more on India's impotent Government....

[vamsi@siliconcorp.com]

    Frankly speaking, India doesn't have a gunboat diplomacy.  I am sure
the P5 (the five nuclear powers) appreciate our self-imposed restraint.
In fact, they wish that other nations would follow our "righteous"
path.  It is not clear to me whether the Government of India is arrogant
or ignorant of the P5 nations?  That is, we have blindly expected
others to recognize our restraint in developing weapons of
mass-destruction and we expected them to follow our lead.

    Of course, there is the other argument that even if India wanted to
develop weapons of mass-destruction to improve its security situation,
it couldn't because its economy is immature and incapable of handling
such high tech developments.

    I would agree with this second argument.  It is true that India's
Economy is immature and it will remain that way for a long time to come
due lack of sound policies from the Government.  Basically, we have a
Government that cannot protect itself and its people from the weapons of
mass-destruction of other nations.  It is embarrassing that we have
fought for such a Government in 1947.  Or may be we didn't since we
still have the Telecom and Telegraph act of 1885 - left overs from the
British Raj.  I suppose no one in the Government had the courage to
review it so that India may have the best Telephony infrastructure - how
impotent and how embarrassing!!?

    I believe if each country was to have an "entrepreneurship index"
which measures the country's ability to support and create new
entrepreneurs then India would rank among the last.  Simply put: it is
far less likely that Steve Jobs, Lou Gersner, Marc Andreeson, Bill
Gates, and the like would thrive in India than in the US.  In fact, the
present situation is so embarrassing that we rather seek the help of
foreign entrepreneurs than to remove the domestic obstacles that stifle
home-grown innovators.

    I have asked before if the Monopolistic and Restrictive Trade
Practices Commission (MRTPC) can dismantle the VSNL/DoT monopoly.  The
answer is a clear no.  It seems that the Government has made special
rules for itself so that it would make profits at the expense of public
welfare.  While the US Government would make every effort to crack down
on self-serving monopolies that are not good for the public interest in
the long run (example, Microsoft Monopoly?), the Indian Government would
reserve the right to monopolistic practices.  It is probably fair to say
that the US Government is more for the people of India than the Indian
Government is!!

    If the new Internet Policy that will come out soon favors "limited"
Gateways then VSNL has won once again and the People of India have
lost.  However, if the Government has the brains and the courage to do
what is right and comes out with a policy for unlimited Gateways then I
would be impressed.

Sincerely,
Vamsi M.




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