Good, Bad, and Ugly

Oh! Kolkata!

Robert Basler

Apr 25, 2011 15:02 UTC

Indian state election expected to end Kolkata’s 34-year communist rule

As dawn broke on Monday, scores of voters formed queues outside one unopened booth, excitedly showing their identity cards to security personnel in Siliguri, 370 miles north of Kolkata. Once one of the richest cities in Asia and the capital of the British empire in India, Kolkata has become a byword for poverty and has stumbled behind the new modern India of IT cities such as Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Can you please justify your comment on the article – “Kolkata has become a byword for poverty.” Since when this has happened, I would really like to know.

I am looking forward to a direct reply from the author justifying such a claim.

A.C.

I think the use of “byword” is justified in this context.

There is no doubt that Kolkata has gained an image as one of India’s cities with the worst urban plight. And it does lag behind many of India’s modernizing cities. Factually, its numbers of urban poor are also much higher than other major cities: GBU Editor

A homeless man sleeps under a flyover as a herd of goats and sheep pass him during a hot day in Kolkata April 24, 2011. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri