Hockey World Cup Song – Hockey khelein chal chal India!

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Five Myths About India by Anil K. Gupta and Haiyan Wang

Source - 

INSIGHT December 24, 2009, 12:17PM EST

Five Myths About India

Info tech can’t drive economic growth yet, and its education system faces great difficulties, but India is closer to catching China than many believe

By Anil K. Gupta and Haiyan Wang

India’s 7.9% economic growth in the third quarter of 2009 vividly illustrates a dramatic transformation in the country’s image, from a land of elephants and snake charmers to that of an IT powerhouse and an emerging economic giant. While both sets of perceptions are valid, they hide far more than they reveal. Indeed, when it comes to the Indian economy, what most people believe to be true contains more fiction than fact. We highlight below five common myths about India and discuss why the reality on the ground is quite different.

Myth No.1: The information technology sector has been the primary driver of India’s economic growth.

India is indeed a global powerhouse in information technology and IT-enabled services. Yet the IT sector is little more than a tiny, though highly visible, niche in the Indian economy. The total revenue of this sector added up to $72 billion in 2008. Translated into value-added terms, the IT sector contributed only about 4% to India’s gross domestic product last year. Its contribution to employment is even smaller: About 2 million people are directly employed, and an additional 8 million jobs are created indirectly. Those are tiny numbers in a country with a labor pool of 700 million people.

The fact that India’s IT sector is just a niche is actually a blessing rather than a curse. Notwithstanding IT’s annual growth rates of 25% or more, the bulk of the recent growth in India’s economy has come from manufacturing and other services. Only the manufacturing sector has the scale to create jobs for hundreds of millions of people, most with relatively limited education. If India is to realize its potential as an economic superpower, it will have to keep following China’s path by becoming one of the world’s factories. The IT sector gives India a good brand image, but most Indian jobs will have to come from manufacturing.

Myth No.2: India is decades behind China.

Most visitors to India and China form their impressions about these countries by comparing such cities as Mumbai, New Delhi, and Bangalore with Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou. The difference between the two countries’ urban centers is truly stark. China’s top cities now look more modern and sleeker than New York or London. By contrast, India’s premier cities are still vivid examples of the third world. Yet most people overlook the fact that, even though China is clearly ahead of India, the former looks stronger than it is while the latter is stronger than it looks.

In 2008, China’s GDP was just a bit more than three times that of India. If India’s GDP grows at 8% to 9% a year over the next decade—a reasonable prediction based on analyses by Goldman Sachs (GS), the U.S. National Intelligence Council, and other analysts—India’s GDP in 2020 will be almost the same as China’s in 2008. Of course, China would have powered ahead by then, but the fact remains that India’s economy is about 12 to 14 years, not decades, behind China’s. This is exactly the difference from 1978, when Deng Xiaoping launched China’s reforms, to 1991, when India jumped onto a similar train.

Myth No.3: India’s democratic politics will prevent a rapid build-up of the country’s infrastructure.

Given its fiercely democratic political system, any Indian government will find it impossible to relocate quickly a few million people from a city’s center to make way for gleaming office towers and elevated expressways. Note, however, that infrastructure consists of more than beautiful roads and buildings. It also includes ports, airports, power generation and transmission systems, telecommunications, airlines, and railways.

The only aspect of infrastructure that India’s democratic politics hinders in a major way is the beautification of cities. The number of people who need to be relocated to build interstate highways, intrastate expressways, and most other infrastructure components is minimal and thus largely unconstrained by democratic politics. From 1995 to 2007, China spent about 8.5% of GDP on infrastructure. During this period, India spent only about 4.2%. Today, though, the situation is radically different. India is currently spending about 8% of GDP on infrastructure and has plans to increase the figure to about 9%.

Ugly and crowded cities, while an eyesore, are unlikely to derail the ongoing manufacturing revolution, which needs interstate highways and intrastate expressways far more than easy-to-navigate city centers. In short, given its political system, India is more likely to become a manufacturing power long before its cities begin to look modern.

Myth No.4: Uncontrolled population growth is a major burden for India.

China’s one-child policy has clearly achieved a major reduction in birth rates and population growth. In contrast, when one thinks of India, the enduring picture is one of cities overflowing with poor and teeming masses. Hence the question on many people’s minds: How can India sustain uncontrolled population growth?

Notwithstanding the utter inability of India’s democratic political system to impose any type of birth control policy, it is critical to remember that, as people become richer and better educated, they choose to have fewer children. Fertility rates (i.e., average births per woman) in India are declining rapidly—from 4.65 in 1980 to 3.25 in 2000, to 2.68 in 2007. A similar steep decline has occurred in the population growth rate—from 2.15% a year during the 1980s to 1.5% a year from 2000 to 2005 and 1.35% a year since then. If current trends continue, as is almost certain, fertility rates in India should drop to about 2.0 within the next 10 years, and the population’s annual growth rate should fall to about 0.6% a year, similar to China’s today.

In short, population growth in India is a self-correcting problem that is getting addressed on its own at a rapid rate. In any case, in a democratic country such as India, it is far easier and wiser for the government to focus on how to make the economy grow at, say, a 9% rather than an 8% rate. Over 10 years, that can be as effective a mechanism for population control as any other.

Myth No.5: India’s education system is world class.

In launching the “Race to the Top” fund for educational reform in the U.S., President Barack Obama encouraged schools to develop internationally competitive standards so that American students can take on “folks in Beijing and Bangalore.” President Obama is right on the money in noting that, in today’s era, labor markets are global and that kids in Los Angeles are competing against not just their peers in Chicago but also those in Beijing and Bangalore. It would, however, be incorrect to conclude that India’s education system is anywhere close to world class.

India is not just a large country but also one of the world’s most diverse, with extremely high levels of income and educational disparities. The elite engineering and business schools (the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institutes of Management) are tougher to get into than Harvard or MIT and have produced a disproportionately large number of CEOs and senior executives for some of the world’s biggest corporations.

Yet one cannot overlook the fact that adult literacy in India runs at only about 61%, far below the 91% figure for China, the 90% figure for Indonesia, and the 89% figure for Brazil. During the past five decades, China has placed far greater emphasis on primary and secondary education. In contrast, India has placed far greater emphasis on tertiary education. The manufacturing revolution, which is now in full swing and must continue, will need high school graduates and vocationally trained people far more than highly trained engineers and scientists. As in the U.S., transformation of the educational system and rapid upgrading of the infrastructure will be two of the most desperate needs for India’s economy over the coming decade.

Anil K. Gupta is the Michael Dingman Chair in Global Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the Smith Business School, the University of Maryland. Haiyan Wang is managing partner of the China India Institute. They are the coauthors of Getting China and India Right (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2009) and The Quest for Global Dominance (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2008).

Chalta Hai…!

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CHANDIGARH: Funds marked for 1984 anti-Sikh riots victims used to pay electricity bills of a Punjab cadre IAS officer!

Information procured under the RTI Act has revealed that Rakhee Gupta Bhandari, when posted as additional deputy commissioner (development) Ludhiana, in 2002, had abused her position to divert the riots victims funds on September 11, 19 and 24 that year for paying power bills of her official residence.

Documents procured by NGO Resurgence India, a copy of which is with TOI, reveal that the officer made payments worth Rs 23,714 by projecting the expenses as those of her camp office (at her residence) even though there is no provision for it. Even if it is presumed that the officer was entitled to set up an office at her official residence, electricity bill of the entire premises Kothi No. 1, Rose Garden, Ludhiana could not be attributed to the camp office, the bill for which could not have been more than 5-10% of the total amount.

The documents reveal that the officer categorically certified, while approving the contingent bill for Rs 3,317.50, that, ‘The charges on account of electricity consumption/kerosene oil/telephone calls included in these bills are for bonafide purposes of rural development agency and not for private use.’

Source-

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-5140361,prtpage-1.cms

The Buck stops nowhere!

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Killer gives up at one police stn, palmed off to another

MUMBAI: Policemen refusing to register an offence on the pretext that it was committed outside the jurisdiction of their station is something that has frustrated citizens for years. But no one could have quite imagined the incredible nadir to which the attitude would sink.

On October 2, 28-year-old Mithu Saha landed up at Wadala police station and told the officer on duty that he had killed his wife and wanted to surrender. The cop – believe this – turned him away, saying since the crime was committed within the limits of another police station, he needed to turn himself in there. Fortunately, Saha followed the instructions instead of having second thoughts and fleeing the scene.

While police commissioner D Sivanandan has ordered an inquiry and reiterated that legally the police must register an offence and pass it on to the concerned police station, several senior police officers are shocked that the Wadala police let go an accused for such an asinine reason.

Saha, an electrician, had got into a squabble with his wife Usha at their Amar Nagar chawl residence in Kurla, and attempted to strangle her. When Usha fell unconscious, Saha, presuming her to be dead, walked into Wadala police station to surrender.

The electrician going to Wadala instead of the V B Nagar police station at Kurla has a history. Saha earlier lived in Wadala, and had been pulled up by the cops there in March on a complaint by Usha’s parents that he was harassing her. Saha promised to be good to his wife and was let off. The family subsequently shifted to Kurla.
On October 2, when the duty officer at Wadala police station asked Saha about the purpose of his visit, the electrician narrated the incident, adding that he wanted to surrender. The officer directed him to the V B Nagar police station at Kurla, the foolish reasoning being that subsequent investigations would have to be carried out by the V B Nagar police, and, hence it would be prudent for Saha to turn himself in there.

The V B Nagar police were surprised when Saha repeated the story and said he was directed by the Wadala police to approach them. Imagine if Saha had changed his mind and decided to flee the city, a police officer attached to V B Nagar police station said.

Wadala senior inspector Vilas Shinde had a different take on the incident. There was some miscommunication, he told TOI.  During interrogation, Saha told the V B Nagar police that he went to Wadala police station looking for a particular officer who had advised him to reform in March. He wanted to tell the officer about the incident but since he wasn’t around, left without disclosing the offence. However, when asked what had prompted Saha to go to the V B Nagar police station, Shinde had no answer.

Usha, meanwhile was shifted to Sion Hospital by the police and her neighbour Satishchandra Yadav, who told the police that he saw the front door of Saha’s house ajar. “He felt something was amiss as the woman, who was next to her 11-month-old baby, was not reacting. He called the police control room and alerted the officers,’’ a police officer said. Usha, who went into a coma, passed away on October 7.

Source - Times of India Online Edition – http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Killer-gives-up-at-one-police-stn-palmed-off-to-another/articleshow/5111407.cms

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I guess there is always a solid reasoning and miscommunication behind such failures of Responsibility

Yeh Mera India!

“In Singapore you don’t say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn’t dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai. YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, ‘see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else. ‘YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, ‘Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so’s son.

 I am echoing J. F. Kennedy ‘s words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians….. ‘ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY’ Lets do what India needs from us.”

APJ Abdul Kalam

These powerful words from APJ Abdul Kalam’s famous speech in Hyderabad penetrate our consciousness to pose one significant question – ‘What does Independence Day mean to us?’  Is it just another official holiday when the patriot in us awakes for a day only to sleep again for the rest of the year? Or can this be a day when we as a Nation can do some introspection of our journey as an Independent Democracy?

We have a relatively easy ship to sail. The hard work has already been done for us by the brave sons and daughters of India who sacrificed their lives so that we may breathe in the invigorating air of freedom. We have inherited the strong foundation of the world’s biggest secular democracy and there is a lot that we need to give back to this glorious nation so that our future generations may no longer need to migrate to other countries. Perhaps this Independence Day we could all do some relationship accounting with ‘Mother India’?

It was a with great sense of collective fervour that the founding fathers of India heralded India’s rebirth as a sovereign nation. “At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom…A new star rises, the star of freedom in the East, a new hope comes into being, a vision long cherished materializes. May the star never set and that hope never be betrayed!…”  these words from Jawaharlal Nehru’s famous speech resonate again in our ears today and the collective soul of all those involved in India’s Freedom Struggle whispers in our ears  – ‘Are you living in the India that we concieved in our dreams?’  

It seems that we have disconnected ourselves from the excitement that should mark our Independence Day. And we have some valid reasons.

 

Yeh Mera India – Waking up to Reality

A World Bank Survey reveals that 25 per cent of teachers were missing and another 25 to 30% not teaching at the time of three unannounced inspections at 3,700 schools across 20 states in India. The average duration of a court trial in India is a staggering 15 years. The international benchmark is 3 years. Our judicial system is saddled with a gargantuan backlog of 29.2 million cases pending across hundreds of subordinate state-level courts, 21 high courts and the Supreme Court.  These are just a few figures that highlight the disarry the system around us has fallen into. The question that will lead us to the promised land is ‘How can I make a difference?’

Demographic statistics highlight that India is now an increasingly ‘young country’ as compared to the ageing developed world. Today, 31% of India’s 1.1 billion people are under ­age 16. By 2030, India is expected to become the most populous nation on Earth. In 2030, India will have by far the largest workforce in the world, because a disproportionate 68% of its population will be of working age. This 68% can be India’s biggest asset or India’s biggest liability and that depends on what we are collectively doing as a Nation today.

India and China started their journey towards development at about the same time but a quick glance at where we stand in comparison to China should send shockwaves to every concerned citizen. China started its family planning policy in 1970, India in 1952. India is still adding 18 million people per year, against 9 million per year in China. In a different field, China won 63 medals in the last Olympics; India just one. Clearly, someone somewhere from among us, is not doing their job right…

 

Strength in Diversity

Stephen Covey, the famous management author said that ‘Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.’ Our strength as a Nation lies in the fact that we are diverse and to reap the benefits of this strength we need to put our national identity first before our regional identities. With regional turf wars being waged all around us, are we blind not to see that we are Indians first and Punjabis, Gujaratis and Marathis afterwards? We need to put an end to the politics of hate and division and forge a new identity that is Indian minus the geographical divisions.

The road ahead…

As a Nation we have made a lot of accomplishments as well. While the financial systems crumpled worldwide, India bravely withstood the financial downturn and proved to the world the strength of its fiscal policies and reforms. There is no doubt about the fact the India has arrived on the world stage. Latest projects like The Chandrayaan Mission and Arihant – India’s first nuclear powered submarine have generated immense respect for us but we cannot afford to rest on our laurels as there is still a lot that needs to be done.

The responsibility of ushering India into a new age lies upon every single one of us. Regardless of how we are contributing to the nation, if every citizen commits to achieving excellence and taking pride in what he is doing, we would certainly be on the road become the next Global Power.

The need of the hour is effective leadership in all spheres of activity- our homes, our educational institutions, our government, our media and popular entertainment and our companies – Leaders who ‘can be the change’ and who can live the message and who have the courage to challenge the status quo.

This Independence Day, rather than focussing on how the system has failed us, let us commit to focussing on what we can do differently in our circle of influence.

 

Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean.

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

 

Jai Hind and a Happy Independence Day!

 

O Teacher, Where Art Thou?

“What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation”

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Here are a few shocking facts  that I came across in Hindustan Times (1 HT Chd Edition, Wed, Aug 5, 09, Pg 10 ‘So, What did you learn at school today?’ by Kamayani Singh)

‘Bangladesh, Peru and Papua New Guinea have much lower teacher absenteeism rates that India.’ 1

A 2004 world Bank Study discovered that ’25 per cent of teachers were missing and another 25 to 30% not teaching at the time of three unannounced inspections at 3,700 schools across 20 states in India. The only country that fared worse on the survey was Uganda, with a teacher absenteeism rate of 25%‘ 1

25% absent and another 25-30% not teaching – that leads to almost a 50-55% collapse of the system with the accountability falling on the shoulders of just one resource – the teachers.

Kamyani Singh highlights the plight of one Raman Kumar who dreamed of learning how to read and write and who considered himself lucky when his father signed him up at the Government School in his village. His excitement soon met with disappointment when the Masterji wouldn’t turn up or would order the boys to fetch him tea and bidis and then doze off to sleep.

Would Masterji dare to do this if he were working for a private organization? Why is a Government job taken for granted by the ones who are entrusted with shaping the future of this nation? When will the bulk of our institutions stop churning out sub-standard graduates in the job market? When will taxpayers demand a greater accountability for how their money is being spent?

When will our Masterjis realize what’s at stake for those who make their way to school everyday?

‘All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of Youth’

Arsitotle

The change that India seeks…

We are sitting on a tipping point of change where the battle between the ideologies of the past and pull of the future has led us to crossroads. A nation of a billion people yearns for a new sunrise of hope, equality, justice, prosperity and peace; an India where these adjectives are not merely a part of oratory but the founding pillars of our future.

This is also a time when an alarmingly great number of Indians would rather seek an escape from the current problems that surround us than commit to making a difference to their surroundings. We vent off our frustration by complaining about how bad things are around us and by making self defeating comparisons with developed countries. But when it comes to doing something practically, we are reluctant to step outside our insulated environments and get our hands dirty.

The solution to this dilemma may lie in the words of Mahatma Gandhi – “You have be the change that you want to see” – this philosophy is now the new buzzword worldwide to achieve turnarounds in business, political and social spheres. Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy was able to mobilise millions of Indians at the grass root level to get up and fight the British oppression in India.

 His doctrine of non violence and civil disobedience was more appealing to Indians than the call for violence by many radical organizations. Mahatma Gandhi understood the intricacies of what is now labelled as ‘situational leadership’, very well. He understood all the factors critical to the Indian freedom struggle – most importantly the psychology of the people and he crafted a strategy that would not only mobilise mass opinion in India and abroad against imperialism but would also leave a lasting legacy; a philosophy that would later be followed by many around the world in their own struggle against oppression – from Martin Luther King to Nelson Mandela.

An interesting observation that comes to the fore during our ‘Leadership Workshops’ is that people often associate leadership with designations. Nothing could be farther from the truth. You don’t have to be the head of an organization or be elected to a political office to be a leader. If you are in a position to influence the life of another human being – in any sphere of life (if you are alive you are!) which makes you a leader and it serves us all well if you are leading in the right direction!

No amount of training, coaching or preaching will yield any results for any organization, any family or society until the message that is being preached is being implemented by those whom the others hold in high esteem. So, whether an organization is trying to bring about a radical change in its culture or an educational institution seeks to imbibe solid moral values in its students, the driving force has to come from the ‘role models’ – the persons of influence in the organization who may not necessarily be the ones at the top of the organization.

The truth is that the change which we seek begins with every single one of us. We all have the power to ‘shake the world in a gentle way’ in Gandhi’s words. India needs leaders in all spheres of activity- our homes, our educational institutions, our government, our media and popular entertainment and our companies – who ‘can be the change’ and who can live the message, who have the courage to be different and who preach more through their actions than their words. Imagine the possibilities when we all come together to ask ourselves ‘What messages will I convey through my actions today?’

 Go not to the temple to put flowers upon the feet of God, First fill your own house with the Fragrance of love…

Go not to the temple to light candles before the altar of God, First remove the darkness of sin from your heart…

Go not to the temple to bow down your head in prayer, First learn to bow in humility before your fellowmen…

Go not to the temple to pray on bended knees, First bend down to lift someone who is down-trodden. ..

Go not to the temple to ask for forgiveness for your sins, First forgive from your heart those who have sinned against you.

Rabindranath Tagore

 

Watch this very powerful video on the impact of our actions on those around us…

 

Video Credit – Child Friendly Australia ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m25VjD0Uz9c)