With the world's attention focused on China, less thought is spared for India, the other Asian giant--but one with a very different set of problems to overcome.

Although formidable, the challenges of corruption, bureaucracy, deep-seated divisions of caste and faith, AIDS and environmental degradation, are surmountable, according to journalist Edward Luce.

In his book, In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India (Doubleday, $26), Luce lays out a comprehensive political and economic analysis of India's present, problems and prospects.

Backed by facts and statistics, illuminating anecdotes and extensive travel, Luce concludes that, for all its chaos, India does indeed work.

As an example, he tells the story of his own marriage in New Delhi to an Indian woman to illustrate what economist and former US Ambassador to India John Kenneth Galbraith once called the country's ‘functional anarchy’. Chaos reigns, but in the end everything comes together.

India's system of liberal democracy, along with the talents of its people, ‘is the most precious asset India possesses’, he writes.

But that democracy faces formidable challenges, including the divisions between castes and faiths that can escalate to violence, corrupt, entrenched bureaucrats, and barriers to both existing and new businesses.

That said, Luce challenges the ‘insidious assumption’ that China is growing faster than India because it is authoritarian, arguing that a 19-month period of autocracy India experienced under Indira Gandhi beginning in 1975 damaged its social stability and economic prosperity.

Pakistan, with its ethnic and cultural similarities, offers a better comparison, he says. With more and longer periods of authoritarian rule and a stricter form of democracy than India, it has in the last two decades had an average growth rate of 3.5 percent compared with 6 per cent in India.

Another recurring theme: the striking contrasts that make up modern India: old vs. new, modern city vs. backward village, a growing, highly educated middle class vs. 300 million still living in poverty.

William Dalrymple, the award-winning author of several books on India, has high praise for Luce's book.

"I think it fills a big gap," Dalrymple said in an interview, saying it advances the story of the subcontinental country's rise told by Gurcharan Das in his 2002 book India Unbound.

In a chapter titled Hers to Lose, Luce sums up the challenges to India faces: AIDS, rapid environmental degradation that is poisoning the air and water supply, the huge number of people living in poverty, and the weaknesses in its democratic system.

Overcoming them would tax the powers and resources of an efficient and forward-thinking state, he writes. In the Indian state's present condition, there is a question mark over its ability to achieve these objectives.

"India is not on autopilot to greatness. But it would take an incompetent pilot to crash the plane," he writes.

Courtesy : Expressindia.com

On a peace mission, 120 rallyists from South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries made for some picture-perfect moments on the Vadodara-Express highway on Thursday afternoon, while they were moving towards Mumbai on their way from Delhi.

However, it was Pakistani rallyist Etehsam Abbas who charmed everyone during a rest stop the Expressway, even as he cited Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as his ideal.

A fleet of 30 cars and 120 participants of the SAARC Car Rally 2007 reached Gujarat from Rajasthan after traversing SAARC member countries, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and India. Children waving the flags of the SAARC countries welcomed the cars entering Chiloda in Gandhinagar. The rallyists are covering a distance of over 8,200 kilometres in 31 days. Having started from Bangladesh's Cox Bazaar on March 15, the rally will conclude at Male in Maldives on April 14.

During the interactive session, many like Abbas admitted that it was poverty and illiteracy which were responsible for terrorism, and added that they need to be tackled together by SAARC countries.

Also, the rallyists said that during the course of their travels through the SAARC countries, it was the interaction with the common people, which they found the most refreshing.

The cultural similarities between the SAARC countries were appreciated by the participants, as many visited the countries for the first time during the rally. In fact, some also advocated opening up the SAARC countries to facilitate trade and cultural exchange.

Confederation of Indian Industries (CII)) deputy director Ajay Khanna, who accompanied the rallyists, said that the rally, which was the Prime Minister's pet project, was being received warmly everywhere. The rallyists are from diverse professional backgrounds, from media personnel to NGO activists.

The express objective of the rally is to strengthen ties among the SAARC countries and increase regional connectivity, improve regional trade and transport infrastructure, people-to-people contact, and tapping the vast potential for business, investment and tourism.

The rally is a part of the 'Green South Asia 2007' programme and is being organised by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, SAARC and CII.

Courtesy : Expressindia.com