move up the value chain

As thomas friedman has rightly said "the world is flat".the playing field has now been leveled.we in India have benefited immensly from this flattening bcuz we can do work here cheaper than it can be done in the US n the EU.by sending jobs to India,companies are saving millions of dollars.thts why u see a GM which is cutting down its workforce by 45000 workers globally is opening new facilities in India and employing more people. intel,microsoft,google,amd,ibm are all rushing to india to capitalise on the low cost intellectual capital in India.its been a huge party for us upto now.but for how long?

How long can we stay the cheapest place to get work done?salaries in the IT industry alone are going up by 15% annualy.though they are still v far away from the american or european levels,other players are jumping into the game.To mention a few eastern europe,south america,china n the list goes on.these players will emulate our model for success and compete for the same jobs that are making our GDP grow at 8% today.so where do we go from here?

the solution to this problem is continously moving up th value chain.we need to constantly innovate to get a larger part of the pie.let me elaborate...
Initially in india,we got a lot of call center jobs.these were low skill jobs that moved here only because we can do them cheaper.these jobs can be done anywhere in the world and we have no real advantage over any other competitors except the availability of a large english speaking population.this advantage is not a permanent one.a lot of countries in and around india itself can take these jobs eg pakistan,bangladesh,sri lanka.
how do we overcome these problems?we move up the value chain.this is being done effectively in the bpo space.we are moving into knowledge process outsourcing,legal process outsourcing etc.these jobs are more rooted here because of the higher skill level they require.

but what about the manufacturing jobs,the auto part industry,the pharmaceutical companies.upto now we are still very low in the value chain.we are manufacturing not designing auto parts,we are manufacturing generic drugs cheaper not really making new drugs.this has to change.more and more R&D has to be brought to india.we need to sustain the advantage we have.many companies realise this and have put money into R&D but our basic infrastructure to support it is poor.

what we need today is high quality research happening in our universties.very few indian students think of becoming scientists or researches in india bcuz the pay is poor.this mindset has to change.we need a greater push towards research from the government.setting up world class universites with better infrastructure such that companies actually send part of their research to them.this is happening at a very small scale right now and is limited only to the IITs.

what we lack today is the will not the capability.there are a large no of indians in research jobs all over the world.they will willingly come back if they are provided the same facilities here even at lower pays.

the sustainance of the GDP growth is crucial and is in our own hand.what we do today will shape our tomorrow.

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have faith in the master...

hey ppl.this is a lovely poem i read somewhere.dunno who the poet was.

When grey threads marr life's pattern,
And seem so out of line.
Trust the master weaver,
Who planned the whole design.
For in life's best patterns,
Some black threads must appear,
To make the rose threads and the gold,
Appear more bright and clear.
The pattern may seem intricate,
And hard to understand.
But trust the master weaver,
And his steady guiding hand.

the last n final day:kufri

this was the best part of the trip.after being dissapointed at simla we decided to go to Kufri.everything went perfect tht day.we had all slept well the previous night so were supercharged and ready to go.after a lovely breakfast,we caught a bus to kufri.the bus dropped us in the market and from then on it was a short climb to wht i call the base camp.this is the place from where u can take an exorbitant horse ride to the highest peaks in kufri, but we had other ideas.so after a short stop for coffee and snacks and a visit to the zoo,we started to climb.

now for all future visitors of kufri,the guys with the horses below are just looking to rip u off...climb for about 10 minutes and u can get a horse at less than half the price.n thats what we did.i was a complete novice at riding a horse n so the initial part was a bit scary.i aways felt i was gonna fall off.neway so we continued the climb on horseback.

after a half hour of shouting at the horseman we finally reached (all this while vinieth was talkin to his horse,trying to explaqin to him the correct way to go up).the view was worth all the hardship not to mention horseshit on my trousers).the sky was a shde of blue like iv nevr seen before...the clouds were coming down to meet us.and we had reached a lovely lush green pleateau.this was the highes peak in kufri so the sky was all around,not just above....wish i cud describe it but words wont do it justice.here we left the horses and after taking in the view we went go karting!!yes u heard me right go karting!!it was awesome,according to their own claims,its the highest go karting track in the world.

the lunch at this place was awesome too.we had an extremely satisfying time there.though we couldv gone a bit further.we decided to get back to simla cuz vineith had to catch a bus to delhi.

overall i had an awesome trip thanx to kapil n vineith, 2 of my closest friends n x room mates.wish we can hav a lot more of these trips.

ps:thanx a lot to u if u hav managed to read so far.im not a grt fan of my own writing style so thanx for bearing with it for so long.

simla day one

well day one was below expectations for me.we walked upto mall road only to find it bustling with ppl.simla is extremely commercialised.not my ideal hill station.neway we spent the day roaming around in the market place.highlights were the cbi building..






the awesome lunch we had at the hptdc restruant in the pic below (dont b smart its the one behind me not the one behind kapil)















once vd had lunch it was back to roaming around in the market.here we visited the "do rupaye wala garden" .it had an entry ticket tht cost 2 bucks ..i later sold the ticket in black n got 6 rupees for it.
oh after tht we went to the tibetian marke in hopes of finding pretty tibetian girls there like i did whn i went there 6 yrs ago..unfortunately there were no lovely girls thr but we did find reallly cute babies.heres one...


tht was about all.kapil and vinieth were v tired by now n we decided to go back to the room n sleep so we cud be fresh for the next day.day2 was awesome..i will post the details tmro.

the ride to simla

we had all been waiting for a long time to go out on a vacation so when kapil go posted to chandigarh it looked like our plans would finally turn into reality.puneet n vineith wud come from delhi to meet kapil n me at chandigarh.from there we were to leave for simla.but that was not to be.
puneet fell ill and had to rush home to nagpur but we still had hope.we thought he might come back in time to make it.then came the problem wid his passport and so he rushed to mumbai.now there was no chance he wud make it.we were all v dissapointed so he insisted we leave widt him.so agn there was hope.
so 15th evening vineith came to chandigarh and from then on it was one long party.we had an eventful night the highlights of which were failed attempts to bargain for movie tickets(black),coffee n conversation at ccd n then a one n a half hour walk home cuz kapil forgot the way to his own house.we finally got home at 0130 n chatted for an hour.well now it was time to sleep cuz we had to leave at 0530.
after many failed attempts to sleep,i gave up.it was 0300 so i had an hour n a half to pass.made a few phone calls,sat in the balcony and watched the starlit sky.4 am i got ready n kicked my friends out of their sleep.we left home at 0530 n got to the bus stop.

<-- waited there for close to an hour during which i was continously being cursed for chosing the wrong bus stop. the bus finally came at 0630.after 2hrs the bus stopped at a tea stall.vineith n i got onto the roof of the bus for a photo oportunity.






well this was the only stop in the 3 n a half hour journey.we slept through the rest of the ride.dad had made bookings for us at a lovely inspection bungalow of the army.we rested there for a while,n then walked up to the mall road,the main attraction at simla.

i love the beautiful hill station feel.the chill in the air,the scenery,the lovely trees... ul se loads of them in earlier posts.


to be contd...

photos from simla

bear at cloise quarters
cute kid at the tibetian market
more trees
pitstop at kufri
simla church

simla flora

specialisation,the key to economy growth in a flat world

in a rapidly globalising world,jobs will gp to the country(/region) where they can be done in the most efficient and cost effective way.this flow of jobs is inevitable.this will mean,in the short term,huge job losses in developed economies.but in the longer term globalisation can benefit these countries more than it harms them.this can be achieved through specialisation,moving up the value chain.let me elaborate with an example...
Today, a large no of jobs in the IT,call center n manufacturing space are moving to India and China from America,the EU and Japan.these are jobs that can be done better in these developing countries.this is causing anti-outsourcing sentiments in these countries.they feel tht if they can stop the outflow of jobs they can continue to live the life they were living.in my (influenced)opinion the solution to thisproblem lies in specialisation.these developed nations need to specialise in what they do best.despite the fact that india and china produce >10 times the engineers produced in the US,the US n EU still lead in the no of quality PhDs produced.this means that though we can produce and service software and products faster and cheaper in India and China,most of the high end innovation will continue to happen in the US n EU.
these countries hav an oportunity to consolidate this position by making investments in education n research.this is specialisation n it is the need of the hour.each country needs to focus itself on certain industries and continue to progress in those industries faster than others.every country today needs to hav an export oriented economy.self sufficiency is no longer a useful motto.

we owe it to our nation

we have often accused our political leaders of corruption,inability to fight terror,playing vote bank politics,crime,scandals and what not?!we have protested against the latest round of reservations,the ransacking of gift shops on valentines day,moral policing,unnecesary sensorship and many more such issues that we feel strongly about.
we have demonstrated on the streets,initiated signature campaigns,candlelight protests,gone on hunger strikes and even gone to the extent of self immolation to protest against the government's policies and yet we have almost never achieved our goals.but how many of us have used our simplest fundamental right to vote?to chose leader who we can relat to,who can relate to us an thus help us make our voices heard?
this is our country and it is in the hands of politicians,many of whom are making India bleed for ulterior motives.it is our responsibility to make sure that these people dont come to power.we hav to elect the right people.people who can make this country,the India that all of us dream about.
so this election lets play our role,let us vote and help shape India's destiny.Please vote and encourage others to do so.

this is in protest of america's so called "war on terrorism".
first let me clarify my position on this topic...i agree that terrorists should not be forgiven n the harshest of punishments possible should be given to these so called jehadis.i agree that known training camps must be targeted and destroyed.any country that promotes terror should be dealt wid in the harshest manner possible.but it doesnt end there...

the most important job of the coalition against terror starts now.im talking about the job of rebuilding the nation from the ashes.investing in the nation.first building hospitals roads and most importantly schools.taking care of the little children who hav been orphaned in the war.the conditions that breed terror are the lack of education and employment oportunities.the children need to be educated and provided with incentives to get education in the coalition nations.employment needs to be generated for the able.

the children who have ben orphaned by the war,those whose brothers and sisters have been killed in the bombings are going to grow up hating america n its coalition.if left to fend for themselves,they will continue to wage war against them.they need to feel a human touch,they need to be fed.the work has only begun.

though america has done the first job well,it has failed to do the second and most important job.if it wants a long lasting end to terror,afghanistan n iraq have to be rebuilt.

"islamic"? terrorists??

i wish to protest against the use of the above phrase by the world media.
what is an "islamic" terrorist?a terrorist has no religion.no religion teaches its followers to kill innocent people.a killer thus cannot be religious.
the use of the above term only breeds hatred for muslims world over.