With surging bourses, swelling ranks of urban millionaires and leaders exulting over the country's 9 per cent growth, one could say the Indian economy never had it so good. But India's development plans also brought to fore the anger of millions whose interests are being trampled in India's march for economic progress.
For the first time since economic reforms were launched more than 15 years ago, India witnessed violent protests by farmers, shopkeepers and small traders against the projects and policies. Resistance against Special Economic Zones (SEZs) - hubs to spur industrial activity - mining and steel projects surfaced in several areas and turned violent, resulting in deaths of protestors and police.
The Indian government approved many SEZs despite opposition by farmers who say the industrial projects will displace them from fertile land and rob them of their livelihoods. At least 34 villagers and police were killed in protests in Nandigram in the eastern state of West Bengal, which ironically, is ruled by communists who oppose SEZs at the federal level.
Violence was also reported from Singur near Kolkata, where the government acquired land for auto-major Tata Motors' car plant. Social activist Medha Patkar slammed Bengal's "forcible" land acquisition and atrocities by police and left-wing cadre to evict villagers. "Can we say democracy exists in this state? Human rights have been raped at Singur," she said.
Meanwhile, movements across India have mobilised support against land acquisition. The recent months saw anti-SEZ protests in northern Haryana and Punjab, western Maharashtra and south-western Goa provinces where the state government decided to withdraw SEZ plans.
Bengal's neighbour Orissa was another flashpoint for protests against mega-projects. Villagers have been abducting employees of South Korea's POSCO's steel plant - India's single largest foreign investment - for much the same reason.
Recent months also witnessed protests against the entry of foreign hypermarkets such as Wal-Mart and domestic superstore Reliance by shopkeepers, traders and farmers, who said the plans will destroy the livelihood of 15 to 20 million people.
The corporate giants are spearheading a retail revolution with their supermarkets in India where the retail sector is estimated to be worth 350 billion dollars, one of the world's largest.
In remote areas such as Maharashtra debt-ridden cotton farmers are feeling helpless against the booming development that is leaving them behind and are committing suicide, despite the government's relief package for the area, now infamous as India's "suicide zone." Some of those driven from their homes in the name of industrial projects are taking action. In October more than 20,000 landless and tribals, largely low-castes and widows, marched to Delhi to demand rights to land.
"India is being celebrated in many quarters as an economic miracle. But displacement, destruction of livelihood and violation of human rights have reached a new high," said global anti-poverty group ActionAid's tribal rights expert Bratindi Jena.
Of late, the Indian leadership is increasingly reflecting on the iniquitous growth. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who came to power promising inclusive economic reforms said "uneven development" posed the biggest security challenge to India.
In a candid admission, the leader linked economic inequality and security, admitting that Maoist guerrillas were feeding on the disaffection and recruiting cadre from such regions. "I am concerned about the unevenness of our development process and the various development divides that are opening up in the country - the inter-regional divide, the rural-urban divide and the inter-sectoral divide," Singh observed.
Maoist activist and revolutionary balladeer, Gaddar, lashed out against the government's SEZ and economic policies in an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in southern Hyderabad city.
"Leave aside being denied benefits of economic progress, rural poor are now being divested of their lands and livelihoods by the government," said Gaddar, who uses only one name. "They (farmers and villagers) are fighting to survive. When its a question of survival, such protests are bound to grow across India."
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