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<DIV>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<BR>exaggerations."</DIV>
<DIV>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.<BR>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.</DIV>
<DIV>Cristobal Senior</DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>