An Instagram post of Kristen Fischer, an American mom living in India, has gone viral recently. It has been reported by Business Today, and I presume by others too. Perhaps more relevantly, it has been picked up by BJP’s cyber army and is being circulated by them. I received a WA forward from a patriotic friend before I got the newsfeed. What is there in the 84-second video?
Ms. Fischer records ten reasons why India is better off than the US. Here are the main points.
• India has a hugely successful Instant Digital Payment system.
• AADHAR and PAN Cards are digital.
• Autos and rickshaws are cheap and convenient.
• Doctors and medicines available freely; one can choose one’s doctor / hospital.
• Indians are free to hire helps and labourers; in America, it’s far too expensive.
• Delivery systems – you can get anything in minutes.
After watching the video, I wondered if Ms Fischer will ever apply for Indian citizenship! Jokes apart, it would be reasonable to think this video will reach millions of Indians and present a perspective that our saffron outfits would love to propagate. (No wonder they are amplifying it.) Therefore, it’s necessary to examine how valid her arguments are.
Of Fischer’s points, the Instant Digital Payment system in India (Paytm, Google Pay, etc.) is a tremendous achievement possibly unmatched anywhere else in the world! Kudos to the government and the engineers who made it possible. But the rest of the comparisons are—for want of a better word—bullshit.
It is beyond debate that the top 5–10% of India has a lifestyle comparable to or better than that of the middle class in the richest countries. India’s problems begin and end with the bottom 90%, who are actually worse of in New India, where investment is on glitzy superfast trains for the rich and not on replacing rickety old trains for the hoi polloi, where higher education is available to the highest bidder unlike in the past when rich and poor had almost equal opportunities as higher education was largely subsidized.
Therefore, Ms. Fischer is comparing the top 10% of India with maybe, the top 80% of the US, where a domestic help drives a decent car to my son’s home to do housework for a wage of $50 an hour. (She must be among the poorest in the US!) In Connecticut, I talked to a plumber in 2009 who charged $185 an hour. He might have been earning more than some high school teachers there. Dear Reader, please compare them with your domestic help and the plumber who fixes your bathroom fittings.
Forget about the five trillion economy touted by the top guns of the government. The real issue today is fast-tracking income inequality, poverty, and unemployment. It is a good time to be rich in India. Greed is good!
In contrast, in the Global Hunger Index (GHI), India stands at 105th among 129 countries in 2024.[2] This is even after providing free ration to 80 crore people.
The table above sums it up. Here are the main takeaways.1. The country which is 119th in terms of GDP (PPP)[1] in the world has the third highest number of dollar billionaires.
2. We have more dollar billionaires than what Germany and the United Kingdom, the two largest European economies, have together.
3. On the other hand, Bangladesh, which has per capita GDP (PPP) not far below India’s, has just one dollar-billionaire, indicating that our neighbour has far less wealth disparity than we have.
To sum up, India is a poor country of grotesque inequalities, where government policies help the super-rich, while a vast majority languishes in poverty and hunger. In any structure, when the top becomes heavier than the bottom, it collapses. What, do you think, is India’s future?
12 March 2025
POSTSCRIPT: What makes our rulers so desperate that they need certificates from sundry Americans?
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An explanatory note and the sources of information (All websites accessed on 12/03.2025):
1. GDP (PPP) is the nominal GDP adjusted for the cost of living in each country. India’s estimated nominal per capita GDP is $2,940. But a dollar in India buys about 4 times what a dollar can buy in the US. Hence our per capita GDP (PPP) is about 4 times the nominal GDP. Obviously, the GDP (PPP) is a far more accurate indicator of the actual level of prosperity in a country.]
2. [https://www.globalhungerindex.org/ranking.html]
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/.../List_of_countries_by_number...
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/.../List_of_countries_by_GDP...
