Knocks on the Doors of a Slum SANJAY SURI 'Globalization insights’ is a series of feature stories told by journalists from Africa, Asia and Latin America – sto­ries that give an insight into the perceptions and experi­ences of people as globalization unfolds in their environs. This project is jointly organized by the Friedrich-Ebert­Stiftung and IPS EUROPA. If Mukesh Mehta can have his way, most diamonds bought around the world could soon pass through what is at present the biggest slum in Asia. But that would only be the more glittering part of a new deal to rebuild Dharavi, the infamous slum in Mumbai that is home to an estimated 600,000 people. The Dharavi project seeks to bring together many strands that tie into globalization. It will seek to combine national resources with international technology, and mix private enterprise with government support to rebuild Dharavi along the lines of that other buzzword, sustainable deve­lopment. "We are not just developing Dharavi," says Mehta, who has returned to Mumbai after ten years in the United States as consultant to the 1.5 billion dollar redevelop­ment challenge."We believe this can be a model for cities right across the developing world." Dharavi does not look that way at the moment. And there are people here who say it never will. The miles of shacks that shelter half a million people and more must be about the most decrepit spectacle in Asia. It is fortunate perhaps that the assembly of tin sheets, rags and sticks, held together occasionally by brick and cement are challenged only during the monsoons. It helps that what torrents of water take away can be put together quickly again. Many shacks here are also little factories. Three women squat on a squalid street outside their tin home to pack savouries into polythene bags at speed that could shame a machine. Some yards down, another two women stir hot dye in huge buckets. These little bu­sinesses add up to a turnover of more than a billion dol­lars, by local estimates. Many of these products from savouries and textiles to handicrafts and watch straps are exported. Mehta plans to turn this slum into a smart new business and residential district."Private developers would build high-rise buildings for the residents here, and they would get freehold accommodation here for free," Mehta says. "The developers would recover their money through other property they build here to hold businesses and factories.