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PODCAST
MP3
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L-R Anil Kumar , Moderator and Hon. shashi Tharoor
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Shashi Tharoor and Sam pitroda
Address Issues at the Forum in SF Bay area Nov 3rd
Milpitas, California: The latest meeting of
the newly named Indian American Council (IAC) was held on November 3rd
at the ICC Mallavali , titled ‘ Meet sam and Shashi”, referring to
Telecom pioneer Sam pitroda and former UN Undersecretary General and
authir Shashi Tharoor.
With many in the SF Bay area eagerly awaited to hear Sam Pitroda, who
has not been very voluble recently, Shashi Tharoor is always a big draw
with his articulkate commentary and also given the light of his
presence and commentary as a diplomat and author on the stagnant
US-India civilian Nuclear agreement.
Unfortunately, Sam Pitroda was a no show because of his wife’s
complications from an operation; disappointing many in the audience,
however, Pitroda did make an appearance of sorts via a land line
telephone. It was ironic that a pioneer in the Indian Telecom
industry was saddled by a poor phone connection and
technical hook up at the ICC auditorium. Unfortunately, even in
Silcon Valley, with the presence of all technology giants, not
even a simple web camera or webcast or video feed was hooked up,
reducing Pitroda to a communicate via a recaptcle on the table with his
voice barely audible. This was in marked contrast to the articulate and
dashing Tharoor, who had the audience lapping up his every utterance,
especially on the US-India Nuclear agreement
Accompanied on stage by moderator Anil Kumar, director of
McKinsey and Co., Tharoor was willing to speak on a wide ranging set of
issues and even support Sam Pitroda’s effort to promote the IAC and
articulate about India as a Knowledge economy. However, as expected,
the 300 member NRI audience were quite interested in Tharoor’s take on
the US India civilian Nuclear Agreement, especially as many NRI’s who
had worked on bringing this agreement to the negotiating table by
lobbying in the USA. Further several NRIS present expressed their
feelings, “ as being felt let down and being kept in the dark” and “not
shown any respect” by Government of India officials.
Tharoor also based his talk on his recently published book on India,
“The Elephant, the Tiger and the Cellphone,” as he was spoke mostly
upbeat about India’s current status and future in the World, although
cautioning about several stepsthat need to be taken to make this a
realization.
Tharoor began by saying, “ India is an amazing place to be these
days, there is a distinct air of confidence among the population
and especially youth, that they will lead better life than their
parents. And this is seen across the country in India”, although he
qualified by saying a lot of work needs to be done in rural India.
Speaking on the US –India Civilian Nuclear agreement, Tharoor
acknowledged the good work done by many in the NRI community, and also
observed that it was understandable in the recent aftermath of the
faltering of the agreement that “the NRI community feel let down as
they have been involved especially as many had invested
considerable time, money and resources to get the agreement to the
negotiating table.”
Articulating his personal beliefs on the subject, he said, “ As an UN
man, I am not a great fan of Nuclear weapons. But what ever our
attitude has been, we know that, some countries have them, some would
like to have them and some want to have them. This has affected the
world and actually since India’s nuclear test in 1998, we still have 45
countries which still impose sanctions on India.”
Tharoor observed that even today Indian scientists could not get visas
to at least 45 countries as a result of thee sanctions, and
reiterated that one of the best things about all the lobbying and
attention leading to the agreement was that US had certified that
indeed India was an exception as opposed to Pakistan, Iran and
others- with never any record of proliferation, a stable civilian
rule and a vibrant democracy.” The removal of India’s pariah
state label in nuclear issue was the aftermath and a welcome sign
indeed.
Tharoor also revealed about a private meet with PM Manmohan Singh and
high ranking officials in which they said, “If we were told that
whatever agreement we came up, the Left opposition would be against
it, then we wouldn’t have wasted our time.” Tharoor observed that
as far as the Left parties are concerned, looks like any agreement with
US would be unacceptable.
Tharoor said that the future for India looks bright with India having
the largest number of youth under the age of 35, so that the next
30 years, the India workforce will enter their most productive
years. Contrasting with china, where one youth will have to
support four grandfathers for the next 50 years, a result of their
draconian 1 child per family law.”
Again, sounding a not of caution Tharoor observed, “All this will work
only if we can educate and employ these youth.” Striking a somber
note, Tharoor spoke about the abject poverty that still exists in
India, saying, “ India’s definition of poverty line is drawn just this
side of the funeral pyre, with millions living on Rs 360 or 30 cents a
month.” Issues of chronic hunger, malnutrition and ill health remain
and the dichotomy exists of “ India producing the world’s largest pool
of trained Engineers and professionals but again more kids in
India not seen inside of a school than anywhere else in the world.”
Answering questions from the audience mostly on the Nuclear agreement,
Tharoor observed that there was a small window for the agreement to be
revived in 2008, as the next year was also the year for US Presidential
elections.
A question posed by Ro Khanna, a failed candidate for US Congress,
about the “seeming lack of respect and acknowledgement of NRI’s
who had lobbied hard for the nuclear agreement”, resulted in a
retort by Tharoor that while acknowledging the many contributions of
Indian-Americans, it was advisable for the Indian-American community to
make an impact in the US, rather than hope to make a mark in India.
In couple of humorous anecdotes, Tharoor spoke on the changing image of
Indians around the globe, pointing to the spread of the Bollywood
culture to all confines of the globe; from the West to Middle East to
villages in Africa, sans any translation. Tharoor also spoke of his
friend who was accosted at an international airport by a man who
pleaded, ‘ you are Indian, please fix my laptop”- a departure from the
erstwhile stereotypical image of an Indian as a snake charmer or
fortune teller indeed.
Highlighting his latest book,”The elephant, the Tiger and Cellphones,”
which were snapped by many in the audience, Tharoor spoke on the
technology and economy ascendency of India, saying, India is changing
even as we speak, At the time of my entering graduate studies in the
U.S. in 1975, there were about 2 million land lines and in 1991, there
were a reported 8 million land phone lines. Now in April 2006, a record
7.1 million cell phones were sold and in October 2007, latest figures
indicate 8.5 million cell phones were snapped up by Indian
consumers.” This pace has already outdated figures in his
recently published book
Sam Pitroda spoke briefly about his current stint as Chairman of
India’s National knowledge commission, articulating some of the vision
and goals in different sectors as laid out by several 10 member blue
ribbon commissions. The broad scope outlined by Pitroda encompasses
education, vocational training, rural development and infrastructure
etc.
Pitroda highlighted that while higher education institutes are needs,
so are vocational training school with an immediate need for nearly
500.000 trained truck drivers etc. Pitroda and Anil Kumar , as
directors of the IAC, also urged the audience to join the IAC and
participate in small and large projects in India and champion the cause
to improve the lives of millions in India.
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