Indian Management under scanner

Indian ethos of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” ( world is a family) and “Janani Janmabhumischa Svargadapi gariyasi” ( mother and motherland rank higher than heaven) complement rather than compete any leader’s world vision, whether it is business, politics, sociology, governance or any other domain. Vivekananda is said to have inspired JRD Tata to produce indigenously rather than going for easy imports. Further, he is said to have been the inspiration behind starting IIS (Indian Institute of Sciences) at Bangalore, the premiere research body in the country today. Modern Management Schools work with the concept of Globalisation as one fundamental tenet. Yet they are not upto the vision of Swamiji when he said, “Even in politics and sociology, problems that were only national twenty years ago can no more be solved on national grounds only. They are assuming huge proportions, gigantic shapes. They can only be solved when looked at, in the broader light of international rounds.”

In this background Yale University’s news publications that “Lack of managers keeps India’s businesses small” requires a careful look at their approach and understanding of the situation. It says, “The study, published in the American Economic Review, uses a novel model to compare the relationship between the efficiency of outside managers and firm growth in the United States and India. It shows that the lack of managerial delegation factors significantly into why businesses in India tend to stay small and has wider implications on the country’s economy, constraining innovation, economic growth, and per capita income.” It further says that “The researchers found that India’s economy suffers from “a lack of selection” — the process of creative destruction through which successful businesses expand while unproductive firms close or are swallowed up by competitors — allowing unproductive businesses to survive because successful businesses do not expand.“

Perhaps there is some merit in this argument if one looks at India which supports positive discrimination, but like reservation, these factors have complex historic as well as present day nuances. In his book “Cast as a social capital”, Finance Prof R. Vaidyanathan develops certain themes on ‘caste and entrepreneurship’ and argues that support comes from caste groups acting as social capital. Entrepreneurs hailing from particular castes like Gounders, Marwaris, Chettiars, etc. set up businesses with caste members as workers and funding source. Hence, capital constraints seem to be a more pressing issue than accepting unproductive managerial skills.

On the other hand, Indians are increasingly occupying top positions for most of the well run US Tech, Financial and other companies. It is said however that taking up American Citizenship is must for any foreigner before he or she is allowed to occupy top position in any of the US firms.

Perhaps this analysis would have focussed more on capital availability as a principal component to remain closer to reality in India. As the USA needs top brains from India and the rest of the world to keep the economy vibrant and growing, Indian businesses need capital to unshackle through various constraints and thrive globally. Saying this, with exponential increase in the number of Unicorns in India, clearly points out that an appropriate business environment is available now here under leadership of PM Modi and India is on its way to excellence.

 

Start of Indian Defence Start-up Ecosystem

Building on the mantra of Atmanirbhar Bharat, India has added 44 unicorns in 2021 alone bringing the total number to 81. This exponentially growing number of unicorns is not only backing innovative solutions but also large scale deployments. India has become a hotbed of start-ups including some of the difficult domains like defence. The upcoming budget is likely to provide a breakthrough to the defence related start-ups which is a core area for an Atmanirbhar Bharat. Proof in the pudding is the DRDO’s pursuit of self-reliance and successful indigenous development and production of strategic systems and platforms, which have given quantum jump to India’s military might. DRDO’s recent launches include long-range Supersonic Missile Assisted Torpedo (SMART), Stand-off Anti-tank (SANT) Missile, Extended Range Pinaka (Pinaka-ER) Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher System, Air version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, and Short Range Surface to Air Missile. Further, DRDO has recently transferred the technology of indigenous extreme cold weather clothing system (ECWS), three-layered and providing insulation upto -50 Celsius,to five India companies.

Around 200 Indian start-ups are seen to be committed to defence sector technology. One of the key domains for the full-fledged development of the defence start up ecosystem is a competitive defence equipment testing system. Presently the air-worthiness, sea-worthiness or the military-worthiness of any equipment is determined only by one institution CQIA. The dependence on just one institution that too at a much later stage of development of any military equipment is very expensive for research to reach production. Government has already paved the way for a competitive market by allowing DTIS, defence testing infrastructure scheme, whereby a requirement of a capital of 400 crores is projected to be invested in segregated labs. 75% of investment in any lab will come from Government of India and remaining 25% will come from private players. Even the involvement of private players has a requirement of minimum five members to participate for each lab constructing a section 8 company. These are expected to commence floater this year and completed in a timeframe of 24 months from then. After these labs are operational, any OEM or a start-up will have choices for testing, either to CQIA or any of DTIS established labs.

The last piece for a flourishing defence start-up ecosystem is the buildup of the order book. The upcoming budget is likely to provide for full 1000 crore in the form of orders for start-ups which is the requirement for sustenance of the ecosystem. Last year’s 1000 crore earmarking for Indian companies saw 498 crores to be given to iDEX start-ups which one hopes to be deployed by the end of the current financial year.

 

Exploring Online Elections

India has certainly risen to the occasion and perhaps, even to the pole position in adopting the digital age. Since the launch of ‘Digital India’ and due to the continued focus of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on using technology to solve mammoth problems, India has been able to achieve some remarkable feats. More than 1 billion secured and useful identity provider, Aadhar Card, UPI transactions (record 3,874 crore transactions in 2021), more than 150 crore COVID vaccine doses administered using COWIN platform, showcase India’s prowess in digital and online world. This is, perhaps, a natural extension of this would be an online voting system in the world’s biggest democracy which is also endowed with a very young population.

Since the onset of Covid pandemic, the need to think of ways to hold activities that involve mass gathering differently is of paramount importance. Online polling, which has for so long just been talked about and possibilities of the right conduction of which have been discussed in pre-COVID time only too vaguely, has attained all the relevance and priority in the new-normal era. One encouraging example of success of experimenting online voting is the country of Estonia which held its and world’s first national Internet election, back in 2007, when a total of 30,275 citizens used the Internet to cast their vote. The popularity of online voting has gained a lot of momentum in Estonia, as in its 2019 parliamentary elections too, 43.75% of all participating voters voted via the Internet.

A country as densely populated and as largely diversified as India, could run the world’s largest vaccination drive with inspirational efficiency. This ability betokens India’s converged technological, cyber and digital furtherance. Additionally, the way the Aadhar project has been finished and being administratively maintained in the country, shows that with the right planning, the country can undertake tedious manual projects. Technologically, thus, India now seems to have reached a level where it can take a lead and think of developing a world-class Online Voting setup.

India has been one of the fortunate nations, where landline telephones have had a fleeting existence due to their direct leap to mobile phones, saving it a great deal of infrastructure cost, time and cutting the technological lag. Mobile adoption has aggressively contributed to the country’s digital progress. So much so that in 2019, over 73% of India’s total web traffic is said to have come from mobile phones. Internet penetration rate in India went up to nearly around 45 percent in 2021, from just about four percent in 2007. This advancement combined with Blockchain technology may become a global solution, unlocking a door to not just online elections, but also for creating secured global virtual fora, networking channels, cyber collaborations, and other unlimited spaces. Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora had recently affirmed that the Election Commission of India is working with IIT-Madras on using Blockchain Technology for remote voting and considerable development in that direction is expected by 2024 General Elections.

Given India’s rich history of being among the first nations to adopt major democratic shifts, whether it was the concept of universal adult franchise or introduction of EVMs, India may want to thus start experimenting in the domain of online voting too. It may start with letting Army staff and Election officers on duty itself to go online. Another set of testing may be performed during by-elections which are less tangled.

With digital voting, the existence of postal ballots may meet the same fate as landlines. With the success of the COWIN app that has been able to manage massive registrations (96,77,24,432 as on 10th January, 2022), record-keeping and rolling out the vaccination drive in the country, India has cracked a code for development, implementation and sustainability of technology. A similar technological platform for online voting may cater to not just voters within India, especially the working population, but also come as a cherished solution for NRI voters.

 

Courage and Strength for Freedom

What a fantastic day to remind us that Freedom is the most cherished thing. In the celebrations of the return of Mahatma Gandhi or Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Parkash Parab on the birthday of Guru Gobind Singh Ji and also on the occasion of Ramana Maharshi Jayanti, we are continuously reminded of the immense struggle to achieve freedom.

Martin Luther King Jr has said that “Freedom has always been an expensive thing . History is fit testimony to the fact that freedom is rarely gained without sacrifice and self-denial.” Young Indians need to dwell on his remarks that “There is nothing more majestic than the determined courage of individuals willing to suffer and sacrifice for their freedom and dignity.”

While celebrating the Pravasi Bharatiya divas, it is worth noting that India is among the very few countries which has an extensive and evolving policy framework for engagement with diaspora. Youth, both from India as well as the diaspora community, have made a remarkable journey in innovation, technology and creativity and PM Modi‘s priority is to build everlasting links with the Indian diaspora the world over. India’s capabilities always benefit humanity and it has been at the forefront of mitigation of global challenges specially against colonialism and terrorism which gave strength to the world to face these menaces.

One must always remember Ramana Maharishi’s message of absolute freedom coming out of self-inquiry where he demonstrated a life of absolute consciousness. People across the world are struggling with hectic ambition and stressful loneliness and one sure way of total freedom is delving upon “Who am I?” and following the teachings of Bhagwan. He has said that “…Freedom is not somewhere else…The real freedom is only knowing the Self,within yourself. Concentrate, and you will get it.”

In his life of 42 years, when an ordinary youth is bogged down with issues of settling in life, Guru Govind Singh ji sacrificed his entire family to save the dignity and heritage of the Motherland. Wielding the mighty power of his Kripan, not to terrorise, but to defend against the oppressive and brutal Mughals. A true democrat, he established the seat of the Panj Payaras, an order that had place for all, beyond the barriers of religion, caste, creed or gender. Prime Minister Modi has shared that starting this year, 26th December shall be marked as “Veer Baal Diwas” as a tribute to the courage of the Sahibzades and their quest for justice.

Some of the enemies in today’s times are different and one urgent fight for youth today is against substance abuse. COVID-19 has exaggerated the problem and reportedly more people are using drugs due to the economic downturn. Recently, the chief Justice of India NV Ramana has also expressed serious concerns over youth getting addicted to drugs. He said, “I am alarmed at the reports of an increased number of youth falling prey to intoxicants. I urge them to disassociate themselvesFrom substance abuse. Your mental and physical health is in your hands.” The fight to freedom is indeed manyfold and challenging but perhaps the most important thing to do in life.

Together, India fights back – 150 crore milestone

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going” song of Billy Ocean, British singer-songwriter seems to have been characterised by India’s fight against Covid. Within a year of its launch, India has achieved a remarkable record of administering more than 150 Crore covid vaccines and is going strong. Many of the developed nations are yet to reach their entire population, and still in the name of Reality Check some of the foreign media is targeting India for missing 100% vaccination. They had been doing doomsday predictions in the past too that India’s vaccination drive was going horribly wrong. India on the other hand has also been helping many needy nations in the form of Vaccine- maitri.

On behalf of the indebted nation, Prime Minister Modi thanked doctors, scientists, innovators and the health care workers and said “A remarkable day on the vaccination front! Congratulations to our fellow citizens on crossing the 150 crore milestone. Our vaccination drive has ensured that many lives are saved. At the same time, let us also keep following all COVID-19 related protocols.” He had steered the domestic vaccine research and development programme from the front and ensured that the Indian vaccine manufacturers got a conducive environment for accelerated vaccine research, development and manufacture in the spirit of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.

On 18th September 2,50,10,390 covid vaccines were administered. This is 10,42,100 per hour or 17,368 per minute or 289 doses per second. This is an unprecedented scale of implementation by any standards. None of the developed nations have been able to come anywhere close to this scale and is a testimony of transforming the Public Health Care system in the system under Ayushman Bharat.

This transformation is qualitative too. In 2014 there were only 6 AIIMS in the country, today there are 22. Even for the primary healthcare system, more than 50 thousand Jan Aushadhi Kendra are distributing affordable drugs. Among these, around 50 cancer related medicines are also available at affordable prices which is transformational as India’s poor and middle class has long been victims of financial havoc created due to such disease. To make the care and treatment more accessible and affordable in the eastern India, PM Modi inaugurated Cancer Hospital yesterday.