Citizens beware! The new private bureaucrats, the crime, the corruption and the red-tapism

For many years, we blamed the government and the government organizations for being inefficient, complex and corrupt. We adored Max Weber for appropriately applying the word bureaucracy and spoiled the reputation of this nomenclature by attributing to anyone and anything that are adamant, stoic, apathetic and irresponsive. Inevitable regulatory system imprisoned the government officials inside an iron cage giving them peanuts. But the smarties lavishly feasted encashing on the nuances and nuisances of the laws and ever expanding procedures, thanks to the voluntary and involuntary paperweights (read as hot cash) kept on the hopeless files by both hapless and dishonest citizens. Scholars, politicians, senior bureaucrats, media and the civil society angels loudly professed: No hope, no salvation, and no atonement – for and from the corrupt bureaucratic system.

But the neocolonial policy experts, public intellectuals and multinational policy advising entities researched hand-in-hand and invented a prescription: Privatize, de-regulate, merge, acquire, and spread out.

What is the result?

Let me start with the brighter side:

It paved way for many players who were waiting for an opportunity to get the large business share hitherto monopolized by the government. Competition resulted in ensuring quality, cheaper rates, and accountability. The ambitious, greedy and aspiring middle class in third world countries got what they craved for: to live the life of a first world citizen while unfortunately destined to be born in a wretched third world.

And what is the darker side?

To know this, one need not look at any empirical studies. (In fact, there is hardly anyone who would like to research on this now!) Just look at our experiences rather than giving a complex theoretical discourse delivered by policy experts or intimidating statistics frequently displayed by economists.

 

                             Photo: Businessresearchguide.com

One simple ‘everyday life’ example from the bottom

You are a subscriber to the most essential service of the day: a phone or internet connection. You have a grievance to be settled. You approach the large, mighty, sophisticated, automated, cosy, pretty, and articulate service provider. You find that the polite voice on the other end cannot understand your pulse. The replies are disseminated from a stock of frequently needed answers. Each time you remind about the unsettled grievance, you are with a different person. You do not know where to go next. You are not allowed to explain your problem in plain and simple human language. No access to the huge structures guarded by private security guards. No awareness about the hierarchical structure. Even when you are fortunate to get a soul to interact, the response would be, ‘I don’t have the mandate’ or ‘this is the Standard Operating Procedure’, or ‘I am sorry, I can’t help’, or ‘register your complaint at Interactive Voice Response System once again’. You encountered with the new face-less private bureaucracy.

You were happy when you were told that many services hitherto provided by the mighty government have been contracted to be done by private players who have quoted the lowest rates in the tenders. Only the large entities could afford to quote lower rates. Cartelisation, predatory pricing and anti-competitive mergers and acquisition destroyed the fairness in allocating the resources and work of the public sector to the private players. They outsourced these contracts to smaller players who did not have the capacity and resources to execute the work. You found the same old ‘bureaucratic’ delays coupled with data thefts, corruption, and lack of accountability among those private providers. Some examples of criminal opportunities:  the promoters can exploit the resources with scant regard to sustainability, people can get multiple PAN numbers, criminals can get cell phone connections without any documents or by giving fake documents, vendors can circumvent standard postal procedures and can transport contraband, thieves can get into secure offices with the connivance of private security guards. These are just a few generic examples.

Why all these happen in a large private environment? a) Profit motive is predominant than service motive, b) The tendency to sub-contract the work to make more profit, c) Lack of monitoring of quality of the sub-contractor, d) Frequent attrition among the employees and lack of long-term loyalty, e) Lower risks for the mischief makers as they can vanish from the company before being caught and punished, f) When the company practices are perceived to be unethical, the employees also tend to be dishonest and selfish, e) Inadequate  government regulations to monitor the affairs in a liberalized environment, etc.

Apart from the above inefficiency in large private sector companies, most of these entities are marred by internal corruption. Managers at each level engage in deals that satisfy their personal interests. However only a few cases are reported to the police as there are no clear rules to punish the corrupt executives for financial crime committed within a private company. To safeguard the reputation, corporate managements let off these criminals with just an expulsion from the company. Businessmen and traders have many stories to tell about how they had to please the managers at various levels in a large firm to get into a business with the company.

Governments were quick to understand the corporate inefficiency and corruption and consequently established ombudsmen, sector regulators, and enacted various corporate governance legislation. However none of these initiatives have curbed the problems mentioned above.

The real reason: The problem of ‘Large’

Policy experts and technocrats dumped E F Schumacher’s concept of ‘Small is Beautiful’ many years back. But all the problems we face in the name of ‘bureaucratic inefficiency’ are the contribution of the ‘Large’. It is proved from the bitter experiences we have from the large private sectors that inefficiency, red-tapism and corruption are not the exclusive attributes of Government, but necessary fallout of any large, complex and non-transparent system.

What is the solution?

The solution lies only in creating small, independent, and responsible units within the existing large structures, whether it is in government or in private sector. Each unit should be given delegated powers based on the unique attributes and should be accountable for its operational decisions. There should be human interface in these units so that services are provided and grievances are redressed based on the needs and requirements rather than universal procedures. Technological interface should not undermine the genuine need for human interaction to find a satisfying solution to a problem.

Privatization and deregulation are irreversible. These processes need to continue. However governments cannot abdicate their responsibilities to ensure fairness, transparency and public welfare. Similarly, large firms cannot continue in an outsourcing and delegating process without ensuring quality and efficiency.It is imperative to have a stringent law to curb corruption in private sector and to make it mandatory for the private sector management to report the criminal incidents of internal unlawful acts to law enforcers. Regulators and ombudsmen need to establish their field arms to monitor compliance to regulations rather than be armchair watchdogs. Both statutory auditors, internal auditors and the Audit committees need to be proactive and should be made accountable for their laxities in reporting irregularities not only in financial affairs but also in security issues and consumer affairs.  Strict penalties may be imposed on all acts of corporate corruption, ethical failures, and procedures that are against public interest.

In short, we need to go back the concept of ‘Small is Beautiful’ to get rid of the ghost of Max Weber and his iron caged bureaucracy that has reincarnated as corporate bureaucracy. 

                                                                         © Sibichen K Mathew

Views are personal. Comments are welcome

Read my other articles on related topic

Frauds, Scams and a Corporate Lokpal

Markets and Corporates: From Economic Rationalism to Sociological Realism

Walmart beware: There are many Davids to challenge you in the globalized world

Satyam: A case of worst audit failure

                                                             

How long the women of Chamoli could hug the woods? OR Who is responsible for Uttarakhand Calamity?

Sibichen K Mathew

When I did a field work in Chamoli and neighbouring villages in Uttarakhand several years back for my study on ecological movements, the women in those villages clearly said: ‘This terrain cannot stand even a controlled deforestation in the name of development. Unless there is total moratorium on the felling of trees, entire villages will be submerged in flood in the future. They said ‘No’ to any industrialization in the area’. I thought at that time that they were over-apprehensive! They were right; I was wrong.

 It is saddening to note that such a huge calamity has happened to a generation that fought incessantly for the protection of environment.

compiled by Goonj (FB)

How Uttarakhand was saved by women folks for many decades?

apnauttarakhand.com

Uttarakhand has a history of several protest movements for protection of their land from deforestation, landslides, floods etc. Earlier forest movements in the Grhwal-Himalayas were against the colonial destruction of forests. Large scale felling of trees for non-local commercial needs for British resulted in the destruction of forests. In 1930, a group of people who agitated against the restrictions of their forestry rights by commercial interests were indiscriminately fired by the armed forces, killing many. That agitation at Tilari of Rawai region initiated a long chain of protest movements in Uttarakhand.

In 1972, the villagers in the region protested against a sports goods company from Allahabad which came for felling the ash trees auctioned to them by the Uttar Pradesh government. Villagers were previously denied even small scale consumption of these trees. Led by Alam Singh, the headmen, all villagers of Mandal resolved to hug the trees even if axes split open their body. The agents of the company were forced to leave the village without felling a single tree. This remarkable event was led by Dashauli Garam Swarajya Sangh (DGSS), a labour co-operative formed in Gopeshwar town of Chamoli in 1964. C P Bhatt, a sarvodaya worker, who later became one of the prominent leaders of chipko movement, gave the leadership for their early resistance. Villagers led by Sundar Lal Bahuguna applied bandages of mud to the ‘wounds’ of pine trees and removed the blades fixed on them to extract resin.

Collective efforts of the women in Chamoli village and adjoining areas resulted in a virtual halt to tree felling in most of the area.  Similar protests happened elsewhere too. In the Reni forest, near to the badly denuded catchment area of Alakananda  and its tributaries , about three thousands trees were auctioned by  the forest department. On 3^rd March 1974, when all menfolk went to Chamoli town for receiving their overdue compensation, agents along with the labourers marched towards the forest. Women under the leadership of Gaura Devi resisted the felling. That night the women of Reni guarded all possible routes leading to the forest to resist any intrusion. Similar incidents of collective resistance were occurred in Rampur, Nainital, Henwalghata, Bhyuder valley, Dungri-paitoli etc.

Ideology and personality clashes killed the movement

Although Sarvodaya ideology was an inspiration to these ecological protests, in some areas the movement identified with Bahuguna and in some other areas with Bhatt. Studies on chipko movement often mentioned about the differences in the approaches and strategies of two leaders. Ramachandra Guha who studied extensively on this had said that Bahuguna, ‘like those American historians Lynn White and Theodor Roszakk’, stressed the role of religious belief in man’s attitude towards nature and proposed a return to pre-industrial mode of living. However, Bhatt stressed integration of people’s needs with the sustainability of the forests. DGSS also did not totally endorse Bahuguna’s approaches and wanted continuation of industries and setting up of new industries in the area. Bahuguna, therefore undertook a march from Kashmir to Kohima to learn about the widespread problem of degradation of Himalayas and to spread the message of Chipko to a wider audience. He covered a distance of 4870 kilometres to talk to people about the harmful effects of deforestation.

Industrialization, large scale commercialization of the area and urbanization created havoc in the area in the past few decades. Improper planning and action by the civic authorities and uncontrolled exploitation of forests and ideological battles resulted in the current scenario.

All social movements aim in bringing social change. But, after some time, it fails when faced with resistance from various political, ideological and commercial interests. All movements, once get institutionalized, face slow death. This happened in the case of Chipko movement as Bahuguna and Bhatt fought each other through their ideologies and strategies.

Conclusion: Forget about the politicians and bureaucrats, where were the people’s movements in the last few years?

The calamity that happened in the Uttarakhand area now  is the result of a ‘compromise’ to the developmental agenda and the surrender to the commercial interests without understanding the unique characteristic features of the region and the sensitivity of the terrain that illiterate women folks clearly told to the authorities decades back. Blame the politicians and bureaucrats, as we always do. But where were the people’s movements all these years? When did they also fall prey to the commercial interests?

(Tailpiece: Same is happening to the Hazare-Kejriwal movement

Look at  Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal. The moment differences emerged between them based on ideology, institutionalization, and political vision, the movement died prematurely. What is the result? Checking corruption through public awareness campaign, the very purpose with which the movement was started, lost vitality. As happened in Chipko, if the leaders fight over petty ideological battle, and the succeeding generation fail to take any interest in the struggle, floodgates will be open for large scale corruption. )

(Historical facts narrated are based on certain references in the dissertation submitted by me to Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi )

The return of the fisherman: The new Pope and a few hopes for a third Vatican Council

(picture: sermonsfromseattle.com

Jesus who declared himself to be one with God, chose the illiterate, poor, weak and meek men to be his disciples and messengers of his message. They were selected from a massive crowd who followed him that included wise men, religious leaders, rich businessmen, senior government officials, and royals. At the end of his powerful public presence and life, which lasted for just three years  in a remote part of the world, he chose the weakest of the 12 disciples to be the leader of his church. That was Peter, to whom Jesus said, ‘You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it’. (In Greek, Peter means rock). All popes who provided leadership to the largest Christian community in the world, are considered to be the successors of Peter. In other words, Saint Peter was the first Pope.

Church as an institution that has the largest membership base among all the Christian religious communities in the world has grown too big in material terms viz. infrastructure, multitude of congregations, institutions and scholars.  

In spite of a strong dogmatic structure, highly scholarly administration led by the Curia, and geographically wide and highly diversified church traditions, Popes can bring in radical transformation within the church, if they desire and are convinced. Pope is not a mere symbolic head of the Catholic Christian community; he could be a guide, motivator, and teacher for the entire humanity, by virtue of his widely acclaimed position.  It is not clear whether all popes could really bring in lasting spiritual revival within the church and could become an effective instrument in bringing peace and unity among fighting nations and communities beyond the encyclicals and public requests. History and related records show that most popes faced difficulties in providing spiritual leadership uncorrupted by the material world and accompanying profanity.

Two radical steps that happened in the recent history of Catholic Church are the Second Vatican Council and the Charismatic revival movement.

It was Pope John XXIII who gave notice for his intention to convene the assembly on 25^th January 1959 within three months of occupying his seat and was held between 1962 and 1964.  (The First Vatican Council was held in 1869 but could not complete its deliberations due to the events followed the unification of Italy.) Pope John XXIII who died in 1963 was replaced by Pope Paul VI who continued his predecessor’s mission. The Council revived the central role of Bible in the theological and devotional life of the Church and urged people to make Bible study a central part of their lives.

(Charismatic renewal movement within Catholic Church originated in 1967 and provided strong spiritual foundation to millions of Catholics. In 1998, Pope John Paul II said:  "The institutional and charismatic aspects are co-essential as it were to the Church’s constitution. They contribute, although differently, to the life, renewal and sanctification of God’s People. It is from this providential rediscovery of the Church’s charismatic dimension that, before and after the council, a remarkable pattern of growth has been established for ecclesial movements and new communities’)

New Pope and the hope for the Third Vatican Council

(photo: telegraph.co.uk)

Some of the news that circulated and shared in the public domain about the unique qualities and traits of Pope Francis cannot be rebuffed as mere media hype. They trigger fresh hopes. Pope can be a perfect role model to the clergy and laity of Catholic Church through his humility, simplicity and spirituality.  This year is in fact is the golden jubilee of second Vatican council. Is there any scope for a Third Vatican Council under the new Pope?

If at all there is a Third Vatican Council under Pope Francis, what would be the radical decisions?

Following are some ‘wild’ arguments people make! These are not necessarily my wish list!!

1   1.       Allowing priests to marry. (As a Jesuit he would know how many from his congregation left it for the sake of a loving partner to share the cross of life!). But they should be barred from episcopacy.
2.    Allowing women to be priests. (Number of women joining convents as nuns fast depleting. Of course, with a privilege of marriage, more women would love to celebrate the mass.)
3.       Allowing an order of dedicated Brothers/Deacons from the laity to assist the priests by giving them proper training.
4.     Strong message to those traditional Catholics who conceal the cross and the resurrected Jesus behind the huge statues of saints, and yet fail to consider them as role models to follow Jesus.
5.       Encouraging inter-denominational prayers and joint gospel projects led by the Catholic Church. Clearing the misunderstandings of certain non-Catholic denominations about Catholic faith.
6.        Requesting Bishops to be true spiritual leaders and devote less time to administer the institutions and funds.
7.       Making adoration, prayer groups, and Bible study extensively along with a liturgy that would give ample scope for self-reflection, sharing and reconciliation.
8.       Instead of allowing construction of huge church buildings investing millions of dollars, encouraging establishment of small church buildings in every locality of 100 catholic families.
9.    Discouraging Catholic congregations whose only mission is to setup educational institutions and health facilities exclusively for the rich. They should rather divert their manpower and resources to spread the gospel of peace and love and to help the poor and needy across the World.
10.    Radically revise the curriculum in seminaries in tune with the needs of the contemporary world, to face the fresh challenges in the technology driven materialistic world, by giving them a strong foundation in Biblical teaching, sociology, communication and management. Revise the catechism text books of children with innovative presentation and design so that there will be more interest to learn and more clarity in understanding the concepts.

I am not a strong advocate of all of the above, as some of them would be too radical and might not be appropriate in the contemporary times. But there can be a debate on the advantages and disadvantages of the above proposals. Let the new Pope ring the bell!

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Comments are welcome. 

Why I dare March

This is a sequel to my last two articles on the subject: ‘Why I hate March?’ written in March 2011 and ‘Why I start loving March?’ in March 2012.

March 2013 has already landed and is giving me that mischievous smile of an uninvited guest! It says: ‘Love me or hate me. But you can’t avoid me!’ 

After hating March in 2011 and then loving it in 2012, now, I dare March 2013. I consider March as a symbol of life’s challenges. How do we face those challenges in our life? We tend to get irritated over the inevitable without knowing the futility of such a reaction. When wise and patient response is warranted for tackling a critical situation, we just do the contrary. Our emotions overtake our intellect and we become victims of anger, antagonism and ill-will resulting unpleasant reactions from others. At the end, we would still be unhappy.

I think I have improved from the stage of emotional immaturity and my cognitive component has overtaken my affective component. So I have reached the stage where I feel like taking challenges head on. 

Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them... they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look at them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight.  

                                                           Orison Swett Marden                                                                                                      

 

The challenges can be better managed through prioritization. Once we start focusing on something that deserves our best attention and start solving the puzzles associated with that, we would tend to observe that others start disappearing or becoming less challenging. A simple strategy of not trying to tackle all of them simultaneously could help us to channel all our efforts only to the important tasks. Indeed, experience counts a lot in such situations.

Best illustration for this can be seen in target management, as this is an area that worries many people in the month of March. Various parameters are set for achievement in the early part of the year. However we tend to relax much more than required in the first half of the year. We wake up all of a sudden when we realize or made to realize that the year is going to be over. Even at that crucial stage, the usual tendency is to work to meet each of these parameters at the same time with equal intensity. One requires a little bit of strategizing to get rid of the year end troubles. An analysis of the past performances, the comparative contribution of each of those parameters to overall growth, the nature of perceptions of the growth by the evaluators, and the resultant reactions and responses can give you enough tips on what to and what not to focus. Many times, we grope in the dark with so much confusion without knowing what we should focus. This adds to our tension, as we try to deal with all the challenges simultaneously by diffusing all our energy and resources to variety of areas, without knowing which parameter needs more attention. When some of the areas are to be left unnoticed and ignored, some others may require only a superficial tinkering.

The above is true in the case of challenges faced in the personal front also. We simply can’t meet all those demands that being thrown to you in the month of March. Accumulation is mainly due to our own tendency to procrastinate, partly because of  our laziness. We can’t blame March. It does not spring up any surprises on you. Why should one wait till the deadline to clear our dues? When we know that the taxes, fee or insurance has to be paid within the financial year, why should we wait till the fag end of the year to pay these?

Moral of the story: March never brings problems to you. Rather, you bring problems to March.

Click below to read:

Why I hate March?

Why I start loving March?

Now, as I dare March, may be, I will put a full stop to my March scribbling now!

                                                                             (C) Sibichen K Mathew

Evolution of Modern India -An interesting voyage with speakers who made history

(Book Review)

Rakesh Batayabal (Ed) The Penguin Book of Modern Indian Speeches: 1877 to present, Penguin Books India, 2007, 916 pages   Rs. 595/-

“History, real solemn history, I cannot be interested in.... I read it a little as a duty; but it tells me nothing that does not either vex or weary me. The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars and pestilences in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all - it is very tiresome.  ( Jane Austen : spoken by Catherine Morland in 'Northanger Abbey') 

     History never repeats itself. But men are inherently inquisitive to know not only about their immediate past but also about the events that shaped history. History as an academic discipline evolved over a period of time to make people aware of the cultural and structural transitions taken place within and across nations and communities. However, of late, there is scant academic interest to pursue formal history courses by students. Thus millions of people of the new generation hardly find the history books and narratives by historians appealing. However recasting history has been never an easy job. Even when historians attempt to narrate past events with lot of research and archival investigation, the same are never spared of criticisms and accusations of biases. Different schools of historians interpret history from particular ideological positions and one would wonder whether there is anything like true history. Similarly, people who control the learning institutions from time to time tend to add, change, or delete particular historic narratives and historic relics. Consequently, there emerged a feeling that objectivity and positivism are never to be expected from history as it is told today by many.  It is imperative to discover ways and methods to have access to uncorrupted history. One such attempt to deliver true history in a very interesting way is to bring it to people in its original form and content.

       Rakesh Batayabal has made a very valuable attempt to take Indian history to all those people who would like to know straight from the ‘horse’s mouth’. That is precisely what he has done, when he took pains to compile 161 historic speeches of more than 115 persons who made history. Each speech clearly takes the reader to the historic, cultural and social settings when the speech was delivered. Reader would definitely feel that he is one among the audience and would experience both the emotional and intellectual reverberations emanating from the speaker. The book is a rich source for gathering unadulterated and diverse perspectives based on true narration of historic events and social facts.

     Speeches one by one aggregate to a critique of social, economic and political transitions taken place in India since 1800s to late 1990s. Every social and economic issue ranging from poverty, untouchability, colonial subjugation to separatism and terrorism have been vividly depicted. Intellectual debates of global ramifications centering on subjects as diverse as communism, ethnicity, nationalism, revolution, communalism, racism and disarmament are very much relevant today as they were during those historic moments of delivery. The book, though a reliable source of Indian history, also deal with several interdisciplinary themes which would provide definite theoretical and scientific basis for future policy and research in the disciplines of sociology, economics, public administration and public policy. 

 

     The real contribution of the book is not just its efforts to bring about a systematic presentation of the story of evolution of modern India. But the vital role it plays to make history interesting to common man. I am sure this book will catch the instant attention of not only the academicians and students but also the busy technocrats, professionals and the men in businesses who would like to understand the unique Indian trajectory to become a global player. David Mccullough has said that ‘history is who we are and why we are the way we are’. And this book will definitely help every Indian find answers to several of his existential questions.  

Sibichen K Mathew

(Views are personal. Comments are welcome)

Click to read other book reviews by Sibichen

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Dancing with Maharaja: An inspirational story for civil services aspirants

Built on Trust: The living legend who magnified an event called life

Markets and Corporates: From Economic Rationalism to Sociological Realism

Market structure and corporate power have been inextricably intertwined in the globalized world. Both gain considerably from the opportunities offered as a result of the rapid changes in the area of communication and technology. Thus businesses and economy of particular countries get exposed to international laws, procedures and conventions. Such an exposure should ideally contribute in strengthening the economic ties between businesses and countries. Corporates that had the resources opened their wings worldwide in search of markets. Even those firms which didn’t have enough resources also strived to be global players for their survival.

As the field was wide open for the players –small, medium and big, world witnessed different ball games within the same space. Balls were kicked, thrown, pushed and tossed as the referees were asked to be liberal onlookers. Those who tried to bring in rules to end the chaos were accused as advocates of red-tapism.  Meanwhile, teams competed to buy, sell, borrow, and lease players and balls.  That required large cash resources within a short span of time. Major financial players extended liberal support to many in need. The climax was faster than expected. In games, some clear winners emerge at the end. But in this ‘free for all’ game without referees, the giants stumbled upon the biggies and both of them smashed the dwarfs. The result was a none-win situation. Chaos and confusion  originated in the field spread beyond not only to real lives of onlookers but also to the masses who were toiling for their daily bread quite unaware of mega market free game.

John Lie has rightly said that the study of markets is too important to be left to economics. But economic rationalism rules the financial and corporate world with little understanding of the way markets actually function. The economy is perceived to breathe through the stock exchanges. Analysts predict the glooms and booms in the economy based on the random numbers smoked out of the stock exchanges. Little they realize that the stock markets are nothing but institutions that survive on the fears, apprehensions, hopes, rumours, and gossips generated (deliberately and otherwise) on the greedy middle class dreamers and also on the smart moves of the loyal insiders. Meaningless numbers from these unscientific institutions are transmitted across the globe as if those are the readings from an Electro Cardio Gram that monitors the cardiovascular system of the economy. The reports are never analyzed to examine the causative factors, but prescriptions are given. Often the patients themselves suggest the treatment that governments need to prescribe. The pills are forced on the government rather than on the patient. And the panacea for all diseases that affected the economy and the businesses are suggested to be the policy and process of de-regulation and unlimited freedom for everyone to do what they want. The logic is that market will effectively control and balance itself in a globalized world amidst contrasting legal frameworks of particular countries. That is what is called economic rationalism.

The failure was quite predictable. Neither higher professional acumen nor unique prophetic skills required to understand the trajectory of games in an absolutely free market world. The moral of the true story is not ‘no laws means no loss’. The message that emerges out of the painful historic experience termed as ‘recession’ is the need to have an effective cross country regulation rather than the sermon for de-regulation. Corporate governance and business policies need to be governed by global norms that are sensitive to local needs. Problems cannot be solved by just replicating Sarbanes-Oxley Act of US, or any country specific regulatory institution.

What required are global regulatory institutions that govern inter-country transactions in a most fair, equitable manner giving ample scope for healthy competition and balanced growth. Therefore, what is important is not economic rationalism but sociological realism. It is for the governments to think of sitting across the table for formulating regulatory institutions of global character and representation. That can happen not through tripartite talks, regional alliances or specific groups of countries. Though existing country networks can have their own working groups, decisions need to be taken at a very large level so that views and interests of all countries are considered fairly. It is to be debated whether UN which is the organization with large membership-base has the necessary power, will, and acceptance across the nations to initiate the action to have an independent regulatory body for global corporate and business governance. 

(Views are personal. Comments are welcome)

Click the links below to read related articles

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Frauds, Scams and Corporate Lokpal

Satyam: A case of worst audit failure

A miracle called India!

(India.gov.in) 

Someone commented in the 1950s:

‘(When I think of India) I think of impoverished, ignorant fanatics, teeming masses, no education, bizarre religious practices……’

India and Indians travelled far and wide in time and space.  The biggest critics of India now are Indians themselves. Some of the Indians who are fortunate to travel or stay abroad come back and shout: ‘What a wretched country is this? What an inefficient government we have here? Poor infrastructure, undeveloped villages, beggary, unemployment, and crowded roads! No discipline whatsoever!’ But with which countries they are comparing? The comparisons are always with less populated countries with huge natural resources, historically prosperous and with a much earlier technological advantage.

Whether Indians recognize this or not, whether others admit this or not, India is a miracle. India’s growth is unique and without any parallel across the globe. It takes its steps up in the ladder of development and prosperity with a huge population of 1210 million. India can be compared only with itself, as there is no other country with such complex characteristic features that are critical for growth. Just for the sake of comparison, one could possibly compare it with China in terms of the demography. While China has a population density of 143, India has a density of 382, almost triple that of China.

Anyone who looks down upon India should first appreciate its strengths.

Which large country in the world has grown so rapidly in the last several decades? And this has been achieved in spite of numerous historical, geographic, demographic, social, cultural, political and economic challenges. The country was subjected to external aggression and subjugation of a large number of rulers and powers for centuries. It had hundreds of little kingdoms and rulers fighting each other, most of them with tacit support from foreign empires. Its resources were plundered to alien countries and its cultural heritage was partially destroyed. It had to face the bitterest partition. Which country in the world was ransacked so extensively by rulers after rulers?

Which country in the world has faced a combination of challenges related to various structural, cultural, social, and political heterogeneity?

• More than 1200 castes and much more sub-castes
• More than 700 tribes and much more sub-tribes
• About 10 religious communities
• 6 National political parties, about 60 State parties and more than 1100 unrecognized political parties
• More than 6, 00,000 villages, far and wide with diverse customs, traditions and conventions
• Linguistically divided states.
• People who communicate in 22 recognized languages and over 1600 mother tongues: the main language Hindi alone has about 50 different versions
• Substantial part of the population lives in rural areas and their subsistence is agriculture.
• About 25% of the population are designated as belonging to backward communities as per different schedules.
• People of the country have strong diverse primordial, religious, social, and regional loyalties.
• Added to the above complexities, India has been facing several deep rooted malaises emanated from sectarian, corrupt, crafty, and destabilizing forces that have origins in India and elsewhere.

In spite of all odds…

With all the above growth retarding elements, India has emerged as a global leader. Before criticizing the country as having poor score in corruption index and development index, one should understand the strides it took in spite of all the challenges!

Start with the robust democracy and the successful 15 general elections! With more than 1200 small and big political parties and hundreds of communities at loggerheads, we never failed to elect our leaders in the most transparent manner. No scope for coup, dictatorship, anarchy, or fascism in this country. If we could remember the last elections, parties canvassed about 714 million voters in the most peaceful manner. About 417 million people walked to the ballot box to exercise their votes without any fear or threat. Even when terrorists shot dead their national leaders twice, the country never shook a bit. It regained its strength. All parties rallied together for protecting the country and it continued to be a unitary force.

From a country with less than 20% literates before its independence, India has become a country with about 74% literates in 2012. Only less than 7% who belong to the scheduled tribes in the country were literates. Now the country created a record by making it around 48% in 2012. 80% of urban female population and 59% of rural female population are literates. Very few countries with similar conditions have achieved such a sharp rate of growth in literacy.

Country could provide banking facilities to about 59% of the population, which is a rare achievement in a large country like India. More than 63% of the population has access to their own telephones/mobile phones. 116 million households have television. More than 23 million households have computers or laptops.

US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in its report entitled ‘Rising above the gathering storm’ used the word storm to refer to India and China. It said these countries have become challenges to US as the global leader in Science. Don’t forget the fact that it was the Indian scientist J C Bose who demonstrated to the world as early as in 1895 that communication signals could be sent through electromagnetic waves, without the use of wires. This unique invention done in Calcutta is the secret behind today’s cell phone technology. Indian scientists are occupying important positions globally now. Yes, the country has many scholars who have the potential to become another C V Raman or Srinivasa Ramanujan.

World Bank Global Economic Prospect’s Report released on 15^th January 2013, says that global economy remains fragile as high income countries continue to suffer from volatility and slow growth. But as per the above report, the prospects for the developing countries like India remain solid. Growth in high income countries remained weak with an estimated GDP growth of 1.3% in 2002, and it is expected to remain there itself in 2013 also. But developing countries recorded a growth of 5.1% and projected to expand by 5.5% in 2013 and 5.8% in 2014. The above report says that the GDP growth is expected to grow to 7.3% in 2015 in India (at factor cost), driven by policy reforms, stronger investment activity etc. The report projects that India’s growth will remain relatively high by global standards, and the country is likely to remain an attractive destination for global investors looking for long term results.

A very optimistic reaction has come from Kaushik Basu, the Chief Economist, World Bank that India will reach 8.5% to 9% growth in 2 years.

Statistics say that most of the advanced countries of US and Europe are the least safe countries (related to crimes) in the world. It is reported that India, though economically not very sound, is far safer as compared to several advanced countries.

Going to overtake China soon!

If the present growth continues, India will definitely overtake China; not in terms of population, but in terms of productive population and overall productivity. The advantage India has is the sizable population in the age group 0 to 14 now, whereas China’s huge chunk is in the age group 40 to 59. Therefore it is predicted that India will have comparatively more population in the productive age group in the coming decades than China.

According the economist Douglas McWilliams, India will overtake China in less than 40 years. NationalIntelligence Council, a US Government entity in its Global Trends 2030 Report predicts that China and India will overpower long reigning US and EU in the coming decade. Bloomberg Business Week predicts that by 2020, India will have the capacity to spend $22.5 trillion dollars on goods and services.

India's challenges

Population is an asset: Need a proper HRM policy

Population is not a liability; it is India’s greatest asset. With 65% of population in the productive age group of 15 to 59, country needs to develop a proper human resources management policy and device strategies for effective deployment of this precious resource.

How long India will take to make the ‘under privileged’ people, privileged?

Around 36% of the people of the country are living below the poverty line. 52% of Scheduled tribes in rural areas and 41.4% of Scheduled Tribes in urban areas live below poverty line.

Allowing liberal incentives and tax holidays to all those who setup industries that promote employment and boost growth in villages would be a good option. India can become a global supplier of not only people but also various products. There are several potential areas. For example India, a country with more than 90 crores mobile subscriptions (second in the world) imports more than 80% of telecom related equipment. It is necessary to develop domestic hubs for manufacturing.

Exclusive ministry for welfare of Senior Citizens

We have about 9% of the population who are senior citizens. Most of the senior citizens live with various social, economic and health issues. The country needs to focus on their welfare.  India requires a full-fledged ministry to plan and implement policies that make the life of senior citizens better.

Needs to deliberate on taking certain tough decisions

Large scale expansion of e-banking and making all transactions through banking channels are necessary. Creating one more tax slab for the super-rich, taxing all religious, charitable and educational entities with a minimum tax rate, taxing recipients of agricultural income of more than a specified limit etc. are worth examining. Instead of borrowing from global institutions and financial markets, corporates with huge funds may consider funding major infrastructural projects of government with lesser interest rates. Corporate Social Responsibility projects should be implemented by large corporate houses at macro level where their large contributions are visible and enduring. Country should make use of the advances in information technology and competent human resources, and encourage setting up of manpower-intensive outsourcing companies in the country for entities in advanced countries through appropriate policy intervention. It would be appropriate to optimize the number of employees by redeploying the manpower of government departments and Public Sector Units to new projects or by setting up platforms for entrepreneurship. It would be ideal, if the tenure of future recruitments in the government is limited to contracts of 10, 15 and 20 years so that inefficient ones are eliminated. There can be more lateral intakes so that efficient and competent persons will be always in demand. This will bring in work ethics in government.

Credit for India’s remarkable progress goes to….

An incisive analysis of the trajectory India has taken to achieve radical transformation indicates that the credit for the remarkable progress largely goes to the unique cultural and social traits of this country. May be, we can call it the Indian mindset, which constitutes both positives and negatives.

Here are those positive dimensions of the Indian psyche:  

An unlimited spirit of inquiry, a fair degree of openness, tolerance without compromising on the convictions, absence of uncontrolled greed, reverence to culture and nature, priority for cooperation rather than competition, no undue regard for materialistic success, and a culture that endorses modesty, strong kinship and social ties, generosity, and spiritual quest. These traits and values are indeed embedded in the legal foundations, institutional structures, and collective conscience of the Indian society.

First, let all Indians take pride in their great nation! Next, work to make it better! 

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