While the government tries to "prime the pump" and spend its way out of the recession, the focus should be on the major initiatives that in fact reduce inefficiency most.
Although the term "sacred cow" was created with Indians in mind, we seem to be fairly open this year to take on our sacred cows! We have even venerable institutions like the Class X boards being questioned. The current commissions structure in insurance and mutual funds is being examined so that a fair and transparent mechanism can be established. A new tax code is being written up! And we have the Unique ID project. All this should reduce inefficiency. Hopefully, one days we will also do away with the laws and taxes imposed on the transfer of goods across states, but that's another story.
I think the US too needs big bold initiatives like this. I hope the healthcare reform initiative is a success. But beyond that, even an initiative like a national driving license may be very useful. The US is extremely federal, and the welter of local laws is a big drag on the economy. If you move from one state to another, you lose many days of productivity to get a new number plate for your car, a new driving license, new auto insurance in some cases and so on. All this may have made sense decades ago but doesn't really make sense now.
You can't afford to be stuck with your past. You have to keep improving!
14 comments:
Isn't it amazing that in some areas, the US is superfast despite the apparent complexity of the sector (e.g. Legal system), whereas vested interests have a big say in areas like the ones you mentioned (licence numbers!). The Indian system is finally opening up to serious questioning by the actual stakeholders - the aam aadmi. Expect lots of skeletons to tumble out from the closet. Since most of our government sector is nothing but a rent-seeker, a huge push to our economy can be expected if genuine reforms are heralded on that front.
Hello Sir,
Dear Dr. Fuloria
The blog written by you reminds me of our first GMDP lecture by Mr. Rosen Sharma. This is true that when the things are bad then it's the time to think about reducing the inefficiencies.
There are various ineffeciencies which are there in Indian education system:
1) On one hand we have IIT's and IIM's which serves the world with great professionals and on the other hand we have average institutes. Between these two levels there is a big vacuum.
2) The Indian education system is approx. 20-25 years behind the western education system.
Hence the system needs to be improved
As said by Mr. Rosen, "Inefficiencies brings business opportunities".
So,I wish all the aspiring entrepreneurs "Happy Inefficiency Hunting".
Thanks & Regards
Good Evening Sir,
Yesterday we had a Blog quiz which was a great initiative. Sir i am not clear with the term "scared cow", please help me out with an example of it.
Regards
Vidit Shah
Hello Sir,
How are you?
Yes some great initiatives are taken by Indian government. These will definitely help India to be more efficient. But these projects or changes should be completed in fix time period. Because delay from completion on right time is the biggest problem of Indian projects. For example Mumbai's Bandra-Worli sea link also became late in completion. Although this was very big project and was handled by a good company "Hindustan Construction Company".
Is there any opportunity for MBA graduates to handle government projects from outside...?
Respected Sir,
This was a nice article.
And i was not aware that initiatives taken for health reform was a success.So I m now aware of it.
Thanks Sir
Dear Sir,
This blog is an avid example of how our government is trying to weed out the inefficiencies from the system and an excellent manifestation in the form of a quote is given by you Sir that is "Prime the pump".But Sir my question to you is that our government policies are all about paper work the implementation part always goes berserk. So how can we expect a change this time.
Respected Sir,
I never knew there were such type of laws in the US! Its surprising & a big inefficiency in their system...
Dear Sir,
I think the same way those americans are far away from us but they still have to learn small things from us like, strong financial system, remove overconfidance and to avoid overreacting to the situations
Thank You Sir
Hello Sir,
I totally agree with your view points, but don't you think think that inefficiency in our current political and governmental system is must to remove? Day by day we have seen corruption and redtapism increasing. After a long time we came to see a bit stable government in the power but now that seems also going into bad shape. Don't you think that the the country as an whole needs a reform which could change the face of the country? Hoping for a bright future of the nation.
Yours
Sunny Multani
Vidit, it's a good idea to try Google when you have a question of fact. Even though you misread what I wrote as "scared cow", if you had typed that into Google it would have asked you, "Do you mean 'sacred cow'?" Which is what I had meant. Anurag, good question, but why don't you suggest an answer? Deepesh, I think the government will subcontract more and more work as time goes by - or at least it should!
Dear Sir,
As per my view the political system needs a total revamp, time has come to utilize the power of information Technology to our own benefit,as explained by Mr. Nandan Nilekani in his book "Imagining India".Every transformation is painful, it will also take some time.But that is what i ponder that our system is not free to undergo that scale of transition yet.
Sir,
Thank you for nice post.
Sir can you define me,what exactly sacred cow means? What I perceive is Indian Industry.Is is right?
_Manish RAMJE
Sir,
It was an amazing insight from your side. It felt good to hear that in some cases India is ahead of US n what i think soon all these norms will be removed from our economy & it would be at it's zenith. Nobody will be there to compete with our country!
Regards:
Proton Richa Bajaj
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