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To: JMD who wrote (13077)	7/28/1998 8:05:00 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Respond to of 152472

SurferM, The science museum in Bangalore has a ticket window. You give them money and they give you a recycled ticket, the money obviously going other than to the museum. A ticket selling process I have seen nowhere before. But I didn't pay any bribes - just excessive tourist prices here and there. Anyway, before I wax lyrical about India's charms and the paradox that wealth and happiness have far less correlation than our television advertisements suggest, I should stick to my points. I don't believe the words 'middle class' in India have more than the meaning that they are not the top of the heap nor the bottom financially. To compare middle class India with bottom of the heap USA is being a bit more accurate. GNP per capita is a few hundred US$. India is poor, a few flash new buildings in Bangalore and Bombay notwithstanding. Even with money, you don't always get an internet connection, partly because India's total bandwidth is rumoured to be much less than Bill Gates has in his house. But also because the electricity is turned off at times. This is nearly a billion people, with very very sluggish capital formation, trade, currency, government and other barriers. They got rid of the good parts of English Empire, international trade and markets, some even trying to get rid of English language = crazy [young ones get annoyed when they realize that to get a good job, they have to be able to use English well but their silly elders have stopped them learning the right stuff], and kept the bad; socialism, regulation, permits, licences and bureaucracy, restricted trade. They are much like New Zealand 30 years ago but with people like we have sheep, rabbits and possums. cdmaOne will sell, but it will have to get lots cheaper yet to make mass inroads such as we'll see in Japan and Korea. As Arun says, there are STD phone boxes all over - you make a high priced call and hand over money to the people minding the phone. Globalstar should do well in competition. Also, there is no need for Indians on the Web to be anonymous - the need for that is more in the USA on the Web where some thug with a gun will come round and shoot you. India is a free society, though only in a personal sense. Property is not your own - the state controls it. You can't take money out. Makes me feel sick to think how New Zealand used to be just the same. Now somewhat deregulated thank goodness. Funny that Albright is telling Australia to reject Pauline Hanson's anti-immigration and trade protectionist ideas. They are much the same as the USA! Which has quotas on imports, most favored nation deals and stuff like that. And try immigrating to USA. Personally, I don't like Hanson's policies on foreign trade either, but it's a bit rich coming from Albright. In fact, racism, which Hanson is accused of, is on the contrary the purview of Albright with racist affirmative action in USA, and Howard with Aboriginal preferences and Shipley's [NZ's PM] Special Status for Maoris. If governments would just get off people's backs and let them run their own lives, they'd be a lot better off. India is a case in point. Anyway, don't assume too many cdmaOne handset sales in India for quite a while yet. Maurice

To: JMD who wrote (13077)	7/28/1998 10:35:00 PM
From: arun gera	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Off Topic - Mike: No apologies required. Go to any Indian party (as in having fun) and you will get more criticism of India and its corruption than your mild posting. No doubt India is partly held back by the corruption that pervades political and daily life. But do you know that India exists without any functioning judicial system. Can you believe it? One billion people with practically no judicial system. And about half of them live with very little material goods. In spite of that crime rate is not all that bad. For every person using corruption to get ahead, there are nine waiting patiently following the straight path. ( How many motorists in US will not speed on the highways if there were no tickets given?) Indira Gandhi in 1974-77 tried dictatorship ("Emergency") in India for three years. I believe the trains ran on time during that period. But, the police atrocities during Emergency created such a backlash that Indira Gandhi and her party was defeated by politicians who had been jailed during Emergency. No simple solution for India. But telecommunication and television/cable are definitely influencing the common person in India. And there may be a market for Qualcomm's WLL in spite of all the corruption. The Government bureaucracy may be slow and with its share of corrupt people. But if Qualcomm is in the Good Books of the Department of Telecom, a good market for WLL is possible. All those phone booths on every corner were partly due to a clear Govt. policy. If the DOT follows a similar policy on WLL, Qualcomm could benefit. Arun .