India's edge over china

Now that the world has identified India and China as two of the most powerful emerging nations who can actually become strong enough to threaten the cushy universe of the First (Caucasian dominated) World, it becomes imperative to undertake a comparative view of the strengths and weaknesses of both.


While India is a democracy, created as a republic after the passing of the rule from the British in 1947, China, ostensibly a republic, wad forged on the anvil of a Communist takeover under Mao Zedong. It established a dictatorial socialist system that survives in most forms except for one marked difference, an open market system economy that is free in as much as the Politburo lets it be. This system was put in place under forward-looking leader Deng Xioping in 1978.


India on the other hand worked for almost 40 years under a socialist pattern under a democratic system that laid the foundation for its nascent infrastructure. But it was during the 1990s that a liberal economy was inaugurated and the resultant bounty is still being reaped.
In fact, continuous changes in policy pushed India to increasingly merge its economy with the rest of the world.

In fact, India has grown steadily at an average 6% since then. While India has an economy that is growing from the grassroots, China's economy's roots are not set from the individual up but from the government down.

The Chinese economy is not really demand driven, it performs/produces under strict guidelines set down by the government. The kind of position and image both enjoy in the eyes of other countries can well be imagined. Foreign investors look at China as a relatively short-term opportunity, where political or internal unrest can wipe out everything at one blow. India on the other hand offers long-term possibilities for growth, even though the returns may not be that huge in the short term.

A few parameters should clear the air

While India is just one-third the size of USA, China is almost as large as the USA. With this as the backdrop India has an irrigated land area that is larger than that of China. India is at 590,000 sq km, while China is at 525,800 sq km.

India's strength for so many years and the foundation on which industry and services sectors grow is better. It won't take a genius to figure out which direction India is heading. And although this is offset by a population that is just 200 million short of China's 1,298,847,700, nevertheless, India's median age is just above 24 years while that of China is into the early thirties. This can translate into a population that is still in its youth and thriving while the Chinese population is in middle age.

The benefits can stretch right across all parameters of the economy as the more vibrant Indian population can be more innovative, modern in thought, willing to take profitable risks, identifying the future much more accurately and a go-ge