Blackout in the country leads to 620 million people without power in a country where daily power cuts are already the norm. I thought some people here have been singing the praises of India while rubbishing Naija. The comments from Indians following this article below show the country is riddled with corruption and inefficiency. And scarily enough, they have nukes!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/01/world/asia/power-outages-hit-600-million-in-india.html

Comments from the article:

A few gems:


Seema singhu.S.A.

Hope it teaches a good lesson to all fat belly corrupt and cheats in India who fail to do the right thing for this great nation at any given time. Pockets must be filled before the so called work is completed!!


Alan Dean FosterPrescott, Arizona

There isn't a power pole in India that doesn't have a dozen or more illegal taps on it, hijacking power without paying for it while simultaneously overloading the system. Better enforcement would result in more income for the power companies, that in turn (hopefully) would be plowed back into infrastructure.




Prof Anant MalviyaHoenheim France

Indians have been tolerating power cuts since decades without any complaint or remorse.Today about half of India's population, 500 million, widespread in 20 States of the Union plunged into a total paralysis two days in succession, is an "Emergency' of the highest concern.The President of India should declare emergency,call army to restore power without any delay.It is a failure of the civil administration.First thing first.Let people have electricity,let people stranded on roads, railway tracks etc. be rescued on war footing.This can only be executed by the army.The main reason for this unprecedented colossal mass suffering is corruption at each ladder of the administration,coupled with handsome privilege enjoyed by the politicians of every color and shade.Furthermore, India a largest World democracy is governed by a Prime Minister who is unelected and whose concern is not the people.How such a leader can estimate the woes of the masses in this emergency?.The Prime Minister has not even made any statement on this national crisis.


V United States

I grew up in India in a small town in the 90's in Dar, Gujarat. and I remember having electricity for only 2-3 hours a day.

Indians have been tolerating power cuts since decades without any complaint or remorse

obviously they're not nigerians else we'd have been aware of this long before now.

They face the same problems Nigerians face:
Multi ethnicity, multi religious, huge population, horizontal corruption

India iz beta in 3 aspects

education,tertiary instiution,academic texbook etc especialy enginering, science and technology

juju, disapearance,love potion,get rich quick , jazz. Etc

polyandry

nigeria is better in every other thing

@OP
What's your point pls? Should we now celebrate mediocricy just because it's also happening in India?

But due to their huge population, the positives tend to eclipse the negatives. Hundreds of millions of indians are poor to the teeth, same with china. There are about 200 million homeless people in china. But they don't broadcast this, they only show the positive side of their countries, something Nigerians wouldn't like to do.

Rossikk,
I admire your genuine love for Nigeria but don't compare india to Nigeria.
India is on overdrive while nigeria is still being propelled by omolanke kind of device.
The fact that this outage became news is because it's largely seen as unusual and unacceptable for an emerging economic power.
They have serious issues you would normally see in developing countries but don't Ignore or underestimate the I in the BRICs,its there for a reason.

Ufeolorun: Rossikk,
I admire your genuine love for Nigeria but don't compare india to Nigeria.
India is on overdrive while nigeria is still being propelled by omolanke kind of device.
The fact that this outage became news is because it's largely seen as unusual and unacceptable for an emerging economic power.
They have serious issues you would normally see in developing countries but don't Ignore or underestimate the I in the BRICs,its there for a reason.

Don't give me that bullshiit. The fact that the outage became news was because HALF the country or 620 million people are without power at the same time, NOT because power outages are unusual. Power cuts are a DAILY OCCURENCE in India. Better READ the comments made by Indians themselves in the article before coming here to play bodyguard for them. The crisis there is equivalent to the entire north of Nigeria being without power (or the entire south).

As for India being on overdrive, TELL THAT to her suffering millions:

''The World Bank estimates that India is ranked 2nd in the world of the number of children suffering from malnutrition, after Bangladesh (in 1998), where 47% of the children exhibit a degree of malnutrition. The prevalence of underweight children in India is among the highest in the world, and is nearly double that of Sub-Saharan Africa with dire consequences for mobility, mortality, productivity and economic growth.''

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malnutrition_in_India

CNN never told you all this while going into 'overdrive' about her 'software boom' did they?

And they hav nuclear power!so what is the point of iran claiming that their nuclear war head is for power generation only while India cant even utilized her own nuclear power

OP,

Highlighting the power problems of India doesn't make India worse off than Nigeria.

India leads Nigeria in most facets of life. Having said that, it doesn't mean that India is not beset with problems such as graft, bad infrastructure, etc.

India has had better growth rates than Nigeria in the last few decades
India leads the world in frugal innovation in many fields such as energy, telecommunications, medicine, medical diagnostics, etc
India has produced entrepreneurs who are not dependent on government contracts or government created monopolies

Nigeria can not even challenge India educationally.

ak47mann: And they hav nuclear power!so what is the point of iran claiming that their nuclear war head is for power generation only while India cant even utilized her own nuclear power

Well I hope they have safeguards against nuclear mishaps given their constant power failure.

Katsumoto: OP,

Highlighting the power problems of India doesn't make India worse off than Nigeria.

India leads Nigeria in most facets of life.

How will she not ''lead in most facets of life'' when she has the world's 2nd highest malnutrition rate after Bangladesh? As well as being ''far poorer than Africa'' according to latest studies?

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CFUQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fnews%2Fworld%2Findia-far-poorer-than-africa-new-measure-shows%2Fstory-e6frg6so-1225891801078&ei=IBcYUNrzBYeS0QXozoD4Dw&usg=AFQjCNE1XoWk7hFHMglEq_2-0FDCdUUfHQ

All the resources needed to provide a better life for the majority are diverted towards prestige projects and schemes to impress CNN and gullible fellows like you. I bet if Nigeria had the world's 2nd highest malnutrition rate in addition to daily power cuts and massive corruption you wouldn't be here singing her praises. Perhaps you have a psychological or race problem?

Rossikk:

How will she not ''lead in most facets of life'' when she has the world's 2nd highest malnutrition rate after Bangladesh?

All the resources needed to provide a better life for the majority is diverted towards prestige projects to impress CNN and gullible fellows like you. I bet if Nigeria had the world's 2nd highest malnutrition rate in addition to daily power cuts you wouldn't be here singing her praises.

Dude,

First, you don't need to personalize the debate or resort to cheap shots. It takes away from your argument. Present your points and let others present theirs.

Second, is development based on malnourishment? Is that the basis of your argument? There are many aspects in which Nigeria will rank below India if we are to judge based on negative news only.

Katsumoto:

Dude,

First, you don't need to personalize the debate or resort to cheap shots. It takes away from your argument. Present your points and let others present theirs.

Second, is development based on malnourishment? Is that the basis of your argument? There are many aspects in which Nigeria will rank below India if we are to judge based on negative news only.

Is development based on malnutrition? What a question. So if your father has millions of dollars in his account, but uses the money to buy fleets of cars, and builds businesses to impress his friends, builds nuclear bombs in order to form big boy, while your fridge is perpetually empty, your body clothed in rags, and you're left searching the trash dumps for food, as you watch your siblings starve to death, you will sing his praises? No? Well that's exactly what you're doing here. Question is, why?

Rossikk:

Is development based on malnutrition? What a question. So if your father has millions of dollars in his account, but uses the money to buy fleets of cars, build businesses to impress his friends, while your fridge is perpetually empty, your body clothed with rags, and you're left searching the trash dumps for food, you will sing his praises?

The topic which you started is about whether India is better than Nigeria; it isn't about whether India is the best country in the world or utopia for that matter.

If you look at various indices, an unbiased observer will conclude that India is better than Nigeria. Your patriotic fervour can not change that.

This is where I exit the debate until someone else joins the debate or you change your forceful manner.

Rossikk:

Don't give me that bullshiit. The fact that the outage became news was because HALF the country or 620 million people are without power at the same time, NOT because power outages are unusual. Power cuts are a DAILY OCCURENCE in India. Better use your brain and READ the comments made by Indians themselves in the article before coming here to play bodyguard for them. The crisis there is equivalent to the entire north of Nigeria being without power (or the entire south).

As for India being on overdrive, TELL THAT to her suffering millions:

''The World Bank estimates that India is ranked 2nd in the world of the number of children suffering from malnutrition, after Bangladesh (in 1998), where 47% of the children exhibit a degree of malnutrition. The prevalence of underweight children in India is among the highest in the world, and is nearly double that of Sub-Saharan Africa with dire consequences for mobility, mortality, productivity and economic growth.''

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malnutrition_in_India

Bullshit ke? Lol even my praising your commitment didn't stop that,taek it easy mae! No be fight.

Where's is Nigeria's Tata( though I think conglomerrate company model is 'bullshit')
Where's is Nigeria's Bharti
Where's Nigeria's Arcelo-mittal
Where's Nigeria,s: Reliance industry,Infosys technologies
How many of nigerias political billionaires turned 'corporate titans' as they normally refer to them has been able acquire old and tested western brand like land rover and Jaguar
I said earlier they have problems but its infantile to try use these as reasons why Nigeria should be compared to India.
Let's be patriotic but we should allow our loyalty be guided by what's seriously wrong and not working in Nigeria so we can run towards solution.

Our potential is enormous and that's why I get angry at the way we are just letting our chances slip.

Katsumoto:

The topic which you started is about whether India is better than Nigeria; it isn't about whether India is the best country in the world or utopia for that matter.

If you look at various indices, an unbiased observer will conclude that India is better than Nigeria. Your patriotic fervour can not change that.

This is where I exit the debate until someone else joins the debate or you change your forceful manner.

You seem not to get it. Your blinkered, elitist idea of development is your undoing. In that blinkered world of yours, development has nothing to do with human beings, who are expendable in your view, and everything to do with materialism, wealth, popularity and prestige. Until you get it into your skull that development is about human beings, you'll never get it. I bet you're typing on a full belly, hence your calm dismissal of India's world class malnutrition rate.

Ufeolorun:
Bullshit ke? Lol even my praising your commitment didn't stop that,taek it easy mae! No be fight.

Where's is Nigeria's Tata( though I think conglomerrate company model is 'bullshit')
Where's is Nigeria's Bharti
Where's Nigeria's Arcelo-mittal
Where's Nigeria,s: Reliance industry,Infosys technologies
How many of nigerias political billionaires turned 'corporate titans' as they normally refer to them has been able acquire old and tested western brand like land rover and Jaguar
I said earlier they have problems but its infantile to try use these as reasons why Nigeria should be compared to India.
Let's be patriotic but we should allow our loyalty be guided by what's seriously wrong and not working in Nigeria so we can run towards solution.

Our potential is enormous and that's why I get angry at the way we are just letting our chances slip.

But you have folks like you that regularly sing the praises of Ghana, saying she's better than Nigeria. I can use your same argument to destroy the 'Ghana is better than Nigeria' claim.

''Where is Ghana's Dangote Group?
Where is her Zenith Bank?
Where is her First Bank?
Where is her UBA?
Where is her Oando PLC?
Where is her Transcorp?
Where is her GLO?
Where is her INNOSON motors (vehicle manufacturers)?
Where is her Zinox (computer manufacturers)?
Where is her Defence Industries Corporation (DIC), West Africa's largest weapons manufacturer?''

I mean if we want to go down that road of ''this country has bigger companies than that, and therefore must be better'', then Nigeria is surely the second best country in Africa after SA!!!!

Anyone disagree?

Rossikk:

You seem not to get it. Your blinkered, elitist idea of development is your undoing. In that blinkered world of yours, development has nothing to do with human beings, who are expendable in your view, and everything to do with materialism, wealth, popularity and prestige. Until you get it into your skull that development is about human beings, you'll never get it. I bet you're typing on a full belly, hence your calm dismissal of India's world class malnutrition rate.

Since you want to use human development as a basis, can you find any index where Nigeria is ranked higher than India?

I have one below (2011 & 2008) in which India (134) is higher than Nigeria (156). I could probably find more.

http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/

And another - India 128 ; Nigeria 159

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_hum_dev_ind-economy-human-development-index

Like I said, both countries have huge problems but India is still better than Nigeria.

And spare me the socialist crap. You are entitled to your ideology just as I am entitled to mine.

Rossikk:

But you have folks like you that regularly sing the praises of Ghana, saying she's better than Nigeria. I can use your same argument to destroy the 'Ghana is better than Nigeria' claim.

''Where is Ghana's Dangote Group?
Where is her Zenith Bank?
Where is her First Bank?
Where is her UBA?
Where is her Oando PLC?
Where is her Transcorp?
Where is her GLO?
Where is her INNOSON motors (vehicle manufacturers)?
Where is her Zinox (computer manufacturers)?
Where is her Defence Industries Corporation (DIC), West Africa's largest weapons manufacturer?''

I mean if we want to go down that road of ''this country has bigger companies than that, and therefore must be better'', then Nigeria is surely the second best country in Africa after SA!!!!

Anyone disagree?

You keep trying to shift the post. The thread is about India and Nigeria and not about Nigeria and Ghana. If you want to compare Nigeria and Ghana, then by all means, open another thread for that.

Katsumoto:

Since you want to use human development as a basis, can you find any index where Nigeria is ranked higher than India?

I have one below (2011 & 2008) in which India (134) is higher than Nigeria (156). I could probably find more.

http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/

Like I said, both countries have huge problems but India is still better than Nigeria.

And spare me the socialist crap. You are entitled to your ideology just as I am entitled to mine.

That UN HDI says more about averages than anything else. If India has the world's 2nd highest malnutrition rate, then any index such as you presented must be talking about averages, or is otherwise severely flawed. The UN HDI has been severely criticised by scholars for making factors like education equal to food intake in its measurement of well being. India probably is the most unequal society on earth, with hundreds of billionaires and yet half a billion illiterates and even more suffering malnutrition. No doubt the billionaires are able to artificially raise the HDI when it's averaged out. You can describe concern for large scale suffering as ''socialism'', but that only weakens your argument, by confirming my assertion that for you, development is not about human beings, but prestige projects.

Rossikk:

That UN HDI says more about averages than anything else. If India has the world's 2nd highest malnutrition rate, then any index such as you presented must be talking about averages, or is otherwise severely flawed. India probably is the most unequal society on earth, with hundreds of billionaires and yet half a billion illiterates and even more suffering malnutrition. You can describe concern for large scale suffering as ''socialism'', but that only weakens your argument, by confirming my assertion that for you, development is not about human beings, but prestige projects.

Human development is not based on malnutrition alone. Stop trying to change the debate. If that is the only point you have, then you should have titled your thread, Nigeria is better than India because India is 2nd in the malnourishment table.

Second, I gave you economic indicators, you dismissed and focused on human development. Then I gave you human development rankings and then you started back tracking with cop outs such as 'HDI is based on averages', India is probably the most unequal society' bla bla.

Face it, you have no point, absolutely no argument. The only way Nigeria is better than India is in your mind. The experts at the UN produced a report that is based on all human development indices such as education, poverty, literacy, standard of living, etc.

You can confirm what you like about my person but it isn't relevant to the debate. I await more objective analysis and facts from you and not the subjective bunkum you are spewing.

Bwhahahahaha!! I love it when we play the "Oh, Oh looky here. . .someone else is worse off than we are"

Hahaha, Anything that makes you guys sleep better at night.

Oh Rossik, are we counting four days??!!

Is it safe to continue dancing??

Katsumoto:

Human development is not based on malnutrition alone. Stop trying to change the debate. If that is the only point you have, then you should have titled your thread, Nigeria is better than India because India is 2nd in the malnourishment table.

It is easy to spew this crap on a full belly. No nation can be said to be doing better than another when more of its people are starving than the other.

Second, I gave you economic indicators, you dismissed and focused on human development. Then I gave you human development rankings

Don't equate my mention of human development with the UN HDI. Human development MUST have food security as Number 1 criteria when measuring nations' welfare.

and then you started back tracking with cop outs such as 'HDI is based on averages', India is probably the most unequal society' bla bla.

That's not a cop out. It's a fact. We could easily address Nigeria's problems by creating more billionaires, but I doubt many would go along with it, even if it lkeads to a rise oin GDP and sends us up a few notches on the UN HDI.

Face it, you have no point, absolutely no argument. The only way Nigeria is better than India is in your mind. The experts at the UN produced a report that is based on all human development indices such as education, poverty, literacy, standard of living, etc.

Human development does NOT mean the 'UN human development index', which is created by subjective and heavily disputed criteria. The ''experts at the UN'' have had the HDI severely criticised by experts outside the UN for its failing to capture true poverty. Scroll down to the end of the page for the bucketload of criticisms levelled at the index.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index

Ross,

I know you are the Nigerian minister for Image and Tourism. But lets be real. Nigeria is a disgrace, let us not compare it to any country considering its potential. The percentage of developed places in India vs Nigeria cannot be comparable. I think your posts may have an impact on politicians hopefully making them become patriots. So keep up the good work.

And what measurement did you employ to determine the ''percentage of developed places in India'' vis-a-vis Nigeria?

Nigeria is a glorified village. Lack of Light or running water alone disqualifies any kind of comparison to any country with Nigeria. Let us not even go to infrastructure. And India has 1billion people. FYI

Rossikk:

It is easy to spew this crap on a full belly. No nation can be said to be doing better than another when more of its people are starving than the other.

Don't equate my mention of human development with the UN HDI. Human development MUST have food security as Number 1 criteria when measuring nations' welfare.

That's not a cop out. It's a fact. We could easily address Nigeria's problems by creating more billionaires, but I doubt many would go along with it, even if it lkeads to a rise oin GDP and sends us up a few notches on the UN HDI.

Human development does NOT mean the 'UN human development index', which is created by subjective and heavily disputed criteria. The ''experts at the UN'' have had the HDI severely criticised by experts outside the UN for its failing to capture true poverty. Scroll down to the end of the page for the bucketload of criticisms levelled at the index.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index

1. Those are your criteria and not generally accepted criteria. Its not even the only criteria; which means everything else is taken into consideration

2. You can't create billionaires in Nigeria because even the ones you have are dependent on government-monitored monopolies and contracts. You don't have an enabling environment to create billionaires; yet millions are below the poverty line while your ministers and their friends smile to the bank.

3. Heavily criticized or not, its what we can go by. You are yet to present something that supports your notion of Nigeria being better than India. Malnourishment is not the only criteria. That seems to be the only criteria you have as well as your patriotism.

Is India fiddling the figures on its poverty rate??


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17455646

Excerpts:

Who are the poor in India?


The fact is nobody quite knows. There are various estimates on the exact number of poor in India, and the counts have been mired in controversy.

This week the Planning Commission said 29.8% of India's 1.21 billion people live below the poverty line, a sharp drop from 37.2% in 2004-2005. (This means around 360 million people currently live in poverty.) But one estimate suggests this figure could be as high as 77%. [ie 800 million+ people]

The problem, believe many, is that the new count is based on fixing the poverty line for a person living on 28.65 rupees (56 cents/35p) a day in cities and 22.42 rupees (44 cents/33p) a day in villages.

This was lower than last year's recommendation by the Planning Commission to set the poverty line at 32 rupees (65c/40p) a day which stirred up a major debate across the country.

[Sorry to interrupt, but in Nigeria, is it not $2 a day we use as our own poverty threshold? ie those who live on less than $2 a day are classified as poor. In India it seems you need to live on below 65 cents a day to be classified poor. Isn't this a case of cooking the figures to create a false impression of prosperity?]

Last year activists dared the head of the country's planning body to live on half a dollar a day to test his claim that it represented an adequate sum to survive in a country with high inflation and leaky and shambolic social benefits. They concluded that the claim appeared to be grossly unfair and scandalous.

Rossikk

Your position that someone else has more poor people than you will not aid the poor people that belong to you.

India has its problems but those problems will not remove from the bigger problems in Nigeria. You are free to keep that mindset if it helps you sleep better at night.

Okay what is your point exactly. . .So what If India is poorer? Do we then stop worrying about Nigeria? I mean what exactly are you driving at? Because for every one country that is poorer than Nigeria there are 10 richer than it. What do we do with those?

The mediocre man is one who compares himself to people worse off than he is. Anyone who is about real achievement always looks up not down.

Thanks for showing us what you are Rossik (not that we didn't know. . .the whole "Let us celebrate 3 days of power supply as a GREAT ACHIEVEMENT" kinda gave you away) but this thread just stamps it.