By Y.S. Rana, CHANDIGARH—The Chandigarh Administration is always claiming to have progressed in implementing the national flagship programmes like houses for slums poor but the slum areas in the city speaks of the real picture of such so-called claims. A decade ago the Administration has claimed that Chandigarh was well on way to emerging as a ‘slum free’ city in the country, for the measures taken to don the mantle but the report compiled by the National Buildings Organization (NBO) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation says otherwise.
According to the report, more than 20 per cent of Chandigarh’s children are in slums. Chandigarh has also the highest proportion of slum child population. In Chandigarh, a whopping 20.9 per cent proportion of the 0-6 age group population stays in slums. Even in progressive states like Punjab and Haryana, more than 10 per cent of the child population stays in slums.
The report further states that the picture is dismal in 23 States, where more than 10 per cent of the child population stays in slums. Out of these 23 States, 11 States have the proportion of slum child population more than 15 per cent. The include Gujarat, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkand, Chhattisgarh and Goa.
Generally, 943 is a figure which is regarded as average natural sex ratio at birth. Punjab stands lowest in natural sex ratio at 822. On the other hand, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar, the child sex ratio in slums is above 943.
“The child sex ratio at 921 in the slum areas of 26 States and Union Territories, where slum population has been reported, is higher than 903, recorded for non-slum urban areas of these States and Union Territories,” the report stated.
It is also reported in the report that the picture was no better in the cities of the country. Around 2.5 milliuon children in the age group of 0-6 are living in slum areas of 27 cities, thus constitutes 27.3 per cent of the total child population. Half of these 2.5 million children stay in only three major metros of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. While Mumbai has 0.86 million children, Delhi and Kolkata accounted for 0.3 million and 0.15 million children respectively.
About 7.6 million children are living in slums in India and they constitute 13.1 per cent of the total child population of the urban areas of 26 States and Union Territories reporting slums.
In such a scenario, it may be a long way for the Chandigarh Administration to go in arresting slums population growth and since then it cannot claim of having ‘slum-free’ city in the country. EOM