Tag: india

  • Indian Agriculture – a golden market for MSMEs

    Indian Agriculture – a golden market for MSMEs

    India, a prosperous country with a wide range of geo-climatic zones. Various mighty rivers flowing through her terrain have given us a very fertile land. It has witnessed a growth of an agrarian civilization on the banks of Sindhu River, huge alluvial plains of Ganga and along many other riverbanks throughout the history. Even today, the Indian economy is considered as an agrarian economy. Industrial revolution and advancements have created a few opportunity magnets in the form of industrial towns. However, even today the majority part of our population is agrarian. On one hand a new trend is saying to go organic. On the other side is aspiring to bring modernization to the agriculture sector. This opens up a good opportunity for agro micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to come in.

    Indian agriculture – a golden market for MSMEs

    When we talk about industrialization or modernization of agriculture, we paint a very broad monochrome picture. Huge land parcels tilled, sown, and harvested with large machines. Large factories making goods out of the produce which are spread over acres, etc. However, in the Indian context, small and medium farms are a unique character of our agriculture sector. Employing large machines and having homogeneous cropping over a large size farm is difficult. This brings a very lucrative and unique opportunity to get MSMEs. They can create a successful business in this market.

    Flexibility and size of MSMEs is a key quality which makes them proper fit for this market. MSMEs work with an open mind for new ideas and enthusiasm to put them to work. Hence, There’s a high potential to bring entirely new aspects to the market. Entirely new service or product can change the lives of small and medium farmers of India.

    Service delivery – A good chance to make a name in the market

    The term agro-industry largely focuses on produce processing and value addition. However, I believe there’s a huge scope for service sector enterprises to flourish in the agro-industry sector. A robust delivery chain is a backbone for the success of the agriculture sector of any economy. Even the government has understood it and took some steps to strengthen and enhance the logistics around the sector. In 2012, it established the National Centre for Cold-Chain Development. The report of the National Task on Cold-Chain established earlier made this happen. With help of MSMEs local farmers can establish delivery networks with food processing industries. Vegetables have to be sold quickly in the market due to their small shelf life. Vegetable farmers can directly transport their fresh produce to the retails customers through delivery partners.

    One more big issue of Indian farming is the labour problem. I believe this can also be solved by creating a service industry where human resources are trained and equipped with proper skills and tools for efficient farming activities. India is progressing in the service sector. Our BPOs and Software companies, exporting their services in the global market. These agro-service MSMEs will see a growth of the service sector in the main economic base of the Indian economy.

    Co-operative enterprises – Path for village self sufficiency

    We have a very weird notion that only a wealthy industrialist can start an industry or enterprise. However, we have our very own example of cooperative achieving a magnificent growth. Local farmers of Anand, Gujrat started India’s beloved Amul as a cooperative. It started back in 1946 under the leadership of local farmer Tribhuvandas Patel. Later it achieved a glowry of white revolution with the guidance of Padma Vibhushan Verghes Kurien. It created wealth for local villages and made them self-sufficient. Mahatma Gandhi had written about his concept of village swaraj. He dreamt that every village will be self-sufficient in every aspect including finances. Today, if villages come together and form these MSMEs which will handle, process, package and sell their own produce. Then, Indian agriculture will see another revolution. It will pave a way towards a sustainable development of rural India. 

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  • On religion

    On religion

    PicsArt_08-13-07.16.20Knowing something about Egypt, a country which is far away and boasts one of the ancient civilizations of this world was always on my mind. Recently, I found an anthology of essays written by an Egyptian author of a best seller, ‘Cairo trilogy’ and a Nobel laureate, Naguib Mahfouz. This Anthology, “The meaning of civilization” comprises essays on culture, religion and politics.

    One quote in particular, “Religion is neither a science nor a branch of knowledge, it is a spiritual teaching whose essence becomes manifest through social intercourse, behaviour and vision.” is from the essay published on 8th June 1974, ‘Religion and school.’ Even though, this essay particularly talks about the way schools in Egypt were engaged in teaching the Holy Quran in the 70s, this sentence resonated with me.

    Drawing a parallel between the religious journeys of Egypt and the Indian sub continent,  both have witnessed multifarious changes in religion and philosophy throughout their respective histories. In the case of the Indian sub continent, there were witnessed the glorious ages of Hinduism during the Vedic era,  the rise of new ways of life in the form of Buddhism and Jainism, the integration of Parsis and sustained Islamic rule. Not to mention the deep impact the Colonial era also had on the religious equation of this country.

    In today’s world, we witness the madness happening around the globe in the name of religion. Religious fanaticism raises its ugly head in every part of the world with various such groups preaching their own brand of extreme religion. Consequently the less fanatic or hardlined individual is clueless as to what his/her religion is all about. We are witnessing a total disconnect from spirituality as we lack a vision as a religious person, religion has now been  reduced to a few rituals. The social intercourse through which religions evolved and provided individuals with the opportunity of a fulfilling and spiritual journey, has now halted. This blind ritual-centric behaviour has turned us away from this journey. 

    I agree with what Mr. Mahfouz is saying, religion is not a subject to be taught at school. It should be handed over to a child from his/her family with proper care and the freedom to be a theologist. One needs to study the religion and their personal relationship with the idea of God. Religion is not something absolute like 2+2 = 4. There is always a study involved, following the interpretation which leads to realisation. I remember the verse from a Marathi abhang by Sant Sohirobanath (18th century saint of Nath Sampraday, from the Sawantwadi area of Southern Konkan, Maharashtra)

    संत संगतीने समज, आणून मनी पुरते उमज,

    अनुभवावीण मान हालवू नको रे।।

    It literally means “first you learn from someone knowledgeable, ponder upon those learnings and don’t accept unless and until you experience the truth behind those thoughts.”

    One should follow these steps to understand and believe in something. Religion is not a thing which you should accept blindly. The attitude, “बाबा वाक्यम् प्रमाणं।” (The words of the elders are the ultimate truth) will lead to a disastrous life. So let all of us start being observant, think about the teachings of our elders, meditate and ponder the meaning with a fine tooth comb and then accept whatever is agreeable to you. Let’s try to make religion a spiritual again.

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  • It’s always easy to put it on you.

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    Hey guys, I am really sorry for this rant. Today I simply can’t keep myself away from it. I just can’t take the blame game anymore which we like to play as a society. Every now and then we come across “Government of India never cares about its sportspersons” stories in a form of sad photos of the plight of our national and sometimes international champions of sports other than cricket on our social media feeds. It’s true that they are in despair, many of them are struggling even to earn the living, but these social media posts do nothing than pointing fingers at politicians and government. The attitude of “मायबाप सरकार” runs through Indian mindset and it has rooted deep inside. We need to change the focus.

    We need to change. We hardly watch any sports on television other than cricket and sometimes football. We don’t even think about or dream about watching the sports event live in a stadium if it’s not a cricket. In cricket, the circle is complete. There are fans, who go and watch, they go and watch so sponsors put the money in. Money is in so facilities are good, which in turn makes players to put the efforts and do well. When players/team does well, it earns a lot. But in other sports, the picture is not that pretty.  Everyone waiting for someone else to take the initiative.

    Pro Kabaddi has managed to make a strong entry and has got a significant following on television coverage but on the other hand badminton league in India is struggling. Even ISL teams have to take help of local fan clubs of Europian football clubs to get the following.

    Government help for the sports is no doubt crucial. In fact, every district organizes the sports tournament, mini (micro) Olympic in itself. Winners from those tournaments move ahead to State and then to the National events. The central government has many training centers spread across the country. Maybe their condition is not that great. Some of them might be lacking some infrastructure. There is no point in denying the fact that these efforts are not enough for our huge country. Let’s not forget, the government has a limited money to spend, which we give them as taxes and a part which multilateral funding agencies put in.

    There are some people working to make a change. Reliance Foundation is working on promoting the sports in India through their “Youth Sports” initiative. Organizing hundreds of events for football in 32 cities and athletics in 16 cities around the country is a big step forward in itself. Sports for all in Mumbai doing a great job of organizing 2-week sports fair in December where 35000 school kids participated in 2016 events.

    It’s time for us to take up our share of responsibility, not just share on social media. I am making it a point to start acting on this. From this new year, 2018, I am making it a point to go and watch these local sports events from the city. Come, join me for some sporting events and let’s enjoy that cheerful spirit in a stadium.