And for a Friday, the 69th Republic Day of India, when in an unprecedented event, 10 Heads of States of ASEAN countries are our Chief Guests….. some thoughts…..
Whilst India gained Independence on 15th August 1947, we were still part of British Constituent Monarchy under King George VI, with Earl Mountbatten as the Governor General of India. Only on 26th January 1950, India formally adopted The Constituition as our Guiding Document to become an Independent Republic.
We have come a long way from those Colonial times. Our Economy is larger than that of Britain. We are a member of G-20, a Nuclear Power with outstanding capabilities in Space and Satellite Technology…… not even talking of our IT, Demographic and Agricultural strides.
We have still a long way to go, particularly in Employment, job creation, Skill development and Entrepreneurship. 30 million people have Govt jobs and scope is limited as there is no need to expand this often unproductive and mostly inefficient workforce. The biggest chunk is the 180 million people working in the Informal sector, each of whom employs less than 6 people.
Why is the Middle class and Organised Job market not expanding to its Potential? Most of the Politcal class and established Bureaucracy love to project themselves as Pro poor and anti Elitist, blocking Land and Labour Reforms, plundering the Monopolist Public Sector Undertakings and creating a web of Outdated laws and regulations thereby stiffling Entreprebeurship with Red tape and Corruption.
Let all of us Honest Indians, whether in India or abroad, in Metros or Villages, in Govt or Private sector resolve this Republic day to build India….. the Legal way….. the Ethical way….. the SEEGOS way.