The Real Slumdog Millionaires

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After lectures in the morning we piled in a bus (ugg) and made our way to Dharavi slums, one of the largest slums in the world. Different than what we in the U.S. think of as a "slum" i.e.  a place littered with used syringes, dilapidated housing and the only real form of business come from drugs and prostitution, Dharavi is filled with entrepreneurs and buzzing with life.

Home to between 300,000 and 1 million people (I'd say closer to the million mark!) Dharavi has an active informal economy, numerous household enterprises that employs the slum residents. It exports goods around the world including leather, textiles, and pottery products  In fact, on our tour we met a textile manufacturer who's business was growing so rapidly he was leaving Dharavi to head up north to a larger plant. It also processes the bones and scrap that others leave behind, such as metal, plastic from cruise ships (i now NEVER want to go on a cruise), paint containers and more. The total annual turnover has been estimated to be over US$500 million. Imagine, because it is an informal economy none of that money is being taxed! You can see people in the slums driving luxury cars and doing who knows what else with their hard earned cash.

Sadly, as more immigrants came flooding in from the countryside and city dwellers were pushed out from new developments, Dharavi skyrocketed in growth. However, as textiles, potters, tanneries etc., moved in, there was no effort to plan or invest in infrastructure in or near Dharavi. The living quarters and small scale factories grew haphazardly, without provision for sanitation, drains, safe drinking water, roads or other basic services. Thus, since its beginnings in the 1880s, the "slum" continues to grow, chaotically, and prosper, chaotically.