India is generally extremely techno-optimistic - there is a no big resistence against vaccinations, AI, robotics, even blockchain as there is in the Western Hemisphere. However, a huge part of techno-optimism is the abundance mindset - which seems to missing in the Indian cultural space.
Looking at reservation (India's affirmative action for normalizing caste equity of opportunities) - the general consensus amongst the louder, "general" caste (which is a watered down version of the term "privileged" castes) is that reservation is a force of evil. In that it is an obstacle to meritocracy. Of course, ignoring that merit is access - these grievances come from the idea that a poverty-stricker general caste aspirant is being denied opportunities that are "rightfully" theirs, going to someone "less deserving." This reveals the scarcity mindset at the heart of Indian discourse - the assumption that opportunities are finite, that someone else's advancement necessarily comes at your expense. Instead of arguing for more hospitals and thus medical colleges, this kind spends time arguing why their privilege is more meritorious. We prefer quantitative measures such as JEE ranks instead of qualitative measures - was this child allowed to drink from the same well?
Of course, this is when Indians even acknowledge Caste - Urban Indians recreate caste hierarchies through occupational categories - white collar/blue collar divisions map almost perfectly onto traditional varna systems but feel "modern" and "meritocratic". Urban youth mistake their polite interactions with guards/watchmen for caste equality - one respectful relationship becomes proof that "caste doesn't exist anymore" while ignoring systematic exclusions everywhere else. Geospatial segregation of chawls and societies in Bombay for example is stark, yet ask a modern resident of a gated society (who by all means is escaping India via these gated societies) - why is there a service lift? If there isn't one - is there any special notice for the "delivery boys"? If not - your society has involved in some excellent progressivism - keep it up. Of course, this is considered a system of policing - when it really isn't an effective method if it attempts to be. Modern startups such as MyGate are a much better example. All of this doesn't allow you to externalize casteism as a rural or non-existent problem.
Coming back - this zero-sum scarcity-oriented thinking permeates beyond reservations into everyday interactions. You see it in the fierce competition for engineering and medical seats, where parents spend lakhs on coaching classes while simultaneously resenting any policy that might level the playing field. You see it in workplace dynamics where senior employees increase churn rate of juniors on purpose, fearing replacement. A short note on nepotism: We have no problem leveraging network effects in business but deny them in social mobility.
Even in family structures - the anxiety about property division, the reluctance to genuinely celebrate a cousin's success. Indian IT creates (low quality) abundance for Silicon Valley while Indian society remains trapped in zero-sum social mathematics. To address it - the abundance is low quality because of our scarcity mindset and thus feeling every opportunity is on borrowed time - how can we maximize gains. I also fear we treat reservation as a waste because we fundamentally treat education as purely functional (job acquisition) rather than holistic (human development), making any "inefficient" allocation feel like waste rather than investment
This cognitive dissonance suggests India's techno-optimism might be more instrumental than philosophical. We love technology when it promises individual advancement - better jobs, easier processes, global competitiveness - we might even stop to admire the engineering complexity of a simple application. But we resist social technologies that require collective abundance thinking. It's optimism about tools, not systems. About efficiency, not equity.
To give some more examples for insight: Indian temples accumulat capital via donations while maintaining artificial scarcity for devotees - institutionalizing the idea that divine favor requires others' deprivation.
This is not to say Indians aren't creative, intelligent and resourceful - Indians excel at creative resource optimization (jugaad) but resist systematic resource redistribution - individual abundance hacks vs. collective abundance architecture This is often celebrated by well-to-do pundits and know-nothing Indian Uncles - why?
The reservation debate then becomes a litmus test for whether India can truly embrace the abundance mindset that underlies genuine technological progress - the belief that human potential, when properly nurtured across all communities, creates exponentially more value than protecting existing hierarchies.
Scarcity mindsets emerge when social trust is low - Indians invest heavily in technological infrastructure but systematically underinvest in trust-building institutions, making abundance thinking structurally impossible.
So what do we do? I, the enlightened engineer (/s), have some ideas.
Let us start at representation. The only time a Dalit woman has been successfully represented in Media without savior complex of Aayushman Khurana has been in "The Andromeda Evolution" written by two White people in America. This should be of great shame to us. Similar to a Kung Fu Panda style moment inspiring the Chinese to create beautiful animated cinema - except for us we have to move to doing actual social commentary instead of "Poor boy gets Rich girl" or "There is so much grief I might indulge in light drinking".
[To be continued]