Fwd: Start-up India is welfare scheme for the well-off

arvind is not very impressed by startup india. 

i am also concerned this is going the wrong way, for other reasons. the real problem is that we have no basis in R&D and so will never be able to come up with innovative products. me-too can only go so far.

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From: Arvind Kumar

http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-how-start-up-india-is-a-welfare-scheme-for-the-well-off-2169014

Start-up India is welfare scheme for the well-off

Arvind Kumar

The government's initiative, Start-up India, undermines the definition of entrepreneurship which involves initiative and risk-taking on the part of the entrepreneur. As the government takes on the risk of businesses, this effort is nothing more than a welfare scheme for the well-off.

In this scheme, bureaucrats allocate money based either on their whims or on arbitrary standards to a few chosen people, many of whom have already received privileges in the form of degrees from India's premier educational institutions.

It is not difficult to foresee the effects of Start-up India. It will fill in for the now defunct Planning Commission and fund people for their connections to bureaucrats and professors. A number of professors too will claim to be entrepreneurs. Such abuse is already widespread in the US which has inspired the scheme. American professors also abuse their positions and persuade young students who start businesses to include them as partners. They also become partners at venture capital firms in exchange for allowing these firms to use the resources of the university.

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