Dharavi in 2002:

Dharavi in 2010:

Outbursts of growth in the slum pocket of Mumbai. It is good to see India acquiring a fancy skyline but it is disheartening to see the condition of slum dwellers.

Cornerstones

Population aged under 15 years in 2005:

Sourced from Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth

In a country like India, with over 400 million youth by 2022, the three most important policies that form the cornerstones of an economy include:

Basic Education Needless to say basic education, expected to be achieved through the Right To Education Act, is the most important step that has been taken in this direction.

However, it is unlikely that Indian economy can provide so many white collar jobs and therefore may result in inadequate returns to education. Besides, of course the issue of supply of education remains, after all only so many graduate out of the IIT and IIM. What is required is vocational training.

Given that cities are the places where a large proportion of this youth is likely to be employed, Housing policies assume as much importance as the above two. With the present land demand and supply dynamics, the real estate costs make it prohibitive for a large proportion to access affordable housing. Capabilities that enable one to earn livelihood but not enough to afford shelter are rendered useless! Constant exclusion makes white collar jobs with remunerative returns seem like the only solution to the issue of housing in cities. Govt. policies targeted towards provision of low cost housing are thus the third supporting pillar.