A pharaonic project is emerging, near the banks Of the Gomti River. Here, in eastern Lucknow, hundreds of helmeted workers are busy in the heat and dust of a huge construction site to give birth to a self-sufficient dream. “One World” is the name of the city within the city, which will soon cover these 81 hectares of luxurious villas, buildings with Emirati lines, shopping centers and giant fountains decorated with caryatids. Designed by a Dubai architectural firm, this new district will ultimately accommodate more than 10,000 residents. Nothing less than the greatest gated community (gated residential area) of Uttar Pradesh.
In the air-conditioned sales pavilion installed at the foot of the cranes, a film producer inspects the immense model of the project which is spread out under a futuristic neon curve. “When my sons learned that they were going to build the tallest tower in Lucknow, they begged me to go and find out! enthuses the forty-year-old, Apple Watch on his wrist. I’m looking for a better environment for them. Here, we will only meet people like us.» Next to it, a salesman nods his head: “Exclusivity is the concepthe said. Create a complete, secure city, from which you will no longer need to leave. »
As “exclusive” as it may be, “One World” is only the most luxurious of the Shalimar company’s current projects. For this developer, one of the largest in Uttar Pradesh, business has never been so booming. And for good reason: economic growth is accompanied by a constant influx of newcomers into the cities of this rural and poor region, the most populous in India with 220 million inhabitants. According to Khalid Masood, the director of Shalimar, there are 200,000 who come each year to settle in Lucknow, the regional capital. “It’s not just poor farmershe assures. They are also educated people who come from all over Uttar Pradesh to find better jobs, better schools, better medical services.»
“The future engine of Indian growth”
As a result, Lucknow is experiencing rapid urban development. Everywhere, cranes and concrete mixers are creating buildings, office spaces and shopping centers, to which are added major public works. New ring road, new business districts: so many projects emblematic of the dizzying ambition of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. At the head of Uttar Pradesh, this Hindu monk close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sworn to make the region the “future engine of Indian growth“. Modi promises to make India the third largest economic power in the world, with a GDP of $5,000 billion in 2027. Never mind: Yogi Adityanath seizes the slogan and ensures that Uttar Pradesh will reach 1,000 billion on this date.
The benefit of focusing on the development of the region is well understood by the two leaders. Of the 543 MPs who will be elected in June, 80 will come from Uttar Pradesh, making it the most strategic state in Indian politics. So the duo does not miss an opportunity to praise the gigantic amounts that must rain on the region to transform it into an industrial and technological locomotive. In Lucknow in February, Narendra Modi announced more than 100 billion euros of investments in the region, spread over tens of thousands of projects.
“There is a lot of communication on infrastructure promises and memorandums of understanding, but there is a lack of reliable data on the investments that actually come to fruition“, However, Ajit Kumar Singh nuanced this. Aged 80, this economist has devoted his life to the study of the economy of Uttar Pradesh. While he welcomes the efforts of the regional government to improve infrastructure and the business climate, he does not believe for a second in the promise of reaching 5,000 billion GDP at the national level in 2027. “It’s a pure dream!” he sweeps away. This would imply growth of 35% per year, that has never happened anywhere. We will get there one day, but it will take longer. »
The “explosive” unemployment problem
What worries him much more, however, is this survey published in the edition of Times of India folded on his coffee table: 87% of voters who will vote for the first time in the general election consider unemployment to be a major problem. If the issue is national, he fears that it will become “explosive» in Uttar Pradesh. Despite the government’s efforts, Lucknow is still far from being an information technology hub. As for the manufacturing sector, it peaks in Uttar Pradesh at 13% of the active population: not enough to occupy a plethora of young people, increasingly qualified, and who aspire to leave agriculture and the informal sector.
“Many of my friends have gone abroad to find work“, says Vishnu, a 24-year-old data analyst, as he takes a photo of his mother Prima on the “1090”, the new ocher stone promenade overlooking the Gomti River, where Lucknow residents like to come and eat ice cream after dark. “The city has changed enormously since I was bornrecognizes Rishabh, a 28-year-old lawyer. The infrastructure is better, and administrative procedures have been simplified. But it remains difficult to find a job that pays well.»
Further on, Abhishek laughingly points out the kitsch lanterns in the shape of pink butterflies which brighten up a road below. “They beautify the city to attract investors, but the rest must follow!”» He nudges his friend. “He is an accountant at the regional administration, he can tell you, everyone takes their small percentage.» Next to him, the accountant smiles and apologizes: ” It’s like that.» In the elections, Abhishek will still vote for the BJP, the party of Narendra Modi, which he sees as “the least corrupt“. In 2014, it was already this image of probity and efficiency that brought the Prime Minister to power in New Delhi.
“Urbanization is development”
And yet, growth is less strong under Modi than it was under his predecessor, says opponent Sandeep Pandey. Secretary general of the small Indian Socialist Party, he is, at 59, one of the figures of social protest in Lucknow. “The government is developing infrastructure, but have you taken the metro here? It is empty because it is too expensive. Same thing for the ring road. The poor don’t have cars. This government is primarily concerned with the rich, those who can afford to take planes and air-conditioned trains.»
According to him, the government is going astray by following a development model inspired by that of the West in the 19th century: bringing poor inhabitants of rural areas to the city to employ them in industry. “What we need is to ensure a decent income for rural workerssays Sandeep Pandey. If we allow them to live where they are, they will not have to seek greener grass in the cities, where they end up crowding into slums.» Since the start of the year, farmers in northern India have again been demonstrating en masse to demand decent prices for their crops.
Asked by The cross on the limits of this development model, the Secretary of State for Housing Kaushal Kishore defends the government’s action. The announced investments, which must “give work to nine million people”, facilitated credits for small entrepreneurs, attention to the development of industry, the social housing policy which will, he says, offer a roof to all Indians “within two years»… So many programs with stratospheric objectives designed to make urbanization sustainable and finally fulfill the dream of Narendra Modi: for India to become a developed country for the centenary of independence, in 2047. “Urbanization is not responsible for inequalitieshe assures. Urbanization is development.»
“There is no future in the village”
Far from the “One World” of Shalimar, in the west of the city, Ashok Kumar enjoys the fading light of day on the threshold of the apartment where he lives with his mother, his wife and their three children. The owner’s turn is quickly done. In the first room, the parents and the two daughters share a bed. In the second, the grandmother and her grandson sleep on a wooden table covered with a yellow plastic sheet. On a peg, a Mickey school bag hangs next to images of Bhimrao Ambedkar, father of the Indian Constitution and tireless defender of the “untouchables”, like Ashok and his family. The floor is concrete. The cubbyhole that serves as a bathroom is filthy.
The 900 families who live in social housing in this neighborhood share the same story. They all left their villages to find work in the city. They moved to these apartments after years spent in the slums of Lucknow. Ashok lived there for fifteen years, surviving on a meager salary as a sweeper, before arriving here in 2014. Today, he sells pillows at auction and his children go to school. “I will never return to the village, there is no future there“, he confides gently. A power outage interrupts his story – the fifth of the day. “Whatever suffering I have had to go through, I want my children to never have to experience it. They will live better than me.»
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Strong growth and limits
India is the fifth world power, with an estimated GDP of $3.94 trillion. Driven by growth estimated at nearly 7%, the country is expected to overtake Japan and become the world’s fourth largest economy in 2025, according to IMF estimates.
The country is one of the most unequal in the world: 1% of the population owns 40% of the country’s wealth. These inequalities have increased since the early 2000s and during the ten years of the Modi government. More than 800 million Indians, or 57% of the population, still rely on free food assistance provided by the government.
Unemployment and underemployment present another major problem for the Indian economy, and particularly affects young people who have completed secondary or higher education. India is also criticized for its heavy impact on the environment. In 2022, the country was ranked 180th out of… 180 by the Environmental Performance Index.
