Giving Compass' Take:

• Legality, transience, and a drain on public finances have hindered philanthropies from investing in urban slums in India. Shreya Deb shares a roadmap to progress. 

• How can philanthropists in America help invest in Indian slums? What other issues can be addressed to help urban poverty in India?

• Learn how India is trying to achieve slum-free cities.

Poverty in India is changing. Since independence, while India has made progress in reducing its overall poverty rate, urban poverty has increased, driven primarily by people migrating to cities from rural areas in search of opportunity. Between 1973 and 2004, the share of India’s urban poor increased dramatically, from 19 to 27 percent of India’s total poor.

Anyone seeking to tackle poverty must operate in the environment where most urban poor reside: the urban slum. Today, estimates of India’s slum population range from 65 to 100 million, comprising 17-24 percent of the country’s urban residents. In Mumbai, India’s financial capital, an estimated 52.5 percent of the population lives in slums, which make up just nine percent of the city’s total geographical area. Slum dwellers face a host of challenges in health, safety, civil rights, and access to basic services such as water and electricity.

Read the full article about why philanthropy isn't investing in urban slums by Shreya Deb at India Development Review.