Book Review : Cutting The Gordian Knot

This is  a book that some of the biggest names in the country have rated very highly; and yet, it is also a book that I just could not connect to, for specific reasons outlined in the review. Cutting The Gordian Knot is a book penned by – and reviewed by – some of the best talent in our country; that is true. It is also a book with zero ground connect, a book of dreams, a book of tall ideas – some practical, fewer practicable, and some not so practical. Practical implies useful, capable of being put into effect; while practicable means feasible as well as usable. That sums up the book. Practical – for sure. Practicable? No way. Comprehensive? No. It misses several vital aspects.

THE GORDIAN KNOT

The Gordian Knot means a difficult problem; the book is aptly named – it looks at some of the most difficult problems confronting our nation, our people at the current point in time. It looks at the state of Education, Employment, Employability, Entreneurship, Upscaling, Human Capital etc, for the Urban as well as the Farm / Rural Sector. This is at the best of times, a tall task; the scope attempted is awesome, mind-numbing – and the ideas it contains do attempt to do justice to this. Credit where credit is due – the authors and the contributors have to be credited with actually trying to put together a set of ideas that are actually practical. Yet, my rating stands at 1 star; poor. To understand, read the analysis…

THE ANALYSIS

As I stated in the opening, practical and practicable are two entirely different things in life. What is practical may not be practicable; it might actually be merely a sensible desire, when you take the ground reality into consideration. That is the biggest problem, lack of an appreciation for the ground reality. Maybe, at some point in the future, we will realize these dreams; that is certainly possible, doable, and practicable. But not yet, not now.

Second, the overt, clear and defined emphasis on the Technology aspect, online delivery platforms, etc for nearly all problems {as far as I recall} discussed is impractical, for more reasons than one. It is not going to happen, period. As a Telecom person, I can appreciate that status of the industry is such that further investments are not possible. Not without significant de-leveraging of balance-sheets, or Government solutions. {As we speak, this is being debated}.  And the status of internet speeds & coverage is shoddy, to put it mildly. That puts severe limitations on Technology solutions scalability on a national level, at least for the immediate & foreseeable future. To make it practicable, you have to put forth a long-term vision for this problem, detailing possible solutions. This has not been done.

Second is the language problem. Most online & tech delivery platforms are in English. This again puts severe limitations on scalability. We need to develop content and platforms in Local Languages. This has its own problems in scaling up – namely, this severely limits Target Groups size, meaning profitability and cash flow problems, given current costing assumptions. Sure, the content is tops, but it is in English, and frequently by Foreign instructors. Some are now being made in vernacular, to be fair and sure; it is a start. But a long way to go, with many practical concerns remaining.  

That said, vernacular content is rapidly rising; it is feasible the base assumptions may change, making this feasible as well as practical in terms of preparing the content. The ELearning industry needs to move out of English if it wants to penetrate. Third, and a smaller issue – unfamiliar interface. Fouth, zero industry acceptance of online learning. Fifth, lack of common standards that are common across platforms, ensuring certification, quality, comparability and trust of the people who undergo learning on these platforms. Put all of it together-  national scalability is not feasible, as things stand.

The same is the issue in the solutions entailing use of technology to solve, for example – farming problems. This is already being done; and quite successfully. However, the problem of scalability to a national level remains. {I am aware of one initiative taken up on a state level – so this is one of the few practicable solutions discussed in the book}. Maybe, at some future date, these things will  happen; but they wont come about without  attending to ground realities.

The main problem in the section on farming is, it just does not go to the core of the problem. It takes a very limited look at the problems of the farm sector, and none of the ground realities, once again, get attention. Using digital, satellites, technology is just great; appreciated. But this will  not solve farmer problems unless the base issues facing farming are sorted out. For ex, unbalanced fertilization, excessive pesticide usage, lack of proper seeds usage by farmers, lack of price realization at farm-gate- which is a function not of technology or price discovery, but of Market and Price Access.

CONCLUSION

You wont cut the Gordian Knot using the methods contained in this book; this a book that looks at a higher-level view, and ignores ground realities. It is excellent ideas – nearly all of them. But these are ideals, best-case scenarios; not the solutions themselves. And they are not comprehensive. But it is a start that people have started putting their minds into these issues. It contains many sweeping assumptions, incorrect generalizations, unfounded defence of some bad moves. All in all, a good first effort, by some of the best brains in our country. But it stops short of being practicable.