ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a description of the various modes of land delivery, the resulting settlements, the socio-economic status of their inhabitants, and the physical and social living conditions they provide. It concentrates upon the changes in the quantity, quality and prices of land delivered in the low income segment of the market, revealing a gradual marginalisation of land delivery. The chapter explains a detailed picture of the developments concerning the most important category of low-income land delivery, squatting, and the role played in this context by local politicians. It addresses the inception of squatments, settlement development, commercialisation and gentrification. The chapter concentrates on land delivery to a particular group of city dwellers: households with a total monthly income of less than Rs. 2,651, i.e. those which according to official Housing and Urban Development Corporation guidelines, belong to either the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) or the Low Income Groups (LIG).
