Human Geography India Essay
India has a diversity of problems within its country. There is pervasive poverty, homelessness, human trafficking, and many more. Many people often live in the slums of cities, such as in Mumbai. These people are very poor and most do not even have jobs. Human trafficking is also another big issue. Many children, women, and even men are sold into slavery. These people are sexually exploited, forced into servitude, or forced into labor. Shockingly, about 85% of these exploited people are used domestically. The problem has become bad enough that a growing industry has become sex tourism. This is where men from other countries take vacations to India to experience the sex trade. Many children in India have even been used as armed combatants in the military. All of these things are a sad reality in India.
There are thousands of people living in poverty all over the world. In India there are places that are extremely overcrowded and many people there are in terrible poverty. There is a place called Dharavi, or India’s Shadow City where about 18,000 people live in a single acre. Life in the slums of India is extremely difficult. As many as 1 billion people live in shantytowns worldwide, and many of these shantytowns spread across India. India uses a currency called Rupees, which hardly equals anything in American money. Many people are sold into slavery, or kidnapped and forced into labor. Children are sometimes forced to work as factory workers, for minimum wage. They earn barely enough to feed themselves and sometimes they have family members to look out for as well. Many times after a horrible natural disaster or some other deadly consequence, children are left homeless. These children are targeted and made beggars. A lot of jobs in India’s slums consist of being a wallah, or someone who is associated with a particular service or job. All these factors tie together through poverty and are an endless cycle. The poor, the homeless, they are all the victims of poverty.
Slumdog Millionaire shows an excellent depiction of the slums of Mumbai. Life does not always come with everything you could ever ask for. Back when Mumbai was called Bombay, they had the Bombay Riots. Theses riots were caused by communal tension in the city. The main groups involved in the riots were the Hindus and the Muslims. Hundreds of lives were lost. This was a terrible example of the cruelty people can inflict on one another.
India faces many problems with the welfare of their cities. It is a struggle every day for many people. India still has a long way to go before the problems are solved. Things like human trafficking and poverty will take the longest to fix, and may never be fully be solved. The slums of Mumbai, and of all over India, are the result of poverty.
Interestingly, I read an article about the U.S. having a problem with foreign students being lured to the U.S. on work visas with promises of a good job. However, they are being exploited with jobs in strip clubs and earning very little money after huge fees for room and board.
AP IMPACT: US Fails to Tackle Student Visa Abuses: (http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/12/06/ap-impact-fails-tackle-student-visa-abuses/)
India Times – Human Trafficking a serious crime: CBI Chief: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Human-trafficking-a-serious-organised-crime-CBI-chief/articleshow/4511706.cms
India Times – Human Trafficking situation in India grim: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Human-trafficking-situation-in-India-grim-US/articleshow/1012186.cms
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