Poverty

I don't have a lot of "me" news to share today - yesterday was a relatively uneventful day consisting of work, gym, and sleep. Instead today I'll provide some commentary on one of the most prevalent and striking social issues I have encountered in my short time here - poverty.

I was skyping with Jen and Addie this weekend, and Jen asked me the question "have you seen much poverty in your time there?"  At first her question seemed ridiculous to me - of course I've seen poverty here!  How could she not know that?  Thinking more about it, however, I realized that I haven't really mentioned it to anyone yet, even though it pervades my daily thoughts.

I won't profess to understand the larger social trends in India that are behind the conspicuous and substantial disparity in wealth here.  I don't know enough about the caste system or the Indian economy to speak intelligently on either subject.  All I can say is what I've observed in my time here, and my thoughts on these observations.

The standard of living here is dramatically different than in the states, so I want to draw the distinction between my American thought of what "poverty" is, and what it really means in India.  After a few minutes of internet research, I found a demonstrative comparison.  In the US, the 2013 poverty line is $11,490 for a one person household.  The 2012 poverty line in India in urban areas was set at the equivalent of about $200 for a one person household.  It's even lower for people in rural areas.  As the household size grows, the disparity between the two countries becomes even greater as well.  As another example, I was reading a client deliverable for my client that was done prior to my arrival.  It consisted of a lot of market analysis, but one thing that struck me was a customer segmentation.  In it, my colleagues defined the "urban elite" population in India as being anyone earning at least $18,500 per year in USD.  Only 6% of the population here qualifies for that designation. 

I see extreme poverty every day here.  Driving into work in the mornings, I pass by people living on the streets and in slums.  Slums are built out of cardboard and bamboo or similarly rickety implements.  A 150 square foot box will sleep at least 6 people.  People who live on the streets will sometimes construct impromptu slums with canvas sheets draped off a street lamp or other instrument that provides some kind of shelter.  There will be entire blocks where people have set up camp.  I can't help but wonder why the government doesn't force them to move.  I can't imagine the US government allowing these types of encampments to persist.  Maybe the Indian government doesn't have a place to put these people.  Maybe the government just doesn't care. 

The first time I noticed one of these settlements was on a drive back from work, when I saw a naked baby sitting in the street under a parked bus - appearing to be completely alone.  We were driving along pretty quickly, so the sight had only just registered in my brain before we were driving down the next block.  My knee-jerk reaction was to tell the driver to stop and turn around - we have to go make sure that baby is ok!  In the next instant, the rest of my surroundings similarly registered - there were people living on the sidewalk next to those buses.  They slept under the buses, on top of the buses, and around them.  The baby I had seen was not abandoned, but simply sitting in the closest thing it has to a home.  This realization was incredibly depressing.  I wanted to scoop that baby up and take it home and raise it as a cousin to Addie - with access to an education and proper healthcare, let alone even more basic necessities like clothing and a roof!  I didn't tell the car to turn around, though.  I suppose my more practical nature won out against my romantic notions of saving a baby from poverty.  There has to be a better way to fix things for these children than stealing them away from their mothers and families.  Unfortunately, I don't know how to achieve that on a large scale.

Another common experience is beggars coming up to me on the street and asking for money.  They come in different forms - some are mothers carrying their infant children on their breasts, some are toddlers rubbing their bellies and begging me to give them something to eat, others are amputees or even transvestites. Some beggars are aggressive and won't leave me alone without a stern "shoo" or other admonishment; most, however, simply do their best to look as pitiful as possible in order to garner some sympathy.  Every single one of these people breaks my heart, but I still have yet to give a single one of them any money.  You may think me heartless, but this is the advice I've been given from literally everyone in India. 

There are three major arguments that I've heard for not giving money to beggars.  First, the minute you get your wallet out, you are at risk of being robbed or attacked to get the rest of your money, or at the very least crowded by dozens of other beggars asking for you to give them money as well.  These types of situations can become unsafe very quickly, and I'm not inclined to invite danger if I don't have to.  The second argument is usually summed up by people referencing the movie Slumdog Millionaire.  They are referring to the scenes in the movie where children are being used by a greedy pimp/crime lord as beggars.  The crime lord will even blind these children to make them more profitable at begging, and the money that these children are given does not end up bettering their welfare, but rather lining the pockets of the evil man behind their suffering.  This type of stuff is actually happening - frequently - in countries around the world today, and so there is never a guarantee that the money I place into a beggar's hands will actually end up putting food in his or her belly.  The final argument against giving money to beggars is that it promotes a broken system.  For example, one friend told me a story of a beggar that would frequently be working the corner across from his house.  My friend's father felt bad for the beggar, and so he arranged for him to get a job.  After about a month the beggar reappeared on the same corner.  The father approached the beggar and asked him why he is back here begging, since he had gotten him a job last week.  The beggar responded that he makes more money begging here than he does at the job, and has to work fewer hours.  Part of me wonders what kind of job the father had gotten for this man that humiliating yourself on a daily basis by asking other people for money would seem preferable to earning an honest day's wages.  Regardless, this man's story personifies how broken the system is indeed.  I don't blame the beggar for making this choice - I think it is a completely rational choice that many people would make in his situation.  Instead something needs to be fixed about the economy - if tourists and the local elite have enough pocket change to spare that their donations provide higher wages for a beggar than a day of labor would provide. 

I can't help but think of the parallels between this argument and some people's arguments against government welfare programs in the US.  The issue here isn't that this man doesn't deserve support from his community to make sure he has food to eat and a place to sleep.  Instead, the issue is that the economy isn't providing him with the opportunities to get a job that would allow him to earn the money for these necessities on his own.  There is such a ridiculous disparity in wealth in this country that I firmly believe that the poorer classes here need help!  I'm not going so far as to advocate a socialist revolution, but this country is in severe need of more formalized welfare and support programs.  They need a government that creates higher paying jobs and enforces a minimum wage for all workers.  They need more homeless shelters, more soup kitchens, and a less corrupt police force.  I'm not sure how much blame I would put on globalization and multinational corporations here.  On the one hand, I think that these corporations provide more jobs and higher wages than the alternative for most of these workers.  On the other, the recent factory collapse in Bangladesh shows that these corporations are able to get away with unsafe working conditions for their employees or contractors by taking full advantage of the lack of regulation in the countries where their factories may be.  There has to be a middle ground that satisfies both sides - the corporations get quality work done at lower costs and the workers receive training on a useful skill and a higher quality of life in a safe working environment.  Call me an idealist, but I think that it's possible if the local governments where these factories reside would be willing to pass laws that protect their workers and enforce the laws that are already on the books.

I'll step down off my soap box now, but I'll leave you with a parting thought. I still don't think that giving beggars money is the answer.  I have, however, given money to an organization that my firm supports here in India called Give India.  This organization helps raise funds for over 200 India-based NGOs, and you can direct your donation to a particular NGO or cause.  I've posted the link here for anyone else interested in donating as well.