A very good article… the point is… the 20 million readers need to act. Its funny but theres this habit in Indians… they act when others start doing it… this way none of them takes the initiative.. Those who do take initiative are squashed but pessimism and apathy. I hope your write articles which are even more stronger in emotion to evoke initiative.
That was an article indirectly stressing the importance of voting to 20 million Indians.
Its intention in bringing out the power to influence is laudable but it would have been better had you spelt out more than just a conglomeration of well meaning NGOs, something more concrete as the next step.
Sir,
I liked your article very much.
Just hope people wake up at the earliest.
Since my childhood i have been reading that we need to change & still continue to do so…..
We need the spark
Hi chetan, that was an excellent article..ur thought is simply amazing..all v need is 20 million ppl to transform our country into a developed nation..almost every youth has their own thoughts for developing de society,but r not good at executing it, they r getting stuck with their own family issues..only few of de broad minded ppl break these barriers..even i have many ideas but got stuck with my own family issues..hope i wil execute all my ideas very soon..thnx for such an inspiring article..
It would not be fair to say that all excel sheets predicting India’s growth are wrong. All vision documents weather for a country or any other entity are difficult to convert into reality. They are supported by some statistics which are only indicative in nature. In fact, visions are daydreams of some optimistic people.Visions will continue to fall short but it doesn’t mean that we stop having them.
Your analysis about votes is correct only if the percentage of people who vote remains constant. Other variables are also to be taken account such as types of people joining politics and contesting elections , increasing literacy level of voters etc. Indian democracy doing very well despite all limitations. Sometimes I feel it is doing better than US as they are also promoting dynasties like Bushs and Clintons. Indian public with a literacy rate of 20% voted out Mrs Gandhi from power.
Most of the developing countries are doing worse than India in global scenario.Let us not take China into account as it is a different set up. And we are lucky that we are not there even at cost of being backwards.
To me India’s strength is its high moral values,technical workforce, most efficient doctors (Allopathic and Ayurvedic), Indian films, Indian TV and young thinkers and writers. Most countries would envy them.
I have an idea: It would benefit all of us if the voting rules is amended in such a way that group of people from each political party are made to stand for each portfolio say for e.g. 15 for Home Minister, 15 for Finance Minister so on so forth. By doing this we (20 million or more than that if ppl get inspired by your thought and add to the 20 million) can choose the best for each portfolio. This is would eradicate the bias each political party has towards certain people (who get the best portfolio coz of their loyalty towards the party, not sure what else they do to get the portfolio).
Of course this requires a lot of thinking. Also, we need to market this idea once it is concrete across India (should reach ppl in tier 3, 4 cities) and make sure we have a government who runs it “politically” correct.
This is my idea/dream like millions of people across who want a corruption free government in India.
Dear Chetan,
First of all I would like to congratulate you on the way you handled the entire “3 idiots” controversy. I am a fan of your writing, but a bigger fan of the person you are ( which came through clearly in this entire episode). I am a student at IIM-C, currently finishing my course, and I am a writer too( in my own small little manner.) I have a little wish to meet you someday and just to have a conversation with you. If you think you can, it would be great. I just think that for me even a small-meeting would be a learning that I can cherish. My blog is http://www.partialobservations.com . If you could read it sometime, I would be honored.
Once again congratulations on rising above the issue even though your hurt can be sensed.
Your article presents a true picture of the India we live in. Optimistic figures are good to make people feel good about their future in this country, but equally important factor to make these projections turn into reality is the action in the direction of growth. We all cannot depend on the spreadsheet projections and wait for India to grow on its own. And if we see the gap between the rich and the poor people in this country and understand the fact that there are only few handful of people whose earnings are making India glitter on the world economy stage, then all points raised by you would support the need for real action which is somewhere either missing or disoriented.
I also agree to the comments where some people have recognised the need for a true visionary leader in the country, because without an efficient leader those 20 million people whose votes you believe would count to change India’s destiny will not be able to walk in a single direction. I hope your article and the beginning of this new year triggers some real action in the country whose effect spreads across the country and in coming years we get to see the spreadsheet figures turning into reality.
I am a true admirer of yours. You have make people read. Had read Five Point someone and Hence, watched 3 idiots. Hats off to you for the book and feel sad on not seeing any credit to you. But we, your fans are always there to support you.
The new idea in new year is great in the article. The big picture has been covered but I want you to write something on the mind set of people which is letting India down over here and in other countries too. “I” is important here but not “You”.
The Column was very enlightening. I would like to see this as a first of many columns to come on this issue. Now earlier also you have written on this topic of making India one but it was from a little different angle. What Indians want to see is how this Unity should come. I know it is all very difficult but still every thing starts with the first step. Definitely things are changing and we are hopeful that we would be a superpower by 2020. And we want more on this as part 2.
Dear Chetan,
I admire your writing but not a big fan of yours. I halfway through your article I was irritated, because there is nothing new in those line. It is quite fashionable and cynical to talk all the bad about the country, as if all other countries are perfect.
But the second half suddenly changed my perception. You are suggesting a revolutionary idea. I have gone through few comments, still believe that “IT IS POSSIBLE”.
Enough of talks and words, time for action, here is my action plan: (Very tentative and need lot of fine tuning)
Imagine a website say vision2020.com , Indian version of twitter but the object of these members is to ‘Monitor’ and ‘Help the Development’ of the country.
1.Monitor: Grade the performance of the leaders (all ruling as well as opposition) and declare the members of this community going to vote particular person or party, before the election.
(And voting is a DHARMA of this community)
2. Help the Development: There are numerous ways in which by spending our little time we can initiate the CHAGE.
i. Develop a multimedia based learning for primary education students…….
ii. Monitor the availability of the teachers and doctors in the primary health center and report to the appropriate authorities.
iii. Initiate the microfinancing in your locality.
iv. Educate the youth the importance of education, ill effects of addiction ………
v. Create the awareness of physical fitness and environmental issues.
I have this proposal if we cant work on this or something like this then let us stop armchair idealogy.
Hi
Read ur article in TOI today. Very enlightening for those who dont vote. After the Mumbai terror attacks one had expected Mumbaikars to turn out in heavy numbers and vote for a change. Turns out one expected too much. The apathy is too deep and entrenched. Any holiday Mumbaikars just head for a holiday and nothing else. I dont expect figures like these to make any difference to the prevailing apathy. Maybe Narendra Modi has the right idea when he says ‘make voting mandatory.’
Absolutely true sir.for this,people should be encouraged to vote by the government.reforms should be processed quickly and acted upon.more transperancy should be there in the system.corruption should be eliminated from the society.youths should be encouraged to go into politics.our judicial system should be checked again and fast trials should be there.government should motivate farmers and more foreign companies should be attracted towards India.look at China.it got independance after India and now is far ahead of us in every field.it is the worlds no. 1 exporter.manything we use today carry a ‘MADE IN CHINA’ tag.the largest economy in the world,USA, now cant exist without china.They have excellence in everything like defence,engineering,technology,space etc.i think,the government should take this seriously and the people of india should come out and vote their country.we can watch cricket matches and celebrate when india wins.we should stop it and celebrate only when india shines in every field.
The article published today was really thought provoking, you were absolutely right, I also belong to the same league where we had spent 100s of hours in making prestentations on “India Super power by 2010″ during my MBA days.Even had become a bit naustalgic. Excuse me for differing with you, very true that we have achieved less as compared to what was expected or proclaimed, but you must agree that we have achieved a lot as well, which should actually be cherished, it was only us who started years like 2010, 2020 or 2050. It is just to be optimistic, all the excels, presentations, comparisons give a positive feel, a kick that we are just not a contry but going to be a super power. Today we have that confidence to consider us as the front runner to be a super power, on the contrary earleir we only knew & used to thought that we are developing country, we are one of the third world country, far behind the so called developed country, at least today all of us think that, we are no less than other developed economies, I hope you understand what i want to say, as it is this is my personal view…….
One more thing I would like to write here which is not at all relevant to the article but more of an experience sharing as This morning at 4.30 am I finished your latest “2 states”. I would like to salute you for writing this book. I have a similar situation in my life as my girl is from a diffetern state & I have almost tried everything to get her parents convinced. …& Had almost gave up, but got rejuvinated after reading the book…. I would like to thank you for the same…. Please pray for me……This is my first post…but will try to post regularly……A Big Thanks again…….
Your article was indeed impeccable in terms of content and fair & simple analysis that are easy to understand for laymen. I share this concern and development of India is an issue that’s close to my heart.
I hope I can use your blog as a platform to propose my idea of an Indian vision that I believe is achievable provided we follow some extreme, yet doable measures.
A lot of issues related to opportunity, infrastructure, health and education was plagued by the sheer number of people in our country. I believe a very simple, yet hard to accept, solution is adoption.
After reading Prime Minister Singh’s speech delivered on the Independence Day a few years ago, as well as a few books about socio-economic factors, it became clear to me that there were two forces that generate poverty – economic and socio-natural. While the economic force is beyond our control, I believe we can influence the social and natural forces. If poverty were to be interpreted as an (negative)value chain, we can do a lot to eliminate the problem right at the beginning of that line. Adoption is a very feasible way for a common man like me to address this issue. If I can lift a child from an orphanage, that orphanage will have the opportunity to lift another child from the streets or a distressed family. Even if 30% of the Indian couples decide to adopt at least one child, I believe we can address the socio-natural cause within one generation. What’s a better way to recycle than recycling the actual source of the problem that creates waste…humans.
hello sir:)
i am new to this blog stuff….so i dint kno were i could leave a message….
i just read your book 2 states…its just awesome…loved it:)too good…i am waiting for ur next book…it was such a grt grt story:)i just loved it:)
tc:)
It might have taken the successful candidate decades of manipulation and slugging out with the lowest class of people to have been able to get to where he has reached – to be able to win a ticket to contest for a political party. It is kind of irrelevant which candidate from which party would go on to win the election, because they are going to turn out to be very similar clones. After winning the elections, it now becomes their ‘payback’ time. Within the shortest possible time frame how can one maximize the returns to make up for all the ‘hard work’ invested in previous decades. Top-down – the entire system is wreaking corruption. Unless there would be a complete shake up of the political system, Unless the educated middle class could start a political party, a party that could project visionaries and people with values, the ones that would if given a chance be able to truly work towards the betterment of the nation – only then will the confidence of the educated middle class be restored to come out to cast their vote, and only then will our nation gallop towards the true potential of becoming a super power sooner than later.
A very good article… the point is… the 20 million readers need to act. Its funny but theres this habit in Indians… they act when others start doing it… this way none of them takes the initiative.. Those who do take initiative are squashed but pessimism and apathy. I hope your write articles which are even more stronger in emotion to evoke initiative.
Chetan,
That was an article indirectly stressing the importance of voting to 20 million Indians.
Its intention in bringing out the power to influence is laudable but it would have been better had you spelt out more than just a conglomeration of well meaning NGOs, something more concrete as the next step.
Nice article…! felt like readin it till d end… felt like givin a tht t it….
as usual… ur superb…!
Sir,
I liked your article very much.
Just hope people wake up at the earliest.
Since my childhood i have been reading that we need to change & still continue to do so…..
We need the spark
Hi chetan, that was an excellent article..ur thought is simply amazing..all v need is 20 million ppl to transform our country into a developed nation..almost every youth has their own thoughts for developing de society,but r not good at executing it, they r getting stuck with their own family issues..only few of de broad minded ppl break these barriers..even i have many ideas but got stuck with my own family issues..hope i wil execute all my ideas very soon..thnx for such an inspiring article..
Hi,
It would not be fair to say that all excel sheets predicting India’s growth are wrong. All vision documents weather for a country or any other entity are difficult to convert into reality. They are supported by some statistics which are only indicative in nature. In fact, visions are daydreams of some optimistic people.Visions will continue to fall short but it doesn’t mean that we stop having them.
Your analysis about votes is correct only if the percentage of people who vote remains constant. Other variables are also to be taken account such as types of people joining politics and contesting elections , increasing literacy level of voters etc. Indian democracy doing very well despite all limitations. Sometimes I feel it is doing better than US as they are also promoting dynasties like Bushs and Clintons. Indian public with a literacy rate of 20% voted out Mrs Gandhi from power.
Most of the developing countries are doing worse than India in global scenario.Let us not take China into account as it is a different set up. And we are lucky that we are not there even at cost of being backwards.
To me India’s strength is its high moral values,technical workforce, most efficient doctors (Allopathic and Ayurvedic), Indian films, Indian TV and young thinkers and writers. Most countries would envy them.
Regards,
Anand Khare
Hey Chetan,
Good thought and interesting analysis.
I have an idea: It would benefit all of us if the voting rules is amended in such a way that group of people from each political party are made to stand for each portfolio say for e.g. 15 for Home Minister, 15 for Finance Minister so on so forth. By doing this we (20 million or more than that if ppl get inspired by your thought and add to the 20 million) can choose the best for each portfolio. This is would eradicate the bias each political party has towards certain people (who get the best portfolio coz of their loyalty towards the party, not sure what else they do to get the portfolio).
Of course this requires a lot of thinking. Also, we need to market this idea once it is concrete across India (should reach ppl in tier 3, 4 cities) and make sure we have a government who runs it “politically” correct.
This is my idea/dream like millions of people across who want a corruption free government in India.
Wish You a Happy New Year.
Dear Chetan,
First of all I would like to congratulate you on the way you handled the entire “3 idiots” controversy. I am a fan of your writing, but a bigger fan of the person you are ( which came through clearly in this entire episode). I am a student at IIM-C, currently finishing my course, and I am a writer too( in my own small little manner.) I have a little wish to meet you someday and just to have a conversation with you. If you think you can, it would be great. I just think that for me even a small-meeting would be a learning that I can cherish. My blog is http://www.partialobservations.com . If you could read it sometime, I would be honored.
Once again congratulations on rising above the issue even though your hurt can be sensed.
Lots of luck Sir,
Shilpi
chetan u r doing well……..keep ur good work…
rajib
Dear Chetan,
Your article presents a true picture of the India we live in. Optimistic figures are good to make people feel good about their future in this country, but equally important factor to make these projections turn into reality is the action in the direction of growth. We all cannot depend on the spreadsheet projections and wait for India to grow on its own. And if we see the gap between the rich and the poor people in this country and understand the fact that there are only few handful of people whose earnings are making India glitter on the world economy stage, then all points raised by you would support the need for real action which is somewhere either missing or disoriented.
I also agree to the comments where some people have recognised the need for a true visionary leader in the country, because without an efficient leader those 20 million people whose votes you believe would count to change India’s destiny will not be able to walk in a single direction. I hope your article and the beginning of this new year triggers some real action in the country whose effect spreads across the country and in coming years we get to see the spreadsheet figures turning into reality.
Thanks,
Khushboo
Dear Chetan Sir,
I am a true admirer of yours. You have make people read. Had read Five Point someone and Hence, watched 3 idiots. Hats off to you for the book and feel sad on not seeing any credit to you. But we, your fans are always there to support you.
The new idea in new year is great in the article. The big picture has been covered but I want you to write something on the mind set of people which is letting India down over here and in other countries too. “I” is important here but not “You”.
Regards,
Shilpa
Hi Sir,
The Column was very enlightening. I would like to see this as a first of many columns to come on this issue. Now earlier also you have written on this topic of making India one but it was from a little different angle. What Indians want to see is how this Unity should come. I know it is all very difficult but still every thing starts with the first step. Definitely things are changing and we are hopeful that we would be a superpower by 2020. And we want more on this as part 2.
regards
Sudhir
Dear Chetan,
I admire your writing but not a big fan of yours. I halfway through your article I was irritated, because there is nothing new in those line. It is quite fashionable and cynical to talk all the bad about the country, as if all other countries are perfect.
But the second half suddenly changed my perception. You are suggesting a revolutionary idea. I have gone through few comments, still believe that “IT IS POSSIBLE”.
Enough of talks and words, time for action, here is my action plan: (Very tentative and need lot of fine tuning)
Imagine a website say vision2020.com , Indian version of twitter but the object of these members is to ‘Monitor’ and ‘Help the Development’ of the country.
1.Monitor: Grade the performance of the leaders (all ruling as well as opposition) and declare the members of this community going to vote particular person or party, before the election.
(And voting is a DHARMA of this community)
2. Help the Development: There are numerous ways in which by spending our little time we can initiate the CHAGE.
i. Develop a multimedia based learning for primary education students…….
ii. Monitor the availability of the teachers and doctors in the primary health center and report to the appropriate authorities.
iii. Initiate the microfinancing in your locality.
iv. Educate the youth the importance of education, ill effects of addiction ………
v. Create the awareness of physical fitness and environmental issues.
I have this proposal if we cant work on this or something like this then let us stop armchair idealogy.
Shirish R Kala
IITM
the article is really mesmerizing!!!
Hi
Read ur article in TOI today. Very enlightening for those who dont vote. After the Mumbai terror attacks one had expected Mumbaikars to turn out in heavy numbers and vote for a change. Turns out one expected too much. The apathy is too deep and entrenched. Any holiday Mumbaikars just head for a holiday and nothing else. I dont expect figures like these to make any difference to the prevailing apathy. Maybe Narendra Modi has the right idea when he says ‘make voting mandatory.’
Absolutely true sir.for this,people should be encouraged to vote by the government.reforms should be processed quickly and acted upon.more transperancy should be there in the system.corruption should be eliminated from the society.youths should be encouraged to go into politics.our judicial system should be checked again and fast trials should be there.government should motivate farmers and more foreign companies should be attracted towards India.look at China.it got independance after India and now is far ahead of us in every field.it is the worlds no. 1 exporter.manything we use today carry a ‘MADE IN CHINA’ tag.the largest economy in the world,USA, now cant exist without china.They have excellence in everything like defence,engineering,technology,space etc.i think,the government should take this seriously and the people of india should come out and vote their country.we can watch cricket matches and celebrate when india wins.we should stop it and celebrate only when india shines in every field.
Hi Chetan,
The article published today was really thought provoking, you were absolutely right, I also belong to the same league where we had spent 100s of hours in making prestentations on “India Super power by 2010″ during my MBA days.Even had become a bit naustalgic. Excuse me for differing with you, very true that we have achieved less as compared to what was expected or proclaimed, but you must agree that we have achieved a lot as well, which should actually be cherished, it was only us who started years like 2010, 2020 or 2050. It is just to be optimistic, all the excels, presentations, comparisons give a positive feel, a kick that we are just not a contry but going to be a super power. Today we have that confidence to consider us as the front runner to be a super power, on the contrary earleir we only knew & used to thought that we are developing country, we are one of the third world country, far behind the so called developed country, at least today all of us think that, we are no less than other developed economies, I hope you understand what i want to say, as it is this is my personal view…….
One more thing I would like to write here which is not at all relevant to the article but more of an experience sharing as This morning at 4.30 am I finished your latest “2 states”. I would like to salute you for writing this book. I have a similar situation in my life as my girl is from a diffetern state & I have almost tried everything to get her parents convinced. …& Had almost gave up, but got rejuvinated after reading the book…. I would like to thank you for the same…. Please pray for me……This is my first post…but will try to post regularly……A Big Thanks again…….
Hi Chetan,
Your article was indeed impeccable in terms of content and fair & simple analysis that are easy to understand for laymen. I share this concern and development of India is an issue that’s close to my heart.
I hope I can use your blog as a platform to propose my idea of an Indian vision that I believe is achievable provided we follow some extreme, yet doable measures.
A lot of issues related to opportunity, infrastructure, health and education was plagued by the sheer number of people in our country. I believe a very simple, yet hard to accept, solution is adoption.
After reading Prime Minister Singh’s speech delivered on the Independence Day a few years ago, as well as a few books about socio-economic factors, it became clear to me that there were two forces that generate poverty – economic and socio-natural. While the economic force is beyond our control, I believe we can influence the social and natural forces. If poverty were to be interpreted as an (negative)value chain, we can do a lot to eliminate the problem right at the beginning of that line. Adoption is a very feasible way for a common man like me to address this issue. If I can lift a child from an orphanage, that orphanage will have the opportunity to lift another child from the streets or a distressed family. Even if 30% of the Indian couples decide to adopt at least one child, I believe we can address the socio-natural cause within one generation. What’s a better way to recycle than recycling the actual source of the problem that creates waste…humans.
Just my thoughts.
Insults/comments can be sent to c-patel@kellogg.northwestern.edu
-Chirag
hello sir:)
i am new to this blog stuff….so i dint kno were i could leave a message….
i just read your book 2 states…its just awesome…loved it:)too good…i am waiting for ur next book…it was such a grt grt story:)i just loved it:)
tc:)
It might have taken the successful candidate decades of manipulation and slugging out with the lowest class of people to have been able to get to where he has reached – to be able to win a ticket to contest for a political party. It is kind of irrelevant which candidate from which party would go on to win the election, because they are going to turn out to be very similar clones. After winning the elections, it now becomes their ‘payback’ time. Within the shortest possible time frame how can one maximize the returns to make up for all the ‘hard work’ invested in previous decades. Top-down – the entire system is wreaking corruption. Unless there would be a complete shake up of the political system, Unless the educated middle class could start a political party, a party that could project visionaries and people with values, the ones that would if given a chance be able to truly work towards the betterment of the nation – only then will the confidence of the educated middle class be restored to come out to cast their vote, and only then will our nation gallop towards the true potential of becoming a super power sooner than later.