Building 'Brand India'

  •   Mon, Jun 01 2009
  •   By Rohan Sequeira - Pune

Aug 13, 2008

India is no longer confined to being an agricultural economy; it is one of the fastest growing industrial economies. Its race with China to be Asia’s Big Brother is nearing the finish line. There is no doubt as to what is fueling this speeding economy—human power.

Human resource development initiatives have taken a new turn to provide one of the largest workforces in the world so that  there's no scarcity of labour. Every sector should find the right person for the right job.

But if one really evaluates our human resources, one may be surprised to know that according to many international standards they are just not up to the mark. This brings us to another serious question—are we just churning out graduates    who are practically useless? Are we just busy adding educational qualifications to our students failing to know that it gets them nowhere, except for a handful of those who really meet international standards.


For economic purposes, the productivity of an individual is determined by his or her education, learning, and opportunities to acquire experience and practice. In a country like India there is a wide gap in the quality of manpower. On one hand, there are graduates from the top IITs and IIMs, extremely capable of assuming top leadership. They are handpicked by the best recruiters and paid exorbitantly, often by multinationals. This is another matter of concern. There are a large number of graduates, who are able to get just menial jobs inspite of their degrees. Their fault is that they are not competent enough. This gulf between the two kinds of graduates is increasing because of the partiality in our educational system, and government policies.

There are many other primary areas to look into, which are causing this serious problem. To begin with, conditions of health and education could be identified as areas of concern. Both are closely interdependent. Let us take the example of a child. A child’s ability to take full advantage of opportunities in  school depends on his health. Similarly, an adult’s on his mental and physical fitness. If one grows up in a place where primary schooling is lacking, then naturally, the child finds it difficult to cope with the challenges of future studies. Though one may get through, final results will not be equal to that of other graduates. Naturally these graduates do not meet  international standards.

There are many government policies that lack large scale and integrated planning. The recent row over quota for SCs and STs in centers for higher learning is a perfect example. This implies that improvement of education requires better use of resources and not just quotas. But just increasing the volume of resources is not the solution. There should be effective policies implemented in rural educational opportunities. This should be implemented in semi-urban areas from where a majority of students come. Along these lines starting of new IIMs and IITs by the government could be considered a good move. 

Formal education—from primary school to university—has grown very rapidly in developing countries like India. This tremendous expansion in the educational sector has created excess capacity in certain areas of human capital, but there is a shortage of skilled people required for economic development. 'Investment in man', should not only include educational and health care facilities but all essential practicalities necessary for the all round growth.

This year's budget allots a huge amount of money to defence. While a lot of money is spent on protecting life, why is not even half of the money spent on developing the existing human population? Let the government find innovative ways to match its growing number of graduates to international standards. Let the discrimination in the education sector be stopped and re-evaluated. Only then we will be able to create a brand—brand India.
By Rohan Sequeira - Pune
Rohan Sequeira is presently doing M A in Philosophy in Pune. His interests are writing on economic, political and social issues. Daijiworld welcomes Rohan into ever-growing list of young contributors. - Editor-in-chief
To submit your article / poem / short story to Daijiworld, please email it to news@daijiworld.com mentioning 'Article/poem submission for daijiworld' in the subject line. Please note the following:

  • The article / poem / short story should be original and previously unpublished in other websites except in the personal blog of the author. We will cross-check the originality of the article, and if found to be copied from another source in whole or in parts without appropriate acknowledgment, the submission will be rejected.
  • The author of the poem / article / short story should include a brief self-introduction limited to 500 characters and his/her recent picture (optional). Pictures relevant to the article may also be sent (optional), provided they are not bound by copyright. Travelogues should be sent along with relevant pictures not sourced from the Internet. Travelogues without relevant pictures will be rejected.
  • In case of a short story / article, the write-up should be at least one-and-a-half pages in word document in Times New Roman font 12 (or, about 700-800 words). Contributors are requested to keep their write-ups limited to a maximum of four pages. Longer write-ups may be sent in parts to publish in installments. Each installment should be sent within a week of the previous installment. A single poem sent for publication should be at least 3/4th of a page in length. Multiple short poems may be submitted for single publication.
  • All submissions should be in Microsoft Word format or text file. Pictures should not be larger than 1000 pixels in width, and of good resolution. Pictures should be attached separately in the mail and may be numbered if the author wants them to be placed in order.
  • Submission of the article / poem / short story does not automatically entail that it would be published. Daijiworld editors will examine each submission and decide on its acceptance/rejection purely based on merit.
  • Daijiworld reserves the right to edit the submission if necessary for grammar and spelling, without compromising on the author's tone and message.
  • Daijiworld reserves the right to reject submissions without prior notice. Mails/calls on the status of the submission will not be entertained. Contributors are requested to be patient.
  • The article / poem / short story should not be targeted directly or indirectly at any individual/group/community. Daijiworld will not assume responsibility for factual errors in the submission.
  • Once accepted, the article / poem / short story will be published as and when we have space. Publication may take up to four weeks from the date of submission of the write-up, depending on the number of submissions we receive. No author will be published twice in succession or twice within a fortnight.
  • Time-bound articles (example, on Mother's Day) should be sent at least a week in advance. Please specify the occasion as well as the date on which you would like it published while sending the write-up.

Comment on this article

  • Paul D'souza, canada

    Sun, Sep 21 2008

    No Peace!! No hope!!India you have lost today.You have proved that you are greedy of Power. We western countrys are not stupid.

  • Building 'Brand India', Fr. Melwyn SJ

    Thu, Aug 14 2008

    Congratulations to you Rohan for articulating your views.I hope things can be better if the people good will join hands together to build a better society.

  • Jacintha furtado, Mangalore/Dublin,ireland

    Thu, Aug 14 2008

    Appreciate your contribution to Daijiworld.Article is good.specially the area which you have focused on the importance of basic education and how it affects the childs future.keep it up

  • Ravi Shankar, Abu dhabi

    Wed, Aug 13 2008

    Congratulation and hearty welcome to you, for joining band of contributors to the wonders web news channel of Daijiworld. Your observation regarding the quality of education parted at our university, typically personifies your chosen profession. I am not critising the author, but just bring to the notice of a pessmistic outlook displayed, secondly how can you expect a Goverenment to provide six figures salary to every graduate who comes out the portals of a university.

    I would like remind the author the words of ex president of USA, who said dont expect the country/govt to provide, think how you can provide the country/govt( I know it is not the correct wording). Further no two human have the same kind of intellgence, some are better, some dont come upto the expected standard. How do you expect to have equal status for everybody. Probably we may have to emabrace the great Karat of Indian politics to achieve this target.


Leave a Comment

Title: Building 'Brand India'



You have 2000 characters left.

Disclaimer:

Please write your correct name and email address. Kindly do not post any personal, abusive, defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory or unlawful or similar comments. Daijiworld.com will not be responsible for any defamatory message posted under this article.

Please note that sending false messages to insult, defame, intimidate, mislead or deceive people or to intentionally cause public disorder is punishable under law. It is obligatory on Daijiworld to provide the IP address and other details of senders of such comments, to the authority concerned upon request.

Hence, sending offensive comments using daijiworld will be purely at your own risk, and in no way will Daijiworld.com be held responsible.