Posted on: 07-01-04 13:20:57
We kind of joke about our future generations migrating back to south asia from Canada. It sounds funny now but looking at the global trends, the possibility seems very real.
Here is why I get this feeling.
Isin't it surprising that the biggest proponents of free trade, US and G8 nations are taking a second look at free trade treaties. When the Gurus of free trade in the US talk of reconsidering the benefits of WTO and NAFTA, it makes one situp and wonder. What are they thinking? They are the same people who 10 years ago were preaching free trade to the world. what happend now? Western policies of promoting free trade made most of the closed economic behemoths like China, India and Russia to open their doors to the world. This should only make these visionaries of free trade more happy. So why are they second guessing.
Well, when the doors opened there were surprises for the world, products and services which were exclusive to the west were no longer so. These newly opened countries offerred a haven for western corporate world. These coutries offerred manufaturing and services sector which could equally compete with the western counterparts. And most importantly, these countries offer the largest middle class consumer market concentrated in Asia. There is already a talk of Asia become the \"west\" of the 21st century.
There is another factor which the free trade gurus missed. The telecom revolution and high availability cheap professional workforce. Asian professionals can now directly challenge jobs in the west in every feild ranging IT, finance, Engineering to even Medical analysis. And hence we are seeing a jobless recovery in US economy.
I feel we are just seeing an infancy of this trend and it will only grow with time.The direction in which India and China are heading and taking the entire region along with them can only make the future look brighter there and gloomier here. Sad for new immigrants, but true.
For now, for a common person like me, many immediate conditions in Canada and US still favor migrating these countries.
But will that be the case 20-25 years from now.
Only time will tell.
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What can be imagined, can be achieved.
I agree Mishtar India.
I was looking at a report with some numbers for future projection where India, China, Russia and Brasil are going and was surprised to know that within just 40 years Per Capita Income of India will be 28K.
Not only that but the currency will also go up. So what will happen?
If you earned and saved 300,000 $ here and plan to go back to India thinking you have 1 crore Rupees - it will not be possible after 50 years.
Still 40 years are very far, but let us see what happens within next 10 years!
The way Indian PM is planning for SAFTA it seems that the economic stiuation in South Asia is going to improve largly. Just think - even with terrrorism and spedning lots of money after defence, if we are achieving 9 percent Growth, what will happen if we don't have Kashmir issue?
Let us pray for the PEACE and Prosperity will follow automatically.
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A Proud Indian Canadian
Numbers and Figures looks good today. But it takes toll, commitement, dedication, ... ... ... unity and above all Politicians to take India through.
Realising Potential and Problems is one ... and coming through is different story altogether.
Our all old-good-problems are still as it is. No improvements. To name few
Populations ...
Corruption ...
Pollution ... When you go back for short vacation, no mater how much you desire, but you can't eat/drink everything and everywhere.
Kashmir ...
Riots ...
Can India Pull together all these? I don't know, but it will definitely take SOME EFFORT from all INDIANS ... from top to bottom.
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Mumbai Maazi Ladki ...
HI GUYS,
RESPONDING TO IMMIGRATION BACK TO INDIA
READ THIS AND YOU WILL KNOW WHY PEOPLE ARE MIGRATING TO USA/CANADA
FURTHER ECONOMY BOOMING AND PEACE ! ARE OUR POLITICIANS SERIOUS ABOUT THIS? ELECTIONS ARE NEAR AND NOW EVERYONE HAVE GOOD FEEL TO GIVE RIGHT VOTE.
WE IN INDIA HAVE TO GO A LONG WAY . WE HAVE SO MUCH INTERNAL CONTRADICTIONS, ( REGIONALISM AND FANATICS ARE INCREASING DAY BY DAY) CORRUPTION AND VIOLENCE IS OUT IN OPEN. SCAMS LIKE TELGI CAN HAPPEN IN INDIA ONLY.
UNLESS WE CLEAN THE POLITICAL SYSTEM AND ESTABLISHMENT, ITS VERY DIFFICULT TO ARREST THIS TREND.
READ THIS ARTICLE
India shining? Which India?
Barun Roy | December 26, 2003 14:35 IST
Last Updated: December 26, 2003 14:58 IST
In earlier times, rulers used to build minars and monuments to celebrate their achievements. These days they take out ads, sometimes even before they have achieved anything, because they believe in the power of proclamation.
In this country of ours, once something is proclaimed, it's as good as done.
So how could the new government in Chhattisgarh be an exception?
Within days of being elected, even before it had time to digest the victory, it placed splashing ads, using taxpayers' money, to proclaim its wish: "Education for all, employment for all, happiness for all." Who could now say it's not a right-minded government? In the right Indian tradition, hasn't it done its duty?
But it's not Chhattisgarh I am worried about. That's in the future. I am more troubled by a new breed of ads that has suddenly been unleashed on us by none other than the Government of India, because they speak of the present.
"India Shining," these ads have begun to croon. "Times are exciting," they declare. "Villages are progressing. Eyes are twinkling. You've never had a better time to shine brighter."
Well, some India is certainly shining and some eyes are surely twinkling at the great opportunity to make extraordinary quantities of hay -- the India where bribery has become a way of life, where criminals have invaded politics, scams have become the rule, honesty has disappeared from public life, and people like Satyendra Dubey have to get killed for exposing corruption -- but these ads are about blood-and-sweat India and they can't be telling the truth.
The truth is, 433 million Indians, in a country of one billion people, still live in absolute poverty; some 400 million don't know how to read and write; 95 out of every 1,000 children born in this country die before the age of five; and more than a third of India's 200 million school-age children are not in school.
But let's not go into all that. Since much has been made of three specific developmental themes that are supposed to have influenced the results of the recent state elections -- bijli (electricity), sadak (roadways) and pani (water supply) -- let's look at our record in these three areas alone and check it out against China's, a country that's similar to ours in many ways.
Only then would one know what to make of those shining claims being so brashly peddled by the government's obviously very costly ad campaign.
Bijli: Half the Indian population still doesn't have electricity. Over 63 per cent of all rural households lack it. Even those who have it don't have it all the time.
Blackouts lasting 10 to 15 hours, or more, are common throughout the vast expanse of the Indian countryside, where most of our people live and struggle to survive. Against this, 97 per cent of all the 214.5 million households in China have electricity.
Sadak: Yes, India's road network is 3.2 million kilometres long, one of the world's largest. But over 95 per cent of this network is two-lane or narrower and much of it is in pathetic condition.
National highways constitute no more than 57,700 km, of which only 3,000 km are four-lane.
The rest of the network consists of urban roads, district roads and rural roads, which break up or disappear after every flood and monsoon.
About 40 per cent of India's 638,365 villages have no all-weather access to markets and social services.
India shining indeed!
Now look at China. Its current network is no more than 1.7 million km long, but 80 per cent of it consists of highways with a smooth, sealed surface.
And there are 20,000 km of four- to six-lane, access-controlled, super-fast expressways connecting major urban centres, on which even fully loaded trucks move at speeds of 80 to 100 km per hour.
In another two years, 99.5 per cent of China's towns and 93 per cent of its villages will have highway links.
Pani: India claims 89 per cent of its people have access to water.
What does it mean? Just one hand pump or standpipe for every 250 people and a water source within 1.6 km of a habitation.
But even under this punishing norm, do people get quality water all the year round?
Here's what the World Bank has to say: "Since the first Five-Year Plan (1952 to 57), $6.5 billion has been invested in India's rural water supply. However, many drinking water supply facilities are defunct due to poor maintenance and are not sustainable."
And here's what experts tell us: there's poison and all kinds of other pollutants in the water that large numbers of rural Indians drink and use, causing diseases, deformities and deaths.
In China, 90 per cent of the rural population have access to improved drinking water and 50 per cent of them get their water piped. That's the difference.
But then, some people must stay in darkness for some others to show their shine.
quite a moving article..yes the task is daunting.
It is the shortage of even basic nessecities of water and electricity even in large cities is making people migrate to the west . That is why we are moving out 
but this is now...will it be so 50 years later ?
50 years is a long time ...we dont know yet.
I know that we got our first phone in 86 after a 7 year wait in Delhi, today it gets installed next day. but water , electricity still remains a problem and not much is really being done on that front.
lets wait and watch...
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What can be imagined, can be achieved.
Infrastructure necessary for the people is one thing and the same for industry is another thing.
If we are managing to give electricity and water to industries it should not be a problem. Let people of rural area live without electricity couple of hours a day, it is not going to make much difference. Anyway we don't have refregerators in the rural areas to take care of!!
If we say we have lots of problems, even with those problems we are achieving 8 percent growth rate, than just think - if we don't have those problems where we will be?
Articles from areas like MP, Chattisgadh, Bihar etc are poping up in newspapers and it does not give correct picture of Changing India.
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A Proud Indian Canadian
Quote:
Orginally posted by Garvo Gujarati
If we are managing to give electricity and water to industries it should not be a problem. Let people of rural area live without electricity couple of hours a day, it is not going to make much difference.
Not going to make a difference???? Maybe not to you and me.
That, I find is a very short sighted attitude. If there is no infrastructure in the villages educated people like doctors etc will not want to live in the rural areas.That inturn encourages migration to the cities...putting a huge stress on the cities...and their infrastructure. If we follow that rule we will have huge probably highly developed cities taking away all the resources from shrinking/dying backward villages. Is this really what we want for India...a nice paved concrete jungle? Losing villages means loss of culture and the Indian Identity to an extent. Think about it.
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