Hyderabad’s Economic Disparity
One of the very first things I noticed on my 45 minute drive from the Hyderabad airport to ICRISAT, was the significant changes in scenery. Immediately after exiting the airport parking, there is a new and well-maintained highway lined with palm trees and cars that actually stay in their respective lanes. However, after thirty minutes or so of driving, the roads began to get smaller and crammed with more and more pedestrians. The streets were lined with litter and I observed large numbers of street vendors. As we got closer to the outskirts of Hyderabad, I saw people taking shelter in their tents for the night. I like to think that I am well aware of global poverty issues, especially since I was born and spent the first few years of my life in the impoverished nation of Ethiopia. However, it was in that moment, I realized that growing up in a small rural Iowa town had allowed me to grow numb to these issues because I didn’t witness them every day.
Just last week, another Borlaug-Ruan Intern, Chase, and I took a trip to the city to visit Salar Jung Museum which houses India’s premier arts collections. After the museum, we decided to go to InOrbit mall, which my supervisor had recommended. The mall was in an area of Hyderabad called Hyderabad Information Technology and Engineering Consultancy (HITEC) City. The mall had a similar setup as most malls in the U.S. and included stores such as H&M, Nike, an Apple retail store, and even Pizza Hut. (To those of you wondering, yes we did eat at Pizza Hut and it tasted the exact same!) The mall was equipped with all new technology and was even being expanded to include more stores. After about an hour of checking out the mall, we decided it was time to head back to ICRISAT. After just a five minute drive out of HITEC city, we were once again surrounded by waste filled, crowded roads. At every red light we stopped at, street vendors would approach our car window and ask us to buy umbrellas, jewelry, etc… We had beggars knock on our windows and ask for spare change. What surprised me was not the economic disparity but rather the close proximity of the differences and how significant they were.
Upon returning to ICRISAT that day, I decided to research more about HITEC city and was surprised to find how much the state government had invested and continues to invest in this area. As a result, HITEC City is one of the most sought-after areas in Hyderabad and is growing rapidly. This encourages the state government to invest even more money and resources to this area. Economic disparity is common worldwide and is something that even the most developed nations struggle with. While the challenge of economic inequality may take many years to overcome, there are ways to ensure poverty alleviation even with the existence of inequality. I am in no way an economic expert and I certainly don’t know enough about the government of Telangana to make any suggestions. However, I was deeply saddened with the inequality I observed and have come to the conclusion that change is needed. As I begin working directly farmers and residents of rural villages in Telangana, I am eager to learn about how this economic disparity affects them and their access to necessities such as food and shelter.
