" India is an emerging geek superpower - Angela Saini, Guardian "
" With more than half of Indian entrepreneur and managers believe that India will become superpower by 2030, and every four out of five support the fact that India is going in right direction " quoted another article in an online forum. The idea of this post is not to compare the stark resemblance or ambiguity in thoughts and reality and I am no-one to judge the criteria which highly complex and deceptive in nature. Since I have spent this little time in US, i came to know a little about the economy of this country. What I've sensed here is quite amusing, and is far away from what is depicted in the articles back home. This country is known as "The land of Abundance" and yes, it is indeed. It's not a tough task to determine the attitude of common citizens of this country, and it's pretty similar to any other human being across this land on earth. All one needs is a home, a secure future for one's child and some money to enjoy the life and fulfill the timely needs. I've tried to understand how the citizens here think about their country and economy, and to be disgust, they are not much bothered unless they are getting paid well to enjoy a vacation in Miami or Florida in summers. To my utter surprise, last week i read an article that this summers only half of the population have enough money to enjoy a vacation abroad, rest staging a protest against the economy for low salaries. How many in India do have this privilege of spending summers abroad without worrying about work? Unless people don't have sufficient balance in their bank accounts, they don't bother at all about the ruined economy or war against Afghanistan. This little insight into the minds of local citizens must have given you a fair idea about fun-loving and lavish life-style of people here. With no intentions of criticizing the locals, all i want to express is my independent opinion about this country which had once tamed the world economy with its technological and managerial advancements. Till now I've been to few places here and it fascinates me to see the long-term planning and vision for future so vivid in terms of infrastructure. The planned highways, inter-state US highways, parking lots, postal system are few of the examples, where US led firms are far ahead.
A major chunk of US budget goes in medical insurance of each and every citizen of US. The first and foremost right of every human being is to get the basic medical facility. Before a home to live, a meal to eat and imparting education to judge what's good or bad, one's health is of utmost importance. If you remove this one point from US annual budget, it is still roaring high with a GDP rate of over fifteen percent. But i agree in terms of economy, the GDP is always gross taking into account all the budget deficits and surplus to calculate the GDP growth. Among over hundred countries surveyed for the annual budget deficit for the year 2010, US ranked lowest with India at third lowest. It clearly describes the correlation between these two gigantic economies of world. India surely is trying to buffer its economic system from the tight constraints from outer world and have succeeded to quite an extent too. A country still known for its poverty rather than growth, known for its caste and reservation system rather than meritocracy in technology; my professor asked me expecting me to answer his question,
"Do everybody in India now owns a car since Tata's have launched their cheapest family car only for two thousand dollars?"
I wish I could have an answer..or at least own the same car to answer myself on this front..
2 comments:
The answer to your professor's question is "No. Definitely not. While two thousand dollars may seem like pittance in the US, it is still a substantial amount of money in India. With basic salaries of as low as Rs. 3000 a month, most Indians in the lower strata of the society cannot even afford a cycle, let alone a car. The buoyancy with which the world is looking at India is misplaced because we still have a long way to go before the basics can be provided to our people. Only then can we be considered a 'super-power'. India is a land of duality. And it is this duality that must first be addressed if we are to see ourselves walking the path of progress."
Well yes, I do agree with the fact India being in a state of duality. The wrong, rather intentionally wrong projection of India on International forums with investments of millions of dollars in R&D and space shuttle programs. I wish one could ask Indian government why are they investing in space projects, when their citizens don't even have access to basic necessities of life.
As far as answer to my professor is concerned, he's a mere statue of ignorance (on political front) with some expertise in engineering :P
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