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RESETTLEMENT OF BEEDI WORKERS IN SOLAPUR FROM SLUMS TO REGULAR HOUSING-A STUDY OF THE PROJECT

Submitted ByDeepak Chincholi

2010DM009

Under Guidance of:Dr. Ritambhara Hebbar

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements forthe Degree of Masters of Science in Disaster Management

Jamsetji Tata Centre for Disaster ManagementSchool of Habitat Studies

Tata Institute of Social SciencesMumbai

February 2012

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To My Mother

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DECLARATION

I, Deepak Chincholi, hereby declare that this dissertation entitled 'Resettlement of Beedi Workers in Solapur from slums to regular housing-a study of the project' is the outcome of my own study undertaken under the guidance of Dr. Ritambhara Hebbar, Centre for Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. It has not previously formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma or certificate of this institute or of any other institute or University. I have duly acknowledged all the sources used by me in the preparation of this dissertation.

10th February 2012Deepak Chincholi

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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the dissertation entitled 'Resettlement of Beedi Workers in Solapur from slums to regular housing-a study of the project' is the record of the original work done by Deepak Chincholi under my guidance and supervision. The results of the research presented in this dissertation have not previously formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma, or certificate of this Institute or any other institute or university.

10th February 2012Dr. Ritambhara HebbarAssociate Professor

Centre for Development Studies

School of Social Sciences

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Acknowledgement

Carrying out this research has been one of the greatest learning opportunity for me in my life. It has helped

me unlearn and learn many a things. I take this opportunity to thank a lot of people who have been

instrumental in helping me in pursuing the study systematically and successfully complete it. I firstly extend

my gratitude to my research supervisor Dr. Ritambhara Hebbar, without her persistent support and guidance

this research would not have been possible. She always demonstrated the passion for the discipline and

constantly motivated me to raise my standards. Throughout the process, she gave me ample freedom to think

through various issues of the subject and incorporate them in my study. She herself has consistently put in lot

of efforts and ensured that I view the study through various dimensions of the issue to get a holistic

understanding of the subject. Her contributions to the study would be revered by me for a long period of

time.

I would also like to extend thanks to the Beedi workers of Solapur who unconditionally gave me their time

and actively participated in the study. Study apart, they have taught me lot of things about life. Their

indefatigible spirit of living life against odds has left an indeligble mark on my mind. I also owe gratitude

towards the field workers of the Communist Party, Solapur, without their help, It would have been difficult

for me to get acceptance from the community and thereby could have restricted free flow of Information.

I would also like to thank Sir Dorabji Tata Memorial Library at TISS for the constant help that I have

received from it throughout the last two years of my study in the institute. Cyber-Library deserves a special

mention. This was the place where I have spent many hours of my study time and it has always been 'there'

for me.

My TISS friends Kiran, Isha, Ankush, Jeetesh, Ananya, Sunny, Sumedh have all contributed in their own

ways in me carrying out and completing the study. Finally I thank my parents, my sisters and close friends

for their support and encouragement in my zeal to pursue the course.

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Contents

Chapter 1Introduction to the Study.....................................................................................................01

Chapter 2Introduction to the Field......................................................................................................37

Chapter 3The Project..........................................................................................................................48

Chapter 4Response from the People and the Critical Analysis of the Project....................................72

Chapter 5Conclusion-Summary and Recommendations.....................................................................93

Appendix.............................................................................................................................104

References...........................................................................................................................107

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Chapter 1

Introduction to the Study

Introduction: Comrade Godutai Parulekar Mahila Beedi Kamgar Sahakari Griha Nirman Sanstha Maryadit

(Henceforth referred to as project) is a massive housing project in Solapur. It is a low cost housing project

and is hailed as a biggest co-operative housing project for workers in Asia1. More importantly these workers

happen to be women Beedi workers, who are largely below poverty line and earlier stayed in slums of the

Solapur city. Ten thousand houses have been constructed under this project. It is also a unique project in the

sense that the project was financed by the central, state government and the worker contributions. Worker

contributions were through direct contributions as well as provident fund withdrawals. More importantly a

cooperative housing model has been used. People while living in slums lacked basic services, ventilation was

poor and there were complaints about the poor health of the people. Proper housing was seen as a solution to

a range of problems being faced by people. Thus the project can be seen as a positive step in the direction of

solving the problems.

Solapur is a historic city and has seen presence of Industries from a long period of time. The major industries

operational in Solapur are textile, looms and the Beedi industries. There is a large number of workers

population which depend on these industries for their livelihood. The whole initiation, ideation,

conceptualization and finally the execution of this project seem to have been possible because of the struggle

and the efforts of the people involved. Two players have played a critical role. One is the Beedi workers

themselves and second the Communist Party of India(CPM)(henceforth referred to as party) under the

leadership of Mr. Adam. Mr. Adam and the party have been involved in the worker's issues through activities

like trade unionisation, fighting for rights of workers etc. The project is registered as a cooperative housing

society. This cooperative society has initially played a role of a platform for worker's organization for

demanding the housing rights. Subsequently the it also played a significant role in organizing, planning and

finally the execution of the project. Currently the society has the ownership rights of the entire project and is

involved in maintenance and smooth functioning of the project. The unit is now currently involved in

running of schools, providing small loans to people and in the long run is aiming at running hospitals and

other livelihood projects.

How is the project related to Disaster Management? From disasters point of view, slum dwellers are one

of the most vulnerable sections of the population2. In the event of a triggering of a natural hazard, this section

of the population faces disproportionate effects. The major reason for this is the high vulnerability (politico-

socio-economic) and low coping capacity of the people. There has been rapid urbanization across the world.

More people are living in urban areas today compared to number of people living in villages3. However this

1 Abhyankar, A 2006. Beedi Workers Mass Housing Project Inaugurated, People’s Democracy vol 30 No.37 accessed online on 22nd March at http://pd.cpim.org/2006/0910/09102006_maha.htm

2 Migiro, K 2010. Slum dwellers most vulnerable to disasters-Red Cross, Reuters Nairobi accessed on 23rd March at http://uk.reuters.com/article/2010/09/21/uk-disasters-redcross-idUKTRE68K0ZO20100921

3 UN Habitat for a better Urban Future, State of World’s cities 2010/2011-Cities for all: Bridging the Urban Divide,

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transition has not been smooth. Most of the people are forced to live in informal settlements or slums. In

India it is estimated that by 2011, 93 million of her population is staying in slums 4. 52% of Delhi lives in

slums and in Mumbai the percentage goes up to 60%. The population density of the slums are very high.

Many experts have studied people living in slums and have concluded that most of the people living in the

slums are from weaker

section of the society with low occupation status and have no option but to live in houses of poor

quality5. In such a situation, even an hazard of moderate intensity prove costly for people living in slums.

The capital city of Haiti, Port-Au-Prince had very high population density. Most of the areas were informal

settlements. When the earthquake stuck it lead to huge casualty. Rescue and relief efforts were severely

hampered because of lack of proper access routes. Further challenges like effects of Climate change has the

potential of further exacerbating the problem as amongst many other outcomes it could mean displacement

of people living in slums in coastal cities to other locations. However looking at slums only from a disaster

lenses is myopic in nature. Shelter is one of the basic needs of the human kind. It is the responsibility of the

government and the people to ensure that this basic need is met. Housing is treated as a basic human right

and also is a part of Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Also it is imperative that these shelters are in

decent conditions which not only recognizes the dignity of the people but also provide them with safety.

Thus if we attempt to solve the housing issues of people, it would be an attempt that not only focus on the

larger social structures but also the sub-systems of society which includes disasters. In disaster management

terms, It would be my attempt to identify the risks and the vulnerabilities that existed with the people staying

in the slums of Solapur and to see how has the housing project been able to reduce those. Of course risks and

the vulnerabilities identified by the project planners may be different from what community perceives them

as. It would be important to identify the nuances between them and see how they manifest themselves when

we see the larger picture. At the macro-scale, my study would focus on development issue. I would try and

assess as to how have the risks and vulnerabilities been generated for the Beedi workers through historical,

economical and political processes. As a sub-system, my study would focus on as to see how the housing

project been able to address the risks and vulnerabilities from the project proponent as well community's

point of view. The project has been presented as a successful case study. In fact, there are numerous similar

projects that are being undertaken in Solapur at present. While the project has been hailed as success, there

have been concerns raised about the project too. There have been complaints that location of the project is a

hindrance for people to shift to new area as it would affect their livelihood incomes. I had keen interest to

understand the process of the whole project as well as the outcome to see what were the challenges that

accessed online at http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=8051&catid=7&typeid=46&subMenuId=0

4 Singh, M 2010. 93 Million slum dwellers by next year, The Times of India accessed online on 17th March online at http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-09-04/india/28264174_1_slum-population-rajiv-awas-yojana-slum-census

5 Ramchandra, P The Slum A Note on facts and solutions cited in Mohanty L , Mohanty S in Slum in India, 2005

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stakeholders faced or are facing in relation to the project. The findings can be immensely be useful in other

project planning. Further significance of my study would be that it would help in terms of answering the

question of how do we go about the relocation exercise, if this option has to be exercised to move people

from dangerous locations to safer locations. This would be a pre-disaster measure. On the other hand, in

many post disaster situations because of the devastation caused the original habitats are no longer are in

condition for people to live. In such a situation, resettlement of houses is the only option. My study would

help in this aspect of post-disaster rehabilitation. We can say that the study can be useful in both resettlement

as well as rehabilitation projects. My study of the project would also hold significance since it would be

arguably first of its kind of study and its findings can be used if such projects are replicated elsewhere.

The origin of the idea for my research: There are a few life transforming phases that happen in an

individual's life, studying at Tata Institute of Social Sciences(TISS) has been one such beautiful phase for

me. In my first semester course in Disaster Management(DM), apart from the strong academic and class

room trainings we were sent to the field to get the first-hand experience of ground realities existing in our

society. We made frequent 'urban visits' to understand the conditions of the people living in slums with focus

on vulnerabilities of people staying there. We also went for a 'rural visit' to the tribal hamlets in the Raigad

district which helped me immensely in understanding the current development paradigm. Subsequently, I

also had the chance of interning in Bhiwandi (Thane District) under the Disaster Risk Management Project

(DRM). I spent a month there and during the course of this duration interacted with one of the most

marginalized sections of the society, conceptualized and formed DM plans for the community. One thing

what I felt about the DRM program was that all these measures would only help in limited ways. It would

help in preparedness measures in terms of a better response in the event of a hazard striking. But If we have

to resolve the issue more satisfactorily, more comprehensive measures would be required. For example,

during one of my conversations with the field staff working with me in a slum which was located in flood

prone area, he inquired to me what could be the long term and sustainable solution to the annual problem of

flooding in the area. I responded stating that one solution could be relocation of these slum dwellers to a

safer area. From that moment itself, I thought that if relocation is an option that needs consideration how do

we go about it especially when you are dealing with people of low socio-economic status. At that time it

'clicked' to me about the Beedi worker housing project that was implemented in Solapur. The project

involved housing for poor women Beedi workers. I deliberated with myself about the issue and had strong

urge to study the project and the process, make learnings and use them in the disaster management as well as

other housing resettlement projects.

Conceptualization of Disaster: There are complex natural processes that continuously operate on earth.

These processes have been taking place for thousands of years. When these processes negatively effect

humans they are called 'Natural Hazards'. These hazards have been part of society from a very long time and

were largely seen as events or 'acts of God' or nature on which humans had no control. The focus on the

'natural angle' has persevered for a long time and 'human angle' was left ignored. Even in the modern day

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context disasters have been mainly been identified/associated with the natural hazards. Because of the

existing paradigm, most of the researches carried out in the 20th century in the field of disasters focused on

the hazards and their sciences onlyi. It is said to have followed a 'technocentric' approach6. In those times

there was excessive reliance on the sciences and it was believe that impact of disasters can be reduced only

through putting efforts in that direction. Hewitt (1983)ii has explained this approach as one which tries to

control the vagaries of nature using science and engineering. For example, in this approach, In an area

suffering from floods, river embankments would be seen as the only solution. Similarly for dealing with

cyclone's effect, there would be excessive stress on weather data gathering to understand and analyse the

disturbances in the atmosphere. In this approach, human vulnerability to the hazards was missing from both

understanding the disaster and its impacts. Furthermore in the technocentric approach, there is a clear stress

on identifying disasters as events. It is mainly because of the fact that natural sciences have tendency to look

at things in the context of time, space and severity7. As an extension to this is present the 'phase' concept

which looks at the event from a larger time frame and also includes time before and after the event. Further

focusing on the time or event aspect of the disaster is the example of understanding disasters as wrong

amounts of energy at the wrong place and wrong time(Turner(1978) and Perrow(1984))iii.

Unfortunately the 'technocentric' approach has dominated the disaster studies till very recently. This thinking

has also reflected in various developments that have taken place in the field of disaster management. Natural

scientists have had a lead in this field compared to social scientists. Initial global efforts like International

Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction(IDNDR) also were driven by this approach in the early years. There

was also an excessive stress on technology transfer from the developed countries to developing countries to

lessen the impacts of the disaster8. However this did not work as the approach was not able to resolve the

problems at a quick scale and also the context of developing countries is very different from that of

developed countries.

Contesting this form of studying disasters, there exist alternative views that have contested this have

emerged. Disasters were seen as a problem which needed analysis by looking inwards in the society rather

than external threats. Because of this connection sociological theorization of disasters holds significance as it

has the potential to help us understand the social causation of disasters. Dombrowksky (1981) iv observed that

disaster studies viewed disasters as reaction of the society from an external threat in the form of natural

hazards. He felt that disasters are not just societal reactions but as "social actions" happening within the

societies. Palanda (1981)v has leaned heavily towards seeing disasters as social results and consequence of

social structural risks alone. It also has been seen that most of the developing countries are facing serious

challenges in terms of their developments and efforts in the direction of improving the life conditions of its

population. It has been observed that for many people their normal every day living conditions are so poor

6 Fara, K.(2001)How Natural Are 'Natural Disasters'? Vulnerability to Drought of Communal Farmers in Southern Namibia. Palgrave Macmillan Journals. Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 47-63. Accessed online at http://www.jstor.org/stable/3867913

7 Quarentelli E(1998). What is a Disaster?Routledge New York pp 22-238 Chester et.al., (2002) cited in Lowe et.al 2007 Understanding Disaster Risk on Volcanic Islands: a Research

Agenda. In: Geographical Information Science Research Conference 11th-13th April 2007 NUI Maynooth, Ireland

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that it takes the shape of a chronic disaster. During the disaster these people only face additional burden of

sufferings in their lives apart from their routine problems9. It is here that disaster takes the form of a process

rather than an event. Poverty induced large scale hunger deaths all point towards the 'socio structural' risks

that have been generated for a large population of the world. As in the case of 'technocentric' approach to

disaster, people have also critiqued excessive reliance of 'social angle' in understanding disasters. This

approach has also been problematic. Authors claim that with the total removal of external agents causing

disasters, simplicity of understanding disasters can be made difficult (Gilbert 1991) vi. Natural events are

useful in contextualizing the whole understanding of disasters in simple ways rather than explaining disasters

through complex social, economical or political processes. Similarly many authors do not treat 'events' as

external and stress that it is the 'events' that disturb the equilibrium in the society. Similarly it has been

argued that since physical factors are present in disasters and there are urgencies in responding to disasters,

taking out the events from understanding disasters is not correct(Morris). For example, cyclones have

wrecked havoc in the past and has resulted in huge number of loss of lives. However with the advancement

in the science and technology, in current times cyclone generation can be predicted as early as 72 hours

before it strikes the land and accordingly early warning signals are issued to people for their safe evacuation.

This has considerably reduced the impact of disaster especially in countries like Bangladesh. By ignoring the

event of cyclone(hazard) completely from the disaster would be highly problematic. Another concern raised

is the widespread understanding of disasters continued to be in relation with events and if we attempt to

break away from these understandings it would only lead to confusion in understanding issues

systematically. Another issue is that most of the disaster related literature is also closer to natural aspects of

disasters rather than as one that of social outcomes. For example, losses of disasters are mostly accounted as

loss of lives and property, economical losses etc. If we see the disasters from a social perspectives, shouldn't

be the indicators be human development indicators like Infant Mortality Ratio(IMR), Maternal Mortality

Ration(MMR)etc. before and after disaster? Another aspect of viewing disasters traditionally in case of

natural events has been one that of 'sudden onslaught'. This concept of a 'sudden' disaster seems to have been

internalized to a large extent in the psyche of the people. Media coverage of events can be an indicator of

this. A sudden onslaught disaster like earthquake or floods gets massive coverage compared to slow-onset

disasters like drought(Cate 1996)vii.

Conceptually here we have seen disasters so far as 'Natural Disasters' and 'Social Disasters'. However such

strict compartmentalization of concepts is not correct and neither it is feasible. Convergence of both the

streams is important. Neither is it possible to view disasters as completely as 'natural' nor understanding

disasters only as social outcomes is ever possible(Stallings 1998)10. We do see a convergence happening in

the approaches in last two-three decades. Disasters are understood in current times as a product of hazardous

9 Cannon T (1994) Vulnerability Analysis and explanation of Natural Disasters, University of Greenwich London pp 16 accessed online at http://leeclarke.com/courses/disasters/cannon_vulnerability_analysis.pdf

10 Stallings, R(1998). Disaster and the Theory of Social Order in Quarantelli E(1998) What is a Disaster?Routledge New York pp 132

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events and the politico-socio-economic conditions prevailing in the society as it is the latter which

determines the way lives of people are structured.

Disasters have disproportionate effect on different people. The affects of the disaster are largely based on the

status of community or people in the society. An important concept that helps us understand the differential

impacts of disasters over different people is vulnerability. Different set of people in society are at different

levels of risk to the impacts of hazard. This risk is understood as function of hazard multiplied by

vulnerabilities denominated by the capacities existing with the people. Therefore if we want to reduce

disaster risk we need to focus on reducing the vulnerabilities of the people and increase their coping

capacities. To understand this framework we need to have conceptual clarity on what vulnerability actually

refers to.

Understanding Vulnerability: Before we move forward, we need to firstly conceptualize the understanding

of vulnerability11 here. There are numerous definitions of vulnerability that exist. One of them is ' The

conditions determined by physical, social, economic and environmental factors or processes, which increase

the susceptibility of a community to the impact of hazards'. A working definition of vulnerability used by

Wisner B and others have used in their work is ' The characteristics of a person or group and their situation

that influence their capacity to anticipate, cope with resist and recover from the impact of a natural hazard(an

extreme natural event or process). It involves a combination of factors that determine the degree to which

someone's life, livelihood, property and other assets are put at risk by a discrete and identifiable event(or

series of 'cascade' of such events) in nature and in society. The significant fact in the above definition is the

fact that it refers to the discrete events not just in nature but also in society. Many of the human actions

combined with natural hazards have proven catastrophic to many countries. For example, In the Democratic

Republic of Congo(DRC), an estimated population of in between 3.9 to 5.4 million people lost their lives

because of the conflict in 1998-2002. Most of these deaths were not directly related to conflict but were a

result of infectious diseases which could have been easily controlled. These deaths were a result of failed

government machinery, failed public health system, an apparent lack of proper governance in the country.

Because of the above mentioned factors many people had risen in the vulnerability index and with poor

coping capacities many lives were lost. Similarly not just conflict, other events like economic collapse have

put people of many countries at risk to many hazards. Zimbabwe is one such example. Another significant

area of understanding vulnerability is that certain sections of the society are more prone to the effects of

hazards compared to others. They are usually referred to as marginalized sections of the society. For example

the class status, caste, ethnicity, gender, elderly, disability etc. Because they are highly vulnerable, they face

disproportionate effects of disaster. There are numerous examples to cite for all these groups. For example,

after Hurricane Katrina, Blacks in America faced far more worse effects because of their class as well as race

status. Differential impacts have been felt by the ethnic minorities during disasters. According to Red Cross

11 This section heavily borrows from At Risk, Blaikie P et.al 1994 2005. Natural Hazards, People's Vulnerability and Disasters in explaining the concept of vulnerabilities and its explanation.

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fatality counts ethnic minority's numbers of deaths were very high compared to their size in disasters12.

Similarly caste based discrimination has been seen in India after disasters like Tsunami(2004) and Kosi

floods(2008). Important point to note is that this marginalization exists during the normal situations and

during disasters they only get accentuated. Also progression of vulnerability can take place in terms of a

temporal scale. A major event both natural or societal can have effects which move far beyond the immediate

time span. Bihar Kosi floods of 2008 is a good case study of how the vulnerabilities have and continue to

manifest themselves in a temporal scale. People of Bihar have stayed with the river for centuries in largely

synergistic manner. However things changed with the British rule who saw the river more in terms of

revenue and management terms. Again a technocentric approach of engineering was followed and efforts

were made to tame the river for its water13. Massive embankments and dams were built on the river. It was

presented that people would be benefited with the irrigated water available from Kosi. However while these

benefits have been contested, the construction of embankments has lead to serious problems as there are

numerous villages that lie between these embankments. This is essentially because river does not flow in a

linear manner. Conditions of people living between these embankments has worsened over the years because

of lack of livelihood options in the area. Rampant distress migration is seen from the area every year. While

for people staying in the embankments, it can be said that the development of this form has lead to chronic

disaster in people's lives. Instead of addressing vulnerabilities, it has aggravated them. In August 2008 with

rising water levels embankments breached, river's course changed and floods caused massive devastation in

the areas which has never seen floods before. Furthermore besides the material losses, there were losses

faced by people in terms of livelihood and more importantly it was not limited to livelihood losses for that

year alone. Crops cannot be grown or any form of farming can be done even now as sand deposits from

floods, ranging as high as several meters, continue to be present in the field. Many areas have become

infertile and may take many years before they get back their fertility. Important point to notice is that

vulnerability is not a straightforward concept of poor people being more vulnerable to disasters. It is far more

complex in nature and has numerous variables involved in it. For the people of Bihar, the development

approach followed, combined with engineering fault and most importantly poor governance of the state led

to misery for the people. Similarly, in societal events like forced displacement, livelihood issues may not be

felt only in the immediate times but over a long period of time. It has been seen that in many cases forced

displacement has lead to impoverishment of people which directly leads to progression of vulnerabilities.

Also the impoverishment has continued for many generations14. With passage of time, there has been an

evolution in the way vulnerabilities have been understood. Earlier the focus was on the processes that made

people vulnerable. This was done to highlight the factors responsible for causing vulnerabilities. However

12 Trainer and Huton(1972) cited inFothergill, A et.al (1999) Disasters Race, Ethnicity and Disasters in the United States: A Review of Literature, Disasters Volume 23(2) pp 156-173 accessed online at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-7717.00111/pdf

13 Sarandha (2009) Review Between Kosi and Bihar:'Trapped! Between the Devil and the Deep Waters by DK Mishra accessed online at http://www.himalmag.com/component/content/article/414-between-kosi-and-bihar-trapped-between-the-devil-and-deep-waters-by-d-k-mishra.html

14 Maldonado, J. (2012) A New Path Forward: Researching and Reflecting on Forced Displacement and Resettlement, Journal of Refugee Studies accessed online at http://jrs.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/01/04/jrs.fer036.full

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this approach has been critiqued because it seems to give the role to the community as passive actors.

People's capacities have been given more importance in recent times in terms of understanding the same

issue. There has been a realization that people do have capacities/capabilities within them which they use for

their protection. While the earlier understanding focused on the limitations and the problems of the people,

the later approach seems to focus on capabilities and solutions by the people. While the former treated

people as 'victims' the latter stresses on the people power to resolve their issues. These strengths within the

community can act in the opposite direction to the forces which create vulnerability. These developments

also seem to be parallel to the promotion of decentralized form of governance in many countries.

Decentralization brings power closer to people and because of which they are able to make decisions and

have control over things which affect them. The same logic can be applied for people's power to control

things both before as well as in post disaster situations. Linking Decentralization with disasters we can see

that in the last decade there have been excessive stress on bringing in focus on communities in Disaster

Management. It is with the appreciation of the fact that there do exist local knowledge systems which can be

very useful in managing the problems of disasters better. UNDP-GOI Disaster Risk Management

Programme(2002-2009) has invested heavily in formulation of community based disaster management

approach. A further development in understanding vulnerability has been attempts to quantify it so that it can

be used in planning as well as policy making. Also there has been critique of understanding the

vulnerabilities in highly objective manner. For example, in a post disaster situation, vulnerabilities of people

could be calculated in the form of mortality, morbidity, losses in damage, destruction of houses etc. It in a

way ignores the more subjective effects of disasters. Relocation of a community after a disaster to a new site

may lead to psychosocial, cultural effect on them. Similarly there are chances that community might have

capacities within them in the form of strong social-linkages resulting in high social capital but is highly

subjective to assess. There is a further transition in understanding vulnerability from people to situations.

This would mean transition from 'vulnerable groups' alone to 'vulnerable situations' also. For example during

a disaster situation vulnerabilities of sections of population like the women, dalits can easily get amplified.

Also the concept of vulnerable situation reflects the dynamics of the issue. It shows that people over a period

of time can move in and out of such situations.

Blaikie et.al(1994) have suggested a model called Pressure and Release Model(PAR) for understanding the

social creations of vulnerabilities. it continues to be a very effective tool in understanding the formation of

vulnerabilities. Here, I have attempted in briefly explain the model. This model presents the formation of a

disaster event when natural hazards affect the vulnerable people. The model is a representation of two

opposing forces, the hazards and the processes. The model presents three sets of processes which when

interact with the hazard create disaster. Diagrammatic representation follows on the next page.

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The model speaks about the progression of vulnerabilities. During a disaster different sets of vulnerabilities

will cause different impact over the people. While some would be directly related and some would not. The

most distant amongst them are the root causes. These are processes which are present generally in society

and in world economy. These processes do not seem to affect people directly and the causal factors could be

far off. For example, fuel policy in United States can affect the food security of African states because of

globalization of trade. Root causes can lie in historical factors hence are 'temporally distant' from the people.

For example, manifestation of historical caste system in current Indian Society. The root causes may lie so

ingrained in the thinking that efforts would be maintained in maintaining the statusquo by the various actors

in the society even if it means following discriminative norms. For example, women have been ascribed

secondary status in many societies. The processes that cause and reproduce root causes for vulnerabilities are

economic, demographic and political in nature. Distribution and allocation of resources amongst different

sections of the society are affected by these processes. Root causes are also directly affected by the

governance systems and mechanisms in place in the countries. The rule of law, good governance all do have

impact on the way a society functions. Long civil-wars, fragile states, weak governance systems all manifest

as root causes for vulnerability formation in the long run. Many East-African states have faced catastrophic

effects of events like drought etc. Root causes are also affected by distribution of power. Many marginalized

sections of the society like the Tribes in India have not had adequate power to control their lives and as a

result they have been negatively affected by many of the government's decisions in the past which has

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enhanced their vulnerabilities.

The second sets of processes which create vulnerability are Dynamic pressures. It is these processes which

convert the effects of root causes in to unsafe conditions. These pressures are present and largely affect the

way the society is structured and functions. For example, rapid urbanization is being seen in many parts of

the world. It is a dynamic pressure which would force people especially from a lower strata of society to live

in unsafe places in urban areas. Population explosion is another such dynamic pressure. The way today

economies operate are also capable of generating pressures. If farmers in India are encouraged to cultivate

cash crops for export promotion, it can effect the food security of that family itself at the micro level in the

event of low prices being offered by the market. Similarly many environmental norms have not been

complied with in the sectors like mining, mainly to satisfy the metal needs rising economies of China.

Unregulated mining has not only resulted in immediate health effects to the people living in close vicinity

but can also has the potential to affect a larger section of the population because of the effects like flooding

because as a result of activities deforestation.

The unsafe conditions can be manifestations of many things. It could mean people living in dangerous

locations, participating in dangerous professions. However we need not restrict unsafe conditions only in

physical aspects. 'Unsafe' could also mean low wages being paid to workers in a firm, here economics is

involved. Blaikie and others have suggested not to use the term vulnerability for things like buildings. For

them terms like unsafe are present. Authors fear that term vulnerability may become a generic concept in

disaster management and its use should be restricted to people alone. Authors have attempted to emphasize

that not just the physical attributes like the unsafe buildings are important for considering the safety of the

people but also the socio-economic causal factors that is forcing people to stay in such areas. In many aspects

the vulnerability is linked to the development process itself.

All the three factors, the root causes, the dynamic pressures and unsafe conditions are not static and can

change. Perhaps, as applicable to everything else, nothing is permanent and many a times drastic changes

can happen within the society which would result in difference in lives of many people. It is also important

that vulnerable sections are not a static group of people. Lots of changes keep happening in the society. Also

when the marginalized communities are empowered, it would result in social change.

It we want to address the vulnerabilities, social change concept is quite important. I have briefly explained

the concept here and would come back to the concept in the later chapters. The social change essentially

means change in power equations whereby erstwhile communities which were vulnerable move up in the

hierarchy and are no longer part of that group. Usually this change is facilitated by Community Based

Organizations (CBOs). There are various models of social change that explains how do CBOs go about

engaging in the solutions of the problem. One method is community organizing which involves mobilization

of people and empowering them to achieve solutions to the problems faced by the community. Usually

advocacy is used in this method and also efforts are directed in the solutions of specific problems of the

people. However in the long run this method is also involved in capacity building within the community for

11

solving their own problems15. This capacity building can happen only after the awareness and motivation for

change is generated amongst the community members. This process is best explained by concepts of

'Conscientization16' by Paulo Freire. The second method in social change model is community development

where efforts of the people are more focused on the aspects of improvement of their own life conditions with

some external help. This method is usually seen in the context of solving the infrastructure issues faced by

the community. It also involves working with different agencies to get the problems resolved. The third

method of service delivery approach is also related to capacity building however focus here is to empower

people by providing them with appropriate skills necessary for their sustenance. The fourth method is that of

advocacy wherein people involved in it may not be directly involved with the community members. For

example filing public interest litigations, campaigning etc. The issue effects the community but from a macro

level rather than at specific community level. In the PAR model, pressures have been shown. If we need to

reduce the vulnerabilities, pressures need to be released and the progression of vulnerabilities would move in

opposite direction. Social change can be one medium through which this can be achieved.

Authors themselves have cited limitations to the model. One of the limitations of this approach has been that

it relies on the separation between social and natural processes and their interactions are largely not

addressed. Similarly while good descriptive analysis can be generated empirical data can be a challenge17.

Stallings (2002) has referred this attempt by Blaikie et.al as 'Tautology'. The model is based on the

understanding the functioning of societies in general and also in the context of disasters. This has anyway

been pursued from a long time in the sociology discipline. The model is an attempt in the same direction.

However the framework is quite simple and easy to understand the human vulnerabilities. At this juncture, I

have only focused on pressure aspect of the PAR model, I would come back to it in the concluding chapter of

the study and focus on release aspect of it.

The context of my study: Academic institutions and International scientific organizations of the western

countries have dominated the researches in the field of disaster risk reduction. The development in the

sciences, (both natural and social) technological advances have all helped in reducing the impact of disasters

in developed as well as developing countries. However the transfer of the knowledge from the developed

countries to developing countries have faced troubles. Lack of appropriate resources, lack of institutional

capacities, absence of mechanisms for smooth transfer of knowledge have all led to problems. Disaster risk

in the developing countries is more because of the development issues and socio-economic processes. More

researches in developing countries are required in the context of vulnerabilities in their contexts, their

15 Alliance for Healthy Homes, Models of Social Change accessed online at http://www.afhh.org/action/strategies_for_org/models _of_social_change.htm

16 University of Miami, School of Education Paulo Freire accessed online at http://www.education.miami.edu/ep /contemporayed/Paulo_Freire/paulo freire.html

17 University of Carolina, Department of Geography Cutter S et.al (2009) Social Vulnerability to Climate Variability Hazards: A Review of the Literature, Final Report to Oxfam America accessed online at adapt.oxfamamerica.org/resources/Literature_Review.pdf

12

specific risks and capacities existing. There is a need that there are studies that focus on the relation between

disasters and development. Focus should be on risk identification, analysis and risk reduction in a context of

developing world society18.

Pertaining to my research, in terms of risk identification, I have not focused on natural hazards existing in

the city of Solapur. All those studies anyway come in the domain of district disaster management authorities.

My focus has been on the built environment of the Beedi workers. What are the factors that have lead to the

life conditions prevailing in the slums where these workers live, work? After risk identification and analysis

the important step that needs to be taken is risk reduction. My stress has not been on preparedness measures

required to deal with hazards but on reducing the risk through addressing the vulnerabilities. This seems to

have been done through the method of empowerment of people. Empowerment here does not here refers to

only the physical handover of the houses but the larger struggle, the process and the final outcome. Are

people really empowered through this project that needs to be answered.

Literature review: So far, I have spoken about the risks and the vulnerabilities of the community members

staying in the slums and the housing project for them. It is important to understand the larger context to

understand the whole issue systematically. The central figure of the entire project have been the Beedi

workers. Beedi rolling work includes tobacco rolling in to the Tendu leaf and then tied with a thread.

Tobacco is the main ingredient of a Beedi. Tobacco Industry is one of the significant economic activity in the

world. About 1.2 million workers are directly involved in the production of Tobacco. It is grown in more

than 100 countries19. China leads in terms of tobacco production and is followed by India. It is estimated that

by 2010, share for tobacco consumption in developed countries is 29% while for developing countries it is

71%20. In terms of tobacco consumption, cigarette smoking is the most prevalent and accounts for 85% of

total consumption. Harmful effects of tobacco consumption have been studied and documented. In fact there

exists a debate where proponents of tobacco industry site the elements of employment generation, economic

activities as a counter balance to harmful effects of its consumption. However over the years, anti-tobacco

movement seems to have gained momentum and the balance is tilted in its favour. History of way the

tobacco industry has evolved merits mention here as it has direct relevance to my study. Historically, tobacco

has been cultivated by humans from thousands of years. American Indians used to use tobacco for its

medicinal and stimulant properties. Tobacco is not a native plant to India and was brought in by the

Portuguese traders. The consumption of tobacco spread fast and right from the royal courts to wider masses.

18 Asian Disaster Preparedness Center Prevention Consorotorium Applied Grants for Disaster Risk Reduction 2 Program Announcement. Background accessed online at http://www.adpc.net/dms/AGDR2.html

19 International Labour Organisation. Food, drink and tobacco sector accessed online at http://www.ilo.org/global/industries-and-sectors/food-drink-tobacco/lang--en/index.htm

20 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.(2004) Higher world tobacco use expected by 2010-growth rate slowing down. Rome. Accessed online at http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2003/26919-en.html

13

The tobacco business grew in strength especially after the arrival of the Britishers. Initially it was more of a

business transaction where tobacco was sold to Indians and Indian produce like textiles were bought. Things

changed after the American independence with Britishers not having access to tobacco production. They

encouraged tobacco production and brought more land under tobacco cultivation. Tobacco was produced as a

cash crop and was used to provide supplies both internationally as well for domestic demands. In the typical

fashion of their trade, raw material in the form of leaves was imported from India and cigarettes

manufactured and exported back to India. At a later stage as domestic demand increased in India, Britishers

commenced production in India itself. Beedi manufacturing began in the late nineteenth century in India. It

got larger acceptance as compared to cigarettes especially amongst the working class mainly because of the

price difference between Beedi and cigarette. It can be said that Beedi is one thing where the production and

the consumption largely revolves around the working class. As a result, Beedi production began in many

parts of the country. Indian government in post-independence period perhaps encouraged Beedis over

cigarettes possibly because of it being the Indian cigarette21. Around 53% of the total tobacco consumption in

India is in the form of smoking of Beedis whereas cigarettes account for 19% and rest mainly in smokeless

forms which includes chewing pans, consuming gutkas etc22. As per NSSO data(2000) consumption of

Beedis happen in 37% of the rural and 20% of urban households. Around eight Beedis are sold for every

cigarette sold23. While in 1994, India had 100 million Beedi smokers, there has been a downward trend in the

Beedi consumption in later years. The drop in consumption is more stark in the urban than the rural areas.

Younger generation seems to preferring cigarettes rather than the Beedis can be a cause for this decline.

Beedi production has always been a labour intensive business. There has been increased automation in the

factories today, however factories account only for 10% of total production. In the early 20 th century, Beedi

production was present in the formal sector but has over the years moved to informal sector of the economy.

Rather than the factory units, the Beedi rolling activities were encouraged to be carried out in the informal

set-ups like home. We saw a transition from a factory based production to a cottage industry set up. Thus all

the liability that was to be borne by the factories in the form of social-protection measures was systematically

side-lined. This has not been restricted to this industry alone and can be seen across many sectors of

economy today be it manufacturing of cloth in informal looms or production of auto-mobile parts in various

units who then supply their produce to the companies. Today of the total population of the labour in India,

93% of them work in the informal sector.

Beedi industry today is only one amongst the few trades which though work largely under the informal

sector but is governed by legal regulations24. There have been periodic legislations that have aimed at

21 World Health Organization. Historical Overview of Tobacco in India. Accessed online at http://www.whoindia.org/LinkFiles/Tobacco_Free_Initiative_03Chapter-02.0.pdf

22 Gupta, P. and Asma, C.(eds).(2008) Bidi Smoking and Public Health. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, World Health Organization. Accessed online at http://whoindia.org/LinkFiles/Tobacco_Free_Initiative_bidi_and_public_health.pdf

23 Ibid24 PRIA, Multiple Citizenship Identities and Agency of Women Home based Women Beedi Workers in Urban Sector

14

protecting the interests of the workers. Factories Act(1948) which speaks about safe and hygienic conditions

for workers, protection from exploitation in the factories applies to Beedi workers. Employee State Insurance

Act(1948) entitles workers to get insurance in case of sickness, maternity, disability (temporary and

permanent). In the event of death family members of the workers can also get pensions. Beedi and Cigar

Workers(Conditions of Employment) Act (1966) stipulates that employers should ensure health working

conditions like proper ventilation etc. Also it regulates the employee working hours, leaves and working

conditions. The sad part about both the legislations is that both the acts only apply for the workers in the

factory and workers working from home cannot take advantage of the same. In current times only 10%

(those who work in factories) of total Beedi workers can take advantage of these acts. Beedi Workers Welfare

Cess Act (1976) as the name suggests was a special legislation that was passed through to establish a

mechanism through which cess could be levied on to Beedi manufacturing units for collection of funds for

welfare schemes for Beedi workers. Similarly Beedi Workers Welfare Fund Act (1976) is an exclusive act for

Beedi workers and under this money collected by applying cess to Beedi manufacturing units are stored in a

fund. The funds are then used to provide benefits in areas like drinking water, health care, education,

housing assistance. The funds are used by formulation of welfare schemes which range from Integrated

Housing Scheme to scheme for financial assistance for education. The Labour Welfare Organization under

the Ministry of Labour is the one which administers the welfare funds. The Beedi industry has also faced and

continued to face to some extent the problems of child labour. Bonded Labour System (Abolition Act-1976)

was passed to to prevent children from being forced in to labour.

The Beedi workers have often been identified as vulnerable and marginalized sections of the society. There

have been extensive studies that have taken place to understand the problems faced by the workers. I have

previously mentioned about how the Beedi industry which was once operated in the formal sector today has

moved towards the informal sector. It is important here to mention how do the Beedi industries operate in the

current context. Beedi production takes place mostly in three ways. First is the factory- set up where all the

operations are done within the premises of the factory. Second is an arrangement where factories operate

through their own decentralized units at different locations(Mohandas 1980viii). Third arrangement is the one

that has gained dominance where branded manufacturers have outsourced their production to the contractors

who collect the raw materials from the companies get the work done from the Beedi workers at home and

submit the final production to the company. Employers found this as an best operational arrangement in

terms of conducting business(Gopal 1999)ix. Though the formal mode of factory production has gone down,

its overall significance in understanding the issue has not. Within the factories set-up, Beedi holds the lead in

comparison to other tobacco products and had 88.5% of share in total employment. It was also seen that

within the factory system, the share of contractual labourers as against the full-time workers was high. 55.6%

accessed online at www.pria.org/publication/Multiple%20Citizenship%20Indentities%20and%20Agency%20of%20Women%20%20Home%20Based%20Women%20Beedi%20Workers%20in%20Urban%20S

15

of total workers were contractual workers. Full-time workers are costlier compared to contractual labourers

and thus exploitation was seen of the workers. In terms of wages, 80% of the workers in the factory set ups

got their wages according to their produce while the remaining 20% got their wages on a time-scale

method(ASI 1994-95)x. In terms of informal sector, Beedi work has the highest share in the entire tobacco

basket with a share of 93% (NSSO 1998). 78% of the workers come from rural areas and also a high number

of 65% of total workers are women. Household workers constitute 46% of the total workforce and further

11% of the total workforce is children(NSSO 1988). It was seen from the study that for people who worked

from homes earned less than the minimum wages(Labour Bureau 1995)xi.

The Beedi industry also has the notorious tag of being highly exploitative in terms of dealing with its

workers. In the factory set up it was seen that adherence to the social security measures by complying to the

various acts was dis-satisfactory. Employees provident fund Act was one act where compliance by the units

which were sampled were the highest (77%) whereas Employees Insurance Scheme compliance was

least(5%). The condition of home-workers(employed with units but worked from home) was worse because

of the further lower coverage. Units which complied with EPF, extended same benefits to only 46% of the

home-workers. Units who provided maternity benefits to employees extended the same to 62% of home-

workers. Be it acts/schemes/measures the units were seriously found wanting in terms of their role and

compliancexii. In case of home-workers, it was usually found that many of them worked as long as ten hours

daily to a low of three hours every dayxiii. It was seen that a gender based exploitation did take place with the

Beedi workers. This exploitation got compounded because of the fact that workers in this sector are highly

exploited anyway in the first place. Exploitation of workers in the hands of middle-men has been

documented in the study. It was seen that at many occasions, raw-material provided by them is of sub-

standard quality however there was no compromise in terms of the final produce. The workers who

themselves earn meagre wages end up compensating losses(Labour Bureau 1995)xiv. It was sensed that high

number of children work in the profession but at times it is difficult to easily identify the difference between

the household activities and Beedi rolling activities.

If the Beedi industry has the reputation of being exploitative, an reaction to this exploitation is bound to be

expected. However for several reasons this does not seem to be happening. Economical and social conditions

ensure that a statusquo exists which benefits the owners. From the workers side there has not been any major

significant organization where they have been able to break the statusquo and curb the exploitative practices.

Another reason for the maintenance of the statusquo has been the internationalization of the relations

between the owners and the workers. It was seen that there was not high class-consciousness about the

existing conditions which acted as an tool to protect any simmering of conflict or any organized effort for

conflicts. Women Beedi workers continue to work in this profession though being exploitative. The reasons

are it provides employment at home, employment is fairly stable and they can combine their household work

with the work. Trade Unionism has not been successful because of both the workers and the careful tactics

16

employed by the owners. Threats and actual relocations of businesses have created the fear in the minds of

workers of loosing their livelihood option. Leadership in the Unions has been an issue. Unawareness about

the rights and entitlements have in a way resulted in the exploitation amongst the workers.

Another aspect of Beedi workers that has rightfully gained attention in terms of studies is the health of the

Beedi workers. Poverty, poor working conditions which include constant interaction with the tobacco dust

create lots of health issues for the Beedi workers which include ailments like Asthma etc. Similarly there are

other health issues because of long working hours, repetitive work, postures etc. 25 It has been observed that

Beedi workers suffered from diseases like respiratory disorders, skin diseases, gastrointestinal illness,

gynaecological problems, lumbosacral pain and are susceptible to fungal diseases, peptic ulcer, hemorrhoids

and diarrhea(Bagwe and Bhisey 1991)xv. Similarly postural pains, eye problems, burning sensation in the

throat have been observed in Beedi workers(Dikshit and Kanhere 2000 ; Mittal S et.al 2008)xvi. In another

study which focused on effect of occupational exposure of tobacco on the health of Beedi workers in some

districts of Tamil Nadu, it was found that 28% of women suffered from skin diseases, 77% had eye disorders

and knee troubles. 65% of the women workers fail to relish their food when they consume it. 97% of the

people did not consult a doctor when they did not feel fit physically. There was hardly any awareness about

the nicotine content present in the tobacco, however there were high levels of awareness about the possible

diseases that can happen in the profession. In another study conducted in the context of Beedi workers of

Solapur, It was found that Beedi workers were themselves not very conscious about the harmful effects of

their work and treated health related issues as minor irritants. Not just the exposure to tobacco but poor

nutritional status affects the health of these women. It was also seen that majority of women in the sample

were stressed in their lives possibly because of their overall life rather than just because of the work

pressures. Many of the respondents attributed their back pain and neck pain problems to Beedi work. 50% of

the people attributed their joint pain problems to their work and rest did not. A large number of workers said

that they did not have any respiratory problems because of their work. Chewing of tobacco was seen in high

number of workers. A high number of people sought treatment from private hospitals. Problems because of

Alcoholism of the husband were also present. There was hardly any recreational activities for the women.

As seen earlier also, there do exist legislations that aim to provide some social security to the Beedi workers.

Most important amongst them is Beedi Workers Welfare Fund (1976). With the increase in the cess

collection over the years, the money available in the fund increased and correspondingly there has been a rise

in the expenditure and resulted in larger coverage of workers. The expenditure was done through schemes

run by the central governments and implemented by state governments. Schemes are present for health,

education, insurance etc. An important study has been done in Madhya Pradesh on operation of welfare fund

for Beedi workers. Many useful findings have emerged. Though the coverage for workers has increased

25 International Labour Office, Sectoral Activities Programme, 2003. Making end meet: Bidi Workers in

India today A study of four states. Geneva. pp 15

17

overall in numbers, proportion wise it continued to be poor. There are difficulties in implementation of

schemes because of industry being largely unorganized and also means employed by employers to save

money. At national level pool, in 2002-03, 41% of money was spent on education of which scholarship and

stipends constituted 91.19%xvii. Large number of students took advantage of the scheme. For availing the

benefits of any scheme, Beedi workers need to be identified and accordingly identity cards are issued. Some

states have done well in allocation of cards whereas others have done not so well xviii. It was seen that

collection of cess in Madya Pradesh had increased from around 20 million in 1991-92 to 87 million in 2001-

02. 26In the year 2002, it was seen that administration of the fund at 56% took away the maximum share of

the expenses while expenses on education stood at 28% and medicine at 16% xix. Application forms are to be

submitted if people have to avail benefits. A high number of rejection of applications was seen. The reasons

ranged from name-mismatch to absence of necessary signatures at right places. Housing applications rejected

were at the top of the chart with 80.55% rejections. Education related rejections stood at 32.77% xx. In terms

of use of schemes, non-uniformity was seen between different districts. Districts which were furthest from

the headquarters hardly received any benefits. Trade Unionism was missing from the business. There was

high amount of satisfaction amongst most of the respondents about the utility of the education scheme. In

terms of application forms there were lots of documents required, the whole process seemed complicated for

the applicantsxxi.

It can be said that conditions of Beedi workers continue to be poor. Lack of unionization amongst the

workers is a concern. Also workers themselves do not seem to have much of consciousness of the fact they

are being exploited and why their conditions remain poor. People seemed to have internalized their

conditions as part of life. Extensive legislations have also been unable to address the problems of the people.

The various welfare schemes operational do not have coverage that is expected and even the ones that are

operational, their functioning is not satisfactory. With regards to the future of the Beedi industry in general

there has been a presentation of the picture that future for the Beedi industry is bleak. The reasons cited are

transition from smoking of Beedi to smoking of cigarettes, increased focus on the ill-effects of smoking,

increase in the usage of non-smoked tobacco. However there is scarcity of data and there is no statistical

evidence to suggest of a decline in the industry27. Also if the industry is really in decline, it would have

serious repercussions on the poor Beedi workers. It was felt that while the owners would manage themselves

by diversification of businesses, workers do not have this luxury and they live for the day. There was no

much of a consciousness about the issue. Beedi workers unions and trade unions have not pursued

diversification or creation of any support mechanism during the transition period.

In the limited literature review done so far, a few common themes arise which is Beedi workers continue to

26 The figure relates to M.P and Chhatisgarh and is not a national level figure27International Labour Office, Sectoral Activities Programme, 2003. Making end meet: Bidi Workers in India

today A study of four states. Geneva. pp 37

18

live a vulnerable life. There is structural as well as direct exploitation happening of the workers. Their health

remains to be a concern and the functioning of various government schemes remain far from satisfactory.

Many schemes including housing have been operational but mostly at a small scale. In the disaster

management context it can be said that while risk of Beedi workers has been identified and extensively

analysed, risk reduction measures have been happening mostly at a small scale. We have seen the structural

level risk and vulnerabilities of the people in the form of overall functioning of the Beedi industry and the

state's response to it at the policy level. Then we have seen that for Beedi workers their life conditions

remain challenging. Poor working conditions, exploitation, poor wages available in the work, effects on

health are all easily seen with the workers. In spite of many legislations regulating the Beedi industry, their

conditions have failed to improve over the years. Another manifestation of all these factors has been that

housing conditions of the people have also remained poor essentially because of their lower socio-economic

status. Narrowing down to my study area, which is Solapur, these workers stayed in slums. It has been said

by the project planners that their conditions in those slums was bad and they worked towards solution of the

problem. Resettlement of people happened from the slums to the housing project. It is therefore important to

understand the subject of slums at a larger level to see how it relates to my area of study. Slums resettlement

and rehabilitation has been an arduous task in India and has usually faced with failures and controversies.

The project being studied by me has been radical in that sense. It has been presented as a successful housing

project with resettlement of people from slums to decent housing. Also it has been shown that rather than a

beneficiary approach, a right based approach has been followed. It has been presented as a low cost housing

model worth emulating. It has been showcased as a housing project with no parallels in the country.

Slums: There exists numerous definitions for slums and is used variedly in different countries. One of the

old definition of U.N is 'Slum is a building, a group of buildings or area characterized by over-crowding

deterioration, insanitary conditions or absence of facilities or amenities, which because of these conditions or

any of them endangered the health, safety or morals of the inhabitants of the community'. Currently UN

habitat28 seems to follow a more operational definition. A Slum household as a group of individuals living

under the same roof in an urban area who lack one or more of the following:

1. Durable housing of a permanent nature that protects against extreme climate conditions.

2. Sufficient living space which means not more than three people sharing the same room.

3. Easy access to safe water in sufficient amounts at an affordable price.

4. Access to adequate sanitation in the form of a private or public toilet shared by a reasonable number of

people.

5. Security of tenure that prevents forced evictions.

Indian Census(2001) defined 'Slum' areas as those which have already been identified by different

28 UN-HABITAT-State of World's Cities. (2006/7) Slums: some definitions accessed online at http://www.unhabitat.org/documents/media_centre/sowcr2006/SOWCR%205.pdf

19

government authorities(both notified and non-notified) and a compact area of at least 300 population or

about 60-70 households of poorly built congested tenements, in unhygienic environment usually with

inadequate infrastructure and lacking in proper sanitary and drinking water facilities 29. Slums have been in

existence from a long time and they had manifested themselves especially in countries like England post the

industrial revolution. In current times slums have grown in many under developing and developing countries.

The rise in the number of slums have been identified with the growth in capitalism. In fact slums have been

called as by-product of capitalism30. Industrialization and modernization have been identified with the

growth in slums. But again it is not just these factors that have resulted in proliferation of slums. It is the

combination of these developments with the historical discriminatory processes that have existed in the

society that are causing the problem today. There are multiple pull and push pressures that are acting

simultaneously. One the one hand, we have rapid urbanization, urban growth which has got opportunities for

people which attracts them and on the other side we have push pressures which because of the conditions of

hopelessness, drive people towards the cities. In the Indian context it could be seen because of the problems

in sustenance of agriculture as a profession, there is is massive push pressure towards the cities. Meanwhile,

in the cities while the services of these people are used but are relegated to stay only in slums.

Government approach towards slums: According to the World Bank definition “Governance is the process

by which authority is conferred on rulers, by which they make the rules, and by which those rules are

enforced and modified. Thus, understanding governance requires an identification of both the rulers and the

rules, as well as as the various processes by which they are selected, defined, and linked together and with

the society generally.”

This definition is quite apt for us to understand that in governance it is important to understand that the rules,

the rulers and the process by which the rules are implemented are crucial. Unless all three work in a coherent

manner, things would be problematic. In the section that follows, I have made an attempt to see the whole

issue of slums, housing for poor in relation to urbanization through the intentions, actions of the government

in dealing with the subject and analyse how has been the outcome? Has the state looked in to the problem

properly, Were the methods used to solve the problem correct, Was there a direct or indirect bias against the

slum dwellers in the actions of the government? Perhaps the concepts of 'Governmentality' by Foucault, who

had stated that it is not possible to separate the actions taken by the government and the inherent political

logic present in those actions31 can be relevant to see the approach of the government to the issue of slums.

At the time of independence, only one seventh of the total population in India stayed in urban areas. Thus

there was a clear bias towards the rural sector in those times. In terms of development planning in India,

29 Government of India, Ministry of Urban Development.(2001) Draft National Slum Policy.30 Bhatt, M(2001).Slums and Metropolis A Sociological Study, Rajat Publications, New Delhi. Foreword

31 Sosuke Online Foucault and the Concept of Governmentality, Michel Foucault's lecture at the college de France on Neo-Liberal Governmentaity accessed online at http://www.tmlibraries.com/sol/?page_id=706

20

urban areas suffered. The times have changed now and urban issues, planning all have taken important centre

stage in the development discourse in India32. Though housing, urban planning are state subjects, it is only

the national policies, programmes and the five year plans of the planning commission that have shaped the

state policies(Ramchandran 1989)xxii.

The great depression of the 1930s and the subsequent 2nd world war resulted in war related production

happening in cities and attracted people. Within a decade between 1941 and 1951, there was an addition of

53.7% of people to urban areas. Also immediately after the independence, India received 3 million refugees

and shelter and other needs had to be taken care off. It was a huge housing challenge faced by government of

India in those times. Besides the large scale housing shortage, the problems resulted in emergence of sub-

standard housing and slums(Dwivedi 2007)xxiii. Thus during the first five year plan(1951-56), government of

India focused on the housing for the refugees and setting up of institutions like National Building

Organization, School of Planning and Architecture for research and development in the building-construction

sectors, creation of human resources. Similarly Town and Planning commissions were formed to help

governments in the problems related to urban issues. Thus what we saw in this sector was visible in other

sectors too. This was the time that was used as foundation was laid by creating institutions, forming a

framework for future course of action etc. Also in the first plan, slums were identified as national problems

and their clearance was seen as necessary in the interest of the people.

In the second plan(1956-61), rise in the number of slums was noted and it was clear that with the

industrialization policy, its number can only increase further. In response to this, there was stress on the

formulation of master plans for the cities to tackle the issue. It was here that a shift was seen and the housing

issues were seen in the larger context of urban and regional planning. Also a need for low-income housing

for the poor was felt. In 1956, Slum Areas(Improvement and Clearance) Act was passed. In this act slum

dwellers were evicted from their houses and relocated else where. It was clear in the thinking that attempt

should be made that minimum dislocation happens to the community members as this could have affected

their livelihoods. Also within this amenities, services were to be provided to the slum dwellers in affordable

costs33. However it did not work in the idealistic way. For example it is said that even when the state

governments attempted to re-settle people, it was not successful and even these attempts were not consistent

and the people were kept out of the decision making process. While the slums which were demolished used

to spring up again as people usually returned to them after some time(Burra 2003)xxiv.

In the third plan (1961-66), development planning and urban policy further got importance. It was during this

time that it was realised that urban local governments need to be strengthened in terms of their administrative

as well as financial capacities. During this plan that planned development of cities was envisaged and

authorities like Delhi Development Authority(DDA), Mumbai Metropolitan Development

Authority(MMRDA) were formed. One criticism of this approach was that this model was taken from

32 Batra, L(2009). A review of Urbanization and Urban Policy in Post-Independent India, Centre for the study of Law and Governance, JNU. Accessed online at http://www.jnu.ac.in/cslg/workingPaper/CSLG%20WP%2009-05%20Lalit%20Batra.pdf pp 1

33 ibid pp 5

21

countries like England and implemented in India where conditions differed substantially. Segregated land use

was to be followed in the new model. However in India, mixed-land use was and has largely been followed.

What it meant was that lands were classified in areas like commercial, residential etc. Such demarcation and

compartmentalization was not possible nor feasible in our cities. Significantly these plans had statutory status

hence technically large part of cities became illegal in nature. Another criticism that has been levelled against

the India's approach has been that while from the second plan, town planning and other issues gained

importance, an important element of social realities present in the society were not taken into consideration.

Also during those times, it was seen that slum clearance, their removal were the major priorities for the

authorities. Construction of low cost housing for the economically weaker sections (EWS) of the society was

presented as an justification for removal of slums. However it was seen that not all houses meant for EWS

went to that section only and it was systematically directed to the other well-off sections as too(Das 1981) xxv.

It can be said that for the first three plans India did not began with a systematic plan approach but then

progressed in that direction. The common theme present was one that of removal of slums. It was also quite

clear that energies of the Indian government focused on planned and expensive cities like Chandigarh

whereas housing for poor in major cities suffered. After this period a transition was seen in the next two

decades that focused shifted from clearance of slums to improvement and up gradation of slums34.

From the fourth plan(1969-74), there was stress on balanced urban growth, reducing the strain from the

metros and development of small towns. Development of economic activities around these areas was also

part of the plan. Efficient use of land, housing for weaker sections of the society gained prominence in this

phase (Ganeshwar 1998xxvi and Ramachandran op cit) and. Housing and Urban Development

Corporation(HUDCO) was formed in 1970 with its primary aim being the providing finance to development

authorities, state boards not just in housing but also in infrastructure projects. HUDCO also envisaged

providing houses for the EWS as they faced difficulties in getting houses in those conditions (Routray

1993)xxvii. It was also felt that through private and cooperative efforts also benefits were only going for rich

and middle class people(FYP GOI)xxviii. One of the limitation of HUDCO was that it focused only on the

growing small towns and cities. Cities which already had large number of slums could not take benefit from

the options available. This was also the time which saw rather than uprooting the slums, efforts were done in

such a way that sufferings of the slum dwellers are mitigated. Provision of essential services at the location

of the slums was part of that exercise. Environmental improvement of slums scheme was one of the major

schemes which was launched by the central government for essential services. If we see in terms of assessing

the government's intention through its funding, it was grossly inadequate. In the 4 th plan, Rs. 34 crores were

allotted for slum improvement. Amount was less and in terms of houses, target could not be achieved for

even 0.5%35.

The fifth plan(1974-79) worked on augmenting the services in the cities, providing a framework for the

development of small and medium towns. This was also the time when the town and country planning

34 Ibid pp 735 Bhatt, M(2001).Slums and Metropolis A Sociological Study, Rajat Publications, New Delhi. pp 30

22

organization had passed the resolution for National Urbanization policy. Rules, regulations, laws had a re-

look at this point by a task force which was set which came up with recommendations like formation of

national urban policy, urban land policy and other measures providing linkages to the towns to their

immediate nearby areas. Integrated Urban Development Programme (IUDP), which stressed on development

of infrastructure for the urban areas was formulated in this period. Also provision for land for sites and

services schemes was done during this time. A major act called Urban Land(Ceiling and Regulation)

(ULCRA) was passed in 1976. The major objective of passage of this act was to prevent large individual

holding of plots, acquire access land and use it for the purposes like building houses for the poor. The goal

was never to be fulfilled

The sixth plan(1980-85) stressed on providing services to the urban slums. The central scheme for small and

medium towns(ISDMT) was passed during this time. The aim of the scheme was to support growth of small

towns having population less than 100000 people, provide infrastructure services at these places. In terms of

state contribution, it had role to play in sewage systems, drainage, health care units etc. It has been said that

after the 3rd plan, state moved away from a radical stance of solving issues to more of a managerial approach.

More of reactive measures were being followed. However there was a feeling of opposition, even in the

thinkings of planners, to the eviction of people from their homes. Nehruvian socialist era practically came to

an end here36.

The seventh plan(1986-91) marked a shift and it was felt that state alone cannot solve the problem of housing

and private players should be roped in. The state was supposed to arrange the resources for housing of the

poor in the form of subsidies etc. In 1988, for the first time, a national housing policy was announced which

aimed at tackling the problem of homelessness, improvement of houses where required and providing basic

services to all. Also during this time, there were efforts being made to de-centralise the governance of the

cities. For example, Delhi NCR region was developed during these times so that there is regional growth and

is spread so that there is no stress on the main city. National Urbanization Commission was formed in 1989

and it identified priority areas-locations to be developed at national, state and regional levelxxix.

The eighth plan(1992-97) suggested the convergence of different programmes operational at that time.

Public-Private partnership was encouraged. Also in 1992, 74 th constitutional amendment was done and

decision making powers were transferred to Urban Local Bodies(ULBs). This was major decision in the

direction of de-centralization and therefore important aspects of town planning now rested with ULBs rather

than authorities higher up. The India infrastructure report came in 1994 and it directed the move towards

infrastructure development through private sector as it was felt that through their efficiency and ability to

generate funds through market, they would be in a better place to perform. Also there were directions

towards commercialization of services. Things like public-private partnership in water supply is one example

which was suggested and has taken shape in recent times. The logic presented behind this approach is cost

recovery for the investments made and efficient use of resources. Thus we saw a shift from treating services

like water rather than as a right to a commodity which can be bought and sold. There has been heavy

36 Ibid pp 11

23

criticism to this approach and it has been argued that water being an right, government should ensure its

availability and a not a private service provider37.

In the 9th plan (1997-2002) time, one of the important development was that of movement of the government

moving away from a role of house provider to more of a facilitator. Also during this time, National Slum

Policy Draft came which suggested improvement and up gradation of slums rather than resettlement.

Reforms were carried out in the sector, ULCRA was repealed, 100% FDI was allowed in real estate

businesses like integrated townships, houses and also heavy investments was encouraged in infrastructure

projects. Employment generation and housing for poor was focus again

In the 10th plan(2002-2007), there was a major thrust for the reforms in the urban sector. There were

incentives which were planned by the central government if ULBs, states carried out reforms. Also rather

than government funding, there was a major shift in encouraging money from the markets. Jawaharlal Nehru

National Urban Renewal Mission(JNNURM) was the biggest program launched by the government of India

and had a budget of Rs. 126000 crores of which Rs.50000 crores were to be spent by the central government.

Urban governance systems, infrastructure, basic services to urban poor are the two sub-missions of the

JNNURM38.

Governmentaility of India's planning approach: India's approach towards urbanization, slums and low

cost housing over more than 60 years can be seen through its actions in the same period of time. Many issues

can be seen emerging when we observe the government's attitude towards the whole issue of slums and

housing. Rapid urbanization and problems of slums began even before the independence. Partition in 1947

resulted in a huge number of people arriving in India as refugees. In the first five year plan, most of the

energies of the government seem to have been spent to resolve those problems only. Also applicable to other

areas of country at that time, a planned model of development model was envisaged for cities also. In terms

of planning of cities India has followed the Britain model which has however never suited in the Indian

context. While huge importance was given to the technical aspects like the town planning, social realities of

Indian society were not taken in to consideration. The borrowed model of planned cities came as colonial

legacy has prevailed for a long period of time and traditional Indian organic way of growth did not seem to

have come to minds of the planners and leaders for a long period of time. Problems of slums were

recognized and it was thought that their clearance was necessary. Slum Areas(Improvement and Clearance)

Act was passed in 1956. While relocation of slum dwellers was an important aspect of the act, however what

largely seems to have happened is slum demolitions. The act did not work the way it was envisaged. While

sensitivity occasionally seems to have been present at the planners level, it never seem to have percolated at

the ground level. Huge number of slum demolitions have happened in India. Slums and people living in them

have been negatively looked at. It was only seen as a problem and capacities or the inherent strength of the

37 ibid pp 15-1638 Ibid pp 22-24

24

people was ignored completely. The way slums emerge, the way people organize their lives was never paid

adequate attention. While the concern seems to have been present for the housing of economically weaker

sections of the society, the rich got the benefits with the planned approach. It was realized by the government

that even in case of private or cooperative efforts for housing, the rich and the middle class were getting the

benefits and the poor were being left out. Efforts like ULCRA which were done to prevent land hoarding did

not work at all and finally had to be repealed. With the realization that problems of slums cannot be wished

away and they are going to stay, rather than uprooting them, another policy of providing services to the slum

dwellers was started. However spending on aspects of slum improvement has always been limited. For

tackling the problems of urbanization, housing and slums, government worked in the direction of

development of small cities and towns to take off the pressure from the big cities. Decentralization of

governance has been promoted to give more powers to urban legislative bodies. However the problems of

slums in major cities in India persist even now. While the country began with a planned approach to the

solution of the problem, as time passed solution began more managerial than visionary. In fact now it has

further passed towards to a mode of regulator. State's intention to control the development got weakened. In

subsequent years there was increasing stress on bringing in private parties to resolve the problem. This

included private parties in infrastructure projects, public-private partnership in housing and even in case of

providing basic services like water etc.

A somewhat different approach is visible in national slum policy. Many important measures have been

suggested in it. National Slum Policy draft39 was prepared in 2001. Unfortunately it was never ratified hence

never became an act thereby lacked statutory powers. Objectives of the policy were to integrate slums and

people staying in them in the whole set up of what we refer to as city or town. A shift can be seen in the

policy where it was observed that slum dwellers are integral to urban areas and they contribute productively

to the economy of that city. There was a departure from the stand point of viewing slums only as a problem

which needs remedial. A step towards integration-inclusions was suggested in the policy. A strong thrust was

given in the policy to up gradation of slums rather than resettlement. Rights of the slum dwellers were to be

recognized and provisions of services is supposed to be done irrespective of the tenure or occupancy status.

Environment sustainability, social justice are few of things that urban planners need to take in to

consideration. The policy also strongly advocates the following of 74th amendment act to decentralize

governance so that more powers rest locally and decisions are taken by local people through participation.

For In-situ(up gradation at the same site) development, a definition was suggested in which it states that all

the land where slums exist need to be treated as tenable unless it is absolutely dangerous to life at that site or

if it is against wider public interest. Granting of tenure rights to all residents where tenable land has been

acquired by the government is present in the policy. While policy clearly stresses on the In-situ development,

it clearly states that if resettlement is the only option it should be done systematically and follow guidelines

39 Government of India, Draft National Slum Policy (2001) accessed online at whoindia.org/LinkFiles/Policy_Slum-Policy-2001.pdf

25

suggested. Distances of the new sites should be less so that there is no major impact on the livelihood of the

community. Alternative sites should be available to people and if possible options should exist in terms of

rehabilitation package also. The new sites should be properly serviced before hand and there should be

adequate transport arrangements before resettlement happens. Sufficient compensation should be given for

livelihood losses within a fixed time. A participatory approach should be followed during and before the

resettlement process begins. Special emphasis should be given to women for their particular needs.

Community representation should be there even in terms of when the process is being monitored and

evaluated. An integrated framework for town planning should be done so that in the master plans/layouts so

that even slums are part of it. The policy also envisages that slum policy need not be a stand alone subject

rather there should be convergence of host of other programs/policies which are largely working towards

similar goals. For example, in an Integrated municipal development plan poverty alleviation plan as well as

slum up gradation can happen in tandem and they would complement each other. Bottom up planning should

also happen so that community itself identifies the existing gaps and contributes in solving the problems.

Perhaps one of the strongest directive given in the policy is that it suggests that governments should focus on

improving the quality of life of people and when that happens people themselves can take care of their

housing issues. Policy has a full component which focuses on the improving access to social services which

includes health services and education. There are a host of specific measures also that the policy suggests, for

example if it is found by the municipal authority that in certain areas schooling support does not exist for

children, it can be immediately resolved by the utilizing of schemes available. Community participation is

suggested throughout. A radical provision within the policy is to bring services provided by municipality to

be brought under the Consumer Protection Act. This would ensure that services would be of appropriate

quality and reliability. The policy has also mentioned that economic empowerment should be brought about

for the community. For example Self Help Groups for savings can be encouraged or also funds can be made

available from schemes like Swarna Jyoti Sahari Rojgar Yojana (SJSRY) which stresses on self-employment.

Similarly vocational trainings should be provided for employment opportunities. Resource mobilisation can

be done by state and central government funding through various existing mechanisms. Municipality itself

can raise resources for slum development etc. Private sector participation is encouraged to leverage their

competencies in the form of on time project completion capacities. Similarly if it possible to create a

situation where through a particular action, all the parties are happy with the conditions, proposals regarding

slum development can be made. Also policy suggests that services provided should not be free of cost.

Another significant point in the slum policy has is the acknowledgement that services to the slum dwellers

are not just the responsibility of the government but civil society groups also play an important role.

Shelter up gradation is one option which needs to be prioritised for slum dwellers. Lack of security tenure is

one of the major reasons why slum dwellers are apprehensive of improving their house conditions. Fear of

eviction plays constantly in their minds. To address this ULBs should give security of tenure to the people.

Also if the land tenure is not secure, people are left out of the option of availing loans. Reasons could be of

up gradation of their houses or for improving livelihood options. The resettlement or any upgradation of

26

large scale slums need to be done in the form of project management and community should have a say in

this. For projects involving resettlement, extensive evaluation should be done of the whole exercise after the

project is completed.

National Urban and Habitat Policy(NUHP) came in 2007. The significance of the policy lies in the fact that it

focuses on the habitat and not just the slums which are one aspect of habitat. NUHP was formed in previous

years also however, in 2007 policy there is emphasis on the making houses available especially to the EWSs

and LIG groups. There is a clear acknowledgement of the fact that country is facing huge shortage of houses.

There is a serious gap between the demand and supply. However the gap exacerbates when we see that more

than 99% of the gap pertains to the EWS and LIG groups. There do exist lot of things present in the policy

which here I have not touched upon.

From the brief review of slum policy and 2009 and NUHP policy 200740, it is clear that certain positives do

exist in these policies, however the problem with the policies are that since they lack the legal statute, their

enforcement is many a times, problematic. In many of the housing and slum development programmes, these

policy level guidelines are used. However policies only act as guidelines and it would be left to the planning

and implementation agencies to bring them in force. Unless there is legal mandate, there would not be

compulsion on the part of the program implementers for strict compliance. Also experts have critiqued

government approach towards slums. They feel that many a times actions have been taken on ad-hoc basis,

community participating has been missing. At least a right based approach seems to be coming in the

discourse in last few years. As applicable to many other Indian policies and programmes, even in the context

of slums, it seems that efforts have been taken in formulation of policies, laws, programs but at the ground

level, there are problems. What was planned has not been delivered. Housing in India continues to be a

serious issue and especially so for the weaker sections of the society.

It is in this context that the Beedi workers housing project is unique in its approach. It is not an exclusive

government project, neither it is an commercial project by the developers. It is an model where people seem

to have fought for their housing rights and decent living conditions. More importantly it is the project for the

people living in slums and belonging to economically weaker section of the population. The struggle has not

been easy. It seems to be people driven project where people have organized themselves under a leadership

and then fought for their rights for decent housing, finally got it and is now being owned and managed by

them only. It appears to be a bottom-up project with participation from the community members in the

formation as well running of the housing project. How has their experience been? We would understand that

in coming chapters.

40 Government of India, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy 2007 accessed online at mhupa.gov.in/policies/duepa/HousingPolicy2007.pdf

27Methodology

Research Method: I have chosen the qualitative research method for my study. The idea behind choosing

qualitative methods was that I wanted to explore how the housing project was conceptualized; the processes

that were involved in shaping the project and its outcome. I have sparingly used the quantitative method in

the study especially in the household questionnaire surveys. Over there also, the idea was not to present

findings in statistical format but to use it as process to enumerate finer details and variations in the people's

responses to the whole study.

I wanted to explore people's involvement in the whole project and their experiences attached with it. The

focus of my study were the beedi workers and their families, who are also the most marginalized sections in

Solapur. The housing project, as mentioned in the introduction, was celebrated as a success as it managed to

involve beedi workers in the process of resettlement. As there are very few success cases in the context of

resettlement, I wanted to do a case study of this project, from the point that it was conceptualised,

implemented, to how people perceive the project, now that it is over five years of its implementation. This

involved not only documenting the entire process, but also understanding the social, political and economic

dynamics within the project as well as among the resettled population. I wanted to map the study through

various actors and the processes involved-the project planners, journalists who had covered the project in the

Press, academic experts, and the beedi workers. The context of the people's responses was important. “We

cannot separate what people say from the context in which they say it whether this context is their home,

family or work”41.

The initial literature review that I conducted revealed the apathetic working conditions of the beedi workers,

impact of work on their health, their poor socio-economic status, ineffectiveness of the various welfare

schemes operational for them. So the the project for me became even more significant in the context of this

revelation. The project was a site to not only understand the lives of beedi workers, their work conditions,

but also how their immediate and long term concerns about resettlement both in terms of work and family

life were addresseed and accomodated within the project.

Research Question:

Since the housing project in Solapur has been considered a success, my research sought to understand the

basis on which the project has been called a success and whether this model can be used to address the risks

and the vulnerabilities of the people.

Research Objectives: To answer the research question, I have formulated a few broader objectives of the

study.

41 Creswell J(2007) Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design, Five Qualitative Approaches to Inquiry

28• To understand the concept of vulnerability for the community and to see how have these

vulnerabilities been generated for the community over a period of time.

• To understand the processes through which the project planners went about the project planning,

methods used by them to complete the project.

• To understand the community participation in the whole excercise of project planning and its

execution.

• To understand the prevailing conditions in the project, people's satisfaction levels with the project,

final outcome of the project and its impact over the people.

Qualitative Approach chosen:

I have chosen the case study approach for my study. The case is Comrade. Godu Tai Parulekar Housing

Project, Solapur. This project has been the outcome of the resettlement of beedi workers from slums in

solapur to the new site with proper housing. The housing project is the central theme of my study, however

there are various other important variables involved which are direcly related to it. The housing project can

be called as a unique project. Beedi workers living in slums of Solapur were organized and efforts were

made for their housing through the use of funds available in the beedi workers welfare fund. It has been a

massive low cost housing project with 10000 houses being constructed for the beedi workers. Along with the

houses, especially for the project and important services like school, work-sheds were constructed. Similarly

important infrastructure components were brought in for the people. Thus I could locate my study within the

framework of one case, comprehensive enough, but which fits in within the boundaries of my study. My case

study takes varied forms during the course of study. It can be seen as a project study, a process study, an

event study or study of many people. Case study is able to give coherence to all my forms of inquiry in to

different aspects of the project. The focus in all forms of my inquiry are in relation with the risks and the

vulnerabilities of the people involved.

Data Collection: With the number of complex processes and numerous variables involved, I had to make

use of multiple techniques of data collection. These were non-participant observation, interviews, focus

group discussions, documents, archival records and literature available. I was focusing on data gathering

from two angles. One for the community involved in the project and second for the project.

I would discuss firstly my field methodology for data collection as it would help us run through my data

collection process from start of the study till its conclusion.

Field Methodology for community:

Before reaching Solapur, my earlier ideas were completely based on what I had read about the subject. This

29was also only on the preliminary literature review that I had done for my project proposal. What I had read

was mainly through journalistic writings. The topic of my study was resettlement of beedi workers from

slums to regular housing. To get a first hand sense of the issue I travelled in the areas within the city of

Solapur where the beedi workers stayed. In all, three different areas of Solapur city were visited. Overall,

there were six semi-structured interviews that were conducted. I used the observation technique also and in

terms of choice of respondents I followed the purposive sampling method. While I interviewed the

households, on most ocassions it took the shape of a group discussion rather than a household interview. This

was because even the neighbours happily contributed to discussions. The questions were largely used so that

a theme emerged on the lines of how their life in general was. While occasional probing was done with

people, largely this process was done in such a way that people talk freely about their lives, their problems

etc. The first slum where I visited was Dutta Nagar. It is close by to the communist party office more easily

identified as 'Lal-Bavta' office. In this area, four interviews were conducted. Workers here were mostly

Telugu and Kannada speakers. I purposely chose two Telugu and two Kannada speakers to see whether there

existed any nuances between the two. Both the language speakers largely seem to stay separately in small

colony type areas. The distance between both sets of people was not much. Once my interaction with the

community began many useful pieces of information started pouring out which hold significance even at the

later stage of the research. I then visited Shastri Nagar slums which was predominated by the Muslim

community. Two interviews were conducted with two elderly Muslim women. I was told that around 6-7

thousand beedi workers stayed in the area. In the third area visited, I was not able to conduct any interview.

However large time was spent in the area observing things. I can say in fact that I carried out a transect walk

of the area. It was a huge area and only occasionally beedi workers were spotted. Also houses in the area

appeared to be quite well built compared to other areas.

When I had initially planned the study, during the proposal stage, I had no clue about the caste of the beedi

workers or other general information about the community members. After starting fieldwork, I realized that

the community information was very crucial and important for me. Besides speaking directly with the

community members for gathering information, it was imperative for me to read literature pertaining to the

Padmashaali community. Here again, I used snowball purposive sampling. I tried to locate published material

especially connecting the Padmashaali community and their linkages with Solapur. I visited a historic library

in the city of Solapur. Library staff was kind enough to help me with documents like 'The Solapur Gazette'

and other documents. But somehow, I did not get what I was looking for just yet. Then the staff member

suggested me to meet Mr. LaxmiNarayan Bolli, who is a Telugu author who writes in Marathi as well as

Telugu and belongs to Padmashaali caste and is a famous personality in the literary circles. Mr. Bolli is a

famous personality who has written extensively, is a poet, has directed plays and has won numerous awards

for his work in last many decades. He spoke about the community at length. Mr Bolli suggested me to read

30his autobiography which he said besides giving his life history also details in a way the historical evolution

of the community in Solapur. I bought the book and it has been one of the most important source of

information for me about the community. Similarly for finding relevant data, I went to the Solapur

University and visited colleges in the city. Serendipitously I got the reference of Prof. Vilas Bet who also

took out some time to speak to me. The interaction with Prof. Bet was almost like a beautiful lecture that

lasted for about fifty minutes and very patiently ran me through the community evolution from its arrival to

their current status. Prof. Bet also gave me the reference of Prof. Chitte who has done doctorate in ' A socio-

economic study of the textile workers in decentralized sector in Solapur District. Because of ongoing

vacations, I was finding it difficult to locate Prof. Chitte however by sheer chance, my uncle at whose place I

stayed during the data collection knew him personally and I was able to collect the thesis. Prof. Chitte's

thesis has been a very useful resource document for me especially to map the vulnerabilities of the

community from the loom sector point of view. Also I collected M.A Thesis of three students of MSW course

of the Walchand College, Solapur. I accessed it from the college library. The focus of these studies were

related to beedi workers in the context of Solapur. I also met a few other people but I could not extract any

relevant data from them for my study. While the information I gathered from these experts and other

secondary sources were highly informative and enriched my understanding of the Padmashaali community

greatly, given the limited time available to me for research, I could not support it with detailed personal and

oral histories of Padmashaali families who had migrated into the area generations back.

Field Methodology for the Project: The main aim was to understand the project and the processes through

which it was planned and executed, I began interacting with certain key people involved in the project. There

was a good amount of data that was provided in these meetings and at the same time, I came across

important points which helped me in finding a theme in the whole process or the episode. In terms of data

collection methods, I firstly used the snowball sampling where one key respondent after giving information

directed me to other key persons. It worked quite well. The tool for data collection was largely the semi-

structured open ended interviews. In terms of accessing archival records, I could access important

photographs relevant to my study. Observation was also a key tool for gathering information.

'Lal Bavta' office was the setting where I met with many people and at times spent hours in wait of arrival of

people and trying to get access to key documents. The office is quite old and wooden partitions were used to

separate different sections of the office. I was told that the computer has arrived only recently and the whole

office had loads of paper stored. There were numerous people who came to office every day for their work.

The office also acted as a cooperative bank. My interactions began and I tried to speak to people who are

associated with the project from a long time. The first person I met was an old person who currently takes

care of many activities of the project and has been associated with the project from a long time. I then visited

another senior woman activist who has been associated with the CPM party from a long time and has been a

31long time associate of Mr. Adam. She also happened to be associated with the project from the very

beginning. After that I met a family where both the husband and the wife were party activists and involved in

the struggle from the beginning. Then I met a woman activist who can rightly be called as firebrand actvist.

She shared the motivation of her joining the party. She said that once Mr. Adam was attacked by a knife, she

felt that it was wrong and somebody who is fighting for their cause should be supported and joined the party

and the movement. She said that during protests she has been beaten up also. Inspite of me trying very hard

to get an interview with Mr. Adam, because of the some or the other reason, it did not work out. I met him at

least on five occasions, requested for time but he said that he can only give his people to work with me or

help me but would not be possible for him to give time. I met his son who admitted that he was not closely

attached with the movement and the struggle and has only joined the party two years back. He told me that

he was proud of his father's work. However I could lay my hands on some material from other sources which

give me some important information about him. These sources were newspapers articles present and also

people who have followed him from a long time. Besides the eight people whom I met for understanding the

project, I tried looking at various documents which could have been archived in the office. While they

happily gave me files to sift through data, it was not orderly and lots of events were simply not documented.

An office bearer himself told me that we have worked hard but there is no documentation about the same.

“This is a poor people's party, you would not get things that you are looking for” . In these conditions, I

finally managed to get a few press clippings which had covered what they called the 'struggle' to resettle

slum dwellers. One of the positive things here was that I was given photo albums which have covered the

struggle in its own way. I sifted through the albums and collected a few of them and got them scanned. To

understand the project further, I met a journalist of a leading Marathi Newspaper of Maharashtra. He is based

in Solapur. The interesting thing about this person was that he was Telugu, also belonged to Padmashaali

caste but now wrote for a Marathi newspaper and while speaking switched from Marathi to Telugu with

equal ease. His grip over the Marathi language was no lesser than any other Marathi person. He along with

many others I met over the course of my field study had adapted Marathi quite well, however had

successfully retained their original identity. Another advantage of speaking to this person was that he being a

journalist was not directly attached to the party or the movement but he definitely had the 'insider' view on

the subject. He was quite positive about the project and readily shared useful insights about it. To get an

essence of how was the project construction executed I met officials of the Pandhe Constructions.

The field methodologies adopted for gathering information for both the project as well as the community ran

through a common theme of understanding of understanding the risks and their vulnerabilities and the

measures to address them.

Household Surveys: To understand the people's response towards the project outcome, I carried out a

32detailed household survey. It was administered by myself and on many ocassions it took the shape of a

detailed interview. The number of respondents chosen were not done so for any major significant statistical

findings. It was used more as an opportunity to gather as much information from the people pertaining to the

project and their experiences therein. The questionnaire in fact gave me legitimacy to interact with people

and acted as a ice-breaker. Questionnaire also acted as my field guide to keep the primary aim of my study

on track. In all roughly about 4500 people have shifted to the houses in the project site of the total 10000. I

carried out the surveys with 45 households. I had to use purposive sampling method for these surveys. I had

to use my own judgement to ensure that my purpose is fulfilled. For example, in certain houses, people were

staying on rent hence could not have been part of my study. Also the project site is very huge and many

houses are not occupied. The project is divided in to three components A, B and C. I used my own judgement

to ensure that people from the remotest place as well as data from dispersed people was taken to get a better

undestanding about the project. In the survey questionnaire, I collected data from the people on a wide range

of things and issues. I have attached the questionnaire in the appendix. It covers details like the

demographics of the people surveyed, their financial conditions. Then there are sections which cover the

people's perception about a host of issues of project. We can say that the questionnaire was used to cover

both the housing related aspects as well as the socio-economic conditions of the people. Important aspects of

the questionnaire was that, in every question besided getting the answer to the question raised, people had the

opportunity to add their own insights. In fact it is only through these sections a rich qualitative data seem to

have emerged for me. In fact I feel that each household had the potential to become a case study if we

intended to map out the larger level macro processes with the micro level family conditions.

Besides the questionnaire, a host of other tools were used for data collection. My study cannot be seen as an

ethnographic study but I have used a host of tools of it during my field stay.

Non-Participant Observation: As mentioned in the in the initial section of the chapter, the context of a

qualitative study is important. While dealing with the community in a field setting, it is clear that there would

be multiple perspectives that would emerge for a given issue. When I hit the field, It was natural for me to

observe things. The entire field that I travelled through was part of the larger case study that I was studying.

For example, when I used to travel from Solapur to the field site in the six-seater vehicles, there used to be

many beedi worker along with me. People were heavily stuffed inside the vehicles. Though I was an outsider

to the field, I could relate to the pain suffered by the women in their every day transactions. Getting a

municipaltiy bus to travel was also a similar experience where I had to wait for buses for long before they

arrived. I did the data collection during the second half of the May. It is the time when intense heat is present

in the area. Walking on a road under scorching sun was not a pleasant experience. But the women had to rush

to the beedi factories to submit their produce for the previous day. I could relate to the pain people faced

33because of distance, travelling and livelihood issues. These were not the people who were simply cribbing

about their conditions. They were real people with genuine concerns. Similarly everything was not just sad

state of affairs. I could sense the joy people are experiencing because of owning the house and the freedom it

has given them from their slum settlements. All these responses were context specific. Each respondent gave

response based upon their understanding of scheme of things. Therefore tool of non-participant observation

helped me map the different views and perspectives emerging. Informal conversations with the field workers

who accompanied me during the data collection was also quite useful. A couple of times a field worker even

tried to give me reasons and justifications when people gave their reasons for dissatisfaction. The field

worker was associated with the project and it was clear that where was he coming from.

Observation: This was a simple yet a very effective tool for my data collection. I used it extensively. The

way large number of houses had a deserted look were quite easy to identify and observe. This simple

observation spoke a lot about the issues surrounding the project. Similarly the way the preparations were

happening for a protest rally against the price rise was a clear indicator of how mobilization of the

community took place. Absence of any political posters in the project site, absence of police men were all

quite clear. Similarly the Communist Party office, its ambience, the gathering of the people at that office all

gave a rich source of information.

Participator Rapid Appraisal(PRA): I was unable to use major PRA tools in the study primarily because of

the fact that most of the time workers were busy with their work and organizing a group of people for those

activities was neither possible and not reommended. I did use it in a minor way by carrying out seasonal

calendar for people and their daily life schedules etc.

Secondary Data: After the collection of primary data, I have done literature review of the subject. Lot of

data came out from the reviews. An large scale research project was carried out by ILO in the initial years of

the last decade. It had documented the conditions of beedi workers extensively, their status in the current

economy, forms of social security present for the beedi workers, the prospects of the beedi industryin the

future and chances of employment diversification. It helped me in contexualizing the beedi workers from the

Solapur in the larger scheme of things. Another study done at the V.V Giri labour Institute focused on the

implementation of various schemes for the beedi workers, their scope and effectiveness. The usage of

schemes was the common theme between my and that study. Then I accessed further literature and I was able

to get further literature on the health aspects of beedi workers. The thesis work that I had conducted from the

library of Walchand college, Solapur also helped me in understanding the issue better.

Information about the community that I had started collecting from the primary sources, I complemented it

34with reading futher on the subject. Autobiography of Mr. Bolli along with other historical material available,

I could make a community profile and the generation of risks and vulnerabilities for them. Thesis of Prof.

Chitte also helped me in this regard. As I kept studying the project, various useful data kept coming. For

example while doing the literature review of slums, I came across useful numbers pertaining to kind of

housing challenge that country is facing today. I may not have used the data directly but it helped to set the

slums of Solapur in the larger context.

Data Analysis: The analysis of the data runs practically runs through all the four chapters of my study. In the

second chapter, where I have focused on the introduction to the field, data analysis pertains largely to the

community evolution and the generation of the risks and vulnerabilities for them. The third chapter focuses

on the processes through which the project took shape. The fourth chapter focuses on the response of the

people pertaining to the project. In all these chapters, I have complemented data collected from the field with

secondary data, more so with the second and the third chapter. Most of the chapters are framed in to a theme

with discussions on generation of vulnerabilities for the community, the project planners approach, their

identification of the problem and the solution proposed by them and the impact of the solution in reducing or

increasing the vulnerabilities of the people. With regards to the quantitative data collected, I analyzed in

Microsoft Excel, The findings of this quantitative analysis were largely used to complement the discussion

arising out of the qualitative findings. Most of the quantitative findings appear in the footnotes of the fourth

chapter.

Significance of the study: The project has been an unique experience where 10000 low cost houses were

constructed for beedi workers. The project was financed by both the government as well as the beedi

workers. There have been lots of parties involved in the whole project. The study of the project will add to

the discipline of slum resettlement and rehabilitation. What have been the positives of the projects and what

were the mistakes that were made by the project planners will also help such projects in future. In the

discipline of disaster management there seems to be death of studies focusing on identifying the risks and the

vulnerabilities and analysing them through the development-disaster context. Such analysis would help in

framing appropriate responses in addressing the vulnerabilities of the people. In the core disaster

management context the learnings from the housing project has the potential to contribute to appropriate

resettlement of communities in both before as well after disaster situations. The before disaster situations

could be during the phases of prevention, mitigation or development whereas in the after disaster situation it

would focus on relief, response and recovery phases.

Ethical Considerations: Essentially my study being highly qualitative, high levels of sensitivity had to be

kept while dealing with the people. This was more so in the case when I was conducting household surveys

35with the beedi workers. Most of the workers I met used to be busy with their work during the day.

Throughout the study, I took permission from the people and only after that carried out the interviews. Many

a times I was unable to meet respondents because they had to give their daily produce to the factories. At no

time did I push respondents to spend time for my research work. The incomes of the beedi workers are very

less and I did not wanted it to get affected because of my study. Before beginning of the study I clearly told

them the intention of my study to the respondent and clearly stated that it is being done only as a academic

exercise. This was done so that there are no false hopes built amongst the people assuming any direct

benefits arriving out of the study. However me introducing myself as a student who has come from Mumbai

did seem to put pressure on the respondents to participate in the survey. Also presence of the party workers

along with me had the potential to create indirect pressures on people to participate in the survey. I tried

exhibiting a neutral behaviour throughout the study. My intentions were to study the project and people's

experiences with it. At no point did I tried being judgmental on the field and views of all the respondents

were respected and noted accordingly. Not just the community, I did show respect to the party officials who

helped me in my process of data collection. I did not excessively push for their time as many of their were

leading busy lives and only could carve out limited time for my work. I had to patiently wait for their time.

Initially I had felt that presence of party workers along with me would add pressure on the respondents to say

positive things about the project. However this was not the case to be. I used my judgement and was

convinced that all my respondents gave their answers in an largely impartial manner. The necessity of party

workers was also required at times because of the language barrier that I had with many Telugu community

members and also that many families were staying on rent in the houses. It is a sensitive issue and would not

have liked to discuss about them being staying here. I did want to enter these households and create a

suspicion in the minds of such people.

Challenges: I felt that there was no major NGO operating in the area. It would have been easier for me to

work with an NGO than a political party. This was essential also because political parties and its people have

their own dynamics that operate. During my stay in the field a major protest was being organized by the

party and the preparatory work was going on from many days in advance. During those days I was unable to

collect household level data because of the non availablity of party workers. I utilized that time in collecting

other data. Initially I was given time by the field workers happily however, on realizing that my study would

last longer, there were problems. Some of them were not interested in giving time and tried finding excuses. I

then requested and pursuaded people in the party office to allot some one to me for some more time and the

request was fulfilled. I had to stretch myself on few days to complet the 45 household surveys. High

temperatures exist in the region in the month of May. Walking large distances on foot was also a challenge.

More importantly area is completely barren with hardly any tree cover in sight.

36Limitations: I do feel that had it been possible for me to collect more opposing views about the project

would have helped me to strengthen the analytical debate around the project in my findings. Also due to time

limitations, lot of areas that could have been looked into had to be left out. For example, the struggle for

housing could have been given us strong inputs of people participation and their differential roles played by

different groups. Also how did the project planners were able to deal with the government and bring in funds

for constuction of houses would have been interesting. Similarly artifacts like the letters written, questions

raised at different platforms, documents pertaining to the project would have made the study broader and

comprehensive. These in fact can be areas of interest for others in the field who want to study the subject.

37Chapter 2

Introduction to the Field

Introduction to the city: Solapur is a city located on the south-eastern border of Maharashtra state with

boundaries with Karnataka state. In terms of administrative divisions, it falls under the Pune division of

Maharashtra. Its distance from Mumbai is 433 km and from Pune it is 244 km. It is located at a strategic

location and acts as a gateway to two southern states namely Karnataka and Andra Pradesh. The city also

falls under the railway route of Mumbai-Chennai, Mumbai-Hyderabad. The city has good connectivity to

other cities both in terms of roadways and railways. Location of the city has been one of the reasons for its

growth in the past.

Solapur is a historic city and was ruled by many rulers in the past. In the contemporary history, it is famous

for being the first city in the country of gaining independence from the Britishers. Though this independence

lasted only for three days, it was unique. After the arrest of Gandhiji in 1930, large scale protests broke out in

the country and also in Solapur. However protests took a violent turn and there were clashes with the police

forces. Many people lost their lives, however even the forces had to retreat and the city was left with no

British administration, governance for full three days. While the Britishers felt that their absence would lead

to anarchy, this was not the case and the congress party workers took charge of the administration and

nothing of the sort of things imagined by the Britishers happened. Solapur Municipality(now Corporation)

building, was the first in the country to hoist the tri-coloured Indian flag. The city has always been politically

active and also has seen radical labour movements in the past.

The city has been known for its textile industry and its products were famous and marketed across the world.

Also the city has always been seen as an regional hub for economic activities pursued in the rural parts of the

district. Ironically, one of the reason for the industrial growth of the city in the past has been because of the

availability of the cheap labour. And the labour was cheap because the area falls under the rain-shadow

region, receives irregular and scanty rainfall and had seen many famines in the past. There are many

industries present which can be seen in and around Solapur. Kirloskar group factories have been present in

the area from a long time. In present times, Ultratech grinding unit is present at a small distance away from

Solapur. NTPC has also started building an important power generation plant in the district which aims to

cater to the power needs of the western part of the country. Besides the major factories there is a huge

number of SMEs operating from the city mainly from the MIDC area. Handloom and power loom industry is

one of the major business in the district with presence of about 6000 powerloom industries. There are large

number of people directly or indirectly associated with the industry42. Beedi industry is the second major

industry in the district with 115 units of 29 Beedi factories and gives employment to 70000 female workers

(largely home-based) and a thousand odd factory workers43. In terms of Beedi industry, Solapur Beedi

42 Solapur Industry accessed on line at http://www.solapur.co.in/solapur-industry.html43 Solapur Municipal Corporation , City Highlights(History) accessed online at

http://www.solapurcorporation.com/ch_history.asp

38industry is biggest in Maharashtra. Furthermore, Solapur's Oilseeds market is also quite well known. Also

since the major part of the district is agricultural based, there is presence of lot of agro-based industries.

There are many sugar cooperative factories present in the area. In the contemporary times, the conditions of

the people working in these small scale industries has become worse. This issue would be discussed at length

in the later sections of the chapter.

As per census(2001), Solapur had a total population of 3849543, has a high literacy rate of 71.2%. Also

Marathi, Telugu, Kannada and Urdu are the major languages spoken in the district. Especially the Marathi,

Telugu and Kannada speakers seem to be equal in number. In terms of slum population as per census(2001),

there existed 46143 slum houses in the Solapur city with a population of 220514 living in them. The city has

population of about one million, thus one-fifth of the total population of the city stays in the slums. The city

has grown both in terms of its size and its population. Total area including the extension area for the city is

178.57 square kilometers. It is estimated that by 2031, the population of the city would be doubled to about

two million. To cater to the growing needs of the city, the municipal corporation had proposed sanction of

money from Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium towns scheme(UIDSSMT).

UIDSSMT is one of the components of the JNNURM. In the proposal certain areas were identified which

needed prioritization within the first two years of scheme being sanctioned. Housing for urban poor has also

been identified as a priority area and need for twenty crores was estimated. Besides housing for poor other

issues like transport, sewerage and sanitation, land use planning were prioritized44. UIDSSMT is operational

in the city now with many projects being run under it.

While the city continues to be the regional economic growth centre, the face of the city has changed.

The city is fast loosing its glorious past image of textile village. It is emerging as an vibrant economic hub

with both industries and services sector taking strong roots. When I visited the city, it had many symbols of

'prosperity'. Like any other major tier two cities of India, it has witnessed a real estate boom. Many areas

surrounding the city has seen real estate projects like row-houses, bungalows and buildings coming at a rapid

scale. City roads can be spotted with numerous two wheelers-a symbol of rising aspirational middle class.

The city has now presence of malls and markets where most of the multinational brands ranging from 'Levi's'

to 'The Loot' present inside them. Similar city now has D'Marts, plush hotels and restaurants. Land

acquisition for the NTPC power plant also seems to have given a section of the population with good amount

of money. But between the glitz and the glamour, there is section of the population which is being treated as

non-existent. These are the people who can't dream of the cars and even the motor bikes. These are the

people who still tie their tiffin boxes to their bi-cycles and go to work. The men and the women travel in the

municipality buses or the shared rickshaws. Outside the city limits, run the six-seaters which carry people

much beyond its capacity and people are forced to travel in cramped conditions. It is within this working

44 Solapur City Development Plan(CDP), executive summary, prepared as per Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns(UIDSSMT) guidelines for Solapur Municipal Corporation accessed online at http://www.solapurcorporation.com/city.pdf

39class, location of my field study is present. It, in fact led me to one of my objectives of the study which is to

understand how have the socio-politico-economical factors influenced the generation of vulnerabilities of the

community in the current context? As mentioned earlier also, when I had hit the field, I only knew my topic

of study as poor, women Beedi workers and their housing project. When I started interacting with the people,

I realised that a large number of population of this community belong to Padmashaali caste, which is referred

to as weaver's caste and is predominant in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh. It striked to me that

without understanding the origins and caste of the community, my study would not be complete. I also need

to mention here that before joining the course at TISS, I had limited knowledge about the caste system which

is so deep rooted in Indian society. My knowledge about the caste system was at very basic level and

confined to family and community identity. After school had not got any chance to study the subject which is

so critical if we attempt to understand our society. Even before joining TISS, consciously over a period of

time I had developed a habit of not being judgemental about any issue before listening both sides of the view.

This was especially the case when one voice tries or is dominant over the other, my stress used to be on

listening to the less dominant side. In 2006, the central government passed a law demanding 27%

reservations for the Other Backward Castes(OBC) people in the aided institutions in higher education which

was later upheld by supreme court in 2008. In 2006, there was large scale organized protests in the country

against the reservations. Personally, I felt that an atmosphere was created in such a manner that there was

only one voice and that voice was of 'against reservations'. The educated middle class, the corporates and

media seemed to portray the law as 'against the merit'. The sad thing that seemed to me was that alternative

voices, other voices were not seen or heard adequately in the entire debate. After coming to TISS, my

approach helped me learn and unlearn many a things. Apart from many other things, I developed a keen

interest in understanding caste. The logic is simple, if you do not understand caste, you do not understand

Indian society and unless you understand the society properly, you would not be able to respond to any

serious challenges properly.

Understanding the Padmashaalis and its emergence in Solapur: One of the most important reference

book for the Padmashaali caste that I could lay my hands on was was 'Eka Saaliyane'. It is the autobiography

of Mr. Bolli. 'Eka Saaliyane', literally means 'By One Saali Person'. The book begins with a mythological

story which perfectly sets the context of the caste and its community not just in the historical past but even in

contemporary times. The story goes like this, that poor Padmashaali caste people used to work very hard in

their profession, that is weaving. Seeing their dedication, the Goddess of wealth Lakshmi decides to help the

people and get them rid of poverty. She asks a Padmashaali person to weave clothes for her and deliver it to

her. While the person weaved the cloth for the Goddess, he sent his friend, a Vaishya to deliver the cloth.

When the person asked for money from Goddess, he was told by her that She had asked him to make and

deliver clothes but he sent his Vaishya friend to deliver it hence she paid the money to him. Goddess cursed

40the Padmashaali weaver that you have lost the opportunity and now have to suffer in poverty for many

generations because of this. In the ancient varna system followed in India, the shudras, the one at the bottom

of the system are usually the service caste people and are now covered in OBC category. They are the

workers who provide services to other people. Above them are the Vaishyas, who form the trading class. In

the above story also we saw that while the weavers worked the hardest but the benefits went to the trading

class. Coming back to Solapur and the Padmashalli community, It is said that during the Peshwa rule, many

Padmashaali people were brought in Solapur to make use of their weaving skills. However the large scale

migration from Telangana to Solapur seems to have happened after the famine of 1870. The famines of 1866-

70 had practically affected the entire subcontinent45. Besides the famine, I was told that oppressive rule of

Nizam, extreme inhuman behaviour from the people from the landed caste has induced the forced migration.

I need to mention here a brief background of the historical context of Telangana region. The region today is

one of the parts of state of Andra Pradesh. The state was formed in 1956 by combining three regions. They

were Rayala seema, Coastal Andra and the Telangana region. While the Telangana region was ruled by the

Nizam the other two areas were ruled by the British in the pre-independent India. Traditionally the people

from Reddy caste and Velamas have been a dominant and landed caste in Telangana. Large holding of land,

water had given these castes hold over the economic and the political power. 46 Under the Nizam's rule, the

socio-politico-economic direction of the Telangana region took a different form in comparison to the other

parts of the present day Andra Pradesh. Landlords belonging to Reddy, Velama and Brahminical caste

formed the base for the Nizam's rule. While in the British governed regions of the A.P, there were some

rights given to the citizens, same was not the case in Nizam's rule. Large scale oppression of the peasants,

dalits took place in the hands of landed caste. The oppression was ruthless and took many forms. The

landlords are referred to as 'Doras' in the area. They had absolute control over the lives of the villagers. When

an labourer was married, the Dora used to indulge in inhuman practices of 'Deflowering the young bride'.

Whenever they came to the area, people had to raise slogans that 'Dora, we are slaves of you'. As a form of

entertainment for Doras, men were pitted against the lions in the fights. Farmers were illegally evicted from

their farms. The condition of the people was so poor that they had to borrow loans from the Doras and huge

interests were levied on these loans. The people could not repay these loans and were forced to work as

slaves in the hands of the Doras. The cycle was so strong that people had to work as slaves for generations to

repay the loans and still did not get any respite from the oppression. While this oppression continued there

were other problems too for the traditional Indian weaving community. As an outcome of Industrial

45Kumar at.al. (1983) The Cambridge economic history of India, Volume 2, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge accessed on line at books.google.co.in

46 Srinivasulu, K(2002) Caste, Class and Social Articulation in Andhra Pradesh:Mapping Differential Regional Trajectories Department of Political Science Osmania University, Hyderabad accessed on line at http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/details.asp?id=1998&title=caste-class-social-articulation-andhra-pradesh-india-mapping-differential-regional-trajectories

41revolution in Britain, due to heavy mechanisation for production of cloth, Indian cottage industry which till

then used to produce cloth faced a crisis of unseen proportions47. Thrown out of their traditional occupation,

people were forced to work in textile mills as workers in cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad. Solapur was also

emerging as a major textile hub in those days and thus saw migration of the Padmashaali caste people to the

city. The location of the city on the railway route of Mumbai-Chennai helped its cause. There are references

that many people came walking all the way from Telangana regions to Solapur in search of livelihood and

protection from oppression. It is said that in 1868, twenty two families of Padmashaali caste first came to

Solapur and started work of cloth production through pit looms. Thus the Padmashaali caste people were

able to maintain their connections with weaving in spite of being in different place and in different form of

industry. In Solapur, thus started emerging colonies exclusive of the Padmashaali people, though belonging

to a different region and spoke different language. It is important to notice that migration from Telangana

was not a one time event but rather proceeded like a process and had seen migration over a long period of

time. During my very first interactions, many people had told me that a large number of people had migrated

in the last 50 years or so. In fact there have been linguistic and the cultural connections between the Telugu

and the Marathi people from a very long time. Thus we saw there were multiple push pressures from the

Telangana region. Migration was a result of social, political as well as economic oppression. Solapur city

emerged as a leading light for the people. It was the city that did not see the caste or the language of the

people arriving. What mattered to the city was their skills and contribution to the cloth industry. Identity

issues of people when they came to Solapur was not the major issue. Over a period of time people have been

able to successfully assimilate themselves in the fabric of the city. It is also important to note that in a sense

this assimilation happened in a very pluralistic secular manner. This population has successfully retained

their identity, followed their culture religiously and have successfully integrated themselves with the city.

Various cultural activities are performed by families even today. 'Sankrant' festival has got special

significance to the people and during the festival, Rangolis of various forms are designed in front of the

house. While they have followed their traditional Gods, they have revered the local Deities like The Vithal

with equal zeal and enthusiasm. People have stayed in harmony with the local people. An inclusive or

integrated method seems to have worked rather than a confrontational approach. People can claim to have a

dignified existence in Solapur compared to the places that they came from.

Thus we see a acceptance from the community of Solapur as their own and also their acceptance by the city.

Once this bond was established it is important to understand how did the community kept evolving. To

understand the community's evolution over the period of time more clearly, I have classified it in two

sections. These sections are Economical and Political evolutions.

47 History of Padmashali Samaja Seva Sangha. How and Why was Padmashali Samaz Seva Sangha found?accessed on line at http://www.padmashalisamaj.com/html/history-padmashali-samaja-seva-sangha.htm

42Economic evolution48: In the very beginning, the labourers working in the looms used to work in pit looms

and used to stay at their work place only. They had high commitment levels towards their masters. Their

remuneration besides wages used to be two meals a day, a non-vegetarian treat once in a weak and a holiday

on Wednesday. The masters occasionally troubled the workers and exploited the women. Another unique

thing about these masters was that they used to have multiple wives. They treated this as a status symbol as

well as it then made business sense as all the business work got done at home only. Workers after working

hard were habituated with smoking Beedis. People also started consuming country liquor. The liquor was

seen as a respite after a hard day's work. Telangana being an agriculture dominant area, workers also go back

for and pursue work on their fields for some part of the year. However there are references which state that

Padmashaali caste has now by and large become a one-dimensional skill caste and both husband and wife do

not work in the fields any more. As years went by, business grew and people from the community started

expanding businesses and many erstwhile workers started their own set ups. Besides the small scale loom

business, Solapur had also grown as an industrial city with many textile factories present within it. In fact it

is said that in western Maharashtra only Solapur had gained the reputation of being a centre of modern textile

industry49. The first textile mill was started in 1874. By the early decades of 20 th century, five mills were

operating out of city. There are a few peculiar reasons for the growth of factories in the area. Solapur falls in

the rain shadow region and had seen many famines. Because of this the labour was available in cheap rates,

water necessary for the mills was available because of the construction of tank, raw cotton was sourced in

large quantities from Hyderabad and weavers were present in the city. As early in the first decade of 20 th

century, all the factories combined gave employment to 21000 workers. The number afterwards went on to

go up to 1 lakh. The products made had demands from different regions in the world. While the business

slightly went down for a while because of stress of congress party on hand spun and hand woven yarn, it

came back hard during the second world war. The textile factories made huge profits during this time. By

1947, Fifty to Sixty thousand families in the city were dependent on the textile mills for their livelihood.

After Independence, at least in the context of textile industry, India followed a approach which was

inconsistent with her own thinking present in those times. India, with the nationalist movement and the

Gandhian philosophy tried to encourage the handloom industry with the focus on self reliance for our own

basic needs. However this was not feasible to aim or achieve it as all these businesses were highly

commercialized by that time. The problematic factor with this approach was that while encouraging the

handlooms through concessions the government policy put restrictions on the expansion in the mills. This

has had a detrimental approach to the textile mill industry. While the handlooms were difficult to be saved, it

had negative effect on the mill industry as well. The policy only benefited the powerloom industry which

48 Information about the community and the textile history in the context of Solapur was gathered mainly from the Book, 'Eka Saaliyane' and the notes made during the meeting with Prof. Vilas Bet. The information was used to form a theme and based on theme additional secondary sources of data were identified and profiling done

49 Maharashtra, The Gazetteers Department, History, Sholapur during post 1818 period accessed on line at http:// cultural.maharashtra.gov.in/english/gazetteer/Solapur/his_sholapur.html

43operated out of small factories without any formal identification as such. This lead to a situation where the

powerloom factories took the benefits meant for the handloom units and at the same time did not have to

comply to the stringent labour laws applicable to the mills.50

Also, government encouraged cooperatives and thus emerged many weavers cooperatives. In the local

context of Solapur, District Industrial Cooperative Bank, first of its kind possibly in the country started in

the city. The need for formation of a separate institution in spite of the presence of district cooperative bank

was that later did not fund the artisans and the societies. Besides the government policy, another factor that

affected the textile mills was that in 1950s, first textile recession(British textile recession) happened and the

factories which were making profits started fairing badly. 1962, the famous Gokulchand Morarka(mainly

referred to as Juni Mill meaning Old Mill) closed down its factory and rendered a huge number of workers

unemployed. About 55% of the workers in the factory belonged to the Padmashaali caste. Besides the

recession, other reason for the closure of the mill was that it continued production on the first generation

machines whereas in the other parts of the world, the technology had moved to the third and the fourth

generation. The closure of the mill had a significant impact on the city. It changed the course of the city and

the textile industry to an extent. Machines of the 'Juni Mill' were sold at the scrap rate and they were bought

by the Padmashaalis. This in a way began the trend of large scale businesses in a decentralized manner. Thus

a transition was seen from earlier composite mill production mode to decentralized mode and also began the

trend of large scale businesses in a decentralized manner. By 1975s, trouble started brewing. Globally there

was huge competition and because of the quality issues the industry was falling behind. At the country level,

one of the major event that marked further the transformation of the industry was the Bombay Mill strike,

1982. By the end of decade of 1970s, there was stagnation in the domestic market demand in India and by

1982, it had reached near zero growth rate figure. Trade union leaders were adamant with their demands of

the workers and mills headed towards bankruptcy. The sad part of the whole issue was that even the closure

of the mills were not going to have any major impact on the owners of the mills. They cleverly treated the

mill land as land banks and patiently waited for the opportune moment for the sale of that land. The right

moment did come in after a couple of decades and the lands were sold at record prices in the 2000s. However

the events of 1982, like the monopolies of the unions finally forced the government to change its policy and

brought both the capitalists and the government closer. After 1985, the government reduced import

restrictions however at the same time did not relax the labour norms. This created the situation where in the

older factories were at a loss since they had excess labour overheads and they had to resort to options like

ban on further recruitment, outsourcing, voluntary retirement schemes. The newer set ups had competitive

advantage since they had access to exports and also to new imported machinery and without a baggage of

labour overheads. Also these new setups carefully progressed in such a way that they did not have

unionization in their factories, located themselves in such a context where mobilization of workers for

50 Roy, T(2004) National overview India, Textile conference IISH, 11-13 Nov. 2004, accessed on line at www.iisg.nl/research/india.doc

44unionization will not be feasible. While in the pre-British era, India had advantage in the textile industry

because of the craftmanship, in the current era, cheap labour replaced it. However same strength now is

present in host of other countries which intensify the competition severely. To be competitive in the market,

most of the work-force has been forced to work in informal sector. The problem with the textile industry in

this context is that while the industry grew, the business prospered, the condition of the workers has grown

worse with no assurance of regular income, low wages, poor working conditions and absence of any form of

social security from the government. All these things apply in the context of Solapur also. If we look in for

some indicators that signify the downfall of the formal industry in Solapur, it could be charges of corruption

in the cooperatives functioning, closure of district industrial developmental credit bank. At the micro level if

were to analyse the situation, one of the reason for the downfall was that the community people were not

able to professionalize the business. While they could manage the business at a livelihood level, they could

not take it to next level and compete in the business. Similarly for the workers, skills up gradation did not

happen and they faced problems. With the closure of factories, many people lost their jobs and were left to

fend for themselves. There were cases of owners units committing suicide because of business failure. Many

people out migrated from Solapur to places like Bhiwandi, Malegaon to find employment there. While such

a major transition was happening in the policy level, a huge price was paid by the workers. Being traditional

weavers, the people can be seen sticking to their caste profession even today. There is a big transition that the

people have seen in the profession. From pit looms, frame looms, pedaling looms, power looms, jacquard

looms, today the production has reached where things can be done through automated looms. However

within this transition, we can locate the various ups and downs that the people have been through. There does

exists a section of population that has also moved out of their profession, have got themselves highly

educated and currently working in different sectors of the economy. It ranges from the software industry to

the musical arts field. But still a huge number of people continue to be workers in the informal sector and

living a challenging life.

Political progression of the community: Politically, from a long time, the Padmashaali community did

organise themselves and lived like a closely knit community in Solapur. They started participating in political

affairs of the city. Historically Solapur has been seen as a city which has been politically active with many

freedom fighters from the area fighting against the Britishers. Some members even joined the revolutionary

outfits and served terms because of that and some people even laid down their lives for the cause of the

nation. While the community largely stayed peacefully, occasionally there were instances where some anti-

social elements used to trouble kids and women. Also people from the caste were usually identified as

'fearful' and avoided getting engaged in any form of conflict. Over a period of time, with the leadership of

few, this was taken care of and a sense of empowerment was imbibed amongst the people and thus their

confidence increased. Bhavnarishi Pet area is actually called as a mini Telangana because of the sheer

45number of people from Telangana staying there and atmosphere and the culture prevaling there. In 1969,

Solapur Municipal Corporation was formed and its first mayor happened to be a Telgu-Padmashalli caste

person Irraiya Narsaiyya Bolli(Father of LaxmiNarayan Bolli). Similarly there was leadership shown by

others in the community with Mr. Ramkrishna Bet(Father of Prof. Vilas Bet) becoming the cooperative

minister in the Maharashtra government and had earlier served as deputy speaker in Maharashtra Assembly.

So far the Solapur has had 6 mayors from the Padmashaalis and has sent two M.Ps besides the members in

the legislative assembly. The numbers of community members many a times play a decisive role in terms of

winning the loksabha seats of Solapur. Hence political parties take efforts to keep this huge votebank leaning

towards their sides.

Social issues within the community: In the above two sections we have seen about how the community has

performed over the years in terms of their economic as well as their political status. Many of my respondents

Beedi workers as well as key respondents highlighted certain social issues that are harming the interests of

the community. These have evolved over the years. These are social issues which are easily seen in other

castes also. I was told on the field that alcoholism is a major issue in the community and one person claiming

that at least 75% of the men in the housing project take alcohol. I have mentioned the country liquor in the

earlier sections of the chapter also. May be because of the work the men had to do in the looms, they are

driven towards alcoholism. It seems that alcoholism is a serious issue with the community and has lead to

problems within the family. Also one major allegation that came from within the community was that while

the women work hard to make ends meet for the family, men don't do any form of work. Padmashaali is a

caste in where traditionally, dowry is prohibited. But people have circumvented this restriction by using gold

as proxy dowry and has become rampant in the community. I was told that especially in the state of A.P,

issue has become a serious problem and the dowry rates have gone very high. The Padmashaali people refer

themselves as Padma Bhramans and I was told that there are many rituals that exist in the caste which hurt

people economically. For example, if a person died there is a Goat that has to be sacrificed which costs

money, similarly on the eleventh day of the death of the person community gathering takes place and food is

served to the members. Because of these rituals families end up spending around twenty five thousand

rupees. When many of the community members are poor, these ritualistic expenses only add to the burden of

the family and many a times because there is societal pressure, people borrow money and perform the rituals

and thus it can be seen that the whole process of rituals can act as a impoverishment factor for the people.

Also many people in the community believe in the 'Devi' concept wherein Goddess comes to the body of the

people and guides the followers.

Women in the past contributed to the textile profession by participating in small scale skills based activities

liking tying threads, winding etc. However not all women had the opportunity to work like that. While a few

46women worked in the textile industry, many started working in the Beedi industry. The female workers

worked hard in the profession and many companies started their operations in the city. The poor economic

conditions forced women to work so that they support their family. The second reason perhaps for women to

continue in the Beedi profession is that is that many men do not have stable employment and many men are

unemployed. In today's times, we see many women work today in the power looms as well as the Beedi

industry. My research primarily focuses on the poor, women Beedi workers and their housing project and the

issues attached with them. To achieve this aim I had to focus on the Padmashaali community as a whole.

Seeing women Beedi workers alone in isolation from the community would not have been correct. When

things affect a community, by default it affects the individual families within it. And within these individual

families women also get affected. Most of the people in my study are poor people and women do participate

in employment but their earnings are meagre and at times only supplementary in nature, so that family

survives. Thus while the textile industry and later the looms businesses went through turbulence, it affected

the entire family and not just the men. Unemployment may have affected the women far more negatively

because of the traditional loci of women in Indian families.

Women Beedi workers and the housing project for them has been the central focus of my study. However it

is important to contextualize them in to the larger scheme of things. Thus when we speak of Beedi workers

being vulnerable and marginalized sections of the society, there are a host of factors that have caused it. The

vulnerability seems to have taken transverse form and is multi layered. Understanding the vulnerabilities of

Beedi workers is not simple and is a outcome as well as a process of complex multi layered processes.

If we try to understand the progression of vulnerabilities of the Beedi workers with the help of Pressure and

Release Model, analysis of vulnerabilities can get further simpler. Root causes are the historical factors that

have had major influence on the access to power to these people. In the oppressive political rule of Nizam in

Telangana, there were hardly any political rights available to people. The existing structures of the society

were highly discriminatory with oppression not just happening from the Nizam rule in general but also from

the landed caste. People were forced to remain on margins. They had limited resources. Padmashaalis had

their traditional skills of weaving with them. However with industrialization and heavy stress on mechanical

production, their lives became increasingly challenging. Dynamic pressures can be seen from the fact that

due to increased competition and technological advancements, the skills and machinery owned by the people

have become obsolete. This has resulted in their productivity going down over the years. Another related

dynamic pressure that is present is the India's policy for the textile sector over the years. It is one of the

reason for the transition of large number of people from the community to move from the formal sector of

the economy to informal sector. Also any serious effort to improvise the skills of the workers seem to be

missing. Both the root causes and the dynamic pressures have resulted in a large number of population living

47in unsafe conditions of slums in Solapur. The people in these slums have low incomes and their livelihoods

face constant challenges. People are facing multitude of problems in their every day life. Within the

community some section of the population like the recent migrants or the workers would be at more risk than

say the people who have established themselves in the city from a long time and people who have

transcended from workers to traders and diversified in to other occupations. When hazard would strike, it

would have disproportionate effects on different sets of people.

While in this chapter the focus has been on the Padmashaali community, a significant proportion of Beedi

workers also happen to be local Maharashtrian Muslims. I was unable to capture much data about them.

However with the data collected for the Padmashallis, I have been able to set the context and the background

of the community at large. Thus with my meetings, interactions with the community people and review of

secondary literature, I have attempted to trace about the how did the vulnerabilities were created for the

people in a politico-socio-economic context and also tried to look at the progression of vulnerabilities with

the help of PAR model. The project was envisaged to solve lot of problems of the community. We can say

that the project planners tried to address the vulnerabilities of the people in a way. What this project is all

about and how it went about addressing the transversal vulnerabilities of these people would be discussed in

the next chapter.

48Chapter 3

The Project

Introduction: In the first chapter we focused on the concepts of disasters and vulnerability and then we

looked in to the larger issues of slums and housing in India and subsequently life conditions and

vulnerabilities of Beedi workers in particular. In the second chapter we focused on the introduction to the

field setting of Solapur. An attempt was made to see how have the vulnerabilities been generated for the

Padmashalli community over the years through various socio-economic-political processes. We can say so

far we have been able to identify and analyse the risks and vulnerabilities. In this chapter we would focus on

the processes through which the whole project took shape. Important questions like who were the people

behind the project? How did the project planners see the risks and vulnerabilities of the people? Did they

match with what was perceived by the people? How did they go about organizing the whole project? How

was their experience with the cooperative model of housing chosen by them? The project has been hailed as

success. Is it really the case and through whose lenses we can call it success? Besides these critical questions

we would see key project details like the project layout, its location and other physical infrastructure present.

Understanding the Project: We need to understand here why the project has gained so much of attention it

has. There are hundreds of resettlement and rehabilitation projects happening in the entire country. Efforts

for slum rehabilitation have been happening from a long time. Some very ambitious resettlement projects

have failed in the past. The Slum Rehabilitation Scheme (SRA) initiated in 1996 by Maharashtra government

can be cited one example where forty lakh free households to the slum dwellers was proposed but project

could never move forward51. Many projects continued to be mired in controversy. It is in this context we

need to see the project for its uniqueness and innovation. For the first time we saw such a huge project being

implemented for a marginalized section of the society like Beedi workers. Ten thousand low cost houses

were constructed for the women Beedi workers, most of whom stayed in slums and are below poverty line. It

was also for the possibly for the first time we saw that finances were arranged from a range of sources

ranging like the central government, the state government, the provident fund withdrawals and self

contributions of the people. It is also unique in the sense there were a host of players involved who were

responsible for this project to take shape and reach to the stage of completion. Processes like collaboration

and cooperation all seem to have been used in the project. The project has largely been hailed as a success

story. It is important to understand on what parameters was the project rated as a successful project. First

point that finds mention is that it has been a project which has benefited the workers. The workers also

happen to be largely part of the informal labour which accounts to 93% of India's workforce today. This

workforce largely does not have adequate social protection. The conditions of workers in the informal sector

has increasingly become challenging in the years following India's economic liberalization. At the time of

51 Sharma, K(2000) Rediscovering Dharavi, Penguin Books New Delhi pp 179

49inauguration, the prime minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, had called the project as 'Model for all

workers52. Similarly, the project finds positive mention in the report carried out by a central government team

studying the issue of 'Suicides of migrant workers in Tirupur in Tamil Nadu53. Both the examples mentioned

above present the project as successful and worth replicable. After working class as an indicator, the second

parameter for success that has been used is that of cooperation. It focuses on how the workers organized

themselves for their own good and solved their problems. Community organizing themselves for social

change can be one interpretation for this. The Press Information Bureau hails the project as 'Taj Mahal' for

women Beedi workers- A saga of self-help54. Similarly the Photo Division of the ministry of Information and

Broadcasting goes many steps ahead and lists the various achievement of the project through a series of

photographs55. Important point that has also been stressed is that inputs were taken from the community

members and they were incorporated in the project. Another parameter for which project has gained

recognition is a model for low cost mass housing project. Each unit cost Rs. 60000 and the share of the cost

was equally borne by the central government, state government and the workers themselves. Even

presentations of this project showcasing as a model for low-cost mass housing were made in one of the ILO

conference in Geneva56. Also it has been presented that this was a unique instance where government also

played a important role in creation of social security through people's participation. Also, the whole issue for

the Project Proponents and for people who claim the project to be successful, celebrations do not stop with

the project alone. Building on from the what Project Planners and many others perceived success of the

project, there are numerous similar projects57 in the pipeline as well as some who have reached completion.

Meenakshitai Sane project also for Beedi workers is another project which has been promoted by the same

people. In this project there are 5100 houses which have been constructed. Another political party, Shiv Sena

have constructed their own project for the Beedi workers numbering 3000. The name of the project is Maa

Saheb Beedi housing project. 277 houses have been constructed under separate project with name as Swami

Samarth Housing project. Shahid Hussain housing project is another project which is being developed for

minorities. Communist Party, Mr. Adam is involved in this project as well. When I was in the field during

May 2011, enumeration for this project was going on. The important point is that all these projects have been

pushed/promoted because the original project has been hailed as a success story.

52 Abyankar, A.(2006) Beedi Workers Mass Housing Project Inaugurated. People's Democracy September 10 Accessed online at http://pd.cpim.org/2006/0910/09102006_maha.htm

53 Dorairaj, S.(2010) Panel hears Tirupur workers' woes. Frontline Volume 27 - Issue 26 :: Dec. 18-31. Accessed online at http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2726/stories/20101231272602500.htm

54 Government of India, Press Information Bureau.(2004)‘Taj Mahal’ of women Beedi workers – a saga of self help Accessed online at http://pib.nic.in/release/rel_print_page1.asp?relid=3004

55 Government of India, Ministry of Information, Photo Divsion Accessed online at http://photodivision.gov.in/new/IntroPhotodetails.asp?thisPage=241

56 Bhagat, R. (2009) Will it go up in smoke? Business Line February 20 Accessed online at http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-life/article1086483.ece

57 Most of the Information was gathered during the field study from the key persons involved in the project.

50When I had embarked my journey to study the project, I wanted to learn the project so that learning can be

made from it. The project seemed to have many positives and that is what attracted me to study it. As I spent

time on the field and through subsequent studies, I have got a chance to re-look the success of the project.

Was the project successful and if yes in whose terms was it a success? How did the community for whom the

whole project was developed see the process and outcome of the project? Was it a success story for them

too? These are the questions that need to be answered before we hail the project as a success story. I would

come to this important question in the later section of the chapter after I have explained properly the process

through which the project was done and executed and finally its outcome.

The Project key details

With regards to the current project initially the plan was to have the housing project within the city only and

even the the land was identified. However due to political reasons, this could not materialize. The wait for

the land was too long hence it was decided to develop the project at an alternative location. I was shown the

land that was proposed for houses. Today, at the same place colleges stand. 'Pandhe constructions' is the

name of the firm that carried out the construction on a public-private model of partnership. Initially the

project planners had approached MHADA for the project, however they quoted a price of Rs. 1.20 lakhs per

unit. Then the proposal came to this developer. In the partnership model that was chosen for the project in

which the society retained plots and open spaces with it, the commercial units constructed were given to the

developer. I was told that before the construction began, Beedi workers were taken to the developer's farm

house and sample houses were shown. When I asked whether buildings in the form of ground plus three were

contemplated, I was told that people did not like that idea and preferred separate and individual houses. The

project at its current location spans across 450 acres of land near the village called as Kumbhari. The

distance from the city is approximately about 8-10 kms. The project in the area in now largely known as

'Gharkul' and there is clear demarcation in terms of the old Kumbhari village and the project site. The project

site falls on the state highway number 151 that connects Solapur to Maharashtra-Karnataka border areas. The

state transport buses do not stop at the project site and the site is only serviced by the municipality buses.

Six-seater vehicles run between the city and the project site. There are multiple access routes to the project

from the city of Solapur. Though at quite a distance from the city, the project falls slightly closer to the

MIDC area.

At a given point, 1200 workers were involved in the project and per day 16 houses were constructed. The

houses in the project are constructed in the form of clusters. One cluster has four units and in all there are

2500 clusters. Total area of a housing unit is 555 square feet(sq.ft) with a built up area of 255 sq.ft and open

space of 300 sq.ft. Besides houses, sheds for Beedi work, schools and multi-utility spaces have been

constructed in the project for the welfare of the people. I was told that twenty community halls were present

in the entire area. These halls were used for community events like marriage etc. There are about 8-9

51operational schools in the area. In the commercial amenities many Beedi factories that earlier operated in the

city of Solapur had opened their operations in the project site also. I surprisingly did not come across any

place of worship in the area. The post office exists in Kumbhari and the postman delivers the letters to the

communist party office which also acts as Cooperative Housing Society office and the workers then deliver

those letters to the people. Police chowky seemed to exist but no apparent policemen inside. The area

however falls under the jurisdiction of Valsang police(Nearby village). There is no burial ground in the entire

area but same has been proposed. The project site is today dotted with the project houses. A small market has

emerged near a bus-stop junction. The market had a cycle repair shop, a garage, grocery stores and the six-

seaters were parked mainly in the same area. Just opposite to this place was the field office of Pandhe

Constructions and it had a huge mixing plant used in constructions.

Project plan layout has been presented in the following page. Legends do exist on the map, however because

of the poor quality of the picture, I have highlighted at least one unit of major components of the project.

52The plan layout for the Project

53Understanding Problems through Project planners lenses: It is clear that the project has been a reaction

to the problems prevailing in the lives of Beedi workers. Firstly, we would here try and understand how did

the project planners saw the risk and the vulnerabilities of the Beedi workers while planning for the project.

Were these risks and vulnerabilities different from one those perceived by the people themselves? Of course

neither the project planners nor the people must have seen the concepts of risk and vulnerabilities in the

disaster management context but mostly in the general overall life conditions issue.

The most important point that comes out is that the target people, the Beedi workers, for whom the project

planners wanted to work belonged to the politico-socio-economically weaker sections of the society. PP'S

had clarity about the problem that people stayed in small and cramped houses and in unhygienic conditions.

People did not have access to proper toilets and sanitation systems. Ventilation in these houses was poor and

there were health issues like Asthma and T.B in the community members. People also suffered from diseases

like Cancer. The house and the housing conditions were attributed to the problems people were facing 58.

Access to services was also a major issue for the people. People, at times did not have access to water and

electricity. Also people stayed on rents and many a times they faced problems with the landlords over many

issues and they had to frequently change their houses59. In a simple way, if we summed up the situation, it

can be seen that people were leading a challenging life. With the existence of high socio-economic-physical

vulnerabilities, the risks associated with the people would only go high. Having identified these problems,

the PP'S attempted to address these problems through proper housing. The background of the PP'S is

important here. The PP's do come from a Communist political ideology and have been associated with the

workers issues and movements. Unionization of workers, fighting for their rights, protesting against issues

like inflation and working for the welfare of the members through efforts have been on the agenda of the

PP'S from a long time. Providing access to BPL ration cards to needy people can be one example of many

works done by Project Planners. Housing issues formed a part of the larger issue also. One of the core people

involved in the project have been Mr. Narsaiya Adam. He himself is a son of a Beedi worker. Mr. Adam

belongs to Communist Party of India(M). He has been elected to Maharashtra legislative assembly on three

occasions and currently holds the post of president of Centre for Trade Union(CITU), Maharashtra.

Understanding problems through community's lenses: In the above sections, I have mentioned by and

large what the Project Planners felt about the problems faced by the people and their response to it. Before

proceeding further, we also need to know how did the community themselves perceived problems in their

lives. Was there a convergence between the perceptions of both the concerned parties? The PP'S view was

taken by me through the secondary literature available and when I hit the field, I triangulated the information

I had gathered. At the field, this information was largely given by people by key respondents like people

58 Bhagat R(2009). Will it go up in Smoke? Business Line accessed online at http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-life/article1086483.ece

59 Information in the section has been sourced from secondary as well as primary field data

54associated with the project from a long period of time. Before going to the project site of resettlement, I

wanted to understand the conditions of the Beedi workers in the city of Solapur. In a way it was my aim to

understand the risks and the vulnerabilities of the community in those localities. There are about 65000

Beedi workers in Solapur and out of them 10000 got the allocation in the project. There are many slums

pockets in Solapur where thousands of the workers stay. To get a first hand sense of the issue I travelled in

the areas within the city of Solapur where the typically the Beedi workers stayed60. In one area, It sensed to

me that at least partially Beedi workers were segregated and stayed with people sharing their language.

Workers there were mostly Telugu and Kannada speakers. Both the language speakers largely seem to stay

separately in small colony type areas. The distance between the both sets of people was not much. Telugu

speakers were mainly Padmashaalis who had migrated from Andra Pradesh. Community started settling in

the area from last 40-45 years. In terms of Kannada speakers, it was told that people largely belong to the

Kuranshetti caste which is also associated with cloth related work. Also a large number of Beedi workers are

Muslims who are largely local Maharashtrians. In one of the Muslim locality I was told that 90% of the

women are involved in Beedi rolling activities and the remaining 10% did servant type jobs. I was told that

in general women mostly did the Beedi work while husbands work in looms. Husbands who worked in

looms did not have regular work and had low earnings. Large families stayed in a single room houses. BPL

cards were present in many households. Women had to work from morning till evening. It was told to me

that women do not know any other form of work hence heavily rely on the Beedi work. Interestingly women

did not have to walk large distances to submit their previous day's work. The factories or the contractors

office were located in the close vicinity of the houses. While people said that their families were not affected

because of the tobacco work, they said that they knew about people who were suffering from diseases like

TB, cancer. Many people spoke about back related problems because of the continuous work in same

postures. People seemed to prefer private doctors rather than the civil hospitals because they said that time

gets wasted in government hospitals and there were complaints that at times doctors did not give appropriate

attention. At community level, people did participate in festival celebrations like Ganpati and Navratra. At

times there were fights in the locality and matters got escalated. Community taps and latrines were used by

most of the people. Kids mainly went to the government schools. I was told that the area was a jungle earlier

and started getting established as a residential area later. People staying here do not have clear title of their

occupied piece of land. Most of the land has simply been occupied by people. It was said that harassment

happens with Beedi workers very often. Leaves of bad quality are given by the manufacturer/distributor but

many a times the Beedis made are rejected on quality grounds. In that case, it hurts badly to the workers both

in terms of money as well as time. If the Beedi workers get late to submit their produce, it is not accepted

and they have to wait for the next day which creates problems as it wastes times and at times affects timely

income. Even after working for hours, a very small amount of money is earned. Inflation is a major concern

60 Three different slum areas of Solapur were visited. In all six interviews were conducted.

55for the people. People said that they had not booked house in the project earlier but were doing so now in

other project. While they were happy with the fact that they would be owning the house, they would move to

their new houses only after a couple of years as livelihood issues are involved. Some members of a big

family moving to the new house was articulated as a possibility. The houses in the areas would typically

qualify to be called as slum however they did not resemble the kind of slums we are used to in cities like

Mumbai. Yes the lanes were narrow, houses mostly had a single room with no latrine inside. Thus it can be

seen that community had a host of issues to worry upon. It was not limited to or excessively stressed upon

any one particular aspect.

After understanding the views from both the parties, at this moment it can only be said both were aware of

the fact that people were leading challenging lives. Both the parties had identified their risks and

vulnerabilities in lives of people. The Project Planners thought of channelizing the money available in the

Beedi workers welfare fund to build proper houses for the people. They viewed housing as one of the

vulnerability reduction measure. But they went on to invest huge amounts of their energy and resources on

this one measure. Before we begin to analyse the issue at hand, we need to know who these project planners

are? This would help us in setting the context for understanding the issue. After that we would firstly

understand the solution that was proposed and the process by which they went about in executing it. The

project planning and execution has been a long drawn process. It is an important subject in itself. Once we

have understood the process, we would critically analyse the whole issue. Right from understanding the

problem, the ideation of solution, the methods used for solving problems and finally the outcome.

The Project planners: Because of the centrality of the project in my study, it was imperative for me to

understand the key people behind the project and analyse the process through which the project became a

possibility and finally reached completion. To understand this I need to focus on how was the project

executed and what were the challenges and hurdles faced? What were the political equations and how did

they influence things? Here I have largely mentioned the views and opinions of the key people associated

with the project. It is essentially their reflection on the whole process and therefore not necessarily reflects

the complete picture. Critical study of the process would be done by me once I have put forth the views of

Project Planners systematically.

A clear linkage exists between the Communist Party of India(M) and the housing project under study. In fact

the name of the project “Comrade Godu Tai Parulekar Cooperative Housing Project Limited” is derived from

the yesteryear fire-brand leader of the Communist party, Godavari Parulekar(1905-1996). She is famous for

carrying out the landmark struggle for the Warli tribes of Thane district against the oppression from the

people who had usurped the lands of the tribes and forced them to survive as their labourers. Communist

56parties in Maharashtra had good presence in the state in the early years after independence. However their

numbers have gone down considerably now. Mr. Adam belongs to Communist Party of India(M). As

mentioned earlier, he has been one of the few people who have spearheaded the whole project. Mr. Adam

himself is a son of a Beedi worker. He is Telugu by language and Christian by religion. He is popularly

called as 'Master Adam', him being a teacher early in his life. He has been elected to Maharashtra legislative

assembly on three occasions. He has been awarded 'Best Legislator' award for raising important issues in the

house and also for his 100% attendance61. He is also known to have raised the issues of workers right from

his stint in the assembly in 1978.

62Mr. Adam first got the idea for housing for Beedi workers when he had visited West Bengal and had seen a

similar project there. In 1985, 3000 houses were constructed for the Beedi workers by MHADA and Mr.

Adam was associated with that project also. CITU with whom Mr. Adam is associated with has been

involved in the workers issues from a long time and carried out activities like organization and unionisation

of workers. These activities were largely done to safeguard the interests of the workers and to fight when any

injustice was being meted out by the Beedi manufacturers. For the housing project, organization of workers,

enumerations began in the year 1991. It was emphasized to me that the entire struggle has been fought by

democratic means. Under the leadership of Mr. Adam, issues were raised in both within the state assembly

and outside. It was said that Mr. Adam has been able to bring the project in spite of being in opposition and

just an M.L.A. What ministers fail to achieve was demonstrated by an largely an opposition member of

assembly. The support from the national leaders of the communist party also found mention on many

occasions. In fact It was told to me that Mr. Sitaram Yerchury, who is general secretary of the CPM, had

accompanied Mr. Adam to the labour minister to discuss the idea at initial stages. When acquiring land and

executing the project was facing many challenges, Late. Senior communist leader Mr. M. K. Pandhe brought

in his nephew's construction company 'Pandhe Constructions' to support the project and thereby project took

shape. A public-private partnership method was followed. Things happened over a period of time. At the

final stage of completion of the project, there was delay in funds being available because of state level

politics. However this was resolved because of the strong position that the Left was in during the UPA 1

government. Late. Senior Communist leader spoke to the Congress party high command and through this

blocked money was released. The project finally got completed in 2006. While there were issues of politics

over the project, there was a clear admission also by many people that many of the former Chief Ministers of

Maharashtra supported the project cutting across the party lines and their support was crucial for the project.

However the efforts have not stopped at that. Various infrastructure and other important projects necessary

for the core housing project have been demanded and been achieved. Many things have been completed and

61 Arjun N. (2009)Will Solapur Central Beat Madurai? People's Democracy October 18 accessed online at http://pd.cpim.org/2009/1018_pd/10182009_16.html

62 The information gathered in this section is mostly primary and was collected by multiple people like Press people, Party Workers. Secondary sources were used to to get details and linking elements.

57many are in pipeline too. While a special water tank provision and electric substation for the project has been

completed, Nirmal Gram Sadak Yozna for the site is proposed. As part of social forestry program, massive

tree plantation is in the pipeline which would help generating more livelihood options to people. Another

important project that is also on the cards is of Solar electrification of the entire project site. The reason why

social forestry program has not been pursued is that there is proposal for laying drainage systems in the site

and till that time it would not be feasible to pursue. The demands to expedite the the drainage system are

being made.

Under the leadership of Mr. Adam there are a series of party workers and officials who have been involved in

the project from a long time and have made important contributions. These people play the responsibility of

galvanizing of the people, making arrangements for the protests etc. Below them there is large section of

workers population who form the mass base of CPM and Mr. Adam. Beedi workers, their husbands(mostly

workers) form part of this group. I was told that whole project has been earned by people. There has been a

long struggle for getting own houses for the workers. Workers have whole-heartedly supported and

participated in the struggle, without their actual support, the whole movement would not have taken the

shape it took and self-owned houses would not have been possible. They have vociferously raised their

demands and have participated in various 'morchas' and 'dharnas' organized for the struggle. Many a times, it

must have even affected their daily incomes but they still persevered. There were a series of 'morchas' that

were carried out for many demands which included housing. Many cars of the ministers were blocked to

make their voice heard. After a lot of struggle, government agreed to the demand, however the number of the

houses sanctioned was 3000. People opposed this and vehemently demanded the original figure of 10000

houses being sanctioned. 10000 houses were finally sanctioned. Many people who were involved in the

protests have stayed in jail and have many cases pending against them in court. They keep getting summons

even now. Many people also suffered injuries in the event like 'lathi charges'. People have participated in the

struggle even if that meant loss of livelihood at times. The struggle has not been limited in geography but

had reached the state capital Mumbai as well as national capital Delhi-right up to the parliament. There was

an apparent lot of struggle involved in all of these activities and that is the reason that people had to struggle

for something as basic need as shelter. This is significant if we take the cognizance of the fact that money did

exist in the 'Beedi Workers Welfare Fund'. The major challenge was how do we channelize the funds and

bring development of houses on ground.

Role of the private developers is also important and is worth mentioning here. In terms of their primary

function of building houses, they seem to have successfully constructed low cost housing. In terms of how

the company faired in the entire project in terms of finances, it was told that profits did not happen the way

they had planned and it proved to be a tight-rope exercise for them. The developers are now involved in slum

58resettlement program in Nanded under central schemes for urban poor besides other projects in the same

area. Furthermore, I was told that Ms. Rohini Pandhe, wife of the developer is quite enthusiastic about

gardens and the greenery at the project site. She is also contemplating of bringing industries like Chapati,

Puran Poli making to the site so that employment diversification happens for the Beedi workers. Similarly

garment industry within the site is also proposed.

Understanding the solution: As mentioned above, the Project Planners identified housing as one of the

solution to the problems faced by the people. Mr. Adam, having being an active member of the Communist

Party of India, was involved in the issues related to workers. At an earlier occasion, he had been associated

with another housing project for the Beedi workers. Completed in 1985, this project had three thousand

houses and was constructed by MHADA. Each unit costed Rs. 22000 then and Rs. 5000 was borne by central

and state governments and the remaining amount was paid by the workers themselves but on borrowed

money. Workers could not repay the money hence resulted in debt because of owning the house 63. While

housing was important for the members, debt incurring was also dangerous. Private borrowing was also not

advisable as it would have been difficult for people to repay the loans. At this time, it was realized that

money is lying unutilized in the Beedi workers welfare fund. An idea was floated to use the money for the

construction of the houses as this could have ensured that people could get houses without any debt on their

heads. To reduce the risk and the vulnerabilities, housing was envisaged as a solution. Thus seeds of the idea

were generated here. However taking a solution from the stage of ideation till the stage of completion takes

lot of hard work and is not a easy task. The project planners, in the context of the situations prevailing, saw

housing as a solution to many of the problems being faced by people. An earlier attempt had not given the

desired results hence an alternative method was being promoted now. This project however was envisaged

and executed at a grand scale. One unit of house costed Rs.60000. With regards to funding, Rs. 20000 was

contributed by the central and the state governments each, 15000 came in from worker contribution

(Provident fund) withdrawals and the remaining 5000 was paid by the member themselves. This pooling of

finances is also quite creative. Technically enforcement of the Beedi workers welfare fund lies with the

central government64. Hence Rs. 20000 contributions from the state mainly came more on a voluntary basis

rather than with a legal mandate. The sanction of money from government at both the levels seems to have

required lots of persuasion as well as protests. Also cooperative model of housing also seems to have given

flexibilities in terms of pooling finances from varied sources. Government agency like MHADA's quotation

for houses was higher compared to the private builder hence the project was constructed in a public-private

partnership model. 10000 houses and along with that many other structures like the school buildings,

godowns and community amenities were constructed. Water supply system especially for the project was

63 Bhagat, R. (2009) Will it go up in Smoke? BusinessLine accessed online at http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/life/2009/02/20/stories/2009022050020100.htm

64 Government of India, Planning Commission, Report of the Working Group on Labour Laws and Other Labour Regulations, New Delhi accessed online at planningcommission.nic.in/aboutus/committee/.../wg11_rplabr.pdf

59sanctioned and so was an electric substation. Water and electricity connections came to the people's houses.

Roads were built in the project area and Bus services were made to begin. The project would be owned and

maintained by the cooperative which is constituted the people themselves. The project was inaugurated by

the Prime Minister of India in 2006. Thus from the Project Planners point of view they were able to construct

10000 low cost houses for the poor people. People largely did not have to borrow money for their houses as

money came in mainly from external resources. The project was aimed at improving the overall life of the

people through the provision of housing. From the PP's lenses it can be seen that many problems of the

workers would be resolved. It would be a self-owned owned house hence people would be free from the

troubles of the landlord, will have electricity and water connections at home. For toilet people will not be

forced to go outside the home, the house would be bigger and compared to smaller lanes earlier now would

have three metered long access roads. Similarly from tin sheets as roofs to proper slabs, cramped conditions

to a bigger and much spacious house with open space existing for even an kitchen garden to come up were

all seen and presented as positives. Besides the individual houses, at community level; amenities like schools

for the kids, community halls, commercial spaces for businesses, water and electric supply, 100-bed labour

hospital provisions especially for the project, were present. In principle it appears that if so many problems

of the people were addressed through the project, risks and vulnerabilities of the people would definitely go

down.

The cooperative model: Another important and notice worthy thing about the project is that it has been

registered as a cooperative housing society65. Also it is the society that manages and maintains the

functioning of the entire project now. As mentioned earlier, there are numerous similar housing projects that

have been promoted in Solapur taking the project's model as a success. They too are following the same

model of cooperative housing for development of housing projects. Therefore it is imperative to understand

this model so that we have a comprehensive understanding of an important component of the entire process

of project design and execution. We can see lots of positive which exist with the approach. But there are

problems too. Here I have focused on the positives and when we would see the critical analysis, negatives

can be seen. Before we actually begin with the cooperative housing, we need to understand the 'Cooperative

Movement' or 'Cooperatives' first. According to International Cooperative Alliance(ICA), 'A co-operative is

an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and

cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise'. The

cooperative movement in the modern times has started from the western countries, however the philosophy

of the movement stems from concepts like co-existence, cooperation, interdependence which has been an

integral element of Indian Society. India too has had a long history of formal cooperative movement.

Housing cooperatives are equally old. From very beginning, government of India had recognized cooperative

65 The section borrows in general from Khurana, M. (1993) Readings from Cooperative Housing , National Cooperative Housing Federation of India, New Delhi.

60housing as an important tool to solve the problem of housing. National Cooperative Housing Federation of

India(NCHF), is the apex institution for the cooperative housing movement in our country. It was formed in

1969. The primary reason for the formation of the cooperative is the intention to improve their living

conditions. The benefits of cooperative housing have been observed with the realization that government

alone cannot resolve the massive problem of housing in country today and contribution from other

stakeholders is solicited. This seems to be running in parallel to the government policy of moving away from

a role of provider of houses to that of a facilitator.

Historically, in theoretical terms cooperatives have been seen as a reaction to the industrialized society66. In

this society, power and money has seen to be concentrated in the hands of the few people and it leaves a large

number of people without money or have a say in the decision making processes. In response to the

outcomes of the developments that took place, cooperative movement started gaining strength. In Marxian

terms, this can be referred to as an combined effort of the proletariat against the exploitation of the rural

class. In the context of the project being discussed, it is apparent that the whole movement has been

associated with the workers rights, their entitlements and struggle for achieving those. But it is definitely not

limited to the labour issues alone, it can be seen through the lenses of socio-economic transformation leading

to social change67. One merit of the whole effort was that it brought Beedi workers together for their common

interest which in this case was housing. Whether the housing issue was actually the only common interest or

other needs of the people were neglected is a debatable question and would be discussed later. The Beedi

workers were organized and mobilized as a group to seek solutions to their problems of housing. The group

has had to work in partnership with many other organizations to get the work done like the government and

its various departments. The movement did not stop till the time their goals were not met. An important

element that needs mention for the achievement of the houses for the Beedi workers is that leadership and

organizational capabilities is very important for any common interests to take shape and produce results on

ground. With the presence of Mr. Adam, CPM and CITU, leadership and organization skills and a platform

was provided for workers to be galvanized for action for their homes. While this project focused on the

Beedi workers, the Project Planners have also come up with other projects for different groups like the

Minorities and the Scheduled Caste people. Furthermore, group went ahead with the procedures needed for

the houses and are now managing the functioning and maintenance of the project. A cooperative movement

can also be seen in the direction of empowerment of people and having more powers to lead lives in the way

they want and having more control over it. It has the potential to give the people to have more control over

the housing management and the environment68. Not just housing, the arrangement once formed can take

66 D.R Gadgil, Towards a Cooperative Commonwealth, Chandigarh, Punjab, University Publication Bureau. 1961 p4 cited in Goel, B. (1984) Cooperative Management and Administration, Deep and Deep Publications, New Delhi p24

67 Alliance for Healthy Homes , Models of Social Change accessed online at www.afhh.org/action /strategies_for_org/ models_of_social_change.htm

68 CDS Cooperatives, Cooperative Movement, Housing Cooperatives, The benefits of housing co-operatives in comparison with other tenures accessed online at http://www.cds.coop/coop_movement/housing-co-operatives-in-

61other shapes like health care, education for the community members with a participatory approach. The

society now has one school which is being run by itself and also acts as a cooperative bank giving small

loans to the members of the society. Since the social forestry project is proposed for the project, in future,

people's organization can take shape of a marketing cooperative also.

Another important aspect of this model was that there was lot of flexibility that could be seen in terms of

financing the project. Funds were raised from the members as well as from other stakeholders. Perhaps only

because of this arrangement being possible that funds from as varied sources like government, workers,

provident funds could be pooled together. In many ministries and departments we do see funds allocated for

various purposes lie unutilized or underutilized. Even for the project money had got accumulated from a long

time and only required channelizing it properly for the benefits of the workers. Also societies do have

flexibilities to raise funds from other sources like markets, institutional loans etc. Though in this project, I

don't see any such forms of involvement in terms of funding, in other projects if the viability of the projects

is demonstrated and recovery assured, even such lenders would be happy to lend their money.

The Political Debates around the project: As mentioned previously also, most of the information that I

have presented is from the perspective of the people involved in the project. It is quite clear that they would

have a positive bias towards their project. Before I get in to doing my own critical analysis of the process and

the project outcome, I would mention a few view points which I had collected from the field which were

critical of the project. However when I was in the field I could not collect exhaustive data from the people

who possibly would have given a different picture of the project. Nevertheless there are a few points that I

came across which are important and have helped me shape my critical analysis of the project. The project

got completed in 2006. Mr. Adam was a M.L.A then. During the assembly elections in 2009, he was defeated

by Ms. Praniti Shinde, aged 28 then, daughter of senior congress leader Mr. Sushil Kumar Shinde. He has

been formed chief minister of Maharashtra and currently holds power ministry under the central government.

In her election speeches she had alleged that her father had got 10000 houses constructed but the credit went

to Mr. Adam69. Even Mr. Shinde's website has a mention of bringing of crores of money for the development

of houses as an achievement of Mr. Shinde70. I could get my hands on extracts of questions raised in

parliament by Mr. Shinde for one occassion. In his capacity as a M.P he did raise the issue of Beedi workers

in parliament in 1998 71. Political allegations are not uncommon but neither are attempts to gain all the

mileage of a particular achievement. Based on what I had observed on the field I can say that efforts put in

by Mr. Adam have been good. It is is no mean achievement to successfully bring the housing project so long.

the-uk/the-benefits-of-housing-co-operatives-in-comparison-with-other-tenures69 Inamdar, S. (2009) Praniti Shinde, a reluctant politician, The Hindu accessed online at

http://www.hindu.com/2009/10/06/stories/2009100659660900.htm70 Development of Solapur accessed online at http://sushilkumarshinde.in/development.asp71 XII LOK SABHA DEBATES, Session III, (Winter) Thursday, December 17, 1998 /Agrahayana 26, 1920 (Saka)

accessed online at http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/lsdeb/ls12/ses3/12171298.htm

62Also credit should go all the people who cutting across party lines supported the project. Another criticism

levelled against Mr. Adam has been that he is seeing the whole project as a constituency building exercise.

All the supposed voters of the party consolidating in one place would be a major factor during the times of

elections. Without taking an stand on the allegation, it is true that the project area appears to be communist

fiefdom. One of the positives mentioned about the project is that it played a crucial role in community

organizing for the project and also the project is being managed by society now. Most of the members

running the society seemed to be members of the party72. Every morning, there would be a assembly of about

30-40 people in the party office. Some of them worked for the society, some were party activists. After the

morning assembly, they would start carrying out their activities. For example, one person whom I knew used

to work for septic tanks cleaning etc. If there were any complaints anywhere in the project for this activity,

he used to be called. Similarly other workers took other roles. These people besides working on the project

were involved in myriad type of activities from organising vehicles during emergency to resolving disputes

amongst the community members. If there were serious issues including inter-family problems it would be

brought to the communist party office for resolution. I witnessed a marital dispute being brought to the office

and had besides the couple relative from both the sides, that is, from the husband's as well as wife's family.

Firstly I thought it could be a positive mechanism also where community members resolved their problems.

This was not to be. It was essentially a fight between the couple and the person from the party office who

was mediating was a young chap and with what I observed the only advice he could give to the husband was

that he should take care of his wife and to wife that she should try and adjust to problems. Pity. Police

chowky was present only for the namesake. The party workers seemed to be take roles of everything from

good Samaritans to dispute resolvers to security of the project. In terms of electorate, it was clear that the

CPM had grip in the area. Another indication of this was absence of any functional office of any other

political party at the project site. The reason why all this problematic is that in such situations there are

chances that any opposing view can be sidelined or can be forcefully or otherwise be silenced. This in fact

has the potential to weaken the democratic structures. Another indicator of absence of other parties was the

fact that the posters of all the political parties with photographs of politicians, small time party workers

trying to project themselves amongst the people, which flooded the city of Solapur were absent here. On the

similar lines of singular hold or leadership, another criticism levied against Mr. Adam has been that he has

been given a DemiGod status. It was said that because of the frequent protests, dharnas, Industries were

apprehensive and this resulted in not much business coming to Solapur for many years. The bad investment

climate had hurt the interests of many people including the workers. It was also said that at times Mr. Adam

took a rigid stand on certain issues which hurt the interests of businesses. What I have done so far in the

above section is what can be called as largely as political dimension of the project planners which is by no

72 It is important to mention here that most of this data captured here is based on observations made by me and have

not been factually verified

63means less important.

Critical Analysis of the Process: I have mentioned in the earlier sections of the chapter that the project

planners have seen the project as a success story. It is clear that what actually matters is the fact whether the

community members perceive the project as success. We would see the community perception in the next

chapter. Here I have attempted to see on what accounts have the project planners can claim success of the

project. Here I am focusing on the process but it is directly related to the project outcome. If the process had

problems, it is bound to have reflection in the final outcome. Many a times many of the civil society

organizations criticize the government for top-down approach. They claim that in this process the capacities

of the people are left ignored and thereby unutilized. Many times the problem that is seen with many projects

is that it is planned and executed through the lenses of project planners alone. In the first chapter I had

mentioned one of the critique of Indian governments' approach towards slums is that planners never seem to

have taken the social realities in to consideration. Similarly the slum dwellers are never part of the decision

making process. This project claims that in this project a participatory approach was followed and people

were central to the whole exercise. Was an attempt was made to address the issues that have plagued the

other resettlement projects? Did the project planners seriously look in to these aspects of the project?

Furthermore there are three important issues that needs discussion. First is whether the project planners could

actually understand the problems of the people? Was it clear whether what community wanted and what was

offered to them matched? While assessing what the community wants, an important problem is that planners

go with an attitude of being experts. There is also a 'sentimental' middle class value attached very often

which sees community as helpless people in dire needs of help. A charity based approach is followed often

rather than a rights based approach. In the case of my project study even after five years of project

completion, more than 55% of the original allot-tees have not taken possession of their houses. Rows of

houses have a deserted look and doors and windows are crumbling because of being left idle for a long time

and without maintenance. Livelihood remains a major challenge, people are struggling because of absence of

the important services like hospitals and even as basic need of people as pds shops. How come the project

that has been hailed as a success story worth replicating doing so badly. There are fundamental problems in

the way the project planners went in to assessing the needs of the people. It is apparent that the project

planners did not understand what the community needs were and what did they want? Had they been able to

successfully understand what people wanted only then they could have positively intervened. Examples do

exist where attempts were made and there existed positive results. Way back in 1986 agencies like

NSDF/SPARC73 did an enumeration exercise in Dharavi with the community involvement. The data

generated also belonged to people themselves and became a important tool in negotiation with the state. Also

important insights came because of the enumeration exercise. While planners saw Dharavi as one big slum,

73 NSDF-National Slum Dwellers Federation. SPARC-Society for Promotion of Area Resources Centre

64people did not see it that way and there were many different identities existing. These identities were many

with some being members belonging to a particular region, trade etc. The whole enumeration process was

quite transparent and inclusive as well. People themselves came out with the map of the place with their own

markings of the landmarks etc. The data generated was triangulated with other sources of data like the ration

card holders, electoral rolls etc. Very useful data emerged from this enumeration exercise. For example, the

number of people belonging to a particular region, occupation, different number of occupations existing in

the area74. It also documented the various means through which people supplemented their incomes like for

example importance of petty trade.

It is here that I feel the project planners floundered with planning. The enumeration that happened for the

project seemed to be more in form of documentations being compiled and submitted for processing. Now

people have rough estimates of the composition of the Beedi workers. It seems only a work of guess to say

that 30% of Beedi workers are Muslims, 60% Padmashaalis and 10% others. Enumeration with the help of

community would have given more finer details of the community. Communities are never completely

homogeneous in nature. Any community would have layers of homogeneity and heterogeneity. These things

are ingrained in the way communities are socially structured. Community structure has got two important

components which are social stratification and social differentiation75. Social stratification is a hierarchical

system of ranking people according to their wealth or prestige. Social differentiation is part of social

stratification where people vary according to social characteristics76. Even in the context of Beedi workers

community in Solapur, it would have never been homogeneous. In terms of families I met, within the

communities there was a clear difference between the economic status of the people within the community.

There were families who were quite well off even in their old settlements. Then there were families who

were facing serious economic problems. Both types of families were part of the larger community that

project planners speak about but definitely their needs cannot be the same. A thorough enumeration along

with a micro level analysis would have helped in understanding the problems faced by people systematically.

Other differentiating factors like the occupation make a huge difference in terms of needs of the people. A

large number of husbands of the Beedi workers worked in the loom industries. But there exists another

section which is involved in different occupations and their needs would be quite different from that of loom

workers. I met a few families where men worked in occupations like tailoring, cloth ironing etc. Their mode

of making a living would be quite different from others. Similarly there were people who worked in as varied

professions as rickshaw driving, cycle shop business to accountants. How do we account for these

differences and make adjustments to it. Similarly there were intra-family dynamics that also played a role. I

met a few families where people who had got houses in the names of women who are quite old. The son and

74 Sharma, K(2000) Rediscovering Dharavi, Penguin Books New Delhi pp 1775 Speight J (1968) Community Homogeneity and Consensus on LeadershipThe Sociological Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 3,

pp. 387-399 accessed online at http://www.jstor.org/stable/4105424 76 Chapter 8 Social Differentiation and Stratification Chapter Overview accessed online at

http://bvtpublishing.com/files/BV02Guide08.pdf

65the daughter in law were now the major decision makers in those families. The needs of the elderly females

could have been different to that of their other family members. Then there were female headed households

and with that dynamics change again. Similarly if we do caste base analysis the needs of the major caste of

Padmashaalis need not be same that of say Maratha caste who may not be powerful in numbers. Even in

Muslims we saw a huge number of different caste people. Shaikhs appeared to be more in number but there

existed other castes like Sayyed, Nadaf, Fulmamadi, Dhobi, Mominzulla, Pindhaari Pilzaade and Mulla. I

had mentioned earlier about the slum localities that I had visited in Solapur. The first one was Dutta Nagar.

This area had many number of Telugu and Kannada speakers staying. In Shashtri Nagar, the population was

largely Muslims. The needs of the people need not be same for both the people. In fact the third area that I

visited was not even a slum. It had proper houses constructed. If the Beedi worker is used as a unit of

analysis, it would be problematic as all did not face the same problems.

Without a thorough understanding of the issue, “one size fits all” approach are bound to fail. It may be

argued that such micro-level analysis is difficult to carry out. But then if you are not doing it means that you

are choosing the easier option of thinking and acting on the behalf of the people without considering the fact

that what you are planning to get is not necessarily what people want. As we would see in the next chapter in

detail, the biggest reason for non-occupancy of houses has been the relocated site being far from the city and

their livelihood sources. Another important learning could have been used from the earlier mentioned

SPARC-NSDF example. The community after the enumeration and chalking out their own map of the area

went on to identify the title holding of the land. After checking the land records,it was found that of the 175

hectares of Dharavi land, 106 hectares belonged to municipal corporation, 43 hectares belonged to private

properties and rest belonged to the central government. Such identification of the land is quite crucial as we

see the in-situ up gradation of slums is recommended in the current discourse of slums and rightly so as the

relocation of people from one place to another has the serious potential of disrupting the lives of the people.

Imagine if the project planners had followed a similar approach in case of their project. Community level

participatory data collection methods could have helped in identifying the differential needs of the different

people. Perhaps with the help of the community, land records could have been checked and pursue the in-situ

development of slums rather than relocation. Perhaps smaller groups involved in the development of their

houses would have been good. An counter argument could be raised that the many Beedi workers stayed on

rent hence how would have they managed to get houses in in-situ development? But the point is that they

have been and continued to be Beedi workers. Perhaps funds could have been directly given to people so that

they themselves resolve their problems. It could have meant simple things like they with the help of the fund

and with their own contribution could have bought their houses. Other means for more families to stay in

lesser space through arrangements like building structures could have been explained and discussed with

people and with their agreement this could have been taken forward. People are enterprising in nature and

66there is no point in thrusting solutions from the top and expecting them to accept it.

We have discussed in the previous section that how social stratification and social differentiation play a role

in any community set up. There is another important dimension of community set ups that needs attention.

Within communities, there is a tendency that some people would take leadership positions and some would

be followers. Leadership is an exercise of influence and some people take positions of leaders as well as

followers, a small section exists which never takes the position of leadership77. Leadership in case of my

project can be seen in the form that the Communist party and Mr. Adam gave the ideological leadership. It

seems to me that they successfully articulated and influence people that housing is a need for them and only

way through which they hope to attain it is through fighting for their rights. After them, we have a series of

party workers who were involved in galvanizing and organising people for the struggle. Then we had many

worker families who participated in the struggle. Within the worker families, there would be a few who

would have more influence than others. What were the direct or indirect benefits of each of the parties

involved? Communist Party and Mr. Adam can say that they have delivered large number of houses to

workers otherwise it would not have been possible. They can take it as a political as well as ideological

achievement. Then the party activists who participated can take the project as a launching pad for their

political careers. Most of these workers seem to have been associated with the party from a long time. An

incidental benefits of this association perhaps may be is that many of them got houses in the project. Out of

65000 Beedi workers in Solapur, only 10000 got houses and many party people/activists seemed to be

amongst them. It is not the case of any fradulent method being used to gain access to houses. Many people

do have a tendency to lead and therefore based upon their abilities they can take a lead ahead of others. Then

there would be families who though not in leadership positions but because of their other social attributes

like the social capital, education could have been able to get houses. The problematic issue is that there does

exists a section of population which we refer to as vulnerable section of the society. Whether an attempt was

made to include such families is questionable? During my study I did not come across any scheduled caste

family. May be they are not involved in the Beedi industry. But making an attempt to find and reach out to

such families would have made the process inclusive. It is very often seen that in disaster situation that some

section of the population based upon their location and social status end up getting more relief material. Poor

people staying in interiors are left out. Many relief agencies don't even attempt to reach out to such people. If

you want an process to be inclusive extra efforts are required which many of times seem to be missing. Even

in the context of this project an effort should have been made to reach out to the marginalized sections of the

society who themselves on their own may not come and get enumerated for housing. This section may

include not just backward caste people but also women headed households, widows, elderlies and the people

with disabilities. It may also involve people who are staying in remote places or people who have

77 Speight J (1968) Community Homogeneity and Consensus on LeadershipThe Sociological Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 387-399 accessed online at http://www.jstor.org/stable/4105424

67comparatively recently migrated. Their powers to participate in the process may have been limited. If your

aim was to provide solutions to the problems to the lower sections of the society, the real success would have

been when you were able to identify the most marginalized and worked towards their empowerment.

Therefore an effort needs to be made from the people side to get them involved. It is not being said that

discrimination happened but certainly an opportunity to make the whole process inclusive went missing.

Furthermore, participation does not just mean that attempts are made to bring all people along for the

common cause. How did you deal with people who did not share your views or ideas? How were the

dissenting voices heard? In any community this section would exist. Were these voices silenced through the

loud noise about the positives of the project? Perhaps if these voices were heard and the logic of these people

heard and acted upon, results could have been different.

Failure in identifying problems: I have repeatedly mentioned in the previous sections that parameters of

defining the success of the project should be decided by the people and not the project planners. However the

success of the project depends upon the correct problem identification. If the problem itself was not properly

identified, solution would only be problematic. It is a like a situation where your diagnosis of the disease is

not correct, then irrespective of the best medicine or care given, there would be trouble. Besides chances of

leaving the disease untreated for there are chances of serious side effects. This is what seems to have

happened with the project also. Yes people were facing problems in their daily lives. The working conditions,

the wages, back-breaking work all were creating problems for the people. On top of this conditions like

staying on rental houses, very tiny houses with poor ventilation, non availability of water and toilets at home,

narrow lanes all were the issues. The project planners focused on housing. They had experience of housing in

the past. In the past there had been issues with the process through which the houses were achieved.

Ownership of houses had lead to debt on the Beedi workers. Therefore this time it they wanted to ensure that

there are no debts on people because of buying houses. The problem is that they seem to have seen the

project through a narrow vision. Ownership of a house would always be welcome for the marginalized

sections of the society. But while giving the houses, it is also the responsibility of the project planners that

people are better off compared to their previous conditions. If this is not addressed in planning, community

members have the risk of getting further impoverished. This was the biggest project risk management failure.

Risks were not properly assessed hence faults existed in planning. They did not see the larger picture nor did

they not think about the structural issues. Because of the resettlement the continuum that existed for years

seem to have broken. The project planners did not foresee the effects of this breach. People aspired for better

houses, better life conditions, water and toilets at home which is perfectly a genuine need but to fulfil this

need you cannot take them away from their livelihood sources or other intangible resources.

In my assessment, there were two major mistakes done by the project planners. The first was the application

of only the 'class' based analysis to look at the problem. The second is that they also followed a top-down

68approach where they worked on solutions for the problems faced by people based on their planner's

assessment. Community was not involved in this assessment neither were they meaningfully involved in

planning for the solution. In fact both the mistakes are quite inter-related. All Beedi workers are given cards

for their identification. This card became the central figure for the project planners. Everything seemed to

revolve around this. Yes Beedi workers had problems in their lives. There were class based issues with the

factory owners, the middle men operating in the business. But all the problems cannot be attributed to class

alone. Fighting and getting their houses in Marxian terms of fight of the proletariat against the ruling class

does not exactly fits in to the context. Mobilization of people to get their rights is correct and not debated.

Class based enemy is just one of the multitude of problems being faced by people. It can also be said that the

class based focus might have lead the leaders to the project to make the project a grandiose. One of the aim

was to send a message across that it was a mass housing initiative for the workers. But because of attempting

to make the project grand, other alternatives were ignored. Small area specific communities with people

focusing on redevelopment of their area had the potential to solve lots of problems but was not attempted.

Perhaps the obsession with the concepts like bigger the better need not only be identified with the corporates.

Concepts like “small is beautiful” could have helped given the planners a perspective in the way to go about

tackling issues. However understanding your community first is equally important. Communities do have

capacities within themselves. They develop coping mechanisms to the problems being faced. The class based

solution alone has potential to create problems and that is what seems to have happened to the project. Slums

of Solapur had emerged organically. People had settled in areas which was closer to their livelihood sources

and also with people with whom they were more comfortable with. People based upon their skills and

enterprise survived. It is very important to understand the fact there is a whole lot of difference between

people following opportunities in life than taking opportunities to people. People in the slums of Solapur

followed where opportunities were present. They stayed in the area and developed affinity to it. As

mentioned in the second chapter, when Padmashallis first started emerging in Solapur, it was a place which

gave them protection from oppression in their native places of Telangana besides giving them economic

opportunities. People continued to come to Solapur over a long period of time in search of opportunities and

started settling where possible. There are some areas in Solapur which are referred to as mini-Telangana.

This has got lot of value attached. It has got lots of social capital. But things like natural growth of cities,

social capital, the enterprising abilities of people seem to have been ignored by the project planners. Also

communities look at the problems at a longer time scale which is fundamentally not possible in the context

of projects which work in the form of strict time frameworks. Effects of the project may be felt long after the

project was completed. How would community cope with this? What project envisaged was a housing

project which would take care of people's lot of worries and opportunities can be taken to them. This is

highly problematic as such things do not work as planned as there are various exogenous variables involved

which can be detrimental to the project. It seems the project planners “missed the wood for the trees”. What

69people wanted was a proper habitat what was offered to them was houses. There were larger structural issues

that needed attention. What alternatives could have been worked out by them to improve the life conditions

of the people. They should have focused on the larger level issues at the policy level or the structural level.

The leadership should have been used to influence policy makers there. The Communist party has been

doing it. The real challenge would have been how to influence policy makers and bring about changes in the

lives of the Beedi workers at the micro-level. This may take long time but it needs to be persevered. Also

smaller micro-level initiatives to improve the life conditions of the people could have helped. Simple

interventions like skills enhancement for workers would have also helped them in diversifying from their

occupations to improve their resilience. Similarly smaller community level housing redevelopment initiatives

could have been a better option.

Project planners failed in identifying the real problems of the people. Because of this the project outcome

cannot aspire to be successful. Still the project is a mega housing project done for the Beedi workers. Not

just the housing, it is almost like a township with schools, work-sheds present within it. There are special

infrastructure projects sanctioned exclusively for the project. Many government programs have been

proposed specially for the project. While at the foundation level of the project planning appears to be weak,

it is necessary to understand the impact of the project over the people. What are the conditions of the people

staying there? How has their experience been? We would see the response of the people about the project in

the next chapter. Only after that assessment, we can call the project to be successful or not.

I collected a few photographs from the which least in partiality attempt to cover the project, people

and the struggle.

Women Beedi Workers Workers Mobilization

70

The Distant Struggle National Leadership

Operationalization The Historic Moment

78

'The Dream House'79 The Finer details

78 The photographs were acquired from the Party office and scanned with permission.79 This photographs 'The Dream House' and 'The Historic Moment' were accessed from Internet.

71

The Electricity Arrangement

72Chapter 4

Response from the People and the critical analysis of the Project

Introduction: In the previous chapters we have seen that Beedi workers and their families living in the

slums of Solapur were leading a challenging life. Beedi workers and their husbands both face problems of

low wages, irregular work, exploitation from employers. One of the reason for their current status is being

part of the largely informal sector of the economy. While some social protection exists for the Beedi workers,

it is almost absent for their husbands. Their living conditions are poor and it definitely affects them

negatively. They may not be facing serious threats from natural hazards but their living conditions are similar

to that of every day disaster80. As expected the overall life conditions of the people did reflect in the housing

conditions of the people. The localities faced problems of lack of hygiene, lack of basic services like water

and toilets at home, rented and small houses with poor ventilation were some of the problems that they were

facing. Health issues existed for the people because of their living conditions. The project planners decided

to intervene to help people out. They decided to intervene to provide proper housing and worked in that

direction. We also saw that there were problems from the project planners side in terms of identification of

the problem. This was mainly because an chance of making the whole planning process participatory and

understanding the problems of the people through it was missed. The project planners did not focus on the

structural issues which are largely responsible for the problems of the people. The only focused on a sub-

system of the larger problem. Because of this while they focused on housing issues, structural problems

which cause problem are left un-addressed. The structural problems are the ones because of which these

workers have to work in the informal sector of the economy with low incomes and without adequate social

protection. Structural issues are the outcomes of the larger politico-socio-economic processes that operate in

the society. Furthermore, the problem with the solution was that not only it was unable to addressing the

critical problems but also had the potential to create new problems. Though the solution looks problematic, it

needs to be studied and major reason being understanding the view point of the people in the project. In

terms of risks and vulnerabilities, people have lots of them. Poor housing condition was one amongst them.

As a risk reduction measure, proper housing was envisaged. While the intentions of the project planners

seem to be fairly genuine, its impact needs assessment. While the intervention had the potential to address a

few risks and vulnerabilities, it needs to be studied. It needs to be studied from two angles. Firstly whether it

was able to address the issues it aimed for. Secondly what was the incidental impacts of the intervention on

the risks and vulnerabilities. Did they reduce them or ended up exacerbating them?

There are other reasons too for studying the project. Project Planners and the government have largely hailed

the project as a success story and a model worth replicating. Besides the original 10000 houses constructed,

there are more than 6000 houses being constructed at the same site under different schemes. Thus there is a

80 Professor Vilas Bet, Solapur made this comment during my interaction with him during my field visit time.

73huge amount of money that has been invested by the government and the people for the housing project. A

simple back of the envelope calculation suggests that more than sixty crores have been spent on the original

project alone. Similarly if we count each unit as an individual family, the project deals with 10000 families

and about 50000 poor people. For the sake of the houses, these people have even removed money from their

Provident Fund schemes. The stakes are very high for the project not just for the people directly involved but

also who see the whole attempt as a positive development.

As mentioned earlier in the methodology section of the first chapter, on the field, I had two sets of

respondents, one were the key respondents and second were the Beedi workers households staying in the

project. With key respondents information was collected through semi-structured, open-ended interviews

whereas with Beedi workers, a household questionnaire was used. There were a lots of sections present in the

questionnaire that gave information pertaining to various important aspects of the people's experience with

the project and their life conditions now and their socio-economic details. As expected, many respondents

were quite articulate in their responses whereas some were not. The idea behind carrying out household

surveys through questionnaires was not to get a purely a statistical representation of the whole issue but to

get finer qualitative human experiences from the people.

Housing and Health: My first attempt in this chapter is to understand whether the project planners were

able to achieve the goals they had set out for. The goals were proper housing and good health for the Beedi

workers. What does the community feel about the housing? We would begin by looking at housing aspect of

the project here. The housing project was not just about houses but also about overall life conditions of the

people involved. This housing project was done with the intention to improve the living conditions of the

community members. It is imperative to understand how does community members perceive their life

conditions after resettlement. Many respondents said that they are satisfied at the new place which essentially

meant that they are better off here than at the old place81. People did site numerous positives and concerns

too about the project. People stayed in the Solapur city slums on rent and had to face the problem of frequent

changing of houses as normally landlords do not want same tenants to stay in their houses for long. Also

harassment from the landlords existed as usually there were no separate electricity connections for the

tenants and they use to drive electricity from the house of the landlord and because of this there was dispute

between the two about the electricity consumption and its payment. The owned house has given stability to

such families and freedom from such conflicts. There was monetary angle too, as one respondent stated

'Earlier we had to shelve Rs. 700-800 every month on rent alone, owned house is better'. Another important

point that came up was they were happy with the privacy that their new houses gave. This was a reference to

81 In percentage terms 91 per cent felt of people felt that their life conditions have improved in the new site, 6 per cent felt that their live conditions have deteriorated in the new site and 3per cent felt that there is no change in their living conditions.

74the fact that if anything would happen in any one person's house the entire area would come to know about

the issue. Now it is better because things stay within the family and do not become a subject of discussion for

others. This also seems to come from dislike with the culture prevailing in their earlier slum areas. In the

earlier settlements there were major problems of fights in the area and also there were problems of drunkard

men creating trouble. All these issues are absent here and people went on to say that community at the new

site is better, there is peace prevalent here. Quoting respondents, 'There is peace here, there are no

complaints', 'The area is 'tanta mukhta'- which means free of conflict. People said that they are happy

because water comes at their home, earlier they had to collect it from community water taps. Also water used

to come at irregular timings, here they don't have to face that problem. Earlier they used to stay in houses

which tin sheets as roof cover, now they have slabs. Houses were small earlier, bigger and more spacious

here. Houses had poor ventilation, there was no proper flooring, walls were made of mud etc. Now they have

pucca houses. Also people had single room houses now they have double room houses. People said that they

were happy with the space (Aangan) provided outside their houses. A couple of respondents said that they

have everything here which in a way sums up lots of things. There was also a proud feeling amongst the

community members of owning the house. They were quite clear that with the incomes they have been

earning in their lives, a dream of self owned house would not have turned into reality without this project.

Also there was a feeling that their economic worth has improved because their house price has appreciated.

As one respondent observed, ' A self-owned house would not have been possible but for this project, value of

house has now reached Rs. 1-2 Lakhs'. There were also a satisfaction that this project that had given them a

feeling of township with proper roads, communication facilities like regular buses etc.

In the above section we had general responses from the people about the housing and the living environment

prevailing there. We would now focus on certain particular aspects of the housing project and the houses.

Pertaining to the location of the site itself, there were a large number of people who said that they were

satisfied with the location82. The location here does not here imply the distance from the city. It refers to

whether people thought an alternate location would have been better, physical aspects of the location for eg.

terrain of the area etc. People said that the site is located on a highway which increases the connectivity of

the site with other places. Similarly another view was that site is appropriate because historically the

Padmashaali people has been staying close to the present site area. One feeling was that the site is better

essentially because it is independent like a township and does not form part of the Kumbhari village. People

who said that they were dissatisfied with the location said that it was an inconvenient location and stayed

there because there was no alternative. Pertaining to the location of their houses in the project location, there

was also high satisfaction levels amongst the people83. Many respondents stated their satisfaction reason to

82 About 85 per cent of the people stated they were satisfied with the site location, 11per cent said they were dissatisfied and about 4 per cent were not very clear with their answers. 83 96 per cent of the respondents said that they were satisfied with their location of house

75be that their houses are closer to roads. Thus the layout of the project with wide access roads to houses has

impressed many people who earlier were forced to stay in narrow lanes where entry of even a small vehicle

would be difficult. One respondent did say that she was dissatisfied with the location as was under the

impression that she will be getting the house in front part of the project. She had not anticipated that such a

huge area is being acquired and she ended up getting a house which is quite on the interior side of the

project. She also feels that something was amiss as people who applied for houses late got it in the front

side whereas who were with the project from the beginning were given in the interior side. A high number of

people also registered satisfaction pertaining to size of the house84. Important observations came from people

which can be very useful. For example, one elderly respondent, 64, noted 'We are satisfied with the size and

there is also extra space given which we can use in future'. Another respondent noted ' We are satisfied with

the size of the house given for the time being, as or family grows we will have to think for the bigger house'.

For a few since the size of the houses was bigger than their original houses, they were satisfied. Some said

that since they have to stay in the same houses, they are left with no option but to be content with it. These

statements were more of remarks rather than signals of dissatisfaction hence I have treated them as satisfied.

People were also very satisfied with the number of rooms given85. People said that since they have space

outside their houses, they would utilize it when they feel the need. Apparently there was a clear indication

that people are aware that cost of the house is an issue and going forward they themselves would make

arrangements for the additional room. This also demonstrated lack of dependency of the people on the

project planners for the expansion of their houses. With regards to the quality of construction there were

some useful insights that came from the people. There did exist large number of people who said that they

are satisfied with the quality86. One respondent was very jubilant and said that she is very satisfied with the

quality of the house and if permitted they would buy another house also. Similarly another happy respondent

said that there are no cracks in the walls which confirms its quality. People who were dissatisfied said that

appropriate watering was not done during construction which is leading to cracks and repair work. Quality of

the material used was also doubted. The strength of the doors and the windows was also doubted and people

said that they are so weak that they may break in a single kick and thus making their houses susceptible to

robbery. It was also said that since the construction was done in phases, the houses constructed in first phase

are quite old now and also of poor quality.

Access to important services:

Besides the basic unit of housing, the related services for making the living in that area are equally

important. Hence it was essential to understand the satisfaction levels of the people for access to such

84 98 per cent of the respondents were satisfied with the size of the houses.85 93 per cent of the respondents were satisfied with the number of rooms given, 5per cent were dissatisfied and for 2

per cent data went missing86 84 per cent of the respondents said that they were satisfied with the quality. 14per cent were dissatisfied and for 2per

cent data went missing

76services. Because of the location of the project, transport plays a important role in the lives of people.

Therefore people's satisfaction levels with the distance from their house to bus stop was asked. Members

who said they were satisfied87 mostly said that the bus stop is close by only. Some said rickshaws exist so

they don't have to worry. Some said that now they are satisfied with the bus stop but they got the bus stop

near their place by fighting for it. Some said that bus stops are available where people want them to be. Some

said that the way buses ply they can see them going up and down the roads in different directions. Based on

this they can plan their timing to catch the bus. Some said that though a bus stop exist there is no bus stand.

There are challenges to the feasibility of such a thing but it is noted here as a member's view point. It was

also said that they are satisfied however they need to cover some distance every day to reach to the bus stop.

Also there was a view that they were satisfied keeping in mind that as community evolves such issues would

resolve with time. A respondent said that earlier there were problems with bus stops but now it is resolved.

Members who stated they are dissatisfied gave their reasons as follows. One respondent said that they have

to walk a distance of 1 Km to catch the bus. This is a difficult task especially in intense summer heat and

during rains. Another respondent said that bus stop is located at a distance of 1 & ½ k ms from their house.

Another reason was that the bus stop is not only located at a far off distance but access to it gets problematic

during monsoons because water gets accumulated in the area from where to have to pass. Another reason for

dissatisfaction was that bus does not come inside the lanes and because of that they have to walk large

distance to reach the bus stop. Another mode of expressing dissatisfaction was that people have to walk a

distance of 20-25 minutes for just reaching the bus stop. So by the time they reach to the factories they are

already tired.

People often come in contact with the government for various essential services. These services are like

municipality office, collector's office etc. Therefore it was necessary to gauge the satisfaction levels of the

people with the distance of such institutions from their new site. There was high level of dissatisfaction 88

amongst the people with the distance of administrative offices. The primary reason for dissatisfaction with

the distance was the fact that most of the administration offices are located in the city and people have to

travel large distance to the city when they need it. It was said that the distances are as long as 10-12 Km.

Cost of traveling are high. Multiple rickshaws have to be taken so besides cost, inconvenience is also

present. Even the police station does not exist locally. Similarly PDS shops are not present locally, people are

forced to go to city bring in ration. Lifting weights and bringing stuff to the area is a big problem. A

respondent stated that going to Solapur city and coming back is similar to going to far off place and coming

back, this place does not look like it is part of the city. Another respondent said that they manage their

government work by asking someone who does that kind of work regularly and pay him the fees. Reasons

for satisfaction were as follows. One member said that it is not a major issue for them. Others said that most

87 87 per cent of respondents said that they were satisfied with the distance to the bus stop whereas 13per cent were not88 73 per cent of respondents said they were not satisfied with the distance at which offices were located, 25per cent

were satisfied whereas 2per cent did not respond.

77of their work like birth, death registration happens in the local gram panchayat office only so they are

satisfied. It was also said that party activists do lots of such work for them so they are not worried. Local

party office of the communist part in that case acts an local office for people and the party takes care of lots

of such work. Another reason stated for satisfaction was that they don't have an option as they cannot fight

with institutions.

Health: Another important aspect that was used by the project planners was that house and the housing

conditions were responsible for many of the health issues faced by the people. Therefore it is imperative to

see to what extent has the project been able to respond to health risks and vulnerabilities of the people. The

indicators for the health conditions was the perceptions of the people about their past and present health

status. Many people said that after coming to the site, their health has improved. Most of the them attributed

this to the environment in the site. By atmosphere they meant clean air, water etc. Some people said that in

the earlier place they used to frequently go to the hospitals which they don't have to do it now. One

respondent aged 40 said that 'Health conditions were bad earlier but have improved now in the new site

because of the good air in the project site. Appetite has improved. Our acquaintances especially come to our

place to feel the fresh air'. Another respondent who was a senior citizen, 65, was equally happy with her

health and stated 'Earlier I used to take medicines for my health daily, now after coming here, health has

improved and have stopped taking medicines.' People were largely positive about their health or said that

there is no change. A respondent quite optimistic went on to claim on behalf of other community members

also that 'Nobody falls ill in the project site as air present here is good'. Some also said that in their earlier

settlements they faced problems of heat. This was mainly because of tin sheet covers used for the roofs,

however that is not the case now. Also people said that in the city they used to stay in crowded and

congested settlements but in the new site there is lot of fresh air, area is spacious, there is cleanliness and all

of these have positively affected their health. Similarly planned structures, better sanitation of the new site

were also attributed to good health in the new site. In the earlier settlements, problems of disease like malaria

were present which is absent here. One respondent stated 'Health has improved here, atmosphere here is

good, earlier there were problems because of congestion and drainage, children use to fall ill often'. It was

also said that in this area people are getting peaceful sleep after a hard day's work. There was a good number

of people who said that their health was good earlier and continues to be same and there is no change. Some

said that there health has deteriorated in the new settlements. One respondent stated that the new

environment has not suited well in their family and members are falling sick often. There were also some

interesting responses from people. People said that while problems of heat are not faced by the people in

their new homes, however because of the long distance, they are forced to travel in heat and which is

affecting their health negatively. Similarly even without heat also, traveling long distances every day alone

was resulting in poor health for many. Also a large number of people had stated that they were in good health

78earlier also and it continues to be the same even now. They do not see any marked difference in their health

conditions before and post resettlement89.

Besides the core housing, the project planners were also involved in some other important issues of

people. People themselves highlighted it. Many of them did not have BPL ration cards which has been

possible only after coming to the area90. This definitely seems to be a good thing to happen for the people as

they do belong to lower socio-economic strata and buying food from open market would put pressures on

their family budgets. I was told that this could be made possible because the Project Planners had pushed the

demand for the same with Maharashtra government. The demand was accepted by the government and

Nagpur Shram Sangatsthan issued a Government Resolution(GR) to the effect that all Beedi workers should

get BPL cards91. Even in the context of the current project, because of the efforts of the Project Planners,

many Beedi factories have started their operations in the area.

In the above section, the focus has been on the general housing conditions and people's perception about

them. In the coming section, I have arranged some pertinent issues in form of certain thematic areas for

proper understanding and representation of the issues. These thematic areas are livelihood, access to health

services, education, people's participation in housing. Each of these are critical in their own ways hence it

was necessary to understand the impact of the project and its impact over the people. The medium of data

gathering remained the same which is that community perception about issues.

Livelihood: Livelihood is one of the most important factor that determines the way people organize their

lives. People have always moved towards places that give them livelihood options. In case of my study also

it has been a pertinent issue. In case of the project site, the project planners had tried for space within the

city, however it had not worked. We can see that location of the project, because of its distance from the city

seem to have a major impact over the livelihood of the people. From very early in the project, there were

apprehensions raised about the project that it is far too away from the city and poor people may get

negatively affected because of going further from their livelihood sources. Lot of these concerns turned out

to be valid. Fearing the loss of livelihood options, more than half of the people who got allotment have not

moved in to their houses. Those of moved also are also not doing that well92.

Livelihood issues because of travel : Some Beedi factories have moved to the project site thereby helping

many Beedi workers to avoid the commute to the city. But this is not the case with all the factories and still

89 58 per cent of the people felt that their health has improved in the new settlement whereas 36per cent felt that there was no change. 6per cent of people felt that their health has detiorated.

90 75 per cent of respondents did have BPL cards91 This was told to me by a key respondent, however it has not been independently verified by me92 39 per cent of people said that their livelihood has improved whereas 38per cent of people said it has worsened. 23

per cent of the people said that there has been no change.

79many of them operate only out of their old factories in the city. This has caused lots of hardships for the

Beedi workers. For a return journey from the project site to the city factories it costs at least Rs. 14 and also

consumes two hours of their productive time. Rs. 14 is the minimum that people said they spent on

travelling. Some quoted Rs. 20 also. Furthermore the commute is not always simple as they are dependent on

the city buses and the six-seaters that operate between the city and the project site. The six-seater vehicles are

filled with more number of people than their capacities. Also they do not stop at any point in the project site

other than the final stop. The implications of this is that even if a Beedi worker's house is at the beginning of

the project site, she would not be able to get down there and the vehicle goes right up to the final stop and

thereby forcing those women to walk back a long distance. Travel related problems are not restricted to

travel from the project site to to the city. Even the intra-site travel is problematic. Distances within the

project being are so long that people are forced to use rickshaws for doing their work. There was also a

demand that Beedi factories coming to the project site alone would not help, the should move closer to place

where people live. A 38 year old respondent noted 'Beedi factories have arrived at the project site but I have

to take a rickshaw to reach to the factory which costs Rs. 8 for a return journey. Beedi factories should come

closer to home'. Importance of the remark made by the women can be realized by the fact that it is the same

women who told me that because of their poor financial conditions they buy Rice daily and cooking Oil

when required. While the incomes of Beedi workers may not have necessarily improved, they are forced to

shelve out money on these intra-site travels which only adds to their problems. The travel related costs are

only increasing vulnerabilities of such people. Project site itself is a huge area, spread across 450 acres, if

you happen to be on the one side of the project and your factory on the other, its presence in the site would

not be much use. The important aspect that needs consideration is that when these women were living in the

settlements of Solapur, they used to carry out their transactions easily as most of them stayed only at a

walking distance from their work place. These are the problems that the project planners did not foresee.

People had occupied the settlements of Solapur with a reason. They were closer to their work place. In the

resettled project there are potential for problems for both the workers who have to travel to city for their

work and those who have to cover large distances within the project site.

Livelihood issues for Men: Also while some care seem to have been taken for women's livelihood, nothing

seems to have been done about the men. If men, in the family are facing serious livelihood challenges, it is

bound to affect the whole family and the household. In the second chapter, I have focused on vulnerabilities

generated over a period of time for the community members. The death of the textile factories, movement of

workers from formal sector of economy to informal sector have all put pressures on the community. Some

Beedi factories have arrived to the project site, but none for men. While the loom industry in Solapur has

grown over the years, it has not helped the conditions of the workers and in fact they have worsened.

Business in looms is cyclical in nature. While there is lot of work in some seasons, there is slack in others.

80This results in irregular income. A 42 year old male respondent, illiterate towel(loom) worker noted

“Business is highly season in nature. Proper work is available only in about five months of the year. Months

of June and July are good as then school uniform work is also available”. The family quoted husband's

monthly income average only around Rs. 2000. Furthermore wages are calculated based upon on the piece

meal and not on the time scale method. Unless one completes his product, he would not be paid. Then there

are problems of load shedding because of which men have to spend many hours to complete a single piece of

cloth. Also there have been instances of looms getting shut down because of cotton pricing issue. In those

times family can only rely on the women's Beedi income. Men are facing multiple challenges. If we were to

re-construct a daily life situation of men working in looms staying in the project site. It may look as follows.

Assuming their work begins at 8 a.m in the morning, they will have to get up by around 6 a.m. If they travel

by cycle, assuming an average distance of 6 kilometers from their work place to their residence, the will have

to leave their houses by around 7-7:15 a.m. The would reach their factory and begin their work by around

8:00 a.m. For a eight hour shift they roughly aim to get Rs. 150/200 every day. However within the shift if a

three hour load shedding happens, say from 11 a.m to 2:00 p.m, he will have to reschedule his work and

stretch beyond the shift timings to finish his product so that he earns his daily wage. If he is unwilling to

stretch he will have to loose out on his wage. For the three hours, he will have to sit idle and it is bound to go

waste. Without any other problems, if he is able to finish his product he would ideally be free by 7:00 p.m,

Then again he will have to travel back 6 kilometers cycling. He would reach home by around 7:45 p.m to

8:00 p.m. While this may happen on a daily scale, seasonality of the business would further put pressures on

workers. During the slack season, they are out of work and this puts serious pressures on the family income.

The idea is not to present a pitiful picture of the men. Many of them are leading difficult lives and many

respondents in their conversations brought their plight in front. Also load shedding had created problems for

the state of Maharashtra and industry had suffered because of it. There are chances that such days may not

happen very often and business runs properly throughout the year. But the concern is the uncertainty that it

generates in the minds of the workers and the stress that it causes for those particular days. While the general

working conditions of the people are so bad, traveling from the project site to the factory has made their

conditions worse. There was also a strong feeling among the people that loom industries too should be

brought to the site as it will help reduce the men's woes. Men seemed to prefer cycle as means for their

transport. Their new houses in the project force them to cycle around 10-12 kilometers every day. This has

also resulted in other serious issues also in the area with men not willing to go to work because of distance as

result many families have come under economic pressures. I was told that as many as 25 men have stopped

working because of distance issues93. The relocation of the people and the subsequent increased distance

from the work place had many latent manifestations also. I was told that alcoholism had been a major issue

amongst men and continues to be so even now. Cycling in heat is also causing health issues to people. This

93 This was told to me by a respondent, this was not empirically checked and independently verified

81has resulted in lots of fight between the Beedi workers and their husbands. At least in one of the case, this

took a tragic turn. A 40 year old illiterate widow noted “The distance of work for men is too large. My

husband stopped going to work because of distance. He did not have good health and cycling large distances

was taxing for him. He wanted us go back to the city whereas I wanted to stay here. We used to fight a lot

over these issues. Finally we got separated. He died later because of poor health”. Furthermore, the number

of people out migrating from the resettlement area has the potential to act as one of the indicator of the stress

on the livelihoods of the people present in the area. However only 9 per cent of the respondents reported the

case of out migration. However this low percentage of out-migration cannot mask the major problem of

livelihood stress being suffered by the community. 55 per cent of the people have not occupied their own

houses even after five years of completion of houses fearing livelihood losses.

Positives in Livelihood options: There were a certain positives also in terms of livelihood issues of people

which also need highlighting. People did acknowledge that that things have improved in recent times with

many Beedi factories opening up their branches in the project site also. This shift of Beedi factories has been

possible because of efforts put by the Project Planners. A respondent noted 'Incomes have improved here

after coming to the area because of which my husband has been able to go back to studies' . Another

respondent equally positive said 'The conditions are better here because of which we have been able to work

harder and our incomes have increased'. With many people staying in the project, there is hustle-bustle of

people now. People have started expanding their businesses, one respondent said that earlier they only had a

cycle shop now they have a Kiryana shop also. One of the Beedi worker's husband, 36, stated that “After

coming to this area, besides our regular work, we have been able to start 'Mantap' work, it has been possible

here because of the additional space that we have got” The good thing was that that through his regular

loom work he was only able to earn Rs. 4000 and now with the help of business alone he is able to earn Rs.

5000 every month.

Similarly, rickshaw business has improved in the project site because of large number of people living in the

area now. The Beedi workers use rickshaw for going to measurement of their produce. It is also doing good

because within the site, distances are huge, it would not be possible for a person to cover long distances on

foot. However we need to be cautious here as what is helping the Rickshaw people, is hurting the Beedi

workers.

Access to health services: If we follow a social model of health94 approach to see the whole issue, very

interesting findings come out. Social determinants of health include access to important services like

hospitals, public health centres (PHCs). In the questionnaire itself there were questions pertaining to

satisfaction levels of the people about access to hospitals and phcs. A high number of people were highly

94 The social model of health recognises the effect of social, economic, cultural and political factors and conditions on health. Accessed online at http://www.vha.org.au

82dissatisfied about this aspect of the project. A major reason for the dissatisfaction amongst the community

members was the absence of the government hospital at the project site. The government civil hospital is

located in the city which is at a considerable distance from the current place95. The distance affected different

people in different ways. There was a major concern highlighted by people regarding emergencies. A forty

year old respondent noted 'Distance is long, there are chances of casualties happening because of it. Also

people have had heart attacks in the area and it was a big problem to shift the patients to the hospital on

time'. Some respondents said that hospital is at a distance of 13-14 Km while others said it to be at 10-12

Kilometers. Long distances to reach to hospital are bound to affect large number of people. However it may

have differential impact over different sections of the population. Elderly patients who need regular visits to

hospital would find the distance more difficult than others. Similarly chronic patients would also suffer.

Perhaps the biggest problem would be faced by the people with disabilities(PWDs). Response from 30 year

old women sums up the problem quite precisely. 'I suffered a fracture in my leg which forced me to visit the

government hospital frequently. But because of the distance I had a tormenting experience traveling so

often'. While the problem of the women would have resolved after the fracture got corrected, the problems of

PWDs for whom our societal environment are not very conducive can become doubly challenging. People

said that because of the distance to the hospital is so large that traveling expenses exceed the treatment

expenses. There was a dissatisfaction both because of the time lost as well as the cost of the transport.

Another issue was that during the night time, there are no vehicles like buses or other forms of transport

present in the area . This issue is also related to another problem faced by the people in the area which is

absence of maternity care/hospital in the area. This had lead to problems in the past and many respondents

had highlighted this problem. It is also doubtful whether midwives(traditional Dais) who usually are present

and carry out deliveries in slum areas would have been present in the new settlement. Thus the arrangement

that could have existed earlier seems to be absent here. There are no ambulances available and the

Communist Party vehicle, a truck, is used to transfer delivery or other emergency cases. A common problem

can have different meanings for different people. A 41 year old respondent stated, “Delivery of my daughter

happened in the civil hospital, I had to travel multiple times in a day to be with her. It was taxing for me to

travel so often”. People said that though the VIMA(labour hospital) come and distribute medicines in the

area, it is not satisfactory and a hospital is required in the area. Distance from hospital is forcing people to go

to private doctors. Private doctors charge Rs. 20 per visit. A respondent said that they would prefer going to

the government hospital if it was closer. Few respondents calculated the distance in time and said that it takes

at least an hour to one and half hour to reach hospital which is a major worry in case of emergencies and in

delivery cases. There are small clinics present in the area but there is no admission/bed capacity present, so if

any admission has to happen, people have to take patients to city only. It was also said for a single day trip to

hospital Rs. 100 is spent. People sited helplessness and said that they do not have an option but to travel to

95 84 per cent of people said that they were dissatisfied with the distance of the hospital from the project site while the remaining 16 per cent said that they are satisfied.

83city. There is also a security angle that is present. A 36 year old respondent said 'When I stayed in Solapur

then also we had to spend money to go to hospital, however because of the distance now I have to constantly

think of returning home before it gets late'. I was told that apart from the civil hospital present in the city of

Solapur, the government hospital present in the nearby Kumbhari village is also far so it does not help .

Furthermore, I had seen a big private hospital near the project area but it was told to me that it is beyond the

reach of the people staying here. A hundred bed labour hospital has been proposed for the site. However it

has been five years since the project was inaugurated but the hospital is still not in sight. Food intake of

people and nutritional status of people have a bearing on people's health. So while the people are satisfied

that many of them have got the BPL cards, the issue that is more plaguing is that there are no PDS shops in

the project. People have to bring their supplies from the city which again is a very taxing task. The sad thing

is that this situation exists even after five years of project completion.

Education: There was a clear sense that people realized the importance of education and wanted their

children to study well. One of the person, I met very clearly stated that, people do not want their kids also do

beed work. Also perhaps, education is the only way through which children of these workers can aspire for a

better life. Therefore it is important to understand the current status of schooling in the area as well as during

the transition phase when the families were resettling from Solapur. In understanding the current status of

schooling, availability of schools in the area which people prefer therefore becomes important. In absence of

proper schooling nearby there are chances that schooling of the children may get disrupted.

In terms of availability of schools, many respondents were happy with it96. It was told that schools were

constructed immediately as soon as people arrived to stay in this place. Some said that they are happy that

both Marathi and Urdu medium schools are present. But issues existed that needs highlighting. Some people

said that higher education is not available within the site and people have to go out for it. There was some

discrepancy in here as some people said that schools are available only up to 7 th standard and some said it is

available up to 10th standard. I was unable to clarify the actual situation. However many respondents

demanded presence of schools up to 10th standard. A couple of respondents said that while school up to 10 th

standard exists for Marathi medium, it does not for Urdu medium. However beyond 10 th standard students

had definitely to go to Solapur for higher studies. One of the respondent stated that access to school becomes

difficult during monsoons and it affects schooling of kids.

It is clear that schooling being such an important subject it should have been handled very sensitively. I came

across many families where education actually disrupted for children or is at the verge of being so. In a

family I met, husband worked as loom worker and wife as Beedi worker. Their eldest son, now 16 left school

because then the distance to school was too large. When I met this family, son had just begun to work in a

small time unit at a wage of Rs.1500 per month. In the same family, the daughter who was in 9 th standard

96 82per cent of respondents were happy with the distance from school where most children went. 18per cent were not.

84was in a difficult situation. There was no schooling for 10th standard education for Urdu medium. Parents are

in two minds whether to send their daughter to city for 10th standard or not. Youngest daughter, 11, hopefully

should not have to face the situation. In another similar case a 14 year old girl child left school as there was

no high school present when they came. There was another interesting case where daughter had already

completed her graduation and presently worked in a non-governmental organization. She wants to pursue

further studies but distance is acting as a hindrance. I came across another family where the girl child was

pursuing her education but son had left schooling and now works in a Garage. The reason for him to drop out

of school were many. It included poor financial conditions of family and need to supplement income and also

distance to school being large was amongst them. These are the problems that should have been taken care

off. In the project site, you had to bring schools to the site, whereas in the city, they already existed. In fact

an mechanism should have been established where disruption of schools during transition should have been

checked and corrective measures taken. Also same applies to the current situation of schools. Urgent

measures should be taken to ensure that children do not loose out on schooling. It is only through proper

education that these families can break the vicious cycle of poverty and get upward mobility in life.

People's Participation in the Project: It is clear that people participation in the problem identification and

at project planning level was missing. However project planners have presented a picture that, community

participation was an important element of the project building exercise. It was stated that this participation

was not limited to organizing people for demanding houses but also in seeking advice and listening to voices

of people in the designing of houses and its construction. So what kind of role did the community play in the

entire process. Were they active participants or were forced to be passive onlookers? This is primarily

because the community has been the one of major stakeholder in the entire project. Beedi workers have been

the central focus of the entire project. As discussed in the third chapter also, It is clearly visible that people

did participate in the struggle to get their houses. The demand for the houses took almost the shape of a

social movement. Also the way the project proceeded from conceptualization phase to its completion, it

seems to have taken the shape of social change. Social change is the transformation of culture and social

organisation/structure over time97. Furthermore before proceeding further, It is necessary that we have

conceptual clarity on what community participation means. The concept has been used in many different

contexts and with many different meanings98. There are two ways through which we can see this

participation. One in the form of participation in project related aspects which would mean an approach

which is more sensitive to people's issues and demands. It is like steps taken within the project management

to ensure that community's needs, views are heard and taken care off. The second way of community

participation is in the sense of weaker section of the society organizing themselves and fighting for their

97 Social Change Introduction, What causes Social Change accessed online at http://worldanimal.net/documents/2_Social_Change_Introduction.pdf

98 White(1996), Gardner and Lewis(1996) cited in Andharia, J. (2004) Disaster Risk Reduction through Development Orientation in Disaster Management: Significance of People's Participation in India pp 327-352

85rights and demand for change. The second way is more focused on the larger issue of power structures in the

society whereas the first way focuses more on the operational aspects of the project outcome. I have only

focused on the first aspect of participation here. The way community perceives about the participatory

exercise in the context of the project is mentioned in the following sections. A section of the people said that

they are satisfied as they were consulted in the designing and construction of houses. A respondent noted

'Earlier we were sceptical about the whole project, but then we were systematically shown the sample house,

we gained trust after this and booked the house'. People were also shown model houses, project maps to

make them understand about the houses. They were especially taken in trucks to the farmhouse of the

developer to show the model houses and the maps. People wanted houses with slabs and it was provided to

them. Another important element for the reasons for satisfaction was that people were allotted houses based

on the lottery system thus protecting them against any form of manipulation. There were people who said

that not only their views sought but were respected as well. There was a segment of the population who said

that seeking participation from the people is not a major issue, they are happy with what they have received

and have no complaints. One respondent stated 'In a 25000 rupees house, you can't expect many things, we

are happy with what we have received'. There was a significant section of the people who could not

comprehend what the concept of seeking participation from them meant99. One respondent stated 'Neither we

were asked anything, nor we told anything pertaining to houses.' It is here I doubt whether an opportunity to

make the process of building houses truly in a participatory manner was missed. Just showing model houses

and taking a few suggestions from the people actually limits of the people's capabilities which otherwise

could have been utilized to the core. In case of our project, one developer constructed 10000 identical

houses. Perhaps it made sense to the project planners that a professional agency is involved in construction

of houses. As applicable elsewhere, in the project also design and technical expertise was brought from

outside the community. At a given time 1200 hundred workers were working on the project. Most of these

workers had come from outside and were stationed in temporary shelters. This approach is also chosen

because it allows faster and easier construction of houses with standard specifications. In disaster housing

rehabilitation projects, there has been criticism of this approach that such constructions may not be sensitive

to local needs of the people. For example even in case of our project we can see the issue. There is a huge

section of Muslim Beedi workers in the project. One of my respondent said that it would have been better if

some more sensitivity was shown in construction and design of houses. Furthermore all houses look the same

and customized houses for different people is not possible. As an alternative to this, owner driven

reconstruction(ODR) approach has been gaining significance. In India itself there are instances of this

approach being used after Gujarat earthquake, Tsunami and Kosi floods. The advantage of ODR approach is

that it has potential to ensure that community plays an active role in construction of their own houses.

Expertise is generally provided by the external agency but people can channelize the same to suit their needs

99 36 per cent of respondents were non perceptive of the issue and 56per cent said they were satisfied with the approach.

86based upon their family size, socio-cultural requirements. In the context of my project, this approach could

have given people of an opportunity to customize their own house with their own style and thereby giving

the entire housing site an organic look rather than a look of erected box shaped houses. Also involvement in

construction does not mean that people construct their houses brick by brick but implies that people have

larger control over the construction. As discussed earlier also, men in the community have non regular and

seasonal work. They could have utilized their times in constructing their own houses or supervising the

construction. In fact,the whole exercise could have been used as an opportunity to enhance skills of the

people so that they become more resilient to the shocks that they do face often. Also in the project a cluster

pattern of four houses in one cluster has been followed. Because of this there is very limited room left for

any form of expansion or 'top-up' for houses. Perhaps ODR approach could have given chance to people to

think through these issues before constructing houses. Important element is that thinking of meaningful

participation from the people in development projects has been in existence from long. Even in case of

rehabilitation of Latur earthquake victims to new housing locations, the method was said to be used.

However it Latur's case, whether the housing rehabilitation was meaningfully participative has been

contested. However according to one study, in case of Gujarat earthquake, this participation seem to have

worked fine with satisfaction and occupancy levels being high100. This may sound non-feasible in many

aspects. However the Gujarat government's experience after the 2001 earthquake shows that it is possible to

embark on such ambitious projects and deliver it with success. More than 197000 (about 87per cent) of the

destroyed houses were built with this approach. Also, it has also been observed that occupancy rates tend to

be higher in case of houses built by their owners. Thus when we see that there were instances of this form

more inclusive construction practice why was it not followed? Possibly lack of resources, imagination and

thorough study from the Project Planners side prevented them from going for this approach. Outsourcing to

the contractor ensured that houses were built smoothly but an opportunity was lost in making the whole

effort more participative. The idea here is not to say that ODR approach is the only and the best way to go

for construction. There are limitations to this approach as well. Owner driven housing has the limitation that

it many not work in areas where people may be too involved with their livelihood issues that they may find it

difficult to engage in a proper way in the entire exercise. For example there are chances that with existing

work related stresses, people could have found it difficult to systematically take care of the construction of

their houses. What could have worked in rural areas of Gujarat and Bihar may not necessarily work in an

urban set up of Solapur. Similarly people not having any past experience in such initiatives could be a

hindrance to the success of projects. It is clear that context is more important in choosing any of the

approaches and we should go with what best suits in the given local circumstances. The reason then for

highlighting the issue of alternative approach is that project has presented itself and to large extent is centred

around empowerment of people and has taken form of a social movement. Perhaps in the future projects,

100 Barenstein, J 2006. Housing reconstruction in post earthquake Gujarat. A comparative analysis, Humanitarian Practice Network, ODI London.

87albeit, at a smaller scale ODR can be tested and replicated if successful.

Financial conditions: We have looked at the people's response towards the housing and other conditions.

We have also highlighted certain problematic areas in the project that needs urgent attention. It is important

that we know the financial conditions of the people. It would help in contextualizing the community in terms

of their economic status. Financial conditions of people are a good indicator of their life conditions. I did

take information from the households pertaining to their incomes and expenditure. The general trend of

people working was that of men worked in looms, drove rickshaws and did small time jobs whereas women

mostly worked on Beedi. None of the respondents got any income from the farm in Solapur or their native

place. This can be largely be understood by the fact that the community's livelihood has now become urban

and skill based. With regards to financial status of the people, the fact that community members are largely

poor was only reinforced101. Similarly people said that they do not have any additional earnings from

instruments like rent, interest etc102. Another way of assessing people's income and savings pattern is to see if

they have been able to make savings. Savings would be possible only if the family is able to fend for their

daily requirements satisfactorily. Majority of people said that they have not been able to make savings in last

one year103. Many people did not comment on why they are unable to make savings. Few reasons are

mentioned here. It was said that savings are difficult as their incomes are lower and in fact they are getting

under loan because of the inflation issues. Furthermore, caste also had a role to play in savings and expenses.

A respondent, 45, stated “ There are lots of rituals that exist in padmashaali caste, because of which we

have to make expenses hence unable to make savings”. As mentioned in the second chapter, padmashaalis

consider themselves as 'Padma-Bhramins' and therefore there is stress on lot of rituals. Another important

insight point mentioned was that there is a constant jugglery between the earnings and loans. You take loans

and then repay them and the cycle continues. Because of this there is no scope for savings. A 30 year old

respondent said that “Whatever savings people are able to make, it is spent on travelling only”. Few families

who had stated that they have been able to make savings did not elaborate further on its reasons whereas one

respondent said that savings are happening but in small amounts. Another respondent stated that because of

savings they have been able to buy a plot. Similarly another family said that they have been able to expand

their current house because of the savings. Also it was said that because of the savings happening, they are

investing in improving their lifestyle by spending on education, buying the necessary things which otherwise

would have been not possible. I had also asked people about any dis-saving that they had to make in last one

101A huge percentage of people fall in the income category of between Rs.3000 to 8000. They account for 58.88 per cent of the total respondents. People below this level account for 8.88 per cent whereas 15.54 per cent fall above this category.

102 93.33per cent of respondents said that they do not have any additional earnings and remaining 6.33 per cent were receiving money in the form of pensions

103 84.44 per cent of respondents said that they were not able to make savings and remaining 15.55 per cent said they could.

88year. Dis-Saving here has been used as an occasion where people had to break in savings they had made

earlier. It should be noted that since the community largely belongs to lower income category, any event with

major expenses can put the family under further poverty. There was a good number of people who had dis-

saved in last one year104. Marriage and health care expenses were the major reasons for the dis-saving in the

families105. In terms of marriage people said that not just dis-savings even loans had to be taken for which

they continue to pay interest. Health care expenses were another major reason for dis-saving. In this category

events like fracture, accidents are also included. The health care expenses ranged from few thousand rupees

to lakhs of rupees. Another interesting reason that came out was that money was spent on puja, festivals,

guests etc. Family responsibilities were also a burden. Similarly deaths in family were a cause for dis-saving.

Some people stated that they did not have anything to dis-save as such hence they directly seek loans. In one

case the respondent directly blamed the distance of the their housing from the hospital for the dis-saving.

The delivery of the daughter got delayed because of the distance and because of which they had to spend

twenty thousand rupees in the hospital.

If we compare the total income of the people with the total expenditure, it is clear that expenditures exceed

income. This can partially be taken as the causal factor for the chronic debt which the respondents spoke

about. However it appeared that the respondents tended to inflate the expenditure costs to stress that they are

part of a poorer section of the society and they are living a miserable life. Many people have adapted

different mechanisms to conserve their expenditures. For example, some people travel outside only when

necessary and some have curtailed expenditure in general to save money.

Analysis: In the above section, we have seen whether people are happy with what was offered to them for

improving their housing conditions. It is clear that there is high levels of satisfaction for lot of people with

regards to these condition. However we have also seen some problematic issues that have arose, I have

mentioned them separately as thematic areas. Broadly within these two sections above lies the answer

whether the project planners have been able to achieve what they aimed for. This needs to be looked in via

two aspects. One is through the lenses of people who have moved to the site and others who have not. For

the 55 per cent of the people, who have not moved to the new houses, it is clear that housing project has not

helped them so far in improving their housing and life conditions. They are forced to continue to live in the

same slums where they have been staying. A solution was offered to them to improve their conditions which

they accepted however it does not have the literal meaning to them as they cannot use their houses. If they

move to the new houses, their housing concerns may get resolved but complicate other important things in

life. The second aspect is about the people who moved to the new houses. They appeared to be happy with

lot of conditions prevailing in the new houses. However in return of what they got, they are being forced to

104 57.77per cent of respondents said that they had to dis-save in last one year whereas 42.22 per cent did not have to.

105 30.79per cent respondents cited marriage as major reason for dis-saving and equal number of people cited health care.

89pay in other forms. For example, proper house, hygienic conditions have resulted in good health of people

but lack of access to hospital has added severe strain on these people. Similarly while school buildings stand

in the project site, due to one reason or the other, many students of the area are facing problems with

schooling and education. Livelihood seems to be negatively impacted, especially for men. A self-owned

pucca house with proper housing conditions would not help if people are facing problems in earning their

regular incomes. The project planners seem to achieve what they aspired for. However their aspiration itself

was not holistic and their means of achieving their aim has created new challenges in the lives of people.

The major problem that seems to have caused the problem for the project to be successful has been the

improper handling of the resettlement issues by the project planners. We have discussed about the slum

rehabilitation/resettlement issues in the previous chapters. “Slums are an integral part of urban areas and

contribute significantly to their economy both through their labour market contributions and informal

production activities”106. Thus if slums relocation happens it has two disadvantages. Firstly people are are

forced to move away from their livelihood sources and the city economy looses out on the productive

contributions made by them. This was perhaps what was missed out by the project planners. Rather than

focusing on integration, a segregation approach was followed. People from slums of Solapur were

segregated, being a Beedi worker was the unit for this segregation from others, and were given houses at a

different location. It was clearly noticed that people organize their life in such a way that they live closer to

the place they find work. It was seen in cases of slum relocation elsewhere that if people are shifted away

from their places of work to distant suburbs, they would leave their new houses and come back to their

original settlements. Important reason was the relation that exists between where people organize their living

settlements and the places where they get work107. In our case, we see people not willing to move to the

distant suburb of the city in the first place. Another important element that was missed by the project

planners was that they did not recognize or encourage enterprising abilities of the people living in slums. In a

way top down approach was followed. Also it appears that project planners reflected the old mindset that had

occupied urban planners in our country for a long time. They looked up to slums only as problems. Slums

can in fact be seen as a manifestation of people's enterprising abilities through which they solve their housing

problems on their own within the limited resources they have. This is the organic growth pattern of cities

which we see in India. Western model of planned cities in a linear manner does not actually fit into the

Indian context. Slums relocation can almost take the shape of taking people away from their organic way of

organizing lives. There is excessive literature available which has seen relocation of communities in the

context of forced displacement. However the central concept of his findings focused on resettlement issues

after displacement and can be related to our study area. Cernea(1999)xxx had identified eight potential risks

associated with displacement. It was more in relation to development induced (forced) displacement of

106 National Slum policy draft 2001 pp1107 Sharma, K(2000) Rediscovering Dharavi, Penguin Books New Delhi

90people. These risks are Landlessness, Joblessness, Homelessness, Marginalisation, Food insecurity,

Increased Morbidity and Mortality, Loss of access to Common Property, Social Disintegration. Landlessness

and Joblessness, both are intrinsically related to livelihood issues. There is a risk of loss of established

commercial systems and livelihood patterns. Furthermore, it is seen that because of the resettlement, people

may not only loose established livelihood options but also may be forced to stay away from their

communities and also loose their traditional way of life. Cernea defines marginalisation occurrence as 'when

families lose economic power and spiral downwards'. Also marginalisation is not limited to economic factor

alone but also relates to social and psychological marginalisation. Therefore in the current slum development

discourse, in-situ upgradation of slums is the preferred mode of solving the issues.

Transition of Vulnerability: We would now apply and see how the above mentioned concepts fit in to our

case study. With regards to vulnerability the focus would be on all forms like the physical, social, economical

and environmental vulnerabilities. However economic vulnerability would be the most important focus. As

discussed in the third chapter also, communities are never homogeneous. In terms of occupation itself we can

see that Beedi worker's husbands were not one classification of loom workers. There were multiple

professions that people had. Thus from the original list of 10000 people who got houses, three categories of

people emerge. First set of people are the ones who preferred to maintain status quo with regards to their

housing. They continue to remain in slums of Solapur. They are perhaps the biggest in number approximately

5500 people. Maintaining statusquo does not however mean that it is a neutral approach. Based upon their

life conditions, they have made a conscious choice of not to relocate. We can say if all other conditions

remain the same, their risks and vulnerabilities continue to be same or slightly increase compared to what it

would have been without the execution of the project. The rise could be attributed to the fact that they are not

occupying their houses in which they had invested. Rs. 15000 was invested from their Provident Fund

Scheme. Some people have given these houses on rents. For many people there houses seem to have taken

shape of dead investments at least for the time being. They cannot sell their houses before a stipulated period

of time. Second set of people are the ones who saw a positive development in their lives because of the

project. These are the people for whom we can say that their risks and vulnerabilities have gone down after

coming to the area. These are the people who have expanded their businesses after coming to the area. Not

just in economic sense of things, this set of people includes all those who are content here and see the project

as a boon to them. They see clearly felt the need for proper housing and they got houses which otherwise

they could have found difficult to achieve in their life times. One of the families I met, everything seem to

have gone well with their family. Husband was a rickshaw driver and he is doing good business owing to

usage of rickshaw by Beedi workers for their work related transactions. Lack of tree cover in the area forces

people to use rickshaw. His wife is happy because the Beedi factory for which she works has moved to the

project area. They used to stay on rent earlier and now they have their own house. Similarly various

91problems related to housing like water, toilets etc. have got resolved in the new area. There was another

family whose financial conditions further got improved after coming to the location. Currently there are three

earning members in the family. The mother, a widow aged 70, has got the house. Her son earns quite well in

the garage business. His mother and wife both do Beedi work. The wife is also involved with an NGO and

does advice related work on government schemes. She is able to contribute Rs. 2000 every month with this

kind of work alone. The overall income of the family goes beyond Rs. 15000 for the family. Such families

have moved positively in their lives after coming to the project. But an important point that is noticeable is

that when I met the family, it was clear that the daughter in law had clear leadership qualities and knew how

to move ahead in life. In that sense the family was well placed anyway. They could use the housing project as

an opportunity for growth and in a way succeeded. But this is not possible for everyone in a community. Any

development exercise cannot impact people in same ways. Your overall position in the society plays a major

role in terms of things affecting you. I came across many such families who are facing risks of

impoverishment. These are the people whose vulnerability has risen significantly and efforts are not taken to

address them, they can further spiral downwards. Each such family can be a case study in itself. One of the

family I met, there were multiple indicators of stress on the family. In the family, husband worked in looms

and women on Beedi. They stated that their family income is only Rs. 2500. Husband's income had gone

down because of the distance increase from work. Also travelling was affecting his health. They had to force

their daughter to leave school and work on Beedi. On top of it after coming to the site, their house was

robbed twice. In the women's words, “We are devastated after coming here”. Robbery related complaints

were made by other people also. The entire family seems to be in stress now, and sooner if condition do not

improve, their stresses would only increase. Shocks have potential to push people downwards. One person

directly blamed the distance of the housing project from the civil hospital for her facing to spend Rs. 20000

on her daughter's delivery expenses.

There was another family which had its own issues. Both the husband and wife's total income was mentioned

as Rs. 3200. Husband is a PWD. The women said that travel expenses are hurting our incomes. This was also

a good example of how problems transcend from one situation to another. In the earlier settlement, they used

to face problems related to heat. In the new settlements while that problem is resolved, they are forced to

travel in heat because of the distance from their work place. This is again affecting their health. The elderlies

had their own share or problems after resettlement. In a family, only an elderly couple were staying.

Husband, 62, worked for part-time in a loom whereas wife also worked as part-time Beedi worker. They

stated their incomes as in all around Rs. 1600. While they were happy with the fact that they owned the

house, they were facing problems because of distance from work. They stated that their incomes have gone

down. In the absence of any other preventive mechanism for the people, the couple face the grave risk of

impoverishment. Another senior couple were placed in vulnerable position. Husband, 65 and wife, 60 both

are retired people. Wife complained that there are no alternative livelihood position available here. In her

92words “ In city we could have thought of a small petty shop but here it is not possible”. She was also very

critical of the project and said that “Earlier Zilla Parishad had given houses to people in which some people

got some people did not, If we had received that house, we would have never preferred to come to this

place”. The family said they did not have any current income but seem to avoid answering of how did they

manage then. The couple have their daughter staying in Mumbai and they go there often. Then I have already

spoken about the lack of proper education facilities is affecting children of the project site. This has potential

to have vulnerability in a temporal scale. Education once disrupted, will have long term implications on the

lives of these people in years to come.

In this chapter, we have seen the responses from the people pertaining to the project and the overall impact of

the project over them. While it has positively affected a few, it has negatively others. While it has reduced

the risks and vulnerabilities of a few, it has aggravated it for others. Irrespective of the noble intention of the

project planners, if the problems are not properly identified and project not executed properly, it is bound to

create problems for the people. While a section of such people are able to withstand negative developments

in their lives owing to their coping capacities, many others cannot. It is this section of the population that we

often refer to as vulnerable sections of the population, is at more risk because of the project outcome. If

adequate measures are not taken immediately, things can to become worse. The project planners failed to

assess the risk hence many people are facing problems now. Participatory planning in real sense of terms

could have averted this problem and creatively brought newer ways to not only solve the problems of the

people but in the process empower them. The project seems to have failed on both these accounts.

93Chapter 5

Conclusion-Summary and Recommendations

Through this research project, I have tried to explore and analyse the various components of vulnerabilities

and their manifestations with the help of the case study of Beedi workers housing project in Solapur. In this

chapter my aim is to summarize the findings of my study to the key questions that I had asked during the

research process. This chapter would also be an opportunity for me to reflect back on the entire study to see

whether I have been able to achieve the goals that I had set our for. Furthermore, through this chapter, I

would be able to integrate the findings that in a way were spread in all the first four chapters of my study.

Based on this assessment, I wish to propose a few recommendations for the project planners and for the

people who aim to carry out such projects in future.

I begin this chapter by giving a brief introduction to the study and conceptualization of disaster. Post this I

would summarize answers from the chapters to the various key questions that I had raised.

Aim of the study: The central aim of my entire study was to study and understand the Beedi workers

housing project. It was an exploration from my side to see and understand the model used, the processes

through which the project was done, the project as a final outcome and its impact over the people. What

perhaps had attracted me to the study was the 'Solution Centric' approach of the project. We had a housing

project which was formed by organzing women Beedi workers who stayed in slums and largely belonged to

below the poverty line(BPL) category. These women along with their families were staying in unhygienic

conditions which was affecting their health. It appeared in this approach, a rights based approach rather than

a charity based approach was followed. People and government both made contributions for the financing of

the project. Also the significance of the project was that it was presented as a low cost mass housing model

for poor people. Furthermore, the workers could only get their houses after lot of struggle. Direct linkage of

the project with disaster management can be drawn from the fact that people living in slums are at more risk

of disasters when hazards strike. Furthermore vulnerability analysis in countries like India, should have

development-disaster linkages for proper efforts in the field of disaster management. Understanding the risks

and the vulnerabilities of the Beedi workers staying in slums and the impact of the housing project on them

became an central topic of my study. Proper housing has the potential to act as a risk reduction measure.

Conceptualization of the Disasters: Important reason for me to focus on the conceptualization was the fact

that while lot of progress seem to have been made in the academic discpline of understanding disasters, same

is still not reflected in the mindsets of the planners occupying important positions. My aim through this

section was to reinforce the understanding of disasters in the current context and its significance to its

94management. In the current times, disasters are not just understood as natural events but a complex product

of interactions of natural events and human vulnerabilities. I have also highlighted the problems faced in

disaster management because of the technocentric approach that was followed and in certain ways is even

now often pushed for. In the technocentric approach, humans are completely ignored and blame is

completely put on the natural events. Hewitt (1983) had explaned this approach which relies excessively on

natural science and engineering methods to control the nature. For example in this approach, for an urban

flooding situation, focus of the planners to manage floods would be on heavy engineering machines which

are used to dredge out silt and waste from the nallahs and river so that water during the rains flows smoothly.

In this approach, problems of people are not understood hence solutions through this approach cannot be

expected to be holistic. As an alternate to this view of thinking emerged a framework which sees disasters

not as outcome of natural events happening outside society but as social outcomes because of internal

reasons. Here disasters are not seen as events but as a process. It takes the form of chronic disaster. Conflicts,

governance issues have all been the cause for disasters to emerge. Malnutrition related deaths of kids in

many parts of our country are blamed upon infectious diseases. Though it is the infection that kills,

undelying cause for the mortality is the poor nutritional status of kids. These are the examples of chronic

disasters. When I look at the Beedi workers of my study, I do sense that they seem to be going through this

form of chronic disaster. Biggest disaster is the one that they face every day in their lives and that is poverty.

Their everyday situation resembles to that of a disaster situation. However this situation is largely an

outcome of politico-socio-economic processes rather than any natural hazard. The understanding of disasters

then seems to have taken a middle path which tends to see the role of both the natural events as well as social

outcomes in terms of understanding disasters. Stallings (1998) supports this form of understanding. Also

development in natural sciences also has helped in prevention of loss of lives in disasters like cyclone. The

way I see in case of the community is that they are living under difficult conditions in the first place and

when if natural hazard stikes them, it would only accentuate their conditions.

Generation of Vulnerabilities: The prinicipal aim of the second chapter was to answer the following

question. How have the vulnerabilities been generated for the community over a period of time and how do

they manifest themselves in current times? A brief answer to this question is that We have been able to see

how the vulnerabilities for the Beedi workers is transversal in nature and have been generated over a period

of time by complex politico-socio-economic processes.

A large number of Beedi workers belong to the Padmashaali caste. This caste falls in Other Backward Caste

(OBC)category. Their caste has played a major role in the evolution of the community. A large number of

people from this caste hail from the Telangana region of Andra Pradesh. The caste is associated with cloth

weaving. The migration of the community from Telangana is said to be started from 1870s. The famine of

1870 was a major event when many people migrated to Solapur. Migration however was not a one time event

95but has been spread over a long period of time. There have been multiple pressures that have pushed the

community to migrate from their native places. The highly oppressive feudal system prevailing in the region

has been one of the reason. Understanding governance system prevailing in Telangana region was necessary.

The region largely remained in the hands of the Nizam whereas other areas of Andra Pradesh were under th

rule of the Britishers. This has had a impact on the politics of the region. In the British governed parts some

political rights were told to be given whereas they were missing from the Telangana region. Landed caste

formed the base of the rule of Nizam and it took highly oppressive form. Political oppression for the

Padmashaali people thus formed one of the reasons for their migration to Solapur. Another reason for their

migration was the collapse of Indian cottage industry of which community was a part. The collapse was an

outcome of the large scale production means chosen in Britain in times of Industrial revolution. This brought

community to cities like Solapur. Solapur, then was one of the growing cities and was industrializing at a fast

pace. People started working in looms of the city and at textile units at a later stage Solapur gave the

community not only protection from oppression but also economic opportunities for their survival and

growth. Cloth generation activities over a period of time have moved from textile companies to small scale

units. With this the workers who had some form of social protection in the textile units also tapered off.

Technological advancements, competition and government policies have all contributed for workers to

remain in the informal sector of the economy. Because of the poor financial conditions of the families,

women in the households started working on the Beedi work. Many of the families rely only on the women's

income when there is no work in the looms. In the PAR model discussed in the first chapter and which would

be discussed again in coming sections, the factors discussed above fall in the category of root causes and also

the dynamic pressures. In terms of the caste, the community falls under the 'shudras' which is at the bottom

in the hierarchy of the ancient varna system. This location has a role to play in generation of vulnerabilities.

After this we modernization that happened with the arrival of the Britishers in India. For their revenue

generation, they encouraged a feudal system in India, which resulted in oppression from the landed caste on

the backward caste people. Post this mechanical production of cloth after the industrial revolution lead to

displacement of the community from their traditional occupation. This was a dyanamic pressure in those

times and in current times also we see such pressures where to remain competitive in the market, to keep the

costs down, workers are forced to work in low wages in dangerous conditions and without any form of

physical or social security.

Also while talking about the generation of vulnerabilities, we should be clear that an attempt is not being

made to show a pitiful picture of the community. Definition of Wisner et.al fits in quite properly in the

context of my study. They define vulnerability as “The characteristics of a person or group and their situation

that influence their capacity to anticipate, cope with resist and recover from the impact of a natural hazard(an

extreme natural event or process). It involves a combination of factors that determine the degree to which

96someone's life, livelihood, property and other assets are put at risk by a discrete and identifiable event(or

series of 'cascade' of such events) in nature and in society”. The good thing about this definition is that it

does not treat vulnerabilities only as susceptibility to harmful things. It also speaks about the strengths and

capacities that do exist with people to handle their situation. It can be seen that Beedi workers and their

families are not someone in need of help of others. They are playing an active role in their lives to reduce

their vulnerabilities. Migration of people of Padmashaalis from the Telangana region to Solapur, working

hard and making an impact over the city and their lives are also symbols of their capacities. Similarly, people

have participated productively for their own houses in the project. They have made contributions even from

their Provident Fund schemes.

A section of the people have progressed and made the transition from workers to loom owners and also in

other vocations. A large number of people however have remained workers. It is this section that whose

vulnerabilities we are concerned about. In the above section, analysis has largely focused on the community

in general with a slightly higher focus on men and their work. While it focused on the community's

vulnerability in general, we also need to focus on the certain other larger structural factors related to

vulnerabilities. These are the Beedi industry in general and slums.

In the second chapter I have tried explaining the vulnerability framework keeping the Beedi workers of my

study area in focus. We have seen in the first chapter that, In the context of Beedi, it forms an important part

of the tobacco economy. Tobacco is a major business world wide. In India, Beedi has been associated mainly

with the working class. It is one area, where both the production and consumption is closely related to

workers. In earlier times, Beedi production was mainly concentrated in factories and the workers formed part

of the formal sector of economy. Over the years, production has moved from the centralized factory system

to cottage industry set up. What is happening in the Beedi industry is seen today in many sectors of economy

today. Country's 93% of the labour force is part of informal sector of economy. In this means of production,

the factory owners have conveniently moved away from providing any form of social protection. Beedi

industry is one of the few industries in India, that though form part of the informal sector of the economy are

regulated by many laws. These laws have been formed to take care of the interests of the workers. In fact

these laws can be seen as an acknowledgement of challenging nature of work and the living conditions of the

Beedi workers in the industry. However laws have mainly been reactionary in nature. For example, in the

Beedi Workers Welfare Fund, the fund is collected factory owners by applying cess on Beedi production. It is

like firstly owners of Beedi production do not take care of their employees. They pay cess to the government

and then through various schemes this money is directed towards the welfare of the Beedi workers. The ideal

situation would be a situation where an atmosphere be created so that businesses are allowed to remain

competitive and at the same time they should take care of their employees and provide them with adequate

97social protection. The way things are at present in today's economy, the welfare of the Beedi workers follows

a long circuitous path. Even after that if the schemes would have worked, it would have helped. However the

functioning of the various schemes and their implementation has been lax. Employers have found means of

how to not to pay adequate cess to the government. Still there is lot of money has been deposited in the

Beedi workers welfare fund. The schemes can cover a whole lot of things for Beedi workers from health,

education to houses. Usage of schemes for utilization of fund has been poor. Coverage of the schemes and at

time its functioning has been blamed for its non effectiveness. Also it has been noted that Beedi workers are

facing problems of lack of unionisation and there is lack of awareness and efforts from the people themselves

to come out of their situation. It can also be seen that there have been fears that going forward Beedi industry

can decline in terms of business. However there is no strong empirical data to suggest this. Also globally

there seems to be a strong campaign going against the ill effects of tobacco industry. If business goes into

decline, while the factory owners will be able to diversify their businesses, Beedi workers face the risk of

impoverishment.

After discussing the larger level structural issues with the Beedi industry, another larger level issue which is

slums needed attention. We have seen that slums have proliferated in many cities and towns of India. There

are numerous reasons for people being forced to stay in these slums. At the planning level, the approach

towards slums as been that of problems that needs cure. Slum Areas (Improvement and Clearance) Act, 1956

was meant to resettle people from dangerous locations to safer places. However while the relocation worked

only partially, the major impact that was seen by the slum dwellers was that of their houses being

demolished and being left with no shelter. People with no option left came back to same places after a while.

Over a period of time, it was realized that one cannot do away with slums and therefore services started

being offered to people. Another problematic approach that was present with the government was that an

foreign model of planned development of cities was followed, which never suited the traditional way of

growth of Indian cities. In both the approaches mentioned above, it is clear that a top-down approach was

followed to solve the problems of the people without understanding the societal realities present. After that

we saw that housing for EWS did exist on the minds of the planners but the benefits of it did not necessarily

went to the deserving people. Then we did see the government moving away from the role of a visionary to

that of a manager. Further we saw that government's approach towards the housing for poor further

transcended from that of manager to that of a regulator. Private sector participation was encouraged. In terms

of governmentality, it can be seen that on many occasions it appeared that government had a positive

approach towards the issues of slums, however it does not have seem to have been complemented with

actions. Results are not seen on ground. Bias towards the rich and neglect towards the poor can be clearly

seen even if this is not clearly said. National slum policy draft (2001) has taken a holistic view of slums and

saw them as integral part of a city. It has suggested numerous useful measures like preference of in-situ

98development of slums compared to relocation and many more. In this context the project was a positive

development which organized people living in slums and fought for their housing. The project was a

collaboration of various groups also. Also before people move to the new resettlement site, their livelihood

should be taken care off and important services like transport should be made available. Since it is not legally

ratified the policy does not have the statutory powers and there by it may remain on paper only.

Thus we have been able to see in this chapter that how vulnerability is not a simple concept and if we are

aiming to reduce the vulnerabilities we should only begin with a thorough vulnerability analysis of the

community involved.

After identifying and analysing vulnerabilities of the Beedi workers in the first two chapters, I proceeded for

the third chapter where I have focused on the housing project. With project I mean the processes through

which the project took shape and reached completion. It was presented by the project planners that housing

project is unique in its own ways. For the first time mass low cost housing project was done for the

marginalized sections of the population like Beedi workers. It was done through a cooperative model and the

project was financed through contributions of the government as well as the workers themselves. Also a lot

of struggle happened to achieve the houses. The project has been hailed as success story and model worth

replicating. The important question that needs answering is that project is successful in whose terms? The

project planners or for the people for whom the project was executed for. It was clear that project planners

understood the fact that they were dealing with marginalized sections of the society. They realized that

housing conditions of the people was poor and it was causing health issues for them. These were the risks

and vulnerabilities that project planners identified. With the availability of funds in the Beedi workers

welfare fund, the planners decided to provide proper housing to the people through it. This was the risk

reduction measure offered by the project planners to the community. To achieve this a cooperative model of

housing was chosen. In the chapter, I have further discussed about the project planners, the political debates

around the project and the physical details of the project. The chapter concludes with the critical analysis.

There are lots of areas in the process where problems existed. Again a top-down approach was followed by

the project planners. A thorough study of the community before beginning of the project would have been

very useful. It would have helped in understanding the larger problems that the community is facing. Proper

housing was just one of the problem that people were facing. Because the problem was not understood

correctly, a solution was proposed which did not necessarily helped all the people for whom it was aimed for.

More than 50% of the people who had received houses have not occupied houses. Even if your intentions are

good, if the solution stands to harm the interests of the people, it would be called as a failed effort. Same

seems to be happening in the case of this project also. A chance to make the project participatory in the real

sense of terms was missed. There are examples of such participation present in other resettlement projects,

99however they were not used. People themselves could have done the community profiling and identified the

needs of the people. After identification of the problem, they could have themselves proposed solutions to

those. Smaller community level slum redevelopment programs rather than one mass housing program could

have avoided the problems the project is facing today. Similarly, another opportunity to make the whole

process inclusive was also missed out. All the community members are not present at the same levels in the

socio-economic hierarchy. Thereby an attempt should have been made to reach out to people who are

considered as marginalized sections of the society.

In the first chapter we focused on pressure aspect of creation of vulnerability and its impact because of that.

Here we would focus on the release aspect of the same model. The release focuses on the efforts done to

reduce the vulnerabilities. Participation and empowerment of people play an important role in

decentralization. If people have more chances of solving their problems from their own efforts, it would lead

to better results and lessen their vulnerabilities. It is clear that had the project planners thought of making the

whole housing project participatory in real sense and gave them chances of solving their own problems, the

outcome of the project could have been far more different.

On reflecting back on the efforts done by the project planners, it can be seen that their efforts seem to be

fairly limited in reducing the vulnerabilities. Their action has been focused largely on the unsafe conditions.

100Yes Beedi workers and their families were living in dangerous locations in unsafe houses in those slums.

Because of their living conditions, diseases and health seemed to be an issue. The project planners focused

on providing proper housing to people. They worked in this direction. People were given houses and people

seem to happy with the houses given. People largely seemed to be happy with their individual health

conditions also. These two factors seem to drive the vulnerabilities of a section of people in the opposite

direction. However this is not applicable to all the people who got allotment in these houses. Large number

of people who continued to live in slums of Solapur remain in unsafe conditions. Furthermore, there were

serious flaws in the way the project was envisaged and its ultimate outcome. Income levels of the people in

the resettled are continue to be poor. In fact livelihoods have been put at further risk. In the previous chapter

we had discussed the three sets of people who had got houses. The first set of people are the ones who have

not arrived at the project site fearing livelihood losses. For a section of people, livelihood has improved at

the resettled site. For a third set of people, livelihood remains a major challenge and seems to have further

deteriorated. This brings us to the element of vulnerable section of the population. In the third set of people

spoken above, it will also include some vulnerable families. Also the project planners seem to have failed to

take cognizance of the presence of certain special groups that needs more attention. For example the elderlies

and the PWDs. In that case many of the efforts of the project planners to be moving in the direction of

progression of vulnerabilities rather than reducing it. Pertaining to the dynamic pressures, hardly any efforts

seem to have taken place. Husbands of the Beedi workers face the problem of irregular work and they have

to travel long distances for work. Similarly there are threats of Beedi industry going down over the years.

Efforts for skill enhancement seem to be missing. There were references of many employment diversification

and employment generation projects for the project site, but there is nothing present on ground as of now.

The root causes of generation of vulnerabilities remain. The project planners have worked for the benefits of

the workers with their ideology. Their intentions are leaned towards the working class issues. But at a larger

level they have not been able to influence or bring about policy related changes which are in the interests of

the workers. The conditions of the Beedi workers at home,factories and conditions of their husbands in

looms and other odd jobs remain challenging and without any significant changes happening, their lives will

continue to remain so. These are larger level structural causes that are generating vulnerabilities and unless

pressures from these sources are not released, vulnerability reduction would be difficult. In terms of the

approach of the project planners, through the lenses of social change model, they followed an approach of

mobilization of people and empowering them for a particular need of the people which was housing. Various

community based organizations work on different models of social change which is not a particularly a bad

thing. The problem of this approach being followed here is that it resulted in a narrow vision of the problem

being faced by people. Also empowerment would mean in literal sense far more say for the community

members in the project planning, design and execution. This was not the case. As an outcome of this there

are impacts of the project which have the potential to further complicate lives of people.

101

In the fourth chapter of Response from the people, I have taken the views of the people pertaining to their

life conditions at the new site, their experience with it, their satisfaction levels with the houses and the

services available at the new site. People by and large seemed with the housing project in itself and living

conditions present there. They were happy with the fact that they were living in their own houses, had water

and toilet facilities at home, had privacy. A large number of people also said that after coming to the project

their health has improved. This is important as project planners had attributed bad health conditions to poor

health of the people. Thus on the basis of the what the project planners had identified problems as, they were

in a way successful in addressing those. However there are problems and serious issues exist. When the

problem itself was not properly diagnosed, the solution to the problem was bound to have issues. Lot of these

inputs came from the community itself. Also without addressing the problems correctly, the project has

created new problems to the people. In the chapter I have given the analysis in the form of certain thematic

areas. For example, in case of health, while people said that their health has improved at the new site, lack of

adequate health services have put multiple pressures on people's lives. The problem with the access of these

services was that these services were available in the city whereas people stayed at a large distance in the

housing site. The distance was hurting people both in terms of cost as well as access to services at right time.

The problem was grave because of distance, problems had happened in emergency situations. People

complained that they ended up loosing on lots of money because of such situations. Emergencies were

identified by people as both health related emergencies as well as delivery issues of pregnant women. The

distance had created more intense problems for sections of the population like the women, the elderlies and

the PWDs. Private hospital is present in the nearby place but because of cost fears, people do not prefer

going there. A public hospital has been proposed for the site however it has not realized so far on the ground.

Lack of health services has serious chances of putting the community members under further debt which

would affect their economic vulnerabilities and also can be cause for impoverishment in the long run.

Similarly education issues exist. I came across many families where kids had to leave school in the initial

times because of the non-availability of schools at the project site. Even now there are lot of issues as non

availability of higher education within the area seemed to be major concern. Because of presence of higher

education in the city, distance was a concern for kids and more so for the female kids. Many families have

continued to be poor at the resettled site. Livelihood has been the biggest concern that was raised by the

people. Lot of families have not turned up in the housing project fearing livelihood losses. Of the people that

have come, some have been positively affected whereas some have not. For a few their livelihood has

improved at the new site whereas for few it has deteriorated. For the people whose livelihood has

deteriorated, they stand to get impoverished if some efforts were not taken urgently. These families are the

marginalized amongst the marginalized. Livelihood issues had taken many dimensions and men in particular

were more negatively affected with the resettlement. The distance of travel to work and lack of availability of

102work locally was highlighted by many respondents. Distance to travel seemed to be not only affecting their

livelihood but also their health. Distance is only compounding the problems already being faced by men by

working in looms. The opportunity to make the housing reconstruction meaningfully participative was

missed. If the methods like owner driven construction approaches were followed, people could have had a

larger role in the construction of houses and it could have also had given employment diversification or

employment generation activities. Though ODRC method has been recommended, the first choice for

resolving the the housing issues of people should have been in-situ up-gradation of slums. That could have

reduced the larger problems caused by the relocation.

Suggestions and Recommendations: Any mass housing project has potential to have large number of issues

attached. It was seen in this project also. What should be the future course for the project? Perhaps what was

missed out in the initial stages of project planning and also during its execution, which is meaningful

participation of the people, should be used now. An overall impact assessment of the project on the people

should be done. This should be done by people themselves. If it is done by the people themselves, they have

the potential to come up with solutions to their problems. They can come up with various alternative which

the project planners or others may not have thought about. This would be a good course correction measure

for the project. The current crisis being faced by the project can be converted into an opportunity. The voices

of the weaker sections should get priority. Furthermore, not just for this project the same mechanism can be

used for various other currently running projects in the city of Solapur. This has the potential to make the

entire exercise really empowering.

At the larger community level, It should be strongly recommended that efforts should be made by all the

parties concerned to push for worker's social security net and improve their working conditions. In that

scenario, people themselves would resolve their own problems. However that would take time.

For the larger community which is staying in the slums of Solapur, who are not part of the housing projects ,

In the meanwhile, what can be done to resolve the living conditions of the people is that a participatory

assessment of problems should be done. After identification of problems, the problems should be prioritized.

If the housing issues are a priority of people, further participatory planning mechanisms should be

established. People should themselves try to solve their problems with some external technical help. Similar

to what was done in one of the NSDF/SPARC-Dharavi project, people themselves can start and sort out the

land records of the area where their houses stand. If the land title is clear and not under disputes, people with

the help of small cooperative housing formations can carry out their own housing redevelopment. Rather

than mega mass housing projects, smaller community level, local in-situ upgradation of slums would be

more helpful to the people as it will ensure that people stay closer to their livelihood sources and also to the

places they have emotional attachments with. However if all this is not feasible, relocation of houses should

103be considered. While planning of relocation projects also, participatory planning method should be followed

and if possible options like ODRC should be contemplated. May be new methods can be tested with smaller

number of houses and if found successful can be increased. Also in all relocation projects infrastructure

services should arrive first than the people and livelihood concerns should be addressed before people arrive

to the site. Such methods can truly mean an empowerment exercise for the people to get their houses.

104Appendix 1Questionnaire

1. General Information from the community membersSr.No Information Sought Information1 Name of the head of the household2 Name of the person owning the house

3 Caste4 Religion5 Ration Card-Whether BPL or not

2. 1 Demographic Characteristics of Household MembersSr.No Name Age Sex Relationship

with the HeadMarital Status

Education Completed

Occupation

Sector

Questions under perception category3.1. How has your life conditions affected after resettlement?

3.2. How was the life of the community after resettlement?

3.3. How will you assess your satisfaction levels with the housing site location?

3.4. How has the resettlement affected the livelihood options of the family?

3.5. How were the health conditions of the family in the old settlements? Do you see improvements in the new settlement?

3.6. How has been the status of health conditions in the new settlements?

3.7. How has the resettlement affected the composition of family

105 of community members?

3.8. Has any family member migrated out of the resettled colony? If yes: Reasons

4.1. Satisfaction of the community members with the houses constructed. Points refer to Individual households.

Sr. No

Features Satisfied Dissatisfied Comments

1 Location of the house

2 Size of the house

3 No. of Rooms

4 Quality of Construction

4.2 What are the positive features of the new houses constructed compared to old houses?

4.3 What are the negative features of the new houses constructed compared to old houses?

The reconstruction process:

4.4 How will you assess the participation sought/given from the community members?Yes/No/Comments

4.5 Is there any other information you want to share with us regarding the whole resettlement process? If yes comments

5 Satisfaction levels with Access to Public and basic servicesSr.No Services Satisfied Dissatisfied Comments1 Distance from Bus Stop2 Distance from School

where most children go3 Distance from Government

hospital/PHC4 Distance from the

administration offices like municipality office etc

6 Educational informationSr.No Was the

child ever enrolled in School

If No Reasons

What kind of Schooling is the child going through Government/Private/Informal

If currently not studying-Reasons

Comments

106

7 Household Income and Expenditure

Sr.No Income Source Income Comments1234

7.1. Income from Beedi IndustrySr.No

No. of Days in worked in a Month

Average daily earnings

Monthly Income

Annual Income Comments

7.2 Income from other sources like Rent, interest etcDid the Household save in the last year? Yes/No. Comments

7.3 Did the Household dissave in the last year? Yes/No. Comments-Reasons

Household Expenditure7.4 Expenditure on Food Items7.5 Expenditure on Non-Food items7.6 Other Expenditures7.7 Total Expenditure

107

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