As India Grows, so does its slums

It’s boomtime for the Indian economy for the last few years.

And it’s boomtime for India’s slums as well over the last couple of decades. 

Even as India’s annual growth rate crosses 8%, the number of Indians living in slums in cities - often near open gutters and in squalid conditions – has more than doubled over the last two decades.

In 2001 (latest year for which data is available), the slum population in the large Indian cities rose to 62 million compared to 27.9 million in 1981.

Mumbai (previously known as Bombay) has the largest number of slum-dwellers with some 6.5 million living in pathetic conditions followed by Delhi with 1.8 million.

To see a picture of Dharavi slum in Mumbai, click here.

The failure of the Indian state to provide the most basic of services to its citizens should rank among the greatest failures in human history.