Urban and Regional Planning

DHARAVI: FOR THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE

Barsa Dutta (11463), Dhawani Sanghavi (11463)

Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Brandenburg Technical University

Abstract

The following paper describes the slum of Dharavi- the people that are more than just
statistics. An economy by itself, it serves a very large population of the financial capital
of India. Dharavi is a settlement with a massive population whose census has never
been done properly. This paper focuses on five major aspects of this area- slub and its
dwellers, data derived from various sources to put the residents in perspective. The
second part is about the informal economy and how it serves the population of
Mumbai. It is a self-sufficient region with businesses dealing in textile, costume design,
pottery, sports equipment, etc. The third aspect revolves around state interventions and
how policy outcomes resulted in the persistence and proliferation of slums. Lastly,
Dharavi with its inhabitants from different walks of life has given birth to a refined
cultural narrative on the streets. The intangible cultural aspect in forms of Dance, Music
and Rap is very unique to the place. This shall be covered in our final topic. 

Introduction:

In 1950, only 18 per cent of Indians lived in cities; by 2013, that number had risen to 32
per cent, and by 2050, it was projected to reach 55 per cent (World Bank, 2013). India
has experienced informal urbanization, as evidenced by the vast majority of urban
households lacking basic urban amenities or legal property rights, which led to the
persistence and growth of slums. According to UN-Habitat, 2013,” the slum is an area
that combines the characteristics of a) inadequate access to safe water; b)inadequate
access to sanitation and other infrastructure; c) the poor structural quality of housing;
d) overcrowding”. 

Dharavi is a slum located in the central part of the city of Mumbai, India. Mumbai, one of
the most developed cities during the Partition of India in 1947, grew dramatically in
population. 

Dharavi was historically a piece of land owned by the government of India which was
not in use for an extended period of time. It was not sold to anyone as it was considered
unsafe to live on. The region was a mangrove forest with marine alluvial soil with large
contents of soil which would hamper any construction done over it. Hence, it was first
inhabited by fishermen with temporary housing. 

It was given for a 99-year lease to these fishermen in 1895. The alluvial soil attracted the
potters of Gujarat too. The land was tax-free for a long time.
As industries developed in the post-British India Bombay, migrants flocked here in
search of better opportunities and wages. The housing shortage led to the cheap
temporary houses built on this unstable terrain. Due to its location along the Mithi River,
it becomes vulnerable to floods during the monsoon season. Poor drainage and
sanitation add to this problem.

Textile, embroidery and costume design are a few industries that came up with the rise
of Bollywood creating demand for cheap fabric and labour. As the government has not
recognised the slum, the economy remains informal. The entire area cannot be taxed.

Today, the slum is inhabited by the third generation of the original migrants. Few of
them come from present-day Pakistan and lack papers to gain Indian citizenship. The
rest come from various parts of the country seeking opportunities to become movie
stars and models but end up in prostitution or cheap labour. 

The people of Dharavi demand recognition from the government of India, giving them
an equal opportunity for food, housing and employment. The government has argued
that these people have no evidence they were born in India. This stands true for many
people residing here as they come from Myanmar, Nepal, and Bangladesh in illegal
ways. 

This paper addresses 3 questions: First, how the informal economy serves the whole
city. We will also talk about how Dharavi battled the pandemic despite lacking
infrastructure. Second, how the Government reacted since the post-independence
period to the slums and how these policy outcomes have led to the persistence of the
slums. The third question revolves around the fact that despite different levels of state
interventions why slums proliferate in Mumbai. By the end of this paper, we will be able
to understand that although slums are the unintended result of government policies
such as rent control and land use regulations, their growth and persistence are closely
related to their socio-economic and political purposes.
Figure 1:  Growth of Dharavi in the context of the Riwa Fort, a Portuguese settlement
during the British Era. The lines on the map are the railway tracks going north-south
throughout the city. Source: Maheshwari, 2020

Data and Methodology:

This is qualitative research with data taken from books like Dharavi: The City Within by
Joseph Campana, Slum Rehabilitation Authority, Mumbai (SRA); People's Responsible
Organization of United Dharavi (PROUD). Some data is also taken from CENSUS India. As
fieldwork and physical surveying weren't possible we mostly relied on secondary data
derived from government reports, newspapers, and journals. This kind of research
provided an understanding of formation and persistence of slums in Mumbai.

Few Facts about Dharavi

Figure 2: Location of Dharavi. Source: Created by Pan Lv

The population of Dharavi is estimated to be 1,000,000, i.e. 1 million on a land area of

535 acres. That comes down to a population density of 1870 people per acre. The total
population of the city of Mumbai is approximately 20 million people. 

The literacy rate of the slum is 69% which stands at a good rate in context to the
people’s living conditions and earnings. The other slums in the world fall far behind in
terms of literacy. Dharavi is a secular settlement as people come from various religions,
castes, creeds and countries.

There is an estimate that Dharavi houses 20,000 one-room factories producing

terracotta pottery, textile, leather goods and metal objects. The annual turnover of
Dharavi is approximately 1 Billion USD. 

Due to movies like Slumdog Millionaire, there has been a rise in tourists in the slum.
This had led to tours done by the locals for foreign tourists. 
Due to a lack of government recognition, the region lacks infrastructure. However,
people have started developing their facilities and local authorities have started
developing pipelines for gas and water. They have cooking gas, water, electricity and an
average cable connection.

Dharavi during epidemics and pandemics

Dharavi has experienced many epidemics and natural disasters, the survival under
these circumstances becomes very difficult. The plague of 1896 wiped out half the
population of the settlement. Dharavi has faced the highest mortality for the last 25
years. The population itself is a threat to the people. Sanitation and drainage add to this.
there have been other epidemics like polio, typhoid, cholera, polio, amoebiasis and
leprosy.  The residents can't get care due to slow services. It is impossible for a large
vehicle to go inside the streets of the slum. It has also recently reported a few cases of
drug-resistant tuberculosis. 

Fires are a common occurrence as Dharavi sits between mountains of garbage disposed
off carelessly. 

Surprisingly, Dharavi has managed the spread of Covid-19 with flying colours. The local
mafia played a huge role to avoid deaths. It forbids people from going out of the
settlement. It asked the doctors and nurses that lived in the area to help the people of
the settlement instead of going to work. The door-to-door screening was conducted for
oxygen levels and temperatures. Quarantine centres were constructed out of sports
clubs, wedding halls and large grounds. A community kitchen was running for the entire
month of Ramzan so the Muslim citizens can eat there instead of leaving their areas. A
200-bed hospital was built in a parking lot in 2 weeks to cater to the people of the slum.
450 community toilets were sanitized twice daily to stop the spread of covid. The mafia
played an important role during these hard times. It also asked for help from the local
government to improve conditions and give a steady supply of masks and oxygen. As a
result, May 2020 has 42 cases and that decreased to 6 cases daily in August. 

Informal Economy

A small context about Mumbai: Mumbai is named the financial capital of India. It is the
seat of the National Stock Exchange. It also has offices of multinational companies like
Delloite, Tata, Reliance, Infosys, etc. Mumbai is home to the Indian film industry-
Bollywood which produces over 200 movies each year. The city is a cradle for major
Indian companies like Godrej, Larsen & Turbo, Aditya Birla Group, Hindustan Petroleum,
etc. People employed by these companies move to the city. It is the richest city in India
and the 12th richest city in the world. “Mumbai accounts for slightly more than 6.16% of
India's economy contributing 10% of factory employment, 30% of income tax
collections, 45% of Entertainment Tax, 60% of customs duty collections, 20% of central
excise tax collections, 40% of foreign trade, 100% of stock market assets and rupees
1,60,000 crore (USD 20 billion) in corporate taxes to the Indian economy.” (Wikipedia, 19
July 2022)
Dharavi, amidst all this, is a settlement serving the rich and upper society of the city. The
maids, taxi drivers, auto drivers, nurses, sweepers, tailors, and laundry men come from
this region. Dharavi runs the city and keeps it clean. It has organizations that collect
waste by hand throughout the city and sell it to the recyclers by the kilo. 

These are a few of the professionals living in Dharavi.

● Fishermen 
● Potters
● Textile 
● Tanneries and leather goods factories
● Jeans and fast fashion stitchers
● Recycling and collection of waste
● Food production
● Laundry
● Printing and embroidery
● Costume design (Home of Bollywood)
● Taxi driver
● Black Marketeers

Image 1: Potters at Dharavi                         Image 2: Laundry Yard (Dhobi ghat)

Image 3: Plastic Recycling   Image 4:  Oil cans recycling

Image 5: Tailors working for fast fashion brands across the world like Zara, Bershka, and
H&M.

Image 6:  Shop selling leather and Faux Leather goods produced in Dharavi.

As Apte, 2011 stated,

“Economic activity is decentralized, human in scale, home-based, low-tech and labour-

intensive. The result is a pedestrianized, organic, low-rise community-centric
landscape.”

Redevelopment of Slums: Role of State Interventions

0.   Evolution of Slum Policy in Mumbai:

Slum legislation is divided into three categories in the draft report of the Brihan Mumbai
Regional Development Authority (BMRDA), 1991–2011 (Chatterji, 2005). These
categories are meant to reflect the three different responsibilities that the government
has played in relation to the Mumbai slum population over time which are Controller,
provider, and facilitator. However, despite assertions to the contrary, all three
categories of legislation coexist in Mumbai, making a strict chronology problematic.

The original response of the government in the 1950s and 1960s was to forbid and
control slum development. It demolished slums and relocated slum residents into
affordable rental houses. For instance, in 1956, Slum Clearance Plan was implemented
in Mumbai. The government's intervention strategy shifted from forbidding and
controlling to facilitating between the 1970s and the early 1990s. For instance, the
Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act allowed for
the implementation of the Slum Improvement Programmes in 1972. (Zhang, 2018)

Slum Improvement Project (1972-76):

In 1971, the Maharashtra state government acknowledged the significance of

redeveloping Dharavi for the first time and the Slum Improvement Project was
implemented. Water, electricity, latrines, and sewage disposal were aimed to be
provided as part of the project.

The government made an effort to grant "legitimate status" to slum inhabitants in 1976.
Residents had to provide picture identification and pay a nominal fee, of which a
portion went to the government as land rent. Some houses were reconstructed, and
renters were allowed to add lofts on top of the existing housing structures. However,
due to administrative issues, the program was abandoned by 1991. Another problem
was that Mumbai's slums had not been thoroughly surveyed. However, This census
does not exist 49 years later (Patel and Paneria, 2021). According to a BMC report from
the early 1990s by Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Slums) K.G. Pai, the SIP has not
even reached the 30 lakh slum residents in Mumbai.

The Slum Upgradation Programme (SUP) (1985):

This program was funded by the World Bank. In accordance with this initiative,
cooperative groups of slum residents were given inexpensive leases on existing slum
land and loans were provided for housing and environmental improvements. The fact
that a significant amount of the slum was located on privately owned land that had
been infringed upon meant that the land could not readily be bought for slum
reconstruction was the major obstacle that this program was unable to overcome.

Prime Minister Grant Project (PMGP):

The PMGP was the first program that genuinely planned for systematic slum
redevelopment and called for the construction of new homes for slum dwellers on the
same plot of land where they had been living. For the first time, it was also
acknowledged that slum dwellers contribute significantly to the economy, and those
slum inhabitants needed to be close to their places of employment. Dharavi was no
longer viewed as being distant from Mumbai. It acquired fresh prominence as a result
of its proximity to the Bandra-Kurla complex, an important business centre. As a result,
efforts were made to widen the roadways in Dharavi to improve the area's accessibility
for vehicles.

However, the PMGP, like all other schemes, was unable to carry out its strategies as
intended. The cause was straightforward—it did not take spatial density into account
which made it difficult to relocate residents, and the development work was mostly
restricted to the region along the two major roads that border Dharavi (Chatterji, 2015).

Slum Rehabilitation Scheme (1995):

The main objective of the program was to remove slums, build free homes for slum
residents, and build market-rate housing to pay for the program. The Slum
Redevelopment Authority (SRA) was established in 1997. In accordance with this plan,
private developers can acquire government-owned slum land for only 25% of its fair
market value and then redevelop it using the incentive's higher-than-average FSI. The
developer would demolish the slums and rehouse the eligible slum inhabitants in free
housing after purchasing the slum land. The free home is only available to slum
residents who can show through documentation that they moved into the slum before
the deadline of January 1, 2000. Housing for people receiving rehabilitation now comes
in conventional sizes of 269 square feet per household, up from 225 square feet. The
concept of Transferable Development Rights (TDR) was introduced to entice private
developers.

However, the idea was not carried out well. Three-quarters of the slum's residents'
consent was necessary, but it was unable to secure it, and by 2000, only 3,486 of the
neighbourhood's around 100,000 units were rehabilitated (Patel and Paneria, 2021).

Dharavi Redevelopment Project (2004):

The Dharavi Redevelopment Project called for developers to rehouse Dharavi's

population in 300-square-foot flats integrated into high-rise tower blocks, freeing up
room for their development projects. While the tower buildings address the slum's
existing sanitation and hygiene problems, they have run into significant opposition from
the locals. Residents believe that a tower building will ruin the sense of community that
has helped Dharavi's micro-enterprises flourish for so long and would significantly raise
the area's already troubling population density.

b. Redevelopment of Slums: Slums as “Vote-banks”

Figure 3: Distribution of slum population to understand their contribution in votes.

Source: Bardhan, et, al., 2015)

Slums have major power to influence Indian electoral politics. The votes of slum
dwellers heavily influence the election outcome in a city like Mumbai as the percentage
of the slum population is very high. To win the support of slum residents, politicians
have allowed new settlements to grow and even legalized illegal settlements right
before elections. About 85,000 people live in the airport slums, which take up 1.2 square
kilometres of the territory surrounding Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. The
decision to demolish the slums was made by the municipal authorities in late 2001, but
it was not carried out because the municipal election was taking place in early 2002
(Zhang, 2018). Politicians were worried that voting would suffer as a result of the
removal of slum homes. As minister of state for housing Pritam Kumar Shegaonkar said
in a meeting with the state secretariat "But after all, they are our votes. Where do we go
if these people are shifted out from here?" (TNN, 2007). The airport slum is regarded as
a significant area of constituents by the Member of Parliament (MP) at the national level
as 50–60 per cent of the total 2.5 million voters of one district live in the airport slum.

Maintaining the same pattern Political parties decided to use a certain slum
redevelopment approach to continue winning the support of slum residents. In 1990,
during the election for the state assembly, the Shiv Sena, a longtime powerhouse in
Mumbai, made a campaign pledge that if it won, it would give free housing to slum
people. However, Mr Bal Thackeray, the leader of the Party, was unable to explain how
this target would be achieved. While some slum dwellers, mostly the slum lords, were
pleased by the offer, the majority immediately understood that this was just a political
ploy. Despite losing that year's election, Shiv Sena won the election in 1995 and began
implementing its campaign pledge (Kanodia, 2003).

c. Real estate agenda behind the redevelopment of slums:

Today, housing is only considered in terms of real estate whose aim is to control and
monopolize land. Evaluation criteria for housing projects include size, built-up area, FSI
consumption, financial turnover, and a variety of other business and marketing
advantages. The bigger the project is, the more appealing it is to developers. As a result,
a vast network involving developers, landowners, and financial institutions is created, in
which the real stakeholders; the slum-dwellers have no place.

Under the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme, the developers can build and sell market-rate
homes on the remaining slum land since the slum redevelopment model places all
financial obligations on their shoulders. According to some developers, while the
average profit margin for slum redevelopment is 35–45 per cent, there are periods
when it might reach 200 per cent (Zhang, 2018).

Many well-known real estate development projects in Mumbai have been constructed
using this approach on previously used slum land. Imperial Towers, a twin-tower luxury
residence that is among Mumbai's tallest structures, is one of the most well-known
examples which were constructed on former slum property. While the size of the
rehabilitative unit is 269 square feet, a typical Imperial Towers apartment is 4000 square
feet in size and costs between USD 3 million and USD 5 million (Zhang, 2018).

d. Floor-space index: Tool to control density and finance redevelopment

The Mumbai Development Plan started regulating the density of built-up regions of the
city in 1964 to restrict population expansion within the municipal corporation. The Floor
Space Index (FSI), which is a measure of how much land a building is built on in relation
to its overall floor space, was formally introduced in Mumbai in 1967. However, the idea
that population density in cities is not determined by building control restrictions but
rather a result of economic opportunity, was generally neglected by urban planners and
policymakers. Mumbai's population expanded from 4.06 million to 12.44 million
between 1960 and 2011, mainly due to migration (Zhang, 2018), and the city’s property
value skyrocketed due to these restrictive development policies. Slums started to
spread throughout Mumbai as a result of the city's fast urban growth and the lack of
adequate cheap housing. Many city dwellers are forced into the informal housing
market because they lack access to housing options on the market which shows that
the constant growth of slums in Mumbai is a sign of policy failure.

To encourage developers and secure funding from the market, the government added a
bonus FSI in line with the current trend. Although the committee set the FSI for slum
areas at 2.5, the state designated Dharavi as an "exceptional area" in 2008 with an FSI of
4 which is impossible as the local infrastructure cannot support such construction
(Shrinivasan, 2008).

Conclusion and recommendation:

This paper illustrates how, despite being chaotic and filthy, Dharavi serves a valuable
role for the entire city of Mumbai and has integrated itself into it. In this context, it is
crucial to understand that, on the one hand, slums give city people affordable housing
options and essential business prospects; and on the other hand by acting as "vote
banks", they play a crucial part in Indian electoral politics. The Government intervention
mode has evolved over time, and the current slum redevelopment program is primarily
driven by the desire to boost revenue and achieve political goals. The top-down method
of implementing policies has left a void where the desire for progress and interest of
real stakeholders, i.e., slum dwellers have been lost. The government must reassess its
strategy for slum redevelopment in light of the functionality of slums. The following
recommendations might be made to enhance the outcome of the slum redevelopment

First, although the DRP is regarded as a government initiative all the important state
duties including master planning, surveying, designing, and obtaining required
permissions have been delegated to the developers. At present, the roles are not clear
at all. Roles must be reevaluated, and contractual clauses must be made clear. Instead
of just being an approving authority, the SRA should serve as a planner and facilitator.

Second, As earlier mentioned, the proliferation and persistence of slums is an outcome

of the faulty regressive housing and land use policy regime. Systematic reforms to the
current housing policy framework are needed to fix the housing crisis. It is also
recommended to conduct a current land use survey, create and publish a draft land use
plan, and then solicit comments and proposals for changes. 

The third recommendation is related to FSI. To create a humane living environment, the
government must find a balance between profit and density. As per the
recommendation of SPARC, redevelopment is possible even with only a 0.25 bonus FSI,
with ground-plus-three (four-storey) or ground-plus-four (five-storey) buildings instead
of high rises. 

Fourth, the redevelopment plan separates Dharavi into “sectors” that completely
disregard the “Nagar”-based "community" boundaries that currently exist. These have
developed over time and created micro industries. The planning approach must be
centred on the current Nagar boundaries.
Figure 4: Participatory approach: the key to solving the crisis. Source: Bardhan et al.,
2015
And finally, as suggested by Bardhan et al., 2015, a bottom-up strategy is needed, in
which slum residents play a big role in helping developers plan their relocation and
come up with a strategy that is advantageous for both parties.

In this paper, we have shown the economic and political aspects of Dharavi. There is
also one cultural part too. Dharavi has been brewing hip-hop culture for a decade now.
The youngsters of the settlement have diversified and taken up rap music, dance and
music to tell their struggle to the world. It has one of the most relevant music of our
times. Dopeadelicz, 7 Bantaiz, and SlumGods are a few of the crews in Dharavi that have
gained momentum in the last 5-6 years. Some schools teach hip-hop and all its five
elements: dance, rap, graffiti, DJ and beatboxing. This school is called After School which
encourages regular education in the slum. This is the Dharavi that dreams of a cleaner,
creative future.

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