The Trouble With India

I've read a few arguments that compared the waking of the two sleeping giants: India and China, and which one will be able to capitalize and sustain the transition from third world, sprawling chaos, to developed nationhood. The advocates of democracy stress that no where in the world is there a successful country built from single party rule -- and only with freedom, can a country be successful by all measures of what success is: economic strength, social justice, freedom, etc. Thus far however, no one would argue that China is realizing successes while India continues to struggle.

The latest issue of BusinessWeek carries a cover article that explores what is troubling India. There is much. Most notably, an infrastructure that is totally lacking and in need of investment; and rampant corruption that is bilking resources and time from much needed investments. India's growing prestige in the world is coming mostly from its technology and related services sector. These are businesses that don't need infrastructure investment. Then there is China, which has grown due to its manufacturing prowess -- requiring huge infrastructure investment. China is catching up to the developed nations, while India struggles, and the gap between the rich and poor widens. With infrastructure and manufacturing investment, India's poor would also benefit from the growth. In China, decisions flow from the top. While there is no doubt corruption, there is no debate on what should be done. Not the case in India, where the sprawling bureaucracy moves at a lazy pace.

Will a democracy prevail over the new single party rule China is modeling? Can both models be successful? Only time will tell.