Book Review: It Happened in India

Big bazaar, Pantaloons and Central must have attracted every Indian consumer through its product diversity and competitive pricing. But the how a man managed to establish modern retail in India where retailing was largely disorganised and lacked any success story to imitate? It Happened in India is the story of Future Group, of Big bazaar, Pantaloons and Central, of Kishore Biyani, of Modern Retail. In the book Kishore Biyani and Dipayan Baishya have elaborated the genesis and development of the entrepreneur Kihsore Biyani.

The book has eight chapters, but could be divided into three distinct parts: emergence of Kishore as an entrepreneur, establishment and growth of Future Group, and the management style and future outlook of the company.

Kishore despite his middle class trading family background had the power to dream big and understand the intricacies of business. He mustered the courage to tread the unexplored path and demonstrated his entrepreneurial ability. Ability to arrange Dandia nights in his locality, launching of WBB fabric brand acted as the steeping stones for Kishore.

Future group had confidence in the consumption power of Indian consumer and thus focused on the common people. The book explains how the group understood Indian consumer, how the Sarvana store of Chennai acted as a role model for the group, how issues related to real estate, advertising were managed.

The book also discusses the management style and organization issues of the group. Some of the management concepts are explained in a digestible format for easy understanding of an average reader.

The short narrations by various stakeholders attached to the business make the book interesting. The narrations provide a neutral view on Kishore’s management style and the merits-demerits associated with it.

The detailed descriptions on management principles and functional aspects appear more of a text book kind of reading. Some of the management styles and principle discussed lacks any kind of uniqueness and appears common across the industry, so some portions of the book may look redundant.

If you want to understand the evolution of modern retail in India, this book will be a help.

Book Review: Shripadachihna Sandhanare (Odia)

This book by the legend Manoj Das amuses the reader with the magic words of the author and through the link of contemporary life to the events of the great epics of Mahabharata and Gita. The backdrop of the stories revolves around the religious places of Mathura, Vridaban, Dwarka, Kurukhestra and the author's own village and experiences as a kid.
The books ends with an interesting note on the questions of realities of the presence of Christ, Krishna, siege of Troy and Mahabharata.
Read if you don't believe in God! A great thought experiment! Unique in its style. Manoj Das as usual touches the heart and psyche of the reader.
Spending time on this book is like investing on yourself, so go for it.

Book Review: Indian After Gandhi

Unity in diversity the hallmark of India- That's what an Indian student learns in his early school days. But as the student grows he sees the lack of unity in many crucial issues. But still there is a wider acceptance of the concept of India as a nation. The student today proudly claims to be born in a nation that houses some of the best talents of the world, a nation that is characterized by its democracy, the largest democracy in the world. But why we see a striking difference, confusion and lack of clarity in several issues of national interest- Kashmir, Uniform Civil Code, Ram Temple/Babri Masjid, Federal structure?

Dr Ramachandra Guha, the famous historian focuses on simplifying some of the badly entangled threads of Indian political history. The book India After Gandhi is touches most of the critical issues that affected the country over the post-independence years.

The author starts with some of the not so optimistic predictions on future of Indian nation. Then the book moves on the issues of creation of Pak, amalgamation of India states, unresolves Kashmir issue, Naga protest, general elections, nation building policies of Nehru, short span of Shastri, emergence of Indira as India, the dark days of emergency and condemnable policies of Sanjay Gandhi, Morarjee period, renewed vigour of Indira, birth of Rajeev in politics, VP Singh and Mondal Commission, PV Narashimha Rao, government formation of BJP, Godhra riots, Congress'es regain of power at centre.
With the major event the book also touches the crucial issues that impacted the contour of the nation. The description on social, political and economic life of common Indians is deeply engrossing.
At the end of the book the author comes back to the point where he had started the book- why India is still an united entity. The author finds "So long as the constitution is not amended beyond recognition, so long as elections are held regularly and fairly and the ethos of secularism broadly prevails, so long as citizens can speak and write in the language of their choosing, so long as there is an integrated market and a moderately efficient civil service and army, and – lest I forget – so long as Hindi films are watched and their songs sung, India will survive".

If you want to understand India and increase your cultural literacy, get indulged in this book. It would truly be your friend- will keep your boredom at bay, develop a lasting relationship with you, and will leave a long lasting impression in your mind-and all these while making you more knowledgeable
, in both political and sociocultural understanding of world's largest democracy

Book Review: Chasing the Rainbow: Growing Up in an Indian Village

Life is a wonderful journey, childhood is the best part of this journey. Some of us manage to see life and its surroundings from a broader and deeper perspective, so deep that the childhood observations leave a deep mark in our psychology. Such observations are even deeper, broader and meaningful if it comes from a writer like Manoj Das.

The book amuses with its story telling power combined with the ability to go beyond the surface level activities of life. Divided into smaller chapters, the book provides a thought provoking insight into life, human nature and activities.

One of the best reads when it comes to:
- story telling
- simple narrative
- thought provoking observations of life

Let it be about the dislike of a child for studies or the regrets of an entire village on death of a money or tiger, each of the chapter of the book is an engrossing read.

Go for it! Worth your time!
Once you have finished reading it, you would be forced to look back at your own childhood. But, at the same time the book will help you to decode the otherwise some of the incomprehensible contemporary behaviour around you in a better way.

Institution Building in India

Scholars and researchers across the globe have accepted the crucial role played by institutions in creating an environment that is conducive to development. A closer look to all the developed (economically, not necessarily in other aspects) economies reveal their strong institutions. A set of strong institution ensure:

• Right functioning of public and private bodies
• Contract enforcement
• Adherence to rules and regulations

Unfortunately the emerging economies, of course, emerging in terms of economics and not necessarily in all important aspects, are characterized by their institutional voids. The astonishing growths of companies in these economies are more of a result of these institutional voids. The critical question here is – should this economic growth be celebrated?

India is a very good example to see how institution building has emerged in this emerging economy. In early 50s, the then Prime Minister Nehru was bestowed with the mammoth tax of building India. Nehru and his team (which included Mahalanobis) drafted the contour that the young nation would take. The credit of building institutions in India is also attributed to Nehru. However, the discredit of tampering with ‘supposed to be independent’ institutions is also attributed to Nehru’s family and more so to Ms Gandhi and his (later disowned) son Sanjay.

A selected few institutions act as the fulcrum of all institutions of India. The institutions include: The parliament, the supreme court of India, the CBI, the CVC, the CAG, the UGC and NCERT etc. Now let us examine their functioning one by one. 

The Parliament

In a recent statement President of the country, Mr Mukherjee rightly condemned the disruptions happening in the parliament. In recent times parliament is disrupted more than ever. Debate, dialogue and deliberations are no more the prime activities of the parliament.

Though politicians, media and academicians have been emphasising the supremacy of parliament in democracy, they have to accept that the way the image of this institution is getting diminished in the mind of a common India is a serious threat that requires more polished and sober action of politicians inside and outside the house. 

Supreme Court of India

Till date the Supreme Court seems the only institution that has managed to maintain somewhat higher degree of sanctity. Corruption charges against the ex-chief justice, no doubt condemnable, but could be considered as exception. Otherwise, the court has managed to ensure that the state and its major actors have performed as per the rule of the land.

However, the judicial system in India requires paradigm shifts. Some lower courts have functioned on their own, while some others are characterized by the huge number of pending cases in them. If a common man believes that he should stay away from courts, whatever may be the case and a business man thinks contract enforcement in India is extremely difficult; it’s not their fault. 

The CBI

CBI, unfortunately is seen as a part of government who can grill people whenever the governments want. Recent coal case has uncovered the real helplessness of this institution. The Supreme Court which normally selects its words with utmost care, termed the CBI has a ‘caged parrot’ with many masters. That brings us to the fact that this nation of a billion people lacks a credible and independent investigating agency.

The CVC

The office of the central vigilance commission is conspicuous by its inaction in many cases. The last time it hit news headlines when the appointment of Chief Vigilance Commission was questioned by the Supreme Court forcing him to resign. 

The CAG

Again, the findings of the CAG are being challenged by politicians across parties depending on their convenience. The central government recently has found it fashionable to hit the office of the CAG whenever they find its finding not so suitable to it.

The UGC, AICTE, NCERT

The state of educational institutions also requires radical changes. Privatizing of educational institutions has made education in the country so expensive that students will get more lured to well-paying corporate jobs than investing time, energy and resources in first hand research and innovations. It is also interesting to note that the top ranked MBA institutes of the country offer PGDM (post graduate diploma in management) degrees than MBA degrees as they prefer to stay away from the interference of UGC. Is n't that a direct reflection on the image of governing bodies of education in India?

On top of all these, even constructive criticism of institutions in India is considered as anti-patriotism by many. The government that openly challenges, criticizes and abuses the CAG, considers any discussion on autonomy of the CBI as an attempt of bulldozing the institution of CBI.

If India wants to develop, improve and live a better life; it has to focus on institution building. That will require the support of all stakeholders. However, looking at the state of the affairs in the country, it would be utterly optimistic to expect better institutions in the country in short span of time.

Internalizing Disciplinary Culture

The world around us has been promoting disciplinary culture for years, knowing well that such promotion might not be able to provide solutions to the biggest problems facing the mankind. By disciplinary culture, I mean a culture that encourages one to follow a path that has been defined by others. Yes, people get to make choices, but these choices are from the collective paths under disciplinary culture.

One of the best example of how people are forced to follow disciplinary culture is the way Galileo was treated. We all know, this free thinker  never followed the disciplinary culture and promoted free thinking, rationalism. He was murdered for doing so. He was not adored when he deviated from disciplinary culture, but later it was realized that his free thinking that acted sprouts for new stream of knowledge served mankind better than the disciplinary culture of the time. But unfortunately, though the entire world has accepted the importance of free thinking, the practice of promoting disciplinary culture is getting even strongly en-rooted in our psyche.  

Our education system encourages us to act as disciplinary shoulders of the system. We are loved to be seen as students who follow the curriculum  with utmost of discipline and the increasing competition, may time due to lack of opportunities for all, ensures that students don't devote enough time other things as they have to read, re-read, revise, re-revise the curriculum to emerge as winners of the competitive space. Increasing cost of education is acting as a catalyst to make the system more disciplinary. 

Gone those days when people used to stand for values, beliefs and more importantly for other people. In a free-market economy devoid of free thinking people prefer to stand for materialistic life. Money has become the yardstick of success and with this yardstick its rather easy to make people follow disciplinary culture as they know its only disciplinary techniques that could ensure growth in the path of higher success and higher materialistic achievements. 

On a positive note, there will always be some free thinking people who will prefer to move out of the disciplinary culture and these will be the people who will contribute the most to the environment around us. 

Book Review: Arguments for the Existence of God

The book is a wonderful read of logic and philosophy. It covers the important aspects of ontology, cosmology and teleology in succinct form. Long sentences and some complex arguments will make you revisit the sentences/paragraphs to grasp the message. The book will not add much to the reader's understanding or acceptance/rejection of god, it will only provide a perspective on some the logic of the great philosophers who have dwelled into the subject. At the end the author fails to provide any logic or reasoning based argument on the topic and banks upon the ontological philosophy which has failed to satisfy the intellectuals like Kant long ago. However, the credit of summarizing different philosophies on existence of God must go to the author. The book will not help you to find any new argument or new theories or convincing argument for existence or non-existence of god. Read it only if you love philos0phy and logic, only if you strongly believe or strongly disbelieve in the existence of god.

Financial Regulators of India

With the so called “innovation” in financial products, the eco-system of the sector is getting more complex and difficult to manage. Experts of finance and economic have to admit, reluctantly in some cases, that these innovations make market riskier without adding compensatory return to the system. However, the “too big to fail” banks and financial institutions have managed to fight and win for lesser regulation as they feel, at least argue that regulations are impediments for innovations. Nonetheless, either covertly or overtly the who’s who of the financial sector across the globe have realised the dire needs of stronger financial regulation.

While the countries in the western world are still struggling ways to enforce effective and efficient financial regulations to ensure no repetition of the blunders of 2008, emerging nations are trying to learn from the mistakes of the western world. India fortunately has established strong financial institutions and has managed to attract both domestic and foreign investments into the country. According to 2012-13 report of World Economic Forum, India ranks 59 in overall competitiveness, but 21 in financial market development. This rank is encouraging for an emerging nation like India, especially when compared to other BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries. Rank of Brazil, Russia and China in financial market development stands at 46, 130 and 54 respectively. Rankings by World Economic Forum are collective rankings of financial market efficiency and trustworthiness & confidence of financial market. Financial market efficiency reflects: a- availability of financial services, b- affordability of financial services, c- financing through local equity market, d- ease of access to loans, e- venture capital availability. Trustworthiness and confidence in financial market is measured by: a- soundness of banks, b- regulation of securities exchanges, c- legal rights.

The credit of India’s sound performance in financial market could partly be attributed to effective functioning of financial regulators of the country. The list of financial regulator of India includes:

• Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
• Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
• Ministry of Finance (MoF)
• Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA)
• Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA)
• Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA)

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)

SEBI came into existence through Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992. The basic functions of SEBI are narrated in the preamble of the SEBI: "...to protect the interests of investors in securities and to promote the development of, and to regulate the securities market and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto".  In the recent times, SEBI has successfully established itself as a credible organization in the country through effective interference in the securities market as and when required. 

Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

RBI was established in 1935 as the central bank of India and its functions have evolved with the changing requirements of the economic environment of the country. The primary function of RBI include: ensuring monetary stability, currency management, supervision of financial systems and payment systems. Financial regulator is one facet of the multiple roles played by the central bank of the country. Other functions of RBI include: banker to banks, banker to the government, issuer of currency, manager of foreign exchange etc. 

Ministry of Finance (MoF)

Ministry of Finance of India operates with five different departments namely: Economic affairs, Expenditure, Revenue, Financial services and Disinvestment. Each department is further split into several divisions with distinct functions assigned to each of the division. Department of Economic Affairs is responsible for formulation and monitoring of the economic policies of the country. Matters related to public financial management of the government of India and matters connected with States finances come under the Department of Expenditure of the Ministry of Finance. Department of Revenue controls aspects related to government taxes, both direct taxes and indirect taxes. Banks, insurance and other financial services are controlled and monitored by the Department of Financial Services. Department of Disinvestment, the newest department of the Ministry handles affairs related to disinvestment and privatisation of Public Sector Units (PSUs). 

Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA)

Ministry of Corporate Affairs of the Government of India operates with the mission “to facilitate corporate growth with enlightened regulation”. MCA is responsible to administer the Companies Act, 1956 and all other Acts that are related to Indian private sector. MCA visualise itself as a regulator for corporate affairs, facilitator of business in India, integrator of various stakeholders related to business, educator of rules and regulations related to private business in India. 

Insurance Regulatory Authority of India (IRDA)

Mission statement of IRDA clarifies the basic functions of the institution, “to protect the interests of the policyholders, to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the insurance industry and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.” IRDA is governed by IRDA Act of 1999. Some of the key powers and functions of IRDA are: protecting the interest of insurance and re-insurance policy holders,  formulating model code of conduct for insurance surveyors and loss assessors, promoting efficiency in the business, regulating fund investment by insurance companies, conducting audits of insurance businesses etc. 

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA)

PFRDA came into existence in Aug, 2003 as a regulator for the pension sector. PFRDA describes itself as “ an authority to promote old age income security by establishing, developing and regulating pension funds, to protect the interests of the subscribers to schemes of pension funds and for matters connected there with or incidental there to ”.

How should be the Prime Minsiter of the largest democracy of the world

As the general elections of 2014 move closer to the largest democracy of the world, India; the debates, discussions and deliberations on how should be the leader of this country is gaining momentum. Going by the constitution of India, the leader of the largest party (coalition) becomes the Prime Minister of the nation. Once the elections are held and the results are declared, the elected representatives of the largest/coalition decide on their Prime Ministerial candidate. Unlike the US, where President is elected by voters, India has no system of direct election of the Prime Minister. Keeping the context of the rule books, and knowing that at the end of the day party high commands has a veto power, is it appropriate to debate publicly on the Prime Ministerial candidate? Should parties reveal their Prime Ministerial candidates before the elections? What kind of Prime Minster will the country like to be see?

Some of the questions that affect a normal observer would be difficult to answer. Public who know the political history of this nation know that many dark horses have emerged as Prime Ministers even at the surprise at the top level leaderships of their own parties. H D Devegowda, IK Gujaral, MM Singh are recent examples of Prime Ministers who emerged out of the post-election, post-results political context. Does this mean there is no need to discuss on Prime Ministerial candidate before the election results are out? Well, the answer will vary from political party to political party.

At present, the leadership of Indian National Congress means Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. Gandhi family, in fact, has been acting as the most string fulcrum and many would say the single fulcrum of the party. Most of the voters of the party would accept any leader supported by the Gandhis as their Prime Minister. The party won’t bother much after its experiment in 2004 where MS Singh emerged from nowhere; still the party managed garner support of its voters to strengthen its position in 2009. MS Singh, both the times, preferred to get elected to the upper house of the parliament, thus avoiding a direct election by the mass. Even for 2014, it seems Congress seems to have decided to fight the elections under the Gandhis without declaring a PM candidate. 

In the contrary, the largest opposition the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fought last few elections under the leadership of a declared Prime Ministerial candidate- Atal Behari Vajpayee in 1996, 1999 and 2004 followed by Lal Krishna Advani in 2009. However, 2014 appears as a distinct challenge for the party as one among the second generation leaders has to be projected as a Prime Minister. Names of Narendra Modi, Sushma Swaraj and Rajnath Singh are in the air. Though the party feels Narendra Modi is a clear front runner in the race of popular choice, his acceptability among the minorities and coalition partner has refrained it from declaring his name.

Prime Minister being head of the Government has a vital role to play in the national affairs. Thus, the voters of India have every time to deliberate on the person they want to see leading them, drafting national policies. The political debate on the Prime Ministerial candidate can’t be put under the carpet with the flimsy reason of constitutional provisions. However, the debate on the candidate must on lose focus on the key issues and personality traits that the nation would like to see.

Faith in the Constitution

Faith in the constitution of India means the leader must abide by the basic tenets of the constitution. Almost all political candidates would pass in these parameters.

Vision

As the leader of the nation, the Prime Ministerial candidate needs to have a vision for the country. A vision for which he has the zeal to work and the people have faith in the vision. Extremely broad level terms like social inclusion, elimination of poverty etc. would not suffice to be part of the vision without a time-bound definitive roadmap for them. 

Decision Making

In a political environment characterised by confusion, drastic change in socioeconomic conditions, transformation of policies; the leader has to decide on the basis of the best information available. He has to empower the right kind of people and stand by them. Lack of decision making could lead to policy paralysis affecting the country very hard. 

Communication Skills

Unless a leader communicates, there is no point in following. People will have questions, doubts and complains. It is the responsibility of the leader to come forward and address the concerns people have. These are the opportunities to connect with the people, and a good Prime Minister will have to answerable to the people

Integrity

From a Prime Ministerial candidate personal and professional integrity is beyond keeping oneself out of unethical, immoral and corrupt practice. It is the responsibility of the Prime Minister to ensure that the government as a whole is pro-people and free from corrupt practices. 

Though a large section of the intellectuals will put lots of importance to flexibility, secular credentials, administrative experience and tons of other factors; No doubt, the country will not like to see lack of straight forwardness in the name of flexibility in matters of national importance. Whoever has seen, read or heard about Sikh riots of early 19802, Mumbai riots of early 1990s, Godhra riots of early 2000s, Assam riots in early 2010s understands that secular credentials in India is a misnomer in this country. Administrative experience though could provide an edge, is not that important for a leader whose primary job would be not only to manage and administer but to lead.

Hope as the time of election approaches to this subcontinent, debates on leadership shifts from filthy and less important issues to matters that would shape the future of this underdeveloped (a few prefer to call it developing or emerging) nation.