A Tale of Two Indias

Down a winding alleyway strewn with trash and up a narrow staircase is the small two-room apartment where 14-year-old Sushmita lives in an overcrowded neighborhood of Delhi, one of India’s largest cities.

Her family is part of the huge wave of Indians who’ve moved from impoverished rural villages to the city in search of better lives. Yet Sushmita’s family still lives day to day. Her parents both work, and they struggle to make ends meet. Sometimes there’s no electricity. The apartment has one bed, which Sushmita* and her brother share. Her parents and older sister sleep on the floor next to them in the cramped bedroom.

Just 12 miles away, on the eastern side of the city, 14-year-old Anirudh Joshi lives in another world. His neighborhood is known for its parks, a nearby shopping mall, and convenient access to Delhi’s subway system. His family’s apartment is situated on a quiet, well-kept street and boasts an air conditioner, a flat-screen TV, and a family computer. Anirudh has his own cellphone and likes to play cricket with his friends after school.

“I have everything provided for me,” he says.

Anirudh and Sushmita reflect the two sides of India today. On the one hand, India’s economy has boomed in the past 25 years, and hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty. Last year, a British think tank predicted that by the end of 2018, India’s economy will surpass both France’s and the United Kingdom’s in size, making it the fifth-largest in the world.

But at the same time, millions remain stuck in the old India, a place that’s very poor, uneducated, and trying to make the transition to modernity. About 20 percent of the population still lives on less than $2 a day. 

“India has come a long, long way when it comes to its economy,” says Anubhav Gupta, an India expert at the Asia Society in New York, “but it still has a long way to go.”

Down a winding alleyway covered with trash and up a narrow staircase is a small two-room apartment. This is where 14-year-old Sushmita lives in an overcrowded neighborhood of Delhi. It’s one of India’s largest cities.

Her family is part of the huge wave of Indians who’ve moved from poor rural villages to the city in search of better lives. Yet Sushmita’s family still lives day to day. Her parents both work, and they struggle to make ends meet. Sometimes there’s no electricity. The apartment has one bed, which Sushmita and her brother share. Her parents and older sister sleep on the floor next to them in the cramped bedroom.

Just 12 miles away, on the eastern side of the city, 14-year-old Anirudh Joshi lives in another world. His neighborhood is known for its parks, a nearby shopping mall, and convenient access to Delhi’s subway system. His family’s apartment is situated on a quiet, well-kept street. They have an air conditioner, a flat-screen TV, and a family computer. Anirudh has his own cellphone and likes to play cricket with his friends after school.

“I have everything provided for me,” he says.

Anirudh and Sushmita reflect the two sides of India today. On the one hand, India’s economy has boomed in the past 25 years. Hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty. Last year, a British think tank predicted that by the end of 2018, India’s economy will surpass both France’s and the United Kingdom’s in size. That would make it the fifth-largest in the world.

But at the same time, millions remain stuck in the old India. For them, it’s a place that’s very poor, uneducated, and trying to make the transition to modernity. About 20 percent of the population still lives on less than $2 a day.

“India has come a long, long way when it comes to its economy,” says Anubhav Gupta, an India expert at the Asia Society in New York, “but it still has a long way to go.”

Modern India was born in 1947, when it gained independence from its longtime colonial ruler, Great Britain. (The British partitioned the country into Hindu-majority India and the Muslim country of Pakistan.) For more than four decades after gaining independence, India’s economy was heavily controlled by its socialist government, and the nation made little progress in tackling its crippling poverty.

But in 1991, the government began turning away from socialism, loosening regulations, opening India to foreign investment, and adopting other free-market practices. The economy took off, and since then the ranks of the middle class have more than doubled.

With 1.3 billion people, India has the world’s second-largest population (after China) and is the world’s largest democracy. Indeed, India is now seen by many as the other rising global power—along with China—that the United States will have to compete with in the decades ahead.

Despite India’s huge leaps forward, however, large swaths of the population have so far been left behind. About half of Indians who live in rural villages don’t have toilets, and 240 million Indians lack electricity. Education is another huge challenge: About 25 percent of Indians can’t read—that’s some 325 million people, or about the population of the United States.

“Because it’s such a vast country, the challenges are just greater in scale,” Gupta says.

India is also hampered by the caste system, a traditional social hierarchy that dates back to the ancient origins of Hinduism, the country’s majority religion (see “The Caste System,” below).

Modern India was born in 1947. That year, it gained independence from its longtime colonial ruler, Great Britain. The British split the country into Hindu-majority India and the Muslim country of Pakistan. For more than four decades after gaining independence, India’s economy was heavily controlled by its socialist government. As a result, the nation made little progress in tackling its crippling poverty.

But in 1991, the government began turning away from socialism. It loosened regulations, opened India to foreign investment, and adopted other free-market practices. The economy took off, and since then the ranks of the middle class have more than doubled.

With 1.3 billion people, India has the world’s second-largest population (after China). It’s the world’s largest democracy. Indeed, India is now seen by many as the other rising global power—along with China—that the United States will have to compete with in the decades ahead.

While India has taken huge leaps forward, large parts of the population have so far been left behind. About half of Indians who live in rural villages don’t have toilets. And 240 million Indians lack electricity. Education is another huge challenge: About 25 percent of Indians can’t read. That’s some 325 million people, or about the population of the United States.

“Because it’s such a vast country, the challenges are just greater in scale,” Gupta says.

India is also hampered by the caste system. This traditional social hierarchy dates back to the ancient origins of Hinduism, the country’s majority religion. (see “The Caste System,” below).

One of India’s great strengths, however, is the youth of its people. More than 600 million Indians are younger than 25—about half the population. By 2020, analysts predict, India will account for 12 percent of the world’s college graduates. Some U.S. tech companies, including IBM and Dell, have moved substantial numbers of jobs to India because the tech workforce is well-educated and salaries are much lower than in the U.S.

The opportunities created by this growth have Anirudh Joshi, the 14-year-old Delhi boy, and young people like him optimistic about the future.

In just one generation, Anirudh’s family has moved several rungs up the economic ladder: His father grew up in a village of about 100 people in Uttarakhand, where his family were farmers. As a child, Anirudh’s father walked two miles to school and then did farm chores when he got home. He was 18 the first time he watched TV. 

He got ahead by studying hard and eventually going to college to become an accountant. Having a reliable profession enabled him to move his family into a nice neighborhood in Delhi and send his children to a private school where instruction is in English. That’s a huge advantage in India because English is the language of business, and speaking it fluently gives any young person a leg up.

One of India’s great strengths, however, is the youth of its people. More than 600 million Indians are younger than 25. That’s about half of its population. By 2020, analysts predict, India will account for 12 percent of the world’s college graduates. Some U.S. tech companies, including IBM and Dell, have moved substantial numbers of jobs to India. They were drawn there because India’s tech workforce is well-educated and salaries are much lower than in the U.S.

The opportunities created by this growth have Anirudh Joshi, the 14-year-old Delhi boy, and young people like him optimistic about the future.

In just one generation, Anirudh’s family has moved several rungs up the economic ladder. His father grew up in a village of about 100 people in Uttarakhand, where his family were farmers. As a child, Anirudh’s father walked two miles to school and then did farm chores when he got home. He was 18 the first time he watched TV.

He got ahead by studying hard and eventually going to college to become an accountant. Having a reliable profession enabled him to move his family into a nice neighborhood in Delhi and send his children to a private school where instruction is in English. That’s a huge advantage in India because English is the language of business. Speaking it fluently gives any young person a leg up.

The family is even able to afford some extravagances, like the hired car that drives Anirudh and some classmates to school. Some of those luxuries are helping Anirudh in his quest for success: He uses his smartphone and the family computer to watch physics and chemistry tutorials on YouTube.

Anirudh hopes to follow in his father’s footsteps and become an accountant—partly because math is his favorite subject, but also because he sees it as an avenue to success.  

“I want to become a big man—somebody who is well respected,” he says. “I want to earn good money. I want to do good for others.”

On the other side of the city, Sushmita’s life is very different, more like the childhood of Anirudh’s father. Every day, she wakes at 6 o’clock to do all the household cleaning before walking to the government school she attends. There are 57 students in her class and most instruction is in Hindi, one of India’s many languages. She doesn’t own a cellphone, much less a computer.

The family is even able to afford some extravagances, like the hired car that drives Anirudh and some classmates to school. Some of those luxuries are helping Anirudh in his quest for success. He uses his smartphone and the family computer to watch physics and chemistry tutorials on YouTube.

Anirudh hopes to follow in his father’s footsteps and become an accountant. His future career choice is partly because math is his favorite subject, but also because he sees it as an avenue to success.

“I want to become a big man—somebody who is well respected,” he says. “I want to earn good money. I want to do good for others.”

On the other side of the city, Sushmita’s life is very different, more like the childhood of Anirudh’s father. Every day, she wakes at 6 o’clock to do all the household cleaning. Then she walks to the government school she attends. There are 57 students in her class and most instruction is in Hindi, one of India’s many languages. She doesn’t own a cellphone, much less a computer.

Sushmita takes English courses at school and dreams of being an English teacher someday. But in some ways, the odds are stacked against her: Many Indian colleges are highly selective, and Sushmita will be competing against many students who’ve been much better prepared. She seems to understand this. 

“India is a country where there are no equal opportunities,” she says. “The rich can find their way around by paying money. The middle class and others cannot find their way into the same opportunities because they don’t have money.” 

Sushmita’s father works as a carpenter, and he can sometimes go months without a job. Her mother is a maid, which means long hours. When Sushmita gets home from school, she must make the family’s dinner each night, in addition to doing her homework. 

Sushmita takes English courses at school. She dreams of being an English teacher someday. But in some ways, the odds are stacked against her. Many Indian colleges are highly selective. Sushmita will be competing against many students who’ve been much better prepared. She seems to understand this.

“India is a country where there are no equal opportunities,” she says. “The rich can find their way around by paying money. The middle class and others cannot find their way into the same opportunities because they don’t have money.” 

Sushmita’s father works as a carpenter, and he can sometimes go months without a job. Her mother is a maid, which means long hours. When Sushmita gets home from school, she must make the family’s dinner each night, in addition to doing her homework.

Despite her many challenges, Sushmita is aware that her life is easier than her parents’ lives were at her age.

“They were pushed into working from a very early age,” she says. “My mother tells me she could not sit down and rest for even a couple of minutes. She was constantly made to work. She was married off very young. She was around 10 years old.”

Sushmita feels lucky that her parents intend to let both their daughters finish school—something they weren’t able to do. It’s this sense of progress, even if it’s small steps, that continues to drive India’s growth despite the enormous hurdles the country faces.

That’s what makes Anubhav Gupta, the India expert, optimistic about India’s future.

“The problems it faces seem vast, but so are its ambitions,” Gupta says. “I’m optimistic because India has a very hungry and forward-looking population, and they’re going to keep pressing the government for progress.”

Despite her many challenges, Sushmita is aware that her life is easier than her parents’ lives were at her age.

“They were pushed into working from a very early age,” she says. “My mother tells me she could not sit down and rest for even a couple of minutes. She was constantly made to work. She was married off very young. She was around 10 years old.”

Sushmita feels lucky that her parents intend to let both their daughters finish school. It’s something they weren’t able to do. This sense of progress, even if it’s small steps, continues to drive India’s growth despite the enormous hurdles the country faces.

That’s what makes Anubhav Gupta, the India expert, optimistic about India’s future.

“The problems it faces seem vast, but so are its ambitions,” Gupta says. “I’m optimistic because India has a very hungry and forward-looking population, and they’re going to keep pressing the government for progress.”

With reporting by Kai Schulz in Delhi.

With reporting by Kai Schulz in Delhi.