I went to India in '94, but I get a steady stream of close relatives and friends or friends and relatives here who go there almost every other month. Now, my comments and perspective might reflect the successes or failures of my own little 'extranet', but my net has a fair sprinkling of US citizens going there and Indians from altleast 3 cities Delhi Mumbai and Chennai. The rosy scenario is from people who work for the elite organizations like KotakMahindra/Goldmansachs, Citibank , Software companies, Medical grads from Top tier schools etc. These guys cannot see any real reason for struggling for the green card anymore. A 24 yr old medical grad kid stated plainly that in the US you can make money but in India you have lots of old folks touching your feet for saving their lives. Visitors from here can only see Cellular phones at every corner and point this out as a sign of progress. I would go a bit further and point out that the wealth while as is usual, shared by some, is pretty widely distributed, every city every linguistic group, has its little, may be 20% who can afford more.
The perpetual shortage mentality is going away, In Delhi the public transportation in the last few years has no shortage of busses, they are still crowded, but now you can go in first class, deluxe etc. by paying a little more. I don't think there is a waiting list for bajaj scooters or maruti's anymore. engineering college seats in the top schools are almost 99% based on merit. and for the rich and the dumb there are enough seats in Capitation fee colleges if you pay. So all those farm boys doing engineering to get a better dowry can now go to their own daddy's college without wasting public resources.
I am not blind to Mohan's comment that 50% may still be uneducated in the formal sense, This is exactly why I do not believe in blanket 'free market' solutions. Given a choice between drinking water and 100 channels of TV, the 'free market' will always choose the 100 channels of TV.
One of my buddies did a course at the same place as Sankar,(U od Chicago) and some eminent economist there apparently suggested that Rs 80 to the dollar was appropriate. (Real estate (housing) is still way overvalued in the big cities, and bears no relation to earnings of the average salaried guy, but has come down 20%). Heck batten down the hatches I say. Considering that India's main imports are oil and fertilizer, keep the exchange controlled at 38-40, What ever smuggling and hoarding that this may cause is just a small price to pay. From China to Japan to the US every one plays the free market game when it is to their advantage. and that is how it should be. Sovereign nations ought to be able to choose when and how much of the free market they want to participate in, while that notion still has some life left.
Ramesh. |
