Anna, while India is improving, it's very, very slow and the dabbling in deregulation they've made so far is trivial; more a gesture than a genuine action. A bit of window-dressing.
Also, the middle class is poor. They are well-off compared with the poorest 10%, but that's nothing to get excited about. They are poor compared with your average Yank, Jap, and most of Europe. They can't come up with $1 trillion capital to develop the place, which is the sort of money needed to make a good start. They need to globalize to do it.
India is poor in every respect except for the most important one; they have a bigger gene pool than any other country and more people who are of a younger age than anywhere, including China. It's the biggest English speaking country on earth. Which doesn't mean most of them can use English, but swarms can and it's an offical language, or was - the more reactionary politicians among them are trying to ditch English from the education industry, which the young ones who need to earn a living in the modern world are cursing them for. While they don't seem to understand the advantage English can give them, it's still something for their competitors to beware of in case India realizes that English gives them a big advantage along with their population.
In a single generation, like Singapore, they could go from a backward hovel of a place to the vanguard of humanity. But like an alchoholic giving up their self-destructive ways, they have to want to change. There is little reason to think they will any time soon.
Mqurice |
