Where is India headed ?

China has now surpassed Japan as the No.2 economy in the world - India, whose economy was 80% of China's in 1990, is now a mere 25% of China's. See this link for a report in today's TOI.

There are many that believe that India is doing great & simply do not wish to entertain any comparisons in the blind belief that "we are not just okay, but doing great". However, stats speak for themselves. China has lifted nearly 400 million people out of poverty in the last two decades. In comparison, India's record is pathetic & even figures have been shrouded in all sorts of controversies - it is noteworthy that an earlier UN report suggested that nearly 650 million people in India are below BPL, which means that progress has been extremely poor & perhaps just only a 100 million have benefited with the skewed liberalization process that has brought nothing to the poorer states such as the BIMARU states (Bihar, Madhya pradesh, Rajastha & UP).

Indian officials insist that BPL means below 1.00$ per day per head as a standard instead of the UN suggested level of 1.25$ per day per head income. This is only fooling ourselves. Even the media remains blind to the pathetic pace of poverty alleviation since the middle & upper classes are the ones benefitting & follow their reports, leading them to believe that we are progressing fast indeed.

Cases of rampant corruption & neglect of channelising the benefits from liberalization towards the poor are all too common. When efforts are made to address the lacuna (such as the UID effort), there is opposition from the middle classes citing the huge "unnecessary" expenditure that will also supposedly strip them of their "privacy" rights.

In short, the country is set to remain a basket case for a long time to come !