Title of the
book: The Elephant and The Dragon
Author: Robyn
Meredith
Submitted by:
Rajesh Meena Bujeta
About the book:
The
book ‘The Elephant and the Dragon’ has been written by Robyn Meredith, an award
winning international journalist in 2007. She has been associated New York Times, Forbes magazine, Bloomberg television etc. and is based
in Hong Kong. She generally writes about Asia-Pacific situations and
particularly on India and China.
The
book travels through the land of India and China as they progressed in the
modern times. It discusses at length the liberalisation adopted by both the
countries; China in 1978 and India in 1991, and the subsequent changes that
reflected in the economies. China has since then became the powerhouse and
factory of the world. This can be seen by the fact that about 75% toys in the
world are manufactured in this land only. While in 2005, it replaced Germany as
the third largest economy of the world, it is slated to edge past Japan as
world second largest economy around 2008 (at the time of book writing).
The
book while traversed through Mao’s communism in China, it also throws light on
the Gandhi-Nehruvian philosophy regarding India. These leaders played a great
role in shaping their countries in modern times. The book also tries to look
into the future, as to how these two countries will perform in the coming
years.
The
book also warns both the countries that there are still so many problems which
need to be taken care of like increasing population, poverty, mal nutrition,
illiteracy, pollution etc. The issues like poor condition of peasants, unequal
distribution of economic growth needs proper thinking. Both the countries needs
to take proper policy initiatives to address such specific issues otherwise the
so called ‘demographic dividend’ may
turn into ‘population time bomb’. It
states that the biggest hurdle in the path of India in becoming a manufacturing
hub is its shabby infrastructure, particularly roads.
The
book has finally shown how US in particular and West in general should react to
the advancement of these two Asian giants. Keeping in mind the fact that
‘demographic dividend’ is going to give significant advantage to both the
countries in future, it is in the interest of US to have good relations with
both the countries. The market of India and China is huge, mainly because of
its sheer size of population, be it for goods, services, oil, defence
equipments etc, hence US should strategise accordingly. Meredith warns the
middle class US people about the movement of jobs from their country to these
Asian giants. She also tells about the possible repercussions of young working
population of these countries on the health of US economy.
The positives
about the book:
This
book has been a commendable work by Ms. Meredith. It has allowed readers to
look into the economies of India and China, the two fastest emerging powers. It
shows the past of these countries and the link to the future. Talking about
India, the book throws light as to how India has evolved from the land of Spinning
wheel to that of Fibre optic wires. While for China, it has very elaborately
described the Mao’s strategy of Communism as it worked after the formation of
People’s Republic of China in 1949. The book has helped readers in
understanding the Mao’s ideas, Cultural Revolution and exact conditions which
prevailed in China under him. It has successfully highlighted the transition of
Indian economy post 1991 liberalization and Chinese economy post 1978 liberalization.
While China has been growing at more than 10% per annum growth rate since then,
India has also managed to grow at around 8% per annum. The book also clearly
explains the difference of being a Democratic and Communist country. The
advantages and disadvantages have been explained at proper instances.
The
offshoring or outsourcing of jobs
from the developed countries to India and China have generated voluminous work
in both the destination countries. With the advent of internet, this outsourcing
has become very intense. The young and English speaking Indian youth has a big
advantage in such situation. The cheap labour force in both the countries has
lured the foreign companies to set up offices in these lands. The book
correctly describes the influences of such job movement across the boundaries
on both the source and the destination countries. For India and China, it has
resulted into inflow of foreign investment, rise in the Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) and per capita income, decrease in the incidences of poverty etc. While
in US, this phenomenon has generated fear in the mind of middle class that
their jobs are at peril.
Another
good point about the book is that there is ample use of facts and data by the
author. This has helped a lot to the reader in understanding the information
accompanied. The reader could analyse the comparative performances of Indian,
Chinese, US and other world economies. These data is in the form of GDP figure,
number of employees, literacy levels, production of goods and services etc. in
the concerned countries. Her statistics and data are sort of eye opener for the
US, as they show that India and China have finally arrived on the world stage,
and they are going to stay for a long time to come. The information, data and
other details are very important for the US businessmen, policy makers and
other people in forming their future plans and policies.
The
book has also allowed the reader to appreciate the functioning of an economy in
both developed countries like US and developing countries like India and China.
The description of how factory works, assembly lines, disassembly lines, trade
etc has been quite good. The examples of Infosys, Reliance, Tata Industries
etc. in India and Phillips, People’s Bank of China etc. in China, has helped a
great deal in understanding the above mentioned terms.
The
book has also shown successfully the cultural changes in both India and China.
Both the countries are adopting the western methodology in the functioning of their
economy. The youth of both countries, who are working in multinationals, BPOs
etc are particularly adopting the western culture, accent etc. in their
professional as well as personal lives. While tradition has been very integral
to an average Indian and Chinese citizen, but the things are now changing
slowly.
Meredith
has also touched the negatives which are still persistent in both the economies.
While China has a very healthy literacy rate, India has still about 30%
illiterate people, particularly in rural areas and among women. Similarly both
these countries constitute the biggest share of poor and destitute in the
world. The Dharavi slum of Mumbai, where more than 6 lakh people live, is a
live example of this. In spite of being different political set ups, corruption
is prevalent in both the countries. But while in India, people enjoy more
political freedom and rights, freedom of press etc, Chinese citizens have no
such luxuries. The author has warned both the countries against them.
Finally
the book has touched the present global geo-political conditions and the role
of India and China in shaping present day world. The huge energy requirements
of both these nations is forcing them to enter into various types of
cooperation with different countries like petroleum rich Iran, Saudi Arabia,
Sudan etc. The phenomenal demand of energy from these countries will force the
foreign powerhouses to change their policies accordingly.
The negatives
about the book:
Though
the book has been written quite well by Ms. Meredith, but still there are some
points which need critical evaluation. For example, the excessive use of data
and statistics has made this book little dull and boring. Also she has a kind
of created an alarm in the mind of US middle class citizen about the hazards of
fast rising India and China, without giving them a clue about how to deal with
the situation. The fact that she is a journalist and not an economist or proper
writer was quite visible from her writing style.
Conclusion:
This
is a wonderful book, which has done comparison between the two developing
giants of Asia, India and China. The book trademarks China as a Dragon, because
like a fiery dragon, its economy is galloping at a very fast rate and it is
moving with all its force towards a bright future. While India has been
labelled as an Elephant, because it has just awaken from a deep slumber, and
now is lurching towards a healthy growth trajectory. The book, very cleverly,
instil a sense of fear in the mind of US, about the rise of India and China. At
the same time, it also suggests how US should react and behave in today’s
highly globalised and interlinked world. In the end, I would say that it is a
book worth reading, especially for those who want to know about the globalised
economy and particularly about the rise of India and China.
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