India As An Economic Superpower
Dmitri July 12th, 2007
In the last few years the world has seen a decline in the influence of United States as a global superpower, particularly in Europe and East Asia. The developments after the collapse of Soviet Union and the Gulf War in 2001, led the world to a heightened state of paranoia against the perceived US imperialism, as shown by the race among nations to balance America’s super power status. Russia fell behind due to its economic problems, as the loss of major territories like Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan hit it hard. These factors along with the reorganisation of Europe as the European Union led the political analysts and commentators around the world to prophesise India, China and EU as the future superpowers.
India is quite often in the reports of global political analysts and media specialists [eg. Newsweek] as the next possible superpower on a global level. India has significant political influence in South Asia due to its its capabilities as an economic giant, a large country with a billion people, a military might and a rich cultural heritage spanning thousands of years into the past. Yet it takes much more than a regional power to become a global superpower. A nation needs to be a global military and economic might with political and cultural influence to be a superpower. Rather than getting worked up by impressive media commentaries it would be worthwhile to look into some hard facts and figures to see India’s position on the global economic scale.
The largest slum in Asia at the heart of India’s financial capital Mumbai; millions of poor in India live in such conditions.
After the liberalisation of its economy in 1991, followed with the opening up of its markets to global players, India went on a fast track economic boom with an 8-9% GDP growth per year. This was largely possible because of a vast population with a large middle class market, and a huge manpower of cheap skilled workers in the IT and service industry catering mainly to the corporate back offices of US and UK. Yet despite the rosy picture, the beneficiary of this economic growth remains a meagre 10% of India’s 1 billion population earning 33% of India’s national income [Source]. The purchasing power of Indians remains at a fraction of that of EU or USA, at an annual per capita GDP (PPP) of approximately US $3800 (2006). The large GDP that India boasts of, $1.2 trillion looks impressive on a global scale but diminishes when its huge population is taken into account. Over 79.9% of Indians live on less than a $2 a day; among them 34.7% live on less than a dollar a day, according to the data compiled by UN Human Development Report 2006.
In the area of education, the large pool of IT workers and technologists can’t overshadow the fact that India still remains one of the most illiterate countries in the developing world. With 39% of the population being unable to read and write, this represents about 400 million people - more than the total population of US, Australia and Canada put together. Sparing a few national universities of repute in the major urban areas, the majority of Indian universities and colleges fail to produce skilled professionals which could be employable in intellectually demanding fields like research, development and manufacturing. The quality of school education in the public sector remains woefully low due to lack of teachers, classrooms, books and basic educational amenities. The famed English speaking Indians are mainly limited to the private school educated economic elite which represents less than 5% of the of Indians, often termed as ‘middle class’.
With a over 37% of the population being illiterate and living under a dollar a day, India still remains an economically third world country; hardly a superpower or a global economic power. At the current trends it would take at least 30 years for India to have one third the purchasing power of the developed nations (provided that the current growth is sustained). By the time India catches up with the present living standards of developed nations, there will be too many players like Europe, Russia, China, Japan, Brazil and United States that the term ‘Superpower’ will become obsolete to be replaced by multiple ‘powers’.
- World Politics , Internationalism , Ideology , Economy
- Comments(32)
Loading ...
I agree that India needs a lot of catching up to do on the economic well being front. However it has to ensure its security by having an edge over its relatively strong adversaries like Pakistan and China. The higher the goals, the more the effort, example can be seen in China which has achieved much militarily because it has superpowers like USSR and USA as adversaries.
India as a superpower is just a wet dream, be realistic with a population of 1.2B and over 1B poor it is day dreaming and there is no law against day dreaming…
@Mo - There are over 200 million in India who are ‘middle class’ out of an estimated 1129 million population, which means the situation is not as bad in India as it might sound. The concept of ‘poor’ is also relative, the UN might consider earning less than $2 a day a sign of poverty, but it might be fine in India where cost of living is much lower than the European or American standards. India is economically modest yes, really bad no. One has to look at the condition of sub-Saharan countries or look around the ghettos in US cities to understand what poverty is, India is much better off than that.
I complelty agree with Aby, The $2 is very luxury for most of the indians. The average cost of living per day in rural india is 54cents. In the urban area it is $1.4c, so you cannot judge India a poor nation by earning less than $2.
Tell me honestly, is it possible to lead a day to day life less than $1 dollar in europe & USA? Our cost of living is high compare to India. it means, we give more price than what the indian give to the same products.
India certainly is going to be an economic power.It will 3rd ranked economic power by 2020.
Nice article Aby. Thanks for your Neutral comments.
I also started one initiative to analyze situations in India on my blog IndiaInvestigaed.blogspot.com
hey largest slum in asia millions poor live there-sorry these comment is false it is a largest slum but not all poors live there for ur information indian government try to gave all of them new homes but dharavi’s people opposes it and fight government they want to live only in that asia biggest slum as there business there
hey india is 9th reachest in the world and a trillion dolor economy grothrate 9.4 in five yeras take over italy in 10years england i am not saying that world saying that
I’m Indian and I disagree with the problems you have highlighted in your post. See, there has to be a difference when a country has one of the largest populations in the world.
There is no doubt that India’s GDP is above a trillion dollars, which shows that money is flowing into the country. But since India’s population is so huge, the amount of money that flows into the country and is used for the people, gets diluted. That does not mean that the living standards in the country are not improving. A lot is being done for the poor, but the only difference is, that its taking too much time. And there is nothing that can be done about it, since the wealth has to be spread equally.
The middle class in India is improving. Also, the living standards of the poor have improved. A lot has been done to displace the slum dwellers to places more habitable. Bombay has plans about the slum dwellers, and houses are being built for the people outside Bombay. The same goes for New Delhi.
Therefore, with a population as large as this, I wouldn’t call it fair to expect changes in such a short time. Changes will surface only ten years down the line. Besides, the authorities in India have to face a lot of challenges while implementing their changes, owing to the cultural conservationism present among the people - especially poor.
@ Mo
I think you’re being too immature to have used words like that in your response. The analysis of India becoming a superpower within years from now is not a result of dreaming in the first place. The analysis was made by some of the world’s leading governing and other international bodies.
Moreover, India being one of the nations expected to become a superpower is depicted in the current shift in American policies towards India and Pakistan. The upcoming Indo - US nuclear deal is a fit example of how much America recognises India’s rising military and economic might.
Moreover, it is absolutely absurd to believe that 1 billion of India’s ‘1.2′ billion people are poor. It is an ill informed comment.
India being superpower is not something impossible but it will happen or not that we can see in time. At it’s current growth rate it will be one of the top 2 countries in the world by 2050 but it has to maintian a close to 2 digit growth rate for next 40 years or so. Since india already maintaining a close to 2 digit growth rate in gdp for last 4 years or so we can see it is going the right way. But going the right way and reaching the goal are way different. Indian economy already showing signs of over heating. it is going faster than it actually can go. It need to improve it’s infrastructure badly to reduce the over heating. It also has a huge crisis of energy that causes the over heating. I hope india will be benifited with the new nuclear deal and can meet up most of it’s energy demands. If these problems can be solved I see no other reason which will stop it’s high rate of growth. if the competency of the indian politicians is anywhere close to their data processors then I am pretty sure they will sustain this growth rate and reach the top within the middle of the century.
@Aby
“” There are over 200 million in India who are ‘middle class’ out of an estimated 1129 million population, which means the situation is not as bad in India as it might sound.”"
—————————————
Mr.Aby do you want to know where India stands these days regarding hunger, poverty, starvation, women abusing bla bla and bla……..etc…, you should listen to Nobel Laureate, an eminent welfare economist and author of The Argumentative Indian Amartya Sen, according to him,” India had buffer stocks exceeding 60 million tonnes and beside that somewhere between 220-300 million people went to bed on an empty stomach, every night”
——————————————-
–ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION asking for aid to serve the hunger people, because people in Indian these days dying of Hunger…www.ahrchk.net/pub/mainfile.php/endangered_humanity/233/
——————————————-
According to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in India a third of 1.1 billion people live on less than $1 a day, according to the World Bank.
http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/133388/1/2245
while the World Bank estimates more than half of India’s 1.1 billion people still live on less than $1 a day.
—-www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601013&refer=emergingmarkets&sid=arva33znhDMs
———————————————-
HUNGER ALERT (India): Children dying of starvation
—-www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2006/1884/
——————————————
Dear Aby, its not my intension to criticize your post but as its a neutral forum and everyone has the right to present his views etc…However, I do believe in fair discussion and I always believe in established facts and figures not on predictions or assumptions. I request you to correct your figures….
INDIA
1.26% of population living under poverty…..if india continue to grow at present rate it will be a developed nation by 2020..Dr. apj abdul Kalam.
2.literacy hovers around 68%….growing at the rate of 3.9% per year.
3.india’s per capita is $3,700–will atleast be 410000 by 2020 at the rate 3% less than the present one of 9.2%.
4.Asia largest slum at dharavi,mumbai–Rs.40 billion rehabillatation process began on jan,2007 and the slum will disappear by yr 2010.
5.Indian people are black…its in fashion dude!
6.Indian people are hungry….river interlinking project will multiply grain production by 10.
its a humble message to my pakis bros that its a mere fulishness to fite with eachother. western nation are so much developed,they make fun of our kiddish fitin,they say pakis are very dangerous and indians are thieves.let us join our hands and show everyone that two brother seperated are now one again.we are fitin like two bros for land given by there ancestors.we should take pride in each oter’s culture,Mughals and Mauryas,Indus and Ganges,Karachi and Mumbai,you and we….!
i see one critical fault often prevalent in western understanding of india. India has a huge population so less per capita …yeah that does not mean lesser revenue for the central governing body……… boom boom shakalaka…
savy..
Size of economy matters…india is not as bad as its per capita (real terms) makes it look like. And i am not going to PPP*..cause India still purchases mush of its military technology from the global market so real terms makes sense there..however in other strategic domains for instance space exploration and remote sensing india has a substantial indigenous development so PPP comes into play….in PPP terms check india’s rank its pretty good i should say…like 3 rd largest huh…
Superpower not yet…when will we make it ??? provided we get into NSG (nuclear suppliers group)’s good books and russia gives us some pipe lines…in a decade..
When will we eradicate poverty?? oh come oooonnn its easy to ask questions…
And one more thing can the paki’s please shut up…ooops had to do that indians never miss a chance to have a go at our neighbors…all harmless sibling rivalry..
*ppp - purchase power parity
@Bilal Afridi
Mind blowing Mr.Bilal great assessment regarding Indian economy……….I love it…Eye opening facts for Indians…
Bilal Bhai…I read your posts in Pak-India military balance which were full of facts and figures, however,I would love to see some more from you on Indian economy.
Zeeshan Junaid
Karachi,Pakistan
India is a powerhouse and will be the golden bird again. Indian companies are on the hunt of taking over the western countries. The growth rate of India shocks the world when they predicted that 33% of India’s population would die by the 70s? People don’t understand that India is the land of gods and the cycle is coming back to its postive and shinning side of the “GOLDEN BIRD”
Pakistan has a history of hearing only what it wants to hear, maintaining the delusion that it is India’s equal. Mushraaf lost in this election because the poverty has spread from the villages of pakistan to the cities. There is no food to eat, no power to run the factories, no clean water to drink and no guarantee that you will make it back alive, if you go out!! No wonder these pakistanis are jealous of india. Even imrankhan has praised india!!
@Rocker 2009
Kid you didn’t find a girl yet? Read my 05 Oct 2007 at 10:01 pm post, I’m sure would be enough to open your eyes.
” India Corrupt No.1″(”Transparency International’s Bribe Payer’s Index 2006 brands India the most corrupt nation in the world. India now becomes the most corrupt exporting nation in the world too.”)
” India 5th most corrupt Asian economy”
” India among 55 most corrupt countries”(India ranks 90 in the list of 106 countries)”
“Indian businesses are rated as the most corrupt in the world for bribery, according to a new report by Transparency International”
“India, with a score of 8.90, and Indonesia, which got a grade of 9.25, rounded up the worst performers”
Kid, its not my intension to critisize your country,however you should keep in mind that if Pakistan is a poor country ,India is the poorest and most corrupt…Bear in mind…
Source:-
—–singapore-window.org/sw04/040304a1.htm
——thehindubusinessline.com/bline/2006/10/09/stories/2006100900640800.htm
——-littleindia.com/news/128/ARTICLE/1374/2006-11-12.html
——–expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=82891
—–hinduonnet.com/2004/10/21/stories/2004102108861100.htm
Bilal , you should be careful about what you say.Such comments can easily fire up Indians and would provide inspiration to grow at 10% a year.Before criticising other countrie ,examine the state of yours.Your CPI is 2.4 - below India’s(www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781359.html).India is already a force to reckon with even though it is a “Very corrupt country”,if it were’nt so corrupt ,It would far more advanced.I bet you don’t want India to become a superpower ,then why do you have to help India to improve itself by providing all kinds of Known statistics.
i seriously think people from across the border should stop and think for a moment before
posting in this blog. We are having a discussion hear on india being a superpower or marching towards being one. We all ofcourse know what state pakistan is in. It is in pakistans destiny that it has to end up being one of india’s provinces once again thats where it belongs cause the people there are incapable of governing themselves. No issues india wont kick them out but accept them as its own.
@ To My Indian Friends
My dear Indians, I don’t know why you Indians consider yourselves himen.Some says, O’biggest democracy, other says third biggest economy, and so on etc…I am fadeup ofyour big proudy claims.However, if you guys don’t mind, today I have decided to show you what India is in reality.
Do you know India is on the brink of a failed State?
A-Lets start from Poverty
The prosperity of every country is linked to its people, living of people, their shelter their livelyhood etc.It’s unfortunate to say that India is one among those countries which shelters more than 400 million who’s living under poverty elevation.
According to Amartya Sen a Nobel Laureate, an eminent welfare economist and the author of “The Argumentative Indian””
“Somewhere between 220-300 million people went to bed on an empty stomach, every night”
—-rediff.com/money/2007/apr/26amartya.htm
—-moneycontrol.com/india/news/politics/hunger-isquiet-violence-amartya-sen/176023
“ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION asking for aid to serve the hunger people, because people in Indian these days dying of Hunger”
—- ahrchk.net/pub/mainfile.php/endangered_humanity/233/
According to the assessment of World Bank “ more than half of India’s 1.1 billion people still live on less than $1 a day”
—-bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601013&refer=emergingmarkets&sid=arva33znhDMs
However, your economist Prime Minister Manmohan Singh claim is very much optimistic, he claimed, in India a third of 1.1 billion people live on less than $1 a day. What Manmohan singh wanted to say is 40% of Indian population earns less than 40 rupess.I leave you to decide who’s right?
—-southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/133388/1/2245
“HUNGER ALERT (India): Children dying of starvation”
—-ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2006/1884/
“Dying of Hunger in a land of surplus”
“found grass. And so for most of the summer, the village’s 60 households got by eating sama - a fodder normally given to cattle”
—-guardian.co.uk/GWeekly/Story/0,3939,843366,00.html
“18 Musahar families are dying of starvation”
—-worldproutassembly.org/archives/2007/04/hunger_alert_in.html
“How poor is India? Some startling statistics have just been released by a forgotten wing of Dr Singh’s own administration, the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector. Around 80 per cent of India’s working population is in this sector. Nearly 80 per cent of this group earns less than 20 rupees a day and 85 per cent of this sub group is trapped in debt. By that usual sleight of hand we have drawn an arbitrary line to define poverty: Rs 12 a day constitutes the poverty line. This encourages the illusion that 77 per cent of India is now above the poverty line. It isn’t that much above in any case. Nor is this poverty line index-linked to inflation. Twelve rupees a day buys much less today than it did three years ago. The traditional poverty groups remain where they were: 88 per cent of Scheduled Tribes and Castes, 80 per cent of “Other Backward Classes” and 85 per cent of Muslims belong to the “poor and vulnerable” class.”
M. J. Akbar is Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Age and Deccan Chronicle newspapers. He can be reached at mjakbar@asianage.com,
—-khaleejtimes.com/ColumnistHomeNew.asp?section=mjakbar&col=yes
B-Asia’s most corrupt nation
For more details read my on 21 Feb 2008 at 7:41 am post.
C-Persecution of its minorities on the name of Religion
For details see my on 23 Feb 2008 at 3:24 pm post in —- abytheliberal.com/military/india-pakistan-military-strength
—-indianterrorism.bravepages.com/gujarat%20pictures%202.htm
D-White Widows: 40-50, million women ostracized from society and incarcerated in temples. These widows are sold as prostitutes to earn their keep quite oftenly. They are not allowed to touch any normal being and their shadow is considered a bad omen.
—- widowsofvrindavan.blogspot.com/
—-news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1795564.stm
—-kalgidharsociety.org/cause/cause.asp
E-Dalits Eek out a Sub Human Living in India
Between 150 to 250 million Dalits or Untouchables live in utter sub-human conditions. A population as large as the United States lives in conditions that are below and worse off than that of Sub Saharan Africa. The dalit websites shed some light on the plight of the Dalits.
“In the Indian caste system, a Dalit, often called an untouchable, or an outcaste, is a person who according to traditional Hindu belief does not have any “varnas“. Varna refers to the Hindu belief that most humans were supposedly created from different parts of the body of the divinity Purusha. The part from which a varna was supposedly created defines a person’s social status with regard to issues such as whom they may marry and which professions they may holdDalits fall outside the varnas system and have historically been prevented from doing any but the most menial jobs. (However, a distinction must be made between lower-caste people and Pariahs.) Included are leather-workers (called chamar), carcass handlers (called mahar),poor farmers and landless laborers, night soil scavengers (called bhangior chura), street handicrafters, folk artists, street cleaners, dhobi, etc. Traditionally, they were treated as pariahs in South Asiansociety and isolated in their own communities, to the point that even their shadows were avoided by the upper castes. Discrimination against Dalits still exists in rural areas in the private sphere, in ritual matters such as access to eating places and water sources. It has largely disappeared, however, in urban areas and in the public sphere, in rights of movement and access to schools The earliest rejection of discrimination, at least in spiritual matters, was made as far back as the Bhagavada Gita, which says that no person, no matter what, is barred from enlightenment. Even early Indian texts such as the Rig Veda discourage the abuse of outcastes. The text reads, “Indra, you lifted up the outcast who was oppressed, you have glorified the blind and the lame.” (Rg-Veda 2:13:12There are an estimated 160 million Dalits in India.”
—-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_caste_system
F- Muslims
There are more than 150 million Muslim citizens living in India as third rate citizens.
” Muslims constitute 25.2 per cent of the population of West Bengal, but have only 2.1 per cent of state government jobs. Kerala, which has almost the same percentage of Muslims (24.7 per cent), has given 10.4 per cent of state government jobs to the community. Assam’s ratio is similar: 30.9 per cent and 11.2 per cent. Bihar does better: it gives 7.6 per cent of state jobs to Muslims, who add up to 16.5 per cent of the population. Andhra Pradesh has the best record: 9.2 per cent of the population and 8.8 per cent of jobs. Uttar Pradesh, despite leaders who claim to be more-secular-than-thou has given only 5.1 per cent of state government jobs to an 18.5 per cent population. The situation is no better when it comes to health and education indices.”
E- Freedom movements in India
1-Kashmir
Don’t want to discuss it in details, we know,world knows what Indian army is doing in Kashmir.More than 100,000 people have been massacred and more than that nos are missing and displaced by India authorities.
—-kmsnews.org/databank/Freedom%20Struggle/kms%20articles/new/History%20demands%20Kashmir’s%20early%20resolution%202007.htm
—-kashmir.wordpress.com/2007/02/13/the-largest-daemon-cracy/
—- amnesty.org/
2- Punjab
Sikhs Khalistan movement for liberation of eastern Punjab.What Indian army done to the innocents of Golden temple, world had witnessed that event.According to general accepted figures more than 5000 Sikhs were perished during the bluestar operation.However,freedom struggle is still going on…See
—- roadtokhalistan.blogspot.com/
3-Tamil Nadu and Mizuram are in flames seeking independence
—- geocities.com/tamiltribune/98/0902.html
—- geocities.com/tamiltribune/98/0701.html
—- www.rediff.com/news/2000/oct/09tamil.htm
—- satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/tripura/terrorist_outfits/attf.htm
—- tamilnation.org/conflictresolution/countrystudies/nagaland/030221taraki.htm
4-Tamil insurrection in Sri Lanka led by Tamils Terrorists in India
5-Bihar: Major suppression of Biharis and problems with Bangladesh
6-West Bengal in Communist hands fueling Naxalites.
7-Muslim genocide in Gujrat
World witnessed the killing of more than 5000 Muslims in Gujrat by fanatic hindu terrorists linked to chief minister of Gujrat Nirander Moodi.In Gujrat riots more than 3000 were burnt alive by Hindu fanatics.” Indian officials and police were directly involved in killing hundreds of Muslims during violent riots in the western Indian state of Gujarat over the past two months, the U.S. group Human Rights Watch said in a report”
—-findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WDQ/is_2002_May_6/ai_85519980
—- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Gujarat_violence
—- goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0199-1642914_ITM
—-youtube.com/watch?v=cbaoYlxK340 (Must see this video)
—- thenation.com/doc/20020930/baldwin20020916 (Must visit this link what was done to Muslim girls during riots by Hindu terrorists)
Conclusion:-India is a failed state for failing to provide food shelter and clothing,security to her citizens.while on another hand freedom struggle in nine provinces are on full scale which will certainly take place and soon world will see a different India by will of God.
Indian government can not hide truth from his citizens that India is in fact a failed state.
False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.(Socrates)
@ Dear Bilal
Very Nice………….
@ Mel
Grow up Kid…………………
Haha hahaha … India on the brink of Failed state !!!! Mr. Bilal you are so insane !! Its pakistan which is in the Brink of Failed state .. OOps sorry i said something wrong here .. I say Pakistan is already a Failed state …. hahahaha …. The poorest of the poor indians also eat good food … All these figures that you have given depends upon Bank Balances which big people draft Graphs out of !!
Just check at the growth rate of Indian GDP!!! … Do you have any idea of the amount of exports india does yearly ? common baby show me the facts as you are very good in copy and paste job!!!
Now show me the facts of Indias Industries , exports(you will cry now) , inflation rates (compared to pakistans) … common you can do it !! I hope you know how to search good things about india… do it once !! And you will be ashmed of yourself….
About the poor people !!! Check the facts of UK and US poor people!! or any other developed country
Every country has its own pros and cons !!!! so just don’t say on the brink of failed state !!! .. india has seen poor people from hundreds of years !! Nothing has happenned to india otherthan improvement!!!
I do not wish my country to be a bullying super power. Even if we eventually become a ’super power’ , that day is atleast 40-50 years away.
I must say some of the comments from pak nationals are retarded to say the least. India has a lot of problems within, but nothing in the scale of pakistan. Pakistan is a very dangerous nation with restless hateful populace making a higher percentage than the moderate ones. Very dangerous reality for west and india. What is perplexing is that
not only are they hateful but also delusional, how else can you explain such a sense of bravado and esteem after the failure that pakistan is in every known sphere of human development.
@Mel
I don’t want to call you people with cheap mentallity or detest,retarded/abhorent, because Indian government has taught you “ALL THINGS ARE OKEY” and same is the method of India media…”INDIA IS SHINING”…However,what an ordinary person can’t see or judge is the reality which Indian government has intensionally kept its citizens in darkness, what I posted above was a fact which was totally allien for ordinary Indian kinsmen.I’m saying this because I have seen things with my open eyes during my visit of Bombay and Delhi.
Aswell as Pakistan is concern, on all forums I never said/claimed that Pakistan is an another Switzerland but a developing nation, however the way you Indians present Pakistan its totally against the reality and prejudice.Thats why I always request to Indians that for God sake stick to the topic and don’t haggle around. There is nothing in pulling each other legs, but everytime your kinsmen cross the limits and became so aggressive and abusive against our mother Land-Pak-land for nothing,and if they keep doing this,I’m afraid Pak-Land bears such souls ,whom can rebuttle.
I would apologize If my above said comments have hurted you.
Sincerely Yours
Bilal,
You are moderate. Please look around more you will bump into a lot of your country men who fall the earlier category. And you might be interested to know, india has many independent media channels none oppressed by the state, there is no propaganda hear the population is well aware of the situation prevalent in the country. You might get to see such institutions after a civil elected govt comes to power in pak. I must admit that it pretty refreshing to read a little vindictive yet rationale comment from the other side of the border.
Mr Bilal , before criticizing India , please look into your own state and do not forget what India has done already for Pakistan.
During the quake of 2005, India was the one who sent you relief within 5 hours, and much more help than any other country , including USA had provided.
I agree that India is one of the most corrupt countries, but even then our one minister , P. Chidambaram has made us second only to China in terms of economic growth, with current GDP being 9.33.
India has always offered Pakistan a hand of friendship, but what can we do if they do not accept it.
There would have been peace b/w the 2 nations only if Benazir Bhutto had been reinstated as the President of Pakistan.
India never wished for war, hatred , and always wanted cordial relations with all nations, so by your a ‘bit harsh’ comment, please do not ignite fire in the hearts of us Indians against Pakistan, and i would still love it if India and Pakistan could be one nation again.
@BILAL
Mr. bilal i dont think u did anything wrong by putting up some facts…
May be some of them are right but of course not all of them are…but surely this will help us to perform even better and i bet you this.
thank you for telling us what we are and what not.
now i want to ask you a question
1.Why do you think India cant be a economic superpower?
2.Do you think Pakistan can ever reach where India has?
Atleast INDIA has made others to talk about it as a economic superpower…
but i would like to ask you have you ever seen a forum or article saying….
PAKISTAN AS AN ECONOMIC SUPERPOWER.
I think you have never heard this line, this itself explains a lot.
@ Bilal
You remind me of those Christian evangelists who talk a bunch of crap. Sure, some of what you say is factual, of which most is yet blown out of proportion in a gross attempt to justify your claims. Of course, in your case, what would be a better term? Islamic cleric? Yes, probably so, since the term “Islamic fundamentalist” is far too broad, and often misused. India is not a failed state. Failed states do not become major economic powerhouses. They do have maintain one of the most disciplined armed forces of this world, though on this account, Pakistani special operations forces are on par with their Indian counterparts. The conventional forces of Pakistan are UHL—that is, Under Hopeless Level. This list is not exclusive and I hope you figured as much. This has been made obvious in the numerous wars that have already been fought over the years. Of course, we can get uptight on national sentiments, but I’d be ashamed to cite statistical data if I were a Pakistani too; and national sentiments serve no purpose in an academic debate because they tend to deviate from facts. There are numerous problems in India—I don’t deny that—but by comparison, the problems that Pakistan faces are unbelievably worse. I’m going to let you—and perhaps other readers as well—ponder on it before commenting.
Thanks Dmitri, for giving over view of indian economic growth. We have been witnessing this growth for last 18-20 years. A lot has changed in Indian since 1990. Per capita income, living standard and social structure.
1. India’s literacy rate was 65.5 % officially in 2000, which is expected to reach 77-79 % by 2011 & 90%+ by 2020.
There are atleast 12 states out of 28 which are already having literacy more then 74 % currently.
1 Mizoram 91.1
2 Kerala 89.9
3 Goa 83.3
4 Himachal Pradesh 81.3
5 Tripura 80.2
6 Maharashtra 77.6
7 Sikkim 76.6
8 Manipur 76.5
9 Assam 76.3
10 Uttaranchal 75.7
11 Tamil Nadu 74.2
12 Punjab 74
Still india has to do alot to improve its literacy.
2. Total 23-24 % people are living below poverty line, which is expected to reach 19-20 % in 2011 and 9-10 % in 2020 (which is being envisaged by many indians and that will be a great leap to eradicate poverty).
it was 36% in 1993-1994, 26.1% in 1999-2000.
3. India is such a diverse nation of race, language, culture & religion which is second most diverse land on earth after africa, India sustained this diversity and progressed alot. Still we are united as a nation, there was not a single instace of military coup or social unrest like our neighbour.
4. 5-8 % scientist working in NASA are indians and countless IT professionals. Almost 60,000 Indian physicians practice in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia—a workforce equal to 10 percent of the physicians in India and the largest émigré physician workforce in the world.
5. We have a systematic democratic process of selecting our leaders, altough sometimes it causes some problem in getting pace with progress but democracy has deep roots in india.
This creates an environment of peace and properity.
6. There are several indian cos working very well and earning lot of money and respect for country. In IT and software area there are many indian companies who are competing with world’s best. An Indian company has recently acquired giants like Jaguar and Land Rover of UK. India has become the back office of most of the Europe and USA.
(There are 4 indians in Forbes list of billionaires, this actually doesnt project the whole picture but shows the strength of nation on economic front).
7. India has been doing great on economic growth front which is now more then US $1 trillion (2008), witnessing more than 8 % of growth for last 10 years.
I can see lot of potential here and forsee india doing very good on economic front by 2020.
I’m living in India and if I’ll get a chance I’ll choose India as my country without a second thought. Don’t know about these facts and figures but I am living in Chandigarh (Punjab) and I am from a middle class family. I’m pursuing my engineering in computer science and education from RAYAT institute Railmajra, Punjab and so are most of my friends (different streams). I am typing this from a dell XPS M1330 laptop which I am using on a wifi network@1 MB/sec speed (shared with my sisters PC). I’m using nokia E 51 as my cell with GSM and use only wifi from college(they have 8 MB line
) or home. GPRS and other technologies here are a bit expensive if you go for unlimited plan. As far as i know, I’m yet to see any of those “hungry” people. You really think those “living under $1″ would sleep empty stomach if they can “eat till they explode” for 30 cents a time? Maybe that’ll shed some light of the life of middle class man in India.