BJP- A national necessity

Posted on June 3, 2009 by indra

A strong opposition with countrywide presence is essential for a good democracy in India. As on today, it is BJP that can occupy the place. And the members of the party, its MPs, and its leadership must take pride in it and workout strategy for making the kill to go to the top rather than getting bogged down because of the irritants from RSS or allies such as Sarad Yadav or the media.

A dynastic party can never remain the darling of the country for a long time and may turn complacent to the need of the people of the country. It will be a shame for a nation of a billion. How long Rahul be kept off the throne. Manmohan will make the way for Rahul. In that case, the mother and son will run the government. Will India live with this alternative or will it like to have a real democratic people’s party? Dynastic politics is anti-people. Perhaps the best example known to me is that of Meira Kumar. She might have won from Sasaram twice, but hardly remained in touch with its problems, its people or did anything for it. BJP must sell the disadvantages of dynastic politics effectively to the people.

Can BJP be a challenge to the dynastic alternative by being different?

Can BJP be run professionally? It requires making its succession policy transparent based on meritocracy and democracy so that internal feuds are minimum. It can have senior mentors in Bajpai, Advani or Murli Manohar, but the CEO must be the best that it has in its lot, be it in among the chief ministers or senior leaders. It may follow a rotational system for the position for some time to decide the best. It must even give due considerations to the popular opinions and can take help of professional consultants. Let it remember that it is to fight with Rahul, who is getting the maximum attention for his age and fresher views.

Can BJP leaders try to avoid putting their offspring in politics? Can it ensure a different situation than one seen in present ministry where even both sasur and damad are ministers? Can BJP officially get the party agree to have only one person from the family in the parliament unlike the present house when both Maneka and Varun, are in the same house? Can BJP shun the family politics as policy? The 15th Lok Sabha has seven sets of parent-child combines in the House in Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh, Ajit Singh and Jayant Choudhury, Sharad Pawar and daughter Supriya Sule, Sisir and Subhendu Adhikary, and former PM H D Devegowda and son H D Kumaraswamy.

Can NDA create a shadow cabinet of a sort to cover all the cabinet ministries and be the first opposition to do that?

Will BJP ensure that its members play the role of a constructive Opposition and try to prove they are better parliamentarians? Advani has laid down five principles: support the government when national interest demands; oppose anti-people policies; use parliamentary devices to keep the government on its toes; raise issues of people’s concerns; and focus on states that have not elected BJP members. Will the members go religiously with this spirit?

Will BJP raise the real and contemporary national issues proactively-safety of Indian students in Australia or the civilian Tamils killed in Sri Lanka operation, follows up the government promises and positively point out its failure if necessary on the sites, particularly the occasional price rises? UPA had been the master in promisology. Can UPA justify the prices of potatoes and onion in Noida market that Rs 16 and Rs14 a kilo today? How much the producing farmers get for a kilo?

Let the people appreciate and differentiate between the Congress and BJP. The CEO of Congress, be it Sonia or Rahul is bound to work harder than the CEO of BJP. CEO of Congress takes the job as one for its own private company. Motivation factors for Congress are different. Not even a very senior member has guts to say anything against the family or its views. BJP is public company with no stake of any particular family or individual. Under this disadvantage and the handicap of the minority totally united to vote against it, will BJP be able to go ahead of Congress? The answer can be ‘yes’ or ‘no’. BJP can do it with a system that can select a visionary and more so missionary leader who can bring discipline and transparency and motivate the nation in favour of the democracy, the government of the people, by the people and for the people. And the ‘people’ for BJP must be all Indians without any bias.

It must come out with a roadmap for survival as the single major opposition and for win.

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Educating in Australia- Fad or Necessity

Posted on June 2, 2009 by indra

The stories of assaults on Indian students in Australia did shock me like many. I have a neighbor, Grover here in Noida whose both sons have studied and now working in Australia. While the elder is married, the younger is not. Grover is retiring by the year end from his government job, but wants to get his younger son married before that. And then he has a plan to go and live with sons. Grovers have been going to Australia almost every year and have developed fascination for the place. He meets me almost every day during my morning talk and many a times, on his own talks about the superiority of the quality of life in Australia. I was talking with him about the current assaults and asked if he would change his mind to settle there. Grover was forthright and put the blame on the students assaulted.

Anyone who goes to a different place other than the one where he has been living for a long time must take precautions against such eventuality. What happened in Melbourne, Australia can happen anywhere even in Mysore and Bangalore. Why should we forget the stories from Mumbai and how the goons of MNS assaulted their own countrymen from the provinces in North?

Migration of the students, rather young educated youths to the all the green pastures of the world has been growing over the years. With increasing globalization it will grow further. One of my friends in Indore has son and daughter- both working in New Zealand. Both the couples are doctors, earning decent remunerations, and have all the amenities of a rich country with large houses and good cars. Even those working there know what precaution they must take to avoid all the racial feelings.

When I look at the recent stories in media, I couldn’t but infer that many of the students are pursuing regular courses for which there is hardly any dearth of facilities in India itself. Most of the colleges that the students join may not be one of the best. The reasons of migration these days have been the possibility of employment after studies that ensure much better quality of life. Other reason is certainly the failure to get entry in the colleges or institutions of choice. In India today, if I go by the media reports, the admission in a large number of private professional colleges for various courses is not difficult. But majority of them lack the infrastructure for good education, particularly related to hostels, teachers and labs. What needed is the improvement of the quality of education at these institutes. It can come with some sort of mandated ranking of these institutes and its courses at state and national level by some credible agencies. The joint ventures and collaborations with highly ranking institutions and universities of the developed countries can also improve the quality of education. May be the new government can take soon some action in freeing education from its control and permit the FDI in education sector.

Today Indian students from all over the country are not only going to USA, UK, but even to the countries such as China, Singapore and even Ireland. With all the initial advantages, India has failed to develop its education sector to the level it could have. A good education is a universal necessity and so good business proposition too. If Australia can have the third highest earning from education, and Singapore is investing in developing its educational institutes with that intention, why should not India.

I get really elated and amazed with our youth who are ready to go anywhere in the world for a good education and career taking all the risk. It is good that they got together and took other communities along with them to raise their voices with peaceful protest and made the media and the governments listen to their problems that must end. However, they must shun any violence under any instigation. I only sympathize with many aged and incapable parents, particularly the mothers, who still in Indian traditions keep on worrying about their children. Unfortunately, many can only pray and keep blessing.

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PS: My daughter-in-law, Shannon, a US citizen, was working in Australia’s CISCO office. She told me once that her house there got repeatedly burgled. As I know the early settlers in Australia were the vagabonds from all the European countries. Perhaps it is the DNA background that is behind the stories of brutal attacks on Indian students in Australia. And as it seems some in the Australian police are racists. Why can’t India threaten Australia and advise against the tourists and students going to Australia for a year? People of the country on their own can take such decision.We could have seen a faster action from the Australian government. Afterall with a little trouble in India many so-called developed countries keep on issuing advisory against visiting India to their citizens

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IIT -The Dream Destination of Young India

Posted on May 27, 2009 by indra

Noida, Monday, May 25, 10 PM: I normally go to bed by this time. But it had started raining and as usual the power had gone off. Yamuna asked me to check if I had locked the main gate. As I found a marriage procession going with loud band, I called her. In the meantime the telephone started ringing. We were surprised as no one calls us at this hour. Yamuna picked up the call. I was just listening to her conversation. She was congratulating profusely, and then she called me. It was Ramesh, my cousin brother from Varanasi on the other side. His son Golu has cracked IIT-JEE with a rank of 209. It was certainly good great news. Golu becomes the third in the extended family to enter IIT and the first after Rakesh. Every middle class Indian dreams to see his or her child in IIT for engineering education that is the most sought after profession. As reported, some 384,977 students appeared in the JEE this year , competing for 8,295 seats at 15 IITs, the IT-BHU, and the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad. The higher the rank, the more are the chances of better stream of engineering. Present trend is for computer sciences and engineering, Every Indian parent, even in rural India knows that. Golu can certainly get it in one of the older IITs. I congratulated Ramesh. He has not been very successful himself. But the achievement of Golu will make him known in the community. I parted with some suggestions to Golu. I am sure he would have been knowing much more than me. My maternal uncle who is my guardian too, must be the happiest person today.

Tuesday May 26. The newspapers have all the news of the success stories of students from different zones, states, and cities- Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Faridabad, Vadodara, Jaipur, Varanasi, Nagpur and Kota, the town that has become the hub of JEE coaching industry. Some of the stories are really one of aspiring and empowering India. But most important of the stories is one of repeat performance of Super-30 of Patna and the legendary Anand Kumar and Abhayanand, IPS who have been selecting and coaching deprived class students for IIT-JEE free. The later now works for Rahmani 30 of minority community.

The stories on IITs always remind me of the year 1957 when I entered IIT. Kharagpur was the only IIT at that time. Bombay IIT came up when I was in the second year. There was hardly any hype in the family as it is today. There was neither coaching industry nor helping material in print or on Internet. Now there are 15 IITs, and may be very soon there may be dozen more, as IIT has become one of the election manifesto promises to the people of a state. However, I get morose when I hear from the students in IIT about the deteriorating infrastructure such as the proper facilities of hostel. I can’t imagine reading a news report saying students using the bed of a hostel bed in shift.

Let me list some of my wishes for IITs and IITians.

Can the IITs be autonomous in real sense of the term and will the bureaucracy be out of dictating their terms and conditions to them?

Will there be a fair competition between the IITs in getting more and more papers published, patents applied and obtained, awards such Nobel and attaining higher position in global ranking of institutes? Will the faculty members keep themselves updated to the latest knowledge in their areas to get similar ears when they speak on any global forum?

Let the entrants realize that they are the best brains of the country. Let them focus to become good engineers and technocrats? Let them become innovators of some world class products? I know of only one Indian who has a product brand to his credit- Bose audio equipment that can compete with global product brand such as Sony or Cannon. Is it not a shame that hardly any product in world market today (such as Nano if it gets success) can be called an Indian discovery? Will more and more IITians stop their craze for getting into IIMs or becoming IAS and remain with the engineering profession?

Let each IIT promote world class incubations for getting the students interested in entrepreneurship and innovation.

Let the faculty be in constant touch with industry of their interest, interact and pass on their ideas.
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PS: A wonderful news that heartened me relate to an analysis by the JEE cell. It reveals that while 60% of the students who made it to the seven old IITs in 2007 opted for some form of coaching, in 2008, this figure dropped to 45% this year. I was among those who wished to do away with any number of attempts for the entrance.A committee headed by C N R Rao limited the JEE attempts to two. It used to mock the intention of selection of the best.

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Verdict 2009: Priority Power

Posted on May 25, 2009 by indra

Can the new government focus on the two most needed infrastructure priorities- power and road that can put the country on real fast track of development?

Perhaps that was the intention when the Manmohan’s government prepared the 11th Plan (2007-12) that envisages addition of a whopping 78,000MW. It means an addition of around 15,600 MW every year. However, out of the targeted 11,061 MW capacity addition for 2008-09, only 3,453 MW or 31.2 per cent has been achieved. In the previous year 2007-08, it achieved 9,283 against the target of 16,335 MW that is, 56 per cent of the target. How will it improve on the annual addition to make up in the three years left? Can the new government search a real dynamic leader to lead power ministry? Will Shinde or Jairam Ramesh be able to do that? What happens if in 2014, the voters make them lose the mandate for not keeping up the promise?

Power generation in India is 140 gigawatts (GW) today and will go to be close to 800 GW by 2032. Between the NDA and UPA rules, per capita power consumption increased from 592KWH in 2003-04 to 707KWH in 2007-08. However, peak shortage has also gone up to 16%.

Top priority must go for ramping up electricity generation capacity, reducing transmission loss by getting states to re-start reforms, and changing laws for effective private role in nuclear power such as low cap of equity. Administration must take head-on the tendering tangles, delayed statutory clearances, disjointed fuel supply chains and a severe shortage in facilities to manufacture power equipment.

Transmission & Distribution requires attention too. For every euro invested in power generation, investment in T&D is to be also one.

Funding: As reported, the government may face an Rs4.51 trillion funding shortfall in adding generating capacity during the 11th Plan.

Will the economist Prime Minister take care of the funding constraint?

Power equipment manufacturing capacity: India’s capacity of manufacturing power equipment has been a big constraint, though it is set to increase four-fold to around 43,000 Mw over the next five years through investments of over Rs 30,000 crore. India’s overall capacity of power equipment manufacturing stands around 10,000 Mw, solely contributed by the government-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL). However, companies like Larsen & Toubro, JSW and Reliance are in the process of setting up equipment manufacturing capacities in the country in partnership with overseas partners. Will the task be taken up as priority?

Either BHEL upgrades fast or the country goes for extensive import of the equipment. Foreign suppliers will have to enter. Many private companies and state government have already gone for the Chinese power equipment manufacturers like Dongfang Electric Company (DEC) and Shanghai Electric Company and have ordered over 20,000 Mw capacity of power generation equipment for the current Plan period, which ends in 2012. The country must meet the target without any emotional attachment for local supplier till the power situation becomes comfortable.

Fuel Shortage: The new government will have to take care of the scarcity of fuels such as coal, gas and uranium with sufficient buffer stock in store that has been causing underutilization off the installed capacity. The country’s gas-based capacity of 14,600MW operates at 52% efficiency. 17 nuclear reactors are currently operating at 46% capacity because of shortages of the fuel. With enough gas and uranium, around 9,500MW power generation can immediately enter the system. What can be the excuse for the government, if it fails even after the so much talked about Indo-US Nuclear Deal?

Nuclear Power: Manmohan Singh must show the benefits of his coveted indo-US Nuclear Deal. The country must see at least some of the nuclear plants through foreign companies running in his term ending in 2014. It is to be seen if the government moves fast and innovates for speedy implementation or works only on finding excuses for not achieving the goals for the campaign trails of 2014 election?

Efficiency improvement: Can the government find and take some innovative steps to cut down the losses because of inefficient transmission and distributions that is around 40% of the power generated. Will it make APDRP, meant to upgrade the distribution system, minimize transmission and distribution losses, improve metering and assign responsibility for realization of user charges, function effectively? APDRP had set a target to bring down the losses to 15% by the end of 2007, sometime in 2000-01.

Let the Manmohan and Rahul leadership not get complacent with the comfortable win. The electorate don’t keep on making mistakes between the one who just promises and the other who achieves.

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Popli’s Prayer

Posted on May 21, 2009 by indra

Popli is older than me. He is one whom I find much younger for his age. He walks fast and covers more number of rounds than I do. Once I found him reciting his prayer while walking. I asked him to make it audible for me. He did and to me it was just fantastic. I requested him to give it to me so that I can share with my readers. I don’t know why he didn’t give it then and for a long time. However, now he has sent that with some note.

It has taken me over two years to compose the contents of this prayer which I venture to share with you as I truly think it has universal appeal. I say/recite this prayer at least twice daily if not more often and find it soothing. Of course before retiring to bed I use ‘Good night’ instead.

Prayer

Good morning, Dear God!
The Omni-present, The Omni-potent,
The Omniscient and The Omni-protector
Please keep us safe, sound and healthy.

We beseech Thy blessings, Dear Lord!
Please lead us with Your kind hand
For the remaining leg of our journey
As You have been doing till date.

We thank Thee dear Lord for yesterday
We thank Thee for today and
We thank Thee for tomorrow.

Surely Dear Lord!
We thank Thee for every year of our existence
We thank Thee for each month of the year
We thank Thee for every day of the month
We thank Thee for every hour of the day
We thank Thee for every minute of the hour and
We thank Thee for every second of the minute.

In fact Dear Lord!
Remaining thankful to You in perpetuity
We thank Thee for everything in our lives
We thank Thee for the good food we eat and
We thank Thee for the invigorating,
Fresh exhilarating air we breathe.

Dear Lord! Please forgive us
Our faults, our misdeeds,
Our follies, our crimes of passion
Our acts of omission and commission
Our sins committed if any
In thought or in action, knowingly, unknowingly.

Dear God! Let everyone of our human beings
Of any race, of any faith,
Of any society, of any country
Be hale and hearty, happy and contented
In his/her walks of life where-ever he/she may be.

Dear Lord! Let our young ones become
Intelligent, obedient, disciplined, focused
Well mannered, well behaved, cultured, God-fearing,
Loving, caring and responsible citizens
Of the country, nay, of the universe
As they grow from their
Infancy to childhood to adolescence to adulthood
In the years to follow.

Dear Lord! At this stage of our lives, please spare us
Body-aches, body-pains, mental stress or
Disease of any nature what so ever.
In fact dear Lord! Let our body organs be
Kept functional in their well-knit, coordinated and
Systematic approach as desired by You.
Till such time You ordain us to be within
Your feet in the Heavenly abode above.

Dear Lord! Let there be joy, happiness and
Peace all around us.
In this context it becomes necessary,
Imperative and pertinent that
We human beings should have more
Tolerance for each other.
As in my opinion intolerance alone Leads to
Confusion, ego hassles, unnecessary arguments,
Violence, causing thereby,
Heart-burns and heart-aches.

Thus, Dear Lord! Please bestow upon us that
Extra spirit of tolerance and compassion for our fellow beings.

Dear Lord! Please empower us
To observe, notice, appreciate,
Conserve and preserve the nature’s beauty
Its bounties – flora and fauna.
After all these have been created by Your Goodself
With a purposeful meaning in life but
We mortals due to our ignorance
Can’t comprehend and visualize
Their true value, their true nature,
Their true worth, their true potential,
Their true assessment and their true importance.

Thus dear Lord please enlighten us, brighten us,
Remove our ignorance or else let us have faith of conviction that
We are in a position to be able to differentiate and avoid
What is not palatable to us rather than going into any frivolous argument on this count.

Dear Lord! We offer our prayers in all
Earnestness, sincerity and humility.
Please forgive if there be any lapse.
Accept the same thanks
Amen, Amen!
Om Shanti, Om Shanti, Om Shanti!

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Nation’s Priority Number 1: Education

Posted on May 17, 2009 by indra

I felt happy when Kapil Sibal talked of education reform as priority on NDTV on May 17, the V-Day of Congress party that has been liberated by the people verdict of election 2009 while answering NK Singh.
India boasts of its demographic dividend. Population of young India between 12 and 35 is 521 million with 268 million men and 253 women that can make India rule the world, if it is educated, employable and skilled. Today 25%, that is, 130 million, out of this population, are studying in schools, colleges and universities.

According to another estimate, number of unemployed in India is still at around 250 to 300 million. India adds about 15 to 20 million new job seekers every year to the number of unemployed. However, about 70% of these youngsters aged between 18 and 25 are illiterate or barely literate. And that is the main hurdle for India to compete with the world. The new government must take this task of educating the population its topmost priority.

Some other data about the 521 million of the population between 12 and 35 years provide potential and challenge to policy makers and entrepreneurs of the country.

67.9% are unaware of the Internet

86.9% don’t go to movie theatres, 76.8%never listen to the radio, 4.1% read English newspapers while 17.9% read Hindi dailies

40.9% never watch TV while 44.2% watch it once in seven days

One recent study titled ‘Universities of India 2008’ provides some encouraging trends about the education in India.

o The total number of enrolled students has grown by 81 per cent in the past two years.
o Women enrolment increased by 100 per cent in the last academic session over the previous year.
o Around 20 per cent of the universities have the capacity to offer full degree programmes online.
o The number of students with work experience increased by 53 per cent between 2006-07 and 2007-08, indicating that higher education as a medium of updating skills is gaining among professionals.

As reported, in one decade, from 1998 to 2008, China’s university enrolment went up from 3.4 million to 20 million-an annual growth rate of 18%. This far outstripped university enrolment growth in India in the same period. But over the year, India has been adding a large number of private professional institutes. I get a feel of it while glancing through the pull outs on education every week almost in every national newspaper.

I quote from NR Narayana Murthy’s ‘A Better India, A Better World’.

India has the third largest higher education system in the world-after China and US- with 311 universities and 15000 colleges as on 2004. The number of degrees awarded by Indian educational institutes has grown by 70% between 1990 and 2004, and the number of engineering degrees awarded has grown by 90 percent. Of the 10.3 million students attending Indian universities, the students’ enrolment for the undergraduate levels is 88.9 percent. India produces 2.5 million graduates and 350,000 engineers every year. India’s pool of universities graduates alone is 1.5 times the size of China’s and twice as large as that of USA. However, the India’s pool of Ph.Ds is less than one-tenth of the size of the US pool. India’s annual output of Ph.Ds in the Computer Science (CS) area is around 25 while the output of Ph.Ds in CS in the USA exceeds 800 a year. Even China is estimated to produce more than 2,500 Ph.Ds every year in the CS area.

The new government must take education as priority and come out with all the reforms without much debate and delay to make India’s education and its universities compete with the globally best ones. It must start with making all the institutes of excellence totally autonomous and free from the clutches of political supervision of persons such as Murli Manohar Joshi or Arjun Singh. It must encourage and incentivize positive involvement and interactions between the industry and educational institutions.

As reported, in a recent global evaluation of Asian universities, only seven Indian universities have made it to the top 100 – five of which are the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Delhi University (DU) ranks 60 and is the first traditional Indian university on the list, while Pune University is ranked at 100. It is just a shame. All the universities and educational institutes must have the goal to participate in global ranking, as the industrial enterprises go for Deming Award. Every institute on its website must provide the details of talent pool, the research papers published, patents applied and granted, incubation activities, and prizes own in global competitions.

On one hand, more and more students must be encouraged to go for post graduate and Ph.D qualifications; on the other hand the quality of higher education demands a major improvement to make graduates employable. Interestingly, Indian IT sector can proactively and intensively get involved in this task. That can be the easiest and fastest way to attain the competitiveness with USA and China.

As many suggest, if India allows foreign investment and expertise into the higher education sector, it can easily become an attractive global education hub. Why should not the new government take a quick action on this issue?

The last Manmohan Singh government had added the quantity through various initiatives; let it concentrate to improve its quality to globally best level.

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Infosys- A Company with Difference

Posted on May 10, 2009 by indra

Many a times even the individuals become the brand of the company they serve. NR Narayan Murthy and Nandan Nilekani have been synonyms of Infosys, and perhaps unofficial ambassadors of India in the world of technology world over. Perhaps after getting out of active roles as the CEOs of Infosys, they are the only two in India who have written two books that have become pretty popular and perhaps best sellers. Nilekani’s ‘Imagining India‘ was voluminous and chalked the history and provided solution for all the important sectors of India. NR Narayan Murthy’s ‘A Better India, A Better World‘ is a recent publication in market. It is a collection of his speeches and will be inspiring for the new entrepreneurs of the country. Infosys has been a company with difference.

As I read a cover story in ‘Business Today’- Indian IT’s Darkest Hour, I feel like rejecting the conclusion outright. Major IT companies of India fortunately have wonderful people in its leadership role. And real good leaders bring a better dawn after the darkest hours. Was it not an achievement of a sort that ‘from 1998 to 2008, IT services have grabbed a 51 per cent market share in the global outsourcing market’?

Coming back to Infosys, according to Reputation Institute (RI), Infosys is among the 17 Indian companies figuring in the list of the ‘World’s Most Reputable Companies’ in 2009.

Infosys is betting big. “We want to be among the three largest IT services companies globally,” declared S. ‘Kris’ Gopalakrishnan, CEO& MD of Infosys recently. Some may doubt because of its cautious approach, but it has history of attaining what it wanted. I had been a fan of the company and its leaders. I really can’t but admire the way the founders rotated as CEOs. Infosys is a benchmark for the sector and others too. Infosys has ‘created an organization that continues to grow as leadership changes’. Smadja Independent non-executive director, Infosys says, “I know of few companies that have taken succession planning as seriously as Infosys.”

I am quoting a portion from NR Narayana Murthy ‘A Better India, A Better World’ that tells how a leader creates wealth for the country.

“On a chilly Saturday morning in winter 1990, five of seven founders of Infosys met in our small office in a leafy Bangalore suburb. The decision at hand was the possible sale of Infosys for the enticing sum of $1 million. After nine years of toil in the then business-unfriendly India, we were quite happy at the prospect of seeing some money at last. I let my younger colleagues talk about their future plans. Discussions about the travails of our journey thus far and our future challenges went on for about four hours. I had not yet spoken a word.

Finally, it was my turn. I spoke of our journey from a small Mumbai apartment in 1981 that had been beset with many challenges, but also about how I believed we were at the darkest hour before the dawn. I then took an audacious step. If they were all bent upon selling the company, I said, I would buy out all my colleagues; though I did not have a cent in my pocket. There was a stunned silence in the room. My colleagues wondered aloud about my foolhardiness. But I remained silent. However, after an hour of my arguments, my colleagues changed their minds to my way of thinking. I urged them that if we wanted to create a great company, we should be optimistic and confident. We have more than lived up to our promises of that day. In the eighteen years since then, Infosys has grown to revenues in excess of $3 billion, a net income of more than $28 billion, 28,000 times richer than the offer of $1 million on that day. In the process, Infosys has created more than 70,000 well-paying jobs, 2,000 plus dollar millionaires and 20,000-plus rupee millionaires.”


I wonder why many more companies could not create so many millionaires. Was it the greed to keep everything for generations in family to follow? If they would have done that, India could have been different today

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Surging India’s Spirit

Posted on May 6, 2009 by indra

India is unique. One can enjoy its various colours of spirit even in the heat of extreme summer election that has revealed how even the representatives of Dalits may be the richest candidates , how the members of parliament multiplied their assets multifold while in chair and how over the years the battle of election has transformed one of the riches.

But there is also another India, where some young men are writing a new history for India. A woman from Manipur works against gun violence. Another one fights against the land mafia in Kerala despite a physical threat. An activist couple fights for the Dalits. A young writer leads a movement in Bundelkhand to fight famine through water conservation.

Another set of young men and women are busy to innovate and enrich. They start media networks, work towards advanced crop technologies and train talent in the rural sector. If for one the power of innovation lies in tapping into the unorganized cycle rickshaw market, for another it lies in providing an online platform for jets. If for one the phrase out-of-the-box refers to a sports management or a backpacking company, for another it translates into selling puja kits.

For one, it meant giving up a high-powered job to start his venture, a one-of-a-kind that offers consultancy services in real estate. For an IIT engineer, it was to turn farmer and to work towards production of affordable food and become an inspiration for other farmers in Tamil Nadu. For yet another, the son of a politician, it was to forgo politics and start a media company, giving competition to one of the biggest news agencies in his state. And what about the woman engineer who has dedicated herself to setting up rural BPOs? These are people who prefer to beat the crowd and stand out. These are youngsters who swim against the tide and use unique ideas as a means to change.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&Itemid=1&task=view&id=36126&sectionid=36&issueid=101&page=archieve

And the rural India is surging as a consumer market to sustain the big companies, be it mobile operators, car or motor cycle manufactures, or white goods and electronics manufacturers.

A new breed of entrepreneurs is trying their hands and minds in sectors that one would not have imagined few years ago.
While some are busy with floriculture, the other group is trying their luck by producing Italian cheese.

And there are some frugal innovators who can’t get unnoticed by reputed foreign media too.

A recent report from Monitor, a consultancy, points to LifeSpring Hospitals, a chain of small maternity hospitals around Hyderabad. This for-profit outfit offers normal deliveries attended by private doctors for just $40 in its general ward, and Caesarean sections for about $140-as little as one-fifth of the price at the big private hospitals. An Indian hospital chain has pioneered “beating heart” surgery that causes little pain and does not require general anaesthesia or blood thinners. This is just one of many innovations in health care that have been devised in India. Its entrepreneurs are channelling the country’s rich technological and medical talent towards frugal approaches that have much to teach the rich world’s bloated health-care systems.

I am sure the Indian voters will rise to the occasion to elect the best among those who are contesting election 2009. That could have made the journey of India among the best of the developed country fast.

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Election 2009: Dilemma of Gautam Buddh Nagar Voters

Posted on April 29, 2009 by indra

I was in Salt Lake, Kolkata for the last two and a half months for winding up some landed property near Hind Motor factory. I was also to find another client for leasing the house of Salt Lake on rental. As it was getting delayed, I was getting restive. I wanted to leave Salt Lake as soon as possible to reach Noida in time before the Election Day. I am a voter only in Noida. Finally I left Salt Lake on April 16, 2009.

Since I have come, I am busy in getting our election identity cards corrected, as our names have been removed from our sector. The election in Noida will be on May 7, 2009. I have been writing on the problems of the voters. Who can help us in getting us know more about the candidates. If we can’t get involved in selecting the candidates as citizens, at least we must know sufficiently well about the candidates in race. I tried to get the help of TOI as they publish a special pull out for NCRs very week. But I didn’t get any response.

I waited for the affidavits to come on election commission’s website. And now it is available. Unfortunately, it is in Hindi. And as it appears to me, the candidates are very casual in putting their details. I wish the election commissions could have sought the suggestions from the voters’ focus groups to make the information voters-friendly.

Strangely, 26 candidates are in fray with around dozen as independents too. Besides four known strong political parties of UP i.e. Indian National Congress, Samajbadi Party, Bahujan Samaj, and BJP, candidates of some ten other parties are also fighting the battle. I wonder if the numbers could be restricted somehow to around 4-5. Electoral reforms are must in the national interest.

I have tried to look at the affidavits of the candidates of the four main parties. Perhaps age wise, all the candidates are of the right age between 40-60 years, not too old as in many constituencies.

Because of my lack of knowledge of legal aspects, I can’t judge the severity of their crimes. But all the four have listed the multiple cases against them. Some keep rifle and revolver too. I don’t know if it is for self defense or for status, or for crime. I wish someone knowledgeable looks into the affidavits and enlighten me about the criminality aspect of the candidates, if he thinks the voters must know about it.

On basis of education, the Congress candidate is better placed as Ph.D and as author of number of books and papers. He is professor by profession. But I doubt if his capability is better than others to serve the community. He had been MP, but he doesn’t mention his achievements in his handouts. The handout of the Congress candidate has his e-mail address. I wrote to him asking his plans for Noida’s development. Can he get a captive power plant for Noida? Can he get a water treatment plant to ensure the quality drinking water for Noidites? Unfortunately he didn’t reply. Interestingly, the Congress candidate has a website too and has been a four-time BJP MP from Ghaziabad.

BJP candidate is an MBBS from University college of Medical Sciences, Delhi University. I don’t know how good he is as doctor. He owns two big hospitals Kailash, in and around Noida. The hospitals are doing good business, and are moderate in consultancy charges. We did also find it pretty good when we visited it for certain treatments. The hospitals are popular with middle class Noidites and retired government officers too. Will he get a dispensary or health care centre in each village of the constituency and use telemedicine to provide the quality services to the local patients? I wish the doctor makes it part of his manifesto.

Samajbadi Party has put in the least qualified candidate. He is only intermediate. As it appears, there were problem in selection of SP candidate.

The BSP candidate is a commerce graduate, and perhaps owns a flourishing food products business.

All of them appear to be pretty rich. Perhaps unlike in past, the personal assets have become the necessary parameter to get the nomination of the bigger parties. The party fund used to come to help a candidate in good old days. It is no more a practice or it may be reserved for bigger leaders.

It is interesting that I could find the names of the candidates and some information through Google search too. I am also surprised that some are setting up their websites for election purposes, but those are still not ready.

BSP has selected a very resourceful candidate who can deploy all his management tricks and money power with Maya’s social engineering to win the race. He is an industrialist (BRS Foods Ltd and ‘Paras’ brand) and multimillionaire. And see what types of loose talks are spread to win. I asked a local who sometimes accompany me in my morning walk. When I asked him about the prospect of the doctor, please note what he said. “Sir, the people will not make him win. He has sucked their money in the name of treatment. Who will vote him?” He was seeing BSP winning with thumping majority. Perhaps the BSP candidate may be of his caste. If BSP candidate wins, the local’s prophecy will come correct. And if he wins, will he encourage the villagers to keep cows and buffaloes and ensure that each village gets a milk collection centre so that the villagers can get some daily earning?

Unfortunately, I have not met with any of the candidates of Noida, and so must be the majority of the senior residents in Noida. I got reminded of a similar election in USA during my last visit. I saw a candidate standing with some of his followers on a crossing and shaking hands with passersby. I was amazed. I did also talk with him. Why don’t the candidates in India try to have first hand contact with voters? I feel they want to remain at a higher platform and love to keep distance with the common people.

I wish the voters share their experiences about the candidates, so that the right candidates can be selected. But I appeal as usual to vote for one of the two candidates from the major national political parties-BJP or Congress and not the other two as they have not been able to pull up the development parameters of UP during their rule.

But never vote for any candidate who has changed side and opportunist and if you know that he is criminal or corrupt.

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Global Indices: Do Politicians Bother?

Posted on April 23, 2009 by indra

UNHUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT, 2008: From 127 in 2004, India has slipped to 132 in the Human Development Index

UNICEF STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN, 2009: Infant mortality rates though improved from 67/1,000 in 2004 to 57/1,000 live births, but India trails many small countries.

IFPRI GLOBAL HUNGER REPORT, 2009: India, at 66th position, ranks below Bangladesh in underweight children and child mortality.

IFC/WB DOING BUSINESS REPORT, 2009: India is the most difficult country to enforce contracts in a court or otherwise at 122.

WEF GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS REPORT, 2008: With its inadequate infrastructure, inefficient bureaucracy and tight labour laws, India, at 50th position, is no match for China.

UN MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS REPORT, 2008: India trails Sri Lanka and Maldives in meeting targets set in the Millenium Development Goals.

GLOBAL CORRUPTION PERCEPTION INDEX, 2008: India’s rank has fallen from 72 in 2004 to 85 even as China, with which it was on par till last year, maintained its position at 72.

UNIDO REPORT, 2009: India, at 54 (down from 51 in 2000), trails China by 28 positions on the Competitive Industrial Performance Index.

INDEX OF ECONOMIC FREEDOM, 2009: With a shackled judicial system, excessive regulation and a “mostly unfree” reputation, India is at 123.

TRAVEL & TOURISM COMPETITIVENESS REPORT, 2009: India ranks low at 62 with inadequate tourism infrastructure.

Source-India Today

Should not the India’s ‘arrival’ on the global stage get reflected in the global indices? Should not the political parties get it integrated in its manifestos and try to achieve a respectable ranking among the developing countries?

With the stalwarts among the politicians claiming the record grain production and buffer stock, how shameful is India’s 66th position (out of 88 countries) with huge number of underweight children and child mortality? Could it not be reduced if these politicians would have made real effort to improve the ineffectiveness of the Public Distribution System and the Mid-Day Meal Plan?
Why shouldn’t the government once committed see that it meets the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the UN, notably reduction of poverty, bridging the gender gap and improvement in healthcare?

But most importantly, I feel shocked when the economist Prime Minister talks of everything else but the justification for India lagging behind in economic and business reforms measures where he could have done the best. Why should, after 17 years of liberalization, India ranks poorly in indices of both openness and competitiveness? Why does India rank as one of the most unfriendly destinations for investors? Why does it take so long to start a business and longer to get licences, regulatory approvals and credit? Why couldn’t the economist and administrator Prime Minister do something significant in these fields, as every one of his alliance partners would have heard him with respect on these subjects? Surprisingly, according to WEF India ranks 52 in transport and communication. In regulatory environment, India is at 64, way below even Indonesia at 16. The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Report of 2009 ranks India lower at 54 from 51 in 2000 in the competitive industrial performance rankings. I wish the Prime Minister would have put his focus on the development parameters instead of managing persons such as Amar Singh and Lalu Yadav and get media accolade of becoming smart politician.

Interestingly, while the issue of black money slashed by unscrupulous Indians in the banks of tax havens has very lately got media attention, there was hardly any effort made to cut corruption from the system. Is it not a shame that Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index of 2008 places India at 85 rank lower than 72 in 2004. And if we go by the surveyors, “around 30 per cent of Indians, officially below the poverty line, have to fork out Rs 900 crore as bribes to public servants in order to get their basic work done.” Can there be anything more important than that? Can they ensure that the rice intended for the poor will reach them, even if they make it free?

How long will get Indians deceived? Will the country vote for the right candidates? Let us see if India and Indians can change.

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