The Great Turn-On

Jhopadpattis have been around for all these years and are not going to disappear overnight. Just because India has reasonable forex reserves, we can`t start handing out cash to everyone in Dharavi tomorrow. Le bhai, ek ghar bana le tu bhi. Similarly Islamabad is not going to become a rubbish heap overnight because of the arms race.


What the country needs to do is create the opportunity for economic growth. In 5 years there will be a huge difference. There is a difference today from 1990.

What those figures also dont tell you is the huge `can do` optimism you see in India today. There is a sense of direction that we are moving forward. Job are getting created, the consumers are getting created. That itself produces demand - but for that to translate into more than a dry macroeconomic statistic to a visible reality takes about 5-10 years. Think about it - FII investment in India has never been higher. Why would so many people be sinking so much money into a place if they didnt see the (obvious) future?

``We can send model-item girl Yana Gupta, a Czech married to an Indian, to dance on a glass top table at the Marriott in Islamabad, lip-synching “Babuji, zaraa dheere chalo…” and shaking her booty``

Could you provide the exact date, time and exact location of this event......

You want to compare India Pakistan poverty levels.....Excuse me...sir......Showing some lousy stats won`t help

(Poverty in India decreased from 38% of population in 1991 to 24% in 2002 , in Pakistan >poverty increased from 20% in 1990 to the present level of 36%. All this happened in the >decade in which Pakistan was supposed to bleed India with Kashmir/Kargil/Kaluchak etc.)

I have visited India myself....in 1998.....quite near the dispute i must say....and the poverty i saw alarmed me....did any body tell u my friend that the largest ``Jhoparpaty`` as u guys call it......exists in India......When i travelled from one city to another.....the road was filled with villages and shabby huts.........Poverty in pakistan is no doubt there.....But you will see the apparent difference in the level of poverty in India and Pakistan on paper and in reality once you visit Pakistan and compare India with it

We can run much faster economically if the Pakistan ball was not tied to our feet. Thats the point of this article. However, we also cannot give in to terrorism or nuclear blackmail. That even the Pakistanis will realize. No matter what the cost, people in the subcontinent will go to any insane level to preseve what they perceive as izzat.

But my concern is that since Pakistan is on the losing side, they will choose to escalate terrorism. Today we arent concerned too much because bombs dont go off in say Mumbai or Bangalore. And eventually they will get around to doing just that.

So we must keep talking to them so their leaders can tell the people - look guys we are getting somewhere with this.

And perhaps in the future, achieve economic suzerainty over them. Sounds imperialistic but it is inevitable. That will serve as a deterrent far more than a nuke sitting in some dusty silo in Rajasthan.

Since this is going to be the next HOT board:-), excuse me for posting this info.

For those who might be iterested....Tariq Ali is going to be talking on Iraq war at 9:00Pm tonight on NPR radio. KQED in California.

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A factual error:

``This is sweet, but no one stopped India from putting those conditions. (It might be prudent to point out here that when Pakistan wanted to send aid during the earthquake in Gujarat, a non-communal calamity, our government refused.) ``

India did accept aid from Pakistan. There were Pakistani planes that landed with supplies. The gesture was appreciated.

As far as the failure of Agra is concerned, the issue is the same now as it was then. Yes, Vajpayee had agreed to a statement which addressed Kkashmir and Cross Border terrorism. It was not Advani (who has been made villain of the peice) but bureaucrats of the Foreign Ministry as well as Jaswant Singh who initially spooted the loop hole. Cross ``border`` terrorism would not legelly be appliacble to terrorism across the line of control as it is not a border. The Indian team wanted to include a reference to Line of Control as well. Tthe Pakistanis were blind sided by this and the rest is history.

As far as talking about Hindus and Sikhs are concerned, or for that matter Muslims, Pakistan does not have a right to interfere in the internal affairs of India. That is an obvious truth. It may suggest as a friendly country, but right now we are not at that stage of being friends.

So, what is the point of the narrative? Kashmir is an issue, India does not deny that. Just because it is an issue does not mean that we will agree to their point of view. We have our own point of view and there is a national consensus on it. The problem is not in talking to Ppakistan about Kashmir. Tthe problem is legitimizing the Jehadi struggle their and the lack of any common ground for a solution. Not one country outside Pakistan has asked India to hold a plebiscite or transfer territory. The solution that Ppakistan wants is what a victorious country imposes to the loser in a war. And we have not lost a war to Pakistan yet.

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