[PEN-L:30364] Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Recessionless Sri Lanka

["Anthony D'Costa" <dcosta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

If you are a long time observer of the Indian economy in an
anthropological sense (which I am) the picture is rather mixed but I would
say overall there are material gains (unevenly no doubt across class,
caste, and region) and the poverty rate is declining, though this may not
be visible to the visitor outside of the big cities.

Let me provide some qualitative data.  My father lives in a small town
outside Kolkata (formerly Calcutta).  Over the decades I have seen the
town transformed in terms of vacant lots filled with new,
properous-looking houses (many very garishly painted).  There are several
internet booths (a town where the principal mode of transporation are
manual rickshaws (three-wheeled) and bicycles, increasingly (but still
controlled) encroachment by auto rickshaws.  There
are more wares in the stores and far too many in my view drug stores.  The
rickshaw union prevented the authorities in putting up a bridge over the
train tracks (there is an underpass which floods every year) for fear of
losing passengers.  The story is complicated.  Daily commuters (to
Kolkata, 40 km away) have to put up with this hassle year in and year
out, now for at least 30 years!  You still see poor people in the train
station.  They are migrants from the rural areas, probably from Bihar (a
classic failed state) a neighboring state.  Some of them will make it to
the city and join the informal sector.  The rural areas show signs of
improvement, at least in West Bengal (the marxist ruled state, now for
over two decades), though investments in industry remain low compared to
other states.  There are some districts (counties) that have similar
social development like Kerala's but the state is still reeling from the
long capital flight that began since the 1950s and excerbated with
execssive politicization by the left of the organized workforce, the
bureaucracy included.  They are becoming more pragmatic.  For other states
the story is better and worse.


Cheers, A

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Anthony P. D'Costa
Associate Professor				Ph: (253) 692-4462
Comparative International Development		Fax: (253) 692-5718		
University of Washington			Box Number: 358436
1900 Commerce Street				
Tacoma, WA 98402, USA
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On Wed, 18 Sep 2002, Doug Henwood wrote:

> Anthony D'Costa wrote:
>
> >the sic should be after "Hindu", a coinage by an economist, I forget the
> >name, suggesting pejoratively that there is something inherent in
> >(Hindu) India that retards growth.  The contemporary experience (staunchly
> >rightist Hindu ruling regime within the constraints of parliamentary
> >democracy) proves otherwise.  India's growth rate (despite this year's
> >delayed monsoon hence recessionary conditions) remains one of the
> >highest in the world.
>
> Is the growth a statistical artifact, or are there real material
> improvements in the lives of Indians? How many? Are the numbers
> showing declining poverty rates reliable?
>
> Doug
>
>