A biased perspective on India?
I have written about India on several occasions discussing the economy, business and demographics of the country. My narrative is always implicitly positive; i.e. there is no doubt that India is on its way to become a true force to be reckoned with ... it is really the speed and path which we must discuss. I still think this economic and business centric view of India is very valid and interesting but differentiation is always nice. Consequently, I point you to the excellent blog GlobalClashes by Kiki who prompts us to also look at another perspective of India's development. I don't think I have neglected this perspective on India but Kiki has a way with words when it comes to framing and contextualization so once again I fully endorse her remarks ...
'I think that how one views India depends on whether one chooses to see the glass as half-full or half-empty. It is true that it is too early to say whether India will become a superpower, but it is also true that it is a nation which has tremendous potential and which has accomplished a lot since its independence from Britain. In my opinion, India has the fundamentals required to become a powerful country (size, human capital, democratic institutions, stability,...etc), the biggest challenge is governance, that is the way politicians and other members of civil society will choose to solve important problems such as poverty and inequality. If India doesn't fulfill its potential this century, it wouldn't be because it couldn't become a great country, but rather because its political class made the wrong choices.'
Good stuff!
Nitin from the Indian Economy blog also takes on the open-ed in the New York Times by Pankaj Mishra which Kiki also initially responded to. He believes that Pankaj Mishra has gotten it all wrong ... or nearly all that is.
'Little wonder that he [Pankaj Mishra] ends up totally misunderstanding and misrepresenting what the new India story is all about: that regardless of its problems (and no one denies it has many), the world—and India—believes that there is a good chance that India will be a 21st century superstar.'