Article

2006-02-17 India-Pakistan

India sees over eight percent economic growth

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Posted by Steve White 2006-02-17 00:00|| || Front Page|| [7 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 There will be no >10 percent economic growth unless India reforms its absurd socialist laws.

example: labor laws that prevent a company with more than 100 workers laying them off. A company is unable to deal with a surge in orders because when they fall off, it is stuck with employees on the payroll. So China gets all the textile jobs.

SSR laws (small scale reservation) that restrict certain kinds of goods being made to small enterprises.
Ever wonder why you don't see toys made in India? Well, it is this absurd Gandhian inspired law that says certain goods must be made by cottage industry only. No economies of scale and no mass manufacturing. So China gets all the contracts.

Creaky infrastructure is being generous.
Indian airports look (and smell) like seedy bus stations. The unions will rather see the airports fail than allow private investment.
Power is a joke. Industries are forced to generate their own power because the grid collapses due to demand. The state electricty boards are forced to give free power to farmers (farmers in India, no matter how rich, pay no tax BTW). The farmers then hook electric pumps and pump the groundwater without regard (since power is free) depleting the acquifer levels. The SEBs don't get compensated for all the free power and they are unable to deal with say, slum dwellers who steal power, so the SEBs are insolvent and can't pay for the added generation capacity needed.

There is a perverse, anti-urban politics in India that sees the revenue generated by cities being used to subsidise rural areas. The cities are given almost nothing back so they can't invest in the infrastruture. The cities thus decay.
Add to that, rent restriction laws that give no incetive on property ownsers to maintain their structures, and absurd laws that give tenancy rights to squatters (India is pro-poor you see) and you have the squalid mess that is an Indian city.

Posted by john 2006-02-17 05:44|| 2006-02-17 05:44|| Front Page Top

#2 And the Congress Party governemtn in power (the same crowd that amended the Indian consitution in the 1970s to declare India a "socialist state" has done little reform.
There is much talk but once the communists protest, nothing is done on labor reforms or infrastructure.

What they have done is pass REGA (the rural employment guarantee scheme) a massive funding of make-work schmes for rural folk that will permit the theft of billions of dollars every year as 'ghost' employees collect salaries for 'jobs' that nobody needs done.

They have also forced the owners of private education schools to accept a quota of so called backward caste folk. Now they are not paying the fees for these students, they are just ordering the administrators to reserve a quota of places for them. The private schools are supposed to absorb the cost of the 20 pervent quota.

They want to extend the job quota for dalits and backward castes (more than 50 percent in governemnt jobs) to the private sector. They also want to expand the quota level to include muslims.

And they are making attempts to do the same in the army, asking about muslim levels in the army.

Posted by john 2006-02-17 05:55|| 2006-02-17 05:55|| Front Page Top

#3 You've captured the true essense of socialism / social engineering / Nanny State run amok there beautifully, john. *sniff* Brings a tear to mine eye...

Okay, I'm over it. They're auto-fucked.

Posted by .com 2006-02-17 07:51|| 2006-02-17 07:51|| Front Page Top

#4 nonetheless they are growing rapidly. The difference between them and the Euros is that they have low wages, and can attract all kinds of low wage industry, manufacturing and services. (like China - except these guys speak English - OTOH these guys dont use force to crush unions, like China) Google "economic convergence". The Euros are wealthy countries and are in more direct competition with the US. Totally different situation.

Posted by liberalhawk 2006-02-17 10:02|| 2006-02-17 10:02|| Front Page Top

#5 Liberalhawk,

You're right. Unlike the Euros the Indians have woken up to the "you train 'em, we drain 'em" effects of socialism on their educated elites, and they've done enough in that area starting from the early 90's to stop losing their minds to us, hence the carping in the lamestream recently about fewer educated immigrants.

Posted by Ernest Brown 2006-02-17 10:31|| 2006-02-17 10:31|| Front Page Top

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