Continue reading »]]> I was most happy to read about news, that the Tatas are considering moving out of Singur in West Bengal, and setting up the Nano plant elsewhere!

It is about time the corporate world stops cowering to pressure from mindless mobs led by out-of-portfolio politicians, and stands up to say: “hey! we bring money into the economy. we give people jobs. our companies create an eco-system that goes beyond the walls of our factories and offices – creating further employment and income in services, retail, and what have you!

And on the issue of land acquisition, typically people make more out of their lands from selling it, than they ever would earn from it in their lifetimes. Plus they usually end up being employed in their own backyards, than having to leave their roots and travel to far off places for employment!”

The above statement is particularly relevant, and should betargeted at the Left parties and their time-warped notion of the economics, and their misplaced understanding of the role of government in modern times.

If the Left parties had their way – The rich will be made poor; The poor will not be allowed to become rich; Everyone’s income would be rationalised and standardised at “Low”; And the government would only exist to subsidise the masses, pay for incompetent public enterprise, and eventually go bankrupt in the name of taking care of the people.

The fact that the Left parties are no longer part of the government (from inside or outside) is a big relief for me, as I am sure it is for the entire corporate world.

The problem with Corporate India is, that it is mostly made up of, and run by decent, professional people. People who live by rules and decency, not anarchy and aggression which they have to face and live with every day of their lives.

The problem with Corporate India is, that it underplays its role in the country today. It lets the politicians and mobs believe they run the country, and that they are responsible for the growth and success the country is going through today.

“If it wasn’t for private sector enterprise and capitalism, we’d be exactly where we were twenty years ago – a deprived, dissatisfied bunch of global nobodies, lacking confidence to stand up or stand out in any arena, just waiting for that house or telephone allotment to materialise, bribing or suffering incompetent and arrogant babus, for the simple things of life.”

So when I hear of the political and so-called social hurdles being placed in front of projects such as the Tata Nano project in West Bengal, I cringe. And am embarassed that this is happening in India today.

But when I hear of Rattan Tata deciding to stand up, and willing to lose money now rather than suffer the mobs anymore, I delight! And I hope, this is just a sign of things to come, in India tomorrow.

Note to Mr. Rattan Tata:
Good for you, Sir! May your tribe increase. And as you increase, rest assured there are many states that see value in what you bring – left, right and center!

Note to the Politicians:
Dear Sir/Ma’am, If you have access to, and power over so many able bodies that you can catch the attention of the entire nation, perhaps you should focus energies and getting better compensation for the farmers, rather than giving them back the land which they will have to sweat over thanklessly.

Perhaps you can use your people to address to clean up the streets and build dams and water tanks (remember the old Hindi movies?). Perhaps your people can go to neighbouring Bihar and help with the flood relief efforts? Perhaps you can simply blockade Buddhadeb’s office demanding control over crime and corruption that’s rampant all over…? I am sure you can come up with a list of at least a 100 things on which your efforts would bear greater fruit for the nation.

Related Reading:
Singur type protests will stall progress - Kamal Nath, to the Economic Times
Rattan Tata should pull out of Singur – Subramanian Swamy, via Sify.com
Not against Tata, but demands return of land – Mamata Banerjee, UNI via webindia

Singur and West Bengal, Are you listening? - By Sudheendra Kulkarni

Continue reading »]]> It’s been three whole months since I wrote my last post. During this time, I was busy, and then I was on holiday While I might not have been writing, I have been watching. I have been watching everything that’s going on around us in our world, and in the advertising n marketing world in particular. And I am sure, that’s what you have seen too.

Here’s a summary, in no particular order:

We have seen Indian agencies, led by JWT rock Cannes with brilliant work (it is real work, for a real people)! And we have seen that McDonald’s India continues to turn out crap in the name of advertising (the obnoxious, dum-witted TVC with the “flight attendant mangta kya” reaches a previously unimaginable low in creativity and sensibility!) 

We have seen the first chance of having a woman as President of the US, fading to the first chance of having a black man as President of the United States (note: this is positive+positive)

We have seen retrograde communist ideology (ego?) come in the way of Indian nuclear (and other forms) progress, even if it means bringing down the government! And we have seen supposedly retrograde politicians come to the rescue of the same nuclear and other agreements.

We have proudly watched Indian companies take over international big names like Land Rover and Jaguar… And we have been saddened to see an Indian company sell out to the Japanese.

• We have seen Indians fight for equality and honour all over the world… and we have seen Indians fight among themselves over communal issues, and for lowered, reserved status in our own country.
• We have seen women doing well in day to day life, and in the corporate world. Yet we continue to hear of sexual harassment of women by men all around, and in the corporate world.

• We have been held ransom by politicians and mobs in the form of mindless protests and bandhs over subjective issues like “cultural sensitivity” and “hurting sentiments”. We have seen the same politicians and mobs turn a blind eye to real, criminals cases and unequivocal violations of human rights.

We have seen a the wonderful sport called cricket, turn into pure entertainment, for 40 packed nights. We have seen the same entertainment interrupted and blacked out by intrusive and disturbing ads in every broadcast.

• We have seen the arrival of the National Creative Directors and Executive Creative Directors. But we are still to see the arrival of one decent professional training program for people in ad agencies.

• We have seen the internet and mobile world explode with new ideas, technologies and forms of entertainment. Yet the only “new media innovations” we from most brands are “a website!” and “a website”!!

“We have seen lots of lists like this… but not in the middle of the year…

(to be continued… perhaps)