The following story explains the Accountability or lack of it:
Once upon a time there was a Brahmin who tended his garden with utmost care day and night. One day a cow strayed into it and grazed a mango sapling which the Brahmin had attended to with great care. The Brahmin, on finding the mango sapling nibbled by the cow, flew into a fury and beat it so badly that the injured animal died.
The news of the Brahmin killing the cow spread every nook and corner. When people attributed the animal's death to his cruel beating, the Brahmin who was a Vedantin explained that it was not he who had indulged in the crime but his hand. Since the presiding deity of the hand is Lord Indra, the Brahmin passed over the blame to him to be questioned of the issue.
Lord Indra, who was aware of the issue, assumed himself to be an old Brahmin and made a visit to the owner of the garden. On meeting the Brahmin, Lord Indra exclaimed at the beauty of the garden with admiration and appreciated the skilful gardener who was behind the beautiful work. The Brahmin was quick to take the praise by saying that it was his interest and hard work that had gone into the making of such a beautiful garden.
Lord Indra, on hearing the Brahmin's claim for his involvement in laying out the beautiful garden said with folded hands, that when the gardener takes the credit for the beauty of the garden, how was it that he transferred the blame of killing the cow to poor Indra? The Brahmin was visibly stupified.”
When one does not take the responsibility of his wrong actions, he ought not claim the credit for his right actions as well. Until one is established in the self, one is responsible for his actions. When self realisation dawns, actions are then not attributed to the doer.
Let us understand integrity by this small story:
Krishnadevrai wanted to test the honesty and integrity of his citizens. So summoned Tenaliram and as usual he had a good idea. He said, “We will place a big Tank in the City Square and announce that the next morning before day break all the citizens shall pour one lota of milk in the tank." The announcement was duly made. After hearing the announcement one dishonest citizen thought ‘why should I pour the milk and waste, I shall pour water and it wont make any difference and the king wont come to know’. Everybody in the City thought similarly and next day one by one they just poured water. After the specified time limit, Krishnadevrai and Tenaliram came to check the Tank only to see water. Not a single Lota of milk was poured in the Tank. Thus, he came to know about the lack of integrity of the citizens.
About values we have a little poem:
Do It Anyway
People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.
LOVE THEM ANYWAY.
If you do good, people accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
DO GOOD ANYWAY.
If you are successful, you win false and true enemies.
SUCCEED ANYWAY.
The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow.
DO GOOD ANYWAY.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
BE HONEST AND FRANK ANYWAY.
What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight.
BUILD ANYWAY.
People really need help but may attack you if you help them.
HELP PEOPLE ANYWAY.
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
GIVE THE WORLD THE BEST YOU'VE GOT ANYWAY.
Self consist of body, mind and soul
The Self consists of a Body, a Mind and a Soul. The body is like a motor car, the mind its driver and the soul its master. The mind is driven through the five senses. It is the role of the soul to control the mind and direct it to take the car to the destination.
I don’t feel the need to define or elaborate on family, society and nation as these are self explanatory terms and everyone is familiar with them. Self is the smallest unit and the nation is the total mass of the people living in a geographical area.
Why we should be concerned about Environment
For a healthy body we need fresh air to breath, Clean water to drink and Healthy food for nourishment.
If the environment is devastated the body will follow suit. When there is no body the question of accountability and integrity also cease to exist.
Accountable Citizen
In the making of an accountable and honest citizen, a teacher’s role is important yet minimal. They are required to teach and enlarge the knowledge of their students in accordance with the given curriculum. Ethics and values do not play a significant role in the teaching. Whatever lessons are taught in the school are merely for remembering and for passing the exams. They do not leave a lasting impression on the students. Sometimes this is due to the selection of wrong teaching material or else the teaching pattern of the teacher. All persons in the teaching profession may not be there for the purpose of teaching; they may be teaching for making a living or for any other reason.
However, what the students see at their homes plays a very important role in their lives. If you teach them at school to abstain from lying, stealing etc. and if they see their parents lying all the time and grabbing someone else’s belongings at the first opportunity, how do we expect the teachings to be effective? For the teachings to be effective, all the concerned must walk the talk. They should themselves do what they are teaching. Else it shall only have an academic value for passing exams and getting diplomas and degrees.
Here I quote from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam’s book “Wings of Fire”.
A good student can learn from a bad teacher; but even a good teacher cannot teach a bad student.
I often read Khalil Gibran, and always find his words full of wisdom. "Bread baked without love is a bitter bread that feeds but half a man's hunger,"-those who cannot work with their hearts achieve but a hollow, half-hearted success that breeds bitterness all around.
If you are a writer who would secretly prefer to be a lawyer or a doctor, your written words will feed but half the hunger of your readers; if you are a teacher who would rather be a businessman, your instructions will meet but half the need for knowledge of your students; if you are a scientist who hates science, your performance will satisfy but half the needs of your mission.
I don not consider any need for further amplification on the experience of Dr. Kalam for two reasons. First, this comes from Dr. Kalam and second, I have seen this happen all the time. I am sure most of you agree with the above quotes as you are well versed with teaching and have put in considerable time in the profession.
My Childhood and Education
I was fortunate throughout my life so far. I had caring parents with moral values and ethics. They placed before me the lessons of life by their own living.
My mother taught me the religious matters and ethics; my father taught me to share and to forgive. I did not understand the full meaning of their acts and behavior, but these things went on to shape my life in a great way. Whatever I am today is because of their blessing and the values I imbibed.
We were restrained from watching movies and eating out in our childhood. My mother used to cook delicious eatables at home. Today all this has changed. Even Small children have all the knowledge and information through Television and Internet, which is quite disturbing as not all the information is suitable for impressionable mind. Every child gets fat pocket money to spend on junk food and what not. They have cell phones and two wheelers and are free to move unsupervised. This liberty without responsibility and accountability sows seeds for misery in the later part of life.
When I was 14 we faced financial difficulties as my father’s business failed miserably. My eldest sister was to be married and there were no means to meet the heavy expenses of marriage. Yet he remained unperturbed and managed it. It was then that I understood the meaning of true relationship. The relatives whom my parents helped time and again did not come forward to return the favours.
I was in 9th class at that time. Due to financial crunch I stopped going to school and planned to support my family with my earnings. Our headmaster Mr. L. R. Billore summoned me and asked me why I was not attending school. When I explained the reasons, he ordered me to join school immediately and assured me to help with whatever I needed to continue my schooling. However, things went smoothly and I did not have to seek any help. I will always remain indebted to him for this gesture of his. It is only because of him that I could complete my matriculation in 1978. Immediately after exams I went to work with my maternal uncles in Venkatapuram and worked with them before I came to Nagpur.
In 1981 I came to Nagpur and a cousin got me a job at an industrial house. Soon my family followed and joined me here. While working a full time and another part-time job I appeared for HSC examination in 1984 (Six years after my matriculation) and passed in first division. In the next three years I appeared for commerce exams and graduated in First Divisions in 1987. Thereafter I registered for Company Secretaryship Course.
During my trying times I had the fortune of meeting some very good people who became my friends, philosophers and guides and kept me in good humor and encouraged me in my endeavours.
I lost my mother after passing one group of CS Inter. I was very much depressed as I was very close to mother but away when she took her last breath. In my depression I did not study properly and had a very pessimistic approach towards my exam. The result was I could not clear all the papers. For the first time in my life, I failed an exam. I learnt my lesson that whatever happens, the show must go on. In the first paper I was totally nervous, but started recovering during the exam itself. The result amplified this as I scored 26/40/44/60 marks in the papers. By the last paper I recovered fully and received exemption in the last paper. I considered it as a partial success instead of complete failure. The glass is half full or half empty shows the attitude and perception of the person.
I got married in the year April, 1990. I cleared two groups of CS Final after marriage and thus completed my professional education in the year 1990. Happenings, good or bad shall not deter us from our chosen path and we shall earnestly follow it and take it to its logical end.
On the role of money in life
I quote here from Goswami Tulsidasji’s Shri Ramcharitmanas which was in my Hindi Textbook:
जल संकोच विकल भई मीना; अबुध कुटुम्बी जिमी धन हीना.
In the rainy season all the pot-holes get filled with water and become home for aquatic creatures; with the onset of winter the water starts evaporating and the fish in these potholes become restless; in the same way the head of a family (grihasth) without money suffers for day to day expense.
Today’s Mantra is “Beg, Borrow or steal”. How can one live in peace in this type of atmosphere. You can buy anything today and pay in installments your whole life. You work to pay your bills. You work because you have to; not because you like to.
During my trying times, I had to keep my needs minimum so that I could continue my education. I knew that if I did not continue my education despite financial crunch, I would suffer for the rest of my life. Financial integrity played a big role all these times. We never believed in borrowing for personal use.
As I learnt the importance of money at a tender age I did not have any ambition to become somebody or to own something. Rather I wanted that my family should get enough money for day to day needs. As soon as I started my CS practice, all financial problems vanished. My earnings in the first year were twice my needs. I have never looked back since then. I have earned more than I could spend.
My Practice as Company Secretary
From 1992 I started practicing Corporate Laws.
I always tried to excel in whatever I did. CS profession is no exception. People come to me for good advice, integrity and honesty. My terms seem harsh to non compliant people. I concentrate broadly on two matters:
i) Imparting education of Corporate laws, strategic planning, discussion and guidance; and
ii) Technical guidance for compliance of the law in filing of various returns and reports.
I delegate most of the work to the clients’ staff so that they get trained to ready to look after day to day affairs.
I apply certain principles in my professional practice. They are;
1. I don’t take people known to be non compliant; if I find them non compliant later on, I drop them from my clientele.
2. I don’t share my fees with anyone. I avoid taking or giving of commission or cuts for sending or getting assignments.
3. I practice only Company law matters and nothing else, even though I am capable of dealing with tax, finance, accounting and other business related matters. This way I don’t have a conflict of interest with other professionals who refer assignments to me.
4. If I feel that a client is disrespecting, me I discontinue the brief as I know that I will not be able to respect him for long and in my opinion a relationship bereft of respect is insult.
5. I have set patterns for charging of fees and never take advantage of the innocence of the people or the crisis they are in. Many times I end up giving free advice to the victimized directors at the hands of majority directors and shareholders. What’s more, these people aren’t even my clients!
6. I never bargain or allow discounts in fees. If a client is unable to pay up due to financial crises, I waive the fees. I never go after bounced cheques.
Even before I accept my clients, I put some questions to them, questions like:
1. Reasons for the incorporation of the company; and the Mission, vision and value systems (ethics);
2. What they will put into the company and what they expect in return;
3. How they will allow other people to join the company as shareholders/ directors;
4. How they will part, if need arises;
5. Form of communication between directors;
I only accept them if I receive a satisfactory answer.
Professionals are meant to be educators. It is their responsibility to educate their clients, rather than take advantage of their situations. Also, it is the responsibility of their clients to accept that education, and to act accordingly.
Corporate Social Responsibility
In the days of my schooling there were hardly any schools run as a business. Schools were established by people with philanthropic attitude and purpose. There were charitable hospitals, Pyau, Dharmshala, Annakshetra etc. everywhere. There were no phrases like “Corporate Social Responsibility”; people were more responsible and caring for the society. Sometimes I wonder “kahan gaye woh log?”
When teaching, healthcare and likes of it become business and profit becomes the motive then all the malice associated with business also enter it. Now everything is corporatized and everyday new words are invented to justify the actions.
Role of Role Models
Let me start with Integrity. If we look at the actions of all the public figures, whether it be political class, corporate class or any other section of the society, we find that nobody is bothered about integrity. And obviously, we the lesser mortals are following them and banishing ‘integrity’ from our dictionary.
When we see big b endorsing chocolates and cold drinks and what not; cricketers endorsing useless things; compromising the result of games; what can we expect the youth to do. The very icons whom they worship are so corrupt and unaccountable. How do we expect that the teachers and parents can bring up the children to become responsible citizens?
Accountability can be described in contrast also. I shall give some examples to illustrate my point:
When one shells out hefty amounts to secure a seat in a medical college what can you expect from these poor fellows. They are there to recover the money they paid manifolds and to make a luxurious living out of it. Some cardiologists perform angiography and angioplasty for money. Many physicians prescribe unnecessary CT scan, MRI and other tests so that they can get a cut at the end of the day. It’s official! Obstetricians perform caesareans instead of normal delivery for the money. And on top of it they don’t tell the whole truth about the consequences of doing it and not doing it. They try to capitalize on the fear of the patient and his relative and their own greed for money. The other day I searched the internet and found some articles by doctors saying that if one gets two CT scan he is exposed to the radiation equal to that of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The Japanese did not pay the US for the radiation but poor patients pay to get it. Is it not amazing and amusing? For simple pains operation is performed whereas it can be cured by acupressure and urine therapy. I have personally cured thousands of patients, some of whom were to undergo surgery for ailments like piles, shoulder aches, back aches etc. Steroids are given without much educating the patients and the situation goes from bad to worse.
Strangely enough, we are the ones responsible for this. You may ask how? We have stopped the learning of basic things and delegated the core responsibilities to others. We don’t want to learn the basic things about our bodies, its functioning, and have delegated the job to doctors, nutritionists, and the like. I would like to say that ultimately it is my body; the other person will not be as much concerned as I am.
Treat your body with Care and Respect
The problem is people are so busy making money and chasing their dreams that they abuse the body. And when it becomes immobile they are deposited in a nursing home like a wrecked car in an auto garage. People take care of machines and gadgets as per user’s manual but fail to comprehend the user’s manual of their own body. If it aches they take a pill instead of taking rest and introspecting what is wrong with it. Prominent examples are the Late Ranjan Das, CEO, SAP India who had to leave at the young age of 42, and the Late Dr. Neetu Mandke, the cardiologist.
Keep learning and you won’t need to amass money and things
One has to keep learning throughout his life. A single life is not enough to learn everything. We start in the next life where we leave in this life. My life has been a very good learning experience. I always try to learn new things and try to apply them in the day to day life to ease the working and enhance enjoyment.
After passing CS I learnt the basics of the practice. Computers were new in those days, therefore I first learnt how to use computers. Even though I did not own one, I learnt the basic operations and maintained client records on clients’ computers from the very early days of my practice. I kept learning the different office application programs to ease the routine matters. Later on I studied databases and programming and wrote programs for my office. I also passed Certified Information System Auditor Exam. Thereafter I attended a course on ISO 27001: Information Security Management System.
Throughout my life I was looking for a hobby. I found this in acupressure and for the last one year I am treating pains and ailments of people. I have cured many diseases and pains and plan to take it to a National and International level. I never feel insecure as I am employable anywhere, anytime, recession or inflation. There is no fear of theft if you have skills.
Raja pujyate deshe; vidwan sarvatra pujyate.
Use your freewill
God has made us in his image and gave freewill. We can achieve anything in life by carefully exercising the freewill. The role of education is to afford us discretion to apply the freewill. If we have a choice then it is freewill; if there is no choice then it is destiny. One cannot complain that he has no choice and it is his destiny to lie or steal. If he understands the meaning of freewill in the right sense, he will start using his intellect and get lasting satisfaction in life. Else he will chase mirage and will be lost in the desert of life.
Corruption in bureaucracy
There are very cumbersome, tiring and difficult selection procedures for IAS, IPS and IRS. Still we don’t have honest people as public servants. Most of them are very honest when they enter the service. It is said that the system corrupts them. They succumb to the Peer pressure, pressure from family for more money, pressure from political bosses and similar things. I recall Mr. N. Vittal, the then vigilance commissioner, said in a talk that everywhere there is talk about corruption in the public system, but nobody talks about the supply side of corruption. If nobody is willing to pay then how come one demands or gets the money. He was right to some extent. The problem will continue unless and until each one of us decides positively not to act upon our greed and fear.
Crisis in Leadership
So long as we have clowns in the cockpit no one can save our plane from crashing. Parliament and Legislative bodies are akin to the aeroplane. The elected leaders are from among us. They merely represent the quality of the people who elect them. When the people electing legislators are neither accountable nor honest with themselves; and vote for some consideration without going into the merits of the candidates we are going to suffer.
Ethics in business
It is said that everything is fair in love and war. Great Dhirubhai added business to it. Now you see the result all over; his very own sons fighting for a greater share of the pie. There are many business houses and one cannot say that the families owning them never face any differences. However, they have mechanisms is place to settle it amicably behind closed doors with proper mediation; they never wash their dirty linen in the public.
Lessons from Mr. Azim Premji and Wipro
Under Mr. Premji's stern direction, the company was one of the first in India to refuse to give or accept bribes, a bold step in a country where payoffs were the grease of business life.
The company once fired a man who claimed expenses for a first-class train trip when he actually rode second, a difference of a few rupees. When the man's union called a strike and stayed off work for three months, Mr. Premji refused to back down.
To set a tone of modesty and discipline, Mr. Premji, a billionaire many times over, rides economy when taking flights around India and drives a four-year-old Toyota Corolla - purchased only when his nine-year-old Ford Escort gave out.
Unlike other Indian tycoons who have passed on their companies to their sons, he has no dynastic ambitions. When his son Rishad joined Wipro last year, the company said he would be taking a post "commensurate with his background and experience."
See what Mr. Premji have to say on values:
In spite of all the change around you, decide upon what you will never change – your core values. Take you time to decide what they are but once you do, do not compromise on them for any reason. Integrity is one such value.
Finally, we must remember that succeeding in a changing world is beyond just surviving. It is our responsibility to create and contribute something to the world that has given us so much.
We must remember that many have contributed to our success, including our parents and others from our society. All of us have a responsibility to utilize our potential for making our nation a better place for others, who may not be as well endowed as us, or as fortunate in having the opportunities that we have got.
Now it is time for some words of wisdom from none other than Mr. N. R. Narayana Murthy of INFOSYS:
When, one day, you have made your mark on the world, remember that, in the ultimate analysis, we are all mere temporary custodians of the wealth we generate, whether it be financial, intellectual, or emotional. The best use of all your wealth is to share it with those less fortunate.
I believe that we have all at some time eaten the fruit from trees that we did not plant. In the fullness of time, when it is our turn to give, it behooves us in turn to plant gardens that we may never eat the fruit of, which will largely benefit generations to come. I believe this is our sacred responsibility, one that I hope you will shoulder in time.
Be honest and Accountable to yourself
If one is accountable and honest with oneself there is no need to find if he is honest with family, friends, society or the nation. All other things are simply a consequence. If a man is honest then he is honest with everything. Else you cannot expect him to be honest with family and dishonest with others.
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