Michael Perelman wrote:
> We have people on the list from Turkey, Argentina, Korea, and many other
> places where very important changes are taking place. Unfortunately, we
> hear almost nothing from the people on the ground in days places.
>
i am from india and i have contributed some thoughts, though i am
really neither trained to be an economist nor very knowledgeable
about the subject. the big changes in india, from an economic
perspective, came with the rajiv gandhi govt of the early eighties
which changed the socialist/protectionist system of the nehru
congress, and the janata party that came to power in the 70s.
economic liberalisation was the "in" thing under finance ministers
manmohan singh and p. chidambaram (at least one of them western -
harvard? - educated) and the pressure from WTO/IMF was felt quite
acutely. on the positive side the liberalisation led to efforts
to lower corruption and bureaucracy. the entry of MNCs with vast
monetary resources and consequent power, however, further
disempowered grassroots activists for environmental and other
causes.
thats history. unfortunately, having been a temporary resident in
the US for the past few years, i no longer have a street awareness
of issues. the few major features of the recent years have been
political turmoil, growth of religious fundamentalism, and the
boom of the IT sector, with software and "people" exports to the
west. back home, IT professionals have managed to gain astronomical
increases in income leading to unaffordable escalation of real
estate. the entry of MNCs has in the most part been more
detrimental (imho) than good, since the products hawked are MTV and
pepsi. i am sure you are aware of the ongoing issues related to
enron's dealings with the various govt's of indian states
(maharashtra is a classic decade long example).
the recent downturn in the US economy and in particular the IT
sector has caused immediate effects in the export of software and
professionals (mentioned above) and in related industries.
on an aside, i recently came across a rather interesting book:
why poverty persists in india -- easwaran, kotwal
hope this message is of some interest,
--ravi
