LIFE SCUFFLES OF SLUM DWELLERS A geographic Study of Gurgaon

Download or read book LIFE SCUFFLES OF SLUM DWELLERS A geographic Study of Gurgaon written by Dr. Virender Singh and published by Ashok Yakkaldevi. This book was released on 2020-11-12 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 1.1 General Background The word ‘slum’ has a slangy connotation in British society from where this word is thought to be originated. In the eastern end of London, this word means ‘room,’ and it evolved over time to mean ‘back slum’ giving the sense of ‘back allay, street of poor people’ (Etymological Dictionary). The Slum is variously named, often interchangeably used, in different parts of the globe viz. shanty town, favela, rookery, gecekondu, skid row, barrio, ghetto, bidonville, taudis, bandas de miseria, barrio marginal, morro, loteamento, barraca, musseque, tugurio, solares, mudun safi, karyan, medina achouaia, brarek, ishash, galoos, tanake, baladi, trushebi, chalis, katras, zopadpattis, bustee, estero, looban, dagatan, umjondolo, watta, udukku, and chereka bete (UN-Habitat, 2003). Below are some of the definitions of slum given by some eminent social scientists working in the field of slums. Merrium Websters’ American Dictionary defines slums as “a densely populated usually urban area marked by crowding, dirty run-down housing, poverty, and social disorganization” whereas the Oxford Dictionary defines slums to be a “squalid and overcrowded urban street or district inhabited by very poor people” and it also tells that the slums consists of type of “houses or buildings unfit for human habitation”. As per, the Cambridge online dictionary, a slumis “a very poor and crowded area, especially of a city” in which the living conditions are “untidy or dirty”. Colin's dictionary states that “a slumis an area of a city where living conditions are very bad and where the houses are in bad condition” and it also lists some of its synonyms like hovel, ghetto, shanty, etc.