Cut Copy Paste

It takes a lot to resist the "Cut, Copy and Paste" (CCP) syndrome. I sometimes sit back and think why it is always difficult to rise above conventions and "normal" procedures, policies, etc. From the time we are born, we "follow" things. Our search is for the right (widely accepted) things.

Coming to the CCP, ever wondered how many things we are used to, are just "Cut, Copy, Paste" from the west?

Our leaders followed (and still following) a lot of models from the World Bank, UN, some of which were not suited to our country. Our laws are a legacy of our colonial past; we just "adopted" them. The Police Act still reads as “The Police Act, 1861”. It was enacted to suppress and rule people and the law still continues, and with it some or whole of the suppressing attitude.

Like I said, I still wonder what it takes to challenge the status quo; perhaps, a lot of strength and a lot of deafness to unreasonable and discouraging voices. We are a unique country and every country is. Solutions to our problems need to be worked out taking care of our unique characteristics and circumstances. Financial products, for example, invented (structured) at the Wall Street which even a lot of users do not understand, if applied in the CCP manner will spell doom for the nation. Do we really need those opaque and repackaging kinds of instruments? US do not have very strict financial and economic regulations. They call it free market. Are we ready for that? Or more importantly, should we really follow that? US has certain kind of financial system, value system, consumption pattern, production pattern, lifestyle, education system. It may or may not be good for us. We need to evaluate that before we think of adopting any of the above. Even if we adopt, the idea should be to emulate and not imitate and to be careful of the think line that divides the two.

One thing that is always there in my mind is “branded goods”. We take “licenses” and pay “royalties” to brand owners overseas somewhere in a developed part of the planet, and manufacture the goods ourselves. In a way it is completely understandable and there is no gainsaying about the value of a brand. But can’t efforts be made to generate indigenous brands of goods of the same quality. In any case, the goods are produced indigenously, aren’t they? Some people will always prefer a particular brand even if the same quality is available in cheaper brands developed indigenously. This may happen even when the manufacturer for both is same. Again that is understandable. But it comes under exceptions. Most Indians go for “value for money”.

Another case that always lurks in my mind is that of carbonated drinks. Clearly, the market price does not justify the immediate direct and indirect costs (excluding the marketing cost). Why should the consumer pay for such a high marketing cost? I don’t really understand but they are paying. We have just accepted it the way it is. Everyone from urban t rural India is touched by the product. Again, marketing cost does not add any direct value to the product in terms of the quality. It just makes people aware of the product. They already are very well aware. Why can’t an indigenous brand enter here, provide the same goods at lesser price, have minimum marketing expenses, build its name overtime by providing quality goods? Anyhow, the carbonated drinks are also produced by franchisees. Why is it so difficult to produce and market them ourselves? If we can produce quality goods under licenses, why can’t we do it ourselves? If we say we can’t, we have a big problem at hand. We need someone to make us work then. It will just mean we have little faith in ourselves and our work.


The trouble is we don’t pause and think. Just doing the work and not thinking about it is not human. Nothing great will come up with CCP syndrome. The only thing that will come up will be a cheap imitation. I don’t really like it when I hear “what can be done, that is the way it is”. That is the way things will remain if we don’t have the courage to think, analyze, solve, and implement. I haven’t really done any great thing myself but rarely do I say such things. I believe it is possible to make good things happen to us by moving towards them, by challenging the status quo and by not accepting them meekly.

We have good forex reserves, good balance of payments and all economic indicators augurs well for us! It presents a fairly good picture on the outside. Let’s look at few select statistics:

• Services contribute 55% to our GDP.
• Manufacturing contributes 27% of GDP.
• Agriculture contributes 18% of GDP.
• 60% of our population is engaged in agriculture.


Services are indeed bringing in a lot of wealth indeed. We need all that. We also need to give a thought to the lopsidedness of distribution of income in our economy. Is it really good that 60% of our population, most of it rural, contributes only 18% of the GDP? This calls for deliberation and lots of it. And more than deliberation it calls for effective implementation of a very good solution. While it is good to implement laws like Right to food and Right to education it is more important to provide what is promised under those statues.

Services, as I said, are good for us. Our best minds are absorbed in it – telecom, IT, etc. but we cannot at all afford to leave our 60% of population behind in dark ages. With less income in their hand and little or no voice in the market, they will lose economic freedom. All this, while some of us continue to enjoy the benefits of globalization and liberalization. Is it fair? We need to take even the weakest along with us, just like we care and heal a body part which gets hurt or weak. Poor in the country needs attention and they comprise the majority. What stops us? If we can run multinationals efficiently, why can’t we run our public administration well?

Some of our best minds need to provide solutions to poor in Rural India. We need to bring light to their homes, water to their taps, food in their empty plates, education to their children, employment to adults. All this, take for granted in urban India. Rural India will need unique solutions – very well thought of and analyzed. “Cut, Copy, Paste” will not work but rest on paper. IT and communication need to trickle down to make life easier for them. Water resources are scanty in most parts. It remains one of the most undervalued and unwisely used resources. Experts are of the opinion that we will grossly run short of water in near future. Water is the new oil, they are saying. Bottled water can never be a solution to a country like India where masses earn less than $2 a day.

Management of food grains is disturbing and disheartening. It pains to see the number of intermediaries involved. The one who consumes pays a lot more than what the producer gets. Sky rocketing prices present a dismal scene while million tones of food grains rot in the open for lack of storage facilities. Is it really that difficult to manage? Most of our population spend majority of income on food items. Rising prices hurts the poor directly and badly. It just means less money for education, entertainment, savings, etc. It gives rise to other disturbing side effects like child labor, dropouts from schools, malnutrition, etc. There is little that monetary policy can do in this case. The supply of the goods needs to be adequate in order to contain prices. And with 60% of population, as we have seen, engaged in agriculture, we face shortage of food grains – it calls for full fledged investigation to bring out the causes and solutions.

The weak and the meek do not raise voices because they don’t have any. That does not and should not take their right to live with dignity. The solutions need to be bespoke and not CCP templates. Ignorance should not be a cause of deprivation. People in rural India need a decent standard of living and dignity as much as anyone. A great deal of our efforts should be directed in this direction. We cannot ignore the problem and live in our make believe world. It is only getting bigger with time.

We need to find solutions for Rural India in various sectors – banking, IT, ITES, financial services, education, infrastructure, communications, etc. All solutions should have little or no place for subsidies, grants, etc. they are not helpful in the long term.

Some examples of the solutions for Rural India are:

• Very economical laptop performing basic functions.
• Mobile numbers representing bank account numbers too and free money transfer using SMS.
• Providing free agriculture advisory services over telephone.
• Teachers from “public schools” in urban areas teaching as visiting faculty.
• Internet facilities at state run centers.
• Information related to pricing of agricultural produce and other inputs.
• Rural consultancies to provide comprehensive advisory services.

Last option would be particularly immensely beneficial. Know how is sadly grossly missing. Amul opened up through collective efforts of villagers. Rural folks do not know about corporate loans, etc. and can’t use it to their advantages even if they have the means.

Again, they can be advised about benefits of producing and marketing processed foods themselves. I can go endlessly about the reforms needed in rural sector.

People there are no less talented and enterprising. We should work in the direction of providing them a level playing field. India is growing brilliantly when a small part of the population is the force. Imagine what if the majority becomes a part of the growth story. That is exactly what we should work towards. Otherwise, increasing inequality will do more harm and cause more dissatisfaction that we can imagine.