National housing policy and developments in Kochi

In the year 1988, the government of India approved and adopted the National Housing Policy (NHP).  The objective of the NHP was to cover a broad spectrum of issues from motivating people to own a house to the promotion of vernacular architecture.  The prime objective of the NHP is to increase the housing stock without degrading the environment, while simultaneously preserving what is good (in built up-forms). 
 
These objectives will be achieved if the government takes the role of an ‘enabler’ by providing the inputs that go to make a house.  The state government now proposes to encourage individuals to build their own houses by involving the private sector in housing development.  Some experts see this change in policy of the government as a step in the right direction while the critics comment that it has a responsibility to build houses for those who cannot compete in the housing market. 
 
The NHP has also highlighted on rental housing, minimum housing norms and rural housing.  The NHP has rightly identified various laws and regulations, which inhibit housing construction.  The major legal constraints are the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, the Rent Control Act and the Premises Tenancy Act prevailing in different states.  In Kerala, when considering the developments in Real Estate Kochi could achieve a semblance of development mainly due to the presence of prominent business houses who were willing to take the risk in spite of the severe constraints posed by the variants of the laws in force in the state.
 
Though the objectives of the NHP deserve closer attention, what is perhaps lacking is an appropriate machinery to implement the policy.  The policy implementation becomes more complicated in view of the fact that ‘Housing Development’ comes under the jurisdiction of the state governments.  Though more than two years have passed since the NHP has been adopted, it is not officially learnt whether any of the states has adopted the NHP for implementation; it may be noted that some of the programmes are being implemented as per the guidelines adopted in the earlier Five Year Plan.  Information available from reliable sources in New Delhi indicates that the NHP has been put into cold storage due to a variety of reasons.