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You cannot figure out the "servant" business in India without considering the caste system. We get the income inequality side pretty well, it makes sense. But u

You cannot figure out the "servant" business in India without considering the caste system. We get the income inequality side pretty well, it makes sense. But until the caste crap gets replaced by a different currency, being/having a servant is a different concept from a westerner's.

yummyfajitas 13y ago
India doesn't have much income inequality. Their Gini is 33, same ballpark as France, Bangladesh and the UK. (For comparison, Denmark is at 25 and the US is at 45.)
- anishkothari 13y ago
  > India doesn't have much income inequality This[1] page shows India's Gini coefficient at 36.8 in 2004. India suffers from very high income inequality [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_eq...
  - yummyfajitas 13y ago
    33 by the World Bank, 36.8 by the CIA. Using the CIA's numbers rather than the world Bank, India is comparable to New Zealand or Japan. It's still well below the US (45) or the world as a whole (39). India's problem is poverty, not inequality. Much as first world hipsters try to conflate the two, they are not the same thing.
    - wrongc0ntinent 13y ago
      >India's problem is poverty, not inequality. I would agree, but life in a city like Kolkata is very different from a place like tribal Odisha. Sheer numbers (as opposed to percentages) are more important when you get in the hundreds of millions.
    - yetanotherphd 13y ago
      Thanks for that info, like many people I had always assumed that India was especially unequal, and this was the cause of many of its social problems. The more you know...
    - discardorama 13y ago
      Bear in mind that "income" is a loose concept in India. A lot of the economy is 'under the table'. So while someone may report an "income" of $1000/month, their actual take may be 10x or more. Most Indians outside the salaried sector don't pay income taxes. And there are tax loopholes (agricultural income comes to mind) which allow people to shield massive amounts of income.
  - gtirloni 13y ago
    And? Unless that means it's all unicorns and rainbows out there I can't see your point.
kamakazizuru 13y ago
the "caste crap" has increasingly less to do with people being "servants" - its more an income and education thing. In fact - being from a "lower caste" in India - actually makes getting into the IITs (best engg. colleges) & IIMs ( best management colleges) and pretty much everywhere else a cake walk due to flawed affirmative action programs.

yummyfajitas 13y ago

India doesn't have much income inequality. Their Gini is 33, same ballpark as France, Bangladesh and the UK. (For comparison, Denmark is at 25 and the US is at 45.)

anishkothari 13y ago
> India doesn't have much income inequality This[1] page shows India's Gini coefficient at 36.8 in 2004. India suffers from very high income inequality [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_eq...
- yummyfajitas 13y ago
  33 by the World Bank, 36.8 by the CIA. Using the CIA's numbers rather than the world Bank, India is comparable to New Zealand or Japan. It's still well below the US (45) or the world as a whole (39). India's problem is poverty, not inequality. Much as first world hipsters try to conflate the two, they are not the same thing.
  - wrongc0ntinent 13y ago
    >India's problem is poverty, not inequality. I would agree, but life in a city like Kolkata is very different from a place like tribal Odisha. Sheer numbers (as opposed to percentages) are more important when you get in the hundreds of millions.
  - yetanotherphd 13y ago
    Thanks for that info, like many people I had always assumed that India was especially unequal, and this was the cause of many of its social problems. The more you know...
  - discardorama 13y ago
    Bear in mind that "income" is a loose concept in India. A lot of the economy is 'under the table'. So while someone may report an "income" of $1000/month, their actual take may be 10x or more. Most Indians outside the salaried sector don't pay income taxes. And there are tax loopholes (agricultural income comes to mind) which allow people to shield massive amounts of income.
- gtirloni 13y ago
  And? Unless that means it's all unicorns and rainbows out there I can't see your point.

kamakazizuru 13y ago

the "caste crap" has increasingly less to do with people being "servants" - its more an income and education thing. In fact - being from a "lower caste" in India - actually makes getting into the IITs (best engg. colleges) & IIMs ( best management colleges) and pretty much everywhere else a cake walk due to flawed affirmative action programs.