Power could be perilous
A review of E. Sreedharan’s Restoring Values - Keys to Integrity, Ethical Behavior and Good Governance

By Divyadarshini Patel
The need for being accountable is an immediate obligation in today’s social order where people are ever ready to indict others of their wrong doings. Instilling ethics is therefore a requirement and not an option to lay an important foundation for building a genuine value-based nation. E. Sreedharan has based his book Restoring Values - Keys to Integrity, Ethical Behavior and Good Governance, on similar lines. It contains Indian sociological analysis, offering rational solutions on how each one of us can make a visible impact in improving the society we live in and India, on the whole. Being the President of the Foundation for Restoration of National Values, E. Sreedharan has struck a harmonious chord while writing to improve upon nationalised principles.

Public Administration
“What has changed in the last 60 years, that an average Indian has started believing that most politicians, bureaucrats and other public authorities in positions of power are corrupt and self-serving? This is an image that has developed in the years since Independence and unfortunately, it is largely true as shown by India’s corruption ranking by Transparency International, which ranks it 85th (in 2008) among 180 surveyed countries; making India one of the most populous of the corrupt nations of the world – in the company of nations such as Senegal, Madagascar and Serbia!”

E. Sreedharan has posed an insightful question above and though the answer might not sound agreeable to some of us, it is a matter of deep reasoning and contemplation. During the hundred-year reign that British enjoyed over the Indian subcontinent, Indians were not allowed to voice their questions on decisions made by the British. Six decades after gaining its independence, India has still not been able to shake off this habit. Thus, the public administrators enjoy unbridled authority today.

This power sans accountability is the reason for the corruption in India. This issue has been scrutinised by famous Indian thinkers throughout the span of the book and they have recommended various elucidations to overcome this crisis scenario.

Ugly Indian Politician
“It often happens in the life of an individual or an organisation that a thing that needs to be done at the earliest gets the least attention. It could happen in the life of a nation too. Some aspects of our national life, which require the most urgent attention and redressal, get least talked about. This is precisely what is happening about the crisis of national values.”

Lal Krishna Advani, Chairman- BJP parliamentary party, writes here about how politicians should make a sincere effort to change their corruption stained image. His well known phrase ‘Ugly Indian Politician’ finds reference here and he finds it necessary to restore the common man’s hope and faith in India’s political system. ‘Pervasive Corruption’ can be removed by searching for potential leaders among the country’s youth and ensuring that they are provided good grooming.

Governance Ethics
This concluding chapter of the volume is based on, “Good governance in itself implies strict observance of ethical standards.” It contains the summation of the 4th Report submitted in January 2007 by The Second Reforms Commission (2nd ARC) on Ethics in Governance. Codes of ethics and conduct, electoral reforms and corruption are also touched and talked about here.

The book has an assortment of recommendations but they have bleak chances of being accepted or implemented in actuality. Thus we approach the closing stages with a priced question, which leaves us wondering about the future to be encountered. Gopal Ganesh, author to the last episode, leaves us gawking at an open question after enlightening us with some excellent proposals that came from the ARC!

Authenticity radiated!
The topic has been justified by author, Arun Maira, in the essay right after the introduction to the book. It talks about the pretty delicate Satyam issue. This essay was kept for the end here due to the optimistic force it breeds in an otherwise, seemingly murky milieu.

“ ‘Is the Satyam Saga over?’, was the question posed to the company’s management by a TV anchor on the day the Mahindra Group won the bid for that troubled company. A panelist posed a counter-question: ‘Is the Cold War over?’ The Soviet Union has collapsed. Nevertheless, the West remains worried about threats from nuclear-armed ideological opponents – North Korea, China, Russia and Iran. The panelist’s point was that until the underlying forces that led to the concern have passed, the saga couldn’t be over. Therefore, will there be another Satyam?”

The way the Indian government steered out of the crisis created by the company has made the nation proud, the author says. The huge financial hole that engulfed Satyam did not do well enough to tamper the Indian values. Within one hundred days of the fiasco, a new management with adequate capital had Satyam under its umbrella. Satyam’s story is a fair representation of Indian success in times when distressed companies in the US continue with a broken backbone in spite of huge help provided to them in the form of public money.

We do have things to be proud about, but we choose to highlight the wrong side…

“Satyameva Jayate” – Truth shall prevail, this Indian motto inscribed on the Ashoka Lions holds its ground even in an age full of corruption and conspiracies. Thus, there is still some sanguinity that Ethics and ational Values will be re-established in the near future.