Urban poverty in India: A flourishing slum

Economist | Dec. 19, 2007 (Special Report)
The residents of Dharavi, allegedly Asia's biggest slum, are thriving in hardship

AROUND 6am, the squealing of copulating rats—signalling a night-long verminous orgy on the rooftops of Dharavi, a slum in Mumbai—gives way to the more cheerful sound of chirruping sparrows. Through a small window in Shashikant (“Shashi”) Kawale's rickety shack, daylight seeps. It reveals a curly black head outside. Further inspection shows that this is attached to a man's sleeping body, on a slim metal ledge, 12 feet above the ground.

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Posted by Marsha Iverson

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Subjects: World, U.S., Business, Sci/Tech, Living
Topics: Global Economy, Human Rights, Pollution, Poverty, Asia, India, Housing
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Posted by: Posted by Marsha Iverson - Nov 30, 2008 - 12:03 PM PST
Reviewed by: Marsha Iverson (review)
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Edited by: Marsha Iverson - Nov 30, 2008 - 12:03 PM PST
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Marsha Iverson
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 by Marsha Iverson - Nov. 30, 2008

This is a first-hand account by an unnamed journalist who spent four days living in the largest slum in Mumbai. Published nearly a year ago, this describes a small sample of the people who live there, how they survive, and how they have created a community despite squalid conditions. Theirs is a story of entrepreneurs, hard workers, exploiters, and ineffective, lackluster redevelopment proposals that will destroy the sense of community and replace the squalid crowding with squalid isolation--for profit.

I don't know the realities of this community, but I understand that the conditions described accurately recount living conditions for the majority of people on this planet. India certainly has no corner on the poverty market, and similar tales can be told in countries around the globe. Always, the poor are pushed to the margins, exploited, abused, and manage to survive through conditions that the well-to-do cannot fathom. For young adults who have no place, no options, and no ... More »

Parapa, a semi-skilled electrician, lived with his parents, two brothers, their wives and two children in a room of 48 square feet. If half the family members slept on ... More »

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