Malnutrition in Mumbai Slums

Abstract

Despite strong constitutional safeguards and promises, malnutrition persists in major Indian conurbations such as Mumbai and manifests as a group phenomenon concentrated in certain slum pockets that remain institutionally isolated. Based on a detailed study of four slums in Mumbai, this article uses the entitlement approach developed by Amartya Sen to examine how group identity affects group differentials in achievement of basic capabilities. Irrespective of similar initial endowments, some groups were found able to achieve upward mobility over time, whereas others remained constantly vulnerable. This may be because the access to various resources and the ability to translate them into functioning assets are mediated in various ways, depending on people’s multiple identities, which sometimes constitute barriers. The article concludes that to alleviate malnutrition, proactive state agency and public transfers are needed to enhance deprived groups’ prospects to build on their basic capabilities to improve their lives.