Debate: India the Superpower...
I have been a voluntary and involuntary recipient of many views on "India as a Superpower in the near future". I have been a participant in a few such debates as well (with and without my beer). One of my colleagues was good enough to share an interesting article on this topic by Mr. Cait Murphy. Not having his permission to reproduce the article, I have provided the link - http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/08/news/international/pluggedin_murphy_india.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2007020912 which I strongly recommend as a prerequisite to grasp the context of my friend's reply which is given below.
The Response....
I would also like to clarify that the intention is not to defame any person, people, country or anything, but purely presenting the views of two individuals who are exercising their freedom of expression.Without mincing words, I do agree that we have a long way to go. There is a huge list of things in India which needs laundry treatment.Nevertheless, we have a history of being corrupt and submissive and we are paying a price for being that. As much as the article stirs a hornets nest, you cannot discount the progress achieved, though limited.Being a democracy has its own fallacies. You will hit road blocks at every step !! India is not China where a good road can be laid overnight on the corpse of a 100 odd for the sake of development. Freedom of expression is paramount. From a freedom standpoint India is certainly lower than US. Hats of to them.What's wrong in having a moon mission. It creates a lot of "need and want" from a technology standpoint. Indian Remote sensing satellites are one of the best in the world. It has helped map out the country's natural resources like minerals and ground water. Absence of these satellites would have ensured that you depended on the West for satellite imageries and we would have paid a bomb for it. (West's way of keeping us eternally poor !!). Why is the Western world so paranoid about our reserves.Oh! The biggest question I have. Can you sustain other forms of growth other than being Capital intensive?. From a World bank loan perspective, India leads by example when it comes to repayment. If I don't have a capital intensive growth how on earth will I repay my loans and pay for all the imports (like oil !). When I don't have oil reserves, I import and pay for it. I don't go and wage a war with Iraq and gain control over the oil reserves !!. Right from the days of Christ, India has never been an aggressor. The reverse is true. We have withstood the onslaught on many invasions.Now on to some of the Statistics reeled out by Mr. Cait Murphy.India has the most HIV cases in the world -What a deceptive way of putting out data. Incidentally India has 5.7 Million cases when compared to 1.4 Million of North America. That's only the numerator. From a percentage perspective India has an infection rate of 0.51% compared to 0.8% for North America. How on earth, with all the advanced health care measures and literacy, they allowed HIV to spread to 0.8% of the population?? Ask him to answer that question for me please.More than a quarter of population lives on less than a dollar a day! Well how far does one dollar go in the US. Lets talk Purchase Price Parity here. Still in rural India Rupees 45 goes a long distance. Probably it could get you two square meals and 200 ml of arrack :)Coming to the Corus deal and the other recent Canadian Aluminium Co take over, what is wrong about it ? You are after oil and I am after two of the premium metals. (Steel and Aluminium). Soon I will start controlling world Steel and Aluminium market. Lets see who winks first !Engaging in growth through government controlled health schemes and literacy programs, would have given rise to one more socialistic / Communist country akin to Russia or China.Though India towed that line for sometime, they quickly realized that it is not the way to go!(Infact India would not have towed that line at all, if the West had refrained from propping up Pak and the Taliban. It is sad that today they are bearing the brunt of the backlash and I hate terrorism in all forms)India decided to play "Ball" by the rules of the western world and is that the reason it is hurting you now ??Instead of telling me that I should not take pride in what I am doing as a country, if Mr Murphy had pointed out all the issues that I need to tackle, he wouldn't have found a better friend than me !!I am sorry for being so vocal, but then I couldn't do without...
Cheers!!!
