The Yadavs are members of a new economic caste in India: nouveau riche farmers. Land acquisition for expanding cities and industry is one of the most bitterly contentious issues in India, rife with corruption and violent protests. Yet in some areas it has created pockets of overnight wealth, especially in the outlying regions of the capital, New Delhi.
By Western standards, few of these farmers are truly rich. But in India, where the annual per capita income is about $1,000 and where roughly 800 million people live on less than $2 a day, some farmers have gotten windfalls of several million rupees by selling land. Over the years, farmers and others have sold more than 50,000 acres of farmland as Noida has evolved into a suburb of 300,000 people with shopping malls and office parks.
That has created what might seem to be a pleasant predicament: What to do with the cash? Some farmers have bought more land, banked money, invested in their children’s educations or made improvements to their homes. In Punjab, a few farmers told the Indian news media they wanted to use their land riches to move to Canada. But still others are broke after indulging in spending sprees for cars, holiday trips and other luxuries.
Did that money come out of thin air? It seems odd to call what he did "earning." Traditional, perhaps ... but it seems to me to bear some relationship to the Emperor's new clothing: a child can see what adults may choose not to see.
Landsellers' windfalls do not come out of thin air. Each represents many years' worth of people's labor. How much does Mr. Yadav make each year by working? Does it seem logical, or just, or rational, to permit some of us to collect a windfall from the value of something we all created together and they had no more part in creating than any of the rest of us?
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