T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan's column "The gorilla in the room" (Marginal Utility, November 8), provides a perspective different from the euphoria surrounding the "demographic dividend" that India enjoys.
Anyone whose eyes are not tinted enough by Hollywood understands that all societies have good people and bad people, metaphorically speaking. However, due to the limited size of their population, many developed nations do not have overwhelming numbers of "bad" people to deal with.
More significantly, these countries have created efficient systems to deliver education and health care to their population, presumably resulting in more contented societies. Also, their policing and prosecution mechanisms deliver swift justice, acting as deterrence to wrongdoing. I would not belittle our own judicial system, but it is no secret that our system is overwhelmed by the sheer number of cases awaiting judgment. Another example is the Delhi Metro, a fine system that is creaking, thanks to the sea of humanity it has to support, as I found to my chagrin sometime ago.
The author's analysis of electoral economics becomes starker when read with the fact that most candidates would like a "return on investment" and constitute the largest segment for black money demand.
Conventional economics, especially the socialist variety that promotes entitlement and pseudo-equality, has no answer for our issues. We need to find creative solutions that go beyond symptomatic relief and address the deeper malaise. Does the new body that will replace the archaic Planning Commission provide Narendra Modi with an opportunity to make a beginning?
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Anyone whose eyes are not tinted enough by Hollywood understands that all societies have good people and bad people, metaphorically speaking. However, due to the limited size of their population, many developed nations do not have overwhelming numbers of "bad" people to deal with.
More significantly, these countries have created efficient systems to deliver education and health care to their population, presumably resulting in more contented societies. Also, their policing and prosecution mechanisms deliver swift justice, acting as deterrence to wrongdoing. I would not belittle our own judicial system, but it is no secret that our system is overwhelmed by the sheer number of cases awaiting judgment. Another example is the Delhi Metro, a fine system that is creaking, thanks to the sea of humanity it has to support, as I found to my chagrin sometime ago.
The author's analysis of electoral economics becomes starker when read with the fact that most candidates would like a "return on investment" and constitute the largest segment for black money demand.
Conventional economics, especially the socialist variety that promotes entitlement and pseudo-equality, has no answer for our issues. We need to find creative solutions that go beyond symptomatic relief and address the deeper malaise. Does the new body that will replace the archaic Planning Commission provide Narendra Modi with an opportunity to make a beginning?
Brijesh Sheregar Bengaluru
Letters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:
The Editor, Business Standard
Nehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg
New Delhi 110 002
Fax: (011) 23720201
E-mail: letters@bsmail.in
All letters must have a postal address and telephone number