India is a third-world country, with first-world companies

Many inside and outside of India praise the ambition of the young country. Destined by most to have exponential growth and become THE heavy-weight challenger for the world's top economy.

I think that idea isn't just stupidly unlikely, but incredibly ignorant about how we got here.

Culture, the Culprit?

Indian culture - as best described by Lee Kwan Yew in his interviews - is fractured beyond most people's comprehension. To shamelessly steal from Ambedkar, I'd say that Indian Culture is a myth. It is only a collection of various sub-cultures, with each having only 2 primary goals: To survive and distinguish themselves from other cultures.

As such, there is little to no unity of goals, beliefs or practices. Which leads to tribalism, which leads to low trust, which leads to low growth. This reflects in a uniquely Indian brand of complete and utter lack of faith in any-and-all public institutions.

Ask any straight-shooting paan-spitter and the truth is clear. Politics is corrupt. Media is corrupt. Police is corrupt. Not some of it - all. From the roots to the leaf.

In fact, largely all problems with anything related to the law are typically solved with bribes - with little happening that changes the status quo. Behaviour Indians take abroad and get deservedly shamed for.

Companies, my saviours!

"Oye, there dumbass! That's all history. Look at how India has advanced now!" says the (often saffron-draped) patriot. But has it really? Even if yes, how?

My argument is simple : Almost all the growth in the last decade and a half are easily attributable to a handful of private organistations The beauty of having the world's lowest cost of Internet (thanks to Jio) and cheap engineering talent (thanks to IITs) is that many first world companies (and capital) essentially created the "Indian MNC Sub-Culture" - void of most of the toxic bits of actual India.

Step out of these office boundaries, and you find yourself on a mostly broken footpath, surrounded by paan-spit stained walls and AQI low enough to give kids cancer. This is what you get after giving up more than half of your income to taxes, education and basic healthcare. Ergo, the brain drain where all the top qualified individuals seek first to move abroad.