{"id":1048,"date":"2006-07-25T09:15:17","date_gmt":"2006-07-25T14:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/hey-raj-whats-happnin\/"},"modified":"2006-07-25T09:15:17","modified_gmt":"2006-07-25T14:15:17","slug":"hey-raj-whats-happnin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/hey-raj-whats-happnin","title":{"rendered":"Hey, Raj, What’s Happ’nin’?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s long-ass essay day here at VM! Here’s a piece from the new ish of Foreign Affairs about the economic dynamo in India<\/a>. I think India’s in a far better position to succeed than China in the long-term. If you read Mr. Das’ article, you’ll see that there are some major reforms India still needs to implement (in order to get itself out of the way), but I think the Indian version of entrepreneurialism trumps the totalitarianism that still lurks over the Chinese model.<\/p>\n

I used to think that the main advantage of India was the bureaucracy installed by the British, but Das’ interpretation is that the bureaucracy is a major problem for the country. It’s possible that we’re both right, insofar as the bureaucracy and its focus on education were necessary for India’s development, but have now grown out of control:<\/p>\n

Today, Indians believe that their bureaucracy has become a prime obstacle to development, blocking instead of shepherding economic reforms. They think of bureaucrats as self-serving, obstructive, and corrupt, protected by labor laws and lifetime contracts that render them completely unaccountable. To be sure, there are examples of good performance — the building of the Delhi Metro or the expansion of the national highway system — but these only underscore how often most of the bureaucracy fails. To make matters worse, the term of any one civil servant in a particular job is getting shorter, thanks to an increase in capricious transfers. Prime Minister Singh has instituted a new appraisal system for the top bureaucracy, but it has not done much.<\/p>\n

The Indian bureaucracy is a haven of mental power. It still attracts many of the brightest students in the country, who are admitted on the basis of a difficult exam. But despite their very high IQs, most bureaucrats fail as managers. One of the reasons is the bureaucracy’s perverse incentive system; another is poor training in implementation. Indians tend to blame ideology or democracy for their failures, but the real problem is that they value ideas over accomplishment. Great strides are being made on the Delhi Metro not because the project was brilliantly conceived but because its leader sets clear, measurable goals, monitors day-to-day progress, and persistently removes obstacles. Most Indian politicians and civil servants, in contrast, fail to plan their projects well, monitor them, or follow through on them: their performance failures mostly have to do with poor execution.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Anyway, Das makes some neat points about India’s development, most notably the fact that it jumped from essentially an agrarian society to a service-based one, without spending much time as a manufacturing\/industrial power.<\/p>\n

Just another example of stuff I find fascinating<\/a>, but probably bore the crap out of you.<\/p>\n

So here’s Tom Spurgeon’s writeup about the just-concluded San Diego Comic-Con<\/a>. Enjoy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s long-ass essay day here at VM! Here’s a piece from the new ish of Foreign Affairs about the economic dynamo in India. I think India’s in a far better position to succeed than China in the long-term. If you read Mr. Das’ article, you’ll see that there are some major reforms India still needs … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Hey, Raj, What’s Happ’nin’?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-business","category-politics-implicit"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-gU","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3041,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/my-biggest-fault-well-im-a-bit-of-a-perfectionist","url_meta":{"origin":1048,"position":0},"title":"My biggest fault? Well, I’m a bit of a perfectionist. . .","author":"Gil","date":"December 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Merck gave a \"state of the biz-nass\" presentation today. Here's their statement about it. As with every other major pharma company, they plan to develop more vaccines and biologic drugs sell more in emerging markets like India and China use \"diversity\" when they mean \"diversification\" My favorite statement was this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13634,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-381-zena-hitz","url_meta":{"origin":1048,"position":1},"title":"Episode 381 – Zena Hitz","author":"Gil","date":"July 7, 2020","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 381: Zena Hitz \"The forms of learning for its own sake that happen in ordinary life are more fundamental than the professional versions.\" Author & St. John's College tutor Zena Hitz joins the show to talk about her wonderful new book, Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/zenahitzcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C757&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/zenahitzcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C757&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/zenahitzcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C757&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/zenahitzcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C757&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/zenahitzcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C757&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2063,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/china-on-the-mississippi","url_meta":{"origin":1048,"position":2},"title":"China on the Mississippi?","author":"Gil","date":"May 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"When I write about how the NYSun is the Official Newspaper of Gil Roth, please keep in mind that I'm referring to its arts, culture and sports writing. Its op-ed section, on the other hand, can get pretty wacky. Take today's piece by Gordon Chang, for example. A Communist-Made Disaster\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Orleans"","block_context":{"text":"New Orleans","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/travel\/new-orleans"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5154,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-march-26-2010","url_meta":{"origin":1048,"position":3},"title":"Unrequired Reading: March 26, 2010","author":"Gil","date":"March 26, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy weekend, dear readers! Have some Unrequired Reading links! Go ahead! I don't mind! Baseball is the only sport I enjoy on the radio. * * * I forget: is Rick Jones still alive? * * * The Situation goes global! * * * As do zombies! * * *\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "baseball"","block_context":{"text":"baseball","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/baseball"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11690,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-282-lance-richardson","url_meta":{"origin":1048,"position":4},"title":"Episode 282 – Lance Richardson","author":"Gil","date":"August 13, 2018","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 282: Lance Richardson \"We focus so much on the people on the stage, we forget about the people in the wings who help them get there. I wanted to write a book about the people in the wings.\" House of Nutter: The Rebel Tailor of Savile Row\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Design"","block_context":{"text":"Design","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/design"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0790.jpg?fit=1080%2C1079&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0790.jpg?fit=1080%2C1079&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0790.jpg?fit=1080%2C1079&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0790.jpg?fit=1080%2C1079&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0790.jpg?fit=1080%2C1079&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":607,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/patent-theft-pending","url_meta":{"origin":1048,"position":5},"title":"Patent Theft Pending","author":"Gil","date":"July 7, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"[Here's the From the Editor page for the latest issue of my magazine]In America, the July 4th holiday involves an entertaining combination of patriotic fervor and minor explosives. 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