Re: [paniitactionindia:45] Digest for PanIITActionINDIA@googlegroups.com - 1 Message in 1 Topic
Ashish Mehta
Group: http://groups.google.com/group/PanIITActionINDIA/topics
Chandra Jain <chandr...@gmail.com> Jun 07 12:33PM +0530
It is a great idea but someone has already worked it out. Pl check out
*Association for Democratic Reforms
**http://adrindia.org/*<http://adrindia.org/>
* .*
This is an organisation floated by our IITD Alum Prof Trilochan Shastry &
Prof Jagdish Chhoker of IIMA & are doing a great job. They list all the
details of the various MLAs, MPs - their assets, criminal records etc &
analyse the data.
*They can perhaps use some help in details about the promises, budget
spends etc to track the performance of the legislators & then appraise them
on a defined matrix.*
We had tried to do it in Delhi with a lead BY ARVIND KEJRIWAL. The
volunteers filed RTIs to get details - copies of work contracts, specs,
measurement books, final bills & payments of Civil Works executed in the
constituencies of some selected MLAs in Delhi out of their allotted Public
Funds & then we tried to physically audit these works in the field to find
out if these funds were actually used in the works or siphoned-off by the
MLAs in collusion with the govt staff. We did find a lot of anomalies in
the bills but could not conclusively audit the works as the pvt
construction management agencies deputed to do the actual physical site
audit backed out at the last minute fearing a retribution from the govt
agencies & their goons.
An appraisal & rating by a reputed organisation would be very useful guide
for the public/ electors.
BUT CAN WE PREPARE A MATRIX OF MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR AN MLA for DELHI
for the political parties to choose their candidates for the upcoming 2013
elections? This should be relatively simple & straightforward & would have
immediate utility. A lot of us are in senior positions & select & choose
our employees - why should we find it difficult to lay down a matrix of
qualifications for our public servant representatives?
--
Chandra k Jain
India
call: 93124 39464
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Chandra Jain
Chandra k Jain
India
call: 93124 39464
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Dear Friends,Apologies for writing in so late.I had a query here.Does anyone know/is aware of a Whistleblower program run by the Government of India to Anonymously submit tips on Corrupt Government Employees?What about on Someone who has Gigantic Amounts of Black money?The main Reason Indian Economy is suffering so much today is because of the Above mentioned Two reasons-If we can put the Fear of God back into People who Generate Tremendous amounts of Black Money(&especially Govt Employees);India will go from strength to strength.Many Thanks
Ashish.
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Sanjay.Gadhalay
Chandra ,todays hindu has a very telling article on the issue by the RANBAXY whistle blower !!
The Indian way? No way
Dinesh Thakur
The national culture of unquestioned obedience to authority along with an acceptance of shoddiness must not be used as an excuse to overlook violations of corporate ethics, says the Ranbaxy whistle-blower
During my tenure at Ranbaxy, I was surprised by the unchallenged conformity to the poor decisions of senior leadership. Ranbaxy was my first Indian employer following my tenure at two different American corporations. Reflecting on this experience from cultural and comparative perspectives highlights the organizational peril of such behaviour.
It is in our culture to respect authority. We are taught from childhood to listen and obey our elders. We grow up with the notion that our managers, the function heads and business heads within our respective organisations, know more than anyone else. Hierarchy is revered, authority is seldom questioned. Those who dare to ask questions are renegades.
Asking questions
My investigation into the discrepancies between Ranbaxy’s records and the data filed with regulatory agencies in 2004 showed me how wide the questionable behaviour was within the organisation. It was systematic. It had penetrated the DNA of the organisation.
I often asked myself how was it that smart, well-intentioned people tolerated systematic fraudulent behaviour? This question led me to the Milgram Experiment, which was conducted by the Yale University psychologist, Stanley Milgram, in 1961. In the 1971 paper summarising its results, he stated:
Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority.
Why is this important? In my view, as much as we value and respect our traditions, it is imperative that we not lose sight that being a “renegade” — a nonconformist — is acceptable when motivated by honourable intentions. It is acceptable to think that managers possess neither omniscience nor omnipotence. Our colleagues who are at the lowest rung of the corporate ladder sometimes know more than we do about an issue. It is important to encourage them to question authority, even if we find it uncomfortable and disconcerting.
The other aspect of my search for answers led me to introspection. What kind of society have we become? D.G. Shah, the secretary general of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, recently penned an elegant op-ed that called out our culture for tolerating corruption, even with needs as basic as drinking water, personal hygiene, food and medicine. Why is it that we have come to accept poor governance, corruption, incompetence and entitlement as facts of life?
Compromise
I think it has a lot to do with how we lead our daily lives. Despite an exhaustive search, I have not been able to find proper translation for the concept of jugaad. It seems to exist only within our society. While Wikipedia describes it as a term applied to a creative or innovative idea providing a quick, alternative way of solving or fixing a problem, I think it misses two important aspects that I have experienced during my tenure working in India. First, there is an implicit understanding that because the solution needs to be quick and creative, it is acceptable to make a compromise on the quality of what is produced. Second, because we focus on making “it” work just-in-time, we never think of making the solution last. That leads to poor quality.
Not 100 per cent
The other pervasive attitude is the notion of chalta-hai. It is very hard to describe this attitude to someone who has not experienced life in India, but to those of us who have lived here, we know what it is. We have come to accept that if it is 80 per cent good, works 80 per cent of the time, and does 80 per cent of what it needs to do, it is acceptable. This attitude manifests itself in almost every facet of common life in India.
Clearly, we are now beginning to see the results of our approach with jugaad and our attitude with chalta-hai. They are not pleasant. Recent events hold a mirror to our face and ask us whether we like what we see. I certainly don’t.
As Jayson Blair, the disgraced former reporter at The New York Times, said, “Rarely are our choices in life presented as a major dramatic question. One step at a time, [they come as] minor choices, that may not even seem related to the ultimate outcome. Once that fear [of getting caught] disappears with the minor choices, it is easier to cross that big ethical line.”
It is not the big ethical line that we need to worry about. Rather, we need to worry about all the thousands of little situations we are presented with in our daily lives, to which the easy answer seems to be jugaad or the attitude of chalta-hai.
Unless we develop an attitude of “do it right the first time” and inculcate this expectation into our daily life, we will continue to see the same image in the mirror every time an event like the one on May 13 holds it up to our face.
Keywords: Ranbaxy Laboratories, Milgram Experiment, work morality, ethical choices, chalta hai attitude, learned helplessness, Indian cultural values, Dinesh Thakur
Printable version | Jun 12, 2013 8:18:48 PM | http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-indian-way-no-way/article4804513.ece
© The Hindu
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Warm regards,
Sanjay Gadhalay
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