[inapis]

Indian being a nanny state is an understatement. The govt simply has (and always had) a high distrust of its citizens (emanating from the british raj). Things have improved somewhat but as recent as 2015-16 you had to get your documents attested from a pretty high ranking govt officer for simple stuff in life and then also bring in the originals. If it was an online form, you’d submit it then print it and then send it by post. It is not a hard task to imagine the govts attitude when things get complex and require nuance to fulfil.

On top of that the society in general has become cynical. The media is constantly negative. This just leads to a vicious cycle where the govt just becomes more distrustful of its citizens. I don’t know who came first - a cyncial govt or a cynical society. But right now its a catch-22 which frequently impedes progress in the country. Even for the situations where the society and govt manage to break this deadlock is not celebrated and acknowledged much. They are simply outgunned by the negative stuff and India being as large and diverse as it is, negativity is aplenty.

The current ruling party (for all its other faults) managed to improve this somewhat and at the same time managed to create another set of problems - chief of which is creating a state of you vs me (in every fucking conversation and discourse)

Indian state (or the society) simply can’t shake off being a nanny.

[perl4ever]

"Indian being a nanny state is an understatement"

To a non-Indian who's never been there, that sounds odd, because "nanny" implies to me a level of control that I didn't think existed.