Why India takes pride in its chaos

Murali Gopalan

Our politicians lack vision, our system encourages servility

At the recent Tokyo Motor Show, I got chatting with a representative of a top Japanese car manufacturer which has a significant presence in India. Naturally, I was curious to know what he thought of customers here compared to those in Japan. His reply was an eye-opener in more ways than one. Said he, ‘The feeling I get about Indian buyers is that they really do not care too much about quality (in cars). It is very different in Japan where the average customer would get extremely worked up even if there was a marginal issue of design. This puts tremendous pressure on the dealer and manufacturer and explains why we are keen on excelling in everything we do’.

Compare that to the scene here where thanks to a repressive license-raj culture, Indians had to wait for years to own cars or two-wheelers. The fact that they possessed these elusive offerings was cause for cheer. Not that these products were technically perfect. On the other hand, their glaring drawbacks have compelled some manufacturers to rethink strategies and invest considerably in R&D. Naturally, quality was not an issue in India then, largely because most of us did not know what it meant in the first place. It took a Suzuki Motor Corporation to portray what a sleek car looked like. Today, more vehicles have entered the market and it is only now that most of us know what it means to own a car that boasts of the best in technology, design and safety. Manufacturers who had a field day in the years of protection have opted for partial closure of operations or, more wisely, pulled up their socks.

The concept of quality does not boil down to deficiencies in the automobile scenario alone. Japan has laid tremendous emphasis on public transport and urban infrastructure. Actually, there is no reason to go that far for a comparison. Four hours of flying from Mumbai takes you to Kuala Lumpur where a completely different world awaits you. The international airport is outstanding. Everything is spic and span with technology playing a key role in all facilities. People manning the airport are clean and courteous. Naturally, foreign tourists make a beeline for Malaysia and avoid India like the plague.

On the other hand, Mumbai’s Chattrapati Shivaji International Airport resembles a war zone with filthy toilets, touts crawling all over the place and practically no restaurants to have a clean bite in. Infrastructure, in the form of good roads, has never been a priority with the result that people feel worn out by the time they reach their hotels. Taxis are fossilised with drivers in dire need of basic road skills. Noise pollution continues unabated and that is enough to drive anyone hysterical. Little wonder therefore that people from other parts of Asia view India as a country which takes great pride in chaos.

The answers to this sorry state of affairs are all too obvious. Practically all our political masters have a vision that does not go beyond the Red Fort. Their obvious lack of international exposure explains why they are not keen on upgrading airports, roads and vehicles. Of course, there are examples of excellence as in the case of an enterprising manufacturer of alloy wheels in Visakhapatnam who has bagged the global order for Ford’s Mondeo programme worldwide. Sundaram Fasteners has an enviable track record. It took one dynamic municipal commissioner to beautify Thane, till then one dirty address in Mumbai. However, these instances are few and far between and it is only logical to assume that it would take us centuries at the present growth rate to even catch up with Malaysia.

Frankly, there is no reason why the common man should suffer just because the rules are dictated by people who have their own interests in mind, instead of working towards the overall prosperity of a nation. A friend of mine, a research scholar in Canada, was appalled by what he considered a complete violation of human rights in India — in severe Delhi winters, watchmen outside ministerial bungalows had no warm clothes. Seldom does the master of the house deign to keep supplies of tea going while these poor men shiver all night. The Indian system has been carefully oiled to encourage servility and fear with the result that people are not encouraged to crave for the good things of life. The average politician has no desire to do his bit and the net result is a horrific display of antiquated infrastructure everywhere in India.

There have been exceptions to the rule, especially in parts of the south and west, where states have taken the initiative to build flyovers and bridges, never mind if some of these took a long while and were poorly planned. However, this pales into insignificance when an aerial view of Japan only shows a smattering of small islands which have still managed to put out the world’s top brands in automobiles, engineering, electronics and other sectors. There is a crucial lesson to be learnt here except that there is no willingness to even make a beginning in India.

Murali Gopalan is Editor of Auto Monitor, a Tata Infomedia publication