3. TIL a lack of toilets costs India more than $50 billion a year, mostly through p...

TIL a lack of toilets costs India more than $50 billion a year, mostly through premature deaths and hygiene-related diseases.

Holy shit! The ignorance, racism and general lack of any tact in this thread is astonishing.

It's so easy to criticise... specially when you decide to make non-sequitors. "Oh, India can't even shit, but spends so much on space". What kind of argument is that? It makes absolutely no sense as those are not mutually exclusive.

Why is it that people have this pejorative image of India? It is one of the LARGEST countries in the world. Within it, we literally have people speaking a NEW and DIFFERENT language from State to State. It is a country which has a HUGE religious variance from State to State. It is a nation with MASSIVE wealth disparity. Do you know how incredibly difficult it is to pass a message long such diverse group of people? Do people not understand the beaucratic burdens of trying to education people from SO MANY different backgrounds, histories, personalities? The biggest advantage most other large nations have is that they have a common language: China, Russia, United States... all have a unifying langage.

This advantage DOES NOT exist in India. Imagine having to change how to educate people just because you entered a new State? Imagine having to consider a WHOLE new set of religious, cultural and ethnic backgrounds just because you moved from one village to another. It is a DIFFICULT task.

YES, India has many problems. So many problems that it fucking annoys me when ANYTHING related to India pops up because people will turn it into a absolute vile discussion. I am not excusing India for its faults. There are far too many and it pains me, as an Indian, to realise these issues still exist.

So please, before think carefully before you decide to type out vile things. It's very easy to form a prejudiced and judgmental opinion. I can't prevent you from doing that... that's who you are. But before you do, try to think, is everyone like that. Chances are... you can't be right about 1.2 billion people.

You have every right to be critical of India, it's not the perfect country. But I'm tired of, mostly, seeing negative posts when there are certainly positive news: http://www.thebetterindia.com/

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