For those who think India has a good shot at attracting manufacturing in China by taking advantage of the ongoing trade war, think again. To rise to the level of China, India will need to offer equally attractive manufacturing policy and conditions on the ground.
India has a very different culture. While the federal government is strong and powers are concentrated at federal level, it still has limits on its powers. The main check on that power comes from raw protests and street demonstrations and that culture can be traced all the way to Indian independence movement. Federal government can suppress some individuals or a few random organizations, but it cannot impose a top-down manufacturing policy to make the environment appealing for foreign investors.
Yes, that is what a democratic country is supposed to be like. Workers have the right to protest.
China's policies of suppression won't work in any place where people have more freedom. In the end, companies will need to eat the increased costs of working in an environment where people can protest mistreatment and wage slavery. The alternative is bowing to China and letting human rights violations slide for the increase in profits.
> Yes, that is what a democratic country is supposed to be like. Workers have the right to protest.
The person you are reacting to didn't say they prefer a political situation in which workers don't have the right to protest, they are just highlighting that there is a difference between the situation in India and China which, in their opinion, prevents India of achieving equal industrial strenght.
> To rise to the level of China, India will need to offer equally attractive manufacturing policy and conditions on the ground.
I understand and accept the comment. What I was trying to point out, and maybe didn't point out well enough, was that China and India have different systems, values and expectations, meaning that businesses expecting a like for like replacement will eventually end up being disappointed.
Doing business in a federal democracy comprised of diverse states and population like India and a top down controlled economy like China has different implications, no matter what. There is a very valid case for India improving conditions for people to do business there, but even if those things happen, the value proposition will still be different when compared to China and in the end, at some point, a compromise to profits will have to be made in favour of values.
> Yes, that is what a democratic country is supposed to be like.
If india is what a democratic country is supposed to be then it really doesn't say much for democracy does it? Hundreds of millions of indians living without electricity, indoor plumbing and in abject poverty.
> Workers have the right to protest.
Sure, but the article is talking about riots and attacks. And it's a taiwanese company they are rioting against. The irony.
> China's policies of suppression won't work in any place where people have more freedom.
"China's policies of suppression". China's policies were copied from japan, korea, singapore, etc who in turned copied from the US. Parrots parroting.
> In the end, companies will need to eat the increased costs of working in an environment where people can protest mistreatment and wage slavery.
Average indian income $2,130. Average chinese income 10,410. Guessing these indian workers are desperate for that chinese slave wage?
> The alternative is bowing to China and letting human rights violations slide for the increase in profits.
Or the EU and their human rights violations. The laughable nonsense of human rights has got to stop. Yeah, india should slum it and stay poor just to satisfy virtue signalers. Clearly there is something china did right and india did wrong. Or could it be you just want india to be poor and weak forever?
India is young, populous and has such immense potential but it won't reach it's potential trying to appease virtue signalers. It has to look around and see how others rose up and formulate a national strategy. Otherwise, it will stand to waste the potential of 1+ billion people like it has the past 70 years. Since ww2, india has been the greatest disappointment and the greatest source of human suffering. If india would get its act together it would help solve much of the world's poverty and suffering due to its sheer size.
> doesn't say much for democracy does it? Hundreds of millions of indians living without electricity, indoor plumbing and in abject poverty.
Wow what a cherry picked example. I guess being a "democracy" should just magically solve a millennia of colonialism and thousands of years of rigid class hierarchy? And even if it absolutely should, the wealth gap in india is at an all time low due to Reservation policies.
> Sure, but the article is talking about riots and attacks. And it's a taiwanese company they are rioting against. The irony.
Yes, they haven't been paid for months. In india the workers don't take that sitting down.
> "China's policies of suppression". China's policies were copied from japan, korea, singapore, etc who in turned copied from the US. Parrots parroting.
Interesting, I never saw nets along the company housing in japan/us preventing workers from killing themselves, nor have I heard of american workers sneaking letters in products begging for help.
Also, I love how you're equating humans rights with "virtue signalling". Spoken exactly like a privelaged fool who doesn't understand the value of right, yet deems them unworthy for others.
Cherrypicked? How is electricity, indoor plumbing and abject poverty cherrypicking? Those are the basic necessities of modern life. It's almost 2021.
> I guess being a "democracy" should just magically solve a millennia of colonialism and thousands of years of rigid class hierarchy?
Except that china also had the exact same issues. In many respect, china had it worse than india when it came to colonialism. Yet look at china and look at india.
> And even if it absolutely should, the wealth gap in india is at an all time low due to Reservation policies.
Talk about cherrypicked. Who cares about wealth gap when you don't have electricity?
> Interesting, I never saw nets along the company housing in japan/us preventing workers from killing themselves,
Once again, that's foxconn. A taiwanese company and a major supplier for japanese and american tech goods.
> nor have I heard of american workers sneaking letters in products begging for help.
You mean the silly propaganda you hear every 10 years? Ever wonder what becomes of those stories?
> Also, I love how you're equating humans rights with "virtue signalling".
No. I equate hypocritical virtue signaling about human rights as "virtue signaling". Never mind that we benefit from chinese "slave labor", we have been murdering millions of people world wide. We cause more human suffering than the chinese in the name of "human rights".
> Spoken exactly like a privelaged fool who doesn't understand the value of right, yet deems them unworthy for others.
I guess I am privileged since I've always had electricity. Something millions of indians sadly do not. So virtue signal about democracy and human rights some more like hundreds of millions live without electricity, plumbing and food in india.
After ww2, both india and china were in the same position. 70 years later, india has fallen behind considerably leading to immense human suffering. Instead of focusing on that, hypocritical virtue signalers whine about nonsense.
India achieved (or at least claims to have achieved) 100% electrification under Power for All policy last year. India also lifted 270 million people out of poverty just in past 10 years and spent $30 billion on fixing sanitation. Things are not in a good shape under any stretch of imagination. But the progress is at an unprecedented rate in Indian history.
> All of which are democracies, and were dominant and stable with strong institutions.
They were authoritarian when they developed their economy though. You could still argue that singapore is still somewhat authoritarian.
Democracy had nothing to do with japan, korea, singapore, taiwan, etc getting wealthy. Actually, in regards to korea and taiwan, they curtailed democracy to develop their economies. Democracy was an impediment to their economic development.
Theres a recent video on the print where the speaker recounts the ambassador of Japan directly speaking up during an event and pointing out that Japan got to where it did because of its democratic behavior.
Democracy has everything to do with those countries getting better, since a democracy works by building institutions and business models for the non authoritarian world depend on working institutions.
India cannot adopt a centralized authoritarian state in Chinese style even if it wanted to. The country is too diverse for that and would disintegrate instead. This has nothing to do with "virtue signalers"; Indian unity is precarious per se.
India will stay a federation, with all the conflict and disunity that being a federation means, but with breathing space for dissent as well.
I was not virtue signaling, what I meant to say was that both countries have completely different philosophies and values, which will lead to different costs for businesses.
Having been in the unfortunate situation of coming between protestors and police in 2019 January (railway workers strike) and seeing many protests in India, The French are way too violent at protesting. Indian protests atleast in my state are like melas without any pyromaniacs
I think you nailed it. I am Czech, our protests are notoriously mild - someone waves a placard saying "Politicians are shit" and ten reporters film him.
French protests feel like trial version of a civil war.
> Indian television showed workers throwing stones, tossing office furniture and setting fire to a sign at Wistron Corp.’s operations near Bangalore. Labor leaders said workers at the Taiwanese-owned company that is a contract manufacturer for Apple Inc. were upset about wages and working hours.
That seems more symbolic--I was picturing workers actually attacking the physical buildings, like StarCraft Zealots.
India has a very different culture. While the federal government is strong and powers are concentrated at federal level, it still has limits on its powers. The main check on that power comes from raw protests and street demonstrations and that culture can be traced all the way to Indian independence movement. Federal government can suppress some individuals or a few random organizations, but it cannot impose a top-down manufacturing policy to make the environment appealing for foreign investors.