Vivek's View

Land acquisition reforms in India: Too much politics but no real work

2010-08-22T00:20:00.000-07:00

Once again issue of land acquisition took the headlines. This time in UP however its similar story, it claimed lives followed by too much politics.

As always, Indian politicians are quick in taking over ruling party on street. Though they would have acted exactly same way which results in unrest following land acquisition, if part of ruling alliance.

There has not been any meaningful attempt to reform this whole process of Land acquisition. It has been the matter of editorial or TV show but never seen the daylight. There is an at most need to modernise the process of acquiring land.

Fresh afford has to go into how to price the land and how to make the community beneficiary of land under development.

There can be many arguments like it should be priced with respect to the future income arising from it. This would complete transformation from the current policy to force farmers to accept the current market price. In some cases it is said that farmers have been forced to accept far less than even current market price.

Now the question is that neither the government nor the industry can pay the price of future incomes arising from it.

The feasible alternative is to retain a stake for the original landowners in the development undertaken on this land. Like transferring the resource the land to a special purpose vehicle and giving the equity stake to the original landowners with a lock-in period of say 8 years. Once the lock-in period is over the developer should has first right of refusal over the original landowners’ sake is the SPV.

If developer is willing is pay the future price of the land, then the competitive auction should be the way to go. In any case the original landowners should not be left out the steam of future incomes arising from it.

I don’t think either of the opinion conflicts with the political interest of any political party. It’s perfectly doable and can be enacted without any delay. Not only loss of lives can be averted, prosperity can be brought to the doorstep of the people at the bottom.

Monetary tightening a partial solution to Food price inflation in India

2009-12-20T04:58:00.000-08:00

Food price across the board have gone to the roof. This is a problem that has potential to spoil the quick recovery of economy in addition to major social and political unrest.Its not new in

India

, we have experienced similar flared up in the past successive years.

In all successive year policymakers have referred supply side constrains as root of the problem.

Over the years, only monetary tightening has been used as instrument to tame the food price. This particular year drought and other natural calamity have fuelled the sudden flared up in the price.

It is beyond the tolerance of Indian middle class and especially the poor. Now monetary tightening is inevitable but it will remain a partial solution.

As a sustainable measure Government should invest more in modernization of farming. There is a complete absence of long term policy to feed the growing population of

India

Indian politicians should learn from china and instead of restricting FDI in retail, there should be a long term policy to augment the investment in the supply chain for agri-commodities, food processing and retailing in the country.

Up most priority should be given to the modern and scientific supply chain linking directly between farming community and organized retailers.

Private public partnership can yield much more efficiency in the agri-system. This efficiency gain has potential to benefit all stake holder including farmers, consumers, food processors and organized retailers.

This is an issue where there is more silence than disagreement, its need of hour to debate and formulate a long term food management policy.

Demand for more food lead by rising prosperity and population must be addressed by sustainable supply. At last, all these measure will create huge employment in rural

India

; it will check the mad migration of labour from village to urban area. It can bring hope of prosperity for majority of Indians who live on agriculture for their livelihood.

Demand for small state in India: Development versus Political employment

2009-12-19T04:22:00.000-08:00

Once again demand for new state has become a buzz word in Indian politics. Since decades such agitation and demand for statehoods are disrupting our life. Some times on the name of culture, language and community, most of the times on the name of Development, we hear demand for new state.

Differentiation on the name of culture, language and community is never ending. No matter how many split you do, there would be some differentiation always remaining.

Creating on state on the name of development is another often heard demand, in past these has been split of states on the name of development. In most of such cases, on ground it has not delivered anything. Contrarily it has added to the wastage of tax payer’s money, which is meant for spending in public utility and welfare of underprivileged.

Politicians are hitting new low every day, nothing new about it. What is coming to the head is even educated and matured citizens of our country are getting carried away by these political drama. Creation of new state has generated political employment for unemployed politicians but at the end of the day common citizens are net looser.

It is not the creation of new state; it is the decentralization of administration that will bring the development at the grass root level. It is the empowerment of local bodies, municipal and village panchayat that will bring the real changes, unfortunately none of these politicians or political party is taking about it.

Until and unless the local administration is empowered, there would always be backwardness in certain part of the state. Creation of new state should be solution not the creation of new problem. Political instability is a well known side effect of small states. Majority of Indian small states have suffered or suffering from this syndrome.

There are states where no government works for its full tenure. Small parties and independent legislators often gains better bargaining power in such state and then associated catastrophe.

Does it help the cause of common citizen of our county? no it never. Then certainly common citizens has been made fool by such politicians and political parties.

“Innovation” the need of hour for Indian offshore business and technology services companies

2009-08-18T05:04:00.000-07:00

Recently in a study McKinsey has expected that the global market for offshore business and technology services will grow to about $500 billion by 2020, from the current $80 billion a year.

McKinsey study says, India will be hard pressed to maintain its 51 percent market share, which may drop to 40 percent by 2020 unless Indian providers become more innovative and global.

Often McKinsey sets targets and Indian companies tried to outperform. But what is crucial here is be become more innovative which is not the focus of Indian services companies if you compare it with their continued focus on offshore services business.

Indian companies has to change their strategy from old off-shoring to coming up with innovation. Off course this off-shoring model has provide much needed head-start but it’s high time to revise the strategy and start looking at innovative products and services.

Innovation can create great Business Opportunities at the same time Innovation does not belong to exclusive club, it can happen in India. Indian companies can change themselves from just cheap service provider to innovative technology provider.

The situation seems like Indian business community is still waiting for a local success example to replicate the way they have been doing in the case of off-shore services. Sooner or later, Business leaders have to realize the fact that low cost advantage can provide a head-start but it can make market leader. Down the line competition in the low cost space is going to grow as cost of operation is rising in Indian. Fluctuation in currency is another challenge that can appear once again at any point of time.

Same Indian work-force when works for a Global multination comes with trailblazer but mot while working with local companies. What is missing? I believe it’s just the focus.

At last, government policies has to be supportive, there is lack of clarity on many Indian laws about Intellectual Property protection. For example just an application for waiver from Indian Patent office to file the Patent in US takes many months. There are many ambiguities in Indian Paten Laws in India and it’s not at all innovation friendly.

It’s high time for Government to initiate revamping of Intellectual Property Legal frame work. The priority of such initiative should be inline with the greater and long term interest of India as a favourable Technology Business destination.

Global financial crisis and human capital benefits for India

2009-03-27T02:56:00.001-07:00

India too has taken a hit from global financial crisis which has slowed the economic growth in all different sectors including IT outsourcing. IT outsourcing is one of the sector that has given an edge to India in last decade. Indian economy has boomed at around 9 percent growth in each of the last three years. IT sector has played a major role in the India’s economic boom. This economic boom has lifted millions out poverty and created generation of affluent Indians. An average young Indian is more confident and ambitious than ever before.

Out of all goods, Corporate India and IT Sector has suffered from brain drain in each of the last decade. It has seen brightest moving out of home for better opportunities across globe. But now, the economic crisis that has resulted into worst recession in decades has changed the equation. Its advantage India and brightest Indians are opting for studies and career opportunities at home. Global giants are downsizing their workforce across the globe but still hiring in India. Now may be it’s because of cost but in future it can be because of talent. Low cost of living and improved quality of life in India will drive brightest Indians back to home. Indian economy is going to benefit from its human capital as the brightest stays home.

It’s an opportunity for Indian policy makers to take full advantage out of this economic tragedy. There is a greater need of reforms in educational institutions and sector. Still out institutions are lagging behind rest of the world. There is greater need of autonomy and flexibility. Government has to spend more in the Educational Infrastructure. There should hundred percent tax exemption on the donations made to educational institutes by individuals and corporations.

Policy makers have to accelerate urban reforms to improve quality of life in our cities. Lacklustre public transportation in all major cities needs immediate attention. Indian cities are suffering from a syndrome called “who is responsible”. Either there is no regulation/regulator or there are too many regulation/regulator. There is a greater need of having common policy and regulation across all major cities. If not all, at least there should be coordination in the development of uniform and mature framework across all different metro cities in India. Indian IT professionals can do it in other countries, then why not in our own country. It requires a change in attitude at every level of administration.

These are fundamental issue that will decide how many brightest will stay back. At last, it’s the activeness of policymakers that will decide next Google or Cisco will be launched from India.

Need of tough laws to eradicate Ragging

2009-03-24T12:05:00.000-07:00

I can’t forget the trauma that I under gone during my early semesters of engineering graduation. It was very tough time, being thousands of miles away from home, not knowing the local language and poor in spoken English, all together was making my time worse. Student community was divided on language and region. None of the local south Indian students had any issue with their respective seniors. It was more than enough to pour my dreams of going ahead of rest into depression. After few weeks of patience suffering, I decided to get away and stopped responding to seniors. Not many fellow students beloging to my region were ready to come with me. I faced tremendous resistance and threats from seniors. Thanks to local follow students, I made contacts with local political leaders and anti-social elements for protection. I regret, I did it because I had no option left with me. It was like going against my own conscious. Though I never disrespected any of my senior but earned a perception of villain. At the end I scored poorly in the internal and semester examination.

Above all what I regret most is my own friends those who struggled against ragging during first year of engineering, after becoming senior got involved in ragging of new comers. I lost many friends, I don’t regret. I tried my best to voice against this heinous crime though my success my limited.

There is a need of stringent laws to tackle the menace. Even after double digit ragging-related death every year our system is muted. Not every state has anti-ragging laws. Some intellects may oppose stringent laws. It’s very common in our country. There may be different prospective on stringent laws against many social evils including ragging but I belong to a different school of though. Tough laws can not be opposed just because it can be abused. Absence of law can not be justified by instances of abuse of law. Ragging can not be eradicated without tough laws. Though only law in not enough, it needs a social ban in addition to very tough laws. Education institute should involve parents and expert counsellors. Its not easy to eradicate legacy evil. It would require a collective transformation in the mindset of all of us.

To be or not to be a moderator/ coordinator of Virtual e-Groups

2009-03-22T03:02:00.000-07:00

During higher semesters of my bachelors’ degree and early days of professional career, I got into moderation job of many virtual groups. I had experience across many different categories of e-groups. Right from e-groups of Alumni association to state, community and social activities I got a change to work with folks from different walks of life. Though it was virtual group but we have been able to do many real social projects that resulted in significant impact on the life of real people. Though I did many mistakes in the beginning, it was a journey of gain from the wisdom of elders and seniors. After early failures I took every occasion a chance to correct every mistake that I committed. Today I find myself more humble, more open and a good listener. It has never been possible without my engagement with social projects over virtual e-Groups. Practice of Patience was one of the significant learning that I had while working on flood relief and rehabilitation project. It was the time when tide of anger was on high and as a back room planner I was at receiving end. Some times I found myself paralysed by medium of communication which was limited to e-mails and few phone calls. Most of the time in the hour of crisis, I realized It is not an easy task for a busy corporate professional to work on critical non-profile work part time. At the same time, bringing some thing out of nothing in an unfavourable situation has its own job and worth satisfaction. My quest to learn management skills kept me going; other driving forces were mentoring and motivation from my experienced colleagues.
It is not easy to keep folks motivated in the project of non-profit. What matters is how many of you are really passionate and emotional about whatever you do. I was never emotional but I was always passionate. Not being emotional keep my personal and professional commitment intact and being passionate helped in managing time out of my hectic schedule. I am a firm believer of be a life time learner. This quote empowered me to introspect and learn from odds that I failed to control.
Day to day moderation is another test of patience, particularly if you are working with immature folks. I kept myself moderated and simple still it was not always easy. I chose to stay away from mindless and motiveless discussions. These discussions keep e-Groups alive at the same time; it creates virtual walls among immature members. As a moderator or co-ordinator you have to stay away from your own view so that you should be able to impose rules of game fairly. This job gave me a habit of using words like sorry, please, regret and apology etcetera extensively. I must acknowledge it has significant impact on the way you manage people & bring about best out of them.
It was another crucial learning to get folks convinced and keep them working irrespective of ego clash among themselves. I never criticized any idea or view all I did is I asked team to come up with a mutually agreed decision. I often tried to not to express my own view but many time I tried to make sure my view gets discussed by team though not necessarily presented by me. In the hours of arguments I tried not to say anything rather than saying anything directly or indirectly.
Some time I felt few negative discussions are making too much noise and usually my colleague moderators used to stop the discussion. Many times, it was communicated to me that I am not acting to stop discussions going beyond control. I belong to a different school of though. I believe to making a discussion irrelevant rather than stopping it directly. Most of times, I highlighted some different issue just to take the attention of majority from the negative or disordered discussions. I found this practice working fine in under the frame-work of e-Groups. It may not be easy in face to face meeting but it’s easy in the e-Groups. At last if you are a moderator or coordinator you can’t keep everyone happy however you can keep majority happy.

All–weather rural road and electricity in North Indian States : Solution verses Problem

2009-03-19T09:28:00.001-07:00

If government can improve just two basic needs electricity and road connectivity, rural folks can convert their enormous entrepreneurial talent into effective income. We must congratulate government for initiating rural electrification effectively. We have huge gap in the production and demand of power in our country. Obviously it is going to take long time before any significant result. While the process of rural electrification will remain slow, Government can speed up the construction of all weather rural roads. But I think It will require change of strategy. As of now rural road construction is given in the form of tiny project of very small size. That leads a disadvantage even though it has got some so called social advantages too. These small –small projects attracts only small contractors. They are inexperience in constructing all weather roads. They have no access to latest construction technologies. Being numerous, they are also difficult to monitor. Administrators can take a clue from the Golden Quadrilateral project that brought large private firms into play. Government authorities can bundle the rural roads in entire district into a single project and hence attractive to large firm. I know it is not going to easy but think of huge benefits that it will bring to the rural people. Undoubtedly it will heart small contractors, on the other hand any large firm will outsource major piece of work to these small contractors. Hope it will work if not now then may be in future.

When Innovation takes over policies and regulations

2009-03-06T10:38:00.000-08:00

Global economy is in midst of one of the worst slowdown and financial crisis. If you look at the root of this crisis some where you will be able to conclude the role of proactive and suitable regulation. India as a new economy is among least affected from the crisis of this magnitude. It is not only because Indian is a young economy yet to see full fledge of liberalization but it has been regulated proactively in both good and bad time. Proactive regulation is some thing that always comes into the picture in times, but in recent years Indian regulators has demonstrated their capability and duty of regulation even in good times.Sceptics of economic liberalization are correct in saying mixed system has yielded better results in bad time. However if we really look at the dramatic events that has happen in last few month it’s beyond ones imagination. Economies were fighting with inflation; industry was suffering from higher interest rate regime now it’s all gone. Interest rates are low but the parameters of risk assessment have gone up.

I belong to the school of though that says India regulators have taken conservative but appropriate measure for our economy. After all India is a country of people who does not make their day to day life moves based on the equity market. Majority of Indians doesn’t care whether equity market is going up or down. Majority of Indians doesn’t decide their day to day spending relative to equity market. I remember people were saying India is an elephant yet to awake even in good time. This is the sad part of developed economy that most of the day to day activity is strongly coupled with moves of equity market. I think this is the right time to that It works well in good time and makes worse in bad time. This is where innovative regulation and policy framework had to play very active role. Governments across the globe had to ensure that Innovation should not take over regulation instead regulation should be innovative enough to take on innovation.

India in next decade: Young country with skill deficit

2009-03-06T09:15:00.000-08:00

India is a young county; India is a county of young workforce at the same time India is going to be a country of skill deficit young job seekers.
Millions of young people are joining the workforce every year in our country but more than that are seeking job and are not employable. The rate with which knowledge based industry grown in India was amazing in last decade still we have army of unemployed young people. India will keep adding to this army & this is the real danger for society. We are in the midst of a worst ever global economic crisis & job outlook looks very uncertain. The majority of jobs created in India in last decade are from knowledge based industry. These jobs came to India not just because of cost advantages but also because of skill set. Now skill deficit can lead to slowdown in the job creation and potentially India may lost out behind competing developing countries.
If India has to remain competitive, stable and growing economy, it has to ensure that its young job seeker remains competitive and having edge over workforce in competing developing countries.
Instead of addressing this crisis waiting be bust Government and Political parties are talking about private sector job reservations. Instead of addressing real issue of skill deficit there have been moves that can spoil the Educational Institutions adding to the competitiveness of India and its young workforce. Are we moving towards a disaster waiting to happen?

Experience with Virtual e-Groups

2009-02-23T09:42:00.000-08:00

It was my engineering college days when I joined multiple Virtual e-Groups first time. Unlike my many colleague students I was very precise about my choice of time and hence I limited myself to only serious Virtual e-Groups. It was the time when I was not very satisfied by my performance. Fear of lagging behind the fast moving world was a driving force & I was much worried about future. In the beginning my, motive of joining Virtual e-Groups was to make network with alumni, seniors and take their guidance to secure better career.

Those days, I was always worried about being week in English, being from Rural and Hindi medium School. It took me a long before I started interacting with e-Group folks. Though, it was not my unusual behaviour. I was a well known strange person those days in college. When first time I want to Bangalore from my village, I was not fluent in English & I remember I use to take long time before responding to anybody. It was those initial days when I realised the power of English and seen the value of Prosperity and Wealth. Being always confused and worried was very usual those days. But some where I was very fortunate in finding good mentors on Virtual platforms. It was my mentors and seniors who changed my life. Some how I realised that you need tools and cause to make contact with good people & it is the good contact that will help you in exploring yourself fully.
I must say it was a turning point in my life. In the beginning, I joined projects for corporate social responsibility and philanthropy with a selfish motive of making contacts with good people. But It changed my life all the way. Before that I was little arrogant and very shy about seeking help. While working for those projects I realised my personal weakness’. I must acknowledge, it was because of very personalized mentoring from some of my senior friends from different Virtual e-groups.
Though I went with selfish motives but what I got from those activities is far-far more than my selfish expectations of those days. Today I look back to introspect my journey and I am realising my self completed changed. I feel humble and totally transformed from what I was when I started working with Virtual e-Groups. Today, I feel what I have given back to these Virtual e-Groups is too less in compression to what I have got from these Virtual e-Groups.