Sorry, I didn't think the issue was the poor not paying taxes. Perhaps this is just me applying US tax paradigms to India, but what seemed to be the issue to me

Sorry, I didn't think the issue was the poor not paying taxes. Perhaps this is just me applying US tax paradigms to India, but what seemed to be the issue to me was employers paying those workers in cash, thus avoiding any taxes the employer would need to pay. Your point on not being able to pay workers in cash when actual cash is just not available is a good one though, and definitely helped me in understanding what is going on a bit more, thanks.