Skip to content
GeekLibraryA library of ideas
‹ All topics

Topic

India

How the country runs, on paper and in practice.

52 cards

Money Sense0007

The SIP

Small bets, long game

A fixed amount put into an investment on the same day every month.

I · You08 / 53
Money Sense0009

EMI

The cost of "easy"

A large price broken into equal monthly payments, with interest added.

I · You10 / 53
Money Sense0011

The Bank Account

Where your money lives

A record at a bank showing money held in a person's name.

I · You12 / 53
Money Sense0012

UPI

How India skipped the queue

India's system for sending money between any two bank accounts instantly.

I · You13 / 53
Money Sense0014

GST

One tax instead of seventeen

One tax on the final price, replacing a chain of separate taxes.

I · You15 / 53
Money Sense0015

Consumer Rights

What the law says when a product fails

The protections a buyer is owed by law when something goes wrong.

I · You16 / 53
The Digital World0059

Aadhaar

Identity in twelve digits

India's twelve-digit identity number, linked to fingerprints and iris.

II · The World08 / 53
The Digital World0060

DigiLocker

The filing cabinet that weighs nothing

A government service holding official documents in digital form.

II · The World09 / 53
Your Country0070

The Constitution

India's operating system

The document setting out how India is governed and what it may not do.

II · The World19 / 53
Your Country0071

Fundamental Rights

Six categories of freedom

Six protections the Constitution guarantees to every citizen.

II · The World20 / 53
Your Country0072

Fundamental Duties

The other side of rights

Eleven responsibilities the Constitution asks of every citizen.

II · The World21 / 53
Your Country0073

How a Law Gets Made

A bill's long walk

The path an idea travels before it becomes binding on everyone.

II · The World22 / 53
Your Country0074

The Panchayat

Democracy at the doorstep

The elected village council, the smallest unit of government in India.

II · The World23 / 53
Your Country0075

RTI

Three letters, total transparency

A law letting any citizen ask a public body what it did and why.

II · The World24 / 53
Your Country0076

Road Safety

The physics of speed

The rules and physics that decide who survives a collision.

II · The World25 / 53
Your Country0077

Public Transport

Moving a million people at once

Shared vehicles that move many people using little road each.

II · The World26 / 53
Your Country0078

Climate Change

The 1.5-degree line

The long-term warming of the planet caused by trapped gases.

II · The World27 / 53
Your Country0079

The Carbon Footprint

Your share of the sky

The total greenhouse gas one person's choices add to the air.

II · The World28 / 53
Your Country0080

Diversity

India's multiplication factor

The range of languages, faiths, and backgrounds living in one country.

II · The World29 / 53
Your Country0081

Ethics

When there is no clean answer

Reasoning about right and wrong when every choice costs something.

II · The World30 / 53
Your Country0082

The FIR

Your first step in the legal system

The written report that opens a police investigation.

II · The World31 / 53
Your Country0083

PIL

When one person moves the court for millions

A court case brought on behalf of people who cannot bring it themselves.

II · The World32 / 53
Your Country0084

Water Scarcity

The crisis that arrives without warning

Having less clean water than the people in a place need.

II · The World33 / 53
Your Country0085

Community Service

The selfish case for giving

Unpaid work done for a community rather than for a wage.

II · The World34 / 53
Your Country0086

Civic Sense

The invisible contract

The small courtesies a shared space depends on but no law requires.

II · The World35 / 53
Your Country0087

The Election

The largest exercise in democracy on Earth

The process by which citizens choose who governs them.

II · The World36 / 53
The Networks0112

The Railway

A timetable is a safety system

The rail network, and the schedule that keeps trains off each other.

III · The Machinery09 / 53
The Networks0114

The Last Mile

The shortest leg costs the most

The final stretch to your door, and why it dominates the bill.

III · The Machinery11 / 53
The Networks0115

The Spectrum

The country sells air, and means it

The range of radio frequencies every phone and broadcast has to share.

III · The Machinery12 / 53
The Networks0116

The Address

Six digits that sort a billion letters

The system that turns a description of a place into a delivery.

III · The Machinery13 / 53
The Networks0117

Standard Time

One clock for two thousand kilometres

The single national time, and the machinery that keeps it exact.

III · The Machinery14 / 53
How Things Get Made0125

Pharmacy of the World

One in five generic pills is made here

India's generic medicine industry, and what it changed for everyone.

III · The Machinery22 / 53
How Things Get Made0126

The Quality Mark

What the stamp on the box promises

The certification marks on Indian products, and what each one covers.

III · The Machinery23 / 53
How Things Get Made0129

The Right to Repair

Glue, odd screws, and a private manual

Whether a thing you bought can be opened, fixed, and kept working.

III · The Machinery26 / 53
The Paperwork0130

The PAN

Ten characters that follow your money

The permanent number tying every financial record to one person.

III · The Machinery27 / 53
The Paperwork0131

The Voter Roll

The vote is not automatic at eighteen

The list you have to be on before anyone will let you vote.

III · The Machinery28 / 53
The Paperwork0132

The Passport

A request from your country to another

The document that asks other states to let you pass, and take you back.

III · The Machinery29 / 53
The Paperwork0133

The Visa

Permission asked before you arrive

A country's advance decision about whether you may enter, and why.

III · The Machinery30 / 53
The Paperwork0134

Studying Abroad

The paperwork starts two years early

The sequence a student has to finish to study in another country.

III · The Machinery31 / 53
The Paperwork0135

KYC

Why every account asks the same things

The identity check an institution must run before it holds your money.

III · The Machinery32 / 53
The Paperwork0136

The Land Record

Registered is not the same as owned

The state's record of who holds a piece of land, and what it misses.

III · The Machinery33 / 53
The Paperwork0137

The Nominee

One line that saves a family months

The person an institution may hand your holdings to when you die.

III · The Machinery34 / 53
The Paperwork0138

The Will

Silence has a default, and it may not be yours

The document deciding who gets what, once you cannot say so yourself.

III · The Machinery35 / 53
The Paperwork0139

The Agreement

Eleven months, and the reason for it

The written terms of a deal, and the formalities that make them stick.

III · The Machinery36 / 53
The Paperwork0140

The Deal

Know your walk-away before you talk

The zone between what each side will accept, and how to find it.

III · The Machinery37 / 53
The Paperwork0141

The Complaint Ladder

Every industry has somebody above it

The order of escalation when a company will not fix its own mistake.

III · The Machinery38 / 53
The Paperwork0142

The Certificate

Small papers that unlock large doors

The state-issued records that prove a plain fact about your life.

III · The Machinery39 / 53
The Paperwork0143

Your Health Record

The doctor's memory is not yours

The file of your own medical history, and who is actually keeping it.

III · The Machinery40 / 53
When It Breaks0150

The Early Warning

The cyclone did not get any weaker

The forecast, the siren, and the evacuation that has to follow them.

III · The Machinery47 / 53
When It Breaks0151

The Regulator

Somebody is supposed to be watching

The bodies that police an industry on the public's behalf.

III · The Machinery48 / 53
When It Breaks0152

The Audit

Marking your own homework does not count

An independent check that the numbers say what they claim to say.

III · The Machinery49 / 53
When It Breaks0154

Antibiotic Resistance

A cure being used up in slow motion

Bacteria learning to survive the medicines that used to kill them.

III · The Machinery51 / 53

Collections that draw on India