Ethics In India Is Just A Passing Fashion.

Ethics and morals find a pivotal place in the history of Indian culture.Many businesses in India have tasted sucess due to their continous pursuit of perfection. Companies like Reliance have become market leaders not only due to thier competitiveness and efficiency but also due to the fact that they have been successful in retaining the core values governing their business. But with more competition comes a need to get even more aggressive and this ultimately leads to some compromises being made in the name of expansion. If some morals of good faith are compromised, so be it, if there is a roadblock, a little bribe down the desk comes handy,dosen't it?. This is the scene nowadays in all the government offices in particular.Employees in such offices are used to such dark incentives and they consider it their right and demand it from people whom they are supposed to serve.In Mumbai this has become a culture which I guess someday will find a rightful mention in some travelogue or a magazine which is devoted to help people get to know a certain place. The situation in Mumbai is so bad that for getting a basic thing like a ration card or a passport people need to get in touch with agents and touts who demand astronomical sums to get the job done.
I guess it's not about bad governance or failure of the legal machinery, it signifies that we as citizens have lost our right to govern ouselves. Honesty and hardwork have become poles apart and we are turning our backs to this phenomena. Unless we reclaim this right from the clutches of ignorance and corruption we will have to bear the brunt of this monster which threatens to bite it's own master.

Imagination Is More Powerful Than Knowledge

Imagine finding a blank cheque on the street.How does it sound to you?..Intrestinng?, intriguing? or to be more outspoken, doesn't it sound awesome?!..Let's try one more situation .What can a person do with a blank cheque?.In the above cases the former sentence makes you think beyond the normal boundaries of what's right and what's wrong.It makes you think of all the possible situations that you can get into, if you decide to misuse the funds.It can also create a temporary state of elation after imagining oneself on the driving seat of a porche or comfortably sunbathing outside a beach bunglow.
One can also discover one's honest core after one realises that the money actually belongs to someone else and that one has no right to misuse it.On the contrary the latter question just makes one think in a structured and direct manner and can be aswered by using one's knowledge about such an incident or from reading articles or books.The ability of the person to think more deeply has been displayed in the former sentence where one has had the liberty to express one's thoughts in a manner that will lead to a better result.

Imagining about a topic makes us search for all the rational and irrational logic to reach our desired goal, and when we do this we tend to realsie that we have actually created a way of thinking which is unique and which could be further enhansed through existing knowledge.

Leonardo Da Vinci imagined about aircrafts by observing birds and depicted it in some of his works. In his case he neither had the knowledge nor the tools with which he could convert his thoughts to something tangible.But one cannot discount his ability to go beyond normal realms of thinking and create, atleast in his mind the blueprint which could one day enable humans to travel like birds.

So it is the desire to search for answers and not the answers already known that proves more benificial.Imagination coupled with knowledge is the ideal combination and even if one lacks in knowledge one can fill that up with an insatiable quest for answers.

Cricket is a waste of national resource

The contribution of cricket to Indian society has been tremendous. Greats like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar have emerged through this platform and have given us many reasons to be proud of our nationality.To call it a waste of national resource cannot be justified as there is no other sport in india which provides a better standard of life than cricket.From a child playing gully cricket to a teenager playing for a club side, it develops a persons character and makes him/her more hardworking and persevearing. If you look at the finanacial side of it, if a governement invests milions of rupees to build infrastructure for cricket, it certainly is worthwhile because people will surely fill up the stands and buy products which are displayed in the add spaces inbetween the overs. So this inturn provides employment to the Indian youth and makes it a sport which we can really bank upon. As far as brain drain is concerned not all people have the same interests nor do they have the same intellectual abilities.So instead of viewing cricket as a detterent to education it should be viewed as an alternate career option which can really transform a perosn from rags to riches.

Profit and Customer Service Go Hand In Hand

Profit and customer service are two most crucial factors that define the growth prospects of a firm.Regardless of how big the company is, how many subsidiaries it has and what it’s market standing is , it all comes down to two most important varialbles: Profit and customer service. Infact if we search for reasons for success of big firms, we would find some things common to most of them: the way they treat their customers and the way they learn from their behaviour.This ultimately results in their volumes increasing which would ultimatley increase their profits. Parle-G, Hindustan Unilever,Tata group of comapanies the list goes on.A firm like suzuki entered into Indian markets with zero goodwill, but it made up for it by providing models whiich were meant for target audiences.The legend of Maruti 800 ebodies maruti suzuki’s continous efforts to make products -cheaper and quality -even better.By offering customers with the best after sales service it has definetely edged out its closest rivals. All this has made it a force to reckon with and has created a brand that spells excellence and efficiency.Profit is just the end result for those service firms whole believe in excellence as they believe that it comes only by developing long lasting relatioships.It’s a cycle that needs to be maitained, go to customers with the best service, give them the best products and it's inevitable that after sometime the customers will come knocking at your doorstep.All this creates a strong network that makes a firm competetive and robust to face the changing environment.

Privatisation:Need of the Hour

After the reforms of 1991 India started shifting to a more liberal model of development wherein it was ambitious enough to venture into the capitalist territory. Such an attempt was resisted in the past basically due to lack of popluar support and also because there were other critical concerns that needed immediate attention-poverty and self suffieciency being the higlights. Although we were riding on the wave of development after independence, one thing that we couldn’t shake off was the presence of corruption in almost every sphere of operation. Be it the administration, the political class or the education system, no area was spared by the plague of corruption.
According to me privatization is the answer to this menace as it can very well instill accountability and discipline in people who are responsible for the smooth functioning of the system . Major government enterprises like the railways can be privatised as there is a lot of mismanagement and shabby handling of the enormous funds that are allocated to it. There are a lot of new concepts and work ethics that modern corporates practice Eg: kaizen wherein resources are used only when there is demand. All such cost saving measures are possible only when there is proper co-ordination and departmentalisation of work which can be better handled by people from private sector as they are much more competitive. In private culture you work to grow wherreas in public undertakings there is a sense of chalta hain attitude among staffers as they are guranteed growth either by periodic promotions or by seniority.Moreover private firms are like universities wherin they develop new models of growth, new ideas are encouraged.The monster of corruption is there to stay unless government wakes up and takes some measures to tackle it.I feel including private sector representatives in key areas of national interest could be adopted to begin this process.Their opinions and suggestions could prove valuable to check corruption and instill transperancy. Laws pertaining to corruption should be strengthened and the private frims should be given tax exemptions and other monetary benefits so that they voluntarily take up this task.