On Thursday 16 Aug 2007 11:03 pm, Udhay Shankar N wrote: > Forwarded from another list. I met Dr Dossani a few years ago when he > was in India to study outsourcing [1] and he seems a smart cookie. I > find the last paragraph of this article the most provocative -- "This > suggests that Pakistan is only a crucial freedom step away from success." > > Comments?
Sadly (and I insert the word "sadly" at the start only because you know the author) the article suffers from "India-itis". Everything is compared with India. If India does worse it means "good for Pakistan", if India does better it - the difference is either illusional or marginal. To be fair this guy does better than that - but not a lot better. The tone is no different from the thousands of articles one reads from the Pakistani educated elite. The question I always ask is If you live in a nation that is as lousy as India or Pakistan why would you want to compare your status with another lousy nation? Surely, if you are comparing "development" parameters like wealth, technology, population growth rate, infant mortality, womens rights etc - you should compare with some kind of "ideal norm". Why not compare India or Pakistan with the US or Japan or Denmark or Sweden? By comparing India with Pakistan or Pakistan with India you are merely gleaning a sense of happiness from the fact that your own lousy statistic is better that the other guy's lousy statistic. What would an Indian gain by comparing his University with Lahore University? He should really weigh his set up against Stanford or Berkeley. And the Lahore guy has no business comparing with another third rate set up. Oh yes - you can claim India is heaven on earth - just compare with Rwanda. It is when others start comparing your nation with Rwanda that you should start worrying. shiv
