Open main menu  Search Edit this pageWatch this page Read in another language Dharavi This article is about the locality in Mumbai. For other uses, see Dharavi (disambiguation). Dharavi is a locality in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Dharavineighbourhood Raghul(geo project) flats entrance Dharavi   Dharavi Coordinates: 19.040208°N 72.85085°ECountryIndiaStateMaharashtraMetroMumbaiArea • Total2.165 km2(0.836 sq mi)Population • Estimate (2016)600,000 – 1,000,000Languages • OfficialMarathiTime zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)PIN CODE400017Telephone Code022Vehicle registrationMH-01Civic agencyBMC  Dharavi compared to other large slums in the world. Map according to Mike Davis.  Another side of the Dharavi slum (2009). A temple and the slum's retail area can be seen in the upper left corner. This slum is Asia's largest slum according to BBC News UK (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/world/06/dharavi_slum/html/dharavi_slum_intro.stm). Dharavi has an area of just over 2.1 square kilometres (0.81 sq mi; 520 acres).[1]Dharavi's population is about 700,000 and a population density of over 277,136/km2(717,780/sq mi), Dharavi is one of the densest areas in the world. The Dharavi slum was founded in 1883 during the British colonial era, and grew in part because of an expulsion of factories and residents from the peninsular city centre by the colonial government, and from the migration of poor rural Indians into urban Mumbai (then called Bombay).[2] For this reason, Dharavi is currently a highly multi-religious, multi-ethnic, and diverse settlement.[3] Dharavi has an active informal economy in which numerous household enterprises employ many of the slum residents–[4] leather, textiles and pottery products are among the goods made inside Dharavi. The total annual turnover has been estimated at over US$1 billion.[5] Dharavi has suffered from many epidemics and other disasters, including a widespread plague in 1896 which killed over half of the population of Mumbai.[6] HistoryEdit In the 18th century, Dharavi was an island with predominantly mangrove swamp.[15][16].[7] It was a sparsely populated village before the late 19th century, inhabited by Kolifishermen.[8][9] Dharavi was then referred to as the village of Koliwadas.[2] Colonial eraEdit Mumbai has been one of the centers of India's urbanization for 200 years. In the 1850s, after decades of urban growth under East India Company and British Raj, the city's population reached half a million. The urban area then covered mostly the southern extension of Mumbai peninsula, the population density was over 10 times higher than London at that time.[2]  Shanty dwellings next to railway tracks in Dharavi (about 2010). A mosque inside the slum is visible. The railway network provides mass transit to the slum residents. The most polluting industries were tanneries, and the first tannery moved from peninsular Mumbai into Dharavi in 1887. People who worked with leather, typically a profession of lowest Hindu castes and of Muslim Indians, moved into Dharavi. Other early settlers included the Kumbars, a large Gujarati community of potters (another polluting industry). The colonial government granted them a 99-year land-lease in 1895. Rural migrants looking for jobs poured into Mumbai, and its population soared past 1 million. Other artisans, like the embroidery workers from Uttar Pradesh, started the ready-made garments trade.[8] These industries created jobs, labor moved in, but there was no government effort to plan or invest in any infrastructure in or near Dharavi. The living quarters and small scale factories grew haphazardly, without provision for sanitation, drains, safe drinking water, roads or other basic services. But some ethnic, caste and religious communities that have settled in Dharavi at that time helped build the settlement of Dharavi, by forming organizations and political parties, building school and temples, constructing homes and factories.[9] Dharavi's first mosque, Badi Masjid, started in 1887 and the oldest Hindu temple, Ganesh Mandir, was built in 1913.[2] Post-independenceEdit At India's independence from colonial rule in 1947, Dharavi had grown to be the largest slum in Mumbai and all of India. It still had a few empty spaces, which continued to serve as waste-dumping grounds for operators across the city.[2] Mumbai, meanwhile, continued to grow as a city. Soon Dharavi was surrounded by the city, and became a key hub for informal economy.[10] Starting from the 1950s, proposals for Dharavi redevelopment plans periodically came out, but most of these plans failed because of lack of financial banking and/or political support.[9] Dharavi's Co-operative Housing Society was formed in the 1960s to uplift the lives of thousands of slum dwellers by the initiative of Shri. M.V. Duraiswamy, a well-known social worker and congress leader of that region. The society promoted 338 flats and 97 shops and was named for Dr. Baliga Nagar. By the late 20t

• published: 19 Oct 2018
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