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Originally Posted by dacia
I simply pointed out the inaccuracy in your post, for many from the privileged class in India prefer to close their eyes to reality.
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What do you know about the privileged class and reality in India? I hope it's more than just a few articles you've read.
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"Can India ever overcome its huge poverty problem? It depends on what strategy the country takes.
Today, India appears to have four broad approaches to tackling poverty. The first is essentially to abolish the poor, rather than poverty. This was graphically illustrated in Mumbai this year when slum neighborhoods were razed, making 400,000 people homeless. The Mumbai police followed up by beating protesters whose shacks had been demolished.
The second approach is often termed the trickle-down model, but perhaps better described as "ignore the poor." A favorite of many Indian economists, it argues that in the next two to three decades poverty will disappear as market forces go to work.
But even if prosperity does eventually trickle down, sitting back and doing nothing about poverty for yet another generation is a human and economic waste.
India's government is backing a third, developmental approach that aims to improve the social and physical conditions of the rural and urban poor. This means more and better roads, improvements in water supplies and rural electrification; it also means big steps forward in education and health, together with efforts at microfinance.
The fourth and most ambitious approach seeks to exploit the unused entrepreneurial abilities of the poor."
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Funny how these things exactly correlate to policies in the US. Abolishing the poor (ie taking their space and developing it into high class neighborhoods), trickle down theory is a staple of Republican policy, urban development, and finally labor exploitation - in the past robber baron style and currently exploiting the illegal immigrant.
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Blaming India's ills on the British is a rather weak strategy, and for the over population you can blame nobody but yourselves.
By the way, how the heck was a country with 1/15th of land mass and 1/20th of population able to control India, from half way around the world no less? Why weren't you able to shake off the colonial rule with a simple shrug of a shoulder?
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Surely you can't be serious. The Brits controlled us for 170 years. You can't be that ignorant of history. There was a time when 'the sun never sets on the British Empire'.
As for why they were unable to throw off the Brits, well let's look at the US and India. The founding fathers were not native people, lived in a resource rich land, had European support and equivalent weapons technology, and revolted before the Industrial Revolution. India on the other hand had a native population, no outside support, were not rich on vast resources, had inferior weapons technology, and most importantly were under British control before the Industrial Revolution. If you don't understand how a colonizing power can control the destiny of its colony by controlling industrial production, there's not much point in going any further.
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Perhaps you should look inward for the reasons behind the grinding and vicious cycle of poverty and not blame others.
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While you so conveniently ignored Gurkha's acknowledgement of India's problems, there's a big difference between blame and understanding the causes of the current situation.
India is more than 100 years behind America in industrial production, in large part due to the occupation of the British. If you want to sit here and compare a country less than 100 years in control of its own destiny to a country that has had 300 years of control, control of its industry, 1/3rd the population, extreme richness of natural resources, and conclude that, 'Ha! We're better and you suck,' then it's hardly a surprise that America doesn't have a great reputation around the world. Be prepared though, because India, and China, are going to go through the growing pains the US already has. Combined with the terrible mistakes the US has made as the world's hyperpower, it may be a very different world in 50 years.
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As to defending both India and the US, well it is a noble idea but where will
you stand when push comes to shove? For whom would you die?
Alex
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You're going to have to wait at least 10 more posts before questioning my loyalty because I'm half white.