It is not surprising that the
slums in our cities, where there is an intense struggle for basic necessities, have become scenes of violent conflict, M.N. Srinivas, the eminent sociologist, observes «The richest soil for communal frenzy to build on is poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and
slum —
like conditions — all of which are m plenty in
urban India» (India Today, January 16 - 31, 1993).