india awakens...Are We Up Too Early?
India Awakens
Fueled by high-octane growth, the world's largest democracy is becoming a global power. Why the world will never be the same...reads the current issue of TIME.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/current
Wow! REALLY. That brings a smile to my face.The article goes on to read how the current lack in infrastructure will provide opportunities for development and investment.
In related news, China and India are the favoured markets of investors living outside their home countries, while fears about corporate governance standards in emerging markets have waned, according to a brokerage firm's survey on Monday reads Reuters UK. Further it adds, Investors turned less confident about the British, U.S. and euro zone economies as places to put money, citing ageing populations, rigid labour laws and saturated home markets as reasons for their caution.
As recent as last month, I tried to look for an offical website for the two of the busiest airports in India, Mumbai ( Bombay) and Madras ( Chennai). Well connected with majority of the continents across the world, surely i assumed there to be portal that would let me track arrival and departures of aircrafts. Much to my dismay, a nation that prides itself on doing most of the world's database and IT processing jobs cannot afford itself a website for its airports.
India, houses one of the best technical and business schools in the world, extracts the best through highly competitive exams to get into adminstrative services, but with these as the trump cards, what does it have to show to the world? It has in the past been burdened with lack of vision, planning, poverty and political ill will. Still in these 50 odd years of independence, it has come a far way from it earlier socialistic reforms to embrace a more capitalistic way of operation.
India, has acheived what it is, based on a service driven economy. I have my concerns about that! ....As we all know about the services we seek, be it buying grocery, looking for an airticket, etc; when we find a viable option, we choose to move on. This is my fear for India. In the short term, with a large chunck of technical expertise it has been able to achieve these economic milestones, but in the long term there is no foundation for it to stand upon. Can the ability to provide services, data base managers become the pillars of india's growth in the decades to come? I think india today has vision, and the ability (just in terms of the human resources and a young and talented work force) but lacks pioneers! Ofcouse, I cannot take away anything from the greats of Tata's (www.tata.com) , Ambani's (www.ril.com) , Birla's (www.birlacorporation.com) or in recent times NR Murthy (www.infosys.com) , Premji (www.wipro.com), and the other shops that have been set up. Right now, we are good at reproducing technology, and we are good at converting someones demands into a package. My question is: Can we become the power house for generating technology? In the years to come, can India be the forefront for producing outstanding knowledge base and technology.
Oh Yes! India Inc raked in billions of dollars through foreign investment, we have forged the way to set up the first airforce base overseas, but as a nation where is our true value? Are we ready to demand our place as a permanent member of the security council? Are we ready for the spot light to be on us? Are we ready to be a super power?
We can march to forge ties with the big players in the global political scene but where does India stand in terms of its foreign policy(especially in the subcontinent and Asia), in terms of its human rights records, in terms of having a active role in solving conflicts with its neighbours, interms of reducing the deficit. Has India set examples in the past to claim its position to that esteemed chair? What say does it have in global politics today: Economic? For someone in banglore or hyderbad ( the silicon hubs of india) certainly FDI's (foreign direct investment) are their bread and butter, but what about the farmer who waits subsidaries on his needs. Is India Today, mature enough to handle the duality that it has suffered in the past?
The fact is that the indian electorate is divided. It is a country of great disparity. Indians not only coexist amongst people who speak a dispora of languages, they also coexist amongst different species of the animal kingdom. One of the first things that stikes me is the absolute disregard for planning in the cities. The utter lack of civic responsibilities, apathy of the common man in the affairs of the state or city. The government, the people and the ideology in general revolves around what i wish to call as the "band aid solution". Everything seems OK as long as the current problem is solved!!!
Back in the days, when the great minds forged the ideas for creating the India Inc. that exists now, no one wanted to develop the "B" or "C" category cities. Instead, already taxed metropolises were forced to house the technology powerhouses of today. Hence, india deals with more power cuts, water shortages, traffic congestions, rising poverty, excessive migration to urban cities. Metropolises are still craving for clean and pure drinking water, a stable sanitation system, pure air, fighting poverty, convienent transportation. How can a place be classified as an URBAN METROPOLIS when people have to fight to get basic needs : Water,Sanitation, Electricity, & Transportation. I agree rome wasn't built in a day....but...
As an Indian, I can only dream of watching the Olympics in New Delhi someday, can only dream of the day the first Airbus A380 would land at an Indian airport, can only dream of a day where traversing 700 miles would take me 11 hours by road instead of 24 hours and I can only dream of a day where the perpetrators of IC 814, the Indian airlines flight that got hijacked back in 1999 to Kandahar, Afghanistan are brought to justice. I can only wish, India shows its own people what the rest of the world belives its map looks like and I dream of a day when a nation of over 1 billion people produce 15 men who can play soccer for india in the world cup! To me, it is a great tragedy that amongst so many people, we have not been able to produce 10 people, who could go and win us medals in a sport with consistency. Certainly, we are good at doing taxes, write software code, reproduce work, provide services, and speak english in the way we are required to speak...what do we have that we can call our own?
What has brought in the much transformation? I think it is the ability to provide a technical powerhouse that can run 24/7 coupled with a young and dynamic task force that wants to succeed, tons of engineers who can speak and think in english, a better and a more transparent work environment but are we there yet? In retrospect..Can this gush of economic success drive India and Indians to redefine their position in the world? I choose to wait and watch....
Fueled by high-octane growth, the world's largest democracy is becoming a global power. Why the world will never be the same...reads the current issue of TIME.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/current
Wow! REALLY. That brings a smile to my face.The article goes on to read how the current lack in infrastructure will provide opportunities for development and investment.
In related news, China and India are the favoured markets of investors living outside their home countries, while fears about corporate governance standards in emerging markets have waned, according to a brokerage firm's survey on Monday reads Reuters UK. Further it adds, Investors turned less confident about the British, U.S. and euro zone economies as places to put money, citing ageing populations, rigid labour laws and saturated home markets as reasons for their caution.
As recent as last month, I tried to look for an offical website for the two of the busiest airports in India, Mumbai ( Bombay) and Madras ( Chennai). Well connected with majority of the continents across the world, surely i assumed there to be portal that would let me track arrival and departures of aircrafts. Much to my dismay, a nation that prides itself on doing most of the world's database and IT processing jobs cannot afford itself a website for its airports.
India, houses one of the best technical and business schools in the world, extracts the best through highly competitive exams to get into adminstrative services, but with these as the trump cards, what does it have to show to the world? It has in the past been burdened with lack of vision, planning, poverty and political ill will. Still in these 50 odd years of independence, it has come a far way from it earlier socialistic reforms to embrace a more capitalistic way of operation.
India, has acheived what it is, based on a service driven economy. I have my concerns about that! ....As we all know about the services we seek, be it buying grocery, looking for an airticket, etc; when we find a viable option, we choose to move on. This is my fear for India. In the short term, with a large chunck of technical expertise it has been able to achieve these economic milestones, but in the long term there is no foundation for it to stand upon. Can the ability to provide services, data base managers become the pillars of india's growth in the decades to come? I think india today has vision, and the ability (just in terms of the human resources and a young and talented work force) but lacks pioneers! Ofcouse, I cannot take away anything from the greats of Tata's (www.tata.com) , Ambani's (www.ril.com) , Birla's (www.birlacorporation.com) or in recent times NR Murthy (www.infosys.com) , Premji (www.wipro.com), and the other shops that have been set up. Right now, we are good at reproducing technology, and we are good at converting someones demands into a package. My question is: Can we become the power house for generating technology? In the years to come, can India be the forefront for producing outstanding knowledge base and technology.
Oh Yes! India Inc raked in billions of dollars through foreign investment, we have forged the way to set up the first airforce base overseas, but as a nation where is our true value? Are we ready to demand our place as a permanent member of the security council? Are we ready for the spot light to be on us? Are we ready to be a super power?
We can march to forge ties with the big players in the global political scene but where does India stand in terms of its foreign policy(especially in the subcontinent and Asia), in terms of its human rights records, in terms of having a active role in solving conflicts with its neighbours, interms of reducing the deficit. Has India set examples in the past to claim its position to that esteemed chair? What say does it have in global politics today: Economic? For someone in banglore or hyderbad ( the silicon hubs of india) certainly FDI's (foreign direct investment) are their bread and butter, but what about the farmer who waits subsidaries on his needs. Is India Today, mature enough to handle the duality that it has suffered in the past?
The fact is that the indian electorate is divided. It is a country of great disparity. Indians not only coexist amongst people who speak a dispora of languages, they also coexist amongst different species of the animal kingdom. One of the first things that stikes me is the absolute disregard for planning in the cities. The utter lack of civic responsibilities, apathy of the common man in the affairs of the state or city. The government, the people and the ideology in general revolves around what i wish to call as the "band aid solution". Everything seems OK as long as the current problem is solved!!!
Back in the days, when the great minds forged the ideas for creating the India Inc. that exists now, no one wanted to develop the "B" or "C" category cities. Instead, already taxed metropolises were forced to house the technology powerhouses of today. Hence, india deals with more power cuts, water shortages, traffic congestions, rising poverty, excessive migration to urban cities. Metropolises are still craving for clean and pure drinking water, a stable sanitation system, pure air, fighting poverty, convienent transportation. How can a place be classified as an URBAN METROPOLIS when people have to fight to get basic needs : Water,Sanitation, Electricity, & Transportation. I agree rome wasn't built in a day....but...
As an Indian, I can only dream of watching the Olympics in New Delhi someday, can only dream of the day the first Airbus A380 would land at an Indian airport, can only dream of a day where traversing 700 miles would take me 11 hours by road instead of 24 hours and I can only dream of a day where the perpetrators of IC 814, the Indian airlines flight that got hijacked back in 1999 to Kandahar, Afghanistan are brought to justice. I can only wish, India shows its own people what the rest of the world belives its map looks like and I dream of a day when a nation of over 1 billion people produce 15 men who can play soccer for india in the world cup! To me, it is a great tragedy that amongst so many people, we have not been able to produce 10 people, who could go and win us medals in a sport with consistency. Certainly, we are good at doing taxes, write software code, reproduce work, provide services, and speak english in the way we are required to speak...what do we have that we can call our own?
What has brought in the much transformation? I think it is the ability to provide a technical powerhouse that can run 24/7 coupled with a young and dynamic task force that wants to succeed, tons of engineers who can speak and think in english, a better and a more transparent work environment but are we there yet? In retrospect..Can this gush of economic success drive India and Indians to redefine their position in the world? I choose to wait and watch....
posted by Ashwin at 7:34 AM
1 Comments:
very well articulated ! india has a long way to go, with mindsets yet to change. we are on the journey albeit slower than we are comfortable with
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