JAGA Mission – Burning Issues – Free PDF Download

Context

• World Habitat Mission has recognised the Odisha state government’s Jaga Mission that uses drones to survey slums.
• Odisha has won the ‘World Habitat Award’, global recognition for its ambitious initiative — Jaga Mission. The Odisha government has become the first in the country to bag this award. Recently, this project was also awarded the ‘India Geospatial Excellence Award’ for technological innovation in transforming the lives of urban poor.
• Odisha Liveable Habitat Mission “JAGA” is a society under Housing & Urban Development Department, Government of Odisha, headed by the Chief Secretary, Odisha as Chairman.
• “JAGA” aims at transforming the slums into liveable habitat with all necessary civic infrastructure and services at par with the better off areas within the same urban local body (ULB).
• More often than not, slums are seen as encroachments
• Formal recognition of land rights allows for cleaner cities and better living conditions for slum dwellers.

World Habitat Award

• This award is given by World Habitat, in partnership with United Nations Habitat, every year, in recognition of innovative, outstanding, and revolutionary ideas, projects, and programmes from across the world in the field of housing.
• India Geospatial Excellence Award
• This award is given by GeoSmart India which is an interactive platform that demonstrates the collective and shared vision of the Indian geospatial community and is the most prominent stakeholder event of the Indian geospatial ecosystem.

Land Rights for Slum Dwellers Act

• The Act has two interlinked objectives: one, to provide tenure security to slum dwellers against the constant threat of eviction or demolition, and two, to create a legal base for improving the liveability of slum dwellings.
• The Act provides for in-situ rehabilitation in general, and offsite rehabilitation in case of land important for the public interest, land unfit for human habitation, ecologically sensitive land, or heritage land.

 Slums in India

• Slum is a contiguous settlement where the inhabitants are characterized as having inadequate housing and basic services. Cities Alliance Action Plan describes slums as neglected parts of cities where housing and living conditions are appallingly poor.

 Growth of slums

• Demand- supply of Housing
• Limited access to financial resources
• Rural to Urban Migration
• Poor Urban governance

 Problems faced by slum dwellers

• Lack of basic services
• Substandard housing
• Overcrowding
• Unhealthy living conditions
• Perpetuating cycle of Poverty
• Social problems
• Health

Challenges

• Questions over slum-land ownership
• Inadequate formal housing
• Illegal subletting
• Lack of coherent policy
• Environmental sustainability

 Way Forward

• Promoting livelihood options and social and economic infrastructure
• Housing and population policies based on housing rights
• Attention must be paid to income generation
• Lastly, slums should be developed because developing slums also trigger local economic development, improve urban mobility and connectivity, and integrate the slums, which are enormous economically productive spheres, into the physical and socio-economic fabric of the wider city.

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