Vol. 2, Issue 3, Part M (2016)

Abstract
The Informal Settlements contribute to about 7.53 per cent of the urban gross domestic product (GDP), assuming that the urban GDP is about 60.00 per cent of the total GDP of the country, India. The Slums and Squatter Settlements usually develop informally without following guidelines of the urban planning and comprises to form the informal settlements. India’s urbanization significant feature is the growth of large towns and metropolitan cities. Cities are symbol of hope for the rural population as these signifies to the higher standard of living and offer a number of economic opportunities to the people because these are usually not available in rural areas. This result into the large scale migration of people from rural to urban areas. The Informal Settlements are considered as an unorganised sector of the economy. There are found a large number of persons involved in different kind of economic activities in this sector. Besides this, the urban population projection point out that by 2030 the India’s urban population will be about 575 million persons which is constituting over 40 per cent of the total population. In lieu of this, most of the cities experience a steady decline in the quality of physical environment. So, the reaction to increasing urbanization and the growth and development of cities needs to be viewed positively. Though there is no denial of the fact that the urbanisation should be more balanced and more approachable to national development goals, at large. The Slums have been earmarked in all the statutory towns irrespective of their population size. So, there are three types of slums which have been defined in the census, namely, the notified slums, the recognized slums and the identified slums. There is found wide gaps in terms of slum reported towns and their population size among the states of the country, India. In this context, there are number of challenges of the slums and squatter settlements, for instance, there is found a lots of stress on the physical infrastructure, inadequate delivery of basic services, air and water pollution, uncollected wastes, etc. So, such challenges are to be efficiently tackled under the various development plans and policies for the sustainable urban life style in the country, India. And, also it is a fact that the phenomenal increasing pace of urbanization is inevitable and needs to be considered as positive for the all-round national development.