Urban Slum Dwellers – A Study in Bangalore City

Abstract

It is estimated that by 2030, 40.6 % of the country’s population will be living in urban areas (UN Population Division, World Urbanization Prospects). More than one-third of urban population in India lives in cities (i.e., settlements with population of more than 1,00,000). The number of such cities has increased from 1 in 1901 to 356 in 2001 and continues to rise (2001 census, Registrar General of India). The rapid growth of cities has widened the gap between the demand and supply of essential services and infrastructure, forcing people to live in crowded slums in unsanitary conditions, exposing themselves to pollution and natural calamities. According to Pranob Sen, Principal Advisor to the Planning Commission that the urban slum population in India, Asia’s fourth largest economy and the world’s second fastest growing one, is nearly one billion.