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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

#161

Post by nojvek »

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 just not the Gurudwara. Many temples in India and around the world provide free food. It’s called “sadavrat”. Providing food to the needy is the best form of service to god.

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

#162

Post by rohit2412 »

kamaal wrote: post #144
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 would say 200 INR gets you a decent restaurant meal. 200 INR too is expensive. Even with a programmer's salary I wouldn't spend that money on one single meal. Most people who have a need to spend that much are better off carrying their lunch. It would cost you 1/8th of that, plus home cooked food means healthy food in general.

I know, we were discussing "decent" restaurant meal.

I think any place that charges 200 would give you a decent meal. Can't say the same for 100 though.

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

#163

Post by anilgulecha »

nojvek wrote: post #161
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 just not the Gurudwara. Many temples in India and around the world provide free food. It’s called “sadavrat”. Providing food to the needy is the best form of service to god.

While admirable, food provided by temples is not akin to Indira canteen. The ground reality is that a person of a different caste or religion would not be able (or not feel comfortable) to avail services, where at a low-cost canteen, he or she is able to partake quality food at the canteens.

There is a lot of value that these canteens provide over haphazard temple based food charity.

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

#164

Post by anilgulecha »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #2

> Economists say the canteens are a burden on the exchequer but they are a hit with politicians in a country where hundreds of millions of people live on less than a dollar a day The difference between these projects and soup kitchens is these are chiefly political projects. The state borrows to pay for patronage and largesse. No doubt, the vendors were not selected through an open auction.

> No doubt, the vendors were not selected through an open auction.

While is is fashionable to talk about govt. corruption, I do recall that vendors were selected via auction. While there may be internal kick-backs and what-have-yous, on the face of it, this was done correctly.

http://bbmp.gov.in/documents/10180/5784621/Tender+Doc-Indira...

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

#165

Post by cgmg »

metaphor wrote: post #124
cgmg wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you think that US farm subsidies are a good idea?

The parent never asserted that US farm subsidies are a good idea.

"If something is the right thing to do, it is the right thing to do. As someone pointed out... US provides farm subsidies."

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

#166

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

shostack wrote: post #80
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 do…

I think you're overlooking the "true" amount of space required to cook and store food. It's not just the fridge and the rice cooker you've got to think about. It's everything else that you take for granted in your kitchen: storage space, bowls, utensils, a heating mechanism, a reheating mechanism, spices, etc.

So I'm in my 10x10 room (no kitchen access because my landlords are a conservative family that just wants spare-room money, remember), I've managed to fit a mini-fridge in some corner next to my desk, and a rice cooker that sits on top of it. Let's make rice! Firstly, where am I storing the uncooked rice? Do I buy a 5-lb bag of rice for $10 that could feed me for a month? Probably not, because I don't have the storage space. So I spend a dollar and buy the smallest bag I can find, which makes just over 2 cups of rice. In the long term it's way more expensive, but it saves space, because I'll just cook all 2 cups now and have nothing you need to worry about storing.

Rice is not terribly filling or healthy on its own. Maybe we'll jazz it up and throw a tomato into the middle of the rice cooker to make tomato rice. This kinda-sorta borders on a meal. So our rice is done. How do I eat this? I guess I'll buy a single bowl and some chopsticks. Or, screw that, I'll buy a single bowl and snatch some extra plastic cutlery from the Popeye's across the street.

I've finished eating. Even as a meager meal (not super filling, and I've got nothing other than plastic salt-and-pepper shakers that I bought from Wal-Mart as seasoning), I can't eat more than a cup or so of rice. So I've got leftovers. What am I storing these leftovers in? I don't have room to buy some pyrex containers. Maybe I can just cover the inner bowl of the rice cooker with some plastic wrap! Balls, now I need plastic wrap...

Day 2, I should eat some of my tomato rice leftovers. How am I going to reheat this? I could probably reheat it with boiling water, but I'd need to buy an electric kettle or, at the very least, a hot-shot. Maybe if I buy a drink at the nearby 7-11, they'll let me use their microwave? Man, that's a nuisance. I might as well just get some wings at 7-11 if I'm going over there anyway...

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

#167

Post by module0000 »

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.

Even if it is done for votes, if they try to stop it after election...it may have the opposite effect.

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

#168

Post by snambi »

praneshp wrote: post #157
snambi wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In India every tradition has its own temples. Most are open to all and some are open for their devotees. It's quite easy to find many temples within a few kilometer radius. Each temple have their own tradition and they have the right to their own tradition. Now, allowing a non-devotee into the temple is their business. But that doesn't mean, one cannot find any temple anywhere.

> Each temple have their own tradition and they have the right to their own tradition Hence the need for the government to step in and help out the hungry, instead of leaving it to temples, etc. (Like I said, I don't necessarily disagree with who the temples choose to let in.)

Tradition is different from discrimination. Having your own tradition doesn't mean govt should step in promote themselves as saviors.
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