tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-181897152024-03-08T09:12:17.054+05:30Writer's BlogKLiterature and Books, welcome to my world of posts - you'll find reviews, comments on a variety of books - recent and not so - depending on what I am able to pick up from my book-seller friends.ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.comBlogger79125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-15945255928683314652018-04-04T04:51:00.000+05:302020-12-03T11:16:14.673+05:30Noise and Clutter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Dialogue of the Deaf<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">The Government and the RBI</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">TCA Srinivasa Raghavan<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Tranquebar Press, 2017<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">pp.308. Price: Rs.599.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">The title of the book says it all. It is jarring
and in your face. It is casual and conversational. The objective of the book is
to make RBI <i>“easily accessible to the lay reader”</i> (inside jacket). There
is a style that makes complex things accessible, a narrative style that is
bereft of jargon; a style that flows smoothly. However, if one were to look at
a breezy, interesting account of how the central banking evolved in this
country, this is not the book. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">TCA Srinivasa Raghavan (TCA) hedges his bets by
putting a request in the Preface: <i>“.. don’t nitpick. Instead, just read and
get a sense of it all”.</i> What if, the book is an invitation to nitpick? If
(according to TCA) the official history of RBI published in four volumes is
boring, then there were interesting ways of addressing that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">That alternative style would flow according to a narrative
choice, usually on a chronological basis with digressions into the past or the
future to illustrate a point or to bring in the consequence. A chapter plan and
a sequence of chapters which convey the drift of the narrative. If the author
is at a loss to give titles to the chapters, we really wonder where this is
headed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">In a book on history, with verifiable records and
access to archives, there is no playing around with facts. There could be an
element of drama as we have seen in Tamal Bandyopadhyay’s book on Sahara. Historical
accounts are expected to provide a perspective on why and how these events have
shaped the present and give us the benefit of hindsight to look at the past
more objectively. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">TCA’s style is that of a cricket commentator, getting
excited by the here-and-now of the events. He puts his heart into his writing
and describes events with great passion, slipping in his two bits. For
instance, SS Tarapore is repeatedly referred to as “one of the greatest central
bankers India has produced” (p.18, p.44) but he does not describe the contributions
of Tarapore that justifies the tributes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">TCA is casual about facts as well. In discussing the
creation of the State Bank of India, he says “<i>The government agreed. It also
took over the RBIs stake in the newly created State Bank of India to prevent
any conflict of interest between the banking regulator and the bank” </i>(p.80).
Later, discussing Governor Reddy’s failures he says: <i>“transfer of ownership
of SBI to the government from RBI – for which RBI was made to pay!” </i>(p.241).
So, when did the RBI let go of its shareholding in SBI?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">And this casual writing: <i>“Like Reddy, Subbarao
was also from the Andhra Cadre of IAS but unlike Reddy who had a PhD in
economics, his training had been in physics…” </i>(p.205) and then <i>“Like
Reddy he (Subbarao) too was from the Andhra Cadre and held a PhD in economics”</i>
(p.247). Andhra Pradesh becomes Andhra, and Subbarao alternates as a Physicist
and an Economist. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">In 1997, the RBI in response to what was then
called the CRB scam tightened the regulation of non-banking finance companies
(NBFC), making it mandatory of all NBFCs to register and get a licence; imposed
capital requirements and prohibited NBFCs from accepting public deposits unless
they met some capital and rating criteria. However, without much discussing the
events that lead to the NBFC regulations makes this statement: <i>“It went on
like this till 1997, when the RBI finally delivered the coup de grace saying
the NBFCs could take only very small deposits. No one was fooled that the entire
effort had been aimed at protecting the inefficient and sometimes corrupt
public sector banks.” </i>(p.134) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Having nitpicked we can now get the <i>“sense of it
all” (Preface)</i>. If there is one underlying takeaway on the relationship of
RBI with the government, it is about leadership. Depending on the style of the
Governor, and the finance minister, the RBI alternates between a division of
the finance ministry, and an autonomous authority. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">TCA brings this out when he poignantly asks how
many Governors use “we” as against “I” when referring to decisions and
policies. But TCAs himself is a victim of this as he structures his narrative
around the Governors. We, for instance, do not get to know how the internal
structure of RBI evolved. Were there independent internal voices in the RBI
like Tarapore, Usha Thorat, Shyamala Gopinath and Rakesh Mohan – all referred
in the passing – who could constrain the Governor to ensure that an onslaught
from the government was resisted? What is the advice that the governors get? From
whom? How has that evolved? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">The book gives an impression that managing RBI is
largely a turf war between the Governor and the Ministry of Finance, and
Governors like Reddy <i>“dribbled past” “Jaswant Singh whose knowledge of
economics bordered to nil”</i>, but it became difficult with people like P
Chidambaram <i>“who knew the ministry and RBI and was a master of detail and
had a clear understanding of issues” </i>(p.239). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">An potentially important book, with much access to
archival material and several side stories is lost in a double whammy – the
casual style of TCA and the non-existence of an editor. In the turf war between
an aggressive author and a docile editor, the editor has lost. And thus, we have
lost an important book on the history of RBI that could have been narrated from
an independent, unbiased and uncluttered mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><o:p> </o:p></span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.31px; text-align: left;"><b><b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© M S Sriram |</span></span></b></b></b></b></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-68171571876886757032017-03-04T15:18:00.001+05:302020-12-03T11:16:29.640+05:30Big Data Big Concerns<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;">Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big
Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXwUQaMknnxU6HZwchMww4ZLcUCMlGVFeBXOQYJamBsOs_BM1TkRbyRBEcZ5ypA-FqyHSYM_meRSWcKdSSvDtnRCFqhEBni-qa5BQdATxHFOy-vHJlJ3wvdBBDwxh7norSfGI-/s1600/jay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXwUQaMknnxU6HZwchMww4ZLcUCMlGVFeBXOQYJamBsOs_BM1TkRbyRBEcZ5ypA-FqyHSYM_meRSWcKdSSvDtnRCFqhEBni-qa5BQdATxHFOy-vHJlJ3wvdBBDwxh7norSfGI-/s1600/jay.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Cathy O’Neil<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Allen Lane, 2016</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">pp.259. Price
£.12.99<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">These are the days of big data. This
seems to be the new fix for all the problems that we forsee, particularly in
providing technology enabled solutions for the most pressing problems of the
world. Big data will help you diagnose diseases, it will predict frauds, tell
you the patterns in customer behavior, and of course, there is a whole host of
free stuff that you will get in return for authorizing an app to use your
personal information. What possibly started as the Google experience – where
you get the ease of searching with the non-intrusive big pasted advertisements
or pop ups, has now become almost a lifestyle. While we merrily share data, the
intrusion of commerce into our lives is subtle and slowly we are unable to see
where our private persona ends and the public persona takes over. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Cathy O’Neil has been there and done
that. She has worked on big data and has seen how the modelling happens, and
how the results are interpreted from close quarters. She recognizes the
importance of big data and the benefits it brings. At the same time, O’Neil
puts out a warning bell on the indiscriminate use of big data for modelling on
real lives – how this analysis does not consider exceptions and how even when
exceptions are found, they become a data point for recaliberating the model, a
human being or a life seen as a data point, falling down by the wayside as a
collateral effect in a larger journey of data becoming commerce. It is an
important voice to be heard when the big advocates of the JanDhan-Aadhar-Mobile
trinity are talking of India moving from a data poor country to a data rich
country. We need to understand the meaning of data rich and its implications.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">O’Neil talks about where the data and
patterns would be useful: Certainly in baseball games (or for that matter in
cricket) where you could use this to analyse the opponent team and make your
strategies. In the process you are making the game even more interesting and
not killing anybody. However, what happens when the data that you use turns out
to be circular and possibly leads to patterns similar to racial profiling in
crime data? Herein comes the problem. Because, what big data does is exactly
what our minds do – create patterns – based on past experience. These patterns
would keep the exceptions out as “errors”. But what happens to these exceptions
in real life? Would they become a victim of a predictive model? This is an
important question to ask. This question then leads us to consider that more
and more “scientific” models would have an objective way of getting people in,
but will have no objective way of making exceptions. Afterall each human being
is an exception and unique. While it is okay to make a game based prediction,
how fair is it to take legal action based on a suspected movement, just because
the machine told you so?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">O’Neil brings in interesting human
stories – of those who were victims of big data based models – who became
collaterals in the performance modelling. Like the story of Sarah Wysocki and
other teachers who were classified as failures because the district
administration had used one of the sophisticated models. Firstly, firing her
was an “error”.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> A large part of the evaluation was
based on the difference between what her students scored when they came in and
what the scored when they went out and there was no objective way of telling if
they had come in with artificially inflated scores by the previous teacher who
actually helped the students to score better with their own intervention.
Secondly, the fact that she was fired was an error was not even reported back
for the system to learn. Most of the Big Data models work as black boxes,
without as much feedback that is necessary to train the models. In any case
using Wysocki as a data point in itself should be an ethical and moral problem.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Given that we are
on the verge of many tech-enabled start-ups coming into the fray to help the
inclusive business – say peer to peer lending, payday lending, cross selling of
third party products, the scene is getting scary. There are companies that are
building credit behavior models based on the data mined from facebook, whatsapp
posts and geo-locations. Big brother could never be watching the customers for
preying so well, ever before. In this context it is important to read this book
and look at the limitations of data and seriously examine the ethical limits of
the machine invading our lives and making decisions for us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Cathy O’Neil’s
book is in the same league as Michael Sandel – though not having that width or
depth – of reminding us of the limits of commerce, bringing fairness to the
fore and asking difficult questions on whether poor and customers are to be
seen as data points or as active and alive human beings. This is a book that
should be a must read for all the youngsters building “apps” to play around
with human behavior and all the venture funders who encourage these youngsters.
It is important that they stand up to the start ups.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-23964917152047426482017-03-04T15:11:00.002+05:302020-12-03T11:16:17.926+05:30Demystifying RBI<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;">Whom Moved My Interest Rate?</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKydVgFtzWn1CQpvVz_i3jw5w-aIS90w7Ys-foOoxcvkjHu4LQXJaGkcTQSZ6GNVYKl2tNmJuT3QaF_ERBjOtU15LgO1sPD5inFZWhmfOMHlguwaiof0xhLzrv2Kc57DZ9IICH/s1600/jay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKydVgFtzWn1CQpvVz_i3jw5w-aIS90w7Ys-foOoxcvkjHu4LQXJaGkcTQSZ6GNVYKl2tNmJuT3QaF_ERBjOtU15LgO1sPD5inFZWhmfOMHlguwaiof0xhLzrv2Kc57DZ9IICH/s320/jay.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Leading the Reserve Bank of India through Five
Turbulent Years<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Duvvuri Subbarao<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Penguin Books, 2016<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">pp.308. Price: Rs.699.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">When Duvvuri Subbarao took charge as the Governor
of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) he had two challenges to face –(a) his predecessor
Dr. Yaga Venugopal Reddy had left a great legacy as a forward looking but
conservative, non-compromising Governor, and (b) the global meltdown triggered
by the sub-prime crisis in the United States of America was having its shocks
on our economy as well. Subbarao was moving directly from the Finance Ministry
into the central bank and many thought that he was chosen to toe the Ministry
line. The other candidate up for the position – as we know from Subbarao’s book
– was Rakesh Mohan, by then a seasoned central banker, having served as a
Deputy Governor. Subbarao was relatively unknown to the finance world. Not many
knew what he stood for and if he would stand up like Reddy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Under normal times, there would not have been such
a detailed scrutiny of his tenure. His tenure was one of the most testing in
recent times. On balance, the verdict was that he came out as one of the best
Governors the RBI had. Unfortunately for Subbarao, he was sandwiched between
two formidable personalities. Reddy who had a much larger reputation as a
sharp, shrewd and witty Governor whose was endorsed by no less than Joseph
Stiglitz as the best person that US Fed did not have, and Raghuram Rajan whose
reputation as an economist preceded the governorship. But a fair assessment of Subbarao’s
performance as a governor is to be done after shedding the reputational baggage
of his predecessor and successor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIrzjzdek15aNBMGOYjfONS2UmSXqiCqj4SB9JGC-E19rQOkhQq1_O0OfuBaDwkZ3GeBzCGR3gjH3tVg9KszY9cu08sblhNIkYisW5x02ZYInGm05_Lfz_ObLB373287E3fy0-/s1600/jay1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIrzjzdek15aNBMGOYjfONS2UmSXqiCqj4SB9JGC-E19rQOkhQq1_O0OfuBaDwkZ3GeBzCGR3gjH3tVg9KszY9cu08sblhNIkYisW5x02ZYInGm05_Lfz_ObLB373287E3fy0-/s1600/jay1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">The book under review is a remarkable
self-assessment. It is candid, clear and opens up the vulnerabilities,
loneliness, dilemmas and the doubts that a position of a Governor brings.
Subbarao was not the best of orators - his style pales into insignificance when
compared to Reddy’s wit and Rajan’s theoretical and philosophical overlays.
Even the jokes which he rendered with a deadpan face took time to sink in. But
that is not the case with the written word. This book achieves one of the many things
that Subbarao set out to do as a Governor – demystify the RBI. It is a remarkably well written book, with
deep introspection of the actions taken during his tenure without any chest
thumping. Subbarao uses the distance of time to assess his tenure with a sense
of awe and humility. He has a wry sense self-deprecating humour which makes the
book even more readable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">While the narrative is personal and introspective,
the communication is universal and generalizable. It needs a skilled writer to
elevate personal experiences and into insights on a larger framework. Subbarao
achieves this effortlessly. He takes us on a tour of the functions of the RBI: monetary
policy; inflation targeting; forex management; banking; the developmental role
of financial inclusion; non-bank finance companies - all narrated through his
personal experiences and anecdotes, but elevating them into generalizable
concepts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">The personal style makes the book human –
conversations with his wife, the need to step out and take a walk, the awe of
the Governor’s residence and the immediate contrast with the poverty around, keeps
the book firmly grounded and does not degenerate into aggrandizement. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Subbarao is very candid throughout and does not
hold back any punches – whether it is his displeasure about the finance
ministry, his differences with Chidambaram and the somewhat irrational effects
that it may have had in the functioning of the Reserve Bank. One episode which resonates
in contemporary times is the way in which the re-appointment of Usha Thorat as
a Deputy Governor was dealt with, undermining the position of the Governor –
somewhat similar to the process that the current government followed in finding
the successor to Harun Khan who demitted office recently. Subbarao says that
“Usha became a part of the price we had to pay for asserting the autonomy of
the Reserve Bank”, and continues to express his displeasure on process of considering
the re-appointment of Subir Gokarn. The friction with the political class was
not only about interest rates and monetary policy, but spilled over.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0hM4vfG9D_CUlUUufZsx8zjLEtOlWnsZPndUqjOuqLfvN6xLikRvA1t-umAwMR79ujk2RNWc_mfdv2KRlCWYAI6otiWJthZjjmylCkR_FnKX3d37ZyczdCkpahNpHzzvPCMzW/s1600/jay2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0hM4vfG9D_CUlUUufZsx8zjLEtOlWnsZPndUqjOuqLfvN6xLikRvA1t-umAwMR79ujk2RNWc_mfdv2KRlCWYAI6otiWJthZjjmylCkR_FnKX3d37ZyczdCkpahNpHzzvPCMzW/s320/jay2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">His predecessor Reddy in contrast has wit and could
take any question with a twinkle in his eye and provide an answer that could at
one level be diversionary, and at another leave it open to multiple
interpretations. Rajan, his successor has used his opportunity to talk to
elevate the discourse to issues much beyond the RBI – an interesting strategy
of continuing communication without really stirring up the markets. That, Rajan
stirred up some other hornets’ nest, is a different matter. That he was not a
very flamboyant speaker is (in retrospect) our loss. However, in writing this
remarkable book, but he has more than made it up. It is clear that Subbarao was
a great team man, respecting and standing by his colleagues and constantly
craving to communicate to the outer world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqhaOl1QDpRhhHkTJfYTgawLSxk7NwTMblNnh8B65Lf7dRTudaE8SneC2PTIbH8pwtjfJisnHWmjy49sByC34aVJ9bKyQ7AtjxIpt3oZxl_Ypq8HJyCS7sIVn_j1kQ-0qd0CWB/s1600/jay3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqhaOl1QDpRhhHkTJfYTgawLSxk7NwTMblNnh8B65Lf7dRTudaE8SneC2PTIbH8pwtjfJisnHWmjy49sByC34aVJ9bKyQ7AtjxIpt3oZxl_Ypq8HJyCS7sIVn_j1kQ-0qd0CWB/s320/jay3.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">The only aspect in this book that stands out by its
absence is how little Subbarao mentions his predecessor Reddy. Given that Reddy
also had famous run-ins with the government, that he was a much respected
Governor and he belonged to the same cadre of Andhra Pradesh in their previous
avatars as civil servants, one would have expected a much more active exchange
of views – but that is not to be found in the book. While there is much warmth
for the colleagues and even his successor – Raghuram Rajan, the silence about
Reddy is somewhat conspicuous. That certainly does not diminish the value of a
wonderful book that takes us through the tumultuous years with a sense of
insight and humor. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.31px; text-align: left;"><b><b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></span></b></b></b></b></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-48323041446110595792017-03-04T15:04:00.001+05:302020-12-03T11:16:29.912+05:30Grand ideas and simple solutions for India’s large sized complex problems<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">Rebooting
India</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">Nandan
Nilekani and Viral Shah<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">Allen
Lane (A Penguin Imprint), 2015</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBn9OcwI99NY3_2f7HujQv3HTUSta3V483pzbgE1hCT_hY9W4raKiqjShf8LB8lhh6U5HfL77nlUbkSia6KNn8phh8mkguNlLPDSLFxBKb79k12XVTf2Y-wF3LuF5ZBj7_hsE3/s1600/jay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBn9OcwI99NY3_2f7HujQv3HTUSta3V483pzbgE1hCT_hY9W4raKiqjShf8LB8lhh6U5HfL77nlUbkSia6KNn8phh8mkguNlLPDSLFxBKb79k12XVTf2Y-wF3LuF5ZBj7_hsE3/s1600/jay.jpg" /></a></b></div>
<b><o:p></o:p></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">pp.337.
Price 799.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">There
are ten grand challenges, it needs ten start-ups within the government, with a
crack team of ten handpicked people per challenge, to solve the most
significant problems. There is evidence that this can be done, as evidenced by
two “problems” for which solutions are considered “firmly established, large
scale (p.291)”. These ideas would transform India and realise a billion
aspirations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">Does
the above statement sound ambitious, audacious, boastful or a pipe dream? Well,
the answer according to Nilekani and Shah is that they are plausible and
realistic. They think it is possible to achieve these dreams in a timebound
manner if we apply a mission mode and get this going within the government,
bypassing several of the checks of balances that a democracy would have – the checks that necessarily slows the process
of development. How would we achieve this?
Here is the job description:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">“A
true entrepreneur would figure out all the government processes and follow them
to the letter (Note: it does not say spirit). He will navigate the byways of
bureaucracy, keep his multiple masters happy, get his project mentioned in
every important speech and every government document of relevance, get his
bills tabled in Parliament and enacted as law, secure his budgets, cooperate
with investigating agencies, respond to court orders, answer Parliament
questions, tirelessly provide information sought in RTI requests, build a
general consensus with multiple interest groups within the government as well
as citizen groups outside, find allies who will support him when under attach,
and do all this while staying focused on hiring the best team and building an
organization that is dedicated towards achieving a well-defined goal. (p.xxiii)”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdGfJsjYT69UQa0KrwN4DGWEuDUdIga996vEGUusHUcS8bstDI7eiPoO-2N3UGtLWj8ict5kLMCBfAkGQ-nMczkc6QpZcIhIp2N4SbCR5IXwdtikdwwYm9w3gP33qE01nfQWvr/s1600/jay2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdGfJsjYT69UQa0KrwN4DGWEuDUdIga996vEGUusHUcS8bstDI7eiPoO-2N3UGtLWj8ict5kLMCBfAkGQ-nMczkc6QpZcIhIp2N4SbCR5IXwdtikdwwYm9w3gP33qE01nfQWvr/s1600/jay2.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">The
ideas of Nilekani and Shah are largely rooted in the use of technology to solve
many of the asymmetries that might be existing in the system. The arguments are
that much of these asymmetries are solvable by technology. Decades ago, we had
a similar initiative of entrepreneurship within the government when Sam Pitroda
revolutionized the telecom network, much before the advent of mobiles and then
the same frame work of a “mission” was used to multiple sectors with relatively
modest achievements. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">There
are two problems with the arguments extended by Nilekani and Shah – first they
assume that the template they have in terms of the art of the possible – that
of Aadhar is a success; second, this template is largely applicable to solve
other problems. Infact most of the solutions offered in the book are building
on the Aadhar base – which is now termed by Nilekani as India Stack. The
authors admit that the person who got the first Aadhar number Ranjana Sonawane
did not benefit much from the number because there are multiple government
systems that need to work in tandem to achieve her inclusion (p.21). But Aadhar,
nevertheless is declared a success story. This is precisely the problem with
the approach and tonality of the book. It offers simple solutions, and simplifies
the problems. This approach is somewhat surprising because Nilekani himself had
to deal with multiple complexities when he was at the helm of the Aadhar
project and the potential of Aadhar is yet to be tested at scale. What is
successful, are the enrollment numbers in the Aadhar system. This is impressive
and stands almost kissing a billion residents, but what is to be tested is the
biometric verification at scale on a real time basis. When that system is
stabilized we certainly can claim victory, subject to the other hurdles the
project faces from the courts and the challenges to privacy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">Irrespective
of the reservations on the overall simplicity and the “achievability” of the
solutions presented by Nilekani and Shah, the chapters on electronic toll, and
other ideas that are at “early stages” of experimentation show promise and look
plausible. The long term aspirational ideas need much more than the fixes that
are provided through the technological interventions. Education and Healthcare
for instance are not just about entitlements, vouchers and choices but also
about the multiple systems that need to work in tandem that builds in the back
end infrastructure to service these entitlements – irrespective of whether this
infrastructure is in the private sector or run by the State.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK4MJN_SmVs0tqRPfSylCumQQSiUCQ0qFYgZtDW3mUF245jB6_zJRzH-7_caba05b3GjC-J2XN5AzrwXLIqgF3BU1quKy3eeswcqzy_rZs6D5Ztvtr0V8oRfZGhJx9TymixVCv/s1600/jay3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK4MJN_SmVs0tqRPfSylCumQQSiUCQ0qFYgZtDW3mUF245jB6_zJRzH-7_caba05b3GjC-J2XN5AzrwXLIqgF3BU1quKy3eeswcqzy_rZs6D5Ztvtr0V8oRfZGhJx9TymixVCv/s1600/jay3.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">The
broad tone of the book was extended in the recent piece the authors wrote about
Freebasics initiative of Facebook to make basic internet services available to
all without a charge. In their write up which criticized the concept on the
argument of net neutrality they advocated the “direct benefit transfer of
internet data packs”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">The
book is audacious in its approach; seems to advocate steamrolling “reform” on a
mission mode with a readymade solution. The dissent and debate is to be
considered as a necessary element to “win over” opposition. That there might be
some merit of the dissenting voices is not considered seriously. The dissent is
treated as a necessary constraint in a project chart that needs to be addressed
in a manner that it does not stall the “progress”. It is this approach that is
jarring in a book that is so wonderfully full of ideas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b><b><b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">© M S Sriram |</span></span></b></b></b></b></span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-7798751133527916682017-03-04T14:56:00.001+05:302020-12-03T11:16:30.092+05:30History online<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;">Beyond the Call of Duty</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">V Raghunathan and Veena Prasad</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Harper Collins India, 2015</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">pp.224. Price Rs.299.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Raghunathan has been writing books on diverse
issues – about locks, a popular book on game theory, one on paradoxes, a book
on rationality and also on Duryodhana – a character from Mahabharata. His
latest offering (with Veena Prasad) is a book on Britons who made a positive
difference to India - a positive spin on the colonisers. While the idea itself
is very interesting, there is a certain laziness in the approach. Let me
elaborate:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Look at the essay on Mark Tully – a name that would
easily resonate in contemporary India: Writing about Tully the authors say
“Google Mark Tully and you find no less than 8.5 million results. He is all
over the web space. And yet, try finding some intimate details about how well
he did in school, or when and where he met his wife, or exactly when and where
he got married, and when and where his children were born, or what their names
are, and so forth, you find he is not such a public persona after all. (p.201)”
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">So, they claim, it is difficult to fill in the
details in the essay about Tully. That is because of what the authors admit: they
restricted their research to what was available on-line. The book is to be
examined with this disclaimer in place. Having considered the limitation, then
next test would be what is “in” the book. With any selection of personalities
and some details about them, critics could quibble about what is excluded, an argument
that can be made with the best of the selections. But what should be the
criteria for including a personality and classifying all the scattered
information about such a personality on the net to weave a coherent story? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Given that this is not a piece of historical
research, neither is the book having a common underlying theme (apart from the
positive contributions made by the subjects) one would think that there would
be some relevance to the current times through the historical significance of
the contribution. If we apply this test, the chapter on Sleeman, who chased
thugs in his spare time would possibly fail. What is the point?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Similarly one does not figure out why Sir Mark
Tully has made it to the book. Certainly being a journalist and being interested
in India (mostly post-independence) would make him a person doing his duty,
rather than going beyond the call of duty. While the rest of the personalities
discussed in the book were born in the late eighteenth and the early nineteenth
century (the latest being Ronald Ross born in 1857), the authors go out of the
way - almost jump a century - to bring in Tully – somebody so contemporary – in
a historical book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">These exceptions notwithstanding the book is
interesting. Of particular interest would be the chapter on Arthur Thomas
Cotton, who was singularly responsible for Andhra Pradesh’s agrarian
prosperity. We have the hindsight of time to look at what irrigation did to an
entire region, quite detached from the “here-and-now” issues of rehabilitation,
resettlement and issues of human rights. It is not that those issues are not
important, but a detachment from time gives a better perspective. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">The important chapter titled “Getting India on
Track” talks about the investments made in the railway network and the benefits
that we continue to reap from the backbone laid by Stephenson and Chapman. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">The detailed chapter on Ronald Ross and his
contribution to the discovery of the fact that malaria spread through the anopheles’
mosquito gives us a perspective on the state of medical research and how
frustrating it was for Ross to find a needle in the haystack of research. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">While one can quibble with the research based on
material available on-line, it does not discount the fact that to put these
disparate pieces of information together, in reading and understanding
material, and sifting the mundane and the trivia with the substantial is not
easy. The book is also written in an easy style. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPS0cuO_7HjBj4aTHdCC1RCO5f263NE195i0nj5r4lkUzsYncbohKQRpfR-2ByUiv6XdDNCAf7mahj1VKjz6ioUszuzq81c6zUlQB1mK2LnZoLqh50KMrIy7tgO_ehCXsB_E63/s1600/jay2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPS0cuO_7HjBj4aTHdCC1RCO5f263NE195i0nj5r4lkUzsYncbohKQRpfR-2ByUiv6XdDNCAf7mahj1VKjz6ioUszuzq81c6zUlQB1mK2LnZoLqh50KMrIy7tgO_ehCXsB_E63/s320/jay2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">The personalities featured in the book were born
between 1746 and 1857 (except for Tully). This in itself is important because
evaluating the contribution of these persons after almost a century and a half
would mean that these contributions – as they continue to be relevant to this
day – were never trivial. It is therefore important to flag these events and
the commitment of these gentlemen (there is not a single lady featured in the
list) and evaluate their contribution and its impact. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">The book should be welcomed as it brings back into
the focus, the large impact made by these dogged and persistent personalities
not only on the Indian space, but the contribution to the lives of citizens
across the universe. The language and style has positively contributed to the
authors’ agenda. The book is a contribution to the extent that it reminds us of
all the important positive contributions that were made in the Raj era.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b><b><b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">© M S Sriram |</span></span></b></b></b></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b><b><b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></b></b></b></span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-24149409015682461552017-03-04T14:02:00.004+05:302020-12-03T11:16:30.273+05:30The Leadership of Elephants<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; text-align: justify;">How
to Help an Elephant make a U Turn</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">GK
Jayaram</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5J1F9W8vesdKYSZAfQNwOhMMQQf7yAYLDhaMHR05zPPQzXy2_DfmNjQVv7OCYZmnYD2wqYFTyF9a4nVLkDLTnv56XD_eAVQJw8m0fEWqS6zR8JijYfYAbh6x3WhrM1Nn0yUU2/s1600/jay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5J1F9W8vesdKYSZAfQNwOhMMQQf7yAYLDhaMHR05zPPQzXy2_DfmNjQVv7OCYZmnYD2wqYFTyF9a4nVLkDLTnv56XD_eAVQJw8m0fEWqS6zR8JijYfYAbh6x3WhrM1Nn0yUU2/s1600/jay.jpg" /></a></div>
Maven
Books (A Rupa Imprint), 2015<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">pp.263.
Price 500</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">One
more book on leadership; one more model that tells us that times are changing
–we live in a VUCAI (volatality, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity and
interdependence) world and how we should instantly change; one more book that
proposes a new framework of leadership; one more book that talks down to the
reader; one more book that has all the “feel good” factors of leadership –
systems thinking, inclusiveness and how leadership comes from within. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcUM3I12EqeeUr8xUQwsvki178CGhu3chsSVFGZ00EunL5wwmPyQt0wC0gOcVn1n87jqP9GpXNL3KwCOQndIOfk-w-5dnclO-V4qtlB9EZVbkMXX1sNo9NNdv62Cxgspktoega/s1600/jay3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcUM3I12EqeeUr8xUQwsvki178CGhu3chsSVFGZ00EunL5wwmPyQt0wC0gOcVn1n87jqP9GpXNL3KwCOQndIOfk-w-5dnclO-V4qtlB9EZVbkMXX1sNo9NNdv62Cxgspktoega/s1600/jay3.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">So
what is different in the book? To start with, the narrative style. The author
decides that he would have a conversation with the reader and therefore has a
one way conversation, peppered with comments that digress; he cracks poor jokes;
admonishes himself, and then moves on into the class room. It is not only
irritating, but also digressive from the arguments. And this style is not even consistent
through the book. If it were so it should not have had any trace of diagrams,
arrow marks, boxes; it is a conversation. These do appear, as the conversation
moves from the sidelines over a cup of tea to a more formal classroom and a
whiteboard with a marker. In between there is the digression of other voices of
business leaders pontificating on a specific question under the “leaderspeak”
head. These are interviews done by the author, with specific questions and
brief answers. The leaders giving sound bites possibly do not know the context
in which their quote would be used, and are just responding to the questions as
they encounter them. Therefore, these leaders make embarrassing guest
appearances in Jayaram’s leadership class. All in all the book is a mishmash of
styles good enough to put the reader off. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3T1SQJZUyPyIO9LSm-CHY6O731nKv1vdnmTAdPzDBkHA_jCoFcCxCkVrR-8rK4Iwq3r8h3FgkqrNQaT4HBWO7f81CZOXi-sjvemqGXitPH5lj-CJwL5Qz6uwcEXF3GUjyOOCq/s1600/jay2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3T1SQJZUyPyIO9LSm-CHY6O731nKv1vdnmTAdPzDBkHA_jCoFcCxCkVrR-8rK4Iwq3r8h3FgkqrNQaT4HBWO7f81CZOXi-sjvemqGXitPH5lj-CJwL5Qz6uwcEXF3GUjyOOCq/s1600/jay2.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Beyond
these distractions what does Jayaram convey? The essence is this – we are
living in a time of a revolution of rising expectations (RORE). Western
societies have gone beyond RORE to a spiral of reduced expectations (SORE). </span><i><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“There is a need to
rejuvenate these societies and provide them with a sense of constructive
purpose. Hope needs rebirth; and for that we need great leaders” (p.2). <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Jayaram
argues that there is something called a transcendent leader – a leader who would
connect to the followers, but also engage deeply with the immediate
surroundings and the larger world to evolve vision, values and strategies. He
argues that transformational leadership is a part of this. However, it is the
transcendent leaders that create transformational change in the organizations
(p.xiv).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The
transcendent leadership model is conceptualized as a 3+5 model. There are three
layers of foundation - integrity/character, intensity/courage and intelligence
+ intuition = imagination (p.42). Standing on these foundational elements are
five pillars of execution – self-awareness, empathy, interpersonal wisdom, our
world - community wisdom, Transcendence – global wisdom. This is the mantap on
which the rest of the arguments in the book are built. Jayaram picks up quotes
from the leaders, examples to illustrate his point from both his personal
experience and the global knowledge and fits them well into his argument. Following
this, there is a step-by-step roll out plan for transformation, with more
models identifying the pitfalls and speed breakers on the way and how the
leaders can carry people along. He ends the book by providing a model on how
the transcendent leadership could be modelled in a real life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">While
there are interesting questions that Jayaram deals with in his book – the usual
questions of whether leaders are born or can be trained, the question on
whether integrity could be taught or it is a value innate to people etc., the
answers to these are lost in the stylistic quagmire. For instance on the issue
of integrity he says </span><i><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“… companies have leadership development academies where they ‘teach’ the
code of conduct, but just as religions can vouchsafe and corporations concur, I
am sure no one has yet invented a sure-fire way of inculcating integrity in
every leader” (p.215). </span></i><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">While
this section does talk about organizational credos, and codes of conduct, which
brings up organizational values that might dictate personal action he throws it
all away with this flippant conclusion:</span><i><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> “From personal observation (I have no proof to
adduce), I would like to conclude that integrity can be ‘taught’ 49 percent of
the time, and the rest has to be learnt” (p.215).</span></i><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Another
irritating feature of the book is the number of acronyms used – RORE, SORE,
VISTAR, YOCO etc., without providing a referral list of acronyms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8iy8GkPBMiu4fldoSikVFqWc-JhpP-8hFQtDwS85MIYsxRMty7Q9QIv3cNtiERq7gJJFml_srftcTBGdHxNRk2RNBb8xydrYTgD0Fo3f8JyfxmWUuuQNppuQPqeN6jBBRHXQc/s1600/jay1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8iy8GkPBMiu4fldoSikVFqWc-JhpP-8hFQtDwS85MIYsxRMty7Q9QIv3cNtiERq7gJJFml_srftcTBGdHxNRk2RNBb8xydrYTgD0Fo3f8JyfxmWUuuQNppuQPqeN6jBBRHXQc/s1600/jay1.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The
book comes with some heavy endorsements, but as we have seen in the recent
past, the heavier the endorsement, the more suspect books are turning out to
be. I only wish that Jayaram’s book was a bit underwritten, more serious and
looked at the reader as a thinking-reflecting individual than an argumentative
Indian. He has converted something serious and profound into a </span><i><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">chai pe charcha</span></i><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">. It might be possible to have such a </span><i><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">charcha</span></i><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> with the author in person, but to use an
inanimate book as a medium for a </span><i><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">charcha </span></i><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">is irritating and
ill advised.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-73089368054987891502017-03-03T04:16:00.001+05:302020-12-03T11:16:30.453+05:30Looking for innovation, looking for frugality <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;">Frugal Innovation</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">How to do better with less</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaBYCYrwy1hDIDBULxDVOZ83Tu3M7fLw96m5gBQajoImE3EQNTNFZCA8Y9x20AZ0gWNznNZ1ZPoUdSraiZz2E8saXlGmFVpxscBs9zzMOJbCaD9YPVsBRMVXngnhrGNIAHMHs0/s1600/frugal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaBYCYrwy1hDIDBULxDVOZ83Tu3M7fLw96m5gBQajoImE3EQNTNFZCA8Y9x20AZ0gWNznNZ1ZPoUdSraiZz2E8saXlGmFVpxscBs9zzMOJbCaD9YPVsBRMVXngnhrGNIAHMHs0/s1600/frugal.jpg" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Navi Radjou and Jaideep Prabhu<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Hachette India<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">pp.252, Price
Rs. 599<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Ron Adner’s
<a href="http://joy-of-books.blogspot.in/2012/07/successful-innovations-and-business.html">“Wide Lens” (2012)</a> looked at innovations, why they succeed, and why successful
innovations could be business failures. He used a series of cases to build a
story that was coherent and consistent. Theory building in an area like
innovation is difficult. Innovation by definition should break the status quo
and the existing understanding. Therefore an attempt to find the “principles” of
innovative business should be lauded for courage. The authors usually expect is
to decipher a pattern that could be applied on an untested area, and based on
the principles, we should be able to predict success. However, an easier path
would be to put the principles upfront, or develop principles from a handful of
instances and then populate each principle with multiple examples, even if the
example that illustrates principle one, contradicts principle six. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Navi Radjou
and Jaideep Prabhu have written another book – Frugal Innovations. This follows
their highly successful first book Jugaad Innovation. Both these try to
retrofit a series of real-life examples into the pre-canned principles. <i>“Jugaad”</i>,
was meant to be innovation carried out by untrained people finding a localized
solution from available resources – possibly meant for a different purpose, but
innovatively fitted to the purpose that the innovator had to use at a given
point in time. Maati Cool – a refrigerator based on locally available resources
to cool vegetables, using a washing machine for churning <i>lassi</i> could be <i>Jugaad</i>.
But could a car – based on a conviction that there was a market at the right
price – a Tata Nano – based on the principle of target pricing be called <i>Jugaad</i>?
Or frugal innovation? The objective might be to make a frugal product, but is
the innovation itself frugal? Much the way products delight customers on some
attributes, the pricing could be a delight, but the innovation itself was not <i>Jugaad
</i>– with serious engineering and design that went into Nano.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx4WbqGp6Mp3V2B_dYx6jlLZI_p8tFlKBQ8KHijOprq7w0zPF-mIgYEak7rb-VoV5H_lswt5-EnIcj8WXhovifLwJs_p6-cwCHGUj6fTfzfDtnhNrrIVUDwIo0E7ck51yeDRFt/s1600/frugal1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx4WbqGp6Mp3V2B_dYx6jlLZI_p8tFlKBQ8KHijOprq7w0zPF-mIgYEak7rb-VoV5H_lswt5-EnIcj8WXhovifLwJs_p6-cwCHGUj6fTfzfDtnhNrrIVUDwIo0E7ck51yeDRFt/s320/frugal1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">There is a
problem in how Radjou and Prabhu look at frugality. Whatever they see, they
have to see from the perspective of a frugal innovation. It becomes easy,
because then, you have millions of examples. That is what they do in Frugal
Innovation. They advocate six principles of frugal innovation: (1) Engage and
iterate; (2) Flex your assets (3) Create sustainable solutions (4) Shape
consumer behavior (5) Co-create value with prosumers and (6) Make innovative
Friends. While in several parts of this book and the previous, the authors
admiringly talk of Apple and Steve Jobs, the first principle was blatantly and
consistently violated by Jobs. One of the principles of frugal innovation
(p.28) is to involve customers from the outset. But by the time we move to the
sixth principle we see this quote which has got nothing to do with co-creating
value with customers – (entrperenuers) <i>“create breakthrough solutions out of
sheer (personal) necessity”</i> (p.163) .
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">For a person
with a hammer everything looks a nail. We have two here. A lot of space is devoted
to Unilevers’ sustainable living plan: doubling the company’s revenue by 2020 and
cutting environment footprint by half. I will not argue on whether this is
frugal innovation, I will let that pass. But the gem is here: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">“It is
important to convince employees, but it is equally important (and possibly
harder) to convince shareholders and analysts of the need for change. In some cases,
board members may worry that shareholders will punish the company for focusing
on frugal products. To make a strategic shift, CEOs will need to take on
hard-headed analysts and the board.” (p.204).<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">This is
followed by a quote from Paul Polman, CEO Of Unilever: <i>“I don’t think our
fiduciary duty is to put shareholders first. I say the opposite…..Most CEOs go
to visit their existing shareholders; we go to visit the ones we don’t yet
have” (p.205)<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Aren’t we
happy that this is not a book on corporate governance?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg99Audz59-pSNJ0sp0887x_Nz_3ZXPywcj3mYyv6VHFCoRKNnyT-2gbUrVXqOT-2UN28gxG7Pxe4THGd-ZXbPCHhv4ZgPS4Ocpz5uNGAXZ7kJPwfW_9asfGNRS7KiBhYniuWzM/s1600/frugal1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg99Audz59-pSNJ0sp0887x_Nz_3ZXPywcj3mYyv6VHFCoRKNnyT-2gbUrVXqOT-2UN28gxG7Pxe4THGd-ZXbPCHhv4ZgPS4Ocpz5uNGAXZ7kJPwfW_9asfGNRS7KiBhYniuWzM/s1600/frugal1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Or let us try
to understand what Radjou and Prabhu are advocating through this quote: “<i>after
spending millions on developing its Android operating system, Google gave away
the technology so it could be incorporated into the maximum number of devices,
thus securing a vast market for its search engine and other digital services.
Google’s open source strategy paid off: Android is now available in over 1
billion devices, overtaking Apple’s iOS as the world-leading mobile operating
system”</i>(p.172). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">So, what is
frugal? who was the innovator? (Google or Apple?) and what was the innovation?
(operating system or putting it on open source after spending millions). The
above sentence does not make sense for the overall argument of the book, but if
the chapter title is “make innovative friends” then it is justified. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">One thing
that is not frugal is the endorsements – 6 pages for the current book and 4
pages for the previous. They would need it, when the product does not speak for
itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">© M S Sriram |</span></span></b></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-35298087013308307292017-03-02T13:05:00.001+05:302020-12-03T11:16:30.633+05:30The many panic buttons to press<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;">Restart: The Last Chance for the Indian
Economy</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6vUWgqxJtUaJdDqKAOOQSTkaHLpeZchY_SqRkHbvVkCMv2BYgf8yi3c1sV0RDUYbDtbx4hF7C_YRY1SsTMeapp5FlZX5DKRNlsnAFv-c3oOP-5kaFBasTmd-TsS1SYG8utPV8/s1600/restart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6vUWgqxJtUaJdDqKAOOQSTkaHLpeZchY_SqRkHbvVkCMv2BYgf8yi3c1sV0RDUYbDtbx4hF7C_YRY1SsTMeapp5FlZX5DKRNlsnAFv-c3oOP-5kaFBasTmd-TsS1SYG8utPV8/s200/restart.jpg" width="135" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Mihir S Sharma<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Random House India, 2015</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">pp.362. Price
Rs.599.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Mihir Sharma is a known to the readers of Business
Standard. His articles are incisive, sharp, hard hitting, have a good measure
of sarcasm. In his book “Restart” we see one more aspect: impatience. Sharma is
in a hurry to cut the fluff and get to the point; to give a list of policy
measures gone wrong from time immemorial and initiatives to fix them. He
understands that the answers are not simple; there are multiple pressures on
policy making; there are vested interests about which he writes extensively in
the book; but still believes that way to go is take the route of rapid and
drastic reform. Reform that does not exploit the farmers, the poor; reform that
does not stop manufacturing and industrial growth; reform that does not
compensate farmers for parting with their land at the current rates laid out by
the recent land acquisition bill but compensates farmers “fairly”. While he
criticizes successive governments for taking the middle path and not taking tough
decisions, the solutions he provides are certainly not far from the middle
path. No Sir, they follow the golden average. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">This we grant: he has a unique approach to
identifying problems; at using statistics; at drawing conclusions. Add this: he
has a unique way of connecting with his readers. If we are used to people
pressing the metaphorical panic button Sharma has a whole panel of buttons which
he keeps pressing like a trained pianist. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Y3Hdqh6rDEM5PWwOgWc22ZL3-qdLlohrJF6pZwqWmt4hTE_dSW3_lEHCyz9s0x2EauvBkOvI-0imoJX40Dd6W_JQ7diEIsQ2sTqjRrkZsC9oXRYHtH21SqIWkHGISy8FYFRb/s1600/restart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Y3Hdqh6rDEM5PWwOgWc22ZL3-qdLlohrJF6pZwqWmt4hTE_dSW3_lEHCyz9s0x2EauvBkOvI-0imoJX40Dd6W_JQ7diEIsQ2sTqjRrkZsC9oXRYHtH21SqIWkHGISy8FYFRb/s320/restart.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Sharma’s style is conversational and direct. The
data is usually camouflaged in the diagnostic and dialogic sentences without
the need for tables, graphs or analysis. He has done the homework, knows the
data. He expects the reader to take his word. So far so good. But what if the
data is to be interpreted differently? How does one engage with him and pick up
a nuanced argument? While Sharma himself has fairly nuanced arguments, he gives
his readers no choice to frame their questions. He asks the readers’ questions
himself and answers them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">While this style is ideally suited for an opinion
piece in the op-ed page of a newspaper (pink or otherwise), where one is short
of time and therefore the need to trust the writer for doing the background
work and take writers’ word, does it suit a book length work, where one has the
luxury of a more informed style of conversation? No Siree, that is not his
style. Nope. Not at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Talking about why the second airport in Mumbai
(that is so important for national development) is held up, he says “… the Union environment ministry was worried
about 160 acres of mangroves – the gloomiest plant known to man, even if you
include the weeping willow.” He then goes on to ask: “Are mangroves perhaps
endangered? Nope. They’re being depleted, but are not endangered” (p.131). He
goes on to argue that the depletion of mangroves on account of the new airport
is about 0.24 percent of the mangroves in Maharashtra. He
does not use (possibly) the more relevant statistic that it would be about 1.11
percent of all of Mumbai’s mangroves. Nor does he counter the argument of
ecological fragility of the coastal zone. On the contrary he could have made
his argument even stronger if he used this statistic against the total acerage
of mangroves in the entire country!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Does this remind us of somebody else who uses
statistics equally powerfully to make a point? You guessed it: P Sainath is
equally good in drawing our attention to the agrarian crisis and employs a
similar style. It is interesting to see that these two gentlemen have divergent
views, but have such a similar style. While Sainath laments the reduction in
the number of “cultivators” and brings about the nature of the agrarian crisis
culminating in farmer suicides, Sharma dismisses that as being “disrespectful
to mathematics and common sense”, talking about how the police “define and
categorise ‘farmers’” (p.26). While Sharma argues that suicides are a function
of complex interplay of economic, cultural, and psychological factors, his
larger statistic of comparing the suicide rates of the “so called farmers” with
the national statistic of Japan or Bhutan is taking Sainath’s specificity away
to a generalization of suicide statistics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Sharma’s book has a wide canvas, goes deep into
history and uses statistics, anecdotes and episodic events effectively to
narrate a coherent tale. This tale becomes sharper because he has done his
homework, knows his numbers and has a big picture in mind. His style is chatty
and engaging. However, Sharma becomes quickly predictable both in his analysis
and in his final solution. But if you are left with a sense of disquiet and
discomfort at the end of the book, as I have been, then he has achieved his
objective of making the point that Indian economy is in a mess. That is the
point he makes effectively and convincingly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"> </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.31px; text-align: left;"><b><b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">© M S Sriram |</span></span></b></b></b></b></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-30748919122595294432015-06-14T11:41:00.002+05:302020-12-03T11:16:30.812+05:30The Sahara Story: more unsaid than said <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdCMAL50d58zL_PbQsSDJ70yHqZ0gR4DJQOyFd6jYKNHbbSDWkO0ZFLwqdnaxZ9RhH3tlQ5ugVG9CBh_NumpR4kHPWGrk9PExRwas5gjcHXv6GLI9DA_ZKJWYt4zW7oz91hMZJ/s1600/sahara1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdCMAL50d58zL_PbQsSDJ70yHqZ0gR4DJQOyFd6jYKNHbbSDWkO0ZFLwqdnaxZ9RhH3tlQ5ugVG9CBh_NumpR4kHPWGrk9PExRwas5gjcHXv6GLI9DA_ZKJWYt4zW7oz91hMZJ/s320/sahara1.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sahara<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Untold Story<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Tamal Bandyopadhyay<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Garamond, serif;">Jaico</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Garamond, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">pp.374.
Price Rs.450.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><span style="font-size: large;">There as
successful businesses, and they create an aura around themselves, become
subjects of case studies and help us to build theories. And there are enigmatic
business that have a mystery around them, raise the curiosity leave us
guessing. We do not know whether these enigmatic businesses have been innovative
and path breaking or just plain unethical or illegal. Sahara was always perceived
as a business shrouded in mystery with several conspiracy theories doing the
rounds on its sources of funding and its business practices.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUpNjPUlm-eYY41jUW3L71ZSnhEZVcPENpEc2tBmTz17NHL_VFzTOC5a-ujYCPaBnYgK82wGtEjr0dz8gsFNa05dgvB1XxKo_7ST8Ko2iWW9gcqlZ6aLd6hVO7bVL7ThfFNLzF/s1600/tamal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUpNjPUlm-eYY41jUW3L71ZSnhEZVcPENpEc2tBmTz17NHL_VFzTOC5a-ujYCPaBnYgK82wGtEjr0dz8gsFNa05dgvB1XxKo_7ST8Ko2iWW9gcqlZ6aLd6hVO7bVL7ThfFNLzF/s1600/tamal.jpg" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><span style="font-size: large;">Tamal
Bandyopadhyay’s book on Sahara is as close as it could get to prying open the
lid. It does not reveal much; does not tell the untold story in detail, but has
information, events, conversations and exchanges that attempt to tell us what
it could be. Even this small prying of the lid was not acceptable to Sahara.
They filed a defamation case against the publisher and author, which was eventually
settled with a two page disclaimer that indicates that the book is part
fiction. Whether this prominently displayed disclaimer was in itself a
marketing tool can be discussed by experts, but the buzz around the controversy
was enough to raise the levels of curiosity about the explosive stuff that the
book could have had.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bandyopadhyay
writes carefully and meticulously. He pieces together information, interviews
and research, done painstakingly over the years and presents it in a readable
style. He adds drama – makes it appear like a participant-observer giving
details of the venues, almost verbatim reporting of what was said and the exact
timings of when text messages were exchanged. That adds to the readability of the
book, without much distraction.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><span style="font-size: large;">There are two
strands in the Sahara story that Bandyopadhyay weaves together. The first
strand is the structural issues where the regulator’s concerns about Residuary
Non Banking Finance Companies (RNBC) are discussed. As a supplement he also
discusses the other large RNBC – Peerless. He discusses the regulatory architecture
for raising resources; the jurisdiction of the Securities Exchange Board of
India (SEBI) and other elements of the financial system. The second strand is
the story of Sahara, its promoter and the <i>Pariwar</i>. This strand is set in
a larger imprecise maze. The maze helped Sahara to leverage every loophole in
the system. The also has some sub-strands that do not add value to the story: The
chapter in pages 185-224 where he discusses the roles and profiles of people on
the regulatory side, is an example of force-fitting details into the book. It
makes the book look well researched and meticulous but adds little value to the
narrative.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><span style="font-size: large;">How do
organisations like Sahara evolve and thrive? Bandyopadhyay says that Sahara <i>“has
4,799 establishments and businesses under 16 verticals in its fold and is the
second largest employer in the country after the Indian Railways…” </i>(p.xiv).
That a group could be so complex in its organization and so diverse in its
business ranging from retail to real estate, with a finance company in its core
could be a challenge even for financial forensics specialist. How did the
regulatory agencies allow Sahara to grow and become a case of too-big-to-fail –
moving beyond the financial sector, in a diversified set of activities? Sahara
is a case that poses challenges to arguments on convergence versus
specialization in regulatory approaches. I wonder if the financial sector
legislative reforms committee (FSLRC) report would be written differently if it’s
singular purpose was to deal with an organization like Sahara.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><span style="font-size: large;">The book
demonstrates (a) how frail our regulatory architecture could be; (b) how a
smart business house could constantly exploit the regulatory arbitrage; and (c)
how slow the system is to plug the loopholes. The book demonstrates the
complexities in regulating a fully grown business with its complex web of
transactions like Sahara. Any inquiry or regulatory intervention on Sahara is
obfuscated two of its favourite tactics: (a) overload the regulator with
truckloads paper and (b) go to the press with full page advertisements on its
innocence. In documenting the story of Sahara, Bandyopadhyay has rightly raised
more questions about the Indian financial system and has answered lesser
questions about Sahara itself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFVMsnIYKW6Xm6hIpC5Sz6teSoy5LMUPaeDRuIBydp7Wtb13dOetqhmPufr-NwZahiY7mE0IhSaOCHzOixKkfl87mzZhcLNuIHpHkL9USe2jLHYpgqqYzrOVzuy4XPoRZIKBUL/s1600/yvr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFVMsnIYKW6Xm6hIpC5Sz6teSoy5LMUPaeDRuIBydp7Wtb13dOetqhmPufr-NwZahiY7mE0IhSaOCHzOixKkfl87mzZhcLNuIHpHkL9USe2jLHYpgqqYzrOVzuy4XPoRZIKBUL/s1600/yvr.jpg" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><span style="font-size: large;">The details of
the Sahara story goes much beyond Sahara itself. Sahara is a case in point, but
it is a story of our regulatory and policy architecture that left enough space for
a player like Sahara and Peerless to operate, in a space that appears to be
regulated, but difficult to regulate. In the story it is only the Reserve Bank
of India (RBI) under Governor YV Reddy that comes out as a mature and patient
regulator, who is trying to fix the system, while the other regulators are
groping around on how to deal with an instrument issued in the market here, a
tax dispute there and so on. Surprisingly the Sahara also does not appear to be
as sure footed as it usually is, when it comes to RBI. This is possibly because
Reddy looked at the larger picture, more from a systemic view with Sahara being
a case in point. That may also be why Bandyopadhyay deals with Peerless in such
detail, while the book is about Sahara.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><span style="font-size: large;">While the
regulatory frame provided Sahara to thrive and prosper, its strength was in raising
resources. Any diversified business group of that scale would have accessed the
capital markets regularly for equity and debt. Surprisingly Bandyopadhyay tells
us that only four of the 4,799 companies of Sahara Pariwar are listed and the
one time it went to the capital market for substantial funding was when the RBI
choked its milking cow – deposits raised from RNBC. This public offering was of
Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures (OFCD). If we put the sequence of
events together, it appears that this was the turning point for the business
group. Investigations started and legitimate questions were raised. Approaching
the market meant offering a prospectus with substantial amounts of data which
was subject to the scrutiny of the regulators.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><span style="font-size: large;">The book discusses
the regulatory jurisdiction and the nuances involved in the OFCD issue and how
it started spelling trouble for the group. So, what was the source of funding
before Sahara took the public offer route? This is where we get to discuss the
opaqueness of the Indian financial system.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><span style="font-size: large;">The source of
funding for Sahara till then was the RNBC which was providing unlimited amounts
of cash for the group to indulge in businesses as diversified as Formula One
racing, owning a cricket team, media, real estate, hospitality, financial
services and retail. The bone of contention was the source of this money. The
argument of Sahara was that these were deposits painstakingly collected by
their staff from large number of retail depositors who are very poor and were
looking at a safe and reliable place to park their savings. This is explained
by an army of deposit collection agents recruited by Sahara which takes it to
the claim of being the largest employer after Indian Railways. However, the
moment that channel is choked – we saw that the empire was in the danger of
crumbling – particularly with the fact that raising resources from the
mainstream markets appeared to be fraught with regulatory and disclosure
related risks. The entire episode pertaining to the identity of the depositors
of OFCDs indicates what Sahara was up against once it moved from its
traditional and opaque source of funding.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><span style="font-size: large;">This takes us
back to the RNBC – which was the main source of finances for the company. There
are enough indications in the book to hint that it was difficult to identify
the depositors. There isn’t enough material to establish the widespread
perception that Sahara was funded from unaccounted finances from politicians.
If we were to give the benefit of doubt to Sahara - that it was indeed
collecting deposits from the countryside with an army of its agents; their
customers were known to the agents but were the ones excluded by the banking
system because they did not have identity papers, it brings us to a larger
question on financial inclusion – particularly on the savings side. By closing
this option, has RBI closed one option in the formal sector that the poor could
access to save their money?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBgSrVT9ShjBAlHwrXOQ3bsPT_BQsLEPpsSnIRkpqBckX3OQq6AqqntL6ChuIMPD_GXY9TLA62qM9EdXNuHWIUU6wTroqm8Ilkwbe6qzmksxYU0Wc3aso9IljyG8bxvy8JSpjH/s1600/subroto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBgSrVT9ShjBAlHwrXOQ3bsPT_BQsLEPpsSnIRkpqBckX3OQq6AqqntL6ChuIMPD_GXY9TLA62qM9EdXNuHWIUU6wTroqm8Ilkwbe6qzmksxYU0Wc3aso9IljyG8bxvy8JSpjH/s320/subroto.jpg" width="230" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><span style="font-size: large;">We need to examine
the proposal for setting up of payment banks in this context. On the
liabilities (deposit collection) side, Sahara was like the proposed payment
banks: providing the savers opportunities to put in small amounts of savings.
On the assets side while the stipulation for RNBCs was to park 80% of the
deposits collected in safe government securities, the stipulation for the
payment banks seems that all the money (100%) has to be invested in government
securities. Sahara possibly was able to garner profits through using the 20%
buffer it had on free deposits to invest in diversified businesses that fetched
handsome profits to service the depositors. With payment banks having no head
room for managing the assets side, and with heightened regulatory requirements on
know your customer (KYC) norms applicable to the depositors, is there a
business case for the payment banks? Bandyopadhyay’s book does not offer an
insight into the business model of this structure, but at this juncture it is
important to examine the experience of the RNBCs while we make a case for the
payment banks.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1zcfBlc8kXm0Ah9kGsl6HnE6qZvVbYwc3H1bPbn3uHpHrAJT6isx7CbRd2G6eJBcGKeLz5oaz9OLWTTUxQU5gQyjsMIZoH1pRpsfvO7zTSl7piWZvuByBCqnmKP50vQWW7CpU/s1600/sahara.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1zcfBlc8kXm0Ah9kGsl6HnE6qZvVbYwc3H1bPbn3uHpHrAJT6isx7CbRd2G6eJBcGKeLz5oaz9OLWTTUxQU5gQyjsMIZoH1pRpsfvO7zTSl7piWZvuByBCqnmKP50vQWW7CpU/s320/sahara.jpg" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><span style="font-size: large;">The book is
lucidly written, and while there are many digressions from the core and the
narrative gets chatty at places, we could allow that stylistic freedom to the
author considering the painstaking research undertaken for this study. While it
is a well-researched book, what is unsaid seems to be much more significant
than what is said. The author is to be complimented for doing such a fine job.
We should also welcome the fact that the author settled the dispute with the
Sahara group to go ahead with the publication with a disclaimer. If that has
not happened we would have missed out on an opportunity to get this insight
into a significant player in the financial sector. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-52404569743219359662015-06-14T11:20:00.002+05:302020-12-03T11:16:30.996+05:30Network Effects and Interconnection Risks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Butterfly Defect: How Globalization
Creates Systemic Risks and What to do About it.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu3J76UO6t8CQEkbsFdU4IJ1h1e15yxxTj8GF_nqjJX9SmFaOc3-SZHQak3DbW9399u_WK3vocdefmhOANBAV2b2rjzNimRiPme_S4REDw00aMicCwhhqJi4IMN7wCAD8C_Th7/s1600/Ian_Goldin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="104" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu3J76UO6t8CQEkbsFdU4IJ1h1e15yxxTj8GF_nqjJX9SmFaOc3-SZHQak3DbW9399u_WK3vocdefmhOANBAV2b2rjzNimRiPme_S4REDw00aMicCwhhqJi4IMN7wCAD8C_Th7/s320/Ian_Goldin.jpg" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ian Goldin and Mike Mariathasan<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif;">Princeton University Press, 2014</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><span style="font-size: large;">pp.296. Price not
specified.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Butterfly Defect is a long book to make a short point. We live in a
large interconnected world, and the interconnection brings to the fore its own
risks. These risks are not to be wished away, the interconnection makes it more
and more difficult to isolate and insulate problems. In the interconnected
world the physical borders do not matter and an event in one corner of the
world can affect some other part of the world really fast. Therefore, we are
indeed living in a risky world. This world has its efficiencies, economies of
scale, a certain subversive tendency, but the downside is also enormous.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRd8dISbs9Q2DUpTyBLU-WhyG6YZqWqreqPlfpNZGUKamb_8HpXOjjXzfibO3X4RlsF8f1j4sIsyXcVFNjK0xUeaijNqMZ8eCR26z8CtHwC1jYvKmhfBNpRexDmKL7CHeWYtj1/s1600/butterfly.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRd8dISbs9Q2DUpTyBLU-WhyG6YZqWqreqPlfpNZGUKamb_8HpXOjjXzfibO3X4RlsF8f1j4sIsyXcVFNjK0xUeaijNqMZ8eCR26z8CtHwC1jYvKmhfBNpRexDmKL7CHeWYtj1/s1600/butterfly.png" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: large;">The authors choose multiple sectors to illustrate this point after laying
down the basic argument in the first chapter. The first chapter shows the
linkages, the interconnectedness and describes the nature of risks. The second
chapter picks something that we continue to experience – the effect of events
in the financial sector and how it affected the world at large. It is not just
about United States, but also looking at events in Iceland and later in Greece.
The ripples are still being felt elsewhere in the world, where our own Governor
of the Reserve Bank talks about US taper as he goes about announcing the credit
policy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: large;">In addition to the financial sector, one other sector that sharply
illustrates the risk of interconnectedness is the health sector. A few years
ago, we experienced a global scare over Severe Accute Respiratory Syndrome
(SARS); there have been instances of large scares because of the outbreak of
Swine Flu; and economic losses due to Bird Flu. These show how pandemics just
cross borders and puts the global community at risk a result of increased
mobility across borders.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: large;">The authors illustrate other risks as well. Free movement allows the
world to achieve economies of operations, and establish clusters of specialization
leading to very high productivity. This could happen not only in services like
software, but also in the manufacturing sector. The dominance of China, Korea
and Taiwan in some sectors of manufacturing based on a cost advantage is well
known. The risks of such super-efficient clusters open themselves up to supply
chain risks. The authors illustrate how a flood in Thailand had effects on the
production of hard disk drives across the world. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: large;">In addition to supply chain risks, there are risks of infrastructure: gas
pipelines, under-sea fibre optic cables, satellites all add to the efficiency
but also open us up to great risks. There are environmental risks as well –
local processes leading to global warming, leading to a larger carbon footprint
and depletion of ozone. This aspect is discussed in detail as well.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: large;">The seventh chapter pertains to the risk that is associated with rapid
growth, fast economic development leading to increased inequality. That in
itself could be one tension, but the social risks that emanate out of
homogenization because of a dominant culture is another. While the authors move
from the very obvious risks of growth and economic development to much more
subtle risks of inequality and social risks, their argument gets weaker. The
authors are not able to communicate the immense risks that inequality brings
in, effectively. Through this chapter, they lend themselves to Jagadish
Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya to do easy target practice.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: large;">Each chapter has one section on how to cope with these risks. These
suggestions look obvious and are not backed with a concrete framework for
implementation. These are solutions that could be provided to the world at
large, irrespective of whether the problem came from interconnectedness,
globalization or something else. Here are some of the lessons:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeZdPx2epkDqI0_VxIMb4hLnufas8O9F_1IjxiOhBWeHQvclBcC49m36Ur-3AeGoNPvhEQzToIShOHlnGR8yRgNRDJ825G3X4IJoCe-gB2K47L2RD6kS5HGUkZ2G0D7eDcEo77/s1600/butterfly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeZdPx2epkDqI0_VxIMb4hLnufas8O9F_1IjxiOhBWeHQvclBcC49m36Ur-3AeGoNPvhEQzToIShOHlnGR8yRgNRDJ825G3X4IJoCe-gB2K47L2RD6kS5HGUkZ2G0D7eDcEo77/s320/butterfly.jpg" width="230" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Lesson 1 The current global financial
regulation framework is inadequate.</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> The solution: <i>“Independent and yet accountable national and
supranational agencies are required and these mush have the necessary
authority and ability to oversee and promote the stable evolution of the
global financial system” (p.65-66) <o:p></o:p></i></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lesson 4: Simplicity, not complexity will allow
global institutions to manage local issues (p.67)<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lesson 2 (of Supply Chain Risks): Negative
externalities such as counterparty risk need to be recognized and
addressed (p.96)<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></li>
</ul>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: large;">The last chapter is fully devoted to managing systemic risks. The
solutions like to ones above are couched in generalities. So, the book tells us
what we already knew: the globalized interconnected world is risky. It also
brings together the nature of risks in diverse sectors which we possibly saw as
independent and unconnected events. These could be traced to a common cause of globalization.
The book identifies the obvious problem well. It attempts to look at the
not-so-obvious problem of inequity and social risks but does not analyse it
enough. It does not offer any frameworks to deal with the problems it
identifies. The net effect is that the world in general and the book in
particular leaves us with an unsettling feeling.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b><b><b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">© M S Sriram |</span></span></b></b></b></b></span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-14648701643124459482013-12-26T13:17:00.002+05:302020-12-03T11:16:31.176+05:30Fleeting Views of a Floating City<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo_7k1IMMEMMdv-m1utjDAD6Rclqha7U2Wooo3zEwnVGeqZ9UyLDR1xNkyjUNCazW5jNIIb0KyJERoLDsa_QMu6FrlnrdzJAqrpjRedqo_vmL8FdW6ECMTgOztvgqen5ibZ4VY/s1600/sv.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo_7k1IMMEMMdv-m1utjDAD6Rclqha7U2Wooo3zEwnVGeqZ9UyLDR1xNkyjUNCazW5jNIIb0KyJERoLDsa_QMu6FrlnrdzJAqrpjRedqo_vmL8FdW6ECMTgOztvgqen5ibZ4VY/s200/sv.jpg" width="130" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;">Floating City</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Sudhir
Venkatesh<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Allen Lane,
2013</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">pp.278.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Sudhir Venkatesh shot to fame with his book “Gang Leader for a Day” and
also with his contributions to the chapters in Freakonomics where he analysed the
behavior of drug peddlers and sex workers. “Gang Leader” was a departure from
the usual works of sociology - it departed from known frameworks of social
structures and frames, towards a participative ethnographic work. It was ground
breaking in many ways: because of the methods; the ethical dilemma that these
methods threw and the subject itself which looked deeply into the underground
drug economy of Chicago. This work was a result of a much younger Sudhir, not
trapped by fame of a relatively unknown student trying to get going on his
doctoral thesis. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2FhcrUgbSIr_1VB-VuAONUPbpe7g-IaCV9yj6ylEzZKzl-cG8srD_z2giD4O6Zp1MNSw_vZ-FN6pUIfE4N5EfSqoCA-Ez72AbbJ7rhin9C13EKiBFTFyYHECgtJREUpUXPf6J/s1600/sv2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2FhcrUgbSIr_1VB-VuAONUPbpe7g-IaCV9yj6ylEzZKzl-cG8srD_z2giD4O6Zp1MNSw_vZ-FN6pUIfE4N5EfSqoCA-Ez72AbbJ7rhin9C13EKiBFTFyYHECgtJREUpUXPf6J/s320/sv2.jpg" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">So when Sudhir came with his next book – looking at a different trade
and a different city, he had already set the benchmark of “Gang Leader” and the
expectations were that he would transcend his past pinnacle. However, Floating
City disappoints – it is neither rich in its content nor in its insights;
leaving us to wonder whether he was a one project wonder. We hope not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">The book has its contributions. However, these pale against the
expectations based on his past work. The most significant insight we get is
that the underground economy is not restricted to the poor, but has a seamless
connection with the wealthy and the sophisticated. There are unusual suspects.
In addition we find strivers trying to move from a street-side segment of the
underground economy to the more sophisticated segments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWBnwPmwvNHtmp4n8mhbaym4L3AWnWAgfhHvQs_qPZyzouwgQBqHvWXmizchEibYD7MsTfQzQCFqvuPhRZREm1zjiamcscO0VQ0GWA4GnD3UySzxlaA9wmlBLcmZw7_pX-Hwm7/s1600/sv1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWBnwPmwvNHtmp4n8mhbaym4L3AWnWAgfhHvQs_qPZyzouwgQBqHvWXmizchEibYD7MsTfQzQCFqvuPhRZREm1zjiamcscO0VQ0GWA4GnD3UySzxlaA9wmlBLcmZw7_pX-Hwm7/s1600/sv1.jpg" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Readers’ dissonance about Floating City may be because of the
un-organised nature of the trade that studies. Unlike drug peddlers of Chicago,
who seem to be in a well-knit hierarchy – much like a corporate empire and
living in close proximity (of the erstwhile Robert Taylor Homes), his subjects
in New York come from smaller networks, and diverse residential settlements. In
“Gang Leader” he discovers the relations between different players after understanding
the network. Unfortunately Sudhir is lost in New York. Lost because, he is
using the inter-relations between the different sets of people he talks to, to
map the network. That is always much tougher.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDaUA9gcsIC79aRtcszl3ZlqhYbQfbAkRygEaComUY3Up37DO1fn_PNEEUbMBgbsfWs_3Y-StjjNprSXdi8rR1SPd7qxGXMJXQN6GguanoCjihk57OKUvN88KcAZnoVDr5j-D7/s1600/sv3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDaUA9gcsIC79aRtcszl3ZlqhYbQfbAkRygEaComUY3Up37DO1fn_PNEEUbMBgbsfWs_3Y-StjjNprSXdi8rR1SPd7qxGXMJXQN6GguanoCjihk57OKUvN88KcAZnoVDr5j-D7/s1600/sv3.jpg" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Also unlike the carefree Sudhir of Gang Leader, here is a tenured
Columbia University Professor who needs to worry about his reputation. In the
earlier book, he shows the pressure to wind up his study only towards the end
of the book. Now he is no longer the rogue sociologist and very much a part of
the establishment. He has requirements to teach and publish – irrespective of
whether he agrees with the type and nature of publications that are
academically recognized and rewarded. It is evident through the book that a lot
of his own personal problems of tenure, his divorce and the professional
insecurities come in the way of the narration. He is no longer an outside
analyst – or a fly on the wall – who is looking at the situation unfold, but by
his own choice, an active participant in the deliberations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Possibly the problem with the book lies in Sudhir’s inability to draw a
line between the sociological elements that he needs to study as an outsider
and the autobiographical elements that come in as a counter point. He could
have chosen to write the book with a greater element of autobiography. But it
would have taken a different shape. A good example of that is Aman Sethi’s “A
Free Man”. Sethi goes in as a journalist, and while understanding the poor
footpath dwellers of Delhi also narrates what it means to him. Sudhir is
hamstrung with this image of being an academic. So he unfortunately keeps
getting in his scholarly dilemmas into the narrative, never allowing the reader
to even forget for a moment that he is ultimately a sociologist and this project
is an academic work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJJJXoprtxsX_TprLE8ONVtAVLjpdvB6x3F-zEHUrNSSh2XPu13j2CW0ExdCa_Rq3iEQwAVDiyJflVFsCQawRi47kHumaS5x2zJdymQ8YacEOUEup-lq44ALi7jBjYmKkhDbN/s1600/sv4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJJJXoprtxsX_TprLE8ONVtAVLjpdvB6x3F-zEHUrNSSh2XPu13j2CW0ExdCa_Rq3iEQwAVDiyJflVFsCQawRi47kHumaS5x2zJdymQ8YacEOUEup-lq44ALi7jBjYmKkhDbN/s1600/sv4.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Studies such as this one are complex and cannot have a framework or a
premeditated script. It is almost like writing a script for a documentary – you
can only plan the subject, how you would conduct interviews, whom you would
meet. Nobody can actually write the dialogues in advance or have a clear
expectation of what emerges out the filming. When one does not have a clear
frame the danger is in wonderment - like a child in a toyshop. If every person Sudhir
meets is adding to the <i>n</i> (sample size) then there is a problem. Sudhir
unfortunately is a victim of his success, his image constructed in our minds, and
unfortunately, his image constructed in his own mind. This could have been a
fascinating book if only he had shed his past. It could have been as
fascinating if he had teamed up with somebody younger and unknown who could
penetrate deeper into the underground economy. Unfortunately this turns out to
be an attempt to live up to the past image and the halo created around himself.
And that he does not live up to that image leads to a book like Floating City,
which is a disappointment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b><b><b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">© M S Sriram |</span></b></b></b></b></span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-26962725169112277072013-12-17T14:52:00.002+05:302020-12-03T11:16:31.356+05:30The Continuing Relevance of Self-Help Groups<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR2gIHWl2QpZRZChyKpfWChYNHkp2BzGdyPLOcmIyp8KgOseIYiv4eSM8CZUIvpbCV8VLtW2Er-5rzLAp0lYHxYltm3_rtEnKC5NijnNvlxFi2Dve64Qf-RtBVCyF5Nbw-LIin/s1600/at.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR2gIHWl2QpZRZChyKpfWChYNHkp2BzGdyPLOcmIyp8KgOseIYiv4eSM8CZUIvpbCV8VLtW2Er-5rzLAp0lYHxYltm3_rtEnKC5NijnNvlxFi2Dve64Qf-RtBVCyF5Nbw-LIin/s1600/at.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Banking on Self-Help Groups:
Twenty Years On</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Ajay Tankha<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Sage Publications, New Delhi<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">pp.295. Rs. 595<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Self-Help
groups (SHG) as a concept have been there in existence for ages. However, SHGs,
in the arena of financial intermediation have been there for more about 25
years, starting with the early credit management groups set up by Myrada, a
Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) based in Bangalore. However, Ajay Tankha
and other official chroniclers would record the birth of SHGs on the historic
day of 26<sup>th</sup> February 1992 when the National Bank for Agriculture and
Rural Development (NABARD) issued a ‘landmark’ circular (p.22). The
construction of history has placed so much emphasis on an official recognition
of an experiment that was in the making for five years. Therefore the year 2012
instead of being celebrated as the silver jubilee of SHG movement was
celebrated as the twentieth anniversary of issuing a circular.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Tankha’s
book is constructed on the ‘review’ of SHG movement, and performance in the
past two decades. Therefore the book is organized into factual silos: origins
of the groups; performance and growth; institutions involved; costs;
sustainability and impact. He has succumbed to the danger of this approach: of
looking at silos in detail, loaded with facts and numbers and losing the big
picture in the process - the landscape of financial inclusion. By this process,
his time marker is an official recognition, a day when SHGs entered into the
statistical reportage of the Nation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLyKDfej1N0zAu6TTAkVYScg_02LoFIhiRL-LMcqOOyd0rRRWVll9Pvx5BOOrrJ4fRtISlqbmAmCFFoJmrFczgqcx16jeUfmOkMH5rYAjwx_qSKSwKUajrGIAfHhLjIbv583ht/s1600/at1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLyKDfej1N0zAu6TTAkVYScg_02LoFIhiRL-LMcqOOyd0rRRWVll9Pvx5BOOrrJ4fRtISlqbmAmCFFoJmrFczgqcx16jeUfmOkMH5rYAjwx_qSKSwKUajrGIAfHhLjIbv583ht/s200/at1.jpg" width="162" /></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The
tragedy of the SHGs has been the evangelical obsession with the “movement”
rather than the concept. The concept of people getting together as a group for
doing financial transactions was not new, a fact that Tankha recognizes early on.
There are informal chit funds in India operating on a similar lines. SHGs just
tweaked the model to suit its acceptance with the formal banking sector. SHGs
conceptually addressed issues that bother the bankers. They created a
collective identity for the women in the group, and gave transaction
aggregation. As it was a savings led model, it also created a transaction trail
for the bankers. This was important in the absence of a bankable collateral.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Before
this book, Tankha has worked and written on diverse issues pertaining to SHGs –
his particular contribution was in estimating the cost of promoting SHGs and
SHG Federations. We can see that the overall approach of this book is towards
evaluating the movement on financial terms. But at the end of twenty (five)
years, we should look at whether the concept is relevant, the reasons for
limited regional success and what it means to be taken over by the state. When
we look at the future directions as Tankha attempts to do, it is important to
go back to see if the base principles are in-tact.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Tankha
fails to recognize the conceptual triggers behind the growth of the movement in
a particular direction. For instance, were SHG federations necessary? While it
looks natural that as the movement grows, we need consolidation and federations
are a natural outcome. That, is the line of argument he takes. However, if we
examine it from an intermediation perspective –it does not make sense to add another
layer of costs between the bank and the ultimate customer. Aggregation of SHG
transactions at the Federation level would make sense if the spread of banking
was not deep. It would, for instance, make sense for a Kotak Mahindra Bank or a
Yes Bank. But for public sector banks having a physical presence in more than
45,000 rural and semi-urban locations it does not. It only cannibalizes the
local business through an aggregation at the regional office level and
by-passing the branch network through an alternative federation route. This takes
us to the design principles to see if they work.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The
unfortunate part of Tankha’s approach in this rather well researched and
detailed book is that he does not question the status quo. He takes facts as
they appear and chronicles them. It would have been delightful if he had looked
at each of the landmark events to build a story on how these events changed the
course of history. If he had done that, he would have re-narrated our story of innovation
that is so Indian in nature.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The
story is that this innovation did happen. The natural excitement for this
innovation should have come from the commercial world – particularly the banks
who should have engaged with this segment commercially. However, the excitement
came from the State in the paradigm of empowerment, inclusion and development.
While it made sense for SHG movement to seek the patronage of the State during
the initial phases to sell the concepts to the banking world, going forward the
basic commerce and the commercial exchanges were compromised because of the
State. Initially it started with subsidies that provided funding for building
the social architecture. But when the subsidies and intervention entered the
commercial transactions, the decline of the spirit of SHGs started. Tankha
fails to grasp this nuance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQuII2ig5-xx1hZmXxX0ytr2YNPLYWySb-q_3fw8V2uqno0vaX5PniUiDBaRYb63xo6q0bUtkjpvN3qN2SS63_OJ4HQMB_HEgzvcswpyd0rIsjbz19nJ9akIxKzZbE5LFAzltr/s1600/at2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQuII2ig5-xx1hZmXxX0ytr2YNPLYWySb-q_3fw8V2uqno0vaX5PniUiDBaRYb63xo6q0bUtkjpvN3qN2SS63_OJ4HQMB_HEgzvcswpyd0rIsjbz19nJ9akIxKzZbE5LFAzltr/s320/at2.jpg" width="240" /></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Without
undermining his remarkable work, we need to recognize one significant gap in
the book. While Tankha locates SHGs in the world of financial inclusion, he
fails to look at some emerging trends that question the fabric of groups.
Technology led interventions and state policy is moving towards disintermediation.
The Aadhar enabled payments, the direct benefit transfers or payment of MNREGA
wages are sought to be loaded on to the individual bank account of the poor
customer. What does this do the SHGs? Is the State suffering from the schizophrenia
of the Rural Development Strategy being at cross purposes with the Financial
Inclusion Strategy? Unfortunately Tankha does not engage with this scenario at
all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">But
for my reservations about the approach of the book, this is an important
resource book for anybody interested in the field of SHG based financial
inclusion programme in India. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b><b><b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">© M S Sriram |</span></b></b></b></b></span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-43939421696573812582013-12-17T13:47:00.001+05:302020-12-03T11:16:31.538+05:30Transcending Economies, Transcending Economics<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5KCC3bX25dkMtCEoF2hLjvdcOdKEbBd7S_fBpJWK5SkpLW8A01DcsB1-1eNNzCAJ2cmtN8o0S2uVpiIbz02HPemckoDU1B2fM47GuVGO-UI8c97IsbIvdFCW0DChgSWZUqpzW/s1600/Mass-Flourishing-cover-197x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5KCC3bX25dkMtCEoF2hLjvdcOdKEbBd7S_fBpJWK5SkpLW8A01DcsB1-1eNNzCAJ2cmtN8o0S2uVpiIbz02HPemckoDU1B2fM47GuVGO-UI8c97IsbIvdFCW0DChgSWZUqpzW/s1600/Mass-Flourishing-cover-197x300.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Mass
Flourishing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">How Grassroots
Innovation Created Jobs, Challenge and Change<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Edmund Phelps<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Princeton
University Press</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">pp.378.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Mass Flourishing is a deceptive title for a remarkable book. While the
title indicates that it would throw light on innovation and job creation, it is
much larger. It covers several centuries of thought; has a range that touches
economics but moves into politics, literature and philosophy; places short term
events on a long timeline; helps understand the implications of a patchwork
over the fabric of economies. All these are packed into a tight and gripping
writing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">The book engages with the concept of a “modern economy”. How do we
achieve happiness in a just and equitable society? The process of unravelling
what a modern economy leads to a discussion of multiple economic ideas
capitalism, socialism, Marxism, corporatism. All these ideologies are discussed
in the context of economic growth, common good and happiness. While statistics
help in parameterizing, Phelps draws upon art and literature to assess how
people were perceiving the changes. These ideas are discussed in the context of
a larger eco-system. Nothing happens in vacuum – even individual excellence and
scientific discoveries and inventions happen at a time and place; the context
is as important as the event. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Look at the following quote to understand where Phelps is coming from:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzQICD4LpU8l7s43VErASBcm4YNZETdsB6DCWX4McB3Qcq2Hwjpgsvvd4aTair6UbOudhlM-fVROLBld-OLPhQNIEaSq9D7GcPBZyvQvdW2eBrxcRxzVmvjNuG4G-LqwJ3QX6z/s1600/phelps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzQICD4LpU8l7s43VErASBcm4YNZETdsB6DCWX4McB3Qcq2Hwjpgsvvd4aTair6UbOudhlM-fVROLBld-OLPhQNIEaSq9D7GcPBZyvQvdW2eBrxcRxzVmvjNuG4G-LqwJ3QX6z/s1600/phelps.jpg" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">“Some might think to say that gifted inventors,
even if untrained, were adding to scientific knowledge when their tinkering led
to an invention. But these inventors did not create scientific knowledge any
more than bartenders inventing new drinks create chemical knowledge: they
lacked the training to do so. An addition to scientific knowledge occurred if
and when trained theorists managed to understand why the invention worked. (It
took a musicologist to see how Bach’s cantas “worked”). (p.13)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">So, what makes this modern economy? Where are the ideas coming from? Are
they from the science labs? How do ideas emerge? How do we understand the
non-pecuniary motives driving innovations? How do these ideas grow, and spread?
These are difficult questions. But in these he sees the seeds of a modern
economy, where ideas, innovation and invention were converted to economic
products leading to an explosion of material benefits. The modern economy was
about increase in productivity- resulting in fast and boundless growth. But the
question was whether growth resulted in widespread benefit? While the numbers
of rich increased, what about the wages of the unskilled workers? Were they
benefitting from the innovation and the modern economy?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE2AggB8gaSJp2w8Dc3PxmKmYsrFcCpmpOfCX0v3c6S5_nMgxP6-8pWQqUYYt87IDpJmJI41dv93uBhfIqEcWMOgjLAyBXM5blKjN93Oo_YH_h9CW1HFk6hVJtaqJV_mUwFgUU/s1600/phelps1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE2AggB8gaSJp2w8Dc3PxmKmYsrFcCpmpOfCX0v3c6S5_nMgxP6-8pWQqUYYt87IDpJmJI41dv93uBhfIqEcWMOgjLAyBXM5blKjN93Oo_YH_h9CW1HFk6hVJtaqJV_mUwFgUU/s200/phelps1.jpg" width="200" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Phelps connects several unrelated events to trace the evolution of
modern economy. The absolute and real increase in wages; reduction in incidence
of disease because of advancement of science (elsewhere, and a result of
international exchanges); reduction of poverty and pauperism. He then examines
urbanization. He argues that rural areas only had under employment but not unemployment.
But working for somebody, for an enterprise defined what employment was, and
also sharply defined the phenomenon of unemployment. Urbanization was on the
rise, because it was a worthwhile trade-off for the underemployed rural
populace. In understanding this, Phelps not only uses data of that era, but
also refers to Blake’s poetry and the image of “dark satanic mills”. <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZVqzkG-MeB9OUjh-21kYiVnp0CP9GQEFZ4Z_Bsvb6ILcM7H1KI8LUU7uA1qSYJxTvrC3XahHYJXfUTL3v4uvnmvR52Dx-zxdwvrNPqxyWekMWwSOGuNki8MwvAXH4YmC2WleR/s1600/phelps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZVqzkG-MeB9OUjh-21kYiVnp0CP9GQEFZ4Z_Bsvb6ILcM7H1KI8LUU7uA1qSYJxTvrC3XahHYJXfUTL3v4uvnmvR52Dx-zxdwvrNPqxyWekMWwSOGuNki8MwvAXH4YmC2WleR/s200/phelps.jpg" width="200" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Urbanization was also about clustering. People went to places where
there were new ideas, new challenges; industrial agglomerations. So the quality
of life and moving out of poverty was not only the economic aspect, but the
pleasure of encountering new problems and the satisfaction of solving them. The
nuanced view he has about an assembly line is evidenced by this observation: <i>“Charlie
Chaplin’s image of the assembly line in his 1937 film Modern Times looked more
mindless than oppressive” (</i>p.52). Modern economy, while it brought higher
wage and better financial returns, also had associated questions on impacts on
mental stimulation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Modern economies brought benefits in better health and longevity. Even
the less advantaged had these benefits. This led to a different perspective:
more time invested in equipping oneself and planning for a longer career. Going
to a “work place” beyond the closed community relationships led to an
“interchange” of ideas – where a large number of diverse people turned up. So
what happened to people during these changing times? Here Phelps moves beyond
data and uses literature – the ideas expressed in the works of Charles Dickens,
Mary Shelley, Emile Bronte, Jane Austen, Balzac and Emily Zola. He moves from
fiction to art and to music. The canvas gets bigger. His understanding of
economies and economics is not purely dependent on trade, economy and monetary
policy. He is questioning Ceteris Paribus (All other things being equal);
arguing that all other things are never equal; we live in a dynamic world; and
we pick up signals from multiple fields to understand the changing phenomenon
of the dominant paradigm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMQWhlDXEgwmdIO_w5y0oeMX_jRojp5uVjfo2-vieT8a5MdeakU8KD3QGQDFcatGxCqFewC4sFAt3OEXODLNzu9qMV_6ssvhbSa0f22eYpCIWMqb0-OI_fOT5-w5DwmCek1UAN/s1600/phelps3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMQWhlDXEgwmdIO_w5y0oeMX_jRojp5uVjfo2-vieT8a5MdeakU8KD3QGQDFcatGxCqFewC4sFAt3OEXODLNzu9qMV_6ssvhbSa0f22eYpCIWMqb0-OI_fOT5-w5DwmCek1UAN/s1600/phelps3.jpg" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">With innovation, modernization, longevity and better quality of life as
a backdrop Phelps examines the other building blocks. These come from a larger
eco-system. In discussing institutions, he examines institutions of governance
(feudal systems, church, governments); institutions of justice; institutions
that grant ownership rights on property. As the world moved from production
based economies to idea based commerce, there was a need to protect
intellectual property rights. Starting with intellectual property protection
Phelps lays the foundation for modern enterprise to emerge. The emergence of
the enterprise is not a pure function of innovation and risk taking. It needs
an eco-system that provides protection for investments in ideas. This could come
through patent laws that provide exclusivity to commercially use the ideas to
reap the benefits of investments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Just ideas and inventions do not result in economic phenomena.
Protecting intellectual property makes sense only when there is a possibility
of commercial exploitation of the idea. A commercial exploitation needs an
element of scale. It has to move beyond the individual capability. Chartered
corporations that undertook business with the backing of monarchies, laid the
framework for a corporation. Initially Charters were set up with the intention
of trade, exploration and colonization. However, as monopoly institutions with
state support, charters did not have the agility to innovate and expand the
horizons. It was a hurdle. Eventually this grew into the idea of a joint stock
company. This provided the entrepreneurs the protection of a limited liability.
The legal framework for this emerged in the United States and moved on to Great
Britain and then extending all the way to Germany and France. This was followed
up by better bankruptcy protection laws and a vibrant banking system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">On the political front, the movement towards representative democracy
provided an ecosystem for accountability. Accountability to the electorate
supported the interests of the underserved, and moved towards publicly funded
education and opened support institutions. There were downsides to this, but
the larger ecosystem for enterprise to flourish was more likely in a
representative democracy than an autocracy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNv8xdNKl1U0x80NBsKl9OL2IH8f7GV9z_fKyTUbLP8id9AK3XMhM38-8FaQD2c3n4_rLP7QKIxukoOXqznKBVOeE88qCdXacp1ueojvnK-Y3ES5jNHv7t5eWX19mkvh0Zh90l/s1600/Mass-Flourishing-cover-197x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNv8xdNKl1U0x80NBsKl9OL2IH8f7GV9z_fKyTUbLP8id9AK3XMhM38-8FaQD2c3n4_rLP7QKIxukoOXqznKBVOeE88qCdXacp1ueojvnK-Y3ES5jNHv7t5eWX19mkvh0Zh90l/s200/Mass-Flourishing-cover-197x300.jpg" width="156" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">While urbanization brought about unemployment, the modern economy
brought taxation that collected money from the wealthy to provide social
security for the deprived. This brought to the fore, the question of
inclusivity. Does the modern economy and its growth provide opportunity for
everybody to get employment and a share in the economic action? Phelps argues
that if capitalism is working in the right spirit with other institutional
mechanisms fostering innovation, the answer might be yes. But most of the time
capitalism does not work the way it ought to – the governments direct the
economic space in a manner that stymies innovation and free trade. This could
happen if the state was a major actor as it were in the Chartered companies,
and it could happen when the state resorts to corporatism – an arrangement when
the state favours agreements with corporations and workers to create exclusive
rights. While Phelps does not refer to India in this context, this could have
happened in the licence raj, and might be continuing with crony capitalism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Phelps argues that the age of innovation and mass flourishing happened
between 1820s and the 1960s (the years of the great depression
notwithstanding). He argues that this was a western phenomenon led by the
United States and followed by European nations. He illustrates why China,
though it had the ingredients of density of population, exchange of ideas,
innovation and even enterprise did not keep up as it lacked economic
institutions and economic culture (p.106). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Phelps goes on to discuss economic thought that was against the concept
of modern economy – Socialism and Corporatism. He argues that neither the
middle-income earners were pushed into the proletariat, nor did wage inequality
appear to increase (p.114). The discontent with the modern economy was with the
precariousness of jobs and wages – the episodic high unemployment and recession
led job losses in certain sectors. Phelps sees socialism as a concept with
inherent contradictions. Look at this quote of Sassoon that he reproduces:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUYTsTb4U51If5-SEBAZYp2cHtUzloDfdmQ3nuw-nha5KuPwh-9lOz0M3kMsSO-fOYDIc9Syxxy2WeF-R99kfkBPcu67FEC8_M4Sbfmi-QfIRvtKBwCQeb_F7ZBKOKGLpTokI-/s1600/phelps3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUYTsTb4U51If5-SEBAZYp2cHtUzloDfdmQ3nuw-nha5KuPwh-9lOz0M3kMsSO-fOYDIc9Syxxy2WeF-R99kfkBPcu67FEC8_M4Sbfmi-QfIRvtKBwCQeb_F7ZBKOKGLpTokI-/s1600/phelps3.jpg" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">“Socialism’s appeal, when it had one, was to say,
at one and the same time, that its mission was to transcend capitalism while
improving it; that everyone was equal by that the proletariat was the leading
class; that money was the root of all evil but the workers needed more of it;
that capitalism was doomed but the capitalists’ profits were as high as ever;
that religion was the opium of the people but that Jesus was the first
socialist; that the family was a bourgeois conspiracy but it needed defending
from untrammeled industrialistion; that individualism was to be deplored but
that capitalist alienation reduced people to undifferentiated atoms; that there
was more to politics than voting every few years while demanding universal
suffrage; that consumerism beguiles the workers but they should all have a
color television, a car and go on holidays abroad.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Phelps goes on to discuss economic thought that was against the concept
of modern economy – Socialism and Corporatism. He argues that neither the middle-income
earners were pushed into the proletariat, nor did wage inequality appear to
increase (p.114). The discontent with the modern economy was with the
precariousness of jobs and wages – the episodic high unemployment and recession
led job losses in certain sectors. Phelps sees socialism as a concept with
inherent contradictions, examining tension between socialist values and Western
humanist values. While Phelps looks at socialism as an ideology to be debated
and critiqued, he does not think that Corporatism has strong ideological roots.
It could be the association of Corporatism with Mussolini and the fascist
regime and it could also be that Corporatism is also anti-competitive in
nature. However he engages with the concept at length, citing examples from
Europe, where it evolved, how it grew and why it was not a positive thought for
the modern economy. Phelps argues that corporatism was anti innovation,
anti-enterprise and growth. He even indicates that the reason for the decline
of the Western enterprise, particularly of the United States is because of the
modern day corporatism. While recession and slowdown is seen as recent
phenomena, Phelps traces this recession back to the 1970s. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">The last section “Regaining the Modern” deals with the approach to
taxation. Low taxation, heavy borrowing – and spending – both on welfare as
well as a supply side Keynesian measure to maintain growth leading to very high
fiscal deficit was unsustainable. Not only did the State borrow, but it
encouraged corporations and individuals to borrow – in the hope that this would
lead to growth and larger tax collections. That this did not work, is there for
us to see.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkjQqLdzlkGdAPKxTqQrJKojgCNt5THZHUtO95oxnoDyVsZPwj7TQUtgbRkhswOVYMPuYbjmcZsipUserat2p8w9-OFzBTAG2tF76vPcVR1ZzBqnBTiKU2r49bLvvGD21hCkjl/s1600/phelps1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkjQqLdzlkGdAPKxTqQrJKojgCNt5THZHUtO95oxnoDyVsZPwj7TQUtgbRkhswOVYMPuYbjmcZsipUserat2p8w9-OFzBTAG2tF76vPcVR1ZzBqnBTiKU2r49bLvvGD21hCkjl/s320/phelps1.jpg" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">The last section “Regaining the Modern” deals with the approach to
taxation. Low taxation, heavy borrowing – and spending – both on welfare as
well as a supply side Keynesian measure to maintain growth leading to very high
fiscal deficit was unsustainable. Not only did the State borrow, but it
encouraged corporations and individuals to borrow – in the hope that this would
lead to growth and larger tax collections. That this did not work, is there for
us to see. A high tax regime with a wider net gave State enough resources for
funding infrastructure and public projects. A low tax regime, wider compliance
and exemptions at the lower level resulted in an illusion of “reduction in take
home inequality” but actually reduced investments in public infrastructure
leading to the poor paying out of pocket for some services (education,
healthcare) that should have been available in public domain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">This book is vast in its expanse, deep in its insight and philosophical
in its approach. It is not only a must-read, but a must-multiple-read book. The
canvas laid out by Phelps overwhelms you, but this is by far one of the best
treatises written on the concept of a modern economy.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b><b><b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">© M S Sriram |</span></b></b></b></b></span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-31068673475493104082013-06-09T06:20:00.001+05:302020-12-03T11:16:31.724+05:30A New Tilt in the Tale<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKGo8HvRHs9NBZ58X5q42Xrt6eiVHo8BJefy6x1uloij6DNkTyPnd9A29e41kfFKDdBEZuYgXdFrlYriJCiuzMBhTvWCkEhDCg20KPuVHUNdThdWdEhhIZMM6T0K1uMrba0Pgk/s1600/rc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKGo8HvRHs9NBZ58X5q42Xrt6eiVHo8BJefy6x1uloij6DNkTyPnd9A29e41kfFKDdBEZuYgXdFrlYriJCiuzMBhTvWCkEhDCg20KPuVHUNdThdWdEhhIZMM6T0K1uMrba0Pgk/s1600/rc.jpg" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Global Tilt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Leading Your
Business Through the Great Economic Power Shift<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Ram Charan</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">RH Business Books, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">pp.321.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Every few
years there appears a business book that dictates the discourse; changes the spoken
language and that too will pass. Business is all about winning the consumers
and outwitting the competition. This needs a sharp sense of where the world is
moving and how one could spot opportunities. Consultants are better placed to
spot these trends because their core business is in being voyeuristic about others’
businesses; understanding the levers of success and transmitting it. Gurus
attain their position because of their universality of view rather than the
specificity of a context. Ram Charan’s latest book is to be seen in this light.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;">The world
of business is constantly looking at markets to be penetrated, markets not
saturated, markets with purchasing power and markets with enthusiasm and
appetite translating a pent up desire into an actionable purchase. These
markets are not only to be identified but doing business in those settings is
to be learnt. Like Ruchir Sharma’s "Breakout Nations" that looked at how
economies function, and how to spot long haul performers and Rama Bijapurkar’s
“We Are Like That Only” which contextualizes the opportunity, Ram Charan’s
“Global Tilt” is designed to combine both – identity the opportunities and then
offer nuggets on how the opportunities could be encashed.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5jDBI3RRMqMlkeE5LSffAvyVwPcgoYtnbQoDwh3bC6CQf7k7Z5A3qNwstBEaNv0sJxoebveaGL_4wBo9Z0BB18clZlIU6cAu5nryUWIFz7Xn2yrPz-uULIWTosVOz4m73pc2r/s1600/rc1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5jDBI3RRMqMlkeE5LSffAvyVwPcgoYtnbQoDwh3bC6CQf7k7Z5A3qNwstBEaNv0sJxoebveaGL_4wBo9Z0BB18clZlIU6cAu5nryUWIFz7Xn2yrPz-uULIWTosVOz4m73pc2r/s1600/rc1.jpg" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Ram Charan
identifies that the opportunity set is moving away from the North to the region
below the thrity first parallel - South. That is the Global Tilt. In this Tilt
North’s assumption is that it is moving into the so-called emerging markets
from a position of strength. This needs to be rechecked. It is somewhat similar
to the comment Muhammed Yunus made when Grameen tied up with Danone to supply
low cost fortified curd in Bangla Desh. Yunus called this Social Business and
said that Danone was convinced about the “purpose”. Somebody asked him if he
was sure that Danone was not using Grameen, he turned around and said “Why do
you think Danone is using me, and not that I am using Danone?” This is the line
of argument that Ram Charan offers: Identifying vulnerabilities and proving how
this current belief of a position of strength is really a weakness in the long
run.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">This is an
interesting argument. If a company were to occupy a new market, it would need a
partner in order to understand the new territory and get feet on the ground.
The “occupier” has technology, experience and product. However, access to
markets are provided on a partnership basis with the partner with “territory”
having a major stake. While the “occupier” company looks at this as a door
ajar, to be pried open to get full access, the host actually welcomes the guest
to get access to the technology, and eventually a steep learning curve ensures
that the partnership progresses with a position of equal strength.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">What Ram
Charan further states is that the governments themselves have these policies
laid out; the governments of emerging economies are smart; they will eventually
give the “occupiers” a run for their money. I am not sure that all emerging
economies, have a well thought national competitiveness strategy. As he rightly
identifies capital, human resources, and ownership of corporations is becoming
seamless; without nationality; becoming mercenary. It is natural that the businesses
move to locations that provide the best arbitrage. According to Ram Charan the
new “occupiers” are countries like China, India and countries of the South; markets
could be the universe; is something that the emerging “occupiers” the countries
from the south seem to be doing much better in regions like Africa, while it
should have been a natural destination for the traditional “occupiers” from the
North.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK72wv35ea9Zym1OLVsM2xs470Yx3oHSyW2JK98Nk_2SFtADKuzO3nT-OYKXts7R4orhZe9YMzaPq2F2G1AG17OW44syQDV0iUdquKN7fXCIXF1F9UAHT1Y8gvC2tOAM1-dPXt/s1600/rc1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK72wv35ea9Zym1OLVsM2xs470Yx3oHSyW2JK98Nk_2SFtADKuzO3nT-OYKXts7R4orhZe9YMzaPq2F2G1AG17OW44syQDV0iUdquKN7fXCIXF1F9UAHT1Y8gvC2tOAM1-dPXt/s1600/rc1.jpg" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Basically
Ram Charan’s thesis ends there. He adds one more term repeatedly used in the
book: outside-in future-back strategy. Look at the business diapassionately and
place yourself up on a timescale and review your current. His book ends when he
proposes that economic power has shifted from the traditional regions to
emerging regions. This essence is in the first 24 pages. Beyond this he moves
on to explain the financial world to the reader, rather ineffectively. The rest
of the book is written in a somewhat preachy condescending tone which is more
of a to do and a not-to-do list. Random examples pop up every now and then to
justify and illustrate a grand universal phenomenon that he tries to explain a
concept. The book is a great example of how a good tight article for Harvard
Business Review can be pulled stretched into 300+ pages. In places the book
also becomes incoherent and verbose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">As to the
longevity of the Tilt theory, before a new fancy term replaces it – your guess
is as good as mine. Given the stature of the author, people will talk about it
for a while, before he or somebody else invents a new buzz word. My estimate is
that the Tilt theory will last about six months.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b><b><b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">© M S Sriram |</span></b></b></b></b></span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-73744844292221172322013-06-09T06:10:00.001+05:302020-12-03T11:16:31.905+05:30New Ideas in an Old Framework<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAAK1JasHR_zsIaCF38qvjbo82XY63Dpy4gFmiMFIMMIQO3KPkCJRgv4ooUJEgFG-faE5im7Z6xm2X-fxQZhZGQqIQFX65iWOlUMeOv0fOdeh8GQ5-UEZilHx0eVAleEjD_heU/s1600/cc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAAK1JasHR_zsIaCF38qvjbo82XY63Dpy4gFmiMFIMMIQO3KPkCJRgv4ooUJEgFG-faE5im7Z6xm2X-fxQZhZGQqIQFX65iWOlUMeOv0fOdeh8GQ5-UEZilHx0eVAleEjD_heU/s1600/cc.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Conscious Capitalism<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">John Mackey and Raj Sisodia<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Harvard Business Review Press 2013<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">pp.334.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Talking about the limitations and the potential of
capitalism is the flavor of the season. The turmoil in the financial sector,
its ramification across geographies; the long road to recovery has led to
questions about the philosophical underpinnings of market-capital based model.
Conscious Capitalism is to be examined in this context. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Contemporary writings have three strands of arguments
in defining enterprises with a conscience. These strands of equitable and
humane face of capitalism had started emerging much before the crisis; but the
context for examining these models is important in the post crisis era.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The first strand does not question the basic structure
of capitalism. It accepts the philosophical underpinnings, but argues for
tweaking. The tweaking is articulated as transparency; disclosure of interests;
independent oversight; and better corporate governance practices. This strand
looks at failures as failure of governance than as an inherent philosophical
flaw.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The second strand argues for alternative forms of organization.
In the past, the alternative to capital based enterprise was co-operatives, a patronage
based enterprise. There are not-for-profit entities that do not distribute any
residual claims; not having “maximizing return on capital” as the core purpose.
A new dimension in this strand comes from Muhammad Yunus as “Social Business”
which ring fences profiteering, while allowing nominal investments to be taken
out. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Conscious Capitalism falls into the third strand that
accepts the basic framework of the capital centric model, but would want it to
be accountable on other parameters. This is the clutter of social enterprises.
Customer centricity, ecological sustainability, ethical practices, employee engagement,
and patient capital without a compromise on the financial returns are the
features of such enterprises. Depending on the type of business, entrepreneur
and investor, the focus on these capital plus factors would change.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The authors provide a framework for “conscious”
capitalism by integrating four aspects of the business: management of culture,
leadership, articulation of purpose (beyond earning profits) and integrating
the stakeholders. The basic message is that if you do no evil, your business
will survive and prosper; earn competitive returns without guilt. A large part
of the book is about the business of Whole Foods Market (WFM) and the choices
that the firm had to make at various points in time. The authors also draw from
the experiences of other “Conscious” businesses like the Tatas, Posco, Walmart,
Patagonia and Southwest Airlines. The businesses which are classified as
“conscious” businesses have had their share of controversy. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgosI5_FmS-HTXwvxPxrWfku52I-RyPdLNMlMy8lmnIx5OvDPlYvnfROhVa-UhBFM8jsl7g1yHTjkzQwVr_buKYYatc4NygTFqf0UZU4QfziFRVlGiFZFh7NWUtqQOWzQdMkQag/s1600/cc1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgosI5_FmS-HTXwvxPxrWfku52I-RyPdLNMlMy8lmnIx5OvDPlYvnfROhVa-UhBFM8jsl7g1yHTjkzQwVr_buKYYatc4NygTFqf0UZU4QfziFRVlGiFZFh7NWUtqQOWzQdMkQag/s1600/cc1.jpg" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The folklore of employee centricity of the Tatas in
the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attack is used as an instance to show the
consciousness of the Tatas. However, Tatas are not just about Taj Hotels. A
difficult situation of larger ethical dilemma at Singur is not touched. Or that
of Posco’s land acquisition process as a “conscious” capitalist? Does Walmart’s
zero waste to landfills aspiration (p.149) make it a conscious capitalist while
literature suggests insensitive handling of workmen healthcare benefits that
were “outsourced” to the State!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The middle ground argument has thick borders between
what is acceptable and what is not. A practice could become desirable on the
basis of a strong argument. Take this quote:<i>
“people ask us, ‘Why does WFM sell some foods that aren’t particularly
healthy?’” </i>The justification is <i>“Ultimately
our customers ‘vote with their money’ every time they shop. Just as, over time,
they have voted for more and more organic foods, we hope they will gradually
vote the unhealthiest foods out of our stores by choosing not to buy them”</i>
(p.79). This is an argument that could easily be applied to Philip Morris. The
authors dismiss this “great” (as described by Jim Collins) company with the
question <i>“what has been the net impact of
Philip Morris, the world’s largest tobacco company for much of the past
century?” (p.282).</i> Storing not-so-healthy food in WFM is a customer choice,
while <i>“the world is (not) a better place
because the company (Philip Morris) exists” </i>(p.282). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaoUoerTMzT1wSiYhbx3lgHRKjHNPUFWsQvaHjLb0xI-aPqtf5acsuA9Z62dQdAe6Wt47F1i4uR1cyQLDb3W7INeDC14HuHWMvjnwzJ3WqggWrnBF8ZoqClAtvb8Cb_GNPTZhx/s1600/cc1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaoUoerTMzT1wSiYhbx3lgHRKjHNPUFWsQvaHjLb0xI-aPqtf5acsuA9Z62dQdAe6Wt47F1i4uR1cyQLDb3W7INeDC14HuHWMvjnwzJ3WqggWrnBF8ZoqClAtvb8Cb_GNPTZhx/s1600/cc1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">While the authors sound optimistic that the future will
move towards “conscious” capitalism because of the inevitability of the reward
structure, it belies experience where WFM had to make compromises <i>“At WFM, our salary cap has been in place
for about twenty five years (the ratio has <b>risen
</b>gradually over the years…. To stay reasonably competitive with the external
market”(p.94)</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWgv7ZNH9Y62MwVMIT8XkHVDIy_icxxQeRyxUOFQE52DsfcuhsxBeNmHRFx_VSPh3YmE8LGgrJ847z6s6B2MZWBV8fLWMv67uoFalXTlfX9KakYz2u1qavi5-wKbkP5dLBrMRB/s1600/cc1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWgv7ZNH9Y62MwVMIT8XkHVDIy_icxxQeRyxUOFQE52DsfcuhsxBeNmHRFx_VSPh3YmE8LGgrJ847z6s6B2MZWBV8fLWMv67uoFalXTlfX9KakYz2u1qavi5-wKbkP5dLBrMRB/s1600/cc1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There are ways to make a persuasive argument. The most
impressive is to have a logical argument based on consistency. The least
impressive is the evangelical method that invokes the unknown; a sense of shame;
and guilt to convince. Unfortunately the book has more of the latter strategy
than the former. While there is a need to discuss and re-define capitalism in a
world that is getting excessively polarized, this book does not add to the
intellectual debate on the matter. It gives a series of convenient examples
retrofitted to the “Conscious Capitalism” argument. This is a problem when the
practitioner narrates his achievements and the academic takes a back seat
without distilling practices into economic arguments. The book loses because it
has more of John Mackey (co-CEO WFM) and less of Raj Sisodia (Professor at Bentley
University).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b><b><b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">© M S Sriram |</span></b></b></b></b></span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-83415860773314371762013-06-09T06:00:00.003+05:302020-12-03T11:16:32.086+05:30Creators amidst Predators<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Rl5xnDKXSQAyz3a1HWjXPcv4IIc5BlPcfeoGWR-Mrh0Q1N5pRdhE6nhzljiwaZCGFlsPPNhB4UINKZgdIsorT10Q_-8cq2HXdFE3XDEzdwQ4aj1P_twmPj0NKTic5paFzORJ/s1600/gm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Rl5xnDKXSQAyz3a1HWjXPcv4IIc5BlPcfeoGWR-Mrh0Q1N5pRdhE6nhzljiwaZCGFlsPPNhB4UINKZgdIsorT10Q_-8cq2HXdFE3XDEzdwQ4aj1P_twmPj0NKTic5paFzORJ/s1600/gm.jpg" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The Locust and
The Bee<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Predators and
Creators in Capitalism’s Future<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Geoff Mulgan<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Princeton
University Press 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">pp.334.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">With so much of churn in the capitalistic world, it might well be the
right time to look back and wonder if capitalism has failed. Geoff Mulgan’s
book on Capitalism is set at a philosophical level. Therefore he looks at the
entire business world not only from and economic lens, but also from a moral
and ethical lens. At the same time he keeps the thought process and examples
largely restricted to the world of business, except in a brilliant chapter
where he traces how Monarchies have dissipated making way for democracies,
hinting that there could potentially be another form in which the world of business
could operate. Not, that such attempts have not been made, but those attempts
have come as a counter to what Mulgan calls as the predatory tendencies of
capitalism than the creative tendencies of capitalism. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKdPj8JTm7ClKIiM5u7Y6Lpk5mI0FXKlGEclDic0ROcC9B2T-RyF-i9e2O_hahVtLDi-rViH3xRcbd-4UVpb9jlUGNNdxAuySw8ImAHfhPZx-cxl_s648uty_1eXbluuwyoEEg/s1600/gm1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKdPj8JTm7ClKIiM5u7Y6Lpk5mI0FXKlGEclDic0ROcC9B2T-RyF-i9e2O_hahVtLDi-rViH3xRcbd-4UVpb9jlUGNNdxAuySw8ImAHfhPZx-cxl_s648uty_1eXbluuwyoEEg/s1600/gm1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">The largest counter-capitalist thought was from Karl Marx. And when we
discuss Marx, the discourse has to be raised to a philosophical level – because
Marx transcends the world of business, government and looks at the phenomenon
from a societal point of view. While Mulgan’s book is set at a philosophical
level, it looks at capitalism as a mere tool than as a philosophy. That is
because, Capitalism itself does not transcend beyond commerce. For a large part
of the book Mulgan has put a boundary around himself in unpeeling the layers of
the world of business. I use the word “tool” deliberately, because it is only a
tool that could harm or help depending on the use we put it to. The underlying
argument in Mulgan’s book is one of acceptance of capitalism, and then
exploring how it could be saved from predators and used constructively. Look at
this quote as evidence:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">“…(Marx) misread the ability of capitalism to
respond to threats and pressures, and in particular he misread how well it
would be able to spread wealth as well as hoarding it. That the distribution of
wealth was often forced on it by striking workers, or reforming governments, is
one of the paradoxes of history. If capitalism had been left to the capitalists
it probably would have destroyed itself. Instead, the capitalists were bullied into
saving themselves”(p.118-119)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">The questioning of the future of capitalism is follows arguments of capitalism’s
constructiveness. Mulgan does not find an inherent design feature in capitalism
that ensures capitalists do not behave like locusts. His examples show
predatory practices like the genetically modified “terminator” seeds exist. The
technology also gets protection and it takes a long time before non-capitalist
forces (like the State) make the capitalists behave.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Clearly, what capitalism provides is a framework to do business. This
framework makes capital the central part of the business and rewards the
capital with all the residues after all other factors of production have been
paid. In a utopian world of perfect competition, there should be no excessive
rent sought by a single factor of production. However, capitalism does not
provide a fix for aberrations. That fix would either come from capitalists
themselves – firms like Patagonia, Selco Solar, Narayana Hrudayalaya which suo
motu decide to restrict the residual claims and ensure that the returns from
the business are spread more widely or from the society at large. In his
brilliant chapter “New Accomodations”, Mulgan talks about a “<i>small town of Saltsjobaden near Stockholm
where the representatives of business, government and unions agreed to create a
society with no rich individuals but rich concerns (p.230)”. </i>It is evident
this design initiative will more often come from outside than inside.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Mulgan concludes with a range of ideas. Some of these clearly move away
from the centrality of capital – an alternative measure of exchange that looks
at time and moves beyond money. How do we change the measure of performance?
How do we introduce multiple measures of performance? All these ideas come from
beyond the business, from the larger society of which business is a small
sub-set.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Mulgan draws from a wide range of examples which makes it such a
pleasure to read the book. He has referred to the Honey Bee network that
documents innovations, the radical positive outcomes that the unique
identification exercise in India which could have in personalizing transactions
with the government, including taxes. He also draws from a wide range of
sources, beyond business, science fiction, literature, life sciences and
sociology. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">With this entire range of discussions, it is surprising that Mulgan does
not devote attention to one viable alternate business model that questioned the
primacy of capital. Co-operatives though not very successful across sectors and
geographies moved the locus away from capital to “patronage” making capital one
more factor of production with residual profits going to people providing the
service or “patronage”. Co-operatives also propogated equality of vote of all
the users without discrimination, making it possible for somebody who could be
small and marginal to have a equal say in the way the business is done. He also
does not discuss the Social Business model that is being propogated by Muhammad
Yunus which also rejects the accumulative tendency of capitalism. If Mulgan had
built many more such counter-capitalist ideas in the book, he would have had a
much lesser tentative answer to the question he asks about the future of
capitalism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">The Locust and the Bee is a brilliant book, full of great ideas,
provoking us to pause and think. He ends the book with a brilliant picture of
imagining the identity of a city. How do we define a city? Through its palaces
and forts, churches and temples, railway stations, airports and museums or the
skyline of Manhattan. If our image of USA is predominantly filled with the
Manhattan skyline, we know that Capitalism is still around.</span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-84407502255743183642013-04-07T09:35:00.001+05:302020-12-03T11:16:32.266+05:30The State of Our Cities Evidence from Karnataka<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfd6ROGvItbFEq-omXvxElP_xxd-mHK5_63Z0Nm2HpBJkpp3aSVKESuopOwLg9NpdEDrFJOE8yajBre0x77OMl0K5Z957mcmooBAw2VxeFeD2SAvmzMTrpeaZl8fv7ykeFNsXI/s1600/sc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfd6ROGvItbFEq-omXvxElP_xxd-mHK5_63Z0Nm2HpBJkpp3aSVKESuopOwLg9NpdEDrFJOE8yajBre0x77OMl0K5Z957mcmooBAw2VxeFeD2SAvmzMTrpeaZl8fv7ykeFNsXI/s320/sc.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;">Samuel Paul,
Kala Seetharam Sridhar, A Venugopala Reddy and Pavan Srinath</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">2012 Oxford
University Press, New Delhi</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">pp.297. Price Rs.765<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">There is a fairly widespread recognition that
we are moving towards a rapid process of urbanization. Issues of development
and poverty that was once focused in the rural areas is now finding increasing
importance in the urban context and setting. The need to make informed
decisions and customize interventions to the areas where such interventions are
needed depends heavily on the quality of data. One of the aspects that we
constantly lament about is the non-availability of meaningful data either for
research or for policy making.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In this context this is a very important book.
It is important because it recognizes the gap that an academic always
encounters, it tries to fill in the gap and offers a template of a database
that could be built up over a period of time across all the habitations – not
necessarily cities. It will be particularly useful in not only preparing master
plans for the habitations, but it will help the local administration to prepare
and plan for civic amenities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The book opens by making a case for itself and
also detailing the methodology of collection of data. The book covers data on
15 cities of Karnataka, a chapter dedicated to a city. The overall template
covers the history, demographics, economic dimensions, infrastructure and other
services, quality of life and the budgets. All these are interesting pieces of
data. Indeed as the authors present the data, they also bring to the fore the
difficulty in obtaining granular city based data. It is somewhat surprising
that given that the national databases are built on the basis of primary
granular data we find it so much more difficult to get disaggregated data. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt21tiHJ8CbsEALMjFBH3VdK2SbzLovPW5suAYWerwBTb1xN9kiwusGMXHoJw686MHzFvLRFnPQE3InIrnc69xCWrs48iNeOln1DEHsvCu8YE4bkxL0yjFXpZtISEaRSwbqw0W/s1600/sc1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt21tiHJ8CbsEALMjFBH3VdK2SbzLovPW5suAYWerwBTb1xN9kiwusGMXHoJw686MHzFvLRFnPQE3InIrnc69xCWrs48iNeOln1DEHsvCu8YE4bkxL0yjFXpZtISEaRSwbqw0W/s200/sc1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Take for instance the availability of credit
and banking data. While the book has been able to present the data with the
co-operation of the Reserve Bank of India [RBI], one should have had a natural
access to such data bases. With the level of technology being used, it should
not be difficult for agencies like RBI to put the entire database [subject to
the confidentiality aspects] in a manner that could be downloaded and accessed
as per the requirements of the seeker of data.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As we work with databases and use these
databases to draw policy inferences, we also discover that there is disconnect
between the agency that collects the data and the users of the data. For
instance, let us discuss the observation made by the authors:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“Given India’s service revolution, we examined if at all there is any
single sector which dominates the services category in all the cities. Talking
all the 15 cities into account, we found that a little more than a fifth of
workers were in wholesale and/or retail trade and an additional one-fifth in
“other” services such as public administration and defence, compulsory social
security, education, health and social work, other community, social and
personal service activities, private households with employed persons, and
extra territorial organizations and bodies. Unfortunately we neither have data
on information technology [IT] or IT enabled services in the cities not enough
data to examine if employment in traditional services [such as work in hotels,
restaurants, or trade and commerce] were high in smaller cities.” [p.16]<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This quote from the book opens up a classic
question on the methodology of data collection by government. Do we do our
collection on the pre-specified silos and populate them, or collect raw data
and later classify them into some silos? If it is the latter, then the database
should be able to turn in the data that the researchers want. The above quote
is also an indication of how badly the statistics of the country lag the trend
shown by the primary sector. Given that IT and ITES are expected to be one of
the significant employers in the services sector, the data classification not
capturing the detail is something we should ponder over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The book does not touch upon the government
inter-departmental co-ordination specifically, but we may have to discuss this
issue in the context of the book. In most of these, there is little
co-ordination between departments. For instance, the Ministry of Labour has classified
all the occupations in the country using a four level hierarchy and aligning it
with International Standard Classification of Occupations. This classification
is called the National Classification of Occupations. Wonder how many of our
surveys done by other government departments use this classification in mapping
the occupational patterns. If the government does not use this classification,
the probability of someone else using this classification is remote. If we were
to make data comparable across time and across sectors and locations then these
protocols need to be followed. While bringing out the data on cities, the book
points out not only to the gaps, but also the direction in which data could be
organized.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The angst about the data continues elsewhere
in the book as they are looking at comparing city data sets:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyNTTU7NxRB4vqEoExXa5lfiJELFusgvFXKFGyEqxItg9AZ_9gyLQsEungySHa4eRvlX4n8LWIC1yuxgvH9P0K0Du7hDikb8IrBNUwmS8dhogCkWZTbROWmYYDEgkOZJ9hVWCP/s1600/sc1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyNTTU7NxRB4vqEoExXa5lfiJELFusgvFXKFGyEqxItg9AZ_9gyLQsEungySHa4eRvlX4n8LWIC1yuxgvH9P0K0Du7hDikb8IrBNUwmS8dhogCkWZTbROWmYYDEgkOZJ9hVWCP/s1600/sc1.jpg" /></a><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“Despite the JNNURM and numerous urban poverty programmes, basic
information on the urban poor is sorely lacking. No data exists on a city-wide
basis on the magnitude and the problems of the urban poor, their households,
and the services delivered to them. How programmes can be designed and
delivered in the cities without such basic knowledge is difficult to fathom.
There are wide variations among the 15 cities on most of the parameters on
which this study has gathered official data. The inter-city disparities in
resource distribution and utilization are most striking. The fact that
different departments of the state government are in charge of different
services and programmes could be one reason”.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This could be a nightmare not only for the
policy maker, but a lesser mortal like an academic. Where would you start a
quest if basic information is not available? How would one draw up a population
and a sampling plan? And what level of triangulation could we do between the
primary data and the database to understand representativeness? In this sense
the book really throws open the inadequacy of information and the need for
organized data.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Even when we take the broad parameters on
which the book presents data there are further questions that crop up. It is
okay to look at data at a city level, but how a city is broken up by the
various departments is not uniform. The way the Bangalore Water Supply and
Sewerage Board divides up a city like Bangalore is different from how the wards
are cut up under the Brihat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike; this is different from
how the postal department has organized pincodes; Bangalore Metropolitan
Transport Corporations organization of divisions is unique and the Bangalore
Electricity Supply Company’s organization of divisions would also be uniquely
different. Each one of these data providers would have a different definition
of the borders of Bangalore. Therefore any researcher or policy maker working
in the field of urban issues is bound to face significant problems in secondary
data and how it is organized. The authors also highlight the other problems
with data. Look at this quote for instance:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“As far as hospitals are concerned, we found that Bangalore [The city]
has 13 hospitals [including government hospitals, private hospitals, and
nursing homes] per lakh population [or a total of 1,027 hospitals]. However,
what matters is number of beds in the hospitals rather than the number of
hospitals themselves. Unfortunately, our data on the number of hospital beds
cover only government hospitals since we did not have data on beds in all
hospitals.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">So, while the book works as a resource book
and an aggregation point of organized data on 15 cities of Karnataka, it also
implicitly raises many more questions about the quality and quantity of data
that is available in the public domain. Therefore what is unsaid in the book is
as important [if not more] as what the books brings to the table.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This is certainly not a book to be read. It is
a book to be referred to. In that sense, the book is a bit of a let down due to
one factor. It has been published late for the 2001 census data where it ends
and a bit too early before the 2011 census data could be obtained. If only the
authors had added the 2011 data it would have been even more useful for
somebody who wanted to analyse this neat data over time. Clearly if one indeed
tries to “read” the book, then the problem encountered would be that of a
monotony. Unless one was doing a specific research on a particular city, the
format looks repetitive – and seems to say the same thing about each city. A
little bit of work would have made the text more readable. While there is a
comprehensive chapter that looks at data across cities, it would have been good
when specific data of a particular city was being discussed a counter point, a
comparison, a reinforcement of that using data from other comparable cities
could have been slipped in. It would have made the book a little more readable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaQgfnaNcWZ4IKbFj3Azvo7zgwrRWnFTHaCy342aCrHjQF5DuOF4gXx52Dy8KiBQRFx7ct5SyzwIvJHUW9H1oFHJ4M_BUbt59eraXye2KDOw0lEChE2vQDBKT0XZnwx3R-Fsoq/s1600/sc1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaQgfnaNcWZ4IKbFj3Azvo7zgwrRWnFTHaCy342aCrHjQF5DuOF4gXx52Dy8KiBQRFx7ct5SyzwIvJHUW9H1oFHJ4M_BUbt59eraXye2KDOw0lEChE2vQDBKT0XZnwx3R-Fsoq/s1600/sc1.jpg" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Irrespective of other expectations, this is no
doubt an important book, but only as a starting point. The quality of data and
the quality of analysis from now on should only improve – both in terms of
coverage of cities and in terms of the depth of the data provided, and also in
terms of the granularity of the data.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Prof. Paul and his team need to be
complemented for this painstaking and frustrating work that they have
undertaken</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b><b><b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">© M S Sriram |</span></b></b></b></b></span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-85535054550737062902013-04-07T06:54:00.004+05:302020-12-03T11:16:32.450+05:30The Truth Shall Prevail?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkpBJvhZvtVg8xyyirZluuYBV3HGvZuEK8vNwlV1IUNpteaq1VooMWwE5xHGq4yqlLM36xgcOBpVD0YStwZ89wcz0_N4uoH7tHyYr8yTDbv7t6FRDzeq6AkM1OgulwEdNBb3qY/s1600/sa1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkpBJvhZvtVg8xyyirZluuYBV3HGvZuEK8vNwlV1IUNpteaq1VooMWwE5xHGq4yqlLM36xgcOBpVD0YStwZ89wcz0_N4uoH7tHyYr8yTDbv7t6FRDzeq6AkM1OgulwEdNBb3qY/s320/sa1.jpg" width="203" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The Resurgence
of Satyam, The Global IT Giant<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Zafar Anjum<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Random House
India, 2012</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">pp.268. Price Rs.399<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">At one level, corporate frauds are difficult to pull off. There are
thousands of employees, control systems, auditors, analysts, regulators, and
the board. And yet a look at the history of corporate scams, it makes us wonder
about the reams written about corporate governance, the golden peacocks, the
theory of an independent professional board. In case of Satyam, we also wonder
about banks, auditors and more. Reading about scams at the base level
titillative and at a cerebral level introspective. A book about scams and
frauds comes with huge and diverse expectations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">On the face, by focusing on the resurgence, we believe Zafar Anjum
tempers the expectations to the resurgence and reconstruction. But, a large
part of the book is dedicated to the background of trying to dissect and
reconstruct the modus operandi of the fraud perpetrated by Ramalinga Raju on
Satyam. The reconstruction effort gets disproportionately lesser pages. It
could have been very interesting if his research understood the homework done
by Mahindras in the run up to the acquisition. How does one evaluate a stake in
a company that was opaque and fraught with fraud? A company listed on NASDAQ
and facing class action suits in the US? How could a clannish company transformed
to professional one? Was the deal worth it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC4HBJ4QzF_5y-qo2sHhv-_f9qxOwpHfhejy3FMOj9NZ8sRxqFQycJmW4m5VaVKWfqLJCy3kr8jp61E06pj_uGHHK7PmRqHIASB7OCgMH7tD_9KgYh2G-Vu21A5Xmj_PBqDeUx/s1600/sa2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC4HBJ4QzF_5y-qo2sHhv-_f9qxOwpHfhejy3FMOj9NZ8sRxqFQycJmW4m5VaVKWfqLJCy3kr8jp61E06pj_uGHHK7PmRqHIASB7OCgMH7tD_9KgYh2G-Vu21A5Xmj_PBqDeUx/s200/sa2.jpg" width="128" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKaewGQVXn5Yi2J1oJT8bhN7JOcYJ1nMy948nzYBNUw5qMUY099_3z_ahaeLqsg95rCaK3qrAWtBdGFdo9gukigOjXlst-QPoXLlQcgZ1PadGcF3OuHOGxqalsu-9f1uGDEt1h/s1600/sa1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKaewGQVXn5Yi2J1oJT8bhN7JOcYJ1nMy948nzYBNUw5qMUY099_3z_ahaeLqsg95rCaK3qrAWtBdGFdo9gukigOjXlst-QPoXLlQcgZ1PadGcF3OuHOGxqalsu-9f1uGDEt1h/s200/sa1.jpg" width="132" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Unfortunately Anjum’s book does not provide fulfillment. It draws
heavily on existing literature and in particular from the book “The Satyam
Saga” published by Business Standard. While the book is well crafted, simple
and straightforward, the narrative is inspired by the chronicling style of </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Tim Bouquet and Byron Ousey who authored Cold Steel,
the saga of the marriage between Mittal Steel and Arcelor. Anjum also seems to
be inspired by </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Kingshuk Nag who wrote
The Double Life of Ramalinga Raju both for style and for content. While this
style makes the text readable, it does not come across as a rigorous piece of
work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Inane trivia are a part of this style. The prologue subjects the readers
to how Anjum stumbled on story of Satyam, the flight [with the number] to
Hyderabad, the weather and the menu on board. With action he gets to the
chronicle mode: <i>“Karnik could feel a
palpable sense of urgency in Goel’s voice. Being a representative of the
government, Goel seemed determined to save the situation at Satyam. Karnik gave
in and said yes, accepting the ‘responsibility’ in principle.”</i> [p.93]. Unfortunately
this style is not followed in the reconstruction phase. It appears that Anjum
had access to the Mahindras [the spine sports the Mahindra-Satyam logo], but we
get no insights into the minds of Anand Mahindra or CP Gurnani. Except for the
fact that Anjum had an interview with Gurnani and visited the Satyam
Headquarters to meet a few senior level employees we do not get evidence of
extensive interviews and primary field-work, interviews with other stake
holders, which would be considered necessary even if we treated this as a
journalistic piece of work rather than academic research. Instead, there is a
dry rendering of events that followed the take over, the communications
strategy, a peek into Gurnani’s blog and the events thereafter. But: What about
the tension? What about the dilemma of whom to trust? The problem of what lay
within this black box? None of these come out. The resurgence story ends much
before it starts. The learnings we have: communication was important; there was
internal restructuring; a Shadow Board was set up to make decision-making
agile. The content could have been more insightful than a collage of material
neatly culled and ordered from secondary sources. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO828zgI_amgy4drfjMyqVhniH9VtpN9URRbLaF3yU8MhyBQ_FvaGl2ikU2oBIj6uNCT3SgPbl5JrD95aH3fqu1HL4MzrXHTF_LRcVQ0UjWMI6OtaoCjWBV5TpzyjLkig6X3K7/s1600/sa2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO828zgI_amgy4drfjMyqVhniH9VtpN9URRbLaF3yU8MhyBQ_FvaGl2ikU2oBIj6uNCT3SgPbl5JrD95aH3fqu1HL4MzrXHTF_LRcVQ0UjWMI6OtaoCjWBV5TpzyjLkig6X3K7/s320/sa2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">This should have been an important book in management literature. The concept
of “too big to fail” so often used in the banking sector was applied to an
unlikely sector. The government stepped in, while it could have let go. The
Enrons, the Worldcoms and many an Indian company have been allowed to fail. There
was something in Satyam that triggered the government to save it. It was saved
without a bail-out. A significant share of the credit for holding out must
rightly go to the employees, it should also go to the State for handling the IT
brand of India so carefully. The competitors in general seem to have acted with
maturity promising not to poach. It was a great case of Statesmanship and
revival. Anjum touches upon this, but fails to weave these pieces together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">And finally, Satyam tells us a tale of how decorative the boards are and
the limited role they have in “governance” if the management decides to cheat.
The Boards at best could give strategic inputs and directions, but governance?
A question we should probe very deeply.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">There was a lot of fun and pun about the name Satyam. The book ends with
a note that indicates that ultimately as the truth prevails the name might
fully be erased when the company merges with Tech Mahindra. A case where the
truth prevailed but not <i>Satyam?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-15179173477858677452012-11-24T12:39:00.001+05:302020-12-03T11:16:32.631+05:30Macro View on Microfinance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKM2ULZQ-LSrwg5K2nlnP1N13vOYjwnAuL-ImKJIBE6HSdYguLIKwFqbQEHHKQaGlK3vrASYwG3Z_mFCYb0Tfz9smIhP3XrmdGct-I13Dsv3QgwnXP5d9_OCcG7LFkEs_7iEdc/s1600/sls1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKM2ULZQ-LSrwg5K2nlnP1N13vOYjwnAuL-ImKJIBE6HSdYguLIKwFqbQEHHKQaGlK3vrASYwG3Z_mFCYb0Tfz9smIhP3XrmdGct-I13Dsv3QgwnXP5d9_OCcG7LFkEs_7iEdc/s1600/sls1.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Microfinance in India<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Issues, Problems and Prospects: A
Critical Review of Literature<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">SL Shetty<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Academic Foundation, New Delhi</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">pp.658.
Price Rs.1,295<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Historically, the State has been seized of the issue of access to financial
services to the poor. A review of the initiatives of the past century, shows that
the concern about making financial services, to the disadvantaged sections of
the society being articulated largely by the State. These articulations can be
found in the form of <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">[a] seeking inputs for policy making by setting up study groups,
committees, commissions, working groups and the like;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">[b] institutional interventions in setting up new forms of organisations and
new initiatives in existing organisations<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">[c] intervention in the operations of institutions by directing them to
serve a section of the society through quotas, orders, notifications, schemes
and subsidies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">While these initiatives were happening, the State was never satisfied about
the penetration of these services and was looking to re-invent solutions to the
problem. However, what was striking in the century long interventions were that
the initiatives came from the state in state owned, state controlled
organisations. Till recently there was an absence of the private sector in this
space. Thus most solutions were supply side, welfarist solutions. Not many of
them were market-based. The history of intervention in the financial services
targeted at the poor started with the active participation of the state. A wave
of initiatives through state partnered and state promoted co-operatives
followed. This was followed by nationalization of banks, establishing Regional Rural
Banks. On the policy side there were targets for flow of financial services to
certain sections of the economy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In the late 1990s the NGO sector actively embraced the agenda of
financial inclusion. These initiatives proved that market based solutions could
be offered in financial inclusion particularly through the provision of microcredit
services on commercially viable terms. This demonstration led to an increased
interest of the commercial world in providing services to the poor. This market
based approach also coincided with the entire market paradigm starting to
consider the poor as viable consumers of various services an “opportunity”
discovered by Prof.CK Prahalad as a Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">With the excitement of newer forms of market-based interventions in the
area of microfinance, there was an increased attention from researchers and
academics, as also from the popular press on this topic. Much was written about
how microfinance offered a silver bullet in doing good and doing well at the
same time. The attention that microfinance got and the writing that followed
was disproportionately higher than the impacts it was making. Shetty’s book is
to be seen in this context.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The
book is a scholarly piece of work and personifies Shetty who is known for his
meticulousness, dedication, eye for detail and discipline. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As I was reading the book I kept trying to
look for some literature that I was familiar with, that could have missed his
attention but have to happily admit that I failed. Shetty and his team trudge
through reams of material, digest, classify, organize and critique it in a
readable manner. The book is rich with data. It is very remarkable as it offers
a lazy researcher a complete guide to the literature, significant amounts of
secondary data and leads on where one go for more, making it a researchers’
delight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The book is organized into 9 parts. I would hesitate to call them
chapters because each part is not only a book in itself, but is also
significant in its own way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The first part deals with the theory - locating the “market” for
microfinance. It talks about market imperfections, market failures and how they
impact the poor, with due focus on women, who almost define microfinance in the
Indian context. The theoretical elements dealt by Shetty, shows the importance
of microfinance as a concept. In focusing on the poor, microfinance started at
the far end of the poor and the excluded and tried to provide a solution for
the requirements of financial services. Microfinance was not only correcting
and intervening in what was identified as market failure [the finance for the
poor] but expanding it to the clients who were not traditionally considered by
the state as a significant group [the women, who usually were subsumed under
the category of poor]. The dual disadvantage of being poor and a woman is
brought out brilliantly by Ela Bhatt in her professional autobiography “We are
poor, but so many”. Shetty captures the essence of her argument in this part.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Most of us working in the field of rural finance succumb to one
stereotyping, and Shetty is no exception. Scholars working on the vexatious
issue of finance for the poor, use two significant pieces of data. One is data on
agriculture and the other is the data on rural areas, falling into the trap of
equating rural/agricultural finance with finance to the poor. It might not be
off the mark considering that a significant amount of poverty is in that broad
segmentation, but it ignores a significant portion of the urban poor from the
discussion leaving the urban poor off the policy radar. There is no other way
of carrying this discussion forward as the availability and organization of
data and literature is on a similar pattern. From Shetty’s discussion of the
background another element comes out: that we do not have data ordered on
gender.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In the next part Shetty deals with the origin of microfinance as a
concept and details out the players. Here he follows an interesting interplay
between [a] theoretical definitions, [b] discussions of the concept, [c] the
institutional responses and their redefinitions through notifications, product
developments, partnerships and linkages and [d] the happenings around the world
that seem to provide a greater meaning and prominence to the concept of
microfinance. This is an endearing approach that helps locate the evolution of
microfinance amidst much action across the world. Shetty deals with the multiple
definitions by getting the context that evolved the definitions and how contexts
could move and change. In addition, the players themselves have re-defined
their role vis-à-vis the clients. While this part rightly has minimal data, it
has examples demonstrating the evolution of the current concept of
microfinance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Part 3 talks about three different models of microfinance – the NGO led
model, models run as government programs and bank led models. Each of these
models are discussed in their emerging context and the regulatory framework. In
a matter of a few pages Shetty is able to cover the setting for microfinance
looking at its genealogy, geography and orientation. Having laid out the global
landscape for microfinance, he focuses on India. This part deals with the
evolution of microfinance in India and sets the story of microfinance, dating
back to the establishment of Sewa Bank. This chapter also shows the subtle
shift in Shetty’s orientation. While the first background chapter talks about
the entire financial sector for the poor, in this chapter the focus is sharply
on what is commonly understood as microfinance. There is no discussion on
agriculture/rural. It discusses the initiatives outside of the government
programs [except for the linkage with NABARD on the SHG-Bank Linkage
programmes]. This chapter breaks away from the supply-side State sponsored
models of inclusion to the model that was proposed and implemented by others,
starting with NGOs and later by the private players. In highlighting the
initiatives Shetty brings out the data on growth, the subtle difference in
approach and also how it pans out at scale. Part 5 is a researchers’ delight.
It provides all the data that one could have had about the aspects discussed in
Part 4. It follows the operational models discussed earlier and points to not
only the data sources but also brings in significant details from specific
studies undertaken in this field. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Having looked at the evolution and the meteoric growth of microfinance in
India in particular, it then becomes important to ask the question as to
whether there was a regulatory framework under which these activities were
being undertaken. The answer for that is yes and no. While the microfinance was
being done in the available regulatory framework, it was probably an
inappropriate framework for scaling. Shetty examines this from a chronological
perspective as well as from the perspective of interest groups. While this is
in itself a brilliant work, it could have been richer if Shetty had focused a
bit on the policy towards microfinance. There was a churn on whether there
should be a bill or not, and whether microfinance should fall under central or
state government’s purview and the role of the Reserve Bank of India [RBI] etc.
On the sidelines there were policy guidelines being issued both by the finance
ministry as well as the RBI under the extant legislations. These dictated how the
sector shaped up. Shetty focuses only on the details of the regulations, the
issues that were debated and the fall-outs. It is surprising given that in the
rest of the book he has examined various layers of the issue. Regulation has
multiple layers of policy making, notifications, orders and advisories. The
regulatory machinery did not have a uni-focus on law making during the period
under question.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The next three parts look at what microfinance means to the poor - a
detailed look at impact studies and the methodological issues surrounding them;
the emerging debate on the critical issues pertaining to microfinance; and a concluding
set of recommendations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Shetty’s book is not easy to review because of the depth and width of its
coverage. It is a book that can easily be admired, and referred to and will
serve as resource material for a long time to come. It brings in divergent
view-points, data and discussions. Shetty largely remains in the background, in
his usual understated way. However, this is a book that should form a necessary
reference material to anybody interested in microfinance and the larger issue
of financial inclusion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As we close, we need to engage in a lingering question. Did the new
models of microfinance replace other more difficult and exploitative sources of
finance such as the moneylender? Or did the women centered microfinance include
the totally excluded segment into the formal financial sector? It is most likely
that even the moneylenders did not consider poor women as a market segment.
Therefore the importance of microfinance was in starting at the far end of
exclusion if we were to take a welfarist point of view, or in “expanding” to
create a new unexplored market segment if we were to take a Prahaladian point
of view. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">We should be thankful to Shetty for undertaking this rather difficult
task and bringing out the output in such an easy and readable and referable
format.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b><b><b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">© M S Sriram |</span></b></b></b></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b><b><b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></b></b></b></span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-56454542387024494542012-08-24T06:40:00.003+05:302020-12-03T11:16:32.816+05:30Stories from the Slum<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhwLnhjDgtoMHnDSuH0WJ4icaGIcLRAEDBVYklQV06Na3ixeCLque__B0MGerWZKf-OVrHk52Eq5dKkZ1m8S7E-jZXb7ZnrNbUQXu9YL9TR_Q1pZeCoWMVDLsFj9d6sG7kPPJ/s1600/rb2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhwLnhjDgtoMHnDSuH0WJ4icaGIcLRAEDBVYklQV06Na3ixeCLque__B0MGerWZKf-OVrHk52Eq5dKkZ1m8S7E-jZXb7ZnrNbUQXu9YL9TR_Q1pZeCoWMVDLsFj9d6sG7kPPJ/s1600/rb2.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Rashmi Bansal is at it again. After three blockbuster books, here is a
fourth one co-authored with Deepak Gandhi. In a way it is almost like the Harry
Potter series – starting with an accidental discovery of a selling formula and
then following it up with books having a similar concept. Her first book – Stay
Hungry, Stay Foolish talked about 20 entrepreneurs who had a IIM Ahmedabad
degree. She followed it up with 20 who did not have the coveted MBA, and then
moved on to profiling social entrepreneurs. The latest is a book on Dharavi –
the biggest slum in Asia. As usual it is trying to find what Rashmi has
excelled in finding. Successful stories on entrepreneurship narrated over and
over again, like an inspirational speaker who mentions the essence of life
through multiple narratives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Rashmi has an irritating style, which has come to be popular. This style
dumbs everything into sermon like stories, without a methodological frame. It
is a travelogue. It paints a happy and rosy picture and helps a person to
identify with the protagonist – “I could be the next Vijay in an Amitabh
Bachchan movie” – the angry young man. However much we may pick bones about
this brash style, her writing is something that we cannot ignore. There is a
piece of an inspirational story here, there is some interesting stuff there all
discovered accidentally, but organized in a neat set of silos that make it
appear to be within a theoretical frame.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLiYoLKr8geAcDxrnz6uK_vLgfNiLSoQES4VO0YR093-wqvYYttfYutXq6ZKD3r6H6o_S1rOgPCGYvxnR622M6UV5iOUUZAskfOavK86O3AC0bpyzQ5jZOIw5NsLJCiWxSrgL_/s1600/rb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLiYoLKr8geAcDxrnz6uK_vLgfNiLSoQES4VO0YR093-wqvYYttfYutXq6ZKD3r6H6o_S1rOgPCGYvxnR622M6UV5iOUUZAskfOavK86O3AC0bpyzQ5jZOIw5NsLJCiWxSrgL_/s1600/rb.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">To put the exuberance of Rashmi’s and Deepak’s Dharavi in context, one
should read it alongside another book by a journalist Katherine Boo’s – “Behind
the Beautiful Forevers” a somewhat dark picture of the Annawadi slum in Mumbai
not far from Dharavi, not far from Bandra-Kurla Complex but certainly far-far
away from the optimism shown in this book. Boo’s work is rigorous, deep,
incisive and persistent. No, it is not an academic book, not an ethnographic
work, as would be written by a sociologist or anthropologist, but a rigorous
journalistic work to be taken seriously. Poor Little Rich Slum is a happy
travelogue that multiplies the story of slumdog millionaire. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It is a narration of the story as claimed by the protagonist, without
much of a cross verification. If Rashmi were to apply rigour in her first book
,she would have avoided putting Subhiksha as a “successful enterprise”. The
early signs of decline were already showing up, but she went with the bravado
of the promoter. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">If only Rashmi and Deepak had put Dharavi in the context of poverty, each
entrepreneur in the context of Dharavi, it would have been better. The book is
a mix of stories of people who have made it within Dharavi itself, people from
Dharavi who have made it outside and people from outside who have positively ‘intervened’
in Dharavi. These three are somewhat distinct themes that get intermingled in
their narration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzSVftXY5_VoSruISjUxCPh5lWnzbOlzAWxH8UNNwYoLh14zWVwGBkCgcNENzC7jAcjMo8WgaPgETb1svAlhpPgJ2mvmTids1q-iGHq_oaYryrTcDu9E6MgWgwEUWpTSAmyPB7/s1600/rb5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzSVftXY5_VoSruISjUxCPh5lWnzbOlzAWxH8UNNwYoLh14zWVwGBkCgcNENzC7jAcjMo8WgaPgETb1svAlhpPgJ2mvmTids1q-iGHq_oaYryrTcDu9E6MgWgwEUWpTSAmyPB7/s1600/rb5.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The narrative uses language freely, intermingles slang and chats with the
reader. The paragraphs are less than three lines, grammatically more accurate
than bullet points, but intended to be like bullet points. The book is rich in
its presentation with many photographs of the slums. Unfortunately not all the
pictures are relevant to the text. Photographs that show filth and squalor is
not a part of the discourse. The difficult conditions under which slum dwellers
live, the physical threat to their existence, and the fact that their very
existence is constantly under threat because of weak documentation does not
come out clearly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Dharavi has been grabbing much attention from the press, financial
institutions and policy makers. It has bank branches that do urban financial
inclusion and has become an icon for anybody to talk about urban poverty. In
that sense, this was a natural destination for Rashmi and Deepak to go, because
their model is based on pegging entrepreneurship in a larger recognizable
“brand”. Dharavi [unlike Annawadi] provides that “brand”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizEM3ztIsxuGChaHu3bHd6EPlx-BR75e4WcI0pRy86Oda0U8-cyhTblvePZXFkWA7kb1-3fAaKDk9DyA-yS8BtolxKPhgKeIHMAEL5B79-yFZLrMLGL3TJKSZ7WpjZuOA2Ok1i/s1600/rb3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizEM3ztIsxuGChaHu3bHd6EPlx-BR75e4WcI0pRy86Oda0U8-cyhTblvePZXFkWA7kb1-3fAaKDk9DyA-yS8BtolxKPhgKeIHMAEL5B79-yFZLrMLGL3TJKSZ7WpjZuOA2Ok1i/s320/rb3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Is Dharavi representative of the most low-income settlements in large
urban sprawls? This question needs much more rigorous indulgence. Yes, it
represents one type of settled low-income settlement, with recognition, with
amenities coming in and also being on the policy radar. The conditions in the
other places are more appaling as we discover from Boo’s Annawadi. Dharavi has
now become an icon and symbol of slum tourism, of entrepreneurship and of
financial inclusion. There is a darker side to the problem of urban poverty
than Dharavi. The handicap for entrepreneurship in Dharavi and elsewhere might
also be different.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Having said this, Poor Little Rich Slum is one of the better books of
Rashmi Bansal [and Deepak Gandhi]. It narrates the stories of the protagonists
without fluff and hits right on the point. It is positive and gives a feel-good
feeling, possibly undeservedly in the rather dark bottom of the pit [or should
we call it a pyramid?]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-41079820316823258012012-08-24T04:44:00.001+05:302020-12-03T11:16:33.002+05:30Ahmedabad’s IIM<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKoqqU-cJyEk6YIKqywMGueZXViKgey-zGdQ1RdFzomiCmxxWMrfjF9W2y1tRCL0CaAUobKu49pn6LIn6aFFglmhqefFptiMh4OkFCfRi7ppncBcKzuTsdg25VYUbczh-xnB_q/s1600/pa10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKoqqU-cJyEk6YIKqywMGueZXViKgey-zGdQ1RdFzomiCmxxWMrfjF9W2y1tRCL0CaAUobKu49pn6LIn6aFFglmhqefFptiMh4OkFCfRi7ppncBcKzuTsdg25VYUbczh-xnB_q/s1600/pa10.jpg" /></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Indian Institute of Management
Ahmedabad [IIMA] celebrated a somewhat low-key golden jubilee in December 2011.
Three books came out during the year, which looked at the making of IIMA. The
first <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nurturing Institutional Excellence</i>
was a collection of essays written by past and present faculty members talked
about the internal processes, launch of programmes, management of specific
activities and some reminiscences. Given that it was written by a diverse set
of people, with differing styles and perspectives – it gave a set of anecdote
like look into the Institute. This was followed by a book independently written
by TT Ram Mohan – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Brick by Red Brick,</i>
which examined the history of IIMA, but largely from the lens of the first full
time Director Ravi Matthai. Anubhai’s book is different from both the above,
and provides the history of the Institute from a different perspective.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOHDr9lkbZZSYe-z3QmJD_Vsuw43Diwy7K16-m6bX-kLc9n0-wv620tkZllPuDZsM78JmiSONIv1D4LttoSUg-RhA5pGnxnpMnU-1ts5J72UMtjVR7na5032o7kqQWbTcunV9Q/s1600/pa4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOHDr9lkbZZSYe-z3QmJD_Vsuw43Diwy7K16-m6bX-kLc9n0-wv620tkZllPuDZsM78JmiSONIv1D4LttoSUg-RhA5pGnxnpMnU-1ts5J72UMtjVR7na5032o7kqQWbTcunV9Q/s1600/pa4.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Anubhai has been associated with IIMA for long years – both as a board
member, a visiting faculty who has taken substantial teaching load and as a
member of multiple committees for future direction – a planning and goal
setting process of IIMA which is set up once a decade. He has a better view of
IIMA and a sense of history for having been there. Therefore his version of the
story should have been exciting and readable. However, Anubhai’s rendition does
not engage the readers’ attention. This is because his rendition falls between
two stools – it does not locate itself in the larger paradigm of IIMA as a good
case in managing higher/professional education. That approach would have
brought out challenges of funding, structure, alumni relations, curriculum
design and delivery and new programmes in a different light. Given that Anubhai
is the Chairman of the Board of Management of Ahmedabad University that has an
ambitious plan of setting up a large campus with multiple disciplines, he was
eminently suited to undertake such an effort. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFPSxrPbQFEyNVFm-y2fdaQqOv8fdX4XUQK-7SGVc5Am0aSY4mahjS9E6mx58yHA2vuK0sZIyHKf9gLmjiwYI4nFALB7kCCOowsqIgv_a4dg6P3w2fgzXvNiDAPTNxqUJOwb1l/s1600/pa1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFPSxrPbQFEyNVFm-y2fdaQqOv8fdX4XUQK-7SGVc5Am0aSY4mahjS9E6mx58yHA2vuK0sZIyHKf9gLmjiwYI4nFALB7kCCOowsqIgv_a4dg6P3w2fgzXvNiDAPTNxqUJOwb1l/s1600/pa1.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">For instance, Anubhai does not bring out the fundamental differences
between IIMA and IIM Kolkata [the only difference he brings out is that Kolkata
campus was built by public works department as against an architect designed
campus of Ahmedabad]. Both were set up around the same time, but took
significantly different growth trajectories and managed differently. The
involvement of the local industrial houses in Kolkata and the state government
was not as deep as in case of Ahmedabad. How or whether this mattered would
have been interesting to analyze.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Alternately given his involvement, he could have taken the memoir
approach with a range of anecdotes to make the story engaging. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Instead of the two approaches Anubhai takes a ‘case analysis’ approach to
dissecting IIMA. He uses correspondence, facts and also some of his own
personal experiences to do an inward looking analysis of IIMA. Not only it is
inward looking, it is somewhat board and Ahmedabad centric with little
engagement with the processes within the faculty body, the alumni, the industry
and so on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGiH1uY87eMFU_D5TLmZ-Ury2anKUNstcapmquBT3ed4SF_iifjol10ZAlXVNOwoi1ggs4zH-AbvGMkh3b5FTg_54HCaeSD_myr8moaU6gAF-0nLCsT7QK3NfAZvqnaenZqA_f/s1600/pa8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGiH1uY87eMFU_D5TLmZ-Ury2anKUNstcapmquBT3ed4SF_iifjol10ZAlXVNOwoi1ggs4zH-AbvGMkh3b5FTg_54HCaeSD_myr8moaU6gAF-0nLCsT7QK3NfAZvqnaenZqA_f/s1600/pa8.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBKl5E-Ym6bHW3m_16inSKJ1VfQ1ntdEVsuJh_vXLFqD3RwG_659x7ZYE07OxvY19MwiDhPp-ycvZXH2eJ8eRNf-NZrDLxUT0smnrcqMUfCejARce_NkCUKTV-iJh6nwoMPGHY/s1600/pa9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBKl5E-Ym6bHW3m_16inSKJ1VfQ1ntdEVsuJh_vXLFqD3RwG_659x7ZYE07OxvY19MwiDhPp-ycvZXH2eJ8eRNf-NZrDLxUT0smnrcqMUfCejARce_NkCUKTV-iJh6nwoMPGHY/s1600/pa9.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Mention IIMA, and the association is strongly with Vikram Sarabhai and
Ravi Matthai. Anubhai in his narrative highlights the role of Kasturbhai
Lalbhai, and his contribution to the building of IIMA. This is an important
part of the narrative. Sarabhai and Matthai set up the internal processes;
Matthai cut out known organizational hierarchies and brought in functional
hierarchies. However, the role of Kasturbhai in managing the external
environment, his contribution to the hardware of the Institute – particularly
being on the building committee and getting Louis Kahn to design the campus is usually
missed in the narrative and Anubhai fills in the gap. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Anubhai tells us that Kasturbhai refused to be the Chairman of the board
of governors of IIA even when he was offered the position more than once, while
he accepted to be the Chairman of IIT Mumbai. The reason: He wanted IIMA to be
perceived as a national Institute and his assuming chairman’s position had the
danger of sending the signal that it was a very Ahmedabad based institute.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Ahmedabad as a city has the tradition of nurturing institutions of
excellence and taking pride in the fact that these institutions are a part of
the city. While the intellectual power for sustaining the institutions come
from across the country and is cosmopolitan, the support structures for the
institution come wholeheartedly from the local community. This is the aspect of
Ahmedabadi pride in National Institutions is what is captured effectively in
the IIMA Story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">To understand the elephant called IIM, we now have multiple descriptions.
Apart from the books named above, one could look at Chetan Bhagat’s Two States
to get a perspective of the student life, or Prashant John’s Second Degree to
get another perspective. Anubhai’s narrative style is flat and bereft of
emotions, a difficult feat indeed for somebody so closely associated with IIMA.
He tries to use numbers to justify his arguments. He uses bullets to summarise
something that he has narrated and makes the book like a long presentation. It
could have been more engaging, bringing some insider perspectives and with
implications for management of higher education. But the story of IIMA remains just
the story of IIM of Ahmedabad. Given the visibility and size of the Institute,
the story could have been much larger, broader, bigger. While it is a very
interesting book for what it is, it disappoints when we consider what it could
have been!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"> </span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-12792976098322067682012-08-23T06:41:00.000+05:302020-12-03T11:16:33.187+05:30Nostalgia is no longer what it used to be<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhEDQnJ5gytVsk7q4X8JK9kIzXjaybMfRKsAwfMyJ6Pw_n13LbsuBVGWByR4qqcGm1DdDuU62QypFAmsZW5gakoggVo61txJQ3B4rA9wjSy7Lfeyx28JBYTGDSVUfdO6Ywj4pU/s1600/tt1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhEDQnJ5gytVsk7q4X8JK9kIzXjaybMfRKsAwfMyJ6Pw_n13LbsuBVGWByR4qqcGm1DdDuU62QypFAmsZW5gakoggVo61txJQ3B4rA9wjSy7Lfeyx28JBYTGDSVUfdO6Ywj4pU/s1600/tt1.jpg" /></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">If you ever spend a longish stint in
IIMA, some things just get internalized – the mango tree at the base of the
‘Harvard’ Steps; The Stanford Ramp, Dorm names and Dorm life if you were a
student, Louis Kahn Plaza [LKP] and now the underpass and the new campus, not
to mention Rambhai the chaiwalla who has a special window high compound wall symbolizing
‘security’. These are physical structures. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTfI1IGDEhOmD5O7ZOemYaLErY2XMd2lkgtpCcJY2DpEVo5JvUsBWSMirjRu7XqJtZWp5sgxVmHDHDoCwUXDdAWC9Rr1V4Zw7IzDGW_GHbE25yY-84eiRFjdSRpnG8uaEsyLZ5/s1600/tt8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTfI1IGDEhOmD5O7ZOemYaLErY2XMd2lkgtpCcJY2DpEVo5JvUsBWSMirjRu7XqJtZWp5sgxVmHDHDoCwUXDdAWC9Rr1V4Zw7IzDGW_GHbE25yY-84eiRFjdSRpnG8uaEsyLZ5/s1600/tt8.jpg" /></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In addition, you would hear the name
Ravi being mentioned so very often. For Ravi J Matthai, who stepped aside as a
Director way back in 1972, to be remembered so fondly even after 40 years is no
mean feat. It is not that his photographs are pasted all over the campus to
remind him. Yes there are a few, mostly without a mention of his name below,
tucked away in the underpass or in one of the conference rooms to the back of a
seating arrangement. There is an auditorium named after Ravi, popularly [but
incorrectly] referred to RJMCEI auditorium, and a Centre for Educational
Innovation, which is where the RJMCEI comes from. But something about the era
of Ravi constantly strikes you. It is hardly surprising that it inspired Prof.
Ram Mohan [fondly called as TT] to write a book about him. The book is indeed
timely. IIMA is in its 50<sup>th</sup> year. It is a good time to take stock,
look back and look ahead. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi1KcENo3S48h-GLFy3mKv12CUZFnpYmkFrJSRGmjVe3V8IOmk4Kd-ww1l0nXvNldBE0zu0gPAax7s_741p4YqLW8keR_h1oQgQeBAx2ge4_iCPfLXuAkzrXDfgdCdjz6B3BOa/s1600/tt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi1KcENo3S48h-GLFy3mKv12CUZFnpYmkFrJSRGmjVe3V8IOmk4Kd-ww1l0nXvNldBE0zu0gPAax7s_741p4YqLW8keR_h1oQgQeBAx2ge4_iCPfLXuAkzrXDfgdCdjz6B3BOa/s1600/tt.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The book strikes a nostalgic chord for those who have been associated
with IIMA in some form or the other. However, it also ends up disappointing a
bit, because one always wants to know beyond what is obvious. Biographies are
difficult to write, they need time and patience and run the risk of being
inaccurate. Unlike other research where one is free to draw conclusions based
on data and analysis, biographies are tricky. And when biographies are
intertwined as personal and institutional biographies, it is more likely to be
disastrous unless it is handled very deftly. TT tries to do the balance fairly
well, but not quite. While the intent appears to be a biography of Ravi
Matthai’s professional life, the architecture of the book is that of a
biography of IIMA with Ravi Matthai as an important “brick”. In achieving both,
TT sometimes digresses and falters. While one can quibble about smaller things,
it is important to say that this was a much needed book which helps in
understanding leadership at one end and setting the DNA of an institution
through some hard-coded institutional processes at the other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOwABgixrqGc1aTsRSb-uvOsNZ15B12z09ysj_WEdgm8ttZw5JxIyiNs4aJKFrgbpiJUw45plWjSbF449pa5boGJs3qNkanVPxGzOhAX1R0vqvFbe0QgvXMSIb85LQfUG7eVaH/s1600/tt1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOwABgixrqGc1aTsRSb-uvOsNZ15B12z09ysj_WEdgm8ttZw5JxIyiNs4aJKFrgbpiJUw45plWjSbF449pa5boGJs3qNkanVPxGzOhAX1R0vqvFbe0QgvXMSIb85LQfUG7eVaH/s1600/tt1.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The first two chapters of the book have nothing to do with Ravi Matthai –
it is more about the preparatory work for setting up IIMA and its early years.
In these chapters TT pans across various activities that happened in the early
stages and the personalities that were involved. While TT makes these chapters
readable by putting some tit-bits and trivia <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Soon however, a romantic triangle evolved among [Vikram] Sarabhai,
Mrinalini and [Kamla] Chowdhry”</i>[p.16], or the fact that Jagdish Bhagwati
was offered a position which he declined. These do not add to the grain of the
book. TT also spends a chapter on the early days of Matthai, somewhat
irrelevant to the point of the book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnsyvRZuUwGEz9LGNz9o978qOsl7lpJzqls1BTYqu3qQ55ekgQk7efBBRVhGN_tD29Pc_4A1VzHzayst70-gaHKZWydMQxXqmD3YX1tQzlfNEHxZN54lF3r32dmR9wffk33yp4/s1600/tt2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnsyvRZuUwGEz9LGNz9o978qOsl7lpJzqls1BTYqu3qQ55ekgQk7efBBRVhGN_tD29Pc_4A1VzHzayst70-gaHKZWydMQxXqmD3YX1tQzlfNEHxZN54lF3r32dmR9wffk33yp4/s1600/tt2.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">However, the important point that TT makes in the next few chapters of
the book is something worth reflecting upon. In the Preface TT says <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“I had often wondered what gave IIMA its
premium rating. The three older IIMs – IIMA, IIMB and IIMC – all have access to
the same pool of faculty and student talent. All have been handsomely supported
by the government. So what is special about IIMA?”[p.XIII]</i>. The answer to
this question appears in the form of what Ravi brought to the table.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQO-S-TeYsJDYK5Y-gvJ-3acOSvwihDzTLd0fDyLBxRphQA6cwxiQ4ZuVTRr_XvKWsgRc1Ov_haTQZu1LGdxa1ujcoPHdar9PTYTkZCiLaCZfnYge8kiKPRQgRnE1BcyED_aK3/s1600/tt4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQO-S-TeYsJDYK5Y-gvJ-3acOSvwihDzTLd0fDyLBxRphQA6cwxiQ4ZuVTRr_XvKWsgRc1Ov_haTQZu1LGdxa1ujcoPHdar9PTYTkZCiLaCZfnYge8kiKPRQgRnE1BcyED_aK3/s1600/tt4.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt;">Obviously there are some unique features that Ravi did indeed bring to
the table. This is evidenced by the fact that the systems that exist in IIMA do
not necessarily exist in other institutions where the one of the Founders
Vikram Sarabhai was associated [an illustration is brought out about Physical
Research Laboratory, located across the road from IIMA which has different
systems p.240]. The features that TT identifies are as follows:</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Recognising the management and leadership style of
knowledge based organisations were different and should be extremely flat
[p.173]. This is symbolized by not having a separate bungalow for the Director;
every faculty member being addressed as a Professor, irrespective of the rank;
and ensuring that even when IIMA’s own graduates join in as faculty members,
the form of address is necessarily on a first name basis.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Nurturing and trusting new faculty members, giving
time for them to settle down; encouraging the mutual learning process through
attending each others’ classes [p.92] and having a transparent feedback system.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Spotting talent and having a quick turnaround time
in offering jobs to faculty members and getting them on board.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Empowering the faculty, areas, departments to take
decisions and tossing conflict issues back to the respective groups for
resolution through consensus than adjudicating on issues, but being firm when
it was needed.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Treating each situation on merit of a particular
circumstance than the rule book – illustrated by the fact that there are hardly
any rules and manuals written, they are all handed down as practice from
generation to generation.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Managing an active dialogue with the state and other
stake holders to ensure that the external interface does not create a crisis
situation.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Going beyond traditional businesses to undermanaged
sectors – voluntarily – be it agriculture, public systems, healthcare,
education.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Stepping aside after 7 years, thereby laying down a
tradition of one term, while honourably continuing as an ordinary faculty
member till superannuation.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Instituting an action research programme called the
Jawaja Experiment [Chapter 8] which in turn was an inspiration for a generation
of students who chose to work in the social sector.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcHZLHTgdmmV15DDzhqJhiOGenxPsdSZNS8CgSWKPEXlj_RglHnj-c3XbncNHJEQKYcDz4Q2iynobZIUouN7J0ClZ9jBe6ZoGeP6r2_TdCIxpo_rpbRoi3UIRqW59LJdCaaMlW/s1600/tt6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcHZLHTgdmmV15DDzhqJhiOGenxPsdSZNS8CgSWKPEXlj_RglHnj-c3XbncNHJEQKYcDz4Q2iynobZIUouN7J0ClZ9jBe6ZoGeP6r2_TdCIxpo_rpbRoi3UIRqW59LJdCaaMlW/s1600/tt6.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In a somewhat celebratory book on Matthai TT spends an entire chapter
[Light and Shadow, Chapter 7] quibbling about how the current administration of
IIMA might be losing the edge and about some of the frustrations. While what he
raises are important and relevant issues in an institution, these inadequacies
have been in the institution for long in various forms. Not all the directors
have stuck to the ‘culture’ of the institution, each one bringing their own
angle of management style. However, the institution has never lost its
resilience and the charm of a great place to be in. During my stay, I did ask
one of faculty members who has spent a lifetime there as to who he would rate
as the best director besides Ravi Matthai, and he was at a loss to name one.
Clearly Ravi towered over the Institute during his time and beyond his time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqAT3lPffPTFB4DQ9q01GHqhDD6PiL6WeOg39ZpI5OHFr8Nzd-34vBQRcG6Mz6NOSZC__092OO4wc7FRlZ2Pkok-u85LS9wgA7vKvFhmUejFbboeGKcQ4D5rYw_UPFh5vm2KQm/s1600/tt3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqAT3lPffPTFB4DQ9q01GHqhDD6PiL6WeOg39ZpI5OHFr8Nzd-34vBQRcG6Mz6NOSZC__092OO4wc7FRlZ2Pkok-u85LS9wgA7vKvFhmUejFbboeGKcQ4D5rYw_UPFh5vm2KQm/s1600/tt3.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">TT has a very engaging style of writing, which helps us to race through
the book. The book is peppered with anecdotes and straddles across time. It is
this style that also brings in some unnecessary digressions the diminishes the
significance of the point that TT is trying to make. That point is that Ravi
Matthai brought to the table a unique style of leadership. This style of
leadership was suitable to knowledge institutions which had to be designed as
flat organisations and had to run more on trust and informalities than on
measurability and rules. It takes a bit of effort for the reader to get to this
conclusion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-43785551307842184612012-08-22T05:59:00.001+05:302020-12-03T11:16:33.373+05:30The Trial of Hyder<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcp9EeOk58n5dOwb8PjOtL-XVeQ-S0A0CxjNKJ7Esdya7ll2TccDdiC5-e8j1zJtV0uLEdPDftNMDjELO7YacdHbjkaExBk0hP8BayphHX5r1rG9ue_rXOr_urNdFSJvUeon6k/s1600/hyder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcp9EeOk58n5dOwb8PjOtL-XVeQ-S0A0CxjNKJ7Esdya7ll2TccDdiC5-e8j1zJtV0uLEdPDftNMDjELO7YacdHbjkaExBk0hP8BayphHX5r1rG9ue_rXOr_urNdFSJvUeon6k/s320/hyder.jpg" width="193" /></a></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The erstwhile Hyderabad State ruled by
the Nizams and its accession to the Indian Union is a fascinating part of the
making of this nation. At one end were the nationalists represented by the
congress and other players in the freedom struggle including the Hindu
Mahasabha advocating the integration of Hyderabad with the Indian Union. At
another end was the defiant Nizam who wanted to exercise the choice of staying
independent and just negotiate on aspects that Hyderabad would like to
co-operate [such as defence and currency] with the Indian Union. A
supplementary angle that brought in the people’s movement in Telangana against
the oppression of the Landlords or the Zamindars; a rag-tag army of Razakars
trying to fight hand in glove with the Nizam in order to retain the autonomy
added flavour. The fact that about 80% of the population was Hindu, spoke three
different tongues and for centuries were under Islamic rule adopting an alien
tongue for official and court dealings added more to the variety.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">There is a strand of literature that
examines aspects on whether Hyderabad should have indeed been integrated with
the Indian Union; whether the military action [though given a civilian term -
Police Action] should have indeed happened; and an associated strand on whether
the State should have been trifurcated on linguistic basis. A fascinating book
“Hyderabad: After the Fall” Edited by Omar Khalidi brings out the diverse
arguments that were drowned out under the nationalist rhetoric.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">When one looked at the book <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">October Coup</b> the expectation was that
this would bring out some interesting aspects of how an administrator [in this
case a Taluqdar of Osmanabad District] would have looked at and dealt with such
issues. Unfortunately these expectations stemming from the sub-title of the
book [A Memoir of the Struggle for Hyderabad] were unwarranted. While the
context of the book is around the independence struggle, it is a tragic
personal story of a civil servant who faced persecution by the new
administration.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This book is Kafka’s delight. The
author Mohammed Hyder is picked up soon after the Indian forces occupy Hyderabad
and without much of an explanation put into prison. Almost like the
re-enactment of Kafka’s Trial, charges are framed much later, he is shifted
from one prison to another, documents are withheld on flimsy reasons, even a
death penalty is ordered and then the cases are withdrawn even as the
persecution outside the courtrooms continue. The book deals with Hyder’s trial
and incarceration and what came out of the process. It is the story of a
passive struggle by a civil servent, within the confines of civility to restore
his honour and position. While the first part of the book is friendly, having a
neat narration, the second part of the book has large parts of reproduction of
legal documents, affidavits, counter affidavits and judgements.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It is interesting to have glimpses of
the administration of Hyderabad State from Hyder’s perspective. From whatever
description that Hyder gives, he possibly did not have a strong position on
either accession or otherwise. His comes across as an earnest civil servant wanting
to maintain law and order, and also feed the higher ups about the ground
situation in the district under his control. He does not seem to have a soft
corner for Quasim Rizvi the leader of the Razakars, and an accusation that he
had to deal with. At the same time he is willing to engage with him. Quasim
Rizvi, generally painted as the villain of the episode that involved the
Razakars appears very reasonable in all his encounters with Hyder. It is also
evident from the book that while the Nizam took the line that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“India is a geographical notion. Hyderabad
is a political reality”</i> [p.13], the preparation for resistance was based on
false ground level assurance and a notion of external support. Reading Hyder
one gets the impression that acceding to India was for them a forgone
conclusion and any resistence at best was a symbolic one, based more on pomp
and ego and less on data. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Hyder somewhat disappoints in the way
he has constructed the book. It could have been a great piece of literature, a
personal account of the incarceration, a conspiracy theory hatched, and a
persecution carried out with clinical precision. It could have been a piece of
history re-told, the pressures of being loyal to a losing employer, a tragic
story of losing friends and allies who were mostly moving away to Pakistan, a
story of Muslim rule in a Hindu state which converts into a majority [hindu]
rule in a state that was predominantly ruled by muslims. He could have brought
out the marginalization of the muslims, particularly in the post accession
regime where the erstwhile rulers became minorities. The potential was immense.
However, Hyder restricts it to a dispassionate personal tale, where
conspiracies are played down, villains are played up, and everybody shown as
reasonable. October coup suffers from decency. It is too decent a book to be
set in the tumultuous period. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px;">October Coup: A Memoir of the Struggle for
Hyderabad</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">Mohammed Hyder<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">pp.228. Price Rs.295.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">New Delhi: Roli Books
[Lotus Collection]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-5185075186023012272012-08-21T19:03:00.000+05:302020-12-03T11:16:33.554+05:30Book of Lists<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmhDru_FaSObPdLIRx4V0Y99rJ_sVWBRaUvV9fOvZcWVB6HJyAMgtIY-8ux73tDtj5WoegHQePR7Ddbk2-MM7TWuaQARs_I_cEC7Zm8UK05DhC7yQJ0yyJ_BQ3Jhn6xzA_kwme/s1600/start2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmhDru_FaSObPdLIRx4V0Y99rJ_sVWBRaUvV9fOvZcWVB6HJyAMgtIY-8ux73tDtj5WoegHQePR7Ddbk2-MM7TWuaQARs_I_cEC7Zm8UK05DhC7yQJ0yyJ_BQ3Jhn6xzA_kwme/s1600/start2.jpg" /></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Startup Asia is a coffee table book.
No, not in the sense we understand coffee table books, but it is a book feels
like a purposeless chat around the coffee table. What does it say? It says that
Asia is the next innovation hub and it should be watched out. What do we mean
by Asia? Asia means Vietnam India and China [VIC]. If BRIC-S could be invented
as one term for looking at emerging markets, we could do so for other regions
as well. So welcome to this world of VIC, an innovation hub. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Startup Asia is written in a curious style mastered by Ruchir Sharma.
Sometimes it feels like a series of blogs; sometimes like a rushed travelogue;
sometimes if feels like a P3 party; it also appears like a column of Keya
Sarkar that assumes that the entire world is interested in a Sari Shop in
Santiniketan; it is chatty, directionless and preachy all at the same time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUxJMBu4JY99O5xKioaniE8vFpO3hyphenhyphenQvjCfl4v6qXRLwb-4NBY4-cE0TzFozzqZJBXUsBEi-Gt_FVqS8zkiEQ7_4KoLERt_Ut6nA2QGcVjrelgpaOZgQnogpEDyRXs_GS4zPda/s1600/start4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUxJMBu4JY99O5xKioaniE8vFpO3hyphenhyphenQvjCfl4v6qXRLwb-4NBY4-cE0TzFozzqZJBXUsBEi-Gt_FVqS8zkiEQ7_4KoLERt_Ut6nA2QGcVjrelgpaOZgQnogpEDyRXs_GS4zPda/s1600/start4.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Obviously there has to be something in the 239 pages in addition to the
photographs of investors, enterpreneurs, and innovators. The book rambles,
firstly talking about the hotspots of innovation in Asia – China, India and
Vietnam. The hotspots are identified by looking at patents filed, anecdotal
narrations of new companies that have either innovated or replicated an
existing business model – mostly concentrating on the tech space. It puts in
more anecdotes about the regulatory environment and markets. If this were a
coffee table conversation, you would come back with the impression that you
have talked to a person who has very profound insights. Unfortunately having
lots of data that you can reel off and a series of anecdotes to “prove” the
data provides us lists than insights. Insights come from a theoretical
framework of looking at patterns and examining if these patterns add up,
whether these patterns could be theorized, whether others can learn the
underlying principles. If we ask the question whether we are any wiser after
reading this book; what we have learnt about start ups; about Asia; about
innovation the answer could at best be vague.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgILkuImuCJdMHb9hZ8sOEowrV5e3WtoRPJ86owqVtqoheEomkGNxO-mJGXC20_UJBYp8luznQHwq6Ii3cLGN6Y9zOzZchjwpurvCwxb4gRSbuDratYyGu0hyVOnuqiaIb1AXpK/s1600/start1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgILkuImuCJdMHb9hZ8sOEowrV5e3WtoRPJ86owqVtqoheEomkGNxO-mJGXC20_UJBYp8luznQHwq6Ii3cLGN6Y9zOzZchjwpurvCwxb4gRSbuDratYyGu0hyVOnuqiaIb1AXpK/s320/start1.jpg" width="249" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Clearly the author is in a hurry. The number of companies she “studies”,
the number of people she “visits” and the number of conclusions she “arrives”
at a pace that shows impatience and restlessness. Take this as an example: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Lunchtime! Office manager Raghu Rao has
ordered in box lunches of spicy Indian curries, chicken tandoori, saag paneer,
basmati rice and nan from the upscale Taj West End hotel for us. We sit around
the conference room table and Sethi gives me a brief history of the evolution
of India tech entrepreneurship. Between bites, I type as fast as I can on my
netbook computer and – something I couldn’t have done in China – tweet some of
his more relevant points” </i>[p.63]. It is indeed a lot of work and a quick
way of learning lessons in evolution and undertaking research. In this hurry
she fails to check some basic facts like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Shaadi,
a <u>Sanskrit</u> word of ‘wedding’[p.57]” </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Another innovative cyberspace security startup I encountered at IDG’s
Bangalore office is iViz, a spinout in 2006 by Bikash Barai from his alma mater
Indian Institute of Techology, in Calcutta”[p.63].</i> We can agree that the
government has been mindlessly setting up IIT<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">s</i> and IIMs in places like Jodhpur, Rohtak, Raipur and Kashipur but
a new IIT with readymade alumnus in Calcutta?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">So what are her strategies for cashing on the innovation boom? It is
evident in the titles of the chapters – catch the mobile boom [example:
Justdial]; get in on the cleantech boom [Attero, D.light, Reva]; ride the
consumer wave [Coffee Day; Kaati Zone]; Outsourcing [Mindtree]; tap in
government incubators [Rotimatic, Tencube]; Become the next twitter [Gobi
partners, MakeMyTrip, Ushi]; Originate a Discovery [Helion]; We get insights
into many start up cases, as she travels and has meetings amidst lunches and
tea.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">She wraps up the book with two chapters which celebrate going public and
listing and going global. That is the ultimate purpose of innovation, that is
the mission of a start up. Once on NYSE or NASDAQ the mission is accomplished.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">So as we wrap up this review here are some nuggets of “strategy”.
Strategies with severe word limits. Take this as an example:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Strategy: Reva<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Develop patented technologies and reap the benefits of first-mover
advantage before the market gets crowded<o:p></o:p></span></i></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Partner with big multinational with enough presence in the local
market to boost distribution<o:p></o:p></span></i></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">If you are a technologist, stay true to your original mission and
let others deal with business hassles so you can focus on what you do best<o:p></o:p></span></i></li>
</ul>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhszb2AjC2i4DR97xwwQYEoSimwOd_SBWN364dALyLdAC5c9YLVNfKn4KVXddJIVM88APZsLdx-zW-E8IBs04UUu112BCmyjkebcCyMX1uDfNDjVdwmcM0PZ4qvATOgduVZuwj3/s1600/start.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhszb2AjC2i4DR97xwwQYEoSimwOd_SBWN364dALyLdAC5c9YLVNfKn4KVXddJIVM88APZsLdx-zW-E8IBs04UUu112BCmyjkebcCyMX1uDfNDjVdwmcM0PZ4qvATOgduVZuwj3/s1600/start.jpg" /></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">[p.128]<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">One never knew that there could be a self-help book on start ups. This
appears to be one. Ruchir Sharma would be delighted to see that his travelogue
style of understanding global economies has been perfected to an art in this
micro world of innovative start ups. Her acknowledgements are a delight to read
as they provide a guide to the hotels she stayed in and a twitter like review
on what it was to stay in those places.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Startup Asia:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Top Strategies for Cashing in on Asia’s Innovation
Boom<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Rebecca A Fannin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10.0pt;">John Wiley and Sons</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga;">pp.239. Price Not
Specified<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18189715.post-91424521993315694772012-08-20T10:39:00.005+05:302020-12-03T11:16:33.736+05:30An Unusual Banker<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4zt43NbikNfXgB8M7Lfkzu0K09oT82IpoQ85g472mfzw4Yl9m7pLA54jCWuyPGbQTmiNZrzAJ1vapzq4zgfw_58JwFKHVGsVct9ILJpvRKJIZmeXtIr6k0-mbd4ijItWu0V1e/s1600/khand2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4zt43NbikNfXgB8M7Lfkzu0K09oT82IpoQ85g472mfzw4Yl9m7pLA54jCWuyPGbQTmiNZrzAJ1vapzq4zgfw_58JwFKHVGsVct9ILJpvRKJIZmeXtIr6k0-mbd4ijItWu0V1e/s1600/khand2.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Before one gets into the
details of this book, it is important to discuss how the leadership in public
sector banks [PSB], largely owned by the central government emerges. This
background is important for us to place the book in a complex context in which
a CEO works. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The public sector banks
by design do not have a stable leadership. Let us first look at the board.
Theoretically the boards of PSBs are a dream-come-true of good corporate
governance practices. The boards consist a representation of diverse interests
– the CEO who also chairs the board; two whole-time directors; one practicing
professional chartered accountant appointed by the Government and who usually
heads the audit committee; one representative from the Ministry of Finance – a
senior bureaucrat; one representative of the Reserve Bank of India a senior
officer from the regulatory authority; two employee representatives
representing the officers and the workmen’s interests; three members nominated
by the government to articulate the concerns of the society [usually these
members are active members of a political party]; and three members elected
from the [minority] shareholders other than the government. Clearly the
Chairman hardly has a say in who is inducted into the board, there is no scope
for co-option and the decision making about board positions happens outside the
context of the organization in question. While this looks like a good practice
in spirit, it could create problems for the executives to take these diverse
interests along. The amount of decisions that get kicked up to the board, are
enormous and therefore there is limited functional autonomy for the senior
management.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">On the other hand, the top
management itself is unstable – the General Managers of all the PSBs are the
talent pool from which the one or two positions of Wholetime Directors are
available for the entire industry; the Wholetime Directors of all the banks
become the talent pool for the CEO. Thus, from the General Manager upwards, the
leadership team of the bank does not have a horizon with the bank for which
they are working. It would be miraculous if a general manager continues to be,
or even return to her/his host bank at a Wholetime Director/Chairman position.
We are thus, talking of institutions that compete and survive largely on the basis
of a maintenance based interventions by the top management. Khandelwal’s tenure
with the Bank of Baroda is to be understood in this context.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVDIGCvQuw8KJhGw2s-p0XTZNx2hh0mPoTce-4GE3IsqHgGGBx17RxNmLJTEKYxcqP98iltWpsS6zyxvggCEtPHIcoIIgNKGsLxr-uncws1KTgbZpCWLC86j1YoFqEBRCFsyCG/s1600/khand7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVDIGCvQuw8KJhGw2s-p0XTZNx2hh0mPoTce-4GE3IsqHgGGBx17RxNmLJTEKYxcqP98iltWpsS6zyxvggCEtPHIcoIIgNKGsLxr-uncws1KTgbZpCWLC86j1YoFqEBRCFsyCG/s1600/khand7.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">There is another peculiar
feature in Khandelwal’s career, which defies the ethos of functioning of public
sector banks. It is very unlikely that somebody can make a lateral entry into
the banking system and grow; and he did. It is even more unlikely that somebody
who does not have hard-core banking experience makes it to this position; and
he made it. And to top it, Khandelwal became a Wholetime Director and even the
Chairman and CEO of the very bank in which he had his early career; a unique
feat indeed. Therefore one should surmise that not only is he an unusual and
unlikely banker, but there are a series of improbable situations in the Indian
banking system that catapulted him to the position he occupied in Bank of
Baroda [BoB].<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOKFIbJZc4kM-_2eALvaSdMYV7t2Gg5A5oGNSo8ycPnDbiN0eT7CMF9bQAaJ-7D28yGynZPl4-dStYY8XIZoYYrOR0PqJ_PawO10I9jwpM1TWBhQNLHK-giU8ihDsNYZqf-9Wk/s1600/khand6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOKFIbJZc4kM-_2eALvaSdMYV7t2Gg5A5oGNSo8ycPnDbiN0eT7CMF9bQAaJ-7D28yGynZPl4-dStYY8XIZoYYrOR0PqJ_PawO10I9jwpM1TWBhQNLHK-giU8ihDsNYZqf-9Wk/s1600/khand6.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Infact all these and
other complex issues of managing a large government owned corporation is
captured in the book. This story that Khandelwal tells us is all about
management of people and the environment. It is not about banking at all. For
Khandelwal, banking turns out to be just a context, he leads an organization
that happens to be a bank, works in that context, constantly fixing problems.
Unlike other bankers, he seems to make a virtue out of the fact that he is not
a professional banker, constantly fixing issues arising out of labour unions,
motivating professionals and ensuring that the customer is at the centrestage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">When we read the book, it
is clear where Khandelwal comes from. The banking parameters of capital
adequacy, moving towards Basel norms, looking at liquidity parameters and
credit risk come in as incidental. Even the public offering of shares to shore
up the capital adequacy which should have been a landmark event during his
career at the helm, finds only a cursory mention. The primary focus is largely
about managing people, having effective communication, managing the board and
the external environment. Therefore for Khandelwal, the task and challenge is
to build the organization into a great brand, delight the customer and
constantly have employees to respond to the requirements of the customers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">If we look at the banking
sector, we will have to surmise that there is no strong reason why a bank
should be converted into a brand, given the context in which BoB was working.
It was largely owned by the government, got some natural business by virtue of
this and could have continued to sail. There are several other banks that do
this. They are safe places to save and thus would be a natural place where
people would park their money. With the overall economy on the growth path, and
bulk credit being purveyed a banker could indeed have a relaxed time and still
grow, if not spectacularly. The focus on employees and delighting the retail
customer would only add a little business, but would consume a disproportionate
amount of energy. The experience of the customer is not significantly different
from one bank to the other. Therefore there was no compelling reason for
Khandelwal to embark on a punishing three-year schedule to transform and
differentiate the bank. But still he did it, defying the usual banking logic
and treating the business like any other customer centric business. Therein
lies the uniqueness of being an unusual banker.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX6sczrOJffSfU7Otpmuwu8FFIL-vQfH-HvhhKdwaE8eNyXlsz-8-YIPMalKAzbLJqqR9CVozrirHcjIpypWfgFY9NjhuKhqGnd9oxOJFrV2BFJzHB2i_EWBYDyNpH5VHFPdT2/s1600/khand3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX6sczrOJffSfU7Otpmuwu8FFIL-vQfH-HvhhKdwaE8eNyXlsz-8-YIPMalKAzbLJqqR9CVozrirHcjIpypWfgFY9NjhuKhqGnd9oxOJFrV2BFJzHB2i_EWBYDyNpH5VHFPdT2/s1600/khand3.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">By focusing on employees
and regular communication with employees, Khandelwal focuses on the basic
nature of the banking business – that of a service industry. Particularly if
the business happens to be with a large branch network, working in varying
cultural contexts with large number of diverse employees all spread out in
diverse locations, unity of the organizational culture is not easily achieved.
By creating a re-branding exercise and driving home a common message, there is
an attempt to convey the distinct values that this institution would carry as
against any other bank. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">What does this do to the
performance of the bank? A large part of the credit, profitability targets
could be achieved by concentrating and blazing all guns on the corporate credit
where the big bucks come on lower transaction costs. However, Khandelwal seems
to take the retail route in addition to the corporate banking. His book talks
about constantly engaging with the customer, and when we look closely, he is
engaging with the retail customer. The retail customer fetches deposits at
smaller ticket prices, and takes loans at a larger ticket price. The retail
customer is a well-diversified risk and is spread out across geographies. The
process re-engineering of making “loan factories” ensures that the retail
customer is served quickly and the intermittent process streamlining reduces
the transaction costs significantly. This strategy is seen in the numbers given
at the end of the book, where the retail portfolio grows faster than the
overall portfolio. The non-performing assets [both gross as well as net] are
significantly reduced. It is not that Khandelwal inherited a great balance
sheet. Therefore it is even more exemplary that he was able to do the clean up
quickly and efficiently. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpLIfKqRg4KiIr7bzatH0spVgZzPof0FXTA9YdN4vOvEtNgJ3hTHUBnXvy4rYeXzLWtsdW9Z718_T-_XtQRAvI-0kdv_fqkRkl1BKZLpJsJYcvxWgZQtGhWbt7uBPuNzvJQ3K3/s1600/khand5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpLIfKqRg4KiIr7bzatH0spVgZzPof0FXTA9YdN4vOvEtNgJ3hTHUBnXvy4rYeXzLWtsdW9Z718_T-_XtQRAvI-0kdv_fqkRkl1BKZLpJsJYcvxWgZQtGhWbt7uBPuNzvJQ3K3/s1600/khand5.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">On the resources side,
somehow the strategy does not seem to have translated into better low cost
deposits. The overall resource mobilization strategy seems to be oriented
towards wholesale – both through issue of shares that gave adequate buffer and
through growth of bulk deposits. This is also reflected in the story narrated
by Khandelwal, that while he focuses on getting the processes of home loans,
SME and retail rejigged, he does not talk about mobilization of resources in
any great detail. Was that because the hand picked team of Khandelwal to crack
the transformation were officers who were great credit guys rather than
resource mobilization guys? A part of this answer possibly lies in the credit
deposit ratio of the bank – which was at around 56% when Khandelwal took over,
and which moved to around 70% by the time he left – he just deployed the resources
that lying around and waiting. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Two more aspects that
stand out in the performance of BoB under Khandelwal – that [a] there were
remarkable improvement in the branch experience – increased automation through
provision of core-banking solutions; rapid increase of ATMs; specialized 8 to 8
branches; and so on but [b] the growth of the number of outlets themselves were
not very impressive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">So the tenure of
Khandelwal should be seen more as a tenure that cleaned up the bank,
consolidated and laid the foundation for an aggressive growth. If there were
another chunk of three years for Khandelwal, possibly we would have seen a
different strategy playing out in the second half, which could have been an
aggressive growth on the number of outlets, significant recruitments and a
focus on alternative channels and non interest income based services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj16RgXwuF0czDYWREaIoU7_qO2zkMx7d6e9t_ZCCvuadF0MWjD8WPiGMg09Nmv804bcwDGI007ROx3IUWuT2dcZbVY8kxeRGL6-p5NtPks6biwNMN97Vuo7MIF8AX938VRfqpj/s1600/khand4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj16RgXwuF0czDYWREaIoU7_qO2zkMx7d6e9t_ZCCvuadF0MWjD8WPiGMg09Nmv804bcwDGI007ROx3IUWuT2dcZbVY8kxeRGL6-p5NtPks6biwNMN97Vuo7MIF8AX938VRfqpj/s320/khand4.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This is an important book
for many reasons. It gives us a perspective of the constraints under which our
public sector works – multiple constraints in operations but being evaluated on
market based parameters. It tells us a story of what is possible within these constraints.
It tells us about the human side of banking and brings something not very
fashionable in banking circles – branding and marketing. It tells us how
banking could grow, even when banking is not the focus. What the book does not
tell us [and this is a significant void] is the objective evaluation of
Khandelwal’s possible failures. Yes, he does narrate the constraints, but
surely there must have been some of his plans that just did not work. With the
distance of being away from office, and some introspection there would have
been some pitfalls that he would have realized. That is missing in the book. It
possibly needs more distance and time and a different style to bring it in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Khandelwal’s style is
simple and straight [and somewhat self-centered], almost reducing the book to a
guide-book for public sector bankers, which is a bit surprising given that he
comes from an academic background. Possibly he deliberately styled this to be
read like a racy novel and has reserved something academic for the future.
While this is autobiographical in nature, he does not dwell too much on his
life outside of BoB – an important attribute that any first person narrative
should have. Like his job, even in the book, he is focused on the point he is
trying to make: The possibility of performance under multiple constraints.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Given the disparity in
the compensation between private sector banks and public sector banks, there is
a natural question as to why the Indian public sector banks continue to perform
and compete. Khandelwal sorts out that riddle in a response to a shareholder’s
question on compensations. He says <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“We do
not want to put our passion to auction. Passion has no price tag”</i>[p.369]. This
statement sums up his style of operation and how he lives his life. Possibly
his achievement was in rubbing this passion off to the other 38,000 colleagues
in BoB to deliver.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim6QTmBEwf-scaNfvU3Wwjix4wfzbDICqeDhzNqWHCUDs7yGPWMSsGKiGTfO4SCvxOLQnRCx7bO8J1VKfxENILxAx8srvAYSuqJI0Y7sRNfFdQlsdADhPE5sdoYxWwGwmg1cee/s1600/khand1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim6QTmBEwf-scaNfvU3Wwjix4wfzbDICqeDhzNqWHCUDs7yGPWMSsGKiGTfO4SCvxOLQnRCx7bO8J1VKfxENILxAx8srvAYSuqJI0Y7sRNfFdQlsdADhPE5sdoYxWwGwmg1cee/s1600/khand1.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tunga; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Dare to Lead<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The Transformation of Bank of Baroda <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">A CEO’s Personal Account of Historic Changes in a
Large Corporation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Anil K Khandelwal<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Sage Response, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">pp.403. Price Rs.795.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><br /></span></div>
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ಎಂ.ಎಸ್.ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ್http://www.blogger.com/profile/02626880873639783288noreply@blogger.com0