Securing Property Rights for Slum Dwellers: The Successes From Odisha

Land of a Billion

There are between 60 to 90 million people living in slums across India. Owing to the poor or complete lack of property rights, the slum dwellers across Indian states grapple with issues such as poor access to civic amenities and basic essentials such as water and electricity.

In this endeavour to help transform the slums into liveable habitats and provide the residents with access to basic amenities, Odisha’s JAGA Mission has emerged as a model programme. In this episode, we discuss the various steps, challenges, and successes of the mission, including how it brought community participation as one of its major steps towards slum upgradation.
We speak with G. Mathi Vathanan, Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Development, Government of Odisha and Shubhagato Dasgupta, Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research and Director, Scaling City Institutions for India, (Sci-Fi) to discuss and understand Property Rights for Slum Dwellers in the state of Odisha through the story of Jaga Mission.
What should you expect from this podcast series?
‘Land of a Billion’ brings you expert conversations about the most contentious of the holy roti-kapda-makaan trinity – the makaan over our heads, and the larger ecosystem that governs it. From administrative tussles to understanding the conflicts on ground, catch these episodes every alternate Friday for a rundown on the latest charcha around land and property rights in India. In case you missed it, you can also catch up on Season 1 of this series here.

Hosted by Bhargavi Zaveri, a researcher interested in land and access to finance, Land of a Billion is a fortnightly podcast series produced in association with the Property Rights Research Consortium.

Don’t forget to catch the next episode, where we’ll speak with Shipra Deo, Director, Women’s Land Rights, Landesa and Pranab Choudhury, Founder & Coordinator, Centre for Land Governance to understand how poor access to land rights disempower women farmers in India.
Tune in.