The idea of progress

The idea of progress

The idea of progress in India can be defined by an improvement of

the living conditions, a change of mentalities, social advances that

contribute to make the country a better place.

We will see through two texts – ''The village population, painter of

signs, Narayan, 1976'' and ''changing India, Farewell to an India I

hardly Knew, 2006'' – and an audio document – ''Two stories, India's

Economic Contrasts, CBS'' – the different evolutions that India has

know.

India's population has increased significantly. In Narayan's text, the

author talks about a twenty percent growth while food production

despite the progress of agriculture has not followed the same curve –

''Your production has increased only three percent in spite of various

improved methods of cultivation''. Housing is insufficient and

therefore overcrowded. Indians no longer hesitate to leave the village

of their childhood – ''Indians …were making difficult new choise to

die other than where they were born'' – to choose a professional path

that is not that of their forefathers – ''to pursue vocations not their

father's''.

The status of women traditionally deprived of power and freedom has

changed. They became independent. They have obtained micro-credits

to lift themselves out of poverty – ''The women were becoming

breadwinners through microcredit''. These women, who generally

come from the poorest villages and become financially independent,

are no longer confined to the house and may even divorce and remarry

– ''The couples were ending marriages … then finding love again''. In

traditional India, this is a change in mentality because some of these

women become ministers (Indira Gandhi) or presidents (Mrs Patil) of

their countries.

Significant social progress has been made. Indians who didn't hesitate

to leave India to seek their fortune in the United States remain in their

country to work because factories are replacing farms – ''farms giving

way to factories''. They can have low-cost cars. Their children are

studying and obtaining

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