Only very recently has the economic boom of India begun to reach its citizens in rural areas who suffer some of the worst poverty conditions in the world and need such progress the most. Over three-‐fourths of India’s poor live in rural areas, with a majority of this population working as daily agricultural labourers for less than a dollar a day. The introduction of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in 2005, which guarantees rural citizens 100 days of paid, public work began the first large government support system of the rural poor.
But when water is often a several mile journey, health care is a full day’s walk, and agricultural yield has steadily fallen due to global warming, this transformation of rural India into civil society is not only a long journey, but the clashes between public and private interests are surfacing quick. Photographer Sohrab Hura documents the current conditions of poverty in rural India and the introduction of government-supported work programs.