July 2007

Here is a very interesting article busting misconceptions about Indian economic inequality…

Income Inequality In India: Growth, Health And Development

Filed under: Growth, Health — Dweep @ 10:58 pm

Economists frequently cite economic growth as the surest way out of poverty for the developing world. In this context, China is an often mentioned example, where double digit growth has brought over 300 million people out of extreme poverty over the past few decades. But closely tied to growth is the question of equality - of growing the pie, as opposed to distributing it.

In discussions of equality, India usually does better in comparison to China. Proponents of India’s path to development often point out that income inequality in India has historically been relatively low. The UN Human Development Report 2006 estimated the Gini Index - an indicator of income inequality - for India to be 32.5 in 2000. This compares favorably with much of the world, including the USA and OECD countries (Sweden: 25; Norway: 25.8; USA: 40.8; China: 44.7; Brazil: 58 - low numbers are better).

Yes, India’s income distribution is relatively equal. But inequality is rising - fast.

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Iraq, a nation since 1920, war-torn, conflict-ridden, plagued by despotic rulers, and western political and economic aspirations. The area we now know as Iraq is also the site of many ancient civilizations. Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians, and Arabians all built their monuments and cities in this area. A little overwhelmed with my self-driven project to find out more about the history of this “nation” I’ve read almost too much. Now I’m faced with the fact that I wrote a blog that is 3 single-spaced pages. Don’t worry I cut the lot and will not bore you with the whole thing. Do people really care about what the Persians called their Iraq province or when the Mongols sacked Baghdad? Well, perhaps a few people care, but I think my blog is already long enough for most of your TV-addled attention spans.

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British history is filled with intrepid adventurers who took off to foreign climes in search of wealth, fame, and freedom from British conventions. While many of these adventurers did tend to look on “natives” with a more sympathetic eye than Brits at home, prejudice and British patriotism still played a large role in their actions. Gertrude Bell is one such famous British adventurer. While her role is unusual because she was a woman, her actions and sentiments are not really much different from her male counterparts. At least not so far as I can see.
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So, I was browsing digg.com when I came upon a delightful article on how the ancient Vedic texts mention nothing of caste that one is born into. I thought this would be an interesting addition to my earlier article, “Caste, Simplified?” Regarding the formation of caste by the British and their Indian collaborators. I don’t really know anything about Vedic texts or Sanskrit, so I can’t corroborate, but I thought it was extremely interesting and the author seems pretty knowledgeable of the language and translation.

Somanatha, an ancient South-Asian city whose temple was allegedly raided by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni in 1026, became a rallying point for the British and later, Hindu Nationalists. The British ignored Hindu sources from the time period which made no mention of Ghazni’s raid. Rather, they relied solely on Muslim chronicles trying to legitimate their ruler’s power and legitimacy. In fact, they deliberately mistranslated these chronicles which wrote about various raids simply as war against a neighbouring kingdom–whether Muslim, Hindu, or Jain–and turned these commonplace raids into jihads, or holy wars against infidels. In reality, South Asia around this medieval time period was very diverse, fractured amongst many kingdoms. There was no Hindu/Muslim animosity. Rather Hindus and Muslims lived and worked together quite peacefully. The temple at Somanath around the time of Ghazni’s raid even had a dedication inscription by a local Muslim merchant in both Arabic and Sanskrit. To find the cause of the raid one must look at politics instead of religion.

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We often hear the old adage that History repeats itself. Many people, when they hear I graduated with a B.A. in History make some comment like “oh that is such a wonderful degree…we need to teach people not to repeat history…won’t we ever learn!” Now they could just be being nice as the other school of people say something lame like, “oh history, what’ll you do with that, teach?” Well, not that there isn’t anything to be learned from history, obviously there is. However, when you look closely at any situation, much less an historical one, you are boggled by details. Details, that in essence, make every situation unique and defy simple explanation. Well, considering this I’ve found a slew of famous British historians who’ve stated it clearly, History doesn’t repeat itself. Although there may be similar trends and strategies, expect the unexpected. Every situation must be faced with a fresh perspective. Instead of trying to force the past into the mold of the present we must learn, point blank, what can happen. One revolution is never the same as another, nor one war ever the same as another. However, the way opinions and propagandas can be mobilized is very similar even if the mold is different. So, is there really any significance to saying that history doesn’t repeat itself, exactly? Well, probably not, seems like a little bit of academic mind barfing to me.

Alright, I’ve heard so many misconceptions on this subject that I thought it deserved a little blog…

The caste system of India is looked on by many as a primitive leftover from the ancient past of India, oppressive, backwards, and needing reform. I’ve read a few news articles lately regarding how the current south-asian tech boom is slowly changing the rigidity of the caste system as companies prefer hiring based on ability rather than caste. Now, I’m not really going to go into that issue, sure all cultures are in a state of constant change, albeit some faster than others. However, the caste system itself–as we understand it–is a product of change. Particularly change wrought by the colonial system.

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