I've had something like this in my mind for quite a while now! I know what the situation is like because I've first-hand knowledge of all the trials and tribulations farmers in India go through when it comes to selling their produce. Already, irregular rainfall makes their lives miserable!
Yes, farmers in general and especially in India face numerous challenges. From our own interactions with them, we found this to be their major one as it is directly linked to their livelihood and the income they make.
Most Indians don't want credit cards because they don't want to fall prey to them. Those who have them use them only when it's absolutely necessary. They buy what they need and pay by cash. Credit cards are addictive.
Credit cards are just one way to manage payments. Whether they're addictive or not depends on the person. Some people even move money out of their savings accounts into some other bank account in a deposit they cannot easily access because having "cash at hand" is a problem for them. That doesn't make bank accounts addictive or problematic overall.
More to your point, there are many in the cities who have credit cards and use them often because they're convenient. Carrying cash or using debit cards when more people are moving to credit cards is foolish and a way to subsidize the people using credit cards.
I have credit cards that I use wisely. Always pay fully on time (no interest), make the most of the credit period by timing purchases as much as possible, etc. I don't have to worry about carrying lots of cash and getting change (or worse, rounding things up while paying). Taking advantage of marketing related discount offers from credit card providers is also another positive. Overall, credit cards provide a lot of value for me, although the social benefit could be argued one way or the other.
In a Slashdot interview in 2004, in response to the question:
... have you embraced the new UNIX based MacOS X as the OS you want to use when you "Just want to go to Disneyland"?
he replied:
I embraced OS X as soon as it was available and have never looked back. So a lot of In the Beginning...was the Command Line is now obsolete. I keep meaning to update it, but if I'm honest with myself, I have to say this is unlikely.
> I embraced OS X as soon as it was available and have never looked back.
I used the original Mac OS from 1984-2000. I've used Windows since before 1995 until earlier this year. I've used Linux since 1998. I've used Mac OS X every once in awhile when using other folks' computers.
I honestly don't know why someone who's comfortable on the command line (and doesn't need certain proprietary desktop-publishing programs) would use Mac OS X (or Windows). It doesn't give me a decent window manager. It doesn't let me keep my hands on my keyboard (right now, my mouse is almost two feet from my hand, and yet I'm completely happy and able to get around as I need). It doesn't use screen space very well. It's not free. Where having the menubar atop the screen was a good design decision in 1984 with a monitor a few inches tall, it's a horrible choice on a modern large screen: I spend so much time moving the mouse that I spend very little time actually using the computer, rather than moving-and-reading. It certainly doesn't feel like a well-designed, well-integrated whole: it feels like a colossal heap of mystery meat navigation, where nothing is obvious or intuitive, things bounce and slide for no apparent reason and I can't just get my work done.
I get that for certain desktop publishing tasks it's superior, and that if one wants proprietary software then it's a friendlier alternative to Windows (which is the obvious best choice if one wants proprietary software support). But other than that, why pay extra for a Mac? A modern Linux has terminals, web browsers and editors; sound and graphics are not the pain they were in the 90s; what else does one need than a command line, a web browser, a decent editor and some music?
I used Windows for a little over a decade, then I discarded it one day when I suddenly realized that the proprietary OS actually never taught me anything about computers. Those precious 10 years went to waste. I'm ashamed to say that I couldn't discover Linux until about 5 years ago.
Above all, what matters is your true grit. There're MIT's in India, too. A renowned aerospace scientist, former President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was an alumnus of Madras Institute of Technology (MIT). The current CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella got his engineering degree from Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT). Think about the autodidacts listed at:
I agree with your points. I do not think even most users would want a link to take them away from the page they are on. I am wondering why links on HN let go of its visitors!
