Economic Growth in India, China
Re “How China Beat India in Race for Success,” Aug. 10: Amazed and shocked! I was utterly disgusted to see my country portrayed in such a negative manner while attempting to celebrate a great event--India’s 50th anniversary of independence.
Yes, poverty is a big problem in India, but I guess you haven’t been to downtown L.A. What’s the difference? I don’t see any articles during July 4th discussing the homeless situation in L.A.
The Times has sunk down to the depths of everyone else who portrays India in such a pitiful and pathetic manner. And thanks to your story, millions of people now assume that India is nothing but a gigantic wasteland of garbage and poverty.
I know a completely different India--a country of beautiful landscapes from the deserts to the beaches. A country rich in culture filled with color and spectacle. A country filled with beautiful art and architecture. A country with life!
YAMINI PRABHAKAR
Mission Viejo
I enjoyed Rone Tempest’s articles. I would like to point out some constraints faced by India.
India has a long history of foreign aggression which depleted its once abundant wealth and natural resources. The bifurcation of the country 50 years ago cost the fertile lands of Punjab and Bengal, and rendered millions of people homeless.
Since its independence, India has faced constant turmoil on and within its borders. Wars initiated by aggressive neighbors in 1962, 1965 and 1971, internal strife fomented by foreign agents in Kashmir and Assam, misinformed funding and encouragement of secessionists in Punjab and Tamil Nadu by superpowers have all distracted India from its economic goals.
India, despite its low GNP, attracts vast populations of political and economic immigrants from Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
The national character of India is, among other traits commented upon in the article, also characterized by the philosophy of cyclical regeneration, which for 5,000 years has sustained the country through cycles of plenty and poverty.
NIRMALA BHOOSHAN
Camarillo
As a Chinese visiting my family in Los Angeles, I read your articles with interest.
Tempest’s story is particularly interesting when it refers to India’s “vibrant democracy,” something most people here believe China doesn’t give its people. For the poor people of a developing country, however, a bowl of rice seems far more meaningful than the right to vote. Tempest’s story convinces me that China is justified in arguing that the No. 1 right, of all human rights, is the right to survive.
Tempest’s “China’s Townships Making Great Leaps” happens to be about my home city Wuxi. It reminds me of a major point I made in dozens of talks on “What Is Happening in China” I gave to American tourists on study tours in 1985-92, when I was working with a major travel agent in Hangzhou, a city not far from Shanghai. The point was that in encouraging the farmers to “quit the land, but not their hometowns,” China is blazing a development road of its own. Looking back, I should say that it is largely thanks to this ingenious government policy and peasant practice that the number of Chinese living below the poverty line has dropped from more than 200 million in 1979 to less than 80 million now.
WEI QIAN
Vice President of China Tourism
Institute, Beijing
I believe you wasted entirely too much space on examining China’s economic success compared with India. The answer is very simple.
To emulate China’s success all India would have to do is:
* Form a system of forced labor camps like the laogai of China.
* Kill any nonconformists like the people of Tibet.
* Sell weapons of mass destruction to any terrorist nation.
* Bribe officials in the U.S. to gain favorable trade agreements.
* Limit families in their country to one child by law.
* Force abortions and kill babies.
If India gives up its foolish ideas of freedom and liberty, a constitution and personal rights along with respect for all its cultures it stands a much better chance of economic success.
ROGER MARKS
Los Angeles
Are we likely to hear more about “ungovernable diversity” of other democratic governments, as referred to in your India vs. China article?
CHARLES H. BAGBY
Los Alamitos