Which is worse: Inequality or Extreme Poverty?
Let’s take a look at the Gini coefficient which measures inequality of income distribution. The lower the number, the more the equality. India doesn’t fare too badly. Income disparity seems very high in South America and higher in China than in India, although there are fewer poor people in China.
I need hardly add that India will fare worse than America.
The high costs of education must be one of the obstacles to success in a country like America. A few smart people can rise in life without an education, but most cannot.
In India college education is not that expensive but often it is not of a good quality. Not that all of the poor manage to get themselves educated. The extreme poverty forces parents to send their children off to work, not to school. And then in India there is far too much reliance on influence and contacts when it comes to jobs.
We know that this is the case in India but why is there less dissatisfaction in America if indeed their society does not provide equal opportunity for all?
Random conversations with poor people in India will reveal that they do not expect to become rich. If they have not turned unhappy and bitter it is more to do with the fact that they have accepted their “karma”.
A time will come when they won’t accept it and in fact the new generation isn’t accepting it. If India doesn’t give them opportunities we will have grave problems. Naxalism is an ever present danger.
