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India's Indira canteen: The best meal you can buy for 13 cents

bbc.co.uk

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Re: India's Indira canteen: The best meal you can buy for 13 cents

#21

Post by thepoet »

bruceb wrote: post #6
signal11 wrote: post #3

I believe these are subsidized (the article does mention economists complaining that these are a drain on the exchequer). A more subtle point is that these subsidized "canteens" are in urban India, which is already much better off than rural India, where people even now regularly die of hunger[1]. I'm not saying urban poverty isn't a real issue, but the scale of poverty in rural India is much greater. It's worth noti…

There are not that many Sikhs around. 22 million in a country of 1.2 billion. Most live in the north. You can't easily go get food from Sikhs.

The point about majority of Sikhs living in north is irrelevant. The gurudwara provide free food. There are multiple gurudwaras in almost all Indian states [1]. Most of them have langar though some only do on weekends. You can always find one using Google Maps at a location near you, though it might be inconvenient if you have limited means of travel. Several poor people shift base and reside outside or even inside gurudwaras for free accommodation and food.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gurdwaras Some of the gurudwaras

Re: India's Indira canteen: The best meal you can buy for 13 cents

#23

Post by baybal2 »

nocoder wrote: post #12

I have seen these in bangalore, in fact there is one very close to my office. One of the things that concerns me with such projects is that how they effect other eateries in the area. The one near my office that opened recently is on a street with about 5 other eateries. Having a eatery which is subsidized by government distorts this local market and adversely affects the other businesses in the area since they also…

May be.

Even in a country as poor as India, food is not a double percentage of income spending even for a moderately well off person.

It is better to have underemployed, and socially marginalized people fed well and healthy, than to deal with consequences of them not having access to proper nutrition.

Re: India's Indira canteen: The best meal you can buy for 13 cents

#24

Post by zacurry »

nocoder wrote: post #12

I have seen these in bangalore, in fact there is one very close to my office. One of the things that concerns me with such projects is that how they effect other eateries in the area. The one near my office that opened recently is on a street with about 5 other eateries. Having a eatery which is subsidized by government distorts this local market and adversely affects the other businesses in the area since they also…

I have seen the crowd at indira canteens and they are not the clientele of the near by eateries.I think this is a much better way than food coupons to be used at private restaurants , which is ripe for correction in a country like india.

Re: India's Indira canteen: The best meal you can buy for 13 cents

#25

Post by ananthrk »

narenkeshav wrote: post #19

This is already functional in the state of TamilNadu for more than 3 years. It is called as "Amma's canteen". Any meal is 1 or 2 rupees. It is clean, healthy & definitely not fast food. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QwO9RyihO8

And the inspiration behind Indira canteens :)

Re: India's Indira canteen: The best meal you can buy for 13 cents

#26

Post by rbanffy »

CamTin wrote: post #4

Similar to the (sadly, fading) Bar Mleczny in Poland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_mleczny Simple food (Polish food obviously, not Indian), government-subsidized, targeted at students, the elderly, the poor, but not means-tested or anything so technically anyone can get a plate, including foreigners, for very cheap. Typically very good food, but horrible customer service (old women yelling at you to make up your…

> horrible customer service

Things like that can easily become the identity of the place.

Re: India's Indira canteen: The best meal you can buy for 13 cents

#27

Post by spodek »

nocoder wrote: post #12

I have seen these in bangalore, in fact there is one very close to my office. One of the things that concerns me with such projects is that how they effect other eateries in the area. The one near my office that opened recently is on a street with about 5 other eateries. Having a eatery which is subsidized by government distorts this local market and adversely affects the other businesses in the area since they also…

> Having a eatery which is subsidized by government distorts this local market and adversely affects the other businesses in the area since they also cater to similar demographic with largely similar products.

Same in the U.S. about McDonald's, fast food, and other junk food sellers whose product is based on corn, soy, beef, and other recipients of billions of dollars of subsidy and unaccounted externalities.

Re: India's Indira canteen: The best meal you can buy for 13 cents

#28

Post by skybrian »

nocoder wrote: post #12

I have seen these in bangalore, in fact there is one very close to my office. One of the things that concerns me with such projects is that how they effect other eateries in the area. The one near my office that opened recently is on a street with about 5 other eateries. Having a eatery which is subsidized by government distorts this local market and adversely affects the other businesses in the area since they also…

It's a good point about local businesses but I wonder why a big provider of cheap food like this doesn't happen without government help? Also, why not cash instead of food vouchers?

Re: India's Indira canteen: The best meal you can buy for 13 cents

#29

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

nocoder wrote: post #12

I have seen these in bangalore, in fact there is one very close to my office. One of the things that concerns me with such projects is that how they effect other eateries in the area. The one near my office that opened recently is on a street with about 5 other eateries. Having a eatery which is subsidized by government distorts this local market and adversely affects the other businesses in the area since they also…

That would really depend on what the target demographic was of those neighboring eateries, wouldn't it?

I'll use an American analogy to illustrate, and so I'm sorry in advance if it doesn't translate well.

In the Washington D.C. area (where I have several friends working), the restaurants are overwhelmingly high-end. A meal at a standard Panera bread is one of the more affordable options, and costs you somewhere between $12-15. Assuming said person works minimum wage, they're making $12.50/hr. In the longterm, that's really not sustainable, as they're spending an hour of their work-time just to be able to eat during the workday.

Suppose a Subway opens next door, and, additionally, suppose their $5 footlong still existed (it doesn't, but stay with me). The people who previously went to Panera start going to Subway because it's more affordable. Yeah, the Panera suffers, but many of the people that ate there couldn't really afford to eat there in the first place, and would have eventually stopped when their dwindling finances made it impossible.

Now on the other hand, if Subway was our base price and a government-subsidized eatery opens up with complete meals for $2, then yes, I can see how that might be a problem.

Re: India's Indira canteen: The best meal you can buy for 13 cents

#30

Post by zebnyc »

vowelless wrote: post #15
signal11 wrote: post #3

I believe these are subsidized (the article does mention economists complaining that these are a drain on the exchequer). A more subtle point is that these subsidized "canteens" are in urban India, which is already much better off than rural India, where people even now regularly die of hunger[1]. I'm not saying urban poverty isn't a real issue, but the scale of poverty in rural India is much greater. It's worth noti…

> It's worth noting that you can get free food in many places in India (and in some cities in Europe and the US), via the Sikh langar[2] which is funded by charity and volunteers. Incidentedly, Indira Gandhi (After whom the Indira canteen is named) was assassinated by Sikhs. Does the naming of the canteen have anything to do with the assassination ?

Not a Sikh but I don't believe these are related. As per wikipedia "Langar (Punjabi: ਲੰਗਰ) (kitchen) is the term used in Sikhism for the community kitchen in a Gurdwara where a free meal is served to all the visitors, without distinction of religion, caste, gender, economic status or ethnicity." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langar_(Sikhism)

The assasination of Indira Gandhi was related a separatist movement who wanted Punjab to secede from the rest of India (while Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister)

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