Globally, a billion people battle daily hunger while the richest 100 people have the same wealth as the bottom 3.5 billion. Increased communication linkages and media exposure in daily lives gives society huge abilities to connect and aggregate voices; expectations start running high and, in an age of mouse-clicks, patience becomes a lost virtue. Activism, distrust and discontent flourish and we start moving away from finding solutions to assignment of blame. India has been no exception.

Both concentration of wealth and dispersion of civic influence are increasing beyond levels readily manageable.

This brings into focus the need to use money and civic or commercial power prudently, which requires changes in attitudes, perceptions and practices.

I am not flagging aberrant behaviour here, which — even though this (e.g. greed, graft) magnifies social disconnect — needs to find redemption otherwise. Equally, my objective here is not to be critical or point fingers but look for learning and solutions which help us navigate better.

Work ethic

In the Indian context, where skilling and job creation via development are core needs, expanding our sphere of work ethic and productivity deserves serious reflection. Work ethic is a key factor for any employer — it only expands divides if businesses prefer greater automation in the face of indifferent work ethic.

Should we not reflect on experiences of Asian economies and see how to consolidate gains for our society? Japan, South Korea, China, Singapore, Taiwan or Thailand have fostered excellence in both work ethic and civic sense; developing nations such as Cambodia and Vietnam are moving up the ladder and can in future bite into India’s share of global business and jobs.

Clearly, both business and society have had positive, shared roles in setting the tone for all these evolutions.

We have a tradition of rich values, but need to genuinely look inwards and not find it expedient to just blame the establishment and legacies for shortcomings. Besides promoting positivity, can we address some negatives in national behaviour and trigger a thought process to ensure they are not speed-breakers for all who wishes to work in, or with, India?

The first is an inclination to jugaad (the cobbling-together approach); I am not referring to frugal engineering but the behavioural aspect that essentially fosters short-cut tactics and mostly ends up compromising the straight-and-narrow path.

The second is a growing tendency (across all strata in both business and society) to transgress the fine line dividing protection of one’s own interest and being self-cantered; the latter conduct adversely impacts interactions and work ethic, usually manifesting itself through scant regard for law, procedures, integrity and other people’s rights.

Social engagement

India has written enough laws to literally invade every area of social and business lives. A learning from TheMahabharata is that intrusive laws encourage perjury and dilute values of an honest society. We see this in real life. For businesses or individuals faced with predicaments perpetrated by an over-complex ecosystem, resorting to the jugaad mindset of ‘arrange it anyhow and fast’ can do them in morally; over time this also tends to become second nature for routine situations.

Even systemic simplification is unlikely to eradicate short-cut mentality, unless we ourselves resolve to do so. It does not need activist messiahs to tell us what is right. We do not need more draconian or deterrent laws, but reinforcing appropriate and speedy outcomes.

Self-centricity exhibits itself in multiple ways, which we witness in daily lives; in our society we see it probably entrenched to greater degree than — say — our continental neighbourhood.

Protection of self interest is a positive attribute in comparison as it shuns negative traits like ego, lack of civic sense and reduced productivity or professional commitment level.

Self-centricity breeds negativity and creates an antithesis to discipline. Incidentally, other societies are seen to be extremely quick in eliminating such conduct by enforcing good civic sense spontaneously.

Viewed objectively, these anomalies show signs of increasing. They impact our transaction profile as a nation and people. Society and business ultimately bear the implicit costs of such flaws and — possibly — deemed unreliability. We must realise it is in our collective hands to inculcate positive values aligned to and appreciated by all jurisdictions.

Incidentally, businesses are now by law required to dilute a predominantly owner interest driven (self-centred) culture to a balanced but stakeholder interest driven (protecting self-interest) one; it is time to demonstrate we can do this appropriately.

Law and behold

Every society has flaws. Yet, it is rare to find one which flagellates itself as frequently and publicly as we do, without first meaningfully investing due effort in rebuilding positive ethos. Matters are compounded when our justice delivery exhibits delays in punishing the guilty and protecting the innocent; this makes it convenient for the former to feel secure and de-rigueur for the latter to be extorted. No amount of legislative enactments can compensate for this gap; in fact, more laws go against the guiltless in the final analysis.

According to popular history, responding to a justification for transgressions that “we are free men”, Moses decreed “there is no freedom without the law”; elsewhere in a recent novel I recall reading that “the law is man’s feeble attempt to set down the principles of decency... and decency is not a deal or an angle”. There is a lot in these snippets which we must imbibe in the right spirit for use as powerful guiding forces to inspire both business and society.

This column explores ideas and opinions on Indian enterprise and economy. The writer is an entrepreneur and former President of Ficci. Views are personal

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