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The Print
02-08-2025
- General
- The Print
Why worry about water or jobs? In New Bharat, everybody wants to be an influencer
This is the new Bharat: addicted, online, and strangely calm to its quiet collapse. 'Paani nahin hai, naukri nahin hai… par phone hai. Aur us par timepass karne ke liye waqt hi waqt,' I muttered. No water, no job, but there's a phone and endless time to kill on it. It was a sight both unsettling and clarifying. On a blistering afternoon, heavy with humidity, a group of boys and mothers stood silently along a pavement—empty cans, dented buckets, plastic jugs at their feet—waiting for the water tanker. There was no commotion, no conversation, just a strange stillness that comes not from discipline, but from resignation. Just heads bowed to their phones scrolling, swiping, escaping into lives more curated and colourful than their own. Also Read: Indians biggest consumers of AI-generated news & most comfortable with it—Reuters Institute report Influence over income In New India, Indians are reportedly spending an average of five hours daily on their phones, primarily on social media, gaming, and video streaming. And it isn't leisure anymore. It's identity. It's economy. The ambition today, whether it's a toddler or young adult, isn't to become a civil servant, doctor, engineer, or teacher. It is to go viral. In a country where unemployment is at a historic high, the national anxiety isn't about jobs — it's about reach. Aspirations have shifted from employment to engagement, from careers to content. It's no longer about building a life, but building a following, to trend. As job creation stagnates, the generation has turned to visibility for validation. Today's youth wants views, likes, and subscribers. Not power, but popularity. Not contribution, but clout. Not nation-building, but narrative-building. Even UPSC aspirants, once held up as the embodiment of India's intellectual grit, are now daily vloggers. 'A day in my life as a UPSC student' videos include 5 am alarms, lemon water, reading The Hindu, and skincare routines. If the exam fails, the breakfast still gets monetised. Even ambition now comes with a referral code. This is not satire — it's economy. Dadis and Nanis have become wellness influencers with their nuskas, guided by tech-savvy grandchildren. Turmeric milk, cold-pressed oil, chanting for clear skin. They're charming, wholesome, algorithmically gold. Even the at-home mother is no longer invisible. She is now the home aesthetic queen. Her hair-wash day is edited like a film trailer. Her tadka is content. Her candle-lit dinner with her husband is a captioned moment of gratitude. She's a 'momfluencer'. Middle-aged men once chasing sarkari naukris now host podcasts. Even rickshaw pullers might run a YouTube channel. Because in today's India, if you can't be employed, you can still be seen. And crucially, these aren't just hobbyists or bored teens. They're professionals — doctors, consultants, coders, bankers, journalists. The digital hustle is mainstream. So mainstream, in fact, that influencers now have their own tax bracket. The government may not know how to generate jobs, but it knows how to tax performance. Today, everyone's online, everyone's performing. This is no longer just content. It's a belief system. One reel at a time. Also Read: Child influencers on Instagram aren't cute. The race for likes robs them of innocence A new culture of distraction Meanwhile, society frets about sanskars — values lost, respect eroded. But sanskars haven't disappeared; they have simply been outsourced to the algorithm. Today's unemployed are not idle. They're uploading. Hustling to go viral. Performing for an audience they can't see, but desperately want to impress. Eleven years on, the government that came riding on hope and the promise of 'newness' has certainly delivered something new — not progress, but a shift. A new mood. A new vocabulary. A culture where words like optics, reach, and influence matter more than truth, clarity, or consequence. Bharat today is not a nation of thinkers or builders. It is a stage where the applause is silent, the imagined audience endless. That moment on the pavement—young boys and mothers, parched, waiting for water that may never arrive, eyes locked on their phones—wasn't unusual. That's the unsettling part. There was no protest, no urgency. No jobs, no outrage. Just stillness. And brightly lit screens. The new Bharat is fully online, curated and restless to perform. In it, ambition doesn't rise. It refreshes. The quiet dignity of waiting for something better has been replaced by the anxious thrill of being seen. And yet, in this constant thrum of likes and loops, you can feel it — a subtle corrosion. Not of economy, but of imagination. Not of politics, but of purpose. So I leave you, too, in the end, to wonder — when the feed goes quiet, when the likes stop coming, when the flicker fades from the screen and the noise dissolves into silence, what will any of us do? When there is no scroll to chase, no audience to perform for, no curated life to escape into — what will remain of us? And more importantly, what will we return to? Shruti Vyas is a journalist based in New Delhi. She writes on politics, international relations and current affairs. Views are personal. (Edited by Asavari Singh)
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
5 Things Robert Kiyosaki Gets Wrong About Building Wealth, According to Experts
In his popular book 'Rich Dad Poor Dad,' author Robert Kiyosaki talked about financial planning and building wealth. Many readers have since put his advice to work to help improve their money situations. How To Become Rich: Explore More: However, as with nearly any advice, there are a number of critics who've said his advice doesn't work for all situations. Michael Gregory of Dad is FIRE, for instance, noted that one reason the advice doesn't work for everyone is that Kiyosaki's push for constant wealth accumulation and no clear point at which to stop may put some financial futures in jeopardy. GOBankingRates talked to more financial experts for their thoughts on advice Kiyosaki may have gotten wrong about building wealth (and what you can do instead). Christopher Stroup, founder and president at Silicon Beach Financial, took issue with Kiyosaki's approach to real estate. 'Kiyosaki promotes real estate as the ultimate wealth-building tool, but the reality is more nuanced than that,' Stroup said. 'Passive income from real estate isn't always passive because it requires capital, time and expertise. A well-diversified portfolio that includes real estate, equities and tax-efficient strategies can lead to more sustainable long-term wealth.' Robert Kiyosaki Is Dumping Gold and Silver: Per Stroup, Kiyosaki's enthusiasm for Bitcoin overlooks its fundamental risks. 'Unlike stocks or real estate, Bitcoin doesn't generate dividends, rent or earnings,' he said. 'It relies purely on speculation. Extreme volatility makes it unsuitable as a core retirement asset, and its price fluctuations can erase gains in an instant.' Kiyosaki encourages using debt to acquire assets, but not all debt is productive. According to Stroup, borrowing only works when the underlying asset appreciates and generates enough income to cover your liabilities. 'Many investors over-leverage, assuming values will always rise,' he said. 'All you need to do is look back to 2008 to be proven otherwise. Smart leverage isn't about aggressive expansion. It's about aligning risk with liquidity and your long-term financial goals.' While Kiyosaki emphasizes mindset over technical knowledge, wealth isn't built on mindset alone, Stroup noted. 'Tax planning, estate strategies and diversified investments require real expertise,' he explained. 'A 'just think rich' approach can lead to overconfidence and poor financial decisions. Stroup said the real key isn't just motivation. He said it's surrounding yourself with professionals who turn financial complexity into actionable strategies. While traditional financial advice often focuses on growing your net worth, Kiyosaki has suggested the real key to financial freedom is consistent and positive cash flow. He has stressed that you should prioritize assets that generate regular income — like rental properties, dividend-paying stocks or businesses — over simply accumulating assets that might not be producing income. 'While this may be helpful for someone who is retired, cash flow is not the primary focus for a young accumulator who already has their W-2 income to live off of,' said Filip Telibasa, a certified financial planner at Benzina Wealth. 'Instead, this person is better off finding aggressive growth stocks that do not necessarily pay a dividend or cash flow. Holding these positions in a tax advantaged vehicle like a Roth IRA further compounds long term benefits.' More From GOBankingRates 6 Used Luxury SUVs That Are a Good Investment for RetireesI'm Retired and Regret Moving to Arizona -- Here's Why How Much Money Is Needed To Be Considered Middle Class in Every State? This article originally appeared on 5 Things Robert Kiyosaki Gets Wrong About Building Wealth, According to Experts
