EUROPE: "In France, It's Babies First: Even in a downturn, state support for mothers and children endures," by Edward Cody, Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 1-7 December 2008.

ASIA: "Can Love Conquer Caste? The Indian government supports mixed unions, but couples are threatened by their families," by Emily Wax, Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 1-7 December 2008.

The French need to subsidize baby-making--always a bad sign. Remember back to the last years of the socialist bloc. They needed to do this as well.

But in India, we see a different sort of effort, not designed to crank more babies (India's got plenty of those) but to break down barriers between castes.

So the government actually incentivizes inter-caste marriages by offering a $1,000 bonus. That's roughly a year's salary for most Indians.

Imagine the USG offering $5000 to any white-black or black-Hispanic or white-Asian union. That would be the equivalent.

For the French, the goal of such government subsidies is making sure France doesn't darken too much--thus losing its perceived Frenchness. We don't have that problem, because we're the world's most synthetic politico-social culture--as in, anyone can join this land of mutts (or become president).

With India, it's fair to say that the program is all about not losing hidden or trapped capacity or talent. I mean, why should big chunks of your population be restricted from success because of some ancient caste system?

Plus, there's a strong political stability argument here: as the subject of the piece argues (he and his other-caste wife started a program to help other inter-caste couples):

To me, caste is Hindu terrorism. We just wish for a better future for India. And that can't include such obvious discrimination.

You travel in India, and I did a few years back, and it becomes immediately clear: power and money tends to be associated with height and lighter skin, while the bottom of the pyramid tends to be short and dark-skinned.

So India's got its own bottom-of-the-pyramid problem that must be solved or--better put--unleashed in its full capacities.