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For context, according to 2011 census there were 118 million farmers and 144 million farm labourers in India. 12,000 suicides per year puts the suicide rate at 4.5 per 100,000 people. This is lower than suicide rate of most countries.
I would have to disagree. I travel by public transport and I see plenty of people smoking at the bus stands and railway stations.
I didn't notice any change. Just today I purchased grapes and the vendor gave me them in a polythene bag.
The city's name is Thiruvananthapuram not Trivandrum.
The protesters were trying to enter the Rashtrapati Bhawan, that's when tear gas and water cannons were used, not just because there were protesting.
Just to be fair.
Actually, there is strong feeling in at least in North India, that Kerala is where whole India should be. I am from Haryana and though Haryana is much more developed economically than Kerala, all my friends agree that Kerala is much better. And when comparing to Bihar, the state is way ahead. At least the statistics show that.
Kerala has the cleanest railway stations, the best sex ratio, the most literate population, second least malnutrition (after Punjab).
Maybe because you are after all an Indian. Some foreigner talking shit about your nation, well, hurts.
Reading this article reminds me a story from "The Great Indian Novel" by Shashi Tharoor that explains the present state of Indians -
"A man, ... a symbol, shall we say, of people of India -- is pursued by a tiger. He runs fast, but panting heart tells him he cannot run much longer. He sees a tree. Relief! He accelerates and gets to it in one last despairing stride. He climbs the tree. The tiger snarls below him, but he feels that he has at last escaped its snapping jaws. But no -- what's this? The branch on which he is sitting is weak, and bends dangerously. This is not all; wood-mice are gnawing away at it; before long they will eat through it and it will snap and fall. The branch sags down over a wall. Aha! Escape? Perhaps our hero can swim? But the well is dry, and there are snakes writhing and hissing on its bed. What is our hero to do? As the branch bends lower, he perceives a solitary blade of glass growing on the wall of the well.On the top of the blade of grass gleams a drop of honey. What action does our Puranic man, our quintessential Indian, take in this situation?
He bends with the branch, and licks up the honey. "
No matter how desperate the situation, Indians will always find a way to adjust, to live with it. So despite all the filth, over crowding, corruption, inefficiency, Indians have learnt how to live and enjoy.
I would like to point out that the extreme poverty that India is known for today is pretty much a legacy of the British Raj. The 'enlightenment' you are talking about came much before that, when India was a much more peaceful and prosperous area.
So the 'Out of necessity' argument you made is pointless.
But that does not seem to be too good as the sites that are linked might not be that small in size.