The “intolerance” debate

ImageCourtesy: http://www.quotehd.com

Everyone seems to be more than happy to join the debate on how “Tolerant" or “Intolerant", we,  as a nation, are? From Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter or chat groups,  everyone has their own version of how we as a nation are doing on tolerance levels.

All hell broke loose when, during a debate, Aamir Khan, India's famous superstar admitted that his wife was scared to live in the country.  Aamir Khan incidentally raked in more than 300 Cr on his last release, by taking pot-shots in a lighter vein on mostly Hinduism and showcased how some people in the name of religion misuse the trust and devotion of millions to capitalise on their fears.

The movie PK was good and deserved the response it got, but is there any need to create a controversy before his upcoming release? Especially so, since his movies always get a positive response from the vast majority of the masses. When his wife, who is a Hindu, quoted that she is not feeling safe in the current atmosphere, was she referring to  the growing intolerance from the current regime or she was talking from the past experiences? We all know how Mumbai felt during 26/11 or infamous Bombay blasts  in 1993. Several other noted personalities came out strongly both in favour of and against what he thought and said.

Fine: I believe that every individual is free to express his own views whether it is positive or negative, despite his social standing in the society. One of our fundamental rights is that anyone and everyone is free to express his/her opinion on and no one can deny him this right. 

Yes, this IS a tolerant country where you can mock Hindu gods and still rake in money and Yes this IS an intolerant country where you are not free to speak what you are actually feeling. The radicalisation of religion in any form is not good for any civil society.

The hype and hoopla created by this statement was uncalled for, unnecessary and unwarranted by any standards. Let’s work towards a society where religion and opinion are not at loggerheads and people have other things to do rather than fighting on statements and triggers to disrupt communal tolerance. 

The e-commerce space: Reality or Fluke

1997-2000 was a period in which stock prices of the companies working in internet and technology sectors, specially in western countries, soared. The stocks were highly overvalued, responsible for creating an image that the companies are making huge profits. It appeared that anyone with an idea could get funds to create an internet based company and transform it into a billion dollar enterprise. And then the bubble burst!

It was in 2001-02 that the investors lost approximately a Trillion Dollars and the great American dream finally crashed. Since the period was witnessing only the beginning of the internet arena in India, we were mostly insulated from the severity of the issues that were created as  a result globally!

Today with more than 300 million internet users in India, the internet penetration is still a long way to go. The internet population is around 19% and there is still very very little penetration except in Urban and Semi Urban areas.  India’s first advent of e–commerce came with IRCTC, which allowed passengers to book tickets online which led to easing the congestion on railway stations and became the first real success! Soon major airlines started offering tickets online.

Though online shopping in one format or another, was present since 2000 but the real popularity came when retailers like Flipkart, Fashionandyou, Bigshoebazaar (later yebhi.com) started offering huge discounts and in a way re-launched online shopping in India.  Afterwards other portals like Amazon, eBay and several others joined the chorus.

Today anyone can log in and purchase anything from a needle to home appliances, clothes to jewellery, etc. with an option to return if not satisfied. The portals surprisingly   are attracting huge investments from venture capitalist and moreover are getting valuation beyond anyone’s imagination.

High profile people like Ratan Tata in his individual capacity are investing in such ventures and indirectly endorsing this model.  The only hitch/confusion with the model is the huge price differential as compared to organized offline retail model. This makes the offline model suffer and is causing unfair comparisons. Secondly authenticity of the products also poses a very serious problem.

The only issue is whether this is a viable situation? The huge discounting that is leading the numbers will end sometimes, but by then the shift to online medium would have caused irreparable loss to the offline retail, with huge losses and closures. Once the discounting stops, will people actually use the online model? Or is it that we are in for a huge correction, as they say in the stock markets and on the verge of another dot com bust??? This is a thought provoking question!!!

Make in India Campaign of the Government...

When the current Prime Minister talked about the need to create a programme to boost manufacturing in India, it was seen as just yet another speech from the Red Fort from yet another politician to pacify people who were reeling under tremendous pressure from slowdown in the Indian economy. 

After 3 months of the announcement, DIPP organised a workshop that was attended by the PM along with his cabinet and several state Chief Secretaries to showcase the seriousness of his commitment towards making India a self-reliant country in the manufacturing domain.

The major objective of this initiative is skill enhancement and job creation in 25 important sectors including Automobiles, IT and Railways.  The initiative aims to increase GDP and revenues from taxation as well as  creating an impact of Indian craftsmanship on the world.

To propel this initiative, foreign equity caps in various sectors has been increased by the government along with the validity of license which has been increased to 3 years.  The FDI in Defence sector was increased from 26% to 49 % to decrease the military imports so that companies would find it easy to invest in this particular sector. India is amongst the largest buyer of Military equipment’s in the world.

Companies like Spice, Huawei, Hitachi, etc. have shown their inclination and committment to invest in India.   It is predicted that approximately 300 million people will join India's workforce between 2010 and 2040 and the country requires 10 million jobs every year to accommodate the work force. It is perceived that this initiative by the Prime Minister will be able to generate approx. 100 Million Jobs by 2022. 

The move if strategically implemented, will not only augment the purchasing power but also help in reducing poverty and curbing brain drain. For this the major policies needs to be overhauled like ease of doing business, single window clearance, ease of policies, and the most important issue is to curb red tapism. I am glad that the Government is "Walking the talk" and trying to create a policy framework that will make a difference in how India attracts FDI. 

The vision, if correctly implemented, can once again put India on the world Map as one of the most competitive manufacturing markets in the world. With more than 120 Crore people in the country, the median age of India's population  is 28, than that of  China and Japan at 37 and 44  respectively, according to data from global market research firm Euromonitor. The "make in India" campaign has the potential to harness the capabilities of this huge population and offer "gainful employment" to the employable. If rightly channelized, this campaign has the potential to become PM's secret  weapon for the next election.