Cait Murphy has written a scathing article in Fortune deriding India's claims of self proclaimed superpower status. Murphy mentions the oft repeated statistics around poverty, illiteracy and unemployment to argue that India's ambitions of becoming a superpower are misguided. I don't argue with Murphy on that part. We need to take care of our problems. What I didn't like, and in fact actually found offensive, is the tone of the article. The "first world" has an incomprehensible viewpoint that every developing country must first solve its poverty problem before attempting to make progress in any other sphere. I just can not understand why it should be assumed that if India is progressing in some ways, it must be because we are ignoring or *gasp* unaware of our other problems. Each time India rejoices on the success of a local business going global, of making advancement in space technology, of shining in the software services sector, the so called (and self proclaimed) developed world tells us that "half of world's poor live in India". Well, I ask, so what? Yes we have many serious problems that need to solve. And general economic prosperity is one way to alleviate the situation. Are we expected to stop all work and wait until every single of our teeming billions is well fed and disease free? Is that how America progressed? Did it wait to abolish slavery before they made any technological progress? Did America get rid of apartheid before launching their space program? Are there no homeless in America today? Of course not!
Progress can not happen in linear fashion. We can't solve our poverty problem without strengthening our economy. We can't generate employment without developing our services sector. We can't make progress if we don't get a chance to feel good about ourselves.
I am sick and tired of this first world attitude and it is really disappointing to see such cliched drivel coming from Fortune.
Dear Mr Cait Murphy,
Thank you for your kind concern towards our nation. We are touched to know that you care so much!
Had you not corrected us, we would perhaps have continued with our âmisguided aspirationsâ. Your following quote, is definetly an eye opener:
âSorry: India is not a superpower, and in fact, that is probably the wrong ambition for it, anyway. Why? Let me answer in the form of some statistics.â
However, Since it looks like you are interested in statistics (especially statistics about India), we hope youâll find the following set of numbers (in red) intriguing as well:-
⢠47 percent of Indian children under the age of five are either malnourished or stunted.
53% of children aged 0-5 in India >> Total number of children aged 0-5 in the US
⢠The adult literacy rate is 61 percent (behind Rwanda and barely ahead of Sudan). Even this is probably overstated, as people are deemed literate who can do little more than sign their name.
61% of 700 million (Indiaâs Population aged 15-64) > 400 million
Total US Population aged 15-64
⢠About a fifth of the population is chronically hungry; about half of the world's hungry live in India.
4/5th of Indiaâs population is around 800 million. We have at least twice as many âwell-fedâ people as the US.
In a nut-shell, India is able to feed, educate and provide basic healthcare to almost twice as many people as the US by consuming less than 1/6th the resources (per capita energy consumption) and causing much less pollution (1/6th the annual carbon emissions of US).
If anything, we are a more efficient nation!
Those were the statistics for the Mainland India. In todayâs globalized world, though, the concept of a âDistributed Nationâ not confined to a specific land mass, would make more sense, right? Here are some more numbers regarding the Indian presence in the US:-
⢠Of the total population, 84% have at least a high school Diploma. 24 % have a Bachelors Degree or higher.
80.4% of Asians have a High School Diploma. 44.1% of them have a Bachelors Degree or higher.
86.6% of Asian Indians have at least a High School Diploma. 63.9% have a Bachelors Degree or higher.
⢠Of the general populace, 33.6% are in management professional, and related positions.
Among the Asian population, 44.6% are in those positions.
Among the Asian Indian population, 59.9 % are in those positions, more than any other Asian group.
⢠The median yearly earnings for male workers is $37,057
The median yearly earnings for Asian male workers is $40,650
The median yearly earnings for Asian Indian male workers is $51,904, more than any other Asian group
⢠Poverty rates for Asians and the total population were similar.
Asian Indians had a lower poverty rate than the total population (9.8% vs. 12.4%)
(Source: US Census Bureau Report)
Thanks,
Tushar Malhotra,
India
P.S.
I have a lot of respect for the U.S. It is a nation of great people and values. Thereâs a lot we can and should learn as a nation from the U.S. but not at the cost of National Pride.
Yes, we do have a long road to tread. We must stand up and fight when a stupid politician(s) declares 50% reservation in IITâs. However, thereâs no reason why we should not rejoice while taking our first ride aboard the Delhi Metro!
We ought to be open to criticism and advice from those who believe in us, want to partner with us in our success and want to walk with us. But to those who doubt the inevitable, well, we can at least wish you good luck!
This article may well reflect a personâs point of view (or that of avgroup of individuals) and may or may not be in good spirit (that is of course open to interpretation) but it actually gives me as much a reason to celebrate as the recent multi-billion dollar acquisitions by the Indian firms; for when you become worthy of criticism, you know the world has started taking notice!
References for various statistics:-
http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/indiaenv.html
http://www.wikipedia.org
http://www.nriol.com/welcome2america/indian-americans.asp
i switched over to Business Week a long time ago, much more interesting stuff without the stuffiness. A better article to read about the heating indian economy would be the Economist cover story from the last issue. It doesn't keep dwelling on the number of poor, and makes a decent case. It mostly argues for more reform, rather than showing hypocritical stuffiness
I completely agree with you.
That said I would like to see the self-congratulation toned down a bit.
very well said Mr. Bhatnagar.
To Mr. Murphy I just got one thing to say. Get your stats a bit more wider than India's poverty. There is a lot more in India than poverty.
May be our culture is what you will find more beautiful than the screwed up one in your own country.
We are a bit awry with some of the things around us but well all the things are not in place in the US even now. So why peek in to our holes when yours are open to public as well... Anyway it is your wish.
I would not have come this severe on the article had it just shown the problems on the net but rather this guy went on with a abusive kind of language to describe things!!! I can not take any shit about my nation! To me it was a peice of shit that needs to be drained down the toilet!!!
Regards,
Atul.
Jatin Verma "A better article to read about the heating indian economy would be the Economist cover story from the last issue."
The Economist was indeed more balanced in its coverage. For highly illuminating articles on the Indian economy, I recommend www.indianeconomy.org, a blog written by a bunch of Indian economists who know the western economies just as well. The only one posting layman stuff on this blog is my humble self.
Fortune's article goes to prove that statistics alone never tell the whole story. Comparative economic data can be valid only if the compared entities are similar in size and internal diversity. For example, in marketing when we compare several geographical markets, we may look at overall indices as a quick comparson but also require data breakdowns to understand the differentiating factors of the markets.
Therefore, the typical United Nations tables on infant mortality, poverty, education, etc., all arranged alphabetically by country, are not intended to give the complete picture. India can be more appropriately compared with China, which despite its 20-year lead over India in globalization, has immense poverty and health issues. Have you seen what a Chinese village looks like even today? No better than an Indian village.
Again, the western mindset, more accustomed to smaller nations or smaller populations, and practically no social and cultural barriers to wealth distribution, do not understand why wealth does not spread fast enough in these countries.
Having blamed one American magazine for its oversimplification, I must admit that the coverage of India Shining in the American press has been quite complimentary.
Sarat, Florida
Friends,
Cait is a woman. Please address her as "Ms. Cait Murphy."
Thank you,
The Defender of Cait Murphy
I tend to somewhat agree with Cait Murphy. Two points:
a) India tries to benchmark itself to China while it is nowhere close.
b) There is a difference between Good PR and going Overboard. All the papers flashing "India Poised" and TV channels showing "India Rising" is absolute gimmickry.
Setting expectations is most important in every sphere of life and that's what the Indian establishment should do.
For the TV channels and big businesses, all this euphoria works very well as it encourages consumer spending.
The Economist article is spot on as it challenges an economy run on euphoria instead being driven by fundamental economic indicators.
Can you honestly list the changes that the Indians have made themselves in the past 3-4 years for which they can be given credit for creating the economic boom of the last few years? Most of the economic boom is due to the inflow of foreign capital and the opportunities it created. Just a few years back, India had the same resources, same number of educated people. How come there was no economic boom then? Without the foeign capital input creating demand for services and resources, India would look like the country Cait Murphy talks about. Its shameful that India needs the initiative and vision of foreigners to make use of its potential. Most of the Indian professionals have flourished when they moved out of India. If you want to feel proud of India, do not close your eyes to the bad parts. They are also a part of India. You cannot say that it is good enough that only 10 per cent people in India live well enough as long as that ten per cent is more than the US population. The other ninety percent are Indian too and they also are part of the picture you are trying to paint about India.
Can you honestly list the changes that the Indians have made themselves in the past 3-4 years for which they can be given credit for creating the economic boom of the last few years? Most of the economic boom is due to the inflow of foreign capital and the opportunities it created. Just a few years back, India had the same resources, same number of educated people. How come there was no economic boom then? Without the foeign capital input creating demand for services and resources, India would look like the country Cait Murphy talks about. Its shameful that India needs the initiative and vision of foreigners to make use of its potential. Most of the Indian professionals have flourished when they moved out of India. If you want to feel proud of India, do not close your eyes to the bad parts. They are also a part of India. You cannot say that it is good enough that only 10 per cent people in India live well enough as long as that ten per cent is more than the US population. The other ninety percent are Indian too and they also are part of the picture you are trying to paint about India.
I am really thankful to see all the comments about one of the greatest and second fastest growing economical country.
I am proud of both the countries. And both the countries are right on their own stand points. We can not mix the economy with the cultures and beliefs. India's economy is in leading economies after China.
In the above post, Mr guest does have taught us a great lesson "Not to close eyes on the problems" while we are improving at the rate no other country ever has. Mr guest, you are so right that India is improving because of the foreign capital investment but you forgot to mention the other part. The other part is foreign companies seek higher profits that they can't get in their own countries. They don't want to pay higher rate of income to their own people while they can pay the lowest one to the POOR (according to Mr guest - Indians) Please don't think that I am criticizing you but it's just the answer to those unanswered questions. For example, most of the leading organizations in US have their customer services established down in India. And not to forget that CUSTOMER SERVICE is the main motto in US. An average rate to pay a customer care person is $10 an hour in US which is $320 a week and $1280 a month (*44 = Rs 56,320) + benefits. Compared to that they are paying let's see $10,000 a month on an average base + benefits to the workers in India. So as you can see, Mr Guest, US companies are really making great amount of profits. But we still thank you for brining jobs in our nation. Isn't that shameful to say SHAMEFUL Mr. Guest?
Second and most important thing is population in US. We all know that Asians have great minds and Indians have the greatest minds when we talk about IT. The IT field is booming like Nursing in US. Every year there are tons of IT students graduating. Still US companies prefer to bring IT people from INDIA... Amazing ain't it? Still Indians feel proud when they get a call to go to US. They don't know that US companies seek more profits as they don't want to pay more to their own graduates. Isn't that shameful Mr guest?
Third thing is yes we are no. 1 poor nation and thanks to US companies to bring jobs in but we still think that we have ability to bring those companies on top. Any job is important when we make it better by putting our complete efforts. US companies believe that INDIANS are one of the leading workers who work with all their strengths to bring their department or company's name up from a current position. And at the end they get blamed for their ASCENT!!! Still we thank you for letting INDIANS work in US based companies. 10 percent of Indian population is richer and those richer people have their meetings with world's leading people enormously. People come to India to get a picture in front of Taj Mahal (Including one of the greatest presidents of US Mr. Clinton and even Pakistan president Mr. Musharaf) and are astonished by the glory of one of the most beautiful seven wonders of the world and don't see the poor side or ugly looking side of India and blame the country for not taking care of poor. But we still thank you for coming to one of the greatest nations and we still welcome you with all our heart. One of the most important thing is Respect and values that Indians have to any country and their people and the top name is US. Mr guest, is it ethically, morally or technically right to say that because of foreign companies, Indian economy is booming?
***Corrections***:
In my above post, the statistics that I put about the salary. its Rs 10,000 instead of $10,000. Please mark that.
See, Mr Guest, we still are ready to accept our mistakes and try to redo it just like we are trying to help our poor.
Thank you.
Hi Gaurav,
I have not read your blog for a very long time and I came across this post while trying to get updated about whats happening with you.
Yea.. we should feel proud about ourselves since we have, against all odds, moved forward. But I would like to draw your attention to your post on December 19, 2004. You did sound a bit like Ms. Mruphy. Anyway have a good one and see you around.
Cheers,
Gaurav
Hi Gaurav,
I have not read your blog for a very long time and I came across this post while trying to get updated about whats happening with you.
Yea.. we should feel proud about ourselves since we have, against all odds, moved forward. But I would like to draw your attention to your post on December 19, 2004. You did sound a bit like Ms. Mruphy. Anyway have a good one and see you around.
Cheers,
Gaurav
gr8 website