INDIA: There has been much debate among Indians about how to receive Slumdog Millionaire’s big win at the Oscars on Sunday. Many are proud to see a film shot in India, with Indian actors do so well abroad. Others feel that Slumdog’s portrayal of biting poverty and the ugly underbelly of Mumbai is unbalanced and unfair.

What no one has talked about yet is why this film is so popular. It seems that the story of a guy, with almost no hope of success, pulling one out of the fire might be something we can all relate to. Without big name stars or big name money this movie made it to the top. At the SAG awards I even heard the actors thank their casting director. That blew my mind. Barely anyone else that was nominated had to go through a casting director. Most of those stars get hand picked by the director, or they get the script written for them in the first place.

Tarun Shankar has a great opinion column in Outlook India talking about this, so I am going to defer to him here.

Outlook India article: Slumdogs Worldwide

Cartoon from the Times of India

The Times of India remains one of my favorite cartoon stops, despite the constant bombardment of advertising. They are a little dry, but still fun.

Times of India Cartoon Page

Photo of the World Bank by TreyDanger

INDIA: Last month the World Bank unveiled its strategy for development in India for 2009 - 2012. Sadly, the plan is basically the same as the unhelpful policies they have been pushing in India for the past 15 years.

This is a scathing piece from India Together. Their beef is that most of the development money will go toward commercialization and privatization. These strategies haven’t been producing big results. Even worse, a chunk of the money goes toward setting up advisory positions in the government to influence the Indian policy makers.

Article from India Together: World Bank’s CAS: The forward march of failure

From the Times of India. Ninan’s Image.

If there’s one thing the whole world can get together on, booting annoying lobbyists is it. The cartoonist makes a good point though.

Times of India Cartoon Page