So why did US President Obama really come to India ?

So why did President Obama really come to India !?

USA is clearly in survival mode,hoping to move to revival mode in the years ahead

Their mantra for this is pretty clear cut and inevitable…they have little option

‘Borrow more and more from China and Invest in and Sell more and more to India !’

….The first is inevitable as USA has no monies to revive…….having lived beyond their means for years……so they need to print more and more notes and borrow more  and more….the second is that their 325 million people are a saturated market…and citizens have lost their purchasing power…..so to revive they need to invest and sell their goods on huge scales…and there is no better market in scale and growing prosperity than India’s 1.2 Billion people

….so Obama came to say “Open out India because I need to Open out Jobs back home in USA !”…he was refreshingly candid about this too

USA needs India to survive and revive…President Obama,himself, needs India to survive his faltering presidency….maybe he would be well advised to seek asylum here !….Obama loves Mahatma Gandhi and Michelle loves Indian Food…they’ll be closer to both….but I daresay and fear that if he joins Politics here and seeks to bring about change to bring back Probity in Public Life,he may change but not the System !

But does India need USA ?….well we actually do…for technologies and infrastructure boosts to lend support to our high GDP Growth rates envisaged of 9% + annually for decades ahead…..but we must not play second fiddle here and be bullied to open out our markets fully to USA…..they want us to Open out…they too need to Open out their markets….they have been actually doing just the reverse…closing out or putting hurdles on IT outsourcing,continuing to subsidise their farmers and dampening WTO Treaty Hopes

One more angle…geo-political….we live on a planet of near Seven Billion People…..roughly half living under a Communist or Religious Idealogy and the other half under a Democratic and Secular Ideology that breeds Capitalism and encourages and thrives on Entreprenuerships and Private Enterprise….so the World’s two largest Democracies of India and the USA are already idealogical partners….we need to partner vigorously to carry the Torch of Freedom and Human Rights on our Planet…..Simple in Idealogy…but Complex in Reality …..as we have created Weapons of Mass Destruction…..and also each Nation will first safeguard their own interests….and while doing so will compromise on those of other nations….26/11 is a great illustration of this….USA continues not to declare Pakistan a Terrorist State and impose sanctions on it…even though there is clear damning evidence of Terrorism breeding in Pakistan….on the contrary it provides monetary and defence support to this country….both of which are used against India….why does USA practice double standards here ?….it needs the support of the Pakistan Army in it’s Afghanistan forays post 9/11 to battle Al Qaeda,Taliban and Osama Bin Laaden….with China too supporting Pakistan and taunting India with regular incursions in Leh and Arunachal Pradesh,India faces severe geo political issues on it’s North,North East and West Borders  

….yet want to argue on this with me….when was the last time you had US Aircraft Manufacturing Giant, Boeing advertise in the Times of India’ (check today’s Mumbai edition) praising India’s rich Talent and Resource Pools and offering Scholarships to woo our People !….the bottomline for Boeing is simply to save or create thousands of jobs for Americans back home….they can only do this by procuring huge orders for aircrafts that would keep their units operational and occupied for years to come….in a recession hit world economy,such orders are not easily forthcoming and many even cancelled or deferred or simply dry up…..India is one of the few nations that is on it’s way to prosperity and can offer huge scale….so US Giants like Boeing and GE are simply tapping and wooing India…..some years ago they had no time for us !….now their CEOs must have visited India several times already in recent times !…we may need them…but should be on our terms now ….not sell out to them as they sell to us !

A last thought…….It’s been an ages old ploy for these American & European Multinationals to deliberately employ sons and daughters of influential Indian politicians,bureacrats and corporate chieftains…be it Citibank or GE…..in order to manipulate,source and secure big business….Oh ! ofcourse they were ‘highly qualified’ too as only such could afford the then much coveted US Ivy League College Education…..No Issues here with me as most were really nice guys and gals and such jobs are on merit…In fact one even refused an American bank’s lucrative job offer because it came attached with a condition that he must get the Account of India’s leading Company which his father headed !….but there were some who I had the misfortune to interact with…. I abhored the arrogance and condescending  attitudes of these when they worked for these US and European Giants….they were ‘well looked’ after as long as they tapped the influencing network of their parents…….I just hope that such ‘idiots’ of the 1970s and 1980s and even 1990s eras who yet have survived and continue to weild some influence in these Companies don’t compromise India’s Interests for the sake of  their own and their American and European Employers

Those Indians who head Foreign Multinationals and in whom we take great Pride in their doing so must endeavour to go for win win situations,both in spirit and substance…where a conflict of interest comes up,it would be wonderful if they put Country ,India first before their Employer 

Cheers !