Mars, Coal and Surprise visits

Three news items on same day motivated me to write this blog. For sometime now thanks to Modi sarkar I had no time to breathe but that experience will follow sometime in the future, not now.

Mars :

It was a red letter day in Indian space technology as India became the 4^th country to enter Martian orbit and the first to do so on the first attempt at the lowest cost in least time. Rightfully so the PM was present at this occasion which had the risk of a “failure”. That in itself is a huge feather in his cap because how many politicians will want to be physically present when a failure is a possibility. He further said that if incase there had been a failure he would have assumed responsibility. How many politicians have the courage to state this even as rhetoric? No media reported this incidentally.

But the point here is not Modi, and what I said above, was just the preamble.  The point here is the fact that Indian scientists paid peanuts which normally produces monkeys, produces majestic Tigers in our system. Or should I say despite the system.  These scientists at ISRO have with dedication, sincerity, hard work, innovation and most importantly passion worked hard for decades and achieved one success after another. They deserve their place in the sun and 200% undiluted attention and accolades on a day when their work has brought success. This is non negotiable.  I will not even refer to the fact that when a cricket team wins a match the governments, private companies  and the BCCI shower cash prizes worth crores on the players who then go and lose the next match pathetically. No one grudges them their riches but how many governments, private companies or even the space department announced anything beyond the token congratulations???? Zero. Zilch.

However many in the media and political arena went to town screaming wild about how Modi was not statesmanlike by not applauding Nehru, Manmohan Singh  Congress etc and the former PM Singh actually waxed eloquent about Nehru after the formality of congratulating the scientists was over.  There were many who echoed this view.  What is it with us Indians that we live in the past? If we have to keep going back in time to give credit then we must go back to Adam and Eve since but for them we wouldn’t even exist today.  If by chance Modi had waxed eloquent about Nehru & the previous governments I would have been bitterly disappointed and disgusted. But he rightly focussed solely on the scientists and their achievements. 

That Nehru had the vision to support the bigger visionary Satish Dhawan is fact and needs acknowledgement. But there is a person, time and place for everything. Yesterday Modi or any of us Indians had no business remembering these stalwarts.  The human psychology is that in times of success the people involved want the attention on them, not on others.  This applies to a child as to a senior citizen.  It is just not done.  The successful person can recall, invoke, give credit to anyone he pleases be it parents, teachers, bosses, politicians or even god but we must focus only on the person.  Rather interestingly not ONE person ever remembered Abdul Kalam who in many ways was the torch that led ISRO in the recent past setting the foundation for current success.

Yet we had the sad and stupid debates about how Nehru and others dead or gone should have been credited and so on and so forth.  Are the politicians doing us a favour by letting us live, breathe and work that we must thank them for every single act of happiness? This morbid attitude must go and to that extent I applaud Modi for ignoring everyone except the scientists present.

Coalgate:

For the past 2 year the Coalgate scandal gripped the nation, its media and everyone except those affiliated to the powers that be wanted strong action to be taken. The Supreme Court just did. They cancelled all licenses. Bravo and a decision that hopefully will set in motion changes that bring logic, transparency and ethics into decision making while allocating natural resources.

Yet the same media, the same editorials, the same op-ed columnists are finding fault that these decisions will mean huge NPA for banks, affect investor sentiment and so on and so forth. Come on folks, make up your mind. Were you all so patently stupid that you did not know that action taken against this scandal will affect the nation in other ways? And THIS is a huge part of our economic life influenced by a strange brand of socialism wherein in times of crunch it comes to the fore.

While lax implementation of the law, obscure laws, discretionary powers & a slow justice system etc aids and abets corruption we also have another huge issue. That is, enforcing action when there is a crime committed. Forget the rich and famous, even a middle class person who knowingly breaks the law by say constructing a house with illegalities involved knows that when caught 2 things will happen. A bribe will resolve matters and if that doesn’t work then injustice to a poor man because the “system” was faulty and corrupt will bring him so much sympathy and publicity that governments regularly will write off loans, regularise unauthorised constructions, “adjust” the crime and move on. This must stop and change and this decision by the SC has done just that.

At some point somebody had to take a hard decision, a decision that hurts the economy, the people, the system and the SC has done just that. They deserve accolades for it not opprobrium.  There always comes a time when someone or some incident is used to set an example. Just as the actions in the past involving the corrupt cricket jamboree in Sharjah, unholy nexus between gangsters and filmstars/cricketers was broken by making an example of one person, this is again a similar opportunity. This may not end corruption but it puts the brakes, makes it tougher, less profitable and more risky. That is sufficient for now.

If this decision affects investor sentiment, so be it. If this affects banks, so be it. If it closes down companies, rendering many jobless, so be it. You cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs and our this fear ensures that we never make it. If people scream that many past incidents have been “adjusted” to reduce the pain then somewhere a beginning had to be made and that is NOW. As long as the government of the day with support from all parties brings about systemic changes so that future generations don’t face similar fates then this damage caused is worth its cost. Time will tell if this government and the opposition will read the writing on the wall or will it be business as usual.

Surprise visits:

On a lighter note a surprise visit by Minister Smriti Irani to a school gave rise to various debates which included the focus on the word “Surprise”. The visit was a surprise, the action of the minister was a surprise and that ministers can act such was a surprise, infact it had a surfeit of surprises.

When I think back to my younger days watching my father work or my own initial career experiences I find this whole debate so amusing. This was a very common strategy of any officer, politician to test the system in the past.

I still recall an incident when my father went for a surprise inspection to a location and as a kid on holiday I insisted on going with him.  We went at about 0930 hrs in the morning. When we reached ,the local officer in question was sitting in his chair, legs on the table, no shirt on and snoring away to glory. My short tempered father gave him hell.  The shirtless man literally trembling with fear at my fathers anger blurted out “Sir the surprise inspection was supposed to be at 1100 hrs”. Now that in turn resulted in his wrath coming down on all possible informants including his driver. After that nobody would even know what his program was till he sat in the car/jeep and the only instruction would be that the petrol tank be first filled up. Instructions would follow later on the road.

In my first job staying at a HUGE project site spread over many acres in a remote area my boss told me that my job was to make surprise inspections at 0300 hrs in the middle of the night. That is how I would learn the deficiencies in the system and prepare me to be a manager to anticipate systemic issues. He also taught me what action to take. Like every youngster I rebelled but then had to listen to the boss. So once a week my heart beating with abject fear I would walk in pitch darkness amidst bushes, fields, desolate under construction buildings and try to ferret  out wrong doings and sloth.  

Soon I had the experience of finding the guards asleep and I would steal their shoes, shirts/ pants and carry them away with me. I would find illegal vehicles involved in theft on the premises and note down their registration numbers.  The next day would be rather hilarious as security guards would be found without uniform, shoes and would go blue in the face trying to bluff to my boss on the missing items till he produced their stuff from his behind.  The cops would quickly haul the vehicle owner to my boss and the perpetrators of the theft would be caught. 

Times have changed in more ways than one today but it is refreshing to see enthusiasm and interest in a minister carrying out surprise checks. With more than a decade of being out of power and many new faces, this change is refreshing and even if shortlived, makes you smile.