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The Importance of India

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Re: The Importance of India

#91

Post by teatree »

praveen9920 wrote: post #69
knolax wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the "knowledge driven economy" is bullshit imo. They're busywork that allows societies that already have a lot of wealth to distribute it to their middle and upper class. People like HFTs don't create nearly the same amount value as their income justifies.

It's interesting to note that India's 7% gdp is from software and tech related exports. Knowledge driven economy is not a myth in the case is india

Correct, but have you thought about what that 7% serves ? Most of it goes to manage real businesses in US and other countries Chase, Walmart, Maersk etc.

Re: The Importance of India

#93

Post by setum »

vijaybritto wrote: post #26
ezVoodoo wrote: post #15

But India is still a Semi Slavery society. The untouchables, anyone? The Hindu caste/social grouping system tells millions of people that they are contaminated and their fate is doomed upon birth. This is the most powerful racist/slavery/brain-washing machine that the human being has ever made, no? It is so hard to believe such brutal system still exist in human society. Yet, the country enforcing this claims to be t…

This. This is so true. India can never be a superpower until we are born inequal at birth! There will be growth only in a society which has some sort of equality. Anyone can look at the amount of upper castes in positions of power, land ownership share and executive positions in the country. You have to compare it with the population distribution among castes and you'll see the inequality immediately. The main proble…

What is the distribution of land ownership based in caste, any citation?

> The main problem here is that it's not even in the mainstream public discourse cause the narrative is always set by the upper castes.

mainstream public discourse is set by whoever can set it, it is free for all. In my understanding it is generally the left leaning literate class, talking for suppressed classes. True, most of them have descended from upper-caste, but have since devowed their caste and have become caste-agnostic.

> This won't stop unless caste is uprooted from the society.

Caste is largely getting uprooted from society, I don't see this bringing social equality. In truth, now there is a upper-caste among lower-case -- the early beneficiaries of the reservation with whom others in the lower caste can't compete.

Re: The Importance of India

#94

Post by ripvanwinkle »

Speaking as an Indian

There is a presumption in that article that population numbers are all that matters.

There's a lot more that needs to be analyzed - for example the natural resources available and the productivity and availability of education and healthcare for the population.

To be clear, I believe there is plenty of opportunity as well as risk for India. The article seems to gloss over the risks

For example India's biggest threat might actually be its depleting ground water

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/why-india-does-not-hav...

https://gpm.nasa.gov/education/videos/indias-disappearing-wa...

Re: The Importance of India

#95

Post by aparsons »

vijaybritto wrote: post #88
virattara wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You yourself are the perfect example of an Indian that has refused to accept such traditions and have criticized it openly. This was the improvement I was talking about. There cannot be an overnight change but I believe the change is happening.

Oh Sorry no. Im fortunate enough to be born in Tamil Nadu, South India where caste system was fiercely fought against starting from the 50s. It has helped our society to grow more or less equally. Not just upper castes. Millions of Indians have criticised this in the past and continue to do so. To deny casteism in India is like denying racism in the USA. The systems/power structure has not changed. The same old rotte…

I lived in India in the 80s. Hindu fundamentalists drove home ideas of caste-ism to exploit the populace. The southern states luckily called out “Brahmanism” and their populace didn’t suffer quite as much. Under Modi, it’s like history repeating itself.

Re: The Importance of India

#96

Post by jeffreyrogers »

sbmthakur wrote: post #82
jeffreyrogers wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, any comparison to China needs to acknowledge that China is largely ethnically homogenous and has an authoritarian government that has relatively consistent goals top-to-bottom. India is nothing like that and I don't see it becoming like that anytime soon.

They are not exactly homegenous when you consider Tibet and other regions which have been coerced into the union.

Right, and those are the areas that have the most problems, but they are a small part of China as a whole. India is made up of a bunch of such places.

Re: The Importance of India

#97

Post by sbmthakur »

vijaybritto wrote: post #63
virattara wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

India is striding away from these practices. The ground reality is quite different today, unfortunately, the outside world has this impression from historic books or articles about India which are largely outdated now. There is very little information on the internet regarding the improvements and the shift of the young generation here in India away from such practices.

One needs to be completely blind to make this heartless claim. Are you being sarcastic or something? https://scroll.in/topic/5593/caste-crimes The above list is a sparsely updated list of caste crimes in India. What do you mean casteism is outdated? A dalit and a brahmin are equal in this society? If so kindly show us a place where its the case! This is the PRESIDENT of the country being shoved upon entering a temple…

The PRESIDENT is a dalit man. It would have been impossible for him to become the president two/three decades ago. This shows that we have indeed improved in certain aspects. It's true that a lot of work still remains.

That temple incident is certainly bad and many social evils still persist in the society. The only way to quickly get rid of them is to have a China style 'cultural revolution', which involves destroying temples and other religious sites. But I guess it's not something which will go well with any Indian.

Re: The Importance of India

#98

Post by jeffreyrogers »

naravara wrote: post #57
jeffreyrogers wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I'm aware of that, however, most Chinese still consider themselves Han Chinese. So even if it is somewhat of a fiction, most people within China consider it true, which is what is relevant for the purposes of having a national identity.

My point is, they consider it true because of the country's political cohesion. If the country wasn't politically cohesive, the ethnic identity wouldn't be either. The unified identity is explained by the political homogeneity as much as it explains it.

I think the causality works both ways. If you have an ethnic identity, it's easier to assimilate new arrivals, especially when you are numerically superior. This has been the history of China for a long time.

Re: The Importance of India

#99

Post by dqpb »

csours wrote: post #76

If someone recognized that they had some level of prejudice against persons from India, what would you advise they do. To be clear, I have friends of Indian descent, and I value them, but I also work with people from India and I'm afraid I find them more annoying than not.

I think it depends on what annoys you. I find myself annoyed by any kind of cultural tick. Phrases, mannerisms, cliches, tropes, all bother me to the extent that they are common and pervasive (in any culture).

But by far I see this the worste in youths. Highschoolers and undergrads are so painfully unoriginal. But, that's life. Better to focus your attention on people who you find unique and impressive than to worry about people who are still finding themselves.

Re: The Importance of India

#100

Post by setum »

joekunin wrote: post #45
vijaybritto wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. This is so true. India can never be a superpower until we are born inequal at birth! There will be growth only in a society which has some sort of equality. Anyone can look at the amount of upper castes in positions of power, land ownership share and executive positions in the country. You have to compare it with the population distribution among castes and you'll see the inequality immediately. The main proble…

I wonder if this was also part of the reason Buddhism didn't become the predominant belief system in India.

Buddhism was prominent in India till Muslim invaders came and conquered India. Buddhist Monastery were sitting ducks for them, Buddhism was eliminated in the first wave of Islamic invaders.

Of-course there were struggles with others before that, such as Brahmins, but those were political struggles, not existential. Many times Buddhists gained the favor of Kings, other times Brahmins.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Buddhists

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