Copyright@shravancharitymission
By Kamlesh Tripathi
By Kamlesh Tripathi
The Chinese economy is five times bigger than
India’s.
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The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) reserved for
India just 19.48% of the total waters of the six-river Indus system.
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India is selling 25 million smart phones per
quarter and the anticipation is 700 million smart phones in hand by 2020.
Internet penetration is growing with 332 million internet users in India. Is
now second largest international market, ahead of the US.
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Aadhar is the only billion-user platform
outside the US and the only government one.
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India is the largest young country in an ageing
world and will continue to have a young population for the next 25 years,
whereas China has started ageing.
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Thailand has 25 million international visitors
per year while India has only 8 million.
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The International monetary fund estimates that
Indian percapita income more than tripled from about $550 in 1991 to $ 1800
last year.
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In 1991, the world’s most populous country
accounted for a scant 3.6% of global gross domestic product. By 2015 this had
nearly doubled to 7%.
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WHO estimates that the average Indian lives 10
years longer today (68 years) than a quarter century ago. But he has yet to
catch up with the average Indonesian (69 years), and continues to lag behind
the average Chinese (76 years).
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Between 1991 and 2015, India slashed infant
mortality by more than half- from 86 deaths to 38 deaths per 1000 births.
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The international Telecommunications Union
estimates that mobile subscriptions in India reached 79% of population last
year, up from 62% just five years earlier. That sounds awfully impressive until
you realise that in China the mobile penetration is 93% and in Indonesia it’s a
stratospheric 132%.
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Back in 1950s and 1960s, US steelworks and auto
workers were by far most productive in the world, and could demand high, rising
wages. But today the workers in developing countries have acquired skills that
are almost as good.
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Before the industrial revolution, China and
India accounted for over half of world GDP, but their share fell to barely 7%
in the 20th century.
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In the 20th century Europe was twice
devastated by World Wars, letting the US forge ahead. US hegemony followed in
the second half of the 20th century. Even US workers without college
degrees had skills that were globally scarce, and so attracted high pay.
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The world Bank says the number of poor people
globally more than halved from 1.75 billion in 1990 to just 702 million in
2015; the proportion of people in extreme poverty fell from 37% to 9.6%; and
the world Gini coefficient (which measures inequality) fell from 75% to 62%.
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The US is indeed a great country, but for
completely different reasons. It has been the most welcoming country for immigrants
in history. Half the start-ups in Silicon Valley are by people of Chinese or
Indian origin. Many Nobel Prizes have been won by first or second generation
immigrants.
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What a lie: Out of the 6753 candidates of the
2009 Lok Sabha elections that were scrutinized, only four admitted that they
had exceeded the limit of election spending as prescribed by ECI while 30 said
they had spent 90%. The rest claimed that they had spent 52-55%.
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The telecom industry saw only 40% of the
spectrum on offer being sold in 2016. In particular, the complete absence of
any bids in the 700 MHz and 900 MHz bands came as a rude shock.
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Recently, interesting though intriguing data
from 70-80 countries show that anxiety levels increase when there is less work
(James Tozer in the Economist, citing a study done by the World Bank, in 2015).
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Economic liberalisation in China and India are
commonly thought to have started in 1978 and 1991 respectively.
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