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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

#131

Post by thetruthseeker1 »

For people dismissing it as vote bank politics... I want to say policy is more complicated.

If the govt reduces taxes for people in low income range is that vote bank politics?

If government provides free education to the poor is that vote bank politics?

Both the above items are aimed at a certain segment.

If you think the answer to above questions is Yes, then in that case every body has vote bank politics, and discussing whether it’s vote bank politics is of little use (I am not even sure if it is a bad thing).

I think a better question to ask is whether it is good policy. I don’t see any argument indicating it is bad policy. Seems like it is helping a certain section of the society at little cost to the rest.

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

#132

Post by metaphor »

csin wrote: post #128
metaphor wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

As an non-American I would like to ask... For people who are in the "patriotic" group. Your country needs to maintain the infrastructure to self-sustain it's people in a world war. What would be a more effective strategy over food subsidies? Edit: Sorry I meant Farm subsidies, not food stamps.

The question strikes me as a red herring in that it presumes an optimal solution to the obtuse problem of world war sustainment exists as some one-shot panacea.

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

#133

Post by saagarjha »

kamaal wrote: post #129
saagarjha wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this is actually very nutritious Depends on how it's made. Oil/butter is often added because it's cheap and provides "fullness" without being nutritionally satisfying. With food this cheap, you'll need to take a close look at what's actually going in the food.

Neither oil nor butter is cheap in India. This isn't exactly your 80 rupees/dosa Darshini. Of course the food quality won't be all that great. Thats also with children's mid day meal program in Government schools. The base rule for things like this is something is better than going hungry.

> something is better than going hungry

Of course, but marketing it as "healthy" may not be the most accurate way to portray it.

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

#134

Post by praneshp »

jdietrich wrote: post #107
praneshp wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For some of the poor, just like they don't have access to food, they don't have access to contraceptives (or sex education).

As an aside, India's birth rate has been dropping precipitously over the last few decades. In 1960 the birth rate was 5.9 per woman; today it's 2.4 and still falling. India's birth rate is now lower than America prior to 1970. At current trends, the birth rate in India will drop below the replacement rate within a decade. https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&...

Oh my god, I'm worried about India's population starting to decrease now ....

More seriously, is there a way to look before 1960? I want to look from 1930 or so, I think India's population really exploded post-Independence.

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

#135

Post by praneshp »

navinsylvester wrote: post #123

Why is this being questioned on vote bank politics?. Isn't any good scheme has to be welcomed. I am from the state Tamilnadu where this model first got introduced - http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36659670

> Why is this being questioned on vote bank politics

IMO, because the other side cannot just stand up and say "well done, that is a good move". It's the new normal.

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

#136

Post by praneshp »

venturedfleet wrote: post #108

Even though the concept is great It is primarily done to appeal to masses below or just above the poverty line. This is a political agenda by present ruling government (Congress) in the state(Karnataka). It is named after late Ms Indira Gandhi who was president of Congress. Sorry to say India runs behind these votebank politics. Idea is that People will remember this as Congress providing food, even though it is bein…

As someone that detests Congress, I don't really see why naming it after Indira Gandhi is that bad. Esp considering she is unlikely to stand in an election again... I also don't see why not being the first state to do it is bad; someone else here linked 5 other states that run similar programs.

I was happy that the tradition of naming everything after Rajiv Gandhi is stopping.

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

#137

Post by fencepost »

csin wrote: post #128
metaphor wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

As an non-American I would like to ask... For people who are in the "patriotic" group. Your country needs to maintain the infrastructure to self-sustain it's people in a world war. What would be a more effective strategy over food subsidies? Edit: Sorry I meant Farm subsidies, not food stamps.

> Your country needs to maintain the infrastructure to self-sustain it's people in a world war.

Food wise, logistics wise or technology wise? Because while the US could manage the first two assuming no major internal disruptions, we've pretty much abandoned the third in favor of cheap imports and profits.

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

#139

Post by jdietrich »

praneshp wrote: post #134
jdietrich wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an aside, India's birth rate has been dropping precipitously over the last few decades. In 1960 the birth rate was 5.9 per woman; today it's 2.4 and still falling. India's birth rate is now lower than America prior to 1970. At current trends, the birth rate in India will drop below the replacement rate within a decade. https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&...

Oh my god, I'm worried about India's population starting to decrease now .... More seriously, is there a way to look before 1960? I want to look from 1930 or so, I think India's population really exploded post-Independence.

Until the modern era, the global birth rate was fairly constant at about six per woman. The population growth we've experienced over the last century is mostly to do with child survival.

Before 1900, the child mortality rate in India was over 50%. If you need children to care for you in old age and expect most of your children to die, you're likely to have a lot of them. When child survival improved, attitudes changed. Parents no longer want three or four children to work on the family farm, they want one or two children to become doctors or engineers. Economic development and the availability of reliable contraception have made that aspiration practical.

If you're interested in the topic, I can highly recommend this lecture by the late Hans Rosling:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FACK2knC08E

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

#140

Post by victornomad »

stretchwithme wrote: post #111

Food is cheap when labor costs are low all along the supply chain. So this is kind of giving us a preview of what meals will cost when food production and meal prep are automated.

Biggest chunk of the food prize increases a lot in the last mile (supermarkets, restaurants, etc). In my region, where you used to see 50-60 of people doing fruit picking in one big field, now you see 2 people + 1 tractor + robotic arm. Market prices are barely the same, I dont think labor cost is what really increases the final food price.
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