Freddy Fernandes <[email protected]> Sun Nov 22 23:54:37 PST 2009
Individually, Indian billionaires have nearly doubled in just one year from 27 to 52 according to Forbes magazine, literally speaking it is indeed a proud moment for all Indians that we have so many Indians, in the top rich people of the world, but does it matter to the avalanche of poor in India, how do they benefit from this disproportionate distribution of wealth. With the number of rich increasing, so is the number of poor, and the gulf between the two has been moving further apart. How can India sustain this ever increasing void between the poor and the super rich or will India ever be able to reduce this unhealthy void. Mario responds: I have no problem with the rich getting richer as long as the poor get richer too from meaningful private sector jobs and improved educational opportunities for themselves and their children. However, I wonder who gets to define lofty sounding concepts like "disproportionate distribution"? Finally, has anyone out there ever been hired for a job by a poor man or woman? Freddy wrote: .....and India is one of world's largest crime centers and it is most certainly poverty and illiteracy that that paves the way for most of these anomalies. Mario asks: Is this an "anomaly"? Could it be a normal feature in a poor democracy emerging from hundreds of years of colonial exploitation, then made even poorer by its own initial policies? Isn't it finally emerging after 50 years of devastating economic waste and ineffiency from its failed experiment with Fabian socialism? Freddy wrote: The second being education, the major chunk of this unproductive population is illiterate, which does not help either, lack of education combined with an unproductive population is an explosive cocktail for economic disaster and our politicians don't seem to be interested in a remedy for it. Mario asks: I read somewhere that India recently proclaimed as a national policy the right of every child to receive an education up to the high school level. That sounds like a good start. Freddy wrote: Sixty two years of independence and poverty is still a monkey on our backs. At every election, irradiation of poverty stays on top of the agenda of every party, but once in power, it's all very conveniently forgotten and the poor get poorer while the rich get even richer. Mario observes: Unfortunately, the Nehru family, heroic in its role in achieving independence, is largely responsible for this contretemps because they took the country in the wrong direction right after independence. These things take generations to turn around especially when you have such a large and diverse multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic population. The good news is that after 50 wasted years India finally realized they were on the wrong path but there is so much catching up to do. And India keeps shackling itself with its economic xenophobia and residual bureaucracy which discourages even more free enterprise and foreign investment, which would speed up the process of raising the income and living standards of India's poor. Freddy wrote: There is no doubt that the number of schemes for the upliftment of the poor come out in dime a dozen, but that is as far as it gets, because when it comes to implementation, the politicians and our bureaucrats somehow loose their sense of urgency and direction, like men in the middle of an ocean, on a cloudy night with no compass, nor the luminaries of the universe above, for guidance. Mario asks: I wouldn't count on politicians and bureaucrats to improve the lot of India's poor. They haven't been able to do that anywhere else, even when they had the awesome coercive power of a totalitarian system behind them as in China and the old Soviet Union. Freddy wrote: Goa being an exception, where even the educated are still very much gullible. Mario asks: If you say that even educated Goans are gullible, doesn't this mean they are no different from the uneducated? That doesn't sound right when you are simultaneously touting the benefits of an education. Freddy wrote: This is one major reason that education does not become a priority for our corrupt politicians and hence they hold sway over the minds and the lives of the poor people, making them their slaves, with just an occasional sari or few hundred rupee notes thrown their way. Until and unless the masses are educated, our unproductive population and our adverse poverty will always be a colossal barrier on the path of progress and on any attempt to reduce the void between the poor and the super rich. Mario asks: Let's assume your conspiracy theory is correct. What can "India" actually do about it? The sorry history is of electing and re-electing corrupt politicians. Freddy wrote: It is our politicians and the bureaucrats who have to change their precepts in totality, forget about themselves and their selfish desires and work earnestly for the welfare of the country and it's people, only them will we be able to see a truly unique India, on the path of progress and prosperity, with a minimum difference between the rich and not so rich. Mario asks: Indeed. But why would they change when they keep getting re-elected? What is going to make them change? This would need an epiphany, would it not? Or, alternatively, a benevolent revolution which sounds like an oxymoron. So, who will arrange for such an epiphany and/or revolution?
