On a bone-chilling winter morning, Balwant Singh, 60, is reclining in a chair and monitoring work at his sandstone tiles unit on the outskirts of Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. The former dacoit, nephew of Paan Singh Tomar whose descent from international athletics to the world of banditry was poignantly captured in a recent Bollywood film, surrendered in 1982-a year after his uncle was taken out in a police encounter. Once a wanted man with a Rs 50,000 bounty on his head, Balwant is now running a business with an annual turnover of Rs 30 lakh. "No one would choose to be a dacoit. Who wants to leave his family to get into the jungle?" he says. "If I had a source of living or some land or employment, I wouldn't have rebelled."
Balwant isn't the only one reaping the dividends of peace. Mohar Singh, 82, who carried a reward of Rs 3 lakh on his head before surrendering in 1972, is now a prosperous landowner with a dairy farm. In 1995, the mustachioed former bandit even won the Mahagaon Nagar Palika president elections in Bhind district unopposed.
With the guns falling silent, the Chambal belt-comprising the districts of Morena, Bhind and Sheopur and adjoining Gwalior-is emerging as the new growth hub.
Age of Industry
The proximity to the National Capital Region (NCR)-the Chambal division is around 315 km from Delhi-has prompted the Madhya Pradesh government to develop a new industrial corridor stretching from Morena to Gwalior-Shivpuri-Guna districts. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made an aerial tour of the ravines before the global industrial summit held at Indore on October 28-30 last year. Madhya Pradesh also held its first regional investors' meet on January 16 to boost medium- and small-scale industries. The state government plans to draw investment to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore to the region. "We have started identifying the areas for the corridor. We are in a hurry to set it up," says a senior official of the Gwalior-based Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation. "Some industrialists are worried over the crime rate in Delhi and Noida and they have been approached," says Industries Minister Kailash Vijaywargiya. The state government plans to paper over vexed land acquisition issues by announcing 50 per cent job reservation in industries that come up in the belt for locals offering their land.
The region's sandstone industry is already established, with the 100 units located on the Morena-Gwalior stretch of the Agra-Mumbai highway exporting tiles worth Rs 300 crore annually to the US, UK, Germany, Ireland, South Africa and Australia. JK Tyres and Gwalior Dugdh Sangh have set up plants in Banmore industrial area of Morena. Dulux is also setting up a Rs 400-crore paints unit at Malanpur-Ghirognee in Bhind. Omprakash Yadav, 18, whose roadside tea-stall stands opposite the under-construction factory, expects a windfall to complement his current daily earnings of Rs 100, though he also worries about being evicted. The Modi Group and US-based Guardian Industries are also set to invest Rs 1,000 crore for a proposed glass factory in Malanpur which industrial department officials say will generate employment for 2,000 people. Just 18 km from Gwalior and 50 km from Bhind district headquarters, Malanpur hosts plants of Cadbury, Kurlon, Surya Roshni, Godrej, Ranbaxy, Crompton Greaves and SRF Ltd.
Balwant isn't the only one reaping the dividends of peace. Mohar Singh, 82, who carried a reward of Rs 3 lakh on his head before surrendering in 1972, is now a prosperous landowner with a dairy farm. In 1995, the mustachioed former bandit even won the Mahagaon Nagar Palika president elections in Bhind district unopposed.
With the guns falling silent, the Chambal belt-comprising the districts of Morena, Bhind and Sheopur and adjoining Gwalior-is emerging as the new growth hub.
Age of Industry
The proximity to the National Capital Region (NCR)-the Chambal division is around 315 km from Delhi-has prompted the Madhya Pradesh government to develop a new industrial corridor stretching from Morena to Gwalior-Shivpuri-Guna districts. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made an aerial tour of the ravines before the global industrial summit held at Indore on October 28-30 last year. Madhya Pradesh also held its first regional investors' meet on January 16 to boost medium- and small-scale industries. The state government plans to draw investment to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore to the region. "We have started identifying the areas for the corridor. We are in a hurry to set it up," says a senior official of the Gwalior-based Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation. "Some industrialists are worried over the crime rate in Delhi and Noida and they have been approached," says Industries Minister Kailash Vijaywargiya. The state government plans to paper over vexed land acquisition issues by announcing 50 per cent job reservation in industries that come up in the belt for locals offering their land.
The region's sandstone industry is already established, with the 100 units located on the Morena-Gwalior stretch of the Agra-Mumbai highway exporting tiles worth Rs 300 crore annually to the US, UK, Germany, Ireland, South Africa and Australia. JK Tyres and Gwalior Dugdh Sangh have set up plants in Banmore industrial area of Morena. Dulux is also setting up a Rs 400-crore paints unit at Malanpur-Ghirognee in Bhind. Omprakash Yadav, 18, whose roadside tea-stall stands opposite the under-construction factory, expects a windfall to complement his current daily earnings of Rs 100, though he also worries about being evicted. The Modi Group and US-based Guardian Industries are also set to invest Rs 1,000 crore for a proposed glass factory in Malanpur which industrial department officials say will generate employment for 2,000 people. Just 18 km from Gwalior and 50 km from Bhind district headquarters, Malanpur hosts plants of Cadbury, Kurlon, Surya Roshni, Godrej, Ranbaxy, Crompton Greaves and SRF Ltd.
| Then: A member of the Harvilas gang. Turned bandit after killing his cousin Patha over a family land dispute in 1962. Carried a reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head before surrendering in 1972.Served five years in open prisons. |
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