: : : Of course, a 50% state role in joint ventures was not enough to keep 20,000 people from being killed, in their beds or over years of suffering, at Bhopal 15 years ago. Union Carbide evaded their responsibility in spite of the fact that the Madhya Pradesh government had a 50% share. The lesson here is that we must always be vigilant against businessmen who are willing to prostitute human life for profits. : : Too bad the Indians didn't opt to keep the Brits in India. The people would have a standard of living today far above what it presently is.
: Frenchy, your clear sight is only matched by your tact and talent for diplomacy. The British milked India for two hundred years with no thought for the Indian people beyond their ability to produce goods for the British Empire; they instituted a landlord system that kept the average Indian in virtual slavery, and they allowed famine and disease to sweep through major parts of India on at least three occasions; due largely to the British insistence that the Indian peasants switch from subsistence farming to farming that would serve the Empire. It's hardly bloody surprising that they mutinied on several occasions, most notably in 1857.
: The standard of living was high for the rajas and the British; and abominably low for the peasants; it's really not surprising at all that the newly-independent Indian state went for socialism in a big way.
: And it's worth noting that India is still largely self-sufficient; despite having a population approaching one billion, India has not suffered a major famine since Independence; which is more than can be said for any Western country.
: : Ahh, thank God for civilization.
: See exactly what M.K. Gandhi said about Western civilisation.
: And do try to buff up on your history a bit, there's a good boy.
Frenchy is onbviosuly trying to be insulting here and he's succeeding. My grandfather and great grandfather went to jail so that India could be free. They would agree with M.K. Gandhi that the British Empire was "the greatest focus of evil in this century". It is an insult to their memory to suggest that Indians shoudl still be slaves. It si even mroe of an insult to all thsoe who died in teh struggkle for democracy, to the three million Bengalis who starved to death in 1943 because of British callousness, to the hundreds of civilians herded together and murdered in the Jallianwala Bagh during one bloody afternoon. It is extremely offensive to see anyone sit comfortably in teh united States, enjoy the democracy and equality that this country takes for granted, and casually pronounce taht anotehr country should still be under teh thumb fo exploitation.
colonialism was the greatest sin of the centruy, and the British are fully guilty. Incidentally, in every way, Indians are far better off now than 50 years ago. The scourge of caste which the British tolerated
has eben first outlawed in all its manifestations and then adderssed by sweeping, rigorous affirmative action that goes well beyond anything in Western countries. Literacy rates have risen every decade. A number of states have achieved full literacy and population stability. life expectancy ahs also steadily grown. Women have been freed from the shackles of bondage and pursue careers as doctors, etcetera. People are not shot by the hundreds by the colonial butchers any longer. And you don't see millions of citizens dying in famine anymore, do you? I thought not.
please learn about what you amke statements on befroe you do so.
