“India’s Growing Leadership Deficit” – from 1969!

Courtesy, Freedom First (thanks to Sh SV Raju), here is an insightful article on “India’s Growing Leadership Deficit” – written 43 years ago by Sh M R Pai. It still rings true – which is probably the most damning indictment of our leadership (its failure) and its inability to improve the lives of hundreds of millions in India, 60+ years after Independence. As Sh Raju noted, “Right leadership is the key to good, transparent and effective governance.” This matter therefore deserves continuing attention…Without further ado (emphasis added),

*** India’s Growing Leadership Deficit by Sh MR Pai ***

It is necessary to examine why a country like India,which has produced giants in public life, is today having mostly pygmies. The contrast between the past and the present will be instructive and give us the guidelines forthe future.A brief study of some aspects of leadership fromthe lives of the great leaders of the past will help us.

Raja Ram Mohun Roy, the great social reformer,was asked by the King of Delhi to prepare a memorial on his behalf, seeking to redress some grievances from the East India Company. When the memorial was prepared, a publication alleged that Ram Mohun Roy had stolen some documents from the East India Company to prepare the memorial. He immediately petitioned the Company to holdan inquiry into this allegation, and having compelled theCompany to do so, publicly cleared his name and vindicated his honour. By this act, he showed that integrity is the first and foremost requirement of good leadership.This is sadly lacking today in our public life.

The second aspect of good leadership is the abilityto win over loyalty of people. An instance from the lifeof Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, a great patriot and leader, will illustrate this. While he was undergoing hissentence in a jail in Burma, at that time part of India, aconvict from Ratnagiri had also been put in the same jailto attend upon him. But Tilak never treated him as a servant.Once when the convict fell ill, he would not allow theformer to prepare food or to attend on him. On the other hand he prepared food for the convict and nursed himfor a number of days. Tilak treated the convict in such away that when the convict received an order of release, he petitioned the authorities to allow him to stay for two more years so that he may have the opportunity of attending upon Lokmanya Tilak! In sharp contrast, onefinds that leaders have today, to buy the loyalty of followers rather than win them over. The sad fact that about 14%of legislators defected after the 1967 elections, one of them as many as 7 times, shows how far public life has deteriorated.

The third quality of leadership, namely, taking thepublic into confidence and being straightforward in one’s dealings with the public is illustrated by the life of Sir M.Visveswaraiya, the great engineer, administrator and statesman who introduced the idea of planning in India.When he was an engineer in the Poona Irrigation District,he found that considerable water was wasted byagriculturists. He instituted a new system which resultedin better utilisation of water. There was resentment over this and a number of people in Poona who were ownersof land started an agitation. They started a campaign in the local papers saying that they were being harassed.Sir Visveswaraiya collected all the clippings and forwarded them to the Government of the then Bombay Presidency,giving his reasons for the new system. The Government backed him saying that what he had done was correct.After this, he called a public meeting of the citizens where he explained the old and new systems and reasons forthe change and the benefit of the system. He also hadcaused all officers to be present there and asked the agriculturists whether they had any specific complaint of harassment against any one of them in which case theywould be required to answer them. There was none. Thiss traightforward approach was very much appreciated bythe citizens.

The fourth quality of leadership is that of being well-informed. Leadership is a great responsibility, and an ill-informed leader is like an unqualified driver on a public transport – a menace to society. Look at the leaders of yesteryears like Phirozeshah Mehta, Ranade, Gokhale andMahatma Gandhi. Their predecessor, the Grand Old Man of India, Dr. Dadabhoy Naoroji, was a model for all. Inthe evening of his life, after unremitting service to the motherland, even a few hours before his death, he washaving important news read to him by his grandchildren: What an avidity for knowledge, the basis for public service! Most of our leaders today have ceased to read and think. They have discovered a new formula – verbal Niagara is a substitute for thinking.It is this type of leadership which has brought thecountry to the brink of disaster.

***

For those who may not be familiar with Sh Pai, , here is his brief introduction by Sh Raju: Sh Pai’s “..name is intimately connected with the Consumer movement and the Forum of Free Enterprise (the institution founded by A. D. Shroff and nurtured by Pai; both are no more but they are remembered today as legends in their own right.”

Related Posts: Advice for Leaders, courtesy the Mahatma