A Cultural Revolution?

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urstru1y #106

Agree. BTW, what is it about Indian cable tv that makes people crazy?

There is always someone requesting Govt of Pakistan to reconsider the ban on Indian cableTV either in Dawn, Jang letter to editor or someone complaining about someone having ``dish`` because he/she has money and get away from cable-ban.

We are moving to a new house in southern calif and what does my want first? yes. Zee/Star+.

Here I am thinking of mortgage and affordability and she thinks of nothing than cable. Shouldn`t CNN or Fox be enough? How about national geographic or discovery? Why Zee and star?

Help.

There is a country where Chinese and Indians came as fishermen, rubber-tappers, coolies, sugarcane farmers and soldiers. They are still minorities there. Chinese suffered a great deal during struggle against communist insurgency because many of them sympathized with communists. Later on they suffered during ethnic riots and their businesses burned and looted.

The Chinese now are the leaders of business community, educated elite with better per capita income than the majority Malays whereas Indians (mostly Tamils) are still at the bottom. The Chinese success there has nothing to do with the help from Chinese diaspora worldwide. It is better values system that helps them to move up. China is doing good even under authoritarian system and they are expected to do even better under democracy, if and when it arrives.

Right now China`s per capita income is about 700 dollars. It is abundantly clear that China with 700 dollars per capita looks much better than other countries with 700 dollar per capita income like Egypt, Philippines and several central American and African countries.

Ref shammi #: 124

[Looks like what little news that manages to get out is not hunky dory, and things are warming up. It doesn`t take too much bring a regime crashing down. In India, it may be the mishandling of a crisis. In Russia, in 1917, it was rioting at bread lines. In China, it may be as simple as mass unemployment. So, think again before you wish something like that to India.]

I suppose you don`t think there is no mass unemployment in India.

China and India face the same problem: massive overpopulatiion. Even if we develop a welfare system that provides food for all the people, you are going to find that all the unemployed people will think of some mischief or other. China at least used its control of its masses to bacome a manufacturing powerhouse. What has India done except feed socialist fantasies to its people so that every Indian thinks that it is his birthright to get a while collar job with the government and not have to do a scrap of work?

re: TAhmed

{{And name calling Chinese ``chapta`` is very clever indeed, really impressive coming from a grown man.}}

it is just a description of a physical trait...just like we desis are brownies, they are chaptas...what is there to be offended about...

re: RSaxena # 122

``prem a.k.a dude who thinks 12-head`s harassment of women is fun``

No. I don`t think that is or was fun. Let us just say you know very little about me.

Re: Dost-Mittar

``...Don`t try to be the new super-brahmins of India:-)``...``

I am sorry, but I didn`t understand what that meant (I mean what is a `super-brahmin`, and how will not being one deliver India to nirvana?). Anyway, here is what is going in the worker`s paradise which has thus far denied them the right to collective bargaining:

``In one dramatic example, every weekday since March 1, tens of thousands of irate workers have gathered outside the headquarters of China`s most glorified oil field, at Daqing in the far northeast, charging official deceit and betrayal in what some experts have called the largest protests over labor issues since the Communist Party took power in 1949...Labor disputes over money and benefits, often peppered with charges of official corruption, have become frequent as China seeks to streamline or shed its bloated state- owned factories. If reports in recent days from Daqing and several other sites are any guide, the scale of unrest is likely to grow in the months and years ahead as China opens more industries to competition under World Trade Organization rules...Millions of middle-aged workers, in particular, say they feel betrayed by a system that long gave them honor and security, if little money, and that now seems intent on discarding them...THE CHINSE PRESS HAS NOT BEEN ALLOWED TO COVER THE DISUPTES...Some 10,000 miners in the town of Fushun, similarly furious over severance packages, have blocked highways and railroad tracks, according to local residents...Textile workers are striking in the western province of Sichuan, charging that state owners are selling off their factory`s assets rather than trying to save it

`` END QUOTE

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/19/international/asia/19CHIN.html

Looks like what little news that manages to get out is not hunky dory, and things are warming up. It doesn`t take too much bring a regime crashing down. In India, it may be the mishandling of a crisis. In Russia, in 1917, it was rioting at bread lines. In China, it may be as simple as mass unemployment. So, think again before you wish something like that to India. Cheers.

re: dost-mittar

{{Doesn`t matter what I want.}}

come on, that is a cheap cop-out...doesn`t matter what any of us on chowk say about anything...so why bother discussing anything?...might as well stick to mocking each other for some immature and cheap entertainment...

{{The point is that we have a system of governance in India in which it is extremely difficult to implement even those changes on which there is a very high degree of societal consensus.}}

name one such change...please get out of that canadian snow and consider reality...india is so damn big and diverse that every measure has a bigass group of people opposing it...of course we could follow your advice and roll tanks over all of them, but most of us indians don`t want such a country...democracy and personal liberty come with a price...

{{The BJP now wants to implement the same policies it opposed tooth and nail when it was in the opposition and the Congress is now opposing the same policies it espoused, not because of a change of heart but to win cheap popularity...}}

what the BJP wants and what it can do are two different things...the minute the BJP crosses the line, its govt. will come crashing down as the NDA members withdraw support...and don`t forget that the supreme body of the land is the Supreme Court, and as it has shown it has the final word on everything in India....that should be obvious to you...else that temple in ayodhya would`ve been constructed a long time ago...

... you seem too enamored with communism and dictatorships and have forgotten the checks and balances of a democratic system...

re: prem a.k.a dude who thinks 12-head`s harassment of women is fun

{{He has repeatedly argued that religious matters be kept strictly private (although once he and I differed over the desirability of Muslim women wearing burqua in the US). Aren`t you being unfair to him?}}

i made no specific reference to TAhmed...i never said `you` in my response to his post...i chose my words carefully to describe a hypothetical but very real situation, hoping to elicit his and others` opinions on it...

...next time read more carefully before rudely interjecting...

dost-mittar #114:

...`islah` shukriyay kay saath note karli gayee hay...ummeed hay is dafa maaf kardaiN gay aap;)...hum jaldi maiN thay aur oos post ki taareef karna chahtay thay...bus itni si baat thee...khuda/bhagwan aap ko khush rakhay...

...aur...aur kya likhaiN...aapnay itnay zore say AUR likh hee diya hay:)

rgds,

t

RSaxena #113
Just incidentally, there was a woman in Florida who appeared on MSNBC or Fox in full burqa who is resisting the Florida law which mandates a photo showing the person`s face with the drivers license.

For the record, though, I don`t support the law in Singapore, though I`m unsure about the burqua business. A person needs to be recognisable by the authorities to be protected at the very least, forget about public security concerns about faceless citizens.

Layman #111 I dont have any hard figures on IT vs. agriculture and foreign direct investment to India handy (a quick check on the internet proved fruitless). No doubt India, being still largely agricutlural) could not achieve 6-7% growth rates if agriculture was not moving forward as well. I do remember reading a few times about India`s IT-led growth and it does seem that IT is an important factor not just in terms of absolute nuimbers but also in terms of (a) the quality of jobs it creates (i.e. white coller, highly paid, internationally marketable) vs the traditional sectors and (b) the future potential. Also, foreign direct investment from world class companies like microsoft in India is no doubt indirectly the result of the familiarity these companies have with Indian expatriates.

As I mentioned, less tangible aspects of the Indian expat community are perhaps even more important - it would be interesting to see how much the Indian movie industry, the Indian airline industry and so on earns from ``domestic`` vs. expat Indians.

Ultimately, of course, the engine of economic growth remains basically the developed world, with expats providing one means to hook this engine to the third world countries.

Rsaxena #113 At this point you are merely blowing hot air. And with the help of hypothetical situations that reflect your need to put down Pakistanis/muslims, and have nothing to do with reality: how many times have you read about bearded muslims suing American bosses for the right to have a beard?? not once I bet, and I certainly have not. The reality is that it is only sikhs who sometimes sue for the right to maintain their headdress and beards, not muslims, and you know that but are not honest enough to say it since it is muslims you are trying to insult at this time.

And name calling Chinese ``chapta`` is very clever indeed, really impressive coming from a grown man.

re: RSaxena # 113

Saxena, you persist in misconstruing tahmed`s words. He made no distinction between chapta or nonchapta. His stand has been clear. Whether in the US or chaptaland, Hindu, Muslim, or Christian, religion and religious symbols should not be matters of public dispute. He has repeatedly argued that religious matters be kept strictly private (although once he and I differed over the desirability of Muslim women wearing burqua in the US). Aren`t you being unfair to him?

re: TAhmed

{{ Yes, very much so. The decision has the result of students seeing each other as fellow students first and last, not as ``Christians, Muslims, Tamils, and Chinese``. }}

so it is OK if a chapta violates your right to practice your religion freely (including wearing hijab, if so desired), but if a muslim had a beard for religious reasons and an american boss told him to shave it off, he`d be first in line to sue and claim some cash...or if it happened india, it would be grounds to start rioting...amazing...

I loved this piece!