Articles by Shirish B Patel

The intersecting curves of demand and supply on a graph of price against quantity are widely used to understand the market for every kind of commodity. The argument here is that it is incorrect to use these curves when trying to understand or explain the market for land.

The coal secretary recently blamed the "5Cs"-- Central Vigilance Commission, Central Information Commission, Central Bureau of Investigation, Comptroller and Auditor General and the courts--for inhibiting quick and effective decision-making and impeding the country's development. The steady and continuing decline of the civil engineering profession in India has its roots in policies mandated by the Comptroller and Auditor General in regard to the procurement of consultancy services.

Community Land Reserves (called Community Land Trusts in the US) have been in existence around the world for over 40 years. They are non-profit organisations with a mission to provide affordable housing to low income groups, for all time. Someone starts one off by providing a gift of land. The organisation then takes this gift of land off the market to hold it in trust forever thereafter. Ownership of the land remains with the organisation, which cannot sell it. Individual parcels are given out to owners who build on them and own the construction but not the land. On resale, the owner recoups the cost of his construction, adjusted to present-day value, but not the appreciation in land value. As a result, the incoming occupant can also get housing at an affordable price, because it is unburdened by land value. Critical to success are the format of governance of the organisation and the resale formula.

The paper suggests a scheme for affordable housing in peri-urban areas. It works across all income groups, and draws its inspiration from a project started 30 years ago in north-western Mumbai which can be seen today as completely successful. It calls for a mixing of income groups in the same locality and delivers spatial equity simply by the manner of its layout, with no additional effort required in that direction. Each household pays for its housing in proportion to its income. There is no need for external subsidies, provided land and infrastructure can be made available within cost limits determined by the income profile of the city or town in which it is taken up.

The central government has introduced the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2013, which sets up a regulatory authority to protect consumers as well as promote the real estate sector. This article compares various provisions of the bill with a 2011 draft as well as a bill introduced in the Maharashtra legislature in 2012. It also provides a brief overview of the regulatory mechanisms in different countries for governing the real estate industry. It fi nds that the bill has serious defi ciencies and will do little to help either customers or builders. It will only add one more layer of bureaucracy to an already tedious real estate development process.