From: picardo@cthulhu.ces.cwru.edu (Leslie Picardo)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Re: BJP
Date: 21 Jan 93 12:09:11
Organization: Computer Engineering and Science, CWRU, Cleveland OH.
NNTP-Posting-Host: cthulhu.ces.cwru.edu
In-reply-to: naga@jtown.Eng.Sun.COM's message of 20 Jan 1993 20:35:03 GMT



In article naga@jtown.Eng.Sun.COM (Ashok Nagarajan) offers us this
insightful political commentary:

 > With a new US govt in place whose main objective is to prevent the
 > spread of Islamic fundamentalism following the collapse of the cold war ....

      The main US foreign policy objectives in the Middle East are
      to ensure the flow of oil into the world market and to maintain low
      oil prices which is critical to the economies of the west.

     ( BTW the current media cliches are - 
     "the collapse of the soviet union" / "the end of the cold war". )
      

 > recogize the fact that Israel is an important ally in that area. Stop 
 > worrying about how other muslim nations would feel about this when they 
 > don't really give a hoot to India.

     1] There are a few million Indians who have jobs in the Middle
        East (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Iraq). These jobs
        range from 
        a) unskilled labor - nannies, sanitation workers, security guards etc 
        b) skilled   labor - welders, fitters, electricians,construction crew, 
                             plant operators, hotel managers etc
        c) technical labor - mechanical, civil, process engineers, medical 
                             personnel, accountants, bank employees. 
        Most of the people in categories a) and b) would be unemployed in 
        India due to the scarcity of jobs. The salaries that are sent home by 
        these people are a  valuable source of foreign exchange to India.
        The economies of states like Kerela have benefitted from Indians 
        who have returned and continue to return from these countries.
          
        And Indians are not the only ones who compete for these jobs.
   
      2] Indian construction companies like Walchandnagar, L&T compete for 
         contracts in the Gulf region worth crores of rupees. There
         are lucrative contracts to be made in the oil and chemical process 
         industry. There is trade in food, textiles, jewellery which 
         contributes to the Indian economy. 

         And Indian companies face competition from the Koreans, U.S, Britian,
         France, Germany ..... 
         
      3] Oil imports remain a significant drain on the Indian foreign 
         exchange reserves. Any jump in oil prices will seriously affect 
         the Indian economy (as happened during the Gulf war). 
         Oil is important for our fertilizer, plastic, textile and 
         transport industry.

         And Israel has no oil.


      Any Indian leadership which can lay claim to understanding 
      "the pulse of the nation" should be aware of these stark 
      economic realities. One hopes that religious ideology does 
      not become an obstacle to economic prosperity. 
      "Kicking butt" makes no sense when it is your own butt 
      that you are kicking.


 > Finally, which Indian party do you think is capable of making all 
 > this a reality?. You guessed it right.
 >			      IT'S BJP
 

   
 

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Leslie Picardo

The difference between philosophy and religion: If you have an argument
over philosophy, you get red in the face. Over theology you throw bombs.
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Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.pakistan,rec.music.indian.misc