Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his interaction with the Council on Foreign Relations, Richard Haass, President of the CFR humourously remarked that PM Modi has demonstrated how not to answer a question!
And that aptly sums up PM Modi’s skills as a politician: staying firmly on course, replying to questions with his trademark humour and earthy examples, which everyone across borders can relate to. If the New York leg of his US trip was about selling the idea of a ‘dream India’ to the NRI diaspora, the Washington leg seems to be about positioning India as a partner, an open market to the US industry.
Here’s my two bits on why PM Modi needs to tweak his message a bit. A Hollywood film costs more than the amount of money we spent to reach Mars, he said in his address to the CFR. At another venue he commented that the cost per km to Mars was less (Rs 7) than the cost per km in an auto rickshaw back in Aamaru Amdavad.
Putting a price to innovation (or manufacturing for that matter) could backfire, because price is a fleeting USP, lost in no time to the next low-cost nation. And the perception is that low cost is low quality. We need to make value and impact of our innovations our real USP. What is the value of our indigenous-developed medical devices in terms of improvement of quality of life or lives saved? I am sure the price of lives saved will outweigh the dollars saved.
Will PM Modi be able to walk the talk back home? Take for instance, his call to ‘Make in India: zero defect, zero impact’. Launched just before he left for the US, he shortlisted 25 sectors for this plan, saying he wants to take our economy ahead on the three pillars of agriculture, manufacturing and services. Pharmaceutical, biotech and medical devices can benefit greatly from this thrust, especially as the initiative also aims to identify select domestic companies showing leadership in innovation and new technology and for turning them into global champions. Many small and medium scale manufacturers, for instance in the medical devices space, could benefit from the ‘red-carpet treatment’ that the PM’s website promises. (http://www.narendramodi.in/prime-minister-to-launch-make-in-india-initiative/)
Beyond the rhetoric, observers are waiting for more details to emerge on how exactly he plans to deliver on his promises. On some of them, he will need nothing short of a deluge of miracles. And will he be able to make his message percolate down the bureaucracy, cut the red tape and roll out the red carpet, as he himself has promised? Especially when you consider the battle he has on his hands from the non-BJP Chief Ministers.
On this issue PM Modi could take some cues from the classic ‘Yes, Minister’ and ‘Yes, Prime Minister’ series: “The Opposition aren’t really the opposition. They are only the Government in exile. The Civil Service are the opposition in residence.”
But it is worse when opposition is cloaked in approval. Another ‘Yes, Minister’ dialogue predicts how an unhappy bureaucracy could unhinge his plans: “If you are not happy with Minister’s decision there is no need to argue him out of it. Accept it warmly, and then suggest he leaves it to you to work out the details.” If PM Modi delegates the roll out of his plans down the line, then most of them could lose momentum.
After the first year in office, PM Modi could well find himself in this situation: “A Politician’s dilemma. He must obviously follow his conscience, but he must also know where he’s going. So he can’t follow his conscience, because it may not be going the same way that he is.”
Maybe then he will throw the media some crumbs: “Solved problems aren’t news. Tell the press a story in two halves – the problem first and the solution later. Then they get a disaster story one day and triumph story the next.”
Viveka Roychowdhury
Editor
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