Industrializing India: Rural to Urban in Andrah Pradesh

These images are part of a series that were taken between December 2012 and January 2013 in and around the cities of New Delhi, Agra, Tenali, Hyderabad, and Vijaywada

The delta region near Vijaywada in Andrah Pradesh has historically been adapted with irrigation channels to increase the productivity of the already rich soil that makes this one of India's bread-basket regions (or more accurately rice) additionally reservoirs for water are utilized for fish farming - this image and the one below are very typical for the delta region not just now but for most of regions modern history.

 

A typical rice field in the delta region, a single small shelter resides in the center of the fields, most famers live in small villages, minimizing the space used for living and maximizing the space for farming, plots within the larger field are owned by individual families.

A traditional residence in the area, an increasingly rare sight. In this moderate climate shelter from sun and rain are the only necessities, simple privacy fences are constructed and repaired with palm leaves. Do no be fooled by its simplicity, with a year round growing season these high producing farms are some of the most valuable land in the providence - with land values rivaling that of an American suburb.

Increasingly these farmsteads are being updated, and upgraded with more permanent dwellings build of stone, concrete, tile, and modern materials, these once small villages are aggregating into larger towns. Houses typically house more than one family, with property values so high it is not unusual for multiple tiers of the family to live in one dwelling, or as shown here to have a rooftop apartment available to rent out to other families or workers.

The image at the bottom simply did not exist in this village or other villages a mere five years ago, instead it would have been more common to see a collection of the huts (shown previously) which are now all but gone. Houses are being built financed by family members living elsewhere as increasingly younger generations are moving to the cities and better paying jobs that have come with the continued technology boom that India has fostered - the results of which reach far beyond the cities themselves.


Please post you comments to our main discussion on Industrializing India here