downtoearth-subscribe

Violent homecoming

Violent homecoming "Master Plan to make Delhi slum-free' reads a June 26, 2004 English daily headline. "The Union ministry of urban development plans to prepare a blueprint to make Delhi slum-free in five years. The plan will be ready within a fortnight,' the daily continues. Another tall claim? Potents of another disaster? The government's track record on "slum relocation' immediately provokes such questions.

And one does not need to go too far into the past to check out where such grand schemes lead to. For some 10,000 families