Jul 31, 2003 09:07 PM
11709 Views
(Updated Aug 07, 2003 07:23 PM)
Hi ,
Let me first mention that I have not read the book written by Mr. President. But from some of the news reports and reviews that I have read about the book ( of course the title too ), I can make a fairly educated guess as to what the book is about.
Well , let us see... if India needs to be a developed country , then her real per capita income should grow from the present $450-500 to $25,000 !!!. Now , here we are talking about a time frame of only 16.5 years ( half of 2003 is already history my friend!! ) .
So in the remaining period of time , our economy needs to grow at a SUSTAINED rate of nearly 22%!!. No country at any point in history has ever managed such a sustained astronomical growth rate!. I wonder what makes Mr Kalam think that our poor country can make it. I mean patriotism aside , isn't this sheer fantasy ??
Let's look at some of the pre-requisites for a developed country as per accepted international norms :
A strong and pervasive infrastructure in terms of roads ( expressways ) , rail network ( ours may be the largest but it is in shambles ) , high quality water supply system , not to mention electricity and most importantly 75% to 80 % high literacy levels among the general populace
We tout ourselves as an IT super-power , but in reality the PC penetration is almost non-existant. So we are lagging far behind even on that count. Though PC is not a must for an average citizen. But it still is counted as an indicator.
The facts are there for everyone to see even physically if one steps outside of his house and talk a walk around the streets of the country and see for themselves. The thing is we urbanites live in a make-believe world , get out of your cities and see the real rural India , then tell me if Mr. Kalam's fantasy will come true in 2020 or not.
Cheers,
KHK
