Dear Valued Reader,
The vacation is in full swing. It is time to relax and rejuvenate. Time to spend quality time with family.
Survival of the fittest is the order, especially in today’s materialistic world where we can lose track of the essence of life. The ultimate goal of life is happiness. We think that if we are successful, we would be happy, but for achieving success the price that we pay is ‘happiness’. Again in the process of gaining material possessions, we lose spiritual wealth. We earn name, fame and wealth at the cost of folks who matter the most in our life. As someone has beautifully put, “It’s good to have money and all the things that money can buy, but it is also good to make sure that you have not lost the things money cannot buy.” The point I am driving at, is that we should strike a balance between work and life.
The results of the recent assembly polls have proved people are fed up with corruption and bad governance. Communism has lost its relevance even in the country of its origin, and is naturally on the decline in India. The model has failed in India as West Bengal, which was ruled by the Communist Party for over three decades, has remained one of the most backward Indian states.
According to Karl Marx, “Communism is the riddle of history solved, and it knows itself to be this solution”. Communist thought stems from the belief that the division of human populace into ‘executive class’ versus ‘working class’ has given rise to ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’; wherein the former always exploits the latter. Therefore, the ideology propounds a classless and stateless society, where decisions on what to produce and what policies to pursue are made in the best interests of the whole of society — therefore ‘rule of, by, and for the working class’, rather than the elitist class controlling wealth and everyone else working under them for wages. Communism aims at providing resources to each person according to his needs, and not necessarily according to merits. Seniority is preferred over merit.
Capitalism, on the other hand, is the other extreme, wherein survival of the fittest is the lone criteria. ‘Merit’ is supposed to rule over other criteria in every sphere of life, but we all suffer from human weaknesses such as nepotism, partiality, jealousy, etc. The solution, perhaps, lies between these two extremes. And therefore, India adopted the socialistic pattern of society and ‘mixed economy’, where existence of public and private sector side by side was recognised. It was expected that the Government would collect revenue from the rich through progressive taxation and redistribute the wealth to the poor and needy, through welfare measures. The aim was to have the best of both worlds. However, we ended up with the worst of both. Many public sector undertakings had remained inefficient, and private sectors were complacent till 1990, when India perforce had to opt for liberalising the economy — a move towards capitalism.
In the recent state assembly polls, Mamta Benerjee in West Bengal and J. Jayalalitha in Tamil Nadu notched incredible landslide victories. Leadership is not a status but an awesome responsibility, especially when people vote you to power with a thumping majority. Let us hope both these ladies live up to the expectations of their respective electorates by delivering good governance, as ‘good governance is good politics’ has been amply illustrated in the past by various Chief Ministers.
In order to inculcate leadership qualities in students, BCAS, under the auspices of Amita Memorial Leadership Development Fund, organised a full-day course on Leadership on 21st May 2011. Imparting of training by practical examples, role-modelling on communications, etc. was received very well by the students.
The recent unpalatable comments by the Central Minister, Jairam Ramesh, about the quality of faculty at IIT/IIM not being world -class have sparked an avoidable controversy. As per media reports, Mr Ramesh had said, “There is hardly any worthwhile research from our IITs. The faculty in the IITs is not world class. It is the students in IITs and IIMs who are world-class.” Indeed there is a dearth of research scholars and there is need for reforms in our educational systems and more so, in state-run institutions. However, IIT still remains an attractive career option for students. The overall passing percentage has remained below 3%, as in the past.
What is heartening to know is that the mathematical wizard Prof. Anand Kumar and his team from Bihar, are coaching IIT aspirants from the weaker sections of society, totally free of cost. They started this educational initiative in 2002, known as ‘Super 30’ under which 30 meritorious students from the economically backward class are being provided free food, lodging and are coached for a year to take IIT-JEE, which is considered to be one of the toughest written examinations in India. Till date, 236 students have cleared IIT-JEE as a part of this initiative. This year, 24 out of the ‘Super 30’ students have cleared their examinations. The successful candidates include sons of truck drivers, milk vendors, marginal farmers, grade IV railmen, chaatwallahs and so on. Salutations to Prof. Anand Kumar and his team, who are putting leadership into action and making positive contributions to society. I am sure these 236 students in turn, would make the needed difference to others, for this cycle to go on and on. There is an old proverb, “If you want to feed a man for a day, give him a fish, but if you want to feed him for life, teach him to fish.” Indeed, education is a means to free people from their poverty, financial as well as mental.
Increase in petrol prices is heating up the economy and any increase in oil prices would have a snowballing effect. The irony is that neither the Central nor the State Governments are willing to let go of their share of income, which together accounts for nearly 43% of oil prices (Source: The Economic Times, dated 18th May, 2011). Diesel, which has been subsidised for socio-political reasons, continues to bleed oil corporations. Even though some economists favour strengthening of the Indian Rupee, which can somewhat ease pressure on import price of oil, it is not resorted to for the reason that exports could become non-competitive. The RBI indeed is walking on a tight rope. The immediate solution obviously lies in the reduction of duties on oil, and revenue generation through fiscal reforms in other spheres.
The new Managing Committee at BCAS has been elected. I congratulate CA. Pradeep Thanawala who has been elected as President, and CA. Deepak R. Shah, Vice-President of the Society. I compliment other office bearers and members of the Managing Committee.
I wish you all a happy summer, followed by rains, and until we meet next . . . .
Regards,
Mayur Nayak
