Blore infrastructure sucks. Blore-Mysore highway floats if there is some rain. Hyderabad infrastructure is better comparatively, but the city is like a devil’s curse with its mindless growth. People have built houses wherever they wanted and whenever they needed.

These two cities have thrived on outsourcing (I do not want to belittle it), but then the fact is they are pure cheap labors. Clients directly call folks from Infy, Wipro etc as contractors with a disgusting look (a sugary word for cheap coolies). They do not call by names, it is contractors always!

As the joke goes Bangalore and Hyderabad will be Nangalore (naked place) and Hinjada-bad (city without bone) without IT.

Actually, India has long way to go in infrastructure. Simple solution is to be privatise with sense. Otherwise, it will be like Blore IAL, which is in the jungle now at Devanhali and to reach there it takes 5 hours from the city! You can travel the entire world faster than make a drive around in Bangalore!!

The airport hasn’t changed in the last 8-10 years….a period oevr which cities have undergone massive infrastructure change to support investments (Karnataka-Mysore, Andhra-Vizag). These states have learnt from thier mistakes and are making ammends.

Look at the massive environmental damage(cyclone, heat waves, flood) the state govt in Orissa has allowed in the name of Mining…..This damage is much larger than the infrastructure mistakes other cities have made.

I guess it need a massive wave of development in the right direction!!!

Well … one bit of observation ..is that all states where shops/establishments/ppl ….shut for a good siesta ….have had bad growth records …and this is quite contrary to the mid-day sleep VS productivity - line of thought .

well..Whizzed past ur blogspot …found it interesting : )

Cheers!
MVN.Rao
mvnrao1@googlemail.com
Mumbai.

I agree that development requires stupendous leadership. Other attributes that are required include a innate base for growth, political goodwill, stability, infrastructure, and availability of talent - among others.

The natural base of resources in Orissa need not be over emphasized. The success stories of the organizations with interests in IT has been telling. The state administration has been burning midnight oil to provide the necessary infrastructure and in weaving conducive policies for investment. Take a simple example of widening of roads, or ear-marking of land for the IT corridor. Success breeds success.There has been sufficient data to prove that the government in Orissa is actively engaging in pro-development policies. The political leadership shows no mercy towards corrupt people and practices. Unlike many states the governments in the state generally spend full term in office. Rajendra Mishra (of Times of India’s ‘Lead India’ fame) is a product of citizen activism. A country of the scale as ours’ can’t settle for one.

A lot of India’s (and for that matter, Orissa’s) people are heading mantle of organization leadership. Many head sales function. All that Orissa needs to do is to hire one such leader to help package Orissa better - to the corporations, policy makers, people and powers that be.

Satya, knowledge sectors are not the only desirable form of development. You might argue that the knowledge sectors which concentrate in large metros are the reason why these metros are going to pieces. That said, states, like companies or people, will build on their strengths. Bangalore’s universities were its strength that it leveraged into IT and knowledge based industries. Orissa and Jharkhand have mineral resources and that’s what they will build upon.

Investment in any sector is good. Orissa incidentally has a history of investment (and sometimes the earliest ones) in Ports, Steel, and Mines etc. Also Punjab, where I have been for a long time, saw tremendous growth in agriculture.

However, the question is about what kind of investment and will it be sustainable for the region in the long run?

As Seth Godin puts it; 19th century was century of building efficient farms, 20th became the race to build big factories and 21st will be the century of knowledge (and hence ideas).

If I look at the place where the “metros” came up, be in Kolkota or Chennai or Mumbai; these cities are actually gifts from British (as they were residencies) and hence saw growth in post independence era. Delhi was the capital even in Mogul era and hence saw good growth.

And recently Bangalore and Hyderabad became “metros” due to IT only. The actual offshoot is by a number of engineering colleges (I guess TN will have more engineering colleges than whole North combined together, though on quality I will not comment favorably)

Do you think investment solely in these sectors (not to offend anyone, but this I consider to be conventional ones and old, though still a way of making money) will be good in the long run for states like Orissa / Haryana or a Himachal or Jharkhand?

Basic premise - the incumbent govt. should not take credit. It has to go. The incumbent opposition will pretty much do the same thing when it assumes power. So the vicious cycle continues since there is always an opposition that wants to claim credit for development. (Imagine Dhabol power project in MH, Smart City project in Kerala)

These two states have taken those learnings seriously and are investing heavily in infrastructure, roads, railways, air-connectivity. Anybody looking for fresh investment, either knowledge based or manufacturing, these two states have resources to attaract.