 |
Thursday,
April 25, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
Think of India, Mr Prime Minister Of omission & commission Good, not enough |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
India and the LTTE’s plans
Right-hand person of Sonia Gandhi
The way to human happiness
Why managers don’t perform
Domestic violence worries NRIs
|
Think of India, Mr Prime Minister Instead of dubbing Mr P.M. Sayeed's ruling on the Gujarat-related motion for a debate under Rule 184 as "unfortunate", Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee should rather be thankful to the Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker for having saved him from a possible embarrassing situation, resulting from the obstinate attitude of the Treasury Benches on this sensitive issue. Gujarat's is no longer a merely law and order question. Unending violence, the widening communal divide, immeasurable human sufferings, glaring politico-administrative failures and the unfortunate absence of a healing touch are grim reminders to the nation that something seriously has gone wrong in governance and the response system from the grassroots upward. No excuses can wash the sins of omission and commission. The issues that have emerged following the Godhra carnage and the subsequent beastly developments in Ahmedabad and beyond are fundamental in nature. They have a bearing beyond the boundaries of Gujarat. The question here is of saving the very edifice of secular India. Who is at fault? Why have the basic sensitivities of the Indian nationhood been torn asunder? Mr Prime Minister, all facets of Gujarat's traumatic events have to be examined, discussed and debated objectively and dispassionately. Shying away from a debate in Parliament is undesirable. More than anybody else, Mr Vajpayee ought to be conscious of this. As an outstanding parliamentarian, why he overlooked this basic truth is somewhat puzzling. Perhaps, he was under pressure from certain radical elements of his party and the Sangh Parivar in general. Right at the initial stage, he should have responded to the Opposition demand for a debate with voting in a sporting manner. This would have not only saved the precious funds on account of the stalled proceedings of Parliament but also earned him the gratitude of the people all over the country. A responsive attitude fits in with the true parliamentary tradition of which Mr Vajpayee himself is a shining example. Of course, no politician would like to lose power. In case the April 30 debate goes against the government and the development leads to its fall, the Prime Minister should not be scared of it. Looking at varied issues in a wider perspective, it is a risk worth taking. Continuation in power is surely important, but more than that what really matters is dharma on which power has to be based. No one should know this principle better than Mr Vajpayee and his colleagues who often swear by dharma. There has to be transparency both in views and deeds. This is as much applicable to the Opposition as to the ruling combination. We expect the Congress, the CPI, the SP and others to conduct themselves in a dignified manner. Stalling parliamentary proceedings is disgraceful. We expect our MPs to think of the wider role and responsibility the people expect of them at this critical juncture. The happenings in Gujarat have been extremely shameful. We have to coolly debate all aspects of the imbroglio. Any sectarian approach in the matter and a partisan role with an eye on votebank politics go against the very spirit of the Indian Constitution. We need to reflect calmness and shun the disastrous communal path which divides hearts and minds. Gujarat is wounded. The people are divided on communal lines. The repercussions of gory events have been grave both nationwide and globally. Correctives have to be applied right now. We hope that if the forthcoming debate is conducted on positive lines, it will help retrieve the nation's lost honour and prestige. India is, after all, not a mere piece of land. It has rich civilisational values which must not be allowed to get lost in communal frenzy. Mr Prime Minister, more than anybody else, you have to lead the nation in the right direction. |
|
Of omission & commission Capt Amarinder Singh’s enthusiasm to fight corruption is understandable. During the election campaign he had spoken passionately against rampant corruption under the Akali Dal-BJP regime. He himself had levelled specific and serious charges against the then Chief Minister and his family. Some irregularities had surfaced then. How some functionaries amassed wealth within a short time, and how certain chairmen of
corporations had undertaken frequent foreign trips are all known to regular readers of newspapers. The state had a Home Secretary whom the CBI wanted to interrogate and was denied permission. How funds of state enterprises were diverted and misspent, turning many of them virtually sick is all fresh in public memory. By appointing a commission under a retired high court judge to look into acts committed for personal gain during the five-year tenure of the SAD-BJP government, Capt Amarinder Singh has kept his electoral promise. Care will have to be taken that the drive against corruption does not end up in settling political scores. A political confrontation may distract the Chief Minister from the urgent task of development and reconstruction of the state economy. Sceptics doubt the success of the mission against
corruption. The arrest of the Punjab Public Service Commission Chairman within six weeks of the new government’s assumption of power has raised public expectations from the new Chief Minister. The new one-man commission, which will receive public complaints and test their legal validity, is expected to be flooded with complaints, more than it may be able to handle. There are some who question the need for a fresh commission when the Lok Pal is there to handle acts of corruption at high places. The Justice Garg commission will sort out and compile the complaints, and make recommendations for the prosecution of those against whom valid evidence is found. It may take quite some time before the
guilty are brought to justice. The Punjab Vigilance Department has shown that the existing official agencies are up to the task if given a free hand. His political opponents are bound to tell the Chief Minister to set his own house in order first and point to the Congress leaders who were charged with acts of corruption during the party’s previous stint in power. Some of them occupy ministerial berths
now. That the Akalis did not put in the dock any tainted Congress leader during their five-year rule is another matter. The bureaucracy and the top police brass that enjoyed the patronage of the Akali-BJP combine may complain of witch-hunting, if faced with any punitive action. The success of the Punjab Chief Minister’s widely lauded anti-corruption campaign depends upon how many actually get caught and punished. The task is difficult, but not impossible. |
|
Good, not enough Cricket is the only religion that now binds India. And Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar the only idol the entire nation loves to worship. With dark clouds of hate hovering over a part of India, the news from the West Indies did give cricket buffs an excuse to celebrate. In fact, there were two reasons to make the nation forget its current worries. One reason was provided by the Little Master who equalled Don Bradman's record of 29 Test centuries in the second of the the five Test series against the West Indies at Port of Spain. The second was the 37-run victory India registered against the hosts in the same Test match. Sachin's century and an Indian victory on West Indian soil indeed made it a doubly historic occasion for India. The last time India beat the West Indies in an away series was 26 years ago. The Little Master of that era Sunil Manohar Gavaskar was part of that team. However, it is easy to go overboard because an Indian victory at home or abroad is rare. But both events need a fair and unbiased assessment. For instance, Tendulkar himself admitted that it was unfair to compare him with the legendary Don. The great Australian scored 29 centuries in just 52 Tests while Tendulkar had to play 41 more to catch up with the legend. What would give the nation more satisfaction is when Tendulkar crosses Gavaskar's record of 34 Test centuries. This is a landmark the present Little Master is likely to cross in fewer number of Tests compared to the 125 that Gavaskar played to get them. The day the two Little Masters shake hands at the summit of cricket glory would be a red letter day for the country.. As far as the victory in the second Test is concerned it should be treated as the beginning of a new phase in Indian cricket. The record book would show that Saurav Ganguly has led the team to more victories abroad than any other Indian captain. However, winning a Test is not the same thing as winning a series. It would be unfair to count the first Test that Bangladesh ever played and lost to India as an overseas series win. India should have won the 2001overseas series against Zimbabwe 2-0 and not returned home with a 1-1 draw. Victory is sweet. But the present West Indian team is now only a shade better than Bangladesh. A solitary Brian Lara cannot lift the entire team to the level when the West Indians could beat the daylights out of the best combined world XI. India, with a fairly balanced attack and batting lineup struggled in both Tests before scampering home at Port of Spain with a narrow margin of 37 runs. The team must show more resolve and character to ensure that the 1-0 margin is not frittered away as had happened during the tour of Zimbabwe. India has the talent to take on the best team in the world. What it lacks is self-belief. The day it learns to combine the two basic elements of success India would be on its way to becoming the super power of international cricket. |
India and the LTTE’s plans The announcement that LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran would emerge from the jungles to address the Press on April 10 received widespread international media attention. Around 200 media persons gathered in Killinochchi in Northern Sri Lanka for the Press conference. While the world expected to see a battle-hardened and self-assured warrior appearing from the jungles, what it got to see instead was a middle-aged personality clad in a tight safari suit, with his hair dyed jet black, looking more like a B grade Tamil actor than a guerrilla fighter. What was even more surprising was that the man who had terrorised both the Sinhala and Tamil leadership in Sri Lanka and engineered the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on Indian soil seemed diffident and unsure about what to say. He had to be constantly prompted and assisted by the LTTE political ideologue Anton Balasingham, as he sought to respond to difficult and probing questions. But appearances are often deceptive. It would be wrong to assume that Prabhakaran has either mellowed or changed his methods with the passage of time. One of the major difficulties in implementing the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987 was the unwillingness of Prabhakaran to adjust to the imperatives of sharing power with others in a democratic polity. He firmly believed that he should rule his Tamil “Eelam” with the gun. His horrendous record of killing fellow Tamils establishes this trait in his character. There is little doubt that the most brilliant field commander in the LTTE was Mahattya. Yet when Prabhakaran felt that Mahattya had attained a stature that could challenge his hegemony, he had no hesitation in having him executed. Earlier in 1986 he had the rival TELO leader, Sri Sabarathinam, killed — an action that was strongly condemned by Mr M. Karunanidhi. Popular Tamil political leaders like A. Amrithalingam, Alalasundaram and Dharmalingam of the Tamil United Liberation Front and perhaps the most articulate proponent of the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka, Neelan Tiruchelvam, met the same fate. The list of those executed by the LTTE includes prominent human rights activists like Sam Thambimuthu. But, perhaps, the most gruesome example of Prabhakaran’s determination to eliminate all potential rivals was the killing of nearly 20 leaders of the rival EPRLF group led by its supremo Padmanabha in broad daylight, in the very heart of Madras (Chennai) city. It was essentially the inaction of the V.P. Singh government in dealing with this act of terrorism on Indian soil that emboldened Prabhakaran to engineer the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Prabhakaran’s comments at his Press conference were clouded in deliberate ambiguity. He did not give up his demand for a separate Tamil State, even though the LTTE had told the Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Hegelsen, that it was prepared to reach a solution within “the framework of a united Sri Lanka”. Prabhakaran obviously intends to establish his unchallenged rule within the northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka by the establishment of an “Interim Administrative Council” dominated by the LTTE, before he would even be prepared to commence substantive negotiations. He also expects the Sri Lankan government to lift the ban on the LTTE and end its blockade of areas to be controlled by the LTTE, before negotiations commence. As Balasingham noted, Prabhakaran aims to assume the role of “President and Prime Minister of Tamil Eelam”. Politically, Prabhakaran has moved fast to assuage the Muslims of the North-East who have legitimate fears about the LTTE. Prabhakaran had, after all, not too long ago, driven out over 70,000 Muslims from their homes in the Northern Province and destroyed two mosques and killed over 100 Muslims in the east. But, perhaps, the most significant political development is that the 1.5 million Tamils in the plantation areas of Nuwara Eliya, who have kept away from the ethnic conflict in the north and the east, appear to be joining hands with the LTTE. More significantly, the LTTE rapprochement with the Muslims and the plantation Tamils was effected by Sri Lankan Ministers in the UNP government. Clearly, there are differences between President Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe on how to deal with the ethnic issue. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe appears prepared to go much further than any other Sri Lankan leader in accommodating the LTTE. But it was precisely the belief that the LTTE could be trusted to keep its word that led President Premadasa to seek the exit of the IPKF and his subsequent moves to give the LTTE a dominant role in the North-East. These moves ultimately resulted in the assassination of Premadasa, National Security Minister Wijeratne and other leaders like Gamini Dissanayake and Lalith Athulathmudali. Thus, while New Delhi should support the efforts of the Sri Lankan Prime Minister to achieve ethnic peace, it may be appropriate to also suggest a measure of caution in conceding too much too early to the LTTE. Giving the LTTE an overly dominant role in the North-East could well lead to Prabhakaran becoming the de facto “President and Prime Minister of Tamil Eelam”. This would have adverse security implications for India. In the meantime, it is imperative that the pressure on the LTTE should be maintained. Full cooperation should be extended to the Sri Lankan government to ensure that the LTTE remains a declared international terrorist organisation, subjected to all measures and sanctions envisaged in UN Security Council Resolution 1373. Prime Minister Vajpayee recently indicated that he would not be averse to considering the request of LTTE ideologue Balasingham to live and get medical treatment in India sympathetically. Around the same time, the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a resolution urging the Government of India to send the Indian Army to Sri Lanka with the consent of the Sri Lankan government to capture Prabhakaran, if the Sri Lankan government is unable to extradite him to India. Balasingham has connived with and sought to justify the horrendous acts of the LTTE for around three decades. Any approval accorded to him to visit India would be construed as a weakening of our will to bring Prabhakaran to justice, for his role in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. The people of India cannot forgive or forget that act. The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi by a foreign terrorist group in the midst of a national election campaign was, after all, aimed at undermining our democratic processes. India is today widely viewed as a soft state in its neighbourhood. Weakening our stand against the LTTE will only reinforce this perception. We should, therefore, send a clear signal to Prabhakaran and the world at large that even though the Sri Lankan government may have its compulsions in dealing with Prabhakaran, we would not hesitate to use all the available means, including special forces, to capture and bring him to justice in India. The international media has reported that a Vishwa Hindu Parishad representative, Swami Vigyanand, was present at Prabhakaran’s Press conference. Swami Vigyanand is said to have visited North-East Sri Lanka with the concurrence and support of the LTTE around 10 occasions since 1999. He had tacitly expressed understanding of the LTTE’s aims at the Press conference by stating: “I made it clear to them (LTTE) that we (VHP) had nothing against their struggle.” He added: “I said we have a problem with Islam and Christianity and we are trying to build Hindu unity”. The LTTE has always claimed that its main enemies are in the Buddhist Sinhala establishment. It has never projected its cause in religious terms. The LTTE, in fact, enjoys the support of several church groups. Its cadres include several Christian Tamils. Its attacks on Muslims in the 1990s were because of political and not religious reasons. It is counterproductive and dangerous to give a communal dimension to the ethnic tensions in Sri Lanka. New Delhi should make this clear to all concerned. |
Right-hand person of Sonia Gandhi The Congress party's new-look exercise has brought into sharp focus a woman leader with a Punjab background. She is Mrs Ambika Soni, 58, daughter of a former Chief Secretary of the state, Mr Nakul Sen. Today she is clearly identified as the right-hand person of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. Besides being a General Secretary of the AICC and the head of the organisation's media department, she has been made one of the two Political Secretaries to the party President. The later post, revived after many years, has special significance. The Political Secretaries — the other person to hold this position is Mr Ahmed Patel from Gujarat — will be part of the Congress chief's inner circle. They will virtually control the organisation by functioning as the eyes and ears of Mrs Gandhi. The growing stock of Mrs Soni in Congress affairs shows that she is the woman to watch in the days to come. She has a strong loyalty factor in her favour. But that is not all. She has worked hard to attain the position she occupies. Her conduct has been more or less good throughout her political career. If she has any weakness as a politician, it is the lack of a base at the grassroots level. This, however, matters little for a person in her position. An expert in the art of articulation, Mrs Soni has established herself as a person of organisation during the three decades or more that she has been with the Congress. She was initiated into the Congress at the behest of Indira Gandhi. The late Prime Minister noticed her qualities in 1972 and asked Mrs Soni to serve the party during a stopover at Rome. Mrs Soni was in Italy at that time as her IFS husband (now retired) was the Charge D'Affaires at the Indian Embassy. She took leave of him and landed in Delhi to get involved in the activities of the Youth Congress. It was then presided over by Sanjay Gandhi. Mrs Soni soon came to be known as a Sanjay loyalist. She was hardly 34 when she became the Youth Congress President. Her involvement with the population control and literacy promotion programmes of the party showed a little decline after Sanjay Gandhi's death. But she kept working for the uplift of the masses as a Congress activist. The debating quality in Mrs Soni (she was popular for this at Delhi's Indraprastha College from where she did her honours in history) and her clear understanding of organisational matters helped her survive in the rough and tumble of Congress politics. It is not fair to attribute her rise to just her closeness to the Nehru-Gandhi family. If this was the only plus point with her, she could have been dumped in the dustbin of history after the demise of Rajiv Gandhi. The present Congress chief could never trust somebody famously associated with Sanjay Gandhi. But the situation is entirely opposite of this. There is definitely something special about Mrs Soni and that is why Mrs Gandhi depends on her more than anybody else on advice relating to party matters. How France elects its President Even as the first round of the French presidential elections was over on April 21, there has been considerable interest and excitement in India about the ongoing process and the way the new occupant of the Elysee Palace is elected. The second round is scheduled to be held on May 5. This will be followed by parliamentary elections on June 9 and 16. Under the French system of government, the President is the head of the state. He controls the country’s defence apparatus and foreign affairs. However, on all other matters, Parliament holds the levers of power. The party that scores a majority in the parliamentary elections forms the new government. In its nature and scope, the Constitution of the Fifth Republic (1958) departed from the system of
government d’assemblee that had prevailed under the third and fourth republics. Yet, it did not fully adopt the principles of a presidential system of the American type where the President is the supreme authority. The retention of a bicameral parliament and the reversion, in the electoral law, to single-member constituencies and the second ballot — favourite devices of the Third Republic — are striking signs of tradition and continuity. The President was first chosen for seven years by a majority of the electoral college which comprises all members of Parliament, departmental councils, overseas assemblies and representatives of the municipal councils. Formerly, he was the nominee of Parliament. By a referendum of October 28, 1962, the method was altered to election by popular
mandate. The first round of the presidential election is more or less an elimination round. This time, there were as many as 16 candidates in the fray. This is said to be a record in the annals of the French electoral history. Two candidates securing the first and second positions in terms of the votes polled in their favour get qualified for the second round run-off. In the second and final round, a candidate will have to secure at least 50 per cent of the votes polled plus one in order to win the presidency. It is not easy for one to get qualified for the first round. To become eligible for this round, each candidate will have to be backed by at least 500 elected officials from around the country. In the past, candidates were required to get sponsorship from officials. This was, of course, not a difficult task since their signatures were kept confidential. However, from this year onwards, their names are posted on the Internet. As a result, reports say that elected officials were chary of lending support to extremist candidates such as those of the anti-immigrant National Front or the Trotsyist extreme left. |
The way to human happiness Man has walked on the moon. Reached Mars. He is at the pinnacle of glory. Yet, he is not happy. Progress has given him problems. Peace of mind is a casualty. All work and no play is taking its inevitable toll. There is stress and strain. What should the modern man do? Rest and rust? Or work and worship? Sitting ducks get shot. Standing waters stagnate. ‘Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears.’ The old saying is true even today. Idleness leads to evil. The idle are always ill. The lazy feel lousy. Idleness and indolence can incapacitate any individual. Sloth and slumber can only make us sad. There can never be any gain without pain. To do nothing is the sure way to be nothing. Today, everyone wants to be something. Application of body and mind is the price for every acquisition. With that alone, we can attain and achieve. Employment is essential for excellence. Industry is the way to improvement. Greater the application, higher the accomplishment. Today, we want to hitch our wagon to the stars. To work is the only way. And then, God made man to work. Labour is regal. Sloth is slavish. The one who lives on hope would die of hunger. Repose is the road to regret. Activity alone generates energy. Exertion is essential for exhilaration. Labour is the law for the people to prosper. Perseverance is essential for human preservation. Man has to strive for success. Sow. Only then we can reap. The result of sweat is always sweet. With hard work, we can win every war. It is God’s weapon against vice and want. Every man realises this. Yet, we look for short cuts. Labour gives life. Soil and toil rhyme. It is the secret of success. It is better to work and wear out than to rest and rust out. Exercise of the body is essential to rid the mind of fatigue. Toil can only make us tough. The used knife remains sharp. The busy are always bright. Judicious labour is invariably the secret of genius. The busy man finds time for everything. To attend to everyone. To him, time is like rubber. He is able to stretch it. At his will and pleasure. And thus, he is able to rule. Over himself and others who work with him. Today, there is so much of strain and stress. Why? Why are we searching for stress busters? Is the effort to achieve perfection and acquiring worldly possessions causing the problem? We must make an attitudinal alteration. Hard work should become a source of happiness. We must learn to enjoy the exercise. It is the way to achieve excellence. The firefly shines only when it is on the wing. So it is with life. When we are idle, we darken. Man must work. To earn his bread and butter. To meet the daily needs. To lead an honourable earthly existence. It is true that in the materialistic world, money matters. It is needed. Even to buy ordinary bread. To have a box of life saving pills. To fulfil our daily needs. So, it has to be earned. But we must not allow the maddening monomania for money to overtake us. Desire and disappointment are close cousins. No want, no worry, is an old rule. We must realise that money cannot buy happiness. Property cannot solve all the problems. Wealth cannot take away all the worries. Beyond a limit, money serves no purpose. We must stop talking in money-syllables. And then, more things are wrought by prayer than the world dreams of. Difficulties drive man to his maker. He drives the difficulties away. Problems make us pray. The prayers take the problems away. So let us pray. To Him. With all the heart. Like a child before his parent. Be like a dependent before his creator. Ask for what we need. He will give it. He may be away in heaven. Few moments of sincere prayer can bring Him to the most ordinary home. And give more peace than hours of feast. Duty is God’s dictate. It is like debt. It must be discharged. Without delay or demur. Doing it well is to fulfil His desire. To work is His worship. Hard work makes a man truly honest. Hard hands are the index of a happy heart. Performance of duty always provides peace and pleasure. Indeed, work is worship. We have to work for what he asks of Him. That is the way to human happiness. |
|
|
Why managers don’t perform Management failure in nationalised industry never comes as a surprise. It has long been an article of cynical faith that public ownership attracts
lower-calibre managers, and gives them no incentive to rise above their miserable selves. The other side of the coin is that private-sector managers, incentivised up to the gills, supposedly use their super talent to superior effect. Substitute these wizards for the public-sector
weirdos, said Thatcherite-Majorite-Blairite theory, and wonders would never cease. But they did. The early successes of liberated organisations such as BT and BA in large measure reflected their ludicrously cheap sale. After the massive once-for-all benefits were exhausted, the management magic vanished. Ultimately, an
underperforming, pressurised BT lost both its Chairman and Chief Executive. So did
GEC-Marconi. Private catastrophes have shattered the management myth just as surely as the public calamities. Marks & Spencer and Ford were once highly respected names in management. Both recently lost CEOs who — one through over-ambition, the other through a lack of it — led their firms down blind alleys. What’s going on? Public-sector managers fail partly because they have too little freedom. Private company executives, on the other hand, have too much. The Enron slaughterers murdered the shareholders without let or hindrance. The wreckers of
Railtrack, for their sorry part, were placed in an impossibly cramped position (which they promptly made even worse). Politicians, civil servants, investors, passengers and regulators all had different agendas that the managers in the middle of the track couldn’t conceivably satisfy. The backdoor, bungled, Byers return to public ownership won’t work either, unless the managers are saved from outside interference. They won’t be. Their masters will continue to ignore the basically awful economics of a fixed-track transportation system. Try to make it genuinely profitable, and it will spit in your eye. The NHS is an even worse case: it doesn’t really exist as a unified, manageable organisation. All the trusts, regional bodies and chief executives can’t conceal the fact that it is a complex, disparate collection of inherently uneconomic, freestanding hospitals with loose links to a general practice system that could hardly be more
localised. Try to impose central controls on this, and two things must follow: you fail, exacerbating the very ailments you are trying to cure; and you create hugely counterproductive frustration among professionals who need not management, but excellent administration. That distinction strikes to the heart of the public/private debate. It is salutary to recall that MBA stands for Master of Business Administration. The great forerunners of modern management, such as Frederick Taylor, who died with a stop-watch in his hand, or Alfred Sloan, creator of General Motors, were very hot on administration and organisation. But nobody now-a-days likes to be called an ‘administrator’. This is second-grade stuff, far below the heady heights of strategic, executive management. Yet strategies come and go, usually in step with prevailing fashion. But admin goes on. No matter what the strategic blunders at the top, somebody has to mind the store, or stores. One of M&S’s mishaps was that its once-admired admin systems began visibly to slip. But good administrators can be turned into bad ones by a bad set-up. Great administrators are brilliant at putting the right people in the right places to carry out rightly designed tasks. The American prophet of statistical quality control, W. Edwards Deming, argued that 85 per cent of all corporate failure stems not from bad workers, but from bad systems. If you don’t believe that, just look at
Railtrack. Great administrators, moreover, don’t practise their arts and crafts superbly because they are incentivised by stock options and the other thrills and spills of private enterprise. The aces administer excellently because that is their pride and their passion. Thus the political faith in private management for public services is absurdly misplaced. True, the profit motive is powerful. But Swiss and Japanese trains run on time because that’s what their managers/administrators are paid to achieve. Public services can function perfectly well without entrepreneurs. But both entrepreneurs and administrators will plan more wisely and execute more effectively if they involve their people in the design task. A recent survey, alas, showed that, while all managers agreed that participation improved strategic performance, none actually practised their own preaching. Performance is the issue, not democracy. Deming was right. It isn’t their fault. ‘Public managers bad, private managers good’ was always a nonsensical mantra. ‘Profit motive good, public service bad’ is equal rubbish. Get the objective right (which doesn’t mean setting silly targets) and let self-organising administrators administer. Then public service managers can manage as well as private ones. But remember: in too many cases, they could hardly do worse.
The Observer |
||||
Domestic violence worries NRIs One physician out of every eight in the USA will be of Indian origin in the next few years, according to Dr “Jay” Jayasankar, President of the Association of American Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI). Speaking at the annual function of the AAPI’s Tennesse Chapter in Nashville, Dr Jayashankar said: “If we pool all our resources together, we could be a formidable partner in every field in this country.” However, he expressed severe displeasure over Indian behaviour in the USA getting increasingly marked by instances of domestic violence, which he said, was a matter of grave concern and needed to be promptly addressed. New York-based NRI Dr Bhishma Agnihotri, who attended the function as the chief guest, asked the non-resident Indian community to coordinate their political, economic and social efforts for the betterment of their compatriots everywhere. He said the NRIs “have an obligation to stand up for ourselves as Indian Americans” and exhorted the community “to support our homeland through financial and social contributions so that future generations will continue to feel connected to India.”
PTI Fate of Indus Treaty uncertain The Indus Basin Water Treaty will be “automatically suspended” if India fails to invite Pakistan for the mandatory May meeting of the treaty. Dawn has quoted sources in the office of Pakistan’s Permanent Commissioner for Indus Basin Treaty to say that both sides normally start preparations for the meeting by the end of March. It takes more than six weeks to prepare the agenda and travel documents for the participants. So far, India has neither contacted nor invited Pakistan to the meeting which “must be held before May 31” to keep the treaty alive. The meeting is held alternately in India and Pakistan and is slated to be held in New Delhi this year. The breach of the treaty will be formalised once India refuses or fails to attend the meeting. Pakistan, sources claimed, would then be in a position to move the international court.
ANI |
Tragedy is the great revealer of truth. The Gita was revealed to man when a great tragedy was about to be enacted on the Kurukshetra. And Jesus revealed the supreme beauty of his life when he carried his cross. — T.V. Vaswani, Gita: Meditations *** As day follows day in close succession; As the seasons duly follow each other, May each successor not let down his predecessor. Similarly, we carry forward the torch of virtues and live upto expectations of our elders; O Ordainer of the Universe May this be the order of the day perpetually. — Atharva Veda *** Purity is to accept no other influence but only the influence of the Divine. — Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, Light on Yoga *** As a result of the perception of subliminal impressions one gains the knowledge of former lives. — The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali *** A tragic situation exists precisely when virtue does not triumph but when it is still felt that man is nobler than the forces which destroy him. — George Orwell, “Lear Tolstoy and the Fool”, Shooting an Elephant *** Death is always and under all circumstances a tragedy, for if it is not, then it means that life itself has become one. — Theodore Roosevelt, Letter to Cecil Springs-Rice, March *** In nature, the most violent passions are silent; in Tragedy they must speak, and speak with dignity too. — Lord Chesterfield, Letters to his son, January *** Leaders of society should have The moral strength To proclaim Truth fearlessly. — Rig Veda |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
