Poverty: India goes hi-tech to achieve slum-free country in the next five years

The Press Trust of India reports India is going to map its slums, the objective being to collect foolproof data on notified and non-notified slums across the country to meet the target of a slum-free India in the next five years

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation will undertake satellite mapping of all slums in the country under the government’s slum-free cities initiative. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will collaborate on the project that will see Mumbai among the four metros to be mapped first.

The project will employ the geographical information system (GIS), and take two years to complete. Officials say high-resolution satellite imaging will be used to locate slums and identify their physical characteristics.

“Most of the time the plans are based on projections rather than hard data. We plan to map the whole country so that we know about the slums in each city. This would include non-notified slums, which are usually not accounted for,” Union Minister for Urban Housing and Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja said.

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