दृष्टिकोण – Indra's Viewpoint

As it appears on thee first day of 2006, the whole of Delhi came out to celebrate. And Delhi had latest gift from Metro of its third line to Dwarka. Metro provided the fun ride for Delhiites.

And Mrs. YP Singh, wife of advocate friend and a typical grandmother had to return back without getting into ‘Akshardham’- the newly built architectural marvel of Delhi. India is on move. We also had an instantaneously planned outing yesterday along with Aroras. I wanted to just be out and so drove towards Greater Noida- the first ISO certified township of UP. We took some eatables and wanted to have some sort of picnic in a garden. While we were about to return, as we were not getting one suitable place Arora could help us finding City Park. It was a nice place and well done to UP standard with children corners, and flowerbeds with decently done landscapes.

Unfortunately, the toilets are leaky and dirty too. I don’t why this aspect is totally neglected in this country. I had a similar feeling when we visited the wonderful facility of Akshardham. Perhaps, the one solution that I can think of is to lease the facility to some reputed private company. The entrance ticket can be a little more to keep the park in best of its shape and cleanliness. Further, the authority may integrate a small tidy food plaza too to make it more enjoyable. These facilities will be increasingly popular with the expanding middle class base of the country.

And the drive while returning on the Noida Expressway with greenery of cultivated fields on both sides was exciting. Here you can see the coexistence of modern huge structures under constructions and the rural surrounding. I wish the authorities could develop some rural resorts for city dwellers for a day off in natural surroundings.

Perhaps it is the first time in history of the world that any country is having so qualified persons responsible to run a country. The present younger generations can’t think of a better team at the helm of the nation’s affairs. The President of the country is world class technocrat. The Prime Minister is world class respected economists. The Finance Minister is Harvard educated legal luminary. The Chairman of Planning commission is again a highly reputed and experienced economist. Can one think of a better team? But will the team produce the result expected by the billion strong people of India? Though I wish that they do, the results of the first six months in office is not very encouraging at least in the field. It is not only what I think. Many assess their performance as an average. This Sunday in Times of India, Shri Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar wrote in his column with a caption-‘six months of timid waffle’-

“Lots of words and little concrete action. His one clear strategy seems to be a single-minded focus on surviving for a full five-year term, and if this means waffle and timidity, so be it. …. His main strategy can be summed up as: do not displease Madam, and do not displease the Left. Do not test the limits of your power, just concentrate on survival. This is not what I had expected. …. Manmohan Singh has frequently talked of the need to improve governance, to reform the dysfunctional administration, police system and judicial system. Yet we see no sign of action, only suggestions to set up a new committee on administrative reforms. This is waffle. Umpteen committees have given umpteen recommendations on reforming the administrative and judicial system. We need action, not more committees.”

Dr. Singh as well as Mr. Chidamabaram had been talking about many things providing a lot of hopes in near future, but I think they must concentrate on some specific projects so that all common people including me start getting a feel of some activities speeding up all around. When I talked with the truck drivers about the progress of GQ (Golden Quadrilateral) Super expressway, they don’t report any significant progress between Agra and Kolkata. Every time I talk to my village home in Bihar and enquire about the possibility of electrification of my village that falls under the constituency of Meira kumar- the celebrated daughter of Babu Jagjivan Ram, the reply is hardly encouraging. Why can’t we move faster on roads and electricity? Is it because we don’t have fund or we don’t have the will to get going faster? Can the PMO or Finance Minister, if not PM himself come out with a system to measure the government performance for the last six months? Why can’t it be some 10 major items, say the Km of road constructed, the number of villages connected by roads and electrification completed, number of employment provided by private and public enterprises, or in social sector, telecom targets related to internet, number of water bodies renovated, KM of irrigation canals built, number of healthcare centres created, etc. Instead of having a vague and very general common minimum programme, why can’t they give to nation specific targets of performance? Why can’t they change their criteria of performance from money sanctioned or money spent to work or project completed?

It will be worthwhile to talk of some prestigious projects and complete them in a time frame rather than going on promising many moons. Dr. Singh promised to develop Mumbai to become Shanghai. And is there a follow up after that announcement? And now Sheila Dixit talks of taking Delhi to Hong Kong or Kwalumpur level. Can they get the roads to the standard of those cities in next 4 years? Can they get the transport system to that standard? Can they provide the civil amenities- drinkable water and electricity to that standard?

With the great team at the helm of affairs India and Indians want a difference in governance and a visible change and speedy activities all around. Can we see it happening in years left of their governance?

Agriculture cannot grow at more than 2-3%. For India to cross 8% GDP growth rate, if manufacturing grows at 6%, services will have to grow at 12% that will be quite difficult. Services may be India’s strength, but it has grown in double digits only once in the last 10 years. However, if manufacturing grows at 8%, services will need to grow at 10%.

India must push the growth rate of manufacturing to double digits for GDP to grow at over 8%. Manufacturing will have to outpace services for the overall GDP rate to sustain at above 8% for the next decade or two. India cannot afford the share of manufacturing to fall further. Ideally it should increase. It is essential to bring India in league of developed nations.

Workforce Engagement in Agriculture is static and will reduce

In 2002, agriculture employed 191 million out of 343 million employed people, or 56% of the total employment. This figure-191 million in agriculture has remained static since 1994 and as per government projections, and will remain the same in 2007, 51% of the total employment of 373 million. The agriculture can’t sustain even the present engagement level. The tractors and other mechanical equipment will be essential to improve productivity. That will mean further reduction in employment in agriculture sector.

The government expects and targets 40 million job creations during the 10th Plan. The government expects the services sector to provide 82%, while manufacturing will account for a mere 18%. Is it not a too much of dependence on the service sector?

The government policy and manufacturing

Strangely, the government had no special hopes from the manufacturing sector and so it didn’t have any plan for the manufacturing sector..

The government apathy is the main reason that India has failed to become a global player in the manufacturing area. India failed to attract significant FDI in manufacturing, whereas countries like Thailand and then China moved ahead. The story of the two protected passenger car manufacturers is known to all. The first wave of the entry of Japanese automobile manufacturers- Mitshubishi, Mazda, Toyota- could not move ahead significantly and failed. Suzuki came and survived because of emotional reasons.
Global multinationals, but for few South Koreans haven’t considered India in a big way as a potential destination for establish to set up large scale manufacture facilities and export goods.

However, it is still not late. And now India has proved its capability in manufacturing sector to certain extent. MNCs have realized the pitfalls of putting all their eggs into the China basket. India seems to be emerging as a second manufacturing source. Some of MNCs are planning to make India a global source base for some products that have also a good domestic market. Hyundai Motors and then Suzuki Motors have that strategy. Toyota Motors is also moving with that strategy with setting up of a transmission manufacturing plant in India.

A new mindset and confidence in Indian entrepreneurs is apparent. Indian companies in sectors from pharma to auto ancillaries, to chemicals and textiles- are looking at exports as an integral part of their future strategy. Exposure to global opportunity, MNCs interest in moving to low cost locations, the examples presented by IT and ITeS sector, Chinese manufacturing success stories, government’s helping hand through certain concessions for export- all are behind the change of the mindset.

iT IS HAPPENING NOW

HCL Infosystem, the leading player in personal computer has finally come out to solve my problem. All these months since I got my PC curtsey Anand, I thought how nice it will be if in Pipra, my home village we can have PC that can serve me when I go there. And as it seems, it is possible now or it will be possible very soon, if I am to believe the news in Business Standard about a new initiative of HCL Infosystem to increase PC penetration among rural mass.

The company has developed a PC that can run on car battery, effectively solving the problem of unavailability of power in the rural area. Solar or renewable energy packs could provide the power needed for recharging. My brother Alok has already got the solar system and he uses that for TV and music system as well as lighting. Even after,57 years of Independence, we don’t have electricity in my village like lakhs of other Indian villages.

Chairman and CEO of HCL Infosystem also claimed that the battery was a more effective tool than UPS.

One of the major hurdles faced by the industry in the villages that power supply is erratic and unreliable. This has resulted in lower PC penetration in India. It will address effectively to the issue of e-governance and building of a sustainable IT infrastructure.

Further, if the government takes some more initiatives of some more tax breaks by the state and central governemnt, the price of PCs in India that has already reached as low as Rs 15,000 (US $350) can go down to around Rs 10,000. Why can’t the government give some subsidy, when it is wasting so much on commodity items? It will be only one time on capital investment that will be upgrading the knowledge base of the society.

HCL is offering innovative financing scheme to increase PC ownership among common people. It has launched a scheme that means only Rs 499 installment per month. Banks may come out with more lucrative schemes.

Changes in PC depreciation norms from three years to one year may provide further incentive for entry of PCs in the rural sector. I am seeing my dream of outsourcing and BPO reaching villages realized. Will it not be a great day? With entry of PCs and the internet, the dream of PURA (Providing urban facilities in Rural Areas) will go a step further..

India will move fast now and get globally connected. I am sure for some of those in USA who are having their parents in villages of India, it will mean a great thing. I grumble, if it would have been possible some 20 years ago. i would not have sold my properties in my village.

Some more good news .. And now a computer at $200

The ever- improving ability of PCs to display high-quality pictures is largely due the increasing power of graphics cards, sometimes known as GPUs or Graphics Processing units. Nvidia is an American company and specialist in producing graphics chips and works with Intel closely. Here is what Dave Kirk, the chief scientist of Nvidia said.

For decades, the processing power of computer chips has doubled roughly every 18 months, as predicted by the Intel founder Gordon Moore. However, as miniaturization continues, further progress is running into the problem of dissipating the heat generated by the chips. GPUs don’t face this problem, and typically double in power every six months. GPUs get faster much more quickly. A CPU gets 10 times faster over five years. A GPU gets 1.000 times faster. GPUs will open the door to better, and useable, handwriting and speech recognition technology that take enormous amount of processing power. Kirk sarcastically predicts- “The best days of the over-priced Rolls-Royce PC are probably over. That market is not growing so much. Austin Mini PC is going to take over world wide.

Anand is still to marry and we keep on insisting on him that he must do that soon so that we can enjoy a festivity in the family. So I quote this joke from Sunday Times of India.

Biz behind marrying Gate’s daughter

Jack, a smart businessman, talks to his son.

Jack: I want you to marry a girl of my choice
Son : “I will choose my own bride!”
Jack: “But the girl is Bill Gates’s daughter.”
Son : “Well, in that case…”

Next Jack approaches Bill Gates.

Jack: “I have a husband for your daughter.”
Bill Gates: “But my daughter is too young to marry!”
Jack: “But this young man is a vice-president of the World Bank.”
Bill Gates: “Ah, in that case…”

Finally Jack goes to see the president of the World Bank.

Jack: “I have a young man to be recommended as a vice-president.”
President: “But I already have more vice- presidents than I need!”
Jack: “But this young man is Bill Gates’s son-in-law.”
President: “Ah, in that case…”

This is how business is done!!

The UPA made a promise in its Common Minimum Programme (CMP) that states, “The UPA government will immediately enact a national Employment Guarantee (REG) Act”. Naturally, it must keep the promise and the left is pressing for it. What does it actually mean for a lay man? Every household in the rural areas of India shall have a right to at least 100 days of guaranteed employment every year for at least one adult member, for doing casual manual labour at the statutory minimum wage. However, the cost of the promise is worrying all but Mr. Sitaram Yachury.

Each person-day would cost Rs 100, of which Rs 60 would be wages and Rs 40 for materials and administration. The states would bear only 20 per cent of the costs but will be liable to provide unemployment allowance (at a minimum of one-third of the prevailing minimum wage) in case the administration fails to provide the necessary employment. For 100 days this would mean Rs 10,000 per poor rural household. Since there are approximately 4 crore rural households below the poverty line (BPL), the total annual cost of the guarantee would come to Rs 40,000 crore. That would be about 1.3 per cent of current GDP. In a 4-year phasing, it could start at 0.5 per cent of GDP and go up to 1 per cent by 2008-09.

\So is the estimate of Rs 40,000 crore correct? As Sunil Jain (Business Standard, October 25, 2004) has pointed out, the more relevant number for rural households eligible for the scheme is 15 crore, not the 4 crore assumed by the government. And the associated fiscal bill rises towards a huge Rs 150,000 crore per year, or about 5 per cent of GDP! Can the government bear this expenditure on this count? Will it be the biggest dole ever or a programme that will generate employment in the long run for India’s hungry millions?

And then should it be a Scheme or an Act? If it would have remained a scheme, it could have been scrapped or changed easily in case of financial difficulty. If passed by Parliament as act, the REG will become law which will make it binding on the government to provide employment. And the law would require the assent of Parliament to be withdrawn or even amended, if found so in interest of the country. A failure on the part of the government could flood it with legal cases. Is the government worried on this count? Perhaps, it is not. After all, why should it bother about the long term impact?

The scheme or act whatever it is, it is certainly a wonderful thing to happen in a country with huge a population that remain unemployed and poor, if executed effectively. But will it be so done? There are many questions that are to be answered. Who are the beneficiaries? Can’t more of undeserving members backing the ruling party take the advantage leaving back the really needy ones? Can those in the unorganised sector earning below the prescribed minimum wage, claim to be included? Are we having proper identification of BPL households? As understood as on the day, gram panchayats will issue the necessary “job cards” to applicants. The applicant fulfils the eligibility conditions of rural residence, adult age, and willingness to do casual manual labour at the state’s minimum wage for agricultural labour. As it appears, being a member of a BPL household is not an eligibility condition. And then a very serious question appears. How serious will be the scope for fake muster rolls and doctored job cards? Will ultimately the funds be eaten up by the “neta (politician), babu (bureaucrat), jhola (NGOs) and thaila (middlemen)”? This has been the concern of every one from Late Rajiv Gandhi to a commoner on road. The delivery mechanism must first be made effective so that this scheme benefits the intended group.

And then the prime minister declares that the rural poor will get the job in their own village. Is it possible to create jobs in every village worth creating some permanent national asset? Why should the beneficiary not move to the place where the work is needed? Is it just for reaping political benefits? Politics must not rule over logic and reality must not be overlooked.

Why do we go on talking about the big costs right at the initial stage? Will it not be good enough to start with the fund already available with Gram Sadak Yojana and the Food for Work programme and to see the effectiveness of the delivery system in a smaller area?

Some suggestions forwarded by many experts must be looked into seriously:
” Focus on improving existing programmes of food for work and rural employment generation and its delivery system..
” Involve the state government in more accountable manner. The incentive for leakage and abuse must be looked into seriously. The gap between the central government responsibility of funding and the predominantly state/local responsibility for its administration must be minimal possible..
” Let the legal guarantee for the scheme be the responsibility of the respective states, including the responsibility for bearing the unemployment allowance (in case a state fails to provide employment to eligible applicants).
” Ensure states’ commitment to the programme
” Implement in a phased manner over four or five years, allowing for modification from lessons learned.
” Make the scheme more visible locally and monitor regularly.
” Involve some IT majors such as Infosys and Wipro to make the scheme more transparent and effective.
” Let media keep a watch on the scheme.

Let the programme not bring a national fiscal crisis.

Hardly one can perceive that manufacturing, especially automobiles or auto ancillaries can become a female domain because of the labour-intensive nature of work, multiple shifts and faraway factory locations. I saw a good number of women employees on shop floor in Western countries but I couldn’t think of doing that in India. Years ago, I found an auto component manufacturing company UCAL manufacturing carburetors near Chennai. The company was using very young girls in production. They were all from nearby villages. After certain amount of training, they proved to be good at the work with lesser error rate. At the same time the company was employing them at a lower cost. And that was perhaps an exploitation that is usual in manufacturing sector with smaller scale. At Hindustan Motors, we were never free to employ women even for the jobs suitable for the women such as the computer sections or planning and design. At one time I suggested for employing the female candidates for labour welfare department and for training in soft skills and attitudinal improvement. My argument was that the female employees will improve the work culture and reduce the arrogance of the male employees with the CPI-M dominated trade union. May be that we could have solved many problems easily. But it never happened. I was surprised to read the story in ‘Business World’ issue of December6,2004. $275 million Anand Group is one of the companies voted as ‘Great Places to Work’ based on the ratings for credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie.

Anand group- manufacturers of auto components like shock absorbers, fuel filters and hydraulic brakes company is specifically targeting women for filling vacancies in operations, product development and finance. Currently, only 11 per cent of Anand’s 5,300 employees are women. The management intends to take it up to 30 per cent by 2007.

It’s not desk positions, but the shop floor, for which the bulk of the hiring is taking place. Given the stringent labour laws for women working in manufacturing, like getting an approval from the labour officer for working third shifts, or beyond 10:00 p.m., it’s a great feat. But is it for proving the gender equality only or some thing more? Why then is Anand trying to enhance the percentage of female employees?

At Anand, women perform all the tasks their male counterparts do. But Anand group has found women to do it somewhat better. The move started as social responsibility has triggered an increase in the group’s productivity. Women normally start work at the age of 22-23 years and stay on for 5-6 years, till they get married. The process keeps the workforce young and nimble.

Women are preferred in Anand Group to men in all positions – from working on the shop floor to supervisory positions at various plants, and even management at the plant and corporate levels… wherever there’s a vacancy. This is unlike other auto ancillary factories, where women are hired for their dexterity in handling smaller parts like screws and rings – works that rank low in terms of value addition.

Pays and perks aren’t differentiated on the basis of gender. Fifteen out of the group’s 32 plants have hostels for women close by. A lady doctor visits each hostel once a week. Each cluster has a female management mentor.

Is it not something great happening in manufacturing sector too now?

The news items in printed media in just one week are clear indication of good demand for persons seeking employment. It is not only USA and UK, Indians are in demand every where. See these news items:
BEIJING, NOV 15: Indian businesses are bringing more Indians to live and work in China. The number of Indians is growing rapidly, especially with many multinational firms employing qualified Indian professionals at much cheaper salaries than their Western counterparts

China seeks Indian English teachers: New Delhi, India, Nov. 19 (UPI) — China’s education minister is visiting local universities and schools in India in search of language teachers to meet the growing demand for English in China. (a New Delhi’s NDTV report).

MNCs as well as domestic companies are hiring in big way. The $12.5 billion software services industry has created some 550,000 software and 280,000 back-office positions. The sector is growing at 30 per cent a year. Outsourcing is forecast to hit $50 billion by 2009, according to India’s National Association of Software and Service Companies. India’s IT-savvy, low cost, English-speaking workforce is attracting a growing number of multinationals. MNCs are increasing the headcounts in existing establishments. And surprisingly, the companies are moving beyond metros and even to smaller towns.

<iMicrosoft to hire hundreds more in India: HYDERABAD, NOV 15: Microsoft Corp will hire several hundred new staff at its new Indian campus in the next year. And the work being done is high-tech as Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer indicated recently. “The work we are doing here is very high level creative engineering.”

US Firm to Hire 1,700 People in India: BANGALORE, SEPT 22: Real estate and data service provider First American Corp’s Indian arm plans to recruit 1,700 software and back-office workers over three years to take its staff strength to 4,200. First American is the latest to announce expansion in India’s booming offshore service sector, in which data operations that require low-cost English-speakers with accounting skills are growing strongly in the wake of an expansion in call centres.
<b GE,which has its second largest R&D centre outside the US in Bangalore, will be adding another 700 scientists to its rolls to take the total strength to 3,000. The Bangalore centre is also set to get some big product development projects.

Dell to invest and hire more in India: November 24. Terming India as its fastest growing market in Asia Pacific with 43 per cent year-on-year growth, hardware major Dell said it will invest more in the country and raise headcount.

Infovision to up headcount by 1,500: NOVEMBER 30, 2004 KOLKATA: Anticipating huge growth, Infovision Software, the leading Medical Transciption (MT) company said it planned to increase the strength of trained people to around 2000 persons in Mumbai and Kolkata in the next three years.

NEW DELHI: Samsung India Electronics would double headcount at its two R&D centres to 2,000 engineers in the next three years.
BANGALORE: German software maker SAP AG will add close to 1,300 software professionals for its India operations during 2005. “We will be adding 1,300 people – 800 developers in R&D and 500 people in services and consulting next year,” SAP AG board member Peter Zencke told reporters here.

Wipro intends to double staffs: BANGALORE, OCT 8: Wipro Ltd sees its staff doubling in the next three years as outsourcing booms. Wipro expects to keep adding about 1,000 people a month to its 35,000 staff. Wipro plans to hire at least 3,000 IT professionals at its brand new software development-cum- BPO hub in Kolkata

<i<bInfosys To Hire 4,000-4,500 Techies MUMBAI, OCT 12: Infosys plans to hire 4,000-4,500 in rest of year. 4,547 of the 5,010 staff it hired in the past quarter were for Infosys’ software business. The rest it hired for its back-office business.

1.8 lakh IT jobs this quarter: Survey DECEMBER 01, 2004: NEW DELHI: The IT and IT enabled services in India will witness a 13 per cent growth in employment numbers over the last quarter as per the findings of Ma Foi management consultants in its first Ma Foi employment survey. The survey predicts the creation of some 60,000 new jobs each month in the current quarter in the Information Technology and related sectors – the highest amongst the 18 sectors involved in the current survey.

Demand for India’s information technology services is red hot as the industry expands into new areas such as manufacturing and retail from finance. So the hunt for talent is on. The companies scout many technology colleges for selecting the right candidates. Some are even paying stipends to students in niche areas such as physics. The companies are also spending huge amount on providing training in-house to the new recruits to make them meet their skill requirements. The training now includes coaching on customs and foreign languages such as German and Japanese, as the companies scour the globe for new markets. But all these news items leave behind some questions. How many of these boys are from the rural areas? Is the basic education improving? Are they able to join some good colleges after a poor schooling? It is unfortunate that the quality of education in majority of schools and colleges all over the country is extremely poor. Most of the teachers can’t provide the knowledge of even the two languages that they teach, as they themselves have not improved to the standard that is expected by the customers of their students today. A very intensive and extensive programme for the teachers of languages is essential, if we want to keep our lead in IT and ITeS. But what can we expect from the politicians running the education? They are busy in changing the history books that will hardly serve any purpose. And there is hardly many Budhadeo Bhattacharyas who can outright tell the ABTA teachers in his state to come out of their mindset and teach good English to their students.

Coming to engineering colleges, the conditions are no better, though the number of colleges have increased many folds because of privatization of the professional education. Beside the shortage, the education standard of the teaching staffs in most of the colleges is extremely poor. As I know, more than 70 per cent of faculty members teaching Bachelor of Technology (BTech) courses in private colleges were themselves only BTech qualified. Some thing must be done on priority basis to come out of the situation and if the country wants to remain a leading force in IT related sector. ‘The Chinese are coming in big way and will certainly rule the IT business too.

It is not only ITand ITeS, but other sectors are also hiring. A report from the textile sector says: The textile sector provides employment to more than 30mn people, compared to around 8 lakh in IT. In the next two years the textile sector is expected to generate at least another million jobs. Other manufacturing sectors are also on move. But here also the industry requires skilled hands, as the equipment in all sectors are now more sophisticated. Trade schools are failing to impart the right skill. The students are not properly selected and guided to learn the skills. No one knows what happened to the promises made by the finance minister to improve all the ITIs in his last budget.

I follow some all-India examinations keenly. News related to results of IITs, and IIMs entrance examinations and of IAS always interests me, though usually I hardly know any one appearing for these examinations. It takes me to my younger days through the memory lanes. I am sure the students and their parents all over the country spend some sleepless nights and are very excited. The Indian society has started giving special status not only to those who succeeds but also to their parents. Sometimes, it is by community facilitations or enhancement of values in marriage market through heavier dowry- the age-old curse of society. However, these are not my concerns. I have some strong views about these examinations and want some changes to get built up in the systems.

Firstly the maximum age limit must be lower. Even in 1957 when I appeared for my IIT-Kharagpur examination, I found students with Master degrees joining with us. All like who were, straight from Intermediate science, felt disadvantaged in scholarship examination as well as in first year in which mostly science subjects were taught.

Those appearing in examinations must not get more than two opportunities to clear. I have seen students appearing years after years till they reach upper age limit. It is really unfair for the really better ones and perhaps more intelligent candidates. It prohibits the selection of the deserving candidates. In one extreme case that I came across, one boy came to me for an interview for a position of fresh engineer 5 years after passing out engineering from Roorkee University, as he was trying to get into IAS and all those years he was appearing for that. Was it not something undesirable? It must be happening even now.

The examination system must also discourage the use of coaching classes for succeeding in the examinations. The coaching has become an industry with many thousands of small and big institutions all over the country. The institutions have developed the knowledge of the pattern of questions that are asked and prepare their students for them. It has given rise to many unscrupulous means to extort money from the candidates and sometimes also to get the papers out. And then good ones are so costly that the students with financial constraints get further disadvantaged. I feel the examinations must judge the knowledge and intelligence level of the candidates. It must be made pattern less. The manner of setting papers must be made so random that the coaching doesn’t give much advantage. It may even be made open book. Imagine even the reduction in number of questions in recent CAT examinations invited negative criticisms and was termed ‘foxy’.

The paper should include a set of questions that judges the value preference of the candidates too– the probability to go to even unethical means to achieve ones personal goals. On the same line, I recommend that the examination must judge the innovative capability of the candidates. I don’t know whether it can be designed, but perhaps it has become a necessity with the falling moral level and lack of innovativeness in administrative services.

The IIMs must not allow candidates without experience for their regular courses as in many Western countries. Particularly, I feel miserable when I hear some who has just passed out and graduated in engineering from IITs joining IIMs. It is a shame for IITs and the whole education systems. It is a waste of money and time to study engineering for 4 years and then to join a management course without experience of the industry just for a fatter starting salary. The engineering background will be of no help in the candidate’s professional career rather it will confuse the employers. Even the industry should discourage it. IIMs must inculcate in the students entrepreneurships as the major objective, so that more of them can start some enterprises of their own and provide job opportunity rather than getting into a subordinate role in an established enterprise.

Gradually more and more positions in government should be open for qualified people from outside the IAS system, say from private and public enterprises and educational institutes or from among NGOs. Main thrust must be one finding out persons with stronger moral values and innovativeness that is missing today in the cadre. The country wants officers in administration who can stand strongly both morally and physically on right path in interest of the country rather than licking the politicians’ feet or get cowed down by mafia leaders.

If you agree to my views, will you please e-mail it to all for whom it matters?