Sixty years ago, when Nehru spoke about socialism in India, he said socialism was about sharing wealth, but in India, he said, we can only share poverty. He went on to explain that the need of the hour was creating wealth - not gold and silver, but goods and services. His way of creating wealth was planning. Five-year plans. Unemployment will end in ten years, two plans sir.
In the 1950's India's power generation was one 1/10th of France. Today it is one and a half times. Its not enough, but we did some progress. Maybe the problem was that we did not take Nehru's dream to its full conclusion. We got lost in the politics. 5 IITs was not enough, we should have made 20. Though I am not fully aware of how the government lost grip of the situation but I assume they started fairly strongly with an army of nation builders. Progress ended by the time the rent-seekers came in.
Probably India's first rent seeker was Indira Gandhi, or rather the spineless Congress men and women who hoisted her to power. My guess is that is the time when we lost the focus. When former Indian Prime Minister, was woken from his sleep, right in the middle of a conference on power generation, (you know whom I am talking about, Shri H.D. Deve Gowda) he blurted, "Aai yem thinking of giving them power", he smirked with half open eyes at T.V. cameras, "not yelectrical power, but powlitical power".
Today, we are primarily a nation of rent-seekers. We have no technology of our own to speak of. Only servicing the multinationals, sir. How many products has Infosys created, or TCS? No sir no products. Barring a few examples, there is a shocking lack of any risk taken by Indian firms. Why take the risk when cronyism is so easy? Not only rent-seekers corrode that national frame with corruption, they also ensure that there is no need for hard work. Rent-seekers procreate rent-seekers. The second and third generation business and political leaders mostly distinguish themselves by their taste of foreign luxury goods.
The problem is so deeply entrenched, that people have think that rent seekers are smart and should be emulated. Be practical, son. Advertising money ensures IPL players don't need to earn their revenue. Note their humiliating performance in the Champions' League. Even our cricketers are starting to become rent-seekers. What happend to the work ethic? Did it retire with Rahul Dravid?
If you want more evidence, look at the media. Baring a small minority, our media has become the biggest rent-seeker. Want coverage during election? Sorry sir, but editorial is sold out. These were the exact words told to a friend who stood for elections. And let's not even talk about the NGO sector. If there is any sector that contains mostly rent-seekers its the NGOs. NGOs are the biggest scam in this country. Did you know, 50% of your donations to CRY go towards "fund-raising expenses". Less than 20% of it is actually utilized for their stated goals. Next time you make a donation, do take a moment to study the NGO's financials.
Kejriwal wants us to believe that the current crop of rent seekers should be trashed. Power to him! But replaced by whom? Who do you freaking trust? The epic problem in India is not corruption, but incompetence. Incompetence that emanates from this rent-seeking culture. It is epic and it is bringing us down. Along with incompetence, our political and business leaders are also delusional. They think they are doing a fairly good job.
But there must be hope and there is. There are many people who are doing phenomenal work on the ground so that the wheels keep moving. These people need to get together and maybe with Kejriwal and throw out the parasitic rent-seekers. I hope there is a secret society that is being formed of people who believe in risk taking, hard work and meritocracy that will eventually take over.
Things are not as bad as they were when we began our "tryst" with destiny. Today India has a lot of wealth to be distributed. And thankfully, nation building is back on the agenda. The time has come for the rent-seekers to decide if they want to wilfully step aside, or they need a push. We don't trust them to be in charge of our administration or wealth anymore. Its only a matter of time.
In the 1950's India's power generation was one 1/10th of France. Today it is one and a half times. Its not enough, but we did some progress. Maybe the problem was that we did not take Nehru's dream to its full conclusion. We got lost in the politics. 5 IITs was not enough, we should have made 20. Though I am not fully aware of how the government lost grip of the situation but I assume they started fairly strongly with an army of nation builders. Progress ended by the time the rent-seekers came in.
Probably India's first rent seeker was Indira Gandhi, or rather the spineless Congress men and women who hoisted her to power. My guess is that is the time when we lost the focus. When former Indian Prime Minister, was woken from his sleep, right in the middle of a conference on power generation, (you know whom I am talking about, Shri H.D. Deve Gowda) he blurted, "Aai yem thinking of giving them power", he smirked with half open eyes at T.V. cameras, "not yelectrical power, but powlitical power".
Today, we are primarily a nation of rent-seekers. We have no technology of our own to speak of. Only servicing the multinationals, sir. How many products has Infosys created, or TCS? No sir no products. Barring a few examples, there is a shocking lack of any risk taken by Indian firms. Why take the risk when cronyism is so easy? Not only rent-seekers corrode that national frame with corruption, they also ensure that there is no need for hard work. Rent-seekers procreate rent-seekers. The second and third generation business and political leaders mostly distinguish themselves by their taste of foreign luxury goods.
The problem is so deeply entrenched, that people have think that rent seekers are smart and should be emulated. Be practical, son. Advertising money ensures IPL players don't need to earn their revenue. Note their humiliating performance in the Champions' League. Even our cricketers are starting to become rent-seekers. What happend to the work ethic? Did it retire with Rahul Dravid?
If you want more evidence, look at the media. Baring a small minority, our media has become the biggest rent-seeker. Want coverage during election? Sorry sir, but editorial is sold out. These were the exact words told to a friend who stood for elections. And let's not even talk about the NGO sector. If there is any sector that contains mostly rent-seekers its the NGOs. NGOs are the biggest scam in this country. Did you know, 50% of your donations to CRY go towards "fund-raising expenses". Less than 20% of it is actually utilized for their stated goals. Next time you make a donation, do take a moment to study the NGO's financials.
Kejriwal wants us to believe that the current crop of rent seekers should be trashed. Power to him! But replaced by whom? Who do you freaking trust? The epic problem in India is not corruption, but incompetence. Incompetence that emanates from this rent-seeking culture. It is epic and it is bringing us down. Along with incompetence, our political and business leaders are also delusional. They think they are doing a fairly good job.
But there must be hope and there is. There are many people who are doing phenomenal work on the ground so that the wheels keep moving. These people need to get together and maybe with Kejriwal and throw out the parasitic rent-seekers. I hope there is a secret society that is being formed of people who believe in risk taking, hard work and meritocracy that will eventually take over.
Things are not as bad as they were when we began our "tryst" with destiny. Today India has a lot of wealth to be distributed. And thankfully, nation building is back on the agenda. The time has come for the rent-seekers to decide if they want to wilfully step aside, or they need a push. We don't trust them to be in charge of our administration or wealth anymore. Its only a matter of time.
