Is India complicated?

           

                     Recently I spoke with a friend of mine, Hiruta Hiromichi from Tokyo, Japan. I had met him when I was volunteering in a kibbutz in Israel in 1996. Then, I had asked him how will he like to visit India? I vividly remember his answer, “India is so crowded, I am afraid I will get lost” he said. He did visit me in India while going back to Tokyo. Since that time, India has changed…a lot, for better. I repeated my question to him, “will you visit India with your family?” His answer was “Yes”. A very enthusiastic ‘yes’, I must say. But then after a pause he added, “But things are still complicated in India”.

That made me think, is India complicated?

  

First of all what is India?

            We have over 1.2 billion people or 17.5% of the world’s population, living in the seventh largest country or 2.4% of the world’s land area. We have more arable land area than any country except the United States, and more water area than any country except Russia, Canada and the United States.

Now, let’s focus on India’s languages-

            How many languages are spoken in India? Chances are that no one has the accurate answer- the country’s authority’s account for 234 languages spoken by 10,000 speakers, and a total of 1,600 languages and dialects. In other words, every 50 miles you drive, you will encounter a different culture with a different dialect or a language.

            On the Economic front, India’s macro economy is doing fabulous but you start focusing on the micro structure and you encounter all the things that are wrong with India’s present. Except for some western pockets, roads and rails are the story of misery. Electricity is still an issue. 24 hour water supply is still considered a luxury.

            On the Social front, Law and order is for the selected few. There are some improvements in the social fabric of the nation but then again they are in few and selected places. Elections are still manipulated and are won by short-sightedness. Literacy rate of 71%, I think, is the only bright spot in social India. Most of the judicial cases are still settled outside the courtrooms. Justice is still delayed and denied.

Does all this makes India complicated or this is what India is? The jury is still out.

My professor of economics once told me “One is optimistic on India till the time they arrive in India”