Independence Day is around the corner, and the media are lining up to salute the 60th year of freedom from the British. A poll done by NDTV (sample size 8337) using a commissioned survey, the internet and SMS, has named Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi as the greatest Indian icon with 52 per cent of the votes going to the Mahatma. He is followed by Mother Teresa (17 per cent), J.R.D. Tata (9 per cent), Indira Gandhi (7 per cent), N.R. Narayana Murthy (6 per cent), Amitabh Bachchan (5 per cent), and Jawaharlal Nehru (4 per cent).
Agree? Disagree? Who are the others who deserve a place in our hearts and minds?
Intha samayadalli naavu Vikram Sarabhai, Kasturi Rangan, Abdul Kalam, Sir. C V Raman modaladavarannu yaake nenapisikoLLabeku, allavra. Rabindranath Tagore kooDa marethuhodaralla namma janakke, Jana GaNa mana…..Vandematharam Banki Chandraru yaaroo nenapiga e barabaaradu. Svalpa sponsor maaDiddiddare Soniayammanavare modalu baruttiddare, ade High Command , ade Command. Jai Bharath Maathaki
No Sachin Tendulkar and Aishwarya Rai? Come ooooon, what were people thinking? ;)
Really sad and shameful to see Nehru, the arthitect of modern india, being rated below NRN, Amitabh, Tata and Indira Gandhi
NDTV does it again !! Somehow pushes one of their board members NRN into the list !! Way to go, NRN, buying your way into popularity and good work in keeping yourself in the news.
The choice of Gandhiji as the greatest Indian icon is most obvious but the percentage of votes he polled shows our lack of historical knowledge and way ward sense of priority. The role of media which dole out selective and sensational news on daily basis is also responsible for the lop sided public opinion. People are generally swayed away by what they see in the tube and read in the print recently, most of the time.
It is heartening that Aiswarya was not there in the race other wise she could have out beaten Gandhiji to snatch the top slot.
Actually the votes “Gandhi” got was the combination of votes given to Indira Gandhi,Rajiv Gandhi,Sonia gandhi,Rahul Gandhi and Nehal Gandhi–
This Gandhi confusion will never go away as long as we recognise Feroze Khan nee Ghandy as Gandhi–
I bet 90 percent of Brigade Road crowd in Bangalore will not know how MG road is expanded. They think it is some MG as in MGM or MGR–
rvaidya2000
For RSS supporters it is like this:
Golwalkar, Savarkar, Godse, etc
For Leftists:
Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, etc
Nehru’s graetest crime was to destroy the private sector with his stupid industrial policies.
Our own Raja Ramanna, Vishweshwariah, DVG would be my choices. Whats wrong with Bangaloreans/Mysoreans/ SMSers and their craze for the pernicious NRN ?
BTW @rvaidya200 who is Nehal Gandhi?
Where was this survey conducted? Probably in Delhi andd Bombay.Are only boliwood movies and songs are the best? MGR, Shivaji and Rajakumar must be roling in their grave!
NRN, AB… wtf! what’s wrong with our jana?! will they ever grow up?
anyway, my choices would be Sir M. V. and my er.. .. Uncle Pai :) … Remove Uncle Pai and something inside a whole generation (my generation) dies. Blessed was ‘namma kaala’ that we didnt have to endure the grotesque pain of a square pant sponge bob(did i get it right?) and mind-numbing hallucination-inducing video games. A Churumuri campaign for Bharata Ratna for Uncle Pai! anybody listening?
There’s nothing wrong in choosing NRN as the greatest icon of post independent india. One cannot make a choice between Gandhi and NRN or for that matter Indira Gandhi as they all have inspired people in different ways.
Infact it was Gandhi who was the icon during independence and after independence there were people like Nehru, lal Bahadur Shastri and others who laid the foundation and then came leaders like Indira Gandhi who led india thru that difficult phase and now we have icons like NRN, Abdul Kalam etc..
We should be happy that we have so many people to look up to and not fight over things like who is the greatest of all..
Gandhiji greatest icon? question mark hakiddarallappa? NDTV yavrige innu confusion idda hagide. Gandhi endiddaru gandhi embudu ivrige arthavadantilla. Tamma confusion clear madkolloke ivru survey madbekitta? matte idralli NRN ellinda banda? Iva madiddenu anta ndtv yavru swalpa tilsi helidre olledu…ottare gandhijige intha paristiti barbardittu…Abdul kalam nanthavranna manege kalsi rubbar stampgalanna president kurchige select mado jana navu…..Gandhi niniddidre attu bidtidde…..
sadya ishwarya rai irlilla….gandhi bachavadru
How about Dr.Haneef :D
Why not Abdul Kalam, JRD Tata?
Gaby
If you go to the Hair Cutting saloons in small towns of India you will find photos of Netaji,Bhagat Singh,Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi,Nehru etc and a short stout man with unknown origin and destination–It will mostly be a relative of the owner–
like that Nehal is some relative of the Nehru-Ghandy Kandan–
If you want to be precise it is Raihan and Miraya the Children of Priyanka and Robert Nehru Gandhi and future of India.
If you are in the spot market bet on Rahul and if you are in the futures market then on Raihan Nehru Antonio Maine Robert Gandhi.
Cheers
rvaidya2000
No one can dispute Nehru as the architect of modern India. He may have been pushed into leftist camp of Soviet Union but that was not all his fault, but also of John Foster Dulles then American Sec of State with his support to Pakistan, SEATO and CENTO. I may have some sympathy with the argument of those who accuse him promoting his dynasty supremacy (particularly his daughter). But his contribution to independent struggle and modernisation of India cannot be question. Painful to see him rated below the modern money makers. The fault is with the education system which has failed to put the teaching of the country’s history at the core.
I am not surprised as very recently, the Oxford University said Shakespeare study will not be compulsory in the future! It is said half of British school children do not know about Shakespeare and do not recognise Churchill as the leader of the country during the second world war! When a country’s history is slowly made to forget the money-making men will be its heroes!!
Well, I am not a die-hard fan of NRN. I have issues with his stand on reservations in educational Institutions among many other things. However, for a new generation of Indians he is an Icon! Period. He demonstrated that a middle class Indian can build a world Class Business Enterprise in an ethical way! He has created value not only for himself, but for many of his employees and shareholders. He is an inspiration to many middle class indians who have started dreaming of owning their own companies rather than being clerks in a Government Department.
I have Great respect Ghandiji and Nehru. They got us our Political Independence. Similarly Ambedkar,Ram Manohar Lohia and V P singh have contributed towards social-Independence for a large section of Indians (Dalits and Backward Classes).
But Remember, Political and Social Independence is meaningless without economic independence. It is the likes of NRN’s and Ambani’s who are contributing to our economic independence by fuelling our economic growth and being the role-models and “Icons” for a new generation of Indians.
CMon Guys, What’s wrong in making Money, that too in an ethical way??
I am proud of India’s Choice. We are moving in the right direction. Just Nostalgia and falling back on History is a thing of the past. I am happy that a large section of the people are thinking with “Relevance” to today!
Building companies that depend on IT outsourcing is not economic independence. The outsourcing taps can be turned off any time if companies in the West find others who can do the job better for less money. We should remember that there is no innovative software products developed by these companies from which they make money. Even Bill Gates with his Microsoft products would not say that his company is economically independent. Hence let us stop this ‘economically independent’ argument. I know NRN personally well ( not many can say that) and he will not be comfortable by being placed above Nehru in that poll. Knowing and proud of one’s history is not nostalgia.
NRN is one of the greatest icon of post independence India. He has shown to the middle class what can be achieved and has opened the windows of economic freedom to millions of Indians.
Ranga, Knowing NRN personally is immaterial here. Whether he is comforatble or not is his prerogative. It is a truth that for many New-generation Indians NRN is of more relevance than Nehru! Probably because they never lived under occupation in a colony. NRN is a more tangible icon.
There is nothing wrong in outsourcing! I agree that it is at the Bottom of the value-chain in the IT product development life cycle. But that is where you start. Once a company gets the technical competence and process maturity along with domain expertise, they move up the value chain to provide Consulatncy and other High value services!! They gradually start developing products! Infosys is a good example of this. Infosys does not do only “programming” nowadays. They strategically partner with enterprises to provide Solutions bringing Infosys’ Consulting and domain expertise as part of the package. Infosys also has a great Banking product called “Finnacle” which is considered one of the top 3 Banking solutions in the world.
Enterprises in the west cannot Just Turn a Tap off (Like they can do In Manufacturing). Intelligent companies integrate themsleves into the value chain of the Enterprises by investing their “Intellectual Capital” and institutional expertise. This is extremely difficult and expensive to replace.
Let us not get over-obsessed with this product thing! It is a reality that innovation is not rewarded in India. There are no institutional mechanisms to support innovations! But even in the west, many of the admired and sucecssfull companies dont innovate products. A good example is “DELL”. what Dell has done is to innovate on their Business Processes. They have even patented them.
So has Infosys. It’s Global delivery Model is a Great INNOVATION bringing great value to its customers.
Again, I am not saying that Infosys is economically Independent. All I am saying is that the Ambani’s and NRN’s have created meaningful employment to many Indians making them economically Independent
I am sure that Infosys, by providing meaningful employment has made all of its employees “Economically Independent”. They are employable anywhere in the world. What else is “Economic Independence”??
PS : I have never worked in Infosys at any point in my life, nor Do I own any shares in Infosys. But Ofcourse, as an IT consultant I have benifited greatly from the likes of NRN’s and Premji’s who have created a “Brand India” for Indian IT Services all over the world. I am one of the many consultants who are leveraging the “Brand India” to create values for ourselves and those involved with us. My only way of repaying this gratitude to our Great IT Pioneers is by always maintaining the high ethical standards and reliability that “Brand India” is associated with.
great ranga know nrn personally. he has travelled everywhere. he is ancient. he is so superior to everyone. what awesome boastfulness!
R.K.Laxman’s common man
I have no Axe to grind as I do not benefit from Infosys. But Your argument is weird in the extreme about products and companies in the West not turning the outsourcing taps off! It happened to a company I know and the contracts are with Hungarian companies.
challe fruit : I think you are behaving like the fruit whose name you bear. I not only travel everywhere and know many but really live in the West. You need to grow up and discard your naked jealousy.
really live in the west? have travelled? thats a big deal to you?! man you really have some wierd complex yourself.
Uttama,
Giving one specific example does not prove a generic principle. I can List hundreds of specific companies who have been able to increase their outsourcing from the same comnpanies in the US over the years, Infosys Being one of them.
That is why the IT Services Industry in India is booming.
Well Products will die out too!! If other countries can produce the same type of product with more quality for a less price!! This has happened all the time. American Cars/Japaneese Cars is a good example.
I just read a great book. It says “Nothing in this world is sustainable”. So whether products or services, Nothing is sustainable forever. Great Societies leverage the resources they have to maximize benifits for their members. In doing so they Innovate and Change!
Change is the essence of evolution. Only companies that can change with time survive. Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Satyam have changed greatly from the Y2k mode in late 90’s to dotcom boom of the early 2000’s to the Outsourcing boom of the Mid 2000’s. Most Indian Companies have positioned themsleves for the “Knowledge Outsourcing boom” that is on its way!!
Sanjeev Kumar,
I was initially taken in by your fluent “twit” and then when I saw …”Similarly Ambedkar,Ram Manohar Lohia and V P singh have contributed towards social-Independence for a large section of Indians (Dalits and Backward Classes)…” I could see the Road To Mandal Lay!
I can admit to Ambedkar and somewhat to Lohia but VP Singh! Wow take a bow SK! Wah Wah! That faux Raja who is surviving on tax-payer paid treatments; that consummate nether hole politician; that charlatan of first Ganga kinare water! He is your hero? Same VP Singh who destroyed India and shook its cultural ethos in such a way we have never recovered from it. It is thanks to innovators like VP Singh and his acolyte SK, we Indians are at the fountainhead of “Braindedness Insourcing Boom”
Change per se is not revolution. The argument that These comapnies which benefit from outsourcing, some called using coolie IT labour in this blog is laughable.
The reason why IT companies are booming is becuae of the low cost of the coolie labour. For example it costs more $150,000 to educate some one at the postgraduate level in software engineering and hiring him for the first year. I am sure it is no way comparable in India. That is the cost differential, and which is The coding workshops which these companies are roughly equivalent to metal-bashing manufacturing workshops that are being outsourced to Asia. These are not innovators.
I corrected some errors!
Change per se is not revolution. The argument that These companies which benefit from outsourcing, some say using coolie IT labour in this blog are innovatorts is laughable indeed.
The reason why IT companies are booming is because of the low cost of the coolie labour. For example, it costs more than $150,000 to educate some one at the postgraduate level in software engineering and hiring him for the first year. I am sure it is no way comparable to similar situation in India. That is the cost differential. The coding workshops which these companies are, are roughly equivalent to metal-bashing manufacturing workshops that are being outsourced to Asia. They are not innovators.
Challe fruit
You have said similar words about Ranga in another blog posting. Do you have anything say about the blog topic? Ranga may be related to NRN , perhaps his own brother or a close relative or even his teacher. Stop this personal attacks, and if you cannot say anything, keep out of this blog.
Sanjeev,
You have a point. Outsourcing will not go away overnight. It makes economic sense for the company outsourcing and any company which is in a position to outsource software and does not do so may run the risk of losing out to competitors. Like Walmart or Samsung etc. beating competitors by outsourcing to China, Mexico etc. converting the lower costs of production at these places into profits.
However it is not right to compare Japanese car manufacturers rise to the the current indian outsourcing companies. For example, the Japanese car manufacturers always were thinking of products. And they quickly built up their capability to take on the world on their own.
The software outsourcing as it stands now may seem complex and impossible to replace. But it can be. For example take the outsourced call centers of today. If voice recognition and processing is perfected, coupling a business specific knowledge base to the voice recognition will automate away a whole set of call center jobs. Like the way Google automated search. Of course is there any economic incentive to build such a system is another matter. At some point of time, if there is – it will be built. And then really it will be like one tap turning off.
Also notice how there were some attempts to introduce legislation to force outsourcing companies to comply to visa restrictions and it made a big impact in India. So there are other ways the tap may be turned off too.
The other point is that – with a model like outsourcing truely global companies from outside will start beating ours at our own game. Like IBM, Accenture and others who have outsourcing units specific to their parent company. Other than a few cultural things – there is no true protection for the ‘process’ of outsourcing. And our government cannot imagine anything in the line of patents/copyright etc. which will protect our outsourcing model.
The big companies into outsourcing are in a way not helping the atmosphere either, with their predatory thinking and cost cutting only mode of thinking, they make it difficult for startups to sustain themselves by doing consulting or outsourcing on the side for revenue while they build products.
And as you mentioned – in India the whole mechanism is not conducive to consume (software/hardware/IT) products produced locally which can then be launched onto a world stage.
Not taking away anything from outsourcing companies. What they have done is great and has been a boon for us. But they should become enablers for Indian companies to move up the chain and become true world class companies (after all Indians power lots of true world leading companies in hardware and software in the US/Europe etc.). Not a hinderance to further growth beyond what they have achieved.
Apologies for the digression from the main topic…
Dodda Buddi,
For you and a section of Indians, VP Singh may be a villian. I respect your feelings about him. But for a large section of Indians, He is a Messaiah. He brought to the forefront of national conciousness, the vexed issue of social apertheid that exists in our country.
The Mandalization of Indian Politics have had a great impact on our national polity. The Mulayam Singh Yadav’s, Lalloo Prasad Yadav’s, Mayawathi’s etc are a result of Mandalization. They reflect the aspirations of the REAL People of India. This is one of the biggest Contribution of VP Singh.
I do not want to get personal with you. If you cannot keep discussions on a impersonal level, so be it.
I am neither a VP Singh Acolyte, nor that of NRN. The Truth is I am not dogmatic. Every one of these Guys are interesting, because they have relevance to different sections of the society.
You might not belong that section for which these guys have relevance. That does not mean that these guys are irrelevant.
Uttama,
Please note that “Infosys” and many other IT Companies, are no longer Just “Programming workshops”. They have moved up in the value chain Long ago. They are strategic IT and Business Partnners bringing significant VAlue to enterprises they partner with.
The Rates that Indian Majors quote today on projects are only marginally lower than Golbal Majors like “Accenture” and “IBM”.
Indian IT has come of Age. If you want to live in Self Denial, I cannot help it!!
ಗಾಂಧಿ ಭಾರತೀಯರಿಗೆ ಮಹಾನ್ ಆರಾಧ್ಯ ಮೂರ್ತಿ ಎಂಬುದು ಆಚಂದ್ರಾರ್ಕ ನಿತ್ಯ ಸತ್ಯ. ಆದರೆ ಈಗ ಹುಸಿ ದೇವರುಗಳನ್ನು ಆರಾಧಿಸಲಾಗುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಇದು ವಿಷಾದನೀಯ.