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Angry young Indians: What a waste

economist.com

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Re: Angry young Indians: What a waste

#61
post #60
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2.) due to the lack of hygiene/lack of transportation/too many people/bad weather/trash everywhere/homeless everywhere/fecal matters on the streets/too many doctors prescribing antibiotics, resulting in super-resistant viruses, there will be a huge epidemic sooner or later that might wipe out millions of people, and nobody will be able to do anything about it because the crash in the economy. Haha. No. Lack of hygi…

He meant that over-prescription of antibiotics will lead to resistant viruses (probably meant bacteria) not that the conditions themselves will lead to such an outcome. Not saying I agree or disagree, just clearing that up.

India ‘Has Lost’ Superbug War

"India has lost the war against the toughest forms of antibiotic resistance, largely because of poor sanitation, unregulated use of antibiotics and an absence of drug resistance monitoring, according to the man who discovered a type of drug resistance in bacteria in New Delhi."

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013/04/23/india-has-lost...

Re: Angry young Indians: What a waste

#62
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a pessimist about India by any means, because it's amazing how much the people of this country have achieved through individual hard work in the face of so many poor institutions Well, the Indian people are ultimately responsible for the institutions of India. So why don't the institutions get fixed? Potholes, uncollected trash, rats - these are not particularly hard problems. Plenty of societies have figured…

Because these are not the problems, just the symptoms. The problem is a deep class divide between the haves and have-nots. Those who climb out of poverty never look back. Those who are already rich feed on people staying poor, uneducated and miserable. That's the vote bank easiest to manipulate. I am not from India, but neighbouring Pakistan. We just had our national elections and the only hope, Imran Khan's PTI lost…

[deleted]

Re: Angry young Indians: What a waste

#63
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a pessimist about India by any means, because it's amazing how much the people of this country have achieved through individual hard work in the face of so many poor institutions Well, the Indian people are ultimately responsible for the institutions of India. So why don't the institutions get fixed? Potholes, uncollected trash, rats - these are not particularly hard problems. Plenty of societies have figured…

Because these are not the problems, just the symptoms. The problem is a deep class divide between the haves and have-nots. Those who climb out of poverty never look back. Those who are already rich feed on people staying poor, uneducated and miserable. That's the vote bank easiest to manipulate. I am not from India, but neighbouring Pakistan. We just had our national elections and the only hope, Imran Khan's PTI lost…

The same guy people call Taliban Khan?

Re: Angry young Indians: What a waste

#64

As a US-raised Indian I'm not familiar with the macro details. But I've been living in India for the past few years working for a startup, so let me identify some low-hanging fruit. 1) Incredibly, shockingly poor hygiene. Dirty black rags being used repeatedly to dry plates at restaurants. Idlys being cooked on plastic sheets inside hot streamers. Infernoes of uncollected trash burning on streets. Rats and cockroache…

I am a huge pessimist about India. here's why. 1.) Everyone in the thread is ignoring a huge point raised by the author: this is the last biggest bubble we will ever witness in our lifetime (and possibly for many lifetimes) due to a.) unpeg of gold standard b.) shift from farm to factory work c.) shift from one income to two income household d.) machine/software advances and many other factors has produced the greate…

Most of the points above are hyperbolic and quite silly, to be frank. For example - "robots, automation and artificial intelligence resulting in jobs destruction" - I suppose just like the personal computer lead to "jobs destruction"?

Re: Angry young Indians: What a waste

#66
What I have learned is that Indians severely lack "social intelligence". I am not talking about the kind which makes you good with people. I am talking about, how much a person thinks that What is good for people surrounding you is also good for you. I think average indian's such intelligence is perhaps is in negative.

I have seen people throw trash on the streets without any regard for others. Same goes for every other resources and issues. Each indian lives in a bubble of their own home, which is perfectly clean but total disregard anything outside the walls.

There are some socially enlightened groups like Ugly Indians (https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Ugly-Indian/1234597910466...) doing great work, which I hope extend to the entire country.

Re: Angry young Indians: What a waste

#67

As a US-raised Indian I'm not familiar with the macro details. But I've been living in India for the past few years working for a startup, so let me identify some low-hanging fruit. 1) Incredibly, shockingly poor hygiene. Dirty black rags being used repeatedly to dry plates at restaurants. Idlys being cooked on plastic sheets inside hot streamers. Infernoes of uncollected trash burning on streets. Rats and cockroache…

I am a huge pessimist about India. here's why. 1.) Everyone in the thread is ignoring a huge point raised by the author: this is the last biggest bubble we will ever witness in our lifetime (and possibly for many lifetimes) due to a.) unpeg of gold standard b.) shift from farm to factory work c.) shift from one income to two income household d.) machine/software advances and many other factors has produced the greate…

>>Growth in IT outsourcing is no more. Foreign investments are down big. There are better countries for companies to invest in that have better infrastructure and speaks better english.

No and I thing you've got it wrong.

We are soon hitting a stage where we don't have to depend of foreign investments. Its happening, software is but just one aspect of foreign investments. There is real estate, retail sectors, education, manufacturing, automobile etc. That list can go endless.

Nearly every global company today understands if they don't come to India now, the local companies are going to eat their lunch big time and leaving all doors of making a entry later permanently shut.

Every time I see somebody good leave India I feel bad for them. They have no clue what they will miss over the next decades. With hardly any competition in a country where demands are rising so rapidly, almost anything you make people want will sell. Even if you make it badly.

Consider this with settling down in US, something like next half of your life will simply go in 'getting somewhere'. You will simply going there for your kids. And consider yourself lucky if they value your sacrifices and do something big out of it. Else there will be a situation where post 30 years your kids might want to come to India to settle there kids.

Re: Angry young Indians: What a waste

#68

India reminds me a lot of what Taiwan used to be. About 10-15 years ago, they were a big joke when he came to cycle manufacturing. The quality of the bikes they produced and the factories there were horrible sweatshops. Then, they started getting better. They updated their technology, they had better trained workers to run the new machines. Then bike manufacturers started to see what was going on, and started moving…

Your timeline of bicycle manufacturing in Taiwan is off by at least fifteen years. (In other words, it has already been a good thirty years that you have been able to count on good bicycle manufacturing there, after an era when one would think of Japan, but not Taiwan, when thinking about a place in Asia where good bicycles are made.)

What's the ownership and history of Giant, by the way?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Bicycles

Re: Angry young Indians: What a waste

#69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

taiwan also didn't also have the problem of 1.) large population 2.) squatters rights 3.) apathetic/spineless voters 4.) human fecal matters on the streets 5.) water shortage 6.) religious ferver 7.) entranched corruption 8.)....many more

Taiwan and SK also had strong dictatorships until relatively recently; we aren't really talking about democracy until the 80s. Now, dictatorships are bad , but as long as the dictators are somewhat responsible, they do convey some amount of stability and economic development on the country that might not be possible (at that time) with a more chaotic democratic system. I'm not pro dictator, and I'm sure there was a m…

Taiwan didn't clean up its pollution until it became a democracy. (I lived there for extended periods both before and after that transition.) Generalizing a bit more, dictatorship was not strictly necessary for Taiwan's progress, as we know from two lines of evidence:

1) Some countries in other parts of the world developed AS democracies, even earlier than Taiwan.

2) Taiwan has continued to develop and improve most aspects of its living standards since it became a democracy.

Dictatorships miss out on the valuable reality-checks on public policy provided by free and fair election campaigns.

Re: Angry young Indians: What a waste

#70

As a US-raised Indian I'm not familiar with the macro details. But I've been living in India for the past few years working for a startup, so let me identify some low-hanging fruit. 1) Incredibly, shockingly poor hygiene. Dirty black rags being used repeatedly to dry plates at restaurants. Idlys being cooked on plastic sheets inside hot streamers. Infernoes of uncollected trash burning on streets. Rats and cockroache…

I am a huge pessimist about India. here's why. 1.) Everyone in the thread is ignoring a huge point raised by the author: this is the last biggest bubble we will ever witness in our lifetime (and possibly for many lifetimes) due to a.) unpeg of gold standard b.) shift from farm to factory work c.) shift from one income to two income household d.) machine/software advances and many other factors has produced the greate…

You missed the biggest thing IMO -- there isn't much nationalism or national unity. I don't see Indians being particularly proud of India.

Some of the smartest people I know are from India and Pakistan. Most of the folks I know came from modest backgrounds, and none of them look back at all.

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