India-1, India-2 and India-3 - The layers of society

In my recent conversation with Bryan Caplan, I noticed Bryan highlight the different sides of India that he saw. On one hand we have iPhones while on the other we have children begging on the streets. There are similar observations other foreigners have. While the causes & solutions need a broader analysis, the fact is that our society is divided into different sections that causes outsiders to wonder what's going on. The most primary basis for this differentiation is money. Everything else is secondary.

Now money, more often than not, leads to variation in these categories 1. Language 2. Values 3.Tastes 4. Entertainment 5. Fashion 6. Tradition 7. Politics 8. Education Levels 9. Type of Employment 10. Property/Vehicle Ownership 11. Diet 12. Marriage and Family Structure 13. Media Consumption 14. Issues they care about 15. Internet Use & Access 16. Housing 17. Gender Roles and Social Attitudes 18. Leisure 19. Environmental Concerns 20. Alcohol consumption and much more.

India One - More educated, traveled Internationally, white collar jobs, 2 vehicles, owns property, more likely to have a non-veg diet, marries later in life with a nuclear family setting, Instagram/Youtube, Netflix/Prime subscriptions, credit cards. Less religious and traditional, relatively more English, maybe an iPhone, iPad, lives in gated apartments or bungalows, drink, intermingling between the sexes, caste system diluted, very high internet usage, higher individualism than other sections but way less than the west

India one has a sub category with those influenced by the west (India 0) and those who have the wealth & consumption but not the western influence (India 1.1). India 0 may care more about LGBTQ+, Paper Straws, etc while the rest of the country are not as concerned. India 0 may buy Coldplay concert tickets while India 1.1 may buy Diljit concert tickets (some cross over exists)?

India Two - More traditional, elders opinions matter, gender differences more prominent and visible. Old school views on women. More religious, more conservative, regional languages more prominent, aspirational, leaning towards the political right (at the moment) and votes based on personality, vibes and tribe. One ancestral property maybe? a vehicle is there but is a heavy financial cost, mostly veg?, always get married, Caste system & Religious identity more visible. Cricket, Comedy and Bollywood primary entertainment source. India two can be further divided into Urban and Rural which leads to slight differences. Traveling through flights is viewed as a luxury and generally move through trains. Scarcity mindset is prominent

India Three - Poor, low literacy rates with most having not gone to school or dropped out, works in the informal sector, in agriculture, earns up to INR 25k-30k per month max (this is on higher end), many similarities with India Two but much poorer. Caste or religious issues much more prominent. Travel?through train is a luxury. Hardly any property or vehicle ownership. Generally involved in shocking news headlines (eg- 1, 2, 3, 4). Scarcity mindset is much more prominent and its a dog eat dog zero sum world.

Then there's India Minus One which is basically all the illegal crowd. Politicians, Corrupt Bureaucrats, Criminals all belong here. Who knows what their world looks like but power and money is quite central.

Its not one country with one demographic but different sections who have different tastes & values. Adding in an urban vs rural and regional differences, that I have not gone into, creates a more wider spectrum of differences. So when you see people lining up for iPhones while women and children are selling roses on the street or begging, this is why. It is inequality, lack of opportunity, lack of education, lack of effort, lack of experience which may underlie this.

A more important question though is how do you build bridges between these different sections? How do you narrow the gaps and create mobility or is this the modern invisible caste system that keeps increasing the gaps?

1. More education (the right and effective kind) ? But does it really help at the margin?
2. More opportunity and more exposure
3. Less discrimination & control
4. Giving others the power to create something that is valued by someone else and they get appropriately rewarded for it
5. Tip more?

This is of course an oversimplified version and the fluidity that exists between these segments is not looked into. Many people fit into different segments. There is mobility and as the country grows richer the segments change.