Jaago Re

India is a mediocre country with a huge pool of intelligent individuals who have made it big here and abroad. How can a country of above average intelligent people build a mediocre country? As we see so much positive energy around us about the ‘Emerging new India’; here is what I think we need to focus on as a country to transition from a follower to a leader.

Our lack of a sense of national pride is one of the biggest impediments and the key reason for our current state of affairs. One of the things I noticed on my first trip to the US was the number of US flags flying from buildings both govt and private! In India we all seem to work as pockets for individual growth and hence we have success stories of individual brilliance whether in industry, social activism or arts. We seem to live here but not belong! It’s what I would call a difference between having a house and staying in a home!

If we have a sense of pride in being Indian we would change our attitudes to the way we publicly reward and punish high profile people. We would stop rewarding mediocrity and start punishing criminals regardless of their contacts as these set the standards of omission and commissions. The ‘non punishable’ factor is what I call this syndrome for want of a better word – Ramalinga Raju, the Bihar train burning culprits, Narendra Modi for his infamous carnage, Ketan Mehta…..the list is endless. The common thread between all these law breakers is their political nexus. As the government tries to inculcate accountability and remove the ‘chalta Hai’ attitude of our politicians – an important issue that they should look at is breaking this nexus. The law of the land should hold good for all and law breakers should be punished and within a reasonable time frame.

Our lack of focus on quality and inadequate vision at all touch points of growth restrict us to the immediate making us myopic - be it Industry, policy, politics, arts or our deplorable state of infrastructure. The IT industry catapulted us into the big league but even today we do not have a Google or a Yahoo or a Microsoft to our name! Internal overall growth and intelligent external positioning is a combination that emerging India should work towards.

Our education institutes seemed to have mushroomed faster than mushrooms! And yet it does not address the needs of our industry – poor quality curriculum, sub standard quality of teachers and facilities result in poor output of students! Our education system should include courses that cater to the new opportunities. Also at the grass root levels more than regular education entrepreneur opportunity related vocational courses should be introduced.

Today we can do some of this if not all – will we???????