Friday, May 8, 2015

Book Review: The difficulty of being good – on the subtle art of dharma - Gurcharan Das

This book is a magnificent work out of an academic holiday of the CEO turned full-time writer, Gurcharan Das. Inspired and influenced by his childhood memories of his grandmother telling him stories from the iconic epic of Mahabharata, Das dissects various characters of the epic to find answer to the fundamental question - Why is it so difficult to be good? The beauty of the book lies in its simple language and complex juxtaposition of various situations in the mythological story with various contemporary happenings, which often force us to question the importance of ethics and values and their role in shaping actions of people. The choice of Mahabharata tends to give the thoughts of Das an added philosophical behavior, as at the heart of the epic lies Bhagwada Gita, which not only is the most holy text in Hinduism, but is also one of the most profound texts that deals with Dharma, the right way of life. The way Das has made the values of satya (truth), ahimsa (non-violence) and anrishamsya (compassion) enshrined in the millennium old text relevant in the present context is remarkable.

Das, in his quest to assuage his ‘mid-life third stage melancholy’ turns to Mahabharata and tries to learn from its various characters about the basis of behaviors of people around us. He delves into the question of why good people behave badly. To put up the question more vividly, he takes up the example of Ramalinga Raju, who through his sheer dedication and effort built the Satyam Computers Ltd. but still ignominiously ended up defrauding the same company. He then goes on to emphasize that Dharma, or the distinction between right and wrong is more often than not, subtle. By picking up the most significant characters of the epic, he illustrates the humanly traits, that make it so difficult for us to act in the most positive and righteous manner. The best part about this book is the way in which a continuous thread keeps linking the present, from the behavior of Wall Street bankers and investors during 2008 downturn, to the American strategists during Iraq war, with various situations in the epic.

Interestingly, Das begins with the villain of the story – Duryodhana. Duryodhana is the ‘chief cause of unevenness’ in Mahabharata. He suffers so many vices, but envy is what Das considers as most dangerous and takes up for analysis. Duryodhana is the personification of envy who is unable to tolerate prosperity of his kin and hatches conspiracies to eliminate them or devoid them of their wealth. The author writes that envy is one of the most basic human frailties that almost every one of us feels. He compares this to the infamous Ambani brothers’ feud in which their mutual envy put the future of Reliance Industries, of its employees and investors and fortune of the brothers in soup. Similarly Jews had to become victims of German envy during the holocaust. Das says that as one rises up the ladder of success, he has to deal with envy of others. Das shares that his father believed that envy can also sometimes promote positive competition, however it is usually exceptional. Usually envy is a negative leveler and pulls down those striving for heights, and hence should not be ignored.

The next chapter on Draupadi’s courage brings forth more nuanced questions about Dharma. Draupadi transforms the discussion about Dharma from a legal perspective to a moral perspective by asking not what is legal for a king to do, but what is fair for a king to do. This also stands rightly in the context of lives of civil servants, when many a times they need to take decisions based on conscience and not just tow the legal line. Thus Draupadi brings in accountability in public life. Here, when even the luminaries like Bhishama and Vidura remain silent and helpless, we realize how Dharma can be highly subjective and ‘sukshama’. Das also takes this chance to discuss issues such as racism, slavery and injustice to women that are plaguing our world.

Yudhishthir, the eldest pandava, is the epitome of Dharma. He is a preacher of peace and compassion. But pragmatism is something that even he is not able to avoid in the end and he has to resort to the principle of reciprocity, the evil must be destroyed using evil. We see the beautiful transformation of Yudhishthir from an idealist to a more practical ruler, from the eyes of Das. Here we are also encountered by thought provoking query of Draupadi, as to why one should be good if good still has to face the pain and despair while the bad enjoys all the pleasures. Yudhishthir offers four-fold answer, firstly, it is one’s duty, secondly, bad actions incur karma which leads to bad consequences, thirdly, good actions ensure that society remains in order, and fourthly that dharma helps us lead a fulfilling life. But still we see that Yudhishthir gets caught in gambler’s frenzy putting the life of brothers and his wife at stake. Undoubtedly, the question of Dharma is not so easy and choice becomes difficult in situations when hardly any fair choice exists. Das boils down the whole debate to that between consequentialism and absolute ethicality.

When the greatest warrior of all times, Arjuna dithers in despair right at the centre stage of the Mahabharata, the Dharmayudh, we are introduced to the principle of Nishkama Karma, selfless action, propounded by Lord Krishna. Here, amidst the debate between sva-dharma or the duty to one’s caste and sadharna dharma, or the duty of universal conscience, we also learn that most of the times situation demands us to choose between choices involving equally serious wrongdoings. The best way out then is to focus more on motives which should be right, than actions. Here we also learn about the inner meaning of war, i.e. inescapable tragedy for both the sides.

Bhishma’s selflessness tells us that ‘selflessness alone does not necessarily make one a moral person’. While Bhishma is remarkable karma yogi, his excessively rigid approach to questions of dharma sows the seeds of Mahabharata. Had he acted when he was required to, a lot others adharmas could have been checked in time.

Karna is personally one of my favorite characters of Mahabharata, for his exemplary skillfulness, selflessness and loyalty is unmatchable. Yet he is one of those characters who, without any mistake of his own, had to face tragic hardships throughout his life. While he also has been righteous in his own ways, be that in his loyalty to friendship or to his vow of donation, his constant ambition to be acknowledged and his anxiety about his status makes him blind towards the excesses done by Duryodhana and he also falls prey to adharma. Das says that ‘The attention of other people matters because human beings are uncertain of their own worth’. This distorts their character. Throughout his life Karan bears the burden of being Suta putra and faces many reverses because of that. Das’ comparison of Karan’s situation with the present form of caste discrimination and other related issues of reservation, affirmative action, reverse discrimination etc. is interesting to read.

Krishna is the Lord. He is the God, the creator of all and destroyer of all. He is the director of Mahabharata. But there lies some discomfort in the fact that despite being God, Krishna finds it difficult to be good and has to use perfidy to help pandavas win. Krishna is the balancing power in the epic and emphasizes that while good cannot be compromised, yet evil has to be destroyed with evil. He puts all the focus on action, which should be selfless, and then the results that follow are inconsequential. Krishna’s role as an imperfect God also reiterates the point that dharma is subtle, ‘sukshma’ and hence there remains scope for debatable outcomes.

This book therefore is a genuine and sincere attempt to understand complex human nature, by a very rational portrayal of characters including that of Krishna without stereotyping them. It lists out the dangerous traits that must be guarded against and also appreciates desirable traits that must be cultivated. The book makes us to look through Mahabharata beyond its religious context and helps us see the characters, both villains and heroes, in lights of both criticism and admiration. Reader can easily connect various facets of his life with these characters and hence can introspect towards self refinement.

The book therefore is a remarkable ‘tour de force’ and a must read for all those who love to think about the philosophy of life and are looking forward to resolving the moral dilemmas of life. Its reference to Mahabharata makes the book even more interesting and realistic for Indians who have grown in the age of B R Chopra’s rendition of Mahabharata. It becomes even more relevant today when our country is facing a massive ethical and moral crisis. The difficulty of being good: the subtle art of dharma’ is definitely a page turner.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Book Review: Not Just An Accountant by Vinod Rai

Vinod Rai is definitely a contemporary hero for India. He has immensely inspired not only all the civil servants of India but all the Indians, by showing his sheer courage in going against the winds and exposing the country’s biggest scams that one might have seen or heard of since independence. In his endeavor, he had to face criticism of many, but it was his dedication to hold the esteemed values of constitution and the institution of CAG in highest regard that made him continue his good work, which shall be remembered in years and decades to come.

In his this book “Not Just An Accountant”, Vinod Rai has tried to present a complete picture of the cases that made the news headlines in past few years, and has made an attempt to clear the layer of mist that many parties with vested interests have tried to create over the role of CAG. The author not only gives a vivid account of what happened in these high profile cases and how they were audited by the office of CAG, but using these cases of blatant disregard for probity, efficiency and rule of law, he tries to exhort people, young men and women to wake up and start to hold the governments accountable.

The book is about accountability, transparency and ethics; and aspires to renew in the readers the values: greatness of Ashoka, nobility of Akbar, compassion of Buddha and courage of Gandhi; which are now lost in years of decadence in society, opacity in administration and lack of leadership. The author also reiterates that it is we the people who make a government and hence only we are responsible if we continue to tolerate its inefficiency and malfeasance.

In the first part of the book the author presents a very optimistic and refreshing view of the service and using an autobiographical account of his career gives many precious advices that can be helpful for any administrator. The author agrees that even the best plans meet opposition. But if the plan is explained rationally and transparently, it always finds reason. Also if an administrator’s action is balanced and objective, he has no reason to be paranoid about any kind of scrutiny or fallback.
There is a long drawn debate regarding the mandate of audit institutions as to whether it is only limited to propriety audit or also extends to performance audit. Often bureaucracy and CAG find themselves on opposite sides in this debate. But Vinod Rai goes on to explain that there is no ‘we’ or ‘they’ between audit and administration as both of them are on the same side and share the same goals. He justifies that had the auditing institutions across the world been mandated with limited accounting roles, they would not have been accorded high constitutional status and protections. The author than provides some useful insights into the professional working style of the auditing institution, despite having limited resources and manpower. He tells about the initiatives taken during his tenure, so as to make audit reports more meaningful and also more readable. The reports of CAG were also summarized and distributed in public domains and concept of social audit was institutionalized. He was firm in his view that Performance Audit is not a tool to criticize government but provides an early warning to administrator to take midcourse corrective steps.

The second part of the book is dedicated to the five cases: the 2G spectrum case, Commonwealth Games, Coal Block Allocation, KG Basin case and the Air India’s buy in for Boeing Aircrafts.
2G scam has perhaps been the most talked about case of this decade. It involved leasing out of second generation spectrum licenses to private firms for prices that were way below the market discovered rates. Despite a number of attempts by both the bureaucracy and few ministers to warn PM Manmohan Singh, the process was continued on a pretext of increasing the tele-density at low tariffs. However as Vinod Rai writes, ‘giving finite spectrum to a private party for commercial exploitation, even if it enhances teledensity, requires a balance between revenue generation and achieving social objectives’. Using a number of professional analytical tools CAG calculated the estimate of loss to exchequer to be around 1.76 lakh crore rupees, which was mocked by many for its inconsistency, but the book well explains the rational of CAG while arriving at this figure. Author also argues that the teledensity targets set had already been achieved much before the timeline and therefore it warranted that government should have focused on revenue generation. The silence of the PM bound by coalition dharma however let the nation and its people damned, when a privileged few kept on looting in broad daylight.

Another epic was written during the preparation for CWG, when rules were openly flouted and total control was handed over to an organizing committee composed of a chosen few. The organizing committee showed a complete lack of experience and professionalism in its approach. The result was that not only was the transparency compromised, deadlines missed, structural safety of sporting venues neglected and costs inflated but also that the respect and pride of whole nation was staked. Some eye opening revelations are made in this chapter such as: IOA bid estimated cost of 1200 crore in 2003, while budget estimate in 2010 was Rs 18532 crore; Revenue projected was 1780 crore in 2008, but only 174 crores were actually realized; organizing committee projected 300 crore from donation, less than a crore was realized; and many more technical, financial, and structural lapses. The important question is, how could all this be ignored and how could leadership simply shut its eyes?

The next two chapters on Coal Scam and KG Basin scam also make such sensational revelations which raise doubts on the government’s intentions, show high handedness of people in power and are text book examples of crony capitalism. The whole accounts only vindicate the conclusions arrived at by the CAG in its reports. However personally I found the last case of Air India and its purchase of Boeing Aircrafts over and aboce its purchasing capacity or requirements, as the most disturbing one. Being a young civil servant, I find it outrageous how one person holding political position could take the whole chain of bureaucrats and technocrats for a trip and make them succumb to his pressure. There was complete disregard for Air India’s business interests and cost-benefit criterion, Board of Directors was bypassed and irrational verbal orders were forced upon the MD and Board members.
The last part of the book is called ‘Course Correction’. Here the author has delved into more deliberative issues of excellence, accountability and probity. While having such immense potential in terms of human and natural resources, India still lingers to gain its rightful position. It reflects on our acceptance of jugaad as answer to our problems and lack of pursuit for excellence. While there are umpteen cases to prove that the potential for excellence exists, all that is required is little imagination and initiative. Over and above that, we will have to ensure that the government performs and for that role of institutions like CAG, Election Commission, CVC, CIC, Media, civil society has to be increased. Probity in public life builds character of a nation and a value driven society is hallmark of a progressive nation. It is worrisome that India is rated very low on corruption perception indices. Had India been corruption free, it would have grown at rate of 8% for last 3 decades. But the silver lining is that our democratic forces are maturing and civil society is witnessing a major churning. This is definitely a positive trend, and if this outrage of citizenry is moulded positively, it will conclude in a synergy between government and its people.


The book is a must read for youth of India. Its language is simple and narrative is realistic. The cases and their explanation are succinct and overall the structure is quite cohesive. However one might expect more details of the life of the author which are absent and one is only left wondering if there will be a sequel touching upon the untouched.

Sunday, March 15, 2015

DISCOVERING INDIA – Bharat Darshan: A travelogue

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page” -     St. Augustine
The Winter Study Tour or the Bharat Darshan is the climax of the training period in the life of an IAS probationer. While it is impossible to experience the whole of Bharat, for all vastness of its geography, diversity of its culture, richness of its heritage and multitude of its administrative challenges, we did humbly try to touch various aspects of our country in these two months.
Travelling, they say, is the best way to explore a place. But I realized that travelling is also the best way to explore oneself. The outlook that one generates by looking at stark contrasts existent in a single nation, and beyond-the-bookshelf perspectives that are formed by experiencing first-hand the realities on ground are unparalleled. And what can be better way to travel than on a government sponsored tour across the country in a group of 17 likeminded and yet very diverse officer trainees? We clocked nearly 20,000 kilometers across the mountains and plains, rivers and bridges, beaches and coasts, islands and sea, travelling by almost every possible means of transport, visiting close to 18 cities located in 12 different states and UTs, which not only tested the tenacity of our bodies but also minds to cope up with sudden changes in climate, food and languages.
Every journey begins with a small step, and so began ours on 20th December, 2014 as we left the portals of our academy with starry eyes. We had a 10 day long attachment with Indian Army in Jammu sector. The attachment was the longest in duration that it well deserved. The first thing that caught my attention was the warmth and hospitality of army in those inhospitable conditions. We visited different companies, posted at various forward posts along the fence guarding Line of Control, under 4 different battalions and 2 brigades. Everywhere the discipline, punctuality, sense of duty, dedication and yet the humor and liveliness of jawans and officers amazed us. In these 10 days we watched the life of a soldier from close quarters and also tried to live like one. It was thrilling to see enemy in their posts 100 meters away, ready to pull triggers at first command. We could feel the patriotism oozing in the atmosphere, and the interactions with officers ranging from majors to brigadiers were always inspiring. I still remember one of them passionately telling us about his eagerness to win the whole enemy land for India. It was however sad that such beautiful mountains have been blotted by presence of militants and military and the serenity of the heavenly valleys destroyed by the noises of bombs and guns. We could also sense the disconnect between the civil administration and the military forces which we as members of IAS need to bridge, lest we leave our bravehearts, who protect our borders living away from their families, in discontentment.
We also had visits to the Air Force and Naval Establishments where we tried to understand their roles and responsibilities, apart from getting hands-on experience of their cool machines. But undoubtedly it was the Army that stole our hearts with their passion and professionalism.
We had the fortune of meeting some inspirational seniors like Dr. Krishan Kumar who showed that a dedicated and coordinated administration can even defeat threats like Phailin cyclone. We also met Sh. Alok Shukla, the man who revolutionized Food procurement and PDS in Chattisgarh through his innovativeness and conviction. We learnt that it is not necessary to do something extraordinary in order to leave a mark. Just doing one’s duties sincerely can mean a lot of service to the nation as many wheels in the administrative machinery don’t move just due to lackadaisical approach of some officers. Apart from these, we interacted with many other officers serving in capacity of collectors, directors, principal secretaries and chief secretaries. I felt that the individual personality of an officer defines in a great way the impact his or her office can make. More than postings, it is the person who fixes the scope of work. Also the attitude of an officer in dealing with public and other colleagues is highly noticeable and hence it is very important that one remains humble, polite but strong.
The highlight of the whole tour was a three day visit to Dantewada for tribal attachment. Amidst the preconceived notions, we expected Dantewada to be more like a forest with poor tribal population, blasted roads and Naxal flags all around with no developmental infrastructure to be seen. But instead, we found some of the best practices of administration that were exemplary in efficiency, financial congruency and innovation being implemented there. The endeavors such as Choolo Aasman, Saksham, Aastha, Bachpan Banao, Tamanna, Kshirsagar were bringing huge changes in the life of the people, especially the children. Here we realized what the real sense of service is and how IAS can make a difference. It was really a proud moment to attend the celebrations of India’s sovereignty – the Republic Day in this Naxal heartland.
We got deeper insights into the working of a PSU at HAL in Nashik, learnt about management of a Port Trust in Goa, understood the work culture of a private social enterprise at Jain Irrigation Ltd. at Jalgaon, appreciated the strength of a joint venture at Maithon Power Plant in Dhanbad and imbibed the dedication of an NGO from Tagore Society for Rural Development in Kolkata. We got acquainted with the industrious Marathi manoos whose honesty is worth emulating, we found great hosts in Punjabis who put their hearts out to serve their guests, we learnt the art of doing business from astute Sindhis of Mumbai and we took pride in the intellect of our Bengali brethren.
Learning was the core objective of this tour. But we made sure that fun also remains its integral component. We drenched ourselves in the natural beauty of ‘Incredible India’ during this tour. From the snow clad peaks of the Pir Panjal, to the pristine beaches of Goa, from the mangroves of Bhitarkanika to the dense forests of Jharkhand, from the brackish waters of Chilika Lake to the blue waters of Bay of Bengal, from the magmatic rocks of Western Ghats to the coral reefs of Andamans, we had it all. We also encountered largest salt water crocodiles basking in the sun, caught glimpse of the rare and playful Irrawady dolphins diving in synchronization, spotted the spotted deer lurking behind trees and clicked checkered keelback snakes slithering between leaves. We rediscovered India’s rich past and heritage in the centuries old caves of Ajanta and Udaygiri and temple remains of Konark, Shore, Mahabalipuram and Rajarani. We also found hidden treasure troves in relatively obscure forts of Bidar and Buddhist and Hindu monuments of Sirpur. We prayed for a better world at the altars of Harmandir Sahib, Jagannath Temple, Basilica of Bom Jesus and Haji Ali shrine. Here we also realized how much more we need to work to make India a tourist destination, be it in marketing our cities in India and abroad, or be it in preserving and keeping our monuments alive.
Any travelogue about India is incomplete without mention of food. We had the good fortune of eating the wholesome Punjabi food in Amritsar, tasting Sula wines in Nashik, cracking freshly cooked crabs in Goa, munching the Bhel puri of Mumbai, feasting on mouthwatering prawns in Port Blair and relishing Sandesh, Rosogulla and Nolengurer in Kolkata.
After the completion of Bharat Darshan, we were left with many learnings for future and some beautiful memories to be cherished. But what I believe is most important are the bonds of friendship that we made in these two months. i found some good friends in not just the people we met across India, but more importantly amongst our group of 17, friends that I hope shall stay forever.