Encyclopaedia of slums and law
- 2nd ed.
- Delhi ISSD 1983
- 835p.
The study "Delhi-Slums and Law, Comparative Study of Indian and Foreign Law" has three parts. Part-I deals with Slums in general with particular reference to the slums in Delhi. Special care has been taken to give population of ten selected countries, 25 cities in the world and top 25 cities in India by population. This comparative study of urban population points to the trend in urbanisation particularly in the developing countries. It is difficult to define Slums as it is a relative term and its definition differs from country to country. However, constant efforts and thinking has led the author to give definition of the term 'Slum' in an abbreviated form which is natural depiction of prevalent horrible living conditions in Slums. Brief history of imperial historical city of Delhi has been given with special mention of days of desolation witnessed by this city. This ultimately resulted in instability of the structures in the walled city as most of them are still in existence though declared dangerous and insecure for human habitation long back. The centrally sponsored schemes for Slum Clearance and Improvement have been discussed in details. Similarly, Jhuggi Jhaunpri Removal Scheme of the Central Government and modification of the same from time to time, also finds mention in the first part of this study. The slum tenements constructed under the Slum Schemes and Community Services Personnel Quarters and Transit camps have been depicted in graphical charts (pages 52-54). Special mention has also been made of the areas cleared and redevelopment schemes executed in the walled city of Delhi. History of housing legislation and its development since 1838 A.D. has been discussed in Chapter IV and this will be extremely useful for scholars pursuing the subject for research. Past efforts made in the Union Territory of Delhi in Slum Clearance, Master Plan for Delhi and National Capital Region also find special mention in this study. Chapter IV of Part-1 is devoted to trace history of housing legislation in general and its development in India. This includes early urban planning in western countries, housing legislation in UK.. its position in U.S.A., early urban planning in India, overlapping and inconsistant laws in India, setting up of Improvement Trusts and their utility. Housing legislation in U.K. prior to first world War has been given from the year 1838 and onwards.