Human right to housing has become a cliche. It needs to be given meaning by compelling the state to institute processes for empowering the people to participate in decision-making and facilitating participatory civic management. There is a widespread and growing demand for recognition of housing as a basic human right. While such a demand is justified, it has often got projected and bogged down by discussions on the responsibility of the state to ensure housing for all. Housing is intimately connected with access to livelihoods. Once a person's livelihood ensures a stable minimum level of income, access to land, infrastructure, materials; and welfare of the family quickly follow. Housing is also a dynamic process not limited to one time provision of shelter but a complex system of linkages between the family, community and the larger economic and ecological environment. 1 Core elements of Human Right to Housing The core elements of demands for housing rights are :
While all these elements are extremely im0portant, there are various problems in articulating them as a responsibility of the state. The obligations on the state and the processes involved in housing as a human right need to be more clearly defined. 2 Responsibility of the State The concept of "human right to housing" now needs to be enlarged to "human right to housing processes" and dealt with in the wider context of empowerment of people. It should be the responsibility of the state to promote responsible governance through critical legislation which empowers people to have legitimate access to housing processes. Some people may argue that the state is being let off very lightly when it ought to carry out its primary responsibility of directly providing land, infrastructure, building materials and even houses. While the state may provide these, in real economy people also need to have the purchasing power to access them. And to achieve this, people must have access to basic health, education and sustainable livelihoods. No state can provide these without the active participation of the people. People can put in such efforts only when they are empowered. Empowerment therefore holds the key to housing rights. Empowerment of the people in countries where they are presently dis-empowered, is not easy to achieve. It calls for a whole range of institutional changes which in turn involve changes in the political power structure. Politicians are, however, now increasingly realizing realizing that empowerment of the people is not only in the interest of sustainable development but is also in their own long term interest. Many developing countries have recently opened their economies. It is important that they also open their polity through empowerment of the people. If they do not do so, industrial aggrogance can lead to corruption in high places, irresponsible economic development and further marginalisation of the poor and the environment. This paper describes the institutions needed for the empowerment of people and the processes involved in getting them instituted. 3. Centralized Governance One of the major problems being faced by people, especially the under privileged, is over bearing national governments which try to run their lives. Many governments, including those democratically elected, manipulate resources at the central level and ensure that local governments are weak. Worst of all, they rarely involve people in the decision-making processes. They generally treat the poor as liabilities to be taken care of, not as the central performers for whom and by whom nation building is carried out. On the contrary, there have been many instances of monarchs in ancient India who consulted people on every proposal which affected the country. Literature on the science of governance from all over the world also describes such practices. Transparency in governance and participation of people in decision-making are, therefore, not the prerogative of democracies but can be promoted in any form of government. The concept of human right to housing processes is applicable to all countries. 4. Local Government and the People In many developing countries participation of the people in development is limited to participation in implementation. This is usually through contributions in cash, kind or labour in road or building works. Since people are not involved in the planning and decision-making stage, they tend to feel alienated, have little commitment towards the implementation and resent demands made on them for contribution. For development to be sustainable, people need to participate at various stages of both decision-making and implementation. National and intermediate level (hereinafter called state) governments, are too distant from the people. Participation, to be effective, needs to be at the local level. 5. Local and Planning Laws Empowerment of the people essentially comes from two laws - local laws and planning laws. Local laws give legitimacy to local governments. Planning laws lay down decision-making processes. The two together can give people direct control over their lives. Planning laws are unique in as much as they, by their very nature, are proactive. They come into play before any action is taken and provide the most appropriate vehicle for empowerment of the people. All other laws are reactive - they operate post facto to rectify a wrong. 6. The Process of Empowerment The first thing that all countries need to do for people's empowerment is to review their local and planning laws and restructure them to provide for the following concerns : 6.1 Institutionalizing strong local governance Local governments, both urban and rural, should be constituted through legitimate election processes with adequate representation to women and disadvantaged classes. Direct election for the head of the local governments will produce a more committed local leadership. The tenure of an elected local government should not be at the mercy of the central or state government. Resources on which local governments have direct control, should be clearly defined in the local laws. India, in particular should have statutory finance commissions for devolution of taxation powers and funds to local governments. 6.2 Information : a Human Right Right to information should be regarded as a human rights issue. Every state must have a statutory commission for informed citizenship (CIC) to monitor that the right to information is not violated. There may be three members in a commission of whom at least one should be a woman. These commissions should be constituted under the planning laws as information is mostly needed during the planning process and administered by the state environment department. The commissions should review legislation that violates the right to information and recommend its amendment. The commissions should also prescribe an oath of transparency for public servants. 6.3 Access to Public Information Public offices should be obliged to make information available to the people on demand except that specifically classified as a state secret. The CIC should initiate the establishment of entrepreneurial information centers for dissemination of information from all public offices at a reasonable price. The information normally available to citizens would be forms, brochures, notifications, reports, rules, regulations and laws that governments put out on the commission's recommendation. The regulations can also lay down the manner in which the public shall be notified. Matters like daily wage rates should be posted on the panchayat notice board to prevent short payments rampant today. 6.4 Processing Applications of Citizens Withholding the processing of applications of citizens is the biggest source of the harassment and corruption. Sheets titled "public office dealing sheet" should be available for a nominal price at all entrepreneurial information centers. A citizen may write the substance of the transaction with a public office on the dealing sheet. Public servants should, under the law, be bound to sign a record of action taken, deal with cases within 15 days and not be allowed to use remarks like "seen", "please speak" and "discuss". 6.5 Mandatory Public Hearings It should be mandatory for local governments to organize public hearings on planning and project proposals exceeding, say, 1,000 sqm in area or three floors or 10 meters in height, at all sites and villages affected by the plan or project. The project authorities should be required to present full particulars of the project, its social and environmental impact and economic benefits. The present practice of social and environmental impact assessment by expert committees who do not understand local issues, tends to be bureaucratic and superficial. The CIC shall frame regulations on appointment of commissioners for conducting public hearings and the manner in which information about projects shall be presented, made available to the public. 6.6 Statutory Participatory Councils Local participatory councils should be constituted for key areas like natural resource management, empowerment of women and public tenders. At least two-thirds of the members of such councils, called people's members, appointed in consultation with the CIC, should not be a member of any political party or an employee of the government. The remaining members can be elected representatives and civil servants. The political head of the local government should be the chairperson and a people's member should be the executive vice-chairperson. These councils should not become centers of power themselves but function primarily as conscience-keepers of development. 7. Process of Management Once the process of empowerment has been established under law, a number of effective management systems can be introduced to recognize, facilitate and protect the human right to housing. 7.1 Responsible Right to Shelter 1 Urban squatter settlements Civic laws should provide that squatter settlements over, say, five years old would be eligible to apply for civic recognition. The civic authority, would grant recognition to the neighbourhood committee conferring (a) right of occupation and (b) negotiated resettlement if and when displaced. The recognition would also impose responsibility on the neighbourhood committee to (a) prevent further encroachment and densification and (b) maintain sanitary and hygienic conditions. The neighbourhood committee would, in turn (a) give recognition to each shelter in the name of the principal woman of the household and (b) impose social obligations, levies and service charges for looking after neighbourhood services, especially sanitation. As an incentive, the civic authority can offer matching financial support to the neighbourhood committee. Such a concept of responsible right to shelter will provide legitimacy while imposing responsibility on the urban poor to properly manage their settlements. 2 Shelter for the rural landless The right of the rural poor to shelter includes access to land, natural resources, energy, drinking water, sustainable livelihoods and building materials. This right should be subject to responsibility of the family to the community and to the environment. Planning laws should ensure control of rural communities over natural resources belonging to the village imposing responsibility to their sustainable use for energy, livelihood and shelter purposes. 7.2 Non-voluntary displacement Planning laws should provide that whenever displacement is unavoidable, the project authorities have to ask the local authority to constitute a resettlement tribunal of three members, of whom at least one shall be a woman, appointed in consultation with the CIC. The tribunal shall scrutinize the rehabilitation scheme, hear the parties and inspect the site. It may nominate an NGO to represent the community. The tribunal may then approve the scheme with required changes and monitor its implementation. 7.3 Participative Regional Planning Article 243ZD of the Constitution of India mandates participative planning initiated by panchayats and municipalities, consolidated by district planning committees and forwarded to the state government for approval. The plans shall cover socio-economic, infrastructure and environmental issues. As a consequence, current non-statutory centralized planning and its creations - centrally and state sponsored schemes, have become unconstitutional. The central government can issue guidelines national concerns and the state governments can modify the draft plans proposed by the district planning committees. Neither can however issue dictates in the form of pre-conceptualized schemes that interfere with the constitutional right of the local governments to initiate the planning process. The central and state governments must now devolve funds to the local governments without any conditions. Today, when 90 percent of the funds are pre-committed, there is nothing left for the local governments to plan. The reluctance of the state governments to involve local governments is the result of gross misunderstanding of the process. The power to modify, improve and approve the plan will still be with the state governments. All that the Constitution requires is that local governments should propose the first draft plans. The biggest resistance to decentralized planning is likely to come from the central ministries and government bureaucracy as they will have to be drastically scaled down. The planning commission, whose equivalent does not exist in any well managed democracy, will also have to go. What better reason for demolishing it can there be than the collapse of its mentor, the Soviet Union?
7.4 Civic Water and Energy Management The effective management of water holds the key to survival of settlements. The following precepts must be kept in mind when dealing with this precious resources : 1 Planning with nature Planning with nature, as was traditionally practised and is a fundamental principle in modern regional planning, dictates reservation of rivers, natural water courses, water bodies and their embankments, flood zones and aquifer recharge zones. Adequate forested areas for civic purposes that provide recreation, micro climate modulation and energy, should be ensured in public as well as private ownership. As a thumb rule, there should be a minimum of one tree per family in a neighbourhood and one tree per person in a settlement. 2 Waste Water disposal In rural settlements, waste water disposal is not difficult but often neglected. Planning with nature and upkeep by neighbourhood committee should be able to handle it. In urban areas, large sewer systems which pipe all waste water out of the city into adjoining rural areas, are prohibitively expensive and anti-environment. Waste water, after initial treatment at source, should be collected at strategic locations within the city and treated to allow absorption of waste water within the hydrological cycle of the civic area. 3 Water supply Degradation of the rural ecology, is the principal cause of rural poverty. Small water harvesting structures, soil conservation measures and improving tree cover are critical programmes for regenerating the rural ecology and economy. The resulting recharging of ground water will also make available water for drinking purposes from dug or tube wells. In urban and rural settlements, where piped water becomes necessary, innovative management options should be tried out by local bodies. The head works could be placed under private management which supplies build water to the civic authority at a pre determined price. An entrepreneur could then manage the distribution and supply bulk metered water to neighbourhood committees. The neighbourhood committees should be responsible for distribution and proper use of water and recovery of water charges from the households. 4 Civic Energy Needs Proper design can lead to considerable saving of energy in urban centers. Power generation and bulk distribution can be privatized. Bulk metered electricity can be supplied to neighbourhood committees which will distribute it to households and recovery of energy charges. In rural settlements, people should have sustainable access of natural resources, especially firewood. Processes for converting agro and other bio waste into gas and /or electricity should be developed and installed under the joint management of the village council and an entrepreneur in every village. Solar cookers which can be fabricated by the housewife with the help of the village carpenter, should be developed and promoted. 7.5 Civic environment engineering manual A creative civic environmental engineering manual incorporating all such concepts, should be got prepared through a team of sensitive professionals without loss of time, for the guidance of local governments. 8 General Habitat issues are generally being handled at the wrong end, that is after the damage has already been done. While it is true that it is necessary to tackle the immediate hardship which the poor are facing, lasting solution lies in empowerment of the people to enable them to have access to human right to housing processes. The Istanbul Habitat II conference should end on a firm resolution on Human Right to Housing Processes through the measures described in this article. This article is the condensed version of a booklet put together by SK Sharma, on behalf of PEOPLE FIRST after intense interaction with Ashok Khosla, President, Development Alternatives, and a number of other professionals notably, Kimti Sharma, AGK Menon and George Varughese, regional planners, and Ravindira bhan, Ashok Dhawan, Anil Laul, Revati Kamath and Sharashtant Patara, architects. A number of institutions, notably, Development Alternatives, WWF, Institute of Town Planners India, TVB School of Habitat Studies, Habitat Technology Network, Common Cause and Environmental Planning & Coordination Organization, Madhya Pradesh, also provided useful inputs. |
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