Save Anna Hazare

This is an open personal letter to politicians and intellectuals in general and MPs and Members of NAC in particular to save the life of a true, genuine, selfless, courageous, unique but otherwise a very common Indian in the form of Anna Hazare.

 Anna has done a selfless and great service to the nation. He has indeed started a third national awakening movement after the independence movement and the Jaiprakash Narain movement. How many people are selfless, passionate and willing to sacrifice their lives for the betterment of lives of people in the present days materialistic and to a large extent selfish world?

Corruption in our country and polity has reached such dangerous proportions that it has indeed posed a threat to our system of governance namely democracy.  Anna, otherwise a common man, has done great service by fighting against this deadly disease of corruption which has been hurting the common man for last 30 years in spite of every politician and government’s pledge that they will curb it. And therefore he has instantaneously, naturally and democratically ignited a hope in the common man that this disease can be curbed by mere assurance by parliamentarians.

Why it did not strike to the political leaders, MPs, members of NAC that they should take up this cause in an effective manner. After all they are either and / or elected and nominated for this and paid in the form of pay, perks and prestige. Let us assume that some of them did probably try to take up this cause. But then when 2G, CWG, Adarsh and Mining scams involving their own colleagues keep on surfacing, why was none of them pained or agonized enough to go on indefinite hunger strike till their colleagues were brought to justice and the system of governance and politics accordingly reformed. By not doing this, the general politician or an established intellectual social activist like the member of the NAC failed this nation and their credibility smacks of hypocrisy.

Similarly a common man must also introspect on this. Fortunately this time they did and therefore has come out whole heartedly against corruption by supporting the campaign led by Anna.  What is disturbing is that why the politicians and the intellectual social activists are like the members of the NAC whole heartedly, sincerely and practically are not supporting the campaign against corruption led by Anna. Is it not shameful that a 74 year old man is in the 10^th day of his fast and there is still no hope that the politician and intellectual will grasp the truth? Considering the experience of the last 30 years the demand of the Jan Lokpal bill that

• The anti-corruption wing of the CBI should be joined to Lokpal,
• Prime minister should be brought under the purview of Lokpal,
• Etablishing Lokayuktas in every state,
• Protect whistle blowers

 A written commitment to implement these and similar provisions should be given to Anna so that he can break the fast and the nation does not lose his life.

 Anna and his team have tried to bring about an effective Jan Lokpal Bill by consultation with the government and all political parties but the government chose to bulldoze with their version of the Lokpal bill. The government even when discussing the Hazarejis team did not show sincerity and honesty.  Anna therefore had to resort to hunger strike.  Now the NAC intellectuals, opposition parties, and many MPs of all parties agree that the Bill proposed by the government is trash one, vindicating the stand of the campaign of Anna.

This necessitates that at least now the truth be accepted and the reality grasped. The excuses like procedures and technicalities should  not be used as a shield to unjustifiably protect the self interest of the polity and run away or dilly dally the enactment of a strong Jan Lokpal Bill. It should also be noted and understood that a strong Lokpal Bill will necessarily affect a significant corrupt fraction of the current polity; it is a direct conflict of their interest. It is therefore essential and appropriate on the part of the responsible polity to go out of the way in enacting such a law in the larger interest of the nation. The corrupt fraction of the polity will have to get out of politics. It should be noted that a few decades back a large fraction of polity in China supposedly volunteered and resigned to make way for a good set of politicians.

The fears of Lokpal institution giving rise to dictatorial governance are unfounded and exaggerated. Judiciary, Legislature and Executive have functioned fairly in harmony so far. Particularly the legislature and executive has misused their powers and have become corrupt. This necessitates a fourth organ with a power to check corruption. There is every reason to believe that this institution of Lokpal will coexist in harmony with the other three disciplines on the basis of checks and balances. In fact such an institution will then enable the Judiciary to concentrate on its duty and not venture into checking the corruption of polity which the polity has started perceiving to be sidestepping on the part of the Judiciary. This Lokpal institution will have to be made as independent and powerful as the other three disciplines. Should there still be valid concerns that the Lokpal institution will give rise to dictatorial governance; ample provisions to counter this can be put in place by giving checking powers to especially the Judiciary. Anna Hazare team is more than willing to discuss and repeal such apprehensions of the rise of dictatorial governance.  Arvind Kejriwal has explained quite clearly that that the powers given to the Lokpal institution are not in any way greater than that of a class B income tax officer. In fact it is good thing and credit to the citizens of India that this anticorruption movement is led by a common man using non-violent and democratic means.

It is appropriate that polity give respect to this movement. Why all party meeting could not resolve to give a written commitment to the anti-corruption campaign that their demand would be implemented in a time bound manner? In the first place did the PM have a desire or made a sincere attempt to reach to such a written commitment? Or was the polity more concerned with protecting their own prestige, supremacy and corrupt colleagues and narrow self-interests? Why only general and routine statements were made beating about the bush without making any concrete and specific commitments to the anti-corruption campaign? Considering that the polity in general and the government in particular has been dilly dallying and not sincere on this issue by hiding under the veil of parliamentary procedures, supremacy of parliament etc, the anti corruption campaign is entitled to such a written commitment. It is the duty of the polity to admit their failure, inefficacy, selfishness and win the hearts and trust of the self less anti-campaign movement by giving them a genuine, concrete and written commitment. It is their duty to save the life of Anna especially because he has done great service to the nation by mobilizing this campaign against corruption and unified the citizens irrespective of their religion, caste and status, something which polity itself failed to do in decades.

Assuming that government made a genuine attempt to reach to a written commitment but failed due to refusal by a few parties, that does not itself absolve the government of the day of its obligations and claim helplessness. It is the utmost duty of the govt. to take this revolution to a logical and good conclusion. If PM and his party can invest their political capital in getting the Nuclear bill passed risking the survival of the government, why not allow the same for the Jan-Lokpal Bill. Let the principles of democracy play it out fairly. If the governments can fall and midterm elections held because a PM was called “Nikamma” or a smaller coalition for its petty interests withdraws support, why not take a democratic risk for a much larger cause of curbing corruption. Let the citizens of this democracy which political parties support the Jan-Lokpal Bill and which do not and let the people decide. This would be a fairer democracy than throttling it in the name of parliamentary procedures and its supremacy.

It is the duty of everyone that such spirit and anti-corruption movement should not be killed by giving reasons of parliamentary procedures and supremacy. Rather the polity should show flexibility, introspect, reform itself and share with other institutes, at least a part of the unchecked and undeserving power it has, through a more realistic principle of checks and balances. The right of the MPs to enact laws remains intact.

Football World Cup 2010

2010 world cup has been interesting in many aspects like

• First and foremost, the ball used in the tournament provided by Adidas went through a great controversy. Some of the better players on planet like Messi, Ronaldo have been skying the ball many times when they didn’t intend to. Scorecards would probably have been different had ball not behaved according to its own whims and fancies. Probably results of many games would have been different too.
• Star teams have been humbled. This has happened in all world cups; however frequency this time seems to be higher. Last world cup finalists have gone home even before entering the second round.
• Some star teams like Portrugal, England, France, Italy have not made it to quarter finals.
• Top three stars (Roony, Ronaldo, Messi) have not been among goals

I have enjoyed this world cup for reasons more than interesting things mentioned above.

What I liked most about this world cup is that there has been very few one sided games. Some of the exceptions were Germany-Australia, Germany-Argentina, Portugal-North Korea. Even not so highly ranked teams have given very tough fights to superior teams and at times have beaten them (Slovakia-Italy).

These games have been full of thrills, tensions and uncertainties. It was very pleasing to see smaller teams beating favorites. Germans were written off even before tournament began because young players were considered inexperienced. Now suddenly they have become cup favorites. Brazil was all time favorite, but they lost in quarter final. They curbed their natural game in order to win; but that did not help. Italians started with defense, their natural forte.. but it did not work for them. They played beautiful football in last 20 minutes of their last league match against Slovakia, but then it was proved to be insufficient. They were humbled and had to face embarrassment of early exit. They learnt that cannot  take their defensive game for granted. Brazil curbed their natural instincts and Italians exhibited it at will… Both failed. The tournament proved that it has to be performance and strategy "on that day during 90 minutes" is what counts. Reputation, assumptions, presumptions are null and void. This is very important message to all ... players and spectators alike.

World cup is not only teaching valuable lessons, but also giving immense pleasure of watching masters exhibiting ball skills, their amazing fitness (could stop getting into an awe for Tevez... he seemed to be ready for running full throttle for another 90 minutes). Happy, eccentric and sad emotions (in particular Maradona) were plenty on offer that was a treat for fans to watch. It was all about how much football, national pride mattered to people on pitch.

Off the pitch too emotions flared. Colorful fans screaming with joy and sorrow were a treat to watch. It was nice to see human side of human beings. It gave me goose pimples to see Argentina players (and Maradona) receiving hero's welcome even after a big defeat. I guess this happens only when you have unconditional love for the game and you trust your players for their effort. I could not help thinking that.. this is so unlike Indian cricket. Do we love cricket or the players..or just ourselves?

Waiting eagerly for the semi final tonight and coming final on Sunday. Next week onwards, there will be no football and this great carnival. Already feeling empty by this thought.

It will be another 4 years before same fun begins in 2014. May be Olympics in 2012 would give a glimpse of all these emotions. But nothing can match football world cup.

Career Problems of Rural Students

People generally are quick to comment on professional successes or failures of other people or may be even themselves. It’s natural to attribute the recent past or current activities to success or failures. But I think one forgets that career path had already begun right after the graduation. Perhaps even choice of professional course determines rest of the life of many professionals.

In today’s competitive world one often finds that most people are dissatisfied with their professional life and in turn personal life as well. Sizeable amount of this dissatisfaction could be attributed to few decisions that one makes as a fresher.

Many students in India lack the presence of career oriented people around them. This is especially true for youngsters from rural area. They have a very limited exposure to professions. For instance, they do not get to see professionals from areas other than teachers, farmers, government employees that generally doesn’t involve more than 4-5 government departments, or at best the bank employees (which is again limited to only public sector banks). In most cases these rural youngsters remain totally aloof from first hand awareness as a result of interaction with professionals (probably the most effective career awareness) of variety of professions offered by private sector. Thus these youngsters are not only deprived of the awareness but the guidance that ideally should have come along with it, which I think is all the more critical in rural and semi urban set up. I would also imagine girls to be much more unfortunate than their male counterparts when it comes to awareness and guidance. This is a result of our cultural mould that is prevalent in rural and semi urban India. I however do not mean to say that the depriving cultural mould is non existent in urban India. Although the deprivation of awareness and meaningful career guidance for girls is a large and probably more critical issue, I shall try to be generic in current discussion.

Youngster from non urban areas often exhibit lower levels of confidence when they come to city for professional studies. Several factors (both socio-economic and situational) contribute to their lower self confidence. Some prominent factors are

1. Inability to speak fluent and polished English
2. Perceived uncertainty of quality of their knowledge of subject of study
3. Lack of exposure to urban activities like dining etiquette, discotheques, picnics, multiple sports expertise (basketball, badminton, Table Tennis, Tennis etc), mall and shopping etiquettes etc
4. Inability to afford prevalent in-fashion attire / Poor dressing sense
5. Most students are relatively low on pocket money

The lower levels of confidence often guide their career decisions because of irrational peer pressure that they suddenly experience. These problems although prevalent in initial period of urban stay, can prolong quite a bit for many, sometimes as long as their tenure in professional colleges. As a result, youngsters stay away from informal groups that have high potential of quality exposure and networking. Thus their career decisions are result of cocooned brainstorming that practically doesn’t involve any expert/knowledgeable advice. Moreover, in most professional colleges there is no comprehensive career counselling. Thus, in spite of being in professional colleges the career decisions often go wrong. There are many MBAs who opt for marketing as specialisation when they are more inclined towards operations or HR. They choose marketing because most people opt for marketing as they perceive it would fetch them employment relatively easily, thereby totally ignoring their interests. This leads to long term frustration in the form of mid career blues. Same is the case with engineers who opt computer engineering (because it seems glamorous and is perceived as career with better monitory benefits) when they are actually interested in mechanical engineering. At later stage multi pronged pressures (family, financial, social etc) make it difficult to make a career shift. Moreover, the atmosphere for career shift in India is not very conducive since the recruitment industry in middle management and junior levels works on experience and not on skills and competencies.

Able guidance and unbiased self analysis is the key to overcome these career problems. In my opinion, following things could be attempted to reduce the probability of career and personality mismatch.

1. Wide exposure: Exposure to as many people/situations as possible during your schooling and professional education. This might mean joining adventure clubs, sports club, professional groups, social networks like facebook and orkut, online discussions like on linked in. Knowledge gained and people interacted on these forums could help you form important opinions thereby making one make healthy career decisions. Just as children experience a healthy growth when exposed to activities like music learning, sports, and cultural activities, above mentioned ensure healthy growth as professionals. Some of these might cost a bit, but I would say it is as important an investment as tuition fees for professional courses. At times, it may prove to be more beneficial than professional course itself. One has to find means and ways to afford at least few of these. Wide exposure is very important.
2. If parents can be made aware of the importance of this non-study related activities, who in turn can support their children in terms of orientation and money, nothing like it. Many youngsters feel the first mind block as convincing parents of the importance of these activities. This is particularly true for non urban parents who traditionally believe study is all that is required. Convinced and supportive parents can make a huge difference.
3. Importance of mentor/s: Having one or more mentors as early as possible in career is very important. One can have multiple mentors depending on their expertise. Most students/professionals from rural areas might not have access to able mentors, but one has to develop them if one is ambitious in career. Usually good and people love to be mentors, since it realises their hidden potential and is immensely satisfying for them. It is just a matter of identifying the mentor. In most cases, good teachers/professors, various domain experts that can be found on online platforms, sports persons, coaches, placement officers, established professionals. If one persistently reaches out, it is not a tough task to find a mentor. These days, many grown up and established young professionals choose to have mentors for further growth. The inspiration and the guidance of mentors can lead to life changing growth. We hear many successful people attribute their success to mentors. Don’t we?
4. Importance of extra curricular activities (like sports and cultural activities) at college/profession and extra curricular reading that inspires and keeps your spiritual being on growth path can not be undermined. Healthy career growth requires healthy mind and healthy body.

Coming from rural background can be a slight disadvantage in terms of exposure but it comes with certain advantages also. People from rural background are lucky to escape undue peer pressure that their urban counterparts face in their childhood years at school. It helps in growth of an uncluttered mind which is one of the basic ingredients of success. That’s why probably we find many successful sportspersons and emerging leaders who have roots in rural or semi urban India. Pollution free life amidst countryside that avoids day to day struggle like that in Mumbai or Chennai is nothing less than a luxury. This also helps in relatively better growth in formative years. However, pace of life suddenly changes when one has to make career decisions. Thus one has to be aware of what it takes to cope and succeed in career and in turn life.

IPL and Elections – The Pros and Cons

I think it is a good middle path to shift IPL out of India. But are security concerns addressed? Probably yes… the terrorists may get less time to prepare for attack in a seemingly more secured environment of a developed country. But for sure it’s a bad news for people who wanted to enjoy live games in phenomenal stadium atmosphere. However, they do not even form 1% of the viewers. So all in all it’s a good decision although some local businesses, small and big, would be deprived of their much awaited revenues. 

However, I think India's image has been tarnished beyond doubt. Such a big country cannot provide security to an event? Many foreigners also must be thinking why Indian elections need such a huge security that other event is not conducted on security grounds alone. Probably that should be bigger concern for Indians and the government and the politicians (if they are sensitive enough). We surely have reflected a tarnished image to the world in that sense. 

But I feel happy because in this kind of an arrangement, it is less likely that the IPL grounds (now in foreign country) would be used for promoting nonsense stuff. Some bollywood stars tried to promote their movies by being on television and exhibiting how phony they look when it comes to live telecast. This time around I expected politicians to use this platform to promote their candidates as campaigning part in elections.

 It would now be interesting to see how many of those players who had decided to quit the event on security grounds would agree to play in the IPL. Many other cricket boards were probably enjoying the threat IPL was facing. It feels good at some level to see the event going through. It’s great to see Lalit Modi and team not giving up and the world taking its notice. However, the organisers should be grounded enough to concentrate on solving mammoth logistic problem the competition posts. 

It would have been great had Lalit Modi/BCCI been sensitive to Indian democracy and schedule afternoon matches on non-election days so that at least some more youngsters could have cast their votes. Probably this would have earned them more respect. 

What value does a consultant add to organizations?

I think most companies are too close to their operations to see it from a distance and understand it in a larger perspective. To give a simple example, the sales personnel are very close to the product service they sell. They just keep on thinking why their product should be bought. Thus it becomes very difficult to think "why their product/servicer" can not be bought. The reverse of the situation is equally true.. they become very pessimistic about the product. Unless sales people are aware of both reasons, it is very difficult to design a sales startegy. This is where consultant can come into play.. who can impartially look at the scenario from a distance and add value. This kind of work is very interesting and useful for the client. Probably this is why most professionals enjoy being a consultant.

Three most critical things a leader should do during corporate crisis

I think three most crtical outcomes of a corporate crisis are 

1. Possible Financial loss
   
2. Loss of client confidence and 
   
3. Negative Sentiment among employees 
   

Thus a good leader should address these theree issues. 

1. Possible Financial loss: Discussion with important people in accounts and business development teams in order to arrive at numbers and mutually agreeable contigency plan. This should help in being prepared for the crisis outcomes in more tangible terms. 
2. Loss of client confidence: The leader with immediate effect should converse personally with all important client (if possible all clients) and explain the true nature of the crisis and the possible steps that would be taken in order to negate the impact of the crisis. This has to be done even before formulating the plan of action to tackle the crisis. This conversation should contain the inputs from senior management meeting held in the company. More crucial thing here is honest representation of facts and intent. This probably help build lot of trust. This may be of help where the project agreement/order closing is in its final stages. 
   
3. Negative Sentiment among employees: Depending upon the size of the organization there may be varied impact of employee morale on the organization. Most times multiple rumours worsen the situation. Thus it is advisable to take confidence building measures. This is similar to the efforts taken for restoring client confidence. However the content or the mode of delivery may differ.
   

When will Indian economy bounce back?

The current economic scenario in India is not recession. Technically what we are facing is slowdown (at least in India). Recession is much worse situation. If current bull run at stock markets world over (although only for a week or so) means anything, it may mean an early spikes of economy recovery. However this may be too early to make a call. However, if the monsoons are normal this year, certainly there will be a positive sentiment and it may lead to faster recovery post rainy season. India still is an agrarian economy. 

Taking into account the global scenario, many analysts predict that the US markets are expected to show some positive growth in second half of 2009. This would mean the export market of India will start moving up.. slowly though untill December 2009. 

And very importantly, second half of 2009 will be the right time to exploit slowdown symptoms (the drastic reduction in inflation, very low crude oil prices, lower interest rates etc). I therefore think October, November and December of 2009 would see a very positive comeback from the current slowdown.