We were sitting at the site coordination office of SPARC, at Dharavi. SPARC is a Mumbai based non-profit working towards rehabilitation of Mumbai’s slum dwellers through local community organizations. The office is in the ground floor of a recently constructed housing complex, which previously used be a slum, now converted with help from the state government and local community organizations.
As we get into the office, an old man walks in. He had walking sticks, was almost shirtless and had bandages tied to his legs. He approaches the coordinator sitting there and hands him some documents, and starts conversing in Tamil. The coordinator, quite a young guy, could not understand a word. So, I became the interpreter.
Turns out Ramalingam, who is probably more than 60, hails from Thirukovil in Southern Tamil Nadu. He came to Mumbai 40 years ago with his family and since then has been begging in the streets of Mumbai. The little hut where he and his family currently live is scheduled to be demolished by the municipality in the next couple of days. However, he has been allotted a house, in one of the newly constructed apartment complexes to rehabilitate slum dwellers at Vashi naka. He had the keys for his new apartment. He was there at the office, because he was told by his neighbors that SPARC would also pay him some money for the shifting, given that Vashi naka is quite far from where he lives right now. However, he had to return empty handed, SPARC had no resources under that program, to pay for his shifting. Well, at least he got the house.
Later than afternoon, we went in-roads into Dharavi to see some more projects. I still could not understand why someone like Ramalingam, would leave his nice town or village to come to a city like Mumbai and live in the worst conditions possible. Was it extreme poverty or the lure of the big city? I heard that 60-70% of families living in Dharavi are people who migrated from Southern Tamil Nadu! Interestingly, Dharavi is also swarming with economic activity. A recent Time Magazine article estimates that the slum generates a GDP of $1 billion a year. And yet, people living in the worst possible conditions.
That afternoon reinforced my belief that creating rural livelihoods is an important step in preventing such large scale migration. Probably one day, Ramalingam’s children would want to come back to their little town.
As we get into the office, an old man walks in. He had walking sticks, was almost shirtless and had bandages tied to his legs. He approaches the coordinator sitting there and hands him some documents, and starts conversing in Tamil. The coordinator, quite a young guy, could not understand a word. So, I became the interpreter.
Turns out Ramalingam, who is probably more than 60, hails from Thirukovil in Southern Tamil Nadu. He came to Mumbai 40 years ago with his family and since then has been begging in the streets of Mumbai. The little hut where he and his family currently live is scheduled to be demolished by the municipality in the next couple of days. However, he has been allotted a house, in one of the newly constructed apartment complexes to rehabilitate slum dwellers at Vashi naka. He had the keys for his new apartment. He was there at the office, because he was told by his neighbors that SPARC would also pay him some money for the shifting, given that Vashi naka is quite far from where he lives right now. However, he had to return empty handed, SPARC had no resources under that program, to pay for his shifting. Well, at least he got the house.
Later than afternoon, we went in-roads into Dharavi to see some more projects. I still could not understand why someone like Ramalingam, would leave his nice town or village to come to a city like Mumbai and live in the worst conditions possible. Was it extreme poverty or the lure of the big city? I heard that 60-70% of families living in Dharavi are people who migrated from Southern Tamil Nadu! Interestingly, Dharavi is also swarming with economic activity. A recent Time Magazine article estimates that the slum generates a GDP of $1 billion a year. And yet, people living in the worst possible conditions.
That afternoon reinforced my belief that creating rural livelihoods is an important step in preventing such large scale migration. Probably one day, Ramalingam’s children would want to come back to their little town.
7 comments:
Dharavi's main sources of revenue:
-Leather works & Tannery
-Papadam/Applam( from any saudi state, printed on the cover)
-Small scale industries- food products
-Contraband ( watch Nayakan)
-Spurious Milk
US$ 1Billion is a total understatement. Most dwellers are involved in main occupations such as contruction workers, laborers,etc. These are just some of their side businesses!
The problem here santosh, is that Rural India just cant provide as many opportunities for livelihood as a city like mumbai would.... What with continuous years of drought and impotent soil completely destroying agriculture, It is time we searched for a viable alternative to agriculture! May be we should look more closely at the basic economic theories like ' Relative advantage'. or we can give the farmers some language training and seat them in call centers(I am sure they would require a lot less training than most Graduates)
Well said Santhosh!
Dharavi is perhaps the best example of duality. Hope and resilience amidst squalor and misery. For many an eyesore in the middle of a swank, modern city. A rural agglomeration right in the middle of India's "most urban" settlement. Pride and accompanying shame in Dharavi being the largest slum in Asia.
Every city in India has its own
Dharavi. Thousands who have had to uproot themselves from their rural dwellings to find alternate means of
livelihood or those just lured by the city, end up being refugees in their own country. In most cases rural-urban migration is forced upon people because the "trickle-down" of economic prosperity rarely reaches the rural poor. What better way to address the issue other than by offering the rural poor alternate sources of income generation right in their backyards. May sound Gandhian and outdated, but the concept of village economies (with a little bit of tweaking) does make sense in our country.
There is a parallel economy that runs there. They have their own "taxes" (not paid to the government), market-makers giving rate-quotes for those shanties for lease n buy/sell.. whatever "industries" that operate there do so without any license/permission, flouting every law of the land... one can go on and on.
The slum thing is just a facade. There are several other issues that do not meet the eye have to do with narrow-minded vote-bank politics (and politicians who thrive on that !!)
In fact, the people in Dharavi actually thrive there. The chronicles of the attempts by successive governments to rehabilitate housing for Dharavi-ites is now folklore parody. Watch the hindi film NAYAK - *-ing anil Kapoor for disquised episodes that depict that.
Big Bro
cvhptsi
Uma Akka,
Dharavi exporting papadam to Saudi is a revelation. But, now I'm more convinced that if you give these folks an opportunity they can make a living out of just about anything!
Hari,
I agree that the challenge is create these opportunities and move away from Agriculture
Guruji,
I'm sure Gandhi was on the right track, but I guess he did not see the big wave of globalization! 'A litle bit of tweaking is a very nice way of putting it'
Bro,
The reasons the politicians thrive on that is probably because most of these people are extremely helpless. I guess its the same with the housing too, given that its the big business of 'Real Estate'. Well, something needs to change...
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