The PM’s announcement of affordable housing cannot be treated at par with other cities because Mumbai has its own unique set of issues and troublemakers that need to be dealt with
When it becomes obvious that the move to win an advantage point has failed, shifting strategy to the lowest common denominator becomes the immediate go-to for politicians. Many leaders of the past have reaped benefits by reciting the ‘garibi hatao’ slogan, but they did not really succeed in eradicating poverty. Though the expenditure on programmes for the poor have been ever increasing in subsequent annual budgets, the gap between the poor and the rich has not yet been breached to the expected proportion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi proved no different on New Year’s Eve when the people of the country with access to television tuned in anticipating the unexpected and earth shattering — something that would punish the dishonest, and in relief that would save them the unending troubles of cash crunch.
Under fire for demonetisation — the PM’s learned supporters (not necessarily die-hard bhakts) do accept humbly that the move hasn’t yielded major political gain for the BJP or economic gain for the country as a whole — Modi needed to dispense a salve to the affected people, in keeping with a tradition of earlier governments. So instead of making new announcements related to his latest pet project of demonetisation, the PM promised a prosperous 2017 with a series of sops for the urban and rural poor, farmers, small businessmen, senior citizens and pregnant women.
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We don’t know whether finance minister Arun Jaitley knew about the contents of Modi’s mini-budget of a speech, but if not, then the FM should start reworking his budget speech. It also needs to address the people who did not feature in the PM’s much-touted NYE address.
But why did Modi zero in on a select few for giving away sops almost a month before the budget? It’s because the PM realises the real wealth among the poor — their votes. He continues to consider them his supporters even in light of the suffering that was inflicted on them by the sudden note ban.
Acceptance of ill-effect?
The selection of this target audience also proves beyond a doubt that the government has accepted a fact, albeit unwillingly, that this was the most affected segment of demonetisation. Consider this: While it is known that these people do not air their views openly, either because they don’t have access to ways of opinion-making or because they are not articulate enough to speak up against the government, they do express themselves very assertively through the ballot. Nobody can deny that the urban and rural poor, farmers, small businessmen, senior citizens and women form the larger chunk of voters across the country, which makes or break governments.
The PM’s sop-box for 2017 has two housing schemes for the urban and rural poor. He has stated that 33 per cent more homes will be built in the rural areas under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). Farmers will get an interest waiver and their banks will get an impetus of R20,000 crore, pregnant women will get a cash grant and senior citizens will enjoy a lock-in on interest so that changing markets do not affect their income on savings.
Do the city sops stack up?
However, when the PM talks of affordable housing for the poor, how can Mumbai — the country’s capital of urban poor — be treated at par with other cities? More than half of its population stays in uninhabitable slums. People who can avail of affordable loans are moving far beyond the metropolitan region to be able to buy a small house, which can only be accessed in a tedious journey of not less than two hours for just one-way. Availability of land is the city’s primary issue in the affordable housing debate.
Sadly, as far as state’s housing department is concerned, it has emerged as one of the slowest, inefficient and unimaginative office in the Fadnavis cabinet. The minister heading the department has been a local legislator for many terms, but his performance is far from satisfactory. We’re told that even Fadnavis’s prodding doesn’t help in getting the minister and his men on their toes.
The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) and City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) are the two major agencies working for creating housing, but the poor as defined by the PM cannot afford their prices. Meanwhile, the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) has been exploited by a strong nexus of politicians, bureaucrats and builders to mint money for themselves. The rot in SRA must stop.
If Fadnavis, the PM’s protégé in Maharashtra, doesn’t take up Mumbai’s affordable housing seriously, his boss’s promise will remain as hollow as the bricks that Mhada’s controversial civil contractor has been using in constructing sub-standard apartments.
Dharmendra Jore is political editor, mid-day. He tweets @dharmendrajore. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
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