Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Of Satyam and Asatyam
Patibandla Srikant
Research Scholar
Institute for Social and Economic Change
Nagarbhavi, Bangalore – 560072.
Email: psrikant@isec.ac.in
As the New Year celebrations were continuing, B. Ramalinga Raju, founder and chairman of Satyam shocked everyone by announcing that, ‘profits were inflated’ to a tune of Rs. 7,100 crore. The immediate reaction was very sharp from various sections of the society. Scathing remarks were made saying that this is ‘shameful’, ‘cheating’, ‘instance of human greed’, ‘horrifying event’, ‘India’s Enron’ and many other such statements were made. While such scams have been common in India, uncommon was the severe reactions that evoked in the aftermath of Raju’s resignation. Even when the Global Trust Bank (GTB) also inflated the profits in the past, the reaction and resultant criticism were not as sharp as in the case of Satyam.
There were similar scams in the industrial sector in the past and there will be so in the future too. What makes the Satyam scam so significant is that – first of its kind by an IT company. However, one is not aware whether this money has been swindled or it has been really faked. Either way the news came as a severe shock to many in the industry and also the general public. The scam has hit the belief of the investors and shareholders alike in times of recession. Further the morale of the IT workforce, clients and IT industry as a whole received a severe set back.
Ramalinga Raju founded Satyam in 1987 and ever since there was no looking back for Satyam under the leadership of Raju. He received many awards with regard to business and leadership skills. Similarly Satyam too received many awards as a role model company. Currently, Satyam is the biggest IT firm in India with more than 50,000 employees and worldwide presence. Satyam has a certain image among the IT workforce, investors and shareholders that Satyam stands for transparency, accountability and efficiency. Such was the trust on Satyam that even when the World Bank banned Satyam of any future transactions with the bank, shareholders still stuck to Satyam.
Now there is a general mood that people have been cheated. Hence, the New Year scam has evoked sharp reactions from various sections of the society. Why did the general public felt that they were cheated, particularly ignoring other similar scams? This sense of betrayal has its roots in the manner in which the media, industry and policy makers generally projected the IT industry. Ever since the growth of information technology the IT industry was projected as an example of corporate governance – transparency, accountability, efficiency and non-corrupt. This had a spillover effect on governments with many arguing that the same should be adopted in governing people. The czars of the IT industry – B. Ramalinga Raju, N. R. Narayan Murthy, Azim Premzi – were projected as the trinity of the industry and the new poster boys of the middle class dreams.
IT was also projected as the one time solution to many problems that country is facing. As a result working in companies like Infosys, Satyam, Wipro was regarded as a status symbol, where a job in one such industries was perceived to be more prestigious than a gazetted officer in the government. Thus a certain kind of aura was spin-doctored around the IT industry and its top leadership.
The Rs. 7,100 crore scam only shattered those myths. As a result, a heavy dose of criticism is being aired out against B. Ramalinga Raju, not because of the scam but for bursting the myth surrounding the IT industry. Meanwhile, the IT industry would recoup the economic loss as and when the recession ends, but what is at stake is the non-corrupt, transparent, accountable and efficient image of the IT industry.
Patibandla Srikant
Research Scholar
Institute for Social and Economic Change
Nagarbhavi, Bangalore – 560072.
Email: psrikant@isec.ac.in
As the New Year celebrations were continuing, B. Ramalinga Raju, founder and chairman of Satyam shocked everyone by announcing that, ‘profits were inflated’ to a tune of Rs. 7,100 crore. The immediate reaction was very sharp from various sections of the society. Scathing remarks were made saying that this is ‘shameful’, ‘cheating’, ‘instance of human greed’, ‘horrifying event’, ‘India’s Enron’ and many other such statements were made. While such scams have been common in India, uncommon was the severe reactions that evoked in the aftermath of Raju’s resignation. Even when the Global Trust Bank (GTB) also inflated the profits in the past, the reaction and resultant criticism were not as sharp as in the case of Satyam.
There were similar scams in the industrial sector in the past and there will be so in the future too. What makes the Satyam scam so significant is that – first of its kind by an IT company. However, one is not aware whether this money has been swindled or it has been really faked. Either way the news came as a severe shock to many in the industry and also the general public. The scam has hit the belief of the investors and shareholders alike in times of recession. Further the morale of the IT workforce, clients and IT industry as a whole received a severe set back.
Ramalinga Raju founded Satyam in 1987 and ever since there was no looking back for Satyam under the leadership of Raju. He received many awards with regard to business and leadership skills. Similarly Satyam too received many awards as a role model company. Currently, Satyam is the biggest IT firm in India with more than 50,000 employees and worldwide presence. Satyam has a certain image among the IT workforce, investors and shareholders that Satyam stands for transparency, accountability and efficiency. Such was the trust on Satyam that even when the World Bank banned Satyam of any future transactions with the bank, shareholders still stuck to Satyam.
Now there is a general mood that people have been cheated. Hence, the New Year scam has evoked sharp reactions from various sections of the society. Why did the general public felt that they were cheated, particularly ignoring other similar scams? This sense of betrayal has its roots in the manner in which the media, industry and policy makers generally projected the IT industry. Ever since the growth of information technology the IT industry was projected as an example of corporate governance – transparency, accountability, efficiency and non-corrupt. This had a spillover effect on governments with many arguing that the same should be adopted in governing people. The czars of the IT industry – B. Ramalinga Raju, N. R. Narayan Murthy, Azim Premzi – were projected as the trinity of the industry and the new poster boys of the middle class dreams.
IT was also projected as the one time solution to many problems that country is facing. As a result working in companies like Infosys, Satyam, Wipro was regarded as a status symbol, where a job in one such industries was perceived to be more prestigious than a gazetted officer in the government. Thus a certain kind of aura was spin-doctored around the IT industry and its top leadership.
The Rs. 7,100 crore scam only shattered those myths. As a result, a heavy dose of criticism is being aired out against B. Ramalinga Raju, not because of the scam but for bursting the myth surrounding the IT industry. Meanwhile, the IT industry would recoup the economic loss as and when the recession ends, but what is at stake is the non-corrupt, transparent, accountable and efficient image of the IT industry.
Potatoes: My First Introduction to Politics
Patibandla Srikant
Thinking of potatoes and politics, one might question the link between both apart from both the words beginning with ‘p’. I was under the same impression until one day I bumped in to the inextricable political link between potatoes and politics. In the hostel mess of our University campus they serve potatoes for lunch and dinner on all seven days of the week. After a point of time this became unbearable and all the students took our plates and barged in to the kitchen to catch the cook (after the incident some say we rushed in to thrash him, others say we just wanted to question). Cook reasoned it out to us saying whatever the mess manager supplies he cooks, thereby implying that he is only a weapon, while actual culprit is the mess manager. Immediately we barged in to the hostel office. By this time the crowd has sobered down a little bit. The manager pushed the accounts book towards us and told us with the money being allocated only potatoes would come (apparently potatoes are cheap in this part of the world). Some raging students asked him who is allocating the money. Finance officer, came the reply.
Just when I thought the saga is complete, as no body may be interested in questioning the finance officer. But the enthusiastic students wanted to find out the potato culprit and get rid of him/her along with potatoes. Little did we know, at that time, that we are heading for a long journey. By this time we were already in front of finance officer’s chamber. The finance officer – middle aged lady – listened to our potato problem with patience. After everything was done from your side, she just washed away her hands saying the allocation of funds is actually decided by the vice-chancellor. That’s the moment – any single issue against the VC we are always to take him on directly. With increasing excitement at every step, some of us felt like detective a la Sherlock Holmes with nobody playing Dr. Watson. When we heard VC’s name, we thought we had the potato culprit finally in our hands. The poor VC showed us all the accounts with total amount received from the University Grants Commission (UGC) and total expenditure under various heads. He had to cancel all his appointments for the day and he sat with us nearly for three hours and explained with enduring patient levels to all the questions that we rose.
We came out of the VC’s chamber with a sense of triumph. But then the story does not end here, because the VC named UGC as the culprit. Apparently it is the UGC that decides which university gets how much amount and all that related. So straight we got in to the campus bus and bullied the driver to drive down to the UGC bus. The bus was fully packed with some sitting on top of the bus. Some other promising detectives took city bus to the UGC office. Finally, with all the sloganeering on the way we reached UGC office with much fanfare and excitement. We reached the UGC office and raised our voice demanding the UGC Chairman to come out and meet us. After ten minutes or so the UGC Chairperson emerged out of the building with a genuine smile. Immediately our detective skills came out and we started grilling him for giving us potatoes. He told us that the Ministry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD) only grants UGC a certain amount and in turn UGC distributes it to all the universities across the country accordingly. The same base that we came from campus was still there and this time the driver was much cooperative and drove down to MHRD. When we reached the MHRD, we found that only the Deputy Minister was present in the office. When he came out we pleaded to him our sad story of potatoes and coming from south India, he seemed to be sympathetic to our story. But when it came to taking the responsibility he was helpless. He told us that the MHRD is restricted on its expenses by the World Bank and the IMF as a part of the structural adjustments programme. That is when we understood the real potato culprits are the World Bank and the IMF
We realized that we cannot ferry the same bus to New York or Washington and we started thinking the reasons behind the restrictions of the World Bank and the IMF with regard to the government’s expenditure on higher education. Somebody in the crowd commented, “shit man! as long as we remain apolitical we will suffer the onslaught of the World Bank or the IMF either in the form of potatoes or in some other form. Lets protest against the World Bank and the IMF.” We all agreed with him realizing that we are not eating ordinary potatoes…but with under currents of politics.
This whole process of finding out reasons for our daily potatoes actually opened our eyes in the manner politics operate. That is when we felt although we maintain our distance from politics be being so called ‘apolitical’, still politics influences our day-to-day activities. Thus it is better to choose the right kind of politics so that we can have right kind of policies for our future. Choose correct politics for a better future, because it is politics that decides our future.
Patibandla Srikant
Thinking of potatoes and politics, one might question the link between both apart from both the words beginning with ‘p’. I was under the same impression until one day I bumped in to the inextricable political link between potatoes and politics. In the hostel mess of our University campus they serve potatoes for lunch and dinner on all seven days of the week. After a point of time this became unbearable and all the students took our plates and barged in to the kitchen to catch the cook (after the incident some say we rushed in to thrash him, others say we just wanted to question). Cook reasoned it out to us saying whatever the mess manager supplies he cooks, thereby implying that he is only a weapon, while actual culprit is the mess manager. Immediately we barged in to the hostel office. By this time the crowd has sobered down a little bit. The manager pushed the accounts book towards us and told us with the money being allocated only potatoes would come (apparently potatoes are cheap in this part of the world). Some raging students asked him who is allocating the money. Finance officer, came the reply.
Just when I thought the saga is complete, as no body may be interested in questioning the finance officer. But the enthusiastic students wanted to find out the potato culprit and get rid of him/her along with potatoes. Little did we know, at that time, that we are heading for a long journey. By this time we were already in front of finance officer’s chamber. The finance officer – middle aged lady – listened to our potato problem with patience. After everything was done from your side, she just washed away her hands saying the allocation of funds is actually decided by the vice-chancellor. That’s the moment – any single issue against the VC we are always to take him on directly. With increasing excitement at every step, some of us felt like detective a la Sherlock Holmes with nobody playing Dr. Watson. When we heard VC’s name, we thought we had the potato culprit finally in our hands. The poor VC showed us all the accounts with total amount received from the University Grants Commission (UGC) and total expenditure under various heads. He had to cancel all his appointments for the day and he sat with us nearly for three hours and explained with enduring patient levels to all the questions that we rose.
We came out of the VC’s chamber with a sense of triumph. But then the story does not end here, because the VC named UGC as the culprit. Apparently it is the UGC that decides which university gets how much amount and all that related. So straight we got in to the campus bus and bullied the driver to drive down to the UGC bus. The bus was fully packed with some sitting on top of the bus. Some other promising detectives took city bus to the UGC office. Finally, with all the sloganeering on the way we reached UGC office with much fanfare and excitement. We reached the UGC office and raised our voice demanding the UGC Chairman to come out and meet us. After ten minutes or so the UGC Chairperson emerged out of the building with a genuine smile. Immediately our detective skills came out and we started grilling him for giving us potatoes. He told us that the Ministry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD) only grants UGC a certain amount and in turn UGC distributes it to all the universities across the country accordingly. The same base that we came from campus was still there and this time the driver was much cooperative and drove down to MHRD. When we reached the MHRD, we found that only the Deputy Minister was present in the office. When he came out we pleaded to him our sad story of potatoes and coming from south India, he seemed to be sympathetic to our story. But when it came to taking the responsibility he was helpless. He told us that the MHRD is restricted on its expenses by the World Bank and the IMF as a part of the structural adjustments programme. That is when we understood the real potato culprits are the World Bank and the IMF
We realized that we cannot ferry the same bus to New York or Washington and we started thinking the reasons behind the restrictions of the World Bank and the IMF with regard to the government’s expenditure on higher education. Somebody in the crowd commented, “shit man! as long as we remain apolitical we will suffer the onslaught of the World Bank or the IMF either in the form of potatoes or in some other form. Lets protest against the World Bank and the IMF.” We all agreed with him realizing that we are not eating ordinary potatoes…but with under currents of politics.
This whole process of finding out reasons for our daily potatoes actually opened our eyes in the manner politics operate. That is when we felt although we maintain our distance from politics be being so called ‘apolitical’, still politics influences our day-to-day activities. Thus it is better to choose the right kind of politics so that we can have right kind of policies for our future. Choose correct politics for a better future, because it is politics that decides our future.
A Taste of Group Politics
A Taste of Group Politics
Patibandla Srikant
Some time back I was sitting in the balcony of my friend’s apartment and sipping scotch on one rainy evening. Naturally the talk shifted to the day of college and University. My friend narrated a story from his university days, which exemplifies the significance of group politics in India. He None of the 80 students knew each other, but they have only one unifying force that is they are all students. Secondly, they have strong unwritten rules like trouble for one is trouble for all; trouble for all is trouble for none. That is how they all got down in Bellary station even though not everybody knew the student caught by the TC. That is the strength of group politics. That is how the poor and suppressed groups, in spite of being powerless, still assert themselves in groups within the public space.studied in SK University, Anantpur and was a hostelite. The students in this relatively unknown university have a tradition of traveling in groups by train. If somebody wants to see a place they will simply put up the notice in the hostels and the train timings along with the time to assemble at the railway station. At the prescribed time around 75-100 students would assemble at the railway station and they will board a general compartment (if it is too packed) or at times in to reserved compartment without tickets. Once they reach the destination they part their ways and decide on return date and time. Thus, they used to travel free of cost by trains without any hassles. However, once they did encounter a problem…
One fine morning there was a notice inviting students for a trip to Hampi along with the date and timings. After one week around 80 people assembled at the Anantpur railway station at the assigned time. When the train came, all the 80 students boarded in to reserved compartments and they decided that they would stick to two compartments and they should go beyond those prescribed two compartments. Everything was going on well, when a TC spotted one among them and started hunting him. The spotted one tried to evade the TC by repeatedly changing places, going to toilet and all that. Finally the TC caught him in Bellary station and pulled him out of the train.
However, the remaining 79 students too got down from the town in solidarity with the lone student. They surrounded the TC and started requesting and demanding the lone person be released. TC did not listen to them, assuming train would start at any moment and all of them would board the train. As the TC thought, the train started moving and with lightening speed all the 79 students ran along with the train, got in to the train and pulled the chain. Train stopped with a loud keeeccch sound. After the train stopped again all the 79 students came back and surrounded the TC to release their comrade. TC, realizing, that the students would not allow the train to move, finally he succumbed to their demand and let off the student. All the students gaining victory finally boarded the train. Meanwhile TC called up the Hospet railway station and updated with the happenings of the day and added that 80 students traveling without tickets.
So the Hospet railway authorities posted railway police and some reserve police in order to handle the students as soon as they get down from the train. At the other end, not knowing all this students were happily coming in the train singing and dancing. Morning when they were nearing Hospet, one among them shouted saying this is the way to Hampi. Immediately another fellow pulled the chain and thus they got down at the outskirts of Hospet and proceeded to Hampi. While the students were enjoying in Hampi, the reserve police along with the railway police were waiting for the action of the day on the platforms of Hospet railway station.
Finally, in the evening all the students reached Hospet railway station for their return journey. One of them was approached by a TC and asked him if they were students from Anantpur. With curiosity this person nodded in affirmative and asked the TC why he was enquiring and how did he know about them? Then the TC narrated the entire story from Bellary and the railway police along with reserve police waiting for them whole day in the station and returning with disappointment.
Patibandla Srikant
Some time back I was sitting in the balcony of my friend’s apartment and sipping scotch on one rainy evening. Naturally the talk shifted to the day of college and University. My friend narrated a story from his university days, which exemplifies the significance of group politics in India. He None of the 80 students knew each other, but they have only one unifying force that is they are all students. Secondly, they have strong unwritten rules like trouble for one is trouble for all; trouble for all is trouble for none. That is how they all got down in Bellary station even though not everybody knew the student caught by the TC. That is the strength of group politics. That is how the poor and suppressed groups, in spite of being powerless, still assert themselves in groups within the public space.studied in SK University, Anantpur and was a hostelite. The students in this relatively unknown university have a tradition of traveling in groups by train. If somebody wants to see a place they will simply put up the notice in the hostels and the train timings along with the time to assemble at the railway station. At the prescribed time around 75-100 students would assemble at the railway station and they will board a general compartment (if it is too packed) or at times in to reserved compartment without tickets. Once they reach the destination they part their ways and decide on return date and time. Thus, they used to travel free of cost by trains without any hassles. However, once they did encounter a problem…
One fine morning there was a notice inviting students for a trip to Hampi along with the date and timings. After one week around 80 people assembled at the Anantpur railway station at the assigned time. When the train came, all the 80 students boarded in to reserved compartments and they decided that they would stick to two compartments and they should go beyond those prescribed two compartments. Everything was going on well, when a TC spotted one among them and started hunting him. The spotted one tried to evade the TC by repeatedly changing places, going to toilet and all that. Finally the TC caught him in Bellary station and pulled him out of the train.
However, the remaining 79 students too got down from the town in solidarity with the lone student. They surrounded the TC and started requesting and demanding the lone person be released. TC did not listen to them, assuming train would start at any moment and all of them would board the train. As the TC thought, the train started moving and with lightening speed all the 79 students ran along with the train, got in to the train and pulled the chain. Train stopped with a loud keeeccch sound. After the train stopped again all the 79 students came back and surrounded the TC to release their comrade. TC, realizing, that the students would not allow the train to move, finally he succumbed to their demand and let off the student. All the students gaining victory finally boarded the train. Meanwhile TC called up the Hospet railway station and updated with the happenings of the day and added that 80 students traveling without tickets.
So the Hospet railway authorities posted railway police and some reserve police in order to handle the students as soon as they get down from the train. At the other end, not knowing all this students were happily coming in the train singing and dancing. Morning when they were nearing Hospet, one among them shouted saying this is the way to Hampi. Immediately another fellow pulled the chain and thus they got down at the outskirts of Hospet and proceeded to Hampi. While the students were enjoying in Hampi, the reserve police along with the railway police were waiting for the action of the day on the platforms of Hospet railway station.
Finally, in the evening all the students reached Hospet railway station for their return journey. One of them was approached by a TC and asked him if they were students from Anantpur. With curiosity this person nodded in affirmative and asked the TC why he was enquiring and how did he know about them? Then the TC narrated the entire story from Bellary and the railway police along with reserve police waiting for them whole day in the station and returning with disappointment.
None of the 80 students knew each other, but they have only one unifying force that is they are all students. Secondly, they have strong unwritten rules like trouble for one is trouble for all; trouble for all is trouble for none. That is how they all got down in Bellary station even though not everybody knew the student caught by the TC. That is the strength of group politics. That is how the poor and suppressed groups, in spite of being powerless, still assert themselves in groups within the public space.
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