Announcing a 100-day plan of action for her ministry, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation(HUPA) Minister Kumari Selja on Wednesday said the government would develop a model legal framework for consideration by states and union territories for according property rights to slum dwellers and urban poor in the country, adding that "Rajiv Awas Yojana" envisaged a slum-free India in five years.

Selja said property rights meant an access to housing, adding that the scheme would focus on according rights to those living in slums and states would provide basic amenities such as water supply, sewerage, drainage, internal and approach roads, street lighting and social infrastructure facilities.

"We are proposing that master plans have to include reservation of land to build houses for the poor and also for their economic activities like street vending," she added.

As per the plan, the property rights model will draw best practices both within and outside the country, which will be circulated to states to enable them to establish their own legal regulatory frameworks suiting local conditions.

The model legal framework for property rights proposes to include reservation of land for housing and informal sector activities by urban poor in city and zonal plans. It will cover provision of security of tenure and also making land available for affordable housing, basic amenities and informal sector activities though the process of urban planning. Admitting the past policy as faulty as it could not cater to the needs of poor people in urban areas, Selja said it had resulted in mushrooming of slums in cities. Master plans have led to exclusion of the poor from the city development process and driven them to precarious and illegal settlements, she said.

There are about 81 million urban poor or slum dwellers in the country as per the 2004-05 Census. HUPA also announced launching of a skill development programme for 10 lakh urban poor.