C.V.O. CA'S NEWS & VIEWS Compiled by: CA Henik Dilip Shah It's all a State of Mind! VOL. 23 - NO. 6 - JANUARY 2020 19 Think big and your deeds will grow Think small and you'll fall behind Think that you can and you will It's all a state of mind! -Walter D. Whintle 1. Poverty is a state of mind. [1] A research conducted by Priya Fielding-Singh, a doctoral candidate in sociology at Stanford University, suggested that families' socio-economic status affected not just their access to healthy food, but something even more fundamental- the meaning of food. She interviewed 73 Californian families, i.e. more than 150 parents and kids, and spent more than 100 hours observing their daily dietary habits. Most of the parents that she interviewed, whether poor or affluent, wanted their kids to eat nutritious food and believed in the importance of a healthy diet. But parents were also constantly bombarded with requests for junk food from their kids. Across households, children asked for foods high in sugar, salt and fat. They wanted to eat Cheetos and not vegetables. While both wealthy and poor kids asked for junk food, the parents responded differently to these pleas. An overwhelming majority of the wealthy parents told her that they routinely said “no” to requests for junk food. In 96% of high-income families, at least one parent reported that they regularly decline such requests. Parents from poor families, however, almost always said “yes” to junk food. Only 13% of low-income families had a parent that reported regularly declining their kids' junk food requests. One significant reason for this disparity, as she observed, was that kids' food requests meant drastically different things to the parents. For parents raising their kids in poverty, having to say “no” was a part of daily life. Their financial circumstances forced them to deny their children's requests, like a new pair of branded shoes or a trip to amusement parks, all the time. This wasn't tough for the kids alone; it also left the poor parents feeling guilty and inadequate. So junk food was something they could often say “yes” to. Honouring requests for junk food allowed poor parents to show their children that they loved them, heard them and could meet their needs. Junk food purchases not only brought smiles to kids' faces, but also gave parents something equally vital- a sense of worth and competence as parents in an environment where those feelings were constantly jeopardized. To wealthy parents, kids' food requests meant something entirely different. Raising their kids in affluent environment, wealthy parents were regularly able to meet most of their children's material needs and wants. Wealthy parents could almost always say “yes,” whether it was to the latest gadget or an expensive education course. With an abundance of opportunities to honour their kids' desires, high-income parents
Transcript
C.V.O. CA'S NEWS & VIEWS
Compiled by:
CA Henik Dilip Shah
It's all a State of Mind!
VOL. 23 - NO. 6 - JANUARY 2020
19
Think big and your deeds will growThink small and you'll fall behindThink that you can and you will
It's all a state of mind!-Walter D. Whintle
1. Poverty is a state of mind.
[1]A research conducted by Priya Fielding-Singh, a doctoral candidate in sociology at Stanford University, suggested that families' socio-economic status affected not just their access to healthy food, but something even more fundamental- the meaning of food.
She interviewed 73 Californian families, i.e. more than 150 parents and kids, and spent more than 100 hours observing their daily dietary habits.
Most of the parents that she interviewed, whether poor or affluent, wanted their kids to eat nutritious food and believed in the importance of a healthy diet.
But parents were also constantly bombarded with requests for junk food from their kids. Across households, children asked for foods high in sugar, salt and fat. They wanted to eat Cheetos and not vegetables. While both wealthy and poor kids asked for junk food, the parents responded differently to these pleas.
An overwhelming majority of the wealthy parents told her that they routinely said “no” to requests for junk food. In 96% of high-income families, at least one parent reported that they regularly decline such requests.
Parents from poor families, however, almost always said “yes” to junk food. Only 13% of low-income families had a parent that reported regularly declining their kids' junk food requests.
One significant reason for this disparity, as she observed, was that kids' food requests meant drastically different things to the parents.
For parents raising their kids in poverty, having to say “no” was a part of daily life. Their financial circumstances forced them to deny their children's requests, like a new pair of branded shoes or a trip to amusement parks, all the time. This wasn't tough for the kids alone; it also left the poor parents feeling guilty and inadequate. So junk food was something they could often say “yes” to. Honouring requests for junk food allowed poor parents to show their children that they loved them, heard them and could meet their needs. Junk food purchases not only brought smiles to kids' faces, but also gave parents something equally vital- a sense of worth and competence as parents in an environment where those feelings were constantly jeopardized.
To wealthy parents, kids' food requests meant something entirely different. Raising their kids in affluent environment, wealthy parents were regularly able to meet most of their children's material needs and wants. Wealthy parents could almost always say “yes,” whether it was to the latest gadget or an expensive education course. With an abundance of opportunities to honour their kids' desires, high-income parents
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could more readily digest saying “no” to requests for junk food. Doing so wasn't always easy, but it also wasn't nearly as distressing for wealthy parents as for the poor ones. These parents also saw withholding junk food as an act of responsible parenting.
Both wealthy and poor parents used food to care for their children. But the different meanings they attached to food shaped how they pursued this goal.
Wealthy parents who denied their kids processed foods did so to teach them healthy lifelong habits, such as portion control, as well as more general values, such as willpower.
Poor parents honoured their kids' junk food requests to nourish them emotionally, which in turn may harm their health.
Kids have the same behaviour worldwide, so what research is done in the USA is relevant for India. Brands like Coca-Cola and McDonalds are already making huge sums because of this behaviour, as
[2]highlighted in my article “Perception and Influence” published in the October 2019 edition. However, a more noteworthy mention is this specific advertisement of Maggi noodles- showing a poor family's son, who didn't get good marks. But because he conveys this truth to his mother, she rewards him by
[3]preparing Maggi and they share an emotional moment together.
What is interesting here, is that since poor parents have repeatedly symbolised cheap junk food with rewards and happiness, their kids, when grown up, will continue to believe in this symbolism. Now when time comes to expand their horizons and work hard to achieve something significant, they might simply lack the willpower to do so, (unlike kids from affluent families) and go back to find happiness in junk, which they have been habituated.
It is not only restricted to food, but also covers other basic necessities, i.e. clothing and shelter. Coupled with other factors, this habit affects the various choices made in life. As they observe the outside world, the life of the affluent, they notice one thing- Inequality of incomes.
2. Inequality is a state of mind.
As per World Inequality Report, in 2016, Top 10% of India's rich held 55% share of national income. This [4]share was around 30-35% in the year 1980, and has only risen on an average. The same has happened
almost everywhere in the world, as per the chart below:
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The NSSO report, released in May 2019, had shown India's joblessness across all ages to be at a 45 year high to 6.1% in 2017-18. The unemployment rate among the rural male youth (persons of age 15-29 years) was 17.4% while the unemployment rate among the rural female youth was 13.6% during 2017-18. The unemployment rate among the urban male youth was 18.7% while the unemployment rate for urban female youth was 27.2%.
For educated (highest level of education secondary and above) rural males and rural females of age 15 years and above, unemployment rates were 10.5% and 17.3% respectively. The same for urban educated
[5]was 9.2% for males and 19.8% for females.
Further, Indian banks have also seen a rise in education loan defaults, from 7.3% as on March 2016, to [6]9% in March 2018.
Apart from unemployment, there is a serious under-employment. Every now and then you will find news of professionals applying for posts where the minimum education criteria would be matriculation. The latest one came from Bihar where around 5 lakh youth including MBAs, engineers, and post graduates
[7]applied to become gardeners and watchmen.
Further, let's also understand the impact social media has, especially on youth. While youth starts to spend more and more time on such media, it gets more and more disconnected from reality, and starts experiencing an increasing level of stress due to self-validation points, i.e. likes and comments. The more one is active on social media, the more one stays relevant or trendy in one's circles.
To get more likes and comments, one has to post a better picture, preferably with branded clothing of latest trend. Going to fancy restaurants, flaunting expensive stuff also helps. But all this requires one to spend more, probably more than what one earns. Buying on credit, paying in instalments has also become a norm.
However, going a step further, MobiKwik, a mobile wallet and payment gateway service provider, introduced the concept of “Boost loan”, wherein the user of MobiKwik app can avail an instant loan of
[8]upto Rs 1,00,000, with minimal documentation. Further advertisements of this loan scheme are done by 'Tik Tok' stars (Tik Tok is a social media platform for creating short videos, often recreating a song or a
[9]movie dialogue.). 41% of Tik Tok's users are aged between 16 and 24 years.
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(A screenshot from Tik Tok star
Bhavika Motwani's video posted on her Instagram account. She has around 19 lakh
Tik Tok followers. & 4 lakh Instagram followers.)
(This is a screenshot from the Boost loan webpage of MobiKwik's website. Take special note of the things shown on
which one can spend this loan money.)
Advertisements of getting into debt being done on a target clientele who probably has just started understanding how the world works.
The choice of rewarding and finding happiness in junk food, in cheap stakes, in buying something only to flaunt and getting into debt for these choices, will only aggravate the person's bad finances. A 2016 Forbes article, highlighting USA's bad finances problem, stated “If a person owns $10 only and has no debt, then
[10]he/she is richer than 15% of American households.”
When such people observe their neighbourhood, the life of the affluent, after absorbing the inequality, they feel that some sort of injustice has been done to them. Although it cannot be denied that the powerful may keep a section of society deprived of opportunities and knowledge, but people don't realise that majority of times it is the choices which they make, that start defining them and deciding their future. Injustice is being done by them, on themselves.
3. Injustice is a state of mind.
In his book “The White Tiger”, Arvind Adiga had very aptly portrayed the state of injustice. He noted that even though people are given an opportunity to really excel in life, really break the shackles of poverty and injustice, and be on the other side of the road, majority will simply not accept, for fear of the unknown. He further states that such people, instead of thinking hard on their current situations, will prefer escaping from reality, by watching television.
Television (and any media as a matter of fact) can mould its viewers' opinions to great extent. While this article is being written, there are protests happening all over the country over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Whether the protests are done for a right cause or not is a different issue, but the intensity with which these protests are being held, does concern me. What people should be really be thinking on, is increasing prices of key food items like onions and daal, employment woes and the current state of Indian economy, and preferably engage in a dialogue with their elected representatives. Instead, they are busy showing their patriotism, secularism or religious hatred.
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Politicians make the most out of it, by diverting attention from really important issues to not so important issues.
A United Nations report has found that wealthy communities will be able to buy their way out of the unfolding climate crisis while the poorest will suffer most. An example was cited of the 2012 hurricane Sandy. “Vulnerable New Yorkers were stranded without power, but the Goldman Sachs headquarters was
[11]lit by power from its own generators.” All those who chose to buy a power backup or a generator were obviously protected like Goldman Sachs. Everything boils down to choice.
Point to Ponder:Our lives are defined by the choices we make. These choices depend on our thoughts. If we don't think big, someone else will, and will make us fall behind. Ultimately, isn't it all a state of mind?
