A Mission for the President

Heard of the ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’? At The Indus Entrepreneurs Conference, TiECon 2003, held in Mumbai towards the end of last year, the venerable management guru C K Prahalad postulated his theory on how BOP solutions—rather than BPO—would ultimately be responsible for India’s transformation and the realisation of President Abdul Kalam’s dream of India achieving ‘developed country’ status by 2020.

BOP, as you might be aware, is one of Prahalad’s favourite topics—the Bottom of the Pyramid. The Indian economic pyramid could essentially be divided into four tiers. While the first three tiers represent relatively well-off people, they account for just 25 percent of the population. The fourth tier, consisting of 750 million, is at annual per capita incomes not too far above sustenance levels, with a third of this hapless lot surviving on less than a dollar a day. If we are to consider ourselves a developed country, per capita would have to jump to somewhere around $3,500-$5,000 from the current level of below $500. This can only be possible if our economic strategies and business models embrace the Bottom of the Pyramid, instead of merely concentrating on the upper tiers. Indeed, going a step further, Prahalad contends that a continued focus on Tier 1 alone would mean that there is no social legitimacy to business in this country.

But shouldn’t Tier 4 be the responsibility of the government, queried someone from the audience (surely not an entrepreneur, he!) “Nah!” boomed Prahalad. We need the government to do just one thing: “Eradicate corruption!” Private enterprise can take care of the rest. And, by the way, there’s also a fortune to be made at the bottom of the pyramid, which consists of about 4 billion (two-thirds) of the world’s population. This is a multi-trillion dollar market but needs innovative products and solutions that are cost-effective, environmentally sustainable, and yet profitable. The single-serve packaging of consumer items like shampoo, coffee, etc, in India represents one hugely successful innovation for Tier 4; we need many more.

A few days after the conference I happened to read President Abdul Kalam’s book, Envisioning an Empowered Nation: Technology for Societal Transformation. Published by Tata McGraw Hill and co-authored by distinguished DRDO scientist A Sivathanu Pillai, the book focuses on the importance of technology in nation-building. Drawing from the studies of the Technology Information Forecasting Assessment Council (TIFAC), the book looks at the areas India must concentrate on to achieve the 2020 goals.

President Kalam, of course, is also India’s most famous rocket scientist. Known especially as the architect of indigenous development of satellite launch vehicles like SLV-3, and missile systems like Agni and Prithvi, his skills and perseverance have helped make India near-self-reliant in defence and aerospace technologies. Time and again, when sensitive technologies were denied to India by the West, Indian scientists proved they were up to it by developing indigenous alternatives, often at significantly less expensive levels than we would otherwise have had to contend with.

In the book, the authors describe the extent of India’s successes in aeronautics, space, defence and nuclear energy. It’s quite an eye-opener, chronicling the evolution of the country’s progress in these strategic sectors and explaining the vision of such eminent scientists as Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai. With such a solid foundation laid, the country could well become a world-beater in aerospace technology in the next two decades. The two case studies in the book, explaining the integrated approach to complex aerospace design involved in SLV-3 and a surface-to-air missile, provide ample evidence of this potential.
But doesn’t this all seem so far removed from our teeming Tier 4? Sure does, from a surface view. But one needs to delve deeper, say Kalam and Pillai. Indigenous design and development capabilities are the keys to gaining a global competitive edge. But more important, the fallout from all this research and development has an impact on every sector and every section of the population. Some of the impressive spin-offs from defence technologies: a low-cost walking aid for polio-afflicted children, cheaper cardiac stents, ophthalmic lasers and dental implants.

In the book, the authors also provide a roadmap for the use of technology in the areas of rural development, agriculture, manufacturing and healthcare. They advocate harnessing our prowess in information technology to transform the country into a knowledge economy. What exactly does India need to do to move from developing to developed? There’s an action plan given, but, understandably, it’s more prescriptive than practical. The most essential requirement for achieving our goals is creative leadership, say the authors. And corruption, that millstone around the neck of every single aspect of our country’s progress? It isn’t even mentioned.

Meanwhile, President Kalam has been extensively interacting with youth across the country and seems to have struck the right chord with them. That many of these “300 million ignited youth” are deterred by corruption in every walk of public life and absolutely sick of it, comes out very strongly in the interviews the President frequently conducts with young people.
Wouldn’t it be great if the President focuses some of his energies on eradication of the one thing that can prevent the fulfilment of his dreams for the country? Help eradicate corruption. Take this on as your singular mission, Mister President, and we’ll likely be home free by 2020.

Makes rocket science seem like a picnic in the park, eh!

Val Souza, Editor

valsouza@expresscomputeronline.com