A second need is to tackle rural India’s hierarchies, many of which are still rooted in control over agricultural land. Efforts directed at promoting equity remain critical because it is inequity that keeps many among the poor from progressing in Amethi, Andipatti and elsewhere.

A final need is to promote the political organisation of the poor and the marginalised. Without concerted efforts in this direction by political and social movements, the persisting ills of rural India cannot be addressed. As Amethi and Andipatti show graphically, there are many aspects of contemporary rural India that have little to do with the 21st century and much more to do with colonial India; in such a context, only strong political participation by the poor can lead to development.

Siddharth Dube is author of ‘Words Like Freedom: The Memoirs of an Impoverished Indian Family, 1947-1997’. Aniruddhan Vasudevan has contributed to this article