India from present participle to past participle of “Rise”

The world is now reeling under a reverse serendipity process since 2008, it all started with subprime crisis in US which spared no corner of this globe followed by fall of PIGS economy. Later when the world was waking up to the recovery call, Middle East fell into turmoil; Japan was stuck by Tsunami affecting life and economy of the country. To add to the fiery issues recently US’s credit worthiness was downgraded by a notch to AA+ from AAA rating by S&P which again made the economy to lay tight, money streets across the world staggered under pressure. The rest is a story of juxtaposition. India had its own story, though the ripples of all plummet were felt. World is slowly turning its head towards east from west knowing the shift, China leading with its low cost manufacturing edge and India succumbing to rapid development because of IT drive and burgeoning spending class people. Recently RBI hiked interest rates 11th time since March 2010 to curb inflation by reducing consumption, still more are to come says sources from RBI. Yes, India is rising!! We have to gear up for a drive from present participle of “Rise” to past participle. India to reach a state of Enhanced Economy (EE) has to enable 4WD (4*4) with E Wheels.

Emancipate India:

The struggle episode on Janlokpal approval is lucid enough to prove on how bureaucracy is ruling instead the real democracy. India seriously is in a need of another dose of liberalization like in 1991. The policies/acts of the government are old enough to now dust it and amend. For instance Land acquisition act 1894 has had many amendments still the procedure is cumbersome with lots of money to be shelled out as a bribe. There has been repeated occurrence of scenes related to land acquisition Nandigram, Posco etc. Posco tried entering India with highest ever FDI since but is yet to even ground break, it’s been 6 years, never has the war calmed down. Drafting effective policies does not end it all, elementary education & health in rural India where 70% of population exists posses severe challenges despite of many policies and programs by government. Accessibility and availability of amenities are the serious problem, so whole system thinking is the solution for it. If interested in having a discussion regards to check www.takshashila.org.in , Takshashila is a independent think tank (NPO) concentrating on emerging challenges faced by our country, policy research etc. Where internal problems are warming up, external seems to be a boiling issue, it gives a feel that India is surrounded by guns ready to fire. China slowly ambushing Northeastern states, it is strange that a citizen of India needs permission to enter Arunachal Pradesh. China is slowly building rapport with our neighbors through FDI for instance China has pumped in $1.5 bn for Hambantota project and similarly there are much of investments entering for development. Pakistan episode has become a never ending story; Srilanka is also not spared from the list. Innovative solutions like FDI in these countries or development in these countries through tourism can help abate the external heat.

Energize India:

Energize has a profound implication, humans need energy, so is factories, offices, vehicles etc. The form of consumption might differ like food, oil, power but that forms the elixir, so is the quantity which might differ but is vital. India being second highly populated country and growing strongly on demographic divide will demand for lots of resources to sustain the lives better. Roti, Makaan, Kapda is not enough, the list should include pani and bijlee. 1/3rd of worlds hungry live in India, how a child will go to the school if not fed with food, Mid day meals was supposed to be answer but the bowl of mid day meals has huge hole which leaks because of corruption. In spite our country being 2nd largest producer of rice & wheat still India seemed to not end its hunger story, agriculture items worth 58000 Cr goes waste every year. Recent amendments proposed by a committee of Warehousing development & regulatory authority (WRDA) to have private players and such is a strategic move to decrease whooping food articles wastages in turn taming the present inflation. House seems to be a distant dream even for a software engineer, poor’s will never even think, Low cost homes did come but easy availability of cash for buying it was a obstruct. Power in India is ruled independently by states, majorly with no private participation. India even being fifth largest reserve for coal suffers shortages very often for coal, hampering the power production. While vidharbha in Maharashtra is stuck in famine, Kosi River in Bihar is flooding; rivers have turned to become states property. River connecting project across the nation’s length and breadth was a strategic move by NDA to rub off flood and famine from fate of our country which will also generate lakhs and lakhs of jobs in all corners is still a dream because of the political drama. India generates large amount of waste which is majorly disposed after treating, this should be considered as a huge resource to produce power, gas etc. Presently Himachal Pradesh is using plastic to pave roads. Mr. Gyanesh Pandey CEO of Husk power systems is an inspiration for electrifying rural India.

Educate India:

Education is a basic right of any child, Adult literacy rate which was 48.2% before liberalization (1991) is at 68.3% even after 20 years (2010) where as the target at 2010 was 80%. Demographic dividend is the winning edge for India with around 43% in age group of (15-59) working age which is expected to reach around 65% by 2035 after which is expected to taper to 61% by 2050. But this will be an advantage only if the whooping young population is educated and employed at the right time. Rural education is facing stern challenges in spite of huge investments like accessibilities, irregular teachers, poor PTR of 34:1(2008) far behind international standards, basic amenities like toilets blackboard, class rooms etc. Education which is a basic right is an inequality of opportunity because it is a costly affair when quality gets added. India should adopt PPP model to build schools of quality in rural India to attract students and retain them. IIT’s and IIM’s have strappingly demonstrated the ability to nurture best talents but the recent survey, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings in 2010 has no Universities in Top 200 universities with IIT-M slipping 38 places to rank 225th this year. While on QS Asia list Japan has 57 universities in the top 200 list so is China with 40 and we have mere 11 universities. The financial times global MBA ranking 2011 has only 2 in the list of top 100. The higher education is in a serious need of thrust to accelerate and move faster to win an edge and be sustainable in developing talent which is the USP of India. Singapore is a good example to formulize higher education, it has got INSEAD setting up its campus, other world renowned institutes has tie up with local institutes for enhanced development of talent.

Entrepreneur the India:

Starting a business and becoming an entrepreneur is a dream for many Indians. But it needs many proportions to be looked for capital, resources, market, government procedures. Capital is now not a big issue with mushrooming VC’s which has also made India climb to 32nd position in the world. Market is huge as consumption era has just begun in India. But getting permits, registration from the government is a cumbersome process making India to slip to 137th position. It averagely takes minimum of a month (official) to start a business in India, but it takes more than a year or two to set up a business a decent scale. Apart from these frequent power cuts, huge corruption, labour laws adverse to employment generation, transportation delays because of ungainly tax systems. These all put the youngsters back to employment trap. Thus the motivation for becoming a entrepreneur vanishes away for all. GST if implemented would be great boon for entrepreneurs as it helps in delivering products soon and hassle free. The process of license clearance must be made easy and bribe free which our big house is not ready at this moment.
India obviously is in need of 2nd dose of policy reforms for making it a country ready for young and energetic populace who can build India smartly and bring it to the past participle of Rise. This needs a shift in the economy altogether we need to build a nation which is self sustained at least in basic needs like water, power, education, housing, health. Major restructuring should happen in the mindset of the people, which can effectively change the fate of the nation. Perhaps, leadership is all about using the available resources for building a better tomorrow. It is us, each and every soul of this mother nation are leaders who contribute a lot to the mystery called development. Lets build a smarter India!!