?Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we?ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.? US President-elect Barack Obama?s speech following Super Tuesday results moved us no end. ?Change? became the word of the year and there was little debate while selecting it as the theme for fe?s last Sunday edition of the year. Change, is unarguably, a big word, one that is full of hope and strength.
Moreover, change was the tone for all Indians in 2008. The year had started on a unprecedented high for most Indians but is not ending on as positive a note.
Optimists hope that the rule of opposites works next year too, and a bleak start will only propel and change to brighter toplines and bottomlines in the next quarters.
The beginning of a new year is like a milestone, the time of the year when most of us make resolutions to ?change? for the better. So, we tried to find out from the people across ten cities in India about the change they want to see and bring about next year. What emerges clearly is the sense of exhaustion. On what the biggest challenge India faces in 2009, 47.1% ticked slowdown in the economy. For ?the luxury they most look forward to,? a whopping 54.1% people voted for ?open sky.? People across the world have found a collective voice, a voice that will map the charter of change for the future.
We also asked experts to indulge in some wishful thinking and share with us the changes that they would like to see in 2009. Strategic analyst K Subrahmanyam said the most important change that Indian polity seeks is, ?Younger leaders for political parties.? Shashanka Bhide, senior research counsellor with NCAER argued for ?faster development of infrastructure.? Jerry Pinto, writing on the social changes that India needs, argued for child rights and development writer Richard Mahapatra strongly called for ?each Indian to become a climate change crusader.?
Also, experts from 33 sectors predict how their sector is poised in the coming year. Despite the relief packages, the alarms calls are still ringing more stridently in some sectors. While most acknowledge the difficult times that lie ahead, there is cautious optimism too.
?There is an alarming increase in the number of biotech companies the world over, pulling the IPO plug simply because the markets are hostile to risk,? says Kiran Majundar Shaw, CMD, Biocon. ?In fact the forecast is that the IPO window for Biotech companies will remain shut for most of 2009. The Equity:M&A ratio in 2007 was 70:30 which is rapidly inversing and is expected to reach a level of 20:80 by 2009.?
MS Swaminathan, chairman, MSSRF, sees an opportunity for agriculture. ?The first casualties of the current global economic meltdown are jobs. Modern industry unfortunately promotes jobless growth, which under our conditions will be joyless growth. If we want to reduce the adverse impact of the economic crisis, greater attention to agriculture is the pathway.? And RK Pachauri, DG, Teri, stresses that the economic crisis is not helping the cause of a greener future as well, though he is confident that with the incoming US President Barack Obama indicating his priority to create energy efficient growth, that ?investments would be made in developing renewable energy for factories, homes and offices.?