There’s always been talk of the trickle down effect of India’s economic boom. But few would have reckoned that a trickle gushing into a village near Delhi would have inundated it with crorepatis — more than a thousand of them. Two years ago, Radadhana in Sonepat district, about 50 km northwest of Delhi was a paddy-growing village where bullock carts jostled for space on its dusty tracks. The tracks are still dusty, but now Skodas, Hondas, Endeavours and other SUVs jostle for parking space on them. The homes made of bricks fired at the local kiln are gone, replaced with hurriedly made and often garishly painted three-storey mansions fitted with ACs. Gone are men lolling about in kurta-pyjamas in the off-harvest months. Now sharply dressed people strut around in branded jeans. Seeing the demand jump, store-owners in Sonepat, about 15 minutes away, have let out space for showrooms to well-known clothing brands. What happened isn’t hard to see, although the magnitude of change is mindboggling. Farm-dependent families, even with holdings as large as 10 acres, on an average made a profit of a lakh at the end of each annual paddy season. But then Delhi property prices soared. The zameen here didn’t yield sona, the land itself turned to gold, thanks to the Midas touch of realtors. When developers first approached villagers in early 2005, fat offers started at about Rs 20 lakh per acre. "Money started raining on the village. A person who had never seen a bundle of Rs 1 lakh, suddenly earned Rs 50 lakh," says Suresh Saroha, a government official from this village. Then land prices started galloping and an acre of land went for more than Rs 1.40 crore in Radadhana, which is tucked barely two km off GT Road. "The total land of the village is 2,800 acres of which about 2,000 acres have been acquired by builders at an average rate of Rs 50 lakh per acre. The village has a population of 7,000 grouped in about 1,400 families. Barring some 200 families of backward classes who are landless, every family must have a net worth of over Rs 1 crore," says sarpanch Manoj Saroha, doing a quick back-of-a-postage stamp calculation. What has this windfall done to villagers? "We are yet to come to terms with the effects of this deluge of hard cash," says Sanjay, a man in his mid-thirties. The villagers get VIP treatment at stores in the area. "Radadhana has become a brand name. Wherever we go, we are treated specially. The mere mention of the village’s name is enough to give a jolt to the attendant," he says. (source-Times of India)
