The migration of the rural poor to an unemployment stricken urban area essentially has led to the settlement of slum pockets in the urban areas and the rates of which is most alarming in the city of Mumbai. The metropolitan area of Mumbai spans an area of 437 square kilometers and estimated population of 10 to 12 million people. Six million of this urban populace is categorized as squatters or slum dwellers. This slum population has 2500 settlements in the city occupying about 2500 hectares of area of the city. The conditions of these slum occupations are dangerously unhygienic and are defined unfit for human habitation due to reasons such as overcrowding, lack of ventilation, electricity  and sanitary facilities.

In addition to this, an estimated population of 2 million people lives in old, dilapidated and often illegal structures called “chawls” of Mumbai. The population of Mumbai lives in sub-standard of unsafe conditions with a continuous threat of displacement. The population in India already constitutes 17.5% of the world population and continues to grow at a rate of 1.4% annually. At the same time India has seen a gradual change of policing from decentralization to urbanization in the succeeding five year plans, as heavy-industrialization. The metropolitan areas however do not have the infrastructure required to accommodate these huge migrating populations. These factors have caused the rise of a new section of population: the urban poor. Most of these urban poor translate into a squatter community. Slum pockets have emerged throughout the cities of the nation.