Chetan Bhagat Should Stick To Writing Love Stories

Given the strong opposer of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) that I am; reading Chetan Bhagat write on national issues in a national publications makes my mercury get warmer even in November. Chetan Bhagat writes a column in Times Of India titled 'The Underage Optimist' and I read one of his recent takes on '#-Link-Snipped-#'. It even makes me wonder whether they really teach 'Finance' & 'Business' at the IIMs. Reading the article makes me think Chetan Bhagat should stick to writing love stories and stop writing about things that he doesn't really understand.

Chetan Bhaga's article makes FDI look like a natural solution to the problems Farmers are facing. Chetan Bhagat goes on to say (source link above) -

Anyhow, it's a good decision, if not monumental or heroic. Having a global mindset is beneficial for the country. We have seen the benefits of the 1991 reforms. The cellphones we carry, TV channels we watch, vehicles we drive, the appliances we use - are all a result of the liberalisation that were initiated two decades ago. Before that, the government felt it was perfectly fine for people to wait years for a landline phone and watch one government-run TV channel. With such a transformation as seen by the middle class, one wonders if there is still need to convince people on the benefits of reforms.

I'm stunned!

I'd like to believe Mr. Bhagat is just innocent than an idiot. I want to dissect above paragraph line by line; but I'll just pick up the important points he makes.

-> 'Having a global mindset is beneficial for the country'

A generic statement. Yes, we should have a 'global mindset'. What that *should* mean is that Indians should produce world-class products, develop their own technology and license it to the world. It does not mean we should open our wallets and let every salesman sell the world to us.

Make the things happen in India and let the WORLD OPEN THEIR WALLETS; not the opposite. It's 'the basic', friends.

-> "Before that, the government felt it was perfectly fine for people to wait years for a landline phone and watch one government-run TV channel"

How better it'd have been had the government had reworked the policies to make sure a telephone line gets delivered in one day? What if the government had promoted Indians to start their own channel and had made associations with other countries to broadcast our channels in their countries? That'd have given us a way to promote Indian culture around the world than getting copy-pasted reality shows from other countries. Huh?

Isn't it a pure administration failure that government never admits? If the Government's telecom office can't deliver a phone in 2 days; is it not administrative failure? Why do you need a foreigner to help you with that - and bring insane profits back home?

-> "With such a transformation as seen by the middle class, one wonders if there is still need to convince people on the benefits of reforms."

Middle Class? All you see, Mr. Chetan Bhagat, is few IT engineers who get larger salaries and are able to buy Apple iPhones and Samsung TVs. How has this liberalisation helped the poor, Mr. Bhagat?

I searched for some historical data on how Rupee's been trading against the US dollar all these years. I found something shocking!

Year 1990: 1 dollar = Rs 18.11

Year 1991: 1 dollar = Rs. 25.79

Year 1992: 1 dollar = Rs. 28.95

Year 1993: 1 dollar = Rs 31.44

Year 1996: 1 dollar = Rs 35.83

Year 1997: 1 dollar = Rs 39.15

Year 2012: 1 dollar = Rs. 57.37 (lowest ever)

So, post liberalisation, the value of rupee is falling and the dollar's getting stronger! How does that 'help' the economy, Mr. Bhagat?

Ultimately - FDI is against common sense. The supporters of FDI are basically saying - India and Indians can't do a thing on their own, so let the foreigners come and 'help'. In return, let them take away insane amounts of profits from this country making them richer.

For India to really be a super power and a strong economy - the government needs to make India and Indians self-sufficient and self-reliable. The government must focus on improving the strong manufacturing base and focus on growing the exports.

Chetan Bhagat should stick to writing love stories and stop poking nose in every matter of national interest. Yeah, we respect your 'freedom of speech'.