Thought for the day
“What is the primary purpose of a political leader? To
build a majority. If voters care about parking lots, then talk about parking
lots.”
—Newt Gingrich (American, 1943 - )
Word for the day
Pluvial (adj)
Of or pertaining to rain; rainy.
(Source: Dictionary.com)
Teaser for the day
UP, West Bengal, Odisha, J&K, Karnataka, TN, Kerala,
Bihar, Assam – BJP has antagonized the state government representing over half
the Indian population.
Modi will definitely find it difficult to build consensus
on key reforms involving states for at least initial one year.
Gandhian
Anna would do much better than expert Bhagwati
Yesterday I
expressed my opinion about the ideal construct of new government. I may
reiterate that in my view the key portfolios should be given to serious
politicians and statesmen, who have the ability to think beyond current
conditions and into the realm of impossibilities. To further illustrate the
point, I would like to cite the following example.
In past one decade the market for online retail in India has
grown multifold. However, still the coverage area has not expanded beyond
metropolitan areas and other top 100 cities. My interactions with some
e-retailers suggest that the lack of access to market for people living in tier
II and III town, and semi urban and rural areas where internet telecom
connectivity has reached is the biggest opportunity for e-retailers. The
logistics and lack of banking access are the major road blocks.
On the other hand India Post is a great network with reach to
every household in the country. Unfortunately, it has been left to die on its
own.
An IT and telecom minister (which includes postal department
also) should think about marrying these two. India post can provide excellent
last mile connectivity and payment gateway for entire e-retailing industry at
little incremental cost; given that most of the cost for India Post is fixed
anyways (salaries and pension). The incremental revenue could have helped
reviving this great institution and also helped the nascent e-retailing
industry.
Similarly, a 200kms drive away from any metropolitan area would
tell you which business is the largest unskilled and semi-skilled employment
generator in the country – yes it is mobile telecom. While textile industry
traditionally believed to be largest employment generator has historically
received humongous, often undeserved, support from the government, the telecom
sector has remained at the receiving end! Have you heard anyone talking about
subsidizing telecom industry for generating more employment?
The IT and ITeS services sector has grown multifold in past one
decade. But unfortunately, still the wage arbitrage remains the primary driver
for the industry. Same telecom minister in UPA, who also held the portfolio of
HRD minister for sometime besides being simultaneously at the helm of Science
and Technology ministry, did almost nothing to promote R&D activities in
the IT sector so that Indian IT industry could move up the value chain. For
record, the Facebook, Inc which was founded in February 2004 just 3months ahead
of UPA-1, is today worth 1.5x more than the revenue of India’s entire IT
industry.
We need a Raman Singh who could think of Food Security for all
so that children could go to school, marginal farmers could leave unviable
sustenance farming and take up more rewarding construction jobs; a Atal Bihari
who could think of a massive road development program despite severe fiscal
constraints to counter global economic sanctions and generate massive
employment; give away key government monopolies like hydrocarbons, coal, power
etc.
A Gandhian Anna could do much more for the Indian economy, than
all foreign trained economists.
(Note: Names mentioned herein are purely for illustrative
purpose and do not reflect any bias or prejudice on part of the author.)
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