I object to the line about farmers living in shacks of mud and cow dung. This is probably going to sound weird to most readers, but cow dung is actually an excellent building material for plastering walls. Seriously. When it's dry you can mix it with water and a bit of straw and make an excellent plaster. It doesn't smell at all and for some reason it discourages flies. If I lived in rural India again I'd make sure my kitchen walls were plastered with cow dung.