© BBC
Brilio.net/en - India boasts the second highest populated country in the world today, and is one of just two countries to surpass the one billion mark. Like many other countries, there is an evident gap between the rich and the poor in India. Although measures have been taken to narrow this gap, its impact on such a populous nation is rather minimal. The big picture reveals that the bridge has broadened over time, inadvertently making the rich richer and the poor poorer.
As a result of the monstrous income gap, many of Indias citizens opt to commute via its railway networks- and that accounts for about 23 million passengers each day, close to 20% of its entire population! People travel through the cities for multiple purposes, with one of the most common reasons being to work in urban cities such as Mumbai because opportunities in rural areas are slim. Most of the people are season ticket holders, so that figure is rather stable, if not growing, all year round.
Heres a sneak peek at the unbelievable conditions that people go through as they squeeze themselves in the overcrowded trains. Trust me; youve never seen anything like it before!
While few people are lucky enough to sit on the upper deck, the rest have no choice but to stand amongst the crowd. (Source: bbc.com)
The trains first class section seems a lot more organized, but you can expect it to always be fully occupied. (Source: bbc.com)
Men and women in action looking like sardines in a can rather than people on their way to work. (Source: bbc.com)
Thats right, a toilet! Youll find passengers on literally every corner of the train. (Source: bbc.com)
The ladies coach is a common aspect of Indias railways, allowing them to be free from male attention and/or harassment. (Source: bbc.com)
Speechless? Im not surprised. Lets cling on to the hope that the bullet train idea will be successfully implemented in India one day to tackle this daily problem!
(brl/red)
