8/4/2019 Committing to More Reforms
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Committing tomore reformsI
n his budget speech this year, finance ministerPranab Mukherjee had un-
equivocally stated that if expec-tations held true and the econo-my stabilized, then the govern-ment would by the time of thenext budget revert to fiscal pru-dence. More recently, PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh drew a linkage between financial sec-tor reform and sustained revivalin the real sector. In an interview to Mint , published on Thursday,
finance secretary Ashok Chawlahas restated these first princi-ples.
First off, it is commendablethat three key people in the de-cision making hierarchy have
with such candidness renewedtheir faith in future reforms. Andthe finance minister has clearly provided political cover by linking reforms withgrowth without which theUnited Progressive Alliance willbe hard-pressed to meet itsavowed commitment to theso-called aam aadmi.
It is also a reiteration of thefact that the worst is behind forthe Indian economy. Barringany unexpected external shocks,
it does seem the economicgrowth may even touch 7% inthe current fiscal and acceleratein 2010-11. It is unlikely that thegovernment will withdraw in ahurry the fiscal stimulus pack-
age, which has clearly worked;though the withdrawal of themonetary largesse has already begun and rightly so, with in-flation, led by food prices, firm-ing up. So there are no fears of any immediate loss of momen-tum.
What the finance secretary leftunsaid, too, is significant. Politi-cally, the Congress has strength-ened itself, following its contin-uous electoral wins after better-than-expected performance thatpowered it to a second termin the 15th general election. Ithas also helped that the twoprincipal political opponents,the Left and the Bharatiya Jan-ata Party, are severely distract-ed, tiding over internal crises.
Along with acquiring confi-dence, the Congress has alsochanged its tack on pushing the
reform agenda. At one level, it has begun to
cleverly link it with the ability toraise funds to finance social wel-fare programmes. At another, ithas begun to make major policy
changes without muchfanfare like the Reserve Bank of India initiating financialsector reform by including in itscredit policy statement the
decision to expand the portfolioof currency derivatives beyondthe dollar and also set the stagefor introduction of themuch-maligned credit defaultswaps.
All of this seems to suggestthat the government is, with theeconomy gradually stabilizing,setting the stage for a big-bangUnion budget on 28 February.
Hopefully, it wont be a case of impressing to disappoint.
Will it be a big-bang budget next year? Tell us at [email protected]
Best sellers and exit poll bans
It was a turkey shoot. On
Wednesday, the RajyaSabha passed the Repre-
sentation of the People (Sec-ond Amendment) Bill, 2008.
While the legislation soundsinnocuous, it does great dam-age: It restricts information topotential voters during an
election, something necessary to make an informed politicalchoice. It bans exit polls.
From a pol iticians perspec-tive, exit polls are damagingstuff. They have the potential
to unleash a bandwagon effectin the course of an electoralseason. In India, a generalelection is usually staggeredover many phases. One statemay poll one day, another onethe next day. If exit pollpredictions for one phase of the polling are broadcast one
day, they have the potential toaffect voter outcome andchoices in the next phase.This mortifies our politicians.But with a ban on exit polls,
voter behaviour becomes
more predictable. It also hasthe potential to bestow anunfair advantage on incum-bent governments andmembers of Parliament. So itis not surprising that such aban is being given legalsanction.
In most walks of life, people
imitate each other, for in-stances, in trends, fashions,choosing a book (best-sellersare good examples of suchchoices) and other stuff. Why should political choices be
immune from this current?Curmudgeons will say politicsmerits seriousness. We say no.For, all that seriousness willdo with an exit poll ban is toensure the election and re-election of undeserving candi-dates.
Exit polls have the potentialto unleash waves of change.(Imagine voters in Maharash-tra taking a cue from those in
Assam, exit polls ensuring
that. Many a cookie will crum-ble.) What is wrong with that?In fact, it will makerepresentatives more aware of the demands and problems of their voters. Unsurprisingly,
this regressive legislation hadall-round political support.
The saving grace here isthat when the Bill becomeslaw, it could be subject to ju-dicial scrutiny. It should be.There is, of course, the dangerthat exit polls can be manipu-lated and then used for un-healthy political purposes. Butthere are other ways to check the problem, say, by regula-tion. A blanket ban, however,
is no solution.
Exit poll ban: unfair advan-tage to ruling parties and
governments? Tell us at [email protected]
AN EMAIL FULL OF HAPPINESS
CUBICLENAMASIDIN VADUKUT
our PowerPoint slides in purple? Instantly, within minutes, the entire
organization makes depurplificationits core competence. Meetings areconvened, conference calls are sched-uled and KRAs are mass-rewritten.
And then two hours later, he popsout again: Actually, purple is OK. Idont know why my Babloo said that.Say hello to everyone, Babloo... And
you smile at Babloo like that doll inthe Child s Play movies. Purpleswoops back in, work-life goes out of the window.
Face-time is another massive imbal-ancer. As an astute office elder oncementored me: Why do you leave of-fice so early every day? To make yourresume? Zen-like, no?
So between pressure, face-time,deadlines and meetings, how in Godsname does one balance anything?
The CEO in our storied email for- ward decided to do something. He an-nounced office reforms with immedi-ate effect: At 7.00 pm security wouldempty the building. And no, laptops
would not be issued to anyone tomake up for this. All overtime wouldneed his picky personal approval. Thebenevolent CEO then exhorted his col-leagues to enjoy their lives more.
Do you remember reading thisemail? Was he your CEO? If so, pleasesend a copy to the address below. I
will read it between 8.30 and 8.47pmnext Friday. If I can.
Cubiclenama takes a fortnightly look at the pleasures and perils of corporatelife. Your comments are welcome at [email protected]
This email forward was a rage insome offices a few years ago. The
forward itself contained a short, im-passioned email by an IT company CEO to his staff, and was forwardedand reforwarded for weeks. The mis-sive was all about work-life balance.
And readers treated it like a mantra.(Ive rummaged in my inbox all day.But alas, cant find the forward or re-call it precisely. The exact details andnames are sketchy.)
He was (is?) the CEO of a midsize ITfirm based in Bangalore. I suspect it
was the local development centre of aforeign multinational. One of thosecompanies that quietly went about do-
ing its business, paid spectacular sala-ries and genuinely believed in thingslike Friday dressing and company gyms. A land, if you will, of plentifulSodexho booklets and high-quality company logo polo shirts.
In the email, the CEO (Bob Some-thing) thought aloud about the work culture prevalent in his office: How long did his people work? What work-life balance did they achieve? How many of his people worked late? Whendid security finally close the building?
And he sounded very upset. People were working too long, he said, andthat too for no reason that was appar-ent to him. He wondered when they got the time to spend with family, or
pursue passions outside work. And it went on. But before I reveal the rest of that email forward, let us analyse.
First, you are surely thinking, this isone of those emails that the HR headsat next to him and made him write.Full of irritants like team, friend,partners in success, last but notleast and so on. It wasnt. This was anactual outpouring of CEO grief.
Perhaps, I hear you persisting withprofundity, but is it anything new?Dont all CE Os and managers, at sev-eral points in the year, make this very same speech? Indeed isnt this part of their CEO orientation programmealong with the the Rumours of my resignation are completely false! and
I sold a few shares for some personalfamily need onlyemails?
Fair point. While most senior man-agement has perfected the art of show-ing other people the virtues of a bal-anced work life, they really dont domuch to help underlings achieve it.
Instead, every quarter or two, at theoffice party open bar, a senior manag-er will tell a gaggle of underlings how easy it is to balance: I run a marathonevery weekend, he will say. And ev-ery evening I go swimming at the In-dia Habitat Centre... he will spout,sipping the Laphroaig that appears atthe bar only when he does.
At this point the eyes of one under-ling, and there is always one, will glazeover with faux admiration. Too much,sir! How do you do all these wonderfulthings and such a super job in the of-fice? You are great! I am Vikram fromsecond floor accounting. But you aresimply amazing. (We will talk exclu-sively about the Vikram variety in a fu-ture Cubiclenama.)
Oh, I manage time by delegating!
boss will say, leaving out details of histwo secretaries, executive assistantand the fact that each time his emailstops working, someone in admin getstwo weeksnotice.
And if its not dele gation, the ulti-mate secret is either focus, planning,speed or, my personal worst, prioriti-zation. That one just makes the skincrawl. I welcome you to try I under-stand there is a blazing fire in our pa-per factory. But my cousins son’smundan is tonight, so...with the boss.
How many times have you sat in of-fice, bags packed, computer makingthose shutting down noises, when bigboss pops his head out and says some-thing innocuous like this: Why are all
It s one thing totalk aboutwork life balance,and entirelyanother to dosomething aboutachieving it
JAYACHANDRAN/ MINT
