India's street children bank on the future

Physical Discipline by parents is not considered out of ordinary in India. To anyone who grew up in India, you calling a dad abuser is more offensive.

Yes, I would have rather reported him to the police for stealing and put him in a juvie where he could master the art of thieving. <- this is the western solution isn't it?

Abuser? my foot! Western society is good transferring responsibility to the society at large.

He stole a kitchen appliance and his dad punished him for it. He seems genuinely sorry and is working hard to make amends in the process growing as a person both socially and financially. This is not abuse, it's a right way to raise a responsible human that takes responsibility for his actions. I think it's heartbreaking that you ignored the relative good in the story and chose to hone in on the "spanking" that a rebellious child may need a few times in his life.

Beatings are not a good way to raise a child. However, it's not really abuse -- or it might not have been by the standards of U.S. law and I can almost guarantee it wasn't by the standards of local culture.

Also, he did steal an appliance. It's not like his father was just beating on him.

In India it is common to discipline kids by beating. This is practised not only by parents but also in schools. It is getting rarer in middle and upper class but predominant among poorer families.

It is very difficult to keep your composure when you are living on a day-to-day wage basis. While you can argue that beating kids is no way to behave. I believe that thinking stems from one's upbringing and social standing.

I think one isolated incident is not a good ground to call someone an abuser.

Interest rates for Fixed deposits are around 8-9% for a year in some Indian banks. There were times when it was more than 10% too.

Inflation in India is north of 7% so that kind of savings rate isn't great. It's worse than the 0% savings/1.7% inflation we have in the U.S.