In his deceptively-toned piece The North Face (May 7), Ruchir Sharma puts down a Kashmir-Bihar joke and claims it originated in the south. I defy him to prove this. The rest of the piece is also filled with this sort of stereotypes-made-to-look-good-by-throwing-in-some-numbers buffoonery. And what is Outlook’s deal, posting photographs of ‘smooth expressways’ against Bangalore’s traffic blocks? Do you really want to go down this road, playing up the gap created by regionalist forces?
Elvin Jacob, Bangalore
Sharma’s focus on quantitative details and numbers makes him miss out on qualitative ones. It’s the same difference between mutual fund guys like John Paulson and true-value investors like Warren Buffett.
Arun Bharadwaj, Mumbai
There are economic, temporal and situational reasons for the south’s rise as also the north’s latent surge. But the author colours it with a divisive tinge.
Commentspaper, on e-mail
It’s sordid, the way you use photos to illustrate the story.
Yasaswi, Hyderabad
Bihar’s economy is too small to compare with the big states. You have to analyse growth in terms of capital and gdp to judge. And in that, north India is really not in the picture.
Pranao Hingnekar, Wardha
Bihar is more east India than north India. Why is everything other than four south states north India? Don’t east and west count as directions?
Kunal, Denver
A glance through the industrial development and investment data of the last two decades is enough to blow holes in Sharma’s theories. I grant that political leadership has a significant role, but having systems in place is what matters.
Manish Desai, Mumbai
This is the problem with our democracy: free will, to publish whatever and not be taken to task. We really need a bill to revoke a few media rights.
Aakash Raju, on e-mail
Growth rate? If you grow from 90 to 99 per cent, it’s 10 per cent and if you grow from 10 to 25 per cent, it’s 150 per cent.
Adal Arasu, Coimbatore
After all the media buzz, I had almost placed an order for Sharma’s book. But after the reams of misleading ‘facts and figures’ and his absurd conclusions, I no longer have faith in his “scholarship”. Thanks, Outlook, for the money saved.
Shankar Pandian, Kuwait
Reading Ruchir Sharma makes me want to question his motives. Why does he choose facts cherry-picked to suit his purpose? While it cannot be denied that Gujarat is developing at a higher-than-average rate, Sharma does stretch the argument too much. When did southern states make any arrogant claims at all? Is this the time to start an unnecessary and unhealthy controversy? It’s a negative theme for a cover story.
Srikanth, Chennai
I searched for ‘Maharashtra’ on the webpage for Sharma’s article and couldn’t find it. This is surprising. Maharashtra is certainly not too insignificant to ignore or to be kept out of the statistics totally.
Ajit Welling, Pune
It’s good the poorer northern states are growing. But isn’t it too early to talk of a convergence between them and the southern states? Here are the latest per capita annual income figures: Andhra Pradesh: Rs 36,345; Karnataka: Rs 37,464; Kerala: Rs 46,511; Tamil Nadu: Rs 46,823; Bihar: Rs 11,558; UP: Rs 15,182. Anyone with basic training in economics or statistics knows that growth rate comparisons depend on the periods chosen. Indeed, from financial years 2006-07 to 2009-10, northern states witnessed higher growth rates in per capita incomes. But official data says, from 2008-09 to 2009-10, the highest growth rate in per capita income was for Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The author has chosen Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh to suit his absurd thesis.
Subin D., Delhi
The arrogance of the south? Can anything match the arrogance of Manu in branding those who live south of the Vindhyas as barbarians? Can anything match the arrogance of the Gandhi clan, which thinks an Iranian complexion and a Roman nose are licence enough to lord over a nation?
Senthil Sekar, on e-mail
Ruchir Sharma’s article makes a superfluous comparison. From the late 1960s, the south never got its fair share of central funding. Remember, almost all the northern states had double-tracked railway routes; it wasn’t till the 1980s that double-tracking began in the south. May I also ask why this article (or extracts) was published in the first place?
Akila Alagappan, on e-mail Perception triumphs over analysis in Sharma’s article comparing north and south India.
Rajesh, Phoenix, US
The comparison between north and south India is preposterous. What’s disappointing is the total amnesia for the East and the Northeast.
H.N. Ramakrishna, Bangalore
Bihar has proved that it is not the appendix but the liver of the nation.
Rajneesh Batra, Delhi
As an Indian, north, south, east and west don’t matter to me. The country, as a whole, must make progress. Let each part of the country, with its unique strengths and contributions, rise as one.
S.S. Kere, Virgina, US
Why pit the south against the north at all? It’s not as if growth in the north is at the south’s expense, as in a zero sum game. Growth anywhere’s win-win.
Kishore Dasmunshi, Calcutta
The important point here is that the growth rate in the northern states is catching up with those in the south and sometimes beating it. This shows complacency on part of the south as much as it shows positive development in the north.
Sachin, Noida
Ruchir Sharma would have done well to compare per capita growth, instead of overall economic growth, of each state. Another important measure of comparison would’ve been income distribution.
R.V. Subramanian, Gurgaon
For heaven’s sake, kindly avoid publishing such silly and shallow articles. Healthy debate on contemporary topics is welcome, but deliberately creating rifts—“Arrogant South” indeed—is mischief.
G. Niranjan Rao, Hyderabad
What’s crippling the northern states is shortage of power. To generate power on a large scale requires sustained political will. Has Ruchir Sharma seen what UP roads are like? What’s the point of showcasing a 25-km-long Noida expressway?
M.K. Saini, Delhi
In a large country like India, regional disparity in levels of prosperity is bound to persist. Regrettably, this tiny extract of a 300-page book has been positioned rather sensationally. Unless read in the total context of the book, one comes away with the wrong impression.
Manish Banerjee, Calcutta
Going by the extract you’ve featured of his book (The North Face, May 7), it looks like Ruchir Sharma has equated development with nothing but bijli, sadak, pani and on that basis made out north India to be a winner. He ignores sanitation, access to legal help, women’s safety and other issues—in all of which the southern states score much higher.
Nirupama Kotru, on e-mail
If the so-called development and progress in the north can prevent a southward migration, it would be really nice. Kannadigas are tired of being pushed to the sidelines in cosmopolitan Bangalore.
B. Shivarudraiah, Bangalore
Sharma makes it seem as if south Indians have always thought of north Indians as backward. He must remember that, despite the anti-Hindi movement of the 1950-60s in Tamil Nadu, by and large, south Indians have always remained a patriotic lot.
C. Rajagopalan, Bangalore
There is growth, no doubt, but is limited to a selected few. Look at the number of people living below poverty line. They are sad 37.2%, even as the criteria of BPL is very loose and lenient. A person who earns less than 32 Rupees per day in urban areas and below 28 rupees in rural areas is supposed to be below poverty line. (Please correct the data, if there is any minor mistake)
@Amit
Very well said.
There are some gentlemen talking about maharshtra tycoons. While most of the indstrialists and rich men live in mumbai but counting them as purely maharashtrian tycoon will not be correct. They have their ventures all over India and should not specific. Tatas, Ambanis are living in mumbai but tagging the with maharashtra is not correct.
First of all, Bihar is more of East India than North India. I don't understand why we are so particular about labeling everything other than the four southern states as "North India"? Don't east and west count as directions?
Secondly, even if the non-southern states are all labeled as North India, it does not make sense to benchmark just four states against the remaining 24 and try to draw meaningful comparisons.
All this hoopla about the article/the book seems to be much ado about nothing. I agree with those who rightly pointed out that it is an investment bankers analysis, with their own commercial objective. It would be futile to treat it as an economic analysis. Again to take umbrage of some loose comments made by the author is unwarranted.
It is clear that, some of them who posted comments, could not understand that, the article is the discernment on economic stats and not related to discrimination between the regions.
Saini saab,
I used "God's willling" just as a phrase. There is lack of political reform not just in the northern states but in the whole of India. I am a bit superstituous so I am not going to go for three cheers so soon when it comes to my state, Bihar. But it does warm the cockles of my heart to see how quickly it has turned the corner.
And I am deeply saddened by unnecessary offensive and degrading comments from our southern brethren. Does anyone care two hoots about which one of the 18 languages is a national language? Ok, a mistake was made in the 60s in imposing Hindi as a national language. Aren't we past that now? For god's sake, it's been more than 50 years. Get over it guys!
This article misses some crucial points and jumps to conclusions. Practically, the south hinterland has rapid access to ports and vice versa. While the north has to travel a much farther distance to access sea ports, they are also close only to hostile neighbours with little scope for trade.
A string of research institutes setup over decades at safe locations from bombing by hostile neighbours. This is the reason you see so many military / civilian research institutes / centers in places like bangalore and hyderabad. It is strategically located to make it difficult for a potential enemy to bomb and far away from a border which can be a theatre of war. However their presence also creates a pool of highly skilled human capital etc which inturn leads to further private research companies as a multiplier effect in the surrounding regions. The presence of tech companies increases the base salary which in-turn puts more cash into the hands of those lower in the society financially.
With that said, the educational policies instituted by karunanidhi et al degrading the value of a good education may rapidly undo any progress made over the decades.
There are many economic, temporal and situational reasons for this phenomenon, but this ioditic author tries to color it with a divisive tinge.
It would have been better that the writer had started his 'intellectual' dichotomy with a better Churchill quote - India is a geographical term. It is no more a united nation than the Equator.
Ok, this one is trite for old ears. But the whole growth shibboleth is too much to bear. If USA grows at 2 percent and China at 10 percent, Chinese are better than USA is logical. One has heard it many a times and Americans are gearing up for the Chinese dragon. The ground reality remains that Chinese HDI is nothing when compared to Americans. A state like Kerala can add a few numbers to its literacy rate but whatever Bihar adds it less than wanted.
I for one can't be bothered if north grows or south grows. I still don't require any passport to travel.
Mr. Ruchir sharma’s article is a misconception of ground realities. Firstly the growth rate which he mentions on the GDP of some of the northern states is a wrong assumption since the GDP calculated by the Central Stastical Institute is based on the goods sold. Mr Sharma would have got a different result if he had taken the goods produced route. If the north is benefitting in its economic growth ,it is mainly because of the remittances coming from the northern migrants in Gujarat ,Maharashtra and other southern states. The monthly remittances to UP and Bihar from Maharashtra alone is to the order of Rs2000-3000 crores prompting the CM of Bihar to attend the Bihar Foundation day celebrations in Mumbai to ensure and assert so that the biharis stay put in order to see that the states economy is growing, so much so that the Bihar government has started giving licences for liquor so that the state can earn the much needed revenue from the remittances. Though the UP/Bihari population in Kolkatta is much more, the Bihar foundation day was nowhere to be seen in Kolkatta. The migrant population from north to the southern and western states has increased multi-fold in the last two decades especially from UP/Bihar more by design, thanks to the introduction of new trains every year by successive Railway Ministers from Bihar. This was not the only case of planned shifting of people, even Shri Jayaprakash Narain also followed this policy of settling people from Bihar in Karnataka in the seventies. Its an attitude which continues even till today. The migration has been so high in the last decade that it has resulted in the local population getting marginalised to less than fifty percent in cities like Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore creating unwarranted political conflict. The migrants from the north have taken up jobs both in the organised and mainly in the unorganised sectors often undercutting the local people, taken up local peoples occupation like selling local produce from vegetables to fruits thereby eating into the earnings of the local population especially from the lower strata of the society. The migration has brought in a boom in construction industry and reality sector resulting in the destruction of rich agricultural land in these states. In the last decade Pune alone saw the destruction of more than 10,000 acres of rich agricultural land. Most of the people involved are again people from Marwari , Sindhi and Gujarati communities who again do not have any qualms in destroying precious land resources without respect to the local environs. Its probably an inherited attitude. Many local farming families have been forced to sell off their land by inducements, coercion in collusion with local netas and manipulation of land policies by the realtors. This has had serious repercussions socially. New shops have come up in these cities again opened up by North Indians. It has become a right for the north Indians to partake of the wealth created in the south and come with an attitude to disrespect the local language and their culture. The northern states who took away all the central investments in the fifties sixties and the seventies , shared very few jobs with their southern brethrens despite the fact that north has been bestowed with huge natural resources unlike the south. Despite all this the north Indians have still not been able to create wealth for their people. The south has been able to create wealth on its own whether in IT sector or in agriculture without much help from the central govt and shared it with the northern states, if this is arrogance of the south than what should north be described as? One wishes the resurgence in the north is real and not another rosy picture being presented by the author for vested interests.
I am not sure how much author is aware of economic condition of India (as whole) and India (as state wise). It is true that some states like Bihar is doing remarkable progress in turms of economic growth rate. But have author check the size of economy of Maharashtra and Bihar. Maharashtra's GDP is 9,013,300 crore while Bihar's GDP is 112,424 crore. From this figure it is very clear that Maharashtra's GDP is almost nine times bigger than Bihar. So when Bihar adds 4638 crore, it become 10% growth, but same figure counts 2% growh in case of Maharashtra. Economy of Bihar is too small when compare to Maharashtra. It is like comparing US economy and Indian economy. Currently Bihar's growth rate is around 13% and growth rate of Maharashtra is 9%. Now user has to convert the growth in terms of capital and then judge will Northern Indian tycoon will overtak Western Indian tycoon?
66/D-52
should " read higher economic growth", not higher poltical growth. We have enough of the latter.
amit
One, therefore, notes with amusement that when finally those much maligned states have turned a corner and, indeed, God's willling, are even threatening the established wisdom,
economic growth doesn't happen when God wills it. However regions that are "gifted" some growth becasue of some external factor may think that. There is no political reform in UP in the name of ensuring higher political growth. In that absence that, good fortune will come and go, God willing, I suppose
I beg to differ with your cover story 'The North Face', based on Ruchir Sharma's 'Breakout Nations'. His conclusions, mostly based on recent growth data are premature and unconvincing. Bihar is posting spectacular growth rate, but on a much smaller base. The southern economies, as well as that of Maharashtra have slowed down in recent years, largely because their economies are more globally integrated than that of other states. A glance through the industrial development and investment data for the last two decades will reveal the stark differences that still exist. Political leadership plays a significant role, no doubt, but having systems in place in the form of a well oiled administrative machinery is what matters the most. Outlook too has played the ball by publishing deliberately selected images to highlight the divide.
It seems that a lot of people have taken umbrage to the term "arrogant South" used by the author. It may have been a bit uncalled for but if one needed a proof, one only needs to cast a cursory glance to the comments here. From the more apologetice sounding words about the Bihari jokes, there is renowned Mr. Rao who minces no words in describing the "beggar like" denizens of the North. Such thoughts are, indeed, on what our high culture stands.
I think I have lost count of how many times I heard this popular theory that had it not been for the bimaru states, the south would have raced past Singapore, China, etc. One, therefore, notes with amusement that when finally those much maligned states have turned a corner and, indeed, God's willling, are even threatening the established wisdom, I see no signs of happniness or welcoming hurrahs. At least, in the interests of those people who never lost an opportunity of how the North Indians have polluted the culture of the South, this dawn, howsoever fleeting, should have been welcomed.
It also needs to be mentioned that despite their crassness, lack of civility, and hidebound practices, I never found any trace of heartburn when there were universal acknowledgment of the progress of the South. One only heard admiration and a desire to inculcate their good habits. But such is life. What can one do!
I am really disappointed by the comments here. While there is no doubt that south has made signficant progress overtime and they are years ahead of north india in most of the human development parameters. But the way people are reacting with even possibility of north may be growing faster than south is very pathetic.
The author has, of course, carefully chosen the data from the relatively slow-growing Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in the charts to make his point. A case of selective data interpretation.
The colored chart for GDP / Per Capita Income for four Indian states given here is not part of the original book. The chart apparently has been prepared by Outlook graphic team based on CSO data to support some contentions made in the erxcerpted portion which really is to say that chance of India to breakout in the big league of the future is 50:50. So the question of selective data interpretation invalid.
In a large country like India regional disparity in levels of prosperity is bound to remain for geographical, geological , historical or even reasons of accidents of individual talent/ enterprise. Even ethnic reasons may be a factor. Prosperity differentials of various Chinese geographies is astonishing & far greater than India. Even in the United States regional disparity level of prosperity is worrying its think-tanks. What is important is that China & India embarked on the growth path at about the same time with same level of backwardness. Today Chinese Per Capita Income is $ 5000+ ( about $7 trillion GDP) , whereas that of India is hovering around $1400 ( about $1.8 GDP) with more or less same population.This with India having a advantage of lesser handicap in terms of basic infrastructure & a modern administrative machinary in place. So if we get unneccessarily agitated & quibble over unavoidabl reginal disparity the greater picture will be lost.
Much is made out of Bihar's 11 % growth. I have always maintained that growth rate & GDP in absolute terms do not bring out the correct picture , unless seen along with levels of misery & inequality. Bihar's is a classic case . Bihar's economy used to be largely underground, its lagest industry used to be kidnap & extortion. With cessation of mineral & big indusry bearing Jharkhand, matters were made worse. What Nitish Kumar has done is bring runaway crime & corruption under some sort control. This is not a mean achievement & Nitish Kumar must deserve huge credit for this. But my point is the uinderground money is coming overgroud & is being counted, showing a spurt in growth rate. As before, Biharis still have to resort to large scale seasonal & semi-permanent migrations to other regions to suppliment a living.
59/D-121, MK SAINI,
I am not at all surprised that this article comes from an investment banker, who are professional data manipulators and shallow analysts. They are no economists and thrive only when everything in the world is favorable to them, but still manage to screw up things.
And bashing the generally tolerant groups of people such as South Indians, Hindus and Middle class seems to be the easiest way out to attain flash in the pan literary fame these days.
For this very reason these wannabes will never attain the stature of Salman Rushdie or even Arundhati Roy.
Growth with all PSUs !
Shut down all PSUs n south will grow !!
Subin D
it would be good to see the author reply to your comment. It appears the author has chosen a superficial narrative and made the statistics fit the story. Which is easy enough to do
Unfortunately this places Ruchir Sharma in the company of Madame Arundhati Roy. A side effect is the commentary about the articles tends to be more informative and entertaining than the article itself.
It is good that the poorer northern states (UP and Bihar) are growing. But it is far too early to talk about any convergence between them and the southern states. The relevant measure to make income comparisons between states should be per capita income, and the gap between the states in the two regions is just too big. State-wise per capita income (i.e., per capita Net State Domestic Product) figures for years upto 2009-10 are available on the website of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Per capita income figures for the year 2009-10 (the latest year for which official data is available on the website) were as follows:
Andhra Pradesh - Rs.36345 Karnataka - Rs.37464 Kerala - Rs.46511 Tamil Nadu - Rs.46823 Bihar - Rs.11558 Uttar Pradesh - Rs.16182
On per capita income, the article says,
"the gap remains wide though income growth rate is more dynamic in the poorer northern states".
It turns out that this is wrong. Calculations show that the (compounded) annual growth rates of per capita income over the ten-year period from 1999-00 to 2009-10 are as follows:
Andhra Pradesh - 6.39 % Karnataka - 4.73 % Kerala - 6.54 % Tamil Nadu - 6.28 % Bihar - 5.72 % Uttar Pradesh - 3.02 %
Again, the article says,
"In recent years the north has been growing faster than the south. Between 2007 and 2010, the average economic growth rate of the southern states decelerated from 7 per cent to 6.5 per cent, while that of the northern states accelerated from 4.5 per cent to 6.8 per cent."
Anybody with a basic training in economics would know that comparisons of this sort are sensitive to the time periods chosen. A three-year time period is far too short to make far-reaching claims of convergence. Indeed, the period from 2006-07 to 2009-10 witnessed higher growth rates in per capita income for the northern states (UP and Bihar). But during the last one year-period for which published data from CSO is available online - 2008-09 to 2009-10 - the highest growth rates in per capita income were recorded in Kerala and Tamil Nadu:
Andhra Pradesh - 4.69 % Karnataka - 3.47 % Kerala - 9.06 % Tamil Nadu - 8.21 % Bihar - 8.00 % Uttar Pradesh - 5.21 %
It also needs to be remembered that for quite a long time, the Finance Commission, which decides the share of central taxes that the states will receive, has been penalising performing states (such as the southern states). This means that a larger share of the tax revenues go to the poorer states (compared to the taxes collected from within those states) than would have been the case otherwise. In other words, the resources mobilised from other states have played a crucial role in the financing of government investment in the northern states. The case of Delhi is even more stark. Delhi's development is quite substantially financed by investments by the central government, since Delhi is the "national capital region" where the powerful live. The large investments for Commonwealth Games, setting up higher educational institutions, for maintaing a large army of government servants etc. are funded by other states. Gurgaon and Noida (Delhi's satellite cities) are simply beneficiaries of Delhi's growth.
In short, the "south", "west" etc. have played a crucial role in the new-found growth of the poorer regions of the "north".
sorry flew @55/D-99
ah .... too many mistakes, never mind. 0(-_-)0
Perhaps it would be improper to draw a divisive or comparative line between northern and southern India. Both are integral part of our nation and any economic prosperity or slowdown will directly affect the country's GDP.
Thanks RV,
Talking of arrogance, how could I leave Punjabis out.
Once and only once I flied to New Delhi via Hong Kong in a Cathey pacific flight. You can't believe what they do to that, DTC bus will look more organised. I couldn't take it when seeing a 6-7 years old boy shouting at the attendant, "chudail, chudail"; and his father had nothing, absolutely no reaction.
One local guy sent me link to some Hong Kong forum, where some guy is trying his best not appear racist while describing how some Punjabi gang is beating the helpless prostitutes after doing their thing.
In recent past my own home area is packed by these bullies. They go for pilgrimage to Hemkund Sahib, which is increasing every year. And of course every year there is fight between locals and these goons.
Talking of arrogance? Have you seen very first website of Indian governments tourism department? Do you know what Madrasi and Chinki means?
I also conceive that my friend who lives in Bangalore, doesn't go out late. Because locals might beat him for being northie. but that that does not change the fact that most of the Delhiets think that Delhi is India.
Sorry for such rant, but not my fault ;-)
Why not publish any SCAMS and bring them to notice, which will boost SALES and rise PUBLICITY.
Cheap trick being played by Outlook to increase Sales. I think Outlook is in losses, so they made their mind to publish such FOOLISH article.
@ SANTOSH GAIROLA HSINCHU, TAIWAN
A Good Sumup!
I did a search on this web page for 'Maharashtra' and found none. This is surprising. Maharashtra is certainly not too insignificant to ignore or not to big to keep out of the statistics. The same is case with Gujarat. I suppose both of these states are Westernly, not really belonging to South or North.
Almost 15 % of population in Maharshtra is from other states and this population works at different positoins in the working force from Labourer to Managers.
The inflow from Maharashtra to UP was about 600 crores per month, 15 years back and I am sure it is multifold by now. Similar is the case with other states, Northern and well as South states too.
I would have appreciated if author had acknowledged contribution of Maharsahtra in development and support of other states. Maharshtra is the engine of growth for India. Author has purposely ignored this point for obvious parochial reasons and in pursuit of North South divide.
A REQUEST TO EDITOR, OUTLOOK :
For Heaven's sake hereafter, kindly avoid publishing SILLY AND SHALLOW articles such as this, in OUTLOOK. Healthy debates on contemporary topics among the readers are welcome. But to deliberately create rifts (such as attributing "ARROGANCE" to Southerners which is PATENTLY FALSE ) and raise the temperature with so called discussions on inconsequential and irrelevant matters between people of different regions is Mischievous. Pray desist from such attempts and oblige.
Nation-formation in the Indian context is a long drawn out process. We are still witnessing this Process even six-and-half decades after Independence. We already have enough problems on our hands in J& K, Eastern India, and the terrorist menace originating from across the borders. Povery, illiteracy, an ever-rising yawning gap between the rich and poor, political and bureacratic corruption, Corporate Looting of mineral resources, brazen nepotism as was witnessed in the state of AP in recent years etc. have become a big bother.
DO WE NOW NEED A NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE TOO ?
Guys,
you get really good paani puris in Bangalore. also btw, Sachin Tendulkar is the God. we should all start worshipping Sachin by making temples in his memory.
north south east west india is a large slum. loving it.
Jai Hind.
This article is as useless and mischievous as Bekaar Patel's one that got published in Mint. Utter crap! An unnecessary and outdated stereotyping.
I think whenever Outlook sales slip, they get an article out on one of the following: Any crap on Narendra Modi Any crap by Arundhati Roy Selfish middle class North-south divide Dalit-upper caste divide
I just can't believe that this crap is written by "head, emerging markets, Morgan Stanley Investment Management". No wonder these folks are sucking whole world from their fancy seats in some fancy building of New York. One study shows that money stimulates the same area of the brain in these bankers, which is stimulated by cocaine.
No, no any part of India is good enough. There is a looooong way to go.
West India is doing bad, and the highest growing state is in the west, do you see the problem?
"... end its running territorial dispute with Pakistan by giving up Kashmir, so long as Pakistan took Bihar too" We said that too, and I am not a south Indian.
Go anywhere in India, it is north which is much-much arrogant and manner-less. "re tau, pare ho ja" is normal expression in Jat-land while asking an old man to move a bit. or "bhai saab, hum aapkee maa chod denge" in bhaiya-land. Don't fall for bhai saab or aap. ( I hope Outlook doesn't block it )
"How the ‘Population Bomb’ Became a Competitive Edge" What? Are you out of your mind? Population bomb is ticking as always. Nothing changed, except we don't talk about it anymore. See here comes the "banker mind"; yammy, more consumer, more sale. What about more crime, more pollution, more ...
Let me take deep breath ( this guy agitated me ) hu sss - saa ssss
A friend told me long ago that South had two major advantages over North, Too little Muslim invasion; that kept them closer to their sense of identity as well as cultural. Too early British occupation; the makes them at least two generation advanced in western education (which is essential for new economy). Well, not sure how true is it, but make sense to me.
It is true that broadly there are three Indias: South, North and North-east. There is a wide cultural and social difference between them. But, some of the points are too generic, and counter my personal experience. Northern states have struggled more compared to others, as the governance agenda was strongly influenced by caste politics.
>> "Predictably, this produced a certain arrogance in the southern states, where it became commonplace to look with alarm and pity on the failure of the populous northern states to keep up."
I have studied in Kerala for 2 years and worked in Chennai for 3 years. I found them more polite, social and well-mannered than the fellow Indians I have seen in Delhi, Rajasthan and West Bengal. Take two train rides, one in northern India and one in the south. You will realize the difference when the Bihar-ites and UP-ites get on and force you to share your reserved seat with the ticketless self. And, I have yet talked about better sense of hygiene and cleanliness down south (better wrt Northern India and may be, NE India too; but, still low compared to developed nations).
>> "Bihar was the only state that not only sat out India’s first growth spurt but also saw its economy shrink"
Thanks to the formidable Yadav-Muslim alliance of Lalooraj, combined with caste fanaticism of the others. Add UP to the list please.
>> "Credit Suisse showed that over the last 20 years many Indian states have undergone rapid growth spurts, but only once under a Congress party chief minister."
Ahaa!! Credit Suisse must be full of Sanghis, or on Modi's propaganda funding!!
Arrongance? Can the perceived arrogance of the south match the Arrogance of:
Manu in branding people, who lived on the other side of the Vindhyas as Barbarians?
Our historians in completing ignoring South Indian history while obsessing with Delhi. Anybody studying in a CBSE school would conclude that South India was part of Godwana and the tectonic plates started moving only in the 19th Century (On the other hand, the TN board's history texts makes you believe that genesis happened a few years after the birth of Karunanidhi. Cant decide which is worse).
Our founding fathers in making Hindi the national language though more than 40% of the people were not native speakers of the language.
Rajiv Gandhi who publicly ticked off Anjiah, the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh
The Gandhi clan in general who seem think that an Iranian complexion and a Roman nose are all that are required to lord over a nation of 100 Crore people.
Arrogance or rather ignorance of the average North Indian who thinks all south Indians are Madrasis, the more enlightened among them think all Tamils, including Karunanidhi are Brahmins.
The South has never shown any hesitation in accepting or adulating the leaders from the north while the reverse has never happened. Even today, the only point which the Jayalaltha and Karunanidhi have consensus is on entrusting the running of the state to the dedicated and competent IAS and IPS officers from the North (UP and Bihar in particular).Therefore, in the above context, a little bit of pride or arrogance albeit superficial like the stunts of Rajinikanth is not despicable at all.
@ HARI CHENNAI, INDIA
Unfortunately comment such as the one made here does smack of arrogance. Lets not forget, in economic terms we all live out of the pockets of each other! Interstate movement (of people) is likely to result in greater understanding among people from various states of India.
@ R V Subramanian,
Gurgaon.
All I did was to quote fact and profess the reality, how does that make me a "Southern Arrogant".
Why is there any need to pit south against north? Its not as if growth in north is happening at the expense of south. Its a win - win situation. It would provide emploment in north and reduce pressure on Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, Mumbai etc.
Refer 40/D-119 :
The comment here justifies the term "Southern Arrogance" used by Ruchir Sharma!
>> In the flyover construction sites at Hyderabad , we see Bihar and UP labour almost looking like beggars.. A decade ago we had never seen so many Bihar labour in Chennai.
Not doubt that the bulk of growth in UP and Bihar is due to the better opportunities in southern and western states. In Bihar growth is driven by construction. Agriculture is stagnant and industry is still non-existent. But it is win-win. Even far flung places like Chennai benefit from cheap labour. Not very different from the way the US benefits from cheap South Indian techies.
The writer is a Northie ... sharma ji itni jhoot likhne ke liye sharm nehin aati hain kya .... Hame mehsoos hain ki woh BIMARU log ham dakshinvaasiyon jaise pragathisheel nahin. Vahan sirf goondagardi aur berojgar hain. Humne dekha Chennai main kitna log hain, yahan ki naukur log sab Orissa, Andhra, Bihar, MP, Chhatissgarh, Manipur se hain ...... Vahan itni development hote toh woh log kyun yahan aa raha hain, woh uska hi jagah mein kaam doond lethi .......
@Narendra
The more accurate reference for UP and Bihar would be East India,
this literal translation for UP is Northern State. As you see, meaningless name
These guys have never had it right about the region that is usually referred as North India
The northernmost states Uttarkhan,Haryana, J and K and Rajasthan have always been at par with the South,Punjab and Delhi are even leave them in the dust.
The more accurate reference for UP and Bihar would be East India, and while things are looking good for Bihar(at the moment), UP looks like it'll be a wild anarchy for a very long time.
Puh-lease, a state which exchanges Mayawati's rule for Mulayam is, by no means doing well.
Will someone please suggest the right doctor for Uttar Pradesh?
This really intresting to see south indians are jumping up and down. I am not sure but they believe some how that better economic growth of south is really because of some inherent goodness of south indians. while there are various reasons for better growth but racial supremacy is not one of them. It was natural the economic gains will be redistributed with the time and that is happening. the other misconception is that south is more industrialised than north. IT sector may be more thriving in south but other than that there is not much disparity. Actually it is south which laks industries. Most of the industries are in western region and significant industries are in north. North is hub of small scale and cottage industries.
Ref 35/D-110 Correction:
Please read Ruchir Sharma instead of Ruchir Joshi. sorry for the error.
" Bihar became the butt of southern jokes that India could end its running territorial dispute with Pakistan by giving up Kashmir, so long as Pakistan took Bihar too."
As a Naturalised North Indian -having spent all my life in the North- I have relatives from UP, Bihar and Bengal.
The joke cited by, Mr Ruchir Joshi, as a southern one - has probably been done to lend strength to "South Indian Arrogance". I didnt know that it was a southern joke - in any case , a joke is a joke whatever its origin.
Based on the article I am compelled to conclude that the book is more likely to be superficial, and less likely to be objective, in analytical terms
I think Resurgent Ruchir Sharma got arrogant with his article.I accept ,Some of the North states registered Good GDP to Southeren states.It's sordid by keeping the selected good picture of north and bad picture of south.It seems author means that south states don't have any Express ways and Traffic jams doesn't at all happen in North.Ohh,I am mistaken May be the author is correct.That is the reason Outlook Supported this article and published it.That's great going outlook.I am ashamed to have the subscription of outlook.....
I don't trust that this ''economist'' would provide anything worth my money paid for it.
For God's sake, get hold of the book & read it cover to cover. It will be worth the money you would pay & million times more. Ruchir Sharma has no pretention of ponderous econmic jargon. Economist or not, he has told simple stories simply about the nations which are mentioned very often as coming generation of economic tigers - Asian or otherwise. Some of the stories are shockingly revealing & some are familiar stories. But Sharma's take on each of them is fascinating as he has assessed them as down to earth investment banker from his first hand experiences.
As it is there is no accepatble universal model for getting in to the multi-trillon dollar club. . Our rulers seem to believe there is an omnibus ticket . Sharma has busted that false break-out story.
Regretfully this tiny extract of the 300 page book , in my opinion , has been positioned wrongly, rather sensationally & sending out wrong signals. Unless this extract is read in the total context of the book , one will get the wrong impression & get ionvolved in this North-South debate which needs totally adifferent approach.
There are many ways to generate growth without increasing productivity
*Sell family silver and spend merrily;
*Increase Doles and subsidies and create additional purchasing power;
*Borrow and spend - increase expenditure.
Reading Ruchir Sharma's article makes me want to question his motives. Why would he knowingly provide misleading "facts" that are cherry-picked to suit his purpose. It cannot be denied that Gujarat is developing at a better-than-average rate. But, having said that, sharma simply stretches the argument too far. But my question is, why this comparison at all. When did southern states make any arrogant claim.? Is this the right time to initiate an unnecessary and unhealthy controversy?
The Rajanikant jokes that fly about in the North are so silly and absurd that like our brothers from Punjab we simply laugh them off. A substantial number of the middle class population in Northern states comprises of second generation southerners whose parents moved a little after Independence. That being the case who is being slighted here? The southerners themselves or the corrupt governments taht run the southern states? As Governments go, Southern states are no better (or shoul we say "worse"?) than their Northern counterparts. At least there is free speech in the south.
Comparing Bangalore on a stray rainy day with Gurgaon (a pocket of development amidst a wasteland) is atrocious. Mr. Sharma is advised to visit Gurgaon and see for himself the abject poverty present side-by-side with cospicuous consumption.Is this development?
.Bengaluru has managed to build a Metro Rail; the third in the country. The fourth could be Chennai!
It is sad that a great magazine like Outlook is permitting such a negative theme to be used as the cover story. The beauty is, you will not lose your southern customer base. We southerners are used to every ill-treatment and abuse and will still hold on to that dream of a united strong super power India.
North or South Mera Bharat Mahaan!
I wanted to place an order on Ruchir Sharma's book, given the sorta buzz it has been generating amongst intellectual/economist circles.
But after reading this article, and going through reams of misleading ''facts and figures'' and absurd conclusions, I'm no longer in faith of any of his ''scholarship'' and have decided to not purchase his book. I don't trust that this ''economist'' would provide anything worth my money paid for it.
"The northern states are pulling away as growth stutters in the once arrogant south."arrogant? In yesterdays IPL match - Chennai vs Punjab, the pre match (Extra Innings) had a sardarji (his name was Ghujjee or something like that) supposed to be a comedian. He made fun of the southies by saying they lick food from their elbows to their finger tips. While sherry paaji was having a hearty laugh, oblivious that such a crude joke could hurt sentiments, it took a shocked Harsha to point out that the south was as civilized as anyone else. The sub title of this article is offensive. If the south grew then it was because they spotted opportunities and took up the challenge to change. And people from all over India - have benefitted from this growth. also the pictures supporting this article are misleading. If Noida-gurgaon have good highways then so do Mumbai-Pune, Mysore, TN, Goa! And does only Blore have traffic jams? if you were to believe the author then the North does not have any traffic jams, really? I think the article is basically good, but it could do without the north-south divide angle.
I think Outlook has done injustice to its readers & Ruchir Sharma himself, by publishing an small extract of 'Breakout Nations'. This extract is somewhat inconsequential & incontextual portion of the original thesis of the book. The North Face or North South Divide in India ( if at all there is a case for such premises ) is really not the main theme or even an proposition in the book. North -South Divide seems to be the latest saucy feed the media is dishing out for titilating the insinctive parochialism city bound middle class.
Sharma has written about emerging economies of the world & his take on individual countries. China, India , Brazil , South Africa are considered to be the future economic giants going forward one or two decades . Then there is Indonesia , Malyasia , Thailand , Phillipines , South Korea, Taiwan , Russia, Turkey , Iran , Egypt, , Mexico, Nigeria & few other countries. What is the chance of these countries to breakout in to multi-trillion dollar economies?
A professional investment banker heading Morgan Stanley's emerging nations portfolio, Ruchir Sharma individually takes up each of the countries in his book. He seems to have travelled to each of them & in multiple visits interacted with the top political & financies heirarchies of the nations. In a delightfruly lucid & uncomplicated way Sharma analyses chances of their emerging as economic giants.
The book contains wealth of financial informations which generally are not discussed in mainstream financial media & therefore is a must read.
The caveat one must keep in mind is that the book essentially an overview of countries from a investment banker's point of view which do not neccessarily take in to account human development which must be is a major vertical of growth. Sharma's vision is limited to that extent & therefrore incomplete. One caveat which Ruchir Sharma himself concedes in his book is predicting a longtime econmic cycle - say more than 5 years - is domain of astrology rather than economics.
First What is Growthrate. If you grow from 90% to 99%, your growth rate is 10% and if you grow from 10% to 25%, your growth rate is 150%. And dont count GDP, count how less the poverty is.
"The northern states are pulling away as growth stutters in the once arrogant south"
Disgusting sub-headline.
Uttar Pradesh is as bigger as Pakistan with so much fertile land. The author has taken only Uttar Pradesh and Bihar but omitted Rajasthan. The growth in GDP terms which he took as criteria shows itself. The difference as compared to Southern state of AP for example is very marginal. Not much. While per capita difference is just too much not even half of that of AP.
Author is weeping and wailing over multinational's inability to understand the diversity of India and seems to think that India is a loosely held federation of nations. This of course is absurd.
This is most absurd. As long as Hinduism survives, India remains as one country with one soul and one feeling despite different dates to celebrate same festivals or different festivals. It really does not matter whether multinational super markets survive in India or not.
Just look at the sales of motorcycles. For example Japanese giant Yamaha is finding it extremely difficult to sell just 25% of what Bajaj Pulsar sells in India!! Suzuki situation is much worse. Honda is no better and cannot even compare with its own one time partner Hero brand motorcycle sales. Honda’s only success was its scooter Activa. Its most motorcycles with international reputation are struggling to sell against Hero's and Bajaj pulsars.
So, India is a difficult to understand for this multination’s which conquered all the countries in the world including China. It is not diversity of India that is posing problems to these multinationals but their foolishness or inability to understand the unity of India like a thread in a garland of different flowers. The earlier example of motorcycles is enough to understand.
The demarcation between North and South India is very fictional at best. India is like boiling pot and it changes. Until this software revolution came, the situation of poverty or riches is not much different throughout India. After this software revolution, Karnataka picked up fast later on followed by AP. 25% of foreign exchange earned through sales and services of software goes to AP as per reserve bank report which was published. According to latest census, small families (numbers) are highest in Tamilnadu along with highest number of divorces. It seems UP has high number of joint families with high population ,large size families compared to AP, so much that UP per capita income is not even half of AP.
Ground realities are all most the same. Earlier we have never seen so many Rajasthani carpenters in Hyderabad or labour workers in poultry forms from Bihar. In the flyover construction sites at Hyderabad , we see Bihar and UP labour almost looking like beggars. Bihari labour, with hunger descended in the city of Chennai also. A decade ago we had never seen so many Bihar labour in Chennai.
We cannot compete with China unless we improve our infrastructure and encourage the growth of cities.
As an Indian, north and south or east and west don't matter to me. The country as a whole must make progress. I am glad to hear that Bihar, under Nitish Kumar, is catching up. Let each part of the country lead others with its unique strengths and contributions!
>> Literacy rates are rising faster in the north than the south
If a State 1 had 10% literary and improved it to 20%, and State 2 had 90% literacy and improved it to 99%, one could claim that literacy rates in STate 1 are rising faster than State 2. While this is literally true, it is also extremely misleading.
>> Between 2007 and 2010, the average economic growth rate of the southern states decelerated from 7 per cent to 6.5 per cent, while that of the northern states accelerated from 4.5 per cent to 6.8 per cent.
Could equally well have written "After decades of underperformance, the northern states are finally catching up to the higher growth rates that are still prevelant in the south"
----As central power fades, India is again starting to look like a commonwealth of states with distinct identities and a waning national consciousness.--
Thanks to our ieffective and weak Congress central leadership. Manmohan Singh might have been useful as a finance minister back in 1992 but as prime minister he is responsible for a potential "disintegration" of India as we know it. What we need is a Vladimir Putin type of strong figure to consolidate the central power and arrest the decline of Indian nation.
@Emperor
You are most welcome! The links were for ages(atleast the first one), but the points were missed.
We already have comments about Modi and Muslims. Rahul Gandhi is still missing!!
I expect the professionals to rectify that soon.
17/D-7, SACHIN NOIDA, INDIA
Thanks for summarising the article and providing those links that are floating on internet for ages. This should help the 'professional' commentators get serious and post comments devoid of any opinion or value.
Northren states should focus on reducing the population growth. Fifty percent of UP families have six or more per family. Fifty percent UP Muslim families have 9 people per family. If northren states reduce the population growth like southren states, they will certainly improve the standard f living and reduce the illiteracy which is causing the backwardness.
The comments above clearly show that outlook was probably not the best place to publish this articles.The important argument here is that the growth rate in the northern states is catching up with those in the south and sometimes beating it. This shows compalcency on part of southern states as much as it shows positive developement in the north. The high base theory is a fallacy here as the per capita income levels are still very low even in southern India. As quoted in the articles, many chinese states have showh high growth for three decades and that is the only way to bring about a dramatic change in living standard.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/10/comparing-india-and-china
The simple chart at the above link gives you an idea of the difference we are talking about.
https://infocus.credit-suisse.com/data/_product_documents/_shop/323525/2011_global_wealth_report.pdf
Also, this is the link which gives some idea about what the author is talking about.So my (not so humble) request to the usual professional commentators at outlook forums would be to have an idea about what th article is about before searching for a way to somehow fit in wise cracks.
This extract from Ruchir Sharma's book, I suspect, is meant to provoke a discussion among the middle class people who are its potential buyers and thereby raise its sales.The ploy is to provide a shallow analysis with a few figures on the comparative performances of some Northern and some Southern regional economies and hint at how the tables have been turning against South during recent years.
Any one who is even marginally familiar with literature on Economic Growth gets amused with Mr Sharma's empirical analysis, to the extent there is one, and is left unconvinced by the primary argument that some states from North are making rapid advances and those from South have reached a plateau. Afterall, larger volume of GDP in UP for 2009-10 as compared to those of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh does not tell you the full story! And what about Bihar ? Its GDP was not as big as those of the two Southern States during this period. Yet it is mentioned below Table one that "The Northern economies grew faster than other states in the last decade". How ridiculous !?
And how about the comparitive performances in per capita incomes of these regions during the two decades, 1990-91 and 2009-10 ?The two northern states of UP & Bihar continued to be way below the two Southern States of AP and Karnataka during this period.
Besides resources--physical and human and growth-generating public policies, what is quite important now, among others, are CMs with some vision for their respective states. Chandra Babu Naidu (AP) till 2004 and Nitish kumar (Bihar) and Narendra Modi (Gujrat) now amply prove this point. Therefore, this so called North-South comparison tends to be artificial, puposeless and futile. Irrespective of the ideological differences these three leaders are taken as Growth-agents.
I know, while Naidu has to live down his anti-farmer image, Modi has to put up with his anti-Muslim image for a long time to come !!
. In a recent analysis, Credit Suisse showed that over the last 20 years many Indian states have undergone rapid growth spurts, but only once under a Congress party chief minister.
imo, this is the best point made in the article. Most people intuitively know this is true. This is why the Congress Party fears Modi.
The Gandhi years, especially since Sonia Gandhi, have seen a marked deterioriation in the Congress Party. Its still runs on competent elders who joined the party long ago. But Congress is now a liability. It should be seen for what it is and always was: a post -colonial political party.
On the whole the article is more nuanced then the accompanying photographs and headings, which make little sense. Ruchir Sharma may not be responsible for those, but this magazine should hire more literate sub-editors
@rajesh
Actually degrading jokes on Biharis were (probably still are) practiced in Dehli and surrounding regions.
this is absolutely true. I grew up hearing Bihari jokes even in UP. In retrospect, it was illiterate unskilled Biharis from the countryside, in search of jobs and livelihood. Even western UP thinks itself the cats whiskers, I don't know why. This is the fault of the Urdu feudal culture
Ruchir Sharma tried to put some data in his analysis but it is pathetically incomplete and perception trumphs. At least he could use census data. Good to note that Bihar's GDP is rising at healthy pace of 10+%. But what about the quality of lives and poverty rate? He gives credit to Nitish Kumar but during his regime since 2005 poverty rate is unchanged at 50+%. During Laloo's regime, 1990s, poverty rate declined. He shows picture of a wide road in Patna. Why didn't he mention that only 13% of Biharis have access to electricity? Again, this is census data.
ELVIN JACOB >> Bihar became the butt of southern jokes that India could end its running territorial dispute with Pakistan by giving up Kashmir, so long as Pakistan took Bihar too. .. I would like to know the source of your claim
Actually degrading jokes on Biharis were (probably still are) practiced in Dehli and surrounding regions. That region is the invention place of most of the Madrasi jokes as well. My Ruchir Sharma is utterly confused.
One thing Mr Sharma unconciously shown is the employment line in Andhra. In Bihar lines for any purpose, for employment, trains or for anything else, is nowhere found. It is free for all. Naipal description as a place where civilization ends still holds.
“Bihar finally proved that it is not the “APPENDIX” but the “LIVER” of the Nation which cannot be done away with.”
So we have water logged roads of Bangalore after an occasional rain compared to Hema Malini's cheeks in Delhi. Job queues in Hyderabad compared to a bunch of Multi storied buildings in Patna.
Only when it comes to the last graph the real picture comes out - The percapita income.
With the demographic advantage there is no doubt that Northern states will grow fast with more people consuming goods and services, it has to be noted that employment generation in Bimaru states still remains abysmal. Hence there is still massive outflux of people to either Delhi-Punjab or to the states along the coastline. It is true that Southern states have slowed down because of dysfunctional and corrupt regional governments at the helm, but they still remain attractive places to live and do business because of law and order , educated populace and better infrastructure. The northern states have to improve precisely on these factors.
Also the claim of arrogance of South Indians by the author amused me. The fact is that it was always a madrasi who was an object of caricature in the popular culture of North- cemented through various bollywood movies and even shows on DD beamed across India. But a Southerner never really cared about Bihar or Pakistan to make such qualifed jokes. It had been the prerogative of supercilious people from Delhi such as the author himself to make such jokes about everyone else in India .
I have experienced both sides of the world. I spent the first 15 years of my life in Bihar, while it was still under the 'rule of Laloo'. I spent the remaining 10 years in South India. In Bihar, I was born and brought up in Begusarai - apparently the most notorious district in Bihar. I presently live in Bangalore, the so called Silicon Valley of India. It pains me to read this article, that could otherwise have been a beautiful way of how two cultures have embraced one another. Instead, South Indians have been described as arrogant and bourgeoisie-ish while Biharis have been described as the underdogs and hardworking. Not mincing my words, I truly believe that Biharis are some of the most intelligent and hardworking people. IAS/IPS/IFS/IIT records are there to prove it. But South Indians aren't bad either. You'll find both Subramaniams and Srivastavs working together in the top IT cos. Excerpt from article: "Predictably, this produced a certain arrogance in the southern states, where it became commonplace to look with alarm and pity on the failure of the populous northern states to keep up. Southerners saw themselves as harder working, better educated, and more ready to compete in the world. Bihar became the butt of southern jokes that India could end its running territorial dispute with Pakistan by giving up Kashmir, so long as Pakistan took Bihar too." Mr Ruchir Sharma, I would like to know the source of your claim that this Kashmir-Bihar joke was made in South India. Please email me at elvin.jacob@hotmail.com. There are a lot of idli dosa jokes crafted around a bunch of lungi clad Madrasis. But does that mean they were crafted in North India? Sabeer Bhatia is North Indian. He worked in South India and made Hotmail.com. The environment was conducive for the same. By posting the photograph of a 'smooth expressway' alongside long queues in Hyderabad and broken down buses in Bangalore, what are you trying to prove? I am sorry but am going to don your cap and be extremely racist in my next few words: As per stereotypes, North Indians are pan chewing, loud men who refuse to speak in any other language than Hindi and South Indians are boring, conservative stuck up people, forever drinking tender coconut water and eating dosa, who can't say a word in Hindi (OMG!) and speak in heavily accented English. This article is just filled with stereotypes, and that has been made to look sophisticated by throwing in some numbers. We expect a little more out of you Outlook and not articles that would widen the gap created by regionalist forces instead of bridgeing them.
europe and japan registered negative growth, usa grew only by 1.3% but both pakistan and india grew above 6%. so according to the author India and pak are more developed or on the verge of taking the top position.
Untill the population of north stabilises there is no hope for it. U cannot eat superhighways , IT has its limitations, schools and hospitals will be never be adequate. An unskilled population is greatest bane for society.
Delhi is now ahead of Bombay, Haryana, with Gurgaon as its leading edge, is another success story.
if the southern states have slowed down in their growth rates, does that mean the northern states will follow the same trajectory? The political culture is similar.
I think thats a reasonable assumption. "Breakout" nations is unpredictable.
The northern states are seeing some growth, but this is low hanging fruit. This is the result of new technologies that come from outside, like telecoms. And as @natarajan points out even a decent road or bridge where there was none will have a good return on investment.
whats crippling the northern states is shortage of power. To generate power on a large scale requires sustained political will, which is not there. Has Ruchir Sharma travelled in UP and seen what the roads are like? Whats the point of showing a 25 KM long Noida expressway? Same bragging attitude
Am amazed that Mr Ruchir Sharma does not look into history beyond Winston Churchill. The Northern badlands from the 8th century AD had no strong ruler and this continued with the conquer of the North by Huns, Turks, Mughals and the British. Although the South too was invaded, it is important to note that the South always had strong kingdoms even at the time of the Turks/Mughals/British(1100 AD-1800 AD) which included the Cholas,Rashtrakuthas, Vijaynagara, Marathas, Tipu Sultan, Pandavas etc etc. All these rulers were of Indian blood and truly ruled like benevolent kings while the Miughals,Turks etc were conquerors who never cared about their subjects
The northern invaders always found it difficult to cross beyond the Vindhyas. Moreover, they were stopped on their tracks in the rocky and inaccessible deccan plateau and hence could not venture into the south as successfully as they had in the northern plains.
Am guessing Mr Ruchir Sharma`s experience as a fund manager has made him look only into numbers and other quantitative details and hence miss out on the qualitative ones. It is the similar difference that would exist between a mutual fund manager like John Paulson and a true value investor like Warren Buffet.
The graph on PerCapita Income seem to indicate significant growth - perhaps higher - in the two southern states shown in the article.
Mr Ruchir Sharma would have done well to compare per capita growths, instead of over all economic growths, of the states. Another important measure of comparison would have been Distribution of Incomes.
This article is a classic case of how to mis-interpret growth rates. UP and Bihar have historically been the most badly administered and backward parts of India. Anything new that comes up there, like even a new road in some places, would amount to a very big development. Southern states on the other hand have been growing massively for the last two decades and it is only expected that their growth rates will plateau out. The South and West of India still lead massively over the North and East when it comes to foreign investment, employment generation and most importantly, law and order. Besides a few pockets ike Delhi, Guragon and Noida, the North has not much industrial development to speak of compared to the South. While it is heartening to note that the badlands of the Hindi belt are finally seeing some much needed and deserved development, it is premature and even totally wrong to say that the North is the new South.