Let India does its things the Indian way, not the British way or any other way, then should be less to worry.

India is rising but issues like infrastructure, railways etc. are holding India back.Red-tape is rampant in Indian government processes.I doubt that the $1 trillion being invested in infrastructure will be put in the right areas due to mismanagement & corruption.Given the fact that National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is in deep corruption which has often appeared in news as officials,politicians alike want to earn money from this government alloted fund.No doubt the Congress comes to power almost every time as they know how to win elections from the bottom half of illiterate & poor public.They want that India remain underdeveloped & poor so that the party can rule India for ever.

Food for Thought:-There should be provision of e-governance in major areas and the areas like railways,minings,infrastructure etc. where India is lagging behind should be privatized to the maximum.Its also a way to cut down corrupt practices like 2G,property scams...

Effective government seems to be the exclusive province of India's autocratic neighbour to the northeast.

Shame she can't provide a better advert for democracy.

Its great that the hundreds, if not thousands, of corrupt, shady rickshaw wallahs and taxi wallahs that hang around the airport looking for foreigners to cheat, steal, and much worse, are now out of business.

"The service was supposed to operate in time for the Commonwealth games in Delhi, in October 2010. Instead, after 57 billion rupees (some $1.3 billion) have been spent, it has opened five months late."

The Economist is being too harsh with the Metro expansion. 5 months is fairly minor for a major subway line opening. This current phase of expansion is just about completed and can claim to be about 90% on time. A miracle in India and quite good compared to most other cities of the world. The real headache to cover is building roads.

-Tai Chi
http://chinaoverinida.blogspot.com - A China-India blog

"The only hope of spending $1 trillion on infrastructure in an effective way is to get more private partners involved."

I don't necessarily think private firms are the only salvation. The question should be asked more often: Why is the corrupt Chinese state in comparison able to so effectively build infrastructure? Authoritarianism is only part of the answer since much of the delay in Indian projects occur after the land has been acquired and construction begins.

http://chinaoverindia.blogspot.com/2011/02/corrupt-chinese-babus-get-job...

-Tai Chi

For its per capita income level its doing pretty good. Thailand did not have its Metro system until 2004, Indonesia does not have one yet. if the followed the example of Bangkok they would have built one in Delhi in 2020.

Public-Private partnership is in India's interest. But tension between the two are inevitable. 'Public', that is 'government' in India, has little common sense, often none, while the 'private' has more or common sense and logic.

Till 1991, the leading political party of India, Congress, had NO vision or intelligence. Such ingredients for success as the party had, were reserved for 'winning elections by hook or by crook', mostly by 'crook'.

Unfortunately, even during the British Raj, the 'PWD' (Public Works Department) was known for its corruption. Under Congress's misrule of India for over 55 years, this corruption has spread to the smallest of 'Panchayats'.

The first political party in India to conceive and build India's National High Ways was the BJP led government. Then like a low voltage 'tube light' the Congress Party flickered into some intelligence about 'infra structure'.

But they are finding that the 'Corruption Raj' they had nursed for 55 years is making difficult for them.

They cannot eradicate corruption from New Delhi, no chance of eradicating it from Congress' allies such as the DMK of the South.

Congress nicompoops and charlatans are still a liability for India.

Funny thing about Public servants ( Government employees ) . These people tend top be worst people in the world.

A close freind of mine , is the key engineer for an Australian compan y that was the consulting company for starting a tunnel project near Simla.
He tells me that dealing with these people was the most frustrating experience in his life.
They were fine in doing what they were told to do. BUT they would initially say they could do things , and later tell my freind they could not.
This made it impossible to plan anything .
Moreover - there was no critical analysis involved here. My Engineer freind would make a suggestion , and they would all agree with him , instead of critically analysing his suggestion.

Worst of all - The top director and his chief assistant were never seen. They never bothered to have an input, nor oversee any part of the project.
When, at last he got one of his fellow engineer from Australia, an Indian, things started getting somewhere, and only because this Indo/ Australian made decisions.

I would say that these Government employees are the scourge of progress.

The constitution of India needs to be changed, so that these people can be fired if they don't perform.

Get Indira Gandhi out of our Government

This is true that Average Indian loves a Journey by Trains. What Indians are lacking is a Railway Minister with a Pan-India-outlook. Since after Independence, persons were selected by the Ruling Parties in handling the important Rail-portfolio who were mostly swayed by his/her regional interests. As a result of these shortcomings, this Country-wide Vast and important Network is suffering from the problems of Upgradation of the Tracks, Operational Equipments and Technical Personnels. The attempt to involve the Industrialists through "PPP-i.e., Private Public Partnersip" has been miserably failed. Because the Indian Capitalist never invested their money in the creation of "National Infrastructure Networks", be it Road, Rail or Telecommunication Network. Historically all such networks were build up by the Government of India through successive 5-Year Plans. The Government in power (after the departure of Mrs. Indira Gandhi from power) is trying to dis-associate itself from such nation building initiatives and are now trying to put responsibilities on Domestic and Foreign Investors, who find those projects as most unremunerative. In order to form a Government at Centre, the Ruling Party went for adjustments with their political Partner, and has installed a Railway Minister who is trying hard to record her name in the Guinea's Book as 'most inactive Minister' so far India has witnessed !!

Mention of N.Delhi airport, I am reminded of Air India. It was a Congress government that nationalised this airline, following which, year after year, proceeded to RUIN it. Every few years, several governments have infused more and more capital into this low flyer of an airline. Latest infusion, Rs. 1,200 Crores!!

Under UPA-1 and the current UPA-2, the airline is facing a serious decline. The Austrian COO has resigned citing 'government interference' in operating matters. I can believe him. In Congress' political culture, they know ONLY TO INTERFERE. The old bags, empty of intelligence but full of egotism, know nothing else.

The old bags are, these days, money bags and resemble a mafia.

How can India trust them any longer?

India's infrastructure projects would never be completed under their MISRULE.

In Asia, India is an old civilisation along with China