India cannot be blasé about change in any important capital in the world. Let's look at five key areas where US policy matters for India and how it may vary between Harris and Trump.
In Episode 1544 of CutTheClutter, Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta looks at some top economists pointing to the pitfalls of ‘currency nationalism’ with data from 1991 to 2004.
Troops patrolled up to Patrolling Point (PP) 10 on Monday. Though there are PP 10, 11, 12, 12A & 13 in Depsang Plains, it was decided that only one or two PPs would be patrolled.
While we talk much about our military, we don’t put our national wallet where our mouth is. Nobody is saying we should double our defence spending, but current declining trend must be reversed.
I am surprised someone of Dr Tharoor’s stature has failed in his article to recognise that Bangladesh today stands as a brutal autocracy where democracy, rule of law and the rights of the people have all been taken away under a regime that has held fraudlent elections almost for the past decade and is known to be one of the most corrupt. Not sure what influenced his out of context article on this occasion! Maybe he just had tea with Sheikh Hasina rather than the people of the country!
No doubts that those critiquing Bangladesh here are all Indians. It’s hard to grasp neighbour’s success with ease – a typical mentality in the Indian Subcontinent.
India concluded that Information Technology, the Automobile Industry etc were it’s mantras to superpower status, and forgot about industries including fabrics, clothing, leather and footwear. Bangladesh took the cue and stepped in where India’s exit by choice had left a large vacuum. With a vast population of impoverished semi-skilled and unskilled labor, Bangladesh was able to build clothing factories and train people to work in these industries over twenty or so years. As political stability came to Bangladesh, so did international orders – people will always need clothes to wear. In the meantime, industries that had fed millions of uneducated Indians and brought a living wage to them, migrated across India’s eastern border. The possibility of bringing at least some of this work is strong. Centuries of management and innovation in the clothing and fabric industries cannot disappear – it is time, perhaps, for Indian entrepreneurs to take the challenge up and re-enter an industry that India did brilliantly in before just giving up. There is a lot that is on India’s side. For example, Chinese companies have been moving spinning mills outside the country even before US tariffs struck because electricity in countries like Malaysia costs 25% less than anywhere in China. A lot of clothing is now tailored in Indonesia, Vietnam etc and of course in Bangladesh, because Chinese labor has become expensive in parallel with electricity and land costs. On every count, India can compete.
Speaking of literary interest, Shashi Tharoor might want to see the interest that Tamil people show in their Patti Manrams and in their debates and in the many writers and poets who define their culture, that Maharashtrians show in their traditional theater, that his fellow Malayalis show in their great writers like Thakazhi Sivasankaran Pillai and Vaikkom Mohammed Basheer, and much more. The great Rabindranath Tagore won a Nobel because he was equally gifted at writing in his native Bengali and English. By the time the Nobel Committee reached it’s decision, churches had begun to sing “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high…” as a hymn. That said, there are many great writers who are loved and celebrated in India and whose work will never be forgotten. A celebration of Tagore in Sylhet does not really make Dhaka and Kolkata magically more literary minded than the rest of a vast country like India. In trying to sound profound, Tharoor only exposes his own vacuosity and ignorance.
It is very unfortunate to read such a superficial analysis of Bangladesh from Mr. Tharoor. Under the current leadership in Bangladesh, the country has regressed in terms of human rights and the rule of raw. Freedom of expression is almost non-existent. Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of inequality in the world with no signs of improving. The Chief Justice was forced to resign because he did not toe the party line. The economy is in a poor state due to rising bad loans, declining exports and stagnant private investment. All the white elephant projects may impress foreigners who come for a week long vacation, but the people who are living here know the reality on the ground.
Whatever you have pointed out are true to some extent but the rapid growth of Bangladesh under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina can’t be denied. Where will you find absolute democracy? In India? In Pakistan? Even in the USA?
Mr. Tharoor is spot on in his observations. Dhaka can compete with any Indian city when it comes to literature and the arts save Calcutta. The pace at which it is progressing, it will surely surpass Kolkata too in the near future. Unless, of course, Didi initiates a course correction for Calcutta.
I wish bangladesh becomes the richest country in the world as long as they do not export their poor and illiterate to India. We do not want another kashmir on our border.
There are more illegal Indians in Bangladesh now. Just saw a leading newspaper yesterday.
I hope they also take their illegal fellows living here. I also they don’t fall for the dangerous trap of religious brainwashing from Middle East which our west neighbor fell for.
He is spot on. Bengalees on the other side are joining the lowest common denominator because of the onslaught of CBSE,ICSE etc. Legacy of Bengal Renaissance is becoming distant memory.
This person gets a lot of hype, no one will doubt. But, just visualize the backdrop/reference frame/and in comparison to what and who. He talks a lot but says very little. Typical unyielding bureaucracy style I guess.
Expecting people who studied Humanities History Literature Law or belong to these domains to be Scientific is stretching your realm of imagination, it’s a perfect recipe for disaster in your Expectation Mismatch.
=====
Now imagene the parameters based on which a country becomes a developed nation, and the relation of those parameters to science.
=====
Long live their argument – “you don’t need to be educated/learned to do good for the people”
Now compare what or who gets priority; and needless to mention, see the result.
=====
For ages, in countries like India & BD, people don’t thrive, they just survive
And Rabindranath is the best moral friend that they came across
I am surprised someone of Dr Tharoor’s stature has failed in his article to recognise that Bangladesh today stands as a brutal autocracy where democracy, rule of law and the rights of the people have all been taken away under a regime that has held fraudlent elections almost for the past decade and is known to be one of the most corrupt. Not sure what influenced his out of context article on this occasion! Maybe he just had tea with Sheikh Hasina rather than the people of the country!
No doubts that those critiquing Bangladesh here are all Indians. It’s hard to grasp neighbour’s success with ease – a typical mentality in the Indian Subcontinent.
India concluded that Information Technology, the Automobile Industry etc were it’s mantras to superpower status, and forgot about industries including fabrics, clothing, leather and footwear. Bangladesh took the cue and stepped in where India’s exit by choice had left a large vacuum. With a vast population of impoverished semi-skilled and unskilled labor, Bangladesh was able to build clothing factories and train people to work in these industries over twenty or so years. As political stability came to Bangladesh, so did international orders – people will always need clothes to wear. In the meantime, industries that had fed millions of uneducated Indians and brought a living wage to them, migrated across India’s eastern border. The possibility of bringing at least some of this work is strong. Centuries of management and innovation in the clothing and fabric industries cannot disappear – it is time, perhaps, for Indian entrepreneurs to take the challenge up and re-enter an industry that India did brilliantly in before just giving up. There is a lot that is on India’s side. For example, Chinese companies have been moving spinning mills outside the country even before US tariffs struck because electricity in countries like Malaysia costs 25% less than anywhere in China. A lot of clothing is now tailored in Indonesia, Vietnam etc and of course in Bangladesh, because Chinese labor has become expensive in parallel with electricity and land costs. On every count, India can compete.
Speaking of literary interest, Shashi Tharoor might want to see the interest that Tamil people show in their Patti Manrams and in their debates and in the many writers and poets who define their culture, that Maharashtrians show in their traditional theater, that his fellow Malayalis show in their great writers like Thakazhi Sivasankaran Pillai and Vaikkom Mohammed Basheer, and much more. The great Rabindranath Tagore won a Nobel because he was equally gifted at writing in his native Bengali and English. By the time the Nobel Committee reached it’s decision, churches had begun to sing “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high…” as a hymn. That said, there are many great writers who are loved and celebrated in India and whose work will never be forgotten. A celebration of Tagore in Sylhet does not really make Dhaka and Kolkata magically more literary minded than the rest of a vast country like India. In trying to sound profound, Tharoor only exposes his own vacuosity and ignorance.
It is very unfortunate to read such a superficial analysis of Bangladesh from Mr. Tharoor. Under the current leadership in Bangladesh, the country has regressed in terms of human rights and the rule of raw. Freedom of expression is almost non-existent. Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of inequality in the world with no signs of improving. The Chief Justice was forced to resign because he did not toe the party line. The economy is in a poor state due to rising bad loans, declining exports and stagnant private investment. All the white elephant projects may impress foreigners who come for a week long vacation, but the people who are living here know the reality on the ground.
Whatever you have pointed out are true to some extent but the rapid growth of Bangladesh under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina can’t be denied. Where will you find absolute democracy? In India? In Pakistan? Even in the USA?
Mr. Tharoor is spot on in his observations. Dhaka can compete with any Indian city when it comes to literature and the arts save Calcutta. The pace at which it is progressing, it will surely surpass Kolkata too in the near future. Unless, of course, Didi initiates a course correction for Calcutta.
I wish bangladesh becomes the richest country in the world as long as they do not export their poor and illiterate to India. We do not want another kashmir on our border.
There are more illegal Indians in Bangladesh now. Just saw a leading newspaper yesterday.
I hope they also take their illegal fellows living here. I also they don’t fall for the dangerous trap of religious brainwashing from Middle East which our west neighbor fell for.
He is spot on. Bengalees on the other side are joining the lowest common denominator because of the onslaught of CBSE,ICSE etc. Legacy of Bengal Renaissance is becoming distant memory.
I wish all the very best of my brothers and sisters in Bangladesh.
This person gets a lot of hype, no one will doubt. But, just visualize the backdrop/reference frame/and in comparison to what and who. He talks a lot but says very little. Typical unyielding bureaucracy style I guess.
Expecting people who studied Humanities History Literature Law or belong to these domains to be Scientific is stretching your realm of imagination, it’s a perfect recipe for disaster in your Expectation Mismatch.
=====
Now imagene the parameters based on which a country becomes a developed nation, and the relation of those parameters to science.
=====
Long live their argument – “you don’t need to be educated/learned to do good for the people”
Now compare what or who gets priority; and needless to mention, see the result.
=====
For ages, in countries like India & BD, people don’t thrive, they just survive
And Rabindranath is the best moral friend that they came across