ABSTRACT
According to the Urban Poverty Report 2009 1 (a part of a UNDP-supported government project to develop a national strategy for urban poverty), poverty in India has become urbanized, with some 81 million people living in urban areas on incomes that are below the poverty line (UNDP India, 2009). While at the national level rural poverty remains higher than urban poverty, the gap is closing. Moreover, urban poverty is mainly in the form of slums. According to the 2001 census, India’s cities have a slum population of 42.6 million (23.7 percent of the urban population). The majority (11.2 million) are in the state of Maharashtra, the capital city of which, Mumbai, is home to the Dharavi slum. While the slum population has increased, the number of slums has decreased.
