India Development - how do the urban poor survive?

By Luciana Baglioni and Ishita Ramanujam

Until the early 1960s, a system of agrarian bondage prevailed in India. In this system, the landless households were attached to landlords for generations, in an interaction of servant and master that was extremely exploitative, but provided a survival guarantee for the poor. With the rise of capitalism this bondage system faded away. Landless households didn’t have the survival and continued employment guarantee anymore, because the state failed to provide the security and protection that landlords used to provide. With the rise of population and the drop of demand for landless labour, many were left jobless in the countryside. 

As workers lost their permanent tie with the land and landlords, the seasonality of crops encouraged the migration during harvesting and planting, and the need to find other employment between peak farming periods. Many moved to big cities, but it was difficult for landless laborers to jobs, because many didn’t have the qualifications (often being illiterate) or the connectivity for urban employment. New migrants had to invent extralegal substitutes to survive, since unemployment is a luxury poor people can’t afford.

In the beginning, many academics believed the informal urban economy would be a training ground where laborers could (a) scratch around for bare livelihood the countryside couldn’t provide, and (b) adjust to the urban setting until their eventual incorporation into formal jobs. In reality, the formal sector remained inaccessible to landless laborers for multiple reasons. The workers failed to find reasonably paid jobs. 

The result? Workers from rural areas hoping for better opportunities often end up in the misery, exclusion, marginalization and deprivation of the shanties. According to the National Report 2011 nearly 1 in 4 urban residents live in a slum. In mega-cities, such as Mumbai and Delhi, nearly half the urban population live in slums. 

These settlements are characterized by little or no access to basic services, such as water, sanitation, power and waste management. One in five urban households do not have their own toilet, and depend on shared facilities. Often, there is just one bathroom for 50 to 100 people. They normally don’t have access to running water, light and ventilation in their homes. Living in these unhealthy and unsanitary conditions increases the chance of contracting diseases and infections (explaining why the slums are the hotbed for Covid-19). There’s also a high rate of suicide in this class: “living in a state of constant emergency saps the energy to cope and erodes the strength to endure” (Breman, 2016). A 2015 UN study says 121 million Indians live in slums, a figure that will grow with the rise of urbanization.

The promise of inclusion into the formal sector has generated an army of labour floating between town and countryside, engaged in fierce competition with each other in a climate of social Darwinism. To mitigate the problem, state intervention in providing basic infrastructure, urban planning, education, income-generating opportunities, and other basic needs and rights is essential. The government has to create an enabling environment where businesses are incentivized to invest in urban infrastructure and services. A nation can only progress if government, business and citizens, join hands to collectively work for the betterment of society at large. Ambitious schemes such as Smart Cities, AMRUT and Housing for All are colossal steps for the betterment of citizens, especially the urban poor. Once primary needs of the bottom of the pyramid are taken care of, they will be empowered to contribute significantly to the country’s economic progress.

Meanwhile, support of nonprofit organizations is extremely important in solving issues in the short-term. Considering this, four approaches can be proposed:

1. A biodegradable sanitary pad factory can be set up to help alleviate the major problems of hygiene, sanitation and lack of job opportunities. Men and women from the slums can be employed here, and women can receive sanitary pads for their use.

Cost : 1-2 US cents per pad, $136 US for 10,000 pads which could be donated to approximately 50 women and would last them a year and a half.

Location : Dharavi - The world's largest, most unsanitary slum in Mumbai.

2. Good quality, sustainable (made out of recycled plastic bottles) raincoats for underprivileged kids walking miles to their schools and in the heavy monsoon season, with flooding (due to poor drainage systems, especially in Mumbai) Flood water is unsanitary and breeds infections.

Cost : $7 US per raincoat. $409 can supply 60 raincoats.

Location : Kerala and Mumbai receive the highest rainfall and have poor drainage systems. 

3. Toilets: This would reduce foul odors and the spread of diseases, due to dumped waste and mosquitoes. This would also help reduce violence against women, since sexual harassment and rape often happen when women use open defecation sites (they are twice as likely to get raped when compared with women using a home toilet).

Cost: $273 US for each complete bathroom, additional garbage bins : $1 each. 

Location: Bhalswa, largest slum in Delhi.

4. Mobile small schools/training centers/libraries: These would help the urban poor learn marketable skills to get better jobs, and help children who otherwise may not have access to proper education. 

Cost: Mobile libraries = $2,726 US each

Location: Ujariaon, a slum in Lucknow. 

Main Reference: 

Breman, J. (2016). At work in the informal economy of India: A perspective from the bottom up (OIP). OUP Catalogue

Bibliography: causes-urban-poverty-india

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/04/these-are-the-challenges-faced-by-india-s-urban-poor-and-how-we-can-solve-them/lwe-have-abandoned-the-poor-slums-suffer-as-covid-19-exposes-indias-social-divide

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0197397520303118

https://news.umich.edu/lack-of-sanitation-facilities-linked-to-higher-rape-incidents-in-india/#:~:text=Lack%20of%20sanitation%20facilities%20linked%20to%20higher%20rape%20incidents%20in%20India,%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%80&text=Many%20people%20defecate%20on%20the%20banks%20of%20the%20holy%20river.&text=According%20to%20a%20new%20study,women%20using%20a%20home%20toilet