India is a poor country !!

Piya, I think you could say to that lady that "India is not a poor country.Please do not rely on your google or BBC.If we are a poor country , we would be living with your aid to support us.But we are self sufficient and generous enough to donate to other countries as well."

To be honest , the Indians who had travelled abroad earlier have somehow failed to uphold India's image.Many people(You can see in your relatives circle) who had travelled abroad earlier act wierd when they come to India.

But good that the(wierd acting)ratio has come down now and a lot of us feel the urge to uphold the image and we atleast think of improving things which lacked earlier.Likewise even the other people might change their view when they get to know the reality.You cannot blame them as they know about India onlt through tourism,books,google etc.,

Note : I see a lot of threads coming on this context or a similar one these days.I hope this thread will have good answers/discussions and not moderated.

 

We have a vegetarian group in our local community. When we met last time, a white lady told me that india is a poor country. I was shocked. But didn't get angry. Instead, I explained her about India and its current growth and she should not think india is just as they showed it in slumdog millionaire.

Tell you what, this movie has showed a wrong image about India and Indians. I hate that.

 

True Uma,this is one reason why I don't approve of this movie too. It has shown a wrong image. Things like that do exist but,India has a brighter side too

 

What's wrong in what she said. IMO that is true. The current growth in India in unhealthy. As they said in a movie "The rich get richer, the poor get poorer" and in India, ~80% of the population are still poor, ~75% of kids are still illiterates, ~80% of women are uneducated or not working. So yes, when compared to the first and second world countries, we are still developing, we are a third world country.

Before feeling embarrassed or shocked, we need to Think, and see ways in which we can help the underprivileged come up and thus build a strong country. It is easy for us to sit abroad and conclude, but facts matters and that's reality.

 

I want to interject something: it is common in American conversations to make a statement in order to generate discussion. An example...instead of asking how are you feeling? one might say you look tired. The other person then is triggered to respond. In conversing in this manner the other person is then in a position to elaborate on a topic instead of evading. Right or wrong...this conversational style is common. I would recommend you take statements about India being poor as a request for information and tell them about historic and present situations in India.

 

Technically what she said is true, is she polite or did she really said that to start a conversation that I don’t know. But facts are facts and India is a poor country, one third of the worlds poor are in India Poverty in India - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia so technically she is right. The first step to any change is knowing the fact and accepting the fact only then you can find a solution to the problem, if you start ignoring the facts and say political statements like “India Shining” then we will always be poor.

 

Neha, have you ever visited dharavi, that is how real life is in dharavi Dharavi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia the movie might have spiced it up for entertainment but the reality does not change.

 

Simply put: India is a poor country where rich people live. There are people who can spend crores on their fancy cars and there are people who die due to starvation. Unfortunately, people living below poverty line are about 70% of the population.

Country is developing and economy is showing steady growth but the results are reaching very less percentage of indians. Thats why the rich become richer and poor remain poor.

-Lakshmi

 

Now the condition is improving due to jobs in software industry and middle class people's helping tendency. But if you let the foreigners believe that we're very poor, they'll humiliate us when they get a chance.

A police officer humiliated me only because I'm an indian. That time I was new to the country. I didn't know how to react. But after coming home when I told my husband about the incident, he scolded me not supporting our country. I still feel bad about the way I handled the situation.

We know most of our people are poor. We have to help our people. But that doesn't mean we have to let everyone know about our situation and make a room for foreigners to humiliate us. JMO!!