Indians are fascinated by the west, whether living the American dream or building glass buildings. We are Americanising too soon without realizing the flaws in their system; for instance, Education and Healthcare. Moreover, we are going above and beyond by replicating America without slightest consideration of context; for instance the love for automobile and architecture.
Government hospitals are insufficient in capacity and most cannot afford private care. Recently media reported instances of patients being grossly over charged; getting a stitch can cost 1000 USD. Being hospitalised is a “Cost Plus” contract with high risks of cost overruns; the hospitals can mark-up costs of items by folds. This has helped our crony capitalist economy flourish the health insurance sector. Not buying extended warranty on iPhone, scratch or dent can wreck your wallet. Similarly, not having a health insurance, fractured bone can wreck your bank.
Moving to education; we can announce that we are over-educated with educational system churning out barely employable Engineers and MBAs. The job of a university is to make students employable, if that is not happening then apparently someone in the education system is not doing their job. An upper middle class kid may not realise until the payback struggle of the education loan for US University screening lectures from IIT Bombay. In the lower league, kids of drivers and carpenters are securing loans up to a million rupees to become engineers and secure a white-collar job.
But jobs! There are not enough jobs while freshers are ineligible for the remainder. Some end up with second tier jobs while the rest seek help from parents to pay back loans. Today, premier institutes cost at least USD 50,000 for bachelor degrees; an NPV analysis will reveal that the cost equates to half a decade of income considering promotions and may take up to a decade to pay back.
Now proceeding to our utter disregard for context; desert cities like Abu Dhabi, Dubai and others have done an amazing job at replicating Manhattan. They need the glass clad buildings to reflect heat and have plenty of fossil fuel to power the energy hungry metropolis. In India, with complete disregard to our climate and power shortages, architects and planners are busy replicating the gaudy monstrosities. Also middle east was a green field designed to accommodate cars but most Indian cities are a result of extended forts with narrow lanes developed to cater the needs of changing times. But instead of adopting the European method, we have chosen to be mixed bag of M&Ms.
Our love for cars is increasing day-by-day, disregard to the insufficient infrastructure and flawed safety norms. My office building has 460 offices on 4 floors but the car park can accommodate barely 360 minus the double parking morons. In Ahmedabad, the traffic at major junctions has exceeded the design capacity. Safety norms are the chicken and egg dilemma, where government forces car makers to build safer cars while car makers defend their standards by emphasizing on the need for safer roads.
No doubt, prevention is the foundation of safety and sustainability. But from the streets where little is done to prevent rash driving and jaywalking to the banking sector where instead of banks being leashed, the common man is forced to part with liquidity. But nobody is prepared to recognize, acknowledge and accept the dire need for strategic intervention. In addition, the pressure for posting better quarterly figures or appease the audience, accompanied by the absence of integrity, has helped us evolved from ‘crony’ to ‘wild’ capitalism. Today, we require “Internal Healing” to change the mindset and repair our haphazard foundations instead of building upon the anarchy.
Instead of learning to design gaudy glass buildings and frame capitalist policies from America, we need to learn about cultivating their foundational characteristics like ethics, honesty and integrity.
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Header Image Source: Flickr User – Asparukh Akanayev
Savvy Munshi 