Slums in Kolkata: a socio-economic analysis

Poverty is a major curse to the society. Slums are the face of urban poverty and illiteracy. This paper presents and discusses primary data from a survey of 96 households taken from five different slums of Kolkata. It attempts to examine the socio-economic aspects of slums surveyed in this paper in terms of income, education, savings, sanitation, financial inclusion etc. In this paper, the collected data have been analyzed and presented in charts and tables to paint a clear picture of the current condition of the slums in Kolkata. Quite surprisingly, it was found that the current scenario has rather improved than what we think about slums. Awareness about education and family planning has been growing. If the development of slums are subjected to correct plans and proper implementation with judiciously chosen measures; then they can make a significant contribution to the strategy of inclusive growth.