Atanu Dey on India’s Development

Whom the Gods wish to Destroy they first make mad

Ever wondered why exactly India is an astoundingly poor overpopulated illiterate starving nation of a billion people? I do. It need not be one specific reason of course. It could be a combination of several factors. For instance, it could be due to divine decree: the gods said that India should be pathetically poor. Can’t argue with that if the gods indeed decreed it. Or it could be that aliens from Mars conspired to make India what it is. Or it could be that foreign powers and their evil agents make India poor. My favorite theory which explains why India is poor is this: plain old ignorance and stupidity.

When the degree of ignorance and stupidity exceeds a certain threshold, it slides into madness. And as Euripides warned long ago, whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. Whether or not Indian leaders have gone mad is a question that I leave for you to decide. The future of India pivots on that point. My conclusion is that madness has taken a firm hold on the leadership of India and the consequences are foretold.

Tim Worstall took the trouble of pointing me to yet another sign that the future of India is in peril. Read and weep for the beloved country.

October 13, 2004 - Posted by | Indian Bureaucracy and Politicians, Why is India Poor?

5 Comments

  1. Shut up. Don’t you know, we are a country of Aryabhatta and Kamasutra and Ramayana. Don’t you know we are a country of nobel guys: Raman and Tagore and Sen and others. Don’t you know we are 75% microsoft employees (yes, MS hires 750 million Indians). Shut up. Laloo jindabaad. Laloo will bring India out of dark ages.

    Wait a minute. Mera bharat mahan. What dark ages?

    Comment by Mera Bharat Mahan | October 13, 2004

  2. “Sau mein Assi baimaan, phir bhi mera bharat mahaan”.

    Comment by Anant Arora | October 14, 2004

  3. Why are you so pessimistic ? lighten up a little 😀 India will survive whether Laloo opens his wheel factory or not.

    sometimes I think its the first past the post system of elections that we have gives rise to politicians who make fools out of all of us.

    Comment by uspeed | October 14, 2004

  4. Atanu,

    Euripides repeated what the Indian sages already knew “Vinashakale vipareethabuddhi”

    I fully agree with you on the madness of the governing, which is aptly matched by the apathy of the governed. Some time ago, I wrote about how a mixture of intellectual pride and ideological blinkers is causing great damage.

    The way we tolerate clowns in parliament and cabinet makes a mockery of the democracy which India is so proud about.

    Comment by Nitin | October 14, 2004

  5. Just wanted to quote get your attention toward this post.
    http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,65269,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1

    Comment by kiran | October 19, 2004


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