Chaltha Hai Attitude and India's development

This is in response (Not a reply, but I was enthused to write this by seeing his blog) to my friend Kumar's post on the ways in which an Indian citizen can help his/her coutry. The educated people have a lot more responsibility on their shoulders as compared to the illiterate ones. Those belonging to the former category should lose this "Chaltha Hai" attitude and those belonging to the latter should switch over the former category. The concepts of compassion and mercy should be thrown away when it comes to business. This is the main reason India is found lacking when it comes to quality. The idea to excel in whatever you do and always want the best must be developed in every individual. When I call up my cable operator that my cable is cut, he just replies, "Yes, It has been cut, What can we do?" The newspaper guy "Sir, I had some personal problems. This will not happen on most days, But I cannot assure you that it won't happen" . And my parents tell me "That's how it'll be. What can he do , Paavam" It is this Paavam attitude that I want people to get rid of when it comes to business. How do I care if he falls into a pit while delivering newspaper or while repairing the cable. All that I know is I pay him some amount for doing something, and that he should do it. That's all. That's the way it should be ideally (that's according to me). It's a similar story in the govt organizations. So, people do not take up responsibilities. Whether it comes to keeping your time, delivering newspaper, or whatever. I have heard that doctors abroad have a lot of responsibility when it comes to the treatment of their patients. Just one misjudgement and their career as a doctor is gone. To give an example that India is indeed changing in this direction is the Airtel ad that I saw recently. You don't get your phone repaired within four hours of registering your complaint, you pay a 100 bucks less in your next bill. May have a lot of clauses, but still this seems to be the right direction in which India will have to move to achieve it's dream of being a developed nation. For our elders, Indian products have always been inferior when compared to "foreign goods". Precisely the reason why one can see so many "Foreign goods" shops here. They are apparently never out of business. This frame of mind has carried over to the later generations as well. Such a frame of mind is bad, but it didn't have any repurcussions as long as our country's economy was protected. In todays world of open markets (unless you have the power to dictate terms and remain a closed economy), one has to match world standards when it comes to quality to even be in the race for the top. Otherwise you simply DIE. That's it. The law of nature "survival of the fittest" holds here. The "Chaltha Hai" attitude again comes to the Foray here. Quality is not delivered because it is not expected. Tell me a customer who demands a car that runs for 50 years without any problems. The marketing manager will just ridicule you if you ask him this. It is not that such cars do not exist (e.g Mercedes Benz). Such quality is just not expected and hence not delivered. My view is that only when concepts like "Customer is the King" "Quality and then Price" come into business and the "Chaltha Hai" attitude is totally abolished will India realise it's dream. These are apart from the things that my friend put in like abolition of religion and religion based prejudices etc.