Dharavi
Dharavi is the biggest slum in India, it is located in India’s commercial capital, Mumbai. The estimated population is 1.5 million who live together in an area no larger than two square kilometers. The families often consist of many children, residents live in close prolixity and in extremely limited space. The slum is known for having an exuberant working life which keeps the economy going – Dharavi is renowned for supplying a large part of India’s clothing and leather production.
The Dharavi slum was founded in 1884 during the British colonial era, and grew in part because of an expulsion of factories and residents from the peninsular city centre by the colonial government and from the migration of poor rural Indians into urban Mumbai.
Dharavi has suffered from many epidemics and other disasters, including a widespread plague in 1896 which killed over half of the population of Mumbai. Though large sums of money have been borrowed by the Indian government in the guise of improving sanitation in Dharavi, none of these have materialised into any development on the ground. The slum has also been very effected by Covid-19 and it is physically impossible for residents to keep to the government’s recommended safe distance. This results in a constant fear of the virus to spread to other parts of Mumbai.
Published by ActionAid