MUMBAI
View of the Islands of Mumbai
CONTENT I. MUMBAI
V. POST - INDEPENDENCE
- Introduction to Mumbai
- Spatial relocation of mills
- Brief overview of essay
- Migration patterns
II. TRAINS
VI. AFTERMATH OF COLONIZATION
- Introduction of Railway lines
- Poverty disparity
- Development of railway lines
- Informal housing/slums
III. TEXTILE INDUSTRY OF BOMBAY
VII. CONCLUSION
- How the industry helped Bombay grow
- How urban development of Bombay/Mumbai was dependent on Colonization. the good and the bad.
- How it affected migration IV. DABBAWALAS - System of the Dabbawallas - Correlation between city’s identity and railway infrastructure.
Among the list of most populated cities in the world, (from WorldPopu-
lationreview.com) Mumbai, has a lot to tell about how and why it is a great city that attracts more people. Located in the state of Maharashtra in India, Mumbai is one of the oldest cities of this nation. In the chapter Connections and Disconnections: The making of Bombay/Mumbai as India’s global city, author
1600s
1661
Port city. Portuguese occupation. Native people were fisherman villages
Portuguese hand over Bombay to the British
Ravi Ghadge points out that, more investment is put into the development of Mumbai as there is a greater economic demand from Asian cities (Page, 56) In his chapter he introduces Mumbai as India’s most modern and global city due to it being the center of economic vitality. In addition to this, the city has been painted as a progressive location given that arts and theatre and of course, Bollywood lives here. This culture that the city has developed has given it an identity of a cosmopolitan one (Ghadge, Page 56). But the exploration of how this came to be through history is what this essay looks at.
1800s
1850s
1860s
1867
1917
Bombay takes advantage of port to illegally carry out opium business. Free from British control.
British EIC begins development of land routes and Railway infrastructure to connect Surat and Bombay.
American Civil war: Hike in demand for textile industry and less control of British over domestic economy.
Western line opens
Harbour Line opens
Geographically speaking, Mumbai is an archi-
pelago located in the Arabian sea making it a great port for maritime trade. However, the city’s connectivity to neighboring cities within what we call India today was not great as the mountainous Western Ghats prevent any land route developments. The lack of land routes was no issue to the Portuguese who occupied Bombay(as they called it) during the early 1600s as they used the ports to maximize trading with the Persian/Arab merchants and Chinese and eastern Asian merchants. In 1661 when the Portuguese transferred control of Bombay over to the British as dowry for Princess Katherine (Ghadge, Page 63), Bombay’s urban development time-line began.
Even still, Surat (Located in Gujarat) was the major
city at the time as it had better access to the other British cantonments in India (Ghadge, Page 63). The major export of the British East India Company was opium which was being produced and processed in other parts of India like Bihar and Bengal. However, through illegal means, local population of Surat
Bombay began their own opium production with the help of local indigenous elites and used the city’s port to do business. This meant that the British had no control over Bombay’s newfound economic independence and invested in other means of export like cotton. Once, China instituted their opium ban in
Bombay
the late 18th Century, the profits of the opium businesses were put into the textile industry (Ghadge, Page 64).
And as this industry grew the need for transportation
and connection to other Indian cities also increased. Hence, the implementation of the Railway Network was put in place in the Bombay cantonment alias. Mumbai. This is one example of how colonial Bombay has affected the growth and development of modern and corporate Mumbai today.
1893
1900
1924
Today the ‘life-line’ of Mumbai connects about 135 sta-
tions within the greater Mumbai area, making almost 7.5 million residents heavily dependent on its service. There are four lines: Central, Western, Harbor and Trans Harbor that accommodate 2342 trains every day from 4am – 1am.
The Central line was first used and developed before
introducing the Western and Harbor Lines in 1867 and 1917, respectively. Despite being primarily for goods, local passengers favored the trains as it made their commutes to and from their homes easier.
The train lines instituted by the British helped Bom-
bay’s economic development as it connected the islands to the hinterland and so people living in the rural areas could enter the city to get employment. The success of Mumbai as a city while 1994
2007
2017
still under British rule was also achieved due to its economic independence.
Mumbai Mill Lands Map. Produced by the Design Cell of the Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture (KRVIA), Mumbai, for the Report of the Study Group on the Cotton Textile Mills of Mumbai.
This was because the textile industry helped
the domestic market to grow and not just the development of the British empire alone. This was maintained until the Early 1860s when the height of the American Civil war increased demand of cotton textiles for uniforms (Ghadge 67). This was great for business as the Empire was focused on the war and the domestic growth of Bombay’s economy was going up leading to increased profits of the native mill owners.
The British also incentivized migration to Bombay prevalent today as the South of Mumbai (areas that
as they needed a bigger labor force for the growing de-
had the European settlements) are booming today with
mand of the Textile industry. The infrastructure enabled
many service buildings like malls, hotels, better roads
manufacture and industrialization of textile production to
and amenities like water and electricity and sewers
improve and so by 1900 there were about 82 mills run-
whereas other areas that have been home to the native
ning, making Bombay an important “commercial center”.
people are still suffering from the under investment of
This industry also opened smaller scale textile related
the EIC(Gadhge, Page 67). A prime example is Dharavi,
businesses attracting more people from the greater Ma-
the largest slum in Asia housing approximately a million
harashtra areas. (Kidambi, Page 27).
people who have been the victims of this uneven devel-
opment of Bombay.
The migrants to the city just came to work and
used the trains to return to their rural areas at the end
The second reason for the lack of assimilation
of the week. This was because of several reasons. Firstly,
to the city of Bombay was because of social pressures
the segregation of European population with some local
to not forget your rural connections. The working class
elite minorities and the native people made it difficult to
were employed in the domestic market of Bombay de-
find an affordable place to live in the city. The areas that
termined by caste, region, and kinship (Ghadge, Page
housed the European population and the elites automati-
67). And so, maintaining your rural identity was valued.
cally had better ways of lives as their area were favored by The middle-class group coming in and out of the city policy makers and more investments to make them bet-
led to construction of many tenements that housed
ter in terms of infrastructure and services like Theatres,
them while they worked for the week. The living condi-
etc. were made.
tions in these places were awful as basic sanitation was
Whereas the Northern part of the Bombay islands not available and there were many people to a space
were occupied by the poorer natives whose main sources
that should house one person. The value of this rural
of incomes depended on the “bazaar economies” were
connection meant that the commute to the workplace
getting no basic municipal infrastructure like water or
was only feasible to and from work and not for lunch
basic sanitation (Ghadge, Page 65-66). This divide is still
breaks in between.
This inspired a 125-year-old system that has become an identity of Bombay
even today – Dabbawalas. Dabba in Hindi means box and ‘Wala” is a suffix used often to describe the job of a person. So, a Dabbawala is someone who brings your “dabba” Lunch box. Since 1890, an informal request to a stranger to go and retrieve lunch from his house has led to a system that depends on the trains and roads of Bombay. The Dabbawalas receive their orders and go and collect the lunch boxes from the houses between 8-11am.
They then proceed to the nearest train station and head to one of three main
stops where reorganization of the boxes takes place: Lower Parel, Grant Road and
Slow
Fast
Churchgate station. From here the boxes are then reassigned to another dabbawalas who
WESTERN
takes the boxes to the offices to deliver them to the respective owners to enjoy during
CENTRAL
their lunch breaks between noon and 2 pm. Today this system has become efficient with
HARBOUR
he uses of specific symbols and notations on the boxes to ensure that the food is taken to the right person and returned to the right house almost every day.
Lower Parel
Mumbai has come a long way from its Textile milling days to become a global city
with technology and services being primary drivers of its economy. Post-independence, in 1951, population had increased by 5% as many refugees from Pakistan and other regions (now states) of India migrated to the city. While the country’s constitution was going through a reconstruction so was the systems and processes of the textile industry. With Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s wish for India to quickly become as modern as
Grant Road
possible to compete in the global economy without the British Empire, industries saw huge shift in employment with the introduction of machines – specifically power looms.
Churchgate
Sorting stations for Dabbawalas
For the textile industry of Bombay, this was difficult to swallow as mill owners that refused to shift to this machinery ended up having to close their mills. This meant huge numbers in unemployment and many career changes from textile to informal jobs (marketers, vendors, etc.).
However, the textile industry itself was not shut down, the few successful mills were
relocated to other suburbs of Maharashtra like Thane, Dombivilli and Navi Mumbai. And in its place in the greater Mumbai area and the island city itself were new services like financial business and technology-based economies. This shift in industry began in 1960s and carried though till the 70s when the city and the neighboring regions were hit with recurring droughts. This enhanced the population growth of the city to over 4 per cent per annum, as noted by Amita Bhide in The city Produced: Urban Development, Violence and spatial justice in Mumbai. The droughts highlighted the disparities brought about by colonialism as the poor Dalit population lost their way of lives in the agricultural sectors and sought employment in the new economy of Mumbai. However, the lack of affordable housing and infrastructure forced them to create their own informal solution (Bhide, Page 24). She makes a strong case for how the lack of basic municipal infrastructure forced the city to develop dually was facilitated by the train lines and land routes.
“Simultaneously, a city region was also being created through the emergence of com-
muter settlements around the Central and Western Railway. Thane, Kalyan-Dombivali, and Ambernath on the central side and Vasai-Virar, and Bhayender on the western side emerged as centers of unplanned metropolitan growth. This development highlights the crucial role of public infrastructure and services in shaping a city by connecting its people and places, facilitating access to employment, and affording people spaces to claim and make the city truly theirs.” These unplanned settlements have become an identifying typology of the Greater Mumbai Area and have become a challenge for the central government and policy makers as they are considered to be as “areas where buildings are unfit for human habitation for reasons such as dilapidation, overcrowding, faulty arrangement of streets and lack of ventilation, light or sanitary facilities (Government of Maharashtra, 1971).” This was the definition of Slum areas under the Maharashtra Slum Areas Act of 1971 as noted by Vinit Mukhija in the chapter: Upgrading
The development of slums along the railway lines
POPULATION DENSITIES OVER THE YEARS
Current
Housing Settlements in Developing Countries taken from the journal titled Cities. The redevelopment of slums although crucial for basic hygiene and shelter purposes is incredibly challenging to achieve because 1. It was unplanned and so hard to regulate. And 2. The displacement that would occur during renovations would be so hard to accommodate.
In the past however, displacement had occurred during a bubonic plague that hit
Bombay in 1890. The policies made then were backward and based on racial and class biases, further encouraging segregation. And so many evictions and demolition of overcrowded tenements were enforced leaving 50,000 people displaced by 1900. (Ghadge, Page 66) This systematic oppression still affects the people of Mumbai today as the policies made during colonization favored the European settlement and the minority of native elites, making their areas much nicer and more developed while leaving others behind. As Hazareesingh (2001) puts it, “the economy of Bombay was reasonably affluent in the early twentieth century: only its people remained poor” (p. 255).
In conclusion, the city of Mumbai today, is a global canter for business and economic
growth which attracts many investors from all over the world. This was because of the history of Bombay that has helped put this city on the right track. The infrastructure like land routes and most importantly the train lines implemented by the British East India Company (EIC) have helped with the urban development of this city allowing it function as an economic center due to its improved connections. But despite this, there have also been some negative issues because of the Colonial past of the city. The disparity between rich and poor is still very wide, and this has led to different typologies in terms of architecture which policy makers are still trying to modify without displacing its people.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
IMAGES:
Ghadge, Ravi. “Connections and Disconnections: The Making of Bombay/Mumbai as India’s ‘Global
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https://mrane.com/portfolio/mumbai-railmap/
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http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~poyntz/India/maps.html
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Mapping of Bubonic Plague in 1890 https://digital.nls.uk/indiapapers/browse/archive/74586016
Mapping of population densities over the years https://theory.tifr.res.in/bombay/stats/pop_stat/density.html
Mapping 2 The train lines going through Mumbai city. The fast lines run during peak hours to get people to the busier stations.
Slow
Fast
WESTERN CENTRAL HARBOUR
Mapping Highlighting the built up Highly Urban Regions of Mumbai city. This highlights the most densely occupied areas with buildings.
Lower Parel
Grant Road Churchgate Transfer stations Sorting stations for Dabbawalas
Layers of Mapping 1
Layers of Mapping 1