Odisha's Jaga Mission Wins Bronze At World Habitat Awards

Bhubaneswar: State government’s Odisha Liveable Habitat Mission (OLHM) also known as Jaga Mission has won the bronze medal at the World Habitat Awards on Monday.

The State government’s initiative has been awarded for granting land rights and upgrading slums through state-wide government legislation.

A few days ago, Odisha had also bagged ‘India Geospatial Excellence Award’ along with Tata Trusts for technological innovation in empowering the urban poor through Jaga Mission.

Expressing his happiness over the achievement, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik dedicated the award to the people of the State.

Heartening to see our mission to empower millions of slum dwellers through #JagaMission recognized by the world. Glad that it has set global benchmarks to empower urban poor with land rights & better facilities. Dedicate the award to people of #Odisha#OdishaWinsWorldHabitatAward pic.twitter.com/Sm6JaLKmCr

— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) December 9, 2019

Ratan N Tata, Chairman of Tata Trusts, in a tweet congratulated the State government for winning the award.

It makes me so happy that the Government of Odisha was awarded with the World Habitat Award for the Jaga mission with the Tata Trusts and the Norman Foster Foundation for giving slum dwellers land rights and livable habitat. We are only as strong as the communities we empower. pic.twitter.com/nNZ8xJQsXP

— Ratan N. Tata (@RNTata2000) December 10, 2019

Under the Jaga Mission, Odisha government maps and surveys slums by bringing together the use of pioneering technology and community participation. It then uses this information to assign land rights to eligible residents and upgrades the physical infrastructure with roads, drains, street-lights, sanitation and clean water supplies.

More than 50, 000 families have reportedly been granted land rights under new legislation, the Land Right to Slum Dwellers Act – which was passed in 2017 as the first step in the State government's pioneering program to raise living standards in 2,919 slums of the state.

The project aims to issue land rights to 206,000 families, benefiting 1 million people. Affordable housing complexes built on government land will benefit a further 0.8 million people. The target for completion is 2021-2023.

Restoration of Dignity and Human Rights of Indigenous Tribal Community in Karnataka and Spain’s Viviendas para las Entidades Sociales won the Gold awards.

Discus Housing First, Netherlands bagged the Silver award for giving homeless people control over their route to secure housing in Amsterdam.

Apart from Odisha’s OLHM, following five other initiatives also won the Bronze Awards
The World Habitat Awards are presented to the most outstanding and innovative housing projects from across the world every year. Around 200 projects and programs had filed entries for the Awards this year.