Do political reforms and business process outsourcing intrigue you? Do you take a keen interest in innovation and entrepreneurship in information technology in India and security? Is India actually shaping up to be a super power?
Do you need information about the state of development in India? What needs to be done to expedite India's growth?
In an hour-long chat on rediff.com on Tuesday, Stanford don and author Rafiq Dossani spoke to our readers. Here is the transcript:
Rafiq Dossani says, Hallo, everyone, this is Rafiq Dossani. I am looking forward to discussing "India Arriving" with you. Though most may not have read it, I'll be glad to run through the basic thesis, or you could read the interview posted on the Rediff site.
Madan asked, How about IT in the next 5 years. Say what about companies like Infosys TCS Wipro.. in the next 5 years in growth
Rafiq Dossani answers, at 2007-12-11 14:36:03Living in Silicon Valley, as I do, I can tell you that the large IT firms in India are currently giving sleepless nights to their western competitors. From being coders (programmers) 5 years ago, they have become system integrators and, slowly, are entering strategic consulting. Thus, they are touching the highest value added portions of the work that IBM, Accenture, etc., do
Dean asked, According to Manmohan Singh, he said he would bring 'Human face reforms'. After 12 long years, Indian poor people became much poor and a lot of people in the way of suicide. Do you have to tell something them?
Rafiq Dossani answers, Although reforms were started by Manmohan Singh in 1991, they were concentrated on things that would help large firms in the private sector do well, such as delicensing of industry. This was probably necessary at the time, given the financial crisis. However, the poor have not benefited from those reforms - particularly those in rural areas. So, you have a point - though I see some profound changes in the political structure that will help them: something we can discuss further, if you like.
kalyanchaubey asked, I work in one of the most famous Silicon valley based chip manufacturer. The problem we face here in India office is the middle leadership. The managers here can not think out of the box. The reason perhaps is the education system, even in the IITs people do lot of theory oriented work. Because of that, no excellent high-tech product has come out of India. May be there are bits and pieces here and there. But no indigenious innovation like a Laptop, a Mercedes car, an i-Pod, www. There are lots of talk . But no result has been evinced yet. Somehow starting from the onset, free thinking is not encouraged in India. How this can be changed?
Rafiq Dossani answers, The education system is being completely turned around by the entry of private providers. As you may know, the private colleges now account for 80% of engineering seats and over 50% of all college seats. Some of these are of good quality, some are not. But there is a deeper problem to the education system. A student at Stanford University recently compared the content of the English language examinations at 10th standard under the ICSE system. She found that there had been no change in the proportions of rote-learning, comprehension, problem solving and creative thinking over time. The exams are still 90% focused on testing rote-learning.
Roger asked, Hi Rafiq. How do you feel about the standard of technical and professional education in India? Is the quality of education available to the masses in India good enough to support the economic growth in the next few years?
Rafiq Dossani answers, This relates to the earlier question on education. I think that the reliance on private providers has a short-term downside and a long-term benefit. The short-term problem is that the good government institutions like the IITs are rapidly losing their best faculty to the private colleges. This is because the private colleges can afford to pay 3x-4x what the IITs pay (which is capped at Rs.50,000 p.m.). The long-term benefit is that the IIT model is not sustainable anyway and has to be replaced by a system of local, state-owned colleges and private providers.
Mahi asked, Sir, do you foresee Indian economy superceding China's?
Rafiq Dossani answers, This is a question I am often asked and I enjoy answering it! The reality is that Chinese infrastructure is far ahead and the quality of the workforce in terms of having a minimum level of secondary education and health care is very high. For example, primary health care in India touches less than half the population. In China it is 100%. Secondary education in India only reaches 35% of the population, in China it is 70%. The advantages that India has are better institutions (such as institutions for regulating government, bureaucracy, judiciary, stockmarkets, etc.). For example, in China, there is no real protection of intellectual property, so it is routinely stolen. India's other advantage is a longer culture of entrepreneurship. So, it will be interesting to watch how this plays: India's rural population, poor infrastructure, weak health care and education vs better institutions and entrepreneurship. My guess is China will lead till 2050 and then India will lead
Bharath asked, How does the fallout of the Nuclear deal with US affect India and its much talked growth? Are the Indian students aspiring to study abroad going to be affected?
Rafiq Dossani answers, The US is very keen to get this deal - without it, they will not count India as an ally. Being an ally of the US is a double-edged sword since a superpower will insist of having its way in times of crisis. So, it is an interesting situation that we are faced with in India-US relations: Indian politicians need to be responsive to local needs for food and water, while managing relations with the US in order to access their capital and technology. The rankings of these needs will conflict with each other some times. But it won't affect Indian students aspiring to study in the US in any way.
KSRao asked, Many leaders of the current India are promoting narrow casteist ideologies and endangering the future of democracy. How can we prevent this? How can we make the illiterate masses to be interested in democracy and its functioning?
Rafiq Dossani answers, The rise of casteism is happening simultaneously with the rise of regional politics. The latter is a good thing because it brings politicians in closer touch with the people who elected them. India lost out for many decades because of New Delhi's insistence that it alone must control the nation's destinies. The bad part is that immaturities such as casteism and other ethnic divides will increase for a while. On the whole, I see regionalism as a good thing provided civil society can develop as a counterweight to its ills.
Anjum asked, Hi Rafiq, this is Anjum Rajabali. The way the English-language media has reported Nandigram, and the way it editorialises on the Left's position on every issue, makes us wonder if there really is a conspiracy to discredit the CPM for stalling the Indo-US
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