What
are some of the problems that India faces as it evolves into a world
power or, as some call it, the global dividend, so that problem-solving
for the current and next-gen entrepreneurs can be easier.
For example, I believe the basic root to all causes is corruption, which is hampering our development. Other causes can be illetaracy... what other causes are there?
I'll throw in a few cents of mine, based on things I perceive living in India[1]. Here are some fundamental problems (I think):
These fundamental issues show up problems at a more lower level, here are some examples:
I don't want this answer to be perceived as too negative, there are a lot of good things about India and good intentioned people out there. And I believe these problems are solvable (I won't pretend to know the solutions yet). Making India a better place is an exciting opportunity for all of us, so lets go out there and get these sorted!
[1] There are certainly exceptions to the list of issues I mentioned above, but I am referring to the general trend. Also my perspective is limited to urban cities, not all these things would be true for rural India.
[2] Prisoners Dilemma in simple words, refers to a situation where two people would be better off trusting each other and taking a mutually beneficial action. But because of lack of trust, each takes an action that is in their rational self interest, and overall both loose compared to trusting each other.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w
[3] Source: http://www.worldbank.org.
For example, I believe the basic root to all causes is corruption, which is hampering our development. Other causes can be illetaracy... what other causes are there?
I'll throw in a few cents of mine, based on things I perceive living in India[1]. Here are some fundamental problems (I think):
- Lack of good intentions at the top: Its hard to think of any politician in our country whose intention is to do good for the people of the country. They are all mostly there for the power and the money. No surprise that there is corruption in our country, it stems from wrong intentions to begin with.
- Lack of trust in general: You can't trust strangers, you are better off assuming the other guy is out there to fuck you. You try to be nice, and you'll most likely get fucked. This is a case of prisoner's dilemma[2] in action, and trust is an important way to get around the problems faced with the prisoner's dilemma. Trust is important for people to build great businesses and do good. Its still hard to find in India.
- Lack of empathy: We don't put ourself in the shoes of other people often enough. One example where this shows up very clearly is our disregard for punctuality. Sounds like a minor issue, but it points to the bigger issue related to lack of empathy in people -- lack of respect of other people's time is a consequence of being selfish, and not understanding how other people feel when you are late. Another example is not keeping our cities clean. We throw stuff out on the road and the pavements, with disregard to the inconvenience it will cause to others.
- Valuing the wrong things: Society values how much you earn over what you really do. People often choose careers based on how much money they can make, over what they would love to do. There is a lot of show off in our society: Rich people like to flaunt rather than give back to society. Size of your house, brands of your cars and other bullshit stand for social status.
These fundamental issues show up problems at a more lower level, here are some examples:
- Poverty and inequality: There is a vast inequality amongst people, (about 32% of our population is still under poverty line[3]). Poverty and inequality stems from problems in our governance, and general lack of empathy in people. I think we still don't aim for win-win solutions in our daily life. We still believe in win-loose situations, where all we care about is whether we win or not. The win-loose kind of thinking leads to poverty and inequality in the end.
- Corruption: Again, lack of empathy, bad governance, causes corruption. Corruption is further reinforced due to poverty and inequality.
- Scaling up our systems (educational, infrastructure etc.): We have a huge population, we really to need to scale up our systems (like housing, sewage, electricity, education, transport etc.) to a much better quality and quantity than there exists at the moment.
I don't want this answer to be perceived as too negative, there are a lot of good things about India and good intentioned people out there. And I believe these problems are solvable (I won't pretend to know the solutions yet). Making India a better place is an exciting opportunity for all of us, so lets go out there and get these sorted!
[1] There are certainly exceptions to the list of issues I mentioned above, but I am referring to the general trend. Also my perspective is limited to urban cities, not all these things would be true for rural India.
[2] Prisoners Dilemma in simple words, refers to a situation where two people would be better off trusting each other and taking a mutually beneficial action. But because of lack of trust, each takes an action that is in their rational self interest, and overall both loose compared to trusting each other.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w
[3] Source: http://www.worldbank.org.
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