LETS MAKE INDIA... The government is trying to bring an air of optimism by blowing away the economic doldrums with ‘historic’ nuclear deals, one that surely christens New Delhi as the ‘model international citizen.’ On the other hand, Washington is desperate to rejuvenate old friendships-in-need with India, Japan and Australia, to share some of the sorrow of its self-imposed fiscal asceticism which is yet to pass the test of time if it is also regarded as a hedging policy against a rising China. Moving on from nuclear energy economics and warfare commerce, Investments in India bear a starkly flagrant post colonial color to it. And as such it is hard to rub it off. More often than not, India is interested in outright purchase of outdated manuals and design packages in the name of latest technology. The Indian companies were keen on shaking hands with their foreign blue-blooded counterparts hoping for a leasehold of outdated intellectual property rights that they thought would give them an advantage in the domestic market. And now that the lion has been so long fed in the protections of the cage, she never came to know how to fight in the open for a prey. Thus, the 1980s ritual of baptizing an outdated foreign technology as ‘made in India’ has sped to the grave. That ship has long sailed with the advent of the policy of liberalization to boost Foreign Direct Investment. Now come the wild untamed leopards that were biologically not meant to appear stronger than the caged lion but a non-Darwinian unethical twist of fate has made it so. Now, Indian brands are weak. They can hardly compete with the foreign brands that wish to come to this terrain with less of a dream to sell novel technologies to their poor cousins but with an unfettered desire to exploit the Indian market. The lion will have to stand and watch them take away the prey. I fear, should India not maneuver her foreign policy with much dexterity especially when it comes to saving Indian companies from an attack by the multi-national giants, she is bound to face defeat in the wake of legitimate competition. Moreover, we should remember that knowledge is power, and without the strong-willed Indians taking revolutionary steps towards framing laws inviting a healthy fix of FDI directed towards a developmental process by incentivizing research, our motherland will slowly turn into a playground of the foreign oligopolies, which is not a favorable hindsight. It is time we acted with a little more conscience with respect to the arena of genuine indigenous research and development. FDI norms should be made more stringent so as to incorporate strong clause of mandatory proportionate investment in indigenous R & D by the foreign brands willing to foray into our domestic market, thus to collaborate in the holy process of inventions and advancements bearing an Indian tag, thus honoring the corporate society of our motherland thereby nurturing the weak concept of made in India with so much care and honest enterprise thus slowly developing it into a global brand. Its time we start taking pride in our nation. Let us write our own success story. Lets make India. - Rajeshwar Das.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 19:30:28 +0000
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