image

In this photo taken April 21, 2010, harvested wheat crop is transported in Pipari village, about 180 kilometers north of Lucknow, the capital of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. The world's largest social welfare program, a new law in 2005 guaranteeing every rural family 100 days of work a year at a wage that is now pegged at 100 rupees ($2.10) a day, is working to transform villages like Pipari. Beyond simply paying the rural poor to build infrastructure from roads to irrigation ponds in their villages, the program was designed to help root out corruption, pressure employers to raise wages, stem the flight from farms to the cities and empower women and lower castes. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)