They live in two worlds and travel daily from one world to another, trying to cope with a landscape still taking shape.
They live in two worlds and travel daily from one world to another, trying to cope with a landscape still taking shape.
The Bidadi Integrated Township Project (BITP) is alluring, aspirational and equally unsettling. Take the case of twenty-five-year old Prakash Reddy. Every morning, he rides to a private factory located around 20 km from his Byramangala village for work and likes to spend weekends at shopping hubs in Bangalore along with his friends. He loves the fixed income dream, he loves the city.
But for his father Putta Honnappa, the Bidadi township is altogether a different definition. Honnappa has been practising sericulture at 12 acres of land he owns and he is not very gung-ho about the development happening around him.
“I know agriculture is important. But there is nothing wrong in giving land for the government project if they are giving good compensation,” said Prakash. Many youngsters in villages surrounding Byramangala and Kanchugaranahalli Gram Panchayats are riding high on the waves created by the BITP. Their social and economic life is undergoing radical changes even before the Rs60,000-crore project takes off.
Though the family relations are still undivided, the youth are dreaming of lakhs and crores while working in factories and offices in Bangalore and Ramnagar. The youngsters know that their land will fetch them good money. The bikes, the new mobiles and the jobs are just the shape of the new things to come. The factories in the area know that. They send buses to these villages to pick youngsters for work and drop them back.
The trend of alternative professions for youngsters took roots when the BITP made news in 2007 and has gained pace again now with the revival of the project.
But the elders are unable to fathom or stem these changing tastes. This is a cause of major worry in many villages. “Be it Rs30 lakh compensation or Rs50 lakh. How many months will this money will stay with you. Youngsters don’t understand the consequences,” said Cheluva Hegde, an elderly parent from Kanchugaranahalli.
“The township would just not displace us physically but also shatter the bondings and lives itself,” he said.
What villagers know for sure is that education is important. However, it is being pursued in an expensive way. Thirty-year-old Sundaresh of Kempayyana Doddi has put his two daughters in a private school. The admission fee of Rs30,000 per student does not bother him much as he is confident of meeting financial demands by selling some portion of land.
The decreasing student population in government schools is an example of the change that is happening. “The number of students enrolled for class I to V has dropped to 22 this year. Last year it was 24 and before last year it was 28,” said S Revathi, a teacher.
8BITP: Socio-economic audit needed page 18
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