Chidambaram's speech

Here's how Chidambaram began his speech on the 29 th of January at LSE:

"In the eyes of Indian scholars, the London School of Economics, or the LSE, ranks along with Oxford and Cambridge as a great institution of learning. It is an institution that many aspire to join, but few succeed in doing so. LSE is the cherished alma mater of several economists, social scientists, constitutional experts, civil servants and statesmen who, after graduation, moved on to build distinguished careers in diverse fields. Indians who passed through the portals of LSE have made remarkable contributions to the building of modern India."

He went on to say that,
"The Achilles heel of India’s growth story appears to be the physical infrastructure – roads, railway, airports, seaports, power and telecommunication. In a sense, the deficiencies have been exposed by the rapid rate of growth. We recognize the need to provide world class infrastructure in order to meet the requirements of a fast growing economy. We are therefore employing more than one model to build infrastructure on an ambitious scale. While the telecommunication sector is driven by private investment and railway is driven by public investment, we have adopted the public private partnership (PPP) model to steer growth in the roads, airports, seaports and power sectors."

He concluded his speech with these memorable words, "These 60 years have been marked by success and failure, conflict and resolution, war and peace, hope and despair, and growth and
stagnation. I believe that India has broken out of the circle of poverty and neglect. I believe that India has ended its isolation from the rest of the world. I believe that India has discovered its legitimate role and place in the world economy. I am confident that nothing can stop India from marching to its rightful status of an economic power that is committed to the development and prosperity of not only the Indian people but also the development and prosperity of the people of all ountries of the world."

I think he is being over optimistic about India's development and progress. Have a look at these numbers that Mr Chidambaram didn't bother mentioning.


HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 5.1 million (2001 est.)
Female literacy rate: 48.3% (2003 est.)
Public debt: 52.8% of GDP (federal and state debt combined) (2006 est.)
Oil - imports: 2.09 million bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil - production: 785,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)
Population below poverty line: 25% (2002 est.)
Infant mortality rate: total: 54.63 deaths/1,000 live births