Overview of Economic Factors

March 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

India is believed to have one of the best economies in this century. There are many factors that go into why India has such a great economy. Here is a look at those factors and how they play a role in the economy.

Population. India’s population is growing at an alarming rate. It is believed that there will be 310 million people by 2030. This is a huge amount of growth and a large portion of why the economy is growing.

Savings Rates. India has a high personal savings record. In fact, 36% of the population saves a large portion of their money. This leads to banks being able to do very well. However, it causes a problem as personal spending can be stalled.

Poverty. There is a lot of poverty in India. A research showed that over 40% live in poverty conditions. This can lead to a down side of the economy in the country.

Corruption of Officials. There is a large mistrust of officials in India. Many people believe that they can personally bribe government or state officials. In fact over 25% of India believes that this happens on a regular daily basis.

Debts. India has taken a lot of personal debts from other countries to help them get to where they are. In fact the debt has reached a high by raising 6.8% in one year. Many Indians are fearful that their country will be lead into poverty and debt that they could never successful get out of.

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A Look at the Mystery of the Rock Known as Kamar Ali Darvesh Dargah

March 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

India as a country is full of stories of Godmen, saints and miracles. Depending on one’s faith one can hear about various stories which will inspire, raise questions and often leave one asking more questions than they came with. However it is very rare that one hears of a rock which mysteriously levitates upon a single name and nothing else.

That’s what happens at a place known as Kamar Ali Darvesh Dargah, which is a few kilometers on the outskirts of the city of Pune in Maharashtra. A Dargah is a resting place for a Sufi Muslim saint, it is a shrine which is built over the tomb and the place is considered a holy place.

The extra special nature of this place is espoused by the presence of 2 huge stones which weigh about 50 and 70 pounds each. The legend goes such that each stone can only be lifted by either 7  or 11 men who chant the name of the saint in a single breath , the stone is to be lifted by the tip of one’s finger and supposedly feels as light as a feather. However, the first person to let go of his breath and the stone falls to their side. It’s a rather mysterious occurrence with no rational explanation as the name can’t be changed as the stone doesn’t rise, neither can the number be changed. Women aren’t allowed to touch the stone at all due to the holy significance it has. This stone has been tested and yet no answer has come out. Another veritable mystery and one which will have many visitors buzzing for checking it out.

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Indian Culture for Foreign Relations: A Look at the Epic tale MahaBharata

March 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Indian mythology is rife with many stories of Gods and goddesses. There is one story which has resonated with people all throughout the ages. That is the world’s longest epic called MahaBharata or the great story of the Bharata Clan. It is basically a story about an eighteen day war occurring between two groups of cousins which involved all the kings and ended about an entire generation. It also has in the discourses between the Lord Krishna and the warrior prince Arjuna, which touch upon a variety of topics such as morality, ethics, and they righteous way of life.

This epic is over a million verses long and is divided into eighteen sections. This story is said to have occurred nearly five thousand years ago though this date cannot be calculated. However, some astronomers have calculated the dates as per the signs and astronomical occurrences set in the story.

The story leads up to a war but the real poignant part about the tale are its characters. With a huge character cast and with all of them having shades from the utterly great to the silly despicability. The characters have entranced generations and people who have read this saga.

This epic not only has human ethics in it but also facts and factoids about plants, history, geography and various other subjects. It is has also been said that what is found in this saga is found everywhere and what is not found in it is never found elsewhere. What is basically entails is the entire range of human emotions and feelings which make this story come alive and resonates with people everywhere.

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Changing Foreign Relations – The 1983 Cricket World Cup

March 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Cricket world cup competition was first started in 1975, it began with eight nations who were dived into two groups. The first competition was held in England and then continued three times there until 1983. The first two world cups were won by the West Indies, however it was the third world cup which changed the world cricket scenario. During that time, the West Indies were the team to beat. It was during this competition that India came through on the heels of their young captain, Kapil Dev.

It was a tournament during which everyone thought that the West Indian team would complete their hat trick without any serious competition. However, India defeated the West Indies in the round robin stage. India really had to struggle against the other teams in the group, namely Australia and Zimbabwe. In fact in one of the matches against Zimbabwe, the BBC was on a strike but during that match Kapil Dev struck his only ODI century, a rambunctious 175 of 134 balls. It is considered one of the best ODI innings ever played and that was the match which put the Indian team on a winning note and also helped them make the semifinals.

India breezed past England in the Semifinals and faced the West Indies in the final at Lords on June 25, 1983. They batted first and scored a measly 183 runs and even then the West Indies were on route to win handsomely. However destiny had other plans and the Indians bowled out the incumbent champions for 140 runs and won the final by 43 runs. It changed the face of Indian cricket and gave a sense of pride to Indians who finally ascended to the pantheon of greats in the history of the game.

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Understanding the Issues With Kashmir

March 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Many people in the western world often associate the word Kashmir with the famous song by Led Zeppelin. However for more than 1.3 billion people in the Indian subcontinent, it’s a place which gives visions of paradise and also pits two nations against each other.

Kashmir is the land which is nestled between the mountainous regions of Ladakh to the east and the western mountainous ranges and passes of the HinduKush range. It is a region which has been described by many as “Heaven on Earth”. However it is also one of the most terror-ridden regions on this planet.

Kashmir is also known as Jammu and it has been a disputed state between India and Pakistan for nearly 60 plus years. However, the problem just didn’t start then it was an issue even before the British conquered the region.

To understand the basis of the issue one must perhaps look at the past history. The word Kashmir is supposedly derived from the name “Kashyap”, the reason being that it was the abode of Saint Kashyap, one of Hindu mythology’s most venerated saints. Till the early 13th century when Islam first came into the valleys of Kashmir, Buddhism and Hinduism were the main religions co-existing. Slowly and surely the population began converting to Islam and by the late 19th century, the Hindus and the Buddhists were a minority in this region. There were local skirmishes amidst the population but the lingering anger never went away. What compounded the problem was the ruler of Kashmir was a Hindu and majority of his population were Muslims.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was during the 1947 partition, both countries wanted Jammu and Kashmir to join them but the king didn’t want to. Sadly, Pakistan took his reluctance as a no and attacked using tribal forces. This forced the King to annex to India.

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Understanding Indian Economics: A Look at Vegetarianism

March 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Being vegetarian is an option most people have however most people all over the world have at one point or the other have eaten some form of meat. However, in order to understand India’s economics you need to understand that a wide portion of the country practices vegetarianism, and use it as a way of life. Understanding this will help you develop an economic sense in the country.

Amongst all the various countries wherein vegetarianism is active, India stands out like an active symbol. India or Bharat as it was called in ancient times has had vegetarianism engrained amongst the various ways of life. Since the advent of Buddhism in India, vegetarianism was given as an ethical and healthy choice of life.

Amidst the various religious outlooks present in India, most eastern oriented ones like Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism actively take a vegetarian outlook. In fact it would be safe to assume that India would probably be the only country wherein the vegetarian number is much more so than the non- vegetarian counterparts. There has been hardly been any census poll for such a definitive answer, but if you travel through India then you are definitely reminded of this point wherein vegetarian restaurants definitely outnumber the mixed or purely non-vegetarian restaurants. Plus in India, beef and pork are even harder to find as both meat products are very much frowned upon by most Indians.

Looking back the amount of options available for vegetarians is amazing as the food products range from dry items to gravy items, from breads to wheat-flour products, from a mixture of various vegetable to just a single vegetable. Indian cuisine especially the vegetarian counterpart is something to be proud of and one which feeds the one billion plus population of India very competently and also gives the non-vegetarian eaters an option which they can exercise if they get tired of meat every once in a while.

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A Look at India’s Boarders And Their Relationships With the Countries

February 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

India is bounded by many countries on its northern borders while all its southern borders are sea-bound. India’s neighbors from its most northwestern border to its northeastern border are Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma and Banglasdesh in that order. Except for China and Burma, all the other nations are considered to be a part of the Indian Subcontinent. They even have formed a group called SAARC which stands for “South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation”. There are a couple other members to this group as well but these border sharing nations are its core.

India as a whole shares a turbulent history with Pakistan and Bangladesh as these two nations were carved out from India. Pakistan in particular has already had 3 major wars with India in the past 60 odd years. These conflicts occurred in 1965, 1971 and 1999. Of these three the 1971 also lead to the creation of Bangladesh which was originally called East Pakistan, but besides sharing a common religious background had totally different customs and hence wanted to be their own nation.

Besides having many skirmishes with Pakistan, India also has a frosty relationship with China. They have fought a war in 1962 which showed India’s friability in their defenses and since then both countries have remained wary of each other.

With Nepal, Bhutan and Burma, India has friendly relations. India has mostly civil relations with many nations all over the world, however the Indian subcontinent remains a hotbed area for conflicts and it remains to be seen how all of it will pan out.

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India’s Economics: The Development of Highways

February 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

India got its independence from the British in 1947, however the British left one good thing for the Indians, they established a nice railways system for travel purposes. This railway system helped a lot of Indians in their travels as the roadways were not developed and at that time cars were not the primary means of transportation in India.

It’s only since the 1950s that the number of vehicles in India slowly started increasing. Many of the roadways connecting cities were mostly single lane roads and if you were really lucky two lane highways. Often you would find roadways full of potholes, dirt and partially constructed. This slowly started changing since the late 1970s and in the early 1980s. They were now being made of concrete and the number of lanes is also being increased to accommodate the growing number of cars in India.

It was during the late nineties that a thoroughly courageous plan was thought of, the plan was called “The Golden Quadrilateral Project”. It was supposed to be a massive undertaking connecting the four major cities of New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai. It will be a four/six highway totaling a massive distance of 5,846 km (3,633 mi). This project is currently underway and there are hopes to be completed in the next six to seven years. These highways will be a massive advantage for people who love to travel by car and will of course do a lot for the interior areas whose population will find their commutes to the larger urban areas a bit easier as well. Once completed this highway will make travelling amongst all parts of India that much easier to a populace who love travelling and would now have excellent options to choose from.

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India’s Favorite Son Known Around the World – Tendlya the Cricket Player

February 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar or “Tendlya” as he’s fondly called by his peers and fans, is probably India’s most valued cricketer and possibly the world’s best cricketer of the modern era. He’s someone who has been consistently breaking records across his 21 year professional career and is still going strong.

Tendlya made his debut in Nov. 1989 as a precocious 16 year old against Indian archrivals Pakistan in Pakistan and made a name for himself when he hit Abdul Qadir – the then world’s best leg spinner – for 4 sixes and a four in the space of 6 deliveries. He also got his nose broken in his debut series but yet continued resiliently to score a half century when all the other batsmen had pains to cross double figures. Tendlya was also known to be such a prodigal talent when he scored centuries in his Ranji, Duleep and Irani trophy debuts.

Sachin Tendulkar has indeed come a long way from his middle class roots. He now holds records in test matches and ODIs for most number of runs, centuries, half centuries, etc. and his average in both forms of the game are staggering to say the least.

What makes him so special to the Indian contingent is his humility, quiet family life and scandal free professional career. This triumvirate of conditions has made him a cricketing legend known all across the world and admired by all the other cricketing nations. Now with the 10TH ICC world cup to soon start, this will be his final opportunity to win what is the only feather missing in hi multi-hued cap, the pinnacle of competitive cricket, the ICC world Cup. It will be hosted by Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka and thus a billion hearts will be waiting for their favorite idol to bat his way to win the gold medal and crown India as the World Champions.

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Foreign Relations: Understanding India’s Field Hockey Obsession

February 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Despite the fact that someone traveling to India might assume that Cricket was the national sport, it really is another form of activity. Field Hockey or just Hockey as it is referred to in India, is known across the world as the national game of India. Although this is the case many Indians themselves are confused over whether or not field hockey is the national sport as Cricket seems to be played everywhere. Hockey was one of the sports which India was said to have excelled at. There’s also that small thing that the world’s greatest hockey player Dhyan Chand was also an Indian player.

The Indian hockey team was such a belligerent Juggernaut that it has won a total of eight Gold Medals, one silver and two bronze medals. They have created a world record to win the most number of gold medals in consecutive tournaments [Six] as well as the most number of gold medals to be won in a team Olympic sport [eight].

Hockey was first played in the summer Olympics of 1908 and then skipped the next event to be featured again in 1920 and again was skipped in 1924, it became a regular event since 1928 and that is when the Indian ascendance began. India won the gold from 1928 to the 1956 Olympics, their streak was beaten by Pakistan in the 1960 Olympics who beat them to win the Gold. However, India won the 1964 Olympics Gold beating their Arch rivals by the same score line by which their streak had been stopped. India won Bronze medals in the next two tournaments and the last gold medal was won in the 1980 Rome Olympics.

Since then it has been a long slide downwards for the once renowned Indian team as the Indian populace has shifted their view to cricket and nowadays with the general apathy of the administrative side towards hockey, it will be a long time before Indian hockey reaches the zenith it once veritably occupied.

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