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I am not saying you should not be proud of Indian progress, but I suspect the experiences of a businessman in a big city in India are vastly different to a low

I am not saying you should not be proud of Indian progress, but I suspect the experiences of a businessman in a big city in India are vastly different to a low caste woman with TB in rural India. A friend of mine is a nurse who did social work in rural India. What she told me about the local hospitals was horrifying, not just the condition of the hospital and how patients with infectious diseases were sleeping on the corridors because of lack of beds, but how the doctors had a total disinterest (bordering on contempt) of the uneducated woman who she went to appointments with.

rushabh 8y ago
Experiences in India will vary dramatically based on which state you live in. If you are rural Kerla, a state with 50M people in South India, you are likely to get some of the best quality healthcare are very affordable rates. It’s hard to generalise anything about India which is incredibly huge and diverse.
- firstfewshells 8y ago
  At the risk of nitpicking, Kerala population is actually close to 34M.
- anonymous_i 8y ago
  Kerala is but one state out of many. Kerala is probably the only state in India with a public safety net. How many states names can you pull to exemplify your argument besides Kerala?
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
imagiko 8y ago
Reminds me of Amartya Sen's quote "...whatever you can rightly say about India, the opposite is also true". A lot of systemic issues will only be resolved as the society progresses, and there is a long way ahead for India.
dv_dt 8y ago
If you look at healthcare variation in the US, there are strong socioeconomic correlations to many measures of health and life expectancy too.
naruvimama 8y ago
The use of the word "low caste" is in quite mean considering "poor" would be more appropriate. Just as Black or Native American would be a poor substitute for poor american. Or Roma/Eskimo/Greenlander/Sami for Europe Especially considering that the current prime minister and president of India are from so called backward communities. India has come a long way in social development and using the "caste card" is quite out of taste. The word "Caste" is of European origin and does not have a proper native equivalent. The "caste system" itself is again a European concept imported into India to aid the colonial powers in their divide and rule. Unlike the persecution of the Native Americans, Blacks, Jews or Aboriginal which were systematic state run pogroms often in democracies. The fate of the "low caste" can be attributed to the fact that they were the most exploited, often to the point of death or slavery under colonial rule. While the so called "Upper caste" enjoyed second rung positions as peons, clerks and teachers. This experience is universal in the other colonies like Rwanda, Syria or Iraq where the words "Tribes" or "Clans" have come to substitute "Caste". It must be noted that the newly independent India gave all Indians of both sexes the right to vote and went on further to provide "reservations" the equivalent of "affirmative action". This was long before the black American even got the right to vote. Less said about Europe the better, the "Roma" still get rounded up and "deported" even though as EU citizens they have the right to mobility. "Caste" is a powerful tool for the unscrupulous politician inside India. The excuse of colonial apologists or more markedly the evangelists (if they are not the former) outside India. Caste a European concept so prominent in the family names of Americans and Europeans, has today become synonymous with India thanks to the relentless propaganda of the colonialists/evangelists.
- npmn 8y ago
  It is not out of taste. Caste System(Jati System) though weakened still alive and kicking in India. (Dalits) Lowest caste layer in India is still subjugated to things like Cow vigilantism, Honour killing, Social boycott, Caste clashes and discrimination in various/all forms of life. It is interesting to note that Dalits are almost always on the receiving end of these issues. Giving example of the Prime Minister/President is equivalent to saying since Barack Obama is the president of US, black discrimination. PS: I belong to the so called Lower Caste in India and I have myself experienced instances of subtle/blatant discrimination. Thankfully haven't experienced anything serious yet, maybe because I became an Software Engineer and now live in a major city, thanks to the affirmative actions adopted by India, but poorer strata of lower caste living in tier-3 cities/villages face a lot of cases of discrimination even today. While India has a long way in social development, it still has a long to go. This narrative of bashing Europeans/Outsiders/Pakistanis for anything negative has to stop. Jati System has been in practise for thousands of years now.

rushabh 8y ago

Experiences in India will vary dramatically based on which state you live in. If you are rural Kerla, a state with 50M people in South India, you are likely to get some of the best quality healthcare are very affordable rates. It’s hard to generalise anything about India which is incredibly huge and diverse.

firstfewshells 8y ago
At the risk of nitpicking, Kerala population is actually close to 34M.
anonymous_i 8y ago
Kerala is but one state out of many. Kerala is probably the only state in India with a public safety net. How many states names can you pull to exemplify your argument besides Kerala?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

imagiko 8y ago

Reminds me of Amartya Sen's quote "...whatever you can rightly say about India, the opposite is also true". A lot of systemic issues will only be resolved as the society progresses, and there is a long way ahead for India.

dv_dt 8y ago

If you look at healthcare variation in the US, there are strong socioeconomic correlations to many measures of health and life expectancy too.

naruvimama 8y ago

The use of the word "low caste" is in quite mean considering "poor" would be more appropriate. Just as Black or Native American would be a poor substitute for poor american. Or Roma/Eskimo/Greenlander/Sami for Europe Especially considering that the current prime minister and president of India are from so called backward communities. India has come a long way in social development and using the "caste card" is quite out of taste. The word "Caste" is of European origin and does not have a proper native equivalent. The "caste system" itself is again a European concept imported into India to aid the colonial powers in their divide and rule. Unlike the persecution of the Native Americans, Blacks, Jews or Aboriginal which were systematic state run pogroms often in democracies. The fate of the "low caste" can be attributed to the fact that they were the most exploited, often to the point of death or slavery under colonial rule. While the so called "Upper caste" enjoyed second rung positions as peons, clerks and teachers. This experience is universal in the other colonies like Rwanda, Syria or Iraq where the words "Tribes" or "Clans" have come to substitute "Caste". It must be noted that the newly independent India gave all Indians of both sexes the right to vote and went on further to provide "reservations" the equivalent of "affirmative action". This was long before the black American even got the right to vote. Less said about Europe the better, the "Roma" still get rounded up and "deported" even though as EU citizens they have the right to mobility. "Caste" is a powerful tool for the unscrupulous politician inside India. The excuse of colonial apologists or more markedly the evangelists (if they are not the former) outside India. Caste a European concept so prominent in the family names of Americans and Europeans, has today become synonymous with India thanks to the relentless propaganda of the colonialists/evangelists.

npmn 8y ago
It is not out of taste. Caste System(Jati System) though weakened still alive and kicking in India. (Dalits) Lowest caste layer in India is still subjugated to things like Cow vigilantism, Honour killing, Social boycott, Caste clashes and discrimination in various/all forms of life. It is interesting to note that Dalits are almost always on the receiving end of these issues. Giving example of the Prime Minister/President is equivalent to saying since Barack Obama is the president of US, black discrimination. PS: I belong to the so called Lower Caste in India and I have myself experienced instances of subtle/blatant discrimination. Thankfully haven't experienced anything serious yet, maybe because I became an Software Engineer and now live in a major city, thanks to the affirmative actions adopted by India, but poorer strata of lower caste living in tier-3 cities/villages face a lot of cases of discrimination even today. While India has a long way in social development, it still has a long to go. This narrative of bashing Europeans/Outsiders/Pakistanis for anything negative has to stop. Jati System has been in practise for thousands of years now.