Introduction

The popular idea of the ‘slum’ is often made up of a bundleof perceptions that characterise such areas as overcrowded,unplanned, squalid and dilapidated. The areas are consideredcrime-prone or even crime-infested, and the people here aregenerally considered to be living in extreme, if not relative, poverty.Most official Indian definitions, such as from the census, and statelevel laws and regulations, rest largely on the physical characteristicsof areas, such as state of repair and stability of structures, lightand ventilation conditions, the availability of basic services, etc.