INDIA
17 March 2025
India’s fractured society
Indian society has multiple fractures which contribute to social instability and undermine economic potential, writes John West.
Today, India now has the world's largest population, with 1.429 million, a little higher than China's 1.411 million and very much higher than the US's 334.9 million. With such a large population covering an enormous sub-continent, India may also have one of the world’s most diverse and fractured societies.
Perhaps the most notable aspect is the poor quality of most Indian lives.
India has made great progress in eliminating extreme poverty, but poverty remains a serious problem. In 2023, only 13 percent of Indians lived on less than $2.15 a day. But 46 percent lived on less than $3.65, while 82 percent lived on less than $6.85 a day. In other words, while extreme poverty may have fallen, most people are living in “near poverty” ( https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/099624209142386941 ).
Income inequality in India is one of the highest in the world. 22.6 percent of the national income goes to the top 1 percent. Then there is the Rural-Urban Divide: Average Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure is Rs. 3,773 in rural and Rs. 6,459 in urban India. India also has an enormous Gender Pay Gap: In India, men earn 82 percent of the labour income, whereas women earn 18 percent of it.
Only three-quarters of the population are literate according to official statistics. Male literacy is much higher than women’s at 82 percent versus 65 percent. According to a deeper analysis by Indian economist Santosh Mehrotra, only half the nation’s population would be “functionally literate”.
In sum, the education system of India is not up to the mark. There are many private schools in India which are providing good quality education. But the fees of these schools are very high. So, only rich people can afford to send their children to these schools.
Billions galore
While the lion’s share of Indians live in “near poverty”, India also comes in third place of countries with the most billionaires, after the US and China. The US would have 813 billionaires, while China and India would have 406 and 200 respectively (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_billionaires ).
In 2024, Hurun Research Institute listed London with the most billionaires at 143 people, followed by New York City with 119 billionaires, and Mumbai in third place with 92 billionaires. This number makes Mumbai the "billionaire capital of Asia". India’s top five billionaires are: Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani & family,, Savitri Jindal & family,,Shiv Nadar, and Dilip Shanghvi & family
At the same time, in 2016 it was estimated that over half of Mumbai’s population lived in slums. Indeed, Mumbai is estimated to have the largest slum population of any city in the world. Mumbai’s slums were made famous in the film, Slumdog Millionaire ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ7P5wEI2CA ), which narrates the story of 18-year-old Jamal Malik from the Juhu slums of Mumbai. Dharavi slum ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW4MydERGPw ) , also in Mumbai, has become famous as a hub for around 5,000 businesses and 15,000 single-room factories across leather, textiles, pottery, metalwork, and recycling, contributing to an annual economic output estimated at over $1 billion.
Any visitor to Mumbai would be bowled by the juxtaposition of slum squalor and the sophistication of the modern part of town – with its beautiful art-deco architecture, extraordinary bridges, new metro, seaside position, and posh restaurants.
India has the world’s largest diaspora, at 35 million. More than 5 million live in the US, 4 million in the UAE, 2 million in Malaysia, 2 million in Saudi Arabia and 1 million in Australia. People of Indian ethnicity have the highest median income of foreign groups in the US, at $152,000.
A number of Indians have become corporate leaders in the US. Sundar Pichai is CEO Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google, Satya Nadella.is CEO of Microsoft. Shantanu Narayen is CEO of Adobe Inc. Arvind Krishna is CEO of IBM. Another well-known personality is Fareed Rafiq Zakaria, an Indian-born American journalist, political commentator, and author.
India ranks among the most disaster-prone countries in the world ( https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/2024/05/economic-outlook-for-southeast-asia-china-and-india-2024_dfbc30c0/full-report/component-22.html#chapter-d1e21380-a05eb0870a ). It is exposed to a range of natural hazards including floods, droughts, cyclones, heatwaves, earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis and wildfires. India is highly exposed to floods, with 103 events having been recorded from 2009 to 2023. More than 80% of flood events are caused by monsoons or heavy rain, with the rest caused by storm-induced torrential rain or by dam release or failure.
India experiences frequent and impactful droughts. Its dry regions cover approximately one-third of the country’s total land area and are home to roughly one-third of the population. Subsistence farmers are among the most vulnerable to drought and even milder droughts can have significant impacts on them. Heatwaves represent another significant health risk for the Indian population. India experiences some of the highest temperatures in the world, with an average monthly maximum of 36°C.
India is also exposed to earthquakes, with almost 60% of the country prone to quakes of at least moderate intensity. Most of the high-risk areas are located in the northern regions affected by the Himalayan uplift. India is also affected by landslides, with more than 12% of the country’s landmass deemed to be prone to landslides.
The caste system is typically classified into four groups of castes, namely, Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (merchants) and Shudras (artisans) – my friend is a warrior! In reality, there are thousands of sub-castes. Dalits or untouchables are a group outside this broad classification. And even within the Dalit, who account for over 200 million of India’s total population 1.4 billion, there are reportedly more than 900 sub-castes. Generally, the Dalits are allowed to live only in designated slums or colonies outside villages. Traditionally, they worked in “impure” occupations involving leatherwork, butchering, removal of rubbish, animal carcasses, and cleaning streets, latrines and sewers.
It is true that all societies are shaped by social stratification. Modernisation has moderated Western class systems, while development has seen a fading in the importance of India’s caste system. But discrimination via the caste system has a heinous impact on Indian lives, dividing society, restricting opportunity for large numbers of Indian citizens and preventing the nation from realizing its full human potential. Dalit poverty is twice the national average and discrimination on the ground remains endemic, especially in rural areas where most Indians live.
The Indian government has implemented a number of affirmative action initiatives to improve socio-economic conditions, such as college entry quotas and job reservations. Some Dalit success stories include Ram Nath Kovind who was elected as India’s 14th president in July 2017. Kovind is the second Dalit to become Indian president, after K. R. Narayanan who held office from 1997 to 2002.
In reality, since India’s independence, Muslims have often faced discrimination, prejudice, and violence, despite constitutional protections ( https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/india-muslims-marginalized-population-bjp-modi ). But things have only worsened under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has pursued a Hindu nationalist agenda since elected to power in 2014. Since Modi’s reelection in 2019, the government has pushed controversial policies that critics say explicitly ignore Muslims’ rights, restrict religious freedoms, and are intended to disenfranchise millions of Muslims. Under Modi, violence against Muslims has become more common. The moves have sparked protests in India and drawn international condemnation.
The largest concentrations of Indigenous Peoples are found in the seven states of north-east India, and the so-called “central tribal belt” stretching from Rajasthan to West Bengal. India has several laws and constitutional provisions, such as the Fifth Schedule for central India and the Sixth Schedule for certain areas of north-east India, which recognise Indigenous Peoples’ rights to land and self-governance. The laws aimed at protecting Indigenous Peoples have numerous shortcomings and their implementation is far from satisfactory.
According to the Global Gender Gap Index ( https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2024.pdf ), India would rank only 129 out of the 146 countries surveyed. Countries are ranked according to a calculated gender gap between women and men in four key areas: health, education, economy and politics to gauge the state of gender equality in a country.
According to a UNICEF study ( https://www.unicef.org/india/what-we-do/gender-equality ), Indian girls are most disadvantaged. While globally girls have higher survival rates at birth, India is the only large country where more girls die than boys. Girls are also more likely to drop out of school. In India girls and boys experience adolescence differently.
While boys tend to experience greater freedom, girls tend to face extensive limitations on their ability to move freely and to make decisions affecting their work, education, marriage and social relationships. As girls and boys age the gender barriers continue to expand and continue into adulthood where we see only a quarter of women in the formal workplace.
Some Indian women are global leaders and powerful voices in diverse fields but most women and girls in India do not fully enjoy many of their rights due to deeply entrenched patriarchal views, norms, traditions and structures.
“The Indian government led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) escalated its crackdown on civil society and the media. Authorities have routinely imposed internet shutdowns and prosecuted activists, journalists, and peaceful protesters on fabricated counterterrorism and hate speech laws. They have stifled rights groups using foreign funding regulations or unfounded allegations of financial irregularities. The government has adopted laws and policies that discriminate against religious minorities. This has led to the authorities and their supporters’ vilification of such communities, especially Muslims. Police complicity and failure to act have emboldened Hindu nationalist groups to target civil society groups and minorities with impunity.”
India’s media has fallen into an “unofficial state of emergency” since Narendra Modi came to power in 2014 and engineered a spectacular rapprochement between his party, the BJP, and the big families dominating the media. Reliance Industries group’s magnate Mukesh Ambani, a personal friend of the prime minister, owns more than 70 media outlets that are followed by at least 800 million Indians.
Perhaps the most notable aspect is the poor quality of most Indian lives.
Quality of Indian lives
Average life expectancy in India is very low at 72 (73.6 for women and 70.5 for men), compared with 78 in China, 84 in Australia and 85 in Japan.India has made great progress in eliminating extreme poverty, but poverty remains a serious problem. In 2023, only 13 percent of Indians lived on less than $2.15 a day. But 46 percent lived on less than $3.65, while 82 percent lived on less than $6.85 a day. In other words, while extreme poverty may have fallen, most people are living in “near poverty” ( https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/099624209142386941 ).
Income inequality in India is one of the highest in the world. 22.6 percent of the national income goes to the top 1 percent. Then there is the Rural-Urban Divide: Average Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure is Rs. 3,773 in rural and Rs. 6,459 in urban India. India also has an enormous Gender Pay Gap: In India, men earn 82 percent of the labour income, whereas women earn 18 percent of it.
Only three-quarters of the population are literate according to official statistics. Male literacy is much higher than women’s at 82 percent versus 65 percent. According to a deeper analysis by Indian economist Santosh Mehrotra, only half the nation’s population would be “functionally literate”.
In sum, the education system of India is not up to the mark. There are many private schools in India which are providing good quality education. But the fees of these schools are very high. So, only rich people can afford to send their children to these schools.
Billions galore
While the lion’s share of Indians live in “near poverty”, India also comes in third place of countries with the most billionaires, after the US and China. The US would have 813 billionaires, while China and India would have 406 and 200 respectively (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_billionaires ).
In 2024, Hurun Research Institute listed London with the most billionaires at 143 people, followed by New York City with 119 billionaires, and Mumbai in third place with 92 billionaires. This number makes Mumbai the "billionaire capital of Asia". India’s top five billionaires are: Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani & family,, Savitri Jindal & family,,Shiv Nadar, and Dilip Shanghvi & family
At the same time, in 2016 it was estimated that over half of Mumbai’s population lived in slums. Indeed, Mumbai is estimated to have the largest slum population of any city in the world. Mumbai’s slums were made famous in the film, Slumdog Millionaire ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ7P5wEI2CA ), which narrates the story of 18-year-old Jamal Malik from the Juhu slums of Mumbai. Dharavi slum ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW4MydERGPw ) , also in Mumbai, has become famous as a hub for around 5,000 businesses and 15,000 single-room factories across leather, textiles, pottery, metalwork, and recycling, contributing to an annual economic output estimated at over $1 billion.
Any visitor to Mumbai would be bowled by the juxtaposition of slum squalor and the sophistication of the modern part of town – with its beautiful art-deco architecture, extraordinary bridges, new metro, seaside position, and posh restaurants.
Where do Indians live
India has some of the world’s biggest cities. Delhi is the world’s second biggest city, after Tokyo, with a population of 28.5 million. Mumbai is 7th biggest (20.0 million), and Kolkata is 14th (15.3 million) ( https://worldpopulationreview.com/cities ). But only 35 percent of the population are now living in urban areas, compared with 66 percent in China, 87 percent in Australia and 92 percent in Japan. India remains essentially a rural/agricultural country.India has the world’s largest diaspora, at 35 million. More than 5 million live in the US, 4 million in the UAE, 2 million in Malaysia, 2 million in Saudi Arabia and 1 million in Australia. People of Indian ethnicity have the highest median income of foreign groups in the US, at $152,000.
A number of Indians have become corporate leaders in the US. Sundar Pichai is CEO Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google, Satya Nadella.is CEO of Microsoft. Shantanu Narayen is CEO of Adobe Inc. Arvind Krishna is CEO of IBM. Another well-known personality is Fareed Rafiq Zakaria, an Indian-born American journalist, political commentator, and author.
Hazards of life
A new study published in Lancet Planetary Health ( https://hsph.harvard.edu/environmental-health/news/air-pollution-in-india-linked-to-millions-of-deaths/ ) found that long-term exposure to air pollution increased by 1.5 million deaths per year in India, when compared to conditions if India met the World Health Organization's recommendations for safe exposure.India ranks among the most disaster-prone countries in the world ( https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/2024/05/economic-outlook-for-southeast-asia-china-and-india-2024_dfbc30c0/full-report/component-22.html#chapter-d1e21380-a05eb0870a ). It is exposed to a range of natural hazards including floods, droughts, cyclones, heatwaves, earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis and wildfires. India is highly exposed to floods, with 103 events having been recorded from 2009 to 2023. More than 80% of flood events are caused by monsoons or heavy rain, with the rest caused by storm-induced torrential rain or by dam release or failure.
India experiences frequent and impactful droughts. Its dry regions cover approximately one-third of the country’s total land area and are home to roughly one-third of the population. Subsistence farmers are among the most vulnerable to drought and even milder droughts can have significant impacts on them. Heatwaves represent another significant health risk for the Indian population. India experiences some of the highest temperatures in the world, with an average monthly maximum of 36°C.
India is also exposed to earthquakes, with almost 60% of the country prone to quakes of at least moderate intensity. Most of the high-risk areas are located in the northern regions affected by the Himalayan uplift. India is also affected by landslides, with more than 12% of the country’s landmass deemed to be prone to landslides.
India’s heinous caste system
Perhaps the most egregious fracture in Indian society is the caste system ( https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-10-7182-9_6#Sec12 ) . It is still strong, especially in the poorer north of India, according to a good friend of mine. The caste system may have been abolished in theory, but, as he said, you cannot change culture by decree.The caste system is typically classified into four groups of castes, namely, Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (merchants) and Shudras (artisans) – my friend is a warrior! In reality, there are thousands of sub-castes. Dalits or untouchables are a group outside this broad classification. And even within the Dalit, who account for over 200 million of India’s total population 1.4 billion, there are reportedly more than 900 sub-castes. Generally, the Dalits are allowed to live only in designated slums or colonies outside villages. Traditionally, they worked in “impure” occupations involving leatherwork, butchering, removal of rubbish, animal carcasses, and cleaning streets, latrines and sewers.
It is true that all societies are shaped by social stratification. Modernisation has moderated Western class systems, while development has seen a fading in the importance of India’s caste system. But discrimination via the caste system has a heinous impact on Indian lives, dividing society, restricting opportunity for large numbers of Indian citizens and preventing the nation from realizing its full human potential. Dalit poverty is twice the national average and discrimination on the ground remains endemic, especially in rural areas where most Indians live.
The Indian government has implemented a number of affirmative action initiatives to improve socio-economic conditions, such as college entry quotas and job reservations. Some Dalit success stories include Ram Nath Kovind who was elected as India’s 14th president in July 2017. Kovind is the second Dalit to become Indian president, after K. R. Narayanan who held office from 1997 to 2002.
Religious discrimination in India
India’s constitution guarantees its citizens “freedom of religion”, and that India is a “secular state”. This is important in a country like India with great religious diversity. In 2020, India’s most important religious groups were: Hindus, 72.4 percent; Muslims, 14 percent; Christians, 4.8 percent. India has the world’s third largest Muslim population (after Indonesia and Pakistan), with its 200 million of Islamic faith.In reality, since India’s independence, Muslims have often faced discrimination, prejudice, and violence, despite constitutional protections ( https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/india-muslims-marginalized-population-bjp-modi ). But things have only worsened under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has pursued a Hindu nationalist agenda since elected to power in 2014. Since Modi’s reelection in 2019, the government has pushed controversial policies that critics say explicitly ignore Muslims’ rights, restrict religious freedoms, and are intended to disenfranchise millions of Muslims. Under Modi, violence against Muslims has become more common. The moves have sparked protests in India and drawn international condemnation.
India’s Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples represent another of manifold fractures in Indian society ( https://iwgia.org/en/resources/publications/5508-the-indigenous-world-2024.html ). In India, some 705 ethnic groups are listed as Scheduled Tribes. With an estimated population of 104 million, they comprise 8.6% of the total population. There are, however, many more ethnic groups that would qualify for Scheduled Tribe status but which are not officially recognised and consequently, the total populations of the Scheduled Tribes are higher than the official figure.The largest concentrations of Indigenous Peoples are found in the seven states of north-east India, and the so-called “central tribal belt” stretching from Rajasthan to West Bengal. India has several laws and constitutional provisions, such as the Fifth Schedule for central India and the Sixth Schedule for certain areas of north-east India, which recognise Indigenous Peoples’ rights to land and self-governance. The laws aimed at protecting Indigenous Peoples have numerous shortcomings and their implementation is far from satisfactory.
India’s women live in a sorry state
In high level meetings in India large cities like Delhi and Mumbai one often meets highly talented and self confident Indian women. But beyond such elite circles, India’s women live in a sorry state. Perhaps the most heinous acts are the highly publicised violent rapes and murders of Indian women.According to the Global Gender Gap Index ( https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2024.pdf ), India would rank only 129 out of the 146 countries surveyed. Countries are ranked according to a calculated gender gap between women and men in four key areas: health, education, economy and politics to gauge the state of gender equality in a country.
According to a UNICEF study ( https://www.unicef.org/india/what-we-do/gender-equality ), Indian girls are most disadvantaged. While globally girls have higher survival rates at birth, India is the only large country where more girls die than boys. Girls are also more likely to drop out of school. In India girls and boys experience adolescence differently.
While boys tend to experience greater freedom, girls tend to face extensive limitations on their ability to move freely and to make decisions affecting their work, education, marriage and social relationships. As girls and boys age the gender barriers continue to expand and continue into adulthood where we see only a quarter of women in the formal workplace.
Some Indian women are global leaders and powerful voices in diverse fields but most women and girls in India do not fully enjoy many of their rights due to deeply entrenched patriarchal views, norms, traditions and structures.
India’s dire human rights
The human rights situation in India would be dire, according to the latest annual report of Human Rights Watch ( https://www.hrw.org/asia/india ).“The Indian government led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) escalated its crackdown on civil society and the media. Authorities have routinely imposed internet shutdowns and prosecuted activists, journalists, and peaceful protesters on fabricated counterterrorism and hate speech laws. They have stifled rights groups using foreign funding regulations or unfounded allegations of financial irregularities. The government has adopted laws and policies that discriminate against religious minorities. This has led to the authorities and their supporters’ vilification of such communities, especially Muslims. Police complicity and failure to act have emboldened Hindu nationalist groups to target civil society groups and minorities with impunity.”
Freedom of the press is in crisis
With violence against journalists, highly concentrated media ownership, and political alignment, press freedom is in crisis in “the world’s largest democracy”, ruled since 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and embodiment of the Hindu nationalist right ( https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/reporters/20240906-india-s-media-wars-press-freedom-in-crisis ).India’s media has fallen into an “unofficial state of emergency” since Narendra Modi came to power in 2014 and engineered a spectacular rapprochement between his party, the BJP, and the big families dominating the media. Reliance Industries group’s magnate Mukesh Ambani, a personal friend of the prime minister, owns more than 70 media outlets that are followed by at least 800 million Indians.