Indian PM to India: Stop slacking
Apparently 'chalta hai' is a bad thing, this being 'laidback' in Hindustani (?), and PM Singh has berated Indians for being too susceptible to it. Given the 9% growth the Indian economy managed this year, it seems a little harsh to accuse them of it. However, the devil (or shall we call it Kali?) is in the detail, as Singh notes "the unfavourable environment in the country continued to discourage industrialists from exploring possibilities on home turf". As has been noted before,
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The red tape in India, so beloved of the ICS, has been slashed with great and intelligent savagery.
There are, however - and sit still for this figure - 26 million court cases pending.
OTOH, India now applies for more technology patents than any other country in the world excepting the US and Germany. That is a grand achievememnt. They have also loosened up the laws about media ownership and allow foreign media to buy - I think it's - 40 per cent of Indian magazines, TV stations and movie companies. The WSJ is a big player in India now.
God, I love that country!
I have heard Indian economists wistfully saying (with a nod to China) - if only we were a bit more able to ... ahem ... get people to do what we think they should, we could have 11% growth too!
The figures I have read are level pegging, but even if China is slightly ahead, India will catch up in short order and it's nothing to do with work habits.
When China decided to become a major player, they took advice from Lee Kuan Yew (my hero!) and he advised them to do what he had done with such mind-boggling success in Singapore: concentrate on getting the infrastructure in first - build the huge industrial parks, build good access highways, build huge ports and airports equipped with state-of-the-art technology in strategic places, then invite the multinationals in. They did, and the multinationals bounded in like eager puppies and investment poured in.
India was much slower off the mark putting in state-of-the-art infrastructure - a lot of their infrastructure was left over from British days and no longer adequate for today's world, and concentrated on output. But LKY was right and by following his prescription, China did get a small head start, but India is now going ahead with its infrastructure with all guns blazing, so if they're not level pegging now, they will be in a year or two.
It's all so fascinating.
Infrastructure indeed. The problem, as I have been told, is that in India, when a new road is proposed, the politicians in every single village along the way need to be cajoled (shall we say) into giving their planning consent etc etc.
In China they arrive one morning with bulldozers and the the village politicians just move aside, along with everyone else...
End of message, Happy Xmas!
Yes, the Chinese are the world's pragmatists. And the Indians the world's individualists. They're certainly the most argumentative people I have ever encountered in my life, and although that makes them barristers of choice, it also means that getting government concensus for anything is needlessly fuzzed up with discussions and, as you note, payola.
They'll just have to compulsarily purchase land for what they need. Both races are highly intelligent and I think we are in for quite a ride as they become world powers. In 20 years, there will be a triumvirate: the US, China and India and they will keep the world sorted out between them.
I would suggest that we secure a place on the winning team ASAP and apply to become the 52nd state. (I believe Costa Rica is ahead of us and has been waiting for years, in fact.) On the other hand, I can't help feeling it would be more exciting, and there would be a glow of poetic justice about it, to apply to become the 29th state of India.
read Moneyweek this week and there's some bleak reading for brown.just wait till they start shorting sterling like they've done the dollar
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