My views on Modi's "Make In India" initiative

Three-four days ago when I tuned to TV10 News Channel the program being aired was "Good Morning Nageshwar" and while discussing some subject on political matter he made a passing comment on PM's recent "Make In India" campaign and further he also made a mention of Mr. RaghuRam Rajan's statement on "Make For India". Anyhow the PM's campaign has snowballed into a big controversial issue which provoked me to go a little bit deeper into the subject to understand it from proper perspective and hence this write up for the better appreciation of my FB friends and it is for them to judge. Mr Arun Jaitley, Union Finance Minister, when contradicted it recently again it became an issue for arguments and counter arguments.

The fact of the matter is that PM after the launch of program addressed CEOs of both national and International companies as the campaign focused was on MANUFACTURING SECTOR. The question here is will CEOs be able to convince their managements/Boards to invest in  India? In this connection Mr Jagannatha Raju, Professor of Marketing at Wharton says "This is a great idea;.as goods are produced in India, it creates jobs in manufacturing, which in turn creates infrastructure of ancillary industries, resulting in creation of more jobs and thus the economy gets a boost".

But as I know the policy changes to improve the business climate has not yet been initiated, however the PM has assured them that he would replace RED TAPE with RED CARPET. It may please be noted that India is currently ranked 134th in the WORLD BANK's Ease Of Doing Business List.

Mr Modi has taken a position that India must be transparent and efficient, says Mr Bellace, Professor of Legal studies and Business Ethics of Wharton. As could be seen, now what Mr.Modi needs to do is to eliminate out dated legislations while replacing them with up to date laws where ever appropriate and streamline compliance and enforcement procedures. It is also a fact that after a month of announcement of new policy the Govt Of India has amended some of Labor Laws pertaining to system of Inspection of Companies.

I am told that an on line portal called "SHRAM SUVIDHA" has been unveiled  for Employers to submit compliance report for 16 Labor Laws. Mr Modi also said during the launch of the campaign these facilities are what I call "Minimum Govt and Maximum Governence". Further there are certain other measures like portability of Provident Funds designed to benefit employees etc. But I am concerned, as HR person with 35 years of experience, the Industrial Disputes Act, which doesn't allow a company to close down on making losses still remains intact.

If I am right, Mr Modi must be trying to change the mindset that of Labor, of Bureaucrats and Employers while it is also a fact that no one is quarreling with the fact of how to boost the manufacturing. But as per Prof. Pankaj Chandra of IIM Bangalore the Govt must take proactive approach if it wants to get results.The fact remains that in the past the bureaucrats did not do their part of job rather they didn't have strategic framework as per prof. Pankaj 

But I feel before saying anything negative we may have to look at some positive features, like the recent visit by Global Software giant Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella, and he was the third tech giant CEO to meet Modi after the CEOs of Amazon and Facebook. Mr Satya says he is looking forward to partner with Digital India and "Make in India" program of Modi Govt.

In addition, in the recent budget announced by Modi, the modernization of Armed forces got huge allocation. That the funding came in the first six months of new BJP led Govt was indicative of its determination to over come almost a decade of sloth caused by A.K Anthony's bid to keep his image clean while he was defense minister. Much of this for instance, I had read, the submarines and drones will be made within the country and will morally take forward PM's "Make in India" campaign.

In view of all this I feel we allow him more time for realization of such goals or for that matter let us not jump to conclusions.

 

Yogananda's book fantasy or instructional?

In my previous blog I mentioned that this book was given to me by my grandson to read and I started reading it but it took almost 10 days to complete, with 500 pages and spending time with my brother and his family who were here for few days. But today I was able to finish it, and immediately I started writing my views on it.

Paramahamsa Yogananda. whose autobiography it is, his original name was Mukundalal Ghosh, father, Bhagabati Charan Ghosh, hail from  Bengal  and he was second child to his parents out of eight children; four boys and four girls, while his father was an employee of Bengal-Nagpur Railways. Mukunda showed keen interest from his childhood on spiritual activities rather than regular studies in which he was only mediocre. Of course it may be because his parents were also into this line and were chelas of a saint LAHIRI MAHASAYA, who was Guru to Yogananda's Guru, Sri YUKTESHWARANANDA of the GIRI order.

This book is about yogis written by another YOGI of his life story may be perhaps for westerners, describing in detail his own many years of spiritual training under YUKTESHWARANANDA  of Serampore-Bengal.There are colorful chapters on Yogi's visits to Mahatma Gandhi, Jagadish Chandrabose, Tagore etc. Having established a high school and yoga institute at Ranchi he goes to US in 1920 to attend International Congress of Religious Liberals as a delegate  and having stayed in California founded a yoga institute for the benefit of westerners and train them in KRIYA YOGA.

This book is a fascinating read and the author has a good command of the English language. But if you ask my honest opinion it is like fantasy because in this book we come across yogis and sadhus performing miracles like one yogi appearing simultaneously at two places at the same time, a woman who never eats while absorbing cosmic energies; a resurrected man resurfaces from astral plains and tells this yogi about the many plains of existence, etc.

After reading this book some people may feel hesitant to take it on its face value. However it is a wonderful guide to the Indian philosophy as it guides the people along the path giving ample time for introspection, an essential pre-requisite for correct spiritual understanding.
And finally I believe that this book is so engrossing that once you start reading you won't stop until it's done.

Our visit to Liberty Science Center - 30 the Dec 2014

My youngest brother Madhav and his family came to NJ for few days during their year end holidays. We took his kids and my grandson to Liberty Science Center. 

It  is a beautiful, well maintained, very spacious building with four floors. It has lot of interactive exhibits. It was established in 1993. It has largest IMAX Dome theater, numerous educational resources,computer driven engineering art work which are of interest to children aged 4 to 10 years.

After seeing various panels of energy oil exploration models, robots and a beautiful mini zoo with lot of fascinating creatures like macaws, hippo sculls snake, shed turtle shells etc and another very interesting feature of this exhibit was Rubik Cubes exhibit, where a programmed robot solved the Rubik cube puzzle in minutes.  There was an interactive music room where kids could play all the instruments and have fun.

After that visit I felt that such hands on science centres if established in India would be very beneficial to kids as it helps them to practically see and experience science theories in their books. But I feel establishing and maintaining such a centre is very tough with the highly corrupt bureaucracy. And a privatizing such a place would make it inaccessible to common man. Educational centres like these will be immensely benefit our future generations.