With Vinod Shetty from ACORN India as our guide, we made our way through the industrial side of Dharavi, one of the largest slums in Mumbai, made famous by the film, Slumdog Millionaire. A large part of the Dharavi community's livelihood is what is called ragpicking, or scouring the piles of trash dumped near by for recyclables which can be cleaned, sorted and resold to companies seeking cheap materials. There is no real sense of occupational health awareness, never mind regulation – most workers were barefoot, and not one worker was wearing gloves or eye protection, even when operating the heavy machinery used to chop cardboard or plastics into tiny pieces. It was very muddy; we had to hop between stray bricks sticking out of the mud to traverse the paths between the buildings, some of which were 4 stories tall, many comprised of metal siding.
When I initially heard about Dharavi, after seeing Slumdog Millionaire and a documentary in class about Shetty and ACORN India's work in Dharavi, which focuses on providing educational opportunities for the children of Dharavi, I learned that this community is largely comprised of migrant workers or others forced out of their communities for one reason or other. I was appalled to learn, not only about the water supply and sanitation issues, but that many do not even hold citizenship, do not have access to basic health services or educational opportunities for their children. “Where is the government?,” I demanded to know. It reminded me of pre- into industrial New York and Boston, and made me think of my own family, immigrants looking for work and opportunities. They would have been on the streets or forced to create makeshift shelters too, had it not been for the government housing projects to which they had been assigned. I was sympathetic, and am still – but its not so simple in Dharavi.
There is currently a ton of contention between the people of Dharavi and the government: the government sees this group and their community as a burden and an eyesore on prime real estate – sandwiched between two major sets of train tracks, in the middle of the city. Redevelopment projects have been suggested time and time again (Dharavi has been around for the better part of the last 70 years; its not a new phenomenon), but for one reason or other, just have not panned out. This is not just because the government or NGOs are not trying hard enough, but many in Dharavi simply don't see a need for change. They are largely self-sustaining – Dharavi is responsible for almost the entire recycling industry for the city, and business, so I have been told, is pretty good.
While speaking to the owner/manager (it was not clear, but he was definitely in charge) of a cardboard recycling operation I was informed that the operation makes about $10,000 a month – yeah, US dollars. Though many workers in this operations, and many like it, live in their workspace, they earn up to $400 a month – that's pretty good, considering there are people in this county living on less than $1 a day. Like all businesses in Dharavi, the whole operation runs under the table, is not registered by the government and thus, does not pay taxes. If the people of Dharavi were to agree to a redevelopment initiative, they would have to give up their work spaces, pay for a living space, and most likely have to legitimize (i.e. pay taxes on) their businesses. From that perspective, I can see why they prefer to keep the status quo.
Dharavi is not clean, healthy, or anywhere that people would prefer to spend their lives or raise a family, but to certain extent, I get it. I can understand why, in a community of people brought together by the commonality of the need to survive, they're doing a pretty good job at just that.
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