Update on the Rajiv Awas Yojana

Pranab Mukherjee, President of India, recently commented on the need to evolve solutions for the problem posed by the abject lack of housing in Indian urban spaces, specifically for persons belonging to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of society. In this context, he invoked the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) as an example of the steps being taken by the Government to address some aspects of this issue.

The Rajiv Awas Yojana, introduced in 2011, assures the States, Central funding for their Slum-Clearance schemes as long as they carry out certain mandatory policy and legislative reforms as specified in the Guidelines prepared by the Ministry for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation. Some of the salient such guidelines are the following, inter alia:

•  The States shall be required to pass legislation to the effect that slum-dwellers would be given the legal title to the land on which they reside. This title shall have to be given to either the woman of each individual house, or jointly to the man and the woman. This title shall have to be such as can be mortgaged, as well as inheritable, so as to enable access to formal credit mechanisms. 
• All new property developments in the State (both Private as well as Public) shall have to necessarily earmark or reserve 20-25% of the total area developed for the creation of housing for persons from the EWS. The idea here is to introduce cross-subsidisation of housing for such persons by those from the Middle and Higher Income groups. 
• The States shall be required to create detailed, individual Plans of Action for the purpose of slum-clearance, satisfying the criteria mentioned in the Guidelines, which extend to a number of subjects from mapping and surveying, to the assignment of property rights to slum-dwellers. 

In response to these, the National Advisory Council (NAC) had earlier prescribed some further reforms, dealing with subjects such as the eligibility barriers created by the current definitional structure, the provision of social amenities in the newly created slums, as well as the creation of transparent grievance redressal measures for slum dwellers.

Notwithstanding the reforms proposed by the NAC, the RAY Guidelines, as contained above seem to contain a fairly coherent description of a new paradigm with which to approach the subject of slum-clearance and development in the Country. Notable are the provisions relating to the grant of property rights to slum dwellers, and the mandatory reservation of space in new housing developments for persons from the EWS. These provisions mark an approach that is more aware of the right of the urban poor to decent living spaces, one which recognises the need for the various other population groups to ackowledge this right and conduct their affairs around it.

Subsequently, there have been reports of a large-scale rethink of the RAY Guidelines, on account of a poor response from the States. Particularly, there appears to be a strong adverse reaction among the States to the provision for mandatory handing over of legal title of the land to slum-dwellers, as well as with respect to the funding share of the Centre. However, there has been no new draft of the RAY Guidelines since that time, and there does not appear to be evidence of such a draft appearing in the near future.

More recently, the Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Mr. Ajay Maken, has emphasised the role of private property developers in creating housing for the urban poor through the mandatory reservation of 35% of houses built by them, under the RAY. This has, not surprisingly, led to a rash of protests from these developers, who argue that such a reservation of houses for persons from the EWS shall only lead to an increase in the already high costs for the other buyers of houses.

One hopes that the give-and-take involving the Central Government, the State Governments and the private property developers does not result in a dilution of the bold initiatives described in the RAY Guidelines.

Is the Current Avatar of Aadhar Unconstitutional? - Supreme Court Issues Notice to Centre

In an earlier post, this blog had highlighted how the absence of statutory mandate for the Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) makes the introduction of Aadhar and Direct Cash Transfer linked with it constitutionally suspect. 

It is significant therefore that the Supreme Court has admitted a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against the implementation of Aadhar scheme and issued notice to the Union Government.

The Hindu reports that the petition filed by Retired Justice K. Puttaswamy, Former Judge, Karnataka High Court, alleges that the Union Government's decision to implement the Aadhar scheme while the Unique Identification Authority of India Bill is pending before the Parliament, is an attempt at circumventing parliamentary discussion and therefore mala fide.

The petition further alleges that the project impinges on the right to privacy given its collection of biometric information and that such invasion of privacy can be authorised only through a law of the Parliament.

Interestingly, the petition also claims an infringement of the Right to Equality under Article 14 on the ground that the Aadhar scheme is likely to extend to non-citizens, thus legitimising them and endangering national security. It appears from the aforementioned report by J. Venkatesan that the exorbitant cost has also been referred to as a ground for the Article 14 challenge. 

In another noteworthy development on the introduction of cash transfer, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has, as the Hindustan Times reports,  filed a complaint with the Election Commission claiming that the introduction of direct cash transfer is a corrupt poll practice in view of the impending Gujarat Assembly elections.