Slumdog Millionaire and Real India

India is a poor country with a long history of exploitation by the Asian and the European invaders. The country also has the history of culture and the long ago glory which is a source of pride for the well off and for good reasons. Thanks to this pride India always had a large section of population who valued learning and consistently made significant contributions to sciences and arts and which is now instrumental in the much accelerated economic growth. But the pride in ancient glory does not feed the family and is irrelevant to the parents for whom the next meal for their children is the only consideration.
The poverty in India, economic and social, increased steadily in the nineteenth and the first half of twentieth centuries till it reached the extremely low levels depicted so effectively in the movie Slumdog Millionaire. Since independence in 1947, the economic and social conditions have been improving; slowly in the first four decades when the foundation was being established and rapidly for last fifteen years. Unfortunately, the growth in population – the current population is three times what it was on the independence day- counters much of the growth in economy on the per capita basis. The rapid rise in population is mainly responsible for the poorest group still being dirt poor. However, their relative numbers are in decline, although not as quickly as we all wish. What makes the situation particularly alarming is that while the educated middle class is limiting the size of their families, the poor and uneducated people are having more surviving children, at least partly due to improved sanitation and better availability of health care.
That said, during my last visit in the fall of 2007 the people on the street, even the beggars, looked better fed than ever before and a feeling of confidence was in the air. One can not dispute the existence of exploitation, corruption and terrible living conditions in the slums shown in the movie. It is unfortunately still true after sixty years of independence that young girls are sold into prostitution, sometimes by their parents, young orphans are kidnapped and mutilated and sent out to beg, police and other authorities are corrupt and there are many hurdles for the poor to raise themselves. But there are stringent laws against these activities although enforcement is sometimes lax. Yet it happens much less often than it used to under the British Raj when the authorities looked the other way. Available statistics confirm what is obvious to a frequent visitor that a vast majority is much better off, even those living in the slums. Belief in caste system is fading and only a small portion of the general population treats lower classes as untouchables. The situation of lower classes is much improved and there are many avenues for them to move up the social ladder through free education and job opportunities. In fact, many poor people of ‘higher’ classes claim the ‘scheduled caste’ status to avail the privileges granted to them in the constitution. In spite of the headlines and the propaganda from some neighbours, Hindus and Muslims generally live and work in peace as indicated by the composition of governing bodies and sports teams where minority Muslims are well represented. The improvement in living conditions is so significant that it is changing the demographics of Indian emigrants; thirty years ago highly educated Indian professionals left the country in droves, now it is largely the relatively uneducated who come to join their relatives. This may be bad news for the English speaking western countries where the professionals born and trained in India have played increasingly important roles in the second half of the last century.
Yes, there is poverty in India, some of it extreme, and social inequalities persist. But it will be churlish to deny that the situation is improving and if the population stabilises the poverty will disappear more rapidly and the society will become more homogenised. However, if the population continues to grow at the current rate, it could cause an environmental disaster of unimaginable magnitude and the economy will become irrelevant.

If You enjoyed the post, please tell others about it.