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A lot of pessimism about India. I grew up in the 1970s--we used have long lines for everything. Telephone line took 10 years. My mother tells me that there was shortage of baby food when I was an infant. So-called middle class people used to walk in blistering heat to save 20p
...on bus fare. Having a cycle was a step up. When TV first came to Calcutta, you could count the number of people who had TV in my locality in one hand. Democracy was briefly suspended. Cheer up guys.
The basic issue with India is that its top tier instituions--CEC, RBI, CAG, SC--are high quality and have been able to overcome the strong society weak state problem but not so at the local level. At local level, the state is coopted by elites leading to poor implementation of
...deep reforms in education, health care, sanitation, infrastructure, and general capabilities. Some are being addressed by bypassing the local state capabilities--just as cell phones bypassed land lines. Others will change with time--dheeraj rakhkho.
One thing I have learned as an Indian, as an NRI and from interacting with Indians with various walks of life, Indians are NOT going to discard Indianness in a headlong rush for development. The Indians who do so (South Bombay types, assorted RNIs and NRIs) are self selected.
When I joined IIT Madras--half the students there were planning for life in the US from day 1. Coming from Calcutta, I did not think that way. Out of my class of less than 250, close to 200 are/went to the US. I did not initally. There is a very big difference in attitude
...between people who choose to stay back. Many prize contentment over achievement. They are simply not driven by achievement--monetary or otherwise. India is full of such people. They are what makes India, India.
