Finding dead bodies in stinking residential drainages near ‘multi-crore’ properties is common. According to the brother of UP Chief Minister, these are ‘routine incidents’. Based on his wisdom, we should not exaggerate what has happened in Noida. In Gurgaon, the law and order is such that god forbid if a girl ventures out after dark all alone.

So this is the state of India. I was thinking of investing in real estate in Noida or Gurgaon, but I’m not going to anymore. The crime situation, and lack of basic amenities (water, electricity etc) in these areas suggest that high property prices is just speculation. The pricing bubble is going to burst big time.

But if you give uneducated, rural folk million an acre, its asking for trouble.

they couldn’t really ask for ceiling prices

I disagree with all the above statements. Some people happen to be born into land-owning families. That’s their good luck (although it could be due to multiple historical circumstances that they own that land). If due to various market factors, they find they’re sitting on a goldmine, why shouldn’t they cash out to the fullest extent possible? Once having done so, on what basis should they restrain themselves from living the lifestyle that accompanies that wealth? Just to please you? I do agree that for their own children and grandchildren’s sake, they should invest the money rather than squander it (that’s where lack of education combined with relatively limited investment opportunities in India comes in), and they should pursue education (which quite a few families have done). I agree quite a lot of them have behavioral problems, which in part may stem from their cultural background (keep in mind that ALL Indians had to deal with invaders, not all Indians had the guts to actually fight them like the groups you mention did). But bottom line, you can’t begrudge them their wealth…unless you have a problem with the concept of private property, free markets, and capitalism. By the way, I’m not saying that land reform would be a bad thing, or that it’s necessarily FAIR that certain groups own land and others don’t.

Thats hardly a justification for killing your Pa. But then the Gujjar practice ‘killing’ with knife like implements on their cattle what do you expect? My point is nobody should get extraordinarily wealthy without education or accountability. The Jat, Gujjar, Ahirs have an inclination towards resolving disputes through violence. Not necessarily a fault of theirs, since they have had to deal with invaders for centuries, but it does make sure their is little account for the law within their consciousness. Considering that capitalist society is a pyramid anyway, if the developers fleece them, it wouldn’t make a difference to the base if the tips rises higher. But if you give uneducated, rural folk million an acre, its asking for trouble. Besides a lot of these big landowners have been chaudharies and upper-strata within their own communities, so if after centuries of sitting easy on a piece of ancestral land it must be converted into some modern infrastructure – they couldn’t really ask for ceiling prices

Lets not rewrite history

The problem with police as with the bureaucracy in India is absolute lack of accountability, as everyone knows.

the perception that law enforcement fails only the poor is nonsense. It continues to fail everyone.

much as I hate to say this, that “police brutality” in NY/LA is not in the same league as that in India. For many, e.g., hawkers, it is part of their everyday lives.

Consider how many more people are victims of all kinds of crimes and atrocities — mostly perpetrated by people in positions of power (power defined by caste and income). Consider that India’s basic institutions are, in the final analysis, rotten to the core. Federal, state and local governments, the police, the media — these institutions only serve the interests of those in power. If you’re middle class, poor, or were born into the wrong caste then you’re sh*t out of luck my friend.

without connections, cops in India will not give you a second of their day

The whole infrastructure in every walk of life is very shakey.

Even if the cops wanted in India, they do not even have the means to investigate cases en-masse. Currently, we can just talk, and talk.

all i know is that when my friend’s dad was the dgp of UP it was a free pass for all of our friends to act however they wanted to because nothing would ever happen to them, and it was true. yikes.

Shouldn’t a nation that is so inexcusably unable or unwilling to enforce its laws be considered a failed state?

India has failed its citizens in practically every way conceivable: from the abysmal policing and justice system, to its criminal inability to provide the basic necessities of life such as clean drinking water, sanitation, sufficient food etc, to its unwillingness to end the abomination of child slave labor which victimizes 10s of millions of little indian children.

Perhaps one way to stem the rot is to strictly implement caste/communal based reservations in the police, judiciary, bureaucracy and yes even the media. That would be a way to ensure some semblance of checks, balances and accountability. For the rule of law is not being enforced from the top.

Skeletons of children found in Noida

The article says: “Police stumbled on the remains in the investigation of a missing 16-year old girl.” So possibly the police found a lot more than they bargained for while looking for the 16 year old.

Full timeline of events here.

NDTV did a good job of describing the sequence of events that led to the suspects’ capture… recovery of missing cell phones, retracing calls using SIM cards, etc.