I would like to sum up our performance in the 20th century in one
sentence. Indians have succeeded in countries ruled by whites, but
failed in their own.

This outcome would have astonished leaders of our independence movement.
They declared Indians were kept down by white rule and could flourish
only under self-rule. This seemed self-evident The harsh reality today
is that Indians are succeeding brilliantly in countries ruled by whites,
but failing in India. They are flourishing in the USA and Britain.

But those that stay in India are pulled down by an outrageous system
that fails to reward merit or talent, fails to allow people and
businesses to grow, and keeps real power with netas, babus, and assorted
manipulators. Once Indians go to white-ruled countries, they soar and
conquer summits once occupied only by whites.

Rono Dutta has become head of United Airlines, the biggest airline in
the world. Had he stayed in India, he would have no chance in Indian
Airlines. Even if the top job there was given to him by some godfather,
a myriad netas, babus and trade unionists would have ensured that he
could never run it like United Airlines.

Vikram Pundit has become head of Citigroup, which operates Citibank one
of the largest banks in the world.

Rana Talwar has become head of Standard Chartered Bank, one of the
biggest multinational banks in Britain, while still in his 40s. Had he
been in India, he would perhaps be a local manager in the State Bank,
taking orders from babus to give loans to politically favoured clients.

Rajat Gupta is head of Mckinsey, the biggest management consultancy firm
in the world. He now advises the biggest multinationals on how to run
their business. Had he remained in India he would probably be taking
orders from some sethji with no qualification save that of being born in
a rich family.

Lakhsmi Mittal has become the biggest steel baron in the world, with
steel plants in the US, Kazakhstan, Germany, Mexico, Trinidad and
Indonesia. India 's socialist policies reserved the domestic steel
industry for the public sector. So Lakhsmi Mittal went to Indonesia to
run his family's first steel plant there. Once freed from the shackles
of India, he conquered the world.

Subhash Chandra of Zee TV has become a global media king, one of the few
to beat Rupert Murdoch. He could never have risen had he been limited to
India, which decreed a TV monopoly for Doordarshan. But technology came
to his aid: satellite TV made it possible for him to target India from
Hong Kong. Once he escaped Indian rules and soil, he soared.

You may not have heard of 48-year old Gururaj Deshpande. His
communications company, Sycamore, is currently valued by the US stock
market at over $ 30 billion, making him perhaps one of the richest
Indians in the world. Had he remained in India, he would probably be a
babu in the Department of Telecommunications.

Arun Netravali has become president of Bell Labs, one of the biggest
research and development centres in the world with 30,000 inventions and
several Nobel Prizes to its credit. Had he been in India, he would
probably be struggling in the middle cadre of Indian Telephone
Industries. Silicon Valley alone contains over 100,000 Indian
millionaires.

Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi has become since 2006 the CEO Of PepsiCo Inc.,
a Fortune 500 company.

Sabeer Bhatia invented Hotmail and sold it to Microsoft for $ 400
million. Victor Menezes is number two in Citibank. Shailesh Mehta is CEO
of Providian, a top US financial services company. Also at or near the
top are Rakesh Gangwal of US Air, Jamshd Wadia of Arthur Andersen, and
Aman Mehta of Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp.

In Washington DC, the Indian CEO High Tech Council has no less than 200
members, all high tech-chiefs.

While Indians have soared, India has stagnated. At independence India
was the most advanced of all colonies, with the best prospects. Today
with a GNP per head of $370, it occupies a lowly 177th position among
209 countries of the world. But poverty is by no means the only or main
problem. India ranks near the bottom in the UNDP's Human Development
Index, but high up in Transparency International's Corruption Index.

The neta-babu raj brought in by socialist policies is only one reason
for India 's failure. The more sordid reason is the rule-based society
we inherited from the British Raj is today in tatters. Instead
money,muscle and influence matter most.

At independence we were justly proud of our politicians. Today we regard
them as scoundrels and criminals. They have created a jungle of laws in
the holy name of socialism, and used these to line their pockets and
create patronage networks. No influential crook suffers. The Mafia
flourish unhindered because they have political links.

There is a different law for the powerful. Talent cannot take you far
amidst such rank misgovernance. We are reverting to our ancient feudal
system where no rules applied to the powerful. The British Raj brought
in abstract concepts of justice for all, equality before the law. These
were maintained in the early years of independence. But sixty years
later, citizens wail that India is a lawless land where no rules are
obeyed.

I have heard of an IAS probationer at the Mussorie training academy
pointing out that in India before the British came, making money and
distributing favours to relatives was not considered a perversion of
power, it was the very rationale of power. A feudal official had a duty
to enrich his family and caste. Then the British came and imposed a new
ethical code on officials. But, he asked, why should we continue to
choose British customs over desi ones now that we are independent?

The lack of transparent rules, properly enforced, is a major reason why
talented Indians cannot rise in India. A second reason is the neta-babu
raj, which remains intact despite supposed liberalisation. But once
talented Indians go to rule-based societies in the west, they take off.
In those societies all people play by the same rules, all have freedom
to innovate without being strangled by regulations.

This, then, is why Indians succeed in countries ruled by whites, and
fail in their own. It is the saddest story of the century.



--Author Undisclosed--

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We came to enjoy; we are being enjoyed. We came to rule; we are being ruled. We came to work; we are being worked. All the time, we find that. And this comes into every detail of our life.