Nothing could be farther from the truth.The romantic notion of village republic is just that – a notion.

Fact of the matter: In India, we don’t believe in local self government.Whether at the city level or at the village level.

And for all the thoughtfulness and influence that Mr.Nilekani and Mr.Narayana Murthy have, things are pretty abysmal in Bangalore w.r.t. civic infrastructure.And firms like Infy have obtained hundreds of acres of land at ridiculously low prices in all major cities of the country.If these entrepreneurs were so concerned about Imagining a New India, they should have focused equally on building up the domestic IT industry, a startup eco system, and also setup their huge campuses in semi-urban areas to facilitate the development of new cities. No, much like the subsidies in the higher education system, these companies have also benefited from the govt policy (or lack of policy).And going by the furore about the SEZ/STP policy, many of these firms still want a tax holiday.

In other news, Satyam Computers uses its money to buy stock in Maytas Infra – move cash reserves from IT business to the safe haven of infrastructure business.Lets see what Infy does with the land bank it has built up..

Atanu,

I know I am being a bit harsh and even emotional may be.But the likes of Indian IT bigwigs just do not cut with me.They have been sitting on billions of dollars of cash reserves which could have been used to create a technology-enabled revolution in the Indian hinterland.That’s my grouse against them.

Coming to your post, Atanu, I feel the shift of power should not happen to people like Mr.Nilekani.If we have thoughtful people among our businessmen, there is nothing that stops a good number of them from joining politics to make a difference.

A more meaningful change would be to work towards a better model of local self government, with the taxes collected in a village/town/city primarily spent on that area, and a fixed percentage going to the levels above (district/stste/union).The current model of most revenues going to the Union, followed by the State, leaves cities, districts and small towns at the mercy of the politicians and bureaucrats.Even 61 years after the Brits have left, we still see our villagers go with a begging bowl to the Dist Collector or the MP/Minister.And the States do that with the Union.

Yes, the shift is happening. Such leaders need to have wider publicity and bigger connection with general public. It is possible to get such leaders elected to top posts only after this. Otherwise they have to be satisfied writing books and advising governments in various fora.