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CHAPTER XV.—HOUSING OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORKER,
Origin of the Housing Problem.

In every industrialised country the problems associated with
the housing of the working classes have increased as industry has developed,
and India has been no exception to that rule. During the past 50 years
there has been a constant drift into the cities and towns. - In that time
cities such as Bombay, Calcutta and Rangoon have doubled and trebled
their population ; other industrial centres such as Madras, Madura,
Lahore, Jubbulpore, Nagpur and Cawnpore have increased with great
rapidity, whilst new towns like Bhatpara and J amshedpur have sprung up
in hitherto undeveloped areas. In each of these places the housing of
the workers presents a problem, sometimes showing distinctive character-
istics and requiring its own solution, but for the most part arising from
similar causes. Limitation of space and high land values are responsible
for much of the congestion in the large cities, but these factors have had
less influence in the smaller towns and centres. Probably the most
important common feature has been the lack of control over the selec-
bion of sites intended for industrial development and the consequent
additional overcrowding, caused by the presence of large numbers of
immigrant workers seeking accommodation in the heart of towns already
suffering from a shortage of houses. The combination of these circum-
stances has led to the unsatisfactory conditions existing in nearly every
industrial area. A more recent phenomenon has been the growth of the
smaller industrial towns, particularly of those associated with such indus.
bries as cotton, jute and mining. In and around such places land is
usually plentiful and cheap, so that these handicaps to the extension of
housing accommodation for the workers have had less influence. The
same rapid growth in population has, however, invariably outstripped
available housing and has contributed to the overcrowding, congestion
and squalor. Thus the establishment of an industry in the average
Indian town has, in certain respects, not always been an unmixed blessing.
Whilst stimulating trade and Increasing the rateable value, it has added’
to the population large numbers which are a constant menace to the health
of the community and frequently necessitate heavy expenditure owing to
outbreaks of epidemic disease
Overcrowding.
Owing to the lack of the necessary surveys, there is to-day an
absence of information regarding either the relative or the actual shortage
of houses in urban and industria] areas. Moreover, few statistics relating
to density of population are available, although a certain amount of
indirect information on these points can be obtained from other sources.
From the last census report it appears that 709, of the houses in Bombay
city are one-roomed, and the Labour Office family budget investigation of
1921-22 showed that 979%, of the working classes were accommodated in
one-roomed tenements with as many as 6 to 9 persons living in one room,
In Karachi almost one-third of the whole population is crowded at the rate
of 6 to 9 persons in a room, whilst in Ahmedabad 7 39, of the working