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0:00 India is now the fourth-largest economy in the world. From ministers to businessmen are talking about this achievement. And why not? Whether it's Vande Bharat trains, expressways, digital payments, or big brands, these are all part of the Indian growth story. But there's a saying about life in India. You live the life of a developed world at home. But as soon as you step out of the house, you realize that this country is still developing. Roads are flooded, there's no end to the traffic, and the air is polluted. And don't think that only poor people are affected by this. Even if you buy a luxury car in India with your hard-earned money, you have to pay double the taxes as compared to other countries. And where will you drive your car?
0:47 On roads like these. Even if you have money, you go to a good college, you get a good job, and you have a good salary, you still have to go through these things. Because we can divide India into three tiers. I learned this from Joydeep Singh Sharma's tweet, where he said that India has Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3. Tier 1 is where India is a shining example. This is the kind of India that's like a developed country. Only the private sector contributes to this. Tier 2 is where the government has to work with the private sector. And Tier 3 is where the government is involved. It's at the Tier 2 and 3 levels that things are haphazard. To explain what these tiers are, we experienced the lives of four young urban professionals
1:33 from four major cities in India. Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata. So let's learn about the actual quality of life in our country. But before we move forward, I want to give you some good news. I will sponsor one student who will get admission into one of India's best private engineering colleges in CS&AI, which is Scalar School of Technology. I've already sponsored one student from SST. I've been to the campus and interacted with the students. Scalar School of Technology has a four-year undergraduate program in CS&AI. It was founded by ex-tech leaders from Meta, Google, and Amazon. And here, 18-19-year-olds are doing such innovative things that I hadn't even imagined during my college days. Even IIT Madras is using AI tools made by students from SST. SST has a huge focus on innovation.
2:19 It has an innovation lab and startup funding of 1 crore. You'll also get one-on-one mentorship with ex-tech leaders like Google and Meta. Recently, OpenAI's co-creator and Google DeepMind's research scientist Arvind Neelkanthan personally came to SST to interact with the students. In SST, students get internships in companies like Apple and Zomato. Stipends can be up to Rs. 2 lakh per month. I've spoken to the leadership team of SST many times. Their focus is to admit and trains students who want to create a startup or have a core belief that they can use technology to solve some of society's biggest problems. So if you're excited about CS&AI, check out the link in the description through which you can register for an exam.
3:05 And if you clear this exam, then maybe you can be the lucky one which gets 100% scholarship from me. And who knows, you might get the opportunity to create a disruptive startup. First, let's talk about India's Tier-1 which is a shining example of India's growing economy. This Tier-1 is run purely by the private sector where comfort and convenience are valued. For example, this is Bengaluru, India's tech capital. Here, Aditya roams around Indira Nagar and orders his takeaway coffee from Starbucks. Later, he chills at the WeWork office,
3:51 gets nachos from the vending machine and orders a Rapido auto-taxi from his phone to commute. After a tiring evening, he chills at Bob's Cafe where he gets a craft beer. This is the urban lifestyle that you won't find in developed economies because it is all about comfort and convenience. For example, in Delhi, Rimi works for a law firm who eats at the fancy cafes of the Hauz Khas. Then she goes to Khan Market which is an upscale market in South Delhi. Easily, she can order a pedicure through UrbanClub. For a simple pedicure, in developed economies,
4:37 you'll have to drive somewhere. But all these conveniences are available at home because of Tier-1. In fact, you can order a house-help in just 10 minutes. This is a good thing. Problems start as soon as you leave the house and you have to interact with the government. Because in Tier-2 India, the government works with the private sector. These are your roads, footpaths, drains outside your house, toilets, garbage, public transport, and traffic management. This is where things are haphazard. Recently, there have been many wars. And I find it very interesting how Indians react to some of the war-torn countries.
5:24 They get those visuals of war-torn countries. And their first reaction is that there's a war going on here. But their cities are still cleaner than ours. This happened in Gaza. And recently, it's happening with Tehran. People are surprised that these cities have better urban infrastructure than ours. So even if Aditya gives Rs. 200 for his Starbucks coffee, "Thank you." he has to take the same road that lakhs of people in Bengaluru use. "It's jam-packed." In Bengaluru, traffic is seen as a way of life. In fact, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivkumar said that even God can't fix Bengaluru's roads. If we talk about Mumbai, it's almost impossible to walk on footpaths.
6:12 Either there's garbage on the roads, or cars have been parked there, which means you can't even walk there. In Bandra, you'll definitely find the most expensive houses and restaurants. But take a look at the garbage and subpar infrastructure. And because entering Mumbai's local area is like entering an Olympic sport, people have to figure out what's the best time to commute. In DLF Gurgaon, you'll find houses worth crores of rupees, and you can even shop in expensive malls. But what happens when it rains outside a mall? Just look at it. This is the situation.
6:58 The same is the situation in Kolkata. In tier 2, there are things where the government provides services, but with the help of a private company. When a private company takes sole responsibility, there are good examples of this in our country. For example, if you go to expensive DLF societies, they've built footpaths, parks, and roads. And you won't find the same problems that you find on government roads. But imagine if you have to walk on this road every day to get to the nearest metro station. You pay taxes, and you hear so much about India's growth story. But what's the point of this growth story if you can't even walk conveniently on the city streets?
7:56 But this is still fine. Problems get worse when you interact with tier 3 India, where the government has a monopoly. No private company can enter these areas. And this is the tier 3 India that everyone fears. Everyone prays that they'll never face this tier 3 India. Because in this tier 3 India, there are police, courts, and municipalities. No one wants to go near these things. And they have to go when they face a problem in life. If a car is stolen, who will you go to? If a drain is overflowing outside your house, who will you go to? If there are potholes on the roads, who will you go to? Tier 3 India is a black hole. If you enter it by chance, it can take years to get out.
8:41 That's why there are many Bahubali leaders in our country. Instead of spending 10 years in court, it's better that a Bahubali leader mediates and resolves a legal issue. Why am I telling you this? Look at Delhi's example. A property case in Delhi went on for 26 years. It took 26 years for our legal system to resolve a case! If we talk about the police, only 25% of Indians trust the police. The situation is so bad that our citizens have accepted that tier 3 will never work. And it has serious consequences. We believe that no system enforces rules. But when this happens, people don't follow the rules. Traffic signals are not a law, but a suggestion.
9:26 There's no norm in standing in line, but it's a formality. That's why no one would mind if you threaten to report them to the police. People get scared in our country when someone says, do you know who my father is? I won't even say that GDP growth doesn't benefit the country. High growth transforms people's lives. Your income will increase. You can spend more on health and entertainment. You can eat better. But what I'm trying to say is that numbers alone won't reflect India's quality of life. Because for quality of life, you need to look at different indicators. India is doing very well in tier-1, but what about tier-2 and tier-3, where the government plays a role? The sad thing is that I haven't come across even one politician,
10:11 not even one politician, who is prioritizing urban-civic infrastructure... who wants to make our cities better. The Delhi Chief Minister recently said that it's not her fault that it rained. "Rain is a natural phenomenon." "There's no furnance down that will make the water evaporate." D.K. Shivkumar said that even God can't fix the roads in Bengaluru. What these politicians don't realize is that because of these problems, India's smartest and most talented people don't want to come back to India. I have many friends who are in top jobs in countries like Singapore and the US,
10:57 and they don't want to come back because of India's quality of life. Instead of attracting these people, many Indians want to leave the country. I talked about this in my IIT video, where I talked about how top IIT rankers mostly live outside India. This is a signal. I don't think Indian politicians are not smart. But I think they're one of the most intelligent people in our country. They've decided that urban civic infrastructure is not a priority. They've decided this because it's not their political priority. What good will it do them? Which is quite sad that they're taking urban voters for granted. They're getting votes from somewhere else. So their reaction is, why should I fix the roads?
11:45 Because the solutions to our problems are obvious. RBI has written a detailed report on Indian municipalities' problems. I've also made a detailed video on this, which I strongly recommend you watch after this video. I've talked in detail about our cities' problems and their solutions. To quickly summarize, our municipalities have neither financial nor political power. If we talk about financial power, they have to beg the state and central government. "It's locked." "It's locked even during daytime." If we talk about political power, the municipal head has to look at the chief minister to do something. You tell me, how can the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh decide which gutter in Benaras will be cleared?
12:30 And third and most importantly, there are no incentives. You tell me, if your city is dirty, is anyone losing their job? No, right? But if a company's quarterly performance is bad, will the CEO lose his job? They would. So basically, because of these reasons, our cities are so dirty and in such a bad state. So why am I making this video? Because I do feel urban voters in India are taken for granted. Awareness is the first step to change. I want us to put pressure on politicians. And politicians should know that they cannot do this. They cannot take us for granted. Because a lot of the tax comes from people like us. But the services we get in return are like this.
13:20 And that needs to change. And as I told you earlier, I will sponsor one student for a 100% scholarship for SST. If you're passionate about CS&AI, check out the link in the description. And maybe you'll get a chance to build your own disruptive startup. Or if you're a student, maybe you can share this opportunity with a friend or a family member who might be very interested in this.
