At three grimy market squares in India’s pink city of sandstone palaces, the fates of a former farming couple, a former factory owner, and a graduate illustrated how difficult it now is to find even a job of hard labour, as a general election looms in a country witnessing record unemployment.
It had been eight days since Shanti Devi, 30, and her husband Babulal Saini, 33, had found work. Draped in a bright, red saree, Devi sat on the pavement. Nearby, Saini, dressed in a checked shirt and gray pants stained with paint, was in animated discussion with