Poverty in Megalopolis

Poverty reduction is like a mirage in India.

Especially, in cities with large population of migrants, it becomes very hard to consciously focus on poverty reduction programs, since these migrants were not planned for initially.

All major cities in India have had influx of migrants from the relatively poorer regions of the country. Mumbai, I guess, has had the maximum share of migrants from all over the country, being the centre of major economic activities. Mumbai is a melting pot of migrants, surely for the well-endowed ones as well. Due to the heavy concentration of financial institutions and large corporate headquarters in the City, it is to be expected anyway.

Economic migrants of the poorer variety ofcourse, dominate in terms of numbers. Given the strain on the land in Mumbai and the cost of real estate as a consequence, there is hardly any alternative for the poorer migrants to live, except on the roads ! Such a scenario can be seen in most places in Mumbai as one drives around, especially in the suburbs. The slums encroaching upon the Airport Authority’s land in Santacruz is stark evidence of the impact of the migration on Mumbai.

The other day I saw that police had removed the hutments of poor people living across the road from Hypercity, diagonally opposite to it. There was a clean pavement, though it was just above the dirty nulla, or stream of water with harmful effluents. I thought, Wow, these folks had the nerve to carry out such an operation !

Today, the migrants were back at exactly the same place, with all their belongings intact !!

I can only think of a failure of governance in terms of providing affordable low-cost housing to these migrants, who are necessary for the economic activities going on all around - construction, factory work, home support work, and a million other activities required to sustain the fast-growing economy - someone is needed for work which could not be done by the existing folks who are engaged at a higher level of economic engagement in society.

In a developed country, this situation partially exists, such as in America with migrant Mexican workers. In Singapore with its almost full employment, the economic imperative is different - work cannot be done by current population, and so import of talent of all kinds is required, planned and executed well by the government.

However, in India, the migration largely occurs within the country (though there are other country imports which are not checked at the borders with Bangladesh or Nepal, for example). Several states have a poorer quality of living, and a very low GDP per capita. People are unemployed, or are not able to find productive work which pays well. Their dream is, what else, “Mumbai” ! Or, “New Delhi”.

In a democratic country, it becomes difficult to stop such migration officially. In China, the government can, and does, stop migration into cities like Shanghai, at will. Brute power sometimes help. But, that would not be possible in most countries.

So, it comes finally to the government of the day to solve the problem of reducing the strain on land, transportation, food, et al, when large population of migrants needs to be catered to. The economy and society needs their services as well. A real Hobson’s Choice, I guess.

We all need to think through potential solutions for this major problem of the day.

Cheers, and Have a Good Weekend,

Vijay Srinivasan
26 April 2008
Mumbai