The popular idea of the ‘slum’ is often made up of a bundle of perceptions that characterise such areas as overcrowded,unplanned, squalid and dilapidated. The areas are considered crime-prone or even crime-infested, and the people here are generally considered to be living in extreme, if not relative, poverty.Most official Indian definitions, such as from the census, and statelevel laws and regulations, rest largely on the physical characteristics of areas, such as state of repair and stability of structures, lightand ventilation conditions, the availability of basic services, etc.