By Dr. Sawraj Singh
I saw a beautiful comparison of the railways in China and India, titled Indian Elephant Vs Chinese Dragon: Snail Rail Vs Bullet Train, done by Headlines Today (an Indian news channel) and available to watch on Youtube.com. For the comparison, two Indian reporters travel in one of the best trains in each country. One reporter travelled from Shanghai to Beijing on a bullet train, while the other travelled from Delhi to Jaipur aboard a train known as the Ajmer Shatabdi.
The Chinese bullet train comes out way ahead of India’s Shatabdi not only in speed, but in all other aspects, such as stability, cleanliness, quality of food, and the overall quality of service.
Both of the train rides were about the same in the amount of time, they took about 4.5 hours. In these 4.5 hours, the Shatabdi went from Delhi to Jaipur, a distance of about 270 Km; whereas the bullet train went from Shanghai to Beijing, a distance of about 1,300 Km.
The quality of service and the overall atmosphere in the bullet train was comparable to airplane travel. The quality and choice of food was excellent and the toilets were very clean in the bullet train, while these were not up to the mark in the Shatabdi. Both reporters measured stability by standing two double-A (AA) batteries vertically on the floor of the coaches that they were travelling in. In the Shatabdi, the batteries fell over when the train reached a speed of 100 Km; while in the bullet train, the batteries stood their ground (no pun intended) even at a speed of more than 300 Km.
The Indian passengers, who were interviewed, bitterly complained not only about the less than satisfactory conditions in the train, but also about the filth and anarchy at the platforms, where stray dogs, thousands of flies, and poor people seem to have uncontrolled access. The stomach-turning stench of urine and human excrement added to their unpleasant experience. Overall, the Chinese railway gave the impression of order and harmony, while the Indian railway systems showed chaos bordering upon anarchy.
What these reporters have shown by comparing the railway systems actually represents the overall situation in both countries. Mao’s China gives the impression of a disciplined, harmonious, and tranquil society; while Gandhi’s India, where order and discipline have almost completely disappeared, pushing the country to chaos bordering upon complete anarchy.
While the Indian reporters presented a very balanced and fair comparison, the western media, with its ulterior motives, continues to present a very biased presentation. Nowadays, they are clamoring about the Indian economic growth rate exceeding the growth rate in China. The western media, which is bent on proving that India is going to overtake China, should watch this presentation by the Indian reporters. They may realize that their predictions are unlikely in the foreseeable future.
Let us look at the facts. China’s manufacturing is about eight times larger than that of India. China’s army and air force are about three to four times larger than those of India. How realistic are western predictions?
Why is the western media doing this? The obvious reason is that the West wants to use India as a sacrificial lamb. They want us to do their fighting and suffer the consequences. They want to shift the arena of the Third World War from Europe to South Asia. India has to see through the West’s ulterior motives and try to protect its own interests. We should not fall into the trap which the West has set for us.
Why is there such a big difference between the two countries?
Some answers were found by the Indian news channel Zee TV, which conducted two comparative studies in their Daily News and Analysis (DNA) program and their Bharat Bhag Vidata: Loktantra Ka Makeover program. The DNA program was titled Why India is Lagging Behind China? The Bharat Bhag Vidata program was titled What took China ahead of India? A comparative analysis! The conclusions by the programs were that China is spending many times more than India on developing infrastructure, and China has proper planning while India’s planning is very poor. There is rampant corruption in India whereas China is relatively free of corruption. The programs found that efficiency in China is the rule whereas India is plagued by inefficiency. The Chinese education system is far superior to India. The programs found a big difference in discipline and spirit of people. The Chinese are much more disciplined and their national spirit is much higher than Indians.
China has been able to provide the benefits of development to the vast majority of its population whereas the majority of people in India have been deprived of the benefits of development. China has been able to fuse Marxism with its traditional wisdom and evolve its own model of development. India has followed the western capitalist model of development without modifying it to our traditions or conditions.
Mahatma Gandhi wanted decentralized and rural-based development. However, India has done exactly the opposite; it has adopted a highly-centralized and urban-based model of development. Moreover, Gandhi wanted to develop cottage industry while India’s focus has been on development of large-scale industry.
The West is deliberately distorting the facts about China’s slowing economic rate growth. They are completely ignoring the fact that China is trying not to fall into the middle income country trap like the Southeast Asian countries and Brazil. China wants to become a developed country from a developing country. Therefore, they are trying to encourage innovation and creativity instead of only focusing on productivity. This also means that they are trying to expand the service sector of their economy, the middle class base, and the internal market instead of purely depending upon the export-oriented economy.
The western media is giving the impression that India is catching up to China and will overtake it. However, statistics do not support such assertions. The gap between the two is actually widening. In 1980, the GDP of both countries was almost equal. However, in 2013, China’s GDP was more than four times larger than India’s GDP. Instead of only following the West, India should also try to learn from China. Let good ideas come from all places. India has to evolve its own model of development based upon our own traditions and conditions. India should remember that it is a developing country and it is part of Asia and the East. The western capitalist model of development is not suitable or sustainable in India.
I ask the western media to watch these two Indian news programs. The links for the programs are given below. I am sure that they will like to reconsider their predictions about India and China after watching the programs.
Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at [email protected].
