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Politically Politically Incorrect Incorrect Abhinav Tyagi “Today's problems cannot be solved if we still think the way we thought when we created them” - Albert Einstein -
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PoliticallyPoliticallyIncorrectIncorrect

Abhinav Tyagi

“Today's problems cannot be solved if we still think the way we thought when we created them”

- Albert Einstein -

Preface

Being obsessive compulsive can be good or bad. In my case, hopefully, it has yielded a positive outcome. Born to an economist father and a historian mother, I was brought up with the values of social justice and idealism. It was not as much about my parents’ educational backgrounds but about their value systems that I have witnessed till date. They have never ever preached anything but I have mostly seen them do the right things. It is only when I started living alone and traveled to a few places that I began to have issues with my own internal beliefs. I was not able to reconcile how my parents lived their lives, with how a lot of other people did. Till the day I lived with my parents, I (naively) thought that everyone else leads his/her life the same way. I was about to rise to a rude awakening. As I interacted with people from various walks of life, such as, business owners, corporate managers, farmers, doctors, engineers, scientists, marines, policemen, traders, artists, motivational speakers, event planners, restaurateurs, entrepreneurs, academicians, policy makers, students, office clerks, socialites, car mechanics, housemaids, investment bankers, financial advisors, Wall street thought leaders, ministers (religious), software programmers, authors, sports persons, cab drivers, postmen, vegetable vendors, air stewardess, radio jockeys and lawyers, I started becoming aware of the realities of life. This interaction provided me a 360-degree view of our society and the world, at large. Even though, at times, the tone of this book may seem politically incorrect (and even idealistic), it may be noted that I have not discounted my interactions with a variety of folks in all kinds of places. The idea is to accurately communicate the ground problems and offer solutions without biases and adulterations. This book caters primarily to young students in colleges (and universities) and hopes to inspire a sense of awareness of and responsibility towards the world we live in. It does not cater to any special interest groups, organizations or institutions.

I sincerely hope and believe that this book will also strike cords with folks from different walks of life who through their life experiences have developed certain value systems, and this book should provide structure and a voice to their thoughts. Neither am I an expert on the topics discussed in the book nor

do I claim to be one, but the book tries to develop a holistic understanding of our world, its people and its institutions, and also tries to explore out-of-the-box solutions to some of the global issues we face today. This book was not authored in a library of an Ivy League school or a cozy corporate office or even a political leader's mansion. The meat for this book, instead, is derived by interacting with people from different cultures, nationalities, professions, age groups, social & economic strata and societal groups (activists, military etc). The book has made a sincere effort to reflect the feelings, thoughts and ideas of the above mentioned people and of course, the author.

Those who have a restless energy in them that keeps nudging them to speak their hearts out, to make this world a better place, should find a great outlet to their thoughts and feelings through this book. If this book is able to reinforce, in even one individual, an obsession for social justice and an inspiration for building a more peaceful and progressive world, I would consider this book a success. I also hope to reach out to the wealthy and the powerful, to encourage them to pro actively involve themselves with making this world a better place.

Throughout the book, I have tried to be as objective and concise as possible and avoided any real world examples that would invite any unnecessary controversies. This book is not a diatribe or a preaching manual (I am myself a work-in-progress) but a sincere effort has been made to cut to the chase and put things in black and white without worrying about political correctness.

I hope that this book can resonate with you and help you develop a more holistic perspective of our world, its people and its institutions. The book does not claim to offer any earth-shattering information but is a humble effort to inspire, provoke and rally change in your perspective, on our world and on your role in it. You (the reader) are the most important entity and I hope you will find this book thoughtful. Thanks in advance for reading.

With warm regards,

Abhinav Tyagi

Acknowledgements

Inspiration for this book came from the two years spent on the idyllic University of Maine campus and the terrific people I met there. That environment helped me to assimilate my experiences during the years of my under and un employment. My parents and sister also helped me with the necessary encouragement and stood by me during those difficult years. Genuine appreciation and valuable guidance accorded by Honbl. Nicholas P. Heymann, an alumnus of my school (and a very well respected Wall Street Analyst), during my years at the University of Maine, was also instrumental in making this venture possible. Last but not the least, this book is also very much a result of the free spirit of self expression that is the essence of United States of America, and which leaves no one with an open mind, untouched.

CONTENTS

1. Creators, Operators, Mediators and Talkers

2. Duality in human existence

3. Water is the new Oil

4. Energy: Elixir of Economy

5. Healthcare

6. Education

7. Microfinance: The quiet revolution that is about to take off

8. Decentralized development: An engine for equitable growth

9. The Fiber of Prosperity

10. Global Youth: Opportunity or Threat?

11. If the environment is screwed nothing else really matters

12. Don't do charity

13. Specialize for Peace

14. Re inventing the Government Administrative machinery

15. Re Branding the Government

16. Measuring Government Performance

17. Its all about Political Will

18. Accountability, Accountability, Accountability

19. The Right Cabinet

20. Building Value Systems Top Down

21. The concept of Nations, Democracy & Power

22. Credits where they are due

23. Bare your soul

24. What is Success?

25. Integrity is Integrated

26. Lets do it Now!

Quick Brush up on the Chapters

The book is not at all meant as a preaching guidebook or a diatribe. We have lot of such stuff out there and no one wants to read another piece. It simply tries to put together some of the ground realities and issues that we face, globally, and hopefully will inspire you to think about these issues more holistically. The findings presented in the book are derived from my numerous interactions with a variety of people, my readings of a variety of subjects, and my own thought system developed as a result of my experiences (both failed and successful) over the last 11 years. The book emphasizes the role & importance of Government(s) in tackling some of these issues.

I begin by categorization of people based on their key skills & professions. The second chapter talks about the widening split between the 'haves' and 'have-nots'. The following six chapters deal with the issues of water, energy, healthcare, education, micro credit and decentralized development. Ninth chapter emphasizes the critical role an optical fiber network can play, as a facilitating infrastructure for other initiatives. The following chapter discusses the role of youth in shaping our tomorrow.

Eleventh chapter reminds us of the importance of environment as the most precious asset of our planet. The next chapter denounces 'charity' – both the usage of the word as well as the moral hazard it brings with it. The following chapter makes a case for specialization of countries in achieving world peace.

The next seven chapters talk about deficiencies in governance systems, measurement of government performance, ways to re engineer and re brand the governance, and most crucially the importance of having suitably qualified people in top political posts, the need for political will, the need for accountability at every level of government and the need to lead by example (demonstrating value systems at the highest level in political leadership). These chapters are followed by a chapter on the evolving concept of nations, democracy and power.

The twenty-second chapter is a tribute to those people who work behind the scenes and who, in reality, are the real heroes of society. The chapter is followed by a call to all corporate folks to begin to contribute to the society that has given them so much. The next two chapters try to define success and integrity.

The final chapter is a request for all readers to begin to think about, contribute to, or facilitate the endeavors talked elsewhere in the book. Even an acknowledgement of the issues faced by our world is a great step in this direction.

Style of communication used in this book is simple, concise (to the point) and non-diplomatic. I hope you enjoy reading this book!!

1Creators, Operators,

Mediators and Talkers“All things will be produced in superior quantity and quality,

and with greater ease, when each man works at a single occupation, in accordance with his natural gifts, and at the

right moment, without meddling with anything else”

Plato

Greek philosopher & mathematician

Before we try to understand the world, its people and

institutions, it is a useful exercise to try and categorize

people on the basis of their professions/skills. I have

classified people as:

• Creators

• Operators

• Mediators

• Talkers

Creators create. Farmers provide us food; Soldiers and cops

create sense of security; scientists create intellectual

property; entrepreneurs create business systems; engineers

design softwares, structures, machines and equipments; leaders

build and transform teams, organizations and societies; authors

write books, stories and plays; good teachers instill a sense of

enthusiasm among the students, for lifelong learning; musicians

compose music; movie makers conceive screenplays; Visionaries

create and disseminate a vision.

Operators operate and execute Creators' plans and designs. Blue

and white collar workers enable operation of services and

manufacturing units; CEOs and divisional managers help to run

organizations and divisions; doctors help to live us longer and

healthier lives; administrators help to administer policies,

programs and workflow (e.g. civil servants, bureaucrats).

Mediators mediate transactions. Traders mediate buying and

selling of commodities (physical and soft), contracts, financial

instruments; Investment bankers mediate deals between investors

and company owners; Real Estate agents mediate buying and

selling of houses; Recruiters help to match employers with

employees; Diplomats mediate peace processes and treaties;

Judges deliver justice; retailers and wholesalers mediate

distribution of goods; political brokers mediate seat sharing in

legislature and exchange of favors between businessmen and

politicians; Journalists mediate delivery of events & news to

the consumers of those news; teachers facilitate transfer of

education & knowledge to students.

Talkers talk. Yes, that’s precisely what they do. Majority of

politicians are talkers. They are able to convince their

electorate to vote for them in elections, through their

impressive speeches. They leverage imperfect information,

ignorance and sometimes, indifference of people (towards

politics) in their electorate, to win elections. However, there

also exist (albeit few) Political “leaders” who have a vision

and are passionate about the welfare and development of their

electorate. These political “leaders” can be categorized as

Creators because they help to build societies.

2Duality in Human existence

"The outstanding faults of the economic society in which we live are its failure to provide for full employment and its arbitrary

and inequitable distribution of wealth and incomes."

John Maynard Keynes

British Economist; Father of Keynesian economics

Sharp contrast in how the rich (and the powerful) live versus

the existence of the poorest, brings to fore the biggest duality

in our human existence. While the rich have got richer, a

significant % of the world population still lives on less than

$2 a day (refer the World poverty distribution maps provided at

the end of the chapter). The following photos can illustrate

this duality better than words.

There are regions in our world where even today there is no

electricity and clean drinking water. Forget telephone and TV.

There are regions where people are forced to eat rats for dinner

even though they are vegetarian by religion (not that a non-

vegetarian would savor rat meat). There are places where

maternal deaths during delivery due to lack of adequate

healthcare facility are a norm. There are places where people

are not aware that they have AIDS, even though the area has a

high incidence of this deadly disease. There are regions with no

hope for a better future, where there are no employment

opportunities, no women rights and no education infrastructure.

The “Ten-Ten” formula

In my opinion, if top 10% of the richest, voluntarily part with

just 10% of their income, the world can change for the better.

The money could:

1) feed all the poor of the earth

2) bring electricity to every home on the planet

3) bring clean drinking water to the entire humanity

4) build schools in all the remote areas of the world

5) provide healthcare to everyone on the planet

Such large-scale voluntary contribution exercise can happen only

if there is a deep sense of responsibility, not only among the

wealthy but people at large, towards the less fortunate. As

Hellen Keller has aptly remarked: “Until the great mass of the

people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each

other's welfare, social justice can never be attained.”

It is important to note, however, that the issues discussed

above cannot simply be tackled by pouring in money. Apart from

offering monetary support (in form of aid, charity), it is

important that the wealthy also contribute their talents and

skills to develop the poverty ridden regions. This is the only

way to sustainable poverty alleviation because unless we seal

the bottom of the bucket, no amount of water can fill it.

Development efforts must include building of schools, skilling

of the poor and creation of employment opportunities. These

efforts have to be in co operation with the local governments.

If one looks at the big picture, ultimately this development

would trickle into demand for products/services and would

benefit the businesses in the area (and hence the overall

economy of the nation & the world).

While creation of wealth is crucial to human progress and

prosperity, and must be encouraged, it has to be accompanied

with creation of opportunities for the poor, so as to bring more

inclusiveness in our world. It is a matter of shame for the

entire humanity that while we take pride in all the infinite

advancements in science, technology and commerce, and are

planning to take commercial flights to other planets, we haven't

yet been able to achieve basic social equity on our planet.

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3Water is the new Oil

“Water is life's mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.”

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Hungarian Biochemist; 1937 Nobel Prize for Medicine

Water is the foundation of life on our planet. It is difficult

to overstate the importance of water for health, economic

development, environmental integrity and social cohesion. As the

United Nations (UN) Millennium Report in 2000 concludes: ‘No

single measure would do more to reduce disease and save lives in

the developing world than bringing safe water and adequate

sanitation to all.’ It is also difficult to overstate the scope

and consequences of the current global water crisis, one that

leaves more than 1 billion people without access to safe

drinking water. Pictures below depict the serious situation of

water crises.

Water is the driving force of all nature. It is essential for

the workings of our ecological systems. It is essential for our

health and the health of our communities. It features

prominently in our spiritual life. It binds us together through

shared waterways and shared water sources. It shapes our

relationship with nature, politics and economies.

Competition for water is heating up everywhere. Continuing

population growth and urbanization, shifting dietary habits

towards more water-intensive foods, spiraling demand for

alternate fuel crops and growth in water-intensive industries,

are all contributing to ever-growing demand for water.

At the same time, water pollution, degraded ecosystems and

global warming endanger local water recharge, quality and

sustainable supply around the world. Two in every five people in

the world today live in international water basins, and more

than fifty countries on five continents have been identified as

hotbeds for potential future conflicts over water. Water

‘grabs’, the irresponsible appropriation or diversion of water

without consideration for other users, abetted by corruption,

may translate tension into open conflict. It is high time that

public policy makers, businessmen and activists begin seeing

water as a “public good” in the real sense and join hands to

develop technologies, solutions and policies that would promote

a more efficient and equitable use of water. Research and

commercialization of sea water desalination using energy

efficient methods must be made a top priority and a multi

national research team may be instituted to work on that.

Demand Side Water management

Globally, about 69% of fresh water is used for irrigation while

industrial and household usage is about 15% each.

Water may be used more efficiently in Irrigation by

• encouraging use of sprinkler systems (providing sprinkler

systems on subsidized prices; regulations mandating use of

sprinkler systems)

• monitoring irrigation water usage using digital systems.

This digital information may be recorded in a database

Others: 1%

Irrigation: 69%

Household: 15%

Industrial: 15%

• placing a cap on irrigation water usage and removing

subsidies on diesel and electricity (used to pump water) if

the consumption exceeds the cap

Water may be used more efficiently in households (esp. urban

homes) by creating a tiered system of water rates, wherein, the

rates go up dramatically, as the consumption of water in a

household goes beyond a certain level (say, average consumption

per person, for the region). Tiered water pricing must be

supplemented with Water awareness programs. Tax incentives may

also be provided. Privatization may also aid in more efficient

usage of water.

Industrial usage of water can be made efficient through use of

policy measures (tax incentives) and technology.

Supply-Side Water management

Governments need to encourage private sector participation in

building Water treatment plants and distribution systems, by

ensuring a transparent and corruption free system, a reasonable

rate of return for the equity provider, and by ensuring that the

long term purchase contracts (in Public-Private partnership

projects) are honored 100% of the time.

Desalination of sea water must also be encouraged and such

systems may be powered by the tidal or wind power systems

integrated with the desalination system.

Contamination of rivers must be checked by pre-treating

municipal wastes.

It is imperative to appreciate that Water is a scarce resource

and if steps are not taken aggressively, to preserve it, danger

may be posed to nations' integrity (and internal peace) – with

one state flexing its muscle over the other, to have access to

water. Tensions could also arise between industry groups and

farmers, over the usage of water. This is of course, besides the

fact that we literally need water for survival.

4Energy: Elixir of economy

“It is evident that the fortunes of the world's human population, for better or for worse, are inextricably

interrelated with the use that is made of energy resources.”

M. King Hubbert

Geologist known for his Hubbert Peak Theory

It is rightly argued that Energy is at the heart of all human

and economic activity. Food, water, medicines, transportation

systems, clothes, electronic gadgets, entertainment and

everything else needs energy to be produced. There are no two

opinions on the importance of energy in our lives. However, the

way we produce energy is being debated due to environmental

concerns.

While a consensus is building up on the increased use of solar

power, wind power, geothermal power, bio fuels (bio ethanol,

jathropha) and tidal power, the economics of generating energy

from these alternate sources is still hampering large scale

adoption. Solar power is one area where lot of research is being

done and new technologies, such as, nanosolar, are being

developed and tested, as I write this. If nanosolar becomes a

commercial success, we could see a significant increase in solar

power generation across the world, because this technology makes

construction of large scale solar farms cheaper than other

solar technologies.

Wi n d far m

So l a r far m in a de s e r t

Ethanol plant surrounded by corn fields

Ja t r o p h a (biof u e l) pl a n t a t i o n

Nuclear energy is being revived as a solution to the problem of

energy security and environmental degradation. However, it does

have issues, namely, long time to commission a nuclear power

plant, high initial capital costs (making the electricity

produced, more expensive) and most importantly, nuclear waste

disposal.

The Energy Tri-Challenge

The challenge we face is three-fold. Firstly, we need to ensure

energy security i.e. adequate future supply of energy for the

ever increasing world population. In the words of Tony Blair (ex

Prime Minister of UK): "In the future, energy security will be

almost as important as defense". Secondly, we have to improve

the reach of energy, especially electricity, which is a must for

decentralized development (discussed later). The power

infrastructure needed to facilitate reach in a particular

country is illustrated in the figure below. Finally, we have to

ensure that the environmental security is not compromised due to

increased demand for energy. Interestingly, all three of these

issues can be tackled by gradually increasing the % of

alternative energy in the energy- source portfolio. For example,

a decentralized solar generator provides energy security, is

environment friendly and enables reach of energy to the remotest

parts.

Measures promoting energy security and environmental protection

are provided below:

Low High

Low

High

No. of remote areas w/o

Transmission losses

Grid based + distributed power generation

Distributed power generation + some

Grid based

Grid based (centralized) power

generation

Distributed power generation

Power infrastructure

1) Increasing dependence on Solar and wind

We should try to tap solar and wind energy, followed by

geothermal, bio fuels and nuclear power, in that order. Even

though solar power can only be generated while the sun is there,

it would significantly reduce dependence on coal or oil based

power. Likewise wind energy has a huge potential to replace

fossil-fuel based energy generation.

2) Mass transportation systems

All key cities around the world must have mass transportation

systems. Such systems may be developed as group initiatives,

wherein the G20 or another similar group of countries, must come

together to assist other countries in planning, funding and

transferring technology.

Apart from mass transportation systems, car pool may be

encouraged by governments.

3) Transmission losses & theft must be checked

Automated metering, replacement of faulty transmission equipment

and privatization of electricity transmission and distribution

are some of the ways to check transmission losses and theft of

electricity. In most developing countries, as much as 50% of

electricity is lost during transmission due to thefts and poorly

maintained transmission & distribution infrastructure.

Therefore, curtailing such losses & thefts can significantly

help to alleviate the energy crises in such countries.

4) Mandatory usage of biofuels with regular fossil fuels

Use of biofuels in conjunction with fossil fuels must be

mandated in all nations. Ethanol and Jatropha oil can be the key

biofuel additives.

5Healthcare

"He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything" - Arabic Proverb

A healthy body (and a healthy mind) is the basic foundation for

all other forms of human, economic and social development. To

that end, importance of healthcare infrastructure can hardly be

overstated. Having said that, healthcare reforms are long

overdue in almost every nation of the world. There are several

elements to the healthcare puzzle, most important of them being:

a) Health education to the last mile

The basic building block of any healthcare system is health

education. Apart from health clinics, such education could be

imparted through pan-country distribution networks, such as,

Post Office or a pan national bank. Health education could also

be delivered via Satellite systems (in conjunction with

education – discussed in next chapter).

Women health, child health and elderly health must be

emphasized, along with preventive health. Menace of AIDS, TB and

the newly prevalent H1N1/H5N1 viruses can only be tackled by

educating people throughout the world. Companies like Microsoft

and Google who are already at the forefront of Healthcare can

play an even bigger role in this area by digitally connecting

the remotest parts of the world.

b) Health services to the last mile

Health education has to be supplemented with easy access to good

quality healthcare in all parts of the world. Healthcare

delivery infrastructure may comprise of fixed health clinics,

mobile health clinics and Telemedicine. Telemedicine is a system

where diagnosis of health can be done remotely by means of a

communication link (internet/satellite) and a specialized

software which interfaces with sensors that can guage the body

temperature, pulse rate, heart beats and transmit images of

symptomatic body parts.

The choice of the Healthcare delivery medium depends upon the

country's doctor density as well as the number of remote

locations that need to be served. Interplay of these two

variables and the corresponding healthcare delivery model has

been provided below.

c) Application of IT to facilitate healthcare initiatives

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) have always been

a great enabler of reach, efficiency and quality. In healthcare

sector, ICT can enable:

Low High

Low

High

Country’s doctor density

No. of remote locations

New clinic/dispensary establishments in remote

areas

Set up Health centers serving a group of

remote areas;Telemedicine

Transportation of doctors once a week (mobile);

TelemedicineTelemedicine

Healthcare Solutions

• Healthcare education delivery

• Health diagnostic services

• Healthcare audit

• Healthcare intelligence development

Healthcare education delivery and diagnostic services have been

discussed earlier. Healthcare audit and intelligence are

discussed next.

Healthcare audit is a way to guage the performance of a

healthcare system at every delivery point. Various performance

metrics, such as, number of physicians, number of nurses, number

of people served in a month/week, case outcomes (resolved,

referred, unsuccessful cases) can be fed in real-time into an

online system, from every delivery point. Such a real-time audit

system is a great way to make the healthcare system agile in

terms of identifying outbreak of epidemics and in terms of

quickly identifying any bottlenecks in the healthcare delivery

system.

“Healthcare intelligence” is the knowledge derived from

accumulation of data on medical cases, their treatment and the

final outcome. This knowledge can be used to observe trends in

diseases, and can also help in guiding treatment of certain

diseases with certain symptoms in certain category of people

(either racial category or disease category). Such treatment

guidance system is especially beneficial in areas where there is

shortage of quality physicians and medical specialists. In such

areas, the doctors may seek assistance from a “Healthcare

intelligence” system in determining atleast an initial course of

action (especially in emergency situations).

d) Population control

Last but not the least, population control must be made an

intrinsic part of any healthcare policy. High population levels

put stress on the natural resources and environment, and the

economy, in general. Unabated growth in population shall lead to

food shortages, and ultimately affect the nutrition level and

overall health of individuals adversely, leading to a greater

need for healthcare. In words of Hellen Keller, "Once it was

necessary that the people should multiply and be fruitful if the

race was to survive. But now to preserve the race it is

necessary that people hold back the power of propagation."

While the above suggested measures seem like common sense things

to do, healthcare systems in most countries (especially

developing ones) leave a lot to be desired. In countries where

healthcare is provided as a government service, lack of

political will and corruption in healthcare administration &

delivery (and not the lack of technology and finances) is the

reason for inefficient and deficient healthcare systems. In

countries where healthcare is mostly privatized, the healthcare

providers are gouging enormous price from their customers,

making healthcare unaffordable for a vast majority of people. In

either case, the end consumer (of healthcare) is suffering.

6Education

“What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the human soul.”

Joseph Addison

English essayist, poet and politician

Education is at the core of economic development of any country.

Without appropriate education infrastructure, no country can

progress. The current format, content, delivery mechanism and

institutional framework of education, in most countries, leaves

much to be desired and must be revamped. For some countries, the

re engineering of education sector is not even a matter of

choice. Case in point is an Asian country that boasts of having

the largest number of youth population in the world in the next

10 years. While on one hand this implies potential availability

of enormous manpower that can propel the country's economic

growth, on the other hand it necessitates a massive revamp of

the country's education sector. And the window of opportunity to

achieve this is very small. Very soon a huge chunk of youth

population will attain the age where they would be eligible for

college education and an equally massive population would begin

their schooling. The country has to therefore prepare its

education infrastructure within this short time span, otherwise,

the same potential human resource could turn into millions of

uneducated & unemployed youth.

Recommendations for Re engineering of the education sector

(involving re designing the format, content, delivery mechanism

and institutional framework) are provided below:

Format

Currently most schools have primarily one-way communication

(teacher to pupil) in a classroom setting. There is a need to

introduce Group Discussions and public speaking in the classroom

setting. Books should be complemented with online lessons, class

presentations and external speakers. Educational games and

interactive exercises may also be part of the curriculum. If

possible, there should be educational visits. Case studies may

be used in classes to teach subjects.

Content

Apart from conventional subjects, there should be subjects

dealing with:

• Personal financial management

• Global issues – environmental, political, business, social

• Career options available to students after school (in

certain countries school students believe that there are no

other professions besides engineering and medicine)

• Information systems – How they have impacted various

industries and professions (to prepare students for future

work and social environments)

• Ethics in business and society

• Concepts should be integrated through case studies.

Delivery mechanism

In addition to lecture oriented delivery inside classrooms,

newer mechanisms should be adopted. These may include:

• Satellite based real time interactions with students from

schools in other countries and regions within the same

country.

• Powerpoint/Multimedia presentations in the class

• Online lessons through PCs

• Speaker series

Institutional framework

• Public-Private partnerships must be used to set up new

schools in remote/less developed regions.

• Management of existing government schools may be

privatized. In this model, the government would pay for the

schools operations and private sector will manage the

administration of schools.

• 1 to 2 year teaching assignments at government sponsored

schools may be made a mandatory part of National Service.

• Teaching at government schools for a year or two, may be

made a pre-qualification for applying to a government job.

• Bureaucrats must be made in charge of the schools in their

respective regions/districts. For example, in countries

where District collector is incharge of a district, he/she

should be made the Chief Education Administrator for the

district.

• Parameters may be laid down to assess the efficiency of

schools, performance of students and clear accountabilities

must be set. These accountabilities may be published online

(in public domain).

• Education content must be audited every 2 years and updated

to reflect the current affairs.

Education being the most important social goal of any country,

it must be prioritized. There should be no lax on the

accountabilities and performance metrics.

The remaining chapter discusses ideas and ways to enhance the

effectiveness and reach of academic and corporate education.

Specifically, following topics are covered:

• Global education

• Corporate training and re skilling

• Quality education to the last mile

• Human Resource Development

Global University for a globalized world

In our ever changing, globalized world, the education too should

reflect globalization in true sense. An online global university

(refer figure on next page) may be formed which can deliver top

quality education across the globe. Here, professors from some

of the best universities around the world, can come together

through an online platform and deliver classes via the Internet,

to an equally diverse set of students from a variety of cultures

and regions of the world. Such an online program will be highly

flexible because the curriculum can be adapted quickly to the

contemporary issues. Moreover, it will promote a more holistic

understanding of key issues facing the world, such as Global

financial systems, Environmental safety, Terrorism,

Unemployment, Poverty, Social injustice, Healthcare and

Education.

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Corporate training & re-skilling via “A la carte” online system

An online e-Learning platform should be developed to train and

re skill corporate managers, workers and executives. The supply

of content could be from an individual industry expert or a

university or an industry association.

Benefits of such an online corporate training platform include:

• Flexibility in customizing the curriculum to meet the

training needs of a firm (Companies can provide the outline

of the training to which the consultants and universities

can submit their proposals)

• Employees can train at their chosen place and time (and

even pace)

• A la Carte system implies that the companies can pick and

choose what modules they wish to train their individual

employees in

• Such a re-skilling or training programme could act as a

confidence & morale booster for the employees

Quality education to the last mile

This can be achieved by using Satellites for delivering world

class education to the remotest parts of the world. LCD Mega

screens may be installed in the remotest parts of planet earth,

and educational lessons, current affairs programmes, speaker

series (in local languages) and programmes on various countries,

may be delivered via satellite. Such an infrastructure is an

absolute must to remove the misery and hopelessness in certain

places of the world. It would also help people to better

understand the world that they live in and are part of. Most of

all, it would excite these people towards personal upliftment

and upward mobility in society.

Speaker series may include people from different walks of life:

• Authors

• Economists

• Historians

• Musicians

• Scientists

• Industry gurus

• Scholars & Academicians

• Sports figures

• Corporate managers

• Engineers

• Doctors

• Geologists

• Entrepreneurs

The idea is to sow a seed of curiosity among the students even

in the remotest parts of the world.

Human Resource Development

Ultimate objective of good education infrastructure in any

country is Human Resource Development (HRD). To that end,

education infrastructure is just one element of HRD.

The HRD model proposed here includes 4 elements:

• Education

Education content should be redesigned to include contemporary

topics discussed above, apart from the conventional subjects.

• Personality development (sports, communication skills,

English language skill)

In today's globalized world where work and information flows

seamlessly around the globe, it is critical to make Personality

development an intrinsic part of education system. Participation

in sports and development of English language skills must be

emphasized throughout K-12 and beyond.

• Vocational training

Given the increasing specialization in the nature of work,

globally, it is imperative that vocational training be imparted

to all college graduates in their areas of interest/abilities.

Vocational training may be seen as a polishing exercise where

raw talent is moulded into Human resource that can be utilized

productively by the employing organization.

• Employment opportunities

Without adequate employment opportunities (qualitatively and

quantitatively), education and vocational training are not of

much benefit to either an individual or the nation, as a whole.

For complete Human Resource Development it is critical that the

governments and the private sector work collaboratively to

create job opportunities. While this is a challenge in

developing countries with large populations, I believe it is

also an opportunity for these nations to create industries that

could absorb large number of people. For example, by creating

mega solar farms in the Thar Desert of India and the Sahara, the

Kalahari, and the Namib of Africa, entire new industries can be

created. A solar farm would need solar panels (and thus the need

for solar manufacturing units), panel installation specialists

and solar farm maintenance workers, at the very least.

Human Resource Development =

Education (including contemporary content)

+ Personality development (sports, communication skills,

English language skill)

+ Vocational training

+ Employment opportunities

It is worth noting that all the elements of Human Resource

Development (especially Education, vocational training and

employment opportunities) are needed in tandem, to have a

positive impact on the society. Any missing or imbalanced

element can, in fact, be counterproductive for the country

(society).

Analysis of the interplay between the education level and

vocational training in terms of its impact on the productivity

of workforce and their re skilling potential is provided in the

matrix below. As can be observed, lack of either proper

education level or vocational training or both, does not yield

the most desired results. Emphasizing formal education without

any avenues for vocational training produces a workforce that is

not highly productive. On the other hand, if vocational training

is emphasized without adequate emphasis on formal education, the

workforce may be productive at the task they are trained for but

their ability to grow professionally through re skilling, may be

significantly hampered.

Low High

Low

High

Formal education

Vocational training

Pool of educated but unskilled people;Less productive but potential for skilling

Most productive; most flexible in terms of re skilling; Greatest chances of integrating with the new economy

Exclusion from the new economy

Career options limited; Productive but less potential for re skilling & integrating with new economy

Impact of education level & vocational training on productivity

Likewise, if promotion of education (and subsequent high

education penetration) is not supplemented with adequate

employment opportunities, this may lead to frustration among the

educated due to under and un-employment, and may also lead to

brain-drain (through emigration). On the contrary, if the

employment opportunities are available but educated/skilled

people required for such positions are not available, this may

lead to immigration of talent (which is good for economic

development) leading to societal tensions between the immigrants

and the natives. This has been observed in some of the most

developed countries in form of “glass ceilings” and

discriminatory pay. The following matrix illustrates this

dynamics between education and employment opportunities.

Low High

Low

High

Education Penetration

(%)

Employment opportunities

Frustration due to un/under

employment; emigration

Progressive, hopeful society

Hopelessness in society; hotbed for

terrorism

Immigrants/expat dominated society;

potential bed for protectionism

Impact of Education penetration & Employment opportunities on Society

7Microfinance: The quiet

revolution that is about to take off

"Microfinance is an idea whose time has come."

Kofi Annan

7th Secretary-General of the UN; Nobel Peace Prize winner

I call microfinance - the financial “Drip irrigation”. There are

more similarities between Microfinance and Drip irrigation, than

differences. Both are provided in small amounts and offered

right at the area of need, and both help to provide maximum

return to both the provider and consumer. Currently worldwide

microfinance loan portfolio stands at $25B and experts believe

that $250B more is needed to reach all the poor of the world.

Microfinance loans defy the key finance principal of Risk and

Reward. A Microfinance loan offers very high rates of return and

has one of the lowest default rates. In other words it is a high

reward – low risk game. This should be reason enough for

financial institutions to develop their Microfinance asset

portfolio and reach out to the poorest of the poor in the

remotest parts of the world. A good indicator of the success and

lucrativeness of the microfinance model is the flow of smart

money (Mutual funds, Venture Capitalists and Private Equity)

towards microfinance in recent years.

A phenomenon that was started by Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh in

1976 is about to take the world by storm. Financial pundits have

taken serious note of this financial asset in recent years and I

am confident that in next 10 years we will witness exponential

growth in this domain.

I believe that for microfinance to yield its full benefit, the

recipients of these microloans need to be equipped with

education and awareness about the opportunities that exist. Till

now, microfinance has mainly been used to facilitate very small

ventures & to meet incidental expenses, such as:

• purchasing cattle, sheep or chicken

• starting a tailoring or a barber shop

• starting a handicraft making unit

• cost of burials, sickness

• crop failure

• healthcare costs (medicines, treatment, surgery)

• purchase of farm equipment (irrigation, transportation,

seeds)

• purchasing of bikes, radios, boats

• construction of wells

• home renovation

• microenterprise working capital

In the next phase, we should see creation of ventures that are

higher in the value chain, such as, food processing;

manufacturing handicrafts, glassware and brassware for exports;

retail shop for clothing, electronics, cycles; cyber cafes; taxi

service.

The only constraint to the microfinance model is that by its

nature, it cannot support financing of high investment ventures

– which are essential for creation of new wealth. For example,

mass manufacturing that can leverage economies of scale and

provide consistency in product quality is essential to creating

low cost, high quality products that can be exported to other

areas, regions or countries. To that end, currently,

microfinance is essentially a wealth transfer tool within a

small area. However, that does not take away its importance in

terms of creating livelihoods in the poorest and the remotest

parts of the world.

Given the huge number of people in poverty in several parts of

the world, microfinance can be a great trigger for economic

development in those areas.

Microfinance: Grass root banking

Microfinance: Working capital and credit to vegetable sellers

Microfinance: Promoting local crafts

Microfinance: Venture capital for a home based business

Commercial banks, private equity shops and Asset Managers should

make Microfinance an integral part of the portfolio. Next

generation portfolio should read: Equities, Bonds, Cash,

Commodities and Microfinance loans. The day when mutual funds

will start to put money in microfinance, like they do in stocks,

our world would have become a step closer to removing poverty.

Likewise, a specialty bond called 'Microfinance bond' may be

introduced. Such bonds would be a great win-win for global

investors and the millions of microfinance recipients.

'Microfinance bond' will provide high yield with low risk and

has the potential to raise billions of dollars for microfinance

institutions.

8Decentralized development:

An engine for equitable growth

"As a rule of thumb, involve everyone in everything."

Tom Peters

American management guru

Decentralized development is the key to equitable growth in any

country. Besides promoting equitable growth, it helps to

discourage the migration of people to a few key cities, which

has positive effects in terms of reduced pressure on the

infrastructure, easier management of homeland security, and

reduced stress on environment around the key cities.

Having a metropolitan city for every 5 million people in the

country can serve as a rough benchmark, for the number of

metropolitan cities that may be developed in a nation. Of

course, in case of developing countries, a key impediment to

such decentralized development is financial resources. With the

lack of full fledged capital markets in developing economies, it

is difficult for governments to raise enough capital to develop

pan-nation metro cities. This has led some developing nations to

chose the path of promoting development of Special Economic

Zones (SEZ) in partnership with private companies. Private

corporations have been encouraged through incentives, to

develop, mega Special Economic Zones, that would be like a city

by themselves (with their own power supply, water supply,

sanitation). The success of such schemes has not been completely

problem-free as well. Arbitrary allotment of land for industrial

purposes (causing the fertile farm land to be siphoned away for

industrial activity) and land acquisition problems due to

inadequate compensation to farmers (marred by delayed payments

and political middlemen and corrupt bureaucrats receiving a cut

of such payments ) have been the key hurdles to SEZ development.

According to World Bank estimates, as of 2007 there were more

than 3,000 projects taking place in SEZs in 120 countries

worldwide. A variety of institutional structures ranging from

fully public (government operator, government developer,

government regulator) to 'fully' private (private operator,

private developer, public regulator) have been utilized.

For such a decentralized development to be truly successful,

there must be a network of highways, railways, airports that

connects these cities.

The local economies of these cities may be supported by

developing industries that reflect the skills and resources

available in the region, and/or by building a services base

(that can serve either the local economy or national economy or

even international markets).

Given the population of the major developing countries, such

pan-national metro cities can thrive simply by serving the local

population.

Apart from the essential elements of a decentralized

development, such as:

• Healthcare facilities

• Banking facilities

• Postal facilities

• Public transportation

• Power & Water infrastructure

• Roads

• Houses

• Airports, Railway Stations, Airports

• Commercial district

a very important element of decentralized development is

development of recreational facilities & avenues, which helps

people to socialize, have fun together or with their families

and get a sense of joy & relaxation.

A less expensive way to promote decentralized development is

through creation of small scale industries spread across the

country. A lot of developing countries have successfully used

this model and I believe it can be fruitfully utilized in the

undeveloped countries, as well. Some of the small and mid-sized

businesses that can help to kick start local economies are

listed below:

• Handicrafts

• Brassware

• Bricks made from agricultural waste and ash

• Fish farms

• Horticulture – flowers, perfume

• Auto parts manufacturing

• Manufacturing of FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods)

• Manufacturing of textiles

• Glassware

• Plasticware

Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) Markets

Discussion of decentralized development cannot be complete

without emphasizing the importance of such development to the

private sector.

There was a time when the Multi National Corporations omitted

the poorer and less developed (Bottom of the Pyramid) regions of

a developing country from their marketing plans. But it has now

been realized and understood that these less developed regions

(especially those where development has been started) are the

key to future growth of the MNCs. Even though the per capita

purchasing power in these less developed regions may be low, the

population of these regions is large enough to contribute to the

bottom line of the MNCs, provided the companies customize their

product and service offerings to this new BOP market. Product

sizing, packaging, pricing and delivering is now being altered

to meet the requirements of these BOP markets and to make the

venture profitable for the companies. As an example, an FMCG

conglomerate started selling its shampoos in ultra-low priced

sachets* in a BOP market, and discovered that their strategy was

a hit. Due to the sheer volume of sachets sold, this venture

became a highly lucrative business for the conglomerate.

Decentralized development helps to build the economic capacity

of the previously undeveloped region, thereby increasing the

purchasing power of the people therein. This increase in

purchasing power has the potential to trickle down to the bottom

line of a corporation, provided the corporation has customized

its business model and marketing strategy to this new market.

I will close by saying that decentralized development is good

for the government, the private sector and most importantly for

the people.

*A sachet is a small disposable bag, often used to contain single-use quantities of consumer goods, such as ketchup or shampoo.

9The fiber of prosperity

“The Internet lives where anyone can access it”

Vinton Cerf

Computer scientist; Father of the Internet

Optical fiber is the most revolutionary technology that can

significantly make a difference to our world. By connecting the

remotest region of the world with high speed optical fiber

network, we can literally connect billions of people living in

the dark fringes of misery, with the rest of the world.

A high speed information network:

• can facilitate communication between the remotest regions

and the rest of the world

• can act as a medium for dissemination of literacy and

education, and removal of ignorance

• can be used to facilitate remote healthcare

• can be used to disseminate information on weather, disease

outbreak, natural calamities

• can be used to discover prices for commodities (including

crops)

• can be used to facilitate matching of micro credit donors

with seekers (kiva.org is a case in point)

• can be used for facilitating interactions between

government and its citizens, and making it easier, quicker

and less expensive, both for government and the citizens.

These interactions may include payment of taxes & levies,

payment of utility bills, voting, application for licenses,

subsidies & loans, determination of crop prices, purchase

of insurance, purchase of fertilizers, search for

employment in government and application for admission to

schools & colleges

• can be used to bring entertainment to the remotest parts

In my humble opinion, an optical fiber network has the potential

to improve the lives of billions of poor people, around the

world. Investment in building a country wide information highway

(fiber optic network) is the most prudent investment any

government can make.

10Global Youth: Opportunity

or Threat?

“Employment is nature's physician, and is essential to human

happiness”

Claudius Galenus

Roman physician and philosopher of Greek origin

Demographics of a nation directly impacts its stability and

development. There are some interesting things happening on the

demographic front, globally. While the growth rate of world

population is declining, the number of people added each year is

stable at almost 76 million (over 200,000 people every day).

Median age of the population is rising (it was 28 in 2005) yet

every year there are more people below the age of 30. While the

policy makers in the industrialized world ponder over falling

birth rates, their counterparts in developing and undeveloped

countries are getting alarmed by the rapidly rising population

in those countries.

In 2006, there were over 6.5 billion of us. UN projections

indicate we will be almost 9 billion by 2050 – thats almost an

addition of 40% more people in a span of just 44 years. “Law of

compounding” sucks when it comes to the subject of population.

Apart from the rising global population, the age structure

dynamics is also something that we must pay attention to. The

age composition of any country can be categorized as either

Favorable or Adverse.

When a country's age structure is favorable, its government and

institutions are relatively easily able to provide social

welfare to the country's people and solve economic and political

problems. When a country's age structure is adverse, it is more

difficult to meet these challenges, resulting in lost

opportunities and sometimes state failures.

Favorable age structures are observed in countries with sound

economic prospects and which have a large proportion of the

population comprised of working-age adults, with smaller

proportions and slower growth among dependent children and older

adults. A favorable age structure provides a sufficient tax base

for government services and a social safety net for the more

dependent age groups. Adverse age structures, in contrast, often

develop in countries with weaker economic prospects and where

there is a rise in the proportion of young and/or dependent age

groups. Countries with adverse age structures (especially due to

higher proportion of younger population) are breeding grounds

for potential social conflicts and tensions, due to high degree

of unemployment. The following matrix depicts these age

structures.

Low High

Low

High

Dependent population

Economic strength of a country

Adverse age structureHigh degree of unemployment;potential hotbed for social tension; government cannot take care of dependent population adequately

Neutral age structureHigh degree of employment among working-age adults; savings rates may be low; high govt. taxes may be seen

Neutral age structureDue to lesser employment opportunities at home, lot of adults may work abroad; lesser dependent population makes it easier for working adults to emigrate abroad

Favorable age structureLot of working-age adults employed in the economy and can support the dependents easily

Age Structures

Low degree of dependent population = Smaller proportions and slower growth among dependent children and older adults

Past data has shown a significant correlation of Adverse age

structures (resulting from high proportion of young population)

with Civic conflict and weak democracy. According to a report by

Population Action International, between 1970 to 1999, 80% of

all outbreaks of civil conflict that resulted in atleast 25

deaths and in which the government was an actor, occurred in

countries in which 60% or more of the population was under age

30. Likewise, nearly 90% of countries with very young structures

had an autocratic or weakly democratic government at the end of

the 20th century, while more than 80% of countries with mature

structures were fully democratic.

While a high proportion of young population may pose grave

challenges to the environmental sustainability, peace/security

and democracy, this same challenge can become an opportunity, if

the youth can be trained/skilled and absorbed into the economy

in a manner that enhances the productivity and the output of the

economy. Some of the measures that may be adopted by young

countries (population wise) especially developing ones, are

provided below:

• Retirement age of government employees must be reduced by 5

years from the current retirement age. It is a no-brainer

that youth being more productive can enhance the overall

productivity of the economy. And of course, such reduction

in retirement age will bring millions of youth into

workforce.

• Government jobs must adopt corporate-style performance

model wherein non-performers are made redundant after

certain levels of repeated non performance. This would help

to free a lot of jobs currently occupied by grossly

inefficient government employees, many of whom join the

government for the very stability of such jobs.

• Governments in developing and undeveloped countries must

undertake massive infrastructure development and

reconstruction programs, that would create millions of jobs

for both the rural and urban youth. Such projects may be

funded through government bonds tapping into domestic

markets or funds raised in foreign markets. Sovereign

wealth funds also have the potential to fund such

infrastructure creation. Countries like UAE, Norway, China,

Japan & Singapore have huge piles of foreign reserves that

can be diverted to creating productive assets in the

developing and undeveloped world. In the long run, such

investments are a win-win because they help to create

employment in developing countries thereby also creating

huge markets for the products/services of firms based in

the industrialized countries. Last but not the least, such

undertaking helps to uplift the quality of life of millions

of people around the world.

• Attracting black money (dirty money) for infrastructure

development can also be a viable strategy. Governments may

allow use of such money for purchase of infrastructure

bonds. Bonds with such facility may pay a lower interest

than identical bonds purchased with white money. This is

again a win-win. The government can unlock a huge reserve

of unaccounted money and can obtain such capital at a lower

cost. At the same time, the entity/person hoarding black

money can convert it into white money (by paying a nominal

capital gains tax or interest income tax) while also

receiving a return.

These developing countries with a vast pool of youth population

have a small window of opportunity that must be seized by their

governments. First the governments will have to ramp up the

primary, secondary and tertiary education infrastructure and

then skill the graduates. This ramp up will have to be in tandem

with enhanced healthcare and nutrition. At the same time, the

government will have to ramp up the physical infrastructure and

even expand the manufacturing base so as to absorb the millions

of educated and skilled youth, produced each year. A match

between the number of youth entering the workforce and the

number of jobs is an absolute must to ensure peace and harmony

in these developing countries, and the world at large. Pyramid

below depicts the equality in importance of education, health

and employment opportunities, in tapping the potential of

millions of youth, and hence creating a peaceful and

economically productive society.

Peace&

Economic productivity

Health & Nutrition Education & Skilling

Job creation

11If the environment is

screwed nothing else really matters

“We won't have a society if we destroy the environment”

Margaret Mead

American cultural anthropologist

Economic and social progress is of least value if it comes at

the expense of our environment. I cannot imagine living in a

world where one has to walk around wearing oxygen masks for

breathing, where floods and droughts become seasons, and where

trees, plants and animals are only to be seen in text books.

What I have just said is so banal (and repetitive) that I

actually thought twice whether I should even write this note.

But the fact is that the threat to environment is real and

imminent. It needs our immediate attention and we need to

prioritize environmental protection.

While transitioning from the pre-industrial to industrial

phases, we, as human beings were in awe of industrial

discoveries and inventions. Productivity increased; agriculture

was replaced by manufacturing; focus then started shifting onto

services. At the same time, a lot of countries in Asia & Africa

were gaining independence from their colonists. These countries

which were earlier busy with their freedom struggles were facing

humanitarian crises post-independence. There were large scale

migrations (due to partitions), food & grain shortages and the

exploitation of these nations by their colonists would leave

them dilapidated for several decades following the independence.

During these periods – industrialization of the west and

recuperation of the East – environment was accorded the least

priority. By the time the West woke up from their party and the

East had just started to resurrect, it was too late. Ozone had

started to deplete, sea levels had started to rise, there was a

marked increase in earth's temperature and ice caps had started

shrinking. Flora and Fauna in various regions of the world was

classified as endangered.

This is not a desert. This is (was) Amazon forest.

Arctic is melting

Some scientists have recently stated that we have less than a

decade to reverse the adverse environmental changes. This should

ring an alarm bell for us. All corporations, governments and

people must rise above all other differences, to unite in their

efforts to save our planet.

While a lot of attention has been given to environment in recent

years, and a variety of measures, programs and initiatives

started, a lot still remains to be done to save our planet.

Some of the ways we could check environmental degradation,

includes:

• Using public (mass) transportation instead of individual

vehicles

• Promoting use of electric cars

• Using recyclable stuff

• Switching off electrical gadgets when not using them

• Using technologies that automatically cut energy

consumption based on some control parameters

• Switching to alternate fuels/energy (solar, wind, tidal)

instead of coal

• Retrofitting all emission sources/points across the world

with new technology

• Discouraging travel and utilizing IT as a communication

enabler

• Ensuring rapid curtailment of forest fires

• Strictly implementing ban on poaching/killing of endangered

animals

While all of these ways are being currently implemented, there

is a need for widespread/global education campaign to increase

awareness among people about the threat to environment.

Last but not the least, population control is also needed for

checking environmental degradation. However, this is not as easy

to implement given the political dynamics involved. In most

developing countries, the most populous section of the society,

is also the most influential in determining the fate of

politicians and political parties simply because of their

numbers and the their higher than average voter turnout. No

party wants to bell the cat. Any party that tries to mandate

population control on such populous groups may face voters'

wrath in the elections. Educating these groups on population

control has not yielded very promising results because of their

low education levels and the argument that more kids in the

family mean more bodies to earn money. However, the good news is

that, of late, such groups are beginning to understand the long

term benefits of smaller families, and its role in bringing

upward mobility to such families.

12Don't do charity

“Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient to become

independent of it”

John D. Rockefeller

American industrialist & philanthropist

Firstly, the word 'Charity' is belittling because it implies

inability of the recipient to fend for themselves. While that

may theoretically be true but the core reason for that situation

is an ineffective governance (due to greed and inefficiency) and

insensitivity of business and political leaders. It is the

responsibility of any government to enable each of its citizens

to be able to earn livelihood and lead a dignified life.

Secondly, instead of providing free food or money or clothes,

the poor must be provided education, they must be trained to

enter the workforce and they must be assisted in career guidance

& job search. Give them fish, they will enjoy the dinner

tonight; teach them how to fish and they will enjoy dinner

every night.

13Specialize for Peace

“A durable and equitable peace system requires equal development

opportunities for all nations”

Willy Brandt

German politician; Noble Peace Prize winner

It seems imperative that for all countries to live peacefully

with one another and have peace within their societies, they

will need to have a competitive edge in one or the other

economic area. Not only would this enable the respective

countries to create wealth for themselves but it will also make

them a stakeholder in the progress of the entire world. It is

also important to understand that the developed countries will

have to help the underdeveloped countries to become competitive

in their areas of specialty. This may be achieved by introducing

new (latest) technologies in the region (as against the previous

approach of exporting older technology to the underdeveloped

markets); introducing newer managerial techniques and tools; and

also helping the underdeveloped countries to build their

education and health care infrastructure. Unless we have such a

model of global inclusiveness, there will always be soft spots

and regions which will support and breed terrorists and other

disruptive forces.

Having said that, it is not sustainable for our world to to have

a few highly developed countries ('haves') and a large number of

underdeveloped ones. Initially, the 'have nots' may witness

social unrest within their boundaries but sooner or later the

undeveloped regions shall become a breeding ground for exporting

terror, maritime piracy (Gulf of Aden is a hotbed of such

activity), promoting international drug trafficking, money

laundering, illegal arms sales and in the worse case scenario,

an agent for illegal nuclear trade. Not that all this is not

currently happening, but if proactive measures are not adopted

by the developed world to build an “inclusive” model, these

problems would only worsen with time.

Each country – whether developed or developing – should assess

its strengths and areas of opportunities. These could be:

• Vast pool of educated youth

• Service oriented culture

• Natural resources – fertile soil, coal, oil, metals etc

• Wastage of agricultural produce

• Scenic beauty

• Marine productivity

• Land pattern – deserts, mountains, plains

• Weather – winds, rains, heat

• Creativity in society

• Abundance of a particular vegetation or crop

• Location

Every nation should leverage their natural strength to the

maximum. Not only will this create prosperity for the country

but it will also benefit the entire world (through efficient

resource utilization). Nations that have leveraged their natural

strengths have made a mark for themselves in those specialist

areas.

Industries that have (or can be) developed on the basis of

natural strengths of a country:

Vast pool of educated youth

• Business Process Outsourcing

• IT services industry

• Engineering services

Service oriented culture

• Business Process Outsourcing (airlines, hospitality credit

card services, financial services)

• International summits, conferences & workshops

Natural resources – fertile soil, coal, oil, metals, gems, river

systems etc

• Production of crops, fruits & vegetables

• Exports of commodities

• Refining of commodities to value-added products

• Power generation (large and small scale hydro power

projects)

Wastage of agricultural produce

• Food processing industry (domestic & export markets)

• Cold Chain development (Pre-harvest processing, Storage,

transportation, retail)

Scenic beauty

• Tourism (including Eco Tourism) – Resorts, Safaris, Tourist

spots

• International business summits, conferences

Land pattern – deserts, mountains, plains, coastline

• Deserts may be used for setting up solar farms

• Desert sands may be used to develop optical fibers (used in

telecommunications)

• Mountains may be used for hydel power

• Access to seas (Coastlines) may be utilized to develop

aquaculture (fisheries, marine life) for food, medicines

Weather – winds, rains, heat, cold

• Windy countries/regions may develop wind farms to generate

power

• Rainy areas – Groundwater (for domestic use & even export

of water)

• High solar intensity regions may emphasize solar power

generation

• Colder regions may develop cold storage facilities for

domestic as well as foreign markets

Creativity in society

• Entertainment industry

• Publishing industry

Abundance of a particular vegetation or crop

• Biofuel

• Food processing

Location

• Refining base for oil

• Shipping industry

• Ports industry (rent seeking)

• Tourism industry

• Economic & financial capital for multilateral organizations

14Re inventing the Government

Administrative machinery“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To

change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete”

Buckminster Fuller

Philospher, futurist and global thinker

Governments worldwide need to give a serious thought to re

inventing how they administer. With the rapid adoption of the

internet and related technologies, evolution of new markets

(e.g. online services), the opening and subsequent emergence of

previously closed economies, and increased incidences of

terrorism (extremism), the governments cannot administer

effectively using archaic assumptions, work flows and control

systems.

Some of the areas that must be looked into, include:

1) Digitization of all the government records: This would

promote quick retrieval of information, increase transparency

and trust (between citizens and the government) and the stored

data can be used to develop “Administrative Intelligence” which

can be used to guide the Administrators.

2) Digitization of work processes: By making the internal and

public interface processes available online (intranet, extranet

and internet), not only would the costs involved in executing

the processes, come down, but it would increase the transparency

(and hence accountability) as well. Use of technology shall make

the administrative machinery leaner (in terms of staff,

consumption of paper and other operational costs) and help to

reduce the time spent on internal approvals and in delivering

public services. Incidences of error related with manual

processing may be eliminated, as well. While, federal and state

governments are beginning to implement IT in their

administrative systems, the governments need to set aggressive

time lines for digitization of entire administrative system, and

ensure that the state systems and federal systems are integrated

(to avoid redundancy in data and processes).

3) Public Access to government funding information

Timeline for all the public programs initiated by the

governments (both federal and state) along with the

administrators responsible for the implementation of those

projects must be made available on the internet. Budgets

allocated and the details of spending must be provided, too.

4) Public Access to government processes

Every time a citizen engages with the government, the status of

the engagement should be made available online. The system

should be similar to the online application process to various

colleges and universities. Unless public can see in real time

how their taxes are being spent and the status of their

interactions with the government, they will not trust the

governments and will continue to be cynical of them. For

example, if I apply for a new phone connection, I should be able

to track in real time, the status of my application, online.

While in the short term, use of technology would be resisted by

some because their vested interests may be affected but if the

Governments are sincere about social equality, democratization

and development-of-the-last-mile they would go ahead with

implementing technology throughout their administrative setup.

In the long run, this would significantly boost the Government's

image among the citizens and even foreign nations, and of

course, will improve the efficiency of the entire administrative

machinery. Benefits are summarized below:

• Efficient utilization of tax money

• Improved public delivery services – cost, time, quality,

transparency

• Increased trust between the Government and its citizens

• Increased foreign investment – which further leads to

economic development

5) Sharing of data base and work processes among government

departments

Sharing of data and work processes among various government

departments can significantly increase the efficiency of all the

departments (by speeding the inter-department approval

processes) as well as reduce the wastages due to un-coordinated

public works projects. For example, real-time data on projects

could be shared between the Transportation, Railways, Sewage

disposal, telephone, electricity and the local public works

department (responsible for roads, lighting). This would ensure

that all necessary approvals are obtained quickly and that there

is no rework. Reworks are a major issue (and drain on resources)

in public works. Very often, due to lack of co-ordination among

the road and sewage disposal departments, the sewage pipes are

changed after the road has been re constructed. This

necessitates a fresh series of patchwork on the roads. Not only

does the rework make the road less usable for a longer time

period, it also costs the government more.

Revitalizing state owned firms

Even though the state owned firms are not directly a part of

government's administrative machinery, re-vitalizing such

organizations is an important part of reinventing the government

set up. Some of the ways of achieving this are listed below:

• Reduce fixed pay and add performance based pay

• Introduce labor reforms that allow for flexibility in

shedding non-performers and hiring as per the needs of the

organizations, through simple process. Currently, in most

countries, it is next to impossible to lay off a government

employee even if he is a non-performer. This breeds an

unhealthy sense of security among government employees and

translates to a lackadaisical attitude towards the job.

• Introduce regulation that bans strikes by government

departments especially in areas of essential services. I

know first hand how it feels when the electricity of entire

city is cut off or the broadband service is disrupted due

to a strike by the electricity & the telecommunications

departments, respectively. Such service disruptions do not

just affect ordinary consumers but they affect the

functioning of critical infrastructure such as airports and

hospitals. This also has a severe negative impact on a

country's image.

• Cross leverage firms in the public sector to improve asset

utilization, remove redundancies, increase work variety

(and hence motivation of employees) and ultimately improve

the return on government's equity (ROGE). Cross leveraging

is discussed in detail later.

• Shift all work flow processes to IT systems – for quick,

error-free, paper less work

• All project accountabilities may be made public by

publishing project details on the Internet

• Upgrade skills of employees every year through mandatory

corporate training courses

State owned organizations that can be revitalized using the

above measures, include:

• Post Office

• Railways

• Non Banking Financial Institutions (NBFIs)

• Hospitals

• Police

• Government Schools

• Government Colleges

• Vocational training Centers

• Scientific research organizations

• Industrial & Agricultural Equipment Manufacturer

• Food processors

Cross Leveraging

Government organizations such as public sector banks, Non

banking financial institutions (insurance companies, pension

funds), post office, railways, government hospitals, police,

government schools/colleges, scientific research organizations

and vocational training colleges should be cross leveraged, by

utilizing each other's distribution network/reach, co-branding

and allowing transfer of employees across organizations.

Cross leveraging by firms may include:

• utilizing the network of other organizations for

distribution of products/services and for communicating

with potential customers. For example, a Post Office

network could be used to sell/distribute insurance or other

financial products.

• allowing personnel skills, knowledge and experience in one

firm to be transferred to another through deputations and

transfers

• having access to a common marketing database (client

database). For example, the electricity, water and phone

departments could use a common (shared) customer database

and integrate their billing and CRM processes. This would

lower their costs of operation as well as benefit the

customers by reducing the number of interaction points.

• collaborating on projects (and using technology as an

enabler). For example, government's telecommunications and

power related organizations could jointly develop

technology to transmit data and electricity cheaply, over

the power lines.

As an example, the Post Office can

• distribute Financial products of public sector banks and

NBFCs (insurance, auto loans, equipment loans,

microfinance)

• market FMCG (Fast Moving consumer Goods)

• distribute and collect enrollment forms for schools,

colleges and vocational training colleges

• provide intelligence to local police

• administer market research surveys

• disseminate information on epidemic in other parts of the

country

• disseminate information on preventive healthcare

• disseminate adult literacy kits

State owned NBFIs could:

• manage financial assets for other government organizations

• provide venture capital for government's research

organizations

Railways could be used for:

• Food balancing: Railways can help to transport food to

shortage areas by receiving real time information. This can

significantly reduce storage costs and wastages.

• Mobile healthcare: Railways can be used to provide mobile

healthcare in the remotest parts of the country. This helps

to avoid setting up a namesake health center in a remote

part which is merely a cost center for the government and

is exploited by the officers in charge of funding the

health center.

Government Colleges and Vocational colleges may have arrangement

with Public Sector organizations for internships of their

students.

15Re Branding the Government

“Customers must recognize that you stand for something.”

Howard Schultz

Founder, Starbucks

Reforming a government set up and its governance style must be

supplemented with a conscious, proactive re branding of the

image of the government and its governance. This is especially

crucial in developing countries where years of inefficiencies in

governance have (rightfully) made citizens and foreigners

cynical of such governments.

Initiatives for re-branding a country's governance must include:

• Communicating through various media the changes that have

been brought in the governance. Specific examples and facts

must be provided. The message should be clear, succinct and

uniform across the country.

• Increasing interaction between the publicly elected

representatives and the public through town hall style

meetings and Internet blogs.

• Re-touching all the points of contact of the Government.

Governments interface with the citizens & foreigners

through public relation offices, embassies, utility offices

(water, phone, electricity, post office), airports, railway

stations, bus stations, police stations, fire stations,

traffic police, passport offices, offices for registration

of firms, offices for driving license, food distribution

program offices, government health centres/hospitals,

consumer forums, websites. All these offices/interface

points must be remodeled/re touched.

Re-touching may include:

• Modernizing the offices in terms of aesthetics and

functionality

• Emphasizing presentability, proactiveness, poise,

intelligence, personability and efficiency in the people

hired for front-office (public interfacing) jobs.

Compensation provided to such folks should be competitive

and if possible, better than the market (for similar jobs

in the private sector).

• Re designing all the government website interfaces

(webpages). The websites should be as aesthetic and easy to

use, as a Fortune 500 company website.

16Measuring Government

Performance“Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees; and both the trust and the trustees are created for

the benefit of the people”

Henry Clay

American statesman and orator

While macro indicators such as GDP growth, inflation trends,

Industrial production growth, trends in the production of

capital goods, unemployment rate and foreign exchange reserves

are important parameters for assessing government performance,

there is a need for more holistic framework for evaluation of

government performance at various levels – federal, state, town,

district. Every such political unit must at least be evaluated

on the following parameters to assess the efficacy of the

government in-charge of the concerned unit.

• Number of poverty related suicides

• Number of deaths due to inadequate emergency healthcare

• Trends in Air pollution levels across the country

• Trends in electricity outages

• Trends in water supply disruption

• Trends in condition of roads

• Number of schools with enrollment and pass rates.

• Trends in the employment numbers

• Number of communal, racial incidents

• Number of public representatives with criminal records

• Productivity of public representatives (discussed below)

I propose a more exhaustive (holistic) framework for assessing

governance. The elements of this framework are discussed next.

• People

• Healthcare

• Education

• Housing

• Economic Standard of living

• Safety

• Urban built environment

• Rural-urban disparities

• Community strength and spirit

• Civil & political rights

• Natural Environment

People

• General sense of satisfaction with quality of life,

immigration/emigration trends

Healthcare

• Life expectancy

• Infant mortality

• Communicable Diseases

• No. of general physicians/practitioners per 100,000

population

• Barriers to accessing a general practitioner.

• Mental health and emotional wellbeing (Suicide rates +

rates of hospitalisation for attempted suicide)

• Recreation and leisure (key free time activities; people’s

satisfaction with leisure time)

Education

Number of schools per 100,000 students; Cost of education;

Access to education by people from all stratas of economy;

quality of education in both private and subsidized schools.

Housing

Housing is a fundamental component of quality of life. Without

appropriate shelter, people cannot meet their basic needs and

participate adequately in society. Housing issues can have flow-

on effects for health, education and community wellbeing.

Percentage of private dwellings owned and rented

• Percentage of population within each ethnic group who own

their own home

• Number of people living in temporary private dwellings.

• Housing costs and affordability

• The cost of purchasing a home relative to incomes.

• Rental costs vs. income trends

• Home mortgage vs. rents

Household crowding

• Proportion of the population living in crowded households.

(crowded households are defined as those in which two or

more additional bedrooms are required)

• No. of applicants to new government housing as % of housing

available

Economic Standard of Living

• Home ownership, energy, health care and education costs in

relation to overall rate of inflation.

• The cost of food as compared to overall inflation.

• Rental housing costs and clothing costs

• % below poverty line

• % of wealth owned by the richest 10%

Safety

Child safety

• Rate of substantiated child abuse and neglect per 1,000

• Residents’ rating of safety of local neighbourhoods for

children to play in while unsupervised

• Rate of hospitalisations for unintentional injury per

100,000 children aged 14 years and under.

Road Safety

• Rate of serious and fatal road injuries per 100,000

population

• Length of stay in hospital due to road crash injuries

• Social cost of accidents (includes loss of life estimates)

Workplace safety

• Incidences per 100,000 employees

Crime Levels

• Total offence rate per 100,000 population

• Number and rate of recorded burglary offences per 100,000

population

• Number and rate of recorded violence offences per 100,000

population

• Number and rate or recorded sexual offences per 100,000

population

• Number and rate of total car offences per 100,000

population

• Total drug and anti-social offences per 100,000 population.

Urban built environment

Look & Feel of the city

• Sense of pride

• Graffiti

• Vandalism

• Litter

• Noise pollution

Land Use

• Green space per 1000 people

• Access to green open spaces

Traffic & Transport

• Motor vehicle ownership

• Means of travel to work

• Distances travelled by mode of transport

• Population travelling outside their city to work per

100,000

Public Transport

• % population using public transport

• Affordability of public transport

• Safety of public transport

• Convenience of public transport

• Ease of access to public transport facilities

Rural-urban disparities

• Are there any visible disparities in access to public

services/amenities between rural and urban areas?

Community Strength & spirit

• Types of social networks

• Location of social networks

• Sense of community

• Community resilience

• Contact with neighbours

• Number of people engaged in Unpaid work

• Trust

• Social isolation

• Personal support

Civil & political rights

• Community involvement in council decision making

• % of city residents having an understanding of how their

council makes decisions.

• % of city residents believing that the public has influence

on the decisions that their council makes.

• Voter Turnout (federal, state and local council elections)

• Representation on local decision making bodies

• % of Women in federal & state assemblies and local councils

• Does the ethnic composition of assemblies reflect the

ethnic diversity of the political units?

Natural Environment

Waste management and recycling

• Access to kerbside recycling

• Trend in volume of landfill

Energy Use

• No. of Energy efficiency projects underway

• Is energy efficiency promoted through schools, TV and

newspaper?

• % of transmission losses (theft related, faulty/old

equipment & power lines)

• No. of electricity outage incidences (how do these vary

across regions, cities and towns)

Air Quality

• Air pollution levels in relation to those prescribed by

Health agencies?

Beach and stream/lake water quality

• Water quality levels

Water Consumption

• Trends in the depth of ground water table across cities.

Productivity of Public Representatives

Apart from assessing the performance of a government body or

unit, there should also be evaluation of the productivity of

public representatives. A Benefit-Cost Analysis model to assess

the productivity of public representatives is presented below.

Benefit to the government = Tangible benefits + Intangible

benefits

Tangible benefits = Government Revenues from a project (by

monitoring a project for swift/efficient execution) + No. of

jobs created (Salaries) + Net Profit for the suppliers, farmers,

factory owners (through contracts/subcontracts)

Intangible benefits = Benefits due to increased healthcare

access, education, drinking water, electricity, access to

highways/roads, improved banking, improved telecommunications

(mobile, internet, satellite), improved sanitation, online price

discovery esp. for agricultural commodities, improved access to

local and export markets, opportunity for vocational training,

opportunity for learning English, maintenance of social cohesion

and harmony, improved safety for women & children, social

security, improved image of the country.

Cost to the government = Tangible Costs + Intangible Costs

Tangible costs = Salary + Perks (House rents at market rates,

Transportation, Foreign Travel + Stay, Private Parties)

Intangible costs = Cost due to delay in approvals/disapprovals +

Cost due to wrong decision making/judgement (new project,

privatization etc) + Cost due to personal agendas (leading to

social unrest, corruption etc) + Cost due to

graft/bribery/kickbacks

Net Value Added (NVA) of a Publicly elected leader = Tangible

NVA + Intangible NVA

Tangible NVA = Tangible Benefits to the govt. - Tangible cost to

the govt.

Intangible NVA = Intangible Benefits to the govt. - Intangible

cost to the govt.

From the above, it is a no-brainer that calculation of

intangible costs to the government shall be the most difficult

to evaluate and the most controversial, too. To that end, at

least the tangible NVA for public representatives should be

positive.

Productivity of government employees

Tangible NVA for a government employee is easy to determine.

However, it is more challenging to quantify the intangible

benefits & costs. Tools must be developed to evaluate the Net

Value Add of a government employee.

I believe that an unbiased measurement of government performance

and those of its members (publicly elected and bureaucrats) is a

critical step to reforming the government machinery. Such

measurement shall enhance accountability. Currently, due to lack

of either performance measurement systems or the integrity of

such measurement systems, and due to unavailability of such

information in the public domain, most governments & bureaucrats

are operating scot free. As an example, consider a developing

country where it is a well known fact that only 10%-20% of

developmental money assigned to a project/program reaches the

project. Rest is all wasted away in form of graft and

inefficiency. In such systems, an honest and detailed

performance measurement system is an absolute necessity to

ensure that tax revenues are not misappropriated.

17Its all about

Political Will"Will is character in action."

William McDougall

British psychologist

Comprehension & appreciation of the measures and scenarios

discussed in this book is important for efficient governance,

improved environmental safety, equitable growth and building

progressive societies. However, that is only one part of the

puzzle. Bureaucrats have always had a good understanding of

these issues and there has never been a lack of ideas either,

put forward by the civil society (businessmen & academics). But

to make things happen, there is a need for POLITICAL WILL among

the politicians even if that means making tough decisions in the

short run and even perhaps hurting their vote banks. In other

words, comprehension of issues together with Political Will, are

the basic ingredients of societal transformation.

Without a sustained political will to implement the measures

discussed in earlier chapters, those measures are not worth

much. Yes, they do provide for an inspirational reading but to

affect changes in reality, the public representatives must have

a desire and determination to act on them. I have no doubt that

within a few years of sincerely pursuing changes in the

governance, people will start to understand the benefits of

those changes, and this would significantly help the public

representatives to win people's hearts, and of course, the

votes.

In most countries (especially developing and undeveloped),

“Political Will” takes backseat to personal GREED and other

Conflicts of Interest among politicians and political parties.

Unless this is changed, we will not see any “real” societal

transformation in these countries. The following matrix provides

various scenarios resulting due to interplay of Political will

and self-promotion by politicians.

As an example, let us consider a developing country in Asia with

over 600 administrative units and almost that many parliamentary

seats (people representatives). Each year close to $0.5M is

provided as development funds to these representatives. No

prizes for guessing how much of those funds goes to the bank

Low HighLow

High

Political Will

Self promotion by leaders

Idealistic scenario; possible in States ruled by

kings/dynastic leaders

Things get done; seen in most developed

countries and developing countries

Rare; almost zero possibility of such

scenario

Corruption, inefficiency; seen in undeveloped

countries

Political Will – Self promotion Matrix

account of the representative. One would do good by visiting any

district at random and asking people if there were any new roads

built or if there were any new schools, libraries or health

clinics established in last 3 years. More often than not, you

will hear that no one even bothered to visit the district or

that there has been no new development in the area. Point I am

trying to make is this. If a representative genuinely wanted to

develop his area, he could easily have done that within a year.

In developing countries with cheap labor and raw materials, a

lot can be done with US$0.5M, of course, if one has the

intentions to do so.

In my humble opinion, “Political Will” is a must to bring any

kind of changes in the governance or in other areas. Even in the

absence of intellectual capacity, a political leader can make a

significant difference to the society and the world, if he has

the will to pursue progressive policies. Figure below describes

the interplay between “Political Will” and “Intellectual

Capacity” ans underscores the importance of “Political Will”

over “Intellectual capacity”.

Low HighLow

High

Political Will

Intellectual capacity of key leaders

Progress possible by bringing

intellectuals/specialists into politics

Things get done; seen in most developed

countries

No progress possible; most undeveloped

countries are a result of this

Seen in countries having caste and region-based vote banks; leaders avoid tough

decisions

Political Will – Intellectual Capacity Matrix

18Accountability, Accountability, Accountability

"Accountability breeds response-ability"

Stephen R. Covey

Management Guru

The issue of lack of political will brings us to the mostly-

absent element in governance - “Accountability”. Accountability

is necessary to establish trust between a government and its

citizens.

Information technology can be used to promote accountability.

For example, one way to check the misuse of government funds is

through implementation of Information Technology systems that

provide real-time information on:

• funds dispersed and the purpose/project for which the funds

are allocated

• proposed time line of the project

• progress of the project

• and the representative accountable for the project

Such a system should be implemented at every point of funds

dispersal and at every level of public representation. The

information must be accessible by the general public, over the

internet. However, development and use of such a system will

only be possible if the political leaders are sincere about

their accountability to the public, or in other words have the

political will to create an accountable system of governance.

The topic of accountability is incomplete without a discussion

on Corruption – which is a direct outcome of lack of

accountability. A framework for categorizing various forms of

corruption is provided below. I call it “The Corruption Pyramid”

(refer to figure on the following page) which puts into

perspective the magnitude of the various forms of corruption.

While we hear, read and see stories of graft and corruption

among business entities and between business and the public,

through various media on almost a daily basis, these constitute

a very small fraction of the overall “corruption pie”. The

“Real” corruption that extracts a high monetary and social cost

from a country almost always involves the government (and its

machinery) and is too sophisticated to be understood by majority

of people.

The Corruption Pyramid

G -

P

G -

B

B -

B

B -

P

P - P

Government-Government corruption: Personal greed of political leaders, funding of

foreign governments for domestic political gains and sometimes, for larger

national interests.

Government-Business corruption: To seek government tenders & licenses, to obtain

access to public/national resources at highly discounted rates, to lobby for

preferential Trade regulations, Preferential treatment of files, inside

information of the tendering process, Resolution of operational hurdles, evasion

of customs/import duties

Business-Business corruption: Falsified audit, inflated IPO pricing, favorable

Credit Ratings, Price collusion, M&A advisory, Restructuring advisory, Business

espionage, Rigged Bidding

Not

e: G

over

nmen

t her

e im

plie

s pu

blic

ly e

lect

ed re

pres

enta

tives

Business-Public: Preferential treatment, inside information, Resolution of

operational hurdles, obtaining procurement contracts

Public-Public: Preferential treatment, inside information

G -

G

Government-Public: Misuse and misappropriation of public money (tax revenues,

funds allocated to Social service programmes) by bureaucrats and politicians for

personal gains and/or for funding of political party operations (elections; day

to day running of parties); graft by politicians and govt. employees; evasion of

taxes/duties/fines by public

It is also interesting to observe the levels of various types of

corruption across various types of economies. The chart below

provides a qualitative assessment of the various types of

corruption in the developed, developing and undeveloped

countries.

The various forms of corruption are discussed next.

• Public - Public (P-P)

• Business - Public (B-P)

• Business - Business (B-B)

• Government - Business (G-B)

• Government - Government (G-G)

Govt-Public

Govt-Govt

Govt-Business

Business-Business

Business-Public

Public-Public

0

5

10

Levels of various types of corruption in various economies

Developed Developing Undeveloped

• Government - Public (G-G)

Public - Public (P-P)

Motivation: Such corruption germinates from trying to seek

preferential treatment in daily life or inside information (e.g.

trying to know the status of a file or a case).

Prevalence: This type of grass-roots corruption is mainly seen

in undeveloped countries and in developing countries (slightly

lesser). Developed countries exhibit minimal levels of

corruption of this kind.

Business - Public (B-P)

Motivation: Preferential treatment, Inside information (e.g.

seeking information from an employee of a competing firm),

Resolution of operational hurdles (clearing of land), Obtaining

procurement contracts by bribing the “Buying manager”

Prevalence: Undeveloped countries exhibit highest levels of this

form of corruption, followed by the developing countries.

Developed countries also exhibit this form of corruption, but in

lesser magnitude than the developing countries.

Business - Business (B-B)

Motivation: Audit (e.g. an independent auditor colludes with the

client to secure future work with the client), Initial Public

Offering (e.g. a company planning an IPO may offer graft to an

investment banking firm in return for the bank overstating the

strengths/quality of the firm and overpricing the offering),

Credit Ratings (e.g. a company wishing to keep its bond ratings

overrated may bribe the credit ratings firm), Price collusion

(e.g. businesses may keep the prices of their goods/services

artificially high by working in tandem), M&A advisory (e.g. a

business promoter wanting to get rid of a company against the

wishes of its employees/managers may bribe an M&A advisory firm

to propose selling off the firm), Restructuring advisory (e.g. a

business wanting to layoff employees may bring in an external

consultant to recommend the same), Business espionage (e.g. one

business trying to stealthily know the pricing strategy or

future plans of another firm by paying bribe to a consultant who

may be offering his consulting services to both the clients),

Rigged Bidding (e.g. a firm colluding with another firm while

bidding for a business or contract)

Prevalence: Interestingly, this form of corruption is more

prevalent in developing economies and the developed economies

than the undeveloped countries. This is due to the fact that

this form of corruption is more sophisticated and pertains to

the high end of services. Most undeveloped countries do not have

the institutional frameworks where such corruption may be

observed.

Government - Business (G-B)

Motivation: Government tenders & licenses, public works, Trade

regulations (Lobbying for Tax credits, subsidies & other

incentives), Cheap access to (or use of) public resources.

In undeveloped countries and countries with closed or tightly

regulated economies this form of corruption is seen as a natural

way of doing business. In countries where the economies have

been recently opened (in last 20-25 years), this form of

corruption is commonplace, as well, partially due to the “pre

free-market” mindset of the government participants (public

representatives and bureaucrats) and promoters.

In the developed world, this form of corruption has been

primarily restricted to lobbying by companies and special

interest groups. However, by no means, lobbying is small in

magnitude. It has been seen across a range of industries, from

the pharmaceutical industry to telecommunications to restaurants

to fertilizers to food processing.

Prevalence: This form of corruption is found in all types of

economies. However, undeveloped economies have higher incidences

than the developing ones, which in turn have higher incidences

than the developed economies.

Government - Government (G-G)

Motivation: Funding of political parties (elections; day to day

running of parties); funding of foreign governments for domestic

political gains and sometimes, for larger national interests;

personal greed of political leaders, funds for oiling the system

for political party gains

This form of corruption may be seen in a variety of transactions

and interactions between the governments. Specifically, it may

be observed in defense procurement, Peace treaties, Cease Fires,

Protection treaties, Technology transfer, Trade regulations, Oil

purchase and Reconstruction, to name a few. Kickbacks and

commissions fee are the primary methods of graft. Defense

procurement and oil purchase are the more obvious transactions,

smelling of such graft. However, transactions such as,

initiating peace treaties, starting/stopping cease fires,

protection agreements (wherein a nation seeks military help from

another), transfer of critical technologies and trade

regulations (for e.g. country A bribing country B to impose

trade sanctions on country C's imports into country B) are other

more subtle ways by which Governments indulge in graft.

Prevalence: This form of corruption is also found in all types

of countries/economies, and is perhaps the oldest and most

prevalent form of corruption. All countries, developed,

developing and undeveloped, display an almost similar magnitude

of this form of corruption. While this form of corruption is the

least visible, it is among the biggest types of corruption, in

terms of monetary value. While an argument can be made that such

form of graft is a means by which by political parties

(incumbent government) raise funds for elections and for running

their parties, it is worth noting that a significant portion of

such graft is diverted towards individual political leaders and

towards oiling the system for individual and party gains.

Government - Public (G-P)

Motivation: Misuse and misappropriation of public money (tax

revenues, funds allocated to Social service programmes) by

bureaucrats and politicians for personal gains and/or for

funding of political party operations (elections; day to day

running of parties); graft by government employees; evasion of

taxes/duties/fines by public; influencing a civil or a criminal

case.

Prevalence: Developed world has far fewer instances of this form

of corruption than the developing and undeveloped countries.

Yet, this form of corruption extracts the most price from the

global society, and is most damaging to the world, at large.

This form of corruption is the root cause for lack of adequate

infrastructure (clean drinking water, electricity, education,

healthcare, low cost homes), malnutrition (& chronic hunger),

unemployability, unemployment and all the related ills such as

poverty, drug abuse, child labor, HIV AIDS, chronic disease,

homelessness, urban crime, environmental degradation and

hopelessness among the marginalized sections of the society.

The most ironical aspect of democracy in developing and

undeveloped countries is that the political leaders, by engaging

in this form of corruption, crush the right to a dignified life

of the very people who voted them to power. The weakest sections

of the society accept their wretched lives as their fate written

in stone. The middle class feels a sense of hopelessness and

ultimately becomes indifferent to the plight of their fellow

countrymen and this form of corruption. The immense social cost

that is extracted by such corruption, dwarfs any tangible cost

associated with it. In my humble opinion, if politicians and

bureaucrats take a vow to change their ways and put an end to

this form of corruption, we would have solved most of the

problems.

The various forms of corruption discussed above, make our world

collectively poorer, unhappier, less peaceful and a more unsafe

place. We may be able to justify all our acts of corruption but

there is no way we can hide from ourselves & our conscience. The

duality of human existence (discussed in Chapter 2) is a direct

result of corruption – a product of human greed & apathy towards

the poor. In Adam Smith's words: "The disposition to admire, and

almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise,

or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition is

the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our

moral sentiments." The duality of human existence (discussed in

an earlier chapter) is, in my humble opinion, the single biggest

threat to world peace. Millions of people living on the fringes

of society are potential inductees to local and international

terrorist groups, mafias and other groups trying to destroy the

fabric of society. While we endlessly debate on how to eradicate

terrorism, local uprisings and increasing incidences of

violence, we almost always do not pay attention to the root

cause of such activities - corruption and apathy towards the

poor. Let us try to spend just one month in the kind of wretched

conditions in which millions live and I am sure that most of us

(especially those who are disconnected from the realities of

life due to their wealth or power) will forget preaching peace

and harmony in boardrooms, living rooms, classrooms, award

functions, and on TV channels.

In summary, the day we would begin to respect another human

being's right to a dignified existence, we would have solved

most of the world problems.

19The Right Cabinet

“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep

from meddling with them while they do it.”

Theodore Roosevelt

26th President of the United States

Like in the corporate sector, the key to improving government

efficiency and innovation is to attract and retain the brightest

and the best. And it has to start with fielding the right

candidates. To that end, Electoral reforms are a must in most

nations around the world. There are 2 elements to electoral

reforms:

• Promotion of a truly independent & powerful Election

Administration body (known as Election Commission in many

countries)

• Screening of electoral candidates

Promotion of a truly independent, powerful Election Commission

Election Commissions in most nations are not believed to be

powerful enough to raise voice against key politicians, who

disobey election rules. While the commission does raise concerns

over the misconduct of politicians during elections, it is more

of a talk than action. We need to enact a law in the legislative

houses that gives the Election Commission, the authority to act

fearlessly against any politician who is not abiding by the

rules/standards set out by the commission.

Appointments to the Election Commission board may be based

purely on the merit of the commission's officers, and

politicians should not be legally allowed to influence any

appointments. Lateral appointments to the commission should be

avoided at all levels within the commission, and a conscious

effort must be made to promote all officers from within the

commission (based on merit and a 360-degree feedback).

Apart from giving the Election Commission greater autonomy, the

Election Officers may be provided adequate security to ensure

that these officers can conduct their tasks fearlessly.

Last but not the least, the pay scales of the Election

Commission may be set at higher levels than other government

bodies, to discourage any incidences of graft.

Screening of electoral candidates

I believe that there needs to be a stringent process to screen

political candidates. Quality of politicians is crucial for

proper development of any country. If the screening processes

for employment with the public sector and private sector jobs

are demanding then why should there be any laxity with regards

to selection of political candidates? At the very least, any

aspirant to a public office that represents people (Member of

Parliament (federal level) and Member of Legislative Assembly

(state level)) should have been involved in national service for

atleast 3 years, be a graduate at the minimum, have no criminal

history/record and should not be a narcissist or psychotic

individual (as determined through personality tests and the past

of the individual). The public representatives should also be

physically healthy, especially if they are aspiring for a key

political position (such as Cabinet minister). Political

positions being executive in nature require both experience as

well as energy and enthusiasm. With due regards, it must be

stated that very often we see politicians who can barely walk,

handling important political positions. Therefore, certain

minimum health requirements must be laid down before a person

can fight an election. If we can successfully implement above

measures, I am confident we will be able to filter out

incompetent and corrupt politicians from entering the political

race. This would increase the level of trust among the public,

on politicians and the political system.

After putting in place a good screening system for election

contestants, the next step would be to pick and choose the best

minds for cabinet positions or for “Consultant-to-the minister”

positions.

A good Cabinet of Ministers for a country (especially for a

developing country) should ideally look like this:

• Health Minister: Healthcare specialist, Practitioner,

Healthcare Administrator

• Education Minister: Retired Professor, Dean of College,

Well recognized scholar

• Power Minister: Engineer or Technocrat with experience in

private sector power utility

• Agriculture Minister: Agricultural scientist or field

engineer who is aware of real issues and problems

• Commerce Minister: CEO of a major corporation, industry

analyst, strategy consultant or a successful entrepreneur

• Rural development Minister: Someone who has worked with an

NGO or a rural development organization; retired bureaucrat

from Agriculture ministry

• Science & Technology Minister: A professor in science, a

scientist with a vision or a technologist

• Finance Minister: Ex CFO, senior finance professional, CEO

of a state-owned bank, or an Economist

• External Affairs Minister: Former ambassador, Well known

expert in international affairs

• Defense Minister: Ex Defense officer, Defense strategist,

Retd. bureaucrat from defense ministry

All these Cabinet Ministers should be permitted to hire/bring in

world class experts & consultants in the respective fields, on

multi year contracts. As can be noted above, an ideal cabinet

should comprise a mix of free-market corporate executives and

socialist mindset professionals (scholars, academicians,

activists and ex-bureaucrats). While the ex-corporate execs help

to introduce efficiency & innovation in government functioning

along with bringing contemporary outlook to country's policies,

the socialist mindset folks can ensure that the economic growth

of a country is inclusive and takes care of all the

stakeholders.

While one could argue that the strength of a “Democratic system”

is its ability to empower the people to decide who should

represent them, I believe that the vast majority of people who

influence election results (especially in the developing and

undeveloped countries), actually do not understand who is really

good for them and who is not. If the demographic profile of

voters across nations were to be created, it would be observed

that in most nations, the people who influence the selection of

majority of representatives, have lower education and incomes

than than the average education and income levels for that

nation. Essentially these people vote for the 'perception' of a

politician and not the 'real' abilities and the 'real' person in

the politician.

The reason for this phenomenon is that in most developing and

undeveloped countries, the educated people abstain from

exercising their voting rights, as a way of disapproving of the

inept political leadership. Indifference and laziness is also

responsible for such abstinence from the voting process. On the

other hand, the less educated and marginalized sections feel

important at the time of elections because that is the only time

when political leaders are rallying around them for their votes.

These people are also lured by petty gifts during the election.

The result is a large turnout of voters in the marginalized

sections while a significantly smaller turnout amongst the

educated (middle and upper class) voters.

Not surprisingly, then, the biggest irony of democracy is that

the vast majority of people elect representatives who lack the

vision, drive and intellectual capacity to facilitate progress

of the vast majority who brought them to public offices. There

are a couple of ways to tackle this systemic problem. Firstly,

the civic societies and the Election administrator (commission)

should lobby the political parties for a gradual increase in the

proportion of those candidates (in elections) who either have

had successful careers in the corporate sector or in social

sector (as bureaucrats, scholars, scientists, activists, social

workers, public sector ex-employees). A lot of developed

countries do follow such a system, and in fact, adoption of such

a system has been responsible for the growth and economic

success of such countries. However, here it is also worth

mentioning that intellectual capacity, if it is accompanied with

self-promotion is even more harmful than self promotion among

leaders without intellectual capacity (refer figure below).

Therefore it is important for the Election commission to conduct

due diligence on the integrity of the successful professionals

being nominated by the parties. As some people say “Intellect is

important but Integrity is even more important”.

Secondly, an internet-based online system for voting should be

introduced alongside the conventional voting. Given the high

internet usage rates and a low voter turnout among the educated,

the voter turnout would increase significantly as a result of

online voting. Voters who didnt vote simply out of laziness or

lack of time or not being in their constituency, at the time of

voting, would turn to online voting in huge numbers. Even those

who do not vote, out of disapproval for the key political

parties, may actually cast their votes. This would benefit the

Low HighLow

High

Self-Promotion

Intellectual capacity of key leaders

Common in undeveloped countries

Corruption at the highest level; both in

developed and developing countries

Rare

Idealistic scenario; Some countries have transformed

from undeveloped to a developed country in a

short time span due to this

Intellectual Capacity - Self Promotion Matrix

independent candidates and in the long term the nation's

democratic process would be strengthened.

Apart from the issues of screening of candidates and voter

turnout, there are other roadblocks to a healthy democracy.

Firstly, it is a very common occurrence that multiple members

of the same family stand in elections representing different

parties. While it can be argued that in democracy, every person

has the right to choose a political ideology per his/her wish,

however, we all know that contesting from different parties is a

way of “political hedging” used by such families. In simple

words, such an arrangement increases the chances of the family

being politically relevant and continue to reap the perks,

therein. Electoral screening process may be used to check such

misuse of public representation.

Secondly, some publicly elected representatives switch sides

after elections, as a way to seek favor or a political position.

This is a blatant betrayal of the trust imposed by the public in

such representatives. For example, if a candidate seeks votes

from the public as a representative of party A and wins, and

later joins party B, he is essentially betraying the people who

voted for him as party A's representative. The only way to curb

this malpractice is by enacting a law that prohibits any

switching of parties (after being elected) until the next

elections when the representative must fight elections

representing the new party where he wishes to go.

Both these issues are indicative of greed for power and self-

promotion, and must be tackled firmly.

I will close this chapter by noting that people, world wide,

belonging to any social strata or religion, do not want to be

manipulated (divided) on the basis of caste, sex, religion or

region. They want good governance (corruption free and

efficient) and opportunities for upward mobility. That's it. To

that end, the first step to a healthy democracy is to promote

nomination and selection of public representatives who have

integrity, and are intellectually capable, progressive, non self

promoting and non divisive. This seems like an unachievable wish

list but unless we have such high standards in our polities, we

cannot get rid of other evils of our society.

20Building Value Systems

Top Down“It is not fair to ask of others what you are unwilling to do

yourself”

Eleanor Roosevelt

Wife of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Economic progress has to be matched with social progress.

Economic progress is a function of increased worker

productivity, use of technology, innovation, natural resources

and financial resources. On the other hand, social progress is a

function of social cohesion in the society, value systems in the

society and a sense of pride among individuals in the society.

Of these, value systems are the most important. It is often said

that a “strong” country is economically sound while a “great”

country is not only economically sound but has great value

systems, as well.

A value system that flows from the top, and encourages

professional & personal integrity, social equity

(inclusiveness), empathy for less fortunate, generosity,

humility and a sense of camaraderie in daily life, is the key to

building a progressive society (refer table on next page for

classification of societies) and a progressive nation, in true

sense.

Political leaders (and those in public service) worldwide should

take the lead and set examples for above mentioned values.

However, it is easier said than done, and requires personal

commitment on part of top brass of various political parties to

make sure that they promote those in the party who exhibit these

good values. That in turn implies that the top brass themselves

have to be prepared to change their own ways, if needed. Because

if they cannot lead by example, they cannot expect their

subordinates to respect these value systems.

Classification of Societies

Parameter Progressive Less progressive

De generative

Women rights & freedom High Medium to low Low/No

Social justice HighMedium (Glass

doors & ceilings)

No

Quality of political leadership (w.r.t. Integrity, education)

Above average Average Poor

Spirit of camaraderie/Social cohesiveness

HighMedium

(triggered by events)

No

Power distance* Low to medium Medium Very high

Corruption levels Low to Medium Medium Very high

Spirit of charity among the elite

High MediumNone (self-promotion)

Journalistic integrity Medium to High Low to medium None

Value of education High Medium Low

Distribution of wealthLeast

inequitableModerately inequitable

Most inequitable

Nature of politics Progressive DivisiveAuthoritarian /Dictatorship

* Power distance is the extent to which less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally.

Apart from leading by example, there needs to be a change in the

incentive structure of governments. For example, Ministers in

the federal and state governments should be paid handsome

salaries. However, this alone is not enough. There are several

instances of political leaders wherein their greed for power and

money never ends. They use their contacts and influence to set

up businesses, broker business and political deals, award

multi-billion dollar government contracts & licenses to favored

parties, sell-of government assets at massive discounts to their

friends & family, channel tax payer's money to sham projects,

and so on. Therefore, a change in the incentive structure has to

be complemented with a fundamental shift in a political party's

organization. The party must field candidates from corporate and

social sector, who are successful in their domains, have

integrity and are either already well off (financially) or are

known for their intellectual capacity. In summary, leading by

example, incentivization and political party re-organization are

the key mantras for building value systems in the political

system and hence in the society.

Pillars of “Value Systems”

in political system

Incentivize Re organize

Lead by example

21The concept of Nations,

Democracy & Power“If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to

be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost”

Aristotle

Greek philospher

Understanding of the world, its institutions and its people can

not be complete without an understanding of the concept of

Nations, Democracy & Power.

The evolving concept of Nations (National boundaries) requires

an understanding of two phenomena: migration and globalization.

Wandering in search for food, water and shelter dates back to

the stone age. Last few centuries have seen international

migration, both voluntary and forced. Economic opportunities,

quality of life, social injustice, communal disharmony &

genocide have been the key driving forces behind migration

between nations. Impact of Economic opportunities and overall

quality of life on international migration is illustrated in the

figure below.

Low HighLow

High

Economicopportunities

Overall quality of life

Those who value quality of life will migrate

Very little migration;Migration mainly due to non economic reasons – weather, relatives, leisure, travel

Migration of masses assured

Migration is limited; short term relocation to foreign countries

Inter national migration

More recently, we have witnessed the phenomenon of

globalization. This phenomenon has significantly diluted the

concept of political boundaries of Nations. With increased

globalization the perception of a national boundary has altered.

People, especially who are able to participate in the

globalization are beginning to see themselves as the citizens of

the world. An Indian born in Singapore and settled in US and

making trips to UK for work is not mentally tied to a nation.

Instead his concept of society is his work place, his home, the

countries he visits and his social circle (which is mainly

developed through Facebook or MySpace). This guy knows people

from over 50 countries, he can speak atleast 3 languages and is

more up to date on an international sports event than on an

event in his country of birth or country of residence.

While such internationally mobile global citizens may be few in

number, there are millions of people globally whose mindsets are

being transformed right in their home countries in a manner that

is melting the national political boundaries.

This social transformation is being driven by the popularity of

Social networks, TV and overseas education. Social networks such

as Facebook are enabling people with similar interests to

interact with one another, leading to development of groups and

subgroups of people who are tied by a cause or a sport or a

genre of music. Like wise, TV is getting more globalized with

thousands of channels from just about every country on the

planet, and is moulding the mindset of youth, right in their

living rooms. Increase in the number of students preferring to

go overseas for study is also playing an important role in

shaping multinational mindsets.

Globalization of mindsets has been further accelerated by

economic globalization (arrival of global brands). An interplay

of these two phenomena is illustrated in the figure below. It

can be observed that simultaneous presence of both economic and

mindset globalization is beneficial for the society. Such a

society is truly multicultural, promotes creativity and is

progressive. People in such societies dont have national

(political) boundaries even in their sub conscience when they

are interacting with one another or with people from external

societies.

Low High

Low

High

Globalized mindsetof local people

Level of economic globalization

Great interest in imported stuff; Foreign travel by citizens;Increase in emigrants;Copying of ideas & systems

Truly multicultural society; creativity; scientific & artistic progress is maximum

“Cut off” societyLeast scientific & artistic progress

Slower adoption of foreign goods, ideas;Not truly multicultural society

Mindset vs. Economic globalization

Apart from the globalization of the mindset and the economies,

lack of economic opportunities in certain regions and countries

has also encouraged mass emigration (and migration).

Therefore, given these developments, political boundaries of

nations have become redundant for most people (especially the

middle and the upper class) and are of relevance only to the

politicians. Even a commoner is beginning to understand the

reason why politicians are always keen on bringing up the issues

of protectionism, and do not want to resolve long standing

issues pertaining to political boundaries. By keeping such

issues alive, politicians are able to justify their relevance

disproportionate to their actual contribution to a society.

It is also interesting to note that redundancy in political

boundaries has not affected the attachment of emigrants and non-

resident citizens (particularly the youth) to their home

countries. Through my interactions with people living away from

their home countries, I discovered that such people felt a

stronger sense of affection for their home country while living

abroad. And many of these people rightfully argue that they can

better contribute to their home country by being outside than

being in it. I also agree with this notion. In my opinion, I

would do more disservice to my home country if I were to work in

my country and evade taxes or work unproductively in a job which

doesn't interest me, than if I was living abroad and leveraged

my talents to the fullest. Quite obviously, in the latter

scenario I would be able to do more for myself and hence

contribute more effectively to my country, as well.

Next, I wish to discuss the concept of Democracy. Health &

efficacy of a democracy depends on two factors more than

anything else. These are:

a) Ease of forming a political party & contesting elections

Nations where it is easier and affordable to run elections are

capable of displaying true democracy – where every individual

can have a say in the governance of a country.

b) Number of key political parties

Large number of key political parties imply a broader

representation base and helps to check any misuse of power by

any individual party.

A “True” democracy is one which houses several key political

parties and where the barriers to entry (in politics) are low.

Though such a setup is conducive to developing a progressive

society, “True” democracy is more difficult to achieve in

practicality.

Countries with multiple key political parties but where barriers

to entering politics are huge, are Pseudo Democratic. While a

breadth of ideologies may have a voice in such a country,

bringing “Real changes” is very difficult. As an example,let us

consider a country with multiple political parties of national

stature. All these parties try to get votes by positioning

themselves differently on issues that are not relevant to the

people anymore. And it is almost impossible for an individual

without huge amount of money or muscle power to form a

Low HighLow

High

Ease of forming a party & contesting elections by any

citizen

No. of key political parties

Democracy based on broad issues/political

views

True democracy

Informal Power sharing system;

Undemocratic set up

Pseudo democracy

Analyzing Democracy

formidable party that can take up the real issues facing the

people. Therefore, even though theoretically its a democratic

setup but in reality common people have no say in influencing

relevant issues. Citizens of such nations may become indifferent

to the causes of their country and lose their sense of belonging

to that place.

In nations where its easy to enter politics and where there are

just one or two key political parties, an individual can

exercise some influence over the issues of concern to him/her.

He/she can do so by either joining one of the bigger political

parties or seeking support to his/her causes from those parties.

Finally, nations where entering into politics (by an individual

who lacks money or muscle power) is impossible, and where the

key parties are just 1 or 2 in number, democracy is only for

namesake. However, some nations with similar setup use

Referendums as a way of enabling public participation. In such

countries, the vision, intellectual capacity and political will

of the political leaders defines the future of the nation. A lot

of countries with similar set up have shown remarkable progress

– much faster than in other kinds of democratic setups.

We have talked about Nations and we have talked about Democracy.

A more sensitive topic that naturally follows any discussion on

these subjects is that of “Power”. Without delving into the

categorization of power (which can be had from any book on

Organizational Development), I will state that the strongest

form of power is one which is accompanied with love and respect.

If people like you and respect you, you have “real” power. Power

that is derived only by virtue of a position or ability to do

favors, vanishes as soon as the position or the ability to do

favors, vanishes.

In context of politics, the most powerful political leaders are

those who live in the hearts of people. It is an indisputable

fact that almost no one in politics is absolutely clean (you

know what I mean), and it would be naïve for anyone to think

that the public doesnt know this. The public, even in a

democratic setup, is not institutionally equipped to sanitize

the political representatives. Therefore civic society has no

choice but to overlook the deficiencies in the character (lack

of integrity or intellectual capacity) of the political

representatives and judge them by their developmental work and

how they treat people, in general. Hence, despite deficiencies

in personal character and lack of intellectual capacity, the

political representative who is able to deliver on his promises

(made to the public) is able to win the hearts of people. Such

political leaders gain popularity among the people and do not

need any formal positions (such as ministerial berths etc) to

make themselves politically relevant. They wield enormous

influence even without holding any formal position of power, and

can shake entire governments or administrative systems.

22Credits where they are due

“Civilization is a method of living, an attitude of equal respect for all men”

Jane Addams

American activist; Nobel Peace Prize winner

They are beautiful. They are charming. They entertain us. Yes, I

am talking of celebrity actors, athletes, sport stars and TV

personalities. Undoubtedly, entertainment is and has always been

an important and integral part of human happiness. Not

surprisingly, then, the entertainers have always got more than

their fair share of attention. However, there is more to this

than what meets the eye. Media companies are content dependent

and thrive upon sensationalism and therefore, are highly vested

in the above mentioned folks. To that end, a major part of the

attention given to these people is media fabricated. Given the

power of media in creating perceptions and in shaping the public

opinion especially among the younger generation, it plays a key

role in influencing any society's value systems and its power-

distance*. As an example when we routinely see the news of a

celebrity's illness or his new possession on the first page of

a national daily and on the other hand find the news of bravery

of security forces or of skillfulness of a doctor in

successfully completing a complicated operation, buried either

in the sidebar of the front page or the sixth or seventh page of

a newspaper, it is quite natural for most of us to start valuing

a celebrity's existence and status in society to be higher than

that of an engineer, doctor or a soldier. Over time, we start to

believe that a celebrity is larger than the society and the

nation, as a whole, and a power-distance is created. The

reality, however, is that those of us who do routine tasks day

after day without any yearning for fame, power or quick riches,

are the “real” heroes and the real strength of any society. They

choose to live for pride of honor, satisfaction and contribution

instead of living for pride of Power, riches or fame. These are

the people who keep us safe from enemies, they toil for us in

scorching heat so that we can enjoy exquisite delicacies, they

design innovative products and systems to make our lives more

productive, they find ways to cure us of deadly diseases, they

help us rehabilitate and recuperate from illnesses and they

encourage us to learn. They are the fundamental blocks of our

society who help us to relax, enjoy, learn, be healthy and

ultimately progress in life.

It is high time we give credits where it is due. Let us all

salute our “real” heroes – the soldiers, policemen, farmers,

factory workers, scientists, engineers, teachers and doctors.

Lets put the food where the mouth is.

23Bare your soul

“Most people say that is it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.”

Albert Einstein

Having interacted with numerous corporate managers, investment

bankers and consultants from strategy and audit firms, I am in

awe of their (at least majority of them) intellectual prowess.

However, a lot of these folks are also some of the most self-

centered, success hungry folks I have known. For them, the world

revolves around them (atleast thats what they like to believe).

It gives them a great ego boost to be part of the largest IPO

deal of the year or the most talked about restructuring or the

highest ever increase in net profits.

A lot of these folks hide behind their expensive business

degrees or the “killing” they made for their employer. They seem

to be able to justify everything (their interactions with

others; their insensitivity to the world around them) by their

professional success.

I sincerely hope that this book can change heart of atleast one

such banker or a consultant or a manager to be more sensitive to

the world around them; to appreciate that they were born on the

same planet as others and to develop a sense of responsibility

towards the society.

We cannot always blame political leaders for the state of our

societies. We also have the duty to change ourselves and

contribute in whatever little measure we can, to make this world

a fairer, more sensitive and more equitable place. To that end,

investment bankers, business consultants and corporate managers

are amongst the most influential bunch of people who have the

intellectual ability and connections needed to bring about

positive changes in their societies.

24What is Success?

Try not to be a man of success, but rather to be a man of value.

Albert Einstein

My definition of success has altered significantly over the

years due to my experiences (both, good and not so good). I used

to measure success as an individualistic achievement that serves

to set us apart from the rest – in form of receiving awards,

making money, obtaining promotions and possessing material

things. Theoretically this model for qualifying success looks

sound but it rests entirely on external inputs. I have realized

through my own personal experience that to me success was really

about being liked and respected by people around me and a sense

of satisfaction that I received by helping others. These are

both intangible metrics, but are the most important ingredients

of success, in my opinion. If everyone used this yardstick to

measure success, we would have solved major world problems.

In sum, Success is the ability to win hearts.

25Integrity is Integrated

“One man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one

indivisible whole”

Mahatma Gandhi

I am never able to understand how a 'good' businessman who

cheats in his personal relationship be a 'good' businessman.

What is the guarantee that he cannot cheat his suppliers,

customers, stockholders and employees?

Likewise, how can a consultant with a top strategy firm or an

audit firm or with an investment bank – who doesn't have any

empathy for ordinary people - solve complex business problems –

most of which have a direct or indirect link to people, whether

it is an operations issue, a sales issue, productivity issue or

winning customers.

A 'good' businessman (or consultant) is also a 'good' family man

and a 'good' citizen. A person who is devoid of latter two

qualifications can at most be a good businessman, and not a

'good' businessman.

Being 'good' is about having Integrity and EQ. Anyone with high

IQ, determination and hunger can be good but only those who also

possess EQ and conscience, can claim to be 'good'. To that end,

Mr. Ratan Tata, Mr. Anand Mahindra and Mr. Nicholas Heymann are

some examples of 'good' business leaders, while Mr. Sachin

Tendulkar is an example of a 'good' sportsman.

26Lets do it Now!

“We must be the change you wish to see in the world”

Mahatma Gandhi

What are we waiting for? If we have the wealth and the

influence, lets start working together now. Lets tackle the

water crises, the energy crises, terrorism, healthcare issues,

education, unemployment, poverty and exploitation NOW! Let us

lobby for these causes in Congress, boardrooms and on factory

floors; let us contribute some of our wealth to building

schools, hospitals; let us fund research of alternative energy

fuels and technologies;let us create new employment

opportunities in areas with no source of employment; lets push

for transparency in government processes.

We just cant wait forever. Lets be the role model for a new

world order where equality is a norm and transparency a way of

doing things; where we care for our environment the way we care

for ourselves; and where we unite not divide.


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