js spotlight the new india -...

NOVEMBER 22, 2010 / JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC 11

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Vikas and his friends play cricket in a cemetery. Above left: Vikas and his family in the brothers’ bedroom.

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JS6 1122 p10-15 India VF.indd 11 11/2/10 12:24:19 PM

10 JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC / NOvembeR 22, 2010

Fifteen-year-old Vikas Sharma shares a tiny

one-bedroom home with his brother and parents in Bangalore. The rapidly growing city is often referred to as India’s “Silicon Valley” because it’s home to many high-tech companies. They have helped trans-form this ancient, traditionally poor South Asian nation into a major economic power.

To get to the Sharma family’s home, you must travel along a narrow, dusty lane, then climb a steep flight of stairs that is draped with the neighbors’ drying laun-dry. Inside, a bed fills most of the bedroom, leaving little space for Vikas and his 14-year-old brother, Vishal, to sleep and share a small study table.

The Sharmas moved to Bangalore seven years ago from the state of Bihar in Central India. Their tiny village had no running water or reliable power.

“My parents wanted us to attend an English-speaking school and make our future in the big city,” Vikas tells JS in fluent English. Most Indians consider the mastery of

English, used in business and gov-ernment, to be essential for success.

Although the Sharmas struggle financially, their story would have been unthinkable a generation ago. Until the 1990s, tradition and an economy dominated by the govern-ment made it almost impossible for India’s poor to even imagine improving their lives and those of their children. Today, even though much of India is still poor, an increasingly open economy and a tech boom are creating new oppor-tunities for millions of Indians.

Out of PovertyIn Bangalore, the contrasts

between the haves and have-nots are still evident. The Sharmas live between those two worlds: one of lavish homes and gleaming

a bOOming ecOnOmy PrOmises a brighter Future FOr the sharma Family and milliOns OF Other indians

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FAST FACTSAREA: 1,269,340 sq mi (more than one third the size of the U.S.)POPULATION: 1.2 billion, second highest in the world after China (U.S.: 309.6 million)PER CAPITA GDP*: $3,100 (U.S.: $46,000)LANGUAGES: Hindi (41%) and 21 other official languages. english is widely spoken in government, business, and communications.RELIGIONS: Hindu, 80%; muslim, 13%; Christian, 2%; Sikh, 2%; other, 3%LITERACY: 73%, male; 48%, female (U.S.: 99/99)LIFE EXPECTANCY: 63 years, male; 65 years, female (U.S.: 75/80)*gdP stands for gross domestic product; per capita means per person. The amount is the value of all items produced in a country in a year, divided by the population. It often is used as a measure of a nation’s wealth.

• caste (n): one of the hereditary social classes in Hinduism that restrict association with members of other castes

• globalization (n): free trade among countries on a world-wide scale

• vocation (n): profession; career

7Words to Know

The New IndiaJs SPOTLIGhT

continued on p. 12 ➜

JS6 1122 p10-15 India FC.indd 10 11/2/10 4:04:49 PM


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never missed a payment for their sons’ school. No one goes hungry, even if some days they can afford only dal-baat (lentils and rice).

The Sharmas are Hindu, the majority religion of India. For centu-ries, a rigid caste system kept many Hindu families like theirs from aspir-ing to a better life. But the country’s economic growth, along with waves of migration from rural to urban areas, has reduced the relevance of this ancient social system in modern India, especially in large cities.

Vikas, who is in the ninth grade, is making the most of the opportunities he has. He studies hard and often gets the highest grades in his class.

The subjects he takes are similar to those in American high schools: math, science, history, and geog-raphy. In addition to English, he’s also studying Hindi and Kannada, a South Indian language.

But what he loves most is the sport of cricket, a legacy of India’s long colonization by Great Britain (see MapSearch, pp. 14-15).

“Cricket is my passion on

Sundays and any free time I have,” he says. Since it’s hard to play in the narrow lanes of his neighborhood, he and his friends often gather in an open space in a graveyard for games.

That leaves little time for other activities, aside from an occasional game on his mother’s cell phone. But Vikas, who excels in biology, hopes to be a doctor someday. “I want to work hard and make my parents proud,” he says.

Whatever happens, Vikas’s father swears that he will not teach his sons carpentry. He says that it isn’t a vocation for the educated.

“I came to Bangalore to better my sons’ lives,” Suraj says. “If I make carpenters out of them, the entire village [I left behind] will laugh at me.” —Saritha Rai

India Is a Parliamentary Democracy.India’s government was strongly influenced by that of the United Kingdom, from which the country won its independence in 1947. Like the U.S., India has a federal system, a union of states headed by a national government. (India has 28 states and 7 territories.)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: The Prime Minister is the head of government. He or she is normally the head of the political party that dominates the Lok Sabha chamber of Parliament and has a five-year term. India’s President is the head of state, chosen for a five-year term by members of Parliament and state legislatures.

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH: Parliament has two chambers. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) can have up to 552 members, most directly elected for a five-year term. The Rajya Sabha (Council of States) can have up to 250 members, most selected by state legislatures.

JUDICIAL BRANCH: The Supreme Court is India’s highest court. Its 26 Justices (including a Chief Justice) are appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister.

FOR COMPARISON, SEE THEU.S. GOVERNMENT PROFILE ATscholastic.com/js/ourgovt.

Cows, which are sacred to Hindus, are left to roam freely in cities like Mumbai.

7 Think About It

1. What factors are contributing to India’s new prosperity?

2. How do you think Vikas’s life will be different from his parents’ when he grows up?

In a suburb of Bangalore, a family lives in the shadow of a modern office building.


skyscrapers to which they aspire, and the other of extreme poverty from which they came. For many poor Indians, it can be a struggle each day to find work, or just to stay alive.

India owes much of its new prosperity to globalization. Since the early 1990s, many international companies have set up offices here, attracted by an educated, English-speaking workforce and India’s relatively low wages. American tech giants have been operating call centers in India for years. Now Microsoft, Yahoo, and other compa-nies have research facilities for the kind of advanced technical work previously done only in the U.S.

But poverty remains common in India. The Indian government esti-mates that more than one quarter of Indians still live on less than $1

a day. In the country’s biggest cit-ies, such as Mumbai (also known as Bombay) and New Delhi, the desperately poor live on the streets.

Bangalore’s poor crowd together in slums, living in makeshift dwell-ings made from tarps or sheets of aluminum, and without running water or sanitation facilities. For

some of them, the idea of sending their kids to school is just a dream.

The Sharmas are lucky to be living that dream now. Vikas’s father, Suraj, dropped out of school when he was young, and his mother, Manju, never went to

school. Neither speaks English.They migrated to Bangalore in

the hope that educating their chil-dren would provide a way out of poverty. When Suraj and Manju were growing up, there were few opportunities for men besides car-pentry, farming, and, occasionally, construction. For women, there was next to nothing.

“Back in my village, women were not allowed to go out to work,” Manju says, “so we came to Bangalore to change our lives.”

Suraj works as a carpenter, making furniture for new homes.

Manju is a tailor in a garment fac-tory, where she turns out shirts and skirts by the dozens with hundreds of other workers.

In their way, the Sharmas also benefit from India’s new economy. Both parents are proud that they’ve

12 JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC / NOVEMBER 22, 2010

I came to Bangalore to better my sons’ lives. If I make carpenters out of them, the entire village will laugh at me.

“”

JS SPOTLIGHT

A McDonald’s at a mall in Bangalore.

Children carry firewood in a village in Bihar.



CAPE COMORIN NICOBARISLANDS

(INDIA)

LACCADIVEISLANDS

(INDIA)

Ganges RiverHooghly River

Yamuna River

Ghaghara River

Chambal R

iver

Bay of Bengal

Gulf ofMannar

Gulf ofKhambhai

Gulf of Oman

ArabianSea

AndamanSea

80°E70°E

60°E 90°E

100°E

30°N

20°N

10°N

TROPIC OF CANCER

SRI LANKA

TURKMENISTANUZBEKISTAN

IRAN

New Delhi

Jaipur

Ahmedabad

Mumbai(Bombay)

Surat

PuneHyderabad

Chennai(Madras)

Port Blair

Bangalore

Colombo

Cochin

Vishakhapatnam

Puri

Bhopal

Mangalore

Madurai

Kolkata(Calcutta)

Dhaka

Kathmandu

Islamabad

Patna

Thimphu

Delhi

Srinagar

Amritsar

Agra

Kanpur

CHINA

MYANMAR(BURMA)

MALAYSIAINDONESIA

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SUMATRA

BANGLADESH

INDIA

THAILAND

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Arunachal Pradeshis claimed by Chinabut governed by India.

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Area of map

Scale:

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INDIANOCEAN

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(INDIA)

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India claims the mostly Muslim Kashmir region, but Pakistan and China also claim parts of it. The dispute has led to several wars between India and Pakistan.

Mohandas K. Gandhi was the leader of India’s independence movement in the early 20th century. His philosophy of nonviolent civil disobedience inspired Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders of the U.S. civil-rights movement. Gandhi was assassinated six months after India’s independence .

President Obama visited India this month for talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in an effort to boost economic cooperation between the two countries.


CAPE COMORIN NICOBARISLANDS

(INDIA)

LACCADIVEISLANDS

(INDIA)

Ganges RiverHooghly River

Yamuna River

Ghaghara River

Chambal R

iver

Bay of Bengal

Gulf ofMannar

Gulf ofKhambhai

Gulf of Oman

ArabianSea

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80°E70°E

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100°E

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20°N

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IRAN

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Area of map

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0 300 KM

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INDIANOCEAN

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™JS SPOTLIGHT

7MapSearch

Located in South Asia, India is the seventh-largest country in the world. Its 1.2 billion people make it the second-most-populous nation, after its neighbor, China.

Starting in the 18th century, Great Britain colonized India. After years of nonviolent protests led by Mohandas K. Gandhi, India won independence in 1947. It was partitioned (divided) into two countries: India, which has a Hindu majority, and Pakistan, which is predominately Muslim. Although most Indians remain poor, their country is a rising economic power.

Study the map and callouts, then answer the questions below.

L Questions Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper.

1. What is India’s capital? 2. Which countries border India, going

clockwise from west to east? 3. Which mountain chain runs along

India’s northeastern border? 4. Which body of water lies to India’s

east? 5. Which river runs through Kanpur

and Patna? 6. Which city on India’s west coast can

be found at about 19°N latitude? 7. What is the straight-line distance in

miles between the cities of Bangalore and Kolkata?

8. In what year was India partitioned into two countries?

9. Why has Kashmir been a source of tension between India and Pakistan?

10. Bonus: Why do you suppose members of the Taliban and Al Qaeda are hiding in the “tribal areas” of Pakistan?

India

14 JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC / NOVEMBER 22, 2010

India has more people living in poverty than any other country. Estimates of the number of people too poor to afford adequate food range from 260 million to 600 million. Nearly 40 percent of Indians over age 15 are illiterate.

India and its neighbor Pakistan have nuclear weapons like the one above. The possible use of these catastrophic weapons has alarmed the U.S. and other nations. In 2008, the U.S. agreed to sell nuclear technology to India, in exchange for a moratorium (delay) on nuclear tests.

In the past 20 years, Bangalore has become India’s “Silicon Valley.” American companies such as Microsoft and Google have offices there, but home-grown Indian tech companies have also become multibillion-dollar businesses.


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