लोकतंत्र, संघीयता र आर्थिक क्रान्ति

लोकतंत्र, संघीयता र आर्थिक क्रान्ति। लोकतन्त्र पहिलो तल्ला घरको, संघीयता दोस्रो, आर्थिक क्रान्ति तेस्रो।

अधिकार भनेको बनिया को बहीखाता होइन। फाइदा भए दिने, होइन भने नदिने। कसैले कसैलाई अधिकार दिने नै होइन। जन्मँदै प्रत्येकले आफु सँग लिएर आएको अधिकार हरु लाई मान्यता दिने मात्र हो। हामी जाबो को हौं र कसैलाई अधिकार दिने?

जनताले क्रांति गर्दा शासक सँग अधिकार मागेको होइन --- शासक को भखारी को चामल होइन अधिकार। अधिकार बाहिर बाट दिने होइन, भित्र बाट आउने हो। अधिकार भनेको ह्रदय भित्र बाट आउने गीत संगीत जस्तो। चाहे त्यसले डांडा कांडा गुंजायमान पारोस।

लोकतंत्र अधिकार हो भने संघीयता पनि अधिकार हो। बढ़ी संख्या मा राज्य बनायो भने खर्च बढ्छ त्यसैले हुन्न भन्ने तर्क विभिन्न कारणले गलत हो। पहिलो कुरा त न्याय को हुन्छ। न्याय महँगो भयो भनेर अन्याय गर्ने कुरा आउँदैन। तर त्यो तर्क नै उल्टो हो। सबै भन्दा सस्तो संघीयता मा २५ राज्य हुने हो, टेक्निकल कुरा गर्ने हो भने। आठ राज्य मा सहमति भएको अति ठुलो गल्ती हो। तर लोकतन्त्र ले गल्ती गर्ने अधिकार दिएको हुन्छ।

लोकतंत्र अधिकार हो, तर अवसर पनि हो। संघीयता अधिकार हो, तर अवसर पनि हो। अवसर यस माने मा कि लोकतंत्रले पनि र संघीयताले पनि आर्थिक क्रान्ति सम्भव बनाउँछ।

मोदी प्रधान मंत्री बन्दा भारत को अर्थतंत्र दुई ट्रिलियन डॉलर को। अब केही वर्ष भित्र त्यो तीन ट्रिलियन भइसक्छ। त्यो जुन थप एक ट्रिलियन छ त्यो उसले कुन देश बाट चोरेर ल्याउने हो? त्यो कतै बाट चोरेर ल्याउने होइन, त्यो फॉरेन ऐड बाट आउने होइन। त्यो जादुगर ले हावा बाट खरायो निकाले जस्तो हो। त्यो पहिला कहीं हुँदै नभएको एक ट्रिलियन उसले थप्न लागेको। कुन स्टीव जॉब्स र कुन ईलोन मस्क अथवा कुन ल्यारी पेज ले त्यसरी एक ट्रिलियन कतै थप्न भ्याएको छ?

नेपालमा एउटा रोटी छ, त्यो रोटी अहिले बाहुन सँग छ, मधेसी, जनजाति, दलित र महिला लाई बाँड्ने हो भने बाहुन भोकभोकै बस्ने? संघीयता विरोधी हरुको दिमागमा त्यस किसिमको सोंच बारम्बार देखिएको छ। जब कि यथार्थ के हो भने अहिले नेपालमा एउटा रोटी छ भने संघीय नेपाल ले पाँच वर्षमा पाँच वटा रोटी सेक्छ। संघीयता ले आर्थिक क्रान्ति संभव बनाउँछ। बाहुन को घट्ने होइन। नपाएका ले पाउने हो र सबै को बढ्ने हो, बाहुनको पनि बढ्ने हो।

विचार र शक्ति

Silicon

Larry Ellison on stage. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The number one destination for tech startups on the planet today is San Francisco. No, it is not Silicon Valley which continues to be home to the top tech companies in the world like Google, Apple and Facebook. Why did the center of gravity shift? Because the engineers wanted the city lifestyle. Most engineers who work for companies like Google in Silicon Valley tend to live in San Francisco.

Guess which city really has the city lifestyle? New York.

Boston used to be number two after Silicon Valley. Not any more. New York City has wrested that number two spot. Although Boston continues to be strong. Austin and Seattle are also strong spots.

But the Silicon Valley ecosystem is to be envied. One generation of successful entrepreneurs invest their money and wisdom into the next generation of entrepreneurs. That cycle goes on. You have to have several generations of successful companies to end up with the ecosystem that Silicon Valley has.

London and Berlin are also coming along. Bangalore in India has a decently rich density of developers. Chile has experimented with replicating the Silicon Valley thing. Israel has a vibrant tech ecosystem.

Geography matters less and less. India’s answer to Amazon - Flipkart - just raised a billion dollars. They are not in the Valley, or even in the US.

In New York City the primary tech action is in the Flatiron District. There is also a pocket in Dumbo. But Long Island City also has potential, I think. When Cornell establishes its tech campus on Roosevelt Island (New York City’s own “Stanford”) LIC will be a major attraction. Rent is substantially cheaper just because you crossed the river.

Culture is supreme. Silicon Valley’s strongest point might be that failure is celebrated there. Risk taking is probably the top quality in an entrepreneur. Failing is an essential part of the process. If you did not fail, that means you did not try, you did not take the plunge.

The big venture capitalists in the Valley raise their big money in New York City because this is where the pension funds and the like are.

FourSquare, one of the most celebrated tech startup stories to come out of NYC, has an office in San Francisco because they can’t afford not to hire some of the talented developers there who don’t want to live anywhere else. On the other hand, by now Google has a major presence in New York City. They just so happen to own the largest building in the city. It is because Google makes its money from ads. And guess where Madison Avenue is! But it is beyond that. Google has a major engineering presence in the city, as does Facebook, as does Twitter.

Silicon Valley is an attitude, it is a culture. It is about moonshots, as Larry Page might put it.

I routinely go to numerous tech events in the city. If someone makes the mistake of showing up in a suit, he immediately gets labeled a “suit.” I think there is something to be said of casual clothing, but you can not capture the essence of Silicon Valley in jeans or in a hoodie. Larry Ellison, probably the most colorful character to emerge in the Valley, has been wearing suits forever, that is his way of giving the finger to those who wear the casual stuff like they were uniform. You wear what you are comfortable wearing. That could be jeans and a turtleneck, the Steve Jobs way, or a suit as worn by his best friend Larry Ellison.

Software is eating the world, Marc Andreessen, the father of the Netscape browser that launched the web era, famously said in a Wall Street Journal article. There is so much still left to do that I expect the feast to go on for decades and longer. That is my way of saying one Silicon Valley is not enough, if it ever was. My answer to the famous question if Silicon Valley can be replicated is, yes it can be replicated. New York City is as good a place as any to build a tech startup.

Angel investing is a major aspect of a successful tech ecosystem. You seek some basic funding from friends and family. You need a basic prototype to be able to take a stab from the professional angel investors. And then there is crowdfunding. I see that as a majorly positive trend.

I think doing well as an entrepreneur in the New York City environment is a necessary precondition to being able to contribute to Nepal’s economic revolution. Brain drain is a pre-Internet, pre-globalization term. Today the work is so much more interlinked that you can be many places and contribute many places. There are global solutions to many local problems in Nepal.

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