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Comment by 5_minutes | Hacker News Reader

I was just watching on ViceLand an episode about the Indian (non-existent) sewage system. Millions of people there have no sanitation facilities and deficate anywhere, where possible. And are living of a few dollars a month. It's really worthwhile watching, btw.

So talking about "quality cars" for $4000 here seems totally surreal. And that that would be disruptive is even more of a strange observation.

The author sure has an interesting story to tell, but the conclusions, title etc of the article shows of actual lacking good journalism/storytelling.

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should 'fornicate' be 'defecate'?

Right, I'm not a native speaker :) I'll update it thanks.

> deficate anywhere, where possible. And are living of a few dollars a month.

Yes, both of those are real problems but if you look at the economic data from India there is a rapidly growing middle class that can now afford something better than a $600 two stroke engine scooter. When you have a population of 1.2 billion, even if a large majority remain in relative poverty, the disposable income and buying power of the new middle class is not something companies are going to ignore. India is a fascinating study in contrasts, the gap between rich and poor is incredibly huge. There's a domestic space program that was capable of sending a probe to Mars, yet designated defecation streets are a real thing. It seems surreal because it is, but that's been the status quo there for a very, very long time.

Please keep in mind India has one of the, if not the, largest middle class population in the world.

Indian middle class would be below poverty line by western standards. People who can barely afford a car are not middle class by world standards.

Can you verify that with some sources/stats? And what's your definition of a "middle class" in India?

Presumably using the definition of spending $4 to $6 a day.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/11/6-surprising-facts-ab...

However, there are other estimations around that make India's middle class much smaller, say ~25M

http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/ind...

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