Boom Boom India.. ?

Shaktipalooza

Say what?

Ok, I will defend the right for people to spend their money as the see fit, even if that means being an uncharitable jackass. Personally I find the place quite cheezy and would never live there but to each his own. Did anyone else see that retarded looking building with a faux cruise ship running through it? Oh lordy.

The vast majority of people in the west would have a damn hard time living in any of India's megacities with their crumbling infrastructures. People with means are escaping the urban blight, doesn't that happen everywhere?

I won't comment on whether or not this development is environmentally friendly, I have no idea, nobody does from reading a couple of online articles. With all of India's environmental issues I don't see the point in singling out the rich.

Is there an actual point to that comment?

I know a lot of professionals and a few people who could actually be considered wealthy in India. Truth is, they're just as frustrated with a corrupt, inept government as anyone else.

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Shaktipalooza

btw, how much of this site actually exists? just glancing through their web site i noticed some really poor photo fakery in their pictures.

crvlvr

take a look at this image. I think it looks like a James Bond villan's paradise

sshekhar

So what is the point of the article, that the rich should apologize for working hard and getting rich? If it wasn't for liberalization, India would have stayed the same way or worse, the poor would have gotten poorer. We gave socialism a shot for 50 years and the end result was almost an implosion of the economy. I think the writer's beef with the rich folks is how can you not have a guilty conscience with so many poor people around you?

I don't think this is a very just argument. On the contrary I would argue that these guys are creating opportunities for the masses. This is how it has worked in the US. Any govt anywhere in the world cannot do anything about poverty. The best thing they can do is let their citizens loose with their creativity. This helps a country's economy evolve in the most natural way to benefit the maximum people (yes there are different levels of benefits). And that is exactly what the Indian govt has done.

A growth rate of around 10% if sustained over next 20 years is probably going to lift the Indian masses out of poverty by 2020, according to some UN report I read sometime back. These are growing pains that a lot of countries have gone through sometime in their past.

I am an average middle-class guy and I have found that I can actually help folks in Africa and India if I have some money to sponsor children and provide them with opportunities that god was kind enough to throw my way. If I had the same left-leaning idiotic ideaology that Arundhati Roy has all I would do is provide lip-service to the poors. Hay atleast I am making a difference in a child's life somewhere and that makes me feel good about having the resources to do that. These guys should shut their pie-hole if they can't do anything about solving the problems.

Digital Drifter

Quite. I see it no differently than how the NTC land mills in Bombay were converted to housing projects even though the charter said that it could be used for public use only. & the SC complied with a wrong judgement. Let's see, with this size of the project, the GOI could have provided for the homeless; we seem to have the largest number of slums. Why was it easy for the rich to get the clearances when there are thousands of people with no affordable housing? seeing the pressure for land, the GOI could have denotifed for development way before to ease the pressure.

Had it been a private to private land transaction, I'd have no issues but the trade off for 8000 people to 200K people, would you agree?


Inequalities breed resentment. A mob doesnt care whether you earned your wealth legally or illegally; once in motion, they behave exactly like Genghis Khan. A gated community is exactly that, 'gated'. Rest assured, i have nothing against the rich, only that they manage to mark themselves as rich by entering the gates.

Every extortionist in town,every telemarketing chap now knows you and that 8 foot wall will look awfully small. & there's always the cleaning staff of various kind, exactly how trustworthy are those?

By all means, build and they shall come. & then reap what that brings.

Somehow it reminds of the 60s Anglo-Indian dream of having their own township somewhere(I forgot) in India. I forgot the name of the place but it never worked & if history is any judge, this will also go the same way.

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Digital Drifter

Quite where you got the impression that your post was offensive to me, is beyond me. All I did was cite your posts with with events of mine. Which I why I specifically quoted your lines to keep it on topic.

sshekhar

Inequalities don't have to breed resentment. I believe that mob resentment (usually that have caused revolutions) are caused by inequality of opportunity, basically inability of people to do something about the situation. This usually doesn't happen in a democratic society. Inequality of wealth does not necessarily imply inequality of opportunities. I don't think any average Indian is being stopped by anyone from doing anything.

Digital Drifter

so, in your opinion, what breeds resentment? & the reason for the 8 foot wall?

& mobs form in democratic societies precisely because you are ALLOWED to; when was the last time a dictiator allowed a mob to get organised without mowing them down?

I didn't say inequality of wealth <=> inequality of opportunities; I said it leads to a lot of temptation, given human nature. That's why I quoted Napolean.

I beleive the scientist Lavoiusier was sort of chopped, just because he rich during the french revolution. point granted that it happend during a revolution but the larger point remains whether you're a scientist, good person or mother Teresa; you earn the label, that you're marked in some way.


BTW, I'm very thankful this country was socialist for 50 years because I couldnt have afforded an

a. education for Rs 300 a semester; that's the fee I paid for my B.sc in Gov. College.
b. subsidised power(household power)
c. subsidised food (ration shops)
d. subsidised transport (buses/trains in TN)
e. Administriative Price Controlled drugs, so that it's affordable when I'm sick

and a whole bunch of other stuff the GOI did for me. Sure, it has its warts but it's never good Karma to kick the ladder which pulled you out of the pit of poverty.


Of course, your interpreation of what the GOI did for YOU might vary. All I'm saying is, I benefited in its largesse and for that I'm very grateful.

phantom

Hm... quite good points all. And I think this variety of thinking will keep things sanitized and balanced. 1 billion people dont think same. And as long as nobody is curbing the thinking as in China, I dont think, we need to raise any alarm bells.

Shaktipalooza

Seems ironic that the person who posted right after you is making a plea for drugs to treat some students who can't afford them.

Indojingai

Do you insinuate that there are no poor or atleast those who cant buy expensive treatment in socialist countries?

There are few people too rich in all types of governments (socialist, communist, etc..), these expensive housing are for Indias super rich, which doesnt go 1% against the fact that 50% (or was it 40) of Indian popluation earns less than 2$/day.

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Digital Drifter

Ah, no, the point was the juxtaposition of thier castles against the poor & the slums. That land would would have BETTER served someone underprivileged and lots of them. Their only crime was they were poor but if you're rich then the laws can be bent in your favour.

ummm...incorrect, it's a real estate promoter doing this; he sells classy brochures of the place; rich people buy it if they like. While it may not be clear, the author is questioning the motive of the GOI is releasing such a large tract to a real estate developer. Sure, there are appreciative quotes from prospective homeowners but they didn't join together to petition the GOI to get this mega project. As I alluded, they're most probably going ot be victims

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.I._Bill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-day_meal_scheme

might help to dispel the notion of what Gov. sponsered poverty eradication programmes can do, especially if it's done RIGHT. I also noticed in the article, opponents use an argument similar to yours. Just saying.....

When you have skewed wealth, a certain lopsided creature develops. It happened only 50-60 years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robber_...(industrialist)

Look up 'Antitrust' in wikipedia and find out what happens if the economy develops naturally. Without government supervision, capitalism is no different from cannibalism.

As a part of the 'growing pains' I suppose you dont want your family to suffer, right? As long as it's not you or your family, it's OK, isn't it? that's progress? Some may starve so that others propser?

A rising tide should lift all boats, not a select few. (straight lift from a Congress spokesperson about the 'India Shining' campaign of the BJP)

Glad to know of your self identification and your dedication to helping others.
It appears God has helped you but He seemed to have abandoned those poor African and Indian kids by not giving them an independent means of survival like you. With all due respect to Him, I rather FORCE the govs. to act to provide for medical care, education, civic sense and a safety net for people who were NOT given a chance to be rich or even a middle class person. Divine intervention seems to happen every 500 , 1000 or 2000 years but a starving kid dies in 3 days flat.

How nice of you to slander Roy. I guess, trying to prevent poor villagers from becoming mendicants and theives in their own country is lip service. trying to get them their rightful due, as PROMISED by the GOI is lip service. Standing up to the SC of India in protest of their judgement on Narmada is lip service. Yes, instead of passing them everyday in the bus silently, without flinching, without noticing the poor but RAISING HER VOICE against the slow garotting of the villages is lip service.

Lip Service.

I'm not sure what's the background is with the Roy attacks. Is it not possible for a rich, successful, good looking author to be identifiable with working for the poor? She does it with a lot more elan and style, by projecting their needs as a FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT of a citizen instead of a charity handout grudgingly given.


Indeed, you are. But you are not the ONLY one making a difference isnt it? and certainly not the only way to do it. Different people, different strokes.