Organizer: Voluntary Initiative Services In Our Neighbourhood

Venue: Kadapa

Description:

India's urban population is increasing at a much faster rate than its total population. India will have 41 percent of its population living in cities and towns by 2030 from the present 28 percent. According to Registrar General of India there are 81 million urban poor in India. Nearly 49,000 slums continue to blight the urban landscape forcing lakhs of people to live in pathetic conditions. Most of the Indian slums are located along nallas, drains and railway tracks. They live in dangerous and inhuman conditions. The urban slums do not have basic civic amenities like waste collection & disposal, safe drinking water, toilets and septic tanks. As per the 2001 census, 640 towns spread over India have slums. Among these, only 50.6 percent have been declared as 'Notified Slums'. In 84 percent of the notified slums the main source of water is tap water. Half of the non notified slums do not have toilets of any type. Even though the State and Central Governments have initiated several programmes for the benefit of urban slums they have not reached the target population. It is high time the problems of urban slums are addressed. The urban centers are facing haphazard development, overcrowding, congestion, poor infrastructure, environmental pollution and resource mismanagement. The root cause for these problems is accumulation of population in cities. VISION is a group of NGOs working collectively to develop and implement strategic plans for the betterment of urban slums.

National Conference objectives:

• To provide basic information and update knowledge regarding contextual changes in Indian slums (a critical analysis) to the NGOs, urban / regional planners, urban development professionals, decision makers, researchers and academicians working in the field of urban development
• To discuss trend of urbanization with special emphasis on Indian slums
• To bring together concerned experts who are working on urban development to exchange knowledge and ideas on the subject and come out with suggestions and policies for the betterment of our cities and towns.
• To publish a special issue on “Contextual changes in Indian slums (A critical analysis)” related to the National Conference.

The organizers invite articles on the subject which will be presented during the National Conference and later published in the special issue brought out during the occasion. Completed articles should reach the organizers on or before 25th March, 2011.

Contact Details:
Voluntary Initiative Services In Our Neighborhood(VISION)
10/120,Mariapuram,
Ravindra Nagar(po), Kadapa 516003
Tel: +91-9347809656
Email: Vision_ngosnetkadapa@yahoo.com
Webiste: http://visionngosnet.org.in/