There is much talk of a race between India and China. The truth is that both countries pay remarkably little attention to each other, except in a few military and diplomatic arenas. Neither side is impressed by the other’s political systems and draws curiously few lessons from the other's economic policies.
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Superpower: The Amazing Race
Between China's Hare
and India's Tortoise
Raghav Bahl
Allen Lane
Rs 699; Pp 482 | |
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But the idea of two Asian giants caught in a giant nation-state rivalry makes good copy. Media magnate Raghav Bahl attempts to dig a little deeper, comparing the Indian tortoise and the Chinese hare. The two are compared at various levels, showing where one has an advantage and the other one is shackled. There is a set of interesting case studies of how the two handled areas like power, civil aviation and railways — generally with India getting the worse of it.
This is a fast moving text, at times veering close to incoherence. Skipping through history, geopolitics, demography, entrepreneurship, different bits of the economy, it tosses up a lot of data, a fair number of quotes (some of which are repeated) and an honest share of unanswered questions.
Full review here
Hindustan Times
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