It was a brainstorming session with a difference as officials of the Telangana government and marketing guru Jagdish Sheth from Emory University sketched out a plan to make the State a key player in the new world order.
“Hyderabad has all the potential to emerge as a service sector capital. It has a stable political environment and decent infrastructure. Bengaluru has political instability, and its infrastructure is crumbling,” said Mr. Sheth, who was invited to speak on ‘India in the New World Order: Opportunities for Telangana’.
“We are living in a world where populism rules. The old order of a few countries driving growth is over. It is the turn of large populous countries like China and India with big consumer markets that will dictate the world order,” said Mr. Sheth. He shared his experiences as a refugee from Burma who escaped to Kutch and then to Chennai before studying in Pittsburg, U.S.
“Soft power is no longer about people and culture. It is about products. Japan was initially seen as a maker of low-quality goods. Then it became a producer of quality goods. If India is to leverage its soft power, it has to make world-class products with global standards,” said Mr. Sheth, who suggested an upgrade of bureaucracy to tap the potential of talented bureaucrats, pointing at Rajiv Sharma, Chief Adviser to the Government of Telangana, and B. Janardhan Reddy, Secretary of the Education Department.
Earlier, Mr. Janardhan Reddy gave a brief about the educational scenario in the State. “Education is the key enabler for growth. We have 100% enrolment, but physical attendance is an issue. Nearly 33% of the children do not attend school or miss their classes. Of the 29 lakh students in the State, 4.5 lakh students are pursuing education in residential schools. The State is investing in education, but the results are not matching the inputs,” said Mr. Reddy.
Setting the agenda, Mr. Rajiv Sharma spoke on the rapid progress made by the State. “The key economic indicators are up. The State has recorded a 14% growth, the per capita income has gone up by 13.3% and tax collections have gone up by 20%. The State has 42% urban population and is likely to go up to 48-50% shifting the jobs from rural to urban areas,” said Mr. Sharma.
He also spoke about how Telangana is aggressively pursuing aerospace, textiles and pharma sector to have a bigger footprint on the global market.
