Most written work invokes a lot of reaction, both critical and appreciative, from its readers. And if the writing is about something that questions an individual’s beliefs, the critical reaction is quite often more than the appreciative ones. My last post too had its share of reactions from the limited few readers that my blog invites. Though most of the comments were oral, (I would have certainly preferred the comments to be posted in the blog itself though) I realized that the post needed a sequel to answer some of the questions that were asked. My intent of writing ‘Pride and Prejudice’ was in no terms an attempt to arouse anybody’s nationalistic opinion. It was neither an attempt at jingoism or provoking revolutionary thoughts among people. Lastly, it was no way a release of my own frustrations..... The idea of this post came up when Kranti, my HR manager mentioned something about how a politician is exempted from retirement or paying professional tax, because politics is not considered a profession. This only led to a chain of thoughts which eventually ended up as ‘Pride and Prejudice’. From the very beginning I knew that the topic could end up either controversial or completely stupid. And I honestly preferred it to be the latter. There were whole hearted attempts to keep every line as subtle as I could. I avoided all attempts to use provocative language or situations. And finally I tried to maintain a non-political and an unbiased view of events. The result, I expected to be straight yet simple and the reaction turned out to be quite surprising but nevertheless, absolutely heartening.
We are a nation that is 57 years old. But how often do we wonder if we have grown any bit at all in the last half a century. Whatever improvements our society has had, has got more to do with a natural evolution than a serious attempt at growth. Probably an India under the colonial rule would have had far greater material growth than otherwise. Hong Kong and South Africa are just a couple of examples that could prove this point. However like any sane being, we valued our freedom much more and rightfully got it back a long before the Afrikaner or the Cantonese did. But would our fathers (and mothers), who fought to ensure their descendants live a free life, be proud of our achievements today? Have we done anything at all, significant enough to prove that our life today is worth all the endless struggles and sacrifices they endured to give us half a century of independence, which we proudly boast about every 15th of August? Our report card certainly makes for interesting reading. We have had over a dozen prime ministers trying to rule us. We have had an equally sizeable number of presidents occupying the seat of the first citizen and watching in absolute silence political parties run our nation amok. We have had a dynasty being created of the Congress Party, thus imposing on the nation a genealogy of rulers (and the mahatma wanted the congress to be disbanded after achievement of independence and made an organization serving the people). We have had a virtual dictatorial rule on the nation with the imposing of Emergency. We have gone into war with our neighbours close to half a dozen times, suffered a heavy defeat against China (1962), given a brutal blow to Pakistan (1971) and failed to take any advantage of our superior positions against Pakistan in the other three (1948, 1965, 1999). We started off by creating and heading a Non-Aligned movement; but now have problems with all our neighbours, including Bangladesh (whom we helped liberate) and Sri Lanka (thanks to IPKF). We have been a mute spectator when both our head (POK, Ladakh) and our arm (Arunachal) were chopped off unceremoniously by the Sino-Pak alliance. We have had to witness the ‘License Raj’ destroying any possible seeds of Entrepreneurship germinating among Indian minds. We have had to see Multinational Corporations forced to shut shop due to ‘Left’ led regressive culture of strikes and union troubles. We have had the Five Year plans being planned with great zeal but ending up being re-worked for lack of achievement. We have seen at least one famine, drought or flood striking our citizens every other year invariably. We have seen many a family planning scheme introduced but our population exploding at a rate that could relegate even the Big Bang theory. And the list, as usual could go on and on.......
But life’s not been only a bed of thorns. There have been the occasional roses that have bloomed in regular intervals. We have witnessed the ‘Green Revolution’ that turned India into almost being self sufficient. ‘Operation Flood’ turned India into the largest producer of Milk, while empowering and developing millions among rural India. ISRO is among the most respected organization working on space research today. ONGC is today India’s only answer to the likes of Cairns and Shell. A Yemen returned middle class Indian overcame every hurdle of the great Indian bureaucracy and engineered the development of the largest Indian corporation, ‘Reliance’. The TATAs have continued to make us proud with all their ventures. 'TELCO' to 'TCS' they are all big enough to showcase India in the right frame. Not only was Indica the first indigenously developed car, today they are allover UK too, thanks to TATAs tie-up with Rover. Looking at these limited few examples the fact is pretty clear. What we need today is a strong urge to think big. We need to create products that would be needed by the world. We need to manufacture.
Today we make such loud noises on nearing a GDP of 7%. China on the other hand has advocated a slow down policy to restrict their growth to 10%. China is among the largest economies in the world today. This is because they believe in manufacturing. America, which does not have a history of more than a few hundred years, is the richest nation because it believes in creating products. That is where the biggest asset of a human being, “The Brain” is put to work. While China is today the manufacturing hub of the world, India on the other hand has turned out to be the service hub. We are proud today at our achievement of being the Back Office of the world. After all IT and ITES services alone contributes a major chunk of our Forex reserves of over a Hundred Billion US$. Today almost all Indians in their twenties and thirties wants to either be a software developer or in the BPO business (non-engineering types). Even Entrepreneurs wants to do these businesses. But developer, as a software engineer is called today, is the biggest misnomer that has come up in recent times. Where are they developing products? They are just writing codes, troubleshooting and testing the ideas thought about in the research labs of the parent company. Be it IBM, Microsoft, Intel.... It’s all the same. It would be a folly to believe these Engineers are creating the next generation products from these big names. No, they are just doing somebody else’s menial job. This is why this is called ‘Outsourcing’ or sometimes ‘Body Shopping’. Even the most respected of our software companies, ‘Infosys’, takes contracts and creates product for other’s needs. Except for a financial product called ‘Finacle’, there isn’t any renowned application from its stables that would have a global appeal. This is where Infosys can never be in the league of a Microsoft or Oracle. While others create products for global requirements, Infosys only delivers to the requirement. This mass exodus into the outsourced business is not restricted to just any graduates or engineers. Even IIT and IIM pass-outs, from institutes which were created to build (build and not serve) India, have joined the bandwagon of outsourced companies. They are writing patents and selling services. Was this the reason for the creation of India’s premier finishing schools????? I’m not degrading the work we do - of providing support to almost the entire world – round the clock. I’m only questioning it’s worthiness in the larger perspective. What will happen to all our Dollar dependant outsourced corporations if the Dollar Exchange rates crashes? Would we shut shop and put the IT and BPO dependant million plus ‘Graduate’ Indians on the streets? What use would these highly-paid million brains, which have only known to write codes for others or speak a foreign language (with a more foreign accent), do? I’m not against BPOs or our Software companies. It has after all provided employment to almost every English speaking graduate (including yours truly) in this county. What I’m disturbed about is our over dependence on the term Outsourcing. Even a presidential debate in the US keeps us interested to know which future American president would support off-shoring of American business. This over dependence on another nation is nothing short of slavery.
Speaking of slavery, even the pre-independence days had people who worked against the popular notions. When the English, exported raw cotton, manufactured textiles in the looms of Manchester and imported it back to India, it took a Jamsetji Tata to realize the obvious loss suffered by India. If not for him, the textile mills of Nashik and Mumbai would never have seen the light of day. Today, we have clothes from Tirupur being exported cheaply to various countries. We then buy the same clothes for a princely sum, only because there is a label on it that reads out, ‘Tommy Hilfiger’, ‘Benetton’, or something alike. How is this different from the pre-independence British dependant days? A cobbler would not find any takers for his shoe, even if it looks very stylish. But if he would spend another rupee worth of leather, cut it into a ‘Tick Mark’ shape and stick it on the shoe, the same shoe would be worth thousands. Any shirt, no matter how well it is made, would find more worthiness among buyers if it has a label that has an English or a Dutch (anything begining with 'Van') element in its name. Any computer software would find more acceptance if it is with a Microsoft brand name. This is where the solution to our entire problem lies. We have to create brands. To do that we need to manufacture world class goods. To do that we need to have great ideas. To do that we need to think. And certainly Think Big. The solution doesn’t stop there. The Enterprising people need to be motivated and provided an opportunity to act what they think. This is where our governments have been repeatedly failing. Everybody from a Sabeer Bhatia, Vinod Dham, Arun Netravali to Vinod Khosla have made it big only because they were distantly away from India. Silicon Valley today has loads of Indian Entrepreneurs because they got the necessary support in the US. Just imagine the kind of red tape they would have had to endure to do the same in India. Rightfully so, America has become the richest nation today.
This is what we have do. Change our perspective. Change our outlook. Change our thinking. Change our Attitude. Change Everything. Else another 40 years later, we will not be known as a hundred year old nation, but a one hundred year Infant still priding on its pseudo beliefs.
We are a nation that is 57 years old. But how often do we wonder if we have grown any bit at all in the last half a century. Whatever improvements our society has had, has got more to do with a natural evolution than a serious attempt at growth. Probably an India under the colonial rule would have had far greater material growth than otherwise. Hong Kong and South Africa are just a couple of examples that could prove this point. However like any sane being, we valued our freedom much more and rightfully got it back a long before the Afrikaner or the Cantonese did. But would our fathers (and mothers), who fought to ensure their descendants live a free life, be proud of our achievements today? Have we done anything at all, significant enough to prove that our life today is worth all the endless struggles and sacrifices they endured to give us half a century of independence, which we proudly boast about every 15th of August? Our report card certainly makes for interesting reading. We have had over a dozen prime ministers trying to rule us. We have had an equally sizeable number of presidents occupying the seat of the first citizen and watching in absolute silence political parties run our nation amok. We have had a dynasty being created of the Congress Party, thus imposing on the nation a genealogy of rulers (and the mahatma wanted the congress to be disbanded after achievement of independence and made an organization serving the people). We have had a virtual dictatorial rule on the nation with the imposing of Emergency. We have gone into war with our neighbours close to half a dozen times, suffered a heavy defeat against China (1962), given a brutal blow to Pakistan (1971) and failed to take any advantage of our superior positions against Pakistan in the other three (1948, 1965, 1999). We started off by creating and heading a Non-Aligned movement; but now have problems with all our neighbours, including Bangladesh (whom we helped liberate) and Sri Lanka (thanks to IPKF). We have been a mute spectator when both our head (POK, Ladakh) and our arm (Arunachal) were chopped off unceremoniously by the Sino-Pak alliance. We have had to witness the ‘License Raj’ destroying any possible seeds of Entrepreneurship germinating among Indian minds. We have had to see Multinational Corporations forced to shut shop due to ‘Left’ led regressive culture of strikes and union troubles. We have had the Five Year plans being planned with great zeal but ending up being re-worked for lack of achievement. We have seen at least one famine, drought or flood striking our citizens every other year invariably. We have seen many a family planning scheme introduced but our population exploding at a rate that could relegate even the Big Bang theory. And the list, as usual could go on and on.......
But life’s not been only a bed of thorns. There have been the occasional roses that have bloomed in regular intervals. We have witnessed the ‘Green Revolution’ that turned India into almost being self sufficient. ‘Operation Flood’ turned India into the largest producer of Milk, while empowering and developing millions among rural India. ISRO is among the most respected organization working on space research today. ONGC is today India’s only answer to the likes of Cairns and Shell. A Yemen returned middle class Indian overcame every hurdle of the great Indian bureaucracy and engineered the development of the largest Indian corporation, ‘Reliance’. The TATAs have continued to make us proud with all their ventures. 'TELCO' to 'TCS' they are all big enough to showcase India in the right frame. Not only was Indica the first indigenously developed car, today they are allover UK too, thanks to TATAs tie-up with Rover. Looking at these limited few examples the fact is pretty clear. What we need today is a strong urge to think big. We need to create products that would be needed by the world. We need to manufacture.
Today we make such loud noises on nearing a GDP of 7%. China on the other hand has advocated a slow down policy to restrict their growth to 10%. China is among the largest economies in the world today. This is because they believe in manufacturing. America, which does not have a history of more than a few hundred years, is the richest nation because it believes in creating products. That is where the biggest asset of a human being, “The Brain” is put to work. While China is today the manufacturing hub of the world, India on the other hand has turned out to be the service hub. We are proud today at our achievement of being the Back Office of the world. After all IT and ITES services alone contributes a major chunk of our Forex reserves of over a Hundred Billion US$. Today almost all Indians in their twenties and thirties wants to either be a software developer or in the BPO business (non-engineering types). Even Entrepreneurs wants to do these businesses. But developer, as a software engineer is called today, is the biggest misnomer that has come up in recent times. Where are they developing products? They are just writing codes, troubleshooting and testing the ideas thought about in the research labs of the parent company. Be it IBM, Microsoft, Intel.... It’s all the same. It would be a folly to believe these Engineers are creating the next generation products from these big names. No, they are just doing somebody else’s menial job. This is why this is called ‘Outsourcing’ or sometimes ‘Body Shopping’. Even the most respected of our software companies, ‘Infosys’, takes contracts and creates product for other’s needs. Except for a financial product called ‘Finacle’, there isn’t any renowned application from its stables that would have a global appeal. This is where Infosys can never be in the league of a Microsoft or Oracle. While others create products for global requirements, Infosys only delivers to the requirement. This mass exodus into the outsourced business is not restricted to just any graduates or engineers. Even IIT and IIM pass-outs, from institutes which were created to build (build and not serve) India, have joined the bandwagon of outsourced companies. They are writing patents and selling services. Was this the reason for the creation of India’s premier finishing schools????? I’m not degrading the work we do - of providing support to almost the entire world – round the clock. I’m only questioning it’s worthiness in the larger perspective. What will happen to all our Dollar dependant outsourced corporations if the Dollar Exchange rates crashes? Would we shut shop and put the IT and BPO dependant million plus ‘Graduate’ Indians on the streets? What use would these highly-paid million brains, which have only known to write codes for others or speak a foreign language (with a more foreign accent), do? I’m not against BPOs or our Software companies. It has after all provided employment to almost every English speaking graduate (including yours truly) in this county. What I’m disturbed about is our over dependence on the term Outsourcing. Even a presidential debate in the US keeps us interested to know which future American president would support off-shoring of American business. This over dependence on another nation is nothing short of slavery.
Speaking of slavery, even the pre-independence days had people who worked against the popular notions. When the English, exported raw cotton, manufactured textiles in the looms of Manchester and imported it back to India, it took a Jamsetji Tata to realize the obvious loss suffered by India. If not for him, the textile mills of Nashik and Mumbai would never have seen the light of day. Today, we have clothes from Tirupur being exported cheaply to various countries. We then buy the same clothes for a princely sum, only because there is a label on it that reads out, ‘Tommy Hilfiger’, ‘Benetton’, or something alike. How is this different from the pre-independence British dependant days? A cobbler would not find any takers for his shoe, even if it looks very stylish. But if he would spend another rupee worth of leather, cut it into a ‘Tick Mark’ shape and stick it on the shoe, the same shoe would be worth thousands. Any shirt, no matter how well it is made, would find more worthiness among buyers if it has a label that has an English or a Dutch (anything begining with 'Van') element in its name. Any computer software would find more acceptance if it is with a Microsoft brand name. This is where the solution to our entire problem lies. We have to create brands. To do that we need to manufacture world class goods. To do that we need to have great ideas. To do that we need to think. And certainly Think Big. The solution doesn’t stop there. The Enterprising people need to be motivated and provided an opportunity to act what they think. This is where our governments have been repeatedly failing. Everybody from a Sabeer Bhatia, Vinod Dham, Arun Netravali to Vinod Khosla have made it big only because they were distantly away from India. Silicon Valley today has loads of Indian Entrepreneurs because they got the necessary support in the US. Just imagine the kind of red tape they would have had to endure to do the same in India. Rightfully so, America has become the richest nation today.
This is what we have do. Change our perspective. Change our outlook. Change our thinking. Change our Attitude. Change Everything. Else another 40 years later, we will not be known as a hundred year old nation, but a one hundred year Infant still priding on its pseudo beliefs.
10 comments:
Well!a topic discussed i think since time immemorial,however i do relish on the fact that this piece,though a cliche subject,is written in a way which is lot more interesting than many other articles i have read.Good work and kind os forces a 'chuckle' on the readers face..thats what an article should aim at right?
However you write...good or bad, will have + or - reactions. Dont worry about reactions just write your heart out....only then you can do a good job.
BOSS..........it's a democratic country.....you can do what ever you want to.
Although with respect to Pride & prejudice ,i agree with you that there is nothing we can be proud of........Off late the "ROADS".
Our leaders are always on the flight and seldom on roads to even understand the plight of their so called "janta".The money required for the ROADS are getting multiplied where they get up in the morning - THEIR HOME...........safe for their generations to come.
Change everything.........I guess you are asking for 2 much.
"We are a nation that is 57 years old", this is a sentence which evokes a lot of pride within me, but everything that I read after this creates a lot of depression just like the one which affects our coastal states...
One thing which came in my mind while reading your blog was Are we sitting on a ticking bomb just like the .com baloon???, if yes it is high time one joins the PWD Dept (Public Worries and Destruction) of our country-The parliament house!
Good work Sharath, Keep marching!
Regards,
PS
Excellent work Sharath. I dont know what it did for others...it certainly got me thinking.
By the way i concur with Ameen...may be we r looking at a (working with a)future Best selling writer!
Sharathu………Your article "Be Boss or Be Bossed" is simply excellent. U write so well……….I enjoyed reading this article. Laughed my hat off……… :-) :-)
A Silent observer with a calm sense of humor ……& it talks in the way you write. Good piece of work!!!!
….. hmmmm we’re where methods don’t work no matter what ;) well One option left though …..gonna write to Santa this Christmas for a BIG bottle of glycerin. I’m sure there’re others who have given this a thought;!!!
HO! HO! HO! MERRY CHRISTMAS.
Hey, you have a great blog here! I'm definitely going to bookmark you!
I have a Free site Free Article Search. It pretty much covers author index stock type gallery related stuff.
Come and check it out if you get time :-)
Hi,
Just browsing around the net for forex demo and came across your blog. I've been trying to add as much info as I can about forex demo on my site. But must admit I get a bit confused... there's just some many sites, tips, information ... you name about forex demo it's hard to know where to begin!
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good info
Heay Sharath,
Too gud...... just was wondering if the service industry which is a major job provider to the most of Indian people reaches the saturation what would Indian's do later.... It is not as good as chinese are in production neither as good as japanese are in exports and are neither in compare to any other great countries.......
Right na??
Ananth
What was that, Doc?
hydrocodone lortab
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