Urban India reports high incidence of poverty despite being hailed as a hub of growth and an instrument of globalization. Poverty figures for urban areas are higher compared to rural areas in a large number of states. This report looks at the process of globalization and development strategy in India to ask why poverty exists in urban areas and how the poor are being physically and economically absorbed in the system. It analyses the processes of urbanization, migration, changes in the structure of the economy, and the pattern of infrastructural investment with the aim of assessing their impact on the poor. Changes in urban governance, legal system, and the administrative structure have been reviewed to identify the problems faced by the poor and to focus on the systemic changes that need to be brought in. Thus it focuses on urbanization keeping poverty at the centre of analysis.

Contributed articles compiled from Social Change, a quarterly journal brought out by Council for Social Development; special issue on Urban poverty in India vol. 30 numbers 1-2, March-June, 2000.

"In India, over 30 per cent of the total population lives below the poverty line. Such a high degree of poverty highlights a serious dimension of the country's urban scenario also. The insufficient employment opportunities and poor income levels add to the miseries of the urban poor. They live in sub-standard settlements like slums, unauthorized colonies, squatters, pavements, resettlement colonies, etc. These settlements are considered to be the most filthiest in the world. Taking a serious note of the growing urban poverty, the Government of India spent hundreds of crores of rupees on implementing various schemes and programmes with no significant result. Urban poverty continues to be an area of major concern and unbeatable challenge. It was against this backdrop, experts working on different aspects of urban poverty were approached to contribute articles expressing their views and giving their first-hand experiences. The reading of this volume can be immensely useful to professionals, government officials, activists etc., who are involved in poverty alleviation programmes."

It is increasingly being recognized that effective management of the urbanization process across India is going to be imperative to ensure equitable and sustained development. Economic growth and gender equality are positively correlated. Although gender issues have been widely debated in the context of urbanization and urban poverty alleviation policy framework, it has yet to be addressed perceptibly. Encapsulating insightful policy recommendations exclusively on urban poverty and gender issues is the need of the hour for successful implementation of existing programmes, alongside keeping tabs on emerging issues relevant to the India Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation. The State of the Urban Poor Report 2015 has been envisaged keeping in mind the critical need to examine gender issues relevant to urban poverty alleviation practices and mechanisms, as well as to find ways of bringing gender sensitivity into the urban management practices in India. The papers in this volume focus on themes such as dimensions of urban poverty; current urban poverty alleviation approaches; gender, shelter, and property rights; urban livelihoods; ensuring urban safety through gender sensitive approach; and access to basic urban services through gender perspective.

This book explores the informal patronage relations between urban slum-dwellers and service delivery organisations in Mumbai, India. It examines to what extent the people in the slums are subject to social and political exclusion. Delving into the roles of the slum-based mediators and local municipal councillors, it highlights the problems in the functioning of democracy at the ground level, as election candidates target vote banks with freebies and private sector funding to manage campaigns. It provides a comprehensive overview of the various actors within local municipal governance and democracy as also consequences for citizenship, urban poverty, public services and neo-liberal politics.

The Challenge of Slums presents the first global assessment of slums, emphasizing their problems and prospects. Using a newly formulated operational definition of slums, it presents estimates of the number of urban slum dwellers and examines the factors at all level, from local to global, that underlie the formation of slums as well as their social, spatial and economic characteristics and dynamics. It goes on to evaluate the principal policy responses to the slum challenge of the last few decades. From this assessment, the immensity of the challenges that slums pose is clear. Almost 1 billion people live in slums, the majority in the developing world where over 40 per cent of the urban population are slum dwellers. The number is growing and will continue to increase unless there is serious and concerted action by municipal authorities, governments, civil society and the international community. This report points the way forward and identifies the most promising approaches to achieving the United Nations Millennium Declaration targets for improving the lives of slum dwellers by scaling up participatory slum upgrading and poverty reduction programmes. The Global Report on Human Settlements is the most authoritative and up-to-date assessment of conditions and trends in the world's cities. Written in clear language and supported by informative graphics, case studies and extensive statistical data, it will be an essential tool and reference for researchers, academics, planners, public authorities and civil society organizations around the world.

The Previous Century Was Marked By India S Great Transformation From A Colonial Agrarian Economy To A Modern, Vibrating, Knowledge-Based Economy Within The Framework Of A Liberal And Secular Democracy. A High Annual Gdp Growth Rate Of Over 8 Per Cent Is Now Being Achieved On A Consistent Basis. The Rapid Economic Growth Has, However, Brought Only A Marginal Decline In Rural And Urban Poverty As Nearly 250 Million People, Constituting About 25 Per Cent Of The Country S Total Population, Still Remain Below The Poverty Line.The Data Relating To The Dimensions Of Poverty Is Startling A Whopping 350 Million People Are Illiterate, 150 Million Have No Access To Safe Drinking Water, 750 Million Lack Clean Sanitation Facilities And Are Prone To Diseases Resulting Therefrom, And 50 Per Cent Of The Children Eat Below Acceptable Nutritional Levels. Average Life Expectancy At Birth Has No Doubt Risen To 63 Years, But Infant Mortality Rate (Imr) And Maternal Mortality Rate (Mmr) Are Still At Unacceptably High Levels 57 Per 1000, And 3 Per 1000 Live Births Respectively. In Terms Of Human Development Index (Hdi), India Is Ranked 126Th Among The 177 Listed Countries. Even The Mentioned Statistics Do Not Fully Capture The Sheer Destitution And Misery Our Marginalized Sections Of Population Are Subjected To. The Poverty That They Endure Robs Them Of Their Human Dignity And Makes A Mockery Of Our Claims To Social Justice And Equity.Growth, When Unevenly Spread, Dwarfs Overall Prosperity. Hence, Bridging The Income Divide Is The Biggest Challenge For India. The Government On Its Part Has Launched Several Poverty Alleviation Programmes But They Have Not Brought The Desired Result. The Approach Paper To The Eleventh Five-Year Plan Has Laid Emphasis On Strategies That Accelerate Growth And Make It Broadbased.The Present Anthology Is Comprised Of Well-Researched Articles By Erudite Scholars Who Have Deeply Analysed The Problem Of Persisting Poverty In India. Various Factors Responsible For Such A Situation Have Been Studied And Ways And Means Suggested To Considerably Reduce If Not Eradicate Poverty.The Book Will Serve As A Valuable Reference Source For Students And Teachers Of Economics And Researchers On This Subject. It Will Also Be Useful For The Policymakers, Planners, Parliamentarians, Government Agencies And Ngos. Common Readers Concerned With The Overall Development Of The Nation Will Find It Highly Informative.