+ Pankaj Mishra's observations are not wrong but he is + emphasizing the negatives while playing down the + positives.
Pankaj Mishra does not emphasize the negatives, but restores parity in the discussion. The negatives are never mentioned, which is what he is doing. + By playing with words no one can deny the fact that + Indian economy has improved. It is also a fact that + the wealth made in India is not well distributed. + Yes there is stark poverty in India but it is not + as bad as it was in the fifties and sixties. Though absolute poverty seems to have decreased, that alone does not speak of the problems today. By emphasizing only on the positives, one runs the risk of forgetting the other side and the associated risks involved. For example, farmers are commiting suicides, mostly due to debt and a lack of a viable agricultural policy. Manmohan Singh recently visited the areas and listened to the farmers. There seems to be an increasing problem of infant malnutrition and moratality in Maharastra in the tribal areas. Poverty data alone will not be able to catch these problems. In many other areas, as the government moves away from direct economic policies, the ultra-leftists have grown. The government now views this solely as a security issue, and local governments like the one is Jharkhand now wants to buy helicopter gunships to kill the naxalites! Besides forming village militia. From the experience in the northeast I hope you realise what this means-- a veritable civil war! The problems of regional disparity is all the more fearsome, and should be the focus of attention on Assamnet. If you looked at the per capita income over the years, you will see that whereas the average India index saw a rapid rise in the 1980s, the Assam index has not kept pace. Both have risen, of course, but the widening gap is a concern, especially since Assam's was higher than the India average soon after Independence. (http://www.undp.org.in/hdrc/shdr/assam/Chp2.pdf page 25). >From the point of view of Assam, it is useless to focus on the positives in the Indian economy because de-regulation has not resulted in much benefit for the state. Assam is very unlikely to benefit from a growing software industry, which is already on display. The economy is still a captive of government policies today. The implosion of the tea industry would result in a very big problem, which will easily take on ethnic colors. If the sea level increases due to environmental reasons and inundates the coastal regions of Bangladesh, you can imagine how it would impact the politics and the demographics in Assam. Assam still does not have viable indigenous industries that can provide employment for the locals, which will require investment in infrastructure. As India develops as a service economy, what happens to the northeast? Let alone Assam having access to markets for indigenous products, it is itself a captive market for mainstream Indian products. xourov __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
