India | My scribble

Feb 08 2010

One’s loss = other’s gain

American (or say, World) recession has turned out to be a horrific reality – The great American dream is shattered, China’s Manufacturing industry is reeling under pressure, Europe’s playing too safe.

The US is putting in money wherever it sees problems (the traditionally American way of solving the problems), Obama has incentivized hiring but saturation & positivity ballooned have taken their toll.

The Wall Street is full with money without trust!

All said, all read – I would not comment further on current conditions & solutions. However, there are some pointers that have not missed my eye (or my mind).

The American entrepreneurs/capitalists have launched a movement (readers might have heard of it): http://startupvisa.com/

It’s extremely critical to fuel the boost for long terms & create meaningful long-run jobs for us to get out of this mess.

It’s sad to see India once again being a slow starter!

Our sorry story is not just limited to physical infrastructure – the roadblocks in broadband penetration are too discouraging – Indian IT growth is repeatedly failing to solve India’s problems!

India could be hugely benefitted to make moves at this time – India can turn this recession into a boon for economy. We already are a better market than China http://bit.ly/dibrAt & with tighter monetary controls, less risky than USA.

Urban-Rural disconnect hampers India’s comprehensive growth again & again – India probably has the highest delta in the world in this regard
India stands at a stage where it’s gotta balance between migration & globalization – we still are heavily confused
Weak policies & weaker implementations do not help much either – India always starts on defensive
Cultural & social barriers majorly block India’s juggernaut – failures are a still a crime!

However, I’d still say it’s a great place to startup!

Shortcomings cease to look bad the moment those are viewed as opportunities!

Bottoms-up growth model, reasonably strong mobile phones networks, decent emphasis on rural strengths, strong consumerism & above all, the People (a nation with astonishingly high young population) make India a land of opportunities.

We also enjoy substantial NRI Investments & other FDIs.

India has still got huge chunk to offer in philanthropy, healthcare, energy, petroleum & social businesses. Cultures & languages stem a new & one-of-its-kind model of entrepreneurship.

All we need is some support from the top, some aggressive policy making by the government to leverage the growth.

We don’t need a startup Visa program – we need to nurture our own entrepreneurs
Still need to boost high-end education & research facilities to retain talent & stop unnecessary emigration (this doesn’t mean setting up colleges tagged IIT,IIM in villages, quality supervision is paramount)
There is GOT to be a Radical shift in traditional policy making process – India has grown more than it’s leaders ever expected it to
Little more opening up the market wouldn’t hurt either (though, debatable)
For the n’th time: Every type of infrastructure needs an immediate overhaul in India

Too much to hope, waiting for some satisfaction!

Dec 17 2009

Is Mahendra Singh Dhoni more than a cricket captain for India?

Yeah, even I think what the title suggests is pretty weird!

I’ve always heard/read of old times’ India, seen it a little bit during childhood. One thing that has not changed ever is the passion for the sport of cricket. If I speak about love for cricket in India, it’ll be like underlining for billionth time!

While growing up I used to watch Indian teams that were king at home on dusty pitches with outfields resembling nothing but deserts.

Those were the times when one dive on Indian grounds could risk your bones, when most of the players who could be best described as 5’5″ 50 kg bodies which spoke of malnutrition & poverty in India, when tours were just meant for holidays & shopping, when all media could talk was margins of victory – Indian victories if we played home or other country’s if we played away. Yes, those were the times when Indian commentators used to lambaste Indian batsmen for showing even minuscule sign of aggression, when Indians saw nothing but Miandad’s sixer or Imran Khan’s yorker in their nightmares!
Aah, those were the days when India played the Gentleman’s Game Gently!

Not anymore!
Dhoni’s team is full of hefty youngsters – they don’t look frail or weak when standing with an Aussie, they don’t get intimidated, they’re not scared, they can kick A**es with bat/bowl/words!
They never take anything lying down, they give everything back perhaps with more vengeance!
And mind you it’s not just the aggression – it’s aggression with talent and performance.

What made a guy like Sehwag be so arrogant in batting like the way he does? Has anyone seen a front view of his bat?
In a country that still treats ‘sex’ as a taboo, how come Zaheer Khan acknowledges the ‘best chest’ award by Mumbai girls? How can Yuvraj be so confident of having the ‘best ass’? (are we talking of India here? :O)
Why wasn’t Ganguly ashamed of ripping off his shirt on Lord’s balcony where anything less than a coat is ‘indecent’?
Why doesn’t Dhoni treat Sachin, the god, special? Why such a ‘senior’ person covers the boundary in death overs? Did anyone ever even think of anything like that before in Indian cricket?
How come the captain of the Indian cricket is cool under pressure? Where’s all the burden of billions of Indians’ expectations?
This bloody team beats other teams in their backyards, they’re not afraid of traveling, they’re not afraid of Murali’s, Warne’s, Akhtar’s!

Mumbai crowd harasses Andrew Symonds till he gets away, Indian cricket pressurizes ‘white’ nations to play according to their conditions, ‘whiter & richer’ cricket countries form a union against India & still fail to affect: Isn’t that unusual for India?
What happened all of a sudden?

If people still think this is limited to just cricket: look around again, see Indians around you if possible.
Every youngster today relates to this Indian cricket team, we have come far & beyond!
Bollywood & cricket have inspired India a lot, but this is the time when India has affected Cricket!
Look at this team: they’re not guys from Mumbai or Delhi, they’re from a small UP village or a Maharashtra small town or from a very poor Muslim family in Gujarat town. They have not had their childhood dedicated to cricket.

On the same veins, look at Indian youngsters – they’re no more like their parents. Many of them are not even dependent by the time they turn 21. In the country that taught ‘save-when-you-earn’, they buy things they want when they want. Where pubs/discs are a no-no, the new India makes plans for parties every weekend. In a country where holidays meant visiting a religious place with family, they go holidaying with friends. – is only money & spending capacity (or technology) responsible for all this?

Not really.
India’s truly going places and this may just be that time of metamorphosis. Look at the attitude shift, Indians are no more ashamed of their color or even their habits.
And just like the cricket team, this is not just the outlook – but there’s talent to back it up too.
Ofcourse, there are problems just like Indian team’s losses. However, what strikes you the most is how India handles these losses/failures these days?

Isn’t Dhoni someone who truly represents the new India? The India my generation belongs to?

Dec 10 2009

1 Comment

India

2 States

As amazed as I am right now, not sure about what? Another state in the making or the reactions that I have read/heard?

Telangana has gone beyond as an issue only for people of that region, I view it having much deeper consequences than it seems.
However, people blindly condemning is not acceptable (at any time, I’d say).

For starters, Telangana is probably the oldest movement for a separate state in India; much different than Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand & Uttarakhand.
The new states I just mentioned did not hold such strong demands, creation of those states was more political than people-felt.

On progress & development, J’khand, U’khand & C’garh have done much better than their respective parent states Bihar, UP & MP. Why can’t the always-poor Telangana do the same?
Smaller states are always easier to administer!
On language & culture, if there can be more than one state speaking Hindi,Bengali,Marathi (counting Konkani spoken in Goa as a Marathi dialect) why can’t there be more than one state speaking Telugu?

Now, the way that was used to influence this decision was fasting & non-co-operation: two of the means used by Gandhi for India’s independence. I agree comparison with Gandhi may be wrong but the section that supports Telangana would definitely hail this as one similar. Looking at Indian netizens’ tirade against KCR & a separate Telangana, isn’t it double-standard to blame fellow Indians for such uprising? Don’t we Indians fail to understand other Indians many a times?

That poses another question to me: if we can get so easily affected by whatever media publishes (considering major part of the media blamed Telangana), do we have the right to speak against jobless youths who vandalize public properties?
Who really understands plight of Telangana that always been hit by Naxalism, the region that has always seen prosperity from far away.

Another subtle fact worth noticing is that Hyderabad is too rich for Andhra Pradesh. For an overall poor state & less literate state (FYI – Andhra Pradesh is the only non-Hindi major state that has literacy below India’s average), Hyderabad grew too much.
Andhra Pradesh’s grounds could never match itself with Cyberabad’s skies!
Difference between Hyderabad & small towns of Andhra has always been too much to be retained on the same level. Andhra doesn’t even have another tier-2 or tier-3 city. Such mismatch would always lead to social restlessness. This is why we need balanced growth.
This is why we need common social vision.

If this makes you think I support Telangana, it’s not so.
There are implications too:

1. This could become a trend & people could start blackmailing the central government with protests + hunger + strikes + bandhs
I expect a lot (and a lot more) maturity on handling this division, it could be delayed or scarce chances it could be canceled as well.
But, this is the testing time for the UPA government, need to set an example!

2. BJP’s ‘divide the states & rule’ policy should not be propelled. BJP (or any party) will definitely try to gain political mileage from such issues. Great that BJP doesn’t have significant presence in Telangana or Andhra!
The ’cause’ of Telangana should not be misinterpreted as a political move …

And on the final note, I would like to applaud the Congress government for taking the decision BEFORE much damage happened.
For those who don’t know, there was a clear intelligence warning that Naxalites may used Telangana students to create unrest in the entire state which may have resulted in a serious damage to peace of the region and further law & order problems.

Wish Telangana all the peace they ever deserved!

Oct 13 2009

1 Comment

India, Maharashtra, Mumbai

The media religion

Had a chance to go through some of the news coverage websites & TV channels lately, most of them focusing on Maharashtra assembly elections.
It’s not surprising that Raj Thackeray was the biggest villain for almost all of the Indian ‘national’ media, most of them stayed focused on the Thackerays & hardly anything was noticed against a poor performing Congress government.
The Congress party has once again utilized the media very smartly to their advantage, which in fact, is quite a good political quality.

However, what I saw in the media under ‘Reactions against Raj’ was appalling & disappointing to say the least.
Some people called him Jinnah, some called Maharashtra a new Pakistan (WTF, WT big F)! Many of the online readers comfortably used the F*** word against him, there was no dearth of online abuse for MNS & no level of decency while using this ‘freedom of expression’.
Even more shocking is that none of the ‘national’ media houses bothered to stop this cheap level of anger-venting.

And not for just supporting what I like, but honestly, all the MNS fans (at least in my view) have maintained that decency and honored the ‘right’ expressions, which is heartening to see.

Has Indian media divided us? Aren’t they biased?

I say again & again that Raj Thackeray has been misinterpreted. He’s the only politician I have ever listened to or read who has the balls to talk against SLUMS.
I dare any of India’s national parties talk against hazards and threats from Slums, can you guys come forward and speak?
Anyway, let me not further get into MNS, their agenda & Mumbai-Maharashtra’s problem.

Indian media comfortably influences the literate of India, it has made pseudo-intellectuals borne everywhere.
Most of Indian internet users are literate, since India’s not so much used to the internet yet.
Look what ‘most educated’ people talk? Doesn’t that sound as a ‘verbal abuse’?

Consistently failing to play any constructive role over the time, Indian media has developed itself into a hypocrite phenomenon.

Is Indian media a new religion in India?
Why blame extremists, look at Indian Media … they have made the most educated group go crazy!

Literate (let me just use the term ‘India literates’ henceforth) people follow blindly what’s presented to them through this media (you can’t blame them … sorry, you can’t blame us … for that).

We’re driven by media conclusions so much that we don’t wanna verify anything for ourselves.

We very well know the rule: once a Madness/Religion is followed by many, it multiplies rapidly.

Isn’t this the same media that projected Narendra Modi as modern day Jinnah few years ago? (who, IMO, is now the best Chief minister in India)

Isn’t this the same media that caused a major embarrassment to India, reporting false against China? (and later, not disclose it). It went on to be labeled India’s fear.

I came across some videos claiming tampering with Varun Gandhi’s remarks too (not very sure on that, though)

These guys are the first to report ‘famous’ side of the story and suppress the other.
Same happened to MNS protests, same happened to doctors & pilots on strike, students from AIIMS-Delhi protesting against reservations.

I wonder why don’t we ever listen to what our Congress government is up to? (not that am against or for them)
Or a recent one, projecting the India-born Nobel prize laureate so much that he was irritated by Indians.

On the issue of staying fair and notwithstanding other aspects of media, let’s just hope we become a better media, rather than an emotional & igniting one.

Oct 04 2009

When India talks business

Constant unyielding comparisons:

I happen to attend few of the startup events (in person or over the web) recently. Most of them were related to doing business in India or just say business in India. India, one of the biggest markets, probably one of the few of the balanced ones in terms of the range of products and services, stands as one of the largest growing economy of the world. Many other nations and investors would be interested in India. As in any typical Indian business event, I saw lots of promise and pretty active hope with beaming confidence of the investors as well as the entrepreneurs.

Getting inspired is very common and sometimes natural in India. We look at others’ examples for learning; which in some carefully limited sense, is good and preferred. However, I at every time during any discussion on business, could not help listen to the US (and sometimes, European or Chinese) examples more than India-centered conversation. Do we compare too much?

Comparison plays a very important part of lifestyle in India which was sadly seen on business stage as well. Do we have to follow the US or China or some other nation on development?

Lack of emphasis on our strengths:

Dependant and comparative attitude has already driven us away from our strengths. Despite having huge cultivated land for agriculture, we could not bring science and technology at the core inside of the agro business. It is not very surprising that farming, agriculture, fruit and flower cultivation techniques, water and land related innovations have emanated from US and European nations (notably, Switzerland, Netherlands and Israel from Asia). Have we forgotten our strengths all together? Despite an amazingly big market for vegetables/dairy/farm products in India, we rarely see green startups.

Agree to high extent that we have been blessed with some of the best Tech brains too, Indians are probably one of the most competently techie personalities. What concerns me is that despite a section in our nation being so strong, technology penetration into ordinary households is poor. The tech creamy layer has failed (Or just say, is not inspired enough) to spread it around India. Secondly, gradient of difference between people ‘attracted’ to tech startups and green startups is alarmingly steep west. On the top of my mind, it seems that this scenario has led India to an imbalance: despite high foreign currency investments, technology advancements and the IT, India’s still way behind the world in infrastructure (poor communication, poor networks and pathetic handling of emergency), pollution control, damage control due to natural hazards or calamities, and resisting the global warming.

Personal point in case: when I talked to investors and VCs about these issues needing to be addressed, few of them turned away blaming it all on Indian government while few just surrendered admitting their failures or impatience to deal with the Indian government.

Media negative propagation, not using media well:

Can media pressurize the government positively? Has the business community failed to focus on pressing (but equally potential) issues and spreading it across? Is the Indian media biased or just lagging behind the era? Has the term ‘constructive medium’ of communication vanished and Media’s now defined as ‘something that reports what happens around’?

Ignoring whichever the reason and whatever that has happened so far, India to become a strong nation needs its Business community and Media to focus constructively on long (or very long) term internal buildup [and not just look at short-term financial and strategic gains]

Not using the Indian Diaspora well:

Before I start on this, I must appreciate all startup incubators to make conscious efforts towards getting the ‘Rich and Investing’ Indian Diaspora around the world attracted to new business setups.

India is nation that commendably utilizes the outside currency earned by its citizens for growth. Reportedly, India has the highest incoming remittances which must be appreciated by even the most ardent critiques of the nation.

However, these incoming funds (except the notable exceptions of FIIs and FDIs and some VCs) are not majorly directed towards India’s growth in a balanced direction; SMBs which form India’s core of business. To attract investors, we must give them Value and nothing else.

Government restrictions:

The Indian government also plays a spoilsport and is most responsible for too many restrictions in every sector related to business. Weak internal security is blamed on technology, speedy growth of Telecom and Internet is always checked with numerous restrictions. India is still not a business friendly nation. What’s worse is that there has been no explicit attempt made to move forward in the direction. Any proposal to start a business is met with thousands of paper licenses which take almost an era.

Indian government, it seems, likes India to remain a nation of Snakes and Sadhus (with weak and poor villages). Not just the internal security (actually, sheer lack of it) but India’s ignorant attitude towards healthcare, education and layered social structure make it difficult for core development issues to be concentrated upon. Every election in India is still ruled by issues on castes and religions.

It is however astounding to see Mumbai as one of the major financial centers of the world and as one of the most optimistic markets at this time. Can’t help but imagine only if the government was a little more supportive!

There’s need to attract outsiders (not related to India) to come and invest and do business in India; many pillars of this structure; majorly infrastructure, security and the society need to change.

My scribble

by Yogesh Ramesh Sharma

Category Archives: India