The tangled streets of Sunder Nagri, a slum in east Delhi, bustle with morning activity. Motorcycles buzz through the narrow lanes and vendors sell their wares from carts. Sunder Nagri lies across the Yamuna River, far from the manicured streets of south Delhi where prosperity is obvious. But a transformation is quietly taking place in this slum of more than 75,000 people.

Chamal Lal, a tailor in his 40s, stands in his cramped storefront and measures cloth on a white countertop.