Anupam- The Dreamer

It is often understood that the income level at the bottom of the demography is very miniscule, considering the per capita income of India at around Rs. 2.4 lakh. That translates to about Rs. 20,000 per month. But as Hans Rosling says in his book “Factfulness”, the gross data hides the micro picture. So, let me delve a little into that micro picture today through the stories of different people.

There is a guy named Mukesh. He is 19 years old and hails from Madhepura, Bihar. He works on a “Mother Dairy” ice-cream tricycle cart in Delhi NCR. For every Rs. 100 of ice-cream sold, the company pays him Rs. 14 commission. I asked him about his daily earnings, to which he replied that he makes about Rs. 500 per day. That translates to Rs. 15,000 per month. That’s below the average per capita income of Rs. 20,000. He lives on rent with his buddies from Bihar and makes his own food after his shift from 5pm-11 pm at night. So, at best he cannot save more than Rs. 10,000 per month, and that too living away from home. He cannot make trips to home every 2-3 months because that will erode his savings plus he will not earn during that period.

Then there is another guy called Radheshyam, coincidentally again from Bihar. He makes litti-chokha in Delhi NCR. He sells around 100 plates per day costing about Rs. 40 each. Even if half of that is considered as his cost, he makes about Rs. 2000 per day or Rs. 60,000 per month. That means Rs. 7.2 lakhs per year. Not bad for that level of skill, as the income level is about 3 times of per capita income.

Now, take the case of Mandeep. He is a masseuse at the Urban Company. He has learnt the skill of massage and he is very good at his work. He gets 2-3 bookings every day on an average for 5 days a week and 4-5 bookings on Saturdays and Sundays. One massage earns him about Rs. 800-1000 (depending on the type of massage) and takes about 1.5 hours to do it. So, taking average of 3 massages per day, he makes around Rs. 2500 per day. That is Rs. 75,000 per month or Rs. 9 lakh per year, after working for just 5 hours a day. It is more than what many tech guys earn after a B.Tech degree and a 10-hour shift. But would the Tech guy be willing to do this job? I don’t think so!

This is not to say that every guy at the bottom of the pyramid is earning that much. There are many workers like sweepers, guards etc. who don’t get more than Rs. 15,000 per month. But, still there is a lot of disparity within this class also. So, what is the thing that separates these people? It is the level of “skill” that they possess and put to use. Education wise, they all may not have higher than 12^th pass qualification, most are not even 10^th pass. But, the level of skill and their tactfulness in putting that into work decides their pay level.

So, even at the bottom, if the person is skilled and resourceful, then he/she can make a decent amount of money. Many graduates and post-graduates working at call centers, small and medium scale industries are making much less than that, even after working 12 hours a day. My father was telling me the other day that B.Tech. civil engineers are working on-site in heat and mud for Rs. 20,000/- with private civil contractors. Can something be more pathetic than that? Education in a private university for 4 years costs about Rs. 7-8 lakhs! And even after this education, a person cannot get a decent employment, then there is something to ponder about. Maybe, skill development alongwith formal education is the way out. Or entrepreneurship like the natural farming of specialized kind, where some “farmers” (aka rich entrepreneurs) are earning Rs. 4 lakhs a month by growing mushrooms or saffron in their homes! And mind you, agricultural income is exempt from taxation till date in our country. Some well-educated persons are rearing “Gir cows” in their cowsheds, and selling ghee at a rate of Rs. 2000/kg. That’s staggering, around Rs. 1200/kg more than the average ghee price. And they have scaled their business to earn more than Rs. 2 crores revenue per year.

One of my cousins was telling me that a guy quit his corporate job in Bangalore and has opened a pizza-outlet in a pickup truck. He has got one helper and makes awesome pizzas for Rs. 200 each and makes only 100 pizzas in a day. He takes home Rs. 10,000 per day, that is 3 lakhs per month and 36 lakhs per year! How many of us can boast off that level of package working in corporate sector? He must have also thought that naukri me kya rakha hai, pizza becho aur paisa banao. And who knows that he may build the next big desi pizza chain in coming years? 😲

So, is it time to go back to the basic skills leaving the traditional mode of education? Or there is a need to supplement traditional mode of education with the basic skills of entrepreneurship to enhance the earning capacity? Or the education needs to be super-specialized to empower people with the skills that are scarce in the job market, so that they can earn super-high income? I leave it for you to figure that out. Till then, I will leave you with a story of a young girl. This 10-year old girl as a business experiment started selling lemon soda in her society, for Rs. 50 per glass. She sold 100 glasses and earned Rs. 4000 (after removing expenses) over the weekend for her pocket money. What lessons will she take home out of her little venture?

Till next time…. 😉