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Why has India’s astonishing economic growth not reached the people at the bottom of its social and economic hierarchy? Travelling the length and breadth of the subcontinent, this book shows how India’s ‘untouchables’ and ‘tribals’ fit into the global economy. Ground Down by Growth reveals the impact of global capitalism on their lives. It shows how capitalism entrenches, rather than erases, social difference and has transformed traditional forms of identity-based discrimination into new mechanisms of exploitation and oppression.

Contents: Preface/Alpa Shah and Jens Lerche. 1. Tribe, caste and class - new mechanisms of exploitation and oppression/Alpa Shah and Jens Lerche. 2. Macro-economic aspects of inequality and poverty in India/K.P. Kannan. 3. Tea belts of the Western Ghats, Kerala/Jayaseelan Raj. 4. Cuddalore, Chemical industrial estate, Tamil Nadu/Brendan Donegan. 5. Bhadrachalam scheduled area, Telangana/Dalel Benbabaali. 6. Chamba Valley, Himalaya, Himachal Pradesh/Richard Axelby. 7. Narmada Valley and adjoining plains, Maharashtra/Vikramaditya Thakur. 8. The struggles ahead/Alpa Shah and Jens Lerche. Appendix: Tables and Figures. Notes. Bibliography. Index.