A study report on Refugee Resettlement Housing In India and Abroad- towards the partial fulfillment of credits for the course CB2- Housing and Environmental Planning at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi (November 2019)

1. First Semester Integrated Programme of Master of Planning
CB2- Housing and Environmental Planning
Refugee Resettlement Housing
In India and Abroad
Prasad Dipak Thanthratey
Guided by:
Prof. Harshita Deo
School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi

2. Refugee Resettlement Housing in India and Abroad | Prasad Thanthratey
1
.
In the seven decades since it became an independent country, India has seen its fair share of
refugee problems. India has been a host more than 200,000 refugees from Bangladesh, Sri
Lanka, Myanmar and Afghanistan from time to time without having a central asylum regime
governing the providing of such harbour and thus, has largely welcomed waves of migrants
fleeing conflict in neighbouring nations who have, on the whole, tried to settle in the urban
areas.
Starting from the Partition itself, people who crossed over the newly formed boundaries
between India and Pakistan were forced to live the lives of a refugee. Refugee camps across
north India served as homes for those who had borne the brunt of Partition. The national capital
of Delhi in particular saw a huge influx of refugees. The numbers were such that an entire
city—Faridabad—had to be built to rehabilitate refugees who were living in appalling
conditions in various camps.
Among major colonies which have been set up are Ulhas Nagar near Bombay & Sardar Nagar
near Ahmedabad; Gobindpur & Hastnapur in Uttar Pradesh; Chandigarh, Faridabad &
Nilokheri in the Punjab. For the displaced persons from Eastern Pakistan, townships are under
construction at Fulia & Habra in West Bengal in Assam and Bihar. Up to the end of June 1952,
7667 houses had been constructed by Government for the displaced persons from Eastern
Pakistan. The total expenditure on housing for displaced persons incurred up to the end of
March 1952, by the Central Government, was Rs. 48 crores.
However, the supply of houses on the other hand did not keep pace with the increasing demand.
Private enterprise, which has been the primary source of building activity so far, tended to
shrink on account of scarcity and high price of building materials during and immediately after
the war. The enactment of legislations controlling rents and requisitioning premises had also a
deterrent effect on private enterprise in building. Pressure on the existing accommodation,
therefore, progressively increased leading to evils of over-crowding, deterioration of housing.
estates and a variety of malpractices in relations between landlords and tenants.
Hence, the efforts of Government to rehabilitate displaced persons are not yet over and
additional funds are being allocated for the purpose. One outcome of this activity is the impetus
for bold experiments in new materials and modes of construction with a view to effect utmost
economy. Thus, the Punjab Government built nearly 4,000 -houses in stabilised soil with
cement plaster on both inner and outer wall. The Ministry of Rehabilitation experimented with
the construction of traditional types of houses at Nilokheri, Faridabad and a number of other
towns in the Punjab and West Bengal, by organizing the production of all building materials
and components and labour under Government auspices, thereby eliminating the services of
contractors. The cost of construction was considerably reduced as a result.
The next major movement of refugees towards India happened almost a decade after Partition,
in 1959, when the Dalai Lama, along with more than 100,000 followers, fled Tibet and came
to India seeking political asylum. Although the Tibetan refugees settled across northern and
north-eastern Indian states, Lugsung Samdupling in Karnataka is the first Tibetan settlement
in India. they continue to live harmoniously, largely, with other local Indian groups and as a
community they are perceived as ‘peaceful’. It was started in 1960 for initial population of
3000 settlers but more than 11,000 people now reside in it.

3. Refugee Resettlement Housing in India and Abroad | Prasad Thanthratey
2
The next major refugee crisis happened during Bangladesh's war of independence in 1971,
when more than 10 million Bangladeshi refugees escaped in 1971 and took shelter in India. But
unlike the Tibetan refugees, they are seen as a security threat. The debate over refugees gained
national prominence yet again last year after 40,000 Rohingya Muslims escaped Myanmar to
take shelter in India. The office of the UNHCR has issued identity cards to about 16,500
Rohingya in India, which it says helps “prevent harassment, arbitrary arrests, detention and
deportation" of refugees. Most of them live in the outskirts of the Delhi, in cramped makeshift
houses fabricated out of metal sheets and secured with tattered blankets. This rehabilitation is
done by the Zakat Foundation of India on a 1100 square yards’ land, while getting help from
the UNHCR.
Another sizeable group of refugees in India comprises Sri Lankan Tamils who abandoned the
island nation in the wake of events like the Black July Riots of 1983 and the bloody Sri Lankan
civil war. Mostly these refugees, who number over a million, settled in the state of Tamil Nadu
as it is nearest to Sri Lanka and since it was easier for them, as Tamils, to adjust to life there.
The war-torn Sri Lankans sought refuge in southern India with more than 60,000 refugees
currently staying in 109 camps in Tamil Nadu alone. A large number of Sri Lankan Tamils still
live in what began as makeshift refugee camps decades earlier, despite the end of the civil war
nearly a decade.
In conclusion, over the years India has received wave after wave refugees from many of its
neighbours. And for a country of India’s resources, this is an achievement of no small
magnitude. India needs a refugee policy. The absence of such a framework in India makes it
prone to inconsistent and ad-hoc reactions to refugee crises – an unsustainable solution.
Although three separate bills have been tabled before the Indian Parliament to bolster the Indian
asylum policy, they remain pending.
India’s refugee policy must also strike a balance with its environmental and security related
concerns in harbouring persons on its lands, especially via the seas. Illegal and unregulated
influx via the (already inadequately regulated) coasts are not only a blind spot in Indian national
security but also interfere in the demographic makeup of the region. This affects it
economically and politically as measures are framed bearing in mind the regulated persons in
the region. Further, post facto regulation of immigrants becomes difficult as there was no law
to regulate their entry in the first place.
As the protection of asylum seekers is a significant additional cost to the government, the
refugee policy must introduce a system by which immigrants coming to India for economic or
other gains are screened from persons seeking asylum. It is also advisable to place the refugees
under the supervision of a Welfare or other ministry of the government rather than the military.
At the end of 2016, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
found that 65.6 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes worldwide.
Globally, more than 60 percent of refugees live in urban areas, according to the United Nations
refugee agency (UNHCR). Increasing numbers of them are women, children and elderly
people. This number is a record high, and finding a way to deal with the growing refugee
population is a pressing burden for the international community.

4. Refugee Resettlement Housing in India and Abroad | Prasad Thanthratey
3
Though the underlying reasons will most likely take years to restore, the most urgent
matter is providing refugees with adequate water, food and shelter. This urgency often
leads to temporary solutions to a long term problem.
In the wake of the Syrian crisis, when hundreds of
thousands of refugees and migrants started
arriving in Europe in 2015, many cities started
quickly building simple shelters, sometimes
repurposing old shipping containers as temporary
places to sleep instead of tents. But these
makeshift sites were also often on the edges of
cities, isolating the arriving community from
other residents and any sense of normalcy.
Most refugee camps provide tents that only last up to 6 months. Not only are they
insufficient shelters against the weather and other external threats, they generate waste.
Calais is another example of shelters providing a longer-term shelter solution. Early in
2017, the government of Calais, France opened a migrant shelter made of steel shipping
containers. The 125 containers with bunk beds, heaters and windows can house up to
1500 people. Because there is no running water system, the shelter is by no means a
permanent residency, but the steel shipping containers will last longer and are safer than
cotton tents. Kilian Kleinschmidt, who worked for the UN and UNHCR for 25 years describes
about how, Refugee camps are the cities of tomorrow as the average stay today in a camp is 17
years.
And thus, there are thousands of job vacancies in Europe alone, but they are in places
with no housing nearby. Everyone can benefit from viewing the refugee crisis as an
opportunity to stimulate the economy as well as societies. Governments and aid agencies
need to first provide more permanent housing solutions and connect refugees to resources
to rebuild their lives, instead of focusing solely on survival. The report came amid
heightened concern about Germany’s rising poverty rate and ability to integrate 1.1 million
migrants that have arrived over the past two years, drawn by the country’s reputation for
affluence, efficiency and stability.
The homelessness association said that more than 850,000 people lacked their own
accommodation in 2016, up 150 percent from 2014, and half of those affected were migrants.
A total of 52,000 people were living on the streets in 2016, up a third from 2014, the group
said in its report.
It added that the number of those living in shelters would likely rise by another 40 percent by
2018, driven higher by rising rents, decreasing availability of subsidized housing, and the
growing numbers of refugees granted asylum status and therefore entitled to housing.
The homelessness association said immigration was a factor behind the rising rate of housing
shortage, but also blamed what it called “failed” housing policies. The main cause of housing
shortages and homelessness is a housing policy that has failed in Germany for decades, as well
as insufficient efforts to fight poverty.
Source: Venkataraman, M. “India needs a New Refugee Policy”, Takshshila Institution,
October 2016