Uttar Pradesh

The Urdu program that I am taking part in now through AIIS (American Institute of Indian Studies) is located in Lucknow, capital of the state of Uttar Pradesh.  In terms of population Uttar Pradesh is home to around 200 million people, which is nearly two-thirds that of the United States.  This would be enough to make it the world’s 5th most populous country. Even more incredibly, these 200 million people live in a state whose size is comparable to the state of Michigan (about 97,000 sq miles). Can you imagine two-thirds of the population of the United States living in Michigan? The images that come to mind are of massive overcrowding and chaos, but that is surprisingly not the case. Uttar Pradesh is still a largely rural and agricultural state and, if you ever take the train through the state (which you might if you go from New Delhi to Kolkata/Calcutta), you will notice how much empty space there seems to be. Of course it isn’t empty, most of it is used for farmland, but not at all what you would expect given the sheer number of people who share so little space. While the New Delhi Metro-area spills over into Uttar Pradesh, more specifically into the metro-connected city of Noida, there are no megacities in the state. The two largest cities, Kanpur and Lucknow, are home to just under three million people each.  I ask myself every day: how is this possible? Where is everybody? Uttar Pradesh has shattered the many of the assumptions I had held about space and population density.

Unfortunately with the awe-inspiring there is also the bad. There is no way around it: Uttar Pradesh is grossly underdeveloped considering the advantages it has. There are plenty of statistics that show Uttar Pradesh lagging in growth, but it is also a feeling that one gets after having spent time in places like Hyderabad and New Delhi. There are malls in a city like Lucknow similar to those in other major metros, but I have come to miss supermarkets like Hypercity in Hyderabad that made my life so much less difficult. The supermarkets here (save for one that I finally found in Gomti Nagar) are inefficient to say the least, and the picture posted below sum up nicely the problems I face in trying to shop in places that accept credit cards (I have an atm card, but it charges 5 dollars per withdrawal. Cash economies are not fun if you aren’t prepared for them.). The political parties of Uttar Pradesh have made it clear that they will resist the opening up of state markets to outside competition, and I fear that Uttar Pradesh may end up left behind even further.

(The motto of the closest supermarket from my apartment could very well be "Plenty of What You Don't Want, Nothing You Do!") Imagine my face after, having searched in vain for various essentials like deodorant, eggs, peanut butter, and Red Bull (ok, it isn't an essential, but they did stock it for the first month or so I was there until they just decided not to), stumbling upon this actual mountain of choco pies. 

It would be silly to base a feeling on supermarkets alone, so it is worth mentioning a few important facts about UP:

-The Taj Mahal, India’s most famous tourist attraction by far, is located here.

-Uttar Pradesh borders, and is directly connected to via a state-of-the-art metro rail system, New Delhi, India’s capital and second wealthiest (by GDP) city after Bombay.

-Uttar Pradesh is a state with both agricultural and manufacturing advantages due to it’s centralized location in relation to major urban centers like New Delhi and Kolkata/Calcutta (meaning that goods can, potentially, reach markets quicker and less expensively than more remote states)

-Uttar Pradesh contains the home constituencies of the Gandhis (Sonia, party president and widow of former PM Rajiv Gandhi and Rahul, her son), India’s ruling Indian National Congress (Congress for short)’s leaders. Lucknow is also the constituency of former Prime Minister (until 2004) AB Vajpayee.

-Uttar Pradesh is full of history and played a huge role in the 1857 mutiny against British Rule. Palaces and former colonial outposts dot the landscape-there are great opportunities to expand UP's already large tourist inflow (thanks to the Taj)

You would think that these facts would mean that Uttar Pradesh has all of the potential advantages needed to be one of, if not the most, dynamic state in all of India. Instead, UP remains bogged down by successive corrupt regimes. Look no further than Lucknow’s many statues of Mayawati, former Chief Minister and head of the Bahujan Samaj Party, to see what I mean. These statues, built millions in public money, are indicative of a culture of corruption and a general apathy towards both within the state and among the national ruling Congress-led alliance, which depends upon both major UP parties for support (that isn't just a knock on Congress, the BJP will find it difficult to form a ruling coalition without the support of at least one of the two. Unfortunately, sometimes this support is, by implicit understanding, in exchange for restraining India's investigative bodies.). The rival Samajwadi (Socialist) Party is, by reputation, little better. Neither has been able to deliver good, effective governance during their time in power. Instead, too much time is spent registering cases against rival party members while clearing allies who were accused during their time out of power. It is, to say the least, a mess.

My hope is that eventually the people of Uttar Pradesh will get politicians that, at the very least, do not steal from them.  That shouldn’t be too much to hope for, even if it sometimes feels like it here.

(You really could write a book on the state of UP, but for the sake of length I've limited it to a few examples that I believe are relevant when it comes to understanding why the state doesn't quite seem to be living up to its potential)