I wished to apply for an additional booklet for my passport and decided to apply online under the Tatkal scheme. There was no change in any of my personal particulars. The list of documents I required to submit included, hold your breath, a copy of my class 10 mark sheet as proof of date of birth (doesn?t the existing passport contain my date of birth?), letter from a government functionary and a notarised affidavit. The only thing this whole process demonstrates is the unthinking nature of our bureaucracy. It results in unnecessary wastage of resources but then that has never been a consideration. The colonial legacy of command and control is well entrenched.
Contrast this with the following announcements:
On April 6, a new UK visa will become available. This Tier-1 (Entrepreneur) visa is aimed at allowing The visa requirements are ridiculously low—aspiring On the other side of the Atlantic, a bill ? the Startup Visa Act — has recently been introduced, which aims to boost entrepreneurship in the US by allowing foreign students and workers on H1-B workers to start companies. The requirements for securing this visa are again ridiculously low ? for example, anyone in the US with annual income of $30,000 or with assets of over $60,000 and with an investment from a US investor of at least $20,000.
Both countries realise the critical role played by entrepreneurs in creating jobs, and in spreading a culture of innovation and risk taking. Contrast this with the hurdles that an entrepreneur in India has to cross. The two biggest hurdles faced by entrepreneurs in India are the mind-numbing bureaucracy and the non-availability of finance. Of these, red tape is the bigger problem. There are enormous sums of money available with the government but which are either not spent in the right manner or ineffectively spent or just lie around unspent.
Despite these hurdles, entrepreneurship is well and truly alive in India. Each day thousands join the entrepreneurship bandwagon across the board. It is a testament to their belief, self-confidence and aspiration that they?re all choosing to create and build businesses, create jobs, improve their own lives and of others. Yet the government machinery seems to live in a parallel universe with its own sense of time, power and entitlement. If India is to realise its place in the sun, the government, more than any other institution, needs to dramatically inject entrepreneurial ways and means?speed, innovation, transparency, goal orientation, execution, talent? into its thinking and working. There has to be far more involvement from all of us interested parties in getting involved in the process of policy formulation and execution.
Else, the mismatch between entrepreneurial possibilities & aspirations and government-induced realities may lead to Indians, yet again, contributing to the development of jobs and innovation in the West rather than right here.
?Sanjay Anandaram is a passionate advocate of entrepreneurship. He is involved with Nasscom, TiE, IIM-B & Insead Business School.
Email: sanjay@jumpstartup.net