Nov. 29 – The prestigious Capital Club in Beijing on Wednesday night was host to a talk on developing trade routes between India and China by Chris Devonshire-Ellis, Senior Partner of Dezan Shira & Associates. Attended by members of the Indian, German and US consulates as well as people interested in the rise of India and China, the talk covered how centuries ago the two countries were linked by common trade routes stretching from as far as Shanghai in the east to Alexandria in North Africa, spanning the modern day countries of China, India, Burma, Vietnam, Malaysia, Afghanistan and Iran.

Skipping to the present, with improved trade, air, road, sea and rail links between India and China, the visit of Sonia Gandhi and the imminent state visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the opening up of the infamous Nathula Pass, all narrowing the distance between India and China, Chris Devonshire-Ellis pointed out how Southwest China was gradually re-integrating with South East Asia signaling the re-birth of the region. As a result of the growth and a more integrated Southeast Asia, he further highlighted opportunities in the infrastructure, transportation, logistics warehousing, hotels and tourism industries.

Few days back we were discussing the pace with which Indians and Chinese are getting richer today and the differences in the have and have nots.Hence I thought of writing this article, an example that’s in stark contrast to big industrial empires that rule in Mumbai and on the initiatives of the state to improve the infrastructure and the well being of its people.

Today I am on DHARAVI, routinely referred to as “Asia’s largest slum” Which is actually not the case. Today Karachi’s Orangi Township has surpassed Dharavi.
 
Recollect dailies stating that Mexico City’s Neza-Chalco-Itza barrio has four times as many people. 
   
If the day was quit clear and you were landing at Mumbai international airport, you would not miss, the slummers, spread over an area of 175 hectares! Dharavi, an economic unit, in its own, has over a million souls residing therein {18,000 people crowd into a single acre (0.4 hectare)}

Until the 19th century, this area was a mangrove swamp inhabited by Koli fishermen. When the swamp got filled (depriving the fisherman of livelihood) and later when the transformation of the island city of Mumbai city began thus providing newly drained marshes as space for new communities to move in. Hundreds of thousands came from Uttar Pradesh (north India), to work in textile industries. The Kumbhars came from Gujarat, north west part of India, to set up a colony of potters. Tamils, from the south, began to open tanneries. And what was the result: The state not having enough accommodation for the people , resulted in what exists today.

There is scarcity of every kind there. From housing, water supply- forget clean water, electricity and toilet facilities. The environments cant just be imagined by people like you and me …But then the statistics below also reveal the importance of the area in the economics of Mumbai:

-There have been textile and pottery industries, traditionally, and an increasingly large recycling industry. There are an estimated 15,000 single-room factories, manufacturing various things. You name it and Dharavi makes it. Continue reading →