Is India Inc Ready For Corporate Governance ?

Corporate governance is the new buzzword in the Indian white-collar community coming in the wake of Satyam debacle. Coming from a background that has had nothing to do with commerce, economics or business management, I find it difficult to understand if there is a greater need for corporate governance.

For all I know, more rules, procedures and processes remind me of the good old and inefficient bureaucracy and "the license permit raj" of pre-reforms India. In the Cold War era India's socialistic leanings (more like anti-capitalism) led to rules, processes and governmental control that most Indian corporates were either state controlled or dominated by big business houses. It did not allow the middle-class, traditionally business oriented, to dream big in terms of business.Economic reforms changed all that, private players took over and the result 15 years later is not bad at all. It is not just the big business houses and multinational companies that have been successful, of course they have had an important role but it is the small businesses that have been driving the engine of growth. Lots of energy, determination and innovation are the hallmarks of this epoch. It is also the period when entrepreuners and spirited individuals from rural and small towns of India emerged as key players. Did they know or follow management rules or processes?

I don't think so! Lets take Lalu Yadav as case-study. Lalu was seen by a lot of literati as the perfect example of illiterate, ignorant political leader who doesn't deserve to be in the legislature. While this impression may have weakened with passage of time, it is a fact that he lacks absolutely the sophistication and finese synonymous with corporate leadership. Yet he tranformed railways in a manner none could have imagined. I guess Lalu didn't go much into the established corporate strategies and plans. What he did instead is, apply his own desi business sense and unorthodoxy. The same goes for dabbawalas, Dhoni and scores of middle-class Indians who now lead India. Most of these people who have gone on to become corporate leaders have shown dictatorial traits. Should that be tolerated?

Before answering that question let us take a look at the fact that despite phenomenal economic growth, India is still the home of every third poverty-stricken person in the world. As things stand, this gulf between poor and others is set to increase unless the overall economy grows at a faster pace. History shows that raapid development has been a reality in autocratic states more than in democratic ones. So, as long as corporate leaders act dictatorial within their own organization,on purely professional issues and have no major or direct role in socio-political aspects of society, they can be seen as necessary evil. Of course, the government should ensure that the interests and basic rights of the employees and customers are safe-guarded and the value generated contribute to the society as a whole.

P.S: As I have said before, this is an area I am not knowledgeable in and I may be wrong. But do leave a comment to correct me :)

Posted By Danish 1:52 AM

1

Continue Reading

2008: A year of Doublespeak and Doublethought

The year 2008 was a mixed bag but personally i would view it as a bad one considering the increased number of terror attacks, and political upheavels across countries and continents and the uh-so depressing global economy slowdown. In that sense my following post is in many ways different from what i have posted before. Here is a transcript of a conversation that me and my muse in the context of the Mumbai terror attack and its fallout.

Me: Apparently, an FBI team has visited the village of captured terrorist Ajmal Kasab in Pakistan.

Muse : Wait a second! Hasn't Pakistan said that Kasab is not a Pakistani?

Me : Well, all that Pakistan has said is that India has not provided them "credible evidence" to prove that this terrorist, Ajmal Kasab, son of Amir Kasab of village Faridkot, in the Okara district of Punjab, Pakistan, as reported by Pakistani newspaper Dawn, is indeed a Pakistani national!

Muse: But didn't former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif say that Kasab's village had been cordoned off and his parents were not being allowed to speak to reporters?
Me: Actually, Nawaz Sharif has been misquoted and his statements have been taken out of context. What Sharif had said on the camera that all of us saw was that Kasab's village had been cordoned off and his parents had not been allowed to talk to the media. Sharif never said that Ajmal Kasab was a Pakistani!!! In fact, when he made those statements, being a politician, he was only taking a shot at the current government and his political opponents.But thats ridiculous! haven't many news agencies including Pakistan's own Geo TV and Dawn already proved Kasab's identity ? Even the government of Pakistan has in a manner accepted the fact but technically it lives in denial.

Muse: Isn't that paradoxical and perverted?
Me : It is actually doublespeak or implementation of the Orwellian concept of "doublethink". This concept was popularized by George Orwell in his dystopian novel "1984". Doublethink is described by Orwell as "the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them... To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then,when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of the objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies-all this is indispensably necessary". In the current scenario Pakistan is using doublespeak in both disowning Kasab and accepting him at the same time.Pakistan itself is no stranger to terror attack, its very existence is under threat but why is it still unwilling to co-operate?There could be many reasons including the possibility of certain individuals and groups of being unpersons. However, the only thing that is clear is the fact that Pakistan is unwilling to act and despite what the US says, it is not doing enough to make Pakistan see sense. I doubt if Pakistan and the US view anti-India terror group in the same light as they do with their "own terrorists".

Muse : So how does one deal with nation-states that run with the hare and hunt with the hound, especially when the self-appointed global cop extends tacit support to it. Do we go back to our daily lives, sweat and toil for our secure future and wait for the next attack ???


Update
Here is the evidence that Pakistan has been hankering for! and the dossier that India gave to it

Posted By Danish 2:10 AM

0

Continue Reading

The Fourth Estate of India

ANGRY.
Thats the one word that sums up the prevailing mood across India in the aftermath of the horrific terror attacks in Mumbai. Terror attacks have evoked similar sentiments in the past but every time the emotion have died out in a very short period of time, especially after the political parties and the media are done extracting the mojo from it. But the sentiment this time is far more vehement than it has ever been which is quite understandable considering the magnitude of the attack both in terms of devastation as well as audacity. Talk to the common person on the street, 9.9 out of 10 people would hold politicians responsible for the attack on the nation’s sovereignty, and it is not just the politicians in the government that are being blamed, the people have been quite emphatic in holding the entire class of politicians as responsible. This sentiment is quite understandable when we see politicians squabbling among themselves for a share of the pie bought from the hard earned money of the tax-payer. What is worse is the fact that even after coveting the people’s property, politicians do not seem to realize that they have certain duties towards the very people whose money they are squandering away.

The recent terror attacks in Mumbai has actually catalyzed the situation so that the debate now goes beyond this dastardly act to the various commissions and omissions of the ruling class all along at the expense of the welfare and security of the nation. Martyrdom of the Mumbai terror attack like Hemant Karkare, Sandeep Unnikrishanan and others who in many ways represented the middle class Indians served as rude reminders of the fact that unless the common people take the charge, their basic security was at risk.

As the world continues to condense into a thoroughly connected global village, intellectuals, the tax-paying middle class, the students and even journalists have found on the Web and the TV, ways to express their anguish and call for a change. Social software tools like blogs, microblogs, syndicated content, forwarded emails etc and mobile penetration have provided not only a platform to participate in the social and political processes, voice their opinions but also form communities with like minded individuals. This is the Fourth Estate of the Indian state, the child of the information revolution, powered by information and communication technology of the 21st century.
This section of people is more dependable and least susceptible to corruption (in any form) simply because there are no personal gains or losses for them. No wonder, political that "lip-stick wearing, coat tie wearing" Indians should be entitled to political opinions. Naqvi may have belled the cat but he represents the deep-seated resentment that a lot of politicians across party lines have towards educated middle class Indians taking interest in politics. What more evidence do we need? Is it a coincidence that a Leftist CM of Kerala and National Vice President of the BJP, a Rightist, were speaking on the similar lines on the same day? In the past, we have seen all political parties bury differences and come when the question involves a raise or a decrement in salary and other perks granted to elected representatives. Even yesterday i.e. 03/11/08, when asked (by TimesNOW) why such a significant portion of the nation's security asset including the NSG commandos were being deployed for personal security of political leader who apparently had no serious threat to life, politicians from all parties were found to be defending the decision unanimously. Yet, a couple of minutes later, Arnab Goswami of TimesNow was left begging for a consensus between political parties (the Cong and the BJP) on how to deal with this latest terror attack.
There has been at least one positive outcome from this tragedy and that is the galvanizing effect it had on the people, rousing them from slumber and forcing them to stand up and take initiative. Turn on the TV and you could be witnessing a watershed moment, this attack can be taken as a wake up call to rouse a nation from its self-induced slumber.
Prasoon Joshi's poetry, "Is Baar Nahi", TimesNOW's slogan "Action not words", rallies in Mumbai and the chatter across nooks and corners of India indicate the growing assertiveness of a section of Indians. The Fourth Estate of India.

Prasoon Joshi's poem reflecting the sentiment of the aam Indian post Mumbai terror attacks.

Posted By Danish 1:23 AM

0

Continue Reading

Mumbai Nightmare : India's 9/11

Let me be honest, i am at loss of words in response to the latest terror attacks in Mumbai. It has been dubbed as India's 9/11 and for once i am willing to accept the cliché. For the first time i understand how an average American would have felt on that Tuesday in 2001. In my earlier posts, i have tried to present my opinion in a dispassionate and unbiased manner, but this post is different, this one is personal, unfiltered thoughts of an average Indian that i am. As a blogger and an information junky i may have taken this a bit more personally than others but I’m sure every Indian, irrespective of all affiliations and allegiances, has, in at least some degree been hurt by this horrific act. Terror attacks in India are not new but the manner and magnitude of this attack is unprecedented. A handful of terrorists with meticulous planning and diabolic designs turned Mumbai into an urban battle-field and sent shockwaves throughout India and the world.
If an act of terrorism is carried out to inflict psychological damage, the live coverage of the entire episode by the visual media completed it. "Media is the right arm of anarchy", Dan Brown wrote and sadly enough the greater damage that the perpetrators inflicted, was through the media only. Well, i do not blame the media at all; it was doing what it is supposed to do as am i doing right now. (Some Hindi channels do not qualify as news channels) The unfortunate part is that sociopaths have always used the strength of the civil society against the society itself (similar to Japanese martial art aikido ,but far too evil). In this instance as well as in the previous ones, the terrorists have exploited our democratic principles, civil rights and the free press to attack us.

There is nothing chivalrous or brave or clever about it, it cannot be graded within civilized world's percepts of good and bad, it is pure evil, manifesting itself in creatures bereft of every human trait. Civilized society is based upon the assumption that people desire to live in peace and prosperity and are willing to abide by the rules for mutual benefit. Some people might transgress for selfish reasons or may want to change the system but they will not go to the extreme which threatens the very existence of the society. This self-restraint may arise out of "goodness of heart" in few cases but in the majority of cases, it is out of the instinct of self-preservation. Power, wealth, success and everything that a civilized person (however wicked) aspires for, loses meaning without society. Hence, when anarchists like these terrorists subvert our civility and use them against us they descend into the lowest level of human consciousness. In contrast, heroes like Hemant Karkare, Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan,Vijay Salaskar, DCP Kamte and all the martyrs who gave up their lives trying to protect the lives of innocent people displayed the highest form of valor and bravery.

India has never reacted to terror attacks with the same sort of disdain for liberty and civil rights that some other nations have and a lot of people tend to take it as its weakness. What is more painful is the fact that many Indians too hold a similar view. What they forget is that being the land of Buddha, Mahavira, Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi, the doctrine of "non-violence as dharma" is so deeply ingrained in our ethos that "an eye for an eye" sort of attitude simply does not gel with rest of our value system. However, the doctrine of non-violence as propagated by Gandhi does not represent, as some people believe, cowardice or submission to force, rather it stands for fierce opposition to tyranny and injustice but without using violence. It is the noblest form of warfare but warfare nonetheless. Gandhi himself has said that if a person is incapable of fighting tyranny with non-violence, he would have them use violence rather than suffer injustice. A similar situation is emerging now and the people of India, the victims of this dastardly act, are hurt and angry at the audacity of the perpetrators and need assurances that our civility and sense of justice should not prove detrimental to our security.

The battle in Mumbai is over but the war has just begun a war which has many fronts and a war in which it is the citizens who will take the lead. The first step, which has already begun is to send the message to all politicians that they stop petty politics and work towards the security and betterment of the nation. When Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s father was showing Kerala CM the way out, he was acting out the sentiment which finds resonance in almost all Indians, that, politicians are not interested in our personal griefs or national security. It is really alarming that a Leftist like Achuthanand and a Rightist like BJP VP, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, have both, on the same day, criticized civil society’s attempt to stop the issue from getting politicized. Their disappointment at being denied the golden opportunity to extract political mileage is understandable but what politicians of all hues need to understand is that one can’t fool all the people, all the time. This time things have gone beyond imagination and all political parties should sit down together and work out a strategy to bring the guilty to book and prevent similar attacks in future. Lets not forget that Hemant Karkare's wife in returning the Rs 1 crore "compensation" to Modi has set the highest moral standard that every Indian should at least try to live up to.

Posted By Danish 11:57 PM

2

Continue Reading

Politics over N-Deal question our democratic credentials

The nuclear deal debate has polarised all political parties in India into two camps- those who support the nuclear deal and those who oppose it. Some months back I posted an entry here on the nuclear deal. My opinion on the agreement remains the same but my opinion of the Indian political parties has been further infuenced by the politics sorrounding the deal.

I have always considered the polity of India as a successful and vibrant democracy. It is easier to adopt democracy in culturally homogenous, prosperous and peacful countries like those of Europe but for a third-world country like India with its diverse cultures and traditions, heterogenous ethnicities and communities and acute socio-political and economic imparities, success of democracy is no mean feat. However, there are times when we begin to question ourselves on whether we, as a nation, nurture democratic temperament along with a democratic polity. The current political bickering is one such time when we are forced to question our democratic credentials.

As I said in the earlier post, it is very difficult to predict the consequences of the 123 agreement . It is one of those decisions whose merits and demerits can be known only after the results start coming in. For me the nuclear deal is more about if I can trust Manmohan Singh or not. After all, the last time I faced a similar situation was when Manmohan Singh as finance minister was bringing in economic reforms. I was in school then but still remember the apprensions and fear that the Leftists and the Rightists propogated. But apparently their allegations were misfounded since the economic condition of the nation has improved drastically.

But then Manmohan Singh is afterall a human being and is as prone to making error as everyone else (for a while lets just forget that he is a congressman also :p )
That is, of course, my personal opinion but the views of national-level political parties cannot be and should not be allowed to be influenced by political personalities but by merit and demerit of individual policies.
However there are indications that the current political bickering is more of a clash of personalities than a clash of ideologies. If the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is staking his own credibility on the n-deal and the Congress party is supporting him whole-heartedly, the Leftists rallying behind Prakash Karat who has taken up the task of defeating the deal as a personal vendetta. With general election round the corner it is now Manmohan Singh vs Prakash Karat vs L.K. Advani vs Mulayam Yadav/Amar Singh vs Mayawati. No matter who wins, it is the common man that stands to lose the most in this struggle if the political parties and their leaders don't look beyond their own selves, interests and narrow ideologies and work for the national interest.

With general election round the corner all political parties have taken stands that is percieved by them to be the best to garner their traditional voter base. The Left, a key member of the ruling coalition has formally withdrawn its support from the ruling coalition making Manmohan Singh's government a minority in the parliament. The Left Front may accuse the government of compromising the sovereignty of the nation to a foriegn power but most Indians know that the Left protests simply because that is the only thing it ever does. In fact, I will not be surprised to find the Left protesting against itself ! In the present context the Left could not be expected to take a different stand. Its ideology does not allow it to get into any sort of agreement with an imperialistic power like the USA. It is pretty intriguing why communists in India are so opposed to any sort of agreement with the US but rarely raise voice when fellow-communist China makes deals with the US. The Left argues that the 123 Agreement would undermine India's sovereignty. This is a purely speculative argument which may be proved or disproved in the future but in the present reality India's sovereignty has been time and again undermined by China during its numerous incursions into North-Eastern states. The Left Front has not exactly been very vocal about these incursions as it is being towards the nuke deal. On the other hand it views the nuke deal as America's game plan to encircle China.


It is interesting to note that both Left and the Right are united in opposition to the nuclear deal. The BJP has never been as anti-American as other Indian political parties have been but in this instance the saffron party prefers to side with the L. It is worth mentioning that Indo-US relationship recieved major boost during the NDA's rule. In fact, it was the Vajpayee government itself that laid the groundwork for the 123 Agreement but the BJP now opposes the same deal accusing UPA of making "strategic blunders". Leaders of the BJP say that if the goverment collapses now and the Sangh is voted in, it would renegotiate the deal with the US. I am sure that even the leaders who make such statements are aware that if the deal doesn't get through this time, it never will. Most likely the BJP's opposition to the nuclear deal stems from the fact that it wants the deal passed when it itself is in power and not allow the Congress to hijack it .

Now that the Right and Left are resolved to take whatever steps necessary to stop the government from going ahead with the N-Deal, the centrists led by Prime Minister are admant to see the N-Deal through. This is where the smaller parties and the regional parties come in. It now appears that after being rattled by the BSP the Samajwadi Party is willing to bail out the government. It is not clear what deal the party has struck with the Congress for changing its stand but ideologically it was in a strange dilemma. It could not afford to be seen voting along-side its bete-noire, BSP as well as the BJP which also happens to be the next powerful rival. At the same time the party did not want to risk losing its crucial Muslim voters base by supporting the agreement with the USA. The Samajwadi Party may have overcome its fear of losing Muslim votes but it has raised a question on whether political parties should be willing to meet every reasonable and unreasonable demands of its voters or should politicians also try to educate the masses in instances where their demands are found to be unreasonable.

Lately,Muslims world over dislike the US but almost all Muslim countries at this point of time are more aligned to the US than India ever can. The newly-elected government of Pakistan continues to take order from Washington without upsetting its voter base seriously. This trend indicates that inter-state relations are almost always governed with national interest in mind and not individual and communal perspectives. There is no reason why Indian Muslims would oppose the nuclear deal unless some political parties feed them wrong information to consolidate their vote-bank. I am not really sure if the Muslims are against the nuclear deal, no one around me is. Had the government of India been planning a military alliance with the US, not just Muslims but the majority of the Indian population would bitterly oppose it and for valid reasons too.

However, the 123 Agreement is not a military pact despite allegations made by its opponents, especially the Left Front. From what I learn from the media there is nothing in the agreement that could prevent India from walking out of it. Rapidly rising oil prices indicate that developing nations cannot depend completely on fossil fuels to sustain their growth rate in the future.
Even if we were to presume that this deal would actually influence India's foreign policy in the future, would we still be in a position to refuse negotiation for an indefinate period ?

As the world population increases and more and more regions begin to develop, the energy requirements would not be able to be met by the limited reserves of fossil fuels. Alternative and renewable sources of energy might then become crucial to sustain growth. Even a major oil producing country like Iran insists that it needs nuclear energy for development ( the US doesn't agree but its another story). For India to have access to nuclear technology and fuel even from traditional allies like Russia and France, it has to be formally admitted into the elite nuclear group which is unlikely to happen without US approval. Sooner or later India will have to gain admission into the nuclear bazaar by placing itself under the guidelines of the IAEA.
As the oil prices spiral out of control and inflation is on double digit Indian political parties should try to minimize their non-ideological differences and co-operate with each other for development's sake.

Posted By Danish 10:19 PM

5

Continue Reading