I too believed that when people spoke about the “665 million US$ Small Scale Industry” it meant that people were self-employed and had some disposable income. But I was part of the same tour group as Satish and during the tour I realised that most industry were owned by big seths and lalas who lived in Malabar Hill or Walkeshwar or some other fancy area and the Dharavi was an easy sweat shop for them with the workers being paid a pittance for long work hours in abyssimal conditions. And yes, basic amenities are not made available to these people lest they start aspiring for a better life.

Rgds,
Chris

We do a lot of community based work in Dharavi. Infact we have even made a site called dharavi.org based on our studies of different nagars/neighborhoods in dharavi and documented them all there. The Social Club @ New Transit Camp in Dharavi is our one of the most innovative ways to connect with people of Dharavi. Read more about it here http://bit.ly/2M1fym We hold inoovative urban planning workshops in the heart of Dharavi and even have a very informative internship program for International Students. http://urbz.net/about/internships/ Feel free to get back to me if you want to get involved with us in any manner.

Nishit