Growth in India's industrial hub leaves many behind
Corruption, overregulation, and lack of jobs contribute to the wide gap between India's rich and poor.
from the May 3, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
The other part of the problem is corruption. A survey by Transparency International last year proclaimed that Indian businesses were the most willing to pay bribes to do business abroad. At home, the story is the same.
"In India, there are many regulations, but there is very little regulation," says Professor Drèze. "The regulations are routinely evaded or used as an opportunity for extortion."
Suresh Bharti is one of those 20-somethings who needs a job. With his designer jeans and a denim cap, he does not fit the image of a poor Indian. But, he says, "I have no prospect of finding a job."
He can't find work at the local mine – the largest open-cast coal mine in Asia. Nor can he find a job at a factory in town.
Like many people here, he believes that industries hire only migrant workers from other states like Mr. Sai, who are easier to control. There is an element of truth to this, say experts, as industries prefer to hire migrant workers, who are less likely to cause trouble or disappear for days on end to attend a wedding or festival.
The numbers of migrant laborers are "not huge," says Narain, "but businesses will hire whoever they can get cheaply."
More deeply, however, Mr. Bharti's discontent also hints at a mounting unease among rural Indians, as they struggle to adapt to a new economic order that they barely understand. For generations, land has been the primary benchmark of economic security here – even unskilled farmers could live off their own crops.
As industry's growing footprint swallows farmland, many – like Sai – have been forced to leave their homes in the hopes of finding a job.
"If we had any land, we wouldn't have come here," he says in the gathering dusk. "Nobody wants to live in a foreign place."
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