Month: April 2012

India losing its sheen

It is very unfortunate, but I find myself agreeing to a lot of what this Economist article has to say. Read the excerpt:

INDIA is a land of large numbers: a place of over a billion people, a million mutinies and a thousand different tongues. But it is not too much of a stretch to say that since independence in 1947 there have only been two kinds of Indian economy.

The first produced slothful growth, mind-bending red tape and suffocating bureaucracy. The second revved up gradually after liberalisation in the 1990s, so that by the mid-2000s India was a land of surging optimism—open and full of entrepreneurs who overcame a retreating but still cranky public sector. The country seemed destined to enjoy a long spurt of turbocharged growth, thanks to its favourable demography, fired-up firms, gradual reforms and willingness to save and invest.

But lately, like a Bollywood villain who just refuses to die, the old India has made a terrifying reappearance (see article). The main reason is the country’s desperate politics.

Read the full article here.

Tree Hugger – Jadav “Molai” Payeng

This is just amazing. Read this exerpt:

A little over 30 years ago, a teenager named Jadav “Molai” Payeng began burying seeds along a barren sandbar near his birthplace in northern India’s Assam region to grow a refuge for wildlife. Not long after, he decided to dedicate his life to this endeavor, so he moved to the site where he could work full-time creating a lush new forest ecosystem. Incredibly, the spot today hosts a sprawling 1,360 acre of jungle that Payeng planted single-handedly.

Wow. Talk about perseverence, and a love for nature. I can imagine how happy he would have been through the 30 years to see his “forest” grow. Some of us are not even successful in keeping our tulsi healthy.

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