I know a lot of poor people, and they all share a poor man's mentality, so he must be mainly right. I never been to India, so i am not trying to present myself as an expert, but in Russia, the opportunities are limitless, and yet the vast majority of people are very poor. They make no real attempt to change they life (and those who do almost always succeed), and live in illusions about society, economy, and themselves.
How did it happen that India increased its per capita GDP 4x since independence, and still a lot of people face hunger? It just means many people simply failed to take any action for generations.
One manifestation of that poor man's mentality is having a lot of children being unable to feed them. Birth control is trivial and affordable to everyone. In Russia it is called 'hey what else you can do except having sex?'
How did it happen that India increased its per capita GDP 4x since independence, and still a lot of people face hunger? It just means many people simply failed to take any action for generations.