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LETTERS; India's Growing Gap Between Rich and Poor - New York Times
India's Growing Gap Between Rich and Poor
Published: June 16, 2008
To the Editor:
Re ''Inside Gate, India's Good Life; Outside, the Servants' Slums'' (front page, June 9):
Rampant privatization, government-supported out-of-control corporate power, the destruction of the social safety net and the blindfolded emulation of the Western socioeconomic model have all contributed to the increasing chasm between the rich and poor in India.
It will be hard to take seriously India's aspiration to be the next superpower until it shows significant improvement in controlling its population growth, poverty and pollution; betters its abysmal record on corruption, health care, education and human rights; and finds a way to bring the ugly disparity between rich and poor into balance.
As an Indian-American with deep home ties, I am saddened by how India's leaders have pushed India's once-glorified concepts of morality-based equality and prosperity into oblivion.
The globalization of capital and the work force has made a relatively small percentage of the Indian population happy. But at the same time, millions are in misery, both in cities and villages, with no hope for a better future.
Partha Banerjee
Brooklyn, June 9, 2008
To the Editor:
India's rapid strides in economic progress are the cynosure of the developing and developed world today. As a naturalized American citizen who was born and educated in India, I am proud of the spectacular achievements India has made in technology and manufacturing in the relatively short span of its 60 years of independence.
But during my frequent visits to India, I am concerned to see the two sides of this growth. The disparity between the burgeoning middle class and the poor is widening at an alarming rate.
Notwithstanding the sharp increase in newly minted dollar billionaires and millionaires in India, the majority of the people who have been at the lowest rung on the economic ladder are still struggling to make ends meet. The high rate of illiteracy, poverty and disease and the lack of empowerment have made their present economic condition almost chronic.
Unless the fruits of the economic boom fired by globalization are responsibly invested in social projects like public education and health care that will penetrate into the villages and the interior of India, the gulf between the rich and the poor will widen further and create two worlds right across from each other.
Atul M. Karnik
Woodside, Queens, June 9, 2008
India's Growing Gap Between Rich and Poor
Published: June 16, 2008
To the Editor:
Re ''Inside Gate, India's Good Life; Outside, the Servants' Slums'' (front page, June 9):
Rampant privatization, government-supported out-of-control corporate power, the destruction of the social safety net and the blindfolded emulation of the Western socioeconomic model have all contributed to the increasing chasm between the rich and poor in India.
It will be hard to take seriously India's aspiration to be the next superpower until it shows significant improvement in controlling its population growth, poverty and pollution; betters its abysmal record on corruption, health care, education and human rights; and finds a way to bring the ugly disparity between rich and poor into balance.
As an Indian-American with deep home ties, I am saddened by how India's leaders have pushed India's once-glorified concepts of morality-based equality and prosperity into oblivion.
The globalization of capital and the work force has made a relatively small percentage of the Indian population happy. But at the same time, millions are in misery, both in cities and villages, with no hope for a better future.
Partha Banerjee
Brooklyn, June 9, 2008
To the Editor:
India's rapid strides in economic progress are the cynosure of the developing and developed world today. As a naturalized American citizen who was born and educated in India, I am proud of the spectacular achievements India has made in technology and manufacturing in the relatively short span of its 60 years of independence.
But during my frequent visits to India, I am concerned to see the two sides of this growth. The disparity between the burgeoning middle class and the poor is widening at an alarming rate.
Notwithstanding the sharp increase in newly minted dollar billionaires and millionaires in India, the majority of the people who have been at the lowest rung on the economic ladder are still struggling to make ends meet. The high rate of illiteracy, poverty and disease and the lack of empowerment have made their present economic condition almost chronic.
Unless the fruits of the economic boom fired by globalization are responsibly invested in social projects like public education and health care that will penetrate into the villages and the interior of India, the gulf between the rich and the poor will widen further and create two worlds right across from each other.
Atul M. Karnik
Woodside, Queens, June 9, 2008
