Progress- or is it?

Good rebuttal, Krupa :-). Let me address your points specifically.

Western style Capitalistic Progress: I am sure by Progress, we mean progress for the majority. Here are some stats that debunk our progress:

India was the 2nd fastest growing economy in the world in the last few quarters, despite the financial crisis. It has been a top performer on this count in the last 5-6 years. So on economic indicators, we are doing good.

On social indicators:

-134 out of 182 countries on the Human Development Index. This is the same rank in the last survey of 2006

-65 among 84 countries on the hunger index. No change since 2007

-114 of 134 on the Global Gender Index (inequality to women). No change again

-This is a good one: On the Health and Survival index, India ranks the last at 134

-121 out of 134 on the educational attainment index

I can add a few more. And let us not think it is a common reality of developing countries. On the Gender Index, Sri Lanka ranks 16, Bangladesh (a much poorer, Muslim country) 93.

So we do great on economic indicators, but poorly on others, and don't really improve over time. Clearly, the GDP growth is only increasing the economic divide. And the best part is that as we pull tribal lands and give them to mining companies and IT parks, we tell them: ' this is for your own good- you will see the trickle down effect later'.

And what is the end point to all this progress? The US is a good indicator, having adapted this model much earlier: A country that has the maximum per-capita emissions by a large margin, a horrendous budget deficit, unemployment and high health costs. That is despite their large per-capita natural resources, unlike India.

GM: While there are long term philosophical implications of the like that Babai posted below, I was more specifically talking about the process for adapting Brinjal, which seemed to be obviously flawed, as you also seem to think. Don't know too much about the rest of the GM food to comment. In general, it seems like playing with forces that are too powerful, even if you hold in balance the good that they may do.

'Rampant' 'US style' Consumerism, Indian Style: I think this can be felt only if you live here. There is a set of flats coming up in Bangalore that are going to sell for 4 crores each. Apparently, the apartments have fireplaces (in India!), that are decorated with gemstones. Even if you don't consider this extreme example, the general trend that you see here is a quick adaptation of wasteful practices from the West, by rejecting centuries old sustainable practices. We haemorrhage paper napkins by the millions in toilets now, when just 5 years back, we survived on hankies. Now they have gone ahead and introduced them in trains! Can you imagine the waste? We use paper cups for coffee, when we had the good old tumblers for so many years. And let us not forget the most astoundingly stupid invention of them all: sugar in 10 gram sachets.

When you take consumerism one scale higher, you get a plan to replace hills in the Western Ghats with townships, destroying a biodiversity hotspot overnight (google for Lavasa City). It is like building Condos in Yellow Stone National Park.

So what is rampant consumerism as opposed to our parents' times? Our generation's consumerism comes at a huge cost to poor people and the environment. And unlike the US, a rich country, our wealth comes as a stark contrast to the utter poverty of others.

'Rampant' 'US style' Consumerism, US Style: Just see any of those global warming videos and this would be evident. For example, the US is just one 2 countries in the entire world that has not ratified the Kyoto protocol. This is a whole topic by itself.