Slums & attitude of the non-slum people
Over the weekend a bunch of us saw two documentaries on Mumbai slums.
1. Bombay Our City: This is about slum evicitions which took place in 1984. It goes through various points as how slum demolitions take place, effect on slum dwellers, reasons people live in slums, attitude of the administration, the middle/upper classes towards slums, the cruelity of governement. Though old its a very well made documentary by Anand Patwardhan and apt even today. Middle classes/administration are so ignorant/selfish ...
The image on the side is from a survey done by a magazine in Mumbai. I got it courtsey this blog.Just goes to show the ignorance (mumbai cant run without people in slums, more than 50% people live there, most of the unorganized sector - people working in producing ancillary parts, factories, construction, .... , people working in mumbai munciplaity come from slums). And hell they are people like you and me, why shouldnt they have rights ??.
2. Jagriti: This is about an expereince of a couple setting up a school in delhi slums. Enacted by children in the school this is a very nice documentary.
posted by Rahul @ 12:40 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
The ignorance is compounded by an exaggerated estimate of how much infrastructure is used up in supporting slums. But, more crucially, is this ignorance forgivable? I don't think so...
Like you've said "hell, slum-dwellers are humans like you and me..." Exactly. There should be no need for them to justify what value they add. Not if justice means anything.
Like Harsh Mander rightly put it, "It's not about charity, it's about justice".
I would also recommend reading one of Vikrum's earlier posts/
Vikrum volunteers for an org called Akanksha, in Mumbai, and teaches slum children there.
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