Where are the 'Dhirubhai' of India?
There are many free thinkers who feel that education in India, which is more about mugging up rather than conceptual clarity, kills all innovation. Infact many complain that as students, one is not allowed to be creative. Today, children are not allowed to solve a simple Math problem using their creativity; they have to necessarily follow the method given by the teacher. So when creativity is killed at such an early stage and at such simple levels, little wonder schools do not produce any innovators today! The famed movie, 3 Idiots talked about the same. And yes, there is immense talent in India. National Innovation Foundation has stated that there are over 100,000 outstanding innovations that have come from school dropouts and poor people from rural India. And NIF has managed to get some products commercially manufactured and some exported. But millions of ideas and innovators continue waiting for assistance in terms of funds, technical and design support.
A major shakeup in terms of quality of education is desperately needed in India. Our country has probably got the highest number of MBAs, yet, they cannot even think half as innovatively. So are we churning out just degrees with no substance?
And global leadership? Innovation is just not given its right due. You have an idea and toil years to get it going, spending all your life time savings – what is the guarantee that a patent will protect it from being copied immediately? And before getting to the patent part, are such ideas given any support at all? If Steve Jobs was an Indian and he had come up with a product like Apple in India, you think it could have become a global brand like the way it is today? No way!
Our desi companies are happy to export but money is not spent in developing a global identity. Why? Probably because we simply cannot afford it or probably because a ‘Made in India’ continues to attract condescending attention from the world consumers. Also, a pattern has been created wherein the emerging economies are becoming manufacturing hubs, while USA conserves its energy and resources in building sustainable, global brands. Thus emerging economies continue to remain ‘factories’ which is why we are probably driven more by the need to grow economically than concentrate on developing global brands.
It is true that a genius is born once in a lifetime and such a genius cannot be shackled by education. And at the same time, it is also equally true that education is a must. Or else Dhirubhai and Bill Gates would not have educated their own children. But India surely needs another Dhirubhai or Steve Jobs!