> We (the Indian technocrat cohort) need to get into politics

This could be lifted out of Plato's Republic and it would be exactly as relevant.

But the counter-point is that politicians run very close to their electorate's ideas (or selectorate's) - most politicians are not stupid people, so when you see them pushing stupid ideas, it is their commentary on the audience they are pandering to.

I met Sam Pitroda in the late 90s. His commentary on C-DOT was a complete wet blanket on my theories of how the world is changing through technology.

The theory is sort of the opposite of a "resource curse" - a "human resource curse" if you will. If what you end up exporting are humans, not things you dig out of the ground.