You should note that the "common" man's life has actually become much worse in the last 15 years - India has SLIPPED in the Human Development Index (HDI) from 123 to 127. Namibia is ahead of us, by the way. Of course, for most people who comment in rediff, the "common" man is an upper class, upper caste person.
The countries you mention, Japan, Singapore and South Korea all DID NOT globalize - in fact the only countries that followed liberalisation as dictated by the "Washington Consensus" were Argentina, Mexico and other Latin American countries - and these COMPLETELY failed - with hyper inflation. Japan and South Korea, for example followed a policy of HIGH trade tariffs and state directed development (refer "State Directed Development" by Atul Kohli). They had massive PUBLIC investment.That is they had the exact OPPOSITE policies as liberalisation. That is why they succeeded. The standard of living in India, according to the HDI which measures education, Infant mortality and female infanticide is much worse NOW than 15 years back. It helps to know some facts before commenting.
