Why ‘ease of doing business’ is an important step towards poverty alleviation


A Ted Talk rekindled memories of a conversation with wise Subedar Major turned entrepreneur after his retirement. A man I deeply respected for efficiency and high personal ideals, in fact his advise was something I solicited on most complex issues, assured of reply in simple ideological terms; viz “no sir this may lead to embarrassment to the Regiment, hence I don’t recommend it”.

This wise man took a few years after retirement to established himself as a businessman. The crux of our conversation at that stage, was in the statement  was “the first plant was a challenge, it made me understand that the rules are tweaked to help the capitalist(or moneyed class). I understood the ropes and now I have finished setting up my second plant with half the effort, god willing I will set up more”. I can vouch he was a man of exceptional ability to have overcome the ‘wall of rules’ of the capitalists, most would give up mid-way.
 Image result for magatte wade senegal
The Ted Talk by Magatte Wade of Senegal[i] brought to fore(in my mind) the institutional challenge of the poor to break the shackles of poverty. She so powerfully pitches for small businesses as solution for more robust economy in poor nations of Africa. She highlights that African nations are at bottom of the ‘ease of doing business’ list, and that only exacerbates poverty. The developed nations have well developed systems that encourage talent and entrepreneurship; they are at top of ease of doing business. The developing world entrepreneur faces ‘senseless’ outdated[ii] laws; most such laws are of ones made by in the colonial era!

 Image result for e governance and corruption

The experienced may add views and experiences; I for one salute the effort to improve the nation[iii] and states on this parameter of ‘ease of doing business’. I hear of number of rules/laws being amended/updated or repealed on daily basis. Hope we succeed for the sake of our poor. The way Magatte recommends e-governance[iv] to fight corruption, this seems in line with efforts of GOI.

 Anything more from me will make this blog look political, which is not the intent. For those interested links below maybe interesting to browse.

Roopesh Mehta
10 Oct 18

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is an effort to understand a contemporary subject both to clear my mind and to seek comments. There is nothing official or political about it.


[i] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SshN9Sp-P9M
[ii] https://www.indiatoday.in/mail-today/story/centre-s-clean-up-ct-modi-government-terminates-1-500-archaic-laws-1299212-2018-07-29
[iii] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/ease-of-doing-business-government-targets-90-reforms-to-climb-rank-in-world-banks-report/articleshow/62359708.cms
[iv] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167624509000110

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mastery, Mind and Awareness

Image
Based on listening and experiencing Insight from Master Shi Heng Yi and Dandapani Not everyone wants mastery, some are content knowing people are trying but find the effort two daunting. The desire for mastery is internal. Once you have a desire for mastery you will encounter five hindrances on the way to self-mastery. All these are internal and your own. You need to recognize them. 1.        Sensual desires – the five senses seek experiences. Good food, good music, good smell, good variety of beverages, good attractive people etc all are pleasurable experiences, one can get a feel that indulging is satisfying and hence there is no need to work towards mastery – you don’t want to move on. They can be addictive - am I addicted? You will 2.        Ill will or aversion – am I feeling negative emotion. Against an object, situation or person. 3.        Sloth or heaviness or simpl...
Read more

Ashtami: Matriarchy and Patriarchy the Indian Conversations

Ashtami prayers bring forward memories of childhood days of prayers as part of Navaratri, the Navratri food was special, however as kids the end was with the special prayers was on Ashtami or Navami pooja where nine young girls would be prayed to and fed; we the young unruly brats prostrated in front of them for blessings. We saw our dads bow in prayer and we followed suit and the young girls blessed us as embodiment of the goddess. They were the same girls who would play around us in the neighbourhood but on this day they were special. It was a ritual but did it leave an impression on our minds and souls. Nowadays, it all has probably toned down as we are lesser prone to prostrating in front of even gods and hence bowing to little Durgas would need a major ego cleansing effort. Have we evolved or moved back in evolution? I am not too sure.  India’s richness is in its diversity and unity despite the diversity. The diversity has nurtured both patriarchy and matriarchy in various par...
Read more

Personal Integrity Account and the Subconcious Mind

Image
This flows from sections of two recent readings, which convey an important aspect of self management. It is largely an internal process of each of us, that we at most times tend to ignore.We ignore the way our acts and thoughts affect our subconscious. The first one is from ‘First Things First’ by Stephen R Covey and Merrill couple; it talks about the ‘ personal integrity account ’. It could be a manual to build self confidence and also a work ethic that's efficient.   To quote “One [1] of the best ways to strengthen our independent will is to make and keep promises. Every time we do, we make deposits in our Personal Integrity Account . This is a metaphor that describes the amount of trust we have in ourselves, in our ability to walk our talk. It is important to start small. Make and keep a promise – even if it means you're getting up in the morning a little earlier and …. Make sure you don’t violate that commitment and be sure you don’t over p...
Read more