Yesterday and Tomorrow in India Today

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Dost-mitter

One of the significant elements of the Muslim culture in India over the centuries was the ``Tawaif`` - the ones who extended themselves into the culture through their music, dance and ettiquett. And not only confined to the sex part.

They spawned numerous love affairs with Nawabs - a theme on which at least 30% of the Indo-pak film industry is based.

In your train rambles through India, did you ever venture to study this aspect? And its present form?

In Pakistan, off course, these are hounded by the custodians of religion and they live spread out in posh areas - only to report on duty after sunset at their official shop.

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good and well written article. The only thing missing is a bunch if oictures. I am pretty sure chowk staff could have accomodated them within the article somehow.

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sadna:
`` hope there are more in the pipeline!``
None in the pipeline, but you never know:-)
Re. the water crisis, I think this is a major, major problem facing all Indian states. I saw signs of it even in Himachal Pradesh with its abundance in snow. The Indians know the problem as well as the solutions - reduce wastage, increase water tariffs, better management, reforestation and better care of the environment in general. Unfortunately, this is an area which is almost totally dependent upon govts., the role of the private sector is limited, even potentially.

Yes, India cannot be solely dependent upon exports. In the final analysis India, even China, have to depend upon internal economies to absorb their massive labour surpluses. They should think their ``cheap labour`` as a useful resource for both global and local markets. Vajpayee`s road infrastructure initiative is the most commendable effort by this or any Indian government to generate employment and strengthen domestic economy at the same time. If I understand your example of thelawali with cellphone, it is an attempt to use the technology to make the small businesses more efficient and is to be really applauded.
I have no problem for someone paying or charging 100 rupees for idlis; for one, the seller has much higher overheads and has to recoup them, for another, if the buyer gets some snobbish satisfaction from the high priced idly and adds to employment and taxes, more power to him/her.
BTW the fast food MNCs, even MacDonalds are not getting a free ride in India. You know who is going to give MacDonald`s a run for its money? Haldiram`s! I am not kidding you. I visited their roadside restaurant on the new Delhi Gurgaon freeway, just 25 kms from Delhi. It serves all kinds of vegetable foods the Indians crave, with efficient and clean facilities. The place has a parking spot for hundreds of cars and has both indoor and outdoor seating arrangements. The lineups for food are long but move fast. I dont think MacDonald`s has a chance competing with this guy. On the other hand, MacDoanald`s has massively indegenised to cater to the Indian palate in India.

#48 by hamidm2 on June 8, 2003 8:04pm PT

I suppose that you dont go to the cheese sections of the supermarkets and see the feta cheese(goat milk cheese in the greek style).

I pity you guys who lead life though the manual given by your white masters.

#48 by hamidm2 on June 8, 2003 8:04pm PT

you mean there is no demand for the american quilts? those made by stiching rags togethe(or what looks like rags) almost 70 percent of the embelishement work on garments done for the eurpopean fashion industry is done by India and pakistan this includes all the top faishon houses of europe.

Just because there is no market does not mean that there will not be any market. what is the market for coca cola? you mean that it has some utility value?

#69 by arjun_m on June 9, 2003 9:21am PT

wait till the lawyers realise the savings of having law research done in India. Some small Indian law firms already have employees qualified in American law doing research on contract basis.

#48 by hamidm2 on June 8, 2003 8:04pm PT

lets see are the high heeled shoes for women uncomfortable?

let us say that there are approx 1 billion people in the world who can afford jootis and who live in a temperate climate. even a 10% market penetration will mean sales of say 100 millon if those are sold at say 5 dollars at whole sale price to distributors that means about 500 million dollars.
Now that translates into a sizeable sum that to there is minimal machinery involved. the people making it benifit directly ie the money is not lost too much in distribuiton chain or in creating crorepatis who make their money while giving daily wages to workers.
since no technology is involved there is no out go of dollars but a plain income in dollars.

Now lets see what was pakistan getting from the IMF (for which it had to bend backwards and change it polices)this year? have a few such skill based exports at least you wont need to beg from IMF.

on the other had if freely available you can use these Jootis to hit your self over your head from time to time for not having realised it earlier.

Ali87:
You are right that Indians should extend greater support to their homegrown innovators. But I became somewhat skeptical in this area a few years ago when someone`s claim to find a cheap dirt alternative to petrol turned to be a hoax after it got wide publicity and praise in the Indian press.

Maharana:
Encouraging education through such incentives for parents to send their children to school are indeed a step in the right direction. Lunch time nutritious meals, started as an election gimmick in Tamil Nadu, has been such a success that it is being repeated all over the country.

pmishra2:
It is indeed necessary to go from Jaisalmer to Bangalore to find these differences. One can move from `yesterday` to `tomorrow` within any metro in India, often by just crossing the street.

Layman:
Thanks for pointing out the inaccuracies. The longer period of training might have been a temporary reaction to the slowdown in the industry. As for free buses, I might have misinterpreted subsidy as free service.

#76 by dost-mittar on June 9, 2003 10:59am PT

In fact the only ones who deride this sector are our natives. For instance there is a store called Cost Plus World Markets which has 150 large stores in US(and is targeting to increase it to 450) It specialises in exoctic goods from abroad. Nearly 1/3 of the goods there are from India and most are of the arts and crafts varitey and a few others produced with limited mechanisation. Now this company reported a turn over of 550 million dollars. It would be safe to assume that approx 1/3 of the turnover came from the Indian goods. If we include Pier 1 imports and many other chains which stock some form of Indian carft/art goods both In US as well as europe I think it would not be too difficult to say that approximately (exclliding jewllery)that Indian craft good have a 1 billion market value in the west.

How does market value of $1billion of this unknown, derided product sound in comparision with the $7 billion that software exports had
last year? the question we should ask ourselves is this is despite the shoddy quality of most of these products if these have market value of $1 billion then is it not a good achivement?
any thing wether manufacuted or made by hand has value if the customer likes it and it is reasonable in cost. Consider this the Indian skills etc are not a brand or a recognisable value for the customers who are buying these products in fact many may not even know where the products they are buying came from.(ie the positioning of these products are of cheap discounter level crafts) also the quality of the crafts are not good.
This $1 billion retail value probalby does not even transalte to $50 million to the craftsmen who make them. If we were to study this business and ensure that better quality and more products and innovation in applicaiton and design as well as better managing the supply chain (to benifit India and the craftsmen)and creating a brand value for carfted products and Indiaan skills in crafts we can have a very direct impact on the lives of a small though (big in number)section of socitey which benfigts directly form it and does not require technolgical dependence from outside and at the same while keeps social structures in better condition in the rural India. Imagine if 7 billion could make such a big impact in urban India what would be the impact of $1 billon in rural India if it is directed properly?

ali mian,

if you think india should be making ``number 2`` primer pumps and stamping them ``made in germany`` instead of ``made in india``, that is fine - i doubt bosch is aware of it ......... there are a lot of auto parts made by bosch, federal mogul and others that are made in china nut they are marked ``made in china`` ........... if bosch is knowingly doing it, they will be out of business soon - which i doubt very much............

........... and if you think making cheap handicrafts to sell at pier-1 is better than making software for ge and ibm, that is okay too .......... there are people who need the 50 rupees a day...........

...... at present there is room for both - but the sooner the developing countries move up the chain of value-added manufacturing, the better off they will be ............. you can`t survive on exporting feta cheese, olives, cheap handicrafts and fly whisks .............. i guess you can if you are content to live in a mud hut with sheep for room mates ..............

dost-mittar #71
Good to hear about Haldiram`s!

Re water management, there are some influential private initiatives too - at least one in Maharashtra which revived the tradition of village ponds which has restored the greenery in many villages. The role of NGOs IMO, should be to prove these schemes work and after that sit on govt`s head to replicate them widely by adopting them as policy.

Right now the scary and criminally wasteful bhoot of joining India`s major rivers is riding on NDA`s head. Ab yeh bhoot kaun utaare? All parties like being bribed by contractors:(.