Below is a really nice comparison of India and China. Where we stand in terms of population, income, industry and many other.

China started their family planning policy in 1970, India in 1952

In 2001 our birth rate was nearly 3 times more than China. 27 births per 1000 as against 8.8 for China! India is adding 18 million people per year, against 9 million per year in China. Total addition to population is a function of total births minus total deaths.

India’s per capita earning is US$440 per year against US$990 per year in China

As per the World Bank, the poverty line definition is US$1 per person per day or US$365/person/year, for underdeveloped countries like India, China etc. As per the official data from both governments, China has 3% population below the poverty line, compared to India’s 26 to 29%! Only better governance can help.

China attracts 87 million tourists per year (this is expected to reach 90 million in 2002) against 2.5 million per year to India.

The international Tourism Industry is [7 times the size of I.T. or software] about, US$3700 billion per year. India, in spite of its old history and 21 cultures and languages, seems to have ‘missed the bus’, in Tourism. Tourism is a very big employment generator. It is estimated that every one tourist generates 2 to 4 jobs. Tourism promotes International trade and understanding.
How will we provide additional 10 million jobs per year?

The Public Sector and State/Central Government, which is already overstaffed, has a total of 18.7 million employees, therefore offers very little scope for new employment. We have to look outside the government for new employment. The unorganized sector and the SME’s (SSI is not SME) offer the maximum scope for employment, like in all other countries of the world, including China. SME’s account for nearly 75% of employment and 80% of trainees!

The Government can only facilitate jobs; they cannot provide jobs for the 300 million partly or fully unemployed in India!

At 10 million jobs per year it will take us 30 years to remove unemployment, at 5 million jobs for year it will take us 60 years! The present Indian ‘mind set’ will require rethinking and reorganization of the existing perceptions about Public Sector enterprises, and the actual role they are supposed to play! Only efficient organizations can deliver results and growth. Only better governance and efficient administration can deliver results!

In Foreign Direct investment, FDI, China + Hong Kong received US$106 billion last year [US$70billion from NRC's] vs US$3.6 billion [US$0.2b from NRI's] for India! Only better Governance can attract FDI and Tourists. In exports, China is nearly +700% of India

Taking the exports of Hong Kong + Macau into account, China’s exports would be +1000% of India! China’s GDP is 50% in manufacturing or $ 650 billion per year. India’s GDP is 25% in manufacturing or $110 billion per year. China’s manufacturing base is nearly 6 times of India’s.

[Click here to read more comparison]

There may be millions of things that Indian Government needs to fix but these are few of them that I feel will decide upon our country’s future in the coming years.

1. Inflation: With the most of India’s vast population living close to or below the poverty line, inflation acts as a ‘Poor Man’s Tax’. This effect is amplified when food prices rise, since food represents more than half of the expenditure of this group.
2. Terrorism- I know it should have been on the top of the list however I chose it to be on the 2nd place because people are any which ways dying due to not being able to feed themselves because of the rise in price of the consumable commodities.We spend a huge amount of money on defense but where is the defense. We have been preparing for WW III for I don’t know how long. And in that process we have forgotten to spend money in the right direction.
3. Unemployment – Not a big deal in the rural areas but a huge concern for the people living in the urban areas. It seems to have deteriorated in the past 1 year but we need to go miles from here. We are no where near what a developed country should be. Unemployment rate as of now is around 10%
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Recently read a news about US government asking Google to provide lots and lots of data related which is related to the services Google provides. I am sure they must be utilizing this data for get to the corrupts. And then automatically me being a typical Indian wanted to check our country’s  rank in that list. To my surprise we rank 3rd in that list after US and Brazil. Wow.. It feels great to be in a such a list. Well that’s one side of the story I was thinking. But after reading the data requests that Google received I started thinking about what would our government departments have actually asked for. Checkout for analysis after the break.

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Let’s see the scene of tobacco and smoking in India first. OK, some facts and figures about Smoking and Tobacco in India.

• In India, tobacco use causes nearly 40 percent of all health problems and 50 percent of all cancers, according to Health Minister, Anbumani Ramadoss.
• In India The tobacco contributes to 56.4% and 44.9% of cancers in men and women, respectively.
• India ranks 2nd in smoking cigarette in top 10 countries.
• Nearly 17 percent of students in India, aged 15 and under, use some form of tobacco, mainly cigarettes, according to a survey conducted by the World Health Organization.
• India has the largest number of oral cancer cases in the world which is due to tobacco.
• In India, an estimated 120 million people smoke. But the problem is that smoking in India is on rising side unlike Western countries.
• Cigarettes compromise just 19 percent of tobacco consumption in India however Bidis account for 53 percent, according to the Bidi Smoking and Public Health report by the Union Ministry of Health and Family.
• Around 1 billion Bidis are sold in India every year. Bidis contain more tar, nicotine and other toxic substances but less tobacco than traditional cigarettes.
• Tobacco smoking accounts for 82% of Chronic obstructive lung disease in India.

It’s been around 1 year now that Indian Government imposed ban on smoking in public places including government and private offices. You might not know but this act was in existence for 2 years before our government thought of implementing it seriously. Seriously, imagine. We create acts, put them in files, make a pile out of it, put them in a room somewhere and then don’t look at them for 3-4 years. Then suddenly you wake up and try to enforce everything. And I’ll tell you some facts about this so called smoking ban in public places today. Well, I think I don’t really have to tell you anything as most of you already know it to some extent.

Alright let’s first discuss what the ban exactly is. As per the government, no one is allowed to smoke in public places including public transportation and public offices etc. As per the rules, smoking is banned in shopping malls, cinema halls, public/private work place, hotels, banquet halls, discotheques, canteen, coffee house, pubs, bars, airport lounge, railway stations. Public places cover all government, private and public sector offices as well. I work with an MNC and believe me there people adhere to the regulation. People go out of the offices for smoke. Earlier employees could smoke in the office premises but ever since the smoking ban everyone is prohibited to smoke inside the office premises. Also, any employer found to be letting its employees smoke inside the office premises are supposed to be penalized. Moreover I think people working with big MNCs in India are mature enough to understand what it means for our country. We tell clients coming from abroad that there are restrictions on smoking inside the premises, so we don’t want them to see us smoking in there.

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Well lets just once assume in this world. I mean let the person kill someone if he wants to. Let a person rob someone if he wishes to. Let anyone become a suicide bomber or a terrorist if he/she wants to do it under someone’s influence. What a world would that be. It would be horrific, right. No, It would not be horrible, It would be great because the way I look at it is that if we use the technology to an extent where all these bad activities would not even be remotely possible. I would want to live in a world like that.
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How cool will that be ? I mean I was just wondering for quite some time now that how nice it would be if we could really take control of our law enforcement. Imagine while roaming on the road you see someone breaking the law and you take out your camera, take a picture while he is breaking the traffic rules. Catch hold of him. Show him the picture and hand over the ticket to him. I mean imagine the force we would have on roads and people will think twice before doing anything wrong.

People may use the power for wrong doing but I think we can start with some intelligent and responsible people like Bus Conductor, Shopkeepers who are sitting on a road watching it all the time. A Pan wallah on the Traffic Signal.

I am thinking of creating another website where I urge people to submit such pictures where people are captured while breaking the law. And our law enforcement team has to just identify the person and fine him/her.

Think about it. Bye !

Let me know your thoughts by posting your comments.

I saw it coming. I knew ISRO Chandrayaan was going to be a failure. I had doubts and ISRO has not left me with any doubts now. Our government has already wasted m0ney on ISRO Bhuvan and now this.
[box type=quote size=small color=gray align=right]ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair has confirmed: “We will have to face the reality but we will have a better opportunity tomorrow.”[/box]
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What do you think. I know I am talking the hard way here. But the situation is like that it will not get resolved with Mahatma Gandhi. We need people like Bhagat Singh and Rajguru to take initiatives and save us from our old conservative politicians.

The situation is getting worse day by day. The crime is taking its toll. No political party seems to care about the citizens of India. Everybody is playing the blame game.

I believe India would have gone miles ahead if we had saved the leaders like Rajiv Gandhi. We need young blood to lead India, not 70 year old man who can barely walk on his feet. We need to come out of our 500 years old mentality that only old men are experienced. We are living in 21st century where what we are learning today, none of our politicians would have even dreamt of doing. Forget about learning, 80% of our politicians would not be graduate even.

We need educated young people who understands the dynamics of today. We don’t need people who are 70 years old and does not even know where to invest and services to provide to their citizens.

I don’t want to elaborate on this. I think you have understood what I am trying to say.

For the benefit of people reading my blog, I want to clarify that I am not here to criticize any country. I started this blog to provide you all guys a platform to speak about something which is not correct and ethical. Today I bring a problem which is worldwide and really pathetic in India.
[box align=right size=small color=yellow]
What is an FIR?
First Information Report (FIR) is a written document prepared by the police when they receive information about the commission of a cognizable offence. It is a report of information that reaches the police first in point of time and that is why it is called the First Information Report. It is generally a complaint lodged with the police by the victim of a cognizable offence or by someone on his/her behalf. Anyone can report the commission of a cognizable offence either orally or in writing to the police. Even a telephonic message [/box]

No body likes to go to Police Station for registering their FIR’s just because of the way these people behave. Now don’t you again think that I am cribbing. I am not cribbing there is always a chance of improvement.  Many times people don’t go to Police Stations to register an FIR because they are scared. They are scared of being a victim again. These Policemen ask thousands of questions that you don’t even want to go to that place again and the way they talk. I think you know it better. Just go back to the point where you had to stand outside the room in a Police Station while the Hawaldaar (Constable) who is suppose to log the FIR was busy eating or talking. And it hurts more when you know that you are there report just a small purse or your education documents.

What about the ladies, no girl would even thinks about going to Police Station alone. Why ? Are they not safe in Police Stations. Why are people scared of the Police in India. Just because they can do anything and everything which is not ethical makes them do anything.

So my solution to this problem is that Indian Intelligence provides a transparency to citizens like us. We should be able to log an FIR online and then the police should get in touch with us for further information. I don’t know what is there in our government’s eGovernence project. I’ve heard a lot about it. Lets see what happens. It might just give us what I am suggesting.