YouTube Videos on India
November 1st, 2008
Post by Professor Jay Singh.
The below videos provide you with foundational information to get you thinking about India, and business issues related thereto.
1. India Rising - (10:14 minutes; ABC News)
An interesting commentary on the reasons behind the emergence of India as a global leader. Check out the comments by Nandan Nilekani, CEO of Infosys regarding the number of applicants applying for IT jobs with the company. The Indian IT industry has a reached a point where they are now starting to employ US graduates. This largest and most diverse democracy is identified as the most pro-US country outside of the US. Comments by Thomas Friedman, the author of The World is Flat, illustrate his sentiments on the peaceful nature of this country as well as the tremendous potential that he sees in the population that comprises of 700 million citizens (that is almost 2.5 times the US population) under the age of 35. The video also explains how entrepreneurship does not bias against the poor in India.
2. India Shining by Colin Mutchler (6:04 minutes)
A narrative by a professor from INSEAD business school with campuses in France and Singapore. He mentions his experiences from a class that included 20 students, 2 professors and several entrepreneurs, business persons and venture capitalists in the cities of Mumbai and Bangalore. Phrases used tro describe India in this video are functional anarchy, chaotic democracy, lumbering elephant, and 20th century head on a 19th century body. It also mentions how the rapidly improving services sector in India is causing a brain gain rather than a brain drain. Up to 70,000 business leaders from the likes of the Silicon Valley are heading home annually to take advantage of the booming economy. The quote at the end of the video very aptly summarizes the professor’s experience.
3. Amitabh Bachchan recites India Poised Anthem (2:13 minutes)
Amitabh Bachchan is the biggest super star the Indian movie industry (Bollywood) has ever seen. He has also had his fair share of successes and failures as an entrepreneur. When he speaks India listens. In this video he truly motivates the Indian population to feel a sense of pride and optimism. He talks of optimism versus skepticism that is India.
4. Taj Mahal (8:31 minutes) (do search noted above)
Should we again be able to add India into the trip one of the treats for all students on the International Business Trip, 2009 will be the Taj Mahal that has recently made it into the 7 wonders of the world. This beautiful mausoleum, made entirely of white marble inlaid with semi-precious stones, was built by Emperor Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal over 400 years ago. More information on this a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1983) is available here. Enjoy the toe tapping bollywood music in the background.
5. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (8:22 minutes)
The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), are an elite group of seven autonomous engineering and technology oriented institutes of higher education established and declared as Institutes of National Importance by the Government of India. The IITs were created to train scientists and engineers, with the aim of developing a skilled workforce to support the economic and social development of India after independence in 1947. Admission is very competitive, given the huge population of India; the undergraduate acceptance rate through JEE has a low ratio, around 1 in 55, with about 300,000 annual test takers for about 5,500 seats. Imagine that!! The IITs were ranked third-best worldwide for technology, after MIT and University of California, Berkeley.
This video gives an excellent overview of one of the institutes.
6. The William Jefferson Clinton Science & Technology Center (6:23 minutes)
While the video titled Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur helps illustrate the high standards of engineering and technology education in India, this video provides an example of the paradigm shift in mass education in the world’s second highest populated nation. Vinod Gupta, an IIT’ ian, moved to the US to seek a career as did a record 70% of his fellow graduates (this is what they mean by brain drain, which has dramatically decrease to about 30% in recent years). With President Clinton’s support he established a school that helps provide cutting edge education in science and technology at high school level to over 550 students from nearly surrounding 31 villages.
7. India ‘Vision 2020′ - A Creative Documentary (7:21 minutes)
This documentary provides a vision of an India in 2020 where:
The annual GDP growth rate will be 9% (presently at 6.8%)
Only 10% of the population will be below poverty line (presently at 25%)
Nuclear power stations will provide 20,000 MWe power
Remote services will contribute $133-315 billion in revenues to the Indian economy
This documentary may have romanticized some of the facts but is not too off from the future that is India.
8. The Simpsons - India Outsourcing (7:28 minutes)
This episode was good enough to cause belly splitting laughter but it appears to have been recently removed. This episode makes light of the outsourcing issues that had the pundits in the US running scared not too long ago. Last heard, Homer was deported from India wonder why …
What are some of your takeaways from one or more of these videos?
Entry Filed under: Pre-Departure, China, Misc.
6 Comments Add your own
1. Romain Guerel | November 1st, 2008 at 2:06 am
My favorite India blogs:
Metroblogging Chennai: http://chennai.metblogs.com/
2point6billion: http://www.2point6billion.com/
India cut: http://indiauncut.com/
You can find the other ones I like on the India Business blog roll of my website: http://chinaandi.typepad.com
Enjoy!
2. Raquel Rusing | March 11th, 2009 at 10:54 am
This is exactly what I was looking for! More videos on India. Thank you, Jay. And I’m being sincere. After finishing Out of India, I was very interested in spending more time relating to India than China.
I think my favorite video here was on a personal level - the Taj Mahal. I am so excited to see this because ever since I was a child who watched Disney’s Aladdin, I was intrigued by the story of how the great palace was built - third wife dies so you build a massive structure in her honor, at least this was the lacking romanticism a ten year-old was interpreting. This story of the Taj Mahal reminded me of the concept behind the Egyptian pyramids, a way to preserve the memory of your dead. But let’s be honest, how much more beautiful is the Taj Mahal to view than a pyramid, which is (without any disrespect implied) a cookie cutter endeavor in comparison.
Also, I found the The Simpsons Episode, named Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore. The Taj Mahal is involved with this video, too, hence my interest.
I also found some cultural references to India through some blogs and forums regarding Matt Groening’s genius psyche:
-Homer flies into the international airport that looks like Hyperabad, Andhra Pradesh
-Homer refers to Brahma, a Hindu god as “Papa Smurf”, Ganesh as “The Elephant Man” and Shiva as “Johnny Sixarms”
-The song that plays at the end of the episode is Pal Bhar Ke Liye by Kishore Kumar, a famous Bollywood playback singer from the 1970s. The song is from the Bollywood movie Johnny Mera Naam starring Dev Anand and Hema Malini.
Some mistakes:
-The Taj Mahal is not in Bangalore.
-The river that runs behind the Taj Mahal is the Yamuna, not the Ganges.
*These I did not catch, but I’m glad that I know now.
Ultimately, I feel like my lack of background in India causes me to have no business comments, but I do want to express my sincere interest in learning about the country. I wasn’t excited for India to be integrated into the international trip initially, but I have since gained an appreciation for the opportunity to experience two countries.
3. Kirk Story | February 20th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
The William Jefferson Clinton Science & Technology Center offered a compelling story of supporting rural education in India. I encourage this sort of diplomatic relations. It appears that many in the US are fearful of the rise of nations like India and China. These people would most likely argue that we are wasting money by supporting our rivals. I content that through education- all boats rise together. The world receives a net benefit from informed humans.
Ah the Clinton years… Seinfeld, budget surpluses, Wu-Tang…
4. Vitus Holzner | March 19th, 2010 at 12:04 am
I love the first video! Looking at the images of pure chaos on the streets and hearing the host say “There is a method that emerges from the madness … it’s the same sort of self-organizing system scientists observe in ant hills and bee hives. Somehow, against all odds, somehow things get done!” really sent a shiver down my spine!
Coming from a society that regulates the curvature of bananas (I’m NOT kidding!! Click here) I am amazed how in India people don’t seem to need this framework of rules and regulations to make everyday life work.
I hope the trip to India helps me to understand this way of working better and maybe even change my perception of how certain situations in business and life in general ought to be handled.
5. Leslie Mann | March 19th, 2010 at 10:17 am
The India Shining narrative is informative, yet dry in the beginning but the part I really enjoyed was the “piece” he wrote at the end. Mutchler was able to piece back together his original narrative to a poetic background of rhythm and melody with a short, one-minute artistic rendering of India as we see it today. Lyrics such as: “the government is slow to change,” reminds me of the many comments throughout the central blog and previous years’ posts I’ve recently read. Change in infrastructure, change in traditional values (women’s rights), changing the slums of Dharavi, changing the call centers. The list goes on and on. If India seems to be doing so many things right in the global economy, it obviously has still some work to do in the future; but growth is abound and India’s future is bright. As Mutchler so eloquently phrases it, “India shining, the weather is sweet, people are climbing while the west is asleep.” Remind anyone of Zakaria’s The Post-American World?
6. Yuxiang Gao | March 19th, 2010 at 6:04 pm
A shared experience of Buddhism gives China and India a
common cultural ground. China and India are ancient nations with deep historic ties, including trade ties, and intellectual and cultural exchanges.
The thousands years histroy of india is very attractive for me.
And now India show it aother attractive aspect—the amazing IT industry.
For a developing country, this huge success in high tech industry almost mean a miracle. I admire this so much.
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