Blog Topic #4 -- What's Up with South Asia/India

Well it has been quite some time since I last posted mainly because this topic required research and, well, actually choosing a topic.  This week we are headed to the subcontinent of India called a subcontinent because of its separation from the rest of Asia by the Himalaya mountain range, home of Mt. Everest.  The subcontinent is actually a peninsula that juts out into the Indian ocean bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west and the Bay of Bengal to the east.  Besides the country of India, the countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal are located directly on the subcontinent with Maldives and Sri Lanka south as island nations in the Indian Ocean.

Our focus, however, will be on the main country of India.  India has a population of approximately 1.1 billion people, twenty-eight percent of which live in urban settings.  Although its official language in Hindi, the government recognizes eighteen other regional languages.  The primary religion is Hinduism although there are a few other religious groups such as Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam (although most Muslims moved to Islamic Pakistan during the Partition of India).  It is classified as a developing country although it is not a Least Developed Country.  India has steadily begun to take steps that will move it towards a more developed future.  The Golden Quadrilateral Highway, a recent project, when completed will cover 3,633 miles and connect the main cities of Delhi (the capital), Kolkata, Chennai, and Mumbai.  Other areas, such as the Silicon Plateau or Bangalore, are home to large technological corporations. 

With the development occurring, one would think that India is a budding prosperous nation.  However, the area is the second poorest world region with 300 million of its citizens living below the poverty standard.  Twenty percent of its citizens are undernourished and slums are large in that area.  In fact, the Dharvi slum in the financial capital of India, Mumbai, is the second largest slum in the world and the largest in Asia.  According to National Geographic, it is home to around one million people with 18,000 people per acre!

This "shadow city", however, recently served as the star location for the movie "Slumdog Millionaire".  For anyone who has not seen the movie, it tells the story of how a boy from the Dharvi slum grows up to be on the show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" and wins by knowing the answers through his life experience.  It also provides a fairly accurate representation of life and culture in India.  Since the movie's release, a new trend has started known as "Slum Tourism".  Tourists to Mumbai, and other locations with slums around the world, are given a tour of the slum to see how the community works and lives.  It is beneficial to both sides; the tourists are educated in reality and the slum dwellers receive payment.

Slum tourism is not an entirely new concept.  In the 1800's, wealthy citizens of New York would travel through poverty areas to see how the lower class lived.  Only recently has it become a controversial topic.  Some believe that it is beneficial for the afore mentioned reason; one side is educated, the other side receives money.  However, some argue that it is wrong mainly because it makes poverty a form of entertainment.  They argue that when people leave, they really haven't learned anything, but have just seen the sight as if it was any other destination.  They cannot understand what life in slums is truly like by merely taking a tour and returning to their luxuries.  Members of the slums may not feel to happy about it either.  A former slum dweller wrote that a women took his picture making him feel like a tiger in a cage.

While both points are strongly debatable, the fact remains that slums are not going anywhere anytime soon.  Some people have lived in slums for three or four generations.  As long as there is poverty and large urban areas in the world, slums (and slum tours) will continue to exist.  There are ways that people can and are helping.  Pratham, an organization founded in Mumbai in 1994, for example, helps children in slums receive medical care and some education as well as negotiate with factories to release child laborers.  AVSAR (Alliance of Volunteers for Service, Action, and Reform) also works with underprivileged areas throughout India.

For more information on Dharvi, how to help, and an editorial for the New York Times by a former slum dweller, check out these links!

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/05/dharavi-mumbai-slum/jacobson-text

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/05/dharavi-mumbai-slum/how-to-help

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/opinion/10odede.html

Or for a good glance, watch the movie "Slumdog Millionaire"...it may be intense at times (or all the time) but it is worth it!  That's all for now; see you next time =)