Paper short abstract:

A large number of urban poor work in the informal sector where entry is easy, requiring less skills, less education and less capital. The urban agriculture will be examined in this context.

Paper long abstract:

Slums in underdeveloped or developing countries are by and large characterized by environmental deficiencies and sub human conditions of life.

> However nature of slums and social background of its inhabitants depend largely upon economic development and technological advancement of the concerned country. An increase in slums is characterized by an increase in migration from rural to urban areas. Since there is a substantial increase in India's urban population since Independence, most of slums in towns and cities imply migration from rural areas particular of those who live in slums. The towns and cities which have attracted more people from rural areas are those, which have provided jobs and employment to rural people. Industrial towns, district head quarters, capital towns of states and metropolitan centers in particular have witnessed rapid growth of slums.

As a consequence, Industrial Revolution, laid the roots for slums and more particularly after World War-II the growth of slum gained its momentum as material development concomitant with massive urbanization, slums have rapidly grown in underdeveloped, developing and even developed countries. In fact, slums are a feature of any urban landscape.