India

Quote of the Day

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Currently reading Ramachandra Guha, India After Gandhi, which is excellent, and which I highly recommend. I saw a review of it, by A.G. Noorani, which had this to say:

British rule in India was doomed when the rulers introduced their
language in India. You cannot talk a people into slavery in the
English language. “An Englishman is the unfittest person on earth to
argue another Englishman into slavery,” Burke reminded the House of
Commons on March 22, 1775. The effect is the same if “the natives” are
taught English. It brings in its train British history – the Magna
Carta, the Bill of Rights, Parliament versus the Crown, habeas corpus
and the rest, as also concepts like the rule of law. Those who framed
our Constitution were familiar with all this.

This come through very clearly in Guha’s book. The founders of modern India wanted to do at least two things: (1) Get the British out of their country, and (2) preserve what they had learned from the British, including things the British had denied them, like democratic elections.

Forward the Indo-Anglosphere!

“The Victorians Were Supermen”

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That was Lex’s reaction to this photo:


Chapper Rift Baluchistan

Fred Bremner, Quetta/Karachi

 
Click the photo to see it at larger size with historical information.
 
More photos and information here.
 
UPDATE: Much more info about the bridge and railway line here (courtesy of Lex). Also, see the comments for some juicy book references.
 
UPDATE 2: Via Tim Worstall comes this fascinating story about railway construction across the Andes. (Check out the rest of the railway history site too.)
 

Das — India Unbound: From Independence to the Global Information Age

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Das, Gurcharan, India Unbound: The Social and Economic Revolution from Independence to the Global Information Age, Penguin, New Delhi, 2002. ppbk edition.

[cross-posted on Albion’s Seedlings]

Recently, a friend with Gujarati origins returned from visiting his relatives in northwest India and brought me several books on the Indian economic renaissance. This particular book is part biography, part business tutorial, while effectively illustrating the dramatic challenges faced by India over the last century. Gurcharan Das is a former CEO of Proctor & Gamble India, sometime columnist for the Times of India and frequent commentator on Indian economic affairs. Educated in India and the US, and spending his formative business years in many countries, he’s the perfect intermediary for the general reader. After taking early retirement, he switched his focus to business consulting. That varied background has made a big difference to the quality of India Unbound. His experience bridges the generations, bridges East and West, and reflects experience with many facets of the Indian economy. It is a well-written book, a bit dated by the very rapid change in both India and the global economy (his Foreign Affairs article is a wonderful update), but all-in-all this book is an excellent introduction to India’s past, present, and potential future.

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India Compared to China, Again

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Or should I say “as usual”.

This paper, China, India and the World Economy, by T.N. Srinivasan, is worth reading, or at least skimming.

I like it because the conclusion basically says things I have long thought to be true. �China lacks some of the key institutional foundations of a market economy�, and notes that India has already created some very important institutions that China lacks, e.g. an independent judiciary, an accountable government, etc. India, due to its democracy, is slower to make changes, and it has to make compromises along the way. However, the legitimacy of these decisions is established by the process, where in China the public has to take what it gets from the leadership. This can create a false sense of stability, with major outbreaks of disorder instead of the usual friction and log-rolling of a more representative system.

Note that none of the foregoing is wishing China not to succeed. A successful China is a key to world prosperity and peace. However, the prospect of serious problems for China seems to me to get too little attention. And, the possibility of a successful and prosperous India is a prospect that seems to get too little attention.

I quote the key, concluding paragraphs from the conclusion of the article below the fold, and I highlighted the one I think is most important.

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Brazilian Elections — and a Query about Brazilian and Indian Politics

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Michael Barone has a interesting post about the Brazilian election.

He notes state-by-state voting differences. Mr. Barone is of course renowned for his extraordinary knowledge of regional and local voting patterns, and their underlying ethno-cultural-religious-economic causative factors, primarily in the USA but also in Europe.

However as to Brazil, even the mighty Mr. Barone notes: “I’m not aware of the regional differences or issues that account for these very different results.”

Brazil is a large and increasingly important country about which many of us know nothing beyond “The Girl From Ipanema”. This situation really must be rectified.

Which writer knows all about Brazil? Who among our readers can give us a “five best books” list? Who is the David Hackett Fischer of Brazil? Is there a “Lusitania’s Seedlings”? If so, is it translated into English? Is there an Almanac of Brazilian Politics?

And in a similar vein, India is the world’s largest democracy. It is organized along federal lines, with state and national governments. Some of India’s states are bigger in size and population that European countries. It is going to be an increasingly major player in the world. And yet, and yet … I know too little about it. So, again, what are the best sources to make sense of Indian politics? A short book list? Websites? Especially on regional distinctions and the fundamentals of Indian politics.

We are going to need to pay more and more attention to these enormous and increasingly important democratic countries in the future.

Time to get educated.

Suggestions, please.

(And please circulate this query to anyone who may have an answer it.)

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