C-da,
In light of your post, let me make a few points:
a. Actually IMHO there is a very REAL possibility in
India today. Like I have said before, the chance of
doing better TODAY is way more in India than the US.
That at this point does not yet apply to Assam. And we
all know what are the reasons. My reasons, that is.
b. Actually there are many more of people like us who
have stayed back in India and done unbelievably well
for themselves and their families and others. Person
to person, these statistics are there for everyone to
see. All of this obviously has happened in the last 15
years.
c. As for India's capability, we do know that it is
indeed forging forward TODAY. As is China. Their
political wills are of different nature. India has a
long way to go before they accomplish everything they
need to accomplish. But both are well on their roads.
Once again, if nations and their focus on what they
need to do is to be taken into account, I would
re-iterate that at this point, India knows where it is
going and perhaps the US does not.
d. The ULFA bogey is a real one in terms of the
absence of progress in Assam - especially when you
take into account the last 15 years when many parts of
India has progressed. Ofcourse we have the local
political class that chose to abjure their leadership
as well as has GOI. If other states in India has
progressed, it stands to reason that they and/or GOI
are doing something right.
All I have said is that let us measure how much damage
the ULFA has done to Assam's economy in the last 15
years. It is important for that question to be
answered - and if answered that they have indeed done
enough damage - it is a tool to get them to retire. If
our interests are with the people, we do need to
understand it. In the same breath let us figure out
what damage every other party includign GOA and GOI
has done. Why the last 15 years - because winds of
change have blown in these last 15 years - our sails
simply have not caught up with those winds.
e. The exodus is not a matter of emotion. It is greed
again. You should check the following - how much money
is flowing into India from outside, how much of that
money is flowing from non-resident Indians?
The last 35 years is a wrong timeline to look at. It
is the next 25 you need to. Perhaps for some it does
not matter - the hunt for opportunity. They are too
set in their environments to change - their ability to
take risks is reduced.
I am emphasising money here because we are talking
about opportunity. Money goes to where the opportunity
is. It is real. Follow the money trail.
f. Finally, you should look at how and why Laloo
Prasad Yadav was booted out. Laloo - the messiah of
the dalits and the muslims - who gave them the voice -
and he was booted out by the same dalits. Even in
Bihar - and I was surprised too - the need for
opportunity far outweighs today the need to keep their
class intact.
--- Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Rajib:
>
> Take a good look at some of your own remarks here:
>
> > >I wish there were more that escaped. Not just
> >Chandanda. And I. And all others on Assamnet.
>
>
> **** What does it mean? Why are you glad to have
> ESCAPED? Is it NOT
> because, you had skills but were unable to make use
> of them in the
> desi-environment to
> improve your own and your near and dear ones' lives
> ? That those whom
> you trusted to create an environment for progress
> and prosperity not
> only failed, but that there was NO possibility in
> sight as well?
>
>
> > >They don't need to be IIT / IIM guys - at the
> end of
> >it most of us turn out to be clerks anyway.
>
> *** But it does not have to be like that, does it?
> What your
> preparation at IIT and IIM shows is that YOU have
> the ability to
> LEARN, does not matter what. That you have a desire
> to excel. That
> you are resourceful.
>
> And given half a chance, you would have done just
> fine in India, had
> the environment existed.
>
> Fact is that there are plenty more like you,who
> never had the
> opportunity to go PROVE to anyone that they have
> those abilities. Nor
> did/do they operate in an environment where there is
> a reasonable
> degree of opportunity to go fend for themselves
> successfully.
>
> Remember Steve Jobs? Bill Gates? They were college
> dropouts. I am
> sure yu can cite many more of those than I could.
>
> *** Question you ought to be asking therefore: How
> can Assam get there?
>
> I don't ask about India, because it, as you ought to
> know very well,
> is incapable of forging the political will to make
> the changes that
> are essential to create the environment for the able
> and the
> enterprising to better their lot, to be productive,
> and to hold out
> that hand of help for those who cannot fend for
> themselves instead
> of looking away and denying them their humanity.
>
>
> > >And if you are in the government - give law and
> order
> >and access to infrastructure and then leave these
> guys
> >to their self serving ways.
>
> *** The institutions of state that are entrusted
> with providing order
> in society, of providing accessible and trustworthy
> mechanisms for
> timely and just conflict resolution, for holding the
> responsible
> accountable, must be re-built,. from the ground up.
> Indian
> institutions have been dysfunctional, and getting
> worse by the day,
> with no hope for a turnaround even on the distant
> horizon. Again
> exactly for the same reasons.
>
> Assam CAN and MUST build those up. But tell us HOW
> you forsee that
> happening under Indian rule.
>
>
> > >Even if someone with an H1B can earn enough to
> invest
> >in 10 little shops (in Guwahati or wherever) that
> can
> >become 100 little shops in 10 years - that are
> giving
> >jobs to 500 people - I think that is awesome.
>
>
> *** I am no economist, and I have no intent to dwell
> on a DETAIL
> here, but don't shop-keepers merely shuffle wealth?
> Somebody still
> has to CREATE it. And who do?
> The farmers do. The factory workers do. The
> road-builders do. The
> carpenters do.
> And that must come first, before the investment in
> shops would produce anything
> other than help change hands.
>
> So what is being done to improve Assam's
> agricultural productivity?
> To help transport produce to the markets? For
> storage? Where is the
> fertilizer? Where is the energy? Where are the roads
> and trains and
> the refrigeration facilities?
>
> Is the ULFA bogey a believable excuse for their
> absence?
>
>
>
> > >But
> >society does need all other kinds too. Mostly those
> >with the overwhelming desire - and the OPPORTUNITY
> -
> >to make more money for themselves.
>
>
> **** I don't believe that anyone would disagree with
> you on it in
> this day and age. But for these people to be able to
> make a
> difference, you need the STATE to create the
> environment. Why is the
> state failing to do it?
>
> You will need to look into that. And I can tell you
> this: it is NOT
> ULFA , because of which the environment does not
> exist. If someone
> wished ULFA away tomorrow, NOTHING would change,
> other than perhaps
> help the looters move in with even greater impunity.
>
>
> > >It increasingly looks
> >like the real escape at this point is back to
> India.
>
> **** I have seen and heard these wishful
> pronouncements for thirty
> five years. But little changes. I will believe it
> when I see that
> exodus.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> At 8:37 PM -0800 11/22/05, Rajib Das wrote:
> >Mikeda,
> >
> >:-)
> >
> >Am I happy I moved forward in life? (I do realize
> >however that I transferred my clerkship from India
> to
> >US - so this move forward is nothing more than a
> small
> >little step really). Absolutely.
> >
> >I wish there were more that escaped. Not just
> >Chandanda. And I. And all others on Assamnet. I
> wish
> >there were tens of thousands such escapees from our
> >region.
> >
> >They don't need to be IIT / IIM guys - at the end
> of
> >it most of us turn out to be clerks anyway. In as
> much
> >as the penchant for ABCD kids to become doctors in
> the
> >US is. Ordinary drop outs in the US have had a
> better
> >success rate in my industry at least.
> >
> >But really, Mike da? Attempting to solving problems
> in
> >the abstract without a self interest urging them on
> -
> >the socialist approach to things - does not seem to
> >have worked anywhere.
>
=== message truncated ===
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