Social Structure and Resettlement of Slum Dwellers

Statement of the Problem

Cities of Bangladesh especially Dhaka faces the overwhelming urban population in last few decades, which is not commensurate with its existing urban facilities (Chowdhury et al, 1991). As a result, a huge number of destitute migrants take shelter in different slums. The number of slum is increasing very rapidly in recent decades (CUS, 1990; Islam, 1993, ADB, 1996). The slums are unequally distributed in different parts of cities because slums are now mostly concentrated in fringe parts of cities. The slum dwellers have very limited access to urban formal sectors. They are mostly involved in different informal sectors where they are paid very low level of wage. They are living in very poor quality of houses and they have very limited access to urban services. Different types of diseases prevail in slum areas but the slum dwellers have very limited access to modern health care facilities. Few government and international organizations and universities have also conducted a number of researches on this issue. At individual level scholars from various disciplines have conducted a number of studies on slums in Bangladesh. This research shows that there has been considerable literature on slum but there is extreme paucity of literature on the social organizations of the slums and changes, which are occurring in these marginal human settlements. Most of the studies deal with growth pattern, poverty and physical environment of slums.

The study highlights resettlement and social structure among slum dwellers. Resettlement programme is considered as a topical subject for the development of the slum dwellers and floating people’s life style. It is well known that for all the relative advantages of city life, widespread poverty casts a shadow over the urban future. A vast number of people in urban areas cannot adequately provide for their basic need in shelter, employment, safe water, sanitation, health and education. To solve the problem of slums in 1975 the government of Bangladesh evicted the residents from various squallier sites in the city and relocated them to three different camps on the fringe of the urban areas.

The tremendous expansion of cities, especially in developing countries, is transforming social dynamics throughout the world. Urban population is growing at a much faster rate than the world population as a whole, and by larger annual increments than ever before.

 objectives

1.     To collect data about the overall environment of the slum.

2.     To know the demographic characteristics of the respondents.

3.     To know the social structure of the slum dwellers.

4.     To find out the ways of resettlement for the slum dwellers.

Rationale of the Study

The rapid urbanization and the rapid growth of population in the Third World Cities have created various problems such as unemployment, social conflict, deviance, unhealthy housing, low quality sanitation system, political problems etc. All these problems are circulated mainly in the slums of the developing countries. Beside this the vicious cycle of poverty always stricken the slums of third world countries.  Slums gives a picture of sub standard life, where low-income families, prevailing poor health and unhygienic environment such as poor sewerage system, drainage facilities, solid waster disposal system, shortage of potable water, poor housing conditions and antisocial of activities are common phenomenon. For these reasons, almost all of the researcher concentrate their mind on how to alleviate urban poverty, how to improve sanitation and system, solid waster disposal, shortage of potable water, housing condition, health facilities, low and order situation etc.

Bangladesh has taken a number of approaches to meet these problems. In the year of 1975, almost 70,000 slum dwellers were resettled in the there camps to solve the problems of the slums in Dhaka. So, this study is an attempt to assess the socio-economic, cultural, health and environment, attitude and behavioral situation of the slum.

Scope of the Study

There are a lot of researches conducted on the slum issue in Bangladesh. But on the particular issue of resettlement of slum in Dhaka city this work will get the priority.

This research can be also considered as the first issue of Social Structure and Resettlement of Slum particular, since there were no in-depth studies and applied research conducted before, except for a few reports in different forms. Even though it may not be an exhaustive list for any in-coming solutions, it could be so, nevertheless, the information compiled in this research can be a starting point for Social Structure and Resettlement of Slum related ideas reform in this, in particular.  The provisions of the recommendations suggested in the research apply to all slums Bangladesh regardless of their health, living status of the slum dwellers. The recommendations illustrated in this thesis have also priority over international standards.  However a national code of practice, unless otherwise mentioned, is not necessarily a substitute for national legislation and regulations and other enacted safety standards by regulatory agencies.

 Hypotheses

1. The more the tendency of drinking pure water, the less the possibility of being affected by diseases.
2. The educational condition is better among the children whose parents are engaged in formal jobs.
3. The more the educational status of the respondents, the more the political consciousness among the respondents.
4. Hygienic practices determine the healthy health of the respondents.

 Limitations of the Study

1)      The researcher should have taken sample size more than 200 but he could not do this for want of time and money.

2)      Because of lack of time, the researcher could not read through many books that are written over this topic.

3)      Many respondents were reluctant to answer the questions that uttered in the questionnaire. So, the researcher could not get their opinion on this topic.

4)      To understand social structure and resettlement of slum properly, more questions should have been included.

5)      Some questions were left blank by the respondents because of lack of variations of answers.

6)      The researcher could not go to all sections of society which can not be called representative.

CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

ntroduction

A review of literature is an important component in any research in any case; the review of literature is basically a critical review of existing knowledge in the subject. The researcher has reviewed a couple of English literatures, articles, newspapers and various national and international reports from multi-disciplines in order to get an overall insight about the present research subject. In this chapter, an attempt will be taken for examine and review those specific issues, which help the researcher to understand the underlying issues of the social structure and resettlement of slum in Dhaka city.

A slum, as defined by the United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the proportion of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the developing world between 1990 and 2005. However, due to rising population, the number of slum dwellers is rising. One billion people worldwide live in slums and the figure will likely grow to 2 billion by 2030 (Uddin, 2003).The term has traditionally referred to housing areas that were once relatively affluent but which deteriorated as the original dwellers moved on to newer and better parts of the city, but has come to include the vast informal settlements found in cities in the developing world. Many shack dwellers vigorously oppose the description of their communities as ‘slums’ arguing that this results in them being pathologised and then, often, subject to threats of evictions. Many academics have vigorously criticized UN-Habitat and the World Bank arguing that their ‘Cities without Slums’ Campaign has led directly to a massive increase in forced evictions.Although their characteristics vary between geographic regions, they are usually inhabited by the very poor or socially disadvantaged. Slum buildings vary from simple shacks to permanent and well-maintained structures. Most slums lack clean water, electricity, sanitation and other basic services.

 Characteristics of Slums

The characteristics associated with slums vary from place to place. Slums are usually characterized by urban decay, high rates of poverty, illiteracy, and unemployment. They are commonly seen as “breeding grounds” for social problems such as crime, drug addiction, alcoholism, high rates of mental illness, and suicide. In many poor countries they exhibit high rates of disease due to unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, and lack of basic health care. However some like Dharavi in Dhaka are a hive of business activity such as leather works cottage industries etc (Sarkar, 2003). Rural depopulation with thousands arriving daily into the cities makes slum clearance an uphill struggle. In fact one could argue that the presence of slums reflects true democracy (free movements of people)-as only a totalitarian state could ‘eradicate’ slums. A UN Expert Group has created an operational definition of a slum as an area that combines to various extents the following characteristics: inadequate access to safe water; inadequate access to sanitation and other infrastructure; poor structural quality of housing; overcrowding; and insecure residential status. A more complete definition of these can be found in the 2003 UN report titled “Slums of the World: The face of urban poverty in the new millennium?” The report also lists various attributes and names that are given by individual countries which are somewhat different than these UN characteristics of a slum. Low socioeconomic status of its residents is another common characteristic given for a slum.

In many slums, especially in poor countries, many live in very narrow alleys that do not allow vehicles (like ambulances and fire trucks) to pass. The lack of services such as routine garbage collection allows rubbish to accumulate in huge quantities. The lack of infrastructure is caused by the informal nature of settlement and no planning for the poor by government officials. Additionally, informal settlements often face the brunt of natural and man-made disasters, such as landslides, as well as earthquakes and tropical storms. Fires are often a serious problem.  Many slum dwellers employ themselves in the informal economy (Iqbal, 1987). This can include street vending, drug dealing, domestic work, and prostitution. In some slums people even recycle trash of different kinds (from household garbage to electronics) for a living – selling either the odd usable goods or stripping broken goods for parts or raw materials. Slums are often associated with Victorian Britain, particularly in industrial, northern English towns, lowland Scottish towns and Dublin City in Ireland. These were generally still inhabited until the 1940s, when the government started slum clearance and built new council houses. There are still many examples left of former slum housing in the UK, however they have generally been restored into more modern housing.

Growth and Countermeasures: World perspective

Recent years have seen a dramatic growth in the number of slums as urban populations have increased in the Third World. In April 2005, the director of UN-HABITAT stated that the global community was falling short of the Millennium Development Goals which targeted significant improvements for slum dwellers and an additional 50 million people have been added to the slums of the world in the past two years. According to a 2006 UN-HABITAT report, 327 million people live in slums in Commonwealth countries – almost one in six Commonwealth citizens. In a quarter of Commonwealth countries (11 African, 2 Asian and 1 Pacific), more than two out of three urban dwellers live in slums and many of these countries are urbanizing rapidly. Many governments around the world have attempted to solve the problems of slums by clearing away old decrepit housing and replacing it with modern housing with much better sanitation. The displacement of slums is aided by the fact that many are squatter settlements whose property rights are not recognized by the state. This process is especially common in the Third World. Slum clearance often takes the form of eminent domain and urban renewal projects, and often the former residents are not welcome in the renewed housing. For example, in the Philippine slums of Smokey Mountain, located in Tondo, Manila, projects have been enforced by the Government and non-government organizations to allow urban resettlement sites for the slum dwellers. According to a UN-Habitat report, over 2 million people in the Philippines live in slums, and in the city of Manila alone, 50% of the over 11 million inhabitants live in slum areas. Critics argue that slum clearances tend to ignore the social problems that cause slums and simply redistribute poverty to less valuable real estate (Barkat 1997). Where communities have been moved out of slum areas to newer housing, social cohesion may be lost. If the original community is moved back into newer housing after it has been built in the same location, residents of the new housing face the same problems of poverty and powerlessness. There is a growing movement to demand a global ban of ‘slum clearance programmes’ and other forms of mass evictions

Previous Studies on Slum

A number of studies on slums have already been done in Bangladesh. The starting of formal urban research in Bangladesh can possible be traced in the 1950a. Although in 1970s, studies on urban social structure opened up but in the beginning impetus, on the study on urbanization is little. The interest on these problems gained momentum during the mid 70s particularly with the initiatives of Center for Urban Studies (CUS). It is worth mentioning that the major studies on slum and squatters are conducted by CUS. The CUS study covers the slums and squatters settlements of three major areas of Bangladesh. In 1975, Qadir conducted a study on “Bastees of Dhaka City’. His study provided a little sociological insight because he focused on kinship affiliation and the emerging pattern of matrifocality in slums. Amin (1986) has worked on the urban informal sector of Dhaka city and from this study it has been revealed that majority of the population eke out their livelihoods from the informal sector. Begum, Ahmed, Areffen and Barman (1989) focusing conducted another study on the urban poor and on development activities initiated by a British N.G.O. This study gave some unsighted data on social, economic and political aspects of slum organizations.  A fairly comprehensive study on urban society of Dhaka provide a guideline for studying urban social structure of Bangladesh from sociological point of view was conducted by Siddiqui et.al, 1990. In this study the writers pointed out that the majority of the people of Dhaka city are migrated from rural areas and family and kinship are connected with rural kinship structure inter-district marriage and regionalism such as districts is very common among people.  A significant chunk of people earns their livelihood from informal sector. The influence of religious ideology on the people is profound urban social organization is loose and people dependent on local level political agents. The authors analysis the characteristics of the people of different economic stratum and about the marginal groups such as beggars, prostitute and criminals etc.

In 1996, Planning Commission conducted an excellent study, ‘The Study on Urban Poverty in Bangladesh’. According to this study 55% of the urban households are living in rented house. Average rate is taka 366, average floor space only 100 sq.ft. This study showed that 60% of the households use electricity, 72% use wood as fuel for cooking, 55% uses a variety non-hygienic latrine. More than 60% of the urban poor just dump their garbage on the road or on the ground. Another study conducted by Center for Policy Dialogue in 1995 showed that fifty percent of the slum inhabitants are poor while 30% are classifiable as hard core poor. The poor people live mostly in private slums or squatters on government land (Hussain, 1999). They have little or no access to basic facilities such as piped water, sanitation public health area etc.

 Health Condition among the Slum Dwellers

The health situation of slum population is extremely precarious. The poor health situation is caused mainly by the unhealthy and unsanitary residential environment in which the poor live, the inadequate and poor food intake with resulting malnutrition and loer disease resistance levels and their unhygienic personal health practices due to lack of education and information (Fariduddin and Khan, 1996). The most prevalent diseases are scabies, Diarrhea, Respiratory Tract Infection, Helminthiasis, Gastritis, Typhoid and Measles (Asrafuddin, 1987). Children and squatters are more vulnerable to disease and death that adult. Tetanus, Diarrhea, Respiratory Tract Infection, Measles are major causes of child mortality in slum and squatters (Asrafuddin, 1987, 1987; Rahman; Begum, 1988). Main cause of high prevalence of diseases and high rate of mortality is malnutrition, While generally all population groups suffer the poor especially urban poor who live in different slums and squatter suffer more (UNICEF, 1991). BBS (1989) also shows that 63 percent of children of urban lower income groups who mostly live in slums and swatters suffer from stunting or chronic malnutrition. The same pattern also prevails in case of wasting or acute malnutrition. As compared to the overall wasting rate of urban child (6.9%) the urban poor children suffer more with a wasting rate of more than 11 percent. Very limited access of the urban poor to modern health facilities also causes high rate of deaths. Theoretically the poor have equal access to the public health facilities in the urban areas. In reality very little is available for them. Fakruddin and Khan (1996) show that prospective patients are discouraged die to the overcrowded facilities and the resultant inadequate attention and neglect. The time and expenditure involved in transport to the facilities, the waiting period, the quality of attention receive and lastly the levels of expenses involved in allopathic medicine all discouraged the poor to seek services from these facilities. A considerable number of slum populations seek medical services from homepaths, kavirajs and even quacks (Iqbal, 1987, Begum, 1988). It is true that in last few decades different NGOs have taken initiatives for improving health of the poor of this country. A number of NGOs like CONCERN, Aga Khan Community Health Program (AKCHP), Dusthya Shasthya Kendra (DSK), Immunization services for slum dwellers of Dhaka and Chittagong. But the slum populations of other cities have not access to these facilities (Fakruddin and Khan, 1996).

Social Structure and Resettlement of Slum in the Global Village

In terms of total population numbers, Asia now accounts for 1.2 billion of the 2.5 billion global urban residents 9i.e. about 46 percent). Europe accounts for 535 million more by 2025, 23 new urban Asian will be added for every new European urban resident. Latin America and the Caribbean account for about 358 million current residents (World Population Report, 1996). The rapid growth of urban population and urbanization is a massive scale influence to primate city growth. The main cities of Bangladesh are experiencing a rapid rate of growth. In the world’ largest 50 urban agglomerations in 1996 we see that the position of Dhaka in 22^nd. In 1951 total urban population was 1.8 million but in 1961 the urban populations rose 2.6 million; at the 1991 population census, the figure reached 22.45 million or 20.15 percent of the total national population of 111.45 million people (BBS, 1981 and 1991). In fact, much of urban growth is due to migration of the rural poor to the urban areas. In the last few decades counties in Asia, Africa and Latin America have experienced extreme urban migration and urban expansion. The common consequence has bee a rapid and haphazard increase of slums and squatters settlements. Before any discussion of slum, we should know the main characteristics of a slum area; substandard housing, high density and congestion, unsanitary conditions, absence of basic amenities like water supply, drainage and sewerage and clearance of garbage, environmental pollution including air and water pollutions, poor health too. According to World Population Report (1996), urban poverty has been increasing faster than rural poverty. According to national studies (Hamid et.al., 1993) upto half the population of several cities in some of the world’s poorest countries is living below official poverty lines. In a study of eight mega cities, the ILO estimated slum populations at between 12% (Seoul) and 84% (Cairo) of the populations. The urban squatting and slum area is not a peculiar phenomenon of Bangladesh. No city of Bangladesh is free from slums; but problem appears to be more acute in metropolitan cities, especially in Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna. In fact, slums and squatters are integral part of Dhaka city. Dhaka, is overwhelmed with problems of over population, poverty, traffic congestion, housing shortage, shortage of essential utilities like water, electricity and fuel, difficulty in disposal of garbage, increase of pollution and criminal activities.

Bangladesh Slums Demand Access to Clean Water

Just five years ago the only sources of water for the slum’s 500 families were wells and an intermittent supply from an illegally connected tap to the city’s water utility. For drinking water, the women and children had to wait in line for up to two hours to collect a pitcher or bucket of water from a local market or nearby houses where they often had to bribe guards and caretakers, or pay exorbitant prices. Today the family uses water from a dug well behind their shack for bathing and washing, but for drinking and cooking, they get water from the slum’s “water point”-two hand pumps that draw water from an underground reservoir that is filled with piped water supplied by Dhaka’s water utility. Most Bangladeshis live on less than a dollar a day. Every year, thousands of destitute victims of natural disasters pour into the cities from far-flung villages. The accelerated rate of urbanization means that nearly 25 percent of Bangladesh’s 130 million people now live in urban areas, and municipalities and service agencies are unable to cope with the pressures of providing basic services. Bangladesh has achieved remarkable success in supplying bacteria-free, safe drinking water to 97 percent of the population, mainly by sinking millions of shallow tubewells in the 1970s-80s. However, that success was undermined in the mid-1990s by the discovery of arsenic contamination of the groundwater, and it is estimated that 29 million of Bangladesh’s 130 million people are still drinking arsenic-tainted water. Water 1st visited slum communities in Chittagong, Bangladesh most to the time, meeting people who live without any access to safe drinking water. Here a woman gathers water for her family for their drinking, cooking and washing needs. They often wait her turn in a long line to get to this small, dirty water-source.

CHAPTER-3

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Introduction

This study is about the Social Structure and Resettlement of Slum. This study would concentrate on exploring the overall condition of the slum living people of the Dhaka.

Modernization theory

Modernization is a term and approach that came into widespread use in the early 1960s, as a consequence of the efforts by a group of development specialists in the United States to develop an alternative to the Marxist account of social development. Modernization theory is a socio-economic theory sometimes known as development theory which highlights the positive role played by the developed world in modernizing. Modernization is a complex set of changes. It involves ongoing change in a society’s economy, politics, education, traditions and religion. Modernization refers to a total transformation of traditional on pre-modern society into the types of technology that refers to the advanced, economically prosperous and relatively politically stable nations of the world. The basic tenets of modernization theory are as follows:

• Western countries are most developed and rest of the world is on the earlier stages of development and will eventually reach the same level as the western world.

• Development stages go from the traditional societies to developed areas.

• Third world countries have fallen behind with their social program and need to be directed on their way to be coming more advanced.

Modernization theory and different views:

Different sociologists have described modernization theory from various perspectives. Now these views are described below.

Modernization theory in classical sociology:

Modernization theorists have varied the total transformation of the society. That is Westernization of developing countries to be an inescapable outcome of successful diffusion of the western economic or technological complex. A major force behind modernization was the collapse of the colonial empire of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Former colonies such as India and Indonesia became new nations. Often the Second World War, when the sociologists did turn their attention to the underdeveloped world, they found that these countries were different from the western world. To show these differences the dichotomy of traditional and modern came into the picture, and as a new paradigm modernization theory had evolved. Modernization theory is very much connected with the evolutionary theory of classical sociology. August Comte, Durkheim, Spencer etc all of them put emphasis on social evolution to discover the general trends in the development of all human societies.

Durkheimian view about modernization:

Emile Durkheim tried to show how do people combine in stable groups to form cohesive societies and what is the nature of their relationships to one another as society grows and becomes more complex. In his first major book “The Division of Labour in Society” he proposes that there are two basic types of society:

• The traditional
• The modern

The people of a traditional society perform the limited tasks of a simple agrarian community based on groups of families or clans in village settlements. Such societies, social cohesion are based on the simple common lifestyle and between settlements. Durkheim calls this form of cohesion “Mechanical Solidarity”, mechanical is the sense that the separate groups are very similar to one another, confronting to a rigid patterns of traditional norms and beliefs. In the modern country the division of labour becomes more complex and created on increasing interdependency among people. And so in this way modern society created. It is more complex and integrated also has a cohesion Durkheim called “Organic Solidarity”.

Weberian View:

Like Durkheim, Weber sought to explain the emergence of industrialization. He argued that basic factor behind industrialization was the existence of a cultural process peculiar to Western society namely rationalization. Like Durkheim, Weber thus draws a distinction between traditional and modern society in terms of ideas and values. Traditional society is characterized more by irrational, customs of traditions and orthodox religious ethics. On the contrary, modern society is governed by rational beliefs, calculation, hard work etc. Max Weber also puts emphasis on authority types in explaining political modernization. He divided the authority by the following way:

1. Traditional Authority: Mostly characterized by customs of tradition.
2. Charismatic Authority: Governed by supernatural power.
3. Legal Authority: Characterized by systematic, democratic ways.

Parson’s view:

In the 1950s and early 1960s, modernization theory was developed by a number of social scientists; particularly a group of American scholars, the most prominent of them was Talcott Parsons

In Parsons Analysis of societies, distinction between traditional and modern societies was expressed in terms of pattern variables at the level of social interactions. These pattern variables reflect the nature of the society by the following ways-

 W.W. Rostow’s View:

A more elaborate stage model has been provided by the development economist W.W. Rostow. In his “Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto” he claims that it is possible to identify all societies in their economic dimensions as lying within one of five categories; the stages are as follows-

Stage 1: (Traditional society) in which output is limited without the applications of western science and technology values are fatalistic and political institutions are undeveloped.

Stage 2: (The preconditions for take off) Which include the introduction of ideas for economic progress, involving education, entrepreneurship and the expansions of a commercial infrastructure.

Stage 3: (The take off) In which traditional barriers are overcome western technology is introduced and political institutions developed. Both industry and agriculture are mechanized. Modernization becomes a real possibility when the rate of increase in investment overtakes the rate of increase in population.

Stage 4: (The drive to maturity) When 1 to 20 percent of the national income is invested, the use of consumer technology becomes widespread and an impressions is made on the capitalist world economy.

Stage 5: (High consumption) Mass production of consumer goods dominates the economy and a large economic surplus is created. Increase in urbanization, white collar jobs, Investment in social welfare and security.

So, slums are the ultimate formation of modernization. And the welfare of slums are also dependent upon the modern cities. Modern amenities and aspirations have compelled the slum dwellers to live miserable lives.

Conceptual Framework

Dependent Variable: Social Structure

Independent Variable:

1.   Educational Status

2.   Monthly Income

3.   Savings

4.   Clothing

5.   Family Type

6.   Nature of Slums

7.   Modern Amenities

8.   Occupation

9.   Political Consciousness

CHAPTER 4

METHODOLOGY

Why Quantitative?

A methodology refers to the choices we make about the cases to study methods of data gathering, forms of data analysis etc. in planning and executing a research design study. The decision to choose a particular methodological approach is a philosophical question. The logic of which approach to choose depends on the nature of the research project, the type of information needed and the availability of resources e.g. time, money etc. In this study quantitative method is used. In fact, a quantitative research is a time honored scientific method. It is about prediction, generalizing a sample to a larger group of subjects and using number to prove/disprove hypotheses. In this chapter, detailed design of the study including sample size, study population, process of instrument development, data collection and data analysis etc. will be explained to gain an insight about the whole procedure of this research work.

Study Population

To collect data for the research purpose, the researcher taken the slum dwellers of Chairman Goli and Modhubag slum of Maghbazar as the study population.

 Study Unit

Individual of the slum dwellers of Chairman Goli and Modhubag slum of Maghbazar of Dhaka city.

Study Area

Chairman Goli and Modhubag slum of Maghbazar of Dhaka city were the study areas.

Sampling Procedure and Sample Size

The researcher adopts non-probability sampling to collect relevant data. Although it was possible for the researcher to get the list of the slum dwellers of the above mentioned slums, the researcher was unable to take probability sampling because of lack of enough time and budget. So, the researcher used the purposive sampling procedure for collecting data. The researcher took 95 respondents.

 Survey Instruments

 Primary data about slum factors was collected from the respondent by using survey method. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire was written in Bengali and later it was filled up by the researcher by asking the respondents instantly. The questionnaire includes following issues:-

 Data Collection Procedures

Questionnaire was used as the main data collection instruments for this study. To collect data this study solely depended on survey. Instead of mail questionnaire, self-administered questionnaire technique was used to collect data. Details of data collection process are stated below:

Administering Survey

The fieldwork was done within 15th – 29th December. The questionnaire was delivered to the respondents by him. At first the researcher introduced himself to the respondents and then he told them about the research monograph. After clear understanding of the respondents, the researcher delivered them questionnaire and by this was he collected data.

Data Processing and Analysis

 Quantitative data processing involved the following steps:

• Questionnaire making
• Classifying according to close-ended responses
• Data entry and entry verification
• Entering data as per questionnaire structure is SPSS
• Verifying the logic and accuracy of the data as per filled up questionnaire
• Inputting data into SPSS work sheet
• Tabulating as per objective and requirement in Quantum (an upgraded version of SPSS)
• Program development as per the analysis plan
• Report generation.

Ethical Considerations

This is one of the important aspects of any research. Every research must include ethical matter. Ethical issued is the core thing of the integrity of any research. So, in all research it is strictly maintained.

The researcher first introduced himself with the respondents. Then the researcher expressed his purpose of coming. He then gave them the assurance that the responses of the respondents will be used only for the research monograph for academic purpose. Then the researcher told them that their names will be kept secret. They were also told that their written questionnaire will be totally destroyed after completing the monograph.

The responses were got after the oral consent of the respondents. Privacy was safely maintained throughout the total data collection procedure.

CHAPTER 5

RESULTS OF THE STUDY

 Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents

Table no 1: Distribution of the respondents by gender.

 From the table above, it is clearly evident that 32 of the respondents are male and 63 of the respondents are female.

Table no 2: Distribution of the respondents by age.

From the table above, it is clear that 56 of the respondents are above 34 years old and 32 of the respondents are 30-34 years old.

Table no 3: Distribution of the respondents by religion.

From the table above, it is clear that 68 of the respondents are Muslim and 27 of the respondents are Hindu.

Table no 4: Distribution of the respondents by educational status.

 From the table above, it is obvious that 42 of the respondents are illiterate and 25 of them can read and write only.

Figure no 1: Distribution of the respondents by marital status of the respondents.

From the diagram above, it is clearly evident that 13% of the respondents are divorced and 37% of the respondents are married.

Table no 5: Distribution of the respondents by occupation.

 From the table above, it is obvious that 28 of the respondents do small business, 14 of them are beggars and 19 of them are garments workers.

Table no 6: Distribution of the respondents by their children send to school.

 From the table above, it is clear that 67 of the respondents sent their children to school & 28 of them don’t send their children to school.

From the image above, it is clear that 32% of the respondents earn taka 100-200 daily and 33% of them earn taka 200-600 daily.

Table no 7: Distribution of the respondents by total members of the family.

 From the table above, it is obvious that 44 of the respondents have 2-4 family members and 40 of the respondents have 8-10 family members.

Table no 8: Distribution of the respondents by how many children do they have.

From the above table, it is clear that 41 of the respondents have 3-4 children and 33 of the respondents have 1-2 children.

Sewerage Facility in the Slum

Table no 9: Distribution of the respondents by if there is sufficient sewerage system in the slum.

 From the table above, it is clear that 64 of the respondents have sufficient sewerage system and 31 of them have not sufficient sewerage system.

Table no 10: Distribution of the respondents by what is the drainage system in their slums.

From the table above, it is obvious that 68 of the respondents have Pacca drain and 13 of them haven’t got any drainage system.

Figure no 3: Distribution of the respondents by what is the garbage disposal system in their slums.

From the diagram above, it is clear that 44 of the respondents have reported that they have specific place for garbage disposal and 10 of them have reported that they have specific garbage system.

Table no 11: Distribution of the respondents by the question if water inundates their slums.

 From the table above, it is obvious that 52 of the respondents have reported that water inundate their slums and 43 of them have reported that water does not inundate their slums.

Hygienic Practices among the Respondents

Table no 12: Distribution of the respondents by the question how many times do they wash their clothes.

 From the table above, it is clear that 39 of the respondents have reported that they wash their clothes from time to time and other 56 of the respondents have reasoned as other categories.

Table no 13: Distribution of the respondents by how many families share the same bathroom.

 From the table above, it is clear that 51 of the respondents have reported that more than 6 families share the same bathroom and 23 of the respondents have reported that 1-3 families share the same latrine.

Table no 14: Distribution of the respondents by what is their neighbor environment.

 From the table above, it is clear that 61 of the respondents have reported that the environment is not satisfactory and 34 of them have reported that the environment is dangerous.

Table no 15: Distribution of the respondents by whether they got sufficient dress.

 From the table above, it is clear that 33 of them get sufficient dress and 62 of them do not get sufficient dress.

From the diagram above, it is obvious that 35% of the respondents have got pacca house and 9% of the respondents have got kaccha house.

Table no 16: Distribution of the respondents by nature of floor.

 From the table above, it is clear that 32 of the respondents have concrete floor and tin roof and 31 of the respondents have got concrete floor and thatched house.

Table no 17: Distribution of the respondents by total amount of room.

 From the table above, it is clear that 75 of the respondents have got 1 room and 20 of the respondents have got 2 rooms.

Civil Amenities in the Slum

Table no 18: Distribution of the respondents by the question what type of urban facilities do they possess.

 From the table above, it is clear that 38 of the respondents have gas and electricity and 21 of the respondents have only electricity.

Table no 19: Distribution of the respondents by whether they are satisfied with the present situation of the slum.

 From the table above, it is clear that 19 of the respondents are satisfied and 76 of them are not satisfied with the present facilities of the slums.

Table no 20: Distribution of the respondents by what should be improved to be satisfied.

From the table above, it is clear that 33 of the respondents need accommodation, 26 of the respondents demand improvement of the slum and 7 of them demand permanent work.

Figure no 5: Distribution of the respondents by the question what is the cooking arrangement in the slum.

From the diagram above, it is clear that 41 of the respondents share chula and 32 of them have cooking facilities outside their houses.

 Table no 21: Distribution of the respondents by the question how do they collect fuel for cooking.

 From the table above, it is clear that 40 of the respondents collect fuel, 16 of them buy and 8 of them steal fuel.

Table no 22: Distribution of the respondents by the question what is their current problem living in the slum.

 From the table above, it is apparent that 33 of them can’t sleep properly, 10 of them have reported that water licks and 19 of them have reported that they have bad odor.

 Table no 23: Distribution of the respondents by the question what are their entertainment facilities.

 From the table above, it is clear that 73 of them watch T.V, 10 of them listen to radio and 12 of them have no recreation.

Table no 24: Distribution of the respondents by the question where do they usually go to seek health service.

 From the table above, it is clear that 46 of them go to dispensary and 15 of them go to NGOs for seeking medical service.

 Accommodation and Living Standards of the Slum Dwellers

Figure no 6: Distribution of the respondents by the question how many hours do they work in a day.

From the diagram above, it is obvious that 44 of them work for 8 to 10 hours and 27 of them work for above 10 hours a day.

Table no 25: Distribution of the respondents by the question whether they save money.

 From the above table, it is clear that 48 of them save money and 47 of them do not save money. But this means that most of them save money for the future.

Table no 26: Distribution of the respondents by the question whether they are conscious about pure drinking water.

 From the above table, we can see that 68 of them are not conscious and 27 of them are  conscious about pure drinking water.

Table no 27: Distribution of the respondents by the question from where do they collect water.

 From the table above, it is clear that 74 of them collect water from supply and 12 of them collect water from tube well.

Table no 28: Distribution of the respondents by the question nature of latrine.

 From the table above, it is clear that 72 of the respondents use sanitary latrine and 22 of them use hanging latrine.

From the diagram above, it is obvious that 44% if the respondents suffer from Cholera, 35% of them suffer from cold and fever and 2% of them suffer from typhoid.

Table no 29: Distribution of the respondents by the question how many times do they can have food.

 From the table above, it is clear that 74 of the respondents can have food 3 times a day and 21 of them can have food 2 times a day.

 Table no 30: Distribution of the respondents by the question whether they participate in political activity.

 From the table above, it is clear that 13 of the respondents are engaged in publicity and 77 of them are not engaged with any political activity.

Table no 31: Distribution of the respondents by the question what is the security of their neighborhood environment.

 From the table above, it is clear that 81 of the respondents do not consider the environment secured and 14 of them consider the security as secured.

Hypothesis Test:

Hypothesis no 1: The more the tendency of drinking pure water, the less the possibility of being affected by diseases.

 Cross tabulation

Hypothesis no 2: The educational condition is better among the children whose parents are engaged in formal jobs.

Cross tabulation

Hypothesis no 3: The more the educational status of the respondents, the more the political consciousness among the respondents.

Cross tabulation

Hypothesis no 4: Hygienic practices determine the healthy health of the respondents.

Cross tabulation

CHAPTER 6

DISCUSSION

Slum living has important social and health consequences. The majority described migrated to Dhaka for economic reasons, and once there had unacceptable levels of malnutrition, hygiene and health, deprivation of essential services, and financial instability. Meaningful data is required to inform public policy in order to formulate poverty alleviation strategies.

This study describes the subsistence Magbazar, representing a total of 95 people living in the slums of Dhaka. Subjects were social structure and resettlement of slum in city Dhaka, living in small bamboo huts with an average of 3 children per household. They were uneducated, lived in unhygienic and difficult conditions worked in the informal service sector and consumed a diet low in protein. Health concerns included a variety of acute and chronic conditions both in the respondents and their children, and difficulties accessing health and dental care were reported.

Other studies have reported slum dwellers as comprising distressed migrants from rural areas, with poverty-driven urbanization due to unsustainable rural economy. Consistent with a 1993 Unicef report, the main reasons for migration to Dhaka remain poverty, landlessness, unemployment and river erosion.The urban poor have been noted to pay very high rent for dismal housing, and dwellings in Dhaka are often on government-owned land; moving within slums is common due to land re-appropriation. Unsanitary latrine conditions are found in 76.6%and many pay intermediaries for utilities. As in other studies, pumped/tap water is used for drinking while open/surface water is used for non-drinking purposes.  Childhood immunization in Dhaka slum households has been reported at 51-76%. In this survey 89% reported childhood immunization, though records for each child were not polled. Adult access to immunizations was comparable to a study in the slum areas of Bangladesh, in which 85% had tetanus immunizations. Poor health literacy and maternal misperception of immunizations is common in Dhaka.Only 25% of mothers had received any formal educationin one study.

Half of the respondents in this study had a child die, an extremely high number, comparable to other samples of Dhaka slums, where 31-46% of mothers reported previous child death. In this as in other studies, symptoms rather than diagnoses of diseases were reported, and most causes of death were unknown in this study (39%) as in the literature (48%). As in previous reports, most deaths occurred in the first year of life, and diarrhea was a frequent cause. Other causes in the literature and this study were respiratory illnessand drowning. Neonatal tetanus was not a main cause of death here, perhaps due to immunization or symptom recognition. As in previous slum studies, most sought treatment prior to their child’s death. Lack of maternal education has previously been found to be a strong predictor of infant loss.

A family member rather than a trained birth attendant assisted most births in the slums in this and other studies. Only 5-10% of births are attended by someone trained in safe childbirth practices; even the most basic cleanliness is not observed, e.g. the umbilical cord is cut with an unsterilized razor or bamboo strip. In this study 47% of women delivered their babies in Dhaka, 51% in their village of origin and 2% in a hospital, compared to 69%, 28% and 3% in another study of births in Dhaka slums. At any given time, 30-45% of the urban poor have been reported ill. Barriers to care in the Dhaka slums have previously been noted to be accessibility, long distances to travel, a family’s unwillingness to spend money on female care, providers prejudiced against the poor, short clinic hours, and cost. The poor may visit village doctors for convenience and low cost. The BDHSis conducted every 4 years and is provides the most reliable national estimates of health, living conditions and conduct. It is data source for policymakers, program managers, donors and researchers. Although urban areas are surveyed, slums are not specifically studied in any national survey even though half of Dhaka’s population lives in the slums. Compared to BDHS data, household size was the same. No education was recorded in one third of the BDHS, compared to 81% in our study. Homes were brick/cement in 54% compared to 2% herein, and 80% owned their homestead nationally compared to none of the slum dwellers. Electricity was in-home for 81.2%, compared to 34% in this survey. Toilets were sealed septic tanks for 65% of the BDHS population compared to none here, and over 50% in the BDHS reported adequate or surplus of food compared to 10% herein. Urban planning for health interventions and infrastructure for increasingly large slum areas will require study of this population as the BDHS tends to underestimate the severity of conditions.

There were considerable limitations of this pilot study, including the small study size, a tiny fraction of the 3.4 million in the slums of Dhaka. Slums are not uniform in their population or demographics,however the areas polled and results here are comparable to the Study of Urban Poverty in Bangladesh, as well as other studies of health and poverty in the Dhaka slums. As language and health literacy limit reliability, symptoms rather than diagnoses may better investigate these subjects. Few deaths are attended by physicians, however verbal autopsies have been found to be practical estimates. Finally, surveys are self-report, which leads to recall bias. Notably, the magnitude of memory lapse was not assessed, and immunization cards were not (in each case) documented by the surveyors.

CHAPTER 7

CONCLUSION

The slums are the integral part of urban life. The slum dwellers are connected with our urban occupation structure and national economy. The upper and middle class people of the city lead rhythmic life upon the slum dwellers hard labor. But the government and the upper class people of the city do not pay attention for the development of this neglected class. If we pore over the findings of our study, we see that because of resettlement the slum dwellers have improved their life style in some sectors, such as, most of the students are attending at school. People are participating in family planning. But the health situation is worse. So, health facility, latrine and bathroom facilities and safe water facilities should be improved. So this type of measures should be taken to improve the life-style of the slum dwellers for giving them some vigor of life.

Slums have been studied more extensively than any other urban phenomenon. Most of the studies focus on the growth pattern and physical environment of slums. According to these studies, slums are now concentrated in the urban fringe due to the acute demand for land and high land price in the central zones. The proportion of child population is high in slums. The sex ratio of slum population is lower than other urban population. The slum population undertakes permanent migration rather than temporal or circular migration, which involve the displacement of the whole family from the village. The slum dwellers are mostly involved in urban informal sectors where they need little skill. The studies also show that the slum dwellers are extremely marginal in terms of access to land. The quality of their houses is very poor in terms of construction material, floor spaces and urban services. Different types of diseases always prevail in slum areas due to unhealthy environment. A small number of studies focus on social and cultural aspects of slums. According to these studies slum life is characterized by matrifocal families high number of marriages regionalism, kind based network etc. A sense of powerlessness dependence or fatalism prevails rather than justice among the common people in slums. Class consciousness does not develop among the slum dwellers due to kinship and patron client relationships. Social and economic insecurity of slum population along with the beliefs in fatalism causes them to become psychologically dependent on shrines. Though the slum dwellers possess both rural and urban values, a number of social and cultural changes occur due to long exposure to urban life. Social aspects of slums are less stressed than physical aspects of slums. A number of researches need to be conducted on kinship a social organization of slums, class retaliations of slum population, devotion of slum population towards urban shrines, crime and violence in slums and squatters and social and cultural changes of slum population. Finally we hope that social scientists especially sociologists will take initiatives for conducting research on these issues of slum and squatter in the decades to come.

Finally, numerous studies describe health and demographic data pointing to causes of poor health and livelihood in the Dhaka slums. Conclusions generally identify the problem or risk factor and suggest that improvement of the variable in question will lead to improvements in outcomes e.g. improving nutrition is likely to reduce the incidence of diarrhea. These problems though important are numerous, and it is unlikely that piecemeal solutions will be amply cost effective to achieve health in the slums; rather these problems require parallel attention. Funds are limited, and to alleviate poverty a detailed cost effectiveness analysis of comprehensive interventions is required, to create a strategy for sustainable improvements in the quality of life for those in the ever growing slums of Dhaka.

Recommendations:

• The infrastructure of slums should be improved for the betterment of slum dwellers.

• The slums should be removed from the center of the cities to the brink of cities in order to resettle the slum dwellers.

• The slum dwellers should be resettled to the govt. fallen land so that they can be spatially self employed.

• Exclusive initiatives should be taken to remove terrorism from the slums and so that they can be encouraged to comply with the laws.
• Government should take initiative both physically and financially so that slum people get interested and be incorporated with the governmental initiatives.

• ‘Slum Unit” should be constructed so that it can provide the slum dwellers with medical and educational support.

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