Perhaps no other law has grabbed the urban middle class as much as the Right to Information Act. For the first time in 60 years, well off people sought to use a law to improve governance and make themselves accountable as citizens. By and large, the middle class views most legislation with some distant amusement.

Lakshman Oraon and his wife Sarla are no ordinary farmers. On less than an acre of land, they grow paddy, tomatoes, potatoes and onions. Their crop of paddy has just been harvested and you can see the dry remnants sticking out of the soil. But they are getting ready for a second major crop. It could be wheat with mustard and pulses in the margins.

Delhi was once green, cool and never water

...especially in the gigantic unorganised sector, and suddenly the labour fringe becomes the mainstream