How can India boost an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Setting up your own venture is always a difficult task. It requires many sacrifices, a strong commitment, perseverance, and determination. It is by no means, an easy task to choose between the security of a nine to five job and the uncertainty of a new venture - that may or may not succeed. Entrepreneurs are a rare breed, and their courage must be lauded; for with every venture that succeeds, there are many that die a silent death.

Daunting as it may seem though, entrepreneurship is essential for any economy. Small ventures and entrepreneurs play a significant role in bringing to the market new ideas, services and offerings, that many large organizations are either unwilling or feel too risky to pursue. In addition to this, there is of course the significant role that entrepreneurs and their ventures play in job creation, and in a developing economy like India, this becomes even more pertinent, as it generates employment at various levels.

It is therefore not only advisable, but necessary for entrepreneurship to be nurtured and promoted in the Indian economy.

While there are the obvious social deterrents to entrepreneurship - family, critics and skeptics; once a person decides to pursue his or her dreams to be an entrepreneur there are a number of other challenges that arise.

The entrepreneurship ecosystem in India at the moment has much to ask for. 

* The creation of an education system that encourages students to increase their appetite for risk, supports them to think out of the box and pursue their own aspirations. Institutions like the IIMs, through deferred placements; Indian School of Business, through specific courses focused on entrepreneurship, and a few other higher education institutions promote entrepreneurship, but these are a few students from a pool of millions that should be encouraged.

Education curriculum in India needs to be revamped, for students in schools and colleges, to be encouraged to develop skills and exposure to the spirit of entrepreneurship in various forms right from the start. Most recently, the development of TiE Buddies, an eight month program on entrepreneurship development for school students by The Indus Entrepreneurs- Hyderabad along with ISB, is a prime example of programs that can be developed.

*There needs to be an ecosystem of mentors, and programs that nurture entrepreneurship. The Indus Entrepreneurs have done a commendable job in mobilizing people from cross sections of the entrepreneurial world, to connect and share their learnings and experiences. Programs such as the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship from IIM A are also playing a significant role.

However, there are many small entrepreneurs who are left out of the fold - either because they are not aware of such programs, or because they are very small, or they are present in tier 2 & 3 cities (which are incidentally becoming the hot beds for entrepreneurship).

*There is a lack of true seed capital, as Venture Capital firms in India are mostly inclined towards late stage investments. According to Venture Intelligence, as on June 2011, Venture capital invests in startups with high growth potential, was an average investment of $5 million. Private equity players focus on late-state, high-growth companies and the average deal size ranges between $25 million and $100 million.

Smaller ventures that need funding are often overlooked, especially when these move away from cities. This is where microfinance institutions have an increasingly large role to play.

* On the regulatory front, while it is encouraging to see that the regulatory environment in India has improved, with reforms easing business entry. Entrepreneurs in India can now complete many formalities online - registering their business, paying fees and taxes and more.

However, there are still many areas that need improvement, many processes are hindered with laborious and time consuming processes, ambiguous laws, slow dispute resolution and more. There is still need to smoothen and ease processes. 

Innovation Redefined in Rural India

Indian villages have proved their excellence by making extraordinary inventions. Despite many limitations like lack of education and severe cash crisis, but most of them have succeeded in using technology cost-effectively to build ingenious products, reports rediff Business. 

The products were exhibited at Rashtrapati Bhavan and President Pratibha Patil inaugurated the three day exhibition. The exhibition was organized by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF), a grant-in-aid institute under the Department of Science and Technology (DST). 

Here is the list of innovation from rural India

Gopal Bhise (Bicycle Weeder) Maharashtra

Gopal Bhise has made a very useful device for ploughing culture operation in very small farm plots, gardens and kitchen gardens. He has fixed a rod with a blade at the end, to an assembly consisting of only the front wheel and the handle of a bicycle. He said economic frustration to even buy a pair of bullocks led him develop this device. 

Swayambhoo Sharma, Madanlal Kumawat, Chandan Agarwal
(Modified hand pump with tap and attachment for filling animal trough) Rajasthan/Delhi

Swayambhoo Sharma came up with an interesting solution to address the drinking water needs of animals, as lack of surface water sources and falling water table has made availability of clean drinking water a major problem in Rajasthan. 

He developed an arrangement such that every time people pump water for their use, 20 percent of pumped water will directly go to fill animal water trough. Another problem faced in hand pumps is that a single person finds it very difficult to pump and at the same drink water. Chandan, a first year student at IIMA came out with an idea of storing water in the body of the hand pump so that having pumped; one could use a tap and drink water like any other tap. 

Yusuf Khan and Madan Lal Kumawat, two other innovators combined the idea of Chandan and Swayambhoo Sharma and developed a hybrid model

Raghav Gowda (Milking machine) Karnataka

Raghav Gowda has developed low cost simple milking machines, which works on new milking technique. These machines perform similar to 

any other high-end machines used worldwide. It's an easy to operate and low cost milking machine that can milk 1.5-2 litre of milk per minute.


K Nicholson (Shock proof converter) Manipur

Nicholson has developed an innovative device which converts all electrical lines into shock-free power lines. The device can be in 

stalled just after the energy meter so that each and every connection in the building establishment gets connected to the device and becomes shock-free.


Sakrabhai Prajapati (Exercising chair- Maruti Jhoola) Gujarat

Maruti Jhoola is a unique health chair with multiple capabilities, functions and settings for various po 

stures and seating dynamics. It is ergonomically designed and serves the purpose of seating as well as exercising for a person weighing up to 120 kg. The health chair is useful for people suffering from arthritis and joint ailments.


Abhishek Bhagat (Automatic Food Making Machine) Bihar

This food machine is a tested gadget with boxes in it to hold different ingredients and a display screen from which 

one can select options to cook different items. Then, the screen displays the required quantity of each ingredient. Once the items are fed into the machine, it cooks the dishes.


Bhagwan Singh Dangi (Reaper windrower machine) Madhya Pradesh

To solve the problem of non availability of labourers, which can shatter the soybean pods, Bhagwan Singh 

decided to develop a reaper windrower machine. The device can reduce manpower requirement and the drudgery involved in the harvesting process. The machine has 7 ft width of operation and can cover 0.4 hectares per hour. While operating this machine, fuel consumption of tractor is 2.5-3 litres per hour


N Sakthimainthan (Hand operated water lifting pump) Tamil Nadu

Sakthimainthan built his hand operated water pump in response to a dearth of available pumps that could be 

afforded by small farmers. The water-lifting device is operated by the continuously rotating a handle. It is simple in design and has a high discharge at low cost compared to the motorized pumps and conventional hand pumps.


Radhey Shyam Sharma (Bullock operated sprayer) Madhya Pradesh

The bullock operated sprayer is pulled by a pair of bullocks and gets the drive from the ground through 

a gear box and belt pulley system. This sprayer considerably reduces time requirement as compared to manual spraying and also the drudgery and health hazards involved in manual spraying.


P K Ravi (Pepper thresher) Kerala

The thresher can be operated both automatically and manually with higher output and minimal damage. About 100 kg pepper can be threshed in a on 

e HP machine in ten minutes. It consumes 3/4 electric units per hour, has threshing efficiency 90 percent and the damage is about 2-3 per cent. The Spices Board (Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt. of India) has recognized Ravi's innovation and included it in the Board's subsidy scheme.

Why U.S. has to Worry about Hindu Terrorism?

Is it ironical when United States terms India's indigenous terror as Hindu terrorism as its President Barack Obama preaches a noble concept of 'Terrorism has no religion'. Amidst heated arguments on the controversial topic of 'saffron terrorism' in the country, the latest U.S. Congressional report on India says militant Hindu nationalist groups are planning on launching domestic terrorist attacks. The report, however, acknowledge that 'Hindu Terrorism' has became a new and highly controversial phrase in India's national language.

The independent and bipartisan wing of the U.S. Congress, CRS prepares periodic reports on various issues of interest to the lawmakers and the India report was made public by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). "Even more recent are overt signs that India is home to militant Hindu nationalist groups intent on launching domestic terrorist attacks. In September 2008, seven people were killed by two bomb blasts in Maharashtra's Malegaon, a hotbed of Hindu-Muslim communal strife," the report said. "Many Indian observers warned of the danger of a 'militant majoritarianism' among Hindu nationalists that threatens to rend the secular fabric of the nation," reports PTI quoting the CSR study. 

The term Saffron Terrorism entered into the public discussions following the 29 September 2008 western India bombings that killed 8 persons and injuring 80. Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram gave the spark as he alarmed the chiefs of State police forces, security and intelligence officials of the new threat of 'saffron terrorism.' "There is this recently uncovered phenomenon of saffron terrorism that has been implicated in many bomb blasts of the past," he said. 

According to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi reportedly told U.S. ambassador Timothy Roemer that saffron terror worries him more than the terror groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba. It quotes Rahul as saying, "there was evidence of some support (for the LeT) among certain elements in India's indigenous Muslim community, the bigger threat may be the growth of radicalized Hindu groups, which create religious tensions and political confrontations with the Muslim community."

Sonia shared no different view as her son and said the RSS is sowing the seeds of hatred in the minds of a new generation and says, "This is the biggest danger for us."

However, Congress' outspoken leader Digvijay Singh objects the use of saffron terror' phrase and says, "I have objection to the use of caste, colour and religion to describe terror." "It can be called 'sangh terrorism' instead of saffron terrorism," he clarifies. 

Home Minister's remark was received with severe criticism from the main opposition BJP and the Hindu radical outfit RSS. BJP President Nitin Gadkari said, "A criminal or a terrorist does not belong to any religion, or caste nor does terrorism have a colour. By using the term 'saffron terrorism' the Home Minister P. Chidambaram has insulted Indian culture." 

L K Advani lashed out at the congress government for the use of such a frame and said terrorism should not be tagged to any particular religion.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi asked from an apology from the Prime Minister for the use of saffron terrorism and said, "Is not there a saffron flag on a temple? Would you call it a centre of terrorist activity? Swami Vivekanand, Dayanand Saraswati, Shankracharya, Swami Ramdas and others who have sacrificed for the country wore saffron clothes. Are you calling them terrorists? Every Congressman will have to answer this. And the Prime Minister has to apologies to the people of the country for this."

Spiritual Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar said, "There is nothing like saffron terrorism. A saint can never be a terrorist, but the possibility of an extremist being active under the guise of a 'sadhu' cannot be ruled out."

CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury feels the necessity to change the mindset of associating terror with religion. "There is need to change the thought that terrorism is religion-based," he said.

The U.S. report on Hindu terrorism came in as a surprise for many as it reflects a different picture of India to the world. Attributing terror attacks to religion, regardless of the color or caste, should be discouraged. 

What future holds for Indian farmers?

Mahatma Gandhi had once stated that India lives in its villages and farmers are the real backbone of India. India is basically accounted as an agrarian country with various dynamics in its soil. In spite of huge famer's suicides in and around the country, it still captures the 2nd position in farm output in worldwide production. 

The GDP contribution from agriculture has undergone tremendous changes in the recent past. Agriculture contributed a whopping 32 percent to the country overall GDP from the year 1990-1991. During 2005-2006 it accounted 20 percent of the Country's GDP. However from the time from 2007 to 2008 it came down to 17 percent. But the GDP contribution from others sectors like as industry and service sector witnessed a huge peak. 

The Growth Rate of the Agriculture Sector in India grew after independence since the five year plans introduced by the government of India placed special emphasis on the sector. Further the Green revolution gave a major boost to the agricultural sector by providing tremendous irrigation facilities, provision of agriculture subsidies and credits, and improved technology. This lifted the Agriculture Growth Rate in India to a very high level. 

Although the agricultural yield increased in India after independence but in the last few years there is sharp decline in its productivity. The total production of food grain was 212 million tonnes in 2001- 2002 and the next year it declined to 174.2 million tonnes. And agriculture growth rate in India declined by 5.2 percent in 2002- 2003. The Growth rate of the Agriculture Sector in India GDP grew at the rate of 1.7 percent each year between 2001- 2002 and 2003- 2004. This shows that Agriculture Growth Rate in India GDP has grown very slowly in the last few years. 

The agricultural sector has had low production due to a number of factors such as illiteracy, insufficient finance, inadequate marketing of agricultural products and introduction of genetically modified BT seeds to increase productivity. Farmer suicides are also hugely responsible for this sudden outburst in Indian agriculture. A record 2.5 lakh farmers have committed suicide in India over the last 13 years. Every 12 hours a farmer is said to have commit suicide in India. Many have also opted for other occupations due to the evils associated with it. 

Today U.S. has become one country where agriculture is almost nonexistent. The structure of farms and farm household in which they exist has changed enough over the last century. In the year 1900 a 41 percent of workforce employed in agriculture, in 1930 only 21.5 percent of workforce employed in agriculture and the agricultural GDP recorded a share of total GDP of 7.7 percent. 

In 1945 only a 16 percent of the total labor force employed in agriculture and registered a total GDP of 6.8 percent. Similarly in 1970 a diminutive 4 percent of employed labor force worked in agriculture with a GDP of 2.3 percent. Finally in 2000-02, only a 1.9 percent of employed labor force worked in agriculture. 

Today, large shares of the population have entered nonfarm occupations that have supported economic growth and development. As a part of the transformation spurred by technological innovation and changing market conditions, production agriculture has become a smaller player in the national and rural economies. While the more broadly defined food and agriculture sector continues to play a strong role in the national economy, farming has progressively contributed a smaller share of gross domestic product (GDP) and employed a smaller share of the labor force over the course of the century. 

Given the scenario what will be the Indian situation after 10 years from now, a sustainable agricultural growth can be witnessed if the farmers are educated and proper subsidies are provided. But if the government fails to do the same a day will come when India will no more be known as an agrarian economy. P. Sainath, a well Known Journalist in rural affairs and social activist said "While labour productivity rose 84 percent, real wages of labourers dropped 22 percent. The country imports wheat from Australia, which was importing wheat nine years ago from Punjab. It exports 20 million tonnes of grain at Rs 5.45/kg, whereas the same grain is sold to the poor at Rs 6.15/kg." 

However the questions remains will the Indian agriculture soon take the shape somewhat like USA. Will it be for better or bad? What the future holds in for our Indian farmers?

India, the Least Honest on the Web

 The alarming express of cybercrime is spreading its wings in every nook and corner, India definitely not out of its hammer. In fact it is astonishing to find out that India holds the third place as the least honest nation on internet, reveals a study conducted by Norton Cybercrime Report (more than 7,000 adults from 14 countries including India took part in research). 

About a half of Indian adults have vehemently accepted the fact that they had lied on internet on innumerable occasions and this points at the major loop hole in the cybercriminal activities in our nation.

The study indicates that nearly half of all people globally are happy to tell online lies about their personal details, including their name, age, financial and relationship status; their appearance and even their nationality. And a third of all adults have assumed false identities online, from a false name through to a totally fictitious identity.

The Indian population that was surveyed spent an average of 30 hours per week online, as compared to the global average of 24 hours per week. The time spent online echoes the fact that most of the Indians are now using the Internet to fulfill all the needs from work to personal and a great deal of it on their mobiles.

About 33 percent of adults have used fake online identity and 45 percent lied about personal details. Germans tops the list in faking it with 58 percent, followed by China with 56 percent, Brazil and Indian adults stands at 55 percent respectively. 

This has resulted in huge loss to people in India, it is estimated that more than 29.9 million Indian people fell prey to cyber crimes in the past one year out of which 17 percent in India have fallen prey to cyber crimes via mobile phones, suffering $4 billion direct financial losses and an additional $3.6 billion in time spent to resolve the crime. 

"Sometimes people create alternate identities or screen names online if they want to say something anonymously. Research also shows that users will fictionalize their social networking profiles to fend off people who are not their friends online. If everyone's faking it and telling white lies, do you really know who you are talking to? This could easily open you up to dangers online," says online security expert Anne Collier. 

The report makes further stark revelation stating adults around the world have also been on the receiving end of online scams, phishing attacks, hacking of social networking profiles and credit card fraud. Seven percent of adults have even encountered sexual predators online.

The only way to overcome these online hazards is to follow some golden rules like using a different email addresses for different accounts, the study says about 83 percent of people do not use separate email address for online purchase. It is estimated that a 74 percent of people uses debit card for purchase, it is recommended that one use one separate credit card with a small credit limit.

A 69 percent of people do not keep back up files which is an outmost urgency today. A 62 percent of people do not change password regularly or use a complex one. Use complex passwords for each online account and update them often. Last but not the least 60 percent of people do not make use of browser search adviser, it is recommended to surf the Internet safely with the right security software. 

64 years, Are we still backward?

It seems nearly impossible to dream of an India that thinks beyond the lines of reservations. At a time of competing liberalism globally, India choose to follow its age-old habit of banning anything that we have selectively termed as sensitive - books and movies, from Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses to Taslima Nasrin Lajja, to Deepa Mehta's Fire, and of late, Prakash Jha's Aarakshan. 

As the nation moves forward in education, development and economic prosperity, the logical thinking part of us is taking a walk back. The freedom of speech and expression is chained here where you do not have the liberty to touch on topics which our politicians feel are "sensitive". We have been scared of radical ideas and we choose to live with the belief that nothing is totally right or wrong. 

Silence is what we seek for where the pens do not speak and movies seldom preach a change. Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh have banned the release of Aarakshan, a movie that deals with the caste-based quota system for the socially backward classes. Film producer Prakash Jha has moved Supreme Court asking for to lift the ban on the movie. The creative side of an artist is restricted to a level where he can neither produce a work supporting the plight of the low caste nor the fight of the low caste. 

It wasn't a surprising move by these state governments to ban the screening of Aarakshan as it does not need a whole lot of brains to understand the reason behind it that these states are going to polls in the near future. The political system demands the reservation to stay as it's their best shot to ensure votes. The vote bank culture has long been dividing the country, on many grounds and caste is just another weapon in the hands of our "mighty" politicians. 

Although the real definition of caste and race needs to be reframed, reservation on the basis of caste is often criticized as a form of racial discrimination and that doesn't abide by the practice of right to equality. The spirit of reservations is often hurt as it's the rich from the so-called lower castes who takes the benefits out of it. The creamy layer of the backward classes reaps the benefits of reservation to further their family interests. It should also be noted that several studies have suggested the fact that the OBC class is quite comparable with the general caste in terms of annual per capita consumption expenditure. Unless there are genuine efforts to uplift the level of primary education in the country, reservation only in higher institutions and jobs cannot solve this problem. 

Debated over and over again, 64-year-old India could never come to a conclusion over this. Six decades post-independence now, the country has moved far beyond its old self, left behind the skeletons of a poor country, made its presence strongly felt in the world map with great achievements; however, we ignore the call for a change and we choose to be called the backwards. Is it high time that we change our reservation policies to provide quotas on the basis of merit and not on the basis of caste? Or are we left with no option but to live with this accepting the fact that this is a part of our system that can never be changed? 

It May be Rahul vs Modi Affair in 2014 Elections: CRS

 As the debate on potential prime ministerial contenders for the 2014 elections picks up in India, a US Congressional report says it might just turn out to be a direct contest between controversial Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

A latest report on India by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), a bipartisan and independent research wing of the US Congress, finds Modi a strong prime ministerial candidate for the opposition BJP in 2014, while at the same time discussing the prospect of the Congress putting up Rahul Gandhi for the position. 

However, the report which gives a detailed account of international political dimensions of India, does not clearly state it would be a Modi vs Gandhi affair in 2014.

"The 2009 polls may have represented a coming out party of sorts for the younger Gandhi, who many expect to be put forward as Congress' prime ministerial candidate in scheduled 2014 elections," said the report dated September 1, which was made public by the Federation of American Scientists.

CRS reports are meant for consumption of US lawmakers and are generally not available in the public domain.

However, many a times due to efforts of certain think-tanks and non-governmental organisations, these are made available in the public domain.

"Yet this heir-apparent remains dogged by questions about his abilities to lead the party, given a mixed record as an election strategist, uneasy style in public appearances, and reputation for gaffes," the CRS said.

Party chief and UPA chair, Sonia Gandhi is seen to wield considerable influence over the coalition's policy making process, it said.

"Her foreign origins have presented an obstacle and likely was a major factor in her surprising 2004 decision to decline the prime ministership," the report said, adding that Rahul is widely seen as the most likely heir to Congress leadership.

On the BJP's front, on the other hand, Modi is among the party's likely candidates for the prime ministership, the report said.

"At present, the BJP president is Nitin Gadkari, a former Maharashtran official known for his avid support of privatisation. Although still in some disorder in 2011, there are signs that the BJP has made changes necessary to be a formidable challenger in scheduled 2014 polls," it said.

"These include a more effective branding of the party as one focused on development and good governance rather than emotive, Hindutva-related issues, and Gadkari's success at quelling intra-party dissidence and, by some accounts, showing superior strategising and organising skills as compared to his predecessors," the report said.

"Yet among the party's likely candidates for the prime ministership in future elections is Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who has overseen impressive development successes in his state, but who is also dogged by controversy over his alleged complicity in lethal anti-Muslim rioting there in 2002," it said.

At the same time CRS brings to the notice of lawmakers that Modi has in the past been denied a US visa under an American law barring entry for foreign government officials found to be complicit in severe violations of religious freedom.