Ideas for Change : Preachers and Practioners ?

Ideas for Change:  the NDTV Profit program (Telecast on Dec 6) with corporate honchos  anchored  by Shivnath Thukral and Omkar Goswamy  was  better than  (only slightly)  many other run-of- the-mill  After- Terror-what- next programs. There were many refreshing and insightful views from the Coated and booted CEOs...  Then there were some views which had the   Simi Garewal touch & class.  

One point that stuck to my mind was made by Kishor Biyani of Future Group.   He was ardently talking about   "Principle Centered Leadership” and “Paradigm Change".  And then he spoilt his  case  by  "being honest"  about  the Speed Money  his company was "compelled" to pay as Bribe  for the 28 odd licenses  each one of  his outlets supposed to get from Govt./civic bodies.  He sounded so helpless about the "Speed Money", as if his company did not have a Choice. Absolutely no space between the stimulus (of “Speed money" seeking) and the Response (of speed money giving).    

  What would have happened, had his group followed an "Anti Bribe policy".   In the short run, the time taken by his group to establish shops   would have increased, there by decreasing his profit margin for the calendar year. At the same time, would not it have strengthened the moral fibre of  his organization.

 Note, he is not a budding entrepreneur whose very survival is at stake. He is someone who has done pretty well in life.  Someone who has built a Retail empire in no time. Someone who competes with the mighty Reliance in Retail space. 

 I am not viewing with the "holier than thou” lens.  I understand there are lots of things out there in the Grey... (Not in black and white...)... 

The choices for a business house (according to me)   are:

   Either do the Business, the way it is done now... Pay the “Speed Money"...   Boast about the reduction in cycle time for opening new outlets, Talk about Economies of scale, Operating efficiency and Return to the stake holders, (but avoid talking about Principle centered leadership and Paradigm Change) 

Or stand up to the system, make the initial sacrifice and then Preach to others. 

One is not expected to do both at the same time. They are absolutely mutually exclusive. 

Every Change that we wish to see outside there should start from within. 

We need to Practice, before we Preach.

Enough is Enough !

If a system has to work optimally, all components should work as it should. Every component of a system should understand, that its freedom ends when another component's freedom starts.
Fortunately or unfortunately ours is a democratic system. There are many components that makes this complex eco system tick. Common Public (Atheists, Middle ground to Fanatics), Politicians (Manmohan Singh to Pappu Yadav), Civil Servants, Media ( The Hindu to infinite number of blogs), Security Forces , Human right activists ( Arundathi Roy, PUCL , Krishna Iyer) or plain dissenters constitute this eco system. If one of the components tries to oscilate beyond its defined wave length band, the whole system will go out of sync. There will be cacophony instead of symphony.
Our governing system does have its own shortcomings. But is the shortcomings only limited to the governing class ? I beg to differ. As a society we deserve the politicians we have...( Let someone publish the voting % of South Mumbai since 1993 for all the elections from corporation to parliament). To extend that logic, we also deserve the media we have. ( Here our Learned anchors gets mixed up between Tu Tu Main Main serials and a serious meanigful debate)
We have raised questions about Pakistan, Terrorists & Our netas .. It is high time to ask the same questions about our electronic media. Are they doing a fully constructive job after the Mumbai blasts (regardless their good inentions) ? . NDTV gets some one like Simi Grewal , who wants nothing but "Carpet Bombing" of Pakistan and "We wont pay any more taxes" rhetoric ...( Wow... another Civil disobdience movement).. Dont they realize such empty rhetoric at such a traumatic and emotional moment, may influence many.
I was so glad that Govt. of India chose Julious Rebeiro and KPS Gill to take care of Punjab Terrorism.. Otherwise, Punjab would have been History by now :-)..
Times Now tv now keep asking this much "loaded" question to its viewers " Will the Kasav go the way Afsal Guru. Will a Billion people be cheated of justice ?"

Do they realize Murugan who was sentenced to death for Rajiv Gandhi Assasination is still languishing in Indian Prison without being hanged ? (Accused 3: Sriharan alias Murugan alias Thas alias Indu Master; Sri Lankan; arrested on June 14, 1991; confessional statement recorded on Aug 8, 1991. On May 11, 1998 The honorable supreme court did upheld the conviction and punishment. ) Wasn't Mr. Advani the home minister and Arun Jaitely the law minister for such a long time. Did they think, the brutal assasination of Mr. Rajiv Gandhi is less of crime, compared to Parliament attack. For the last 4 years. isn't Sonia Gandhi the "real PM" of India according to her detractors ? Couldn't she have done somthing to advance the execution date of her husband's murderers?
The reason why they dont interfere in these matters (according to me), they do have a conscience and a belief in humanity. They may be also beleiving that Individual retribution and revenge does not help us in anyway.
Wasn’t Satwant Singh , the convicted murderer of Mrs. Gandhi defended by none other than Ram Jethmalani who later went on to take the responsibility of Law ministry in Vajpayee cabinet .. ( Isn’t this Indianess we should preserve. The Law minster of our great nation was someone who was a great professional. Did that diminish his stature ? Absolutely no.)

I am really amazed at the fact, this calumny about Afzal Guru was allowed to grow as cactus in Indian minds by vested interests.
In 1947, India won its independence along with Pakistan. After so many years, regardless of our shortcomings, if we have done pretty well as a nation, it is only because of the value system left behind our founding fathers. Look at our neighbor. It is going to be a failed nation. As a nation we survived many of the trials and tribulations, only because our Core values which are still strong. We will not only survive the latest crisis, but also thrive, despite our godforsaken system, despite some of the politicians (who only think about Votebank politics), despite some of the elements in media and despite some of our citizens who are so shortsighted their horizon starts at their nose..

The Socialites of South Mumbai hardly realize that we ordinary Indians ( From Assam to J& K) have endured all these Trauma thru ages... They woke up and made this a matter of India, only when there favorite restaurant Wasabi was hit.

It is high time we realize that we need to Respond and not react...

And Respond with Good judgement..

We need to separate SUBATANCE from NOISE ....

We need to be TOUGH, but without losing HUMAN TOUCH..

We need to be ANGRY , but should NOT LET ANGER BLIND OUR EYES..

Accountability- The need of the hour in India

Good.. At last People Power started working.....There is a silverline in the cloud
Shivaraj Patil, R.R. PAtil and Deshmukh... It would have been better had they resigned on their own accord... It is quite obvious, a bit of "persuasion" was needed to make them turn inwards and face their Conscience..:-)
What i did not understand, is the hue and cry made by the "party with a difference"...
It is not as if Things started happening just after Shivaraj Patil toook over the charge @ home ministry....
There were huge lapses during Advani's time as well.. ( the way IA flight was allowed to go to Kandahar, Parliament attack, Akshardam Temple attack, Godhra Train carnage, the way Bangladesh Rifles killed Indian soldiers and Mother of all Blunders - Kargil where our soldiers had to fight enemy with some really bad gear.).... Nobody felt, some body has to own up responsibility.
If you happen to view our TV Channels over the last few days, there were a lot of anger and frustration from people. It is quite valid.. But people should remember that Anger is a precious commodity.. Need to channel this anger into positive direction and worthwhile acctions..
In my humble opinion the need of the hour, Two Fundamental changes.
One w.r.t Election rules, so that we are empowered to recall our represenatative (Panchayat, MLA or MP) at any point of time in his /her tenure. A memorandom with a basic % of electorate should force the Election Commision to have a relection. It is going to cost us a bit more. ( It can be done quite easily with EVMs).. But compared to the cost of letting these folks rule without any Accountability, it should not matter.

Second: For Executive and Governance let us stipulate that MLA and MPs can not be Ministers. Let them concentrate on taking care of their constituencies and legislative business.
Let PM and CM fill the executive post from all the talent available in the country. Let the Defence Minsiter be some one who has retired from Army / Navy /Airforce.... Let us have a Health minister like Devi Shetty or Dr. Venugopal.. For Education, let them appoint some one like Prof. Yashpal....