to nearly 40 per cent of the state's gross domestic product and 5 per cent of the national GDP. Much of Mumbai's economy today falls under the informal sector where the average income of a worker is about Rs. 6,000 per month (equaling to about 120 US dollars). The population of Mumbai dramatically increased from 1.69 million in 1930 to 8 million in 1970 due to people moving from rural areas. Migrants move to the city when working in a rural area does not supply enough income to support their families. In the city, employers are more attracted to migrants than local workers because migrant workers supply labor at a cheaper cost and are more willing to work in unsafe conditions. However, an income of less than Rs. 6,000 leaves many migrant workers without access to clean drinking water and basic amenities. Many are not able to pay for rent and thus are forced to live in pavements, streets, parks, and other open public spaces. One study showed that nearly 60 percent of the homeless of Mumbai are from migrants from other states, and most in this category moved from rural areas. Most of them work in the informal sector as laborers and live without a permanent home. Many of these migrants do not have any sort of identity documents and thus are not registered for social welfare benefits such as the Public Distribution System. These migrants originally worked on agricultural lands that they did not own themselves; they moved to Mumbai in search of a better livelihood - better roads, better access to clean drinking water, better roads, better sustenance. Many left their villages to escape “caste-based violence” that destroyed their ability to make a living. A smaller portion of migrant laborers are able to afford to live in slums. Today, more than half of Mumbai's population, nearly 5.5 million people, lives in slums which make up only 8% of the land. Slums suffer from overcrowding, tight spaces, poor lighting, lack of electricity, scarcity of clean water, and unhygienic conditions. Slum inhabitants also suffer from housing insecurities resulting from pressure from their landlords to pay rent on time. In Maharashtra, several programs and policies were enacted by the government to address inadequate housing issues, especially related to slums. The Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance, and Redevelopment) Act (MSAA) in 1971 was established to “improve environmental conditions” in slums by