India as a Third World Country

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Although only recognized as an independent country since August 1947, India has been widely known throughout history. Starting as early as the 27th century BCE with the birth of one of the world’s first highly sophisticated civilization, namely the Indus Valley Civilization, India has been recognized for its rich historical and cultural heritage. While it was only a lot later in its history, specifically during the rule of king Ashoka in the 5th century that the country started to unify; it was during the during the two hundred years of British colonization when this big mass of area in South Asia accepted a unified national flag and became the country that it is today. A country that is home to over 1.2 billion people. A country where its long history has left different layers of deposit that have neither totally merged nor ceased to influence the Indian people. India is one of the world’s most complex societies in which “centuries coexist”, however, this greatness in diversity and culture also seems to hinder development in this country. India has thus been labeled a “third world”, but before we go any further let us try and find out what that means. What is a third world country and how does a country like India fit the image? By 1921, about 84 percent of the world had been colonized since the sixteen century with approximately 168 colonies. During past two centuries the world has seen an increasing number of new nations being born due to the process of decolonization. As the numbers were increasing, especially after 1945, political theorists sought to find a term to categorize these new nations that were considered qualitatively different from older countries of Europe and Northern America and thus termed them as “Third World...

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...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.

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