Role of Technology in Improving the conditions of Slums

ECONOMICS PROJECT

BY -ANADI ANANT JAIN (DTU/2K12/EC/024)

-BHAVYAI GUPTA (DTU/2K12/EC/051)

-ABHISHEK (DTU/2K12/EC/007)

-AYUSH KUMAR (DTU/2K12/EC/049)

-DEVESH BANSAL (DTU/2K12/EC/063)

Slum near Pulbangash, Newdelhi

SLUMS- The biggest blot on the modern fabric of society. A thickly populated area insqualid part of the city inhabited by poor people.

Shortage of housing land, high prices of land and large influx of rural population intocities. Increased urbanization is the major cause of increase in slums as there is anincrease in migration and government is unable to accommodate the increasedpopulation.

POOR SANITATION FACILITY

WATER SCARCITY

What are the actual present conditions of slums in the presenceof science and technology?

-POOR STRUCTURAL QUALITY AND DURABILITY OF HOUSESPoor quality and overcrowded housing in slums has a significant impact on people's lives. Poor housing means diseases spread more easily, the effect of disasters like flooding are amplified, and people are denied their privacy and safety.

-INSUFFICIENT LIVING AREAS More number of people living in one room. They live in congested areas with thin lanes, no drainage facilities.

-LACK OF SECURE TENUREPeople are not certain about their existence in the slum they are living as they may be asked to leave it any time further worsening their lives.

-POOR ACCESS TO WATERPeople do not get proper drinking water as in that area due to lack of government’s negligence, proper facility of water is not there.

-EDUCATIONA child not getting education is something sad that unfortunately is happening in these places. Children do miss school because they do not have the money to go.

-SANITATION AND HEALTH FACILITIESPoor sanitation and unsafe water claim the lives of many slum dwellers every year.Contaminated water supplies, poor hygiene and a lack of decent toilets andsewerage increase the spread of deadly diseases in slums. Diarrhoea kills 1.5 millionchildren under five each year. Without toilets, women suffer from the lack of privacyand dignity, and the burden of getting water (often from far away) usually falls onwomen and girls. The price of available water and sanitation facilities is oftenunaffordable.

What are the causes for the present conditions of slums?

Some of the main reasons for the growth of slums in Rural Areas are as follows:

The phenomenon of rapid ruralization in conjunction with industrialization has resulted in the growth of slums. Slums sprout up due to many following factors:

The shortage of developed land for housing: When a city expands, it sucks in the villages surrounding it. In the process, the segregated colonies of fishermen, herdsmen, etc., are also sucked in the city. The agricultural land of the village is put to urban land use, whereas the inhabited area of the village is left intact without the infrastructure facilities. In comparison to other areas, the rent and cost of living in these areas would remain low, resulting in overcrowding. Due to the lack of municipal services, slum conditions prevail and over the time, colonies of fishermen, herdsmen and such others become slums.

The high prices of land beyond the reach of urban poor: The slums developed in onearea of the city, where the poor live get deteriorated in course of time. The area gets congested and overcrowded and in the absence of adequate municipal services, slum conditions increase. For example, in some cities during the 19th century, particularly in the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, large industrial units tried to attract and retain their workers by providing small tenements or multi-storied row houses in the pattern of army barracks. The industrial workers who lived there found the residences comfortable enough, but that increased their dependence on their employer. Over time, however, due to the lack of upkeep, dilapidation and so on, most of the chawls have become extremely poor in terms of quality of life.

A large influx of rural migrants to the cities in search of jobs: A slum develops as a result of the squatting of poor migrants. Majority of the migrants that come to the city are unskilled workers, who come to the city in search of better living conditions. Theirdream usually will not work out and they end up in some low-paid jobs. As these low paid workers are too poor to rent a house and pay for the urban infrastructure and facilities, such as water, sewerage and drainage, they squat on the vacant public land near the places of work, erect huts and use public facilities. Added to that, the city municipal corporation considers such settlement as illegal and does not provide any municipal services adding to the woes of the settlers and also paving the way forthe growth of slums. In whatever way the slum grows, slum dwellers form part of the urban economy. Most of these slum dwellers are either employed in the category of unskilled workers or in the informal sector of the economy as self-employed persons in petty trade, repairs and transport.

What are the effects of the present conditions of slums on thepeople of slums?

An overview of effects-

Due to lack of proper Education/hygienic environment/ good quality food not only thephysical, the mental ability and childhood of the young ones in the slum children is vanishing. Their non-trivial tribulations force them to do the work at very early ages like rag picking and small shop keepings etc. The worst part is that some of the misguided people used to do the partially criminalistic works due to bad environment and lack of money for their very basic daily needs.

Apart from that the biggest problem is they live in houses that are not authorized by the government due to which they have to suffer when any kind of commercial government projects implemented in their area and they are made to leave their landforcibly.

Usually in the areas they live, at the season of raining the major part of their land is covered with water and sometimes due to heavy raining the situation become that much worse that the water is collected inside their houses.

SOME STATISTICAL DATA OF VARIOUS STATES OF INDIA

According to the Census 2001 figures there are 1.26 crores working children in the age group of 5-14 as compared to the total child population of 25.2 crores. There areapproximately 12 lakhs children working in the hazardous occupations/processes which are covered under the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act i.e. 18 occupations and 65 processes. However, as per survey conducted by National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) in 2004-05, the number of working children is estimated at 90.75 lakhs. It shows that the efforts of the government have borne the desired fruits.

Way back in 1979, Government formed the first committee called Gurupadswamy Committee to study the issue of child labour and to suggest measures to tackle it. The Committee examined the problem in detail and made some far-reaching recommendations. It observed that as long as poverty continued, it would be difficult to totally eliminate child labour and hence, any attempt to abolish it through legal recourse would not be a practical proposition. The Committee felt that in the circumstances, the only alternative left was to ban child labour in hazardous areas and to regulate and ameliorate the conditions of work in other areas. It recommended that a multiple policy approach was required in dealing with the problems of working children.

Role of Science

PORPOSED Projects

Other than infrastructural problems, the people in slum suffer from lack of clean water and they lack electricity.

1. In order to improve life of poor people in Slums we have devised a plan to improve water conditions by using Solar Water purifiers which is cost effectiveand can be provided to the poor people by the government.

2. There is a lot of waste near slum areas as the slum areas are normally near garbage sites. We propose that these waste garbage items be used to create electricity that can be provided. This waste to energy conversion can be highlyuseful and provide electricity.

SOLAR WATER PURIFIER

Distillation is one of many processes available for water purification, and sunlight is one of several forms of heat energy that can be used to power that process. Sunlighthas the advantage of zero fuel cost but it requires more space (for its collection) and generally more costly equipment. To dispel a common belief, it is not necessary to boil water to distill it. Simply elevating its temperature, short of boiling, will adequately increase the evaporation rate.

In fact, although vigorous boiling hastens the distillation process it also can force unwanted residue into the distillate, defeating purification. Furthermore, to boil water with sunlight requires more costly apparatus than is needed to distill it a little more slowly without boiling.

Many levels of purification can be achieved with this process, depending upon the intended application. Sterilized water for medical uses requires a different process than that used to make drinking water. Purification of water heavy in dissolved salts differs from purification of water that has been dirtied by other chemicals or

suspended solids. Solar distillation systems can be small or large. They are designed either to serve the needs of a single family, producing from ½ to 3 gallons of drinking water a day on the average, or to produce much greater amounts for an entire neighbourhood or village.

In some parts of the world the scarcity of fresh water is partially overcome by covering shallow salt water basins with glass in greenhouse-like structures. These solar energy distilling plants are relatively inexpensive, low-technology systems, especially useful where the need for small plants exists. There are four possible ways of purifying water for drinking purpose:

1. Distillation

2. Filtration

3. Chemical Treatment

4. Irradiative Treatment

Distillation method is preferred owing to the following benefits:

1. It produces water of high quality.

2. Maintenance is almost negligible.

3. Any type of water can be purified into potable water by means of this process

4. The system will not involve any moving parts and will not require electricity to operate.

5. Wastage of water will be minimum unlike reverse osmosis in which almost 30% of the loaded water flows out in form of unusable water that can only be used for toilet or other cleaning purposes.

DESIGN

We need to reduce the working pressure inside the distiller to increase the rate of evaporation at lower temperatures and hence increase efficiency. One more additional feature in the distiller that we are proposing is that it would use the latent heat which is released during condensation to heat up the water at lower temperature. This is achieved by using an innovative staged still design.

WASTE TO ENERGY IN INDIA

India has drawn the world’s attention in recent years with its booming economic growth, large demographic of young, English-speaking workers, and its shift from an agricultural to a more service-oriented economy. The consequence of this economic success has been a massive increase in waste. This waste is dumped in dumpsites where there is a noticeable slum population.

Waste to Energy conversion is perceived as a means to dispose MSW(municipal solid waste), produce energy, recover materials, and free up scarce land that would otherwise have been used for landfill.

Setting up this Waste to Energy(WTE) plant will clean up garbage and can be used to produce electricity to the poor. More research is needed to quantify various aspects of the solid waste management sector. A number of key statistics, such as the value of recyclables, the amount of environmental pollution from waste sources, and the quantity of industrial waste generated, need to be computed to gain a better understanding of this sector.

In terms of research related to WTE, detailed analysis of costs and available funding is needed. In addition, investigating the suitability and quantifying the costs and benefits of combined heat and power for Mumbai would be useful. Independent researchers or consultants should carry out such research in order to prevent any biases that may otherwise occur. Outreach to both environmental groups as well as the public at large is important in order to demonstrate the benefits of WTE technology to the community, city, and local government. This can be achieved by educating the public through campaigns, workshops, town hall meetings, university lectures, and so on. Creating an open dialogue with environmental groups is an essential first step to sharing information and collaborating to create better environmental conditions.

Could the conditions of slum be implemented without the helpof science and technolgy?

Just technology would not help-

This is an obvious fact that the people living in slums are rarely in touch with technology and its aspects. Therefore, there is an urge not to forget the various means of improving condition of slums without role of technology and engineering.

The aim is to improve the quality of life for poor people by providing access to clean water, improved sanitation, and waste management services; and supporting secure land tenure and affordable housing. If the following measures are taken, we would observe that a large extent of initiative is possible without any role of engineering.

Strengthening the capacity of local people and their institutions to engage withlocal authorities and other service providers for the sustainable provision of basic services. This measure requires leadership skills by some individuals, who are representatives from slum people and hold meetings with the authorities.

Scaling up the delivery of basic infrastructure services for safe water, sanitation, better and affordable housing, waste removal and access to land tenure rights through collaborative efforts with local people and municipal authorities.

Supporting income-generation activities, and community-managed savings and credit schemes that enable households to secure funds for the improvement of physical facilities. An economical mindset is very essential in such case. With a basicknowledge in mathematics, person can ensure funds security for his family.

Sharing of experiences, and the adoption of more pro-poor policies and practices for slum upgrading and land tenure at local and national levels.

Examples Of Initiatives By engineers With Reference to DTU:

Rotract Club DTU Regency:

“Rotaract is an international organization of young professionals and students ages 18 to 30 that are committed to service and leadership in their communities and abroad. Established in 1968 by Rotary International, Rotaract is a global network of young people who are changing the world with clubs in over 160 countries.

Mission: “The purpose of Rotaract is to provide an opportunity for young men and women to enhance the knowledge and skills that will assist them in personal development, to address the physical and social needs of their communities, and to promote better relations between all people worldwide through a framework of friendship and service.

The goals of Rotaract are:

To develop professional and leadership skills To emphasize respect for the rights of others, and to promote ethical standards

and the dignity of all useful occupations To provide opportunities for young people to address the needs and concerns of

the community and our world To provide opportunities for working in cooperation with sponsoring Rotary clubs To motivate young people for eventual membership in Rotary."

SIFE:

Established in February 2011, SIFE DTU is a student chapter of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) in Delhi Technological University.

Mission:

To target the economic and social growth of a community keeping in mind the environmental aspect as well.

Established in February 2011, SIFE DTU is one of the most focused and comprehensive societies in the university.

It consists of 32 members from various branches, dedicated in fulfilling the aim of thesociety and that is to provide leadership opportunities to the students and use their skills to make an impact on the social world. With technical expertise and business

acumen, every single member is determined to seek ideas and work diligently in order to bring about innovations in the world of today.

Description

SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise) is an international non-profit organization that works with leaders in business and higher education to mobilize university students to make a difference in their communities while developing the skills to become socially responsible business leaders.

Organizational facts:SIFE currently operates over 39 countries with more than 48000 active members. It is also supported by hundreds of leading companies worldwide including KPMG, TheCoca Cola Company, WALMART, PEPSICO, HSBC, UNILEVER etc.

Current Project:Current project undertaken by SIFE DTU is Project ANN "Food For Thought"The team aims at improving the economic and social conditions of the small scale business ventures from dhabas and small-scale restaurants to associated shops like grocery stores. This project is the result of the team’s constant need to fulfill its obligation towards the society and continue to enrich the lives of the ones in need.

References

For successful completion of this project, we have gathered information from the following paper(s), book(s) and website link(s) -

Singleton, David. (CE FICE) “The Role of Enigneer”, 4th Brunel Lecture on Poverty Alleviation

Singh, Seema. “Economics for Engineering Students”.

http://www.news.gatech.edu/

http://www.opendemocracy.net/whatcancomputersdoforpoor.htm/

http://www.engineersagainstpoverty.org/