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I can empathize with Shiva Ayyadurai. Couple of years back I was working for an eGovernance project http://mca.gov.in/

Govt officials in India want you to be subservient.

    "The nail that stands out will be hammered down." -- Japanese Proverb

Edit: After http://mca.gov.in/ became operational, I resigned and ran away to Japan to join GS.

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Did you see the article that Ayyadurai wrote, which is available on www.vashiva.com, that asks CSIR Leadership for an open and public forum with TV, press, etc. to resolve the matter at hand, so all questions can be answered with Truth in the light of day, versus Brahmachari's habitual pattern of cover up's disinformation and false allegations to deflect the issues.

Isn't this an over-generalization? It's not fair to stereotype all government officials in India like that, is it?

Unfortunately, the generalization is well-deserved. The behaviour of the official named Mr. Brahmachari : feudal, mercurial, inconsistent, authoritative...is the template. If you're lucky, there's often exactly one guy somewhere in there who is sincere, professional, and is literally the one doing all the work, and he sympathizes with your case.

The number of young Indians who, in theory, can transform Indian cities into Silicon Valleys of the East vs. the bureaucracy is like a water and dam situation. The smarter water flows West instead.

It is worth remembering that feudal, mercurial, inconsistent, authoritarian are not simply individual problems but rather go together.

The hand-written offer given to Mr. Ayyadurai wasn't just an unprofessional act, it was act intended to put him between hope and doubt and thus reinforce the power of his superiors. This style of management by confusion and manipulation also exists in the worst western companies but it's clearly more common in India.

Oddly enough, it's worth remembering that the good part of bureaucracy is fixed rules which allow any member to know where they stand.

It still seems unfair to extrapolate from one anecdotal instance to the broad assertion that the smarter 'water' must flow west.

Very condescending.

Edit: My objection is this.

You're saying: A := is-smart => B := must-go-west Therefore, ~B => ~A, or not-in-the-west => not-smart.

I do not mean to be condescending to those who are not-in-the-west. I do mean to sound frustrated about them being forced to stay in a no-win situation where they are at the mercy of the bureaucracy.

What I meant is : it's a smart move to realize that it's a dead end and go West if one seeks to broaden one's opportunities, chances to do some good work and realize one's potential, that's all.

As the interview was closing, Mr. Brahmachari questioned why anyone would be interested in the situation, and then said he would complain to a reporter’s bosses in New York if she continued to pursue the story.

Govt departments expect people to work as per rules - the same is true even in the West -an individual coming in cannot just do things his or her way. That will not be accepetable even in USA or Canada.So Shiva Ayyadurai cannot flash his MIT degrees and attempt to take over the functioning of the CSIR.

He has to get in, learn the system, get established and find out how to make himself useful - only then he can expect to do "earth-shaking" things.

All this Indian inefficiency and Western efficiency rot is a bit overcooked

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