Saturday, June 27, 2009

To thine own self be true

When Polonius said in Hamlet, ‘to thine own self be true’, he was not thinking of Part I of the UPA government’s forthcoming Budget. Polonius was saying that integrity and success lie in being true to oneself. This Budget is expected to announce a massive give-away of rice and wheat at Rs 3/- per kilo, and the scheme is likely to fail because it fails Polonius’ test. Eighteen years of slow, incremental economic reforms have fashioned a certain kind of nation which was captured brilliantly in the film, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. If the movie caught the character of the nation’s poor, the Indian Premier League (IPL) of cricket mirrors it for the middle class. The character quite simply is of a vibrant and energetic private sector that is hemmed in by an arid eco-system of weak governance. As if to underline this, our bureaucracy has recently been rated the worst in Asia in a survey of twelve countries.

While we deeply admire the UPA’s commitment to the poor, we are repelled by its inability to understand our state’s limitations. As it is, there is huge corruption in the public food distribution system and it would be far better to make cash transfers to the poor via smart cards. It will not harm the poor farmer either, as selling grains at Rs 3, which will inevitably end up in the black market. Smart cards are being successfully used in the national health insurance scheme (RSBY).

Millions of Indians are stuck between the factory and the farm but they do not sit around and complain. Each morning they pull themselves up and go out and create a livelihood in the informal sector. Our regulations, alas, do not make it easy—hence India is rated 128th in the ease of doing business. In a massive new study, Moving out of Poverty, people claim that they have risen out of poverty through their own initiative, and not through hand-outs. The poor prefer an enabling environment that lets them work with dignity. Our advantage over China is that we respect property titles and Karnataka and Andhra are showing that when secure titles are on-line, the poor capitalize on them to start businesses in the informal economy.

Unlike the statists behind the Rs 3/- scheme, many UPA ministers are refreshing in seeking to create enabling conditions for the poor. The new minister of HRD, Kapil Sibal, understands that teacher absenteeism is forcing even the poor to desert state schools and he is focused on better delivery through public-private partnerships. The energetic Kamal Nath has begun to cut red tape and remove bottlenecks in pursuit of an ambitious target to build roads, putting greater onus on the private sector. M M Kharge plans to spend Rs 30,000 crores to develop skills, and knows that the only way to impart vocational education is with the involvement of companies. Sivaprakash Jaiswal has announced the end of state monopoly in the corrupt coal mining sector, and it raises the hope of finally bringing efficiency to a sector that accounts for 55% of India’s energy basket. Veerappan Moily has promised ‘sweeping, holistic judicial reform’ that will tackle the backlog of 30 million pending court cases among other reforms. All these five ministers are following Polonius’s advice.

In the past year both China and India held a sports event. The magnificent Beijing Olympics were a tribute to the efficiency of the Chinese state. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a testimonial to our private sector. When the timing of the IPL clashed with the elections this year the IPL did not give up. It played off the English and South African boards to get the best deal and the result was an amazing sight--Delhi playing Hyderabad in Cape Town and Mumbai playing Chennai in Johannesburg. With bold ambition, quick thinking, meticulous planning and brilliant execution—all the skills that are making Indian companies successful on the world stage—the IPL filled stadiums, shuttled ten of thousands of Indians to South Africa, and enticed millions to their TVs back home. It took a hundred years for Major League Baseball in America to hold its first game outside the US and fifty for the American Football League to play outside. The Indian Premier League has gone global in its second year.

The two sports events are metaphors for two models of development. The Chinese state can deliver rice and wheat at Rs 3 to the poor. But India’s cannot. The UPA government would do well to remember Polonius advice and be true to our nation’s character.

7 comments:

Anshul Arora said...

Dear Sir

There is nothing to feel good about that IPL has gone global. Infact, all of us know that there was no other choice.

What would you do when you are not allowed to carry the game in the country? When Birla's went to east Asian countries to do their business, that was not the globalization of Indian business but a reflection of our wimp and inflexible government machinery. Same has happened in IPL case. And by all this, if anybody has lost that is India as a country as the only Loser in case of Tata Nano project is West Bengal.

allthatmatters said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I am Chinese and an under-deserved Anglophile as well. To us Chinese, India is already the world's No.1 Superpower, transending the best traditions of the British Empire every day. No dispute here, and much admired. In PPP terms, India is already the world's No.1 economy, not even the US comes close. India has a super high-tech economy with InfoSys, Wipro, Nano, Slumdog, and much more that the average Chinese never even heard about, in whose unfit minds, they only know about BYD, Hauwei, ZTE, and Lenovo; never mind, how limited horizons. In the democratic guidance of Gandhi, Nehru, Indira, Rajeev, and Singh super human politicians,India shines while the world declines. India has a huge population dividend, and as time advances and the multiplier labours forth the advantage will become much more pronounced, just imagine millions more Singhs all equaled by only the Oxford Sheldonian debate chamber forged speakers of great saliva dispensers. With her close to 1.1 Billion Software Engineers, they are making this profession obsolete; literacy is not even worthy of men's will as these boys and gals can all express themselves in the languages of their laptops. In the next 100 years, India with her super effective democracy will prevail mightily; as we Chinese just pray that India will also have mercy to leave a bit of room for us to earn a modest living in our corner of the planet. India just needs to sleep walk through the next 30 years, or better yet with their superior intellectual powers they can make an galactical contribution to such worthy human endeavours like whether the black cats are superior to white cats, or white ones to black ones, or what the hell, maybe even both, whereas us poor Chinese will have to continue to slave under the Sun, rain, and snow just to keep us fed and our kids in school. With the current economic crisis, my salary here in Beijing is shrinking by 8% each year, together with the overall economy; oh maybe I am confused with the sign of this figure as you see I am not that educated with numbers. In 30 years, I suspect my salary would march on to zero, with how many ... . Cheers to India!

Anonymous said...

Hello I'd love to congratulate you for such a great quality site!
thought this would be a nice way to introduce myself!

Sincerely,
Sage Brand
if you're ever bored check out my site!
[url=http://www.partyopedia.com/articles/bridal-shower-party-supplies.html]bridal shower Party Supplies[/url].

Anonymous said...

[url=http://www.kfarbair.com][img]http://www.kfarbair.com/_images/logo.png[/img][/url]

מלון [url=http://www.kfarbair.com]כפר בעיר[/url] - [url=http://www.kfarbair.com/about.html]חדרים[/url] גדולים אנו מציעים שירותי אירוח מיוחדים גם ישנו במקום שירות חדרים הכולל [url=http://www.kfarbair.com/eng/index.html]סעודות רומנטיות[/url] במחירים מפתיעים אשר מוגשות ישירות לחדרכם...

לפרטים נא לפנות לעמוד המלון - [url=http://kfarbair.com]כפר בעיר[/url] [url=http://www.kfarbair.com/contact.html][img]http://www.kfarbair.com/_images/apixel.gif[/img][/url]

Anonymous said...

Hello www.blogger.com folks.

Are you searching to get your Internet Business [b]Indexed on top of Bing[/b] search engine? Maybe you are looking to get more unique visitors? We have the perfect deal for you! We offer you an exclusive chance to experiance the knowledge of our [b][url=http://xrumer-blast.com/marketplace/xrumer-products/]Xrumer Services[/url][/b]. [url=http://www.xrumer-blast.com][img]http://xrumer-blast.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif[/img][/url]

It is NOT trash! This is a human edited entry specifically created to demonstrate the power of our automated software and its potential of getting to wide variety of audience in an effective and time saving manner.

We are a group of veteran [b][url=http://xrumer-blast.com/about-xrumer-blast-com/]Internet Marketers[/url][/b] and [b]Search Engine Optimization Experts[/b] that provide [b]Affordable, High Quality, [url=http://xrumer-blast.com/marketplace/seo-products/]Search Engine Optimization Service[/url][/b]. Post your message on thousands of forums, message boards, blogs and journals and gain organic traffic in a matter of days! With the help of our [b][url=http://xrumerblast.livejournal.com/]Search Engine Optimization Experts[/url][/b] your [b]Store URL[/b] can appear on [b]6833[/b] blogs and journals. Receive almost instant increase of SERPS, Get thousands of quality backlinks directly to your Forum without lifting a finger!

Our goal is simple; we want to make you and your website on the top of every search engine so you and your family can enjoy the comfort of steady, automatic income without leaving your home. Trough our [b][url=http://xrumer-blast.com/contact-xrumer-blast-com/]SEO Advice[/url][/b] you will receive one of the best support seen in the industry. As part of our [b]Search Engine Optimization Services[/b], we take care of everything for you, from Optimizing your Website for search engines all through ranking your Website on the first page of your Google.

For more information regarding [b]Search Engine Optimiztion[/b] and [b]Xrumer Blast Services[/b] check out [b][url=http://xrumerservice.livejournal.com/]SEO Experts[/url][/b]. Our site includes everything you need to order your first [b]Xrumer Blast[/b], you can create the most appropriate message (Project) to suit your Store, send us the information and after the payment clearance we will start working immediatly!

[url=http://xrumer-blast.com/marketplace/][img]http://xrumer-blast.com/wp-content/uploads/Xrumer-Blast-Logo.png[/img][/url]

Unknown said...

We are uhe solid first platform for modeling newcomers to achieve there new dreams. The first to train and promote out models at our expense to avoid burden on them. Join the most popular agency if you modelling jobs in Delhi for female freshers, models, students, housewives aiming to start there modeling career. We are top modelling agency in Delhi offering modelling jobs in Delhi for upcoming female freshers or experienced models who want to join lingerie modeling agencies.


modeling agencies in Delhi
modeling agencies
modeling jobs
modeling auditions
model coordinators
modeling jobs in Delhi