The Hindu Business Line : Groundswell of national pride

Writing this series of articles over the past four months has been a very rewarding journey for me. The idea of a `Resurgent India' was inspired by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's Vision 2020 for the country. He has been a model President in many ways — consistently communicating his vision for India in the most compelling manner and taking a stand on India's progress and development on all fronts.

If we put our heads and hearts to it, every problem that we face as a nation is solvable. The key question, therefore, is how do we get enough heads and hearts enrolled in tackling our problems?

Many of us assume that the job of economic and social development belongs to the politicians and the bureaucrats. What power and influence do we, as individuals, wield? In any case, merely discharging our family responsibilities takes so much time and effort, so where is the time to do anything else, even if we were so inclined? The average Indian is hardly ever engaged with nation-building as an issue and demonstrates apathy when it comes to social and political issues. The only active engagement, if at all, is to come out and vote (50-60 per cent do that) and to carry on conversations about all the things that are wrong with our country (a larger percentage!).

We know that lack of engagement is not an issue at just the country level. Employee engagement is an issue most companies are grappling with. At Mastek, we have studied this issue in great depth and taken various steps to get our people to be actively engaged with the company and beyond.

Shared Vision

Nearly 100 years ago, a small group of people across the country started dreaming of a Free India. The movement gathered momentum till there was a groundswell of support across the country, and the British had no option but to grant us our freedom.

As Indians, we take greater pride in India than our own fathers did — both as a result of the progress we have made as a country and because of a shift in attitude among our people. The opportunity we have today is to transform Indians and India to a level where our children will take even greater pride in the country. India will then stand tall as a nation admired across the world.

Our vision for India is one of holistic development, where every Indian is healthy and happy, with equal opportunities for all to achieve their potential. In short, a role model of inclusive development for the entire world. Our ideal India is a country that we can take pride in for the quality of life it offers to all Indians — including the quality of our environment, the efficiency of our infrastructure, the responsiveness of our citizen services and the transparency and effectiveness of governance. The India of our dreams is the global hub for knowledge creation and knowledge processing in several high-value added industries.

Sounds like a tall order? If someone had told us in 1990 (in the era of perennial shortages, shoddy quality and high levels of government regulation) that by 2006, India would have 8-9 per cent GDP growth, a million additional mobile phones a month, abundant foreign exchange reserves, a 75-plus per cent market share of the IT offshoring market (to name just a few of the realities today), we would have thought the person was out of his mind. With the level of access, the technology and the positive mood that exists today, it is not difficult to realise our vision for India in another 15 years. It needs a positive spirit, committed conversations and concerted action across all sections of the society.

Positive Spirit

As a nation, we tend to spend a lot of time blaming the system, finding fault with politicians and bureaucrats, and expressing hopelessness and powerlessness. Fortunately, the level of positive communication, especially in the media, has increased over the last few years. What we need is a dramatic increase across the board.

One of the principles my wife and I have followed in bringing up our daughter Samvitha is to acknowledge and reward the right behaviour and ignore bad behaviour. A similar approach could well be very effective in other realms as well. For instance, while we are quick to criticise an inefficient government official, how many times do we actively acknowledge officers who do a good job? As citizens, if we were to showcase and reward all the government officials who did a good job, I'm sure that will lead to a more lasting change.

As a principle, if we focus on recognising people who are doing the right thing, the chances are more people will come forward to do the right thing. This can create a `virtuous cycle' of improvement and progress. This is not to say that we should ignore corruption in any form. In fact, if we can mete out quick and appropriate punishment for any form of corruption — especially to high-profile people — it would act as the biggest deterrent. Going by the examples of Ken Lay of Enron or Bernie Ebbers of WorldCom, this is an area that India has much to learn from the US.

As individuals, we can easily make a significant contribution — whether it is the sweeper keeping the neighbourhood clean, a shop assistant who gives very good service, or a land registrar who is particularly helpful — we should make it a point to acknowledge them on the spot. We should also mention their good work to as many people as possible and write in to their supervisors to appreciate their service. (You can start by sending me a positive mail if you like this article).

Committed Conversations

Whenever we encounter something that does not work, our first tendency is to complain. Can we go beyond this to actually have a committed conversation with the people concerned and offer our perspectives on what needs to be done?

I often found myself frustrated at being in the wrong line at the immigration checkpoint in Mumbai. It invariably seemed like my line was the slowest among all. I then wrote to the immigration officer, suggesting that his department create a common queue that would be directed to individual desks only at the end. To my surprise, I saw this change in force the very next month that I travelled. I'm not sure whether it was my suggestion that did it — but I was happy to see the change.

Let us indulge in committed conversations when things don't work either — whether it is poor service in a restaurant, potholes on the road or faulty air-conditioning in a cinema theatre? Even if there is no desired improvement immediately, we can have the satisfaction of being proactive about things that concern us.

Concerted Action

The more people work at cross-purposes, the slower the progress. The key is to get people to think not just about their own interests, their family's interests and their organisation's interests, but also about the national interest. Whenever I address newcomers to Mastek, I always emphasise on the fact that what they do impacts not just themselves or the company, but also the country. Software is one of the areas where India has managed to establish itself as a quality player. It is important that every single program that goes out of Mastek maintains this reputation for quality — especially as many of our projects are strategic applications that can impact companies and countries.

As individuals, the call to action is at two levels — first, to bring out the best in everything we do; and, second, spend at least a few hours every week on community projects. This could be either an individual or a family initiative (maybe teaching your maid or her children to speak English). Any movement starts with a small group of committed individuals with the vision and the passion to make it happen.

The author is CEO, Mastek Group. He can be reached at sudhakarr@mastek.com

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Groundswell of national pride