The effects of land titling on the urban poor: a replication of property rights for the poor

PurposeThe lives of the poor in the urban spaces of India are filled with hardships. They live amidst poverty and struggle to survive within other problems such as insecure jobs, lack of proper housing, unsanitary conditions and low levels of health immunity. This vulnerable section of the population has been rendered furthermore vulnerable by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in ways that were never imagined before. Taking this into consideration, the purpose of this article is to examine the vulnerability of the poor in the urban settings of India with special reference to Mumbai in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology adopted in the study is based on the analysis of secondary data and content analysis of the existing literature. In addition to this, the study also makes use of certain narratives of the urban poor in Mumbai that have been captured by various articles, reports and blogs.FindingsThe findings of the study reveal how the urban poor of India, with special reference to Mumbai, the financial capital of India, has emerged as the worst sufferers of the socioeconomic crisis caused by the social distancing and lockdown measures imposed for combating the pandemic.Originality/valueThe study tries to explore the reality of the urban poor's right to the city in the wake of the pandemic.

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The Heterogeneous Nature of Urban Poor Families

City and Community ◽

10.1111/j.1540-6040.2011.01385.x ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 94-118 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Rodrigo Salcedo ◽

Alejandra Rasse

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Urban Poor ◽

Poverty Reduction ◽

The Poor ◽

Poor Families ◽

Heterogeneous Nature ◽

Different Types ◽

Decision Making Processes ◽

Different Cultures

This paper addresses the scholarly debate on cultural homogeneity or heterogeneity of urban poor families. While authors such as Lewis (1959) or Wacquant (2000 ; 2001) claim that structural disadvantages are linked to a particular type of identity or culture, others such as Hannerz (1969) , Anderson (1999 ; 2002) , or Portes ( Portes and Manning, 1986 ; Portes and Jensen, 1989 ) believe that it is possible to find different behaviors, expectations, decision–making processes, and outcomes among people living in seemingly identical structural conditions ( Small et al., 2010 ). Using Santiago, Chile, as a case study, we differentiate five different cultures or identities among the poor. Those identities seem to be the product of different historical and political circumstances, as well as of different types of public policies. The paper ends with a discussion of the need for poverty reduction policies to consider these differences among the poor.

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Class, Crime, and Cannibalism in The String of Pearls; or, The Demon Barber as Bourgeois Bogeyman

Journal of Working-Class Studies ◽

10.13001/jwcs.v5i1.6261 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 118-131

Author(s):

Leah Richards

Keyword(s):

Middle Class ◽

Urban Poor ◽

Lower Class ◽

Class Conflict ◽

Middle Classes ◽

Working Classes ◽

The Poor ◽

The Rich ◽

Cultural Resonance ◽

String Of Pearls

Although the tale of Sweeney Todd is one with significant cultural resonance, little has been written about the text itself, The String of Pearls. This article argues that the text engages with anxieties about class conflict through a narrative that enacts exaggerated versions of various interactions. In the nineteenth century, critics objected to the cheap fiction pejoratively known as penny dreadfuls, asserting that the genre’s exciting tales of bloodshed, villainy, and mayhem would seduce readers to lives of debauchery and crime, but I argue that this concern about cheap fiction was not for the preservation of the souls of the poor and working classes but rather for the preservation of the middle classes' own corporeal bodies and the system that privileged and protected them. While there is no question that the narrative enacts extreme manifestations of problems facing the urban poor—among them, contaminated or even poisonous foodstuffs and the perils of urban anonymity—it also features an intractable and rapacious lower class and a subversion of the master-servant dynamic on which the comforts of the middle class were constructed, and so, in addition to adventure, detection, and young love, The String of Pearls offers a dark revenge fantasy of class-based violence that the middle-class critics of the penny dreadful were perhaps justified in fearing. tl;dr: Eat the Rich!

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Housing Citizenship Through the Federation of Urban Poor in South Africa

Advances in Electronic Government, Digital Divide, and Regional Development - Handbook of Research on Urban Governance and Management in the Developing World ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-4165-3.ch007 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 119-137

Author(s):

Ndwakhulu Stephen Tshishonga

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Urban Poor ◽

Document Analysis ◽

Poor People ◽

Capability Development ◽

Face To Face ◽

Development Framework ◽

The Poor ◽

The People ◽

Human Capability

This chapter explores the notion of housing citizenship through the Federation of Urban Poor (FEDUP) among the poor and homeless in South African townships. Through the Federation of Urban Poor, the poor people have been instrumental and pragmatic in promoting housing citizenship self-funded and with the help of the Department of Human Settlement both locally and nationally. The chapter makes use of human-capability development framework to draw lessons for active participation and empowerment in the delivery of services such as houses. The chapter found that the people involved in FEDUP managed to transform their dire situation from marginalization to empowerment and have managed to further outsource both government and private sector resources in the form of finances and human expertise. The data in this chapter are collected through face-to-face interviews, document analysis, and observations.

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Examining calorie undernourishment in India: Is it due to choice or inadequacy?

Nutrition and Health ◽

10.1177/0260106020949739 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 026010602094973

Author(s):

Udaya S Mishra ◽

Balakrushna Padhi ◽

Rinju

Keyword(s):

Rural Areas ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Urban Poor ◽

Food Choices ◽

National Sample ◽

Sample Survey ◽

The Poor ◽

Food Expenditure ◽

Lower Magnitude ◽

Common Understanding

Background: Calorie undernourishment is often associated with poverty but India presents a unique scene of decline in money-metric poverty and rise in calorie deprivation. Existing literature has varied explanation towards this effect. However, neither are the poor entirely calorie compromised nor do all the non-poor qualify calorie compliance. Aim: This is an attempt at verifying whether calorie undernourishment is a result of choice of food basket or the inadequacy of food expenditure. Method: An answer to this question is attempted with the exploration of data obtained from the National Sample Survey Organization’s Consumption Expenditure of Indian households for the periods 2004–2005 and 2011–2012. Results: Findings reveal that over the last one decade, the average per capita per day calorie intakes have slightly increased from 2040.55 Kcal in 2004–2005 to 2087.33 Kcal in 2011–2012, which has led to the increased share of well-nourished households from 20.21% in the 61st round to 22.78% in the 68th round of survey in rural areas, whereas the similar increase in urban areas is from 36.1% to 40.65%. Conclusions: Calorie undernourishment among the non-poor is observed that calorie undernourishment, if any, among the non-poor is entirely due to choice but the same among the poor has a divide between choice and inadequacy. The urban poor are calorie compromised more due to choice rather than inadequacy as against their rural counterparts. With higher poverty, calorie, non-compliance among the poor is more due to choice when compared with lower magnitude of poverty. These observations form a basis for contesting the common understanding that calorie compromise is entirely driven by inadequacy/incapacity of food expenditure. could be viewed in terms of the food choices made, especially among the poor while setting the minimum threshold of food expenditure to be calorie compliant.

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Gambling with the State: Land Titles and Personhood Rights among the Urban Poor in Indonesia

Asian Journal of Law and Society ◽

10.1017/als.2015.11 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 285-300 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lilis MULYANI

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Social Security ◽

Land Tenure ◽

Urban Poor ◽

The State ◽

Informal Employment ◽

Land Titling ◽

Formal Employment ◽

Land Titles ◽

The Impact

AbstractDue to the pressures of urbanization, the urban poor often find themselves trapped in illegal settlements and informal employment. As housing is not affordable and formal employment is inaccessible to them because of their lack of education and skills, they live a precarious existence with insecure land tenure and employment. Discriminated against by the state on the grounds of their illegal status, the urban poor are unable to establish their identity and personhood rights as urban citizens, and so cannot access basic rights such as health care and social security. This article is based on fieldwork in Surakarta in Indonesia which studied the impact of a land-titling programme in an area previously characterized by informal tenure. It finds that the legitimation provided by land titles had a significant impact upon the lives of the residents, enabling them to access other personhood rights.

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