> Infant mortality rate?
> Maternity death rate?
> What is the nutritional level of the 'lowest' third of the population?
> Hot running water? (Percentage of households)?
> Literacy rate?
> Access (legal, cultural, & economic) to abortion?
>
> Without knowing these and similar figures, TV ownership is trivial.
>
> Carrol
Year 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2002 Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) 146 127 113 84.0 68.0 65.0
http://globalis.gvu.unu.edu/indicator_detail.cfm?IndicatorID=25&Country=IN
Year 1955 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
2005 2015 2050
(prognosis) Life expectancy at birth (Number of years) 38.7 42.6 48.0 52.9 57.4 62.1 63.9 66.3 73.8
http://globalis.gvu.unu.edu/indicator_detail.cfm?IndicatorID=18&Country=IN
Year 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2003 Adult illiteracy (Percent) 59.0 54.8 50.7 46.7 42.8 40.5
These are just a few of the parameters available on the site. Notice the steady improvement in all of them?
About Cockburn: to my mind, apart from being factually sloppy (as Ulhas has already pointed out), he fails the crucial aesthetic test. His disparate (and somewhat shallow) observations do not add up to a coherent whole - and anything that lacks beauty cannot possibly reveal a truth, even an ugly one.
Cockburn 'parachutes' into India (Doug's phrase) and writes an impressionistic piece. Since this dovetails perfectly wih everyone's preconceived ideas about India, it is hailed as the gospel. Ulhas reels off fact after disquieting fact (has been for years, going by the archives) and he is dismissed as impressionistic.
As Kuhn and Lakatos have pointed out in another context, cherished theories are exceptionally resistant to facts. It takes a 'revolution' to sweep them aside.
Sujeet
P.S. 'Hot" water is irrelevant in most parts of India most days of the year. P.P.S. Abortion is legal and free (kostenlos, gratis) in all government-run hospitals in India.