Democracy is development

It has been a while since I have blogged, as I have changed my job and relocated to a new city and that's had its toll on the time that I have been able to spend on the blogosphere. I have kept in touch with the news, though.

I have in my previous posts cursed the democratic systems of India and have lamented the democracy tax that India pays (and China doesn't) for development. An entirely refreshing perspective came about when I read this article in The Hindu about a speech that Amartya Sen made, saying democracy itself is development, something that Indians have & Chinese don't.

It is easy for us to take things such as freedom of expression for granted, but to focus entirely on economic development would indeed be futile, as UNDP reports show that though India has done well on the economic front in the last 15 years or so, it lacks far behind in Human Development factors.

It is a humbling experience after you go through these reports to see how well much smaller countries like Sri Lanka with similar or greater challenges have done compared to us on human development factors.