India Is Losing the Race

As recently as 2006, when I first
visited India and China, the
economic race was on, with heavy
bets being placed on which one
would win the developing world
sweepstakes.
Many Westerners fervently hoped
that a democratic country would
triumph economically over an
autocratic regime.
Now the contest is emphatically
over. China has lunged into the
21st century, while India is still
lurching toward it.
That's evident not just in columns
of dry statistics but in the rhythm
and sensibility of each country.
While China often seems to
eradicate its past as it single-
mindedly constructs its future,
India nibbles more judiciously at
its complex history.
Visits to crowded Indian urban
centers unleash sensory assaults:
colorful dress and lilting chatter
provide a backdrop to every
manner of commerce, from small
shops to peddlers to beggars. That
makes for engaging tourism, but
not the fastest economic
development. In contrast to China's
full-throated, monochromatic
embrace of large-scale
manufacturing, India more closely
resembles a nation of shopkeepers.
To be sure, India has achieved
enviable success in business
services, like the glistening call
centers in Bangalore and
elsewhere. But in the global
jousting for manufacturing jobs,
India does not get its share.
Now, after years of rocketing
growth, China's gross domestic
product per capita of $9,146 is
more than twice India's. And its
economy grew by 7.7 percent in
2012, while India expanded at a
(hardly shabby) 5.3 percent rate.
China's investment rate of 48
percent of G.D.P. - a key metric for
development - also exceeded
India's. At 36 percent, India's
number is robust, particularly in
comparison with Western
countries. But the impact of that
spending can be hard to discern;
on a recent 12-day visit to India,
not many rupees appeared to have
been lavished on Mumbai's
glorious Victoria Terminus, also
known as Chhatrapati Shivaji
Terminus, since it was constructed
in the 1880s. Parts of Mumbai's
recently built financial district -
Bandra Kurla Complex - already
look aged, perhaps because of
cheap construction or poor
maintenance or both. It's hardly a
serious competitor to Shanghai's
shiny Pudong.
China has 16 subway systems to
India's 5. As China builds a
superhighway to Tibet, Indian
drivers battle potholed roads that
they share with every manner of
vehicle and live animal. India's
electrical grid is still largely
government controlled, which
helped contribute to a disastrous
blackout last summer that affected
more than 600 million people.
Yet Morgan Stanley stands
resolutely behind its 2010
prediction that India will be
growing faster than China by the
middle of this decade.
It isn't going to happen, India's
better demographics
notwithstanding.
For one thing, many of India's
youths are unskilled and work as
peddlers or not at all. For another,
despite all the reforms instituted
by India since its move away from
socialism in 1991, much more
would have to change. Corruption,
inefficiency, restrictive trade
practices and labor laws have to be
addressed.
Democratic it may be, but India's
ability to govern is compromised
by suffocating bureaucracy, regular
arm-wrestling with states over
prerogatives like taxation and
deeply embedded property rights
that make implementing China-
scale development projects
impossible. Unable to modernize
its horribly congested cities,
India's population has remained
more rural than China's, further
depressing growth.
"China" and "corruption" may be
almost synonymous to many, but
India was ranked even worse in
corruption in Transparency
International's annual Corruption
Perceptions Index . At its best, the
Indian justice system - a British
legacy - grinds exceptionally
slowly.
To be sure, summary executions
don't occur in India, and its legal
system is more transparent and
rule-based than China's. But a
recent visit coincided with the
tragic gang rape of a young Indian
woman that led to her death; the
government's ham-handed initial
response was to ban protesters
from assembling and impound
vans with tinted windows like the
one in which she was abducted.
India's rigid social structure limits
intergenerational economic
mobility and fosters acceptance of
vast wealth disparities. In Mumbai,
where more than half the
population lives in slums often
devoid of electricity or running
water, Mukesh Ambani spent a
reported $1 billion to construct a
27-story home in a residential
neighborhood.
Don't get me wrong - I am hardly
advocating totalitarian government.
But we need to recognize that
success for developing countries is
about more than free elections.
While India may not have the
same "eye on the prize" so evident
in China, it should finish a
respectable second in the
developing world sweepstakes. It
just won't beat China.
by new York times

Indian Railways to become environment- friendly, developing LNG-powered locomotives

In a move to make the railways
environment-friendly, the Indian
Railways are working on developing a
locomotive prototype that can run on
liquefied natural gas (LNG), Railway
Minister Mallikarjun Kharge said on
Thursday.
Inaugurating the 10th edition of the
International Rail Exhibition and
Conference organized by the
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)
here, Kharge said an Indian
manufacturer has set up a joint venture
with a foreign firm for design and
development of the system under the
overall supervision of the railway
ministry's Research Design and Standard
Organization (RDSO).
According to a railway official, it plans
to build another 20 LNG-based
locomotives, once the prototype is
successfully field-tested.
The Indian Railways estimate upto 50
percent reduction in operating costs
with LNG-based locomotives.
Indian Railways' current fleet of
locomotives are mostly based on diesel
and electricity. Diesel prices have been
rising lately due to increasing prices of
crude oil and the depreciation of the
rupee compared to the US dollar.
Estimates of India's gas reserves indicate
that the country has around 1,240
billion cubic metres (bcm) of
conventional gas, 7,465 bcm of
recoverable shale gas and about 1,890
trillion cubic metres of gas hydrates.

Opinion of Abdul kalam in the Indian express about India

Former President A P J Abdul Kalam today
asked children to fight against all odds to
become unique in the society as every child
has tremendous potential to become one.
He asked children to set a goal and find a
mentor as the first step of their endeavour
and strive hard with perseverance to gain
knowledge.
"Every child has tremendous potential to
become unique and they should fight
hardest against till they achieve it," Kalam
told a gathering of children at Summer
Fiesta organised by National Bal Bhawan
(NBB) here.
Summer Fiesta is organised every year by
NBB during which children from every
strata gather to participate in creative
activities. Noted personalities are invited to
interact with the children.
Terming small aim as "crime", Kalam said
mantra of gaining knowledge is a
combination of "creativity, righteousness
in heart and courage".
The participants also asked the former
President a wide range of questions, from
rocket science to his vision about India
being superpower in 2020.
Replying to a question about his 'Vision
2020' and taking into account the present
situation of the country, Kalam said, "For
2020, we have seven years in hand. If our
economy grows by seven to eight per cent
(which presently is five to six per cent),
then there is possibility to achieve that
goal."
On how he spends time after leaving
Rastrapati Bhavan, Kalam said, "I am
working on a project - Providing Urban
Amenities to Rural Areas (PURA) - which
would help six lakh villages of India.
PURA proposes that urban infrastructure
and services be provided in rural hubs to
create economic opportunities outside of
cities."

Opinion of great people about India

" It is already becoming clearer that a
chapter which has a western beginning will
have to have an Indian ending if it is not to
end in the self-destruction of the human
race... At this supremely dangerous moment
in history the only way of salvation for
mankind is the Indian Way. "
- Dr. Arnold Toynbee ( British Historian :
1889-1975 )
India Quotes
"Many of the advances in the sciences that
we consider today to have been made in
Europe were in fact made in India centuries
ago."
- Grant Duff ( British Historian of India )
"India was China's teacher in religion and
imaginative literature, and the world's teacher
in trignometry, quandratic equations,
grammar, phonetics, Arabian Nights, animal
fables, chess, as well as in philosophy, and
that she inspired Boccaccio, Goethe, Herder,
Schopenhauer, Emerson, and probably also
old Aesop."
- Lin Yutang (1895-1976) author of The
Wisdom of China and India.
"In the great teaching of the Vedas, there is
no touch of sectarianism. It is of all ages,
climes and nationalities and is the royal road
for the attainment of the Great Knowledge "
-Thoreau ( American Thinker )
" When I read the Bhagavat-Gita and reflect
about how God created this universe
everything else seems so superfluous.We owe
a lot to Indians who taught us how to count,
without which no worthwhile scientific
discovery could have been made"
-Albert Einstein, (1879-1955) physicist. In
1905 He published his theory of Relativity.
" The Indian way of life provides the vision of
the natural, real way of life. We veil ourselves
with unnatural masks. On the face of India
are the tender expressions which carry the
mark of the Creators hand. "
- George Bernard Shaw ( Famous British
Author )
" It is, indeed, a remarkable circumstance
that when Western civilization discovers
Relativity it applies it to the manufacture of
atom-bombs, whereas Indian civilization
applies it to the development of new states of
consciousness."
--Anonymous.
" From every sentence (of the Upanishads)
deep, original and sublime thoughts arise,
and the whole is pervaded by a high and holy
and earnest spirit...."In the whole world there
is no study so beneficial and so elevating as
that of the Upanishads. They are destined
sooner or later to become the faith of the
people."
-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) German
philosopher and writer. He was one of the
greatest philosophers of the 19th century.
"India of the ages is not dead nor has she
spoken her last creative word; she lives and
has still something to do for herself and the
human peoples."
- Rishi Aurobindo
" When I read the Upanishads, I found a
profundity of world view that made my
Christianity seem like third grade."
- Huston Smith ( born in China to Methodist
missionaries, a philosopher, most eloquent
writer, world-famous religion scholar who
practices Hatha Yoga. Has taught at MIT and
is currently visiting professor at Univ. of
California at Berkley )
"India of the Vedas entertained a respect for
women amounting to worship; a fact which
we seem little to suspect in Europe when we
accuse the extreme East of having denied the
dignity of woman, and of having only made
her an instrument of pleasure and of passive
obedience.What! here is a civilization, which
you cannot deny to be older than your own,
which places the woman on a level with the
man and gives her an equal place in the
family and in society."

Specilaty of India

India is the country with one the richest
heritage, cultures and traditions in the World.
The country is the home of over 1.2 billion
people, making it the second most populated
country of the world. It is that part of the earth
where more than 780 different languages are
spoken. It is the country with the largest
democracy and the oldest civilization.
From the invention of '0' to of the most
practiced exercise, 'yoga' and the earliest
school of medicine, 'Ayurveda', India holds all
the credit. Indian spices and cuisines are
famous across the globe. Over 6 million
tourists visited India in 2012. From the
"Heaven on earth", Kashmir to the beaches and
surroundings of Kerala and one of the Seven
Wonders of the World, "Taj Mahal", India is
known for it all.
Lets go through some more amazing facts
about the country:
oldest university of the world was started in
India, at Takshila in 700 B.C. Students from all
parts of the world came to India and studied
various subjects.
Every Indian can speak two or more than two
languages. We should feel proud about this.
India is the largest producer of milk in the
world.
The world's highest cricket ground is in
Himachal Pradesh, India and is over 2400
meters above the sea level.
UNESCO declared the Indian National
anthem the world's best national anthem in
2008.
India has the maximum number of post
offices in the world.
Bollywood is the largest center of film
production in the world with an average of
about 350 films every year.
"I am proud that I am born in a prestigious
country like India.

Story Of India

There are 3.22 Million Indians in America.
38% of Doctors in America are Indians.
12% of Scientists in America are Indians.
36% of NASA employees are Indians.
34% of MICROSOFT employees are Indians.
28% of IBM employees are Indians.
17% of INTEL employees are Indians.
13% of XEROX employees are Indians.
You may know some of these facts. These
facts were recently published in a German
Magazine, which deals with
WORLD HISTORY FACTS ABOUT INDIA.
India never invaded any country in her last
100000 years of history.
India invented the Number System.
Aryabhatta invented zero.
The World's first university was established in
Takshila in 700BC.More than 10,500 students from
all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The
University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC
was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India
in the field of education.
Sanskrit is the mother of all the European
languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language
for computer software reported in Forbes magazine,
July 1987.
Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine
known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine
consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today
Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place
in our civilization.
Although modern images of India often show
poverty and lack of development, India was the
richest country on earth until the time of
British invasion in the early 17th Century.
The art of Navigation was born in the river
Sindh 6000 years ago.
The very word Navigation is derived from
the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH.
The Word navy is also derived from Sanskrit 'Nou'.
Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the
earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the
astronomer Smart.; Time taken by earth to orbit
the sun: (5th century) 365.258756484 days.
Budhayana first calculated the value of pi, and
he explained the concept of what is known as the
Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the
6th century long before the European mathematicians
Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from
India; Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the
11th century ; The largest numbers the
Greeks and the Romans
used were 10 6(10 to the power of 6) whereas
Hindus Used numbers as big as 1053 (10 to the
power of 53) with specific names as Early as 5000 BCE
during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest
used number is Tera 1012(10 to the power of 12).
According to the Gemological Institute of
America, up until 1896,India was the only source for
diamonds to the world.
USA based IEEE has proved what has been a
century-old suspicion in the world scientifi
community that the pioneer of Wireless
communication was Prof. Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi.
The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was
built in Saurashtra. According to Saka King
rudradaman I of 150 CE a beautiful lake
called 'Sudarshana'
was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during
Chandragupta Maurya's time.
Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.
Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600
years ago he and health scientists of his time
conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans,
cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary
stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage
of anesthesia was well known in ancient India.
Over 125 surgical equipment were used. Deep
knowledge of anatomy, etiology, embryology, digestion,
metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found
in many texts.
When many cultures were only nomadic forest
dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians
established Harappan culture in Sindhu
Valley (Indus Valley Civilization)
The place value system, the decimal system
was developed in India in 100 BC

Proud to be Indian

1. ENVIRONMENT RICH WITH DIFFERENT
FLAVORS:
India’s environment is rich with many different
flavours. Beautiful Mountains, Graceful Rivers,
Aggressive Desert and Dangerous Wildlife to
name a few. The world praises its natural
beauty and that’s the reason tourism in India
is the largest service industry with the
contributions of 8.78% of the total employment
in the country.
2. LAND WITH EMOTIONS:
Being an Indian the emotional bonding are
much more. India is rich with emotion filled
moments; rather a speech by a politician, a
scold by a teacher or care by a mother. A
feeling at home on Sunday or daily workload at
office, No water supply one day or unclean
roads, List is endless. We Indians are no doubt
rich with variety of emotions. “Tabhi toh
Sochte hai ‘Dil Se’ karte hai “Dil se’.”
3. YOUR LIFESTYLE, YOUR CHOICE:
India have a flavour of the amazing diversified
culture from all over the world. The Indian
culture has been rigid and that’s why it’s
surviving with pride in Modern era. An Indian
Family is rich with every kind of people, A
Grandfather with Dhoti-Kurta, a father with
formal and a grandson following latest trends.
4. BEST TELECOM MARKET:
India is the fastest Growing telecom market in
the world and has the lowest call rates on
earth. So here the connectivity is better than
many other developed countries of the world.
Indian Telecom analysis (2008-2012) says
that Indian telecom industry has undergone a
tremendous change during the past few years.
5. MEDIA, THE FOURTH PILLAR:
India has the largest number of news channel
in the world and largest newspaper market in
the world. Our Free Media is a largely asset
and the greatest achievement for our country.
Media serves as the fourth pillar or like a
family member to us. From the local issue like
a chain snatching to the national issue like
Lokpal bill or international updates of
Olympics, our media is always with us.
6. THE AMAZING BOLLYWOOD:
Bollywood normally termed as Hindi Cinema
with about 400 films every year is the largest
centre of film production in the world. We
Indians are like in Love with Movies. Fourteen
Million Indians go for a movie almost daily.
Although, movies made in America have edged
into India and American and British theatres
showing Bollywood Movies on a more and
more frequent basis. Indian Movies are day by
day becoming more and more famous around
the world.
7. NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT
GUARANTEE ACT OR NREGA:
The Indian Job Guarantee Scheme came into
existence on August 25, 2005 is the largest
ever-public employment scheme visualized till
date.
8. SECULARISM:
India has been declared a secular state by its
own constitution. Here we can see different
religions and castes like no other place in the
world. Together locating the temples and
mosques. A friends group is rich with different
castes and religions, which proves us how the
cultures and castes of India diversify.
9. MOUTH-WATERING CUISINE:
Indian cuisine is rich with wide variety of
regional natives to India. This cuisine varies
because of soil types, climates, occupations
and influenced by cultural values and religion.
Our Spices, vegetables and fruits are rich with
mouth-watering tastes and it’s also the
fragrance which creates magic. The variety is
immense, colourful, aromatic and inexpensive
even at top rated hotels. No wonder, it’s the
third most popular cuisine in the world and
nor it will be surprising when it becomes the
first.
10. INDIAN WEDDING:
In India, there is no greater event in a family
than a wedding. Wedding in India are
beautifully celebrated like nowhere in the
world. We dance; we sing and celebrate it like
a national festival. It symbolizes our tradition,
our culture and heritage. They extend to a
week celebration and filled with emotions,
glamour and glazes. Various events bring
Chuckle and laughter while some other makes
we cry. They vary from region to region
because of our diversified traditions. Now this
has set a trend in foreign countries too to
marry in royal way like Indians do.
Article by : Munmun Rajora