An examination induced obsession with Skins and the resulting affection for the main character in "Slumdog Millionaire", as well as having one of my best friends reigning from the huge country itself, has put India on my radar.
Once a country with a film culture so diverse from what I am used to and a national dish that I really cannot acquire a taste for (I admit, I am a bit of a sook... curry is too spicy for me), India has revealed itself to be quite an enigma- and a bit of a dark horse in the race for global economic hegemony.
But I digress, the purpose of this blog is to briefly, seeing as it is getting colder by the minute and I really don't want to be waiting for hours for the next free shuttle bus (free=no complaints), discuss the trends of urbanization today, and the tendency for there to be a disparity between high rates of economic growth and incredibly poor living conditions. Though many cities, particularly in less developed countries, are experiencing this phenomena... Mumbai is it's figurehead. The ultimate example of extreme poverty in a prospering economy.
Mumbai is tipped to become the second largest city in the world, behind Tokyo by 2015. Already with a population tipping 18million, it could, on its own, overtake the population of Australia, or even Scandinavia. It is somewhat an economic hub for India, hosting the city's oldest stock exchange, its most important banks, it provides one third of the taxes collected by the government and is the destination for forty percent of India's international flights. Furthermore, Mumbai gives rise to Bollywood, being the production site of several hundred films and the home to many celebrities. The rent in the more exlcusinve districts of the city are pricier than that of London, Munich and even New York. Mumbai is a giant, a trendy, bustling economic giant.
However, the economic development and sheer affluence of those benefitting from the rising economy does not seem to correlate with the widespread poverty of the city. India's slum dwellers comprise, according to government statistics, 60% of the city's overall population.
Let me repeat that figure: 60%. Over ten million people living in Mumbai are living in squalor, with extremely poor living conditions. For every million people there are 17 public toilets, and at least one third of the residents have no access to clean drinking water.
It is the kind of poverty that makes you question the importance of economic development abnd growth. Of international prowess and influence. And it is difficult to find merit in the ideas of those policy makers and development theorists who argue that the drift of people from rural villages and areas can actually contribute to national development.
I'm not entirely sure that urbanization has become an ugly word in development theory. Though the repurcussions on both the urban centres and the rural areas of urban migration are blatantly negative, transnational corporations, private national corporations and profit driven politicians still justify the rapid expansion of these urban centres as beneficial, contributing to the international respect and sway of the countries and empowering local populations and the social capitol of communities.
Enhancing the social capitol? Empowering local populations? I fail to see any of these justifications actually presenting themselves in practice when you have children reduced to begging for sustenance and people bathing in unsanitised conditions, in public, next door to high rise middle class housing. Not only is is blatantly obvious that the government cannot create enough housing, resources and services for the burgeoning population, but the inequality is contributing to rigid class formation that is becomming entrenched in Indian society.
Of course, poverty is endemic across the globe and has recently been pushed more so into the spotlight with the publishing of the United Nations Millenium Development Goals (UNMDGs), dedicated to tackling poverty and hunger (not that concerns about poverty have been absent up until this point... they have simply become a number one priority for development). And we have countries in part of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa where there is even an apparent absence of a middle class. There is simply the rich... and the poor. But I find it interesting that amidst all this rhetoric of tackling poverty and putting the development of "man" (humanty, in the words of Tanzanian President Nyerere) above economic growth and fiscal progress, that India can be championed as this amazing economic beast to watch out for... when 60% of the population of one of the largest cities in the world is living in absolute desolation.
Can all you development theorists, G20 leaders, and those championing the merits of the UNMDGs please stop contradicting yourselves? It's an insult to talk about a country's success when your people are drinking water most likely contaminated by someone else's urine.
Sorry... couldn't resist.
