: India’s Biggest Slum Successfully Contained COVID-19. But Can Its Residents Survive the Economic Collapse? #WorldNEWS Jayanti Keshav Parmar, a tailor who lives in Dharavi, a bustling informal settlement

India’s Biggest Slum Successfully Contained COVID-19. But Can Its Residents Survive the Economic Collapse? #WorldNEWS
Jayanti Keshav Parmar, a tailor who lives in Dharavi, a bustling informal settlement of nearly 1 million low-income residents packed into a one-square-mile area in Mumbai, has been stuck at home since March 25 when the Indian government declared a stringent lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Before the lockdown, he worked at a store doing alterations and would make about 0 a month, but now he has exhausted his savings. Out of work for over five months, he has not been able to pay the monthly rent on his compact home in Dharavi since March. His sewing machine at home sits idle, as no one in the neighborhood can afford to have new clothes stitched this year. His wife, who had secured some work as a domestic helper in an apartment in Mumbai late last year, was asked to stop coming to the building because of fear of spreading the coronavirus. They are down to cooking one meal a day, the remains of which they eat for lunch the following day. He worries about what will happen if his wife or son fall sick. “If there’s no money for food, how will we pay a big hospital bill?” Parmar says.

Dharavi, often called Asia’s largest slum, is a hyper-dense network of brick homes and small-scale enterprises that sprawl in the shadow of shiny new skyscrapers in the heart of India’s financial capital. Until recently, it was home to a thriving economy, with 20,000-odd factories and small businesses that recycle plastic, make earthen pottery, tan leather, stitch garments, make soap and cook meals. While coronavirus cases in India are soaring—the country is on track to overtake the United States as the nation with the most cases—community engagement and a nimble local government have meant that for now, the virus seems to be contained in Dharavi. But a tough national lockdown declared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with little warning or preparation has crippled the local economy and residents are struggling to survive.
Read more: How the Pandemic is Reshaping India
Dharavi’s slowdown is emblematic of a wider national decline. The Indian economy contracted by 23. 9% in the second quarter, the sharpest fall of any major economy during the pandemic. About 21 million salaried employees lost their jobs from April to August, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. Those in the informal economy, which constitutes 90% of India’s workforce and is the bedrock upon which the country’s . 9 trillion economy is built, have suffered the most. Most people in the unorganized sector do not have any savings and live off what they earn each week, making it impossible for them to cope with months of a protracted shutdown.