Somini Sengupta at New York Times has an article on a phenomenon that continues to confound the Western economists, journalists and intelligensia – the rich and the poor living side-by-side in major Indian cities. [NYT] (tip Runa via email)
Castles in the sky, slums on the ground – desi ishtyle
img: via NYT
The article talks about the life the Chand family enjoys in a high-rise tower called Hamilton Court in Gurgaon. At the same time the article contrasts the lifestyle of the Chands to those living in the slums surrounding Hamilton Court and chalks it down to the recent prosperity that the Indian middle class is experiencing.
However, there are a few incorrect assumptions made by the author of this article:
1. While the new found prosperity of the Indian middle class and the rich-poor stratification repeatedly brought up in this article is true, shanty towns co-existing with high rises is not a new phenomenon. This article and numerous others I’ve read in recent publications speak in awe about this sort of rich-poor ecosystem in Indian society. The fact is that it has been that way for decades in major Indian metros, Bombay for instance. What is new is the spread of this phenomenon to smaller towns like Gurgaon.
2. At some point, the article talks about the shanties losing water and electricity, while nearby high rises don’t, hinting at perhaps gross social injustice in Indian society. This is easily explainable by the fact that most slums are illegal structures, that largely exist as vote banks for Indian politicians. Such illegal structures not only exist in mass numbers but also provide water and electricity on taxpayer money. So, naturally they receive lower priority when it comes to distribution of utilities. Attributing this to social injustice arising out of the prosperity of the middle class is an injustice in itself.
3. It is repeatedly hammered into your head that the middle class has gotten richer while their economically disadvantaged slum-dwelling neighbors have stayed the same. While it is easy to measure the prosperity of the middle class because they are on the official job market, the job market for the slum residents employed by this middle class community in this article is largely unofficial and hence any figures quoted about this section of society in particular should be accepted with knowledge of the same. What is also hard to determine is the trickle down effect of this wealth from the middle class to those employed by them. For instance, all other things staying the same, are people in slums surrounding the middle class receiving better salaries than their counterparts in rural areas? Such points are seldom addressed in this article.
Nevertheless an interesting read. I’d highly recommend it.
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