68 Million Indians Living In Slums: Government Census

New Delhi: Approximately 68 million Indians are living in slums, according to a government census.

Releasing the first such census report on slum households prepared by the Registrar General of India, Union Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Ajay Maken today said that majority of them were located in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Presenting the highlights of the report, Census Commissioner C Chandramouli said, "In all 1.73 crore census houses have been reported in houselisting blocks, categorised as slums in India, comprising 1.37 crore slum households."

He also noted that in 19 cities with million-plus population, 25 percent of households live in slums.

"A majority-71 percent- of these are located in six states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, west Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh," Chandramouli said.

90 percent of slum households use electricity, 70 percent slum households have television, 72.7 percent have telephone facility while 10.4 percent households have computer or laptop in their house.

Maken said, "In 2001, there were 23.5 percent of households in urban areas which were living in slums. It has now come down to 17.4 percent. But there are still 17.35 million slum houses, 13.74 million slum households and we have 68 million people living in the slum areas as 2011 census."

The slum household census report says that 74 percent of these households use tap as the main source of drinking water followed by hand pump ortube which is used by 20.3 percent.

Also Read: 10 Major Slums of India