TL;DR
Indian state governments are wooing data centers with tax breaks and cheap land without consulting local communities, who lose their land and gain little in return — prompting questions about whether this is real 'development'.
India's internet penetration has soared from 1.2% in 2002 to over 70% today, but nonprofit founder Osama Manzar smells a new risk: the AI boom is turning into another extractive industry, with benefits and control over land and water concentrated among the powerful.
Governments shake hands with companies, not with villagers
In India, data centers are treated as 'development.' But Manzar asks: governments hand over land to Google and Microsoft at bargain prices without consulting villagers, who often don't even know what a 'data center' is until construction crews suddenly show up.
This isn't like building roads or railways — sovereign infrastructure. These are private businesses. Why should villagers foot the bill?
The mirage of 'jobs'
A factory at least brings jobs. But data centers are automated; even the companies can't guarantee local employment. Ironically, artisans are busy producing the very data that will one day replace them.
Manzar suggests building hyperlocal, district-level data centers that serve local needs, rather than turning developing countries into 'data waste centers' for the world's elite.
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