Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
in a slum in Juhu, though the most famous of the slums in Mumbai is Dharavi, which is
also one of the biggest in Asia, covering over 500 acres. Up to one million people live and
work in unhealthy cramped conditions, fuelling a highly entrepreneurial informal economy.
Alleyways a few feet wide lead to bakeries, metal workshops and sheds that recycle dis-
carded plastic goods ranging from medical syringes to telephones and computers. Lorries
crammed with buffalo, goat and other skins collected from abattoirs push through narrow
lanes to grimy tanneries. Nearby, workers in a series of tiny workshops spray-paint, cut and
press strips and sheets of leather and vinyl with varying degrees of expertise and branding
Slums like these, which are surrounded by high-value business and residential areas,
have defied planners and real estate firms' redevelopment schemes. Many of the people
working and living there would like to legitimize their unauthorised occupancy of land and
premises and maybe move to better conditions, but few have legal titles to their premises
and they currently gain by evading taxes and other official payments. There is also an es-
tablished business momentum and order amidst the apparent chaos. If they were moved
out, these people would probably switch to another slum rather than try to adapt to the new
economic realities of redevelopment. This in many ways is the story of modern India - so
many people have vested interests in life as it is, however awful it may be, that there is
strong resistance to change.
The slums are among the least of Mumbai's serious worries - while they are bad for the
city's image, they are part of its success too. A government committee listed the main pri-
orities in 2007 - they included 'crumbling housing in dilapidated buildings pervading the
city; poor road/rail mass transit as well as the absence of waterborne transport in what is
essentially an island-city; absent arterial high-speed roads/urban expressways; poor quality
of airports, airlines and air-linked connections domestically and internationally; poor pro-
vision of power, water, sewerage, waste disposal, as well as a paucity of high-quality res-
idential, commercial, shopping and recreational space that meets global standards of con-
struction, finish and maintenance.'
The 'high powered' committee was reporting on what Mumbai needed to do to become
now runs a consultancy in the UK. In addition to financial and other policy reforms that
included the creation of a single financial services regulator and privatisation of banks, it
named a devastating range of infrastructure deficiencies that applied not just to Mumbai
but, in varying measure, to every Indian city and town: 'Lifestyle facilities that concern hu-
man welfare will need to be brought up to world standards and run on world-class lines in
terms of their management and growth.' Hospitals, public and private health care, and edu-
cational, recreational and cultural facilities were needed. The greatest challenge was likely
