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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

#81

Post by shostack »

SwellJoe wrote: post #38
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.

There's a growing mobile homeless or partially homeless (living in storage facilities or an RV without services) population in many of the more expensive cities; they live in the city for work, because that's where the jobs are, but can't actually afford to live there. Obviously, this isn't everyone who eats out who can't really afford it, but it's definitely some. If you don't have a fridge, you don't have a stove,…

Thank you for educating me on that aspect of the situation.

Is there typically electricity in these situations? I ask because per my post below, I wonder how common it is to bootstrap up to a mini-fridge + pressure cooker or rice cooker or something like that. Seems like a few weeks of PB&J + cup ramen could provide for a significant upgrade in nutrition from purchasing those tools.

I'm probably leaving out some important aspect of this, and unfortunately some of this might simply be around education of where to purchase these tools and what to do with them to eat smarter, but I can't help but think there are ways to improve the situation with the cards they currently have in their hand.

If I found myself suddenly living out of a car or storage unit (provided it had electricity), I'd probably do whatever I could to save for a mini-fridge and rice cooker (eventually upgrading to a pressure cooker), and go from there. Rice and beans purchased in bulk are affordable and solid staples, and easy to turn into more nutritious meals by adding other ingredients.

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

#82

Post by snambi »

pm90 wrote: post #71
snambi wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Sure... if Indians are malnourished, how come the population keeps growing? It is usually the poor that have many children.

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

#83

Post by sushid »

pm90 wrote: post #66

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 tim…

> 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.

What you're saying is a classic case of a logical fallacy, specifically, the fallacy of relative privation. Just because there is another bigger problem doesn't mean that this is a legitimate problem.

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Not_as_bad_as

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

#84

Post by snambi »

rootedbox wrote: post #59
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?

If a democracy is working then government projects should be clearly aimed and guided by those voting.

yes, that is true.

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

#85

Post by baddox »

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.

You can’t just say “incentive alignment is good.” Incentive alignment is only “good” if they’re aligned with your incentives. If you are poor or approve of helping the poor get affordable food, then this is an instance of good incentive alignment. But, on the complete other side of the spectrum, if you’re poor and you observe the government giving tax breaks for private jets, that’s an example of bad incentive alignment. Of course, many of the people with private jets will likely consider the latter to be a good form of incentive alignment.

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

#86

Post by snambi »

rohit2412 wrote: post #42
geodel wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The deprivation is rather severe in India. You would notice most of the people are doing full day of work and eat there. In US typical person who eat at a soup kitchen would quite likely be non-working/homeless. I have had my well-off friends in India where 4 person family dinner will cost more than monthly salary of their car driver. And it is simultaneously true that driver's salary is quite less and a decent resta…

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.

You can get a decent healthy food for anywhere from 50 INR to 100 INR. However, the govt public-distribution-system is highly subsidized, that is how many people get their food. Also temples and charities offer free food.

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

#87

Post by snambi »

piyushpr134 wrote: post #70
1024core wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

makes sense. it is easy to make money when the passengers feel for the driver's hard life. :)

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

#88

Post by 1024core »

piyushpr134 wrote: post #70
1024core wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Several of the Uber guys I spoke with were actually drivers of some rich businessmen; they were told to Uber during the times they were not needed. A couple of them were "for hire" drivers, being paid a flat INR 200/day to operate the car for 10 hours/day.

I don't know why they'd be conning me, and so many of them too, unless there's a "driver mafia" out to fool the public about .... what their driver makes?? Doesn't pass Occam's test.

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

#89

Post by 1024core »

snambi wrote: post #87
piyushpr134 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

makes sense. it is easy to make money when the passengers feel for the driver's hard life. :)

But there's no "tip" system in Uber, and they had nothing to gain from it (and they didn't gain anything either). So, to what purpose?

I recommend asking the drivers yourselves.

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

#90

Post by snambi »

throwthis153 wrote: post #72
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.

Temples are open for all. They don't discriminate anyone. Ofcourse, if you will feel awkward, if you try to do namaz inside a temple.
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