Leapfrogging ahead ....
India lags behind the developed world in several ways. Our infrastructure is poor, we have antiquated processed, a slow legal system and low technological adoption.
A rough estimate puts India about 50 years behind the developed world in terms of infrastructure. An example is that India just completed Phase I of the Golden Quadrilateral higway project, while the US started their Interstate construction project in 1954.
However, there are some fields where India seems to be on par with the US and even slightly ahead. One of these is cell phones, where the adoption has been incredible thanks in part of innovative schemes such as free incoming calls.
However, hidden behind that is a tremendous quantum jump - Many Indians went straight from having no phone to having cell phones, skipping landline phones and car phones. In terms of cell phone technology, we leapfrogged to the GSM standard without wasteful investments in earlier Analog, CDMA and TDMA technologies.
In another example, we went straight from typewriters to PC’s, without using electronic typewriters.
Thats how we need to catch up with the developed world - By learning from their mistakes and jumping ahead of the curve. We shouldnt be building our infrastructure to mirror the developed world as it is today, but rather what it will look like a few years down the road ....
A rough estimate puts India about 50 years behind the developed world in terms of infrastructure. An example is that India just completed Phase I of the Golden Quadrilateral higway project, while the US started their Interstate construction project in 1954.
However, there are some fields where India seems to be on par with the US and even slightly ahead. One of these is cell phones, where the adoption has been incredible thanks in part of innovative schemes such as free incoming calls.
However, hidden behind that is a tremendous quantum jump - Many Indians went straight from having no phone to having cell phones, skipping landline phones and car phones. In terms of cell phone technology, we leapfrogged to the GSM standard without wasteful investments in earlier Analog, CDMA and TDMA technologies.
In another example, we went straight from typewriters to PC’s, without using electronic typewriters.
Thats how we need to catch up with the developed world - By learning from their mistakes and jumping ahead of the curve. We shouldnt be building our infrastructure to mirror the developed world as it is today, but rather what it will look like a few years down the road ....
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