Authors: Jeremy Collin
Publication Date: 1999
The 1991 census showed a shortage of some 23 million housing units in India, more than 90 percent of them in the poor and low-income category. The government declared ‘Housing for All’ as a priority with a special focus on the housing needs of the poor and deprived. The National Housing and Habitat Policy of 1988 strongly encouraged the use of low-cost building materials produced from local resources.
More recently, the 1998 policy focuses on the need for skill upgradation, training, employment and improved working conditions in housing construction. It also highlights the role of female workers and provides for their induction at supervisory level. The Policy encourages state governments to facilitate the training of construction workers by administering development programmes through Building Centres and other agencies, and promoting the decentralised production of building materials.