THE INDIAN LANDSCAPE has been largely altered by the large-scale modernization brought out by the profit enterprises. What many people see as symbols of the post independence development, in reality are nothing more than fancy shows and urban mess. Structures have been erected and they for sure kiss the sky, blocking every single ray of sunlight. Roads have been crippled and left suffocating by thousands of vehicles that roll every day. Industrial plants have been installed, which have disturbed and disrupted the whole ecology. One can find these misfortunes in most of the cities of India. To discuss all these adversities will, in fact, require a good chunk of time. However, there are certain issues and problems, which needs to be addressed without losing any time.
Soon after the independence, large-scale deployment of man and machinery took place, to tap off the essential resources and profits for the country. To extract resources and push the economy over vertical scales government decided to develop the sites that were laid down with the treasure hunts. Various governments offered special packages and assistance, which ultimately resulted in the creation of urbanized industrial belts. Private hands, for they never hesitated to come forth, took advantage of the opportunities and put more in their coffers than the colonialists would have had. This is one explanation that describes the popular scene wherein a small entrepreneur ends up making an empire and a poor worker remains at the same level and at all stages of the so-called development.
The state admires and appreciates the growth of the entrepreneur, but fails to sympathize with the poor worker. Because of the lopsided policies and lopsided stand of the government, the workers never come out of their poverty and out of their miserable lives. Visit any industrial belt in the metropolitan cities of India and you will find the story repeated time and again.
In the beginning of this discourse, we presented several problems that urban India faces today. Some of these are so grave that they can neither be ignored nor overlooked. Consider the status and living standards of slums of India. The slums of India are so poor, in every sense of this term, that sometimes we don’t consider them as human settlements. They are looked upon as cattle or any other lower form of life. Except their own segments no class in the society comes forward for their rescue. There are institutional aides, particularly social activists, but then their help and assistance is strictly restricted. Estimates reveal that 10-15 per cent population in the capital city is slum dwellers. Now that accounts for a huge number of people and if we go by the current state of progress it will take more than 30 years to do them any good. Sixty years of independence and 30 more, just imagine, a century of struggle and fighting.
Circumstances, as we see, cannot be that bad. What good is the government for, which cannot give a standard human life, a better life to its citizens, citizens who are treated like animals? And why is it that we rely entirely on the state? We have 90 per cent population living outside this deplorable realm. Even if 50 per cent decide to solve the problem it won’t take that long. Would it?
Take a brief ride of the history and you will find that the great buildings that stand high in the cities were either built by the erstwhile emperors or contemporary business tycoons. These magnificent buildings, old and new, macadam roads, great galleries and market places have often been a temptation hard to resist by the rural folk. People from rural areas migrate to cities and settle around the work places, which in most cases constitute factory or an industrial plant vicinity. They cannot afford a living place or their own accommodation in the city. So they end up putting small sheds near the places of their work. As the population grows, there is an equal increment in the problems due to dearth of place and limited commodities. But nothing stops them from mass multiplying and soon you come to see a ghetto, where people live a sub standard life. The state, not often, provides them with facilities like electricity and water - nothing more and nothing less. Time goes on and the structure, slum, gets established. The latest complaints of encroachment are those made by the rural poor against the Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
Slum population in India, according to 2001 census, stood as high as 40,297,341. This 40 million population accounts for about 4 percent of the total Indian population. The figures are even momentous for Indian cities. About 22 percent of the slums dwell in the cities. We can interpret the same as: about one quarter of the population in the cities constitutes that of slums. Amongst the states, Maharashtra leads with a slum population of 10,644,605 persons. Andhra Pradesh follows Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh is the third in the rank. Goa comes the last in the list. The great city of Mumbai has a good 49 percent population living in slums.
All these figures are horrendous, if only one realizes the evil forces that are at play in these ghettos. To liberate them needs more than any government aid. One has to change the entire perception of the people, of all those who live in these ghettos and bourgeoisie class who live beyond. The upper class and elite consider them as viruses that plague the society. Now that attitude needs to be changed first. These poor people need a place in the society more than a dwelling place. The upper segments of the society should empathize with these poor people as all of us are of the same kind. They need guidance more than they need any money or aid. They need awareness that only masses can bring out. They need attention and that is indeed something we can pay and something we should pay.
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