Poor Little Rich Slum by Rashmi Bansal & Deepak Gandhi

Author:Rashmi Bansal & Deepak Gandhi [Bansal, Rashmi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789381626184
Publisher: Westland
Published: 2012-02-29T18:30:00+00:00

But like all well-intentioned schemes, this one too failed to turn the ugly duckling into a swan. A few buildings did come up, like pimples on a pockmarked cheek. For the majority, life remained unchanged.

In 1991, Madhav Chavan and Farida Lambay (former vice-principal of Nirmala Niketan College) started a literacy mission called Pratham. Jalindar worked as a volunteer and trainer with the programme, with responsibility for G South Ward (Dharavi).

In 1993, when Bombay was rocked by communal riots, Dharavi faced a tough test. Luckily, sanity prevailed as the many social workers, NGOs and citizens formed mohalla committees to ‘keep the peace’.

“I conducted a number of sessions for these mohalla committees, on how we can all live and work together,” recalls Jalindar.

At this time, Nirmala Niketan College also started a project called Salokha – Centre for Communal Harmony, where Jalindar was involved.

In 1993-94, Jalindar decided to do his PhD. The topic he chose was apt: ‘Housing Problem in Bombay and Role of NGOs’.

“My guide asked me to do a complete case study on Dharavi. So I went into the depth of who came here first, how slums spread and the dynamics of each slum – who plays what kind of role, relationship with police station, etc.”

Ultimately, the complete case-study idea was abandoned – it was too complicated. Instead, Jalindar did a case study of SPARC and Markandeya Cooperative Housing Society, a new model in slum redevelopment.

The addition of ‘Dr’ to his name did not lessen Jalindar’s involvement with Dharavi as an activist and grassroots worker. He was a driving force behind CATCH – the Community Animators Training Programme for Communal Harmony. Not only that, but in 2005, when a series of demolitions were taking place all over Mumbai, he formed a network of NGOs working on housing problems – the Awaas Adhikar Sanyukt Kruti Samiti.

“We succeeded in getting the voice of the slum dwellers heard,” he says.

And once again, he is doing the very same – amplifying the voice of the people opposing the Dharavi Redevelopment Project. As a member of the high-power steering committee recommended by the Bombay High Court to study the slum problem in Mumbai, he has raised various issues and concerns that residents have with DRP.

So, what do Dharavi residents actually want? Practical solutions, concrete action.

No pipe dreams.

“One thing I notice is that Dharavi has its own, very strong leadership. People who live here know their rights, they are socially and politically aware.”

Local residents stand for and win municipal elections, unlike other slums where candidates are usually outsiders.

“The work done by so many NGOs in Dharavi over the last thirty years is reaping results now,” adds Jalindar.

There is no dearth of community centres, vocational centres, service centres and other locally led organisations in Dharavi. Besides, the typical Dharavi resident is no longer the desperate economic migrant.

“There are many people like me who are well-educated and work as lecturers, police officers, social workers, in banks and for the government.”

While Jalindar himself took a house on rent in Ulhasnagar and shifted out of Dharavi in 1986, others have not been so lucky.

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