to expect the Indian government to provide decent housing for it's citizens.

[myfunnynametaken]

I mean, it's a democracy, it's fast growing, it's not a third world country anymore and it's economy is doing OK.

All this coverage of the film Slumdog millionaire is depressing me. I can't believe the government of india is allowing people to live in these conditions in 2009. I know they are not as wealthy as us but FFS their hardly in the same league as Mozambique.

Define 'decent housing', though?

Define 'decent housing', though?

that's a good point LastTrain - though not quite the same DH's mum lived in a township in Zimbabwe. It had running water, and these days does at least have telephone lines (not that either work or are safe).

She had a decent job as a teacher, but chose to stay in the township in her rickety house, and instead used the money she did earn to fill the inside of her house with nice furniture etc. It was a story I saw many times, there is nothing stranger than walking through a township of run-down houses with rubbish piled on the streets and only the bare essentials in the ways of utilities only to enter the house and see a satelite TV, and beauitfully care for homes (even when the walls were full of damp and falling apart).

Obviously not the same as the rural areas (where like in india there is no running water, or phones, or the likes) - but it shows how many people even with the opportunity to move "out" and "up" chhose to stay where they are.

Poverty in India is horrific, yes there are some v rich people and some sectors are booming eg IT, call centres.

But overall it is a poor country with a huge population.

For many many people living there, life is all about grinding poverty, they have little or no access to running water, toilets, public health systems.

I have been to the slums, some are actually not bad, others are awful, very very sad.

And yes the govt could prob do more, but the burden of the enormous population, limited infrastructure, the legacy of colonialism and the terribly rigid caste system makes it very very tough.

It's huge, teh population is 'exploding', just wait until people start to be able to afford cars. Planet will be F**ked then!

bluejelly - it's true that the economic boom has mainly changed the lives of the middle class youth who can now do things their parents could not even dream of (eat weekly in restaurants, buy a house, fill said house with gadgets).
As for the rest, the rich have remained rich and the poor have remained poor. It will take some time for the effects to filter down to the less well-off.