Ever since liberalization, India has made huge strides economically.Movement of people from one part of the country to another for job hasbecome a norm of the day. To an extent this has bridged the gap between people. Sadly regionalism has resurfaced across the country. Peoplecoming from other states are being ridiculed, abused and attacked.

The country was divided on regional basis for administrative reasons andnot meant to create separate entities. It is time that the Government/Election Commission get tough with such regional parties/leaders and ban them for life from contesting in the elections and speaking in the public.

People coming from other states should learn to respect the sentiments of the state in which they are living in. They should make all earnestefforts to learn the local language, culture, appreciate its food, etc andget assimilated with the local population. Otherwise they can find jobs in their own states

One of the Fundamental Rights provided bythe Constitution is that “An individual can go to any part of the countryand earn his living”. That is why we don’t require Visas to travel from one state to another. So when a software engineer from up North comes and takes up a job down South, he is exercising his Constitution Right and ifyou want to question his right, better give up living in this country. It is not possible to give a software engineer’s job to a SSLC drop-out or ill-qualified person, just because he is a local.

Nobody has given their lands to the IT Parks/ Airports for charity. Such acquisitions are made at market rates. If anybody feels aggrieved , they can approach the courts and not come to the streets and disrupt development. However, it is ridiculous for a land owner to feel cheated because his one acre of land which was paid a market value of Rs.1 lakh in 1995 is now worth Rs. 2 crores. IT companies/Airports are professionally run companies and not charity institutions to give one job per family from whom the land was acquired.

Everybody cannot be and need not be a software engineer. Money flow is created in the economy when there are high paying jobs. It is upto you howto take advantage of that money flow. Were there so many taxis, PG accommodations and shopping malls in our cities a decade back? Have these people who are providing the services not benefited from the increased money flow in the economy? If the locals have not been smart enough to exploit this opportunity, it is their folly not that of a person from another state who has encashed the opportunity.Certain occupations are best left to the law of “survival of the fittest”.Nobody gets into a taxi/auto because the driver belongs to such and such aregion. There is no law prohibiting a local from driving a taxi. If you are diligent and hardworking, you will survive in the market or else youwill suffer. Similar is the case with a grocer, maid servant, etc.

When I take up a job in any State, I do pay all the taxes imposed by thatState on my income and expenditure. Further, I do create money flow inthat state whenever I spend. The concerned State Government does get amajor share of the income tax, I pay to the Central Government. Thus thestatement that “outsiders” fleece the state of its resources and do notcontribute anything to its development is an inflated bag of lies andmeant to divide incite people for political/financial gains.

No state has come up on its own or without contributions by people from other states. Let us understand that some states are less blessed than others either through nature or by man made factors. That does not mean they dont have a right to better their living. Such denials on regional basis would only create a wedge in the society which may have unimaginable woes for us in the future. Let the greed for power not turn India into a battlefield.

Balu AM

James O’Toole surveys the works of Aristotle in Creating the Good Life, and creates a practical framework that can be used to evaluate leadership in our own time. This excerpt is from a section regarding community leadership:

Aristotle says a leader also needs practical wisdom. Practical wisdom has “nothing to do with calculating magnitudes,” nothing to do with science, theory, disciplinary knowledge, or knowledge of facts in any way. It is concerned “neither with eternal and unchangeable truth nor with anything and everything that comes into being (and passes away again). Instead, it deals with matters where doubt and deliberation are possible.” In particular, practical wisdom is not concerned with the way things are but with “how things can be other than they are.” In other words, it is about how conditions in society and organizations could be made better. And “it implies the use of one’s faculty of opinion in judging matters” relating to what is right and wrong for a group, or society as a whole.

In Aristotle’s eyes, such practical wisdom is the prerequisite of “moral excellence,” the sine qua non of leadership: “That is why we say Pericles and men like him have practical wisdom. They have the capacity to see what is good for themselves and for humankind.”

Aristotle concludes that virtuous leaders in the Periclean mold are rare, but their scarcity is not due to a shortage of leadership capacity in the human race. Instead, he believes the virtue manifested by those rare leaders is an acquired trait; he believes leaders are made, not born. Indeed they are self-made.

At all times, the conscious goal of a just leader is to help followers achieve what is good for them, which, on occasion, may be something different from what they think they want. Hence, in addition to effectiveness, leadership has a moral dimension: the capacity to discern and provide justice.

From Leadership Now

The Nobel Prize recipients for year 2007 were recently declared. Al Gore, a prominent environmental activist and former vice president of USA shares the Nobel Peace Prize with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

As an active environmentalist Al Gore lectures extensively on global warming, which is world’s one of the biggest issues of this century. In 2006, Al Gore starred in the Award winning documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth, which has helped millions of people all around the world understand the current problem of Global Warming.

I believe that every LeadCapper should try to watch this documentary to understand the current situation, spread the word and educate people on the possible preventive measures whenever possible. Our country being one of the fastest growing economies can make a huge impact by bringing this awareness among the common man with in the country which is only possible with a movement like Lead Cap.

Kris

Last week, I was in Yogyakarta, a place of ancient Hindu & Buddhist civilization in Indonesia. My tour guide was Pak (Indonesian for Mr.) Rajar Hu, a man in his fifties. Rajar Hu was formerly working with a shipping company. However, he could not save much for his post retirement life. After his retirement, he was exploring other avenues of work. He saw that there was tremendous competition in the local market for most kind of jobs, from attendants to mill workers. Also, he realized that he would not enjoy such a work.

So he started thinking about what he would want to do. His experience in the shipping industry had improved his English. This was enough to inspire him to be a tour guide. He started working as a freelancer & today he has several travel agencies hiring him.

But was it easy?
With a family of 5 to provide for & the eldest son needing money for his graduation, it was difficult for Rajar Hu to take such an unconventional step. It was difficult to justify why he would do well compared to the younger guides who have been doing this job for years.

But Rajar Hu was determined to work hard for what he wanted to achieve. He studied the Indonesian history, the civilizations which ruled & impacted his country, the origins of those civilizations, the religions of the world & how Hinduism, Buddhism & Islam are different in Indonesia compared to the countries they came from. He learnt foreign languages. He keeps himself informed about the latest happenings in his ‘target’ countries so that he can have a good conversation with them. He can talk about cricket, philosophy, economy, cars, art and what not. And he learnt all this at the age of 55.

He says he is constantly learning, trying to improve himself & the number of requests he has per day is a proof of his success.
How many would want to start a completely new life at this age? How many would take the pain to learn all that Rajar Hu learnt at his age? I found Rajar Hu story very inspiring. I realized that it is never too late for anything to be done. After all, ‘late’ is a matter of perspective. Rajar Hu says it always felt like the right time.

Kinshuk

I recently saw a small advertisement of Vodafone in a TV channel. It’s all about a small dragonfly whose lifetime is just one day. In the add, dragon fly takes it birth, flies, eats, swims and even makes love with another fly. It joins the other dragonflies and dances in the moon light. It lives its life to the fullest knowing that it cannot see tomorrow’s sunlight. I learnt a very meaningful lesson from that ad. I am assuring you all that I am not going to say about the Vodafone.

That ad inherently made an impression on me and asked me to think what life consists of. Is it Education, Career, Love, Marriage, Kids or something else? It’s not just these alone. There is something inherent in all that. The dragonfly knows that it is going to die next day. Why did it live the day to the fullest? Is that it lived according to its wish? Yes, it has. I believe that there is an internal motivation that drives the fly to live to its fullest. I think that this particular motivation is missing in lot of people. We are afraid of tomorrow. So, we are over cautious today. In a hope to live a happy life tomorrow, we are sacrificing today.

A person who is fearless about tomorrow is a person who dares. A person who dares today will be inspirations to another. An inspirational person can effectively motivate others. People follow the footsteps of their motivators. Then he himself becomes a leader of tomorrow. So, I learnt a lesson - ”Be fearless today to become a leader tomorrow”. Isn’t it sounds synonymous to the quote “ Opportunity favors the bold”. I got a true demonstration of the quote through a small fly. THANKS VODAFONE!!!!!

- VVRN Kishore, IIM Bangalore, LeadCap