India: Global Economy’s Idiot Savant
Posted : October 24, 2005 at 2:21 pm [America/Los_Angeles]
India…is the global economy’s idiot savant. It excels at the impossible, turning out hundreds of thousands of brilliant engineers a year. Its software houses manage complex data across thousands of miles of undersea cable for the world’s most sophisticated clients. India has world-class business leaders and, unlike China, solvent banks. And yet, India flubs the obvious stuff. The national roadway network is a shambles and the power grid even worse. Nearly a third of India’s population - and more than half its women - can’t read or write…This bipolar development model is reflected in the crazy-quilt of wealth and squalor in cities like Mumbai, where billboards touting Mallya’s Kingfisher and Standard Chartered Bank’s investment planning experts tower above sprawling slums, and urchins approach cars at gridlocked intersections hawking copies of Harvard Business Review…Of all India’s failures, lousy infrastructure may be the most puzzling.
— Fortune, “India’s Bumpy Ride” (By Clay Chandler)
Infrastructure…Infrastructure…Infrastructure. It has been said a bazillion times by many (including Yours truly) and yet it continues to remain an elusive goal. Indians, especially the young crowd, must do what they can to highlight this aspect of our Government’s failure. And start demanding accountability. And answers. India does not have an infinite amount of time to pull this off. Sooner or later, lack of execution on building a sustainable and stable infrastructure will start hurting Indians where it hurts most - Global Competitiveness and FDI. And in this flat world of ours, that has to be a B-I-G no no.
- Anand
Category: Chindia