Comments on: A padlock on our gates

By: senthil

senthil — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:12:54 +0000

I just wanted to share some info on how foolish, are those loan write offs.. in my region, one person got farm loan of 13 lakhs, and within 3 months, the entire amount was written off..
At the same time, one of my relative, for fearing of insult from banks, pledged her jewels and repaid the farm loan of 50,000…
I believe, this is the case everywhere..
Secondly on the NREGA scheme.. there was balance of job demand and wages in the rural villages.. but NREGA collapsed this balance, and increased the wages to unfeasible amount.. the work given is utter waste, like cleaning the public roads..

The workers come to here for two things.. there is no one to demand work, and the work time is less.. (8 AM to 1 PM) for Rs.80 ..

Because of this, many of the farmers faced lot of difficulties in sourcing labours for harvesting and other agri activities..

By: Anantha Nageswaran

Anantha Nageswaran — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 02:40:51 +0000

the link to the Olsen article takes me to a piece by David Leonhardt. Was that the article meant to be cited there?

By: idontspam

idontspam — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 12:41:05 +0000

Very good point on interest groups. What is needed today is a Direct to Citizen platform which cuts through the interest group noise and gives the ordinary citizen the voice. We are trying out one such platform at praja.in

By: M Jacob

M Jacob — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 10:34:59 +0000

Nothing will happen. Enterprise controls the Indian Government and in turn, the Indian Government controls Enterprise. One of the very few out of the vicious circle is Mittal Steel.
That took several decades to achieve.

By: Spandan

Spandan — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 04:40:53 +0000

So, what actually is you solution Nandan?

I understand that it is election time and everyone is jumping over another to provide freebies: IIT/IIM in so many states, Quota for this and that sections and so on.

Why not the CII, ASSOCHAM, NASSCOM etc put a strong protest against it. Are not the same industrialists who actually fund the elections for the major parties?

Why there is no strong collective voice at all?

By: Alok

Alok — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 03:26:49 +0000

Hi Nandan, I am living in USA for past 6 years and working for Infosys and love and breathe the same spirit of hard work , honesty and sincerity as almost very other Infoscion but each day as i work to client’s office i feel our leaders our solving just part of the problem and we lead a life more of fantasy than reality as i hardly see any Indian who is able to lead a lifestyle or even have a fulfilling life as compared to US people who know less than us , are less sincere or honest and very manipulative bunch of people . Shuould companies like Infosys and Indian govt do something like buying islands like Hawaii , Mauritus and Latin American nations and spreading our own people there rather than just being manipulated by filthy headed Americans ?? If India has a problem of over ppopulation and limited resources why shouldnt we spread to more friendlier countries who really need our talent and would love us to help them ?

By: Bala

Bala — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 05:26:14 +0000

It is very true,”we’ve barely skimmed the surface when it comes to what we are capable of.” Indian Railways is a very good example for this, the IRCTC is one such application, many such industries/fields remains unexplored, apart from Gov, we have other sectors as well. We should start thinking inwards.

Its nice to see you blogging, it gives a lot of insight to other people on what’s happening in the industry.

By: selvakumar

selvakumar — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:31:51 +0000

Nandan,

Very insightful blog that reflects the today’s reality. I am eagerly awaiting for your book release in US. I understand and even experience many times how the big INDIAN INDUSTRIALIST(with few exceptions) takes advantage of the close political class to drive the policies to their advantage. My questions in this regard, what kind of changes & policy will open oppurtunities that will nurture young entreprenurs & small scale businesses. What existing policies should change? What new policy should come to bring this change? If you are little more specifics it will be helpful to create awareness. Even, politicians who don’t know what would be good policy,atleast will come to know there is other policies which drive the 60% of rural population out of subsistance.

Thanks
Selvakumar

By: Bhalchander Vishwanath

Bhalchander Vishwanath — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 06:23:56 +0000

Hi Nandan,

A great observation and great post. Is policy being driven more by interest groups today than earlier? Have we had cases where policies have been formulated for the benefit of the vast majority rather than loudest interest group - can you give some examples of such instances? How do common citizens influence politics / policy such that they benefit the vast majority rather than the loudest interest groups? Do you plan to cover these topics in any future posts?

Bhalchander

By: Abubucker

Abubucker — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 04:05:50 +0000

Agree wth you

What do you expect in an aristocracy like ours?

We haven’t had a unifying leader since independance

Social justice and fairness is the key to unlock our true potential that requires the overhaul of our bureaucracy(real rulers).