Kota needs factories but not the Kota factory kind
When I decided to study commerce after 10th, far-flung relatives called, I was taken for walks and was left no tactics to be persuaded. Most people will not understand the gravity of the sin I was going to commit, but here in Kota if you score above 90% and not take science, you are a nutcase.
I am glad I did not listen to each one of them for having lived all my life in this city, I could say with some observation that this Kashi is neither holy nor Roman nor an empire.
Kota is again under the limelight and this time for the students stranded here in the nationwide lockdown. The plight of thousands of teenagers being stuck away from home in this global catastrophe and a possible economic fallout of the pandemic on an ecosystem worth over 2000 crore has kept me mentally engaged.
While the news of various chief ministers sending buses and Indian Railway arranging special trains, does provide some respite but, the void left behind and colossal economic stress is a worry that’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
In order to estimate the magnitude of crises, let us take a closer look at the constituency of the Present Lok Sabha Speaker.
Kota was once touted as ‘Kanpur of Rajasthan’, an industrial town on the bank of the river Chambal traces back its industrial roots from the late ’60s when CM Mohan Lal Sukhadia and industry minister, Rikhab Chand Dhariwal transformed this grain market into an Industrial powerhouse. Kota is also known for its fine-grained variety of limestone and the mesmerizing silk mix cotton fiber — the Kota Doria.
The town defies its link with the quintessential archetype of a rust dusty water-stressed Rajasthan, Kota, on the other hand, has ample of water as it rests of the bank of Chambal river, power by almost all sources of electricity — ( Hydel, nuclear, thermal, biogas ) houses a Railway junction on the Mumbai Delhi rail route, an army station, but none of it could take the town to the map.
It was in 1983 a BHU grad Mechanical Engineer diagnosed with muscular dystrophy VK Bansal who lost his job after one of the industries shut down, began this revolution by a humble beginning of teaching 8 students from his dining room.
The town has not looked back since then and earned the reputation of this coaching powerhouse, attracting over 2 Lakh students each year to study in 25 major and 100 minor coaching institutes. While no major industrial house has invested in Kota since the 90s, it is this coaching business that led the baton of growth encashing upon the middle-class dream to make it big.
The coaching business finds its success in the various loopholes in our system :
The ineffective school education
Our obsession with doctors and engineers
Limited seats in higher education institutions
An extremely competitive job market
All this combined with parents’ obsession to follow the herd, societal fetish, and information, and opportunity asymmetry makes Kota an ideal destination to send their teenagers.
Needless to say, Kota has earned its reputation, year after year churning engineers and doctors, claiming AIR’s like the medal tally of an elite sporting nation in Olympics. 40 of the top 100 students who cleared the JEE advance in 2017 studied in Kota.
The economics of coaching goes far beyond the classroom. It has spurred a host of ancillary industries which includes the hostels, the messes, the bookshops, the transport, the cycle business, the cyber cafes, the eateries, the Thinkables, and the Unthinkables ( yes, there are local guardians available on rent).
This is a town wherever you will go you will find huge posters of kids showing the victory sign to have conquered the toughest entrance exam. These kids are the real influencers in an age of personalized marketing on your phone, Kota’s big hoardings are able to sell blood, sweat, sacrifice, and dedication for that one dream. And it does that job pretty darn good!
While this all sounds rosy, the reality is far from the hoardings. Kota has been infamous for student suicides. Most media reports claim to be 20–40 per year, whereas Police reports claim 58 deaths from 2013 to 2017. The situation has been often reported in National media and joked for ingenious solutions like suicide free fan. Of the number of kids that leave the comforts of their home, very few are able to crack it big which is acceptable as the nature of any competitive exams. But exposing teenagers to such immense pressure and robbing them of their childhood has a detrimental impact. Their school life ends at a relatively young age and they are cajoled into ‘ ek baar IIT mein chale jaao’ to deprive them of any sort of comfort which kids of their age would be entitled to.
Evidently, there are repercussions. A study conducted by Tata Institute of Social Science found many students were reported to experience sleep issues, dietary problems, nutrient deficiency, etc. A reporter from The Indian Express who monitored a student helpline in Kota lists the four dominant emotions experienced by students as relentless pressure, shame of failure, guilt of letting parents down and trauma of slipping behind. As a result, students are found to be using substance abuse to reduce stress. Smoking, alcohol, and drugs are the predominant forms of negative coping mechanisms.
The city itself has almost no school which has regular attendance for 11th and 12th standard students, there’s a tacit acceptance for the time taken to prepare for IIT and Medical exams and ignore the conventional school model. Yes, Dance, Drama, Debates, and Sports do not matter.
While that being said COVID 19 has brought a big jolt to this ecosystem. Kids have returned to their hometown and without a vaccine or a cure in sight, things are bleak to be able to pick the pace of the pre-COVID world. This unforeseen disaster puts the risk of loss of livelihood to thousands of people who are invariably dependent on the coaching industry.
This economic model was fragile from its very beginning, It was cashing on a vulnerable system that could have been shaken any day by a progressive education policy. It did survive minor tweaks in the examination scheme like bifurcation of JEE and changing nature of NEET. But Digital disruption was always a threat that ancillaries did not anticipate. The coaching owners will move Digital, which in most cases has already happened. It is this brick and mortar rent crisis, the small businesses that are going to be washed away in the COVID19 tide. Many of these small businesses have taken loans in order to build their capacity. If the pandemic persists and students do not return this could turn into defaulting of loans, which will further lead to Non Performing assets and worsening of banks balance sheet crises. Much like what has been happening in the United States with the Airbnb crises.
The healthcare cost of COVID19 still hasn’t yet been overwhelming in India, though it is early to call it a day. But the economic damage will be massive, far beyond anything we have witnessed. The IMF has already declared that the world economy is bound to suffer a “severe recession” in 2020. And this recession will disproportionately affect the medium and small businesses which lack the deep pockets of the mega-corporations.
The Hostel business was understandably lucrative and easier to make money than set up an industrial unit which made more and more people to set up their Industrial Plots into commercial hostels. What began as a source of supplementary income translated into a full-time business extracting an 8–10% ROI much higher than would have been from building a business.
The tide of time has changed but there is no reason to lose that hope. Kota can well turn this crisis into an opportunity to get back to being an industrial city. The crises will open doors for new supply chain lines, new businesses and Kota being a source of stable power and water supply, good connectivity from both rail and land. With the right policy support and aggressive development agendas, it can take the lead and restructure its economic base.
Until then we will always be known for our Sarees, Stone, and the KACHORIS.
