India

A city of Dreams

Mumbai, the biggest city in India, is best described as the City of Dreams. People from every part of the country and the world come here to pursue their dreams and ambitions. It has an estimated city population of 18.4 million, and metropolitan area population of 20.7 million as of 2011. Known across the world as the financial, commercial and entertainment capital of India, this is also one of the world’s top ten centres of commerce in terms of global financial flow, generating 5% of India’s GDP.

This city, the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra, prides itself in being a melting pot of cultures and communities, which is home to  India’s Hindi (Bollywood) & Marathi film and television industry, and also the hawkers, taxi drivers, mechanics and other blue-collar professions, which are integral to Mumbai’s social fabric.

Enamoured by the glitz and glamour of this magnificent city, a large majority of Mumbai’s population are migrants from other states of India. Embracing every religion, its population comprises of Hindus (67.39%), Muslims (18.56%), Buddhists (5.22%), Jains (3.99%), Christians (3.72%), Sikhs (0.58%), with Parsis and Jews making up the rest of the population. Every festival of every religion is celebrated with great enthusiasm on the streets of Mumbai.  

Marching ahead of the national average which is 64.8%, the literacy rate in Mumbai is 75.9 % (according to the 2001 census of India). While the male literacy rate was 81 per cent, the female literacy rate was 70.89 % which was higher than the national average of 75.3 % and 53.7 % respectively.

This city that never sleeps is fifth largest city in the world. It is the diversity that makes Mumbai what it is. However, like many urban cities, it also confronts several developmental issues such as inequality, skewed sex ratio etc which needs immediate attention. It is for this purpose that we are present in Mumbai, especially, the slums of Andheri East where people are living in abject poverty, with no access to basic civic services.

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