Thought for the day
“Fame has also this
great drawback, that if we pursue it, we must direct our lives so as to please
the fancy of men.”
-
Baruch Spinoza (Dutch, 1632-1677)
Word for the day
Fervent (adj)
Having or showing
great warmth or intensity of spirit, feeling, enthusiasm, etc.; ardent.
(Source: Dictionary.com)
Teaser for the day
Disappearance of Malaysian aircraft highlights at least
three things – (a) There are still many things that are not under US NSA watch;
(b) possibilities of another 9/11 are not dead despite Osama’s elimination and
(c) St. Google does not answer all your questions.
Utopia: The economic solution-IV
Focus on strengths
At the risk of sounding irritatingly repetitive, I would like
reiterate that in past 6 decades we have focused too much on our weaknesses and
tried hard to overcome by importing technology, energy, intellectual property,
capital and consumption patterns. The root cause of many economic problems,
e.g., current account deficit, fiscal deficit, energy deficiency, excessive
dependence on external IPR & capital flows, etc. could be traced to this misplaced
focus.
In my view, just by focusing on our intrinsic strengths, we can
not only conveniently reverse the flow of trade to pre British era but also be
successful in achieving our secular goals of sustainable and faster economic
growth.
I have been suggesting that, for example, by implementing the
following programs could improve the balance of payment substantially and
structurally by 2025 by focusing on our intrinsic strengths like abundant sun
shine, large number of middle class youth, amazing landscape, strong and rich
tradition & culture:
(a) Energy deficiency
had been one of the primary reasons for India’s fiscal and trade deficits.
Failure in implementing an integrated energy policy has been a major failure of
policy making. It is widely recognized that “roof top solar panel” has the
potential greater than the one seen in mobile telephoney in past one decade.
Reducing energy intensity of water and developing a world class public
transport infrastructure on priority basis, especially in tier II and III
cities, and strict legal enforcement of energy efficiency should be considered.
(b) Indians spend
approx USD25bn annually on education and related overseas travel. Creating 5
Special Education Zones (SEZ) with liberal VISA, forex, taxation and real
estate ownership rules, and allowing foreign institutions to freely set up
campuses could reverse this flow. Students from India, far-east, middle-east
and Africa who find it difficult to get VISA for US/UK etc. or find that
expensive could also benefit from this. Our politicians have spoken about
recreating Nalanda and Takshila. This in my view is the easiest way to do that.
(c) India holds
tremendous potential for tourism. However lack of proper infrastructure had
traditionally constricted the growth of this sector. On the other hand Indian
outbound tourists flow is rising. Developing some world class self contained
international tourism centers, e.g., on lines of Macau, Disney, Las Vegas, etc.
with liberal VISA, Forex, taxation and real estate ownership rules could
reverse these flows.
(d) Vindavan,
Tirupati, Varanasi, Gaya, etc. all have potential to be as desirable, venerable
and popular destinations as Mecca, Vatican and Jerusalem. Converting these
centers of Indian religion and culture into self contained special zones with
international airport and annual event calendar could get substantial forex
revenue.
These projects also have the potential to generate large scale
productive employment opportunity for local talent, besides contributing to
economic growth and true globalization of Indian economy.
Earlier
in this series:
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