The article is showing a very rosy picture. We r not sure how costly the electricity will b due to high price of plant equipment & uranium that will b charged by the suppliers. Remember Enron? It only benefitted some corrupt political leaders. The losers were Indian people through Indian Financial Institutes, who were forced to pay to the equipment suppliers from US.
If it was so good, why majority of power is not produced by nuclear energy in developed countries, as it is clean and environment friendly reducing global warming?
RE:Showing a very rosy picture
by Jagadis Bose on Aug 04, 2008 07:19 PM Permalink
The article doesn't just paint a rosy picture. It also denigrates institutions that have shaped and continues to shape life in India. He says that the postman has become irrelevant. Say that to the migrant labourer who sends home post-cards and money orders or to millions like me who depend on post-office investment scheme income. In fact, every application that I sent during my student days, every admit card for every exam that I took, every important document that I mailed or received, were delivered on time by these same postmen. This probably is true of all Indians of my generation. The interviewee of this article (and people like him) seem to have no connection to India at all -- they are living in a fantasy world where India is a superpower, bullet trains ply between Chennai and Mumbai, and benevolent America is our fairy godmather.
RE:Showing a very rosy picture
by Girish Rao on Aug 04, 2008 07:42 PM Permalink
come on when was the last time you sent a post. And the poor labourer sends post card because he has no choice. Once he becomes slightly affluent he too will start sending in couriers. As for bullet trains that is for the future and I would like to ask why not ? All round inclusive Growth is the only way to reduce poverty. Not subsidy and hand-outs.
RE:Showing a very rosy picture
by Jagadis Bose on Aug 04, 2008 08:02 PM Permalink
I regularly use the postal service to mail letters. I doubt that couriers deliver letters outside the urban centers in the rural heartlands where most people live. To even imagine labourers using courier service takes considerable effort on my part. I think that urban India is getting completely disconnected from the "real India". Its reflected in the growth of the "walled communities" growing in places like Noida, that a foreign newspaper (The Washington Post) commented on recently. The truth will hit hard in the next elections.
RE:Showing a very rosy picture
by Girish Rao on Aug 04, 2008 08:13 PM Permalink
that means you are out of date. People use post-office only when they are forced to or have no option. As for washington post well they can write whatever they want to. People are migrating all the time to urban centers. In 1947 70 percent of people lived in villages now the percentage is around 55 and is decelarating fast. It is not hard to imagine that in the future majority of people will be living in cities and in that cases postal service will surely be dead. I know it is in-thing to somehow romanticize poor and say India is under-achieving. But all developments take time and some help from outsiders, all countries have been through it including US.
RE:Showing a very rosy picture
by Girish Rao on Aug 04, 2008 08:32 PM Permalink
what is your point ? looks like you are against nuclear deal. And most probably the people in all those developed countries use letters because the service is reliable. In India no government service works. And dont worry people in India are easily exploitable and give their vote for as little as 100 Rs.
RE:RE:Showing a very rosy picture
by Girish Rao on Aug 04, 2008 08:33 PM Permalink
what is your point ? looks like you are against nuclear deal. And most probably the people in all those developed countries use letters because the service is reliable. In India no government service works. And dont worry people in India are easily exploitable and give their vote for as little as 100 Rs.
RE:Showing a very rosy picture
by Jagadis Bose on Aug 04, 2008 09:18 PM Permalink
"And dont worry people in India are easily exploitable and give their vote for as little as 100 Rs."
Not true. Just ask Atal Behari whether he got his "aur ek bari".
RE:Showing a very rosy picture
by pjothilingam on Aug 04, 2008 09:31 PM Permalink
The entire country was divided on the nuclear deal issue.Majority of MPs opposed the deal on earlier occasions.Even just a few weeks before the trust vote, it appeared certain that the govt would fall.Yet,on the day of the trust vote,things changed.How?Enough has been talked of money power doing the trick of inducing elected representatives to vote against their party's whip,or,simply abstain from voting.In this scenario,where do we stand as a democracy?The economic reforms make rich people richer,and the poor,poorer.The nuke deal and consequent opening of our economy to outside forces,will certainly enrich the wealthy beyond one's imagination.If votes of elected representatives can be manipulated with money power, then anything is possible in the political and economic field.The British conquered india through their superior arms and strategy.But the Americans are achieving the same,without firing a shot, but through money power.If we had achieved independance the way the Vietnamese had done,perhaps we would cherish it better.
RE:Showing a very rosy picture
by Jagadis Bose on Aug 04, 2008 08:25 PM Permalink
A 2007 report by the state-run National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) found that 77% of Indians, or 836 million people, lived on less than 20 rupees per day (USD 0.50 nominal, USD 2.0 in PPP), with most working in "informal labour sector with no job or social security, living in abject poverty."
If you think that these people will use couriers then your world is different from mine. In fact very few people in the developed countries such as France, Germany use couriers. All letters that I receive from universities in these countries all come through their national postal services.
The rich in India wants to build a cocoon inside which they want to have their own country and rules. Thankfully (for the rich as well as the poor) we are a democracy and the poor will have their say in nine-month.
