India is one of the few Third World countries that have managed to achieve substantial economic growth. A country that was once an example of underdevelopment is now seen as a potential future economic power. India has nowadays some of the biggest megalopolis is the world, has developed an enormous service sector and its cheap labor as well as their stable democratic record provide an incentive for foreign investment in the country. However, this economic growth is not correlated with the improvement in human conditions. More the half of the Indian population still lives on less than two dollars per day. It is fair to say that the Indian economic development has benefitted some people, however it is only a small part of the population who has …show more content…
The economic development of India has its roots in the policies and mindset taken by people like Jawaharlal Nehru and other founding fathers of the country. However, the most important change began in the 80’s under the governments of prime ministers like Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, who introduced pro-business reforms as well as they liberalized access for domestic firms to capital imports and relaxed industrial licensing. These reforms provided an incentive for both domestic and foreign firms to begin investing in the country in a way that due to the previous impediments of government licensing had been impossible before. Moreover, in the 90’s India dismantled its barriers to foreign trade and liberalized the inward foreign investment. With these reforms, came the growth of the telecommunications and the finance sector. The government also decentralized, which in turn meant that individual states had more autonomy in the way that they were ruled. The result of this was an unequal development amongst the states. We can see this in the differences in development when comparing Indian states like Kerala, with an HDI of 0.79, and Chhattisgarh, which shows an HDI of 0.36. These discrepancies in levels of development had led to an exodus of people, from less developed areas to the areas that have been benefitted by …show more content…
Corruption in the Indian government runs from the highest officials to the lowest sectors of government. At the end of 2010 120 out of the 520 members of parliament had been accused of committing crimes, and 40 of these being accused of serious crimes. Numbers like these help to exemplify the type of people who are currently running India. One of the main problems when it comes to politicians, as it is in most Third World Countries, is that people see politics not as a way of making the country better, but an easy way of getting rich. However, corruption in India happens even at the lowest levels of society. A study done in 2005 by Transparency International found that 62% of Indians had had to pay bribes or make use of connections in order to get state jobs or get other government provided commodities. The problem that arises from these practices is that Rentierism has been institutionalized in India and now government officials see the taxation of the public office as their right, instead of a corrupt practice. This has led to the civil society getting used to corruption and accepting it as part of their daily lives. However, India pays a high price due to corruption. It is estimated that corruption has a cost for India of over $50 Billion a year. If this money was
Though the world economy as a whole has grown in recent years, a factor that is not taken into account is that the number “of the poor in the world has increased by 100 million” (Roy 3). In other words, the gap between rich and poor is widening. For India, this has startling implications. Though it is a nation that is developing in many ways, it also is a nation blessed with over one billion citizens, a population tally that continues to grow at a rapid rate. This population increase will greatly tax resources, which can create a setback in the development process. The tragedy, of course, is that the world is full of resources and wealth. In fact, Roy quotes a statistic showing that corporations, and not even just countries, represent 51 of the 100 largest economies in the world (Roy 3). For a country struggling to develop, such information is disheartening. However, there is also a more nefarious consequence of the growing disparity between rich and poor, and power and money being concentrated in the hands of multinational corporations: war is propagated in the name of resource acquisition, and corruption can reign as multinationals seek confederates in developing countries that will help companies drive through their plans, resulting in not only environmental destruction but also the subversion of democracy (Roy 3).
Education could help them; first, start from the poor kid and then to become a wealthy man. It is not only make people become rich, but it also makes students get more knowledge, feel smarter, and know what they suppose to do for their life and social. However, this author did not talk much of the affect of the country’s public school and opportunity to attain school. For example, when he discuses Retawadi, he neglects the public schools, the lack of attention of the apparatus government, and the dangers of day-to-day of each individual. Although he said “a hundred rupees for couple hours of each week for math lesson.”
Recently, in India the more powerful people have been depriving the poor of their mere wealth. According to the author, " million living below the poverty line is that the public exchequer is being looted, and that the money earmarked for development is going into the pockets of the rich and the powerful."(2 Bunker). This portrays that the donated and tax money that has been put forth for the poor is going into the high authority pockets. This leads to a greater gap between the rich and poor. The ones that deserve more are being deprived and tormented of their rights. Only 17% of the development money is reaching the poor the rest is taken by the corrupt officials. This is also shown when the article states, "Thousands of schools, dispensaries, roads, small dams, community centres and residential quarters have been shown to be complete on paper, but in reality are incomplete, inhospitably unutilized and abandoned."(1 Bunker). It is evident that the government is showing these facilities have been provided to seem diligent on paper. However, the basic necessities which is a citizens right have been taken away from the poor. Many rights including the voting rights of the poor village people are snatched by the officials. The poor do not have the right to true information of where the money for the poor from the government is being spent. It is because false receipts and vouchers
Discrimination has affected many aspects of the poor’s lives, one of those aspects is education. “Severe caste disparities also
Woodburne, A. S. "Can India's Caste System Survive in Modern Life?” The Journal of Religion, Vol. 2, No. 5. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. pgs. 525-537. Web
NA. "Who Are Dalits? & What Is Untouchability?" — Portal. NCDHR, n.d. Web. 09 May 2014.
Norton, James H.K. India and South Asia. 9th ed. New York: Mc Graw Hill, 2010.
This is necessary as the vast majority of individuals migrating from rural to urban centers has been steadily increasing with the level of economic growth seen within the past twenty years as mentioned earlier. Unfortunately, this situation has further shown the structural issues and inequalities of cities, as most migrants end up having a poor quality of life living in informal settlements as highlight substantially by Boo. As a means of tackling this, however, the Indian government has turned its focus on investing rural regions, developing the agricultural sector. Specifically, Boo mentions that “the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, had come down from Delhi to express his concern for the farmers’ hardships, and the central government’s determination to relieve it” (p. 138). While this is definitely important funds are not being divided justly. For starters, between rural and urban areas almost all investments are being targeting towards rural regions, which is only addressing issues of inequality in one section of the country. Furthermore, across rural areas inequalities of investment are quite often overlooked. Although, “one of the governments hopes was to stop villagers from abandoning their farms and further inundating cities like Mumbai, but Asha’s relatives knew nothing of these celebrated relief programs” (p. 138). Therefore, even though
Owing to India’s diversity, these identities are determined by caste, ancestry, socioeconomic class, religion, sexual orientation and geographic location, and play an important role in determining the social position of an individual (Anne, Callahan & Kang, 2011). Within this diversity, certain identities are privileged over others, due to social hierarchies and inequalities, whose roots are more than a thousand years old. These inequalities have marginalized groups and communities which is evident from their meagre participation in politics, access to health and education services and
[6] Kripalani, Majeet & Egnardio, Pete. The Rise Of India. Business Week Online. December 8, 2003. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_49/b3861001_mz001.htm
Subramanian, Arvind. India’s Economy is stumbling? The New York Times. August 31, 2013: A19. Print.
...an HDI of 0.36. These discrepancies in levels of development have led to an exodus of people, from less developed areas to the areas that have been benefitted by development. This situation seems to depict that predicted by the Dependency theory in which the developed countries progressed due to the exploitation of peripheral nations; the same seems to be happening in India. The states that are wealthier are exploiting the poorer states. It would be difficult to imagine India having the economic status that it now has, if it was not for the terrible working conditions and wages at which the Indians are willing to work and the massive work force available in the country. Now that India has seen economic growth the government should start taking care of its citizens by implementing policies that protect the labor rights of the workforce.
Poverty: the state of being extremely poor. Corruption: dishonest conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery. This is how many define poverty and corruption; however, without familiarity, words are just words – different combinations of the same twenty-six letters. Without actually experiencing either in one’s life, those of fortune can never truly understand the implications, associations, and repercussions of each, which is made evident by studying those who are living in rundown, despairing slums, which “for the purpose of census, has been defined as a residential area where dwellings are unfit for human habitation by reasons of dilapidation, overcrowding … lack of ventilation, light or sanitation facility” (Johnson) of India. Due to the immense amount of corruption, there is little faith in the Indian government as of today; however, some programs have been implemented. Despite these attempted programs, many of them fall through on their promises due to the individuals who are supposed to be presiding over them. Therefore, it can be said that the corruption found in the intermediates between the governing body of India and those in need is what is keeping the slums of the country from prospering.
India is a nation that is on the move towards becoming one of the leaders in the global economy. While the country still has a long way to go, it is making significant strides towards competition with nations such as the United States and England. Indian leaders have been moving towards "a five-point agenda that includes improving the investment climate; developing a comprehensive WTO strategy; reforming agriculture, food processing, and small-scale industry; eliminating red tape; and instituting better corporate governance" (Cateora & Graham p. 56, 2007). These steps are geared to begin India's transformation from a third world nation into a global economic leader. The current marketing environment in India is in transition, with both similarities and differences in comparison to the marketing environment in the US.
The current manifestations of the caste system are now far more generalized across the Indian subcontinent than was the case in former times. Caste as we now recognize has been endangered, shaped and perpetuated by comparatively recent political and social developments. This is evident even i...