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> Plenty of lower class Indian immigrants pool their money for taxi medallions, convenient stores, hotels, trucks, etc. to get a business going. Are there many

> Plenty of lower class Indian immigrants pool their money for taxi medallions, convenient stores, hotels, trucks, etc. to get a business going. Are there many "lower class Indian immigrants" who arrived in the past 30 years? The immigration system since the 90s has raised the barrier for Indians so high that the idea of 'lower class Indian immigrants' seems difficult to parse. I disagree with the assertion that Indians have to be very wealthy to immigrate - highly educated/qualified, yes. The era when an Indian taxi driver could immigrate ended many decades ago.

hunterb123 5y ago
Yes. There are many lower class immigrants period and there's many jobs in which they work. Uber driving, trucking, convenient stores, and many more.
- valarauko 5y ago
  I'm genuinely curious how this is the case. Every desi person I see working in the jobs you mentioned has usually turned out to be Bangladeshi or Pakistani - For every Indian Uber driver, I've gotten 5 Pakistani ones. I'm in NYC, which has a large South Asian population. The city is quite tolerant of undocumented immigrants, so I'd expect undocumented Indians to occupy some significant fraction of those jobs as well. Yet even Indian restaurants here are mostly staffed by Bangladeshis.
nopenopenopeno 5y ago
As I understand, lower class/cast Indians have to win a lottery to get a decent education.
- valarauko 5y ago
  What? That's not the case at all. Like anywhere in the world, education in India is definitely more accessible to the privileged. However, the Indian educational system has a mandatory quota for the traditionally marginalized groups, and higher education is essentially free. Yes, there are issues around accessibility to education for the most disadvantaged groups, but to suggest that a "lower caste" Indian needs to win a lottery (whatever that means) to get a decent education is just not true. The current system reserves about 50% of educational seats at the very best institutions for various marginalized groups (including the differently abled). A kid from a marginalized group that has at least average grades is almost guaranteed a college education, for free. A bright kid from one of these groups is very likely to get into the very best engineering/medical/research institutions. Of course, it not all smooth sailing after that, and discrimination is a real problem. I would still disagree that the chances for a decent education are anywhere comparable to winning a lottery.

hunterb123 5y ago

Yes. There are many lower class immigrants period and there's many jobs in which they work. Uber driving, trucking, convenient stores, and many more.

valarauko 5y ago
I'm genuinely curious how this is the case. Every desi person I see working in the jobs you mentioned has usually turned out to be Bangladeshi or Pakistani - For every Indian Uber driver, I've gotten 5 Pakistani ones. I'm in NYC, which has a large South Asian population. The city is quite tolerant of undocumented immigrants, so I'd expect undocumented Indians to occupy some significant fraction of those jobs as well. Yet even Indian restaurants here are mostly staffed by Bangladeshis.

nopenopenopeno 5y ago

As I understand, lower class/cast Indians have to win a lottery to get a decent education.

valarauko 5y ago
What? That's not the case at all. Like anywhere in the world, education in India is definitely more accessible to the privileged. However, the Indian educational system has a mandatory quota for the traditionally marginalized groups, and higher education is essentially free. Yes, there are issues around accessibility to education for the most disadvantaged groups, but to suggest that a "lower caste" Indian needs to win a lottery (whatever that means) to get a decent education is just not true. The current system reserves about 50% of educational seats at the very best institutions for various marginalized groups (including the differently abled). A kid from a marginalized group that has at least average grades is almost guaranteed a college education, for free. A bright kid from one of these groups is very likely to get into the very best engineering/medical/research institutions. Of course, it not all smooth sailing after that, and discrimination is a real problem. I would still disagree that the chances for a decent education are anywhere comparable to winning a lottery.