India @59 - Hope and Despair

We would be 59 year old republic tomorrow, and I think we have come a long way over last 60+ years of independence. From the initial euphoria of Independence, to economic, food and military crisis of 60's and 70's, to some period of stability of mid 80's, and then venturing on a completely new path starting 91, India has been through quite a journey.

Today we have become one of the fastest growing economies, and an envy of the world. But beneath these numbers and glitzy malls tension is slowly building up in masses who are left untouched by this growth. While private sector is growing rapidly (wherever its allowed to function with minimal interference), the sectors that require government support the most, such as healthcare, infrastructure, education, speedy resolution of legal issues, support in fighting against the land sharks in name of SEZ's etc, are either falling behind, or fast loosing public confidence.

The contrast is evident everywhere, and nowhere more so than Gurgaon which is fast becoming BPO capital of the country. On one hand we have New Gurgaon with high-rises where people shell out extra money for electricity generators for 24x7 electricity supply, and on the other hand we have old-Gurgaon, which is largely dependent upon electricity supplied by Government controlled distribution system, and which typically goes without power for atleast 10 hours a day. We have people who can get themselves treated at Apollo Hospital by shelling big bucks, and then we have people who depend on government run hospitals, which are nothing but a sham in name of health care. Situation in villages or towns of other states is even worse.

Why is it like this? Why is certain part of India growing so rapidly, and why is other India being left behind? Answer is simple - while Indian enterprises after being unshackled from regulatory framework have started to find their feet in new global system, there is no pressure on Government, or civil services to improve. There is no pressure because the ones who are affected the most due to government inefficiencies are not united, and do not put pressure on government to improve. They are not united because they have been divided along the lines of caste, and religion by opportunistic politicians - a trend which is growing with emergence of even larger number of regional parties.

If we continue to ignore majority of our population, and if they don't get their due share in the growth pie, then one day the masses would rise and pull rest of India down with them (essentially what naxalites are doing in certain pockets these days - which I very much doubt can be solved by gun as our PM has suggested).

We need to shake things from the top to bring about any significant change - strengthen national parties who have clearly defined agenda of growth and not of divisive politics, select powerful prime-minister (and not merely a rubber stamp), make Government (ministers, civil servants) accountable to people (RTI act being one positive step in that direction).

I know all this sounds too Utopian, but I am sure even independent India would have sounded Utopian 100 years ago!

Indian Entrepreneurs - Finding System in Chaos

I was wondering why Indians are such entrepreneurial in nature. If you look at it, India is not a very entrepreneur friendly country -

1. Company laws are archaic - opening a company takes time, and closing one is almost impossible
2. Labor laws are not favorable - one can not fire an employee without permission from State Labor Board if number of employees in the organization are more than 100
3. Infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired, be it electricity, roads, health care etc.
4. Laws are confusing, and God forbid if you do get into a litigation it would take ages to get a judgement
5. Manufacturing industry is still mired with bureaucracy, and red tap

So from the surface it looks like an impossible task to start and run your own enterprise. But then why is India known for its entrepreneurial people around the world?

I think the answer is that we Indians are very street smart, and know how to work the system in our favor. The laws are tough but lack of enforcement works in our favor, and penalties are not very stiff to act as deterrent for people to be adventurous. Even if one gets caught, that person knows how to get out of the trouble by greasing the right palms (for minor oversights). As far as infrastructure is concerned, electricity I think is the most important requirement for most industries and entrepreneurs meet that by installing their own generator sets.

So in effect, the very things that would be considered a show-blocker actually work in an entrepreneurs favor.

But street smartness can only take you to a point. To grow beyond that one needs institutional support, easy funding opportunities, and most importantly a mind-set which can think beyond immediate profits and look for value-creation. It's the third point which I think is our Achilles heel (first two - though lot to be desired, are still slowly getting into place)- most of us are short-sighted and only look for immediate gains in bottom-line, and generally do not invest aggressively in something innovative that can generate value in future, and quickly catapult a company to next level. That I believe is one of the core reasons why there are so many successful SME's in India but very few examples of large enterprises built by first-generation entrepreneurs.

With booming stock market (which is relatively a recent phenomenon), Indian entrepreneurs too have started realizing the value their can organizations can offer to them if they stay focused, concentrate on long-term gains, and work towards building world-class organizations.

I am positive that in next 5-10 years we would see many more big companies emerging out of India as more and more entrepreneurs align themselves with global best practices, and work towards creating innovative solutions rather than just creating need-based solutions.

Photosynthesis to Clean Development Mechanism

I had this brainwave which lead me to do bit of a research on Internet, which threw some very interesting information on the subject I was thinking about. Here you go...

Well, energy is a big concern these days, and so is pollution, and global warming. From my elementary chemistry I remembered that photosynthesis converts carbon dioxide to oxygen by using sunlight. So I thought why is there no mechanism where we can artificially simulate this process - it would generate electricity (since sunlight must be getting converted to energy for enabling whatever chemical reaction had to take place to convert CO2 to O2), and also reduce carbon dioxide from environment!

So began my interesting journey to find out if there is something that is being done on this topic - and interestingly yes, some work is being done on this specially by group of scientists in Australia, and US. Apparently it is a difficult task to achieve the efficiencies as achieved by trees, and scientists are trying to figure out how they can make 'artificial photosynthesis' more efficient to make it an industrially viable option. This book is a very informative if you would like to read more on this topic - 'Artificial Photosynthesis - From Basic Biology to Industrial Application'.

This search took me to another area - Carbon Collection & Storage (CCS). Now that artificial photosynthesis is not going to happen in a hurry, CCS seems to be an attractive option. This technology is particularly useful for large scale stationary sources of CO2, such as power plants, cement plants etc, and this involves first separating CO2 from emitted gases, capturing it, and then storing it in heavily pressurized format in geographic locations, or in sea from where it can not escape. The technology to do all of the above is available, but is costly (as of now) and adds to per-unit of electricity. That is why power plants are reluctant to install the technology.

Here comes Clean Development Mechanism, or CDM in short, which is a result of Kyoto protocol and essentially translates into this - developed nations that can not cut CO2 emissions themselves pay for projects being set up in developing nations to cut CO2 by using advanced technology. The companies which set up these CDM approved projects get carbon credits, which are then traded in open market and are bought by the companies in developed world.

Currently CCS is not covered under CDM, but is expected to be added to the list of approved technologies by end of 2008. Now here's the idea - form an organization which would have consultants on board who would get trained on CCS and CDM in next one year, and then take the plunge when the time comes, or maybe even earlier with consulting projects on other approved technologies and project types. Yes, there are companies already operating in this space (CDM that is) - but the pie is too big and is going to get bigger only, and can accommodate many more players. Interested? If yes, let's forge ahead!!

A salute to an un-named traffic policeman

We are so used to looking at police in bad light (alteast in India) that this incident came as a surprise, and also restored some of my confidence back in the police force, and goodness of humanity in general. Here's what happened -

I was waiting at ITO red-light for it to turn green (one of the busiest crossing in New Delhi) when I heard the all too familiar siren associated with police/VIP's etc, and suddenly I saw a traffic policeman coming out of a corner and thrusting himself in the on-coming traffic with a clear intention of stopping the traffic to make way for vehicle with siren. They cynic in me thought that this must be another of those VIP movements, and I had almost internally started cursing the policeman when I saw that the vehicle he was trying to make a way was an ambulance.

I was at-once filled up with admiration for this guy who was selflessly risking himself (with such heavy traffic he could easily have been hit by motorists who are always in a rush) to make way for the ambulance. A rather easier option for him, but which would have meant loss of precious moments for the ambulance would have been to simply change the lights from the console, and then let traffic sort itself out to make way for the ambulance. But he chose the difficult, albeit the right option - and for that I salute him.

While with the same topic, here is another story .... I once went to police station (Okhla) to report loss of my mobile phone and started to chat with the station officer there ... I asked him why are policemen so rude, and carry such a negative image. His reply was simple yet very thought provoking ... he said, that we (police) get to see so much negativity in society (he himself had only last week seen a mutilated body), people call us to complain about thefts, accidents, fights etc, but nobody calls us to celebrate their children's b'day, or nobody wants us if there is a joyous moment in their house - how do you expect us to react when we are all the time surrounded by such ugliness (gandagi is the word he had used)!

Yes, there are corrupt policemen who abuse their power and who need to be fought against, but there are many who are honest, and compassionate. In end, they are nothing but only our reflection.