The World is flat - Nandan Nilekani

[Death.By.Chocolate]

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Tonight, Nandan Nilekani co-founder of Infosys made an appearance to promote his new book "Imagining India" on the Daily Show hosted by Jon Stewart. The first question to Nilekani was "...we (Americans) believe either India or China will be our new overlord - make your case for India". Nilekani’s response was India will be a good country not an overlord. He ended the interview saying that he believes the world will be flat because technology would level the playing field.

Interesting, the suggestion here is that in the future no nation would be able to dominate the other making war an exercise in futility. I like the sound of that – any thoughts?

[TruthSeeker]

Many wars today are caused by disaffected minority groups, within nations, who are seeking autonomy or "justice". These groups then drag in others as supporters for one reason or another. So, I don't think wars today are caused by the desire to dominate one nation by another. Hence, even if the world is flat technologically, if "justice" does not prevail for all, a "complete" peace will still not be achieved. The world will have to be "flat" in terms of human rights as well.

[Omar1984]

Tonight, Nandan Nilekani co-founder of Infosys made an appearance to promote his new book "Imagining India" on the Daily Show hosted by Jon Stewart. The first question to Nilekani was "...we (Americans) believe either India or China will be our new overlord - make your case for India". Nilekani’s response was India will be a good country not an overlord. He ended the interview saying that he believes the world will be flat because technology would level the playing field.

Interesting, the suggestion here is that in the future no nation would be able to dominate the other making war an exercise in futility. I like the sound of that – any thoughts?

Here's something to read for Americans who believe India will be their new overlord:

BBC NEWS | Business | The real Slumdogs of India

Page last updated at 00:07 GMT, Friday, 20 February 2009


The real Slumdogs of India

By Percy Barnevik
Chairman of charity Hand in Hand

Slumdog Millionaire has triumphed at the Oscars, winning eight Academy Awards.

Cinemas all over the Western world have been filled with audiences gasping at its hard-hitting portrayal of India's underworld of brutal poverty.

This is an India far removed from the modern call centres and computer companies.

My background is as an industrialist and chief executive, who has been active in India for 40 years.

During the early 1990s I advised the Indian government on its reform policies, and fought to open bridges between the country and the West.

I have supported investments of millions of dollars in plants and research centres across the country.

Although I was working in the growing India, among well-educated and well-fed Indians, I was always aware of the "other" India.

'Empowerment'

Some seven years ago I switched track, and now work with the vast India characterised by extreme poverty, as chairman of the charity Hand in Hand.

Out of India's population, 76% live below the poverty limit of $2 a day, compared to 73% in Sub-Saharan Africa


So far Hand in Hand has enrolled 387,000 extremely poor women.

They are trained in finance and enterprise creation, and supported with micro-loans.

They have started 215,000 enterprises in production, trade and services, and currently establish around 400 new enterprises per day.

The reality is that when the women start businesses, they get empowered at all levels. They eat more, earn more, read better, become more active in local government.

Hand in Hand has also helped some 30,000 children, who were labouring, back into its 100 schools.

'Neglected'

It has surprised me greatly to see Indian poverty so largely neglected by the international aid community. When Gordon Brown, Bob Geldof or Bill Clinton talk world poverty, it is all Africa.


The charity enables women to set up their own businesses

It is true that Africa has desperate and unique problems, and Hand in Hand is also active in South Africa with its job-creation model.

But we must not push for Africa at the expense of India's poor. They are equally in need of help.

One third of all the world's ultra poor are Indians. 40% of all malnourished children are Indian.

Out of India's population, 76% live below the poverty limit of $2 a day, compared to 73% in Sub-Saharan Africa. That is 800 million people living in abject poverty - in one country.

'Indian inspiration'

The efforts to eradicate poverty must from now on include India, both in rhetoric and resources.


Mr Barnevik says his charity's model could be used in other nations

The fight against global poverty can also be greatly inspired by Indian methods.

We have seen that, with tight cost control, it is possible to create a job for some $50.

This means taking a woman living on less than $2 (£1.40) per day, and within one to two years turning her into a self-sustaining entrepreneur, with a business generated income supporting an average of five or six people.

This cost is a one-off. It is a fishing rod rather than a fish.

With the reallocation of some 5 to 6% of the world's aid budgets, and using a self-help model, we could see a massive improvement in the living standards of the world's poor in the next 10 to 20 years.

These self-help models, now growing among the entrepreneurial ultra-poor Indians, show that India could lead the way in the fight against poverty.

When I watch the Oscars on Sunday, I will keep my fingers crossed for Slumdog Millionaire. It has given face and voice to the poorest of India, whom I have learnt to love and respect.

[Torpedo]

Here's something to read for Americans who believe India will be their new overlord:

BBC NEWS | Business | The real Slumdogs of India

Page last updated at 00:07 GMT, Friday, 20 February 2009


The real Slumdogs of India

By Percy Barnevik
Chairman of charity Hand in Hand

Slumdog Millionaire has triumphed at the Oscars, winning eight Academy Awards.

Cinemas all over the Western world have been filled with audiences gasping at its hard-hitting portrayal of India's underworld of brutal poverty.

This is an India far removed from the modern call centres and computer companies.

My background is as an industrialist and chief executive, who has been active in India for 40 years.

During the early 1990s I advised the Indian government on its reform policies, and fought to open bridges between the country and the West.

I have supported investments of millions of dollars in plants and research centres across the country.

Although I was working in the growing India, among well-educated and well-fed Indians, I was always aware of the "other" India.

'Empowerment'

Some seven years ago I switched track, and now work with the vast India characterised by extreme poverty, as chairman of the charity Hand in Hand.

Out of India's population, 76% live below the poverty limit of $2 a day, compared to 73% in Sub-Saharan Africa


So far Hand in Hand has enrolled 387,000 extremely poor women.

They are trained in finance and enterprise creation, and supported with micro-loans.

They have started 215,000 enterprises in production, trade and services, and currently establish around 400 new enterprises per day.

The reality is that when the women start businesses, they get empowered at all levels. They eat more, earn more, read better, become more active in local government.

Hand in Hand has also helped some 30,000 children, who were labouring, back into its 100 schools.

'Neglected'

It has surprised me greatly to see Indian poverty so largely neglected by the international aid community. When Gordon Brown, Bob Geldof or Bill Clinton talk world poverty, it is all Africa.


The charity enables women to set up their own businesses

It is true that Africa has desperate and unique problems, and Hand in Hand is also active in South Africa with its job-creation model.

But we must not push for Africa at the expense of India's poor. They are equally in need of help.

One third of all the world's ultra poor are Indians. 40% of all malnourished children are Indian.

Out of India's population, 76% live below the poverty limit of $2 a day, compared to 73% in Sub-Saharan Africa. That is 800 million people living in abject poverty - in one country.

'Indian inspiration'

The efforts to eradicate poverty must from now on include India, both in rhetoric and resources.


Mr Barnevik says his charity's model could be used in other nations

The fight against global poverty can also be greatly inspired by Indian methods.

We have seen that, with tight cost control, it is possible to create a job for some $50.

This means taking a woman living on less than $2 (£1.40) per day, and within one to two years turning her into a self-sustaining entrepreneur, with a business generated income supporting an average of five or six people.

This cost is a one-off. It is a fishing rod rather than a fish.

With the reallocation of some 5 to 6% of the world's aid budgets, and using a self-help model, we could see a massive improvement in the living standards of the world's poor in the next 10 to 20 years.

These self-help models, now growing among the entrepreneurial ultra-poor Indians, show that India could lead the way in the fight against poverty.

When I watch the Oscars on Sunday, I will keep my fingers crossed for Slumdog Millionaire. It has given face and voice to the poorest of India, whom I have learnt to love and respect.

Wow, I must appreciate you for the shear amount of your hate towards India.

[Gulshan]

India’s Potential, Seen From the Inside
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/bu...l?ref=business
By HARRY HURT III
Published: March 14, 2009
THERE are scores of books by well-known businessmen who pontificate about social, political and economic issues affecting a broad swath of humanity. Unfortunately, far too many of these books are exercises in self-promotion or revisionist history, and with thinly veiled ideological agendas.


“Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation” by Nandan Nilekani (Penguin Press, $29.95) is one of those rare books in which a businessman proves himself to be a capable expository writer, a balanced social and political commentator, and an innovative economic thinker.

Mr. Nilekani is a co-founder of Infosys Technologies, a business-process outsourcing company based in Bangalore. In the introduction to “Imagining India,” Thomas L. Friedman, the New York Times columnist, credits Mr. Nilekani with inspiring his best-selling book “The World Is Flat.”

“There are not a lot of executives around the world who are known simply by their first names,” Mr. Friedman writes. “Silicon Valley has ‘Steve’ — as in Jobs, Seattle has ‘Bill’ — as in Gates. Omaha has ‘Warren’ — as in Buffett. And Bangalore has ‘Nandan’ — as in Nilekani.”

Like its subject, “Imagining India” is vast and complicated. Its more than 500 pages contain a laundry list of topics, ranging from the influences of the British Raj, Nehru and Mahatma, Indira and Rajiv Gandhi to the intricacies of caste, class, region, religion, family planning, sanitation, urbanization, education, health care and information technology (Mr. Nilekani’s area of expertise).

The unifying theme is what the author calls an “idea-based approach” to meeting the present and future challenges facing the world’s largest and fastest-growing democracy.

Mr. Nilekani divides his book into four idea-based sections. The first, subtitled “Ideas That Have Arrived,” recounts India’s stumbling march toward globalization, its begrudging acceptance of the role of entrepreneurs in transforming the formerly socialist economy, and its even more grudging acceptance of English as the unofficial national language. It also addresses a feature that sets India significantly apart from every other country except China: its population of one billion people.

“The idea of population as an asset rather than a burden has especially gained currency with the rise of knowledge-based industries such as I.T., telecommunications and biotechnology in the 1970s,” Mr. Nilekani observes. “In fact, the information economy is the culmination of what the Industrial Revolution started — it has placed human capital front and center as the main driver of productivity and growth.”

Mr. Nilekani contends that India is uniquely positioned to enjoy a “demographic dividend” because the median age of its population is only 23 while that of China, with a total of 1.3 billion people, is already over 32. “India already has the second-largest reservoir of skilled labor in the world,” Mr. Nilekani notes. “It produces 2 million English-speaking graduates, 15,000 law graduates and about 9,000 Ph.D.’s every year. And the existing pool of 2.1 million engineering graduates increases by nearly 300,000 every year.”

Mr. Nilekani, however, is keenly aware of the contradictions, paradoxes and sociocultural obstacles that may prevent India from sustaining its current annual growth rate of 6 percent. In Part 2 , subtitled “Ideas in Progress,” he notes that even though Indians now widely recognize a need for primary education, the country has the world’s highest rate of high school dropouts. In Part 3, subtitled “Ideas in Battle,” he likewise laments that the nation’s university system still consists of “institutions of sand.”

According to Mr. Nilekani, Indian politics continues to be mired in conflicts between feudalism and secularism, rationalism and traditionalism, and is based on caste, class, regional and religious interests. As recently as 1998, he notes, a political candidate was said to be the reincarnation of Kush, the son of Lord Vishnu.

He says a predilection to cling to statism and bureaucracy creates “the paradox of a nation that is blessed with the most talented and diverse entrepreneurs, but which still does not trust the market to deliver on broad-based development.”

MR. NILEKANI uses the final section of his book, subtitled “Ideas to Anticipate,” to discuss likely challenges for India in coming decades. He puts special emphasis on avoiding the mistakes made by developed countries like the United States.

“We do not need to burn through our forests and drain our groundwater before we realize that abusing the environment has awful consequences,” he writes. “We do not need to grow addicted to oil before we realize the potential of renewable energy.”

“Imagining India” has its flaws. Grandly ambitious in scope, the book touches on so many issues as to boggle the mind. Mr. Nilekani has a tendency to repeat facts, and he often resorts to the rhetorical flourishes of the populist demagogues he decries. (“For the first time there is a sense of hope across the country, which I believe is universal,” he declares.)

Even so, he provides us with a vividly realistic portrait of his native India, a nation with potential that may forever defy the imagination.

[Proud2Indian]

Here's something to read for Americans who believe India will be their new overlord:

BBC NEWS | Business | The real Slumdogs of India

Page last updated at 00:07 GMT, Friday, 20 February 2009


The real Slumdogs of India

By Percy Barnevik
Chairman of charity Hand in Hand

Slumdog Millionaire has triumphed at the Oscars, winning eight Academy Awards.

Cinemas all over the Western world have been filled with audiences gasping at its hard-hitting portrayal of India's underworld of brutal poverty.

This is an India far removed from the modern call centres and computer companies.

My background is as an industrialist and chief executive, who has been active in India for 40 years.

During the early 1990s I advised the Indian government on its reform policies, and fought to open bridges between the country and the West.

I have supported investments of millions of dollars in plants and research centres across the country.

Although I was working in the growing India, among well-educated and well-fed Indians, I was always aware of the "other" India.

'Empowerment'

Some seven years ago I switched track, and now work with the vast India characterised by extreme poverty, as chairman of the charity Hand in Hand.

Out of India's population, 76% live below the poverty limit of $2 a day, compared to 73% in Sub-Saharan Africa


So far Hand in Hand has enrolled 387,000 extremely poor women.

They are trained in finance and enterprise creation, and supported with micro-loans.

They have started 215,000 enterprises in production, trade and services, and currently establish around 400 new enterprises per day.

The reality is that when the women start businesses, they get empowered at all levels. They eat more, earn more, read better, become more active in local government.

Hand in Hand has also helped some 30,000 children, who were labouring, back into its 100 schools.

'Neglected'

It has surprised me greatly to see Indian poverty so largely neglected by the international aid community. When Gordon Brown, Bob Geldof or Bill Clinton talk world poverty, it is all Africa.


The charity enables women to set up their own businesses

It is true that Africa has desperate and unique problems, and Hand in Hand is also active in South Africa with its job-creation model.

But we must not push for Africa at the expense of India's poor. They are equally in need of help.

One third of all the world's ultra poor are Indians. 40% of all malnourished children are Indian.

Out of India's population, 76% live below the poverty limit of $2 a day, compared to 73% in Sub-Saharan Africa. That is 800 million people living in abject poverty - in one country.

'Indian inspiration'

The efforts to eradicate poverty must from now on include India, both in rhetoric and resources.


Mr Barnevik says his charity's model could be used in other nations

The fight against global poverty can also be greatly inspired by Indian methods.

We have seen that, with tight cost control, it is possible to create a job for some $50.

This means taking a woman living on less than $2 (£1.40) per day, and within one to two years turning her into a self-sustaining entrepreneur, with a business generated income supporting an average of five or six people.

This cost is a one-off. It is a fishing rod rather than a fish.

With the reallocation of some 5 to 6% of the world's aid budgets, and using a self-help model, we could see a massive improvement in the living standards of the world's poor in the next 10 to 20 years.

These self-help models, now growing among the entrepreneurial ultra-poor Indians, show that India could lead the way in the fight against poverty.

When I watch the Oscars on Sunday, I will keep my fingers crossed for Slumdog Millionaire. It has given face and voice to the poorest of India, whom I have learnt to love and respect.

hmmmm...I think U maintain the inventory of anti-India articles\post ... i have seen this article elsewhere also by you....nice work...


tx

[duhastmish]

I think those 24% people left who are above poverty line - you know how much numbers they make ??????

now those numbers are mind boglling: and i guess these 24% people are the one who make India successful rest 75% are just the slumdogs working for them like part of machine.
And these 25% will be leaders and pioneers of world.

[Patriot]

Here's something to read for Americans who believe India will be their new overlord:

BBC NEWS | Business | The real Slumdogs of India

Page last updated at 00:07 GMT, Friday, 20 February 2009


The real Slumdogs of India

By Percy Barnevik
Chairman of charity Hand in Hand

Slumdog Millionaire has triumphed at the Oscars, winning eight Academy Awards.

Cinemas all over the Western world have been filled with audiences gasping at its hard-hitting portrayal of India's underworld of brutal poverty.

This is an India far removed from the modern call centres and computer companies.

My background is as an industrialist and chief executive, who has been active in India for 40 years.

During the early 1990s I advised the Indian government on its reform policies, and fought to open bridges between the country and the West.

I have supported investments of millions of dollars in plants and research centres across the country.

Although I was working in the growing India, among well-educated and well-fed Indians, I was always aware of the "other" India.

'Empowerment'

Some seven years ago I switched track, and now work with the vast India characterised by extreme poverty, as chairman of the charity Hand in Hand.

Out of India's population, 76% live below the poverty limit of $2 a day, compared to 73% in Sub-Saharan Africa


So far Hand in Hand has enrolled 387,000 extremely poor women.

They are trained in finance and enterprise creation, and supported with micro-loans.

They have started 215,000 enterprises in production, trade and services, and currently establish around 400 new enterprises per day.

The reality is that when the women start businesses, they get empowered at all levels. They eat more, earn more, read better, become more active in local government.

Hand in Hand has also helped some 30,000 children, who were labouring, back into its 100 schools.

'Neglected'

It has surprised me greatly to see Indian poverty so largely neglected by the international aid community. When Gordon Brown, Bob Geldof or Bill Clinton talk world poverty, it is all Africa.


The charity enables women to set up their own businesses

It is true that Africa has desperate and unique problems, and Hand in Hand is also active in South Africa with its job-creation model.

But we must not push for Africa at the expense of India's poor. They are equally in need of help.

One third of all the world's ultra poor are Indians. 40% of all malnourished children are Indian.

Out of India's population, 76% live below the poverty limit of $2 a day, compared to 73% in Sub-Saharan Africa. That is 800 million people living in abject poverty - in one country.

'Indian inspiration'

The efforts to eradicate poverty must from now on include India, both in rhetoric and resources.


Mr Barnevik says his charity's model could be used in other nations

The fight against global poverty can also be greatly inspired by Indian methods.

We have seen that, with tight cost control, it is possible to create a job for some $50.

This means taking a woman living on less than $2 (£1.40) per day, and within one to two years turning her into a self-sustaining entrepreneur, with a business generated income supporting an average of five or six people.

This cost is a one-off. It is a fishing rod rather than a fish.

With the reallocation of some 5 to 6% of the world's aid budgets, and using a self-help model, we could see a massive improvement in the living standards of the world's poor in the next 10 to 20 years.

These self-help models, now growing among the entrepreneurial ultra-poor Indians, show that India could lead the way in the fight against poverty.

When I watch the Oscars on Sunday, I will keep my fingers crossed for Slumdog Millionaire. It has given face and voice to the poorest of India, whom I have learnt to love and respect.

in light of the euphorea about this being the Indian century etc.,, this is something to be tackled as well. A Rp 8 difference between the 800 million and another 300 million is what splits the two classes between the poverty line and those above it...but in the scheme of things, what difference do 8 rupees make?

A THIRD OF US LIVE ON Rs 20 A DAY

Sutirtho Patranobis, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, August 10, 2007

What can Rs 20 possibly fetch? For 836 million Indians,
Rs 20 per day, or Rs 600 a month, buys them their daily
sustenance.

Technically, a large chunk of these 836 million Indians -
77 per cent of the country's population - are above the
poverty line at Rs 12 per day.

But the reality is that they remain dismally poor, comprising
largely of STs, SCs, OBCs and Muslims, according to the
report on Conditions of Work and Promotion of Livelihood in
the Unorganised Sector. This is the the first authoritative
study on the state of informal or unorganised employment in
India, compiled by the National Commission for Enterprises
in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS), a government-affiliated
body. If people do not earn, how will they spend or save,
asks Dr Arjun Sengupta

The report is based on government data for the period between
1993-94 and 2004-05.

A staggering 394.9 million workers, or 86 per cent of India's
working population, toil in the unorganised sector, which
means they work without a social security cover.

Nearly 80 per cent of these workers are among those who live
on less than Rs 20 per day.

NCEUS chairman Dr Arjun Sengupta said: "These are the
discriminated, disadvantaged and downtrodden. People who
live on Rs 20 or less per day are the real poor and vulnerable."

Sengupta told HT that Rs 20, which signifies consumption pattern,
is an indicator of the person's income and saving. "If people do
not earn, how will they spend or save?" he added.

Agriculture, the report found, was a fertile ground for poverty,
especially for small and marginal farmers, 84 per cent of whom
spent more than they earned and were often caught in debt traps.
-
Credit to Blain2 for posting this.

[NSG_BlackCats]

Another thread for India bashing. Currently India is 4th largest economy in the world in terms of PPP and 11th in terms of GDP. In next 10 years when India becomes the 3rd in terms of PPP (No1 is USA and No2 China) India's percapita income will be no where in comparison to West bcoz the size of our population. But people forget a simple fact India's middle class is growing which is creating a great demand for FMCG products. The growing middle class is making us a demand based economy and an export oriented economy. We just need to keep the good work. GoI need to invest more on Agriculture, Education, Infrastructure and the rest will follow.
Nandan Nilekani is a great achiever from just an engineering graduate to heading India's second largest software firm Infosys which employ’s more than 1,20,000. We need these kinds of entrepreneurs in India who are creating millions of jobs for Indians.

[Khajur]

Here's something to read for Americans who believe India will be their new overlord:

BBC NEWS | Business | The real Slumdogs of India

Page last updated at 00:07 GMT, Friday, 20 February 2009


The real Slumdogs of India

By Percy Barnevik
Chairman of charity Hand in Hand

Slumdog Millionaire has triumphed at the Oscars, winning eight Academy Awards.

Cinemas all over the Western world have been filled with audiences gasping at its hard-hitting portrayal of India's underworld of brutal poverty.

This is an India far removed from the modern call centres and computer companies.

My background is as an industrialist and chief executive, who has been active in India for 40 years.

During the early 1990s I advised the Indian government on its reform policies, and fought to open bridges between the country and the West.

I have supported investments of millions of dollars in plants and research centres across the country.

Although I was working in the growing India, among well-educated and well-fed Indians, I was always aware of the "other" India.

'Empowerment'

Some seven years ago I switched track, and now work with the vast India characterised by extreme poverty, as chairman of the charity Hand in Hand.

Out of India's population, 76% live below the poverty limit of $2 a day, compared to 73% in Sub-Saharan Africa


So far Hand in Hand has enrolled 387,000 extremely poor women.

They are trained in finance and enterprise creation, and supported with micro-loans.

They have started 215,000 enterprises in production, trade and services, and currently establish around 400 new enterprises per day.

The reality is that when the women start businesses, they get empowered at all levels. They eat more, earn more, read better, become more active in local government.

Hand in Hand has also helped some 30,000 children, who were labouring, back into its 100 schools.

'Neglected'

It has surprised me greatly to see Indian poverty so largely neglected by the international aid community. When Gordon Brown, Bob Geldof or Bill Clinton talk world poverty, it is all Africa.


The charity enables women to set up their own businesses

It is true that Africa has desperate and unique problems, and Hand in Hand is also active in South Africa with its job-creation model.

But we must not push for Africa at the expense of India's poor. They are equally in need of help.

One third of all the world's ultra poor are Indians. 40% of all malnourished children are Indian.

Out of India's population, 76% live below the poverty limit of $2 a day, compared to 73% in Sub-Saharan Africa. That is 800 million people living in abject poverty - in one country.

'Indian inspiration'

The efforts to eradicate poverty must from now on include India, both in rhetoric and resources.


Mr Barnevik says his charity's model could be used in other nations

The fight against global poverty can also be greatly inspired by Indian methods.

We have seen that, with tight cost control, it is possible to create a job for some $50.

This means taking a woman living on less than $2 (£1.40) per day, and within one to two years turning her into a self-sustaining entrepreneur, with a business generated income supporting an average of five or six people.

This cost is a one-off. It is a fishing rod rather than a fish.

With the reallocation of some 5 to 6% of the world's aid budgets, and using a self-help model, we could see a massive improvement in the living standards of the world's poor in the next 10 to 20 years.

These self-help models, now growing among the entrepreneurial ultra-poor Indians, show that India could lead the way in the fight against poverty.

When I watch the Oscars on Sunday, I will keep my fingers crossed for Slumdog Millionaire. It has given face and voice to the poorest of India, whom I have learnt to love and respect.

$2 a day more than Rs90/-
$2 a day for a month is more than Rs2700/_ which isn't very less if u live in a indian village where most things are free.

It looks like Mr Missionary is in dire need to raise some money in these recession time.

[Death.By.Chocolate]

Please this is not a India vs China thread nor is it a thread to discuss poverty. The topic of discussion is technology making the world flat.

[vkurian]

Here's something to read for Americans who believe India will be their new overlord:

BBC NEWS | Business | The real Slumdogs of India

Page last updated at 00:07 GMT, Friday, 20 February 2009

Omar what are you trying to prove?

You seem to be working over time to pull India down it would be nice if you try to pull Pakistan up instead.

[godsavetheworld]

Out of India's population, 76% live below the poverty limit of $2 a day, compared to 73% in Sub-Saharan Africa. That is 800 million people living in abject poverty - in one country.

A perfect article to fool anyone. Also makes incredibly bogus claims. Firstly India has about 330 million below poverty line, Sub saharan africa has about 733 million.

I think its stupid for any organisation to measure "poverty" in terms of dollars and then begin to stereotype a country. If they earn Rs 100 a day, they are way above the poverty line, by Indian Rupee scale.

Now if I begin to use use Rupee as a measuring tool, I would have more of Pakistan living below the poverty line and Bangladesh would be around 60% below poverty line.
Similary if use pound as the measuring tool, I will have about 40% America below poverty line. This just plain stupid.

I believe poverty is relative, so it should be measured in terms of the country you are talking about, not American dollar. And by the same, GOI has official figure at 24.3% in 2008.

I think what Infosys Chaiman has said is very much in inline with Glodmann Sachs predictions about India China and Brazil.

Dreaming with Brazil, India and China: A path to 2050

[Omar1984]

Wow, I must appreciate you for the shear amount of your hate towards India.

I didn't write that article neither did a Pakistani, neither did the article come from a Pakistani news source.

Its a recent article published by BBC.

And its all true, India has a long way to go... its ridiculous that some Americans think India will become their "overlord".

[dabong1]

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Many wars today are caused by disaffected minority groups, within nations, who are seeking autonomy or "justice". These groups then drag in others as supporters for one reason or another. So, I don't think wars today are caused by the desire to dominate one nation by another. Hence, even if the world is flat technologically, if "justice" does not prevail for all, a "complete" peace will still not be achieved. The world will have to be "flat" in terms of human rights as well.

Very good point.......we need to have equality and justice for there to be no wars and hopefully technology in the rght hands will us take us there.
With todays technology it would be easy to have a global healthcare-education project set up that could give these services to the poor.