Spotlight on India | 20th January 2010 |
Slum issues have once again taken to the media spotlight as Channel 4 launches its ‘Indian Winter’ season, featuring blockbuster film Slumdog Millionaire and a series of programmes about life inside India’s slums. To coincide with the Indian Winter season, here we take a special look at Homeless International’s ongoing work to support some of India’s poorest residents.
With a slum population of around 170 million people, India has the highest slum population in the world and is home to almost two-thirds of all slum dwellers in South Asia. Living in slums or dwellings on pavements alongside busy roads, many of these people contend daily with the difficulties of not having access to water and sanitation. Without safe and secure housing and legal rights to their land, many also face threats of eviction and are excluded from achieving their political, social and economic rights. Living in a slum impacts greatly on health and education.
r.jpg "Photo: The Dharavi slum settlement in Mumbai, featured in the film Slumdog Millionaire")
Homeless International has been working with partners in India since 1987, supporting national networks of slum dwellers that together comprise over 500,000 people. We support poor communities in both urban and rural areas, including:
- Helping around 50,000 Mumbai pavement dwellers to undertake community-driven relocation projects - read more...
- Supporting poor women in Tamil Nadu to access affordable loans to construct their own houses and toilets - read more...
- Supporting the training of over 100,000 poor women in Tamil Nadu on water, sanitation and personal hygiene issues - read more...
- Financing city-wide housing and sanitation projects benefiting around 790,000 people - read more...
These projects are real examples of long-term and community-led solutions to the problems that slum dwellers face. Through these projects poor families in India have improved their lives with better housing, water and sanitation, which in turn can help improve health and bring increased opportunities through education and income-generation. To read more about our work in India, visit our Asian Partners and Projects section.
