A slum, as defined by the United Nations agency UN-HABITAT,is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, one billion people worldwide live in slums and will likely grow to 2 billion by 2030.

Low socioeconomic status of its residents is a common characteristic given for a slum.

Recent years have seen a dramatic growth in the number of slums as urban populations have increased in the Third World.

Dharavi (spelled also as Daravi,Darravy and Dorrovy) is a slum and administrative ward in Mumbai,India. Spread over the parts of Sion,Bandra,Kurla and Kalina suburbs of Mumbai,it is claimed to be the largest slum of Asia [but now Orangi Town,Karachi,Pakistan can claim the title(only in the terms of population,not in population density)].It is located between Mumbai’s two main suburban railway lines-The Western and The Central Railways, and is bordered by Mahim(in the west),Mithi river(in the north),Sion and Matunga in south and east.

Spread over an area of 175 hectares(0.67 sq. miles), its population is estimated to be between 6 lac and over 1 million people.With over 1 million people per sq. mile, it is possibly the most densely populated place in the world.

An island in the 18th century,the present-day Dharavi was a mangrove swamp in the late 19th century and a home to the Koli fishermen.With the emergence of Hornby Vellard project (a project started in 1782 aiming at merging all the seven islands of Bombay into a single amalgamated mass), Koli people gave a way to migrants from Gujarat,U.P. Tamil Nadu to inhabit the area. And in 1924, Dharavi’s first school (and Bombay’s first Tamil School) was established.

In terms of economy,Dharavi has traditional textile and pottery industries, and a large recycling industry. Having an estimated 15000 single-room factories,Dharavi exports goods around the world.The total turnover is estimated to be 500-650 million US dollars annually.

Dharavi has severe problems with public health,due to scarcity of water supply and toilets clubbed with the problem of flooding in the monsoon season (remember the 24-hr rainfall and great floods in Mumbai in 2005!). According to a report of 2006,there was only one toilet per 1440 residents in Dharavi(Remember the scene of Slumdog Millionaire when Jamal is in a toilet and a person in emergency arrives!).

Dharavi has been filmed in a number of Bollywood movies like Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay!, Sudhir Mishra’s Dharavi, Salim-Javed’s Deewar, Rajiv Khandelwal’s Aamir and many more. A British movie Slumdog Millionaire has also been shot at Dharavi.

-Ketan Singla