It Begins
Coordinates: 33° 45′ 24″ N, 84° 23′ 23″ W
Group Four is Tusar, Jon, Joseph and Sean. We meet at Sidebar this afternoon, a block from Aderhold, to power lunch and finalize plans for the trip. Everyone brings something to the table for this project: Jon works in freelance media production, so his skills will come in handy with the constant flow of videography throughout the journey; despite limited urban experience, Tusar has lived part of his life in India and knows the culture better than any of us – his tutelage will be indispensable to avoiding the pitfalls of faux pas in social situations; Joseph has a lot of international travel experience behind him and has studied abroad before; and Sean, it was decided at dinner last week, will be the food tester, the King’s jester, of sorts, who will ingest virtually anything to verify its edibility and protect the health of the group. The ratio of group members to the population of India is 1:Population of the United States, so we are ready to take on India… three hundred million at a time.
I met with Dr. Nathan for a little while yesterday to discuss India tête-à-tête, to get some specific questions about articles I’ve been studying out of the way. I was astonished by some things he told me, and not so surprised at others. Since India declared independence from Britain, the government has commissioned a Planning Committee that administers Five Year plans whereby a list of goals such as a certain percentage reduction of crime or infant mortality are sought incrementally. I thought, “This surely must have a direct impact on business and entrepreneurial activity, especially in localized areas,” but apparently the public doesn’t take these plans or its committee very seriously.
While the 10th Five Year plan comes to a close this year, some of India’s real progress lies in the transportation sector. Infrastructure has been the focus for a lot of improvement, as airports are upgraded, roads are built to connect all the major cities, and trains are air-conditioned and diesel powered. I think most of our class will be glad to pay a little extra for the trains with A/C. Additionally, the government is enforcing Special Economic Zones, or SEZs, where new companies are temporarily freed of some of the liabilities incurred by established firms. Keep reading our blog for more on Indian economic growth factors, and much, much more.
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