Some comments on India

It is painful to see the suffering of so many people in India who are absolutely destitute. It is so unjust and it sometimes makes me feel ashamed to be here enjoying our visit to this fascinating country. We see homeless people in the U.S., but here the majority of the people live in very difficult circumstances. The middle class and affluent people we meet do not seem aware or concerned about this situation. India's neo-liberal free market policies have not helped the majority of the Indian people it seems. Rather it seems to have made the disparity of wealth more stark. On the other hand, there is a significant segment of the population who have benefited from these policies, especially if measured by increased per-capita income and by the number of vehicles on the road and cell phones in use. Statistics relating to health and education, probably also show some improvement.

English language newspapers are read frequently here. On the editorial pages and the letters section there is much blaming of Pakistan and focusing on fighting terrorism. Indian nationalist sentiments are very evident. There is pride in "Slumdog Millionaire" getting nominated for many academy awards and irritation at its focus on the life of India's poor. I have read some pieces that criticize U.S. militarism and a couple of articles by the liberal American economist Paul Krugman that are very critical of free market economics and critical of Obama for surrounding himself with conventional advisors unwilling to back more drastic remedies that will benefit the working class but would be costly to the power and wealth of the upper class.

We have been able to view many Indian news stations, and CNN, BBC and Al Gazira. I am very impressed with the professionalism of Al Gazeera and its giving a critical view of the U.S. and Israel's policies. They present many factual things that are not shown on the U.S. media. For example, they did an hour special on the aftermath of the U.S. bombing of Southeast Asia and its continuing effect on local populations. They did a short piece about a Palestinian peace activist who lost his two daughters in one of the bombings of Gaza and one on a 13 year old girl who lost her whole family. The U.S. media hides the suffering of the victims of U.S. policies.