The Pharmaceutical Industry – its role in globalising health matters

TNCs and Globalisation

A transnational corporation is a company that operates in at least 2 countries. The HQ is generally located in the country that the corporation was founded in while remaining assets, mainly the manufacturing plants, are located in LEDCs where labour is cheap and readily available.

The influence of a transnational corporation is great and there are few parts of both the developed and undeveloped world where the influence of a transnational corporation cannot be felt. In the majority of countries, transnational corporations play a major role in the economy of the country and often have a lot of control over whether the economy is successful or unsuccessful.

Pharmaceutical transnational's

These companies make large profits but the research and development of new drugs can be very expensive. The largest ten pharmaceutical companies are among the top 400 companies in the world. One of the most famous pharmaceutical companies is GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) which employs 9650 people in over 100 countries and sell their products to 179 countries. GSK’s headquarters are distributed throughout MEDCs. There are 5 in the USA, 2 in Switzerland, 2 in the UK and 1 in France.

Branded pharmaceuticals

Medicines have two names, their generic names (normally the active ingredient) and then a brand name which the manufacturer trades the drug by.

When a company discovers a new drug, it’s put through clinical trials in order to gain approval for marketing. If the trial shows that the drug is safe and effective, it’s approved and given a license. Given that testing generally takes 12 years and costs £500,000, the company that developed the drug holds the exclusive rights to the drug for 10 - 12 years in order to recuperate the money they spent on research and development. The drug company will market the drug under a brand name and the drug is protected from being developed by competitors by a patent.

When the patent expires, other companies can produce the drug however they can only sell it under another brand name or its generic name. When other companies produce the drug, they can generally do so for less and sell the drug for less money since most of the research and development has already been done. Given that branded drugs are normally 3 - 30 times more expensive than their generic counterparts they are prohibitive to the majority of the world. Consumers of branded drugs generally have no choice but to purchase the branded drugs since the branded drugs are normally prescribed by doctors, at least in the UK.

Branded drugs are more expensive up to 30 times, generic ones are simply their chemical description. They are therefore identical to their brand named equivalent. The generic name is often complex but the brand names are more well known, fluoxetine hydrochloride is branded as Prozac by Eli Lilly. The cost of the branded drugs tends to make them prohibitive for much of the world's population. Nurofen costs £1.70 for 16 tablets; Ibroprfen costs 41p for 16 tablets from Tecso.

While drug companies may seem to be profit making corporations, they do in fact bring important advances to societies. Drug companies provided numerous jobs and invest in society by paying taxes and investing in new, more advanced technologies.

Pharmaceuticals can be sold under two broad categories: generic or branded. 

Essential drugs

The WHO regularly publishes lists of 'essential drugs'. They are "those drugs that satisfy the health care needs of the majority of the population; they should therefore be available at all times in adequate amounts and in appropriate dosage forms, at a price the community can afford." 

These are generic drugs that can provide safe, effective treatment for most diseases such as diarrhoea. They are seen as important in improving the 'world's health'. But the lists are unpopular in countries which have a strong pharmaceutical industry, it is not implemented in the USA or the EU. In the USA legal action has meant that generic drugs are no longer encouraged.

Drug development

The largest profit comes from the sale of brand names in developed counties. Therefore most research is done on drugs to control non communicable disease. Patents for new branded drugs last 20 years and so are not available in generic form. Patents last for 20 years and it is illegal to make a generic copy. Therefore many new drugs that the WHO regard as essential are not available to poorer countries. 

Some companies use the profits they make in wealthier countries to subsidies research onto diseases affecting poorer countries. This leads to improved health in poorer countries, (e.g.Malaria)

Marketing and distribution

Drugs cost a lot of money to research and develop, which companies get back from the sale of their drug. The cost of patented drugs affects global health because some poorer countries may not be able to afford the drugs they need. Some pharmaceutical companies, often through deals with wealthier countries, provide free or cheaper drugs for poorer countries (e.g. anti-HIV drugs). The industry targets doctors as they prescribe the drugs for their patients. Therefore the consumer often has little say in the product used. 

Another criticism is that pharmaceutical companies and the WHO tend to treat the symptoms rather than the cause of the problem. To prevent anemia in pregnant women iron foliate, a vitamin supplement, is recommended by the WHO. But the compound is found in leafy green vegetables. It is possible that encouraging the growth of these vegetables would be more valid than promoting vitamin supplements

GlaxoSmithKline The UKs largest Pharmaceutical Company

GlaxoSmithKline is the third largest TNC  pharmaceutical company in the world. Founded in London in 2000 (GlaxoWellcome is actually the original drug company, founded in 1880), the company has grown substantially and offers products for many diseases, especially diseases common to MEDCs such as diabetes and cancer. They also have treatments for viral diseases, mental health diseases and GlaxoSmithKline offers several over the counter products such as indigestion tablets.

The company’s headquarters are located in London, with more sub-headquarters spread around the world. GlaxoSmithKline has a presence in 99 cities across 39 countries.

While GlaxoSmithKline mainly targets more developed countries, the company has several programmes that help less developed countries. Since 2008, GlaxoSmithKline has been running trials of a vaccine against malaria, which would bring unprecedented benefits to most of the world, especially less developed countries. However the drug could end up being prohibitively expensive for less developed countries given its 25 years development period. None the less, GlaxoSmithKline has made several pledges to try and bring its drugs to developing countries. The company has committed itself to lower the prices of its drugs in 50 of the least developed countries and to make its drugs more affordable to industrialising countries such as Brazil and India. In addition to this, all chemicals and processes that the company holds intellectual property rights to have been placed in a “patent pool” which will allow other companies to develop the drugs and improve upon them.

GSK Corporate and Social Responsibility

GlaxoSmithKline has numerous programmes within communities to help improve the health of those communities. Globally, GSK provides disaster relief medicines. For example, after the earthquake in Haiti, GSK committed £250,000 to the British Red Cross to fund a mass sanitation unit that prevents water borne diseases from spreading. On a more local scale, GSK provides services to local communities. Within the UK, GlaxoSmithKline has an independent living programme for young people living with disabilities. In the USA GlaxoSmithKline runs a programme to provide specialist care for homeless children. GlaxoSmithKline also runs educational programmes within the UK and USA to help develop an understanding of science issues and to encourage the young to take up careers in science.

GSK produces almost four billion packs of medicines and health care products each year, including one-quarter of the world's vaccines. It produces products for wealthy countries (e.g. Pravastatin-RL) , a drug for Coronary Heart Disease), and for poorer countries (e.g. polio vaccines).

GSK makes a large profit from drug sales but also donates some drugs to poorer countries for free. For example, GSK's donated 750 million albendazole tablets to treat over 130 million people with elephantiasis (an infectious inflammatory disease).

GSK also invests a large amount of its profit in community programmers to help people in need - 3.8% of their pre-tax profits (£282 million) in 2007.

GSK has been working on new vacancies to combat H1N1 flu strains and they have recently lowered their prices

Research – this is a critical sphere as it is this that is responsible for finding drugs that act as cures/offset symptoms of diseases. Thus, drugs to offset impact of HIV/Aids have evolved. Most research is into diseases of affluence so CHD and cancer, high blood pressure that affect many people in richer areas of the world attract a lot of investment for research and drug development. Diseases that affect many in poorer areas such as malaria receive less. However, GSK do tackle this and HIV/Aids and TB – and there is clearly a need for this, given numbers affected, its debilitating impact and rates of spread.

Production – many drugs are sold under different names – those sold by major pharmaceutical companies directly (the designer label versions) are more expensive than the copies – that perform the same function – at affordable prices. WHO provides a list of such drugs –under their actual technical name, rather than that used to market them by big brand name companies. This has led to court action having been taken in the US – so answers may relate to the purpose of production – to improve health of population or for profit.

Distribution – many companies target doctors with regard to selling their products rather than the patients – and they are sold principally forprofit. Often symptoms are treated rather than the cause – as this is more lucrative – so iron tablets are manufactured rather than changing the diet of sufferers and ensuring they eat green vegetables. The presence of drugs that are made but are not available to poorer countries is an issue – as HIV/Aids sufferers in poorer countries cannot access treatment. GSK provided 206 million tablets at special prices to poorer countries, including 120 million of these generically made.

GlaxoSmithKline launches Africa charity partnership 10/5/13

Rotavirus: India unveils cheap Rotavac diarrhoea vaccine 16/5/13

GSK Communities Health Work

The Good and The Bad

Big Pharma Critics

TASK 1. Read and make notes from the above text; follow the hyperlinks to augment these and add up to date and relevant information.

TASK 2. Use your notes to answer the AS questions handed out in class.

Tobacco Transnational Corporations

Tobacco Transnational Corporations

Tobacco transnational corporations are perhaps the largest and most powerful of transnational corporations playing major roles in many countries economies and health.

British American Tobacco

British American Tobacco is one of the largest tobacco suppliers in the world. It sells its products in many countries, mainly targeting African, Indian & Indonesian markets. It uses controversial advertising techniques to sell its products and there are strong accusations that it attempts to advertise and sell its products to young children in an attempt to get them addicted to tobacco. One of the alleged techniques is to sell single stick cigarettes in less developed countries, a practice which is frowned upon and illegal in many countries. These single stick cigarettes are far more accessible to young children with limited incomes who couldn’t afford a full pack of cigarettes and are an effective way of getting people hooked while they’re young.

The primary brands sold by British American Tobacco are Pall Mall and Embassy. The tobacco for these products is grown in warm equatorial environments and British American Tobacco will often employ the local population in the tobacco farming industry. British American Tobacco and other tobacco companies bring numerous advantages and disadvantages to the countries that they employ people in. One country that relies heavily on tobacco farming and tobacco transnational corporations is Malawi, a small landlocked nation located in the south of Africa. The advantages and disadvantages tobacco transnational corporations bring to Malawi are outline below:

Advantages

• Tobacco farming provides a very large source of income for the country as a whole. Tobacco farming accounts for 2/3 of Malawi’s yearly income.
• Tobacco transnational corporations provide the people of Malawi with employment, stopping them from being forced to turn to crime. In Malawi, 75% of the population is dependent on tobacco farming in some way. The tobacco industry provides 1.7 million people with direct jobs and 5 million with indirect jobs relating to the tobacco industry in Malawi.
• Tobacco transnational corporations provide employment for women in many less developed countries which is very unusual and good progress towards developing women’s rights.
• Tobacco transnational corporations will often have ‘charitable givings’ where they provide clean water or health care to people in less developed countries. In Malawi, tobacco transnational corporations provide 40,000 people with clean water.

Disadvantages

• Children are often employed on tobacco farms despite this being illegal in Malawi and many other countries. This is unfair on the child as it takes them out of their education and prevents them from attaining better careers.
• Workers on the farm often die from tobacco poisoning including children.
• In Malawi, the high dependency on the tobacco companies means that if they were to leave the country, the people and the country would be without a reliable source of income.
• Due to the potential profitability of tobacco farming, many farmers choose to grow tobacco instead of food leading to famines within countries were tobacco farming is popular.
• The pay for tobacco farmers is very low since the farmers often have to take out huge loans from the tobacco companies to run farms.
• Tobacco farming acts as propaganda and increases the likelihood of people smoking in a country.

Health Implications Of Smoking

• Smoking is the second major cause of death in the world. It causes 90% of the deaths from lung cancer; 80% of the deaths from bronchitis & emphysema; 17% of deaths from heart disease and a third of all cancer deaths.

Reducing The Impacts Of Smoking

In the UK, many government lead programmes have been carried out in order to reduce smoking in the country. Some of these programmes include:

• Advertisement campaigns featuring shocking and graphic scenes relating to the risks of smoking aired during prime time TV.
• A ban on the sale of cigarettes to under 18s.
• All cigarettes must be kept behind a counter and away from public view.
• Vending machines that dispense cigarettes are illegal.
• Public smoking is banned except for in designated areas.
• Cigarette packaging must be generic and plain and must feature large warnings about the risks of smoking.
• The NHS offers free stop smoking clinics.

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCFC) is an international agreement that outlines the minimum standards on tobacco e.g. advertising bans. The framework was signed by most countries but, noticeably, the USA and Indonesia did not sign.

Mumbai - Megacity

Mumbai is a megacity and a World city, it has grown enormously since the 1950’s and gives a great case study of urbanization and its issues within an LEDC.  This case study will explore how urbanization, suburbanization, counter urbanization and now re-urbanisation processes have occurred in the Mumbai region and how those processes have been managed.

 

 

 

Mumbai is located on a peninsular on the Western coast of Maharashtra state in western India, bordering the Arabian Sea.   Bombay is a thriving megacity that has had an economic boom in recent years. It is home to Bollywood and the film "Slumdog Millionaire" was based there. Indeed, property in Mumbai is becoming some of the most expensive in the world. One 28 story structure for one family cost £2 billion. However, many of the residents of Mumbai live in illegal squatter settlements. Despite the poor conditions in the slum Prince Charles thinks that the people of Dharavi "may be poorer in material wealth but are richer socially".       

Indeed, in terms of population size Mumbai is India's largest city, and is the financial capital of the country, being home to the Mumbai Stock Exchange. Up until the 1980s, Mumbai owed its wealth to its historical colonial past, textile mills and the seaport, but the local economy has since been diversified and now Mumbai is home to most of India's specialised technical industries, having a modern industrial infrastructure and vast, skilled human resources. Industries include aerospace, optical engineering, medical research, computers and electronic equipment of all varieties, shipbuilding and salvaging, and renewable energy. Mumbai serves as an important economic hub of India, contributing 10% of all factory employment and 40% of India's foreign trade. Many of India's numerous Trans National Corporations (including the State Bank of India, Tata Group, Godrej and Reliance) are based in Mumbai. Other formalized workers include many state and government workers.

Alongside this incredible wealth is a large, unskilled and informal workforce, who work as self-employed and often unregulated workers. Many of these people earn their living as street hawkers, street sellers, taxi drivers, mechanics and other such occupations.

Bollywood and other Media Industries also employ huge numbers of people. Most of India's major television and satellite networks, as well as its major publishing houses, have headquarters here. The centre of the Hindi movie industry, Bollywood, produces the largest number of films per year in the world.

Urbanisation and its impacts

Mumbai has urbanised over the past 60 years and urbanized rapidly from its origins as a fishing village.  The site of the fishing village soon became a port region as the site favoured development.  Protected from the Arabian Sea by a peninsular art the southern end of Salsette Island, it had access to sea on two sides and the British colonial administration in India developed the sheltered inlet into a major port.  The British viewed the port and surroundings as the ”Gateway to India”.  This made it the closest port of entry to subcontinent for travellers from Europe, through the Suez Canal.   As with many major global ports area around the port became industrialised – processing goods for export and handling imports. 

 

The city grew during British rule as variety of services grew up around the port and continued to grow after British left in 1947.  Since 1971, the graph shows the inexorable rise in the population of Mumbai, from 8 million in 1971 to 21 million now.  The other significant factor to note is that slum dwellers make up an ever increasing proportion of the population, creating numerous problems for people and planners.  It should be noted that the original urbanisation phase of Mumbai focussed upon the southern tip of Salsette Island, and outside of this the city suburbanised in a Northern direction.

The causes of urbanisation are multiple, but involve a high level of natural increase within Mumbai itself and in-migration principally from the surrounding district of Maharashtra but also from neighbouring states. Mumbai booming economy means that migrants come for job opportunities in the expanding industries, financial institutions and administration.

Mumbai has grown in a Northern direction limited by physical geography as shown in the image below. It is limited in where it can grow with creek systems to the North and East, the Arabian Sea to the West and its harbour to the south East.  Mangrove swamps further complicate the picture, and these marginal lands often form the location for the poorest people who live illegally in slums. 

 

One such slum is Dharavi, in the heart of Mumbai.

Watch both video clips

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Im0tHRs9Bng

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=l-yjpvzGKZQ

 

The following notes are based upon Kevin McCloud's "Slumming it." And show the consequences of rapid urbanisation in poorer countries, where the pace of urbanisation make it difficult to maintain services essential for an acceptable standard of living.

Dharavi slum is located in Mumbai (formally Bombay) in India. India’s and Mumbai's biggest slum is known as Dharavi. There are a million people crammed into one square mile in Dharavi. At the edge of Dharavi the newest arrivals come to make their homes on waste land next to water pipes in slum areas. They set up home illegally amongst waste on land that is not suitable for habitation. In the wet monsoon season these people have huge problems living on this low lying marginal land. Many of the people here come from many parts of India as a result of the push and pull factors of migration.

Conditions in the slum

In the slum people have to live with many problems. People have to go to the toilet in the street and there are open sewers.  Children play amongst sewage waste and doctors deal with 4,000 cases a day of diphtheria and typhoid. Next to the open sewers are water pipes, which can crack and take in sewage. Dharavi slum is based around this water pipe built on an old rubbish tip. The people have not planned this settlement and have no legal rights to the land. There are also toxic wastes in the slum including hugely dangerous heavy metals. Dharavi is made up of 12 different neighbourhoods and there are no maps or road signs. The further you walk into Dharavi from the edge the more permanent and solid the structures become. People live in very small dwellings (e.g. 12X12ft), often with many members of their extended families.

Many architects and planners claim this slum could hold the solution to many of the problems of the world’s largest cities.

Water is a big problem for Mumbai's population; standpipes come on at 5:30am for 2 hours as water is rationed. These standpipes are shared between many people. Rubbish is everywhere and most areas lack sanitation and excrement and rats are found on the street. 500 people share one public latrine.

The famous cloth washing area also has problems, despite its social nature sewage water filters into the water used for washing clothes.

The Positives of Dharavi Slum

There are positives; informal shopping areas exist where it is possible to buy anything you might need. There are also mosques catering for people's religious needs.

There is a pottery area of Dharavi slum which has a community centre. It was established by potters from Gujarat 70 years ago and has grown into a settlement of over 10,000 people. It has a village feel despite its high population density and has a central social square.

Family life dominates, and there can be as many as 5 people per room. The houses often have no windows, asbestos roofs (which are dangerous if broken) and no planning to fit fire regulations. Rooms within houses have multiple functions, including living, working and sleeping.

 

Many daily chores are done in social spheres because people live close to one another. This helps to generate a sense of community. The buildings in this part of the slum are all of different heights and colours, adding interest and diversity. This is despite the enormous environmental problems with air and land pollution.

 

85% of people have a job in the slum and work LOCALLY, and some have even managed to become millionaires.

Recycling and waste in Dharavi

Kevin McCloud found that people seemed genuinely happy in the slum. However, toilets are open holes above a river – hardly hygienic. This could lead to Dengue fever, cholera and hepatitis

Dharavi has a recycling zone. It is claimed that Dharavi’s recycling zone could be the way forward to a sustainable future. Everything is recycled from cosmetics and plastics to computer keyboards. 23% of plastic waste gets recycled in the UK, in Mumbai it is 80%. However, it is humans who work to sift the rubbish in the tips where children and women sift through the rubbish for valuable waste. They have to work under the hot sun in appalling conditions. They earn around a £1 a day for their work.

At the edge of the tip the rag dealers sort their haul before selling it on to dealers. The quandary is that people have to work in poor conditions to recycle waste. From the tip it arrives in Dharavi where it is processed. It is sorted into wire, electrical products, and plastics. Plastics in India are continuously recycled. People work in dangerous conditions with toxic substances without protective clothing; this could affect people’s life expectancy. Even dangerous hospital waste is recycled.

One private enterprise makes the metal cages inside suitcases, making 700 pieces per day, paid 3 rupees per piece. There are 15,000 one room factories in Dharavi which there are 300 feeding most of Mumbai. Many of the products from Dharavi end up around the world based upon very cheap labour. Many of the people work in very poor working conditions, and includes children. Indeed, Dharavi is trying to do in 20 years what the west did in 200, develop.

Managing and improving Squatter settlements

Large scale redevelopment

A $2billion development project threatens the recycling district and part of Dharavi. The land upon which Dharavi is built is next to Mumbai’s financial district. This makes it a prime target for redevelopment. The people who are relocated will be put into smaller housing in apartment blocks. An ancient fishing village is also threatened. These areas have strong safe neighbourhoods that have low crime and communal areas. Also at risk are the local shops and markets and the community spirit which has taken generations to develop. The locals would prefer small improvements to the existing slum such as improvements in drainage. The value of land is so high that redevelopment is now a real threat. The alternative accommodation is very small.

The slum dwellers face 14 story apartments as accommodation as proposed by the cities Slum Rehabilitation Authority. This will separate communities and make people work away from where they live. Only people who have lived in the slum since 2000 will be relocated. Current redevelopment projects are densely populated and house lots of people. They are not good for community cohesion.

 

Local Based Improvements

There is an alternative to large scale redevelopment and that is to allow LOCAL people design the improvements to the slum.

The Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres, better known as SPARC, this is an NGO that supports the efforts of local people to get better housing for their many members. Ideas generated from local people supported by this charity include adding an extra floor to buildings so that all family members can be accommodated in the same building. These flats also had 14-foot high ceilings and a single tall window so are well ventilated, bright, and less dependent on electric fans for cooling. Their loft spaces add extra room without seeming crowded, and include small spaces for bathing. But toilets are placed at the end of each of the building’s four floors, and kept clean by the two or three families who use each one. These ideas only work when water is running in Dharavi.

Architecture students have also been hard at work. One student has created a multi-storey building with wide outer corridors connected by ramps “space ways in the sky,” to replicate the street. These space ways allow various activities to be linked, such as garment workshops, while maintaining a secluded living space on another. Communal open space on various levels allows women to preserve an afternoon tradition, getting together to do embroidering.

One student also tried to help the potters of Dharavi. He designed into existing houses the living space at one end and a place to make the pots at the other. Each has an additional open terrace on which to make pots, which are fired in a community kiln.

As the National Slum Dwellers Federation has repeatedly proven, housing the poor works best, costs less and is better for the environment, when the poor themselves have a say in what is being built.

Dharavi could also follow the Brazilian model, as evidenced in Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro. Within the Favelas the government has assisted people in improving their homes. Breeze blocks and other materials (pipes for plumbing etc) were given as long as people updated their homes.  This is an approach known as SITE and SERVICE.

The Brazilian government also moved a lot of people out of shanty towns and into low cost, basic housing estates with plumbing, electricity and transport links. The waiting list for these properties was huge.

 

Suburbanisation in Mumbai

Mumbai now has a long history of suburbanisation, and many key events have occurred in the suburbanisation process, initially in a Northwards direction along major transport routes such as roads and rail links, and now in an Eastward direction.  This suburbanisation has involved not just the growth of residential areas but also the relocation and growth of new industrial areas.

1930s to 1940s         The rise of Shivaji Park area, Matunga and Mahim as the outlying suburbs

1960s (post independence) Inner suburbs in southern Salsette and Chembur-Trombay had emerged

1970s Assimilation of the `extended suburbs' beyond Vile-Parle and Ghatkopar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As with other major cities, other towns and villages have been swallowed up by Mumbai in the process of suburbanisation. In the last decade, Thane, Vashi and Belapur have become extended suburbs despite being planned as individual towns. All of these developments are summarised in the map below.

 

 

The northwards movement along rail and road corridors comes first.  Next, the areas around these communication links are developed.  Third, these areas extend outwards and can involve reclaiming land next to creeks and mangrove, and slopes in the hills of Salsette can be colonised too. The major railway stations have areas around them that have become shopping fronts. The reclaimed areas house the wealthier middle and upper classes, but poorer people will build huts in and amongst these areas and full shanties can grow on the poorest quality land.

This suburbanisation has had consequences;

1.     People are economically stratified into those that can afford better housing and those that cannot, rather than historical caste, religious or linguistic stratifications

2.     Less than a third of the population of Mumbai lives in the `island' city.

3.     The centre of density of population has shifted from the island city well into suburban Salsette.

4.     The commuter traffic has changed.  Rather than being just one way into the Central Business District (CBD) in the south of the city in the mornings there is an increasing movement of people in the opposite direction. Increasing industrialisation of the suburbs is increasing this movement.

For details on these changes.
http://www.newgeography.com/content/002172-the-evolving-urban-form-mumbai
 

Counterurbanisation in Mumbai

 

The map below shows that some of the population of Mumbai is also counterurbanising, with a decline in population over a 20 year period within the original heart of the city in Mumbai district.  The largest growth is in those districts directly to the East of Salsette Island, and even districts 50 or more kilometres from Mumbai are growing.  One such phenomenon fuelling this growth is that of planned towns (new towns in the UK.  Navi Mumbai is a planned township directly to the East of Mumbai and was designated in 1972.  It is the largest new town in the world.  The town was developed to reduce congestion and population densities in Mumbai, which itself was restricted by its physical geography.  The new town now has a population of 1,111,000 people, is linked to Mumbai by road and rail bridges and an international airport.  It also has an extensive bus network, an international airport and many IT and software firms in areas such as the International Infotech Park at Vashi and the New Millennium City near Mahape.

 

 

Reurbanisation – changes to Dharavi Slum

 

A $2billion development project threatens the recycling district and part of Dharavi. The land upon which Dharavi is built is next to Mumbai’s financial district. This makes it a prime target for redevelopment. The people who are relocated will be put into smaller housing in apartment blocks. An ancient fishing village is also threatened. These areas have strong safe neighbourhoods that have low crime and communal areas. Also at risk are the local shops and markets and the community spirit which has taken generations to develop. The locals would prefer small improvements to the existing slum such as improvements in drainage. The value of land is so high that redevelopment is now a real threat. The alternative accommodation is very small.

The slum dwellers face 14 story apartments as accommodation as proposed by the cities Slum Rehabilitation Authority. This will separate communities and make people work away from where they live. Only people who have lived in the slum since 2000 will be relocated. Current redevelopment projects are densely populated and house lots of people. They are not good for community cohesion. Indeed, the planned redevelopment is part of the Maharashtra state governments plan for Dharavi.  The architect employed to put together a $2 billion bid from major developers across the world to demolish Dharavi and build homes and amenities, Mukesh Mehta, has said ‘Dharavi is a black hole – something we should be ashamed of. My vision would be that it would be transformed into one of the better suburbs of Mumbai.’

The residents do not want this redevelopment,  Arputham Jockin grew up in Mumbai's slums and now represents the slum dwellers in their fight against the government's plans. ‘Selling this land to the global market and giving it over for commercial use - how will that improve our lives? 90% of the people here want a stake in their future and a say in how it is transformed. It has to work from the bottom up - not top down.’ he says.   As of 2012 no progress had been made with the plans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8oAQNi22Luk