Lack of government support pushes people to work hard in India

A rEport By tHE SwIss BAnk UBS survEyED 77 CItIEs ACross tHE worlD AnD ConCluDED tHAt tHE CItIzEns oF MumBAI workED tHE lonGEst At 3,315 Hours pEr yEAr. MumBAI rEsIDEnts AnD In FACt InDIAns, too, As A Group, work lonG Hours CompArED to workErs In otHEr CountrIEs. THIs Is prInCIpAlly BECAusE wE ArE A poor Country wItH mostly lowEr-mIDDlE ClAss CItIzEns AnD poor slums AnD rurAl DwEllErs. LIFE Is HArD In InDIA, DuE to low-InComE lEvEls, InflAtIon AnD HArDly Any BEnEfIts From tHE GovErnmEnt. HEnCE, MumBAIkArs AnD InDIAns ovErAll wIll work lonG Hours to mAkE somEtHInG oF tHEIr lIvEs.

SAlArIEs In InDIA At mIDDlE AnD lowEr lEvEls ArE ABout HAlF to onE-tHIrD oF sAlArIEs In tHE MIDDlE EAst, EuropE AnD tHE US. HowEvEr, Costs oF vArIous GooDs ArE InCrEAsInGly AlIGnED GloBAlly. For InstAnCE, A BrAnDED lAptop or A moBIlE pHonE Costs tHE sAmE ACross tHE worlD In DollArs or rupEEs. DEspItE promIsEs By suCCEssIvE GovErnmEnts, prICEs oF FooD AnD FuEl kEEp InCrEAsInG In InDIA EvEry yEAr. THus, wE HAvE to work HArDEr. In most CountrIEs tHE GovErnmEnt offErs pEnsIons, mEDICAl InsurAnCE, unEmploymEnt InsurAnCE, EtC. THErE ArE no suCH BEnEfIts In InDIA, EvEn tHouGH wE pAy ABout 30 pEr CEnt oF our sAlArIEs As tAxEs tHrouGHout our lIvEs. So, wE ContInuE to work EvEn In olD AGE, unlEss wE HAvE rICH CHIlDrEn to support us.

So, I GuEss, It Is tHE DEstIny oF tHE CurrEnt GEnErAtIon to Just work HArD AnD sAvE For tHE FuturE. — Rajendra Aneja, Mumbai