[Assam] NYTimes.com: Inside Gate, India's Good Life; Outside, the Servants' Slums

Mon Jun 9 21:35:15 PDT 2008

Gini Index (of inequality - higher score more inequality) shows that USA  (40.8) is far more unequal than India (36.8) , Canada (32), China (46), Chile (56), Brazil (50), Sierra Leone (62.9)  Namibia (74), Panama (56.1), Haiti (59.2), Argentina (51)

http://earthtrends.wri.org/text/economics-business/variable-353.html

I had searched for this index when I reached Canada in 2006 and saw people excited about Canada's supposed equality (just as much better than India's [4 points] than India is better than the USA)

It seems looking thru colored lenses  people, who are used to seeing the more unequal nations in Africa and South America and the Carribean, (in Hollywood movies like Blood Diamond [showing Sierra Leone] or Evita [about Argentinian First Lady]. 

I wonder the author does anything besides writing articles. I wonder if she has ever stayed in a slum . I have stayed in Gurgaon for sometime, even stayed in an Old Delhi area which might qualify for a slum.  Some of us (in the US etc)  might recall days without electricity when growing up in small towns in India.  

I recall an itinerary of a World Bank official on an official trip to India (about 2-3 weeks). In Mumbai he would (he is there already) stay in the grand Taj Mahal Hotel (Rs11,000 per night or $270) , in Delhi he would stay in Maurya Sheraton (Rs 9,500 per night or $190) , in Jaipur at Rajputana Sheraton (Rs5,000 or $125 at summer discount rate) etc etc -- why noone writes about these five star charity workers from Washington DC?  Why do they need to stay in these five stars? Why cannot they stay with the poor in the slums?

Umesh

Rajen & Ajanta Barua <barua25 at hotmail.com> wrote:   >Slowly but surely, India's middle class is also growing in number due to free enterprise.

  My guess on the Indian population analysis is like this:
  35% Below Poverty Line
  30% Poor
  20% Lower Middle Class
  10% Upper Middle Class
  4%  Rich
  1% Super Rich

  Sorry I did not know what was the topic, but should be based on above unless somebody criticise me and come up with a better analysis.
  Let us now talk positive.
  Barua

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: "Dilip&Dil Deka" 
  To: "A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world" 
  Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 7:49 AM
  Subject: Re: [Assam] NYTimes.com: Inside Gate, India's Good Life;Outside, the Servants' Slums

  We all agree that there is a vast gap between the rich and the poor in India. Slowly but surely, India's middle class is also growing in number due to free enterprise.
  Before we criticize the likes of Gurgaon and IPL, we need to ask the question - are they funded from government revenue in which all Indian citizens have a claim? They may be opulent and in stark contrast with the surroundings. If they are totally funded with private capital and are self-sufficient, there is not a whole lot you can complain about their being. If the Gurgaon complex installs its own generators to get UPS, why should they be criticized? If the residents manicure their lawns with their own money, where is the problem?
  Should the residents of Gurgaon spend time and money in improving the lives of Shephali Das and her kids? MOST DEFINITELY.
  Most entrepreneurs in the western world do and it is a trait Indian entrepreneurs lack. THEY NEED TO WAKE UP before Maoists move closer to them and cause terrorism in the cities.
  Dilip Deka

  ----- Original Message ----
  From: Jyotirmoy Sharma 
  To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world 
  Sent: Monday, June 9, 2008 6:23:45 AM
  Subject: Re: [Assam] NYTimes.com: Inside Gate, India's Good Life; Outside, the Servants' Slums

  India's poverty is western media's obsession( whether good or bad is
  debatable ).
  In Aus, whenever there is anything shown on India, it will be mostly about
  slums, call centres, riots etc. There will never be any report on India's
  positives - be it the growing middle class, good progress in space
  technology etc. Maybe it is one way of telling the local population as to
  how priviledged they are. Coverage of local issues which make them look bad
  is sometimes relegated to the background.
  As an example of media bias, most of the IPL matches were shown live on free
  to air channels here. However, they cut the opening and closing ceremony.
  Maybe that would have raised the question, "How could a poor country be
  capable of such pomp and flamboyance?"

  JS

  On Mon, Jun 9, 2008 at 11:05 AM, Ram Sarangapani  wrote:

  > C'da thanks for the article, its a good article (though not an eye
  > opener) and Umesh, you raise some good points.
  >
  > One is left wondering which is worse, a country that can possibily afford
  > to
  > eradicate poverty within its boundaries, or a country that flaunts
  > its riches that it can ill afford to. :)
  >
  > --Ram
  >
  >
  > On 6/8/08, umesh sharma  wrote:
  > >
  > > In Washington DC and New York the contrast may not be so obvious
  > > but Harlem is a US slum near the riches of Manhattan. People do beg
  > > in downtown DC. DC is the crime capital of the US. Does that make Bill
  > > Gates or Bill Clinton apologetic or for that
  > > matter Thomas Friedman or Al Gore who stay in multimillion dollar
  > > homes and buy carbon credits.
  > >
  > > Poverty is relative -unless someone is dying of hunger. For sickness look
  > > at PG county govt hospitals - 10 miles from White House which as per a
  > local
  > > College Park resident ( I haven't been there) where patients sit in
  > > corridors for days without treatment.
  > >
  > > Umesh
  > >
  > > cmahanta at charter.net wrote: This page was sent to you by:
  > > cmahanta at charter.net.
  > >
  > > The Good Life of Gurgaon
  > >
  > >
  > > INTERNATIONAL / ASIA PACIFIC | June 9, 2008
  > > Inside Gate, India's Good Life; Outside, the Servants' Slums
  > > By SOMINI SENGUPTA
  > > Gated communities have emerged in India, giving its growing
  > > upper-middle-class giving Western amenities, along with maids and
  > chauffeurs
  > > who live in nearby slums.
  > >
  > >
  > >
  > http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/09/world/asia/09gated.html?ex=1213588800&en=223c319279fc0dfc&ei=5070&emc=eta1
  > >
  > >
  > >
  > >
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  > > Umesh Sharma
  > >
  > > Washington D.C.
  > >
  > > 1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
  > >
  > > Ed.M. - International Education Policy
  > > Harvard Graduate School of Education,
  > > Harvard University,
  > > Class of 2005
  > >
  > > http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)
  > >
  > > http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)
  > >
  > >
  > >
  > >
  > > www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are used )
  > > http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/
  > >
  > >
  > >
  > > http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
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Umesh Sharma

Washington D.C. 

1-202-215-4328 [Cell]

Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005

http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)

www.gse.harvard.edu/iep  (where the above 2 are used )
http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/

http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/

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