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India's Road To The Future
Paul 03244 writes "Historians, economists and technologists agree that movement of ideas, goods and services are fundamental to trade & advancement of the human condition. Today's online version of the NYT has a rather lengthy but fascinating article on the construction of a modern highway system in India that details some of the social & cultural changes being brought about by this highway project." Interesting to look at the parallels between the spread of tech and services in India and the same process in the U.S.
Close, but no cigar:
http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/airstrip.asp
The highways/interstates were never intended as landing strips. Besides, when's the last time you heard of traffic being shut down/diverted for the practice landings?
If you do ever get the chance to see this documentary, do!
e s/monsoon-railway.shtmle s/photogallery/indian_rail1.shtml
It's called Monsoon Railway and documents how the staff at one station do their best to make the best out of a imposibly overcrowded and out-dated system through one seasons. It's incredibly uplifting. The people work through the night to keep it going. They have hospital trains manned with volunteers to send out in the event of any accident. There's one guy has only the smallest crummiest room himself to live in, but he feels so priveleged that he makes a shelter with his hands for the Indian railway children.
Seriously, if you think there's no hope, no ove, no humanity in this world, watch it. If you feel the third world is corrupt, hopeless not somewhere you can connect with, you're wrong. It made me want to travel, just to meet those people who commit such acts of kindness as if there was no other choice.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/featur
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/featur
Many of Americas highways were built BEFORE WWII. The interstates may have been a defense related project but the Turnpikes werent. Commerce is a far bigger motivating factor than war. War is often just the
excuse to get the road built then the military abandons it.
And you are wrong about Hitler, the Autobahn projects were actually started (1926) BEFORE hitler came to power and Hitler didnt think of them he had really nothing to do with their conception. The first autobahn was started in 1929 and was completed in 1932 BEFORE hitler came to power. Oddly enough the war actually STOPPED contruction of the autobahn.
You are not even from India, and you are sifting the anti slash DB for high karma posts to copy and pasting them. Your comment can also be found here.
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
I am a big believer in India, rather than China being the country to watch for growth and development. A great deal of this surrounds India's legal system, which closely follows the English common-law system, with a great respect for precedent and contract law. Take a look at the econmic success of both the U.K. and the United States, and you can clearly see the benefits of this system.
Yeah, there is a significant amount of corruption and bureacracy in the system, but for the most part, privitization has helped cut down on that significantly.
:)
However, there is no real strong "communist" party in India - the existing government is being supported by the Communist Party of India, they have minimal say. The thing is, until about 30 years ago, India and the Soviet Union were fairly close. And as a newly independent nation, a government that had equal parts public and private sectors seemed like a good idea at the time.
However, gradually, the public sectors began to be privatized. Sure, the Communist party of India occasionally throws a tantrum, but nobody listens to them anyway. If at all, they have some semblance of power in all of two states, only one of which is consistent.
To be fair, there are some politicians who're above this, and who really understand technology and the need. For instance, the President is a rocket scientist (quite literally) and the Prime Minister is a renowned economist (he was awarded his Ph.D. in economics from Oxford and has been a professor of economics).
Of course, like any system, there are corrupt folks, and folks who refuse to change or adapt to the new system, particularly since it undermines their power and authority. But most of these are at the state level, and the Central (equivalent of Federal) government has a lot more power, and is a lot cleaner, too (relatively speaking, of course).
So, to answer your question - there is some definite corruption and bureacracy, but it's on the decline. More privatization and media exposures have largely made it harder, and folks who're at the helm are a lot more knowledgeable and capable.
Here's hoping for a better India in the days to come!
It might just be the opposite. Because intellectuals/planners in India fully understand that corruption can undermine the economic progress India has made since 1991, many large projects which were earlier undertaken by government bodies are now awarded based on International tenders. Same is the case with this project.
It is a pity that most Americans think that outsourcing has initiated Indian economic progress, while the fact is that we started progressing after the country was left with 15 days of foriegn reserve in 1991 and the Prime Minister invited one of the best economists in the country Dr. Manmohan Singh to join the cabinet as the finance minister. The economic growth of 6.9% that we saw this year was a result of reforms introduced in 1991.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3725357.stm
Yes, outsourcing does boost the economy, it probaby does not drive it.
Ofcourse we are far from what we should be after 50 years of independence, but lately we have made enormous strides and things are begining to change. 15 years back Indians could not even dream of such a project and today they are talking about linking all rivers in India; a feat if achieved would be a significant engineering achievement. Whenever, there is a discussion on how India is making progress, there are be numerous who refuse to see the glass as half full and point to corruption and poverty that rots our society. While the statements are true they fail to see the winds of change sweeping India.
The change is symbolised by the following facts. By coincidence or by design, the Prime minister of India today, Dr. Manmohan Singh, an economist, is the artitect of the biggest economic reforms in the country. The President of India Dr. Abdul Kalam, a rocket scientist, is considered to be the father of Indian missile and space programs.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/countr y_profiles/1154019.stm#leaders
In contrast, the President of United States is a cowboy. (No offense, but I could not resist the comparison).
The term 'Arayan' means people who came from the Northern part of India, those who practiced the Vedic society (Sanatana Dharma) not blonde Europeans (who in Vedic scripture were refered to as Mlechas - barbarians).
Hitler, who also hijacked the Swastika (inverted/perverted from it's real direction) as the symbol of National Socialism, was a Vedic symbol of good luck, prosperity. Just as with the Swastika, he also hijacked the term 'Arayan'. Interestingly enough, Vedic culture for the most part were vegetarians, which Hitler also was.
He probably read a bit about India and Vedic Culture, and incorporated perverted misconceptions of these ideas he fancied into his whole sick, concocted philosophy.
The corruption and bureaucracy in India was legendary before the reforms of the early 1990s...just ask any adult Indian living in India today about the "permit raj" and you will know exactly what I am talking about. I once saw a picture of an Indian government permit office, you used to need a permit to do practicaly anything business related in India, where there were three lines stretching from three windows out to eternity with overworked clerks sorting through stacks of paper that reached from the floor to the ceiling in large bundles. In fact, it was so bad that practically every permit was procured by a bribe because it was impossible to work with the system and people had to work around it. Things have gotten better by all acounts since Mahmoud Singh turned things around. There is corruption here in the US to be sure, but compared to many other places in the world we have a remarkably well run and honest government bureaucracy. So the long answer to your question is that it can stop India if they let it get out of control again.
Chapter 4: India's Permit Raj 3:04
Something that the article missed was that 2 years ago, an IIT engineer was gunned down in the state of Bihar because he blew the whistle on some of his seniors who were awarding contracts for the highway construction illegally. The most shocking part was that his letter to the ministry, which was marked highly confidential, was subject to the usual beaurocratic chain in the ministry, which led to the blowing of his cover and his death. The culprits have still not been brought to the book. However, this started a movement which is driving the creation of a whistleblower protection act in the Indian parliament.
More information about Satyendra Dubey is at the website of the S.K.Dubey foundation against corruption.
-A
"- What's so unpleasant about being drunk?"
"- You ask a glass of water."[from h2g2]