![]() He chose the poorest parts of the country on the basis of the state-wise break-up of the percentage of people below the official poverty line. Sainath, a product of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and a former deputy editor of the Blitz, Bombay, set out on his ambitious assignment to "put poverty back on the national agenda," in May 1993 on a Times fellowship. In short, dark pictures about bonded labour, bottomless debts, hopeless penury, exploitation, stupid anti-poverty programmes and a callous administration. It is about the vanishing Birhor tribals of Bihar panaiyeris in Ramnad, Tamil Nadu, who climb 20-foot palm trees, making 150 trips a day, earning Rs 8 and coal peddlers of Godda, Bihar, who push 250 kg low-grade lumps of coal on cycles for three days, just to earn Rs 30. ![]() It is about losers the meek who shall inherit the earth but for the development projects, those who live beyond the margin, where resources neither trickle up nor down. ![]() This book is about the obscure shadowland of this gloss. Sainath's portrayal comes out in sharp contrast to the glossy picture offered of late in the media about a blooming economy, expanding market and the Asian tiger on the prowl. That is what P Sainath offers in his book Everybody Loves a Good Drought. (A song by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel of the us, quoted in the book)Ī grim and desperate image of India. ![]() ![]() Laying low Seeking out the poorest quarters Where the ragged people go Looking for the places Only they would know. ![]()
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