Whatever indicators we have of quality of life, the
nagging worry when we apply the talisman prescribed by Gandhiji. Technology as core strength What are the technological imperatives in view of the dimensions of (1) People, (2)economy (3) Strategic interest Direct linkage of technology to nation's strategic interests are clear. Technology... Though cold war ended tactics are made to ensure technology and economic dominance of developed countries From 1990 onwards economic warfare has become more common by trying to control market forces. Second Vision First vision, seeded around 1857, was to be independent. The second one is to be a fully developed nation. Developing various endogenous technolgical strengths Some features of Indian psyche like greater tolerance, less discipline, the lack of a sense of retaliation, emphasis on personal safety over adventure, more flexibility in accepting outsiders etc resulted in India never tried to expand. Does this affect the ability to pursue a vision tenaciously? Second vision...
Indian mind set which embraces anything foreign
continues even after several years of Independence. Even though British learnt use of rockets in warfare from Tippu Sultan's rockets, there is no record of who Tippu's engineers were Some examples Japan: In 1975, import bill of technology was 20 billion yen and export was 5 billion yen. In 1995, this was 39.17 billion and 56.21 billion respectively. S Korea: devastated during second WW, S.Korea became a major power in steel production, ship building, electronics, and automobiles. Examples... Israel: born in 1948 under difficult circumstances Surrounded by hostile nations, the desert state transformed into a world leader in agro food processing and a major defense force India's Core Competencies After Independence though India made progress in agriculture, health, education, infrastructure etc self reliance in all areas was not achieved. Space research and a few other areas emerged as islands of confidence and not as movements for developing core competencies. With growing dependency coupled with some bold success, a unique institution called Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) was born in 1988. Core.. Technology is the vision for the future because it is the highest wealth generator in the shortest period of time if deployed in the right direction Human resource base is one of India's greatest core competencies with learning capability and enterpreneurial and competitive spirit. Another core strength is natural resource base. With abundant supply of most ores and minerals, and an excellent base for living resources. Two Systems User Community Pyramid and Societal Development Radar to ensure sustainble development UCP: Users are the bottom of the pyramid—the vital link for all economic activities and beneficiaries of sustainable development. Then comes natural resources—the basis for sustainable development. Then comes convergence of technologies: eg. Bio- info-nano. These technologies have to reach user community through information and communication technologies and societal business model. SDR Eight traits to be used for monitoring: Access to food and nutrition Access to water for drinking, irrigation and sanitation Access to health care Access to income generation SDR... Access to education and capacity building Access to quality power and communication applications Avoidance of societal conflict Access to financial services Irony of 21st century Poorest of the world pay a higher per unit cost for basic amenities like clean water, nutritious food and health care. Though India became polio free in 2014, in the same year 1.5 million children die of diarrohea. The task is more time consuming than running a pulse polio campaign. In terms of nominal GDP India stands 10th in the world with US at the first and China on the second. China reached the second by enabling people to engage in value added manufacturing, agriculture and services. Irony... Though India is largest in milk production, second largest in fruits and vegetables, third largest in food grain this is no cause for celerbation because production still falls short of requirements... Missed Opportunities Rich in natural resources with abundant sunshine, a large percentage of arable land, huge bio diversity, India's potential is high. Electronics: though identified as key element for future in 1960s little progress was made. India' fledgling radio industry was equal to or better than what S Korea had then. But since 70s no foreign company who had started manufacturing ICs was allowed to set up facilities in India. Missed... Since much of micro electronics manufacturing done outside, computer and chip imports to bleed India's foreign exchange reserves soon. Since 1995 with IT revolution, manufacturing neglected. Many were dismissed as sunset industries. Some claim India bypassed the dirty phase of agriculture and manufacturing to services led growth. PM's task force on IT set up during the late 1990s gave Missed... equal importance to software and hardware. But implemented only for the former. Though progress made in auto sector and pharmaceuticals, machine tool sector—heart of manufacturing—languished. This affects Micro Small Medium Enterprises. Thus manufacturing is a case of big missed opportunity. Since manufacturing sector is stagnant, people are not able to move from agriculture to manufacturing Missed... Some estimates say had India not underperformed, India's per capita GDP would have been 15,000 dollars instead of 4000 dollars, Can we sprint a marathon for the next two decades? The alternative is clear and dire.