While the country was celebrating with laddoos and crackers on May 16 to celebrate the clear victory to NaMo, the man himself started planning his tasks even before the swearing-in took place. Secretaries were asked to make presentations not on what was right and what should be done but on what went wrong. After all a win may teach a line but a failure will teach you a book. So today after NaMo is the 15th PM of India, I have my own little wish list for him. And some of these wishes may be small in front of the bigger infrastructure and power needs but none the less I feel that it is important.
First is the critical issue of defence. Though reports suggest at the time of writing that Arun Jaitley will be given the additional charge of defence apart from finance, I believe that this portfolio should be handled by Modi himself at least for the first year or so. And the reason for this is not his ability to give a fitting reply to outside attacks (obviously that is a given thing) but his administration skills. Each year we have a budget of more than Rs. 2 trillion and rising and we have invested in upgrading the Army and to some extent the Air Force. But the Navy is seriously neglected. And the recent fire mishaps on many of our submarines are a proof of it. To ensure that development of Navy as well as Air Force is fast tracked with R&D given top priority there is none better than the man himself. It was a pity that DK Joshi resigned for no fault of his own.
My second concern is about the state of highways. And I'm talking from my experience in Mumbai. It is famously said that in Mumbai there are "roads in potholes." Though highways need to be built at a very fast pace to connect the whole of the country and to fulfil Vajpayee's dream of the Golden Quadrilateral, but the quality of roads needs to be maintained. Gujarat and Rajasthan have fantastic highways but the same cannot be said about Mumbai. Though it is the prerogative of the state government to a great extent, but for a city like Mumbai the Centre should also ensure roads like that in Gujarat. But with the name of Nitin Gadkari doing the rounds for Highways, this concern seems to be taken care of.
Then comes the issue of the telecom sector. Being a telecom enthusiast even today after completely disconnecting from the sector since I completed my graduation, my heart pains to see the sector in doldrums. There are no clear policy rules, the government entities (BSNL and MTNL) are running into losses thereby hindering the chances of communication to the last mile and the ITI being on ventilator support. The government can work out solutions to create a telecom behemoth by merging BSNL and MTNL, encourage ITI to take up more R&D to improve itself and provide domestically produced telecom equipment which also secures our country. A small example is the case of SIM cards which are imported and not domestically manufactured posing a huge security threat.
Fourth is the concern about teachers. A report in Mint has already said that though the percentage of literates has gone up, but the quality of education has gone down. And the reason for that is government schools which provide education irrespective of religion have very very few good teachers left. All the good ones are poached by private schools which charge a bomb from kids and as a result only the top 5% of the people can send their children to really good schools. This is a time bomb ticking and schools have now become a recession proof business. There will be no talent left in the country. So instead of populist schemes, the pay of government teachers should be increased so that more and more teachers opt for government schools and also training institutes which improve the quality of teaching. The issue of establishing top universities is something that has been said about by many.
Next is the issue of IPR. And it not only includes promoting development of R&D for innovations but also marketing them and making money. This will help not only the people of India but people from poor African nations as well. Indians are known to have the best minds but unfortunately we have not used them up to the mark. This should change.
And last is the revival of Hindustan Motors' manufactured Ambassador car. Today newspaper reports said that the last plant in West Bengal has shut down thereby indicating that days are almost over. This may be prudent financially but a car which only last year won the toughest taxi in the world does not deserve this treatment. The Amby is one car the Indians are proud of and it is more of a matter of pride to popularise it by making changes to suit the current needs yet having its original DNA. And who better than Dilip Chhabaria to turn it around. If he believes in turning around the car then it is absolutely possible.
The list for NaMo is endless but these are a few things that I found had not got much limelight amongst the power, infrastructure, CAD and inflation news. I know expectations are high and Modi will definitely fulfil all of them. Jai Hind!!
First is the critical issue of defence. Though reports suggest at the time of writing that Arun Jaitley will be given the additional charge of defence apart from finance, I believe that this portfolio should be handled by Modi himself at least for the first year or so. And the reason for this is not his ability to give a fitting reply to outside attacks (obviously that is a given thing) but his administration skills. Each year we have a budget of more than Rs. 2 trillion and rising and we have invested in upgrading the Army and to some extent the Air Force. But the Navy is seriously neglected. And the recent fire mishaps on many of our submarines are a proof of it. To ensure that development of Navy as well as Air Force is fast tracked with R&D given top priority there is none better than the man himself. It was a pity that DK Joshi resigned for no fault of his own.
My second concern is about the state of highways. And I'm talking from my experience in Mumbai. It is famously said that in Mumbai there are "roads in potholes." Though highways need to be built at a very fast pace to connect the whole of the country and to fulfil Vajpayee's dream of the Golden Quadrilateral, but the quality of roads needs to be maintained. Gujarat and Rajasthan have fantastic highways but the same cannot be said about Mumbai. Though it is the prerogative of the state government to a great extent, but for a city like Mumbai the Centre should also ensure roads like that in Gujarat. But with the name of Nitin Gadkari doing the rounds for Highways, this concern seems to be taken care of.
Then comes the issue of the telecom sector. Being a telecom enthusiast even today after completely disconnecting from the sector since I completed my graduation, my heart pains to see the sector in doldrums. There are no clear policy rules, the government entities (BSNL and MTNL) are running into losses thereby hindering the chances of communication to the last mile and the ITI being on ventilator support. The government can work out solutions to create a telecom behemoth by merging BSNL and MTNL, encourage ITI to take up more R&D to improve itself and provide domestically produced telecom equipment which also secures our country. A small example is the case of SIM cards which are imported and not domestically manufactured posing a huge security threat.
Fourth is the concern about teachers. A report in Mint has already said that though the percentage of literates has gone up, but the quality of education has gone down. And the reason for that is government schools which provide education irrespective of religion have very very few good teachers left. All the good ones are poached by private schools which charge a bomb from kids and as a result only the top 5% of the people can send their children to really good schools. This is a time bomb ticking and schools have now become a recession proof business. There will be no talent left in the country. So instead of populist schemes, the pay of government teachers should be increased so that more and more teachers opt for government schools and also training institutes which improve the quality of teaching. The issue of establishing top universities is something that has been said about by many.
Next is the issue of IPR. And it not only includes promoting development of R&D for innovations but also marketing them and making money. This will help not only the people of India but people from poor African nations as well. Indians are known to have the best minds but unfortunately we have not used them up to the mark. This should change.
And last is the revival of Hindustan Motors' manufactured Ambassador car. Today newspaper reports said that the last plant in West Bengal has shut down thereby indicating that days are almost over. This may be prudent financially but a car which only last year won the toughest taxi in the world does not deserve this treatment. The Amby is one car the Indians are proud of and it is more of a matter of pride to popularise it by making changes to suit the current needs yet having its original DNA. And who better than Dilip Chhabaria to turn it around. If he believes in turning around the car then it is absolutely possible.
The list for NaMo is endless but these are a few things that I found had not got much limelight amongst the power, infrastructure, CAD and inflation news. I know expectations are high and Modi will definitely fulfil all of them. Jai Hind!!
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