Well, here I am sitting in my hotel room after a short night of clubbing at Speed in Chennai. The clubs usually close at about 1am, but tonight was different. Around 11:30pm, the lights went up - the party was closing down. Dozens of confused faces looked up at the DJ while we all stopped dancing to the techno-house beats. I am no longer in Bangalore where clubs close at 11:30pm. What was going on?
A quick search on my BlackBerry revealed that there were two bombs that went off in Hyderabad and so the whole country is on national alert. Two bombs went off killing several dozens of people, while 2 were diffused. Apparently there are 14 more bombs left to be diffused in the city. I can't imagine what the Muslims are going through now as I think about my Muslim friends in the States and back home in Toronto.
The Americans keep on bringing up 9/11, but stuff like that happen in this part of the world all the time. It doesn't make it "normal". The severity is the same...yet people keep on talking about 9/11 like it was yesterday and breeze through the news of bombings over in the Middle East and the like. I wonder if that can be classified as a form of terrorism? Is ignorance a form of terrorism? There's a thought.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Friday, August 24, 2007
Can life begin at 60 for India?
Amartya Sen
The writer, who received the 1998 Nobel Prize for economics, is Lamont university professor at Harvard University and former master of Trinity College, Cambridge
Published: August 13 2007
Pablo Picasso once remarked: "One starts to get young at the age of 60." Something rather like that seems to be happening to India right now, at least on the economic front. There is much more sign of life there today than could be seen when political independence came to the ancient land in 1947, when its strait-laced economy moved at a slow and imperturbable pace – the famous 3 per cent rate of growth. The feebleness of the economic pace was in sharp contrast with the speed of political change in the new republic: India became overnight the first poor country in the world to be a full-scale democracy.
Democracy has indeed flourished well in India since then, with few hiccups and with regular and orderly elections, free and flourishing media, independence of the judiciary and, no less importantly, the willingness of ruling parties to vacate office when defeated in general elections, rather than calling in the army. This would be remarkable enough for any poor country, particularly one the size of India, but it was a much harder task in a land of so many important languages (each with its long and proud history) and such diversity of distinct religions (all placed under a secular but tolerant umbrella). Secularism has been threatened from time to time by sectarian groups, but massive support for secularism across India has asserted itself repeatedly.
On the economic side, India's comparative success is rather new. Some changes came slowly and the growth rate of the economy did move up to 5 per cent a year in the 1980s, which was much faster than in the early decades of independence, not to mention during a century of colonial semi-stagnation. But the decisive moment for the radical changes that have made the Indian economy so dynamic today occurred in the early 1990s, led by reforms introduced by Manmohan Singh, then the newly appointed finance minister (he has been prime minister since 2004, after a period out of office in between). It is useful to ask, in taking a long view of the Indian economy, what changes were needed in India and what really happened over the period of gradual transformation initiated by the reforms of the early 1990s.
India faced two huge problems of governance. The first one was government over-activity in areas of work in which its presence was overbearing, but where its ability to mess things up was truly gigantic. The so-called "licence Raj" made business initiatives extremely difficult and put them at the mercy of bureaucrats (large and small), thereby powerfully stifling enterprise while nurturing corruption. The going has sometimes been rough but the direction of policy change has been unmistakable from the early 1990s onwards (if still a little slow in many assessments), endorsed even by successor governments run by other political parties.
But India also had a second problem that needed to be addressed urgently. This was the problem of government under-activity in fields in which it could achieve a great deal. There has been a sluggish response to the urgency of remedying the aston- ishingly under-funded social infra - structure – for example, the need to build many more schools, hospitals and rural medical centres – and developing a functioning system of accountability, supervision and collaboration for public services. To this can be added the neglect of physical infrastructure (power, water, roads, rail), which required both governmental and private initiatives. Large areas of what economists call "public goods" have continued to be under-emphasised.
The radical changes in the 1990s did little to remedy the second problem. If things have begun to change here too (though rather slowly), a part of the credit for ushering in that change must go to India's democratic politics. There is a growing appreciation of the electoral relevance of the unfulfilled basic needs of people (related to schools, healthcare, water supply and other facilities) and there are also pressures generated by better-informed media discussions and by the activities of civil society movements demanding elementary rights.
So where does India stand now, after all this? The economic growth rate, now about 8 per cent (sometimes touching 9 per cent), is, of course, agreeably high, but the sharing of the benefits that flow from this is still remarkably unequal. Poverty rates have fallen, but are nowhere near what could have been achieved had the distributional side got more attention. Some failures are huge, such as continuing undernourishment, particularly in children, and of course the continuing scandal of a quarter of the population (including half of all women) remaining illiterate in a country with such high-technology achievements based on excellent specialised training and practice. A democratic country can hardly want to maintain a divisiveness that makes it part California and part sub-Saharan Africa.
The unequal distribution of the benefits of economic progress is not unrelated to continuing gaps on the social side, since the human capabilities that make it easy for people to use the new economic opportunities can be vastly enlarged by enhanced public services, such as universal – and good – school education, efficient and accessible public healthcare and good epidemiology. Remedying this calls for much more economic resources and better organised public services.
This is not, however, an argument for considering economic growth to be unimportant. Indeed, quite the contrary, since economic growth also generates government resources that can be powerfully used precisely to expand public services.
Government revenue will grow very fast if it keeps pace with the rapid growth of the economy. In fact, government revenue has persistently grown faster than the growth of gross domestic product: in 2003-04, the economic growth of 6.5 per cent was exceeded by revenue growth of 9.5 per cent and in 2004-05 to 2006-07, the growth rates of 7.5 per cent, 9.0 per cent, and 9.4 per cent have been respectively bettered by the expansion rates of government revenue (in "real terms", that is, corrected for price changes) of 12.5 per cent, 9.7 per cent and 11.2 per cent. Money will continue to flow very rapidly into the government's hands and what is critically important is to use these resources intelligently where they are most needed.
When Picasso said we start to get young as we turn 60, he also expressed the bleak belief that it may be "too late" by then. But changing the neglect of public goods and public services is in no way too late for a country that has already done so much with youthful energy. With a bit more deliberation and purpose, the best may be yet to come.
The writer, who received the 1998 Nobel Prize for economics, is Lamont university professor at Harvard University and former master of Trinity College, Cambridge
Published: August 13 2007
Pablo Picasso once remarked: "One starts to get young at the age of 60." Something rather like that seems to be happening to India right now, at least on the economic front. There is much more sign of life there today than could be seen when political independence came to the ancient land in 1947, when its strait-laced economy moved at a slow and imperturbable pace – the famous 3 per cent rate of growth. The feebleness of the economic pace was in sharp contrast with the speed of political change in the new republic: India became overnight the first poor country in the world to be a full-scale democracy.
Democracy has indeed flourished well in India since then, with few hiccups and with regular and orderly elections, free and flourishing media, independence of the judiciary and, no less importantly, the willingness of ruling parties to vacate office when defeated in general elections, rather than calling in the army. This would be remarkable enough for any poor country, particularly one the size of India, but it was a much harder task in a land of so many important languages (each with its long and proud history) and such diversity of distinct religions (all placed under a secular but tolerant umbrella). Secularism has been threatened from time to time by sectarian groups, but massive support for secularism across India has asserted itself repeatedly.
On the economic side, India's comparative success is rather new. Some changes came slowly and the growth rate of the economy did move up to 5 per cent a year in the 1980s, which was much faster than in the early decades of independence, not to mention during a century of colonial semi-stagnation. But the decisive moment for the radical changes that have made the Indian economy so dynamic today occurred in the early 1990s, led by reforms introduced by Manmohan Singh, then the newly appointed finance minister (he has been prime minister since 2004, after a period out of office in between). It is useful to ask, in taking a long view of the Indian economy, what changes were needed in India and what really happened over the period of gradual transformation initiated by the reforms of the early 1990s.
India faced two huge problems of governance. The first one was government over-activity in areas of work in which its presence was overbearing, but where its ability to mess things up was truly gigantic. The so-called "licence Raj" made business initiatives extremely difficult and put them at the mercy of bureaucrats (large and small), thereby powerfully stifling enterprise while nurturing corruption. The going has sometimes been rough but the direction of policy change has been unmistakable from the early 1990s onwards (if still a little slow in many assessments), endorsed even by successor governments run by other political parties.
But India also had a second problem that needed to be addressed urgently. This was the problem of government under-activity in fields in which it could achieve a great deal. There has been a sluggish response to the urgency of remedying the aston- ishingly under-funded social infra - structure – for example, the need to build many more schools, hospitals and rural medical centres – and developing a functioning system of accountability, supervision and collaboration for public services. To this can be added the neglect of physical infrastructure (power, water, roads, rail), which required both governmental and private initiatives. Large areas of what economists call "public goods" have continued to be under-emphasised.
The radical changes in the 1990s did little to remedy the second problem. If things have begun to change here too (though rather slowly), a part of the credit for ushering in that change must go to India's democratic politics. There is a growing appreciation of the electoral relevance of the unfulfilled basic needs of people (related to schools, healthcare, water supply and other facilities) and there are also pressures generated by better-informed media discussions and by the activities of civil society movements demanding elementary rights.
So where does India stand now, after all this? The economic growth rate, now about 8 per cent (sometimes touching 9 per cent), is, of course, agreeably high, but the sharing of the benefits that flow from this is still remarkably unequal. Poverty rates have fallen, but are nowhere near what could have been achieved had the distributional side got more attention. Some failures are huge, such as continuing undernourishment, particularly in children, and of course the continuing scandal of a quarter of the population (including half of all women) remaining illiterate in a country with such high-technology achievements based on excellent specialised training and practice. A democratic country can hardly want to maintain a divisiveness that makes it part California and part sub-Saharan Africa.
The unequal distribution of the benefits of economic progress is not unrelated to continuing gaps on the social side, since the human capabilities that make it easy for people to use the new economic opportunities can be vastly enlarged by enhanced public services, such as universal – and good – school education, efficient and accessible public healthcare and good epidemiology. Remedying this calls for much more economic resources and better organised public services.
This is not, however, an argument for considering economic growth to be unimportant. Indeed, quite the contrary, since economic growth also generates government resources that can be powerfully used precisely to expand public services.
Government revenue will grow very fast if it keeps pace with the rapid growth of the economy. In fact, government revenue has persistently grown faster than the growth of gross domestic product: in 2003-04, the economic growth of 6.5 per cent was exceeded by revenue growth of 9.5 per cent and in 2004-05 to 2006-07, the growth rates of 7.5 per cent, 9.0 per cent, and 9.4 per cent have been respectively bettered by the expansion rates of government revenue (in "real terms", that is, corrected for price changes) of 12.5 per cent, 9.7 per cent and 11.2 per cent. Money will continue to flow very rapidly into the government's hands and what is critically important is to use these resources intelligently where they are most needed.
When Picasso said we start to get young as we turn 60, he also expressed the bleak belief that it may be "too late" by then. But changing the neglect of public goods and public services is in no way too late for a country that has already done so much with youthful energy. With a bit more deliberation and purpose, the best may be yet to come.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Sustainability in India
Having listened to various presentations by various executives, I am getting a better sense of what the company is like. Aside from its notorious lack of timeliness the company can be pretty cool to work for. What I've noticed so far however, is the company's lack of a sense of sustainability initiatives: reducing environmental waste, implementing more efficient waste management systems etc...
But when I finally asked about sustainability initiatives and how Western companies are implementing whole systems for this concept, I realized that sustainability and the idea of sustainability in India is not a new concept, but rather a very ingrained way of how things are done. Let me explain.
Unlike Western companies who are used to the idea of waste and creating waste. Indian companies like Wipro have evolved from constraints. So the idea of environmental sustainability, recycling and so on, is more a part of their culture more than anything. Now there is more to sustainability than environmental waste management and so on - but when it comes to money and working with what you have, Indian companies have it down to an art. After taking a second look around, I see recycled paper notebooks, reusable water bottles (and not bottled water) and water fountains. But that is only on the surface of what can be seen. I will have to spend more time at the company to really know what really goes on underneath it all. In fact, the company has implemented LEAN, six sigma, CMMI etc to improve process efficiencies as Western companies are trying to cut more costs and Wipro is trying to fight against cost pressures. Especially since the Rupee is appreciating in value.
What would worry me is if the company decides to operate in a more "Western way" to cater to Western business needs. In fact, by hiring Westerners this just might happen. But then again, it might be the only way to do business in the West using Western ways in order to suceed. Time will tell.
But when I finally asked about sustainability initiatives and how Western companies are implementing whole systems for this concept, I realized that sustainability and the idea of sustainability in India is not a new concept, but rather a very ingrained way of how things are done. Let me explain.
Unlike Western companies who are used to the idea of waste and creating waste. Indian companies like Wipro have evolved from constraints. So the idea of environmental sustainability, recycling and so on, is more a part of their culture more than anything. Now there is more to sustainability than environmental waste management and so on - but when it comes to money and working with what you have, Indian companies have it down to an art. After taking a second look around, I see recycled paper notebooks, reusable water bottles (and not bottled water) and water fountains. But that is only on the surface of what can be seen. I will have to spend more time at the company to really know what really goes on underneath it all. In fact, the company has implemented LEAN, six sigma, CMMI etc to improve process efficiencies as Western companies are trying to cut more costs and Wipro is trying to fight against cost pressures. Especially since the Rupee is appreciating in value.
What would worry me is if the company decides to operate in a more "Western way" to cater to Western business needs. In fact, by hiring Westerners this just might happen. But then again, it might be the only way to do business in the West using Western ways in order to suceed. Time will tell.
Prologue: Dallas, India and Wipro
Dallas
So for those of you who don't know yet -- I'm moving to ....... DALLAS, TX. Yehawww....home of great Mexican food (in America) and cowboys. And very different from Toronto. Did you know that Toronto is the 4th largest city in North America (not including Mexico)? It will take some adjusting and I'm not talking about the size of Dallas. I suppose in a way it's better than Memphis, although I will miss Elvis, fried chicken and the blues.
According to people, Texas is sooo different from the rest of America that Americans from other states are aliens...Now I haven't moved to Dallas yet - I am still in India training with Wipro Technologies (that's my company: http://www.wipro.com). Don't ask how a marketing person ended up in IT.
India
I landed in Bangalore (Blore) late July, to have someone ask me if I was Hindu...which was quite interesting, but I guess the North-Eastern Indians are quite close to China. It's been about 2 weeks now and let me tell you, it was quite an adjustment. Just some quick points if you're ever in India:
Buy a Facemask: Although Bangalore is the Silicon Valley in India -- it is far from being developed. I had imagined high rise buildings, neon lights, large billboard signs etc (kind of like the big Chinese cities). The infrastructure here is horrendous - there are no highways and it took us 2 HOURS to get into the city. By the time we reached the city, I was so high on car fumes I wanted to puke.
Be Prepared for Beggars: The economy is somewhat like China - large income disparities between the rich and poor
Bring Pepto Bismol/Anti-Diarrhea pills etc: Aside from having a hole burned through my stomach with all the spices, the food here also does something funny to my system. The Indians put spices in EVERYTHING - I've eaten so much Indian food that I think there are spices in my blood stream.
Bargain - HARD!: I had someone quote me a lovely handmade wall art/carpet thing at 1100 Rupees (Rs), which is about 25USD. I bargained the price down to 600 Rs (13USD), and guess how much it really was? 200 Rs!!!!!!!!!! Fut!
It's been eventful so far. The training was kind of boring as I have learned most of it in B-school already, but oh well. Talk about knowing your audience when presenting! I did learn how rebellions start though!! -- with a handful of well spoken, good looking people!~
So I guess that's all for now...we have a whole day of Yoga and Meditation today - hard work. Looking forward to it!
Wipro
It's been about 3 weeks now, being immersed in "The Wipro Way"
- Intensity to Win
- Act with Sensitivity
- Unyielding Integrity
-- kind of a knock off of "The HP Way"...but people seem to really believe it here. I'm starting to get a better understand of the organization that I have signed up for. Honestly, I have never imagined that I would be working for an Indian IT company! Indian culture is so different...
Perception on Time
The culture here is very different and it will take some time getting used to. The obvious difference is their perception on TIME. Over the last couple of weeks, the American (and I) group has always been on time for meetings, whether it was at 8:30am or 9am or 9:30am. However, the Indian presenters were ALWAYS late, not just by 10 minutes, but by at least 20 minutes (except for the one that started at 9:30am). The most frustrating ones were when they cancel last minute when we're already at the conference room (which takes us 45 minutes to drive to sometimes), up and ready to be bombarded by PowerPoint presentations. Of course we can't be late as all these presenters are pretty high up in the organization. The afternoon presenters were on time and I will give them credit for that. Another example shared by a colleague, was when presenters would leave in the middle of a presentation to take a call that was supposed to last 10 minutes. She came back 45 minutes later. Apparently there is a saying in India, "God gave Germans the clock, and the Indians time." To us, it is a total lack of respect for our time. At least they aren't late for client meetings...I hope!
The Shake and the Funnel
It still takes getting used to...that side to side shake of the head not meaning "no" but rather "yes" or "maybe" or just plain indication that s/he is listening...I see Samir (IMBA classmate) do it, but it is strange seeing a group of them doing it when you're talking to them...Then there's the whole conception of the funnel...there is no such thing as lining up...they just gather around at the register...so even if you're there first, don't count on being served first. I don't understand how that is more efficient - or am I missing something?
Money
I don't think it's something that will happen in America. But sometimes when I'm 1 or 2 rupees short, the cashier says to bring it next time. It happens both ways though. If s/he doesn't have change, then s/he'll give it to you next time...This morning, I only had 100 Rs for a coffee that was only 22 Rs. The person didn't have change so I said I'll come back later to pay him...which I did. But surprisingly he said okay. Haha.
The Wipro culture is very laid back, easy going. Very informal...even the top levels. The coolest thing was meeting the CEO, Mr. Azim Premji. Definitely not the typical American-like CEO...soft spoken, genuine...yet still commanding...
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