Google and China

Google has attracted a lot of positive attention in the United States because it has "stood up" to the Chinese government and refused to submit to censorship any longer. The operative words are "any longer", and the company took this stance allegedly because of Chinese attempts to hack into gmail accounts of known dissidents. The fact that they have now told the Chinese censor to stick it is quite worthy of applause. However this beacon of free speech - along with that other champion of open society Yahoo - had no problem putting in the necessary filters, sometimes going out of the way to satisfy the Chinese authorities. Indians would recall that Google Maps of the Indian North East show the state of Arunachal Pradesh as being an Indian state in the worldwide edition, but non-existent and a part of China in the Chinese version.

So why this newly found sense of morality and values? I look for some clues.

First, Google intends to position its online applications and connectivity as a real alternative to the desktop. Gmail is no longer a beta application from Google, it is a mainline offering that has found acceptability with businesses as well. The use of its online applications seems to be growing as broadband penetration grows. If ever there was a time to resist any attempt to intrude on this world and cause customers to lose confidence, this was it. Imagine if the emails or documents of any of the niche companies in England's Silicon Valley (near Cambridge) were to be compromised by a hacker, particularly when a lot of these companies do a lot of secret work for the MoD.

Second, there is now a groundswell of opinion that China profits from the West but behaves as a predatory mercantilist, and not as a part of the evolving consensus. The Chinese approach to most things is to remind the world of Napoleon's aphorism of the sleeping giant, and to tell the world to conform or else. I will not go into recent events relating to Copenhagen, or the propping up of abhorrent regimes in the Third World in exchange for resources. The young people who run Google are aware of this, and know that to stand up to China is good press. Obviously they have done the math and know that Baidu will continue to grow even as the internet develops a strong Putonghua presence. This is the time to earn a few brownie points.

Third, I believe that the internet is developing away from the principles that informed its inception in the free-spirited University system in the United States. Google and indeed the West is losing the battle to preserve the internet as it was. I believe nothing stiffens the back as much as having a few billion bucks($30bn in near-cash securities, to be precise) jingling in your pockets. It is called FU Money. Google has it in spades, and this would have convinced them that they have nothing to lose.

I am of the opinion that Google may pull out of China, but Chinese firms will continue to advertise in the now-free Google, adding to their already substantial search revenues. I do not believe the Chinese wil block Google. And if someone googles Tiananmen from Beijing and find instead a stirring rendition of "The East is Red" coming at them, I would advise them to enjoy the music.

A Visit to Bombay House

It is an old building in the heart of Fort – in what used to be at the centre of the commercial hub of the British Empire in India and close to the port and naval installations. For those of us who started our careers in corporate India twenty odd years ago, this was the Mecca of Indian Corporate life. Close to it was the – then – brash and upstart high rises of Nariman Point. Adjacent were the old buildings of Colaba and the Reclamation, standing cheek by jowl with the residential and office complexes of the Maker family.

It used to be said that you can buy anything in Fort – including a set of parents. The old Citibank used to be head-quartered in Fort, next to the Parsi eating house called Mocambo’s – where the Citibank trainee could eat for free up to a princely Rs75 per meal and the rest of us had to scrape it up from our starting salaries for a plate of Dhansak. Even now, it has an air of bustling commerce, of deals being done and of trade being concluded – even as the lifeblood of Indian commerce moves out to new power centres like Bangalore and Gurgaon. Bombay is now Mumbai, and most companies have moved or are moving to Bandra Kurla Complex, or Kalina or Vashi or further beyond. Even the Tatas are no longer the economic powerhouse of Mumbai. The brash Ambani brothers occupy that position now, even as their personal feud takes the headlines in the gossip columns.

I am no longer as spry as I once was, and I would be the first to say that I am more old codger than young lion. However, a very senior member of the Tata management invited me to meet him. When my car stopped outside Bombay House I was surprised to find myself thrilled. Twenty five years ago, I would have been awed and humbled at the prospect of stepping into this hallowed building, to meet a member of the Tata elite, or perhaps spend a few minutes in the company of JRD himself, perhaps as part of the initiation rites of welcoming a new manager to the Tata fold. No such luck then, and nothing of that sort now. It was a business meeting, but it still left me quite honoured.

The entrance to Bombay House now looks like that of any portal to an important building – the ubiquitous metal detectors, the omnipresent security guards who check your belongings, and the clear injunction to get your registered and wait for someone to fetch you by name. Once you are inside, the atmosphere takes a giant step back almost half a century. There are the obvious nods to modernity in the form of doors activated by your visitor pass, the computers and modern telephones strewn around, the trill of the cellphone breaking the silence, and the presence of the odd young executive hurrying to answer a summons.

Other than that, it is an ambience that seems comfortable with the present while basking in the glories of its past. Nothing is flashy or glitzy, and there seems to be an effort to convey an impression of middle-class virtue rather than impress with the immense wealth the group controls. As the gentleman who I met and conversed with for over an hour told me, it is a culture of trusteeship. It is not a place to come and get fabulously wealthy, it is one that puts its trust in people, carefully selected to reflect values as much as possess skills, and leave them to generate wealth for the shareholder.

At the same time, there is an underlying sense that this is not some old cruise liner, this is a warship that can act ruthlessly when needed. I applauded Ratan Tata when he called the awful Mamata Banerjee’s bluff, and moved the Nano plant a thousand miles away. She did not think Tata would leave West Bengal, but the speed and the ruthlessness of his response left her speechless.

I sat in the waiting area, after my meeting was over, and contemplated all this. I felt a lot of affection for the old lady, and was glad that I got an opportunity to visit this landmark and spend some time with one of the very ordinary Indians who became someone notable thanks to the ability of the Tatas to trust and develop people. For a fleeting moment, I felt touched by the same greatness. Then I stepped out of the building and lost myself in the bustle of Bombay.

If this is all what Tamil Nadu can do...

I just got back to England after nearly a month in India interspersed with visits to the UAE on work. It was wonderful to be in the land of one's birth, enjoying the blessings of good food, good company and sunshine. However there were a few observations on public life in India that I could not keep from intruding on the good times..

Tamil Nadu is blessed with an alert population of literate people, who have had the benefit of some fairly advanced social movements over the last century. The infrastructure is reasonably good - ask anyone about roads in Tamil Nadu versus those in Karnataka. There are a wealth of good institutions of higher learning. In primary education, the far-sighted "noon meal scheme" of former movie star-turned-politician MGR brought many children to school. All in all, it has all the ingredients for producing much higher growth than it does today.

Yet I am appalled at how the politics of posturing and populism rules unchallenged. Caste-based politics are rife. The ruling party is neatly parcelled into interests lead by the children of the much-married octogenarian Chief Minister. The CM himself can lay claims to his literary merits and his role in using the film media to drive a message of social change as his contributions to Indian public life - he can still be a mesmerising public speaker in Tamil as Vajpayee used to be in Hindi. But his offspring are like the second generation anywhere. Blessed with the name of the Georgian leader of the Soviet Union - why, God alone knows - the heir apparent revels in populist measures that will definitely bankrupt the State. Free Colour TVs for all. Free clothes for all. Free rice for all.

Not that a responsible opposition is waiting in the wings. The former film star turned former Chief Minister has made it a point not to attend the state legislature. Instead of focussing on building a credible opposition movement based on real issues of governance, she sulks, biding her time and waiting for the world to come fall at her feet and anoint her as the next leader. Apart from the noise that usually passes for debate in the Legislature, there is no credible challenge to the government.

This is a state that has produced Nobel Laureates, economists, national level politicians, musicians, artists, sportsmen and sportswomen, writers and educators - and whose people are often held up as intellectuals in the rest of the country. Yet this is the kind of people they elect. Why talk about the antics of Mayawati or those of the former CM of Jharkhand. If this land of Tamils can only elect a lot like what inhabit the MLA hostel in Tamil Nadu, what hope do the lesser-endowed states have?