Slums in Lutyen’ Delhi : Love for Resource, Hate for Humans, A Study of Existence and Living Conditions

India entered the twenty-first century with over 6.5 crore slum population, which is estimated to reach up to 10.4 crore by 2017. The Census Report of 2011 reveals that besides alarmingly increasing in metropolitan cities, slums are fast spreading their tentacles in smaller cities as well and presently constitute over 62 per cent of their population. It is not just a problem of overpopulated cities which are fighting the lost battle of encroachment and unauthorised construction to contain the menace of slums, but even the most posh and least populated civic body of the country – New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) – hides several slums in the backyard of VIP bungalows, ministries of the Union government, popular hospitals and hotels.