Blighted land use

Overall care for buildings and open spaces in the urban environment is often obscured by uncontrolled litter in streets and vacant lots, and by abandoned automobiles and discarded appliances. Poor housing upkeep adds to the sense of an unkempt and uncared-for community. Ill-timed and insufficient garbage collection adds to the situation as dogs and rats strew refuse across the area. Sensing it to be uncared for, people from outside the community use the many empty spaces as dumping grounds for garbage. The cumulative effect is a resigned acceptance of being unable to control the environment and continuing careless destruction of the community. Residents themselves feel that the community is forgotten; and without a significant demonstration that with corporate effort it is possible to care for buildings and space, the cycle continues.

India is the world's fourth-biggest producer of iron ore, the key ingredient in steel-making, and demand for the commodity is expected to grow. According to Land Conflict Watch, more than 6,000 hectares of land, both private and community-owned, have been blighted by iron ore mining in India, affecting nearly 30,000 people. As the mine dust gradually covered the fields, the grains, clothes and everything, smallholders slowly gave up farming.