Interning with small town India: Observations and Impressions

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I am interning with SAB Miller India, the Indian arm of worlds second largest beer company. As I am interning with Brand management team, I am travelling all across India, gauging the pulse of the market all across. My internship has so far taken me to various places in Maharashtra like Kolhapur, Nanded, Amravati and to Nagpur a couple of times. Apart from Maharashtra it has so far taken me to Gurgaon and a very small town called Mansa in Punjab and then to Sanskardhani of MP, Jabalpur. During all this travelling I have got opportunity to interact with local people extensively and take a peek into their lives as well. The brand I am working on has its largest consumers in small towns hence in the past one month I have explored quite a few small towns in India. I have been observing how the majority of India is taking shape, how is the lifestyle across, how do people behave... I must admit the journey so far has not been so encouraging. The small town India still seems stuck some 20-25 years back as compared to a few metros. Cleanliness is a major issue. Our country by and large is a very dirty country. No one seems to be bothered about any cleanliness or discipline. Govt. apathy is clearly visible. Local governing bodies seem to work just as much is required for bare minimum survival of the town. No beautification is required, even if the local governing bodies ensure that each and every small street in there locality is clean, will make a huge difference to this country. This can be done will not cost much, but it needs will on the part of local bodies. I was at Jabalpur a two days back and the difference in cleanliness was starkly visible in Jabalpur Cantonment area and the area under corporation in the immediate vicinity. The streets in the cantt area were spanking clean and as soon as the territory of cantt ended, just 50 feet from it the heaps of garbage on the roads started appearing!! If Cantt board can do it so can Municipal corporations, but they dont. And not because they are not capable but because they do not really wish to. People wish that every change should come from the top or higher ups of the organization. No one seems to be willing to take any initiative at a local level. The local governments seem to be devoid of any motivation whatsoever, there is no sense of ownership and sense of taking care of the town. The sense of ownership ends with collecting taxes no sense of responsibility seems to exist. There must be a fault with our larger governing structure somewhere; otherwise all local governments would not have failed en masse. It seems local governments have largely been ignored in the larger scheme of things. They have not received the recognition and resources as an important arm of governance. I feel local governments should be empowered with resources, should not be interfered with and should be held accountable for everything a common resident of a town is entitled to receive. Also multiple representations by multiple parties at various levels of governance seem to have created conflict of interests at many levels and an overall messy and unwieldy system. If you take an example of a small town, it falls under jurisdiction of a municipal council, also a constituency of MLA and also a constituency of an MP. All different political parties are in power in these different centers of governance. Parties at every level want to exert their power and make money while they are in power. During this entire tug of war between political parties the residents of the town are largely left to their own devices. No major developmental project is undertaken for them. Also the resources are largely scattered, each level of government receives it share of resources but there is no coordinated approach in utilizing these resources. Each level of governance seems to have its own agenda and often in conflict with other levels. Hence I feel there is a fundamental flaw in the current design of governance systems.

Meeting different kinds of people has been other interesting part of my journey so far. People I met in these small towns were largely poor people or slightly better off. Major source of employment for these lower-sections-of-pyramid people seems to be local shops and other unorganized sectors. I met many people who where small shop owners, workers in these shops, drivers, mechanics etc. I met these people because they are the largest consumers of the brand I am working on. I feel these are the people who form the largest section of the society. If India has to progress in the real terms, this section of society should improve. The education and culture of this section of society reflects the level of education and culture of India. These people are generally hard working, honest and trustworthy. But largely do not have any polish in their behavior and thinking is narrow-minded because of lack of proper education. Also there is a large problem of lawlessness in states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and many other states. I have personally witnessed hooliganism in Haryana, people carry guns, beat-up others at their will with no fear of consequences. Largely impression is governance in India is a huge mess and a great challenge. Indian governance has a long way to go and the day at least some decency or discipline appears in Indian governance, India will be a paradise for enterprising people and will be a true land of opportunities for everyone. PS: Views expressed are based on cursory observations and not any scientific analysis. Any corrections or contradictory observations are most welcome. Please do put in your valuable comments as it will enhance the collective learning..