Cities in a word serve as ‘opportunities’ for the people stuck in areas lagging behind in social mobilisation, educational avenues and job opportunities. The promise of education, employment and health services drives scores of rural people to find a niche in the metropolitan and urban spaces.  This wide scale migration of the public from rural areas to urban cities is urbanization which but due to the disorganized policies of the government has led to the growth of slums.  Slums being the urban pockets of concentrated poverty, insanitation, and utter lack of basic amnesties etc are unfit for human sustainable development and settlement.  The low-income sections of the society fail to access the progressive tide of the cities due to social inequality, financial constraints/ expensive or insufficient housing etc. and hence are forced to contend with the affordable but filthy living conditions of the slums. It is true cities harbour a highly competitive environment, where people have to fight for a reasonable rent, school, drinking water and not to mention the cut-throat arena of jobs; this puts a lot of pressure on the cities as urbanization increases at a fast pace. With time, however things should change but slums are still growing rather than being controlled; it either shows the intentional laxity or unintentional neglect of the city government to take immediate steps for a holistic effort.

Before venturing onto the cause and effect of urbanization vis-a-vis slums, it is to be understood that urbanization is a positive phenomenon which if harnessed and maximised can herald economic growth, welfare, and resource effectiveness. But as this transition is not tapped into or managed effectively due to the lack of vision, planning and infrastructure, it has led to the rise in slums. Also, slums cannot be solely marked as a ghetto infested with crime, pollution and violence as there is life in these areas which aspires to be empowered with a right to education, employment, sanitation and heath.

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