A year ago, terrorists attacked hotels in Mumbai, India. We talk to Linda Blake, contributor for the Wall Street Journal in Mumbai, about what's happening there today, and to Felix Ambrose, who helped rescue victims at the Leopold Café last year, directly across from the site of the attacks.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in India today. Joining The Takeaway to talk about Clinton's trip and Washington's challenges in the subcontinent are Linda Blake, Wall Street Journal contributor in Delhi, India, Professor Brahma Chellaney, Professor of Strategic Studies at the Center for Policy Research in Delhi and Richard Wolffe, Daily Beast Columnist and political analyst for MSNBC.
"Many people are saying she's just doing the Hillary hokey pokey, left foot in India, right foot in Pakistan, and they feel really left out of the equation." —Wall Street Journal contriburter Linda Blake on Hillary Clinton's trip to India
Watch a clip of Secretary of State Clinton's speech to India on July 15, 2009 below.
Polls open today in India, the world's biggest democracy. With over 714 million expected participants the country's historic elections will run for several weeks with results expected sometime in May. But helping expedite the elections is electronic voting, available for the first time across the nation — even in villages with no electricity. For more we are joined Nazes Afroz, who is South Asia editor at the BBC World Service.
Tiny, affordable cars may seem like a great idea for the environment and the pocketbook. But our guest Linda Blake says putting thousands of Tata Nanos on India's roads is actually a bad idea for India's developing and smog-choked cities. She joins us now to explain.
TIMELINE: CARS FOR THE PEOPLE
Ford Model T 1909 Considered the first affordable car in America, Henry Ford's Model T sold for $850, undercutting competition priced between $2,000 and $3,000. "It will be low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one, and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces," Ford said.
AMC Rambler 1958 The Rambler's manufacturer, American Motor Corporation, was the only auto company to turn a profit during the recession of 1958. Created cheaply by conserving on steel, it became a car of choice and eventually won a Motor Trends "Car of the Year" award in 1963.
Toyota Tiara 1964 The 1960's forced American car manufacturers to face competition from abroad. Toyota's Tiara was the first of many successful Japanese imports. In 1967, the Tiara sold for $1,670, cheaper than the average American car.
Volkswagen Beetle 1960's The Volkswagen Beetle, another car in the new wave of imports, sold at around the same price as the Tiara, $1,675. But by 1973, Beetles were selling much better than the Tiara, surpassing sales records of the previous record holder, the Ford Model T.
Zastava Yugo 1985 Just 141,500 of Zastava's Yugos sold in the United States from 1985 to 1991, making it one of the worst-selling cars ever. However, priced at $4,000 when it was first introduced, it was the cheapest car available at the time. In 1991, due to United Nations sanctions on Yugoslavia, the car had to be pulled from the U.S. market. An updated version of the car is still sells in several countries, including Egypt and Poland.
Chevrolet Aveo 2009 Priced at $11,965, the Aveo is currently the cheapest small car produced by a U.S. automaker. "Well, the Aveo is cheap, but, well, it's cheap," read a recent review of affordable small cars in U.S. News & World Report.
Tata Nano 2009 The Nano, produced by India's Tata Motors, is small. It's 10 feet long and five feet wide, and runs at a top speed of about 60 mph. In India, one can purchase the basic model, without radio, air conditioning or air bags, for $2,500 — It meets Indian safety standards and gets an admirable 50 miles to the gallon.
Slumdog Millionaire took home the Oscar for Best Picture, but not everybody in India is celebrating. There's a mixture of pride and resentment over this movie— a film made by a Westerner that tells the story of a so-called slumdog from Mumbai. For an on-the-ground report we turn to Linda Blake, a freelance reporter in Delhi, India.
For more, here's a report on the cast and crew at the Mumbai premiere of the film:
The Takeaway is a national morning news program produced in partnership with The New York Times, the BBC World Service, WNYC, Public Radio International and WGBH Boston. More »
