Sooner or later we need to compare our Laos to the rest of the Indochina, so we can strive hard to be better than them.
Can India ever catch up with China?
Peter Foster
Thursday, August 7, 2008, 03:47 AM GMT
After reporting from India it has been a revelation to finally arrive in China, having peered metaphorically over the Himalaya at the big daddy of emerging Asian economies these last four years.
I hope I can say this without offending the residents of the city where my three children were born and I had so much fun and friendship, but Beijing is a city on an entirely different level to New Delhi.
From the gleaming new airport terminal to the wide-open three-lane highways which sweep through a city of fantastical glass sky-scrapers and clean streets filled with modern shops and authentic restaurants of all kinds the contrast for someone arriving from New Delhi is actually pretty humbling.
It is perhaps unfair to compare Delhi directly with Beijing, since China's economic liberalisation began more than 20 years before India's, but it certainly puts into perspective how far India has to go.
A more legitimate question might be to ask how Delhi twenty years hence will compare to the Beijing of today, and it's at that point that the widespread belief among Indians that it is destined for ‘superpower' status start to look questionable at best.
How can India, with all its messy democratic politics, compete with China when it comes to regenerating its dirty and decrepit cities, of which New Delhi is a perfect example?
Indians frequently cite their democratic traditions as the ultimate reason why they will overtake China in the long-run, but to look at the limited achievements of the one-time reformer Manmohan Singh these past four years might lead you to the opposite conclusion.
I find it increasingly difficult to see how will India get the job done. In a democratic country, particularly one where the poor create the vote-banks of power, even getting started on the job of urban regeneration is difficult, just ask the town planners in Mumbai.
Whether it's building power stations - look at Mumbai's travails this summer, with some industries only having power four days a week - or roads, the main road connecting Delhi with its airport looks like it was made by a child compared to Beijing's superhighways, India comes up way short of China time and again.
I'm not glossing over China's often brutal attitudes to its citizens' rights when it comes to urban regeneration - particularly for these Olympics - but they are getting the job done, which in the end will materially improve lives.
The shocking figures from Unicef over child-mortality in India are yet another reminder of the extent to which a corrupt and inefficient bureaucracy is failing to invest in the people who, in the long term, must be made healthy and productive if India really wants to compete with China.
India had 2.1m child deaths in 2006 - more than any other country on earth and more than five times the number in China. Literacy statistics will tell you a similar story, as will those on nutrition and disease.
The scary thing for Indians is that, from my experience, their leaders and politicians have no real concept of how far behind China they are, content to believe all that guff about being a rising superpower, when in reality China is to India as a Ferrari is to a bullock cart.
I wish I could be more optimistic, but the upcoming election in India, with all its petty regionalism and messy deal-making hardly inspires anyone to believe that India is going to get the kind of focussed, galvanising government it so desperately needs.
Indian people are very good in English, though their english accent is very funny, but it is undersandable. Indian have faced their brain drain due to their smart people always imigrant to the U.S. Comparing with Chinese, the chinese people work harder and they like to save their money. For indian, they don't
Indian people are very good in English, though their english accent is very funny, but it is undersandable. Indian have faced their brain drain due to their smart people always imigrant to the U.S. Comparing with Chinese, the chinese people work harder and they like to save their money. For indian, they don't
Below are the Indians' own words. I copied and pasted them here for you.
Indian people see Beijing Olympics... 1 messages - 1 authors - last updated 08/08/08 02:00 PM 08/08/08 02:00 PM
India says: "The Forbidden Kingdom " has proved that it has finally arrived on the world stage and is a power to reckon with. It is now time for us Indians to introspect and judge for ourselves that where we stand in this global village. We Indians have the potential, but the problem is that most of us don't know how to be led..forget about leading. 8 Aug 2008, 2339 hrs IST Kuala Lumpur says: I saw the opening ceremony and its spectacular and stunning, it really depicted china's growth and economy. It was a tremendous display of national pride.Go China!!! Indians should really learn about how be proud of their country and how to project the country at the international platform. Although I really enjoyed the ceremony I was bit embarrassed to watched the show with my Chinese friends as India being almost equally populous as China had a relatively much smaller contingent :( 8 Aug 2008, 2303 hrs IST India says: Having seen the beginning of the Olympic ceremony in Beijing, I feel sad that India is far behind in sports and basic infrastructure. India couldn’t even qualify for the hockey. Even when it had been a champion for 32 years before Pakistan defeated us. Hope the government and people learn something from china and its people who feel so proud of themselves. We should stop the in fight between us look at the wider side of how we can be internally strong both financially, economically. There is so much electricity shortage in India how can we even dream of having a well lighted Mumbai as being or shanghais which looks like a far reality for us. Sometimes I feel communism is not good for the people and its democratic rights but after looking at china's example its development and growth it has made in a short spell of time it is the envy of every nation in the world. Sometimes India democratic attitude is its biggest problem towards development. 8 Aug 2008, 2259 hrs IST Delhi, says: I want to know, what is the Indian Olympic Committee's hand in getting Sonia Gandhi invited to Olympics and not India's official President or Prime Minister. This is an insult to India when World leaders from around the world were present to showcase their country's strength. India seriously does not stand anywhere in the world arena. Forget about hosting an International event, India can't represent itself properly in world events. 8 Aug 2008, 2250 hrs IST Houston TX,says: Where is India in all this...a neighboring country with almost an equal number of people and finds it hard to win a single medal..let alone host the Olympics in decade's time? 8 Aug 2008, 1926 hrs IST Bangalore,says: A country which was considered behind India, is now hosting the Olympics.... When will our turn come.... is India not capable of hosting an Olympics.... why.... we are still immersed in so many of our problem.... terrorists, people clashes, basic infrastructure, education.... list goes on.... when we see India from say, a foreign country, we just cannot digest the fact that people are fighting within each other because somebody came from Bihar, someone is from a different religion, caste.... so much veiled mistrust.... makes me feel sad about our country..
so what about the politic and econmic of our country compare to others in ASEAN? de we proud of our self?
Laos PDR should not be proud because Laos PDR can't even afford to send 4 athletes or buy them excersise outfit. Laos PDR had to rely on donation. Very pitiful. Very embarassing.
The day that Laos PDR can provide their athletes transportation is the day Laos PDR should start thinking or being proud.
It is a very very very very very long road to that.
Sooner or later we need to compare our Laos to the rest of the Indochina, so we can strive hard to be better than them.
Below are the Indians' own words. I copied and pasted them here for you.
