So the people in the slums should be kept in a bubble unseen and unable to interact with people from outside it? There is nothing wrong with traveling and interacting with communities, and this guy doesn't appear to be exploiting them or looking to try and depict them in an inaccurate light.. I completely agree with you regarding people who go on about seeing "the real India" etc, when what they actually mean is they want to see poverty, but this guy knows this is only a part of what India is, and wanted to learn more about the people who live there.

At its very core, poverty porn sets up a dynamic of charity, not allyship. It allows the rich photographer to look good and feel good, while disempowering the poor. If OP really wanted to support people living in the Mumbai slums, he should have looked for people from the community already making a difference. He should have highlighted their work and their mission and helped expand their platform. In short, he should have followed their lead. Sure, you can visit wherever you like. But to then take photos of it and publicize it from entirely your perspective (especially when you're focused on an area that already has limited global representation), you're doing a massive disservice to the subjects you're portraying. More info: https://www.goodthingsguy.com/opinion/what-is-poverty-porn-and-why-is-it-such-a-problem/

I agree poverty porn is a damaging things, but I don't think this fall's under that category. The problem with poverty porn is it is used by charities to oversimplify poverty, and focuses the solution on commodities. Showing a sad child and saying "Sarah has to walk X time to get water, donate just 10 pounds to us and we can built a pump, then she can go to school and everything will be great" gets the money in, but does not address actual issues. Same with showing sad children made super happy by being given a pair of shoes, without looking at why they don't have shoes to start with. Living with people, and documenting your day to day experiences without then using it to ask for money, or push your "solutions" is not quite the same. If anything, focusing just on people doing initiatives or projects would reduce everyone else to 2 dimensuonal "poor" who are just in the background to be saved.

Also, there's a reason places like this exist. Is it really possible that India can send a satellite to Mars but not eliminate slums or make good roads? These slums are huge vote banks, cheap minions, slave laborers, etc. I really don't understand why these guys want to see the 'Poor India'. What's the fun in that?

Sending satellite to Mars is easy. You just have to deal with scientists. But any infra - it's dirty politics. Mumbai is building a new metro line. They chose a government land lying in neglect for it - called Aarey. Since this land was neglected for years, naturally there were many grown trees. So when government started clearing the trees "environmental activists" suddenly said govt is "deforesting". Soon, it was flooded with memes as if Mumbai is running out of Oxygen. Bollywood celebs opposed. New govt shelved it. Japanese company that was building metro gave up and went. A French company was hired now even they gave up. All because of inability to find land for Metro. Rumors say a politician wanted to do sell his land for exorbitant price to govt, though govt already had govt land for this purpose. Same issue with housing for slum dwellers. It's dirty politics.