Make in India +
The point is, in India, the remuneration for an engineer is not at par with a manager and we still need more companies which would treat their engineers at par or better than their managerial counterparts. And that would happen if companies invest more in R&D and give more challenging roles to engineers in India. People move in a direction that is incentivized, said former RBI Governor Dr. Raghuram Rajan.
India classified 8 sectors as core, Coal, Crude oil, Natural Gas, Refinery products, Fertilizers, Steel, Cement & Electricity, these 8 are key to Indian economy and India has confidence that it can deliver on these. There is a missing link here, that is India’s imports, the money earned by exploiting resources here in India is spent on buying technology and engineering products from elsewhere, it means we are employing an american with the taxes collected in India.
India buys Defense, Chemical technology, Nuclear technology, Railway Technology etc from developed world, Indians also shell out their hard earned saving for education in US or EU.
There is a proposed solution to it, Make in India is code name for it. But I feel what should this program embrace is, development of indigenous technology with collaboration of Institutes of national importance such as IITs, NITs and other universities such as Osmania, DU and AU. We might need special attention may be separate body constituting HRD, Ministry of Science & Technology, Ministry of Commerce and Industry and PMO.
Although Make In India appears like a success, many Indian companies like Bharat Forge, ABG are forced to sell their stake to responsibly clear their balance sheets, this particularly big hit to India’s logistics sector i.e. ship building industry and railway[1,2]
The country like ours which is aspiring to become export hub to increase employment in the country and lift few millions out of poverty, should be designing & constructing it’s own ships and railway engines, this kind of heavy industry is based on institutional memory, which is key in reducing production risks maintaining quality etc etc . If major players in India are trying to disinvest in manufacturing, we might be destroying our existing industrial complex. I suggest government should take stake to help the companies to clear their balance sheets and slowly transfer it to the parent company or to a new Indian company through a transparent bidding process.
Apart from smartly rescuing debt ridden Indian heavy industry, we should also publicly support the government’s plan on transfer of technology from state owned enterprises to private industry for larger good of the country’s economy i.e. DRDO-FICCI Accelerated Technology Assessment and Commercialization (ATAC) [3,4,5]
We also need to force the policy makers to drastically increase research funding to post graduate and research scholars in Indian universities, poor funding is one reason why many genius minds are leaving India and finding opportunity in US or Germany. By improving funding we will also attract best faculty from developed world and retain country’s talented pool.
Many Indian companies like TATA seek the help of MIT, why? they might find Indian universities not competent enough to the work which MIT could do, I think we need to take the steps the change the scenario.[7,8]
Indigenous research and development will also boost our efforts to make our defense systems in India, if you look at the weblinks, I am sure you will understand how various universities in US is helping NASA. [3,4,5] This is gradually beginning in India, we have examples such as T-Hub in Telangana, biggest startup incubator in India, it's a collaborative effort of State government of Telangana, IIT-Hyd, IIIT & ISB, but this does not address promotion of research in core sectors, defense and ship building.
The giants in US such were actually funded by federal government at one point of time, for instance to compete with Concorde, US Gov poured several millions into the development of Boeing 2707, although that project is a failure, there is a technology spin off from the stated project, which in turn made Boeing a global leader in Aerospace industry.
Government should come out of OMCs such as BPCL, NTPC and BHEL, where there are competent private players and start new enterprises in railway technology, space technology, artificial intelligence & robotics. This new organizations should be build with idea of engaging IITs & NITs unlike RSDO which works in isolation.
Its very important to remove sterotype mentality of companies like L&T who assume JEE rank = Innovation & IQ = 10th math score. JEE is has its own flaws, There is always possibility of finding good engineers out of IITs & NITs as well, Since the selection process of best schools of technology in India is based on objective examination where as engineering & technology are subjective as a matter of fact.
Private companies should also stop complaining with media headlines such as 80pc of engineering graduates are unemployable etc and offer internships to undergraduate students generously, adding quality workforce in Industry benefits the industry, so companies hesitate to offer 2 or 3 month internships?
Private sector should also invest in research and nurture innovation for their own growth, Indian engineering companies have a habit of over valuing grey heads, young engineers are managed by bunch of oldies who should be sitting in home enjoying their last stage of life. A person who is in mid 60s is not a correct choice to head current day engineering projects. Its high time for India inc to realize that.
The lack of quality workforce in engineering sector is hurting badly, cancellation of tender by GAIL to manufacture LNG vessels in India is an one such example, Since GAIL needs badly few more LNG carriers in next couple of years, we are just spending money earned in India to provide employment in US or EU.
As a voter, its important to understand the inside story of make in india. Indian industries are insisting on rational labour laws, easy land acquisition, consistency in taxation, fast judiciary system and arbitration center for disputes etc. BJP led government is trying it’s best to deliver those demands but it’s not really doing what is best for the country
References
- Russian firm to rescue debt ridden Indian shipbuilding company
- Bharat Forge to divests its 49% stake in Alstom JV for 230cr - Times of India
- https://economictimes.indiatimes....
- DRDO starts work on Centre of Propulsion Technology at IIT-Bombay
- Pune based startup to make Copper-Titanium alloy in India
- Case study and improvement of the Tata Swach water purifier
- https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/172...
- https://engineering.purdue.edu/A...
- https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~ckenl...
- https://www.lockheedmartin.co.in/us/products/c2bmc.html