Professor Gowda’s family has been extremely active in politics in Karnataka. His father, Mr. M.V. Venkatappa, was the Chairman and Speaker of Karnataka until 2004. Mr. Venkatappa is part of the congress party, and served in both the assembly (equivalent to our state house of representatives in CA), and the council (state senate). His mother was a social worker, and is the former president of the Family Planning commission.
Professor Gowda had arranged a truly special treat for us – not only were we able to meet his esteemed parents, but we were privileged to be able to tour the assembly and council chambers, as well as the private office of the chairman. We were later informed that very few delegations are granted access to these areas of the legislative building.
Professor Gowda gave us a presentation on the current state of the economy, political and social situation in India. India became independent from Britain in 1947, and swiftly decided to become a democracy. India is an extremely diverse country – nearly all major religions are represented; Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and others have places of worship throughout the country. There are hundreds of regional and local dialects throughout the country, subsequently English is the only language that is universally spoken and understood in India. The rupee, we discovered, has the word “amount” written in 14 different Indian languages on each bill.
India has been experiencing 8% growth in GDP, and is anticipated to surpass 10% GDP growth in the near future. It is the 10th most industrialized country in the world, and is the 4th largest economy as measured by purchasing power parity. By 2030, India’s population will surpass China’s, and by 2050 India will be the 3rd largest economy after the U.S. and China.
In contrast to the aging populations in the U.S. and Europe, 50% of the Indian population is under 25 years old. This is seen as a significant advantage in the coming years as the global economy grows and an educated young workforce is needed. However, a significant challenge must be quickly addressed as India’s educational system is not currently capable of catering to the over 500 million youth in the country.
Significantly disconcerting is the Indian education system’s focus on rote learning. Teachers focus on teaching facts and the answers to upcoming test questions, rather than practical application of the topics they are teaching. As a result, students simply memorize exactly what has been taught, without understanding how the concepts apply in life. As an example, a student might be told that the exact equation 20-3=17 will be on a test, and subsequently pass the test. But if asked how much change they will get if they buy a 3 rupee toy with a 20 rupee bill, they would not be able to answer how much change they should expect from the merchant.
In contrast, India has many prominent and highly respected universities for management and technology. Those who are successful in their primary and secondary education can go on to receive a bachelor degree for the equivalent of just $100 US. Similarly, an MBA from a prestigious university costs approximately $5000 US.
Inequalities still exist for both women and those of the previously named “untouchable” class. Recently affirmative action plans have been put in place that assign quotas to the number of women and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds that universities musts recruit and accept to reduce discrimination and encourage higher education for these segments of the population.
It is interesting to see how closely many of these struggles mirror those in the U.S. Issues of discrimination, segregation, gender inequality, and educating a widely distributed population of young people are topics we have battled with and in many cases still have not fully resolved at home.
Rapid urbanization and migration of the population from rural areas to the large cities have amplified the infrastructure problems that exist. Bangalore is in the middle of building a raised highway to avoid displacing the permanent and temporary homes of many city residents. Commuting just a few kilometers in the city takes 1.5 to 2 hours as our bus contends with auto-rickshaws, construction trucks, public buses, scooters and stray cows on the un-delineated two lane roads.
In spite of all of this, India seems to have an amazing culture of entrepreneurship, which has fueled the growth of the economy over the last ten years. I look forward to watching the company develop both economically and socially over the next ten years.
- Eileen McSweeney
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