Dear Mr. Premji,
I like many have been an admirer of the company that you have built. Your entrepreneur skills and persistence, of your integration capabilities and diverse nature of your businesses, all this while were carrying a legacy baggage of an earlier generation business.
It all came to an end, while reading your views in times of India a few days back on the unnecessary spending of 28000 crores on commonwealth games; in fact, you go to an extent of calling any expense on sports as unnecessary.
It feels at this stage of your life’s achievements, crony capitalism and unrealistic philanthropy has taken over, as this cannot be a strategy. You have actually started thinking wrong.
• It cannot be denied that common wealth games, which are happening in India is an absolute bed of corruption, and better things could be done with that money. But you see, even if Rahul Gandhi did spend that money on MNREGA the fate of that public money would have remained the same. Government spending money they have not righty earned will always find the wrong hands. A person of your stature, when airs his view on gullibility of the social schemes and general tax paying citizen, who feels that sports is bad for the country and MNREGA is good.
• This is an absolute fallacy, MNREGA has almost 100000 crores outlay and not even 30 % reaches the needy, which also land up hampering the usual rural SME and Agriculture. Social schemes are a bigger disaster for India than common wealth games.
• You have mentioned about, Bihari’s getting unfair wages and perhaps they would have been better doing stuff back in Bihar. Well, the migrant laborers also built the metro project in Delhi and so many other projects, fair and unfair is an individual’s choice of staying put or going back to his village to dig earth. MNREGA is a way to keep the migrants at home and keep the cities clean of slums, but working for unfair wages and conditions happen due to better opportunities, infrastructure and life available in the cities. It will never stop, no country or civilization ever in the history of this earth has been able to stop migration, the migrants, with time, will earn their fare share.
• Wipro and many other such companies are a product of entrepreneur skills at its best, capital used for pure motive of profit, benefiting, millions directly or indirectly, not because your intention was other people’s benefit but because your motive was profit. When you seek dole money for your good intention of spending on education and health, you have killed enterprise. Thousands of individuals and organizations who are in these fields with a pure motive of profit are doing far better jobs than all the governments put together. There are private schools who seek rupee 1 a day per student and still make their profits. It’s like Wipro selling a shampoo sachet for the same price. Government sponsored social schemes, even in education and health can only construct buildings and pay salaries. They can never offer services.
• Sports on the other hand, besides celebrating the human spirit of excellence, creates enterprise, profits, jobs and infrastructure. There are countries that survive on sports tourism, and if India is a country of poor people with a massive human resource, India perhaps is the neediest of this industry and has the best resource of being a sporting nation.
• 28000 crores of public money is surely down the drain, but if it was a private event this money would look trivial. IPL has a brand value of approx 20000 crores, which does not have a state sponsorship and its core value is profit. If cricket was to survive or any other game, it will be due to the profit motive involved. In the interiors of the villages you will find pitches and boys in their creases in bare soles.
Recalling Gandhi ji’s advice to recall of the poorest person, in taking an affirmative step. Now! You think very hard Mr. Azim Premji, would you rather let that man learn how to fish and leave him a clean pond, or would you rather feed him a fish today?
do give it a second thought, before ending opportunities for millions you have already harnessed to arrive at a state of philanthropy.
Warm Regards,
An Unfair Wage creator Bihari.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved…….!!!
There is something fundamentally wrong with the above line.
“We” should be “I” and “people" should be “citizen”.
A collective resolve is no one’s responsibility.
And this is where all civil society where the state is supposed to be a big “we” start to decimate.
India historically and religiously has been a country of individuals.
It is only when the property became for common good did we start denying our roles.
We Indians are too busy feeling good of our democracy and freedom.
Celebrations are for the state to handle, we would rather sleep late on a holiday.
After all, isn’t that what freedom is for?
India, rightly, known as a land of festivals could draw parallels to other Indian festivals!
Well! If you do something religiously for 63 years it’s bound to become a habit.
One tends to forget the significance, value, like age old religious festivals, it gets associated to your culture and routine.
Celebrating, any age old festival as every adult Indian would know, has a lot to do with responsibility as well.
We would clean our premises, update our records, bring in new stuff, devote time with the family, sit in front of the deities and remember our vows, and of course the paraphernalia of the younger lot, sweets, food and the celebrations.
We also make sure that on this day we do not leave the underprivileged unattended.
How it that, this festival of democracy has become a state sponsored festival, where only the state celebrates.
Here, we have the individual’s sleeping on this festive day and their oppressors (state) celebrating.
Well, the state surely has a very good reason to celebrate.
They have our property, (right to property was taken away in 1977) our money (taxation, at times has peaked 90% of our incomes), the basic right of justice,( a well crafted effort by the state is to delay justice, as good as denial) social (reservation of every vote worthy section of society) economic, (till very lately, there are still industries and other means of economic activities that only the state can practice) and political ( only the socialist can represent the people of India in the parliament) have all been infringed upon and the citizens are sleeping.
Isn’t that a great reason to furl the tricolor on all state buildings and distribute sweets?
Freedom is individual.
The role of the state, which is formed by the representatives of these free individuals, is to protect their freedom. Not to increase its own size, citing that its citizens are not capable enough to think and act on their own.
We achieved freedom from oppressors.
Not to give it away to our own Frankenstein.
British like the Gabbar of Sholey, only wanted a handful of grains in exchange of the security of the people of Ramgarh.
That’s what this state is slowly up to.
Oh the poor are dying, so let’s have MNREGA
Oh the roads are terrible and so is the education system so let’s have a little more Cess.
And the farmers need subsidy and a waiver as well!
The planet is getting hot and thus we might need another Cess to take care of it.
Yeah! Ok, first we created Naxal’s, and now have to fight them, and perhaps we should give them a special package as well, little more of that doe please!
Oops! We won’t have enough water or electricity or we need to fight the terrorist and Pakistan also china!
We need all your money.
And by the way, the companies have not been doing much for the society so we will have a CSR bill passed shortly.
And are the individual citizens doing enough for the state, hmm! Some day we will have a “Jaziya” like Aurungzeb did to serve the royalty.
Oh, we did not find many sponsors to the CWG, so can we have more of your money!
Let’s wake up people; we didn’t know that the British were oppressors till 1857, that too we realized the importance of the struggle only after a thin old, bald man made us realize the difference, in being a subject and a citizen.
By being a free citizen we imply that we are committed to the creation of a society based on principles of freedom and tolerance, every citizen has a responsibility that comes with freedom, to protect our own freedom and that of others.
Don’t we need to question the oppressors, why do we need to give all our money for Suresh Kalmadi’s and Omar Abdullah’s of this country, why Arjun Singh is not tried if we don’t have Anderson for 22000 deaths? And a million more questions!
Stop feeling good about everything that is taken for granted. It won’t last long; we have a responsibility to the coming generations, least we have to do is not just pat our backs but question the establishment.
Resentment and disagreement is the essential tool of our freedom and democracy.
Let’s get into the habit of practicing it. To practice freedom one should always have a choiceice and there should always be an alternative.
Do we have one today?
Are you free?
Just like our other festivals, the responsible have a job to do, clean up the place, with some incense and flowers remember the dead and chant that oath.
Freedom and independence is ours and ours alone
Happy Independence Day!
.
“We” should be “I” and “people" should be “citizen”.
A collective resolve is no one’s responsibility.
And this is where all civil society where the state is supposed to be a big “we” start to decimate.
India historically and religiously has been a country of individuals.
It is only when the property became for common good did we start denying our roles.
We Indians are too busy feeling good of our democracy and freedom.
Celebrations are for the state to handle, we would rather sleep late on a holiday.
After all, isn’t that what freedom is for?
India, rightly, known as a land of festivals could draw parallels to other Indian festivals!
Well! If you do something religiously for 63 years it’s bound to become a habit.
One tends to forget the significance, value, like age old religious festivals, it gets associated to your culture and routine.
Celebrating, any age old festival as every adult Indian would know, has a lot to do with responsibility as well.
We would clean our premises, update our records, bring in new stuff, devote time with the family, sit in front of the deities and remember our vows, and of course the paraphernalia of the younger lot, sweets, food and the celebrations.
We also make sure that on this day we do not leave the underprivileged unattended.
How it that, this festival of democracy has become a state sponsored festival, where only the state celebrates.
Here, we have the individual’s sleeping on this festive day and their oppressors (state) celebrating.
Well, the state surely has a very good reason to celebrate.
They have our property, (right to property was taken away in 1977) our money (taxation, at times has peaked 90% of our incomes), the basic right of justice,( a well crafted effort by the state is to delay justice, as good as denial) social (reservation of every vote worthy section of society) economic, (till very lately, there are still industries and other means of economic activities that only the state can practice) and political ( only the socialist can represent the people of India in the parliament) have all been infringed upon and the citizens are sleeping.
Isn’t that a great reason to furl the tricolor on all state buildings and distribute sweets?
Freedom is individual.
The role of the state, which is formed by the representatives of these free individuals, is to protect their freedom. Not to increase its own size, citing that its citizens are not capable enough to think and act on their own.
We achieved freedom from oppressors.
Not to give it away to our own Frankenstein.
British like the Gabbar of Sholey, only wanted a handful of grains in exchange of the security of the people of Ramgarh.
That’s what this state is slowly up to.
Oh the poor are dying, so let’s have MNREGA
Oh the roads are terrible and so is the education system so let’s have a little more Cess.
And the farmers need subsidy and a waiver as well!
The planet is getting hot and thus we might need another Cess to take care of it.
Yeah! Ok, first we created Naxal’s, and now have to fight them, and perhaps we should give them a special package as well, little more of that doe please!
Oops! We won’t have enough water or electricity or we need to fight the terrorist and Pakistan also china!
We need all your money.
And by the way, the companies have not been doing much for the society so we will have a CSR bill passed shortly.
And are the individual citizens doing enough for the state, hmm! Some day we will have a “Jaziya” like Aurungzeb did to serve the royalty.
Oh, we did not find many sponsors to the CWG, so can we have more of your money!
Let’s wake up people; we didn’t know that the British were oppressors till 1857, that too we realized the importance of the struggle only after a thin old, bald man made us realize the difference, in being a subject and a citizen.
By being a free citizen we imply that we are committed to the creation of a society based on principles of freedom and tolerance, every citizen has a responsibility that comes with freedom, to protect our own freedom and that of others.
Don’t we need to question the oppressors, why do we need to give all our money for Suresh Kalmadi’s and Omar Abdullah’s of this country, why Arjun Singh is not tried if we don’t have Anderson for 22000 deaths? And a million more questions!
Stop feeling good about everything that is taken for granted. It won’t last long; we have a responsibility to the coming generations, least we have to do is not just pat our backs but question the establishment.
Resentment and disagreement is the essential tool of our freedom and democracy.
Let’s get into the habit of practicing it. To practice freedom one should always have a choiceice and there should always be an alternative.
Do we have one today?
Are you free?
Just like our other festivals, the responsible have a job to do, clean up the place, with some incense and flowers remember the dead and chant that oath.
Freedom and independence is ours and ours alone
Happy Independence Day!
.
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