Life, Death and Hope in an Indian Slum : Slums are basically the homes of the poor people which provide minimum shelter. Earlier slums used to be on the outskirts of towns but now they are in towns making the places quite congested with high density of population. Today people living in slum areas hardly enjoy even the basic amenities. Some people have single room but mostly people live in huts made up of mud, the roof and ceilings are made from metal, scraps of wood, gunny sacks, or some sort of waste material. At times 10-12 people live, eat and sleep in the same house. The lanes are narrow and people use common latrines and water taps. The provision of water, sanitation, garbage collection and health care is inadequate which creates the conditions where infectious and parasitic diseases thrive and spread.
Life, Death and Hope in an Indian Slum
Today every human being requires basic amenities to survive
in this tough world. Food, shelter and clothing are the first preferences for
them. With increase in development of rural areas into urban areas there is
also a rapid increase in population of people resulting in slums.
Slums are basically the homes of the poor people which
provide minimum shelter. Earlier slums used to be on the outskirts of towns but
now they are in towns making the places quite congested with high density of
population. Today people living in slum areas hardly enjoy even the basic
amenities. Some people have single room but mostly people live in huts made up
of mud, the roof and ceilings are made from metal, scraps of wood, gunny sacks,
or some sort of waste material. At times 10-12 people live, eat and sleep in
the same house. The lanes are narrow and people use common latrines and water
taps. The provision of water, sanitation, garbage collection and health care is
inadequate which creates the conditions where infectious and parasitic diseases
thrive and spread. The sewage water stagnates in open surface drains, which
emit bad smell. The children are often found playing in places where the drains
are used as open latrines. Living conditions in many urban slums are worse than
those in the poorest rural areas of the country resulting in exceptionally
unhealthy environment and due to which serious environmental diseases are
transmitted through insects, soil, air, food, water, soil. Most of the slum
population suffers from one or more diseases associated with inadequate
provision of water and sanitation. Their Living conditions are extremely
difficult and slum dwellers are always scared of having their homes bulldozed
in municipal 'slum clearance' efforts.
The reasons of growth of slums are due to poor utilization
of the reproductive child health services provided by the government, marriage
at young age, lack of awareness regarding birth spacing; very low use of
contraceptives, illiteracy. Another reason is migration from rural areas to
more developed areas by people looking to earn more through higher-paying
manual labor compared to the low returns life of agriculture.
It is noteworthy that in absolute terms only 44.6 million
slum dwellers are literate. Expected in slum areas, males are ahead of females
in terms of literacy with 24.92 million male and million female literates being
recorded among the slum dwellers in the Census 2011. Maharashtra has the
highest number of total literates (8.8 million) among slum population. The
literacy rates are 84.11 per cent for all slum dwellers, 88.76 per cent for
males and 79.11 percent for females. Education is provided free to slum
children but still the dropout rates are high and most of students do not
continue studying after their 8th standard. Children those become literate lack
in suitable educational levels for further studies. When one considers the
status and living standards of slums of India, sometimes it becomes difficult
to consider them as human settlements. Slums are looked upon as lower form of
life.
Amongst the states, Maharashtra accounts for 11.85 million
population, which is 18.1 percent of the total slum population of the country.
This is followed by Andhra Pradesh (10.2 million), West Bengal (6.4 million),
Uttar Pradesh (6.2 million) and Tamil Nadu (5.8 million). In fact, these 5
states account for about two-thirds (61.9 per cent) of the total slum
population of the country. Other ten States/Union Territories are Punjab,
Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Madhya
Pradesh and Bihar which have reported each more than 1 million slum dwellers in
its cities/towns in 2011. A common characteristic feature of slums across the
world is the low socioeconomic status of its residents, most of whom employ
them in the informal economy. This can include domestic work, street vending,
human trafficking and drug dealing. Some of them recycle trash of different
kinds from household garbage and electronics for a living. They either sell the
odd usable goods or strip broken goods for parts or raw materials.
Many governments have attempted to solve the problems of
slums by clearing away old houses and replacing it with modern housing with
much better sanitation. In some countries, the situation has been addressed by
rescuing rural property rights to support traditional sustainable agriculture.
There is a growing movement to demand a global ban of slum clearance programs
and other forms of mass evictions.
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