BENGALURU: Using satellite imagery and machine learning, a multi-agency study on the state of slums in Bengaluru has uncovered startling discrepancies in official data: The city has over 2,000 slums, and the government recognizes only 597.Interestingly, only Gulbarga Colony in Jayanagar is common to the official lists of slums maintained by the Karnataka Slum Development Board (KSDB), Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the department of municipal administration. Conversely, Janata Colony in Chikkabellandur did not figure on any of the three official lists, and 96% of the surveyed households in the slum claimed it had been notified.Conducted by Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy and Omidyar Network over the past seven years, the study covered 135 slums and spoke to members of approximately 4,500 households to gain clarity about one of the most dynamic aspects of urban life in Indian cities. IIM-Bangalore was part of the study, and looked at ownership of assets, quality of property documents possessed and access to basic facilities.Satellite-image analysis helped identify slums along a continuum — from shanties supported only by poles and tarpaulin to three-storey concrete structures. The study observed that official lists contained slums that were towards the higher end of the spectrum.Survey: Notifying slums can increase revenue for govtAnirudh Krishna, Edgar T Thompson professor of public policy and political science, said a government, even with the best intentions, was hard-pressed to keep track of changes, given the dynamic nature of slums and the use of outdated methods.“Government surveys become redundant rather soon, given the pace at which slums come up, with undefined boundaries. New slums are forming, older ones are expanding and mutating (spreading both horizontally and vertically), slum names and slum boundaries keep changing,” Krishna, one of the authors of the paper titled ‘Studying the Real Slums of Bengaluru’, pointed out.As per the survey, the poorest slums need toilets and drinking water. The better-off ones require waste management and employment training. A muchneeded solution is for rehabilitation to be done locally and not outside city, which is the current practice.An important finding of the survey was also the incidence of property transactions — on average, fewer than 2% of properties were purchased in a year. The average price of a standard one-bedroom unit in the city varied, depending on the quality of services available in the slum, its location and type of property document. Ranging from Rs 1 lakh, deals could touch Rs 53.5 lakh in central slums with good amenities.“All transactions take place before community elders, property brokers and lawyers. Ordinarily, these transactions sign away all rights, present and potential (in the event of the slum being notified), to the buyer, without exception. In these cases, the buyer takes on all the risk, as the documents may or may not hold water. There is little evidence of upward mobility as most households which moved have done so to worse slums,” said Krishna.Shalmoli Halder, analyst (property rights), Omidyar Network, said economic benefit would accrue to the government if these slums were to be notified and dwellers rehabilitated. “Even a 2% stamp duty on a Rs 50 lakh transaction is that much money for the agency. Since we can only draw on anecdotal evidence for now, there is also a direct impact on human development indicators upon rehabilitation,” she said.

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