Nitin Seth

Speech at WYSIWYG Conference, October 20, 2012

India is at a Cross-road. Like two sides of coin, we keep on flipping between Heads and Tails at the same frequency. We have seen tremendous economic progress over the past 10-15 years. This has created opportunities that we could have never visualized earlier. Our human potential is outstanding and is acknowledged the world over. At the same time, many grave disappointments remain. Rampant corruption and depressing poverty continue to haunt us. Trust in our public institutions is eroding. The Indian economic miracle is threatening to collapse even before it took full flight. We are at a very important point, perhaps a historic point in our journey as a nation. We have the opportunity to be a Global leader of the 21^st century. Equally, we run the risk of remaining mired in mediocrity and poverty. Worse still, we also face a risk of dissolving into anarchy.

Most of us are bystanders in the drama that continues to unfold around us in India. We observe, are concerned and express our frustrations, but we rarely rouse ourselves to positive action. Time has come for all of us to awaken from our slumber and take charge of our destiny. For my generation, who have benefitted from the progress in India over past 10-15 years, it is about creating a better India for our children. For the generation elder to us, it is about ensuring their great efforts and sacrifices over the past decades do not go waste. And for the younger generation, the 550 million Indians below the age of 25, it is an opportunity to create the India of your dreams – a wonderful, new, brilliant India that all of us can be proud off!!

We need to answer three questions. What should India of our dreams look like?  What is needed to build that? And, how each one of us as citizens should contribute?  These are critical questions that need much reflection and debate. Over the next 15 minutes, I will share with you some of my thoughts on these three questions:

India of my dreams

There are 6 dreams I have for India:

1. Economically Progressive. We are still a very poor country. At least 30-40% of the country lives below the poverty line, which means they are not able to meet even their basic needs of food and shelter. Our socialist and populist approach of past decades has kept India poor. We have to change this. There is nothing noble in being poor. Extreme poverty is a curse that takes away human dignity. I would like to see an India where we have been able to banish poverty and hunger. Not just that, we are able to go beyond and create abundant opportunities for economic growth that help our citizens’ lead successful and fulfilling lives.
2. Fair, Open & Conscious Society. I would like to see an India where our citizens are healthy and safe. Quality healthcare is available to every section of society. We are an open & tolerant society where there is respect and equitable opportunities for all across gender, caste, religion, region and socio-economic background. We have a culture of discussion and debate not violence to resolve issues. Moreover, we have a sparkling and healthy natural environment.
3. Corruption Free. Corruption is a cancer eating up our country. Both the breadth and scale of corruption we have is staggering. It has seeped into our daily lives so much that many unethical behaviors have become the norm. Moreover, the scale of corruption over the past 5-7 years has been unprecedented. In my opinion, this has been a significant driver for the huge fall we have we seen in our GDP Growth Rate in past few years from double digit to sub 5%. I would like to see an India where we have minimized corruption in both our private and public lives, and we are seen as one of the most corruption free countries in the world.
4. Responsive & Accountable Government. Large parts of our government machinery have become self-serving and unresponsive. This includes not just the law makers at the centre and states, but also the bureaucracy, judiciary, police and other public institutions. I would like to see an India where the government is transparent and effective, and our public institutions are efficient and responsive to common man’s concerns.
5. Pride in being Indian. I would like to see an India where every citizen feels he or she belongs to the nation not to a caste, region or religion. There is a strong sense of a shared Indian identity that brings together and celebrates our diversity. Moreover, there is a sense of duty and commitment towards the nation.
6. Global leader of the 21st century. I would like to see an India that is not only recognized as a successful nation but as a thought leader across the world. An India that is a source of ideas, innovation and inspiration for rest of the world. An India that is playing a central role in developing a more peaceful, harmonious and progressive global community.

How do we build the New India of our dreams?

Building the India of our dreams is a long and complex journey. It will require sustained action on a number of fronts. I believe there are 7 building blocks needed to realize the vision for a new, better India. The first 4 building blocks are concrete while the latter 3 are soft but equally important.

1. Politics and Governance. Poor governance, both policies and execution, is the root cause of many of the problems afflicting our country. There is serious rot in our political system that results in wrong action, slow action or simply inaction. It is essential that a new generation of leaders emerge and participate in the political process. The credible and committed in our society are often reticent to participate in politics. It is time that such people throw out their fears and join politics to provide a credible alternative that the country needs so desperately (Please read Navbharat Nirman – time for a new political leadership to step up!!).
2. Industry, Infrastructure & Innovation.  We have to galvanize the economic engine so it can help drive the country on the path of prosperity. For this, we need supportive policies to unleash the entrepreneurial spirit inherent in our country. There is massive business and technology change happening across the world. This is creating tremendous opportunities for Innovation. We need to encourage Indian companies to innovate, so they can leapfrog and become world-class in their industries. We should set the ambition that over the next 10 years, the next Apple or Google emerges out of India. To support the economic engine we need to ensure massive investments in Infrastructure that is becoming a big bottleneck for growth.
3. Rural Rejuvenation. 70% of our population lives in rural areas. Rural unemployment is a massive problem. This is resulting in exodus to the cities, which our cities are not able to absorb properly. For those who stay in rural India, their potential is underutilized leading to social problems. We need to develop new, progressive models for rejuvenating rural India. We should not do this through dole oriented schemes like NREGA that breed inefficiencies and complacency. We have to do this by reinvigorating Agriculture, so that we are able to raise its productivity and economic opportunity. Moreover, we have to identify other economic activities that best leverage the rural talent. Finally, we also need to reinforce local empowerment so that villages are able to control their own destiny as opposed to relying on support from outside.
4. Institution Building. We need to build world-class institutions in 5 areas: Education, Healthcare, Science, Culture and Sports. These are the pillars necessary for supporting country’s development. Institutions like the IITs, Indian Institute of Science and ISRO are the real temples of Modern India. We need many more institutions like these. Moreover, we need to build and strengthen institutions not just at the top of the pyramid but at the grassroots level, especially in Education and Healthcare.
5. Culture of Excellence. We are often limited by our inconsistency and inability to sustain excellence. A good example is our Cricket team – becoming World Champions and soon after getting white washed by both England and Australia. To become a great country, we need to inculcate a culture of excellence both individually and collectively. We need to adopt a mindset where we set high ambitions and persist in search of excellence to better realize our potential.
6. Taking Responsibility. India has many chronic problems that can create a sense of helplessness about the “system”. Who is the “system”? It is a collection of all of us.. We have to be proactive and take person responsibility for the problems around us.  Individual actions have great power, lot more than what we realize. Slowly, the change you start with your actions can come to a tipping point where the ‘system’ also starts changing.  Moreover, as you take action, your zone of influence and the leader within you grows. Taking personal responsibility is the surest way of solving our common problems and growing as leaders.
7. Spiritual Reawakening. India is the home of spiritual learning. Our ancient texts like Mahabharata and Gita have profound answers to the most complex questions of life. It is essential that we rediscover and celebrate our great heritage and learning. The path to India’s success is not in copying the West but in rediscovering our heritage and adapting it to the modern world. Moreover, as the world gets more complex and materialistic, it becomes even more important to reaffirm the basic human values. Connecting back to our roots will help us achieve the balance between spirituality and materialism so needed in today’s world.

Message for Youth – Call for Action

I would like to end my talk with a message to the youth of the country, all of you in the audience.

You all are in a very privileged position. With your education and the starting point you have got in life, there are wonderful growth opportunities ahead of you. You all will have great professional success and earn lots of money. So, do use this opportunity to ask some bigger questions of your life. In particular, ask yourself how you can contribute to positive transformation of India. The next decade is crucial for our country. We are at a crossroad. Either we will step up as a great nation or we might miss the bus once again.

As we stand at a crossroad, our trump card, our biggest asset is all of you, the youth of our country – the 550 million below the age of 25. You have amazing vitality, self-confidence and capacity to do great deeds. Your generation is the big hope for our country. If the country has to move towards the path of greatness, it cannot happen without the youth. So, please do utilize your amazing potential for the country. Towards this, I have three requests of you:

1. Dream about India, the India you want to create over the next 10-15 years. Dreams are very important. They are powerful magnets and starting point of success. So, write down your dreams for India and share them with your friends. You are the Facebook and Twitter generation. Use Social Media fully to get discussions started on this topic
2. Come together in the spirit of volunteerism. Commit to give at least 1 hour every week to the country. All of us have 168 hours in a week. Surely, we can commit 0.6% of our time for the country?  Identify a cause, does not matter whether it is big or small, just commit to give time to it consistently
3. Participate in the political process. Indian politics is at a crucial juncture. Our country desperately needs a new generation of political leaders. Do take responsibility and step up to the challenge. Consider standing as a candidate or supporting good candidates. In case you cannot join politics directly, then at least be an active citizen. Do vote, but don’t stop just at that. Reach out to your elected representative, get to know them and make your concerns heard.

To conclude, I hope that all of you flower as great leaders and are able to build and realize the India of your dreams. I wish you the very best for the exciting journey ahead.

Jai Hind!!