India’s gov­ern­ment wants to try to elim­i­nate the slums around it’s major cities. The head of Hous­ing and Urban Devel­op­ment is ask­ing her depart­ment to give more rights to the slum dwellers. She also wants to begin build­ing infra­struc­ture in the slums and pro­vide it’s dwellers with afford­able housing.

From Head­lines India, writer Kavita Bajeli-Datt tells us more about the plan.

In an effort to make India slum-free in five years, Hous­ing and Urban Poverty Alle­vi­a­tion Min­is­ter Kumari Selja has urged state chief min­is­ters to pre­pare an “inclu­sive mas­ter plan” that addresses the con­cerns of the urban poor.

In her let­ter she asked state gov­ern­ments to develop an urban land pol­icy and a legal frame­work that accords prop­erty rights to urban slum dwellers and gives them a life of dignity.

Not­ing that mas­ter plans have excluded the poor from urban devel­op­ment, thus dri­ving them to ille­gal set­tle­ments, Selja said: “There is need to develop an urban land pol­icy and a legal frame­work for accord­ing secu­rity of prop­erty right to the slum dwellers and the urban poor.”

She said the states could con­sider amend­ing town plan­ning, urban area devel­op­ment and munic­i­pal laws to reserve land to build afford­able hous­ing that has basic amenities.

The min­is­ter also wrote that the states should pre­pare and imple­ment “inclu­sive” mas­ter plans by fol­low­ing a par­tic­i­pa­tory process and ensure that the con­cerns of the urban poor, espe­cially slum-dwellers, are ade­quately addressed in the process of urban plan­ning and development.

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