Rural Bengaluru seeks policy change to address farm distress, lack of jobs

Voters seek policy change to address farm distress, lack of employment

Elections bring out the rural-urban divide like no other time. Two days ahead of the polls, that divide is prominent in the IT capital of India, Bengaluru. While start-ups with their dollar fundings look for new benchmarks in valuations, many who have migrated to the city from far-flung areas struggle to find jobs. For them, the April 18 Lok Sabha election means little. 

K Ramesh, 23, left his village in Belgaum district, after his father, a farmer, urged him to find a job in the city. Rainfall has been inconsistent for the last three years and his family’s debts are at