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Batata Vada Wallah (New Delhi)
Average Sales: Rs. 15,000 per month
a world wide investigation into the future of cities
“My government’s effort would be to create a slum free India in five years through the Rajiv Awas Yojana” — President of India, Pratibha Patil’s address to the Joint Session of 15th Lok Sabha in New Delhi, June 2009
The Welder (Bhayandar, Mumbai)
“Mumbai’s Dharavi slum is the most entrepreneurial place I’ve ever been. In one dark room—open to the street—there are two men recycling boxes by turning them inside out and re-stapling them. Across the dusty street, six women work together sorting great bins of plastic products for recycling. A few doorways down two men are maniacally sewing brassieres, just like on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in 1905. A little ways off craftspeople are painting and firing intricately designed ceramics.” — “New Land of Opportunity” by Ed Glaeser, Forbes Magazine
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noun /,infôr’malitē/
informalities, plural
1. Relaxed, friendly or unofficial style of nature; absence of formality
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INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT
It is estimated that over 90 percent of India’s workforce is employed in the informal sector.
~ approx 370 million workers, i.e. > population of the United States.
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INFORMAL HOUSING
One fifth of India’s urban population live in informal settlements (slums).
~ 42 million residents, i.e. roughly the population of Colombia / Spain.