The Rediff Special
'If we ignore the long-term good of society, we will only invite harm upon ourselves'
On December 11, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry hosted its 69th annual session. Its theme: Success through synergy between
government and business and India and the world. The keynote address for this session,
attended by important players from the Indian business industry, was delivered by BJP leader
Lal Kishinchand Advani. Excerpts:
Synergy' is an important buzz word
today especially, it seems, in the world of business. Business
is all the time looking for synergy in everything it does: in
its production techniques and technologies, between its processes
of backward and forward integration, between the various kinds
of its human resources and also between companies engaged in compatible
areas of activity. 'Growth through synergy' is an axiomatic
statement of modern business. But synergy is also one of those
seminal concepts which has a generalised meaning transcending
the specific confines of business.
One of the best books I have read during the
year is Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits of
Highly Effective People. It presents a holistic, principle-centered
approach for solving personal and professional problems.
One of the habits Covey has specifically
identified is the ability to synergise. He writes: "Synergy
is the essence of principle-centered leadership. Simply defined,
it means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
One plus one equals three or more. The essence of synergy is to
value differences, to respect them, to build on strengths, to
compensate for weaknesses."
At the outset, I must point out that, though
synergy may be a new word in business parlace, the concept of
compatiability and harmony between two entities providing potential
for growth and new creation is indeed the cornerstone of this
country's fundamental world view.
Synergy and integral humanism
The late Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, who was the president
of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and whose 'integral humanism' is the
guiding theory for the BJP, believed that harmony and compatibility -
and not conflict - was the basic law of nature, including the nature
of human society. He expounded the meaning of the 'four purusharthas'
or four-fold goals of life - dharma or right conduct; artha or satisfaction
of material needs; kama or satisfaction of sensuous needs and
moksha or communion with the Creator, thereby fulfilling
spiritual needs - by outlining a societal structure which makes
it possible for its members to cooperate in the pursuit of all
these goals.
This has been the viewpoint of all our ancient
thinkers and social reformers, as also modern ones like
Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and Yogi
Aurobindo. I am saying this by way of a conceptual preface only,
to underline the fact that "Success through synergy between
government and business and between India and the world" is a
perfectly Swadeshi thought.
Five expectations from a sound economy
Broadly stated, what does a society expect
from its economic system? I would list five basic expectations:
- Generate real, not just notional, wealth
for the nation in the form of a cornucopia of goods and services
to meet the needs of the people.
- Create employment and productive opportunities
for all, in a structure which allows for minimum socio-economic
disparities.
- Develop the country's physical infrastructure,
which acts as a growth multiplier, as well as the social infrastructure
in areas of education, health-care, drinking water, housing, sanitation,
etc, which helps to uplift the living conditions of the disadvantaged
sections of the society.
- Protect the environment and pass it on
unharmed and unpolluted as a precious inheritance to whom it
truly belongs - our future generations.
- Achieve all this in a manner so as
to consciously enrich the cultural and spiritual base of society.
Why we have failed
It is obvious that India has performed rather poorly in all these respects.
This, according to me, is because both the government and business
seem to be working for themselves instead of working as partners
and striving together to serve their common constituency: the people.
In order to create true synergy between government and business, they
have to question themselves at each step: Are we guided in
this by what is good for society, or by only what is good for ourselves?
For the purpose of this discussion, I shall extend the meaning
of government to include the political class as a whole and assert
that if the political and business classes pursue only what they narrowly
consider to be good for themselves, unmindful of the long-term good of
society, they will only invite ignominy and harm upon themselves. Let
me give a couple of examples...
If our pharmaceutical industry and government had acted together
in a healthy partnership to promote public health, instead of adopting
an increasingly expansive and narrowly-focussed private
health care programme, we would perhaps have been spared the shame of the
dengue epidemic in the national capital and the plague in Surat.
Similarly, if the building industry and government had acted together
in an enlightened partnership, we would have been spared, at least
to some extent, the ubiquitous ugliness and decay in almost all
our cities. And our builders, contractors and other sections of
the construction industry - which ought to be seen as a vital
and proud player in the nation building industry - would not have
earned the bad reputation they presently possess.
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