Biting the hand that feeds: India's small towns favor opposition

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By Krishna N Das and Shyamantha Asokan KASBA BONLI, India (Reuters) - Kasba Bonli is a newly prosperous market town in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan and it should be a perfect advertisement for the ruling Congress party's pro-farmer policies. In just a few years, handouts for farmers by Congress have helped turn the once-deprived village into a thriving retail centre, selling everything from glittery bangles to satellite dishes. The Congress party-led government pours at least $20 billion a year into rural India in addition to free education and health and cheap food. These funds have helped create an emerging middle class, mostly in semi-urban and small towns, which one estimate has put at almost a quarter of India's 1.2 billion people.




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