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Originally Posted by rev_hard  Ever since landing in the USofA, i have been asked umpteen times why I left India. I get lines such as - " India is booming", "India is the next superpower", "India is cultural potpourri" and all and sundry blah blahs.
At a recent meeting, when I was again bombarded with such q's from a CEO of engineering firm, I said - "India is cheap labor for US. US can't afford to bad mouth India and Indians anymore. You think life is or will be good there? Please take a week long trip to the Nation's capital and all these rose-syrup lined thoughts will be flushed down the drain! A city where a 12 km commute takes 1.5 hours is nothing but organized chaos. You don't count the days in an year when you didn't have electricity. You actually count the days you do!! "
The CEO ignored me throughout the evening thereon  |
Now coming to economics, Well yes GDP and PPP are misleading figures. In absolute sense they might not give away much, but that does not mean that they have no relevance. GDP gives you an idea for net consumption, production, Investments and Exports - Imports. So if GDP is increasing then at least one of the factor has to increase. Yes we are cheap labour so what cost of living too is on the lower side. Is it not a good thing? Yes we have good PPP because a hair cut here costs not even a dollar, but is it a bad thing ??. The only problem is that the contribution is not uniform, 20 percent population contributing to 80 percent of the GDP. This shows that we still have a lot of reserves man power and actual potential is yet to come
. I know these numbers are released in order to get political mileage or maybe present a better picture to the ignorant, but don't be so sure about the data giving the darker side too. They too are manipulated in order to satisfy political pressures in the west.
I might be a bit too optimistic but I think third in GDP is at least a good sign if not a battle already won. What I have seen time and again is that as soon as something good is publicized we are ready to counter it with some sad or bleak stats as if to prove that we are wrong to believe that India is doing good.
I believe that most of you have been around for a lot more time than I have been, don't you believe that our lives have actually become better ??. I think we should have a poll on this too
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I know this is an auto forum so our parameters of progress are how much time it takes to commute a KM during rush hours, coming to this how many of you use pool cars ??. My uncle in US owns a couple of Mercs and BMW but still uses a pool car. Nyways the point is, yes we need to criticize what is wrong but a deserved applause should not be ignored either.