Annas Art of Probity ( Published in Communis, OCT-2011 a magazine published by Birla Institute of Manag ement Technology, Greater Noida,India)

) Anna Hazare, burst on the national consciousness as a supra-nova. A supra-nova b y definition can be visible only in a surrounding darkness. So Anna appeared in times of darkness. Who is this man? What issues is he raising? How is he relevan t to us? He is from unwashed Bharat, does he have anything to say for the new India ? Why should corporate India be bothered by Anna? Ostensibly, Anna Hazare is fighting to establish an ombudsman, who will investig ate and take follow-up action against corrupt government officials and elected f unctionaries of state indulging in corrupt practices. This is the ostensible cau se for which Anna and his team is fighting. Please do pause and think. Is that all ? Is Anna fighting to establish one more government agency? No. Anna is has brought to national focus, a very crucial and deep issue. This issue is of morality and probity in public life. Does morality apply to only Public life. The term, Public life applies not just to g overnment functionaries. This is a misunderstanding, which was popularized durin g faux-socialism era of 1970s when public meant only government. Public Sector mean t government sector. Public parks meant parks owned and managed by the governmen t. Public Library meant a Government owned library. Distribution of subsidized foo d was called Public distribution. Government run buses became Public transport The o nly exception was Public schools, which were actually, private. Over the period go vernment applied Public to any activity to justify its actions. So much so, that today when Anna Hazare raises the issue of corruption in Public Life we automatically, assume, he is talking of Government and Government alone. His campaign, does not apply to any other section of society, especially, not to business, since business is Private. Is this a correct perception? It needs to be corrected. Public life is any activ ity, done as a member of society, by any entity- especially, including businesse s, since businesses affect a large number of stake holders. Businesses have seve ral stake-holders- promoters, investors, employees, vendors, customers, governme nts and so on. The business are highly public function but being run as private proj ects, unaccountable to anyone, except the owner( the promoter or the family. If we look around we find so many issues relating to the public life of corporates . We have private hospitals, which got land from government at subsidized rates by promising, free treatment to poor, but reserve all their facilities for the r ich. We have schools, which again, got land at subsidized rates from government, by promising to admit children from economically weaker sections of society, bu t do not admit them. We have companies which obtained license for mining ore, sp ecifying the quantity to be extracted per year, but do not bother about the limi ts. Telephone companies promise a roll-out programme, but do not comply with the condition of license. These are merely, a microscopic sample of absence of prob ity in public-life of businesses, which made news. Delhi University colleges, acce pt money from government, but do not implement the reservation policy in recruit ment, in the name of independence. The list could go on and on. At micro level, ask any businessperson and they will confirm that the payment is never made to t hem on time. They in turn delay payments to their vendors. In fact delay is the standard. What is Anna Hazares role in all this? Well Anna Hazare is campaigning for probit y in public life. My yard-stick for measuring probity in public life of business is very simple and expressed in four words- work as per contract. If you look a t this four word philosophy, in wider perspective, you will notice that NOT work

ing as per contract consists of corruption- both private and public. In my experience of working with business firms in west I have formed a very posit ive opinion of them. The guys there work as per contract mostly. Perhaps Anna will impact the businesses here too. When a student is ready, a teacher emerges, When oppressed are ready, Jesus emerges When India is ready, Anna emerges Anna has brought the issue in focus. The question is, are we ready for Annafica tion of business?

Post Script: While on the subject of working as per contract, I am remember an e vent. We were developing a specially designed mailbox for a client in Austin, Te xas, USA. When the product was ready, I asked the client, whether, he would lik e us to sign a Confidentiality agreement, whereby, we would be bound NOT to supply the same design to any other buyer. This is a standard practice in exports busi ness. The client responded by saying, no written contract is necessary as he believe s in Texan Hand-shake. When I asked him what is a Texan Hand-shake, he told me tha t in Texas, contracts are made simply by shaking hands and if one party breaks i t, the other party shoots to kill!!! Needless to say, I never took the risk!