Unleashing Full Potential Of India

UNLEASHING FULL POTENTIAL of INDIA There is a high voltage optimism in the country today, that India is going to be a success story during the 21st century. This welcome optimism is anchored around certain achievements during the last decade like the ones in the field of Information Technology, the burgeoning Foreign Currency Reserves, a respectable and consistent growth in our GDP and many more. This yearning is certainly understandable, after having been a whipping boy for centuries. Starting 2500 years ago, more often than not, we caved in to any adventurer who rode horse-back down the ‘Khyber pass’ or the ‘ Bolan pass’ and proceeded to plunder and subjugate us. Around 1400 AD, after the gunpowder was invented, a gun-boat or two succeeded in breaching our defenses on the coast line. There is no doubt that India Inc is on the move today. However, we have to improve in one major area , if we really wish to matter not only in the world affairs, but also in taking care of a few dozen crores of our country men , who certainly deserve a better deal. To do so meaningfully, let us be willing to examine in depth as to why we remained the whipping boys for centuries, when we had the potential / the ingenuity even then that we see glimpses of today. Let’s have a look at this historical sequence of events that unfolded.

- 162 “519 BC – CYRUS , Emperor of Persia conquers parts of NW India. 327

- comes

ALEXANDER the Great

180

- DEMETRIUS II ] Descendants of Alexander’s erstwhile Generals,

155

- MENANDER

]

Kings of North West.

80

- MAUES,

150 AD

- RUDRADAMAN, the SHAKA King ruling Western India

500

- HUN control of NW India

712

- ARAB CONQUEST of Sind

997

- Raids of MAHMUD of GHAZNI

1192

- Prithvi Raj Chauhan defeated by Muhammad Ghuri

1296

- Reign of Ala-ud-din Khilji

1325

- Reign of Muhammad-bin-Tughlak

1451

- Accession of Buhlul Lodi at Delhi

1498

- Arrival of Portuguese in India

1526

- First battle of Panipat – Start of Mughal dynasty

1757

-Lord CLIVE wins battle of Plassey “

the first SHAKA King in western India

[57]

“The question remains as to why the Afghan armies were so successful in their Indian campaigns…… Reinforcements of good central Asian Horses provided a better livestock for the Afghan cavalry, which was used to excellent effect in pitched battles. The Indian army had always suffered from inferior breed of horse and consequently was chary of exploiting the cavalry.”

[57]

Thus we see that We failed to find an answer , not over a few years, but over many centuries , to a “better breed of horses” or to an invention like the GunPowder. We - 163 could not cope up with the Challenge of Superior Technology. Mere bravery was not good enough to be able to defend ourselves. We need to ponder seriously over this failure over a prolonged period and try to learn the needed lessons for the future. Can we first accept that our recent successes like the one in the IT sector, has not involved any major new invention on our part? We are merely using the intellectual property generated by others in a more cost effective manner, with a degree of innovation. Over the last 50 plus years after independence, have we put out any product in the market, that is a preferred Indian Brand, world wide? Is there a major invention to the credit of an Indian citizen, during the past half a century of independence? This is not to deny some scientific achievements in the recent past in technology like the indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicles and the missiles, as enumerated by Dr Abdul Kalam, our President in his inspiring book, ‘The Wings of Fire’. Our purpose here is not to denigrate India or to generate cynicism , but to face reality and to understand as to why our full potential did not get released, even in time of dire need. It is not a cry of despair , but a call to wake up. We have so many strengths / achievements to build upon. To enumerate a few : Intelligence

 

Strong entrepreneurial spirit and skills



Strong commercial acumen



Capability for sustained hard work, even in highly adverse physical

environment.  

High innovative and creative abilities. High quality of workmanship in certain items of our traditional arts and crafts

The Nobel laureates , including the latest Sh. Amartya Sen.



Half-a-dozen plus CEO's of Indian origin of large multinationals.

 

Our green revolution



Our white revolution.



A beginning of IT revolution. -164 -

In this crucial matter of our lack of success , in being able to meet the challenge of superior technology during our history spanning over more than two millennia, let us now examine, the following analysis derived from a listing of major scientific inventions during the last 200 years [annexure 3], in a dispassionate manner. N umber of Major the credit of USA

Inventions

to

CANADA E U R O England,Germany,

Centur y

France 19th

9 like Audiorecording. Rotary Printing Press, Type writer, Refrigeration, Plastic etc.

20th

Portugal

2 Radio Communican., Elec Bulb, Diesel engine, Elec Submarine. Undersea Motor, Automobile, tel cable. Vacuum cleaner, Cathode ray tube ] [

11

22 8 7 like Aeroplane, Heartpace like Fax Machine, Computer, Atom - Maker,Jet Jet engine, V2 Bomb, Astro turf, liner, Missile, Periscope, Zipper, Kidney dialysis m/c, Imaxmovie Sea plane, Bakelite Cell phone, Transi- Siliconchip stor, phonograph, Blood motion – picture camera, color - Analyzer television [

30

ASIA South America

3 9 Telephone like Petrol engine,

12

[

P E Italy,Spain,

]

[

11

] 4 Radio Activity, Lipo suction, Structure of

1 3 Water Immunjet pro- Ological pulsion Reaction , Nervous system ….New Metaboli Zealand Sm of Sugar . ]

China-

Earlier centurIe s *** Invention of zero, Astronomers Aryabhata & Varah mitra

15th-Leonardo da vinci 17th-Galileo

1st- sus pension bridge

well known scientists

2ndcompas s Indiaupto 6th- ***

Source : Google Search Engine - 165 What becomes evident from the above chart , is that : •

while the combined performance of USA & Canada, is at par with that

of Europe as a whole during the nineteenth century in terms of major scientific inventions [ 12 VS 11 ] ; however they out performed Europe with a big margin during the 20th century [ 30 vs 11 ]. •

Within Europe too, it stands out that England, France and Germany

have demonstrated stronger performance as compared to Spain, Portugal and Italy over both the two centuries [ 16 vs 6 ] Then the million dollar question that arises is ,

WHY is that so ?

It is not being claimed here that this listing of inventions is hundred percent correct or fully comprehensive. There are many more scientific patents that must have been taken. However, if we focus on the major inventions the trend becomes clear, that countries like America and Canada are the biggest contributors in terms of scientific inventions in the last century. This phenomenon needs to be understood and appreciated, whether you like Americans or not. The performance of the European countries who were in the forefront of the industrial revolution & scientific inventions, tapered off. Lack of contribution to the major scientific inventions over the last two centuries, by countries like India is understandable, the colonizing powers from Europe did go out of

their way to systematically discourage local talent. However, the big question is, what about the earlier centuries? What is striking is that the contributions from the European countries where the industrial revolution started, dwindled during the 20th century, as the ones from the two excolonies of the empire, America & Canada, soared. One wonders , why? “ Be it Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Gurgaon – a weighty amount of intellectual property is being created for US Companies here. India units of CISCO Systems, Intel, IBM, Texas Instruments, GE have filed 1000 patent applications with the US Patent Office.” reads a paragraph in the Times of India of Jan 04,2004. Sounds great. We always had the potential for original thinking and contributing to the scientific achievements of the world. There is no doubt about that. What held us back? Here is a clue. Please note that the intellectual property is being generated by Indians as above, but the organizations that they work for are not Indian. Let me now, build a hypothesis to answer this question. - 166 To start with a personal experience. “ We

saw during the sixties the kid-brother of a family friend growing up to become a

doctor. He migrated to USA, did super-specialization in a new field of medicine, married an American girl and settled down there. And we said that he is well lost to the family and to the country. Suddenly, after a few years he landed back in India with his American wife with the clear intent of settling down. And that’s what happened over the next two years. During the third year when the news came about their plans to return, our first reaction was that it must be the American wife getting sick of the heat and dust in our country. Surprisingly, it wasn’t so. She was quite happy with the battery of servants at her command. Back home, she would be in self-help mode for every thing. Some thing not very welcome, once you get used to the battery of servants. The real reason was the climate at work. Apparently after an international conference in India, in the field of his superspecialization, the boss called the young doctor soon after the conference was over and demanded, ‘How dare you contradict me in public?’

‘But Sir, that was on a professional topic. It was not personal’ – response did not cut much ice with the boss and the budding super-specialist of world standing said, ‘I do not wish to stay in such a country any longer’. The issue is , Can our bright young men be innovative, discover new knowledge, if they are expected to be ‘yes-men’, are expected to toe the line of the boss and accept that he has all the answers? If that was true, surely some one over the last many centuries would have ordered one of his henchman to come up with an answer to the problem of better breed of horses or find an answer to the gun powder. Can Creativity be ordered? Sample this from Simon Singh, a science writer based in London, on a tour to give science lectures at schools, colleges & universities in India from Hindustan Times of January 22, 2006 : “ Great scientists have to be logical, rigorous and determined, but they also have to be creative mavericks. The scientists who go down in history are those who think the unthinkable, who imagine the universe in a way that has previously been ignored, and this requires great originality coupled with the spirit of a mutineer.”

[ 62 ]

So our hypothesis is that, The hierarchical culture in most of our organizations, today and in the past is and has been stifling creativity and we need to make a clear break from the past in this respect. “ An organization that insists that there is only one way to do something , brainwashes workers to think alike and freezes company culture to eliminate risk, will only breed complacency and make itself unappealing to any one who might inject some oxygen into it. Only self-confidence makes freedom and dissent possible.” [59] One among many

reasons for large populace from different parts of the world

immigrating to the USA has been comparatively greater ‘Freedom’ in practice, compared to the - 167 – countries they were running away from. And the results in terms of much higher creativity benefiting the whole world are there for all to see. Do we here then see the link

between the freedom of expression, tolerance of dissent and the creative urges of people finding practical expression? Sam Pitroda, whom we hounded out of the country, instead of feeling grateful for his very significant contribution in the field of telecom, once said in a TV interview, ‘One problem in India is that a difference of opinion even on a professional matter is taken as personal criticism’ Our President Dr Kalam speaks in a similar vein in his book, ‘Wings of Fire’, “ What makes life difficult in Indian

organizations is the widespread prevalence

of this very contemptuous pride. It stops us from listening to our juniors, subordinates and people down the line. You cannot expect a person to deliver results if you humiliate him, nor can you expect him to be creative if you abuse him or despise him.” [58] Let us hear what Prof Sumantra Ghoshal has to say on the subject. “ Unrecognized perhaps in India, companies here tend to be extremely hierarchical. The public sector undertakings have inherited their hierarchical and bureaucratic orientation from their roots in the government. In family groups, paternalism on the part of the family members and extreme deference towards them on the part of the employees have, with some exceptions, led to the functional equivalent of hierarchy, although without much of the bureaucratic apparatus. Even the multinational subsidiaries in India tend, in general, to be much more hierarchical than the units of the same companies in other countries. There is a wide spread belief in India that the entrepreneurial responsibility for creating new opportunities lies with the top management, a belief not entirely inappropriate in an earlier era when both government licenses and bank finance had, indeed, to be arranged at the highest level. As a result, most Indian companies lack the entrepreneurial spark and individual initiative in the front lines that are essential in a competitive economy.”

[39]

What do we do about this challenge confronting us? We have to start generating our own intellectual property. We have to start re-tuning our organizational culture without delay. Bright minds – young & old need to be encouraged and nurtured. -168 –

In conclusion, it is submitted that being cyber clerks of the world cannot sustain us for long. We have to stand on our own two feet, by leveraging our potential and give products and services to the world that are unique and are ‘Invented and made in India, to the designs that our young men have innovated and created.’ It cannot happen in Hierarchical Society. Our education system would need to be re-looked at. Sabir Bhatia, the founder of ‘hot Mail’ said in a T V Interview that on transfer as a kid from an Indian school to an American School, he cannot forget the remarks of the teacher, who said after going thru’ his home assignment, “This is fine. You have reproduced very well the author’s views. But what about your own views?” Thought provoking, isn’t it? I was surprised to learn from some one I know, who works at the American Embassy School in New Delhi, that a young student at any age has the freedom to tell the teacher that he is not enjoying what is going on in the class and would rather do some thing else and has the option to walk out. Do we need to ponder over such questions, as to whether freedom to express feelings, right or wrong, should be encouraged at the school level itself ? Does a young technical graduate dare to tell his boss in a typical Indian organization in a department meeting that, that particular approach outlined by him is not the right course in his assessment?

Should he?

Are inventors born out of Yes –men? Food for thought, Serious Thought. Most work organizations in our country today need to build an organizational culture that encourages freedom of thought, has respect for opinions / views of others irrespective of the level of hierarchy these emanate from. The Chambers of commerce, the Institutes of Management, the HRD professionals & their professional bodies, the Academia must take a lead in trying to influence the organizational culture in the desired direction and not fight shy of it, just because it is more challenging & subtle and has a longer payoff period. Without this, our dreams will remain dreams. - 169 –

INVENTORS CENTURIES

during the

LAST two

[arranged in order of time period and regions representing certain Cultural Patterns] PERIOD AMERICA

19TH CEN TU RY

E U R England,Germany,Fran ce [Mainly Prostestant] Singer-Issaac Merrit Karl Benz Ist commercially 1st I C Engine successful Sewing m/c practical automobile [1811 – 1875 ] [1885] George Westinghouse G Daimler 400 patents, Rly-Frog, petrol engine Air brake, pioneered [ 1885 ] use of AC in USA. Panhard & Levarser [ 1846 – 1914 ] French, Assembly Line Charles Goodyear [ 1895 ] Rubber Vulcanization Henry Ford improved it [ 1800 – 1860 ] H Christian Oersted John Wesley Hyatt Aluminium Mfg process 1st practical synthetic [1825 ] – Danish plastic [ 1837 – 1920 ] Karl Braun [German] Richard M Hoe Cathode Ray tube, st 1 rapid Rotary Printing Picture tube in television Press [ 1812 – 1886 ] [ 1897 ] Glidden Carlos H C Booth, British st 1 practical typewriter Vacuum Cleaner[1869] .. Remington[1834Michael Faraday 1871] co-inventor British, Electric motor Oberlin Smith,[ 1878 ] 1791-1863 Audio Recording Mc Cormick C Hall Rudolph Diesel,French Ist successful reaping Diesel engine, 1892 m/c 1809-1884 Louis Pasteur, French Gorrie John Germ theory, Rabies, Cold Air Referigeration Anthrax, 1822-1895 1803-1855

AN

O P E Italy,Spain,Portugal

S.A

[Mainly Catholic] CANADA Leonardo-da-vinci H woodward th 15 century,Italian Electric Bulb,1874 Renaissance man, sold patent to Astronomer,Sculptor, Edison Geologist,Mathematcn, A Graham Bell Botanist,Engr,Architect Telephone,1876 Inventor- weapons, F N Grisborne Machines. Undersea tele Galileo, italian graph cable,1857 1609, Telescope ASIA G Marconi, Italian ChinaDemonstrated feasibty Suspesion Bridge Of radio communicans 1st century AD 1895 Compass N Monturoil 2ndBC-2nd AD Drove 1st India Fully operable > invention of Zero Submarine 1859,

Spain

>AstronomersAryaBhata, Varahmitra,5-600AD >paddy yield arnd 1760-70 was 5/6 tons/hectr,equals Japan’s today(*) >Drill plough was in use in India before Europe(*) >Binomial thm.(*) (*)’Indian Science & tech’..Dharam Pal

- 170 –

20 TH CEN TU RY

Orville & Wilbur Wright ..Aeroplane [1903 ] Willis Havilland Carrier ..Airconditioing [ 1906 ] Richard Drew,3M engr Adhesive Tape [ 1930 ] F Carlson Chester Xerography [1906-1968] George Eastman Flexible photo film [ 1854 – 1932 ] John P Eckert Jr co-inventor of 1st digital electronic computer [ 1919 – 1995 ] Thomas Alva Edison

Alexander Bain Marie Curie Fax Machine, [1943] X-Ray,Radio Activity British [1867 – 1934 ],Polish Sir Frank Whittle,British Dr G Fischer,Italian Dr H V Ohain, German Lipo Suction, 1974 Jet Engine [ 1939-41 ] SOD Albernoz Simon Lake, British Enzyme that ctalizes Periscope, [1902 ] Synthesis of RNA,Spain Sir Tim Bernard Lee S R Cajal father,inventor,founder Structure of of www,late 1980’s,Britain nervous system,Spain W Von Braun,German Brazil V2 Missile, 1936 Could not read website Henri Fabre,French in Spanish Ist takeoff of Seaplane 1910

Electric Incandescent

L H Baekland

light, phonograph, motion picture camera, autostock ticker, Elec Distrbn System…1000 patents [ 1847 – 1931 ] Peter Carl Goldmak led the team that devepd 1st cml color television[1906-1977]

Bakelite, 1907, Belgium

CANADA Im Barbara Braun re Bone marrow Ve compatibilty L test,1960 S Dr J A Hopps n Heart Pace A maker,1950 B Olivia Poole m Jetliner,1959 o D L Hings Ar Walkie Talkie 1942 G Sundback Zipper,1913 G F,RK & R Karr I Max Movie,1968 I Lanks,1986 Silicon Chip Blood Analyzer W R Turnbull Variable pitch aircraft propellor 1922

- 171 – PERIOD AMERICA

Manhattan Project Atomic Bomb[1939-45] J Faria & Robert Wright Astro Turf [ 1965 ]

E U R O P E England,Germany,France Italy,Spain,Portugal [Mainly Prostestant] [Mainly Catholic]

ASIA Sir W Hamilton 1939, water jet propulsion Newzealand

TH

20

CEN TU RY Contd 2

Robert K Jarvik 1st permanently implatbl. Artificial heart[around 1950] William J Kolff Artificial Kidney Dialysis machine [around 1950] Ronald J Riley auto mono rail system [ 1984 ] Martin Cooper,Motorola Cell Phone [ 1973 ] B S Blumber Vaccine agnst Viral Hepatitis-B [ 1993 ] H Boyer & S Cohen[1973] Technique of DNA cloning Father of Genetic engg J Bardeen,W Bratten,W Shockley,Transistor [1947] An Wang, Chinese origin 1920-1990, 35 patents T V Dinh, Vietnam origin 1975, 23 patents Many Americans of Indian origin e.g Srinivasan, Lasik Surgery Many Black Americans e.g Imaging X Ray Spectrometer L George Sunjian Flight Speed Indicator, Self Focussing Camera 1905-1997

Extract from

, ”Human Resource Management – Evolution and the Challenges Ahead” –

[chapter 12] , by V K Sharma, published in 2007 by Viva Books P Ltd, 4737 / 23, Ansari road, New Delhi.