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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

#71

Post by pm90 »

snambi wrote: post #64
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.

It is not easy. I don't know why you're spreading this fallacy. India has one of the highest instances of malnourished children. If it was that easy, why are there so many hungry people?

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

#72

Post by throwthis153 »

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?

There is no one religion in India. People of minorities may not be comfortable going to a temple. Also, langars and temple food is pro bono and excellent volunteer work. It's not supposed to be relied upon to feed people below the poverty line.

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

#73

Post by pm90 »

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…

I mean, is customer service really that important? If the food is cheap and nutritious, I wouldn't mind being shouted at by an old lady ;).

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

#74

Post by rohit2412 »

geodel wrote: post #47
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 was trying to show extremities of India. 2500 per head is not really much if some drinks are added. I am glad that you did not go all the way to politician Raj Babbar who claimed for 10 INR you can get a full meal any where in India.

Yes, there are extremities in India. Food is a bigger pie of the income than what typical western population is accustomed to.

But this was over exaggeration.

Raj Babbar definitely went too far, but 30-40 INR is enough to find a meal (Even the article corroborates these numbers). Don't expect fine dining and mineral water though.

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

#75

Post by tryingagainbro »

snambi wrote: post #67
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.

Height and obesity...

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

#76

Post by rohit2412 »

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…

> In fact, I've been to cafes where a "meal" of tea, snacks, etc. alone came to over INR 700/pp.

I've been to restaurants where the expense (including drinks) was 5k per head. One of the companies during placements took new hires out for dinner, the bill was 12k per head. I've been to places in USA where the bill was 200$ per head. This isn't a "decent meal".

> You would be hard pressed to get a decent meal in a clean, hygenic and modern restaurant for INR 200 anywhere in North India.

I can suggest dozens of places in Chandigarh and Delhi. Even McDonalds, Dominoes would cost less than 200 per head. And those are considered a decent place in India.

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

#77

Post by rajathagasthya »

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.

They probably point out because Karnataka state elections are due to be held in a few months. And this isn't the first time this government (or any government for that matter) has launched popular schemes so close to the election.

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

#79

Post by jsonderulio »

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.

Why can't both things be true?

If you consistently deliver brilliant policies that help your people, you should be re-elected.

Plus, by still making the people pay, you can offer them an amazing tool to increase their productivity WITHOUT taking away their pride in providing for themselves or establishing a direct indefinite dependency.

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

#80

Post by shostack »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #41
shostack wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without judging people's situations, I have to wonder at why people earning minimum wage would be eating out at Panera vs bringing lunch from home for much less money.

So, rent in the DC area starts at about $1400/mth. Period. If you're okay living with three roommates, you might be able to eke out something livable at $700 a month. But then you're sharing a house with people you don't know, and young women might be especially uncomfortable with that. Your other option is to live in someone's guest room or basement for $600. The people who rent out these rooms usually expect to be…

Do they have electricity? A mini-fridge runs So while I recognize that not everyone in that situation may be resourceful enough to realize this and do something about it, the notion that cooking becomes impossible is not accurate.

The education for where to purchase these things cheaply and how to cook in restricted situations with them is admittedly still a problem though, and it seems like a lot of good could be done to solve it. Getting your nutrition bootstrapped up on a path that lets you save more money seems like a worthwhile goal.

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