dimmuborgir

Otherwise, considering economy is the only real variable factor in a society, it would mean that a society never changes.

Are you saying Gini co-efficient doesn't show inequality? How? We're not talking about poverty here, just 'inequality'.

"The second example you give is, in fact, an example of outsourcing"

That's not outsourcing but offshoring and how is it a bad thing? Don't you think talking about indigenousness in today's globalised world is nothing but jingoism?

"...cultural revolution..."

A country's culture and economy are tightly linked. It's a chicken-egg situation. Don't know about Indian culture but Indian economy is certainly doing good.

Second, Indian outsourcing industry is over-hyped. It contributes just 5% to the Indian GDP. But India is silently making big progresses in other industries. How many people here know that India is now the world's biggest manufacturer of small cars, overtaking Japan? [2]

[1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gini_Coefficient_World_CIA...

[2] - http://www.thestar.com/business/article/742457--india-overta...

The current major issue with SCO though is it needs either India or Pakistan or both as its members to make it a formidable military alliance. But since India and Pakistan are archrivals there are differences between Russia, which has always backed India, and China, which has always backed Pakistan.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Cooperation_Organisati...

Have been a happy Ubuntu user (desktop + netbook) for the last 5 years without a single glitch.

Almost all Chinese web startups which are making huge IPO exits these days are direct ripoffs of successful American web companies.

The Silicon Valley has a classic chicken-egg situation where companies are chasing investors and investors chasing companies. Both are equally responsible for the valley's ecosystem and it took it a great deal of time and struggle to become what it is today.

Whining every other day that "OMG my country is so not valley, nothing will work here, we're screwed big time" helps no one. Be ready to take big risks. Be ready to grab every little opportunity. There's no reason why every emerging economy can't have its own Silicon Valley in the near future.

The gazillion newspapers and TV channels of India will do a nice job in highlighting Wikileaks expositions of Indian politicians if it is released. (recently Julian Assange promised to release the list of Indian black money holders in Swiss banks)

But there was a country wide agitation a while back demanding for an Ombudsman bill (against corruption) which is now being worked out by a joint committee. It will most likely get passed in the parliament within two months. If it happens it'll be the first major step taken against corruption in the independent India.

Don't know why it is so highly regarded.

First, she claims that the standard of living in India is plummeting and goes on mentioning slums, filth, corruption, bureaucracy etc. If one checks the recent national census and other survey results, the poverty has been steadily declining [1], the illiteracy has sharply declined [2], Indian consumers are the most optimistic in the world! [3], and ironically - Indian entrepreneurs are the most optimistic in the world! [4]. The rest of her complaints are just nitpicks.

Second, the notion that happy existence or perfect system is the prerequisite to creativity and success. This is false. If one studies Anthropology, creativity/art/culture/economic-activity/entrepreneurship exist everywhere, even in the most failed country. It is the nature of man to grab every little opportunity. The fact that Mercedes has opened R&D centre in India only shows their creativity, their ability to grab the opportunity and their entrepreneual spirit. More power to the potholed roads! There's nothing called perfection in this universe.

Third, not a criticism but, one doesn't need to be overly pessimistic. India and other emerging economies are yet to see several decades of growth. Especially India and China, because of their huge population, will continue to see high economic growth for very long (ask any economists) [5][6]. And no, the moral suffering due to inequality will not disappear anytime soon. China even after growing at a breakneck speed of 10% a year for last three decades and pulling millions of people out of poverty has more inequality than India (Gini coefficient) [7]. I think we'll just gradually evolve to live with it.

[1] - http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/current-affairs/indias-pove...

[2] - http://www.deccanherald.com/content/150267/indias-literacy-l...

[3] - http://www.afaqs.com/news/story.html?sid=30621_Indian+consum...

[4] - http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:5wJKiOx4osAJ:w...

[5] - http://www.livemint.com/2011/05/25191535/India-could-be-worl...

[6] - http://www.deccanherald.com/content/140463/india-likely-worl...

[7] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gini_Coefficient_World_CIA...

I think it's high time GitHub put a public Brainstorm/Suggestions interface with possibility of voting the entries.

There's a GitHub profile on GetSatisfaction but there's no activity there.

You see, if you had involved deeply with any hot new tech community, like node.js, instead of Rails, you would have had the same problem with that community.

I'm reminding you again, the discussion here is about progression of India from its own past but you're either coming up with figures for some particular year or some senseless comparison with other countries. In other words, you're simply trolling.

And FYI, the disintegration of USSR was due to economic crisis because of Socialism. India abandoned Socialism soon after the collapse of Soviet Russia and embraced American capitalism and the Indian economy is booming now.

"India is expected to reduce its poverty rate from 51 per cent in 1990 to 24 per cent in 2015, reducing its number of extremely poor by 188 million."

http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?685779

Take a look at Corruption Index published by Transparency International:

http://transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/...

Both China and India are the same. In fact, with free-media, India has a greater chance of tackling corruption in the future than China.

But, KDE's Plasma Desktop is highly innovative (through a wide range of interesting plasmoids). The fact that it can be easily scripted in JavaScript makes it even more awesome.

Making it a plugin will also ensure that the classic toolbox is still available. That way, a novice user can quickly become proficient in GIMP.