|
|
National
India's Cities Prosper as Country Folk Starve
By Gautaman Bhaskaran South Asia Editor
 | India's IT industry | India's economic growth has surprised even optimists. Nobody thought that it would exceed 7 percent. It did last year. In fact, the last quarter ended with a little over 8 percent. With the country's foreign exchange reserves crossing 100 billion US dollars, even optimism is turning into disbelief. All these have demolished a few myths. One, political coalitions cannot propel high growth. Well, this has been proved wrong. For some years now, critics and cynics have argued that a coalition government — especially of the kind that India has had with a Hindu nationalist party heading 20-plus partners of various shades of political thinking — is unlikely to keep alive the economic reforms process that began a little over a decade ago. Whatever be their differences in political ideology, the partners agree that there must be greater growth in infrastructure (roads, telecom and power) and greater transparency in external trade and foreign investments. If there are disagreements, they are in privatization and labor reforms. But, even here, the mostly left-leaning parties are beginning to understand the futility of holding on to their stand. Another myth was that high growth was not possible without high-quality infrastructure. India has proved this wrong. However, the nation of a billion-plus people has finally decided that infrastructure is, all said and done, essential. There is a boom in construction: roads, buildings, shopping malls, and so on. One now sees an overdrive in these areas. A third myth was that high growth could not be achieved without a high level of foreign direct investment. While China, for instance, got 50 billion US dollars in 2002, India a poor 6 billion US dollars. India has shown that its domestic-investment-driven economy can match China's overseas fund inflow model. Helping India here is its young population. According to the 2001 census, 54 percent of the population or 555 million people (men and women distributed almost equally here) are below 25 years of age. The Goldman Sachs report says that while the largest economies of the U.S. and China are handicapped by an aging population, India faces no such obstacle. This undoubtedly projects a brighter tomorrow. Already, there are unmistakable signs of wealth and prosperity in India. At least in urban centers, more so in the more affluent western and southern India. Pushed and promoted by the boom in the IT sector and outsourced call center employment, young Indians are rethinking on completely radical lines. | A dancer of the lowest caste Bopa and Kalbeliya Gypsies Courtesy Jean-Philippe Soule | The age-old barriers of language, caste and religion — which had kept India divided — are melting. The new mantra is consumerism, which is fast eroding the Nehruvian qualms about consumption and spending. The younger lot are no longer in a mood to just renounce worldly pleasures and save. There is also a marked change from the kind of spending: it is not so much on basics as grocery as it is on eating out and dressing fashionably. If cafes are springing by their dozens in cities, mobile telephones have made a remarkable dent in communication. There are now nearly 30 million of them floating around. What is astounding is the kind of usage: fishermen and vegetable vendors — classes of the workforce that did not rely on wired communication — are among those who use a hand phone to promote business. Admittedly, much of India's new riches touches only a fringe of the 700 million people living in the countryside. There are still 270 million men, women and children who go to bed hungry every night, while the government-operated foodgrain godowns are overflowing with rodents merrily feasting on grains. Distribution and corruption are the culprits here.
 | India's poor people Courtesy AP | For these starving masses and the essentially poor villagers, the US$100 billion in foreign reserves or the sleek cellular phone or the great cafe serving the choicest of beverage or the swanky car on the road makes no sense at all. India's new government, which will hopefully be in place by this April, must try and sort this out immediately. Only then can a conducive social atmosphere — based on a more egalitarian economic structure — prevail. This, as most will agree, is imperative for India to reach the pinnacle of prosperity.
Related Articles Tiger Man Mike Pandey Egypt's First Edition of El Gouna Film ... El Gouna Film Festival Opens with Sheikh ... New Egypt's El Gouna Film Festival to Add ... India Stands Shamed after Racial Attacks near ... The Dashing Pedro Almodovar to Chair Cannes ... Korean Cinema Comes to Chennai in India The Horror of Custodial Death Modi Is the Man We Need in India Mumbai¡¯s Child King The Cocktail at Cannes Cannes Film Fest Begins on a Hollywood Note Mumbai Terrorized Again Venice Lines Up Impressive Jury Cannes Film Fest Begins on a Delightful Note No Indian Movie at the Festival Meaningless Film Censorship This Bloody Life! Mumbai and Pusan Film Fest Establish Ties On Road, in Rage India Picks Wrong Films for Oscars Robert De Niro to Head Cannes Film Fest Jury Someone Killed Jessica, But of Course! Middle Eastern Cinema Hits Hard Dubai Film Fest Opener Dubai Film Fest to Unravel Diverse Selection Indian Police Cut Corners to Tackle Crime Goa Festival Not God's Own "West Is West" Sets IFFI Sailing Fine Cinema at the Coming Dubai Film Festival "The King's Speech" to Set the Fest Rolling Abu Dhabi Film Festival a Fantastic Mix of ... "Adoor Gopalakrishnan: A Life in Cinema" ... The Venetian Storm Frieda's Venice Jafar Panahi's Music Soothes Souls "Black Swan" Opens Venice Festival Festival to Bounce with Youthful Energy Shame and Scandal Plague Commonwealth Games Child Needs Compassion, Not Cane A Beast Called Beauty Adoor Gopalakrishnan: A Life in Cinema Bhopal Gas Tragedy: A Crime Called Bhopal Honour Killings Are India's Shame Cannes Film Festival And Poetry Cannes More Art Than Glamour This Time An Indian Pilgrimage to Cannes Maoist Rebellion in India Asians to Carry the Torch at Cannes Cannes Film Festival and Probables "Robin Hood" to Open Cannes Film Festival Persecution of Artists The Only Two Real Races This Year Curry Bashing in Australia US Director Tim Burton to Lead Cannes Jury India's Car Boom Creates Its Own Chaos Making Idiots Out of Men Indian Girls Find Paris Hilton¡¯s Shoes Too Hot Mexican Film Wins Top Prize at Marrakech Ben Kingsley Hopes to Be an Envoy for Cinema Movie Director Hopes Obama Would Solve the ... Nandita Das on Marrakech Jury A Decaying Film Festival Marrakech Festival a Boon for Local Cinema Panorama Selection Questionable IFFI to Open on a Note of Visual Lyricism South Korea to Be Focus at the Film Fest Dalai Lama¡¯s Tawang Visit Vexes Beijing Why Mumbai Film Fest Scores over Goa Mumbai¡¯s Young Movie Critics Ready to Tear ... India Is Still Hungry for Food Honor Killing through Lens at Mumbai Festival 11th Mumbai Film Festival to Open with Matt ... Film Festival to Showcase Some Gems Can India Host 2010 Commonwealth Games? A New Irritant in India-China Ties The Venetian Sorrow The Tiger War Israeli War Film Wins Venice¡¯s Top Golden Lion Politicians Livid over Festival Movie "Bad Lieutenant" Creates Bad Blood between Two ... Clooney and Damon Star Attractions at Venice Muslim Bashing Must End Mumbai Film Festival Prizes to Be among the ... An Indian Juror in De Sica Land India's Gays Can Now Love without Fear Moore's "Capitalism," 70 Other Films to ... An Indian Summer at the Lagoon City Festival May Be Strong on European Fare A Tamil Film with a Difference Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince:
But ... India Is Racist Too Hollywood Bungles in Bollywood The Tragic Tale of the Indian Tiger Cannes Jury Honors Chilling Tales Lars Von Trier¡¯s Sex and Horror Gems and the Cannes Film Festival Market and the Cannes Film Festival Keats Poetry, Campion¡¯s Reading Lou Ye¡¯s Controversial Disaster Clash of Titans on the Croisette Sexy Sirens and Political Propagandists Is Sharmila Tagore the Right Choice for Cannes ... The Stars in Cannes¡¯ Dark Skies Cannes Courts Controversy Indian Elections: A Circus of Villains Festival Unveils Lineup of Masters Beyond Bollywood¡¯s Melodramatic Mishmash India's Infrastructure at Breaking Point Guessing the Festival Goodies Kate Winslet the New Face of Brilliance Tarantino¡¯s ¡®Basterds¡¯ to Spit Fire at Fest Animated Film, Up, to Open Festival Smoking Screen Oscar-Rich Penelope Set to Master English Cannes Honours Clint Eastwood Renowned French Star to Chair Cannes Jury Fable of Mr Benjamin Button: Riveting Cinema The Mangalore Molest Aamir Khan Film Is a Bad Copy It May Well Be the End of Agony in Sri Lanka Woody Allen¡¯s "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" International Film Festival of India Mumbai Terror Marrakech Int'l Film Festival Has Grown Marrakech Int'l Film Festival Marrakech International Film Festival Shambled Secularism Benegal¡¯s Sajjanpur Birdwatchers Venice Festival Blues Venice under the Hollywood Spell ? A Riveting Movie on Islam's Crisis Venice Festival a Haven for World Premieres Pakistani Films Come to India, at Last! Tamil Super Hero Rises Again The Comic Fantasy The Smoking Screen! Bollywood and Beyond at Stuttgart New Film May Spell Hope for Bollywood Indian Cinema Feeds Deceit An Indian Film on an American Power Plant India Not At Cannes Cannes Line-Up Writer Taslima Nasreen Forced Out of India India Inspires World Fashion Mills & Boon "Jodhaa Akbar" Creates Controversy in India Sania Mirza Subject to Ridicule in Native India Sarkozy and Bruni Love Causes Moral Outrage India and the Oscars Marrakech International Film Festival Reviewed Paranoid Park Cannes 2007: Killings The Spy Case The Good and the Not So Good Bollywood Superman First Kashmiri Film in 20 Years Chinese Influence Seems Unstoppable Cannes Film Festival 2006: Minimalism, Too Cannes Fest Prizes Cannes Film Festival 2006: Great Delights The Da Vinci Code Missing Tigers The Despair of Tibetans Trilateral Stratagem To Slow China's Growth Sri Lanka Crisis Hollywood Movies Doing Well In India Peace Pipe Mangal Pandey: The Rising Honda Clash Bush-Manmohan Singh Pact Satyajit Ray, Still India's Most Noted Movie ... Ban on Cigarettes in India "Match Point" Excoriated by Britons Crisis In India¡¯s Hindu Nationalist Party Manmohan Singh¡¯s One Year 58th Cannes International Film Festival Begins Indo-Pakistan Cricket Diplomacy U.S. Visa Refusal The 7th Deauville Asian Film Festival Closes Seedy Film Journalism Indian Tigers Butchered in Broad Daylight No Oscar for Scorsese, Yet Again Nepal in Turmoil As King Sacks PM Deuba History Repeats in Struggle for Free Press India Could Have Prevented Tsunami Deaths Argue over Freedom on Internet "City of Gold" Dubai Stands like Oasis in ... Towards a Solution to the Kashmir Problem India & China Rising Bush Victory and India Indian Robinhood After 9/11, World Links Muslim with Violence India's Great Heritage Taj Mahal in Danger "Kashmir": A Never Ending Thorny Issue The Village -- A Silly Joke Jakarta Bombing Aimed at Aussie ... Millions of Indians Go to Bed Hungry Sri Lanka's Ethnic War Knows No End Over 600 Tibetan Monks, Nuns Should Be Freed India's Schoolgirl Killer Hanged in Controversy 3 Kidnapped Indians Endure Agonizing Torture Musharraf's Sets Deadline on Kashmir Usefulness of Nepalese Monarchy in Question Temple of Learning Turns into Grave of Death AIDS Keeps Threatening the Poor in Asia, Africa Fearful of Dowry Parents Kill Newborn Girls Hot Discussion on Death Penalty in India India's Flag of Democracy Kept Unfurled Politics Dominates Cannes Int'l Film Festival Intolerance Grows before India General Election Fears of Strife Continue in Sri Lanka Torture, Rape Occur in Indian Classroom World Leaders Must Take Stand against Nukes India, Pakistan Form Friendly Ties Cell Phones Bring Joy, Sorrow World Over
Other Articles by Gautaman Bhaskaran
Tiger Man Mike Pandey Egypt's First Edition of El Gouna Film ... El Gouna Film Festival Opens with Sheikh ... New Egypt's El Gouna Film Festival to Add ... India Stands Shamed after Racial Attacks ...
Gautaman Bhaskaran is a veteran film critic and writer who has covered Cannes and other major international festivals, like Venice, Berlin, Montreal, Melbourne, and Fukuoka over the past two decades. He has been to Cannes alone for 15 years. He has worked in two of India¡¯s leading English newspapers, The Hindu and The Statesman, and is now completing an authorized biography of India¡¯s auteur-director, Adoor Gopalakrishnan. Penguin International will publish the book, whose research was funded by Ford Foundation.
back
|
|
|
|
|