Dear Ms Carvalho, I agree with most of your comments, but beg to differ on your views on the Indian middle class. IMHO, it's robust and, should I say, vibrant and burgeoning. "The silent middle class" in no way remains unrepresented and is not on the fringes by any stretch of imagination. It's firmly ensconced on the vantage curve of the bell. On the fringes really are the multitude of landless farm labourers, dalits and tribals.
Isn't it a miracle of sorts that India today boasts a middle-class population of 300 million (and still climbing), while there was none in 1947? Regards, RKN <<Dear Mr Nair, I agree with you that an undivided India would be untenable. Infact, I often feel the India of today is a splintered group trying desperately to keep itself together but that is another post. The four estates of democracy maybe the legislative, judiciary, executive and a free and unfretted press, but I feel the pillars of democracy are its education system, an equitable per capita income and to a large extent an ideology of secularism. India has none of these. More that half its population is illiterate or semi-literate, there are vast disparities in its income distribution and it pays lip service to secularism. As a result, we have powerful vested interests that gain popularity or momentum and come to power. The silent middleclass remains unrepresented. Most functional democracies have a robust middleclass that forms the bell of the curve rather than the fringe. India, as someone eloquently put it is a "functioning anarchy". Elisabeth >> _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
