[Assam] Another Goodv One from ToI

[Chan Mahanta]

  TORONTO I agree with this article about the India-China comparison. 
What really annoys me is that we in India have 10 
MBAs/managers/business persons for one person that does the real 
work. (The ratio is supposed to be opposite.) How many people go into 
research as opposed to becoming paper pushers?

  We are capable of having our own software companies that could 
design software and call it their own product. Instead, we have 
consulting services like TCS, Infosys, and Wipro that do work for 
others. What we do is similar to running a cheap roadside garage 
rather than designing and manufacturing a car.

  This attitude extends everywhere. We have four sports officials for 
every athlete (I am not talking about cricket.) besides the fact that 
we won't win a single medal in the Olympics for next 5 Olympics in 
track and field. On the other hand, China is tipped to overtake US in 
medals tally in the upcoming Beijing Olympics. In the mean time we 
can spend time gloating about our "glorious 5000 year old culture and 
civilization" which by the way no longer exists. May be I should put 
a few more zeros after 5000 and new airports and roads will start 
popping up automatically.

  Honda did not gain its reputation over night. They made substandard 
cars for many years. But they were independent, with their own design 
and research. It is all about self respect and less about business. 
We on the other hand are so business and money minded that we won't 
go that extra effort to do it on our own. We don't mind spending 
billions of dollars buying up foreign companies and not spend 
anything to fix up the broken infrastructure at home. We don't mind 
our graduates taking up dead end jobs in call centres.

  In fact we feel proud about it instead of feeling ashamed. We feel 
proud about our generic drug manufacturing capability which really is 
copying existing drugs that some one else designed (In Mumbai lingo, 
it is called Ulhasnagar goods.) and we are proud of it.

  As for the infrastructure, we don't have any. We complain about high 
fuel prices but then we see our vehicles move at an average speed of 
2km/hr on our city streets. This is after 10-12 years of 
liberalization. If it can't be done in 10 years it means we are not 
capable of doing it. There are no excuses for crippled infrastructure 
after 10 years of "liberalization".

  Even the Soviet countries had a better infrastructure after the 
collapse of Soviet Union. When I read the economic supplements of the 
news papers, I feel like I am living in the most advanced country in 
the world. I only need to walk out of my home on the pot holed 
streets with no sewage on the road, people defecating and urinating 
in public, no traffic lights, to see the harsh reality.

  We have power cuts in most our major cities. We have new aircrafts 
flying on domestic routes but no new airports, no new runways, no new 
air traffic control, no new maintenance facilities, no new schools to 
train new ground engineers and pilots. All the new airline businesses 
are busy making money while these things go unaddressed.

  As for the environment in India, it is disaster of vast proportions 
unfolding as we speak. We need to use small inefficient air 
conditioning units because our middle class house holds want to keep 
their cool with the extra spend able income, without thinking about 
the cheap gases that go into those units that damage the environment.

  We are learning how to make petrol driven vehicles when the rest of 
world is looking for alternative fuels and technology to replace the 
fossil fuel driven machines. Mumbai today is amongst the top 10 most 
expensive cities to run business in. Where does it feature in the 
list of cities by infrastructure? We can start looking from bottom up.

  But then again, India is a land of contrasts. We have the coldest 
glaciers and the hottest deserts and I am proud of it. Unfortunately 
that contrast also applies to wealth, business, economy and certain 
other things which I am not proud of and no one in the right state of 
mind should be.