I was just watching Barkha Dutt's -- 'The buck stops here' on NDTV. She was discussing with four/five eminent personalities about the freedom to discuss whether India requires the new memorials & statues.
Anyways, I didn't go through the whole intellectual masturbation so don't know what was the conclusion or the exact discussion point.
I have been thinking on writing about this after reading about the mammoth parks, statues & memorials being erected in Uttar Pradesh. I think all these politicians & bureaucrats are stooping so low to gather votes that they are wasting millions of Rupees. I have included bureaucrats because if they want then nothing can move in India.
Recently there has been an increase in this phenomenon of going crazy with erecting so called memorials to put an imprint of their legacy. I think these politicians are missing a moot point here that a good ruler is one who rules in the hearts of the citizens not through gimmicks. But maybe they are right as they have been winning elections and I am being old school.
Still I feel this is all a waste of resources what with INR 2500 crore being wasted on memorials. Think what could have been done with this amount of money. Lakhs of uneducated children could have been sent school, the same amount could have been used to increase agricultural productivity and even the same amount could have been used to protect our ancient monuments if the fixation for the buildings was so great.
Today's ruling class is lacking creativity. They are coming with weird ideas to waste money & glorify themselves. Don't know what to say of it and if anyone will stop this as we all are becoming very good at turning a blind eye to the issues related to our country. Maybe as we are more concerned with our survival.
I will end this by repeating an earlier line that may the gods & goddesses of India steer the country at the right time on the correct path lest it goes on a downward spiral instead of developing.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Is India developing or just growing.......
India is developing and growing at a tremendous rate. It is the second most lucrative market in the world now after China. There have been numerous reports and news articles that India our great country is developing and will challenge any financial or military power.
But then why is so that whenever I drive down on an Indian road I feel restless. It seems that though everyone has got the money to buy new & shiny cars, including me, still the the quality standard or the infratructure is changing at a far lesser pace.
Why is it that when I move around any city in India I am ashamed of the state they are in. All of them unclean fill of rubble & everyone doing their bit to make them more dirty.
Amazingly Delhi, the capital of India, the jewel, has a typical distinction. From three sides if you enter the city one will encounter mountain of the city's waste. Be it the Karnal bypass, be it the entry border from Ghaziabad or be it the entry from Faridabad in Okhla. This is the state of our capital what to say of other cities. To top it all every time it rains you have traffic snarls which make the citizens sit for hours on the roads wasting precious time & resources.
To add to it we still don't have the basic necessities of water & electricity. Millions of gallons of rain water is wasted & goes into the sewers. But nothing is done to save it. So much of electricity wasted in giving hotlines to politicians but nothing done to provide it to the citizens. We pay for the water but has anyone questioned that why the water is not potable. Why is there a need to install a water purifier system.
Okay, some of the population can afford these systems but what about the 90% of the population who can't. And no one notices the amount of water wasted while purifying the water for one to drink.
Why is it that when I am flying in the commercial capital of India it feels that I am going to land on shanties (jhopad patti). Why it seems that India lives & sleeps on the roads only.
Why do I feel sad when I see green & fertile land overtaken by the concrete jungles. A perfect example is Greater Noida a place where land was & is very fertile. But due to political motivations and proximity to Delhi it was converted into industrial township. Why couldn't this have been done in Rajasthan or Madhya Pradesh or places where agriculture is not happening or the yield is low instead of destroying acres of fertile lands and making them into concrete jungles.
Why is it that I am afraid to leave my family alone. You are afraid to send the female members alone while travelling. You are afraid to approach the police even when you know that you are right.
Why do I feel that there is something happening that is not right. I am still looking for these answers and I am not very clear to where to look for a logical reasoning.
However, I feel that in terms of development we are not doing anything. Our internal security is going down. The law & order state is worsening day by day as all are involved and no body wants to do anything which troubles the old balance. There is no support for the economical weaker class. The education system has started decaying.
There has not one consistent effort by any government or civil society members or elite or bureaucracy to look at developing India. Our country is merely growing and everyone is making money. But this can't continue for long. If a sustained development plan is not formed then in years to come, when we grow old there will not be anything left to live for in our motherland.
As everyone says that India is run 'Ram bharose" maybe the God's will have to intervene and save their favorite country. Hope this happens sooner.......
But then why is so that whenever I drive down on an Indian road I feel restless. It seems that though everyone has got the money to buy new & shiny cars, including me, still the the quality standard or the infratructure is changing at a far lesser pace.
Why is it that when I move around any city in India I am ashamed of the state they are in. All of them unclean fill of rubble & everyone doing their bit to make them more dirty.
Amazingly Delhi, the capital of India, the jewel, has a typical distinction. From three sides if you enter the city one will encounter mountain of the city's waste. Be it the Karnal bypass, be it the entry border from Ghaziabad or be it the entry from Faridabad in Okhla. This is the state of our capital what to say of other cities. To top it all every time it rains you have traffic snarls which make the citizens sit for hours on the roads wasting precious time & resources.
To add to it we still don't have the basic necessities of water & electricity. Millions of gallons of rain water is wasted & goes into the sewers. But nothing is done to save it. So much of electricity wasted in giving hotlines to politicians but nothing done to provide it to the citizens. We pay for the water but has anyone questioned that why the water is not potable. Why is there a need to install a water purifier system.
Okay, some of the population can afford these systems but what about the 90% of the population who can't. And no one notices the amount of water wasted while purifying the water for one to drink.
Why is it that when I am flying in the commercial capital of India it feels that I am going to land on shanties (jhopad patti). Why it seems that India lives & sleeps on the roads only.
Why do I feel sad when I see green & fertile land overtaken by the concrete jungles. A perfect example is Greater Noida a place where land was & is very fertile. But due to political motivations and proximity to Delhi it was converted into industrial township. Why couldn't this have been done in Rajasthan or Madhya Pradesh or places where agriculture is not happening or the yield is low instead of destroying acres of fertile lands and making them into concrete jungles.
Why is it that I am afraid to leave my family alone. You are afraid to send the female members alone while travelling. You are afraid to approach the police even when you know that you are right.
Why do I feel that there is something happening that is not right. I am still looking for these answers and I am not very clear to where to look for a logical reasoning.
However, I feel that in terms of development we are not doing anything. Our internal security is going down. The law & order state is worsening day by day as all are involved and no body wants to do anything which troubles the old balance. There is no support for the economical weaker class. The education system has started decaying.
There has not one consistent effort by any government or civil society members or elite or bureaucracy to look at developing India. Our country is merely growing and everyone is making money. But this can't continue for long. If a sustained development plan is not formed then in years to come, when we grow old there will not be anything left to live for in our motherland.
As everyone says that India is run 'Ram bharose" maybe the God's will have to intervene and save their favorite country. Hope this happens sooner.......
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Will 7 new IIM's make a difference?
Well it's been quite some time that I wrote. Though I had even barely started but then one I was too lazy to write and second was not in the correct mood.
Anyhow, I just read the news that the government has proposed opening of 7 new IIM's in different regions including the state I lived in for 20 years Haryana. This made me thinking that do we actually need 7 new IIM's? Will the new IIM's make any difference?
There has already been a debate that this will dilute the IIM brand to which I partially agree. But the main point is that spending 1000 crore INR on opening institutes is it judicious or just a political gimmick trying to dissuade the political allies.
There are thousands of management institutes & colleges which are being run by the government universities. These Uni's give a MBA degree since they are a university but they hardly make any difference to the personality & thinking of the students.
The old IIM's (barring the new ones in Indore, Kozhikode etc) hone the skills of the students, they make them understand the business world, open their minds and allow them to have a different point of view. On the other hand these university b-schools just dish out management grads & degrees without even thinking what are they teaching to their students.
Let's take an example of Kurukshetra university which runs 5-6 management courses in its main campus under different departments and then add to it various affiliated institutes. Even in the main campus the students are just mugging up the books to just clear the exams. They are not made to focus on the practical part and being away from the main industrial hubs the industry interaction is bare minimum rendering them ill equipped for the real world.
I feel the same might start happening with the new IIM's. How will one maintain the similar standard. And where will the students get the exposure while sitting in Srinagar or in Shillong.
Shockingly, even institutes which are closer to industrial hubs are not able to set any standards. I once took some guest lectures in consumer behavior in a government run school in Noida. And I made the mistake of starting my class with a case. Surprisingly for me though, not a single student knew what the subject was all about. They actually wanted the teacher or a visiting faculty to spoon feed them rather than applying their minds to solve problems.
This is a deep malaise which is now eating our education system like termites. We are slowly loosing the edge. Every year lakhs of engineers & management grads are dished out who are barely equipped to work. If this goes on the famed Indian education system will die.
The government think tanks are just trying to cash in on the brands and not just apply their minds to create new brands. Look at the US of A whom everyone follows then you see there are not many campuses of the same school. In fact there are so many good schools and people are still working on to create new and better schools.
So instead of wasting 1000 crore of rupees on opening new institutes the same amount should be spent on improving the standards of the current schools. Try to build new brands. Equip the students with new techniques rather than spoiling their careers by making them mugging machines and incompetent for the corporate world.
Hope someone will listen.... Mr Sibal?
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