“PROFIT”, is it really a dirty word?

Is it really something wrong with the term ‘Profit’? I was just wondering!!!

I read the conversation between Mr. JRD Tata and Mr. JL Nehru:  JRD innocently mentioned that the public sector ought to be making a profit. Nehru snapped back, “Never talk to me about profit, Jeh, it is a dirty word” (It was 1959).
Is it really a dirty word?
1991 – Economic liberalization in India. Now it is 2009.Unfortunately, even after  18 years of economic reforms launched by congress government and even after seeing the growth and prosperity in last two decades, still few people see the ‘profit’ as a dirty word.

I am quoting here the Narayanmurty’s word:

” Entrepreneurship (primarily motivated by the profit making), resulting in large scale job creation is the only viable mechanism for eradicating poverty in society. In the process of profit making Infosys has created 70,000 well paying jobs and 20,000 plus rupee millionaires.”

Tata, Birla, Ambani, Bajaj, Ruia, Hinduja, Munjal, Wadia, Mahindra and so on and on and on…motivated by profit making, brought the millions of jobs for Indians and improved their state of living. The same theory applies for all major IT giants. Government disinvests the nonprofit making public enterprises to make it profitable. Only profit can run and sustain the System, not the charity. Multinationals are investing billions of dollars only for making profit but that provides the opportunities for millions of Indians to earn, learn and grow.

I don’t see any threat in profit making, it motivates the people in the society to come up in the life and bring the prosperity. Nevertheless, profit should not be treated as an end itself. As I mentioned in my earlier post, the purpose of business is to make profit so that the business can do something more or better.

Gross Domestic Happiness!!!

Whenever we talk about the nation’s growth…the only term that get importance is the GDP (Gross domestic product). But I doubt the GDP as a measure of nation’s well-being. Producing more goods and services alone cannot represent the growth of a nation.

Ultimately what does a nation dreamed of? I think, happy citizens!!!!And people know that material well-being and happiness do not goes hand in hand. While the rich are usually happier than the very poor; increase in material wealth alone does not necessarily lead to greater happiness.

Gross domestic happiness (GDH)!!!!!!!!!!!! An excellent concept brought by Bhutan’s former King Jigme Singye Wangchuck to indicate the nation’s well being…Most “serious” economists just laugh at this concept…but getting better insight into happiness– and its implication for social policy– is likely to come from re perceiving our world through a different lens…

Nobody can deny the fact that happiness is too much complicated to measure, what makes one man happy could make another miserable…But at the same time the another fact is that only happiness of the citizen can indicate the nation’s growth…Here happiness does not represent only something obvious like pleasure, wealth or honor but its equivalent to living well and acting well.

I feel our policy makers, our political, social and corporate leaders have to think beyond the decimal science of double digit growth…and need to ponder over GDH…

Profit should not be treated as an end itself

Economies are suffering from the excessive focus of business managers on ‘financial profits’ and ‘return for investors’, and not enough on the needs of society. We need to understand the term profit in broader perspective. Profits are the means to an end and should not be treated as an end itself.
As Handy observed:

We need to eat to live; food is necessary condition of life. But if we lived mainly to eat, making food a sufficient or sole purpose of life, we would become gross. The purpose of business, in other words, is not to make a profit, full stop. It is to make a profit so that the business can do something more or better. That ‘something’ becomes the real justification for the business. Owners know this. Investor’s need not care.

If we talk about India, it is at the cross roads of ideologies in politics and economics. It is where capitalism and socialism, and even communism, co-exist and are evolving. In the past 15 years, the Indian economy has seen the benefits of open markets and entrepreneurship. But the benefits of growth have not spread far enough and fast enough. In developing democracies like India, business must follow the principle, ‘business for the people, by the people, and of the people.’

‘Business for the people’ include innovations in product and services so that more people can afford them, ‘Business by the people’ includes innovations in business models that engage more people in the process of production and distribution and ‘Business of the people’ include Innovations in enterprise models whereby more people participate as business owners within an extended enterprise.

Today democracy puts demands on business corporations. People want to participate more rapidly in the benefits of economic progress. In this scenario we need to know the fundamental of business-corporate philosophy of trusteeship, Innovations in inclusive business models, managing cash, controlling consistency, respect for people, and skills for building partnerships.

To many this will sound like quibbling with words. Not so. It is a moral issue.

The changing face of BIHAR

We can see the change in perception of the people about Bihar. Thanks to the NDA government. I am bringing the few quotes from the elite group.

“Bihar government has been doing outstanding work in many sectors including health” – Montek Singh Ahluwalia (Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Government of India)

“Along with the development, the government of Bihar has been working well towards poverty eradication” – Dr. Maxine Olson (UN)

“Bihar Economic Development is phenomenal” – Sunil Bharti Mittal (Chief of Airtel)

“With 54% women’s representation in Panchayat, Bihar tops the list in the country” – Mani Sankar Aiyar

“Congress ruled states should adopt Bihar’s RTI (right to information) model” – Sonia Gandhi (UPA Chairperson)

“Bihar has concentrated hard on women centric welfare schemes” – Sri S. R. Gava ( Former Governor of Bihar)

Bihar is changing, its new policies and programs are worth emulating” – B K Chaturvedi (Member of Yojana Ayog)

“Among English speaking people, Bihar students are number one and above national average in mathematical abilities” – ASR Report 2008“

After the creation of Jharkhand in November, 2000 what does Bihar have? We have very little forest and practically no mineral wealth but abundant fertile land, water and a large but poorly educated population. Bihar’s development strategy is based on these resources. Bihar’s villages are now bustling with activity. Roads, bridges, culverts, an upward rural economy, children’s school attendance going up, a heavy rush of patients in primary health centers, toilets in village homes, all these are sign of resurgent rural Bihar. Yes, there is still grinding poverty especially among the oppressed people, there is corruption in government schemes, we remain somewhat semi-feudal, but there is an undeniable air of optimism that things are improving and sustained effort will bring development in even the most backward regions. Definitely, the ability of present state government (NDA) to take initiatives and implement the national and state schemes effectively is changing the face of BIHAR.

Imagine the India that can be

For the first time in the last three hundred years, we have received the respect of almost every major country. In the recent past, we have had several notable achievements. But these achievements have been shared only by a section of Indians. We are still far from the dream of Mahatma Gandhi so called ’Ramrajya’. The enigma of India is that our progress in higher education and in science & technology has not been sufficient to take 350 million Indians out of illiteracy. More than 300 million Indians still do not have freedom from hunger, illiteracy and disease.

When we see world class super markets and food chains in our towns, and when our urban youngsters gloat over the choice of topping up their pizzas, why should 51% of the children in the country be undernourished? When India is among the largest producers of engineers and scientists in the world why should 50% of primary school have only one teacher for every two classes? These questions must trouble all the citizen of this country.

We need to imagine, we need to dream and we need to visualize the India that should be and the India that can be. I want an India where every child will have access to quality education, health care, nutrition and shelter. I want an India where every child belonging to any race, religion and caste is confident that there is a bright future for him/her if he/she is honest and hard working. I want an India which receives respect from every global forum because we will be high performer, we will be peace loving, we will be gracious hosts, we will be fair, we will be pluralistic, we will respect every faith and we will be trustworthy.

The progress towards achieving these wants will come in two steps. The first step is thinking, articulating, discussing, debating and bringing the new innovative ideas. The second step is executing these ideas in an environment of respect for pluralism. We are very good in the first one, but somehow, in our country it is fashionable to see ideas as an end in themselves without any focus on implementation. In fact, articulation is accomplishment enough for most of our intellectuals! The need of the time is to emphasize on the executing ideas rather than just articulating.

Our people

 General perception: India’s huge population (at present growing @ 1.8%) is a big hurdle in the growth of our country and it is a big liability. I don’t know why people think so, I think India have enough for its need (though may not be enough for its greed). I feel the great strength and the most valuable assets of our country are our people and specially our youth. The only thing is, we need to have just with all of our people, and we need to have the proper methodology to show them the right direction. I just want to highlight few points that’s I feel is compulsory for the overall development of our country. 

1)      Be healthy and physically strong. We should have enough quality food. Provide better health facility and bring the yoga for all. Let our youth and children play well. We should have compulsory primary military training for all of our youth.

2)      Education for all of our children and youth. Allow them to be mentally sharp and strong. Let them learn. Let them use the library and teachers. Let our library and laboratories open for 24×7(I don’t understand why we invest thousands of crores in libraries and laboratories and put the lock over that. We need to change our traditional education system and need to modernize it).I learnt that, in colleges we learn ‘how to learn’, and the actual learning starts after college. Let us learn from every source and throughout of our life.

3)      Be emotionally balanced. We should not cry with everything and we should not get angry with everything. We need to learn to ignore the nonsense remarks. Never get hurt and never hurt others.

4)      Be spiritually matured. Look at the truth of every religion. Become tolerant and don’t get irritated from other religion.

5)      Be morally upright. Never compromise on your moral and ethical values. We need to be matured enough to decide, what it right and what is wrong. It will help us. It will save us.

6)      Be socially committed. Share with others. Help others. Give others. If nothing at least love and affection. Love all. I remember the word of mother Teresa:”Give, Give and Give till it hurts you. The purpose of life is to give”.

7)      Love the nature. Take only what is needed and what is compulsory from the nature. We should not forget that, our next generations also have the equal right to breath in clean air. Don’t contribute in the terror of natural catastrophe.

Don’t kill our people. Educate them, respect them and love them.

The war against terror in twenty-first century

The war against terror has begun, but I think it will take time before the nature and composition of these wars are understood. We need to understand, we are fighting terror not just terrorists. We are fighting natural catastrophes, we are fighting against WMD, we are fighting war on poverty, we are fighting for human rights and we are fighting for our self-respect and values, not just attack by global networked terrorists.

Our current strategy is to kill or capture the terrorists before a catastrophic attack happens. I believe we are misguided to ask only,”who are the terrorists and why do they hate us?” Rather we should also ask, “Who are we and how have we organized ourselves such that terror could become an historical inevitability?”

In today’s world, the security of every one of us is linked to that of everyone else. We are all responsible for each other’s security and development and both security and development ultimately depend on respect for human rights and the rule of law. We must step back and ask the most basic questions about the Wars against terror. Do we know how to win such wars?

I remember the word of Kishore Mabhubani (former Singapore ambassador to the UN)

-“An India Pakistan FTA (free trade agreement) is an idea whose time has come. The anger over the terrorists attack in Mumbai is justifiable because there is no doubt that Pakistan was involved in the attacks. But India needs to look at the problem from a longer-term perspective and free trade would actually improve the situation in the long run.”

….Make sense…!!!

 I don’t know where the ‘solution’ lies, but the present strategy for the war against terror is wrong and must be thoroughly rethought.

Equal and Quality Education for all

While our country made significant progress in delivering primary and secondary education in the last decade, it is nowhere near providing equitable elementary education to all its children. In 1986 our constitution acknowledges the ‘Fundamental right to education’. It says ‘The state shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of 6 to 14 years’. 22 years has gone and our state has failed in even giving the basic education to all of its children.

I think we need to re look on our education policy. I feel our education system should go through the reforms. Every citizen of this country should try to understand that ‘Education is not a luxury, it is our fundamental right ‘.

I believe a country can develop only through education. Education is the ladder to grow. But we need to understand the education in a broader sense. Reading, writing and arithmetic is not enough. We need the quality education.

Education is a process of humanization. Education is a process of transformation. Our education should transform us. Education should be universal, education should be compulsory and education should be a very high quality. Our education system should encourage the creativity, and our education system should encourage the innovation. Our education should give the lesson on humanity, on the interpersonal relationship and on the team work. Our education should teach us the equality (no one should dominate).

Our policy makers should acknowledge the dialectical relationship of both ‘quality for equality’ and ‘equality for quality (Common school system)’.It is the responsibility of the education system to bring different social classes and groups together and thus promote the emergence of an egalitarian and integrated society.

Let our country become rich through the knowledge of our citizens.
Invest in ‘equal and quality education for all’.

The vision of gender equality

The vision of gender equality in Indian society: The Constitution of India promised equality before the law and no discrimination on the basis of sex as a fundamental right. But the envisioned equality between men and women fell somewhat short of that aim.
Yet equality as an idea needs to be embodied not just in the laws, but also in the institutions and practices of everyday life.

The social reformers think the critical obstacles are:
1) Economic inequality
2) Unequal education

In relation to economic equality, most of the people feel the fear that equality in economic terms might seriously destabilize the family and even cause it to break up. At an All-India Anti-Hindu Code Convention, it was argued that ‘the introduction of women’s share in inheritance’ would cause a ‘disruption of the Hindu family system which has throughout the ages acted as a cooperative institution for the preservation of family ties, family property and family stability’. Similar fears were expressed in the Constituent Assembly debates on women’s property rights. The congress legislator asked: ’Are you going to enact a code which will facilitate the breaking up of our households? One intellectual proclaimed that giving property shares to daughters would lead to ‘endless trouble’ and ‘spell nothing but disaster’. A major reason for the opposition was the presumed threat to the family and disruption of interfamily relations

While the idea of women’s education may have social acceptance but the girls and boys were not provided the equal opportunities for the same education and skills. Even in 21st century most of the girls in rural area of our country are getting skilled in the area that is more functional for the home. I feel what was promised to women was not an ‘equal education’. It was education that would make women better wives and mothers. The central place of the educated woman is still at home and not the corporate world and job market.

Will women’s economic equality and ‘equal’ education indeed destabilize families? The answer in my view is: possibly, but not necessarily.

Most people hold an idealized view of the family. Families are seen as suffused with love and altruism – ‘the heart of the heartless world’. Resources and task are assumed to be shared equitably, so as to take account of everyone’s needs. Incomes are assumed to be pooled, preferences shared, and decisions are jointly made. But the reality of most Indian families is quite different. Family members don’t necessarily share the same preferences, or pool incomes, or make joint decisions. Some preferences may be shared, others not. Some households pool incomes, others not. Some decisions may be jointly made, others not. In fact, resources and tasks are usually quite unequally shared, especially along gender lines. There are substantial gender inequalities in the distribution of basic resources for health care and education.

To build economically and socially equal partnership between woman and men, we will need to reexamine our assumptions about key social institutions, in particular the family, and about men’s and women’s roles within the home and in society.
But I don’t know whether these reforms are feasible or not, and even if it is feasible, how much time it going to take. May be decades or may be Centuries. A big question mark?

Plain and planned “hard workers”

” Honestly, I’ve never felt any tension in my life or in my professional career. Hard work doesn’t bring about tension. Therefore, I’ve never had to do something for the purpose of relaxation, and I’m being honest about it,” – Sesh

Seems impossible. But he sounds honest (He doesn’t have to lie about it though). Leaders are born, I guess.
I have always liked him speak. I don’t know who is a leader, but I have always respected people who can motivate and talk well (not talking smart shit like we commonly see all around, but straight logic and cold sense – that comes with intellect and hard work). It is easy to believe that a lot of such good people are there in the corporate of today (Money and Power – two biggest things that lure men and a few women too). I have been watching a lot of business news channels, if not for anything else, to hear good corporate leaders speak. Not all, but certainly some of them speak awesomely well.
Infact I’m mighty impressed with this ‘class’ of gentlemen who have not carried a ‘family’ business forward, but have rather built a brand for themselves; some have even created small or big empires in just one lifetime, without using their surname. Infact their profiles (both educational and professional) are awesome, but otherwise if you look at them other than their ‘inborn’ talents (which is difficult to judge anyway), they have been plain and planned “hard workers”. “