Depends on the people and the location. A good developer in Pune might be getting $15k/year or more, a bit higher in Bombay. Nationwide, salaries tend to range from 1-5 lakhs ($2.5-10k).
2 low end college students for mechanical turk type work outside Bombay/Bangalore/Delhi, they would probably last you a year or two. More if you go to the outskirts. (Note: I'm probably inappropriately scaling down here - in reality, you probably need to rent them 30 at a time.)
An illiterate peasant? You could pay him double market rates ($1-4/day) for 30-120 years on $10k.
By avoiding a permanent presence, I mean having the ability to pick up and leave at a moment's notice. If the phone company, the government or your landlord tries to shake you down, you need to be able to say "fuck you" and walk out. Keep your exit costs lower than the price of a bribe. I.e., don't get into a situation where downtime results in big monetary losses.
