Dharavi

A booming Slum and recycling a soul searching business in one of Asia's biggest contiguous slum Dharavi

Table of Contents

Introduction3

Background: Dharavi the slum3

Research aims and objectives:5

Literature Review5

Proposed Methodology11

Literature Selection Criteria12

Search Technique12

Theoretical Framework12

References13

A booming Slum and recycling a soul searching business in one of Asia's biggest contiguous slum Dharavi

Introduction

Background: Dharavi the slum

Mumbai (originally Known as Bombay) is India's financial capital and the sixth most populous urban agglomeration in the world. With an altitude of 10 meters, area of 437 sq.kms, population of 12.6 million, agglomeration 15.8 million. In Mumbai 6.5 million live in slums. In The heart of Mumbai lies Dharavi perhaps the largest slum in the world contains almost over a million people. The figures are rough because the area was officially an illegal settlement until 2004 and the authorities have yet to quantify it. (Gazetteers of the Bombay PresidencyThaneGovernment of Maharashtra, India)

Dharavi Portuguese spelling Daravi (D'Cunha, Jose Gerson (1900). "IV the Portuguese Period". The Origins of Bombay (3 Ed.) Bombay: Asian Educational Services) British Anglicised spelling Darravy, Dorrovy.

Dharavi is a slum and administrative ward over parts of Sion, Bandra, Kurla and Kalina suburbs of Mumbai, India. It is sandwiched between Mahim in the west and Sion in the east.

Dharavi is a slum that one finds one of the most inspiring economic models in Asia. Dharavi may be one of the world's largest slums, but it is by far it's most prosperous a thriving business centre propelled by thousands of microentrepreneurs 15,000 single room factories ( Clothey ,Fred W..Ritualizing on the boundaries) who have created an invaluable industry turning around the discard waste of Mumbai's 15.8 million. Dharavi is home to some of the world's best leatherworks, as well as textile and furniture factories, potteries, bakeries and exports goods around the world. The total turnover is estimated to be between 500 million US dollars and over 600 US dollars (£350m) per annum. (Dharavi, Life in a SlumBBC 02/01/2010).

In a research study published in 2002, C.K. Prahalad and Allen Hammond reported that 85% of the households in the slums of Dharavi own a TV, 75% a pressure cooker and a mixer, 56% a gas stove and 21% a telephone.

Despite this Dharavi has severe problems with public health, due to the scarcity of toilet facilities compounded by the flooding during the monsoon season. As of November 2006 there was only one toilet per 1440 residents in Dharavi (UN study toilets unused to fight disease).Dharavi suffers from lack of clean water and problems linked with inadequate water supply. Mahim Creek, a local river, is widely used by local residents for urination and defecation leading to the spread of contagious disease. (In a city like MumbaiKalaphna Sharma)

Research aims and objectives:

It is difficult not to be daunted by Dharavi. Mumbai's largest slum indeed the largest slum in all of Asia many taxi drivers outside the train station at Mahim junction don't even want to go there. Finally one agrees, negotiating the narrow streets around the station then onto a highway crossing the noisome mangrove swamp ...