SLUM.... A Barrier In Development!!!

Shailja Jha talks about how slum is a major barrier in the development of cur nation and what is the living condition and mindset of people living in those slums.
The writer is a CEMS IInd year student at Patna Women's College.

"Life in a slum is a life in and from garbage"

Slum population simply refers to people living in slum areas below the poverty line. As India is still on the path of development ,there is a large number of people living below poverty line.These people usually live in slum areas connected to the city or situated at ends of city. Children who are born in sprawl of over crowded shacks or tenant buildings start life on poverty's front line.They die before they are five year old from indoor air pollution and easily preventable disease. And for those who survive,hard living conditions thrust them prematurely into adult responsibilities and rob them of the learning process and joys of childhood. A child who survive for the first five years of his or her life is a reliable indicator of progress or its absence, in human and economic development. 

Children are often nothing more then cheap workers ,being exploited or forced into child labour. They hardly have a chance to decide their own destiny. Rather forget about destiny, they don't have the preveledge of dreaming about good life.. a happy life. Children living in slums rarely have any access to education. The local schools does not accept these children and thus they rely on outside charity and organisations for help. And the educated people living around doesn't allow them to get friends with their children because their so called cultured children will go on wrong path. But even if a child is accepted into school he prefers to work so as to earn money instead of attending classes. And those students who go to school, usually goes for having a proper meal in lunch time and to get all those things which a government school provides them for free. They don't go with the motive of learning. Girl child falls victim to early marriages and pregnancy while others are forced to go out and work to add up to the family incomes. 

Situations and various circumstances make people of slum area very ignorant towards education, good life. The kids living in those slums accepts the fact from their childhood that they're going to spend their whole life in this slum and going to die one day there only. They don't even try to do something for themselves.  

India is a developing country at present and in future if we dream of seeing our "India" a developed nation then we need to eradicate slums or at least lower it down to the minimum.