Today on Channel News America, I saw a news report of a
new Indian food delivery system that the Indians are raving about. Isn't
this old toddy being repackaged in new bottles to sell? Most countries
already have food delivery systems working for years. China is even
experimenting with food and other deliveries using drones. That is
something to report on, not old news that does not even excite anyone
except old grandmothers and the Indians themselves.
What is even
worse for India with more of this coming out is that small Indian food
and corner stores are losing business to the big vendors using this to
overcome the logistics of deliveries using puddled roads in India. These
small shop's business will be cannibalized and decimated in no time by
the big boys. Most of Indians daily survival lifeline is still highly
dependent on such small shops. The other lifeline is still deeply
entrenched in agriculture. Jobs are not even created enough to cater to
younger Indians graduating from universities, so what are these older
Indians going to do with their business uncompetitive anymore.
What
are those small Indian shop owners going to do to overcome this? We
shall probably see protest being organized, but to little avail and an
exercise in futility, like the farmers protesting months ago.
You
see, such delivery systems posed no threat in other countries, like
Singapore, that have very small number of vendors or shops depending on
deliveries and more on walk-in or walk-by customers. Sure, hawkers make
use of that service, but more as a complement rather than a competing
system that cannibalized their business. And there is such a wide
variety of food at hawker centers, and all over the island that the big
boys can never hope to monopolize. A visit to such hawker centers is
more fulfilling than ordering on the blind based on past experiences or
recommendations.
Anonymous
India is still stuck with most of the ills of a democratic system that is already failing in most Western countries. The Indian system is mired in excessive red tape when dealing with the Government, with corruption still rampant everywhere. Everything moves at a snail pace, while the Chinese high-speed train zoomed by. Both countries were at the same level in the seventies, but today China has a GDP about five times that of India. In the USA scheme of argument when they are losing, they always use the accusation that the Chinese must be on steroids or performance enhancing drugs with the Chinese being subjected to the most stringent testing at the Olympics, LOL.
ReplyDeleteBut India, being the biggest democracy in the world cannot be seen to fail as a showpiece for democracy at work, and the West is egging India on by heaping praise on India and making the situation worse for India. India as the biggest democracy in the world cannot be allowed to fail, which will tarnish the ideals of democracy. The dying horse lying on the ground has to be flogged to rise and complete the race.
Not a few prominent Indian economist and industry leaders have seen the whole picture and commented on why India cannot rise to overtake China, the perennial Indian bogeyman, and they have been castigated for doing so. You see, Indians do not tolerate criticism. They only want to listen to the good stuff, which will make them happy and inflate their egos. While the Chinese work hard at their tasks instead of engaging in wasteful arguments all the time, the Indians like to spend more time arguing than working. I sometimes wonder whether Indians shaking their heads while talking is agreeing or disagreeing.
China never boasts about wanting to become the next superpower to overtake the USA. China just let the facts present themselves for the world to judge. But India likes to boast about wanting to become the next superpower, the next factory of the world, the next industrial power to overwhelm the Chinese. Talk is easy and that is why Indians love talking so much while achieving little.