3 ms·

> for countries like India where there is no social security whats the reason for that?

_448 4y ago
> whats the reason for that? India is a very huge and diverse country that was under foreign occupation for about two centuries. It is "just" 75 years since the country was independent and completely bankrupt. Add to that red-tape bureaucracy and corruption after independence. Hopefully things will change in a few generations.
dredmorbius 4y ago
It's interesting to consider the way in which social welfare systems developed. The concept originated in Imperial Germany under Otto Bismark, in the 1880s I believe, though there were precursors in Prussia and elsewhere dating to the 1840s. In the U.S., Social Security was modeled in many ways on the Railroad Retirement Act of 1934, including the structure of account numbers (the 3-2-4 format, though RRA accounts begin with an 'R' rather than a numeric digit). This preceded the Social Security Act by only one year. The federal law was in addition to company-based pensions, which were proving problematic. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_Retirement_Board https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_Retirement_Board> Both the RRA and SSA were passed during a deep financial crisis, the Great Depression. India's history differs in many regards, and I'd suspect that demographics (a large youthful population) play a strong role --- family obligations can substitute for a formal federalised programme. I also suspect that India's somewhat decentralised government (many states operate with a large degree of autonomy) might make for regional programmes, say, in Kerala State, which tends to be much more progressive than other areas, though that's conjecture on my part, I'm not familiar with that aspect of Indian policy or politics. More on contemporary Indian welfare policy here: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_security_in_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_security_in_India> Interestingly, I've just learned via Wikipedia, India has one of the oldest welfare state traditions dating to the 3rd century BCE under emperor Ashoka: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_state#India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_state#India>
known 4y ago

_448 4y ago

> whats the reason for that? India is a very huge and diverse country that was under foreign occupation for about two centuries. It is "just" 75 years since the country was independent and completely bankrupt. Add to that red-tape bureaucracy and corruption after independence. Hopefully things will change in a few generations.

dredmorbius 4y ago

It's interesting to consider the way in which social welfare systems developed. The concept originated in Imperial Germany under Otto Bismark, in the 1880s I believe, though there were precursors in Prussia and elsewhere dating to the 1840s. In the U.S., Social Security was modeled in many ways on the Railroad Retirement Act of 1934, including the structure of account numbers (the 3-2-4 format, though RRA accounts begin with an 'R' rather than a numeric digit). This preceded the Social Security Act by only one year. The federal law was in addition to company-based pensions, which were proving problematic. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_Retirement_Board https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_Retirement_Board> Both the RRA and SSA were passed during a deep financial crisis, the Great Depression. India's history differs in many regards, and I'd suspect that demographics (a large youthful population) play a strong role --- family obligations can substitute for a formal federalised programme. I also suspect that India's somewhat decentralised government (many states operate with a large degree of autonomy) might make for regional programmes, say, in Kerala State, which tends to be much more progressive than other areas, though that's conjecture on my part, I'm not familiar with that aspect of Indian policy or politics. More on contemporary Indian welfare policy here: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_security_in_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_security_in_India> Interestingly, I've just learned via Wikipedia, India has one of the oldest welfare state traditions dating to the 3rd century BCE under emperor Ashoka: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_state#India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_state#India>

known 4y ago