Slum development will be treated as CSR: Jaitley

Slum development will be treated as a corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in his budget speech Thursday.

Inclusion of slum development in CSR activities is expected to supplement the government's efforts to make the cities slum free.

The erstwhile United Progressive Alliance government had started the Rajiv Awas Yojana as an initiative to rid the country of slums by tackling inequities in urban planning and land management practices.

The slum population of the country was estimated at 93 million in 2011.

The CSR provisions entail large companies meeting certain financial criterion to spend two percent of their average net profit of the last three years on CSR activities.