[lbo-talk] Alex Cockburn on India: wrong? (was, U.N. seeks aid...)

[Cseniornyc at aol.com]

Dwayne Moroe writes:Indian reality is a vast, complex and contradictory  
reality and I don't claim tobe an India expert. But Cockburn is frequently  
one-sided and his claims are
exaggerations."
Comment; It seems that Alex Cockburn piece has shocked the neo-lib soul  
inside Mr. Monroe. However, Mr. Monroe doesn't present statistical evidence that  
shows Cockburn is "unbalanced" or wrong in his view of India. As a matter of  
fact, the recent research by Branko Milanovic, a world expert in development  
economies,using the World Bank data base, shows that income inequality  
between rural and urban incomes has increased in India for the last 20 years.. .  
The same result is found if you consider income distribution within the country  
for both rural and urban individuals. These data and analysis can be found  
in his latest book "Worlds Apart: Measuring International and Global 
Inequality"  Princeton:2005.
Mr Monroe also claims that Cockburn should have been  "spending time with 
Intel engineers and biomed researchers after visiting  slums"and distraught 
farmers?" as if it was a matter of impressionistic  comparative visuals. In 
addition, why  interview Intel engineers in India?  Why not in Texas,where hey come 
from? It is interesting to see that some people  can't let go of the "new 
economy" myth and still see IT as a new panacea,  a la Thomas Friedman, Truth is IT 
is in India to propagate low wage  production of cheap consumer gadgets for 
export to the rich west and it employs  an infinitesimal amount of the labor 
force, whose great majority is in the rural  fields where it suffers from 
declining land yields,ignorance,  lack of  water and disease.
Cristobal Senior
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