UPA Government to launch housing scheme for slum dwellers

September 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Hundreds of the slum dwellers, residing on the banks of Yamuna River, are suffering with the river crossing the danger level following incessant rains in the national capital. A flood alert was issued Saturday after water levels of Yamuna reached 204.55 meters.

September 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India has a whopping 62 million slumdwellers but it aims to be free of shanties through a slew of schemes such as earmarking of 20 percent of developed land in all housing projects for this category, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja said here Saturday. "When our government first came to power in 2004, we had set out as our priority to cater to the needs of the urban poor.

August 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday announced a series of new schemes for women and for the housing, energy and education sectors. "Our government will make sustained efforts for social and economic empowerment of women.

July 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja said on Tuesday that sustainable development needs to be inclusive and different from mere economic development of the past, and its benefits must last well into the next generation, and beyond. Delivering the inaugural address at the launch of Habitat Business Forum in New Delhi, the minister emphasised the role of private sector in contributing towards this cause has to be recognized and promoted on a large scale.

July 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Minister for Tourism and Housing Kumari Selja on Wednesday said that the Government has sanctioned over 1.5 million houses for the poor people across the country. Kumari Selja, releasing her ministry's 100-day agenda, announced that the Government is likely to develop a model legal framework to consider property rights to the urban slum dwellers.

June 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Manmohan Singh government will launch a special housing scheme for the urban poor aiming to "create a slum free India" in five years, President Pratibha Patil said Thursday. Called the Rajiv Awas Yojana, the scheme for the urban poor and slum dwellers is on the lines of the Indira Awas Yojana being implemented in the rural areas.

June 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - If the Manmohan Singh government's ambitious plan for a "slum free" India, as announced by President Pratibha Patil in parliament Thursday, becomes a reality some 62 million-plus people living in the country's urban shanties will have a home of their own. Called the Rajiv Awas Yojana, the special housing scheme for the urban poor and slum dwellers will be on the lines of Indira Awas Yojana for the rural areas.

May 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Mayor Kanwar Sain Thursday pulled up the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) slum department "for sitting on files endlessly" and ordered a fresh survey of slum dwellers and encroachments in the national capital. "Since 1994 there has been no survey of slum properties.

March 16th, 2009 BANGALORE - Slum-dwellers have suddenly become much sought after by political parties of all hues with loads of cash to lure them to election rallies. Many of the slum dwellers openly admitted that their vote would go to those doling out more money.

February 24th, 2009 BANGALORE - They are ecstatic, celebrating every moment of it. The slum dwellers of India's IT hub are short of words to express their joy at the huge success of 'Slumdog Millionaire' at the Oscars.

February 23rd, 2009 PATNA - Hundreds of slum dwellers here Sunday burned effigies of Danny Boyle, the director of Oscar-nominated film 'Slumdog Millionaire', demanding the filmmaker drop the word 'dog' from the title. 'Slum dwellers burnt effigies of Danny Boyle and others, at Kamla Nehru slum to show their protest against 'Slumdog Millionaire',' Tapeshwar Vishwakarma, representing a slum dwellers welfare group, told IANS here.

February 17th, 2009 PATNA - A Bihar court Wednesday began hearing a defamation case against the Indian cast of Oscar-nominated film 'Slumdog Millionaire' and music maestro A.R. Rahman for allegedly 'abusing slum dwellers'.

February 4th, 2009 PATNA - A court here Thursday deferred hearing in a defamation case against the Indian cast of Oscar-nominated film 'Slumdog Millionare' for allegedly 'abusing slum dwellers'. The court slated the next hearing for Feb 18.

January 25th, 2009 PATNA - Slum dwellers in Bihar's capital continued to protest Monday against Oscar-nominated film 'Slumdog Millionaire', demanding the film's makers remove the word dog from the title. The protesters said their sensibilities had been offended by the title, which they said was abusive of people who live in slums.

January 4th, 2009 BANGALORE - It is a unique magazine brought out by slum dwellers to address the issues of the urban poor. Now nine years after its launch, India's only such news magazine is battling for survival and the management refuses to seek government or private funds.