Well, a lot to unpack here. I'm not going to disagree with the inequality, bad air quality, or the gap in development between the classes of people in India.

Well, a lot to unpack here. I'm not going to disagree with the inequality, bad air quality, or the gap in development between the classes of people in India. But, as someone with one foot on either sides of the world, I'd like to caution against a closed-off narrative that sounds like "Look, this, this, and this are bad, so overall it is conclusively bad!". We humans all over the world develop as a society and are posed with different challenges that we solve very differently. I certainly have made my personal choice and moved around (US, Denmark, and now Netherlands), but that doesn't entitle me to say any particular world view _must_ be the good one. I for one, certainly miss the cultural openness, family bonds imposed on one by the typical South Indian society. I miss the attitude of "how do we get by and do this? no point in complaining that the government is failing to do blah, or relying on the safety net of a social system" - weird, I know. But, it gives you a certain mindset to look at things differently. I see this in my daily life with my Austrian wife and my son born in Denmark and being raised in The Netherlands - we(including myself) expect things to be in certain place, and feel entitled to them that we almost do not care. Look up the energy use and water use per capita in any western country versus that of India's and you'll see the eye-opening difference. India simply cannot afford to be as wasteful as the Americans or Europeans when the world is already lit on fire. Sure, western societies do not have underpaid home maids and servants, but the society here has been developing for a long time, and haven't had the misfortune of another country colonising them right during the industrial age and loot all of the resources and treating people like underpaid home maids and servants. Neither did they have the constraints of a warming climate dictating what or how much fossil fuel to burn to build out their infrastructure. India is huge, it has a different set of problems than the ones encountered by the western countries while they were developing. Over time, things will rationalise and I'm optimistic that the society will move towards the same priorities that the West has. But, I already cherish the secular credentials, diversity, innovation, and hard working populace of India. The scale of elections that occur that lead up to the election of the prime minister is a marvel to observe. I was only surprised to see the creme of the labour force(IT, one I happen to know) is already on par with the West that already seem to have it all. The rest will follow.