"Keep close to Nature's
heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a
week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean."
—John Muir (American,
1838-1914)
Word for the day
Endemic (Adj)
Natural to or characteristic
of a specific people or place; native; indigenous
Malice towards none
Salman Khan has inspired
millions of youth to follow a strict fitness regime.
Name 5 Olympians who have
inspired 100k people in similar way.
First random thought this morning
Reportedly, the farmers in deserts of Jaiselmar have unearthed a
number of water springs. Many believe that these springs could have their
source in the elusive Saraswati river.
Nonetheless, it is adding a new dimension to the region's economy
by supporting farming activities.
It might be worth exploring whether, it is part of major change in
the Nature's cycle. If that be so, it might be time for the Marwaris, who had
migrated to all parts of the country to head back home.
Skilling India - 1
The consistent underperformance of Indian economy vis-à-vis its
perceived potential has been a matter of regular concern for both the investors
(especially global investors) and the government. Though we have seen some
instances of high growth (the best being 1994-97, 2005-09), such growth did
never realistically appeared sustainable or consistent. In fact all such
instances of sporadic high growth invariably led to (i) crumbling of already
inadequate physical infrastructure; and (ii) heightened social strife as the
system was not able to complement the burgeoning aspirations.
I have always been skeptical about the matrix commonly used to
measure the potential growth, as it mostly ignores the qualitative aspects.
It is common knowledge that inadequate basic infrastructure, both
social & physical and unacceptably large level of inequalities
(socio-economic & regional) have been constricting the economic growth. For
example, lack of adequate parking space (and not the affordability) may be
limiting the demand for passenger cars. Poor health due to malnutrition may be
impacting the productivity of labor. Inadequate port capacity, and not
necessarily the demand, may be limiting the foreign trade.
A more serious limiting factor of our growth has been the poor
quality of our human resources and the famous Jugaad mindset. The level of
education & training in the country has been more than wanting. Moreover,
the "quick fix" mindset for problem solving may have prevented
finding and implementing sustainable and scalable solutions.
The ‘jugaad’ mindset has traditionally pushed back India and
Indians tenaciously into survival mode, preventing development of a strong
foundation for economic growth and prosperity.
The ‘jugaad’ mindset reflects poorly on almost every aspect of the
socio-economic life in India. This has severely impacted the pursuit of
excellence, a hall mark of Indian art, culture, engineering, architecture,
industry till 19th century, at least. Today, “Quality” is something
India and Indians are not particularly known for globally. The latest episode
involving TCS may be a good example of this.
The ‘jugaad’ mindset has also doggedly limited the vision of an
average Indian entrepreneur. Except for a handful of Indians, most of whom have
the benefit of studying and/or working overseas, not many have thought about
scalable business models.
I find this discussion relevant today as my team travels to assess
the drought conditions in the country. We have observed some examples of very
effective localized solutions for water conservation and flood control. But
these examples are very few. No one has thought about making these solutions
scalable for universal application.
I have discussed this with many social workers operating at
village level and implementing machinery of the government; and now I have
developed some serious reservations about the Skill India mission of the
government.
...to continue tomorrow
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