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India - beyond the beaten-path
my musings…
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India, beyond silk, spices, karma, mystic, bollywood and the extremes of the
haves and have not’s; is more than a symbolic identifier amongst the various and
widely published acronyms or a conventional market of increasing disposable
urban income. She is a whole, complex and distinct personality, where the
threads of commonality at best, extends to Her South Asian neighbors, that too
weighed down by tumultuous post independence history and fragile geo-political
imperatives.
Still in her early stages of development, India is marching gingerly towards openglobal economy, inconsistently and awkwardly addressing the internal & external
divergent demands and drivers, strapped by the breadth of traditional to
contemporary demography - onward with a vibrant and undefined tryst with Her
destiny.
“Today’s India” is the fusion of diverse experiences, including:
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Civilizational pre-eminence, mythological righteousness and emotional
nostalgia of the past
Memories of subjugation, exploitation, injustice and oppression from the
pre-independence era; alas! which continues post-independence, albeit by
different set & mix of people under varying and ever-so inventive pretext
Undemocratic and painful exploits of self-centered, indulgent and
unilateral post-independence leadership, which in the guise of “Poverty
Alleviation” and “Population Management”, interfered adversely with
democratic institutions, public good, and in turn; delivered bloated and
resource-guzzling nationalized public sector enterprises and bureaucracy,
a litany of budgetary line-items frittering scarce national resources, year
after year, a despised source of political patronage and polarization;
Imagineering India
Driving value based opportunities with India forward…
Insightful Advice – Considered Strategy – Execution Leadership

2. •
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mostly in the name of Fabian Socialism and Irrational Self-Sufficiency, a
profound indulgence in naval-gazing
Unwise and unimaginative socio-economic and foreign policy choices
continue to witness exclusion of the enlightened; and with attuned and
seasoned nexus of the inner-coterie, the cartel of self-service, India
continues to suffer the “Ruling & Connected Class” and “Business &
Political Nexus”; a new-skin embodiment of hegemony, a worse form of
colonization by one’s own people. Question this, and one is branded a
foreign agent or some such grand-label
Failing to recognize the natural geyser of human spirit, creativity and
abilities, this doctrinarian era witnessed profligate attempts in state
planning, control and resources allocation, resulting in wasted decades of
human energy, enthusiasm and scarce resources; up until the early 90s,
when India was forced to change Her course due to “prolonged Hindu
Growth Rate” and accompanying fiscal externalities - a change, not by
design, but due to demand
Grubby and collusive polity, indifferent bureaucracy and insistent
governance deficit to the present day continue to exhaust the dreams and
desires of Her citizens, a medley of failed promises
Acute and self-preservation agenda driven, sycophantic, rent-seeking,
ineffective and fractured legislature and bureaucracy at every level of the
government, always at the ready to self-serve
Independent, but inundated and ineffective judiciary; where “Time” &
“Timely” has very different meaning; an essential democratic institution,
which often seems to be cowed-down or manipulated by the political
masters, not to ignore it’s own set of well-documented frailties
Mushrooming media, a significant part which is insistently prescriptive /
condescending; increasingly commercial / for-sale to the highest bidder,
and nakedly-opportunistic / mind-numbingly dumb; a deliberate & willing
abandonment of journalistic core-tenets
- All trying to make a difference (!) to the really deserving, warm, generous,
hopeful and aspirant populace, who are keen to shed the age-old image of
poverty, helplessness, label of third-world and aid-dependent society; often
tentative about internal-intent and external-opinion.
In the midst of all of this, a serious clock is ticking, the clock of justice, citizenship
entitlement, hope and patience; with alarming despair and all of it’s downside
lurking in the background, increasingly evidenced by the growing activism,
regionalism, communal divisiveness, social intolerance and violent insurgency.
I would argue that, contrary to the many published and often well-intended
analytical and / or prescriptive text, India’s shape and composition of
development will have to be and will be unlike any, known or imagined, for the
Imagineering India
Driving value based opportunities with India forward…
Insightful Advice – Considered Strategy – Execution Leadership

3.
conventional model does not suit Indian coefficients, emotional or practical. The
artificially aspirated consumption and expansive credit driven developmental
model is not attainable; and if forced upon incongruently, the future will be cyclicextreme with built in catastrophes.
Known levels of resources, technologies and organization of life will not cope
with replicated scaling of another 3+ billion stereotype consumers. The world can
not afford the boom-bust economic cycle with associated fallouts at that scale. I
would argue that, such thinking, if it were, is lazy, rusty and simplistic and will
witness continuous course corrections, each one more painful than the previous
ones, with increasing human fatigue, polarization and defection from mutualcooperation, not to forget the material destruction.
I would further argue that, World is better imagined as a colorful place, where
human citizenship is recognized, accepted and appreciated in it’s native form and
where; free people, of freewill, live safely and peacefully, and pursue coexistence, co-operation and inter-connect by choice and out of self-interest; all
within assured plurality, tolerance and mutual-respect.
Intolerance of any look, philosophy or ways of life is not only un-democratic and
hegemonistic; it is plainly unjust, inefficient and unsustainable. History has
always tried to teach us this fundamental lesson, alas! We still seem to think and
behave as if, this time or with these people, it will be different!
The federal structure of India, whilst providing a platform for unity in diversity,
maturing-democracy, regional autonomy, and citizen’s voice; continues to stretch
and test India’s ability to deliver sustainable, unified, inclusive and progressive
governance.
Mutual, sustainable and determinant value engagement with India requires:
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Innate intellectual curiosity and disciplined understanding of Her colorful
and emotional personality; still a wet-paint from the past, a gallery of
current anomalies; thrusting through traditions, faith & fear, hopes &
doubts; all within the furnace of Demographic Diversity as one Nation; a
true miracle at the present times of infinite unitization in the “Not That
Integrated or the Flat World” …
Adaptive engagement strategies within the realistic boundary conditions,
which recognizes India for Her implicit characteristics and desist
prescriptive doctrines, for such efforts will invoke resentment and
resistance resulting in strained emotions, fragile relationships and most of
all wasted opportunities…
Awareness of Her endowments, constraints and priorities…against a color
and heat map of possibilities and priorities, supported by patient
Imagineering India
Driving value based opportunities with India forward…
Insightful Advice – Considered Strategy – Execution Leadership

4.
capital…cognizant of Indian point of view…
• Courage to accept, synthesize, design and stay-engaged with
differentiated “Development Principles and Approach” - a tailored recipe
leveraging the best in class and breed, but designed with and for the
ground-realities…
• Flexibility and agility in engaging with Her heterogeneous demography,
markets and decision structure - a federated quilt of any number of
pixels…
• Deliberate selection and execution of initiatives from within the “Local
Planning Cycle”, localized for value at-large, with long-term
commitment…an essential for constructive and sustainable engagement
Imagineering India
Driving value based opportunities with India forward…
Insightful Advice – Considered Strategy – Execution Leadership