333 lakh needs to be mobilised per year.
Of course, the problem has been oversimplified in. the above two paragraphs to explain a concept. The demand for the housing units is not uniformly spread across all the villages and towns in the country. It is concentrated in certain towns and villages and in a few metropolitan cities. And this is where the crux of the problem lies. That necessitates the creation of additional resources in certain pockets which means fighting against the nature (since natural resources are limited) ‘which is definitely very costly if not impossible.
The total financial resources required during the I Plan period are projected at Its 87,000 crore in public and private sectors, brought out above, it is not an impossible figure to achieve provided we start working from the village level upwards. It is not difficult to mobilise Rs 3.50 lakh per village and Rs 333 lakh per ton per year. So the need of the hour is to start from the grass root level i.e. a village or a town instead of the country level.
What is required is a system possible based on cooperative lines for a cluster of 10-20 contiguous villages. This cooperative unit would mobilise-funds in its given jurisdiction and also extends finance in the same area. The same cooperative unit, being locally based, should also be able to identify cost-effective locally available building materials and encourage their use. It is reported that in Madhya Pradesh, village level cooperative societies which were hitherto distributing fertiliser etc. only have also taken up the extension of housing loans to the members. In case of a default by a member, his other concessional benefits are suspended, thereby, forcing him to keep up his commitments. Of course, the repayments are timed to coincide with the harvesting season.
We also have a chain of Building Centres set up on a society pattern in many parts of the country. Possibly, the mobilisation of resources and the extension of credit may also be entrusted to the existing chain of Building Centres. To ensure that there is no dilution of the Building Centres functions in the dissemination of the technologies, the Building Centre may have the additional services of one man dealing with finance. The idea could be tried in select areas Where the Building Centres have been functioning successfully. Minor changes in the bye-laws of the Building Centres may be required for the purpose.
Shortage of funds is not the only constraint. Assuming these funds are made available, we have the problem of utilisation of these funds. We do not have adequate materials like cement, bricks, steel, wood etc. available at any point in time. Moreover, to undertake this mammoth task of construction activity, we do not have sufficient skilled manpower. Hence it is imperative that an accelerated action is taken involving all the factors that can deliver a house which can be achieved only by tackling the problem at the smallest unit level, be it a village, a cluster of villages, a talk or a district.
To give further impetus to the village level handling of the problem of housing shortage, it is necessary that more funds are made available for providing infrastructural facilities to the villages instead of spending huge funds on the metropolitan/urban agglomerations Maybe we have to consider strengthening of DRDAs for the development of such works as the jurisdiction of Municipal/ Local bodies ends with the town/city limits. Liberal extension of telephone facility up to 100-200 km around a metropolitan city with the same facilities (like a local number) must be provided immediately. This acts as a great incentive to stay off the mainstream since one feels ‘connected’ at all times. This would discourage the migration of the population from rural to urban areas. (This is where the enormity of the problem lies at present. We may not be able to chase these urban millions back to the villages but conditions can certainly be created that would automatically discourage/stop further influx).
To help create employment opportunities in rural areas, the setting up of the new industrial units and the selected government offices must be made mandatory at least 100 km from the urban and 200 km away from the existing metropolitan centres. The facilities like telecommunications, local trains, social infrastructure have to be created now not later when it becomes a compulsion. Availability of these facilities would encourage people to stay on in nearby rural areas. Creation of additional facilities in already densely populated areas costs much more. Such funds can be diverted for the development of infrastructural facilities in uninhabited/rural areas.
The government has to lead the way by taking initiative _There are any numbers of Government departments/public sector enterprises who gain/contribute nothing by remaining in the capital/metropolitan areas. Such departments/undertakings may, at best, be permitted to have a liaison office which could do the coordination work.
Our model—a cooperative set up, probably, a Building Centre, may not suffer from the lack of this deficiency since only the local people are going to be employed by such Centres. Of course, there is an inherent deficiency in employing local people to the local units as they do not get exposure to the outside world and, therefore, are not able to add on to their talents. This can be provided by an umbrella unit working at a taluk/district level. The money mobilised by such units would offer an incentive to the investing villager by way of, mod-crate rates of interest and also the availability of cheaper credit to the needy since the overheads of such units/centres would be very limited. Launching of the various HFIs may not prove to be much useful for the creation of millions of houses as the target groups for these HFIs is essentially the urban middle class. Moreover, the money mobilised by them is at high costs and after adding their own overheads it becomes costlier still. This goes beyond the affordability limits of the borrowers. Anyhow, this could be left to the interaction of market forces as this is not our main area of concern.
The entire phenomenon of housing finance should not be based on any kind of subsidies even by way of tax concessions etc. The policy of extending such benefits like income tax rebates and deductions have some inherent shortcomings. Since they are “across-the-board” benefits i.e., the subsidy is passed on to better off. savers which increase inequity in income distribution. The absolute amount of subsidy/ also goes on increasing and then such benefits normally become permanent in nature. A reliable and self-sustaining system should not be based upon such temporary measures. Such dependence renders the system unstable, incapable of sustained growth and crippled since inefficiency is rewarded. This also gives an edge. of control to politicians.
As is well known most of our rural folks keep their Money in earthen pots in their -houses and are shy of depositing such funds in any of, the formal financial/banking systems. The habit is formed probably on two counts: (1) absence of availability of such facilities nearby and (2) lack of faith in the systems. The first problem has been solved to some extent after the rapid increase in the expansion of the rural branch network of the nationalised banks. The second problem has yet to find its solution of reaffirming the villager’s faith in the banking system. Since most of the bank branch personnel come from the nearby urban areas, villagers are not able to repose their trust in them. Hence a large market segment of the rural potential still remains untapped. Overheads of such units/Centre would be very limited.
It is appalling, that the housing problem does not get the attention it deserves. Consider the far-reaching consequences it has on most of the critical areas of concern our country is facing today.
A house has enormous implications on the consumption of energy. Location of a house from the workplace determines the level of energy consumed, a daily journey to and fro. To conserve the fuel, it is essential that to the extent possible housing should be provided near the place of work. In a country like China, housing has to be provided within the campus in case of any new industrial, commercial complex coming up. In India, the development authorities can at least consider allotment of houses to beneficiaries near their respective workplaces. This is possible as a local development authority develops many housing colonies in the same town/city.
It is also felt that setting up of industrial estates is a wrong decision as it results in the concentration of basic requirements like housing water power etc. It also creaks congestion on the roads thereby pushing up pollution levels. There is a felt need to spread such employment opportunities which put pressure on the natural resources.
India with its vast geographical spread can afford to encourage the concept of individual housing combined with agricultural support like coconut trees, species planes in Tamil Nadu and Kerala and Eucalyptus plantations etc. in other parts of the country. Similarly, facilities pertaining to school and shopping centre should also be provided close to the residential areas. There is almost a daily need to travel to workplace, school and shopping while a pet: Son travels occasionally for recreational activities. A substantial amount of energy can be saved by ensuring the availability of these three facilities near the residential areas.
Another important area that affects energy consumption is the design of the house. We find so many houses designed in such a way that most of the interiors of the house do not get the natural light even during day time, thus forcing the usage of artificial lighting. Similarly, a well-conceived design also ensures the smooth flow of air which again cuts down the necessity of artificial arrangements. If houses are well spread, it helps in lying greener surroundings which, in turn, cuts down the requirement of value ous cooling mechanisms. The development and use of energy efficient gadgets inside a house are also important to save energy.
Another very important area where a large amount of energy can be saved is during the construction of a house itself. The amount of energy consumed in building construction is unbelievable. According to the Bricks and Tiles Manufacturers Association at Madras, the consumption of bricks in and around Madras is of the order of 700 to 1000 million per annum. Estimated consumption of coal for every 1 lakh brick is 25 tonnes. Hence we consume 2,50,000 tonnes of coal or equivalent fuel energy per annum for meeting the requirements of bricks in and around Madras alone.
It is not difficult to imagine the damage we are doing to the forestry/ecology/our import bill for brick making across the country. Can we do anything to save or minimise this, energy consumption? Yes, we have any numbers of alternatives available. We need not go into the details here: a lot of work is being done on this front.
A house has a very important role to play in meeting our objectives of developing better citizens. A person living in a better-designed house in the midst of nature would certainly have a healthier growth with a more positive outlook towards life than the one living in multistoried flats. Imagine the growth of a person’s mind that gets up in the morning only to see the slums outside the window. What kind of a culture or tastes such a person can develop who is surrounded by dirt. Creativity is the last thing that can be expected from such a person.
Needless to elaborate that human settlements have a lot of impact on the environment. Be it the disposal of daily garbage, burning of firewood/kerosene or the emission of smoke out of vehicles etc. As we are aware, the pollution problem has taken such a serious proportion in many of the metropolitan cities that it has reached alarming levels. A well spread out a clean settlement with pockets of greenery around, would certainly have less adverse effects on the environment than a high-density human settlement.
A dark and unventilated house with a shortage of water has definitely more health hazards to offer than a clean and healthier living atmosphere for the healthy growth of the human body and mind. It is an irony for the poor countries that first they create health problems and then spend a lot of money on finding solutions which are otherwise avoidable. A high-density residential area without any community space or playing fields restricts the growth of the children also since it does not offer any avenues for outdoor play.
Most of our time in’ today’s urban context is wasted in commuting to and fro from the house to the workplace/school/shopping centre. Today, we have no time available with us. We do not expect a physically and mentally tired person to have/develop any appreciation for cultural and religious values. A healthy environment provided by a well designed and ventilated house encourages children to study.
Houses constructed by the development authorities may gladden the hearts of those dreaming to own a house in metropolitan cities. These development authorities do not have to compete with anybody. That is how they survive. Acquire land at peanuts, add to it the cost of bureaucracy and premium of being the only one and we have a flat that leaks, has no aesthetic sense, toilets that stink. Has this country ever calculated the cost of underdeveloped minds, uncreativity that dwells in such units? What is expected of the children that grow up in such filthy corners? A home should be the means to achieve higher aims in life while today our sole objective is reduced to achieving a house.
