PITY WE LOST INJA:

It's Their Success (AMITY SHLAES, March 1, 2007, NY Sun)

Aside from the obvious example of colonial rule, it is important to remember the postcolonial influence: the philosophy of the British and Americans inspired India's economic policies for so many decades. After all, former Indian Prime Minister Nehru got his ideas in Britain, first at Harrow and then at Trinity College.

Westerners likewise blessed Nehru's decision to follow the far-left model of the Soviet Union. They told the Indians that while economic redistribution, or import substitution, might not be right for America, it made sense for India. John F. Kennedy was the one who first uttered the "rising tide" phrase while addressing Germans in 1963. But Kennedy's choice for ambassador to India, economist John Kenneth Galbraith, emphasized government controls and redistribution in his work.

The consequences of such Western-Indian interactions were worse than negative for India, as Mr. Das himself has pointed out. In an article in the journal Foreign Affairs, Mr. Das noted that while average per-capita gross domestic product growth was 3% or so for the developing world between 1950 and 1980, it was half that for India with its Five-Year Plans.

Singapore minister mentor, Lee Kwan Yew, recently provided a blunter analysis: "Like Nehru, I had been influenced by the ideas of the British Fabian Society. But I soon realized that before distributing the pie I had first to bake it."

Nowadays, India seems to be transcending that past. It has already succeeded in reversing the growth ratio. Rather than lagging behind other developing countries, India is outpacing them. GDP per capita is rising, too.

As Mr. Das noted on the same BBC show -- to the displeasure of a caller from Vancouver -- the recent growth has lifted about 200 million Indians out of poverty. The sort of softer measures that redistributionists like also make the recent policies look good.

The United Nations Human Development Index quantifies national well-being by considering gauges such as literacy and infant mortality, and then ranks the countries. Since 1975, India has risen 10 spots, while Bangladesh is up four and China seven. The market-oriented policies that produced this acceleration have been endorsed repeatedly by Indian voters.

Given this record, it is surprising that anyone in America or Britain even dares to advise, let alone ask, as the BBC did, whether India can consider itself a success story.

The Left preferred a failing socialist enemy to a successfully liberalizing ally.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 1, 2007 5:11 PM