Few days back, I saw Nandan Nilekani on "The Dailyshow" hosted by with John Stewart. You can see the video as well below. The show was about discussion on the book titled Imagining India by Nandan Nilekani. Being in Infosys for past five years, I know a lot about Nandan Nilekani. However, I would like to highlight some points from Nandan's discussion. Nandan says that getting the education right in India is going to be the key for next 20 years. There are many young people in the working age group in India, who can shape the future of India. At the same time there are many people, who are not getting the right education. There is one thing that makes me feel glad every time is that Nandan chose India as the place to grow in long term. They were seven enthusiastic persons with only $250.00 in hand and built a huge organization that represents the IT face of India today in many ways, if not all.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Nandan Nilekani | ||||
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As a result of current slowdown in USA and the globe, many students are coming back to India. According to a recent report, about 100k students are expected to come back to India in next 3-5 years. Recently I read an article about Indian students saying no to American dream. The number of students willing to study in India or planning to settle in India is increasing. Recently I talked to one of my friends who has completed Masters in USA. He was of the opinion that USA is no more an attractive place for him in long term. I am sure that he phenomenon of reverse brain drain will bring benefits for India.
Even the Indians who have been in USA for many years for job, are now planning to come back to India. Actually some of them have already returned back to India and are in process of starting their own ventures in India. One of my colleagues at Minneapolis has spent fifteen years in USA and is now planning to settle in India, after seeing the current job situation in USA. He feels that he has been far from his roots in India for bright future, but in current times it does not seem to be right choice to stay away from family in India. Also, the demand for becoming OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) is increasing.
I feel that we all can make a difference. India has shown tremendous growth in past few years and it became possible because of effort from each one of us. Let's use our energy and talent to make this country the superpower. Each one of us can do a little to provide education to a poor child. We need to make sure that the next generation of India emerges with much better percentage of literacy and growth. Let's join our hands together.
I conducted a poll in my blog with question: "Do you think if given an opportunity, you would like to make positive impact for growth of India at grassroot level". Eighteen people responded and 94% of them said "Yes". I would like to thank all the respondents and mention here that I am working on some of the projects to benefit poor children in India for their education etc. If you want to help with your time, effort or financial assistance to make a difference, then I invite you to join me in growth of India. You can email me to take it further.
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13 comments:
great article,yeah me too hv just started reading his book but can surely say that the focus is changing to Indi and its hightime that each of us realise tht" we find treasure where we dig".
So it depends on us whether we want to grow with the nation or make the nation grow with us...
Good observation. I strongly believe that developing countries have more opportunities than developed countries. India and China both are quite populated country. If your products/ideas are good, then you will always get customers. Developing country, which is willing to grow, has immense opportunity.
Let me explain this by Bihar's Transformation. Bihar witnessed change in leadership in 2006 (If I remember correctly). The new leader is willing to make Bihar a successful state. Now I find loads of opportunity in Bihar. Mr. CM brought new IIT in state and at the same time Mr. CM is trying to bring back legacy of Old Nalanda University by estabilishing New International University in Nalanda. The great economist and noble prize winner Mr. Amartya Sen is leading the group for that International University.
Govt. eased the process of getting the affiliation for different colleges. In this period, I got two vocational training colleges in Bihar. Students in Bihar is still migrating to other states for Vocational training. Bihar is still having very few Vocational training colleges compared to other developed states. So there is still great opportunity to encash in this under-developed state.
We can find more opportunities only there, where it was not encashed properly.
Thanks for your comments.
Yes, choice is ours, whether we want to make conscious efforts to make the country grow or just go along with everyone in the country.
The transformation of Bihar is very nice example and I am sure that any place can grow for that matter. Students in my engineering college (ISM, Dhanbad) are teaching poor children through Kartavya. There is lot to do and I am sure that we all can bring the change. While we develop ourselves as leaders, we also need to make sure to contribute for growth of country at grass root level.
Good article and just writing to show my support. Am a returned PIO after more than 23 years in the states...now starting a new venture in New Delhi.
Thanks for your comments.
Great to hear that you are starting venture in Delhi. I am sure, our collective efforts will bring growth for India.
I would like to get in touch with you. Would be great, if you could let me know your contact details.
great , let us all have an Indian dream instead -now onwards
Here is a story that you may wanna see brother.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMaTaC3xV14
You are right about us contributing to India....let us do it.
Lot of development is happening in India because of some individual effort. I'm from Orissa a state which lags in all respects and has so much scope and opportunities for develpment. Our initiative (ADIRE) works at grassroot level towards developing the rural areas with respect to education, health, energy, micro enterpreneurship.. But we might have touched just 1%when I look at the entire gamut of work to be accomplished in the rual areas. So we need more and more people to be involved in such work.
Thanks for all the comments.
Yes, we should achieve the goal to take India to new heights. We all need to get more people on board for the BIG change.
The Youtube video is great.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I strongly support the thought of grass-root development. I worked with AID (Association for India's development) to support high-school education of rural kids in Rajasthan. These kids would otherwise drop off from local school to graze goats, work as child labors / bonded labors. It was such a fulfilling experience to be able to make a difference for these kids. Especially, when I got an opportunity to visit them during my India trip, my desire to return to India became even stronger. Fortunately, I am in India now (just returned back for good about 3 weeks ago).
Please keep me posted with your work. I would love to contribute in any ways I can.
Ashish
Thanks for your comments, Ashish.
It is heartening to see your contribution at ground in India. I also plan to settle in India in long term. I am sure, we can and have a lot to for India.
Sure, I will keep my blog updated with happenings. You can always visit my blog for latest updates.
Also, it would be great if you could let me know your email Id and contact number. You can send details to rkjism@gmail.com
Thanks again.
Good post.
It is predicted BRIC countries(Brazil, Russia, India, China) will have good growth in term of economy.
Take a look at my blog post on economy, which provides some insight about growth which is bound to happen in low cost countries.
http://indian-amps.blogspot.com/2009/03/global-economy-crisis.html
Thanks for your comments, Guha. While we think that India is going to have good growth in coming years, we need to make sure that this growth is shared with poor section of the society, else there will be huge imbalance.
I have shared my views in your post.
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