India:Two contrasting marathons concluded in India's capital New Delhi yesterday.
One was the four-week-long marathon involving tens of thousands of poor Indians, dispossessed of their lands by the country's economic development, who marched to Delhi to draw attention to their plight.
Almost 30,000 homeless low- caste Dalits and indigenous people, carrying all they possessed, silently ended their 300km (186-mile) march from the central Indian city of Gwalior, demanding their right to land, livelihood and dignity in a resurgent economy.
The other marathon was a high-profile race - the world's richest 21km (13-mile) half-marathon, offering a purse of $160,000 (€110,000) - that ended in colonial Delhi amid loud cheering, fanfare and media frenzy. Opulently-dressed Bollywood stars, cricketers and socialites were feted vigorously at the event, a stone's throw away from the largely ignored poor marchers.
"We don't have food, land or water. We have come to Delhi to get this," said Rasi Ram from central Madhya Pradesh state.
"Isn't there place for the poor in the country? Is being poor a crime, a curse?" asked Banwari, a carpenter from the same region.
Chanting "give us land, give us water", the flag-waving marchers plan on staging a massive protest in the capital today to press their demands. "I will die but not go back without a piece of land," said Kalicharan after the march that has worn out his shoes but not his resolve.
The protesters said they would demand a national authority to oversee land reform and a system of "fast-track" courts to deal with interminably long delays in resolving property disputes.
Each participant has contributed a fistful of grain and one rupee (€0.18) towards the march, reminiscent of similar mass protests organised by Mahatma Gandhi to end colonial rule before independence in 1947.
Taking their inspiration from the Mahatma, the protesters began their rally on the day of his birthday, October 2nd.
The majority of protesters are homeless and claim that, not only have they been left behind in the economic boom, but they are victims of this growth, forced from their lands to make way for government-backed projects.
India is attracting billions of dollars in overseas investment to spur its economy and help develop its overstretched infrastructure. It has set up special economic zones, where large corporations receive tax breaks to set up businesses and factories. In many such instances, poor farmers are forced from their land or cheated over its value. Vague property ownership laws, endemic corruption and upper-caste landlords force the smaller farmers from their holdings.
More than 70 per cent of Indians live in villages and face increasing unemployment, despite the country being the world's second fastest-growing economy after China.
According to the International Food Policy Research Institute, India has also failed in eradicating hunger for an inordinately large proportion of its population of more than 1.2 billion. Its Global Hunger Index 2007 reveals that 40 per cent of the world's underweight children under the age of five live in India.
The National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector recently revealed that 77 per cent of the country's population lives on 20 rupees or just €0.35 a day.
However, the country's rich continue to proliferate, with India emerging as the world's second-fastest producer of millionaires, lagging marginally behind Singapore, due primarily to a robust stock market and rising real estate prices.
The World Wealth Report by investment bankers Merrill Lynch and financial consultants Capgemini revealed that in 2006 India had 100,015 millionaires, up 20.5 per cent from 83,000 recorded the previous year.