About the Book

On 15 August 1947, the day of India‘s independence from Britain, Ram Dass and his family were Untouchables - lowest of the low in an apparently unchanging caste system, landless serfs bonded to a feudal village lord in a remote part of Uttar Pradesh deep in the heart of Hindu India. Fifty years later as the country celebrated its half-century of independence, Ram Dass‘s family still suffered poverty and oppression -- this despite their efforts and despite the changes which have transformed the face of independent India.

This book is their story, and the story of modern India. Told through the voices of several generations, it takes the reader on a journey into the reality of Asian poverty - the powerlessness, the sickness, the illiteracy and all the other deprivations which enmesh the poor. Gradually we learn to understand not simply the human reality of what it means to be poor, but also the central paradox of modern India: half a century of democracy, economic growth and constitutional commitment to social justice has not lessened the acute, mass poverty of the country. This vivid account draws its readers into an unforgettable understanding not just of the personal experience of poverty but of the intractable reasons for its continuance.

Commendations

‘A deeply illuminating study of poverty in India seen in concrete detail, made vividly real by remarkable descriptive skill.‘ - Amartya Sen, Master, Trinity College, Cambridge

‘Fully lives up to its promise of melding the voices of a single Untouchable agricultural labourer family in a UP village with a broad analysis of India‘s political economy. This innovative approach [provides] insights into why acute and pervasive poverty has persisted in India despite decades of planning and moderately rapid economic growth on the one hand and a functioning parliamentary democraty and even a constitutional commitment to socialism on the other.‘ - Krishna Raj, Editor, The Economic and Political Weekly

"A deeply illuminating study of poverty in India, seen in concrete detail [and] made vividly real by remarkable descriptive skill."
AMARTYA SEN, Nobel laureate in economics

"An extraordinary study of the human dimensions of poverty and development. Destined to become a classic."
SHASHI THAROOR, author of India: Midnight to the Millennium

" Ram Dass‘ stories are heartrending, despite the fact that neither he nor his transliterator seek to manipulate their audience; it is their simplicity that is so devastatingly effective."
Pankaj Mishra, THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT (UK)

"A fine biography...[that will] leave an indelible mark on a reader‘s conscience."
INDIA TODAY (India)

"Siddharth Dube‘s argument is relentless, like the poverty he describes."
ARUNDHATI ROY, author of the Booker Prize winning novel The God of Small Things

"A sensitive, ideology-free analysis of the poor and their history... [that] stands out for its boldness and narrative accuracy."
OUTLOOK (India)

"An excellent book [that] stands distinctly apart from other such writings not only because of its simplicity of style, but also because of the enormous empathy and compassion it evokes."
THE PIONEER (India)

Contents

1. The slaves of slaves
2. Baba ka Gaon
3. Bombay I: 1949-52
4. The vision of a new heaven and a new earth
5. Bombay II: 1954-62
6. The 1960s
7. ‘Garibi Hatao!‘
8. Shrinath
9. Hansraj
10. Prayaga Devi
11. Puttu
12. Jhoku
13. The poorest families
14. This land belongs to the Zamindars
15. The ancient battle between us
16. Political democracy? Economic democracy? 17. 1997 and the future