All of us pushing the envelope in our spheres of influence

Our governments post-independence have largely been thwarting achievement. The numbers game of electoral democracy puts a premium on appealing to the lowest common denominator. Communalism and casteism are cancers which sap our strength. A society should want everybody to be strong, should give equal opportunities but what we urgently need is faster growth of the cake. That comes from supporting the achievers or at least not hindering their progress.

We have many strengths: be it democracy, growth, inflation, foreign exchange reserves, human resources, demographic profile etc. Also, we are the world’s 4th largest economy by purchasing power parity. But our per capita situation and our human development indices are abysmal. Our physical and social infrastructure are in tatters. Our quality of governance is the pits. As someone put it, ‘‘we are a first rate people in a third rate system.’’

In the world today, people don’t compete, companies do. While the individual is very important, the economic agent is the corporation. Only the corporation has the economic and technological muscle to compete in the present and to invest in the future. Only healthy companies can provide the secure future we seek and work for.

We live in a globalised world. We have to and are competing with the best in the world. Our systemic inadequacies, be it of infrastructure, labour policy, corruption or red-tape, only weaken the domestic producer against his foreign counterparts. Foreign companies investing in our country, adding value, creating employment are good for us. But Indian companies are better.

It is a tragedy of our country that the previous statement may be contested. In no other self-respecting country in the world is this the case. We must stop instinctively mistrusting business. Business on the other hand should improve upon its actions such that it gives ground for people to trust it.

We are achieving what we are achieving in spite of our governments. Unfortunately, it would be realistic to assume that this will continue to remain so. In our families, companies and civil society we have to create and sustain values, attitudes and behaviour that are necessary for enterprise to take root and develop.

The root of enterprise is an unflinching belief in merit. What works and who delivers have to be the over riding criteria. Not that there should not be other criteria, but they can only influence say 10 per cent of the outcome. Ninety per cent of the outcome must be determined by merit. Also, ends have to be as important as the means, within an ethical framework. The job must get done. Excuses are endless.

If India is to be empowered, it will be empowered by the people. Within our spheres of influence we have to push the envelope. We have to build our networks and communities. We have to find our political vices. We have to resist the temptation to succumb to the easy way, be it of cutting corners or paying a bribe. Pandit Bhimsen Joshi once said, in a very different context, that what is good is difficult and difficulty is what one tends to avoid. We have to try to live by the higher than all laws, our internal moral law.

We have to set goals for ourselves that expand our delivery. We have to broaden our goals to include nurturing and strengthening institutions that develop our social capital, like educational and health care institutions. Whenever we see someone struggling to achieve, we should help him or her in whatever small way we can. We have to support, celebrate enterprise wherever it exists.

Most of us are paying 20 per cent or more of our incomes to the government and get little more than the electric lamp on our streets in return. Let us give one per cent of our incomes to those in need or trying to achieve something.

I have Tagore’s ‘‘Where the mind is without fear’’ in my office. I have yet to discover a better vision for our country. Each day I read it to get the strength to cope with the absurdities of today and to work for a better tomorrow.