Limited resources and a huge population means that everyone has to compete very hard to grab those limited medical, engineering, or civil services' admissions that have long been considered to be a ticket to a better life.
That is changing now though. India now is much more bold than it was 20 years ago. More and more young people are taking the unconventional path and creating their own startups. But most of the country still has a long way to go to overcome this problem of high-pressure high-competition culture.