Britannia Radio

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

 

Mumbai Massacre Reveals Reality of Rising India

The Mumbai massacre has revealed the real India: it is still a bloody mess. Investors, bankers, business travelers and tourists--and pundits preaching the marvels of globalization at the expense of Western (especially American) workers--would be well advised to step back and take a hard look at the reality of rising India.

The BBC reports on the 'rot' at the heart of Indian intelligence:

The blame game over who was responsible for bloody terror attacks in the western Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) has a sense of déjà vu about it.

Security experts have criticised the response to the attacks, which left nearly 200 people dead, as "amateurish, sluggish and feeble".

Indian intelligence agencies are leaking information that they gave about half a dozen warnings to the government in Maharashtra state - of which Mumbai is the capital.

The reports say Maharashtra was warned that strikes were being planned on city landmarks, including, possibly, the Taj Mahal hotel at the historic Gateway of India.

Authorities in Mumbai flatly deny that they received any tip-offs. "It is unimaginable that we would have got this sensitive information and not react," says state Interior Secretary Chitkala Zutshi.

Click here to continue reading. Keep in mind eyewitness reports of cowardly police refusing to fire back at smiling, mass-murdering terrorists. 

Muslim extremists are only part of the problem. The Maoist uprising in much of the country shows no sign of letting up. The Washington Post reports:

The precise number of groups orchestrating attacks in India is hard to ascertain because of splintering movements, but the country faces possible violence perpetrated by dozens of extremist groups. More than 2,750 people across India died in terrorism-related violence in 2006, according to analysis by the South Asia Terrorism Portal, a project of the Institute for Conflict Management, an independent, New Delhi-based think tank.

Click here to read the whole story.

The country is also plagued by tribal separatism, jungle banditry, and, of course, crushing poverty, widespread corruption, horrible injustice, including a caste system that breeds hatred and violence, illiteracy, ignorance, backwardness and superstition. Bride burning persists: at least 5,000 dowry deaths occur annually, and perpetrators often go unpunished.

Poverty and India are almost synonymous. The country has 456 million people, 41.6% of its population, living below the new international poverty line of $1.25 per day.

This reporter thinks that is worth repeating for the stupid Silicon Valley venture capitalists who have been enthralled by Hyderabad high-tech fantasies and Bollywood bandit movie investment schemes: in India, 456 million people, 41.6% of the population, live--rather, they barely exist or somehow survive--on less than $1.25 per day.

Some economic miracle.

China looks better every day. 


POSTSCRIPT: American plutocrats who export call-center and other jobs to India that could easily be filled by Americans--if only the U.S. government would do the right thing and extend broadband service across rural America--should hang their heads in shame.