Constructive measures

According to real-estate dealers, the number of under-construction buildings is 70,000, while those which have been completed but are unoccupied — in other words, have been bought for speculation — is only 2,500, which seems a big underestimate. Housing activists believe that the total of both is 1.3 lakh units.
Builders have to snake their way through the Kafkaesque labyrinths of the BMC, state and central government agencies. This led to one taking his life in Thane only the other day. A second is the toll of taxes, totalling some 40 per cent, which are levied on the industry.
However, for many reasons, the industry has itself to blame for this current state of affairs. According to suggestions for the revised draft Development Plan, activist PK Das shows that the industry is at best catering to only 13-15 per cent of the city’s population.
If one takes 60 per cent living in slums and on pavements, some 25 per cent living in old and dilapidated (including cessed) buildings and 5-7 per cent floating population (in company accommodation), the proportion is even lower.
At a recent meeting in the city organised by the citizens’ initiative of Action Aid, Amite Bhide from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences traced the history of the real estate market in the country and commercial capital. Till the 1980s, the state was meant to intervene in the market to accommodate the poor, but only provided at best a tenth of the demand for such housing.
On the contrary, the state raised several hurdles for the industry, which led to it being relegated to the singular city from where a builder operated. To meet this crisis, the poor had no alternative but to provide their own informal housing, wherever they were able to squat in the most abysmal surroundings.
By 2020, India will have the third largest real estate market in the world, with an investment of $180 billion. Its share of GDP has gone up from 14 per cent in 2014 to 19 per cent. It is also the second biggest employer, after agriculture (displacing textiles, after the decline in that industry).
In the US, these are named Community Land Trusts, the nomenclature of which acquires a different meaning in this country. Patel likens the arrangement to a Forest Reserve, which implies reservation of land exclusively for a specific purpose. It addresses housing the poor by its governance and the adoption of a resale formula, which leaves land appreciation in the hands of the Reserve, not the original owner.
DNA

 

Constructive measures

According to real-estate dealers, the number of under-construction buildings is 70,000, while those which have been completed but are unoccupied in other words, have been bought for speculation is only 2,500, which seems a big underestimate. Housing activists believe that the total of both is 1.3 lakh units. Builders have to snake their way through the Kafkaesque labyrinths of the BMC, state and central government agencies. This led to one taking his life in Thane only the other day. A second is the toll of taxes, totalling some 40 per cent, which are levied on the industry. However, for many reasons, the industry has itself to blame for this current state of affairs. According to suggestions for the revised draft Development Plan, activist PK Das shows that the industry is at best catering to only 13-15 per cent of the citys population. If one takes 60 per cent living in slums and on pavements, some 25 per cent living in old and dilapidated (including cessed) buildings and 5-7 per cent floating population (in company accommodation), the proportion is even lower. At a recent meeting in the city organised by the citizens initiative of Action Aid, Amite Bhide from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences traced the history of the real estate market in the country and commercial capital. Till the 1980s, the state was meant to intervene in the market to accommodate the poor, but only provided at best a tenth of the demand for such housing. On the contrary, the state raised several hurdles for the industry, which led to it being relegated to the singular city from where a builder operated. To meet this crisis, the poor had no alternative but to provide their own informal housing, wherever they were able to squat in the most abysmal surroundings. By 2020, India will have the third largest real estate market in the world, with an investment of $180 billion. Its share of GDP has gone up from 14 per cent in 2014 to 19 per cent. It is also the second biggest employer, after agriculture (displacing textiles, after the decline in that industry). In the US, these are named Community Land Trusts, the nomenclature of which acquires a different meaning in this country. Patel likens the arrangement to a Forest Reserve, which implies reservation of land exclusively for a specific purpose. It addresses housing the poor by its governance and the adoption of a resale formula, which leaves land appreciation in the hands of the Reserve, not the original owner. DNA