Taking Control of the Slum Life in India

Male: This is a transit camp where slum dwellers are moved before they
get better homes. They’ve been here for over a year and there are
still no sign of their homes being constructed. Chitra and her
neighbors could go to the camp but they’re even worst than the
slums.

Female: The entire camp now has only one electric meter and the bill is
now $11,000.00. The bill has not been paid and now the power
will be cut.

Male: The authorities accept it’s not always straightforward when private
companies are allowed to develop the slums.

Sanjay Ubale: In one sense, there is a little bit of risk in world where you have --
you give the private sector a free hand and bring that. There could
be some let’s say mismanagement of this program or some people
could probably write engineering to their own benefits. So to that
extent, the slum rehabilitation authority has to play much more
active more than being vigilant to see that nobody takes advantage
of this.

Fortunately, we also have the media, which is extremely vigilant.
We have the NGO’s, which in Mumbai are extremely dominant in
their presence. So it’s not really easy for anyone to just get
everybody when you're playing in the system. Though of course, I
won't totally rule out the possibility of such things happening.

Male: The most successful rehabilitation schemes are those where
communities themselves have been involved in the design and
building. Another important initiative has been the saving schemes
set up by women slum dwellers. According to Jockin Arputham,
this is the first step to a better future.

Jockin Arputham: The saving is very important which is because of the minute
people know, they should take control of their own money then
they will know how to take control of political decision, how to
control our relationship, decision making. So once people do not
know how to manage their money, they can’t manage everything.

Male: The state government wants to put Mumbai on the international
stage and can even see a day when slums go completely.

Sanjay Ubale: We’re looking at Mumbai to be a world-class city. And world class
city cannot really have slums if you're trying to define it. Then, we
are looking at putting us so, I would say by 10 to 12 year’s time is
what we should look at.

Male: The Mumbai experiment is being watch closely by other
international cities. Sikhuile Nkhoma from the slum communities
of Malawi’s capital Lilongwe is in Mumbai along with Seymour
Bedderson, a government official from South Africa.

Sikhuile Nkhoma: The major differences that you expect in India and maybe in
Malawi, the basic issue is that the poor are being denied their
rights of basic services by by both governments whether in South
Africa, in Malawi and in India. So it’s so similar. The scale is
different and they are talking with thousands in a Lilongwe and
millions in Mumbai.

Male: There is a long way to go before the one billion who live in slums
all get better housing. UN Habitat house however set itself an
international agenda. One of the millennium development goals is
to significantly improve the lives of hundred million slum dwellers
by the year 2020.

Anna Tibaijuka: Actually, the problem is not the money. The problem is the
political will to do something, the awareness because there is a lot
of money in the world which is sitting idle and that I have word to
say, these guys are talking good handouts or charity. It is a
question of changing our mindset, believing that to believing in
this people seeing them differently and knowing that if the
situation of slum dweller has improved we shall all be better off.
So even self-interest if nothing is.

Male: After 32 years of living on the pavements, Sageer’s Mumbai dream
has finally taken shape.

Female: Where do you want to sleep? Over here? Up there, your parents are
going to sleep.

Male: This will be her new world, a water supply, a toilet and more
space. This four-storey building will house her and all the people
who live on her stretch of pavement. For some, the future is at last
a move away from the slums.