- Population
For a sexually conservative nation, India has had fantastic population growth rates. Recently, India sneakily crossed the total population of China. At the time of this writing, the total Indian population stands at 1.406 billion. India was already one of the most densely populated nations (densest among the medium-to-large nations) in the world a long time ago. India’s overpopulation has a multiplier effect on all of its major problems including pollution, low literacy rates, poor health care, poverty — pretty much every issue I will be highlighting below.
You will be happy to know that Indian fertility rate has been below 2.2 lately. Thats below replacement rate. Indian population will peak around 2040 or so and will decline from there on.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has a fertility rate of 3.45! Alhamidulla!
India is at the very bottom when it comes to pollution rankings, whether it is air, land or water pollution. I present some random facts — the references I list below, provide plenty of depth & nuance. Out of the 30 most polluted cities in the world, 21 are in India. Ironically, Yamuna & Ganga which are considered holy, are one of the most polluted rivers in the world. One can find everything in these rivers: industrial waste, biological waste, litter, semi-cremated human dead-bodies, rotting animal dead-bodies, feces etc. It is customary for Hindu Indians to routinely take a dip in these waters. 86 percent of Indian bodies of water are deemed critically polluted. India can brag about mountains of trash. Pretty much every street in India is litter-infested, caused both by habits of its citizens and lack of trash bins. New Delhi, the capital of India, routinely goes into lock-down mode for excessive air pollution. The smog is sometimes so thick, it causes vehicular accidents.
Nothing to do with "India" as political entity. But you will be happy to know that lately due to effort of Indian government, Indian water bodies are getting better and fast.
Meanwhile in Pakistan, one third of the country is like this.
India is an overwhelmingly dirty country. I list this separately from my point about pollution because here I am not trying to make a point about health or environment. My point is about beauty (or lack thereof); about mere sights and sounds (and smells). Anybody who has traveled to India after being suckered by the travel ads that claim that India is “beautiful” & “colourful” is quickly & rudely shocked to see how dirty India is. The air often smells (something ones notices as soon they step out of their airplane in India). The sights are utterly unappealing. There is overcrowding, trash & litter virtually everywhere. Walls are covered with spit & urine stains. People honk constantly while driving for no apparent reason. Walk down any street in India that has traffic and all you will hear is “beep, meep, beep, meep” of the vehicles. Traffic is insane. There are no stop signs; no yield signs. Folks overtake from either lanes. There is zero lane discipline — folks will drive over the painted lines —six vehicles side-by-side within just two lanes. No one uses their turn signal or cares to look over their shoulder into their blind spot. Cars, motorcycles, scooters, buses, trucks, vans, auto-rickshaws, stray dogs and retired cattle crisscross the streets. One would be hard pressed to find beauty, silence and solitude in India. A feeling one gets while in India is that of being violently assailed through the senses.
What you said equally applies to a hell lot of countries like B'Desh, Pakistan (ever been to Karachi?), Sri Lanka (their beaches stink!) and lets not even talk about Africa.
As far as beep beep meep goes, try being stuck in traffic in london. its fun!
India has Environmental Performance Index of 177th amongst 180 countries. India was a country of beautiful nature in the past, but now it has a mere 24% of forest cover. India is responsible for 7% of the global CO2 emissions. At the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26), India bragged that it will be net neutral in 2070, instead of the year the countries were asked to be net neutral i.e. 2030. Conversation about environment is virtually non-existent whether in the political circles, academia, news, media or day-to-day lives of ordinary citizens.
Here is carbon emission of various countries
Taken over all, India is not even in the same ballpark as likes of USA and China.
India is at the bottom of the ranking when it comes to sanitation and clean drinking water. 732 million (twice the population of USA) Indians do not have basic sanitation, according to a study by WaterAid in 2017. India has EPI santitation ranking of 145th out of 189 countries, as per Yale. India ranks 120th among 122 countries for quality of drinking water, as per WaterAid. 15% of Indian population defecates in the open, as per WorldBank.
Both of your data is false.
India has merely 19 million people lacking access to toilet. Pakistan has 15 million people. The WaterAid report that you gleefully read uses OLD data.
Now coming to quality of drinking water. The ranking you mentioned does not exists and is lie. BTW, according to world bank, more Pakistani are underfed right now.
Quite simply put, most Indians do not perceive their country as a nation of rules, let alone laws. India’s corruption runs deep. It also runs broad, encompassing pretty much every sector: DMVs, police stations, courts, government offices, corporations, education systems, medical establishments, and of course, politics. India has a corruption perception index of 85th out of 180. 51% of respondents of a survey by Transparency International India said they had paid a bribe at least once in their lifetime. Sometimes the bribes are a blessing given some of India’s archaic or draconian laws such as suicide attempts being a crime, sedition etc, and massively backlogged court systems. One should weep for their country, if bribes are often the more prudent way around the insane laws, law enforcement, and justice system.
How does your country measure up in the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index?
www.transparency.org
India : Rank 85/180
Pakistan : 140/180
I wonder why you did not quote ranking this time?
Let us say politicians the world over are special people — ratas con dos patas. But Indian politicians are special even amongst politicians. If you are uneducated and criminal in India, you have a bright future in Indian politics. The estimates range from 30% to 50% of Indian MPs (members of parliament) and MLAs (members of legislative assembly) have criminal cases against them. Roughly 40% of Indian ministers have only high school education. Politicians in India often use tribalism and religion & caste issues to sow division and incite violence among the general population to stay in power. Most of them are either fanatics, jingoists, nepotists or populists. Some of them are communists (yes, that ideology that has proven itself to fail time and time again). All of them are corrupt and/or incompetent.
Seriously?
After having likes of Nawaz sharif, Diesel in your country you DARE to finger point at India?
In other words, irrational. India has thousands of superstitions and a multitude of religions. Scientific bent of mind and rationality are commodities that are hard to come by under the smog of religious beliefs, mystical thinking, extreme conservatism, and ancient superstitions.
Says someone whose Country is "Islamic State". Lets face it. Pakistan made Quran into law. I mean a hateful book from 1400s is law of the nation
Dowry, Sati (fortunately Sati has been in major decline), poor access to education & opportunity, forced arranged marriages, child marriages, sexual harassment, sexual assault, domestic violence, honour killings, poor access to women’s healthcare and birth control, just to name a few challenges an Indian woman faces even in 2022. An average Indian’s woman in India has a life that is way harder than an average Indian man. According to World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report of 2021, India has Global Gender Gap Index of 140th out of 156 countries. India is the world’s most dangerous country for women due to the high risk of sexual violence and being forced into slave labor, according to a poll of global experts conducted by Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Err... You DO know last sati happened 40-50 years back and that was just ONE incidence/\.
India’s caste system is famous enough that I do not need to expand on it. India’s treatment of minority groups like Muslims, Adivasis (forest tribes), Dalits (lower caste) etc increasingly makes headlines all over the world. Given the current ruling party is a ultra-right Hindu jingoist, nationalist party, this mistreatment often has major political backing & funding and hence is projected to increase.
You have seen PEW report on caste, have you?
The caste system has existed in some form in India for at least 3,000 years. It is a social hierarchy passed down through families, and it can dictate the
www.pewresearch.org
Not only do most Indians say that lower castes do not experience a lot of discrimination, but a strong majority (82%) say they have not personally felt caste discrimination in the past 12 months.
Yes, my dear, MOST Indians do not feel discriminated due to caste. And lower caste people in India are in majority.
Indian politicians are famously sensitive to criticism. India is ranked 140th out of 180 countries for freedom of press. Then again, freedom of press only matters if the press demonstrates journalistic integrity and accurate reporting. However, most of Indian news media is Fox News on steroids — sensationalist sycophants looking to get brownie points with a jingoist, populist, extreme right-wing, fascist political party in power, whilst making ads revenue. Have you heard of Arnab Goswami? He copied Bill O’ Riley and the format of 24-hr news with ads. Soon, other Indian TV news channels copied Arnab Goswami. And now, when you read an Indian newspaper or watch news on an Indian TV channel, it is a deafening & blinding cacophony of lies.
Says a Pakistani, where one can not criticise Islam or Mohemmed. Heck even mentioning DHA gets you in trouble
25% of the Indian population is I-cannot-write-my-own-name-so-I-have-to-thumb-print-this-document illiterate. Only 8% of the Indian population have college degrees. There is major brain drain from India to other countries. The educational material is often outdated. School and college facilities are underdeveloped or dilapidated. Most Indian students are taught rote memorization instead of being taught critical thinking and creativity.
I will just leave it here.
BTW, Pakistan is a rare country which has experienced -ve growth of literacy.
Literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above) - India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh from The World Bank: Data
data.worldbank.org
India is undergoing a major unemployment crisis with close to 8% unemployment rate. It has roughly 50% labour force participation rate.
So?
India has not counted its poor since 2011. What one does not measure, one cannot be held accountable for, seems to be the motto of the Indian Govt. Estimates range widely. For example, United Nations estimated the number of poor in the country to be 364 million in 2019, or 28 per cent of the population. Despite the variance in estimates, every reliable source agrees that India has one of the highest rates of poverty in the world. India is ranked 101st out of 116 countries on Global Hunger Index.
*Ahem*
What you are referring to is called census. And lets not forget Pakistan had a haitus of 20-30 years in that.
Now coming to poverty ...
In India you can still buy NON rotten eggs for INR 8. Pakistan that number if PRK 25 and you get a rotten egg. go figure!
Every time I hear, “India is the world’s largest democracy”, I roll my eyes.
US-based non-profit Freedom House downgraded India from a free democracy to a “partially free democracy”. Sweden-based V-Dem Institute says India had become an “electoral autocracy”. Democracy is not just occurrence of fair elections. It is a result of manifestation of many values such as freedom of speech, civil discourse, freedom of press, equality of rights, equality of opportunity, protection of minorities, rule of law, civic sense, sense of community, absence of corruption, globalism, secularism, effective public/Govt institutions & bureaucracies, meritocracy, separation of justice system, law enforcement, military and government etc. A depraved, uneducated, easily-riled, easily-beguiled, tribalistic populace, cyclically electing corrupt & incompetent politicians into power, is not democracy with a capital D.
We elect our leaders. Pakistan get them nominated by Pentagon and Lumber one force.
Any experience with any Indian organization, usually the ones run by the public/government sector whether it is the DMV, electricity department, phone department, passport/visa consulates, tax department, schools, post offices etc is often a soul crushing kafkaesque affair. There are often piles of forms to fill out, long lines to stand in, absurd rules, delays, bribes and incompetent civil servants involved. Even buying a bus ticket is a chore in India. All countries have bureaucracy, but the Indian bureaucracy puts even the communists to shame.
There is this thing called ease of doing business.
India is at 62.
Pakistan at 108.
Bangladesh 168.
Ease of doing business rank (1=most business-friendly regulations) - Bangladesh, India, Pakistan from The World Bank: Data
data.worldbank.org
