[CzarChasm]

a friend of mine from India once told me two interesting things about the Indian economy, neither of which I am able to verify - or really all that interested in :-)

1. to 'counter' years of caste-based discrimination, lower-caste applications are preferred for hiring; this explains the large numbers of highly-educated higher-caste [Brahmin?] people leaving India

2. the government runs most of the important infrastructure, e.g. telephone service, as a bureaucratic monopoly, where bribes are a customary and expected way of doing 'business' with these organizations [my friend was amazed that he went to the phone company to get his phone service turned on, and they actually turned in on within 3 days, and no one asked/hinted for a bribe]

[Culum]

I'm guessing your friend migrated to the US a long time ago - it's not quite like that anymore.

1. There are indeed affirmative action programs which give preferences to lower caste people in *government jobs*. Private sector can hire whoever they like. (Of course until 15 years ago, the private sector was pretty insignificant, so nobody cared).

2. The Government does run a lot of infrastructure, but that is changing and being privatized (or atleast, private competition is being allowed). The telephone service is, in fact, one of the greatest success stories of this process. No more bribes or waiting for a phone. I remember being a kid in the 80s though, when your friend's description was pretty accurate. Other sectors are following..

C