Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 168 posts

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

#61

Post by snambi »

codezero wrote: post #54
snambi wrote: post #52

India has 1000s of temples who serve food for free to anyone without asking questions. Why only talk about a govt project clearly aimed at getting votes of poor?

Since I don't know the area – can you think of a reason this type of canteen is so popular if there's widely available, similar alternative? Sounds like there's something more to this – are the canteens simply cheaper because of subsidy? More efficient so less time waiting? Better location for the working population?

First, marketing by the congress party, they will talk about it relentlessly on TV/Newspaper/media etc.

Since it is run by congress party (govt) they can use the best real estate in town, which provides the highest visibility to the commuters.

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

#62

Post by snambi »

bllguo wrote: post #58

People snidely - and probably correctly - point out this is done for votes. That just seems overly cynical. Incentive alignment is a good thing - it's the whole basis of capitalism. I don't get why people feel the need to point it out in this manner.

Of Course, it is done for political gain.

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

#63

Post by piyushpr134 »

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…

uncle, kitni baar khana khate ho Indira canteen main ?

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

#64

Post by snambi »

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…

Unlike western countries where getting free food is nearly impossible, getting free food in India is quite easy. Many temples provide free food. Even people offer free food.

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

#65

Post by svat »

koenigdavidmj wrote: post #57
svat wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not since 1971. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_Day

You are of course correct, but the currency that is 1/100 of a pound is still the penny, plural "pence". In this case, 5 cents still doesn't work.

Yes good point. And in any case, for "five rupees, or about 13 cents" to be correct, we'd need a cent to be about 5/13 ≈ 0.38 rupees, and that fits neither USD (1 USD ≈ 65 INR) nor GBP (1 GBP ≈ 86 INR). So original point in this thread, that the article's conversion is mystifying/wrong, still holds.

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

#66

Post by pm90 »

For those pointing out that this is "Govt. distortion of markets", please see Agricultural subsidies offered in the US and Europe, which "distort" markets a lot more.

Personally, I think this is an excellent idea. I really liked the story of the lady who said that her morning had been freed because she did not have to cook breakfast anymore. And for many of those using this place, it would similarly free up their time.

Another important point: unlike the gross fast food that you see in the US, this is actually very nutritious. Lentils are a great source of protein and other essential amino acids. The canteens also provide free drinking water. I can see this more as a public health program than a "wasteful subsidy": save millions of man-hours wasted by poor health by providing a decent amount of healthy food to everyone.

As for the idea of indirect assistance via tokens or food stamps: I would wager this is better since the Government can use economies of scale to provide food at low prices. Not to mention: they have quality control over exactly what is offered to the public.

India grows more than enough food to feed all its citizens. I'm glad to see that schemes to provide nutritious meals at subsidized prices to people are finally coming through.

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

#67

Post by snambi »

tryingagainbro wrote: post #35

should extend this to a lot of places: "In fact, Guatemala has the highest rate of malnutrition in the Western Hemisphere: 50 percent of the population is stunted and, in rural Mayan villages, that figure gets as high as 80 percent." * We compared a group of native 9-year-old Mayans and a group of 9-year-old Mayans raised in the United States. The difference was dramatic. The American Mayan children who have access t…

oh god... americans are obese.. please don't compare.

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

#68

Post by pm90 »

jabretti wrote: post #60
bllguo wrote: post #58

People snidely - and probably correctly - point out this is done for votes. That just seems overly cynical. Incentive alignment is a good thing - it's the whole basis of capitalism. I don't get why people feel the need to point it out in this manner.

>Incentive alignment is a good thing - it's the whole basis of capitalism. The government taking your money and giving it to other people for votes isn't capitalism, it's corruption.

I'm sorry, your definition of corruption is completely wrong.

One of the many goals of a certain type of Government is wealth redistribution.

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

#69

Post by throwthis153 »

jabretti wrote: post #60
bllguo wrote: post #58

People snidely - and probably correctly - point out this is done for votes. That just seems overly cynical. Incentive alignment is a good thing - it's the whole basis of capitalism. I don't get why people feel the need to point it out in this manner.

>Incentive alignment is a good thing - it's the whole basis of capitalism. The government taking your money and giving it to other people for votes isn't capitalism, it's corruption.

I don't think you have any idea about the problems in 3rd world countries. There are many people below the poverty line and these canteens are a god send.

You must be against state sponsored healthcare too ?. Isn't that just taking taxes from healthy people and using it to treat ill people. In your words - corruption.

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

#70

Post by piyushpr134 »

1024core wrote: post #56
rohit2412 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Monthly salary of a driver is atleast 10k INR ~ 154$, Your friends are eating at a place that costs 2500 INR per head? That's not a decent restaurant meal, that's a lavish restaurant. I would say 200 INR gets you a decent restaurant meal.

I'll counter your anecdata with mine. I usually take Uber in India, and often ask the driver about his work, how much he makes, etc. This is for a North-Indian Tier-2 city. The answer usually is that he makes INR 6000/month. Now, I have eaten in middling restaurants where a meal for 2 came to INR 2500. In fact, I've been to cafes where a "meal" of tea, snacks, etc. alone came to over INR 700/pp. You would be hard pre…

Uber guy earning INR6000/month! Man you have been conned hard. An Ola/Uber guy earn something like INR35-50K per month after all fuel and car expenses. No one would work for 6K/month even in tier 3 cities for Ola/Uber. In fact there were days when drivers were earning (due to incentives) about 6K (revenue) per day in cities like Delhi and Bangalore
Post reply on HN