One of Mumbai’s best-known architects, PK Das, has used his profession as an instrument for social change. Arriving in the city in 1972 to study architecture, he soon thereafter got involved in movements for slum dwellers and against corruption. Forty years later, Das continues to experiment with the intersection of his craft and his conscience. Mumbai, he says, is his workshop for it all. “It’s where I shape and reshape ideas. This city allows that kind of exchange,” says Das. “What I argue is that planning and architecture are fabulous democratic instruments for social change.” Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Carlin Carr — Mon, 07/22/2013 – 00:00
Mumbai’s quest to become a world-class city shines with rhetoric of “clean” and “green.” The efforts have spawned policies of making the city slum-free; demolitions, relocations and high-rise government slum redevelopment buildings define much of the existing plan and actions. Standing in between the government’s Shanghai dream and the existing state is 62 percent of the city’s population who lives in slums. The “eyesores” are taking up precious city land that has grown in value exponentially over the decades. Plans to deal with the impediments ignore the vibrant upgrading and development that has been taking place inside these settlements all over the city. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Carlin Carr — Mon, 07/01/2013 – 00:00
Monsoon clouds moved over Mumbai last week, opening up into a deluge. It’s the start of the rainy season in India — a welcome relief from the summer heat and a time to recharge water levels that had dropped to drought levels. While most people celebrate the wet months ahead, the season also brings with it a number of public health and safety hazards. Malaria is among the deadly diseases that raise alarms for public health officials, and it is slum dwellers who are most widely affected. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Carlin Carr — Mon, 06/24/2013 – 00:00
Last week, protestors in Istanbul’s Taksim Square took to the streets to stop their time-honored public meeting space from becoming a shopping mall. The city, they say, has been increasingly swallowed up by privatization and commercialization; parks and open spaces have essentially disappeared. The redevelopment story is one that Indian cities know too well. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Carlin Carr — Mon, 06/17/2013 – 00:00
This year we have been witness to two deadly building collapses. Or at least two have been widely covered by the media. The first one reported was in Thane (Mumbai), with a toll of 74 lives of mostly low-income renter families. The second one happened in Savar, Bangladesh. Over 700 people lost their lives. Read more.
Submitted by Rakhi Mehra — Mon, 06/10/2013 – 21:02
In a small workshop down one of the thousands of twisty, narrow Dharavi lanes, six young men hunch over old-fashioned sewing machines. They are dressed minimally to ward off the May heat. No windows punctuate the cement walls, but a fan swirls noisily above. Their master embroidery skills are mesmerizing to watch. One sewer, now 22, tells us that he started the trade at age 10 when he came to Mumbai on his own. Still a child, he joined thousands of other children across the city in foregoing school for a meager income. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Carlin Carr — Mon, 06/10/2013 – 00:00
Concerns for women’s safety in India have dominated headlines this year. Since the horrific gang rape in Delhi last year, stories about mothers, teenagers, and even young girls being subjected to violent attacks, rapes, and other physically and sexually gruesome incidents have been reported on nearly every week, if not every day. While the Delhi rape case was committed by men who were strangers to the victim, all too often women know the perpetrators of such crimes. A 2012 Indian Journal of Public Health article paints a grim picture of domestic violence statistics. The violence, in its many forms, cuts across social and economic strata; however, poor women face violence at significantly higher rates, and their position in society leaves them with few avenues for redress. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Carlin Carr — Mon, 06/03/2013 – 00:00
Mumbai’s largest slum, Dharavi, draws attention for many reasons, and not just its size. The half-million residents of this one-kilometer-squared area come from all over the country, bringing not just a diversity of language and customs but also religious beliefs. A microcosm of Mumbai, Dharavi’s Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians live respectfully among each other — but the current harmony has not always existed. After the 1992-1993 riots depicted in the movie Slumdog Millionaire, when tensions between minority Muslims and majority Hindus resulted in hundreds dead and thousands more who fled the city, a grassroots solution called Mohalla committees helped to heal the afflicted areas. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Carlin Carr — Mon, 05/27/2013 – 00:00
Urban malnutrition is pervasive among children in India’s slums. The issue lacks attention in the urban context; instead, discussions of under-nourished children in remote villages capture headlines and government attention. “Official urban health statistics hide the appalling health and nutrition conditions of urban slum dwellers, most of whom are not ‘official’ residents of the cities, and therefore, do not get included in urban statistics,” says a 2004 article, “Nutrition Problems in Urban Slum Children.” The study found that only 13 percent of slum children have normal weight. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Carlin Carr — Mon, 05/20/2013 – 00:00
Shaila Satpute and her husband have been running a footwear shop in Mumbai for the last 15 years. Their $130 monthly profit goes to taking care of household expenses and the family’s future — educating their three children, providing them with opportunities Shaila and her husband were unable to access. The Satputes’ always had aspirations to grow their small business, but were unable to save enough to invest in more stock. That all changed when Shaila took a small loan from Mumbai-based microfinance organization, Swadhaar FinServe. Now on her third loan cycle, Shaila’s monthly profit has doubled. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Carlin Carr — Mon, 05/13/2013 – 00:00