Bombay has become a harsh, impossible, and unforgettable place. There are many children who live as beggars and sleep in the streets as well as there are many slums. Everywhere you hear noises, traffic is all over the place and you can find skyscrapers and expensive hotels. You will find the richest and poorest people in Bombay. All races and tribes can be found in this city for from all over India people came to try their luck.
The population increase is clearly shown in this table of population statistics from 1980-2010.
Problems in Bombay come in four main forms Employment, Housing, Education and Environment:
Employment:
Bombay is the richest city of India, mostly because of the trade overseas and by air. A third of the working population is employed in the industry and a fourth part works with trade or traffic. The products - like clothes, plastic articles and electronically equipment - that are made in the factories of Bombay, are exported to Iran, Iraq, Europe and the United States. To handle all this business traffic the facilities of the harbour of the city are constantly improving. However with the growing population unemployment is increasing rapidly as the population is growing quicker than the number of jobs being created.
Housing:
As a result of this industrialization an army of employers needs to live in the direct surroundings of the city. But the housing facilities aren't that good. More than hundred thousand of people need to live in the slums that arise like mushrooms all over the city and where everybody has to struggle for a little bit of comfort. At this moment 75 percent of the people in Bombay lives in "chawls" (apartments with one room, originally build for workers at the cotton industry). 15 percent lives in the slum en at least 2 percent of the population is permanently living on the streets. Bombay has at least 150 slums spread all over the industrial parts of the city and there is no sewer. Goats and rats are sniffing for food all over the place, you will find everywhere garbage, because there are no dustmen to make collect the rubbish. The people in the slums have a very low income, but they are better off as the people who have to live out on the street. The people on the street can mostly find work and should be able to pay for the rent; but because there are no houses enough this remains a problem. For those without an income begging is a normal way of living in this city.
Education:
Education has to suffer constantly as a result of the fast growing population. The number of schools is growing, but most schools don't have space for a playground for the children. In India children from six up to fourteen have to visit school. Schools are free! The city's counsel wants to make it possible for every child to receive education; they are one of the cities in India with the highest rate of education. For children over fourteen years old it is much harder to get proper education. The fee for education is low but there are only few teachers and the classes are enormous. Many children drop out. The cost of studbooks is also rising and for families with a low income it's hard to keep up supporting their kids. So also for this reason many children are kept away from further education. Of course they can't get any good paid jobs because then they should have diplomas.
Environment:
The overpopulation in the chawls and slums of Bombay is very clearly to be seen. But it still is better as in a city like Calcutta where the population even poorer is. For most people there are very many wishes to be fulfilled. Hygienically problems cannot be avoided. The last years the situation of the environment became even worse because of increase of traffic and air pollution. In the factories there is no filtering of the air that you breathe, so diseases concerning the lungs are increasing daily. Also the water supply is badly) only a couple hours a day you can tap water in your house. You have to be fast with filling a bucket and when half of the population has done so there is no water anymore for that day. Medical services are low and only the young people are entitled to medical care, old-timers make no chance. Hospitals are crowded and there are almost no medications available. The sad side to this story is that most of the medications are manufactured in India. Good functioning hospitals are therefore out of order.
In conclusion Bombay can't deal with the fast growing population. Even birth control wouldn't solve this problem because the problem of the many migrants can't be solved that way. It also is impossible to build a wall around the city and the obligation of carrying any ID is not practically reachable. The only solution for the city is to keep on growing and build more sites on the mainland. The city will keep on growing and at the moment there is very little set up to stop the growth.
