Just last year, Kannan Gopinathan was the toast of India’s civil services, after his efforts at rebuilding a broken dam in the flood-ravaged state of Kerala drew national attention. But in August this year, the 33-year-old bureaucrat quit the coveted services, telling reporters he was “perturbed [that] a large section of the population has had their fundamental rights suspended.”

This was 19 days after the Indian government revoked Kashmir’s special status and imposed a crippling curfew, shutting down phone and internet connectivity and ensuring that those affected couldn’t even protest. Gopinathan made a dramatic break from the role of the bureaucrat. And he’s not alone.

The sound of heavy machinery pierces the air in the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, Germany’s smallest federal subject. The two-city state of around 660,000, which includes the port of Bremerhaven, was long a bastion of shipbuilding and various other industrial sectors. During the Cold War, it was home to a crucial American naval presence.

But while Germany’s second-largest port continues to hum with activity, things aren’t quite the same these days. That’s because: Despite boasting Germany's second-highest GDP per capita, Bremen has higher income inequality than any other German state.