Bihar’s MBA Craze

Posted on August 13, 2010 by indra

Dabloo came and introduced. He is son of one of my cousin sisters. He has completed his MBA from a school of management in Meruut. As anyone passing through the highways near around any city in India can notice hundreds or perhaps thousands of these schools of management have grown in all part of India. Noida and Greater Noida have many such schools and colleges of engineering, medicine, and management. One can see its ads in every media. Dabloo wanted me to help him in getting a suitable job. I have been out of touch from the industry for almost a decade or more. I hardly know anyone near around Noida who can help Dabloo. But my relatives and acquaintances think me as a big name known in industry and remember me still when someone needs job. I have written to some acquaintances about Dabloo, but it hardly helped Dabloo.

As I understand, the method of job search has changed of late. Now it is through agencies and consultants or on-line facilities such as naukari.com or monster.com assist the jobseekers efficiently. After I came to know of this, I informed Dabloo.

My cousin sister also called me and requested me for helping Dabloo. It’s very difficult to convince anyone in Bihar that one can get job without recommendation (pairawi), if he is properly educated in area of specialization in a job market that is facing shortage of talent.

I wonder, why would have Dabloo preferred for getting a MBA degree. He comes from a remote village in Bihar. The family has farming background. I don’t know how good he did in his pre-MBA courses in school or college or if he just managed his certificate required for joining the MBA course. With the overcapacity in the management schools, the seats are not getting filled up. Many management schools are not very serious about verifying prequalification for the course.

MBA course has become a craze today perhaps a little more than engineering. Medicine is not that popular as perhaps it costs too much to be affordable. Parents even in rural India know about management course. And additionally the management course doesn’t require science subjects as basic minimum requirements. It is unfortunate that parents still hardly understand and appreciate the need of knowledge, and are happy if their children pass some examinations somehow even if it means using fowl means.

I had been writing about the state government failing to get the required number of private engineering colleges, medical colleges and management schools in the state. But I was wrong, at least, about the management schools. According to an article by Pallavi Singh in Mint as a part of Bihar Series, “Today, there are roughly 100 B-schools in the city alone, most offering distance education courses, positioning an MBA degree as a ticket to a well-paying job.” Only few are on the line of other private management schools in NCR region with separate buildings and infrastructures. Most of them are hardly school of management in right sense. For example, Arcade Business College in Rajendra Nagar, with cramped classrooms and a handful of faculty, act as study centres for universities such as the Madurai Kamraj University or Sikkim Manipal University. Many of the institutes may be just selling the certificates like some blamed of doing that even in US and UK in old days.

However, there are few with better facilities too. Two young IITians, Gaurav Singh and Aman Singh with great academic credentials and good working experience have set up Indian School of Management (ISM). Chandragupta Institute of management is another one that I know. Unfortunately, Bihar couldn’t get an IIM, though it has now an IIT around Patna.

But let me assure that some of the rural parents and the students are also aware of the information about the institutes from the web and have their own way of evaluating the institutes. The information has become easier and accessible with cyber café everywhere even in small towns. I find the children coming to Noida from all types of family background in Bihar for joining engineering and management courses, Parents are trying to meet the cost by resorting to all possible means including the selling of land.

I wish the parents appreciate the need of good education and learning at school level up to class XII that is the basic requirement for professional education. They shun supporting their children for the wrong means to pass the examinations that are so often practiced.

Can’t some agency educate the rural parents through media such as TV and radio and help them in understanding the aptitude of the child for the course and not on basis of general prevailing perception?

I wonder if the state government spends more on skill development centres to take care of the majority passing out the school examination. There is hardly any use of pass courses at graduate level in colleges.

A college either provides a good quality education for the knowledge society or get out of the business.

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Presidency University, Kolkata: My Views

Posted on August 12, 2010 by indra

I keep on hearing and reading about Presidency College getting university status. But perhaps still it will take many years to get it materialized. If the leftists would not have come in the way, the institutions would have become a benchmark for the country with its great history. Almost all the great personalities of West Bengal got educated in this institute. I wish the politics would not have damaged it and would shun doing it any further.

Perhaps today also if the West Bengal government just provides the autonomy, Presidency College. Kolkata can grow to its potential. One way will be if a group of its alumni takes it over and runs it. The huge number of alumni of this institute in every branch of knowledge domains and many with lot of material resources can make the institute one of the best in the world.

I wonder Presidency as university could become a conglomerate of many schools of various subjects of science and humanity with a director for each of the schools. I dream a huge university campus of such schools for mathematics, statistics, physics, chemistry, geology and geo-physics, biology and biochemistry, history and English and scores of other subjects with latest nomenclatures each vying with other to become the best in the world with researchers from around the world in its world class infrastructure.

With thousands of rich alumni of Presidency College in last 150 years or more, can the university face a monetary or faculty shortage? If the alumni-of IIT-B can donate 1% to their institute, why can’t Presidencians?

I still remember those two years in Presidency and the galaxy of the eminent Presidencians that I came to see and meet, be it Dr. Rajendra Prasad or Sir Yadunath Sarkar, Maghnad Saha or Sateyen Bose.

As the Nobel laureate Presidencian Amartya Sen heads the mentoring task of reviving Nalanda University, someone can lead the task of realization of the dream of Presidency University as one of the grandest and best of the world universities.

Are some few of the Presidencians with a fire to do some great service to this old institute of learning listening to my views?

Can Raja Ram Mohan Roy, and a number of other eminent personalities of Bengal, such as Raja Radhakanta Deb, Maharaja Tejchandra Ray of Burdwan, David Hare, Justice Sir Edward Hyde East and Babu Buddinath Mukherjee get their rebirth to make it happen?

I wish some younger Presidencians take the leadership of the project and get it realized. Let the college come out from the shackles of the leftist union and be known for something worth its name.

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Manufacturing India: What Holds Back?

Posted on August 9, 2010 by indra

When I joined auto sector in early 60s after IIT, India had three domestic Indian car manufacturers, two manufacturers of commercial vehicles, and one of utility vehicles. All these six manufacturers had only few outdated products of foreign design through collaborations.

Interestingly by 2010, the domestic car manufacturers of that era are almost extinct. Out of two domestic commercial vehicle manufacturers, one has grown as a real global player in both cars as well as commercial vehicles. That is Tata Motors. Ashok Leyland has still not gone in car business. M& M is hesitant to go whole hog in car business and has remained with UV.

Fortunately, almost all top globally known manufacturers of cars and commercial vehicles have set up the manufacturing facilities in India and are offering the contemporary designs to the customers.

Domestic players till late 90s used to plan all the manufacturing and services in-house. I wish they would have started the outsourcing for the components and services earlier itself. Auto component industry started in big way only with Maruti Suzuki entering India. Maruti sponsored and assisted many Indian professionals to set up factories and become its vendors. It was certainly to Maruti Suzuki’s credit that India’s auto component sector has grown almost world class in every respect today and is exporting to all known auto OEMs of the world.

However, India has failed to have world class manufacturers of the machine tools, die and tools and other accessories, neither has it sufficient number of manufacturing system integrators for the industry. I wish some challenges me.

Not many of the ex-employees of the Indian auto companies got into setting up manufacturing, consultancy or engineering services in big way. Perhaps the domestic companies could have contributed effectively and encouraged some willing entrepreneurs among its employees to set up manufacturing facilities.

A new disturbing trend is the increasing huge import of cheap Chinese auto parts by the Indian OEMs. The OEMs instead of assisting the local vendors to come up to its expectations both on quality and cost are resorting to the easy path of import. At least the domestic OEMs must do that as its CSR for the country. That was the practice followed by Maruti Suzuki initially. Can the government make it mandatory to declare the import content of the vehicles for the OEMs? The growth of a world class wide spread manufacturing sector is national necessity, as it can only provide employment to the mass of young persons in millions joining the workforce of the country and take the country to prosperity.

The national Manufacturing Competitiveness Council had suggested of a 12% year to year growth of the manufacturing sector. As rightly suggested by Venu Srinivasan, the chairman and managing director of TVS Motor Company, “India should contribute five per cent of global manufacturing output; manufacturing should contribute 25 per cent of India’s GDP and India should be the R&D and design hub of global manufacturing.” Interestingly, ‘a one per cent growth in manufacturing could create jobs for 20 million to 30 million people, a growth other sectors were unable to provide’.

And for this to happen, many new green field projects in every sector must get set up and the government must permit more autonomy to PSUs such as BHEL to develop vendors and outsource its components and subassemblies instead of doing everything in-house. Another such area requiring government attention to encourage the manufacturing sector is the developing vendors for outsourcing the components of the defence projects. Is it not a disgrace that the foreign component in the “indigenous” Arjun main-battle tank hovers around 50% even after 34 years of development and the foreign components in the major indigenous twin-engine Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), whose design and development began in 1984, is still around 90%?

Is it not a shame that the country that can indigenously develop the cryogenic engines for the launch of satellites depends on the import of the engines for Tejas Light Combat Aircrafts under development?

Why can’t we learn even the simplest lessons from the Chinese and the way China has indigenized the equipment required by armed forces?

Should not all the impediments in cohesive working of DRDO and the armed forces be removed? Why are the armed forces not satisfied with the performance of the ALH or Arjun? Is DRDO not capable enough to develop the products as required by the armed forces? Why can’t the private sector be involved? If PPP can work in infrastructure, it can work wonder in manufacturing too.

There is some good news coming in media. As reported, ‘DRDO’s most productive laboratory, the Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE) in Pune, will become the hub for developing an indigenous 155-mm towed gun, with the partnering of private sector giants such as Bharat Forge and Larsen & Toubro.

Can the government pursue a prudent policy for manufacturing to get its right place in the country’s economy? L&T, M&M, Kalyani, Tata and some more are already in manufacturing in big way. Will the big business houses of Ambani, Birlas. Mittals and Adani join the globally competitive manufacturing that the country need badly? It’s necessary as the major manufacturing sectors of critical nature require huge capital and human resources.

All the impediments in manufacturing sector require the nation’s attention and action.
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PS: Many have different views for India’s failure in manufacturing; TN Ninan in Business Standard last week has tried to answer the question-‘Why can’t India score greater success in manufacturing, especially the export of manufactured products?’ in his own way. According to Ninan, the very success achieved in the export of services now prevents a manufacturing thrust.

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India: Rising Manufacturing

Posted on August 6, 2010 by indra

I am in a happier mood these days. Let me assure, it’s nothing personal. But some reports about the manufacturing sector, my lifelong fad, are really exciting. It’s becomes a little more spicy when it comes with a simultaneous comparison with China and headlines such as ‘PMI rises in India falls in China’, or ‘China slows to cruising speed, India perks up‘ and ‘India zips past China in commercial vehicles’.

Interestingly, according to a recent Deloitte report, India has been ranked second, ahead of the United States and South Korea, in terms of manufacturing competence globally. “Perhaps more surprising is that India is now positioned at number two and will gain an even stronger foothold over the next five years. The country’s rich talent pool of scientists, researchers, and engineers along with its largely well-educated English-speaking workforce and democratic regime make it an attractive destination for manufacturers.”

I firmly believe that the potential of Indian manufacturing is just limitless.

Historically, India started well with government plans of manufacturing everything in the country from ships to airplanes, from missiles to nuclear plants. It went on for everything that one can think of: watches, machine tools, TV sets, cars and scooters. But it could hardly sustain and grow. It all came in public sector. Nehru was skeptical about private sector and the industrialists also didn’t do much to prove him wrong. And soon politics came behind every government policy. The worst was nationalization. Because of very poor course correction based on real time global situations, India missed the manufacturing bus that could have taken it to prosperity of the common people, as it did for China.

But manufacturing made a comeback in late 90s. It certainly started with automobiles and auto components sector. Today, India has manufacturing facilities of almost all the reputed two-wheeler, car and commercial vehicle makers of the world with equally strong domestic manufacturers such as Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and Mahindra &Mahindra. Auto component sector has also grown to global manufacturing standard.

Other sectors, be it home appliances or heavy equipment are doing good business and are expanding the manufacturing facilities. However, unfortunately in many of the sectors there are hardly any significant domestic players. For example, in home appliances South Koreans are in lead with LG and Samsung at top. Indian manufacturers are falling behind or getting out because of the competitive strength of the global players. Further, many OEM Indian manufacturers prefer to get the products manufactured in China and to import. For example, all the domestic mobile phone companies are getting its wares from China or Taiwan.

India with its huge market is now the favoured destination of the global manufacturers including the Chinese ones. How long the government will keep them away on the excuse of security in the world going all out for free market?

As a very welcome trend for the manufacturing sector, at least some private companies are setting up manufacturing facilities to compete with the PSUs. For example, L&T and Bharat Forge will soon manufacture power equipment and compete with BHEL.

The government must not only open but encourage well established private companies to come in for manufacturing the items of defense requirements that is the biggest drain on India’s resources. Why should India keep on importing 80% of it? As reported, “a Rs 5,000 crore defence contract can sustain or create about 20,000 high-end jobs. For each high-end job, there are about four support jobs. So, India’s projected $80 billion arms imports over the next decade could create six million to seven million jobs within the country.”

It is strange but a fact that all the government departments today prefer to import everything from abroad as those responsible for procuring them get a fat bribe for it. And so the officers and politicians collude to do anything to maintain the status quo and not allowing local manufacturers to get into the business.

However, even after all these constraints India’s manufacturing sector has become globally recognized for its innovation, quality and cost too. It’s moving fast and booming too. And even ‘mobile phone companies are pushing through a big indigenization effort by bringing global component vendors to set shop in the country. The move is part of a strategy to make India a global manufacturing hub for mobile phones.’

Is it not a good reason to be happy?

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India: Country of Rich or Poor?

Posted on August 4, 2010 by indra

All the politically biased committees have come out with all sorts of figures about the population below poverty line (BPL) varying from as low as 30% to as high as 80%. Politicians get cooked the high figures to get the allocation of a huge government fund for the people of BPL category in name of a mission of inclusive growth. It is, however, just for feeding themselves and their men with 85% of the benefits coming to them instead of reaching the rightful beneficiaries. Can someone tell me where should these politicians with tons of unaccounted wealth be placed?

But, for me, the more exciting was a recently reported NCAER (National Council of Applied Economic Research) estimate. According to the estimate, the number of high-income households should have reached 46.7 million by March 2010, exceeding the 41 million households counted as low-incomes.

A decade ago, just 13.8 million households were described as high-income that meant with ‘earning more than Rs 1.8 lakh per annum at 2001-02 prices’. 65.2 million households were classified as low-income or earning less than Rs 45,000 per year that are now 41 million households in number.

Interestingly, the middle-income households, or those earning between Rs 45,000 and Rs 1.8 lakh per annum, have rose sharply from 109.2 million to 140.7 million in the decade.

Left to the politicians, they will see the whole population as destitute and dependent on them for getting everything in doles without doing anything. This is the policy vision of this democracy dependent on the population that votes, called popularly as vote bank.

To give one example, the government spends Rs 1, 00,000 crore on subsidy for the rural India, but has kept the most of the country’s farming on the mercy of monsoon with hardly a significant enough effort to arrange irrigation facilities in last sixty years.

I wish it puts a year’s total subsidy on the irrigation projects. But who will ensure the effectiveness of the investment even if it takes such decisions? Most of the money will go to the middle men that are the minor partners of politicians in the game of implementing the government projects.

Many a times, after going through the reports such as one above I wonder how it is happening in spite of such poor governance. Is it because of some institutions and individuals that are hardly known to the masses but keep on doing their work with focused missions?

PS: How do we reach at the correct figure? Do ‘only 45 per cent of the population earns less than Rs 20 a day’ or 80 per cent of the population lives below Rs20 per day?

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Obama’s Forthcoming India’s Visit: Some Wishes

Posted on August 3, 2010 by indra

I don’t know if I shall be correct if I say that Obama may be creating a record of a sort to become the first President of US to visit India in his first term. Is it the extension of Bush’s endeavour?

Does Obama really believe that the time has come to launch “a brand new era, characterized by joint cooperation in innovation, education and other challenging new frontiers” with India? Is it because of the huge potential of India to keep American manufacturers of high tech sector engaged and profitable ensuring employment for its people? For example, India’s nuclear energy market is estimated at $100 billion over the next 20 years, when India wishes to expand its nuclear energy capacity from the current lowly 6,000 megawatt (Mw) to 35,000 Mw by 2022 and 65,000 Mw by 2032. Similar will be the potentials in aviation and high tech defence equipment.

American manufacturers had been restrictive in coming to India in big way and even in accepting America educated Indians in respectable manner.

The massive reverse brain drain is another example of the American apathy towards highly qualified Indians that are getting raw deal by the American naturalization department. The situation is not changing even after many American business stalwarts including Bill Gates have opined against it.

Recently Rupert Murdoch said in New York Forum: “We educate people and then we give them a ticket home. The best brains, who’d love to settle here and start businesses, go through our great universities, and then we say ‘sorry, you can’t have a green card’.

I know many who are in US for many years and contributing the best for the company they work, but their visa status makes their future insecure. I wonder how long it can go this way.

Can Man Mohan Singh or Krishna take up this issue and its human aspects with Obama or Hillary Clinton? Will Obama’s

US can’t talk of globalization and free market on one hand and practise restrictive measures on the floor.

However, the Indians of my generation expect US to change its track record of its support for all the wrongs Pakistan had kept on doing against India since both the countries got independence and that continues even today in name of Kashmir. If US wouldn’t have supported Pakistan for the support of Muslim world, India would have solved all issues with Pakistan once forever.

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My Blog, My Prophecy

Posted on July 31, 2010 by indra

When I wrote about CWG and questioned about the number of new crorepatis that it created, I never knew that corruption in the affairs are do deep. It was just an intelligent question based on working of the people in country in almost every field of activities. But when I go through the recent media reports, I see my prophecies were pretty on the right line.

Here is at least one report:

Television channels reported that over 4.50 lakh pounds were transferred through a British bank to the AM Films company, said to be a one man show, which was also receiving 25,000 pounds a month.

The Enforcement Directorate has launched a probe into the money trail, on a request from UK tax authorities.

Still I wish that all these reports would not have appeared at this point of time. It creates a bad image of the country on threshold of becoming a super economy. But perhaps the bigger an economy is in a democratic country, the more widespread is the corruption.

No country is corruption free, but ours is the worst in the lot. How much depressing can be a TV report that provides visual and audio evidences of defence organization and its officers planning a scam for getting a price Rs 6400 for Rs 6 radiator caps?

But for a commoner it is difficult to know the truth.

Can the reports from the media or an investigating agency such as CBI or from even a highly rated foreign agency be considered trustworthy today? Many a times it appears that today every one works for keeping the important person that matters to him happy even at the cost to the nation.

The unscrupulous ones have already played the mischievous Game to misuse the Common Wealth to add to their fortune and the country were never come to know of it.

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Rising Prices and Chemically Charged Commodities

Posted on July 29, 2010 by indra

Yesterday I wrote about the spiraling prices of vegetables and health hazards through large scale oxytocin injections for increasing the size and weight of common vegetables, though in Hindi.

I found today ‘Safal’ outlets displaying a hoarding that all the vegetables and fruits on counters are safe with no harmful chemicals used in growing. However, many don’t believe the proclamations. Who will be guarantying for the vegetables and fruits sold in weekly bazaars that are visited by most of the residents of Noida for shopping these items?

It just last week I bought two kilos of mangoes that were pretty hard on the skin, but when we cut it at home we found all of them just rotten inside and inedible. The vendors would have certainly known it but he still pushed it.

While the central minister talked of the large scale use of harmful injections yesterday in media, but never came out with any plan to stop it rather he passed the buck to the state governments.

At the Safal outlet today, we were discussing this menace. I saw a dealer in vegetables. I inquired him about the reason of the rising prices. And he jokingly said, “Sir, after all we are to add the cost of injections too.”

It makes one happy that news travel pretty fast these days. At the grocery shop I found again the topic getting discussed. One supplier of a branded breads and confectionery from Faridabad revealed, “Sir, the injections are in use for years now even in remote villages to increase the milk yield.” Do those people know that it could be harmful for the little children who take that milk? Has anyone bothered to find the effects of the injected chemicals on the health of the babies? It’s certainly a hazardous practice in use for a long time and as usual the government or even NGOs have not bothered.

A lot of these so-called grassroots innovations for increasing the milk yields from buffaloes or cows would have been started by some without any validation of the side effects. Who takes up the tasks of educating them about the ill-effects? Will now the growers take the advice seriously unless they get affected themselves or penalized?

What should a common consumer do against such menace that can kill him?

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Rainy Reminiscences

Posted on July 27, 2010 by indra

It was a memorable morning. When I started for my morning walk, Yamuna who was sitting outside with her cup of tea said that it’s drizzling slightly. It had been pretty hot and humid for last few days. She asked Harendra to give me the umbrella that I hate to carry. I believe if I carry umbrella, it will not rain. It’s inconvenient to if you are to carry back vegetables and milk. However, I had to yield and take it. It was a pleasurable walking. Only the number of enthusiast walkers was less. I used umbrella in my first round but then closed it as no one was using it. But as I came to my fourth round, I had to use the umbrella. The drizzle was getting good enough to drench me.

After I completed my regular shopping of milk and vegetables and returning, it started raining with intensity increasing as I was walking back for one and a half kilometers to my residence. It was a real pleasure to walk in rain perhaps after many months or years. Perhaps the schools these days don’t declare holiday for a rainy day. I saw a number of school going children alone, with mother, or with their grandfather waiting for their transportation.

I have a special liking for the rain since my childhood. I remember playing in the field and creating rivers, islands and oceans in my village. The love for rain has remained till date and so I was overwhelmed with joy today when I walked back leisurely in rain even with some weight of vegetables and milk packets in hand. The rain intensity reached peak when I entered the residence and Harendra came out for picking up the bags. All along the route I was lost in going through the memory lanes.

Rampall Joshi, IPS narrated to me one instance of Hindu Hostel where he was my roommate in Presidency College days in 1992 when he met me in New Delhi. I had forgotten that: One night when he got up, he didn’t find me in my bed. It was raining outside. He thought I would have gone to toilet. He slept again. But after sometime when he woke up, I was still not in bed in that dead night. It was still raining. He got worried, came out of bed, opened the door and walked out. He saw me sitting on the chair that I had pulled out in the balcony and watching it raining. He took me back to my bed.

Even during my Hindustan Motors days we were fond of walking in rain whenever we got the opportunity. Yamuna was equally enthusiastic about it and enjoyed. After the stressed factory duties, a long walk on the roads in the residential sectors with hardly any one present, used to be my distressing exercise. In rainy season I never waited in my office for the rain to stop for returning home.

While sitting in the lobby, we prayed the cloud god to go to the parched land of the country, be it Pipra or Madhukarpur or in hundreds and thousands of villages of eastern India where the farmers such as Alok and Pintoo are waiting eagerly for a rain for completing their paddy transplantation.

And pretty soon the rain stopped. Has it reached the destinations we prayed for?

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India: Manufacture & Market Frugally Engineered Products in Millions

Posted on July 23, 2010 by indra

India is doing pretty excellent with the product development for the bottom of the pyramid population. It started with the sachets that have given the best brands to even the poorest.

Tata’s land marking introduction of Nano made India a pioneer of frugal engineering management. But unfortunately Nano is still to make its acceptance visible volume-wise. Is it only due to its production constraints? Should it not be the fastest car to reach the million-mark and create a history? Is Tata Motors preparing for that with its totally new plant at Sanand getting operative to its planned capacity or with some unique production and marketing strategies?

And even Bajaj Auto with positive alliance with Renault-Nissan has developed the ultra cheap car and is on track to launch it commercially in 2012.

Media have reported of some other unique product developments that have potential to be produced and sold in millions to make the Indian manufacturing sector proud.

Godrej has developed ChotuKool, a low-cost refrigerator designed for India’s poorest households. The Chotukool is a squat cube, with just under 40 litres of volume and attractive colour shades. It opens on top to conserve cold air; in fact, the lid hinges out and comes away entirely, in two detachable parts. A power socket sits embedded in the lid, next to two axial fans that dispel heat. It can cool its contents to 20 degrees below the ambient temperature. The ChotuKool aspires to be a serviceable domestic refrigerator priced at just Rs3, 250. Will it be getting into to the millions of households, particularly in rural India? Has Godrej engineers used Quality Function deployment to make it readily acceptable? Has it the flexibility to be customized for the most of the households to demonstrate a family?

A similar household product has come from Tata House for purifying the water, Swach with price below Rs 1,000. India needs this appliance in every household that can go a long way to prevent many water-borne diseases. I wish more and more of Karunanidhi brand of political leaders start sponsoring these products instead of colour TVs for the voters.

Media reported about the indigenously built tablet PC, named Adam, by an IIT Kharagpur student that can give Apple’s iPad a run for its money, provided it gets properly marketed and promoted. It scores over the Apple iPad with its better battery life, features and of course its affordable price tag. The Adam PC addresses the shortcomings that are there in the Apple iPad.

The Adam has been touted as an “Apple iPad killer” in many quarters. Starting at $325, the Adam tablet PC is around 36 per cent cheaper than the starting price of an iPad – $499. Moreover, Pixel Qi screen technology makes it easier to read under bright light, according to some technology experts.

Will the promoters be content with generating enormous buzz on tech Web sites and gadget blogs or commercialize it big way to reach all the eagerly waiting consumers that will be again in million India and world over? Media had a report of RIL showing interest in Adam. Will Mukesh, Mittal or Dhoot take interest in taking Adam to millions world over as Apple attained for its iPads?

But the best product reported till date in my knowledge is the Rs 1,500(around $30) laptop that Sibal unveiled on July 22 that is specifically for students. As reported, the device, India’s answer to Nicholas Negroponte’s OLPC laptop, is a single unit system with a touch screen and a built in key board along with a 2 GB RAM memory, wi-fi connectivity, USB port and powered by a 2-watt system to suit poor power supply areas. Will the device be produced in the country or will it be from some Chinese manufacturers?

I wish the laptop to be a real one and get produced in million as Nokia does its cell phones in India. It will mean a great success of Indian technology and manufacturing. Can all the students above class VIII have this laptop backed by some scheme similar to Nitish Kumar’s cycles? It will be viable too with all the books and exercise loaded in it.

Why can’t India entrepreneurs create real multinational enterprises with these frugally developed products?

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