Explained: 'Make in Marhowra' revives the fortunes of a dying town in Bihar

Almost all life here revolves around the axis of the GE factory that makes locomotives under the Make in India scheme

To an outsider, Marhowra in Bihar looks like a graveyard, full of the tombs of long deceased factories. The names engraved on them — Morton Confectionary, Saran Distillery, Saran Engineering Works and Kanpur Sugar Works — speak of an earlier period of glory when this place used to be the industrial jewel of Bihar.

These factories were shut down over a decade ago. Even the most optimistic soul among the locals could not dream of a revival of the 1970s and ‘80s when the town hummed with the sound of production. 

In June 2016, therefore, local excitement was at fever pitch when