‘India shining’ has been a popular slogan among people born and brought up in the comforts of city life, having had opportunities to attend academic institutions of high repute and prospects to pursue our dreams and travel far and wide across the country. While there are many reasons to ‘feel good’, certain nagging questions do persist.

If India is truly shining, why do we read and hear about children who are rarely schooled, people who live in dire poverty, the growing incidents of farmers’ suicides, and the large number of poor people who cannot afford an adequate diet?

Seen as an indicator to measure people’s well being, it is disappointing that the state of habitat in which they live is rather bleak in India as also other developing countries. This issue was brought to the fore in the aftermath of the tsunami in 2004 that affected a vast number of people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and Maldives. There was considerable damage to lives, houses, water sources and productive assets. The worst affected were people dwelling in kuchcha (temporary) houses.

A house is as more than just a structural space; it has a symbolic meaning. The house is an extension of the individual’s identity and social status. I too learnt about the diversity reflected in the cultures, clothes and crafts within a geographical area in spite of its apparent uniformity in socio-economic conditions. But perhaps this diversity is most enduring in the houses that people live in. In a society like India, fractured by divisions of not only class and income, but more importantly of caste, a pucca (permanent) house has a very special meaning.

I discovered the on-ground scenario of housing and habitat through my association with Development Alternatives (DA). During my two years with this organisation, I have closely observed some of the remotest areas of central India, including Bundelkhand in Madhya Pradesh. Bundelkhand is one of the poorest and most backward regions of the country. In addition to drought, dwindling natural resources, scarce livelihood options and poor economic growth, the people in the region have been facing constraints like access to clean water, street lighting, drainage, sewerage and, above all, inadequate shelter. The families living in the villages here are primarily dependent on unpredictable wages, earning approximately Rs 60 per day from farming or construction activities. Low and irregular incomes have a direct influence on the quality of their homes. Poor quality materials such as local country bricks for walls and poor backed tiles for roofing make the houses unsafe and prone to disasters. During my field visits, these communities shared with me the insecurity of their lives. ‘A strong roof over our heads is our primary need’, they said. Extensive field visits and socio-economic analyses of other parts of India opened my eyes to the fact that these were not isolated voices from Bundelkhand, but sentiments of the poor across the country, perhaps across the developing nations.

 Initially, I was sceptical if I would ever hear voices of more optimistic villagers who dwelled in durable houses, whose children did not die of poor sanitation, where girls and women did not have to walk as much as five kilometres to fetch water. Gradually, as I learnt more about their lives, my hopes rose. During a project documenting good practices and evaluating the shelter projects in the tsunami-affected coastal areas of Tamil Nadu, I visited the Centre for Environmental Education (CEE) who have constructed permanent houses for the tsunami victims in Kodiyampalayam village in Nagapattinam. This project implemented demonstrated how systematic introduction of appropriate construction systems, thoughtful planning and construction management decisions can and do lead to safe and eco-friendly habitat development in a cost-effective manner. Similarly, the strength in community level participation was demonstrated by the Centre for Rural Education and Economic Development (CREED). They had an integrated approach to rehabilitation and the entire community was involved in critical decisions of selection of land for relocation and site clearance, and allotment of houses.

I was curious to know the reason as to why these pockets of success were not replicated to catalyse change where needed. What would it be like if all the marginalised communities in the world knew where and how to access all the resources they required to improve their lives and livelihoods? What if all the artisans had deeper, professional knowledge on their trades – knowledge that that could unlock the doors to higher income and prosperity? In the course of my involvement with the habitat team of DA I realised that presently these models of good practices exist as small islands of success. As a result, habitat practitioners or communities remain unaware of the implementation tools of these successful models. The only way to replicate the good practices is through sharing and transferring of these formulae of success.

As a part of my responsibilities at work, I started working with the basin-South Asia team at DA. Working at a secretariat level, the team facilitated the exchange of knowledge on habitat issues among the 14 member organisations from different countries of the Asian region - India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. I have been able to witness the impact of knowledge dissemination to habitat practitioners who work at the grassroots. Even small experiments conducted at an isolated place, when transferred to people across geographical and administrative boundaries, result in visible improvements in the lives and living conditions of people. I have realised the potential of the platform in terms of information that could be generated out of collaborations and the impact of knowledge transfer to habitat experts.

Building a Roof
A knowledge consolidation cum demonstration event was organised by basin-South Asia from February 1 to 4, 2008 in Pahuj village in Bundelkhand (Uttar Pradesh), central India. During the event, alternatives to flat-roofing systems which included precast arch panels, planks and joists, Ferrocement roofing channels, funicular shells along with the traditional practice of stone slab construction were demonstrated and on-site training was imparted by habitat professionals to masons from various states of India. The knowledge exchanged and generated during the event is being consolidated into construction manuals and design documents and will soon be available to all. The event has been successful and the participating masons have shared their learnings with others in other regions like Rajasthan, Orissa, etc.

Similarly, as a part of the overall attempt at creating a conducive environment for the development of Rural Habitat Micro-credit, DA in association with basin-South Asia, has been working on an action research on the Rural Habitat Finance under the Rural Innovation Fund of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). Here, different models for delivery of habitat finance to the rural masses have been developed. These models are ready to be tested on the field. It is hoped that such initiatives will take care of the unmet microfinance needs of the low-income groups.

Innovation is in the air - architects are being born every day, engineers are exhibiting their genius all around. It is time to disseminate what we know, transfer what we see, exchange what we have learnt…. Be the change! q

Abhishikta Roy
aroy@devalt.org

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