Mumbai is India’s financial capital. Government wants to make Mumbai in to a World class city in line with China’s Shanghai. The bane of Mumbai is the mushrooming of Slums, hence nick named Slumbai. Out of its burgeoning population of 15 million about 60 percent resides in Slums. The city continues to have influx of migrants from poor states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in search of green pastures. The local Marathi population grouse against the migrants is that they bring in cheap labor and alien culture whereby the local’s livelihood is threatened and also their culture is diluted. The city’s development and infrastructure is not able to cope with additional influx. The city is already experience water shortage making the police commissioner’s remark that there will be riots over water in future. The government has ambitions plans to make the city free of slums. It has floated slum redevelopment scheme meant for the slums dwellers by providing free housing.
Dharavi located in heart of the city is Asia’s largest slum area. Maharashtra government announced 90 billion Slum Redevelopment Scheme for people of Dharavi, but the scheme has run into various hurdles and still to take off. One of the reasons for slums to spread like cancerous growth is the nexus between local politicians and slumlords. The politicians use slums dwellers as vote bank by making false promises. Overflowing sewage drains, lack of sanitation, street side strewn with decaying garbage, kids squatting on roads sides, stench hitting the nostril, these are the scene one encounters visiting the slums in Mumbai.
People living in high rise building have little empathy towards these slum people where as they have no qualms hiring home maids and servants belonging to slums.
Over the past few years I had visited several slum areas, closely interacted with them and been able to have an insight of their problems which continue to get highlighted in my writings and photo-essays.
Mumbai’s Slum dwellers rendered homeless
Photo-documentary on Slums-
Mushrooming of Slums is the bane of Mumbai, hence it is nick named Slumbai. Out of its 19 million population 60 percent of them resides in the slums. Overflowing sewage drains, lack of sanitation, street side strewn with decaying garbage, kids squatting on roads sides, stench hitting the nostril, these are the scene one encounters visiting the slums area in Mumbai.
Mumbai’s vast middle class people looks down upon these hapless slums people treating them as untouchables but at the same time have no qualms in using the services of these very people as house maids. After visiting one of Mumbai’s famous slum areas of Anna bhau Sathe Nagar (ABSN) located off Mankurd –Govandi highway in the central suburbs, my perception of Slum people underwent a heart change. When I came back home I told my wife that slum people are also human being like us
On 14th May at 12 noon Mumbai’s Additional Collector Mr Danajay leading a contingent of 250 armed policemen accompanied with 6 bull dozers descended on ABSN. Out of about 3000 huts, about 500 of them were razed to ground, as if it was carpet bombed. The slum dwellers appeared shell shocked and desolate not knowing what hit them. The bull dozer razed and mowed down the thatched huts one after another. Policemen displayed utter brute force raining lathi (police baton) on the poor slum people who tried to stop them in vain. They left the aged and children homeless exposing them to the scorching heat.
Aftermath of the demolition operation, some NGO had set up make shift medical camps distributing medicines freely to slum people. There were long serpentine line of mothers holding crying babies in their arms and aged men waiting for their turn to collect free medicines. Social activist Medha Patkar and Bollywood actress Shabana Asmi visited ABSN site lending their moral support to slum dwellers.
Azam khan a vehicle driver laments ‘I and my family have been staying here for so many years, my children were born here. Now we are homeless and nowhere to go. Just few days before the demolition the collectors men came to my hut and scribbled a number at my door, later I had realized that my hut was marked for demolition ’
Laxmibhai working as a rag picker pours out her heart ‘Ever since my hut was destroyed I have stopped going to work. I have no money to buy food to feed to my starving children’
Her friend latha another rag picker said ‘We were given only 36 hours notice to evict the area. Where will I and my family go? This the only hut we had to sleep (pointing out to her razed hut) and now that is also gone. We are staying in the open ground with no roof to protect us from the oppressing heat. All my four children are suffering from heat boils and running temperature’
Nasrani a housewife says ‘They took away all our belongings like cots, utensils and even clothes. Some of the houses were set on fire by the police. Now what will happen of us?’
The Maharashtra State government in its attempt to make Mumbai into a world class city on lines of Shanghai model, few years back had come out with a policy of slum redevelopment and rehabilitation Scheme. It is meant to provide housing to slum people. Private builders were allowed to build houses on slum areas for the slum dwellers and some part of land the builders could exploit building flats for sale in the open market. The government had set 2000 as cutoff year for slum dwellers eligible for free housing. Those slums that came up after 2000 were considered as unauthorized and illegal hence subject to demolition. It was considered that slums in ABSN fall under unauthorized category so it was razed to ground. Political parties use slum people as vote bank during time elections. They make tall promise to slum people but once elected, conveniently forget them. At the time ANSN was being demolished none of the local elected representative came to their rescue. ABSN slums are located on prime land in the heart of the city and going by the high land price prevailing in that area it would fetch a fortune Slum dwellers suspect that the government is forcibly evicting them off the ABSN area making way for the private builders to rake in the moolah. Meanwhile the slum dwellers are left out in the lurch bracing for a bleak future.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rajen-nair/plight-of-potters-of-dhar_b_496686.html
‘’Dharavi Asia’s largest slum is nestled in central heart of Mumbai city. It hit international map when the movie slumdog millionaire inspired from squalor of Dharavi went on to bag the Oscar award. Dharavi is spread over some 535 acres where it houses mainly migrants hailing from South and North India. The Hindu and Muslims co-existing together in perfect harmony here portrays the secular face of India. One can get lost walking through its labyrinth of narrow lanes lined with clusters of dilapidated shanties. Lack of basic amenities like toilets and drainages has made place unhygienic and filthy.
The migrants showcase its entrepreneurial skills boast of number of small recycled and ancillary units in plastic, tanneries, leather and chemicals. Some units exports goods worth several million dollars annually.
Ever since Maharashtra government announced 90 billion Slum Redevelopment Scheme for people of Dharavi, the project is stonewalled with opposition and protest lead by people of Dharavi
The project envisages undertaking about 70 million square feet of construction. Some 30 million square feet of that will be for residential space and amenities, whereas the remaining 40 million square feet will be put up for sale
The government plans to build 57000 new flats consisting of 225 sq ft for resident of Dharavi. For people of Dharavi the area of 225 sq ft of flat allotted is not enough for them to accommodate their large families averaging about 5-7 members and also for carrying out manufacturing activities.
Kumbharwada in Dharavi consist of skilled potter families manufacturing of clay pots a tradition handed down from generations. An average potter joint family has about 6-8 members occupying an area of 600-800 sq ft in a rundown shanty made of brick and cement walls and corrugated sheet roofs tops. Clay Pots producing activity is carried on with its four walls on the floor and a wooden loft built overhead is a make shift place for members to sleep and eat.
I spoke to 25 year old Darmesh who owns a pot ware shop on 90 feet road of Dharavi. He lamented ‘How can the government expect our large family to stay in a small flat of 225 sq ft area provided by the government. Will there be any space left to carry out our pot making activity that feed us and take care of our child’s education.
Another potter Chunilal, which has 7 members in his family consisting of his wife and children and parents staying in an area of 650 sq ft shanty. Whereas the floor is taken up for manufacturing clay pot through rolling wheel machine, remaining space gets filled for storing freshly produced pots. This was his reaction against the Government sponsored free houses and shifting of manufacturing base elsewhere ‘The smaller flat offered by government is unacceptable to us. If the government wants us to shift our units to out of the city limits than it would spell doom of our pot making business. We have been carrying out our activity here since our ancestor’s time. This place is famous for clay pots and people from all over the country come to us here to buy our products, if we were to shift elsewhere we stand to lose our clients whom we depend for our survival. As it is pot making is a dying art as demands for clay pots is not the same what it was in the past thanks to modern usage of plastic cups and bottles. Our demand is that government gives us bigger flats and allots us separate plots for carrying out manufacturing in Dharavi itself’.
Another problem facing the potter families are that as their family size get larger and new people keep pouring in to Dharavi, the shanties have taken to vertical growth due to lack of space. Most shanties houses structure of single, double and even triple stories.
The government recently carried out survey of houses in Dharavi in order to identify the beneficiaries of slum redevelopments. As per the rule the government gives legality only to ground floor built houses. Any structure built above is considered illegal. There are thousands of family residing above ground floor house in single story house will not benefit from government scheme and on the contrary will be rendered homeless once the scheme is implemented.
So Dharavi sitting on a gold mine where everyone including the government officials, builders and NGOS want to have their share of pie and for the people of Dharavi free house appears a distant dream’’.
Rajen nair
Link to photo- documentary of Dharavi-
About six months ago I came to Santiago to work as an employee of an Indian IT firm – I am originally from Kolkata. I was at my friend’s apartment on the third floor of an eight-storey building in Las Condos when, at around 3.35am on Saturday, the earthquake occurred.
The whole building began swaying, the furniture was shaking violently and things were thrown off the shelves. I had never experienced an earthquake before so I panicked. I ran out of the room as fast as I could and left everything behind. All I could do before running out was to shut my laptop and put on my slippers.
On reaching the passage I sensed the magnitude of what was going on outside. Lot of people was desperately running along the narrow passage and down the staircase. People were pushing and tumbling over each other to get out of the building. There was utter chaos and a lot of noise. My legs were shaky and I had trouble keeping straight while running. Then the passage lights went off – creating more panic.
Though the emergency lights were on, it was still very dim and I had to grope in the semi-dark to find my way down the rocking staircase. I knew the stairs pretty well so managed to keep going in the right direction. I had to jump over fallen bodies to reach the streets outside.
The quake was at its peak and taxis on the street were rocking and alarms were making loud noises. I reached a safe place away from possible hazards such as other buildings, electric poles and collapsing trees. I was scared and friends from the building held each other's hands. I think the quake lasted over two minutes but it seemed like the longest two minutes of my life. I was in a state of shock and felt disoriented.
We were fortunate that our building was strong enough to withstand the earthquake. None of us received any injuries except for minor bruises. Once the earthquake stopped my first instinct was to get back to my apartment. I gathered some courage and returned to my room to collect my cell phone and wallet and rushed out again. In the short time I was in my bedroom I had noticed wide cracks all over the walls and ceiling.
I tried to call my family in India and friends here but I couldn’t connect because the mobile network was down. Myself, four friends and five other Indian families headed off to find other office colleagues. I could see lot of people out in the streets with scared expressions, thanking God for saving their lives and that of their loved ones. When I reached my friend's place I saw them sitting outside their apartment. We hugged each other with relief.
Buses and vehicles had jammed the street. People were getting into their vehicles and moving out. Police sirens, ambulances and fire engines ciould be heard everywhere. Later, we decided to spend rest of the night in the lobby of our building. We were hungry so went to the nearest supermarket but the night guard was locked behind some electric doors due to power failure. The police had to break open the glass doors and let him out.
The next morning I went back into my apartment and tried to get some sleep. At around 7.45am there was another quake. I ran out and waited for some time before I returned. Once partial power was restored I switched on the television set. I heard the news that the worst place to be hit was Concepcion. Seeing live coverage of the destruction of houses and the loss of life made me thank God that I was lucky to be alive.
Here in Santiago the major problem was that the basic services were badly hit. Power, water and gas supplies were affected. My building power was restored on Monday evening. Shops remained closed until Sunday. The metro was closed for a day. Some restaurants opened on Sunday. The only one open near my place was a Domino's pizza outlet near Tobalaba metro station. There was a huge crowd gathered outside the shop.
On Monday the offices opened but the attendance were poor. Most of them decided to remain at homes with lot of aftershocks occurring repeatedly. Most employers had made it optional for employees to go into the office, especially in high rises. People resorted to working from home as much as possible.
The police here in Santiago are helping to provide relief operations to those affected. There was no looting at my place though I heard of looting happening in suburbs outside Santiago in places like Maipu and Talca.
I have still not fully recovered from the shock that I went through and badly need a break. I am lucky to have survived the ordeal and will be flying back to India next week to be with my family.
• Arnab Mallick was speaking to journalist Rajen Nai
Censorship has always been part of life in China. I began using the internet in 1997 and on a typical day I spend two to three hours surfing social networking sites such as Facebook and Kaixin001.com – a Chinese-language Facebook clone. I have faced many incidents where I found my access to certain websites blocked. If critical comments on government policy were posted in a blog, then it was deleted or "harmonised" (a euphemism for censorship). I get frustrated when the government curbs my personal freedom of expression.
I recently posted some comments on the Google incident as well as some news stories from major international media outlets on Kaixin001.com and soon discovered that all my posts had been harmonised less than half an hour after they were posted. It is frustrating to think that we are living in an Orwellian world.
Fortunately I can still access the New York Times or The Economist and view stories that are critical towards the Chinese government. It all adds up to a psychological effect, that spine-chilling feeling of Big Brother watching you.
On some of the websites I want to access, such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, I have to resort to ‘"scaling the wall", using VPN (a virtual private network) or other technologies to sneak in and out.
What is alarming is that there are many rumours that the government has funded people to post pro-government remarks on websites and that it is also deleting unsavoury opinions and comments. From the beginning of this summer, the government seems to have increased its censorship efforts by blocking Facebook, Twitter and YouTube; and, of course, there has been the climax of the recent spat with Google.
It is a sad development when I see so many prominent human rights lawyers and political dissenters getting prosecuted by the government, who might have hacked into their email accounts to get their names. I think my country is shifting into a more authoritarian and oppressive regime, similar to that in George Orwell's 1984.
Recently, the government has began curbing the activities of mobile communications companies such as Shanghai Mobile, the Shanghai branch of the state-owned mobile communication monopoly. It recently proposed that users who send pornographic messages should be cut off from the service. I think the government is using pornography as an excuse to curb freedom of speech.
In the past I was never politically active and was indifferent towards political issues and not particularly fond of opposition politics – but government censorship has radicalised me, virtually forcing to me to choose sides. My friends hate it too, which is why I suspect that government policy could backfire one day soon. Some protestors recently went to Google's Beijing office to pay their last tribute and this is the sign of things to come as there will be more such protest.
There is virtually no independent media in China but I can still go to my local coffee shop and loudly exchange derogatory, cynical or sarcastic comments on the government with like-minded friends. But I worry that China is following repressive regimes such as North Korea, Iran or Burma.
I know the risk involved if people like me raise their voice in protest against the government. I could be arrested for national security violations and sentenced to a jail term. Since there is no independent judiciary system in China I could not expect a fair trial in such a politically motivated legal case. Yet people continue to protest in their own way.
If you visit popular Chinese websites you might find bolder statements coming from citizens that are against the government’s repressive policy. Thanks to VPN technology I can reach out to people through access to Google but I wish more corporate giants – both Chinese and internationally – would use the Google example to help force the Chinese government to change its policy.
• Hong is a pseudonym. He was interviewed by journalist Rajen Nair.
