<b>Shekhar Gupta: </b> Desperation and aspiration in UP's east

Eastern UP's people want out of their sub-Saharan trap. Politicians, including the PM, don't get it

Badlands is one of those familiar Americanisms, like ballpark, Wild West and gentrification that feature in our usage more as malapropisms. In Uttar Pradesh, many zones vie for that description. Barren, eroded valleys along the Yamuna and Chambal in Bundelkhand and Etawah would match it literally and also in the more popularly understood sense of lawless zones.
 
Further east, landscape is more lush, fed by more orderly and normal water-courses, with fertile banks. But rule of law can decline as fast as quality of life. Open, overflowing drains, sewers, lose wires overhead, permanent stink in the air, potholes, encroachments, stunted