Energy, Education & Employment - Lets change India

For a very long time I used to think that the issue of any country’s development is a matter of time and, like Adam Smith’s invisible hands of supply and demand, is driven by natural forces of societal evolution. An essential feature of this belief was that there is very little that the current generation can influence and all societies must endure their journey through poverty, poor medical facilities and illiteracy until somehow over a long period of time the societal forces would deliver us into a new era.

Over the last few years I have had the opportunity to visit and live in different countries. This has exposed me to the ways of working of different societies. These countries essentially encompass the entire spectrum of economic development between them. There will be little argument about the benefits of visiting developed nations. A visit to these nations helps us in setting goals for our development. We can learn a lot about new technologies, social structures etc and try and replicate them in our own countries. The advantages of visits to poor countries and lesser developed societies are equally large. It makes you aware of the many mistakes that are being made unconsciously. It makes you aware of your strengths. For example in Nigeria I see that simple things such as immigration procedure are all messed up. Now in India I know this works fairly well, I try and compare the processes in two countries and in the end the only reason I can think of for the differences are those people on the ground.

The earnestness with which people on the ground do their job in the end makes all the difference. So that’s it. This is also my solution for the development of India.

It needs a bit of analysis though. Let’s revisit the statement. “The earnestness with which people on the ground do their job in the end makes all the difference”. The key elements here are “people” which we have in plenty, “earnestness” which has to do with character, “on the ground” which alludes to penetration across the whole value chain and “job” which is about opportunity. For a society to progress it all needs to come together.

The next challenge therefore, is to establish how this will come together. Those who believe in my previous theory would say that there is bare little that we can do proactively and therefore we must wait for the invisible hands of social change to do it for us. I, however, am of a different mind now. And this again in part is influenced by my stay in Nigeria. There is so much around here that I believe can be changed by little effort from the people. And extrapolating that thought to India I can think of so much that we can do in India to change it almost overnight. Ambitious – yes, impossible – certainly not.

So my solution is simple. Fix three things: energy supply, education and employment. In fact the three elements (I will refer to them as 3E’s from now on) are already dependent and therefore a little effort on one front will produce results on all 3.

Energy supply is critical. Whether we like it or not without energy we are paralysed. Yes the fossil fuels are running out, yes the CO2 levels are rising to alarming levels, yes the pollution caused by vehicles and industries is reaching fatal levels but still the harsh reality is that we need energy and we need more energy. Can we influence it? Well, yes, but compared to the other two E’s this one can be influenced a lot less by common man. But let’s just say that the government is thinking about it all the time and it is high on the agenda with the new nuclear power plants and distribution networks being set up. Energy will be needed to afford a respectable life to humans. It is that simple.

Education by far is the biggest E. It can make all the difference at all the levels. And it is the responsibility of each one of us. The fact that we are writing or reading on our computers qualifies us to be an agent of change. Education will not only qualify our work force for jobs but good education will address the issue of earnestness identified in my solution above. And that is key. Let us not forget that education in its narrow sense will only get us opportunities but what we make of those opportunities will depend on the education in its broad sense. Sceptics would now say but what about corruption and what about irresponsible civil behaviour. Education in my opinion will address a large part of that. But then there will always be the likes of Lehmann and Maddoff scams which were propounded by well educated people and which can only be managed by managing the consequence with a sound legal framework. Education will enable us to develop such framework. Petty bribes and thefts will see a significant reduction if people are educated and are grounded on strong moral principles.

Even for prestigious higher institutions like IITs and IIMs the advise holds. Most students entering these institutions might have a lot of raw intellect but there is still a long way to go before each one of them can boast of being world class. Access to education has to be a right. And recently government of India has made it one of the fundamental rights.

The last E is employment. In part it is a consequence of the previous two. In part it will have to be consciously cultivated. Government needs to put in frameworks which empowers entrepreneurs and Indian business houses to create more jobs. Mass herd jobs which downgrade individual’s capability by offering mere money should be condemned. Writer’s, authors and public speakers have a role to play. The education system itself should make students aware of the nature of the industry out there and the key elements of the business value chain. Employment by itself is not enough, it should be of the right kind for the right person. On the one hand one should not be ashamed of doing lesser skilled jobs in order to learn and progress but on the other as a country we should be concerned about creating a lost generation.

It is a good time now for the government of India to start regulating our corporate sector. Given our demographics we are certainly in the driving seat and we must take advantage of this situation to clean up the corporate systems in India. Minimum wage for different skill levels should be enforced. Quality of work environment and other work conditions should be effectively monitored.

So thats my simple solution. And as citizens what we can influence is education.

I am up for an Education Revolution. I am happy to tie up with anyone who has an idea or is already a member of a group.

Lets change India.