The problem has nothing to do with national language, and everything to do with total corruption at every level of life.
Agreed! The belief that speaking English is a huge andvantage is common among Indians. But, many successful countries maintain their own language: Japan, France, Russia, South Korea... Speaking the same language as the Americans and British makes it convenient sometimes. That's about it. Fundamentally, it's not a real difference maker. Let's face it, people all of the world are getting better and better at English. Communication among peoples is becoming less and less of an issue. In the end, it is how smart you are and how hard you work that decides your well being, not how well you can talk.
What people need understand about corruption in that part of the world is that it's so ingrained in the way of life there that it's the norm. And the fact that it's the norm is a major hindrance for progress. It all extends from the system of patronage that is so common throughout the villages of India and Pakistan. This patronage system, especially in the countryside but to some extent also in the cities, revolves around local elites using their own wealth to gain leadership positions in their kinship groups, using these positions to advance in politics and get elected to the provincial or national assembly (whether under civilian or military rule), and then in turn using their influence on government to extract corruption.
I never said it does. But in the eyes of the corrupt, it doesn't make it wrong either. And that's a problem.
They had their time. They just did not come to the idea of colonization in their 5000 years of history. a shame.
Why can India not be a super power? Per capita there a lot of challenges but you need to see it as a whole. Its got a booming economy, large military with nuclear power, and a developing space program. The partition created a perpetual problem. Pakistan was made for the Muslims of India, but a majority remained in India, whereas Hindus left Pakistan or were cleansed (they make up 1% of the population compared to maybe 50% in '47). As a result, Pakistan is an Islamic nation while India remains secular. So select Muslims in India still align to Pakistan and parts of the larger population see Muslims as second class citizens. Basically there is now unrest inside India as well as outside. It was a relatively peaceful country throughout its history. All Partition did was add fuel to what was once a very manageable fire.
And corruption is far easier to do when the national government is so far away and so different from yourselves. There's a reason that as much as we freak about corruption in Washington, it's the local governments which are far worse.
I agree there is corruption at every level of life. But also, national language is also a problem. Less than 50 percent of Indians speak Hindi. The indirect effect this has on the nation is that there is an elite class that speak English. And now learning English is the way to move up in social and economic status for the better and for the worse. South Korea, yes. Japan, kinda. There was a reason why Japan was so strong during WWII. They developed in the late 19th century just like Germany, France, and the US did; this signified the loss of Britain's hegemony who was by far the only great power until the late 19th century. Japan's economy went down like most of the other nations after WWII. US helped rebuild and improve Japan, but they also did that to the other European nation.
Excellent BBC documentary on this topic <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/jGiTaQ60Je0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
