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A sober Indian talks at TED: Ideas for India's future 同胞的评论
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Ideas for India's future
Nandan Nilekani is the author of "Imagining India," a radical re-thinking of one of the world’s great economies. The co-founder of Infosys, he helped move India into the age of IT.
Nandan Nilekani, the visionary co-founder of outsourcing pioneer Infosys, explains four brands of ideas that will determine whether India can continue its recent breakneck progress.
Ideas for India's future
In 1930 this country went through a Great Depression, which led to all the ideas of the state and social security, and all the other things that happened in Roosevelt's time. In the 1980s we had the Reagan revolution, which lead to deregulation. And today, after the global economic crisis, there was a whole new set of rules about how the state should intervene. So ideas change states.
And I looked at India and said, really there are four kinds of ideaswhich really make an impact on India. The first, to my mind, is what I call as "the ideas that have arrived." These ideas have brought together something which has made India happen the way it is today. The second set of ideas I call "ideas in progress." Those are ideas which have been accepted but not implemented yet. The third set of ideas are what I call as "ideas that we argue about" --those are ideas where we have a fight, an ideological battle about how to do things. And the fourth thing, which I believe is most important, is "the ideas that we need to anticipate." Because when you are a developing country in the world where you can see the problems that other countries are having, you can actually anticipate what that did and do things very differently.
Now in India's case I believe there are six ideas which are responsible for where it has come today. The first is really the notion of people. In the '60s and '70s we thought of people as a burden. We thought of people as a liability. Today we talk of people as an asset. We talk of people as human capital. And I believe this change in the mindset, of looking at people as something of a burden to human capital, has been one of the fundamental changes in the Indian mindset. And this change in thinking of human capital is linked to the fact that India is going through a demographic dividend. As healthcare improves, as infant mortality goes down, fertility rates start dropping. And India is experiencing that. India is going to have a lot of young people with a demographic dividend for the next 30 years. What is unique about this demographic dividend is that India will be the only country in the world to have this demographic dividend. In other words, it will be the only young country in an aging world. And this is very important. At the same time if you peel away the demographic dividend in India, there are actually two demographic curves. One is in the south and in the west of India, which is already going to be fully expensed by 2015, because in that part of the country, the fertility rate is almost equal to that of a West European country. Then there is the whole northern India, which is going to be the bulk of the future demographic dividend. But a demographic dividend is only as good as the investment in your human capital. Only if the people have education, they have good health, they have infrastructure, they have roads to go to work, they have lights to study at night -- only in those cases can you really get the benefit of a demographic dividend. In other words, if you don't really invest in the human capital, the same demographic dividend can be a demographic disaster. Therefore India is at a critical point where either it can leverage its demographic dividendor it can lead to a demographic disaster.
The second thing in India has been the change in the role of entrepreneurs. When India got independence entrepreneurs were seen as a bad lot, as people who would exploit. But today, after 60 years, because of the rise of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs have become role models, and they are contributing hugely to the society. This change has contributed to the vitality and the whole economy.
The third big thing I believe that has changed India is our attitude towards the English language. English language was seen as a language of the imperialists. But today, with globalization, with outsourcing, English has become a language of aspiration. This has made it something that everybody wants to learn. And the fact that we have English is now becoming a huge strategic asset.
The next thing is technology. Forty years back, computers were seen as something which was forbidding, something which was intimidating, something that reduced jobs. Today we live in a country which sells eight million mobile phones a month, of which 90 percent of those mobile phones are prepaid phones because people don't have credit history. Forty percent of those prepaid phones are recharged at less than 20 cents at each recharge. That is the scale at which technology has liberated and made it accessible. And therefore technology has gone from being seen as something forbidding and intimidating to something that is empowering. Twenty years back, when there was a report on bank computerization, they didn't name the report as a report on computers, they call them as "ledger posting machines." They didn't want the unions to believe that they were actually computers. And when they wanted to have more advanced, more powerful computers they called them "advanced ledger posting machines." So we have come a long way from those days where the telephone has become an instrument of empowerment, and really has changed the way Indians think of technology.
And then I think the other point is that Indians today are far morecomfortable with globalization. Again, after having lived for more than 200 years under the East India Company and under imperial rule, Indians had a very natural reaction towards globalizationbelieving it was a form of imperialism. But today, as Indian companies go abroad, as Indians come and work all over the world, Indians have gained a lot more confidence and have realized that globalization is something they can participate in. And the fact that the demographics are in our favor, because we are the only young country in an aging world, makes globalization all the more attractive to Indians.
And finally, India has had the deepening of its democracy. When democracy came to India 60 years back it was an elite concept. It was a bunch of people who wanted to bring in democracybecause they wanted to bring in the idea of universal voting and parliament and constitution and so forth. But today democracy has become a bottom-up process where everybody has realized the benefits of having a voice, the benefits of being in an open society.And therefore democracy has become embedded.
I believe these six factors -- the rise of the notion of population as human capital, the rise of Indian entrepreneurs, the rise of English as a language of aspiration, technology as something empowering,globalization as a positive factor, and the deepening of democracy -- has contributed to why India is today growing at rates it has never seen before.
But having said that, then we come to what I call as ideas in progress. Those are the ideas where there is no argument in a society, but you are not able to implement those things. And really there are four things here. One is the question of education. For some reason, whatever reason -- lack of money, lack of priorities, because of religion having an older culture -- primary education was never given the focus it required. But now I believe it's reached a point where it has become very important. Unfortunately the government schools don't function, so children are going to private schools today. Even in the slums of India more than 50 percent of urban kids are going into private schools. So there is a big challenge in getting the schools to work. But having said that, there is an enormous desire among everybody, including the poor, to educate their children. So I believe primary education is an ideawhich is arrived but not yet implemented.
Similarly, infrastructure -- for a long time, infrastructure was not a priority. Those of you who have been to India have seen that. It's certainly not like China. But today I believe finally infrastructure is something which is agreed upon and which people want to implement. It is reflected in the political statements. 20 years back the political slogan was, "Roti, kapada, makaan," which meant, "Food, clothing and shelter." And today's political slogan is, "Bijli, sadak, pani," which means "Electricity, water and roads." And that is a change in the mindset where infrastructure is now accepted.So I do believe this is an idea which has arrived, but simply not implemented.
The third thing is again cities. It's because Gandhi believed in villages and because the British ruled from the cities, therefore Nehru thought of New Delhi as an un-Indian city. For a long time we have neglected our cities. And that is reflected in the kinds of situations that you see. But today, finally, after economic reforms,and economic growth, I think the notion that cities are engines of economic growth, cities are engines of creativity, cities are engines of innovation, have finally been accepted. And I think now you're seeing the move towards improving our cities. Again, an idea which is arrived, but not yet implemented.
The final thing is the notion of India as a single market -- because when you didn't think of India as a market, you didn't really bother about a single market, because it didn't really matter. And therefore you had a situation where every state had its own market for products. Every province had its own market for agriculture.Increasingly now the policies of taxation and infrastructure and all that, are moving towards creating India as a single market. So there is a form of internal globalization which is happening, which is as important as external globalization. These four factors I believe -- the ones of primary education, infrastructure, urbanization, and single market -- in my view are ideas in Indiawhich have been accepted, but not implemented.
Then we have what I believe are the ideas in conflict. The ideas that we argue about. These are the arguments we have which cause gridlock. What are those ideas? One is, I think, are ideological issues. Because of the historical Indian background, in the caste system, and because of the fact that there have been many people who have been left out in the cold, a lot of the politics is about how to make sure that we'll address that. And it leads to reservations and other techniques. It's also related to the way that we subsidize our people, and all the left and right arguments that we have. A lot of the Indian problems are related to the ideology of caste and other things. This policy is causing gridlock. This is one of the factors which needs to be resolved.
The second one is the labor policies that we have, which make it so difficult for entrepreneurs to create standardized jobs in companies, that 93 percent of Indian labor is in the unorganized sector. They have no benefits: they don't have social security; they don't have pension; they don't have healthcare; none of those things. This needs to be fixed because unless you can bring these people into the formal workforce, you will end up creating a whole lot of people who are completely disenfranchised. Therefore we need to create a new set of labor laws, which are not as onerous as they are today. At the same time give a policy for a lot more people to be in the formal sector, and create the jobs for the millions of people that we need to create jobs for.
The third thing is our higher education. Indian higher education is completely regulated. It's very difficult to start a private university.It's very difficult for a foreign university to come to India. As a result of that our higher education is simply not keeping pace with India's demands. That is leading to a lot of problems which we need to address.
But most important I believe are the ideas we need to anticipate.Here India can look at what is happening in the west and elsewhere, and look at what needs to be done. The first thing is, we're very fortunate that technology is at a point where it is much more advanced than when other countries had the development.So we can use technology for governance. We can use technology for direct benefits. We can use technology for transparency, and many other things.
The second thing is, the health issue. India has equally horriblehealth problems of the higher state of cardiac issue, the higher state of diabetes, the higher state of obesity. So there is no point in replacing a set of poor country diseases with a set of rich country diseases. Therefore we're to rethink the whole way we look at health. We really need to put in place a strategy so that we don't go to the other extreme of health.
Similarly today in the West you're seeing the problem of entitlement -- the cost of social security, the cost of Medicare, the cost of Medicaid. Therefore when you are a young country, again you have a chance to put in place a modern pension system so that you don't create entitlement problems as you grow old.
And then again, India does not have the luxury of making its environment dirty, because it has to marry environment and development. Just to give an idea, the world has to stabilize at something like 20 gigatons per year. On a population of nine billionour average carbon emission will have to be about two tons per year. India is already at two tons per year. But if India grows at something like eight percent, income per year per person will go to 16 times by 2050. So we're saying: income growing at 16 times and no growth in carbon. Therefore we will fundamentally rethink the way we look at the environment, the way we look at energy,the way we create whole new paradigms of development.
Now why does this matter to you? Why does what's happening 10 thousand miles away matter to all of you? Number one, this matters because this represents more than a billion people. A billion people, 1/6th of the world population. It matters because this is a democracy. And it is important to prove that growth and democracy are not incompatible, that you can have a democracy, that you can have an open society, and you can have growth. It's important because if you solve these problems, you can solve the problems of poverty in the world. It's important because you need it to solve the world's environment problems.
If we really want to come to a point, we really want to put a cap on our carbon emission, we want to really lower the use of energy -- it has to be solved in countries like India. You know if you look at the development in the West over 200 years, the average growth may have been about two percent. Here we are talking about countries growing at eight to nine percent. And that makes a huge difference. When India was growing at about three, 3.5 percentand the population was growing at two percent, its per capita income was doubling every 45 years. When the economic growth goes to eight percent and population growth drops to 1.5 percent,then per capita income is doubling every nine years. In other words, you're certainly fast-forwarding this whole process of a billion people going to prosperity. And you must have a clear strategy which is important for India and important for the world.That is why I think all of you should be equally concerned with it as I am. Thank you very much. (Applause)
I still feel something is missed out here. Nandan Nilekani spoke about everything, but agriculture and its progress. With a country primarily depending on agriculture, shouldn't we come up with some ideas to reform the agriculture status in India? Or am I missing something here? Thanks.
My friend if agriculture was the essence to development. Bihar & UP would have been the richest states in india. Both the states have most of the fertile land under cultivation. Cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore contribute to 70-80% to the respective state's total income. What does this mean? The modern mantra for development is build bigger , better and all inclusive cities. Move people from villages to cities for better life. Villages and agriculture cannot sustain any more population growth. Moreover for development state needs money and farmers and small traders do not pay taxes. But for Hyderabad , APs total income would be far below UP. Perhaps you understand the point.
Pathak, If my understanding is correct Hyderabad & Bangalore incomes comes from being IT hub. So is it your vision making whole Indians as IT professionals?
BTW, Do you have any alternative to feed humans without agriculture? Else are we planning to produce humans who can live without food if he/she has a car, sea-shore home & 20 crore bank balance ?
FYI, india has 18% share of world population.
Mahendra,
Nandan, in is book, has covered the success and failure of agriculture policies in India. He asks for a second round of the green revolution equivalent because the benefits of the last one have petered out. Agriculture will continue to employ large chunk of people in agro-processing and agri-businesses; in addition to farming. Hence, agriculture is going to be equally important like the service sector; however, the latter will attract more spotlight.
I agree with you that more urbanization is inveitable in coming years. But, only small section of total population can be absorbed in the service sector which is usually centered in cities. Most of the people will continue to work on farms and shopfloors located in the hinterland or near big cities.
Yes, agriculture is important and you missed out some important pieces of this jig-saw puzzle - CORRUPTION and POOR GOVERNANCE.
Poor governance and corruption are together holding back agriculture (and else). Price paid for crops is a big corruption zone. Poor farmers, less informed and held back by policies, are forced to sell at low costs.
As Nandan rightly said, we are limited by how much carbon emission we can add. This is a big hint to us, that expansion of high-tech goods isn't not the key, but better management is the key.
The two factors introduced above are holding us back. Holding back the free flow of money/resources, leading to widening gap of quality of life between rich/powerful and poor.
I believe we have enough, but distribution isn't proper. We need to work out this much only.
Primary education, e-governance and fighting corruption (with ideas like Shaffi Mather on TED) might suffice.
saare jahan se achha hindustan hamara[object Object]
It is quite surprising nandan covered nuch less in a given time missing agriculture,corruption,delay in justice and disparity of income and how to correct the system which accepts sab chalta hai attitude.[object Object]
Arvind:
In his book, Nandan has covered the successes and failures in agriculture. He has left out the reform in judiciary which I think was important point to miss out.
I agree on this point, within next coming decades,
agriculture is going to be a esential for a Country..
what about eg. Vandana Shiva? Is she authentically green and are her ideas worth to spread? I
Yes Vasan Raj.....India is living on agriculture but nothing else....nandan sir should have made an impact on that so that nobody makes mistakes on what india is......
What makes me so impressed by the potential of India is the ability of leading personalities like Nandan Nilekani to have a long term vision (25-50 years). And as far as I understand his vision is based on both good evidence and visionary entrepreneurship. And India seems to be one of the best partner in climate policy since climate change pose such great threats to India itself.
I'm impressed with how Mr. Nilekani educates us about his country in such a straightforward and objective manner. While many leaders attempt to hide their countries weaknesses, Nilekani lays it all out for us. He seems to be so fixated on getting to a solution that it's as if he's offering the problem statement on a silver platter for us, so that we don't have to waste time figuring that part out. The emphasis is on moving forward with the innovation part, and in some ways he's asking us all to join him in the entrepreneurial effort. I appreciate the analysis based on his categories of ideas: have arrived, in progress, in conflict, in anticipation. It's a neat model that can be applied to all countries to ascertain the stage at which they're ready for rapid increases of growth and prosperity. I would love to see this analysis for China, Russia, Brazil, US, Germany, and Japan too! Anyone?
Well summarized, Hally, and yes, I agree that his model of sorting ideas can be applied to other developing economies as well. It is true that NIlekani has presented the pitfalls and the strengths well, and I hope that his optimism will rub off on the government offices he will work in, and bring India success in the future.
To listen to Mr Nandan I turn around to see my country and it saddens me even more our situation. Mexican politics and the goverment are the worst of the worst.
Not even close to the US gives us a competitive advantage in outsourcing services.
I congratulate the indian people.
Hi Enrique Meza,
you know what the politicians are all the same all around the world,. If you take peek into the politics of any country you will come to know. Yes you are right the US ppl are better amount the lot and thats the react they are developed.
We have no other option than to empower mexican citizens, so we can take an active role in our government. Even more, learn to better elect our officials, gov20 is not an online government, but a government executed by citizens.
good ,And what makes Christian Louboutin Boots so remarkable?womens boots.Its exquisite quality, fine craftsmanship, sexy high heels, quirky designs and of course the red outsole known as the symbol of Christian Louboutin shoes .
Hi Enrique,
The govt is outside all these developments ...they havent involved in this and so the progress is made... the policitian are all the same :( .But the collective mentality of knowledge thirsty Indians has been put into a right direction by some legends like Nandan & Narayana Murthy ,Tatas,Ambani's etc ... They have set up the path ahead for us to follow :) ..
Indeed a great country and a great talk!
One thing that I would have liked mentioned, but that misses, is the idea of a future long-lasting peace with Pakistan. No matter what differences existed in the past, if India wishes to become a great nation it must find a way to put aside the opposing views and find a viable solution for the conflict. Furthermore, if you take into account what state Pakistan is in right now India could be the nation that could guarantee for more safety and stability in the region. Instead of fighting each other over barren borderland India and Pakistan should learn to work together in helping defeat the Taliban in my opinion.
Now I know this is easy to say, especially for me as an outsider, as there are a lot of emotions involved in this matter, but still I hope that wise people like Mr. Nilekani will help find a solution.
Who knows, maybe we'll see a TED Talk on that sometime soon...
I agree with you and I would like add that to have a stable Asia, India, Pakistan, China and Afghanistan will have to work together.US can win the hearts of people in Asia if it pushes these countries to work together to build better relationship among themselves.
I saw a pop up video blurb that "Indian has more honors students than the US has students".
Talk about investment in human capital!
Inidia's law that people from countries where Indians can be president, can be president in India is a wonderful and admirable one. I like it.
They are a huge population, huge market, AND a democracy!
You are referring to the viral video "Did You Know" created by Karl Fisch and Scott McCleod, in which it is claimed "The 25% of India's population with the highest IQ's is GREATER than the population of the United States. Translation: India has more honors kids than America has kids."
All that statement says is that India has a population 4 times the size of the US.
If you confuse it with a statement saying the population of India has a higher IQ, whatever that might mean, than that of the US then you need a bit more mathematical training....
Well, I think he is saying that 25% of India are honor students, and 25% of India's population is similar to the population of America. Thus, there are more honor students in India than children in America. Technically that is a correct statement. India is 1.1 billion populated nation.
So, India uses it's rupee currency rather than credit. Which the idea is buy now and pay it all later, as we American's would do it. It's the American Life what can we say? BUT, these people live by the penny, as we live by the dollar, a dollar can last them 3 days. (1 USD = 51.137 Rs.) The spending is very conservative here, and not that it is a bad thing, but, not necessarily a good thing neither. India needs more discipline yes, better politicians yes, better education yes, better roads, better services, be able to speak one language instead of 30 different languages, improvement on waste management, more efficient laws and the list goes on. The point is, this country is a baby, it is going to take time, but the country is doing it all on their own. No one has lending them anything or helping, and nor have they borrowed. I see lots of potential in India, and as America believed that it will be number one, India also believes that they will be one of the top globalist in the world.
Great talk for the west & informative.
In reality, the recent elections have shown that the middle class have hardly participated in the process.
We are expecting a very hung & fragmented parliament tomorrow, leading to slowing of development. English is being alienated in schools in most states & local languages being thrust into schools, thus stunting the future of IT & other industries.
Lastly, Indians lack cohesion & discipline , thus leading to to haphazard growth, poor civic amenities & infrastructure. Middle class could not care less & accept sub standard living as FATE
Nandan knows this as well as I do.
I pray & hope things will change.
Pray and hoping won't help. Reminds me of a joke when someone had 10 kids, he said "Everything is God given". I think, we make God responsible for everything & cannot understand, what use are we if God is doing everything :)
Indians blv in praying more than anywhere. I am an agnost
The results of elections in India are announced few hours back and people of India have chosen a stable and progressive government. I know and understand that we have plenty of problems in India and people of India also understand it that is the reason people of India have chosen a stable government for their development. As the citizens of India we must encourage these trends and should support whole heartily.. After all we are only 60 years old and every day we are learning and making ourselves better.
Great Person! Great Ideas!
Dear Nanadan Sir, It was worth the listen. Made me feel proud and God Bless you and your family.
I quiet liked your quote" People in India as assets/capital and not burden". This is a strong factor for growth but it makes me wonder and worry. Pollution and population like the conventional way does go hand. It is debatable since I believe the root cause of pollution is the consumption of resources. The more we empower (monetary wise) ourselves, the more we consume the resources. Therefore if the people move out from the rural towards the urban, the consumption of resources increase. Since in rural the consumption far less as compared to urban areas. Doesn't this also concern all since Agriculture being the back bone of our strength will weaken with rapid development. I'm concerned on how this can go hand in hand (both industrialization and Agriculture). I feel agriculture is not given its due since there is bad marketing internally due to a many farmers commit the heinous crime of self killing (suicide).
Isn't that a huge concern and very alarming. How can this be tackled?
Still in 2016 also,I think government has been more focused on development of urban area only. There is no per capita income growth in agriculture sector due to poor polices of Indian government.
this guy is a legend and his reputation of getting the house in order is also huge , love to see him talk more often on the subject,
A big idea I did not see in this talk was the gender inequality. It is at the core of many other issues discussed here: education, health, etc. I believe a lot of of progress has been made in past two decades, but there is still a long way to go.
Mr. Nilkani has put forth an interesting concept of Ideas driving young India into the future. But these ideas would only be as good as the actions that follow. What has to change is the mindset of the people, simply put "Be the change you want to see in the world".
At the end of the day,
a rich man eat delicious food.
a middle class man eat decent food.
a poor man eat whatever get with the money he has.
agriculture should be the first thing for India.
what will you eat one day , when we left with no farmers and andriculture
What is he talking all about? Copying the capitalism from west and expecting a multi-fold increase in per ca pita of poor & middle class indians. It is nothing more or less than a good joke. For sure India will grow by means of globalization, free market, urban development. But this growth will benefit only 1% of Indians who are greedy businessmen and corrupt politicians & bureaucrats. All his ideologies will only increase the gap between rich and poor. It's already started. You need to pay 50k just to get an admission for LKG kid - really it is a benefit for privatization of the education. isn't it? Without lakhs of rupees, you can't get good healthcare ... small retail shops are getting closed.. ultimate benefit of viewing india as a single retail market..
Just because tele-communication worked the way it is... all other things need not necessarily benefit common man. Being english aspirants may benefit 5% to get MNC jobs where as 80% of indians are in agriculture & related works.
Jay, i would disagree with your idea. Private Educational Institutions have helped india avoid the conflict between its middle class youth for opportunity after the policy of social justice was implemented through reservations. This also lead to more educated & skilled youth available as labor for outsourcing business in india. Knowledge of English language has enabled this business opportunity come to india. People employed with MNCs might constitute just 1-2 % of the total Indian population, however it has added a lot to the government exchequer. Remember farmers and small traders do not pay taxes. More than the revenue, it has improved India%u2019s image which will go a long way in getting more business for us, improve stability in the region and inspire people towards growth rather than fight for opportunities amongst each other. Why do you forget that development is a chain reaction. If someone has money and spends it, that really helps others, rich and poor alike.
Pathak, the opportunity to get education is getting addressed through reservations. But my point is the "cost of education today" because of privatization and capitalistic mindset that we are welcoming with a red carpet from west. My point is about "schools are business", "hospitals are business" and slowly everything else for that matter.
I am not anti-english. My wish is every Indian should know english for global communication and across India as well. But my point is, which needs much actions in priority. Is it 2% or 80%? Look at the bad of position of that 80% and start talking much about that. Is it not wise to spend money to stop hair-fall rather on gold comb?
are you saying that having few mega-corporations to run agri-business and retail business will generate more taxes and india will grow? The fact is we are making lot of people job less. I don't understand why you want to make people job less in order to get more tax from business and give money back to the same people.
(C) I can understand that development is a chain reaction. In fact I am talking about how it is broken. I am talking about the missing link between rich and poor. I am talking about the chain that is open rather than closed.
Are the MNC guys spending reaching common-man by your "so-called" development cycle? How much percent of the spending for flat (rent/purchase) on a 5-storey apartment owned by wealthy people and sold by mega real estate companies goes around the development chain & reaches the needy.
How much percent out of the spendings on nike shoe, pepe jean, barista coffee, 5-star buffet, ray ban glass travels across the chain?
My whole argument is about concentration of money in few hands because of capitalistic policies - globalization, free market, urbanization. It just increases the gap between rich & poor. So when nandan shares this kind of idea and saying that it will increase per capita income through this development cycle, I don't know anything but to laugh
So, what is your solution? I see a lot of people throwing stones in this and other forums. It is time to stop throwing stones and passing meaningless critiques. What is the solution?
India is surely emerging as world leader in every sector.
Continuing my previous comment, I appreciate him because he thinks and spends time for those issues. There are thousands like him who can but dont do anything. As many say he thinks for his benefit. Suppose thats true for a moment.
An eg. India has corruption. Dont deny it. We have politicians who take bribe and dont do any good for people. Now among them, if I can find a politician making money for himself but still doing work for the progress of people, then I why not prefer him. He fills his pockets. Let him. Bottomline is he is fairer than other black crows. Ideally no one should be corrupt but except 'ram rajya' thousands of years back - name a system without corruptn. Accept the facts and move on.
Think practically. Again how many of his criticizers here have potential to go to TED/similar platforms and lecture OR Influence big people like he can. Instead of starting your own movement, lets join,help,advice & refine his ideas.
Note: I dont work for Infosys..(")
India is an interesting prospect for sure. The same can't quite be said about Nandan Nilekani's ideas & speeches. Essentially they are rehashed, living room coffee table talk of the so-called Indian intelligentsia which is often trite, superficial & divorced from reality in many cases. Other aspects that he talks about are changes which are global in nature and not specific or unique to India.
Speechmaking is not his forte either. The lack of voice modulation, pauses, emphasis etc., is painful on the ears. Listening to him talk is like one unmitigated drone which should put you to sleep anywhere from between 5 to 10 minutes.
He and his boss Narayanmurthy, have been rehashing, repackaging and trotting out ad infinitum the same trite, stale & irrelevant ideas in their ghost-written or compiled books and speeches. It's time to move on.
I do not agree with Mr. Nilekani's view that cities are centres of innovation and progress. May be it is a transitional state today, but the problems of urbanisation and environmental deterioration would soon shift the focus to rural area, where availability of remote skilled manpower through easy communication, low wages, low land costs would make sustainable industrial growth. Mahatma Gandhi's idea of empowering villages is real solution to India's development. In Western Maharashtra, growth of sugar and agrobased industries in rural area have shown how decentralised development is successful.
Nilekani's view makes sense if we think of cities as more than a physical thing. Are we all now not part of the same global city?
The title is "Nandan Nilekani's ideas for India's future", I waited until the last minute to hear something but probably last few seconds said about future.
His speech is totally from the point of view of a Business man but do not reflect the real past, real present and real future of India in terms of India as a Country.
He claims People are Assets and not Liabilities. Ask any student of Economics, they say Factors of Production are Men, Material, Organization and Management. India has excessive Men that are not good for any Countries Growth. Probably he meant to say Engineers are Assets for His Company. Infy is not India. He is Rich thinks like rich. Again ABC of economics tells for Rich kids are Liabilities, he came from that backgroundnow being a CEO he changed his mind and says people are Assets (Grown up kids are people right) For a person to become Human capital huge investment (in terms of income) is needed. Who pays for it, of course we know he wants Govt., to pay for it :
Nandan Nilekani just demonstrated once again that Talk is cheaper than deeds. Infosys leverages all incentives Indian government provided to build a great business, but consistently refused to build and contribute to the very infrastructure he mentioned in the talk. The only infrastructure it ever built was its own campuses.
While taking advantage of the very demographics and social fabric to create todays infosys, it want to move away from its social obligation and dreaming about labor reforms that will allow it to hire and fire at will.
Unfortunately media around the world gets carried away with the dazzling stories of Infosys, it never got a chance to feel the real nerve of India and true entrepreneurs that created and empowered the democratic India. Hope, the world will see India beyond this fog someday.
Mean time, many Indians and rest of the world alike take pride in hypocrisy and honor that never belong so much to Infosys.
just so that you know, Infosys allow employees to go and do volunteer social work, while getting paid. But then if the employees want to sit on the bench( on the bench is a term used when person is NOT on a project and getting paid as well) and relax!! then what can Infosys do?
And creating infrastructure, even if it is for itself, does add to the overall rapport of the country.
Doing social work is a requirement for corporations in India, termed CSR. So it's not so much Infosys is "allowing" it's employees to do social work, as much as it's done because it's the law.
Why do you look at a rich man as a person who should always keep giving money for charity. Infosys has given jobs to so many people , in a way is supporting their families. It pays millions to its employees as remunerations which goes on to fuel economic growth benefiting everyone. Infosys pays millions in taxes to the government. What else you want ? and what facilities you say Infosys has used, is it more than what it gives back to the country. Road in front of your house might be laid from the money that Infosys and various IT companies paid in taxes. What do you as individual do for the state or its people?
New country with old traditions-India. It is a place were you can get under-the-counter drugs without ever consulting a doctor & where offering Chai to an officer is much more than inviting him for a cup of tea. India's corruption forms the destruction of the community, the society and 'democratic' nation which we call modern India. Surely the visions have Gandhi have rubbed on the select few of India. And now is the time (hopefully) that these few will gain the power to bring equality, justice, and fairness to the billion plus population of India. But these few people alone are not enough to change a nation, India needs all capable people to unite and contribute to new ideas-revolutionary ideas-unknown to western society-ideas that will encourge the rest of the world to look forward and model the new innovative progresses. Since modeling western society is not enough, it is vital to sustain its own population & understand its moral obligations to each other. Nilekani misses these pts.
Awesome Talk Mr.Nandan. You have reflected india's image to the world. Also the Strategy for future india is good. We need to put this startegy into action asap. That is the mantra for success.
From my stand,what I see is..India is still not in the product or technology generation market so far, .we don't have any products or technology which we can contribute to world in turn change the entire market,inside and outside the india.Exceptionally,Indian space programs took a major lead in it which is govern by the visionary people and considered as one of most successful space program world ever had with lot of innovation.This is the future which young engineers will do.This time when most of countries are in great depression cause of economy , young indian are trying to comeup with new idea,new business .Outsourcing is having growth limitation for personal .India will setup its own innovation engine and provide stage to bring new technology to the world with lot of innovation.
Yes you are absolutely true.......we dont have any strong product market..except agriculture products.In future more companies should concenrate on Technology and products. For this we need to pump money to universities,R&D as like China did.
One of the most inspiring things about India is that when they finally rose up to throw off the yoke of foreign domination, they did it in a way which was deeply integrated with their own unique history, culture, and philosophical mindset. They enacted a model of nonviolent change that remains to this day a model for the entire world. I hope that as India moves forward to a potential future as a technological and economic superpower, that this unique cultural strength, this kind of reaching back while reaching forward, is not lost.
I am sorry, the road to independence was impaired by terrible violence between Muslim and Hindu. I wish India well, but please do not distort history.
I am an Indian. And, I feel we as a civilization are the example of co-existence (jews/persians/muslims). If you look at history, you will see this part has produced great people. One more thing that is unique about India is it didn't monopolize on things good for humanity (e.g. Ayurved, Yog to name a few). Should I say open source knowledge? The strength of India resides in religion (in the sense of Dharma). I think everyone should be conscious of their duty in the sense of "Dharma", Going forward, I think I agree with Gandhi's view. People who are not well to do (physically/financially etc) should be uplifted & given equal treatment, That will truly give the shape to the meaning to the words of Krishna "Entire world is my family".
Kalpesh is talking of past glory. There is no dharma left, only corruption & loss of values exists.
CHALTA HAI is the norm. INDIA NEEDS A RADICAL MINDSET CHANGE as I do believe that we have everything but resolve
Dharma, frequently called the living Dharma, this is because Dharma is always alive and so it certainly exists, and is certainly still growing. Yes, India does need a radical mindset change, they need to forget the caste system, the population needs to feel motivated that they have the oppertunity for a better easier life. With this education will have a larger impact, throwing India easily into the top most economical powerful nations on the earth. This does not mean that Dharma wont have a place in India, in fact it will make it more accessable.
Veera, I agree. But whose fault it is? It is our fault.
I agree that it needs a mindset change. And it begins from me, you as a person.
I think if we act in a fair manner & raise our children to be such - most things you say will be history, Change can not come in top down manner. It will have to be from bottom up.
Isn't CHALTA HAI is what you & me say, when things are not right?
The thing is we want a mindset change for others & the assumption is other people need it than me.
i respect past glory we had.but when we talk about improvement and growth ,we must first look as what we want to be and what we are today.
And i personally believe we are doing well and we are improving.
I personally agree with kalpesh words, and every difficulty we face...we are somehow and somewhere responsible for that.
for example: we say roads are dirty...ask yourself have you never thrown waste on roads or at inappropriate place. so before complaining lets think what v can do the best to resolve this and try implementing. so next time when u see somebody doing something wrong, suggest him/her not to do. if he still disagree then politely u do his job.....and he will surely feel shame of that act and he will understand.
So veera, i request you try out this thing...take this experience as an adventure
i tried this kind of things and sometimes they work but atleast this always gives you happiness within that i tried someting instead of just complaining.
best luck.....
sorry kalpesh change come from top and reach bottom naturally the mind set change is also same
nikhil
"I am an Indian. And, I feel we as a civilization are the example of co-existence (jews/persians/muslims). If you look at history, you will see this part has produced great people."
What history are you talking about? I'm not denying that there are good people coming out of India, but the British split off Pakistan for a reason - namely to ensure that the Muslims and Hindus didn't murder each other outright. When I look at India from the outside, I'd say that the growing Muslim population is the single biggest challenge facing India. It may well lead to civil war in this century, and possibly even a faceoff with Pakistan. The coexistence you talk about is most likely an unfounded dream. As far as I can tell, it's never been true.
Certainly inspired me!
I agree on this point, within next coming decades,
agriculture is going to be a esential for a Country.
'Ideas in progress' seems to be the most relevant issue of the talk. Also, I felt that the 'Ideas to anticipate' section of the talk borrowed a lot from ideas that have influenced developed nations. But as most Indians know, Ideas from other countries cannot be replicated in India. A unique kind of Indian innovation is necessary to pull off borrowed ideas.
That's interesting! Why do you think so? And what model of growth do you suggest?
Nice lecture by shri Nandan Nilekani about Ideas for India's future.
It requires to think and apply your resources for it based on simple living and high thinking which is main principle of India.
4years later after this announcement of "big change in India"... lets do a small intermediary check on the 'Demographic Dividend'' vs "heavy burden"
google trends says that Coursera&Udacity are more popular in India than in the U.S.
http://www.google.de/trends/explore#q=coursera%2C%20udacity&cmpt=q
*wow*
...if that is enough lift up India into a wealthy-sustainable state?? Many doubts remain...the masses of people just seems to be too big.
On a personal note, a free Cousera class "lifted me up" into a sustainable understanding of Finance! :)
A true visionary! Respect!!
Great discussion -- India has a bright future ahead of itself.
Nandan is certainly worth listening to as a cofounder of one of the biggest companies in India. Though I would disagree, India is not the only country with a young population, most developing countries have 50% of their population under the age of 24.
''Demographic Dividend''
I met Mr Nilekani in Delhi last week (29th September 2010). What a wonderful human being who is really trying to bring about positive change to over a billion people. E-governance and policy is important to bring direct merit services to the under privileged. The vision that Mr Nilekani has is being supported by an equally inspiring set of leaders within the congress party of India. God bless you Mr Nilekani. I hope that next time you will be able to accept my offer of a drink and a chat.
i appreciate Nandan Nilekani's work. But i didn't like the idea of globalization that is being appreciated by almost every educated minds in our country. why don't they think the other way?. why cant we do all things here?.for all the people who appreciate globalization, doesn't feel we are losing our identity etc.?. As far as my veiw, globalization is not good for india and there is an emergency to think the other way.
Nandan makes a compeling argument by using his categories of ideas. However, implementation of basic ideas and not analysis of grand strategies will propel India. The bane of the India story is poor execution or implementation of policies. The labyrinth of central-state politics, bureaucracy and local councils makes sure that policies rarely get implementated in India the way they were designed.
GOD ,his Pronunciation really sucks,which makes me hard to understand what he said.But through these guys above,I`ve konw some about the theme of his speech.
To be frank,India is a great country,not only because of it`s long history and cultrue,but of it`s tremendous efforts in improving the life quality of people in India.
It's the Indian pronunciation. The reason you have trouble understanding is because you decided it sucks and you are to busy being annoyed.
Yeah, I agree. But his ideas are valid. And plus he is a CEO of $1 Billion Indian Software company. So we should sometimes forget few shortcomings and pick up the positive points..
And 'his' pronunciation is valid for 1/6th of the world population, it just hard for westerners to pick up b/c they are not used to it. Same goes when Americans come to India. Different cultures are bound to have problems when they amalgamate...
Just switch on 'subtitles' instead of cribbing that his pronunciation sucks. It is pretty coherent for me and most people here..
You can also read the transcript. He has to speak so fast to cover everything, I find it helpful to read the transcript (click "interactive transcript" top right). He covers so many key points in such a short time, it takes several readings and listenings to absorb it all.
I believe the three times Pulitzer prize winner and new york times journalist Thomas Friedman would disagree, having said -
"Seattle has Bill. Bangalore has Nandan. What makes Nilekani unique? For me it comes down to one phrase: great explainer."
May be you can a class on English pronunciation. You can call any of the call centers in India!
Mr.Nilekani consicely presented the power of ideas for progress and future, which are all politically correct ,mainstream and pretty much non contoversial.
But he pretty much ignored and was on a different planet as far as idetifying ideas that are regressive and destructive ( ie. fundamentalism, jihadism/terrorism,political and beauracratic corruption and bad governance etc to just name a few.)
In conclusion this talk was interesting and intelligent in what talks about but rather half baked and mundane.
I'm not sure whether it's intentional but he also fails to mention the traditional culture and, like you said, a staunch group of religious fundamentalists who are backward in that they lead toward conservatism instead of innovation. These will be immense hurdles in India's development. India's economy can undoubtably grow very impressively, but the most important point is whether it takes its poorest, most conservative segments with it, or simply leaves them behind in the dark and stretches the wealth gap ever further.
Why are you focused on a sliver of the population that is riddled with idiocracy? Why do these marginal happenings bother you? Every society has its share of fundamentalists. Look at the thriving majority that embraces pluralism and openness and cherish it. Irrespective of whatever everyone says, India and Indians are a inclusive, plural society and that is irreversible no matter how powerful the person conveying fundamentalism is. If you want, just see where Bal Thackeray is and always know that LK Advani, the foremost leader of the Indian fundamentalist party BJP never became a Prime Minister but his moderate inclusive colleague Vajpayee did
I would like everyone in the world to be sequenced so that they are aware of what genetic conditions the are predisposed to. Increasing wealth can be bad for you health.
http://www.sohbetsensin.com
Sohbet
I was grown up in small town and my mom dad both worked in NGO so i am always in touch with real villages and poverty.
Nandan Neilkani's speech was an amazing but i always feel that even though we have great human powers why we are not able to resolve these problems its just because we dont have money?? no its just lake of management of money and the rich peoples and corrupt politicians who is holding corers of money with them and stopped a wheel of Economy.
Before this i have just seen video of Genreal motors who are planing to make car with hydrogen fuel and india has great opportunity to make row material by bio products which can easily produce by an indian farmers.
!!! Why these rich peoples are not paying tax if you look middle class peoples are forced to pay taxes regulars. Middle class are just rich poor nothing else who has to always think even when person is dying shall we give him treatment in a good hospital or not !!!
But Still I love My India.
first "I LOVE MY COUNTRY" .i agree with nandan sir words.but what to do ?these problems are from some begger politician we need leaders like N R N.we need thought like APJ kalam. so many people says" India is rich country but Indian people are Poor" because of this bleady ploitician are growing higher and higher but poor people getting day by day poor
Kshitij , i would disagree. Most of the income the state gets comes from industries (rich people).Do not blame politicians , most of us are corrupt and the reson is that system allows us to be corrupt.It is the situation that creates greatness or corrupts you. We need better ideas to tweek our systems. why is police corrupt?...because we let them go corrupt. Even if i or you were there , nothing much would have changed.Lets think of changing or tweeking the system to make things better than blaming people. I am sure your brains can throw up some amazing idea, just need to think.
HELP Please can not figure out how to see video in window
problem started rih after installing Snow leopard
Thanks
yes i do agree with Nandan idea that cites,towns are contributing most of econimic growth...but from where food for this economic growth comming.. util unless stronger villages we won't be a great economy....non of the IT or industry can give food which needed for us...yes Gandhi words are practically real,may be his idea was different...it is gud that cites,towns are making thier way for economic growth......but they won't give any food which u need daily....it is fact that farmer is the critical resource in indian economic....
and in modern world is most intrested in who is richer not who is topper in poor..
If the land is there , it would be cultivated and produce food. The issue is will that be enough? If a IT professional spends 20-30K in bangalore every month, where does the money go? It goes to the farmers , the milkmen and various other people. The only way to grow fast is to make our cities bigger, better and create more cities. If we want to handle the growing population, we need to provide alternate means of survival to our people. Growth in cities will benefit even the farmers and others in rural india, more opportunities is the key. Opportunity in villages is limited to the land, however for cities it is the whole world. Today only few IT professionals and others are getting us the money from outside. We need more to fuel internal economy that will distribute the wealth among all.
Interesting talk. Can relate his ideas to the growth of ideas in economics.
1) Human capital and technological progress in the Solow and Romer growth models.
2) English as a language lowering transaction costs between people within and outside India. Infrastructure and national markets also leading to equalizing of prices and less uncertainty.
3) The importance of political institutions in modeling social behaviour.
Vow!! Nandan gives more or less a complete picture of India in just 15 mins. Completely agree with him on the part that lot needs to be thought of and even more needs to be done.
It is going to be interesting to see how this "only young" country in an aging world leverage itself using this opportunity.
Personally I liked what he said. It was informative for me because there were issues which I was not aware of. Some ideas worth looking into. We are a young country and have to admit that we lack clear future goals, good management, etc - comparing to developed countries. Social security, energy sector, facilities, etc. People not believing it should read more. I accept that we have lots of problems. Next thing is I believe that I and young people like me will solve them with advice from old/experienced ones. Nandan's speech, even if you say fake or he does not walk the talk, is important for innumerable other minds who would start thinking about those issues. You can be aware of all issues related to India but everyone is not. So speeches are important in this context. No one can be totally right or wrong - its a matter of thought process, past experiences, family. We need to let all brains get on a table, discuss and create something rather than criticizing anyone. Makes sense.right!
Surprised that many look at UID as waste of public money. With so much terrorism, porous border and paralel economy retarding the country's progress, anyone can claim to be an Indian - whenever it suits them ... from a Kasab of 26/11 fame to my buddy who is a US citizen but doesn't miss out on any privilege ideally only Indian citizens should be enjoying.
Previous efforts such as PAN card and Voters ID card (may not be as great failures as they are sucesses) did not have a Nandan Nilekani heading it.
This is an important project and lets hope Mr Nilekani will come out successful
The Indian Government / Congress is again setting the priorities wrong by allocating 2000 crores of our Tax Payers hard earned monies to things and programs like unique identity number read:
http://ow.ly/fZox
haven't we tried and twice earlier made cards like Pan cards, Vote cards all disastrous failures?!
National ID cards will be no swipe-and-smile matter. Read the Link from DNA news paper below:
http://ow.ly/geW3
Further Indian Politicians like Mayawati makes statue of her own and other friends of her, Air India Posts loss of INR 5000 Crores and gets "Bailed Out" Again for INR 24,000 Crores by using our hard earned money, who is doing all this without even asking us (Indians)?!
Huge Respect for Mr. Nandan Nilkani but why this absolutely irrelevant scary project at this times and that too at wasting Half a Billion USD of Public money!
Why can't we do better things like build infrastructure and upgrade life of people who live below poverty line?
May God Bless us all, J
Congress is again setting the priorities wrong by allocating 2000 crores of our Tax Payers hard earned monies to things and programs like unique identity number read:
http://ow.ly/fZox
haven't we tried and twice earlier made cards like Pan cards, Vote cards all disastrous failures?!
National ID cards will be no swipe-and-smile matter. Read the Link from DNA news paper below:
http://ow.ly/geW3
Huge Respect for Nandan Nilkani but why this absolutely irrelevant scary project at this times and that too at wasting Half a Billion USD of Public money!
Why can't we do better things like build infrastructure and upgrade life of people who live below poverty line?
May God Bless us all, Jai Ho!
India is a beautiful prospect for the future of the world.
It won't be if the way we progress is by integrating into the market democracy concept at large and fail to learn the lessons of thousands of years of man and the systems he imposes on people that aren't in his immediate family. What people call democratization I call yoking to the plow of systemic hierarchy.
So I guess my question is, can humans truly lift out of the animal sphere and create a non-hierarchical concept of self for the masses at large? So far, sedation of the fear of uncertainty has been the only cure that churns the engine of the global market (in my very, very non-'professional' opinion).
I don't know about the internal matters, but companies like Reliance , Infosys and Tata inspires me to stand out in front of global stage and prove our worth and spirit, Not because it is 'BIG' to have your own company, but because I can one day help those poor kids who are equally talented and help poor people in my country and that I don't have to go to TED to talk for 18 mins and beg for money.
Future of Indians is in the hands of Indians! We have proved our worth thousands of years ago.
1) Atharvaved is full of science which mentiones about Vedic maths, Vedic medicines , Advanced astrological studies (Cosmology)
2) Swami Ramdev Maharaj rediscovered pranayam just from that one word from Vedas
3) Swami Tirthaji in his 8 years of meditation reinvented some of the mind blowing vedic mathematics
4) Shri Shri Ravishankar discovered Sudarshan Kriya
All I know, Indians have enough in their spirit to follow their own creativity and pave their bright future.
JAI HIND! AUM! VANDE MATARAM!
Very True.
As on today june 2009 India's population between age group 20-44 is approx. 444 million. This are very lucrative numbers for anyone and everyone in this world welcome to India. Over 400 Million Active Mobile Phone Subscribers. Jai Ho !
In India, education has assumed a status of big business. Education thus has become a restricted area for rich who can afford to pay such high fees. Ironically, less attention is paid by promoters of educational institutes to attract and retain good, dedicated teachers. Students also give more importance to examination success rather than learning the subject.
With the spread of BSNL Broadband connectivity and availability of computers in all schools and villages, the idea of FREE EDUCATION can really become a successful venture. Fortunately internet has capability to fulfill most of the needs of students at practically no cost. The idea is to search and provide useful and relevant free educational and informative links available on the internet. One such effort is made in www.school4all.org by Dnyandeep Foundation. Big businesses can sponsor such projects instead of Cricket and entertainment TV serials.
Very Excited abt TED coming all the way to India.... We just launched our fist Blood Bank Social App on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/ot2uxn
Point10 Solutions is our step towards transforming education system in Gujarat to begin with.
Point10 team will be working on following 4 projects (Boosk10, Projects10, Education10 and Jobs10). We are doing these because we feel these are the genuine problems faced by Students.
Books10.org: A step towards Social Empowerment!
1. Web portal: Is a platform where students can easily find the books that they required (Syllabus) and also sell their old books to other students. We are starting with connecting all engineering colleges in Gujarat. Later or we%u2019ll cover all professional courses. It would be highly intelligent web 2.0 portal. 2. Fund Books: We would fund books for 25 students from various engineering colleges from July-2009, just to give a nice message to the society that not everyone can afford expensive higher education. 3. Mentorship Program: we would mention the details of Young Professionals(who are willing to proactively help/guide students as and when required) on Books10.
Everyone is talking about the Education !!!
He told just the topics of what I read in "Social Studies".
I am surprised at Nandan Nilekani's comments:
1. "in 60s people were a burden" - not really true
2. Calling Mahatma Gandhi without using 'Mahatma'. He stands nowhere near Mahatma Gandhi; he is an enterpreneur and should not be so arrogant of his stature. His knowledge of India is not even comparable to Mahatma Gandhi's knowledge of India
3. "Enterpreneurs were a bad lot in 60s" - Enterpreneurs were not a bad lot in just 60s, they could be a bad lot in 21st century too. They need oversight and regulation from the goverment.
4. "City's are the engines of growth" - Not really, unless you just make them out to be. Most of the cities in India are not even liveable and worth calling them Cities.
1. In the 60's, yes for a country such as India, locked with hundreds of millions of people, poor government and poverty they would be a technical burden in the situation.
2. I respect the Mahatma just as much as you, or any Indian, but using ad hominem such as this is something a modest man such as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi wouldn't approve of. I believe he would rather be called Gandhi, then be given a title.
3. Oversight and regulation from the government? The future of India's economy should be left in the hands of her people, regardless of status, the role of government should be to ensure the people can do so. Enterpreneurs included in the people.
4. It is easy to see your point here. Yes, India's cities are in poor condition. But they are no less engines of growth as farms. They are focal points for future advancement where IT and high grade businesses will go to.
Misinterpreted and misunderstood.
1) In 60s the people did think as population as burden.
2)By calling him Gandhi its no dishonor. Narrow mind....Here GAndhi is used more of as an instituion, a legend.
3)Some truth in pt.3. But the entrepreneurs were a lot self centred.
4)Yeah thats the problem with Indian cities. We have to develop them on all fronts. Cities ARE the engines of growth.
3)
Second i will also like to point out the massive issue faced by India and which is driving the FDIs away is Govt. and Legal System in the country. World Bank rank India, in top countries to do business in, after Pakisthan, Sri Lanka or even Nepal is better for business. The reason is beaurocracy and highly incomptent legal system( In which India is ranked 3rd last). And which is fair enough, one can spend all his life just going through those govt offices and court rooms.
Though that said, there are some good improvement in the govt sector in some parts of the country, like Rajasthan govt started investrajasthan portal which provide single window access to every need of an foreign investor. So idea in progress i reckon!
Very Impressive Ideas which are ofcourse <i>worth spreading</i>
Though i would like to point out few things, first being the Carbon Emission:
Though India has signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol in August, 2002, it is exempted from the framework of the treaty, it is expected to gain from the protocol in terms of transfer of technology and related foreign investments by other nations in relation to carbon leaking or carbon offsetting. India hardly adds up to the global pollution and with the new technology and innovative developments which are in place ( wind & nuclear energy ), it would more likely to stay the same.According to the stats: Americans%u2019 electricity usage produces about 9.5 tons of CO2 per person per year, compared to 2.4 tons in China, 0.6 in India, and 0.1 in Brazil. Average per capita emissions from electricity and heat production in the EU is 3.3 tons per year. Only Australia, where you hardly see a being, is greater than 10 tons
I compliment Mr. Nilekani for voicing the ideas in conflict - we cannot afford to be lax about resolving caste based ideologies, reforming labour policies, and improving higher education.
We are also at a critical point in our growth - we cannot grow into being a unhealthy nation - a world capital for heart disease is a dubious distinction that is sliding towards us.
We have to evolve a middle way that balances health, environment and development with great ideas and more importantly, sound implementation with accountability at every level.
I am 22 years old, and really have no educational background with the Market, Economy or just plain business. I was born and raised in Houston, Texas and I am currently in Bangalore, India. I have been here for 7 months. Spite the fact I am "Proud to be" an American, my Mother and Father are both from India. They moved to Houston when they became married. I am here attending medical school at Sarvodaya Hospital. I decided to come here due to the recession. It might not be impossible, but, it is a very huge struggle working a part time job, paying rent, car payments, insurance, food, electricity, water, utilities and tuition at a time like this in the US. This school offered me a great relief. The way I see India is that it can not be able to be compared to any developed country because, it is developing. The US lives off credit, as where mostly cash or rupees are being used for currency value. India's life style might be a little traditional but, wasn't America 100 years back?
I don't think many take into account as India grows as an Empire, so does China. These two emerging empires can't stay friends for long, and I predict a similar outcome to what we saw with Russia and America. China being much like the USSR are not making the same mistakes as USSR, they have much better infrastructure and there model for sustained growth is unmatched. India being much like America was, they are showing the same kind of advances and there political leadership acts much like American politicians. How these next 50 years work out will be interesting.
Have you ever read Fritjof Capra's book The Turning Point? In the first chapter, he mentions:
"Studies of periods of cultural transformation in various societies have shown that these transformations are typically preceded by a variety of social indicators, many of them identical to the symptoms of our current crisis. They include a sense of alienation and an increase in mental illness, violent crime, and social disruption, as well as an increased interest in religious cultism - all of which have been observed in our society during the past decade. In times of historic cultural change these indicators have tended to appear one to three decades before the central transformation, rising in frequency and intensity as the transformation is approaching, and falling again after it has occurred."
http://www.wplus.net/pp/Julia/Capra/CONTENTS.htm
This book is decades old (published in 1982), yet the sociopolitical patterns it discusses are still pretty valid.
I don't think the two situations are very comparable. For one, the two worlds themselves are very different. The Cold War period occurred during a time when only the USSR and America were significant players in the world. India and China, discussed in the context of the world, are not the only two giants that exist. The various developing countries as well as aging powerhouses contribute to the decisions made by both states. Besides, these two are so focused on growth that each don't have the time to entertain the notions of an age old costly rivalry. They would much rather mend the connection and get back to doing what they do best.
Instead of India vs China, I would rather see it as America vs China or the West vs BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India China). Its a battle between the developed and the developing. With a sustainable 8/9% GDP growth, these 4 new emerging powerhouses would overtake the West in 30 years in terms of economic power according the the Goldman Sachs BRIC report.
印度学者讲解导致印度贫穷落后的原因！怎么还死心眼要向西方学习改善？