Prolonged Deprivation Among Slum Youth in Azad Nagar Slum, Margao, Goa, India

Rapid urbanization is the hallmark of 21st century. Coupled with globalization and industrialization, it has initiated unprecedented waves of migration from the underdeveloped rural areas to the fast developing urban centres. However, there is a huge mismatch between the assimilation capacity of urban centres and the in migration. This phenomenon has many negative fallouts, of which slum formation is the major one. Slums are the areas of physical, infrastructural, socio- cultural deprivation. The youth who are the potential human capital face myriads of challenges in such culturally heterogeneous and deprived settlements. This paper attempts to study the prolonged deprivation among the slum youth in Azad Nagar slum of Margao town of India. Using a standard questionnaire on prolonged deprivation, sixty male and female youths were surveyed. The data collected was statistically analysed using correlation and chi-square tests. The analysis revealed that there is a high degree of deprivation in Socio-cultural experiences, motivational, economic and emotional experiences. As a result of this the aspiration levels among the youth especially the female youth is very low and it is manifested not only in overall high illiteracy rate and dropout rate among female youth but also in being indolent. These deprivations go a long way in shaping the personality of these youths who subsequently will the human resources of the urban economy. Thus, there is urgent need for governmental as well as non- governmental interventions in the form of slum infrastructure up gradation, awareness among parents, youth counselling, career guidance and incentives for collective entrepreneurial assistance.