Living in India's Slums: A Case Study of Bangalore

ILLEGAL AND DEPRIVED living areas have increased rapidly all around the world with problems becoming more complex. Despite its image as a prosperous city, the case of Bangalore in India is no different. Physical deficiencies, economic exploitation and social degradation are becoming increasingly visible. This book brings together the work of different authors from a research team of Dutch and Indian anthropologists, sociologists, geographers and urban planners who have analyzed different aspects of slum life in Bangalore. From different angles, the various papers contribute to the analysis of the physical and environmental aspects of the habitat in relation to the socioeconomic conditions of the residents. Special attention is given to the social situation of slum dwellers in relation to the wider urban society. The book also looks at the attempts that have been made to improve the living conditions in slums, and the role of the stakeholders, and examines the reasons why most of these projects have failed to reach their objective of sustainable improvements. Together, the combination of papers offers a broad analysis and understanding of the life in the slums of Bangalore in the 1990s.

Chapter 1 introduces the historical development of slums in the Indian context and the national and local actions and policies developed for tackling this phenomenon. It provides the conceptual framework within which the research was carried out. Throughout the book, various aspects of slum living are analyzed, each paper focusing on a specific issue. These include economic and social insecurity, illegality, employment, provision of basic services and infrastructure, gender, pollution, governance and housing policies.

Bangalore, the capital of the state of Karnataka, is among the fastest-growing cities in India, and Chapter 2 offers an overview of this expanding city. Chapter 3 describes a typology of the existing situation and an analysis of statistical information. The following chapter seeks to identify changing processes and characteristics over a period of two decades through a comparative analysis of slum households in the city. Chapter 5 analyzes perceptions and cognitions, with a comparative study of 12 slums. The paper challenges the relationship between awareness levels in slums and concerns with the non-material aspects of development usually associated with voluntary organizations’ interventions.

As a result of increasing urban density within the municipal limits, most rural migrants or evicted urban dwellers settle in the transitional zone situated between the urban and rural areas. Chapter 6 examines the slums located in this “fringe habitat of Bangalore”. The following chapter presents a portrait of poor women living and working in a slum, who are often the victims of disparities and inequalities not only in daily life but also in development processes. It stresses the importance of integrating this reality into interventions and policies to allow sustainable improvements of living conditions. Chapter 8 is about water supply and distribution, an important issue in most Indian slums. As women and children are more affected by habitat and environmental hazards in a slum, it is critical not only to be conscious of gender-specific vulnerability but also to take action in order to resolve problems. These issues are followed up in the next chapter, which considers water and sanitation from a gender perspective. Chapter 10 explores the home-based manufacturing activities taking place in slums, which play an important role in supporting the poor in their struggle for survival but also contribute to the urban economy; the next chapter examines the incidence of two highly polluting industrial areas on the adjacent slum areas’ quality of life.

Chapter 12 deals with government authorities and their role and activities in the improvement and clearance of slums. The book concludes by presenting the research findings, the authors