A Full Circle
My favorite refrain for many years - when Bihar will become Magadha, India will become Bharat. As CEO, an activity that I keenly pursue is attending conferences. All my other colleagues are always neck deep in work to do so. And conference after conference I notice two penchants of speakers - one, to dissect and descant upon the story of a precariously poised India at crossroads, debating on the Hamletian dilemma of to grow rapidly or not to grow so rapidly and two, to compare India with China. These speakers who look at India from a typically onlooker standpoint see India in flux, try to capture in a snapshot an ever changing panorama and then use that snapshot to hatch their very own projection of the future of India.
At one recent conference, some very successful practicing consultants crystal ball gazed and predicted that Indian Pharmaceutical companies will become increasingly local and inward looking. Based on what cues only he would know. For me this not contrarian, this is simply stupid. This is like Indian pharma retracing steps undoing the milestones already crossed.
For me there is hope. The Bihar electorate’s verdict was an enlightened one.
In India despite corruption having become a way of life, there is still a huge population of people who are honest to the book. When these people come to positions of influence and power, which is not so common - usually the important positions are usurped by their more “networked “colleagues - these men of probity do make a difference. Unfortunately the impact that they make stays mostly at the top. If the change made stays only at the top, it is not sustainable, till it percolates to the bottom. Even the impact of revolutions takes generations to set in. Slow paced transitional change takes much more. Corruption and greater than that lack of intellectual integrity or rampant intellectual infidelity are the two woes that shall continue to daunt each stride that India takes.
If corruption has to be really addressed, then retribution must be speedier. If intellectual integrity is to be inculcated, then importance of country before self has to be emphasized. For this, the kindergarten generation has to be attended. The values that they imbibe need to be different. The environment that they get should be different from what we got. The goals that they set for themselves should be different that we set for ourselves. This intervention will best be made by schools. If responsibility of values formation is left to parents, the survival instincts will dilute the intentions of even the well meaning parents. The teacher enjoys a third party legitimacy that a parent does not. Kids always view the intervention of parents as that of an interested party, till they are old enough to imbibe the purport. But if the schools have to deliver, the teachers have to be good. If the teachers have to be good, the right orientation people have to come in the teaching profession. If the good people have to come in teaching profession, then they have to sacrifice more lucrative alternative options. If they do so, then the society has to compensate them with extreme respect and reverence. In which case, our newly acquired value system needs to metamorphose quite a bit and knowledge / erudition / sacrifice or simply said adhyaatma and tyaaga have to have precedence on material wealth and attendant frivolous contraptions that announce it. Are we then returning to the rhetorical rectitude representative of the stereotype golden period “shikshak”. Will some champion of social engineering scream - Brahmanical manuvad? Do we come back a full cycle. But do we have an option?
My favorite refrain for many years - when Bihar will become Magadha, India will become Bharat. As CEO, an activity that I keenly pursue is attending conferences. All my other colleagues are always neck deep in work to do so. And conference after conference I notice two penchants of speakers - one, to dissect and descant upon the story of a precariously poised India at crossroads, debating on the Hamletian dilemma of to grow rapidly or not to grow so rapidly and two, to compare India with China. These speakers who look at India from a typically onlooker standpoint see India in flux, try to capture in a snapshot an ever changing panorama and then use that snapshot to hatch their very own projection of the future of India.
At one recent conference, some very successful practicing consultants crystal ball gazed and predicted that Indian Pharmaceutical companies will become increasingly local and inward looking. Based on what cues only he would know. For me this not contrarian, this is simply stupid. This is like Indian pharma retracing steps undoing the milestones already crossed.
For me there is hope. The Bihar electorate’s verdict was an enlightened one.
In India despite corruption having become a way of life, there is still a huge population of people who are honest to the book. When these people come to positions of influence and power, which is not so common - usually the important positions are usurped by their more “networked “colleagues - these men of probity do make a difference. Unfortunately the impact that they make stays mostly at the top. If the change made stays only at the top, it is not sustainable, till it percolates to the bottom. Even the impact of revolutions takes generations to set in. Slow paced transitional change takes much more. Corruption and greater than that lack of intellectual integrity or rampant intellectual infidelity are the two woes that shall continue to daunt each stride that India takes.
If corruption has to be really addressed, then retribution must be speedier. If intellectual integrity is to be inculcated, then importance of country before self has to be emphasized. For this, the kindergarten generation has to be attended. The values that they imbibe need to be different. The environment that they get should be different from what we got. The goals that they set for themselves should be different that we set for ourselves. This intervention will best be made by schools. If responsibility of values formation is left to parents, the survival instincts will dilute the intentions of even the well meaning parents. The teacher enjoys a third party legitimacy that a parent does not. Kids always view the intervention of parents as that of an interested party, till they are old enough to imbibe the purport. But if the schools have to deliver, the teachers have to be good. If the teachers have to be good, the right orientation people have to come in the teaching profession. If the good people have to come in teaching profession, then they have to sacrifice more lucrative alternative options. If they do so, then the society has to compensate them with extreme respect and reverence. In which case, our newly acquired value system needs to metamorphose quite a bit and knowledge / erudition / sacrifice or simply said adhyaatma and tyaaga have to have precedence on material wealth and attendant frivolous contraptions that announce it. Are we then returning to the rhetorical rectitude representative of the stereotype golden period “shikshak”. Will some champion of social engineering scream - Brahmanical manuvad? Do we come back a full cycle. But do we have an option?
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