Puri, Chandrakant --- "Participatory Self - Help Housing Project for an Indigenous Community in India" [2005] IndigLawB 44; (2005) 6(13) Indigenous Law Bulletin 11

Participatory Self-Help Housing Project for an Indigenous Community in India

by Dr Chandrakant Puri

Introduction

Shelter is considered to be the basic need of a human being; and though every human makes attempts at having some shelter, this varies in quality and quantity, mainly due to economic factors. Housing is one of the major concerns in India, especially for the marginalised like Indigenous tribal communities who are increasingly alienated from the forests - an original site for their habitation - and today they are still in search of land to legally settle on.

Though there have been some Government efforts to address the issue, it is often observed that Government housing programs for rural/tribal areas fail due to a lack of community participation in the program. In order to give an alternative to the Government housing project ‘Indira Awas Yojana’, a housing project was designed and implemented by a group of professionals for the primitive tribal community called Katkari. This project is known as the ‘Self-help Housing Project’.

The Self-help Housing Project was implemented by the author in 1994-95. The project is the outcome of the efforts of a multidisciplinary team where community participation was a key factor. This article analyses the processes of project formulation and implementation, and evaluates its present condition and the benefits achieved. Most importantly, it stresses the need for community engagement in community development programs and teaches us the principle ‘the greater the community participation; the greater the sustainability’.

Background to the Initiative

The original idea of implementing such a project came from Professor Dr V G Panwalkar, former head of the Department of Urban and Rural Community Development at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (‘TISS’), Mumbai. The main reason this project was conceived was because the present Government housing scheme for tribal communities was failing. The reasons for this failure included:

• A lack of community involvement in the project;
• Corruption at implementation level;
• Poor construction quality; and
• The design of the housing was not finalised with consideration of the needs of the tribes and their lifestyle. As a consequence, people were not very comfortable in those houses.

After studying all the above facts, and based on rigorous fieldwork experience of the TISS field action project,[1] a review decided the interventions at various levels. The poor housing conditions were a cause for concern among all the field workers. Here, the team felt there was a need to modify the housing design through a system which allowed the people themselves to design their own ‘dream house’.

Instead of obtaining funds from other sources, this new design of housing, prepared by the tribal people and architects in consultation, was approved by Government authorities and the funds were made available by the Government to implement the first experimental housing at two tribal hamlets; at Mulshi Katkarwadi and Dand Katkarwadi. The total houses to be constructed numbered 180. Mr K S Vatsa, an Indian Administrative Service (‘IAS’) officer who was working as an Additional Tribal Commissioner for this area (and therefore was a key Government representative) also took keen interest and supported the experiment and conducted follow-up at a bureaucratic level.

The Process

A multidisciplinary team which included community organisers, architects, Government representatives and community members themselves, designed the project through community meetings and prepared the design incorporating key elements of a traditional house with modern innovations. Designs were traditional in layout, in accordance with the needs of the people, and modern in construction techniques. The karvi (sticks) which are traditionally used were retained, but the length was reduced by half, and a three foot brick wall was used as per Katkari tradition. Teams of four workers from the TISS project implemented the project under the supervision and monitoring of the author, who was working as the Project Officer In-charge.

Key and Innovative Aspects of the Project

• Community involvement was fundamental to the process of planning, design, implementation and monitoring, including the necessary decisions surrounding location and layout. Community members were also involved in purchasing the housing material.
• People contributed 20 per cent of the total cost in the form of subsidised labour. They also got the karvi on their own and worked on their own houses to make the floor. For plastering they used mud and cow dung which they obtained themselves.
• The self-help concept was used practically. People were also working to help in the completion of others’ houses.
• The housing project created job opportunities at a local level for the period of implementation ie for nine months, which helped minimise the rate of migration to other parts of the State of Maharashtra with their families, in search of work.
• Local housing technology was used to repair any damages occurring at a later date, hence there was no external dependency and people became more self-sufficient in housing repair techniques.
• Houses were traditional in the sense of layout and modern in construction techniques.
• The materials used were locally available.

Funding of the Project

The Tribal Development Department of the Government of Maharashtra and the Government of India funded the project.

The Beneficiaries of the Project

One hundred and eighty tribal (Katkari) families benefited from the project. Katkaris are known to be a most disadvantaged community.

Role of the Local Community in Developing, Running and Maintaining the Project

This project was initiated with the involvement of people from the community, and people have shown a keen interest and have worked to make the project a success.

In order to make a sustainable impact, measures were taken from the initial stages so that communities themselves could look after the project in the future. Sustainability was thus built into the process.

• Role of Gavkis (Village Council) - Initially it was made very clear that all decisions regarding the project will be taken by Gavki, a village council, which looks after the day to day affairs of the community. A strong aspect of the project was to make this village council stronger so that it can take care of the problems at the local level. These efforts were successful to a great extent.
• Leadership development - In the process, the agency organised various ongoing training programs for traditional and youth leadership development with the aim of training participants in sustaining the project after its formal termination. The focus of the training was to create a sense of responsibility for their own development.
• Youth Mandals - Youth mandals were formed for the youths of both the hamlets. The various responsibilities of village development were taken up by them. They played a key role in the housing project and construction work. The youth groups today are involved in all the village development activities. They are also playing an important role not only in maintaining the houses but also spreading the technology used for this project. Some of them who had learnt various skills during the process of implementation of this project are today working as skilled labourers. This project thus converted many unskilled labourers into a skilled labour force and instilled them with tremendous confidence.
• Women’s groups - Women’s groups were also developed and made partners in the housing project. Their views were especially considered in the designing and planning of the project. Some aspects like smokeless chullahs were introduced along with kitchen gardens in-keeping with their health needs. Gender sensitisation workshops were organised for both men and women. Ownership rights were in the name of both women (first name) and men to break stereotypes.

Locating the Development - A Dilemma

A most common question asked by general non-tribal people, bureaucrats, politicians and anti-tribal lobby groups was: ‘Where will you carry out this development? In the jungle where they are now; or are you going to shift them to plain areas?’ Our answer to all of them was ‘We will provide development where they are.’ We spoke only what the millions of Indigenous peoples feel all over the world.

The most important challenge came when we were told that the land where tribal people had been living for generations was not legally theirs and that for any project to have Government support it had to be on legal land.

What did we do? We all came together and forced the Government to measure the land where the people were staying and declare it as ‘legal land’. The Government had to do it because all the tribal people were organised and were ready for the agitation. It was all thanks to tribal solidarity.

The Outcome

• One hundred and eighty families are living in these houses, hence the problem of shelter for these families was solved permanently.
• The Government accepted the alternate design for the tribal community housing which means the project made an impact on policy.
• Migration was checked by providing employment on the housing project.
• The owners physically worked on their own houses which resulted in more accountability and a sense of responsibility among this tribal community which is also known as a nomad community.
• People’s contribution was 20 per cent in terms of labour and materials.
• This project has created hope among the other fellow tribal communities, resulting in a positive attitude towards developmental initiatives.
• There was no corruption hence the BIG LESSON to the Government that the housing project can be implemented without corruption.
• Family was considered a unit for development. This project was implemented along with the Economic Self-reliance Project where the overall need for sustenance was considered.
• This project thus not only met the basic need for shelter of the Indigenous community but also helped reduce the migration rate, impacting on both their life and livelihood, and leading towards their holistic development.
• The Self-help Housing Project was nominated for the World Habitat Award 1996.

Dr Chandrakant Puri is the Assistant Director in Social Sciences at the Centre for Distance Education, SNDT Women’s University in Mumbai, India. He can be contacted at chandrakantpuri@yahoo.co.in or cdesndt@vsnl.net.

[1] The Tata Institute of Social Sciences is one of the pioneering schools of social work in India. TISS had a field action project called Centre for Environment, Technology and Rural Development (‘CETRD’) which was revived in 1992-93 when poor housing conditions emerged as a priority of the peoples.