Artisans collaborate with contractors, residents and the urbz team, to create models in wood, clay, steel, acrylic and brass to produce model homes in Sangam Gully, Dharavi, Mumbai, as part of the Homegrown Street Project.

Digitalization can transform how SMEs operate in Dharavi. Made in Dharavi is a digital application that will support small-scale businesses in Dharavi to make them locally productive and globally connected.

SMEs are the key drivers of economic growth in the country and they need to start selling online in order to scale up and receive the true wage and value for their products. This presents a unique opportunity for local businesses in Dharavi to tap into the digital market to sell their products and grow with the existing social and business community.

 How can social and digital empowerment fuel positive growth for Dharavi's SMEs?

Dharavi is a prime real estate location due to its closeness to public transport systems, business districts, as well as ecological hotspots. The proximity of living quarters to where individuals work, often from within households, brings both benefits and challenges to households and businesses.

Dharavi is a frenetic engine of entrepreneurship characterized by variety, innovation, recycling, and reuse. While the Indian economy is in a historic slump that is predicted to take years to recover, residents and workers in Dharavi are starting to return to the city as industries and their allied supply chains are beginning to open up.

Dharavi embodies an efficient pre-industrial live-work paradigm. This is now desired and interpreted in post-industrial societies, and more so in the Covid-19 era, as a sustainable lifestyle.

Inviting contractors from all over Mumbai to collaborate on designs for homes in Dharavi with residents, architects, and artisans.

In this issue of the Dharavi Fortnightly, we aim to understand the experiences of people now returning or seeking to return to Dharavi, the connections they have to their hometowns, and ways in which they are keeping these connections alive in the fast-paced world today. 
 

While public transport is slowly resuming in the city, it is still inadequate to meet user needs. This issue of the Dharavi Fortnightly seeks to explore how restricted mobility due to the lockdown has affected the movement of people and goods within and around Dharavi.

This is the 8th weekly report in which we try to understand how the myriad forms of businesses and individuals have been impacted during the lockdown, how they have coped with the situation, and how they are preparing to resume their economic activities. 

This is the seventh weekly report on how Dharavi is recovering against all odds.

This is the sixth weekly report on how women in Dharavi are coping with the pandemic and the lockdown. 

This is the fifth weekly report on how Dharavi workers and families are faring away from Mumbai. This report highlights their journey and life back home in the time of Covid-19. 

This is the fourth weekly report on how Dharavi's schools are coping. This qualitative study is based on 41 in-depth phone interviews with teachers, headmasters, parents, and students.

This is the third weekly report on how Dharavi is coping with Covid-19. We concentrate on the food distribution effort initiated at community level. 

This is the second weekly report on how Dharavi is dealing with the pandemic and the government's response to it.

This is the first of a weekly report of how Dharavi is coping with Covid-19

 Social distancing in a participatory process

March 24th, India went into a 21 day lock down to maintain social distancing. People were asked to work from home, only step out for essentials and wash their hands frequently. Prior to this announcement, the inter and intra state transportation was restricted. These were part of ‘crucial’ efforts to curb the spread of the novel Covid-19.