'The people know they need religion in order to develop': the relationships between Hindu and Buddhist religious teachings, values and beliefs, and visions of the future in Pune, India

Abstract

This paper explores how Hindu and Buddhist people living in Pune's slums understand, relate to and challenge the world in which they live. Specifically, it explores the beliefs and values that shape visions of the future towards which people strive. The research was prompted by a desire to assess how appropriate western development discourses are in the different religious contexts of developing countries. It aimed to examine how religious values and beliefs are reflected in the teachings imparted by local religious leaders and interpreted by their adherents, with particular reference to key concepts that underlies ideas about 'development', such as inequality, poverty and social justice. This research focused on the daily struggles of Pune's poor and the role played in these by religious values, beliefs and practices. It explored whether poor people in Pune talk about their society and their visions of the future in terms of the development concerns of mainstream development agencies, such as wellbeing, poverty and inequality, especially gender inequality. It also explored the attitudes of Pune's poor to some of the tools commonly promoted to achieve a more prosperous and equitable society, for example, gender equality and higher standards of education.