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{{Short description|Indian community leader (1947–2018)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = [[Padma Shri]]
| name = Jockin Arputham
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1947|08|15|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Kolar Gold Fields]],<br/>[[Mysore State]],<br/>[[Dominion of India]]<br/>(now [[Karnataka]], [[India]])
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2018|10|13|1947|08|15|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Mumbai]], [[Maharashtra]], [[India]]
| occupation = Community leader, housing activist
| organization = [[Slum Dwellers International]]
| awards = [[Ramon Magsaysay Award]]<br>[[Padma Shri]]
}}

'''Jockin Arputham''' (15 August 1947 – 13 October 2018) was an Indian community leader and activist, noted for over four decades of work on issues related to [[slum]]s and [[shanty town]]s. He was born in [[Karnataka]], India and moved to [[Mumbai]], where he became involved in community organizing and leadership. In 2011, he received the [[Padma Shri]] for his contributions to social work. In 2014, he was nominated for the [[Nobel Peace Prize]], along with the organisation he co-founded, [[Slum Dwellers International]].<ref name="GNobel" />

==Early life==
Arputham was born to [[Tamils|Tamil]] parents who lived in [[Kolar Gold Fields]] (in present-day [[Kolar district]] of [[Karnataka]]) on [[15 August 1947]], the same day of [[Indian independence movement|India's independence from the United Kingdom
]].<ref name="UN Habitat">{{cite web |last1=UN-Habitat's Executive Director |title=Demise of Jockin Arputham (15 August 1947 – October 13 2018) |url=https://unhabitat.org/demise-of-jockin-arputham-15-august-1947-october-13-2018/ |website=UN Habitat |access-date=9 May 2019}}</ref> When he was 16, he moved to [[Bangalore]] looking for work.<ref name="Anuradha">{{cite news |last1=Parekh |first1=Anuradha |title=10 Things You Need To Know About The Other Indian Who Was Nominated For The Nobel Peace Prize, 2014 |url=https://www.thebetterindia.com/15385/things-to-know-jockin-arputham-nobel-peace-prize/ |access-date=9 May 2019 |work=The Better India |date=14 October 2014}}</ref>

==Politicization==
When he was eighteen, he moved to Mumbai where he worked as a carpenter and building contractor. Since he had nowhere to live, he slept on the street in Janata Colony, a [[slum]] of 70,000 people. He worked at the construction of the [[Bhabha Atomic Research Centre]] (BARC). Seeing that he did not need credentials to do so, he began a company to manage workers and organised a school in the slum. The city did not organize a rubbish collection, so he encouraged 3,000 children to bring a bag of garbage to a picnic at the council offices and won a regular rubbish collection service.<ref name="GNobel">{{cite news |last1=Perur |first1=Srinath |title=Jockin Arputham: from slum dweller to Nobel Peace Prize nominee | date=12 June 2014 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/jun/12/jockin-arputham-mumbai-slum-dweller-nobel-peace-prize-nominee |access-date=16 July 2019 |newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref>

Between 1971 and 1972, Arputham went to [[Kolkata]] to work with refugees escaping war in [[Bangladesh]].<ref name="Development">{{cite journal |last1=Arputham |first1=Jockin |title=Developing new approaches for people-centred development |journal=Environment and Urbanization |date=2008 |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=319–337 |doi=10.1177/0956247808096115 |bibcode=2008EnUrb..20..319A |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Back in Mumbai, when Janata colony was threatened with eviction in the 1970s, he helped organize protests and court cases. He was arrested over 40 times.<ref name="Satterthwaite">{{cite news |last1=Satterthwaite |first1=David |title=From slum-dwelling carpenter to US$1.25 million prize winner |url=https://www.iied.org/slum-dwelling-carpenter-us125-million-prize-winner |access-date=9 May 2019 |work=International Institute for Environment and Development |date=8 April 2014}}</ref> He also sat outside the Parliament in [[Delhi]] for 18 days until the then Prime Minister [[Indira Gandhi]] would see him. She promised they would not be evicted, but in 1976, 12,000 police stormed the slum and evicted all 70,000 people in one night. Everyone was forcibly transferred to the still extant [[Cheetah Camp]] slum.<ref name="GNobel" />

When India declared a [[The Emergency (India)|state of emergency]], Arputham was forced to flee the country in 1977 to avoid imprisonment.<ref name="Satterthwaite" /> With the help of the [[World Council of Churches]] he went to the [[Philippines]] visiting local slumdwellers groups. Every three months he had to leave the country to renew his visa so he went to [[Japan]], [[Malaysia]] and [[South Korea]].<ref name="Development" />

==Career==
Arputham was the president of the [[National Slum Dwellers Federation]] (NSDF) which he founded in the late 1970s. He was also co-founder of [[Slum Dwellers International]] (SDI) which networks slum and shack dweller organizations and federations from over thirty countries across the world.<ref name="UN Habitat" /> The National Slum Dwellers Federation works closely with [[Mahila Milan]], a collective of savings groups formed by homeless women and women living in slums across India, and with the Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centers (SPARC), a Mumbai-based NGO. This alliance has supported thousands of the urban poor access better housing and sanitation.<ref name="GNobel" /><ref name="Development" />

Slum Dwellers International claimed the alliance helped 1 million people in 15,000 slum dwellers-managed saving groups. Further they had secured land rights for 128,000 families, building over 20,000 toilets and 100,000 houses. The National Slum Dwellers Federation stated it had helped 60,000 families improve their housing situation in Mumbai.<ref name="Champion">{{cite news |last1=Matters India Reporter |title=Champion of slum-dwellers' rights dies |url=http://mattersindia.com/2018/10/champion-of-slum-dwellers-rights-dies/ |access-date=9 May 2019 |work=Matters India |date=15 October 2018}}</ref>

Arputham has also worked with the police to set up "police panchayats" in many of the informal settlements in Mumbai. Here, for the first time, police are assigned to work in these settlements and are supported by a committee of ten residents from the community (made up of three men and seven women).<ref name="Police">{{cite journal |last1=Roy |first1=A.N. |last2=Jockin |first2=A. |last3=Javed |first3=Ahmad |title=Community police stations in Mumbai's slums |journal=Environment & Urbanization |date=2004 |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=135–138 |doi=10.1177/095624780401600205 |bibcode=2004EnUrb..16..135R |doi-access=free }}</ref> The concept was pioneered by [[Anami Narayan Roy]], the [[Police Commissioner of Pune]].<ref name="Champion" />

A week after his death, Arputham was commemorated by a large poster calling him the "slum king" in [[Dharavi]], where he lived.<ref name="King">{{cite news |last1=Echanove |first1=Matias |last2=Srivastava |first2=Rahul |title=Long live the 'Slum King' |url=https://www.thehindu.com/society/long-live-the-slum-king/article25335958.ece |access-date=9 May 2019 |work=The Hindu}}</ref>

==Awards==
*2000: The [[Ramon Magsaysay Award]] for Peace and International Understanding.<ref name="UN Habitat" />
*2009: Honorary Ph.D. from [[KIIT University]], [[Bhubaneswar]].<ref name="Anuradha" />
*2011: The Government of India bestowed on him its fourth highest civilian honor, the [[Padma Shri]] award.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web|url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |date=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2015 }}</ref>
*2014: [[Skoll Foundation#The Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship|Skoll award for social entrepreneurship]].<ref name="Champion" />
*2014: Nominated for the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] by [[Stefan Attefall]], Swedish minister for public administration and housing.<ref name="GNobel" />

==Selected works==
* Arputham, Jockin. 2008. "Developing new approaches for people-centred development". ''Environment and Urbanization'', 20 (2) 319–337 [https://doi:10.1177/0956247808096115 doi:10.1177/0956247808096115]{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
*Arputham, Jockin; Bartlett, Sheridan; Patel, Sheela. 2015. "'We beat the path by walking': How the women of Mahila Milan in India learned to plan, design, finance and build housing". ''Environment & Urbanization'', 28(1) [https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247815617440 doi:10.1177/0956247815617440]
*Arputham, Jockin; Patel, Sheela. 2008. "Plans for Dharavi: negotiating a reconciliation between a state-driven market redevelopment and residents’ aspirations". ''Environment and Urbanization'' 20(1) 243–254.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Citation/CitationArputhamJoc.htm Citation for Jockin Arputham on Ramon Magsaysay Award website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205045513/http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Citation/CitationArputhamJoc.htm |date=5 February 2012 }}

{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Social Work}}
{{RMA winners of India}}
{{Ramon Magsaysay Award Winners}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arputham, Jockin}}
[[Category:1947 births]]
[[Category:2018 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian urban planners]]
[[Category:Shack dwellers]]
[[Category:People from Kolar district]]
[[Category:Ramon Magsaysay Award winners]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in social work]]
[[Category:Artists from Karnataka]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian architects]]
[[Category:Social workers from Karnataka]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:Indian housing rights activists]]
[[Category:Squatter leaders]]

Jockin Arputham - Revision history

JillianCogburn at 23:05, 7 February 2026