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The India Model

Summary --

After being shackled by the government for decades, India's economy has become one of the world's strongest. The country's unique development model -- relying on domestic consumption and high-tech services -- has brought a quarter century of record growth despite an incompetent and heavy-handed state. But for that growth to continue, the state must start modernizing along with Indian society.

Comments

Appreciation of Nehru

Submitted by hiranmay p. (Jun. 11, 2009) on July 31, 2009 - 2:24pm.

I am as an ardent believer in the free market as the esteemed writer is, but the writer judges Nehru's policies with the benefit of hindsight.

In Nehru's day socialism was not a proven failure to national progress as it is today. Also, irrespective of the economic havoc that socialism caused and continues to cause in India, it nevertheless contributed to weaving India into a single nation.

One must appreciate that independent administration and their own free nation was a new concept to the leaders of yore and naturally they were protectionist since they had languished in jails for that freedom.

One should also recognize that the basic criteria of a nation is demographic or linguistic homogeneity. India is a unique experiment to the converse and its self-adjusting democratic system may have been too brittle to start of with a purely capitalist agenda which tends to create disparities.

Better a slowly progressing united India than a broken one. Thankfully the dire choices of past are behind us and we look forward to a better future.

An extremely well written article by the way!

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