The Indian middle class comprises many groups and they are not able to come together. For any group to become powerful, they have to be united. But the interests of each of these groups within the Indian middle class - upper caste Hindus, Dalits, Muslims, OBCs - clash with each other. Today, caste and religious identity is more important to the individual than national identity. Perhaps this is because everything we do today revolves around money. Money is power and even if a person feels that certain things are wrong, he will not raise his voice because his interests might be compromised. In a consumerist, neo capitalist society, everything comes down to economics" - Manisha Pande, author, 'Middle Class India; Driving Change in the 21st Century' talks to Manjula Narayan about the middle class in ancient and medieval India, the vast changes that have occurred since Liberalization in the early 1990s, the status of middle and upper class Indian women as being more shackled and conformist than their working class peers, the shift in the attitude towards the country's population growth and the demographic dividend that heralds good things for the future of the nation
282 Episodes