Archive : December, 2011
I’m in a foul mood. My friend Chhandak Pradhan, sent me a link to a story about Dharavi on the New York Times. ‘Lovely set of pictures‘ was his description. Pretty pictures, but annoying story.
In the said annoying story, a certain Mr. Mobin, whose family is involved in several businesses in Dharavi says, “In most developed countries, there is only one economy. But in India, there are two (a formal tax paying economy of industry giants and the underbelly such as the one that thrives in Dharavi).” I do not mean to insult the intelligence of our Mr. Mobin. But when the writer, Jim Yardley uses that quote as an introduction to his theories on India’s dual economies, my brain tend to wonder whether those very words had indeed come out of Mr. Mubin’s mouth. Our journalist, then moves on to state that ‘experts’ estimate that the informal sector is responsible for the overwhelming majority of India’s annual economic growth and as much as 90% of all employment. Who are these experts? Only he seems to know (rather, I hope he does).
Just when I was beginning to feel convinced that the story was somewhat contrived out of a need for a recognizable India story and the inevitable India-China comparisons, our writer talks about the politics of survival and its businesses in Dharavi. Interesting, no doubt. I only wonder, what took him so long?
