The Basic Services for the Urban Poor scheme is a sub-mission of India's largest urban policy since Independence, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Nearly 30,000 dwelling units have been built across the city of Bangalore for low-income residents, but outcomes have not always been positive. Many argue the policy has had detrimental impacts on the urban poor, leading to slum demolition, community relocation, and social exclusion.
Most of the projects constructed under the BSUP scheme adopt a multi-storied construction model. Many residents are reluctant to agree to multi-story construction because it prevents them from building additions to their home in the future. Further, under this model, residents receive no formal rights to the land they occupy, which is another, critical reason for local resistance.
Residents construct temporary shelters as they wait for the government to complete construction of the housing units for their community. There are numerous potential reasons for delay in completing a BSUP project, including: resident resistance to multi-story construction, lack of available land, and non-cooperation from contractors responsible for completing the units. In Bangalore, many residents lack access to adequate housing, making this an urgent issue for the Government of Karnataka.
HOUSING POLICIES in URBAN INDIA
A PhD dissertation project--funded by the National Science Foundation and Brown University--examining the implementation of a federal low-income housing policy called the Basic Services for the Urban Poor scheme (BSUP).
For this project, I designed and executed an in-depth, qualitative study on the implementation of BSUP in Bangalore, India. Over the course of 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork in New Delhi and Bangalore, I conducted 110 in-depth, qualitative interviews (with bureaucrats, politicians, policymakers, civil society activists, and scholars involved in the policy implementation) and facilitated ten focus groups with 50+ residents impacted by housing schemes in Bangalore.
Findings from this research were shared with local activists and scholars in an effort to help create a "Right to Housing" policy for the state of Karnataka. A multi-chapter dissertation is currently in draft, with completion slated for Spring 2017.