दृष्टिकोण – Indra's Viewpoint

The manufacturing sector is seeing activity build up in almost all segments. West is looking at India a source for manufacturing too.

According to the recently provided data, the estimate for GDP growth at constant prices is 9.2 per cent for 2006-07. It is exciting because it is upon a base year growth of 9 per cent in 2005-06. The advance estimates has pegged manufacturing growth at 11.3 per cent, against 9.1 per cent a year ago, and services at 11.2 per cent (9.8 per cent a year ago). Indian manufacturing is growing at an average of 10% with growth touching 12-14% in some months. 12% was the target recommended for manufacturing sector by the NMCC to attain a double-digit growth rate to generate sufficient enough employment. Is it happening? Has the manufacturing sector changed its course to have growth with employment too or it is still a jobless growth? And can this growth of 12% be sustained?

India’s manufacturing sector can grow faster if it can create for and cater to its domestic market as well if it can create a global market for its products. Auto sectors are providing the lead where the sector is pushing fast in both the market. Domestic market is booming and export obligations are also being met. Auto component sector is feeding its domestic OEMs as well global clients. The boom can be further expanded with new innovative products at the right price. India can keep lead through its innovative products such as the Tata Motors Rs 1 lakh or a smaller smarter SUV. The success of ACE- the Minitruck of Tata Motors was an example. Similar approach by the manufacturers in all sectors of mass market will succeed. But auto sector may not help in job creations in number that is expected or desired to absorb the millions of unskilled and semiskilled unemployed men and women of India.

Indian entrepreneurs must establish many more new manufacturing units, produce many more types of innovative products, and create customers for them in the domestic as well as global market. Why can’t the textiles and apparel sector grow manifold? Why should India export cotton?

Why does India’s leather industry continue to post lower growth rates with thee largest source of raw material in the country? Is it because the entrepreneurs of the upper castes of the majority community still hesitate to go in the business?

It is the taste for the creative strength of the people of India. And naturally we will have to answer many pertinent questions.

Can India leverage its intellectual capabilities, be creative and integrate innovation into manufacturing?

Can India’s innovation follow a very different model focused on providing solutions for the masses?

Can the innovations and technologies be directed to solve the problem of acute poverty spread all over the country?

As reported, a company manufacturing automotive seats has been able to use the Poly Urethane used for manufacturing seats to make a 30% cheaper Jaipur Foot. As Newsweek reported, Rajesh Jain has come out a cost effective solution to use TV as PC.

Can it be emulated in many more areas?

Innovation goes beyond all boundaries or limits and works across sectors and applications. Indian Innovation Foundation has many such examples from the grassroots’ level? Why can’t the whole lot of people from other strata of Indian society join the innovation movement of India taking examples from those illiterate village scientists or technocrats that Prof Anil Gupta of IIM has found out? I wish the media had been covering their stories more widely.

Further, the manufacturing sector is best placed to attain inclusive growth- the need of the day. And innovation and entrepreneurship can only provide the large scale expansion of the manufacturing.

Let there be no confusion that the manufacturing and services sector together are expected to reinforce each other in India’s endeavour to become a developed country.
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RURAL EUREKA!

Some news of the students’ community shocks me and some questions automatically crop up. Who are responsible for their behaviours? Is it because of the political necessity?

How should one react when one sees the whole episode live? I heard the Uttar Pradesh governor suggesting the students to learn English too, if they wish to have ambitions of a good career after completing the education. “Exclusive Sanskrit education is beneficial only for those who want to become priests or Sanskrit teachers,”

T.V. Rajeswar was addressing the convocation of Sampoornand Sanskrit University in Varanasi. While he described Sanskrit as the “pride of India”, the governor departed from the text to remind students they also need to know English. “If you want to succeed professionally, earn Rs 2-3 lakh a month or go abroad… you must be proficient in English. If you only learn Sanskrit, you will remain cut off from the rest of the world and continue to live in the bullock-cart age.”

The students went out on rampage protesting against the statement and even demanded an apology from Rajeswar and his resignation. Where was the governor wrong? The students are ignorant about the reality of life, and must take advices from the older generation with open mind. No one can force it on a Sanskrit scholar if he doesn’t want to learn English. But when the same person faces an interview from, say a university of US for a Sanskrit teacher for Americans, he would never be selected if he does not know English. How will he teach Sanskrit to English knowing students if he does know English?

I don’t know how the same students would react once the recommendation of National Knowledge Commission to start teaching English from primary class itself is implemented.
And in Patna, I saw an irate mob of Patna University (PU) students belonging to different student organisations storming the PU office after breaking the main entrance gate as well as the inner gates. They did all for increasing the gap in university examinations. Bihar has already poor image about the sanctity of the certificates and degrees it offer. Why shouldn’t the parents take care of their wards? How can a government and a college stop such vandalism?

The student community all over the country must take some responsibility to draw the attention of the authority about the drawbacks in their teaching facilities and participate in national building by preparing themselves as responsible and employable candidates. They must shun the militant and damaging agitation. It will not fetch them anything on short term as well long term.

As reported, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has often been heard saying,. “Shudhu Bangla shikhle cholbe na (Just Bengali won’t do)” in his urgency to put Bengal on the development map. He wants Bengali students to get the fluency in English as the Chinese are doing in China. Will Mulayam do that?

Perhaps, the students of Bihar and Eastern UP have a little more responsibilty for building a better image of the region.
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And the result- 163-year lab lag with China

I happened to find the Megasthenes’ ‘Indika’ courtesy Google. Megasthenes was in Magadh at the time of Chnadra Gupta Maurya. Indika is his writings about the social and political conditions of the country at that time. He has talked on the caste system prevailing at that time. He writes, “The whole population of India is divided into seven castes.” Over the centuries, those seven castes have expanded over to perhaps 700 or 7000, and that is the weakest point of India with a potential to weaken the nation to any degree that can hold it from competing with the global powers. No religious leader of the majority community could realize the menace that the caste system could cause, and so didn’t denounce the system and tried to abolish it.

I had a hope that the younger generation with education would drop this way of identifying themselves. Growing intimacies without any caste bias would mean more and more inter-caste marriages and end of the horrendous system deciding one’s characteristics based on caste. I got the shock of my life, when I went through a recent report.

According to a BBC poll, the first for a nationwide ‘attitudes’ survey conducted by an international agency, that at a time when much of the world appears to have a view alternately on ”emerging India” or ”overheating India” Indians still seem to have caste firmly on their minds in one way or the other, even though leading sociologists have long argued that urbanization and industrialization has helped break down caste-barriers. 55% said the ”caste system is a barrier to social harmony.

The survey was conducted for the BBC World Service by the international polling firm GlobeScan. The survey comes as part of BBC’s ongoing ‘India Rising’ week of special programming that charts changes in different sectors of the Indian economy.

Some other interesting findings of the survey were:

Indians overall, seven in 10 exhibited a positive sense of identity by agreeing to the statement, ”I am proud to be an Indian.” The view was uniform across all age, income groups. However, the view differed among religious groups with Christians (73%) the proudest; Hindus (71%) close behind and Muslim pride in being Indian languishing at 60%. Why are the Christians the most proud lot? Why are the Muslims so much behind? Is it because of madrassa education or appeasement policies of political system?

52% said ”being a woman is no barrier to success”

Just under half of all Indians (48%) declared they would rather ”work for a private company than for the government.”

Six in 10, or 58% said they believed India’s security is ”more in danger from other Indians than from foreigners”

47% said ”corruption is a fact of life which we should accept as the price of doing business.” But a cheering 45% of 18- to 24-yearold Indians said they were less tolerant of corruption than the older generation.

On religious belief, 50% said ”people don’t take their religion seriously”;

40% lamented that ”young Indians have lost touch with their heritage.”

60% think India should be a political power

60% believe the country should be a military superpower

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Muslims under the banner of Jamaiit-e-Ulem-Hind organized protest in Singur, by now famous as the location of Tata Motors’ prestigious car project.

Delhi saw a disturbing initiative- a community- based mobilization led by Muslim clerics to protest against FDI in retail sector, as the global retail giants are one from US and UK.

If these giants are threats to India, how can it be threat only to a community?

Are not the clerics taking a little too much of liberty of the freedom to protest in democracy?

Is this not a dangerous signal for the so trumpeted secular country?

Is it something to do with the policies and pronouncements of special reservations, funds, and Islamic banks for this minority community?

Is it not inviting some unnecessary irritants for the country and its hard working people engaged in the task of making the country a global economic force?

But what can we expects from a national party that is dynastic and full of sycophants that you can see in the photograph where a minister is seeking blessings of the Goddess Sonia?

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Need to report on minority hiring, all Central depts told</

Nitish is getting into the task of changing the perception about Bihar in the people’s mind that matters to go for a big development. More of the remarks made by the people of all classes from Bihar are now positive.

At least some in print media are coming out with the success stories of Bihar that makes difference.

India Today, Feb 5 issue, has rated Nitish Kumar highly again. In the 13th Mood of the Nation poll to assess the performance of the chief ministers of their own states as well as to rate them nationwide, Nitish Kumar is a clear winner. “After 15 months in office, there are no signs of voters’ fatigue with his Government. While he shares the top slot nationally with Modi, within the state, his ratings have zoomed, from 29 per cent in our last poll five months ago, to 81 per cent. The sharp rise in his endorsement comes as no surprise. A detailed analysis shows that Nitish’s acceptability levels owe largely to his belief that good governance is the perfect antidote to the decade and half of stagnation and lawlessness under the Lalu-Rabri regimes. The results are already evident. Be it electricity, roads, healthcare, primary education, transport, communications and even policing, more people think that things are much better now than they were six months ago.” Business Today recently (January, 28) too covered a positive story, ‘Nitis Kumar’s Mission Impossible’. ‘Chief Minister is working hard (15-16 hours every day). And going by ground realities, the situation is actually getting better. In last one year, more than 1,000 hardened criminals have been awarded life sentences. Hundreds of brick kilns have mushroomed along the banks of Ganga. The occupancy at the cinema halls during night shows is more than 80%.’ However, few reporters in some newspapers appear to have decided to publish only the image spoilers.

I keep my tap on Bihar through my dialogues with my relatives in Bihar and various websites including the one of Bihar government. I have some concerns based on past experiences.
I was going through the list of 66 new investment proposals worth more than Rs 26,000 crores that Bihar government has received and approved. Unfortunately, the information in the list is very sketchy, poorly arranged and is not being updated regularly giving the real time status. I personally feel the government must look into the proposals a little more seriously. The fast increase in number of proposals may be allusive. The government must evaluate the sincerity of the entrepreneurs too. As it appears many traders from Kolkata are trying to be in the investment game for some vested interest. I wish I were wrong. The government must provide all the assistance in shortest possible time, but must also take commitments on the time frame of all the stages of the projects and keep a regular track on the progress. I assume that at least the proposals approved in February-March 2006 would have moved forward. Though the maximum numbers of proposals are about sugar industry and medical colleges, but it must move fast to implementation stage. The engineer CM must also see that the entrepreneurs complete the projects in no more than 3-4 years.

Some Priority Projects For Bihar

I am of a strong view that Bihar government must identify some prestigious 20 projects of strategic importance with high impact on growth and monitor its progress on regular basis. According to me, some of the projects are:
Government Projects- central and State
1. Expressways under Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) project
2. The East-West corridor project
3. The NHDP, Phase III A, with all important roads connecting the state’s capital to different towns of the state.
4. Indian Institute of Technology, Bihar
5. All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)
6. Bharat Nirman- roads
7. Bharat Nirman- rural electrification
8. International University, Nalanda
9. Chanakya Law University, Patna
10. Railway’s Axle manufacturing plant
11. Thermal power plant, Nabinagar
Private Projects
1. Indian Gasohol Ltd-10 mega ethanol plants with cogeneration
2. Mahindra & Mahindra group’s food processing plant
3. Sonalika Tractors’ a tractor plant.
4. Max Healthcare’s multispecialty hospital

The good news is that the priority sector is identified. The government is concentrating on sugar and maize based industries. Private investors had shown interest in setting up sugar mills with ethanol and cogeneration and the state government has also decided to hand over the sugar mills under state control to the private sector for their revival. As priority, the government must work on the abandoned factories, and take quick decisions, even if necessary with help of some ordinances.

Bihar must work on power plants on priority. Perhaps the route will be through private investment, and alternate energy resources. It can provide special subsidy to solar energy and biomass units, perhaps more to the deprived class in rural Bihar. If Karunanidhi can offer TVs, at least Bihar can do this.

The government must get proactive in approaching the reputed industrialists at the highest levels to make them come to Bihar’s assistance. But at least a dairy unit at every district headquarter is minimum that it can do itself.

My appeal to the government is more to have its websites more user-friendly and responsive. It must provide the e-mail addresses of ministers. It must also provide the status of the projects undertaken.

In excitement to go green, many things may happen. Here is a case when pigs may get starved because of biofuels coming out of corn.

Greg Boerboom raises 37,000 pigs a year on his farm in Marshall, Minn. Those hogs eat a lot of corn-10 bushels each from weaning to sale. In past years he has bought feed for about $2 a bushel. But since late summer, average corn prices have leapt to nearly $4 a bushel. To reduce feed costs, he sells his pigs before they reach the normal 275 pounds, and keeps them warmer so they don’t devour more food fighting off the cold.

In the U.S., last year’s harvest was 10.5 billion bushels, the third-largest crop ever. But instead of going into the maws of pigs or cattle or people, an increasing slice of that supply is being transformed into fuel for cars. The roughly 5 billion gallons of ethanol made in 2006 by 112 U.S. plants consumed nearly one-fifth of the corn crop. If all the scores of factories under construction or planned go into operation, fuel will gobble up no less than half of the entire corn harvest by 2008.

Corn is caught in a tug-of-war between ethanol plants and food, one of the first signs of a coming agricultural transformation and a global economic shift. Ever since our ancestors in the Fertile Crescent first figured out how to grow grains, crops have been used mainly to feed people and livestock. But now that’s changing in response to the high price of oil, the cost in lives and dollars of ensuring a supply of petroleum imports, and limits on climate-warming emissions of fossil fuels. Farms are energy’s great green hope.

Will it happen the same way for sweet loving Indians, when a good proportion of sugarcane juice is used to produce ethanol in our sugar mills?
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