Over the past 3 years after I came back from the United States I have travelled across India on several business trips, from Delhi in the north to Coimbatore in the South. Each town having its own flavour made me ponder whether I understood what is India? Why do we oppose ourselves ever so staunchly and also unite feverishly when the need arises. The question has become even stronger after witnessing the furore over the Telengana issue. Interesting to note that we had only 18 states in 1971 and have 28 today, so the concept of new state formation is not that new but to understand what motivates people to demand a new state is an interesting study by itself.
Being a part of a sourcing group in an automotive industry my travels were fixated at the epicentres of the recent Indian growth centres of Delhi NCR-Mumbai (Pune)-Southern triumvirate of Chennai, Bangalore and Coimbatore. Even for a person who grew up in Chennai, it was like getting subjected to a rapid facelift of these urban centres with Neon lights, Ad Hoardings, Multi storied Malls, Sky rocketing glass buildings. The promised growth had finally come and was staring at everyone’s faces challenging them every moment to stretch their boundaries culturally. On the other hand as I travelled to other cities like Indore, Nasik, and Kolhapur which were also industrial centres the experience was quite different. These cities were lagging in the areas of infra and service in comparison to the darlings of India’s growth story. Their economies were not experiencing the sudden burst of growth and rather were going steady. One common factor which was clear and obvious was the fact that though the 3 regions I mentioned were Industrial powerhouses they also housed a significant industry called IT/ITES, housing the world’s elite enterprises making it a very popular destination for investment and human capital.
So does that mean the IT industry is the only reason behind the growth of these regions or did the IT industry find these regions as the most conducive for Business? It is a classic egg and chicken story, which came first. One thing most people forget is that these regions were important in the British scheme of things so they had comparatively better roads, education system and probably even governance. These regions had their edge over other regions in terms of these essential services in order to capitalize the Globalization bandwagon. Nevertheless one must not and cannot discount the entrepreneurial spirit of the men who brought about this progress.
Progress is very essential in the overall scheme of things and especially when your neighbour becomes wealthier, the old adage ”envy your neighbour” will hold good for a long time to come. Coming back to the Statehood issue of Telengana, I fear that if the growth is not inclusive in the years to come we are likely to see more Telenganas. One might be tempted to think that I am prescribing Communism here but I am not going to. The way to go is improve governance, social systems and create opportunities. The problem here with this issue is we have long been a society which has chastised inequality and hierarchy and hold that tradition close to our hearts. We have definitely made progress but there’s a heavy legacy burden on the young shoulders of this country.
LET’S HOPE WE LIVE UP TO THE PROMISE
