RAY Evaluation: A Study on Shimla Slums

Slums are a topic of much research. While architects see it as a problem with design and construction materials, some it as an issue with infrastructural accessibility and security of tenure. Slums, according to policy analysts, are a result of a lack of incentives and rules. Shimla being the State capital major tourist attraction, GoHP envisioned Shimla to be Slum free city by 2022. In pursuance of vision of Slum Free India, Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) was launched in June 2011. RAY envisages two steps implementation strategy i.e. preparation of Slum Free City Plan of Action (SFCPoA) and preparation of projects for selected for slum. The proportion of slum population has been rising constantly therefore the present study is an attempt to analyse the living condition of the people in these slums in terms of housing conditions, land occupancy, availability of physical and social infrastructure. The main objective of the manuscript was to evaluate various policies/schemes and approaches adopted by Government for slum improvement and to understand the issues and problems concerning slums. The primary focus is to study the ongoing Government housing schemes in the slums of Shimla. For this, a detailed study with focus on the slums of Shimla was conducted. Among the existing slums the ones with ongoing government schemes/policy work were shortlisted. Prior to the conduct of main field work, a reci survey was conducted to shortlist the case studies; which also provided inputs for the preparation of the report. In Shimla, there are two ongoing government schemes; RAY and Ashiana Housing. For this paper focus was on Krishna Nagar slum under RAY. Most of the study is based on a field survey. Based on a basic random sampling technique, 10% of the homes in slum area was chosen. The purpose of the questionnaire's design was to gather comprehensive data about each family member.