Best of "Eureka Moments"

The tendency to accumulate material possessions is detrimental to personal happiness.

Poverty is the biggest handicap one faces in achievement of a meaningful existence. When sufficient level of economic securiy has been achieved, life can be enriched further by engaging in spiritual activities (literarture, music,arts etc). Such pursuits would become difficult if socio-political sphere is hindered by social restrictions and excessive governance. (Refer:http://sunilthethinker.blogspot.in/2012/09/tripodframework.html)

I have tried to prioritize various aspects affecting the law and order in the society. Let me explain this with an example. To regulate traffic we must have effective traffic police and efficient courts to try and punish offenders quickly. But more than that we must have legal provisions to prescribe appropriate deterrence, provisions to empower police and provisions laying down efficient procedure to facilitate expeditious disposal of cases. However, traffic violations can be minimized if we could do better traffic planning and design efficient traffic management systems. But all this will not be effective unless the public values traffic discipline as a norm because if everyone starts violating the law, no enforcement system will stand.

Challenges that we face from time to time are blessings in disguise as they help us grow spiritually.

Whereas the present day political discourse is beset with the entitlement mentality, ideally, we can claim only one right from the government: the right to freedom, freedom of every kind including freedom of speech, thought, belief etc.

Only a free man can grow. Freedom means economic security and ability to pursue spiritual activities without any hindrance.

Unfortunately the politicians do not know anything other than competitive populism.

Equality is impossible and over-emphasis on equality retards growth. Socialistic policies seeking equality are prescription for disaster. Why? Read: http://sunilthethinker.blogspot.in/2012/09/marxism-historical-mistake.html

Most of the time, political parties ore more concerned about winning elections and not inclined to take difficult decisions which may be necessary for a long-term benefit of the country.

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The Caste System and the Way Forward

Caste has been the most intriguing aspect of Indian Civilization.  In a society where every living being is perceived as some kind of manifestation of God, how come a person belonging to a low caste would get branded as untouchable? We worship cows, we worship monkeys, we worship birds, we worship trees and yet we condemn a man just because he belongs to a caste which is perceived to be unclean.

Through my observations at various sites across various forms of social media, I have realized that despite so much scientific and economic progress there are people who have a high degree of caste consciousness. People from the higher castes enjoy a sense of superiority whereas those from the lower castes blame their caste status for all the problems being faced by them. Further, the print media and audio-visual media is also filled with stories of caste based prejudices. In politics also caste has become a very significant factor.

My Personal Experience                         

From my personal association with a village in UP, I have a firsthand experience of the caste based society. I must admit that the caste divisions do exist. But the whole picture is a great deal different from what is painted by the media. Though my experience is dated as I did not have many opportunities to observe the village life after nineteen-eighties, yet I believe the situation is unlikely to be much different even now. From whatever I have observed, I can say that inter-caste relations in villages are much more harmonious than what we get to read in newspapers. There are not many incidents relating to caste based conflicts. Mostly conflicts occur due to the disputes relating to property. Castes in villages are interdependent. As the village economy is largely dependent on the goods and services produced locally, every caste has some vital role in the whole scheme. Though there are no inter-caste marriages, yet people of various castes are tied in informal relationships. From my childhood I can recall that every child had to address the elders with a specific respectable relationship oriented word like Chacha, Tau, Dada, Mama etc., irrespective of the caste to which he belonged. These relationships were carried forward from one generation to the next.

Thus the situation as presented in various types of media is much different than what I have experienced in my childhood. May be the situation has changed for the worse or may be with so much politicization, the institution of caste has become much more prone to exploitation. I get concerned with stories of caste based violence and discrimination and often wonder what we can do to alleviate such tensions. To comprehend the whole picture, it is necessary to analyse the theory and practice of the caste system. To enlighten myself in this regard, I have tried to study the institution of caste from various web based resources.

The Findings

The findings are as under: 

•  Caste is neither unique to Hindu religion nor to India; caste systems have been observed in other parts of the world, for example, in the Muslim community of Yemen, Christian colonies of Spain, and Japan. 

• Many scholars believe that the modern Jatis represent ancient tribal and occupational affiliations that have evolved and specialised over time.

• The most ancient scriptures—the Shruti texts, or Vedas, place very little importance on the caste system, mentioning caste only sparingly and descriptively (i.e., not prescriptive).

•  The only verse in the Rigveda which mentions all four varnas is 10.90, the Purushasūkta.

• A hymn from the Rig Veda seems to indicate that one's caste is not necessarily determined by that of one's family.

•  In the Vedic period, there also seems to have been no discrimination against the Shudras on the issue of hearing the sacred words of the Vedas and fully participating in all religious rituals, something which became progressively restricted in the later times.

• The Gita says that one's varna is to be understood from one's personal qualities and one's karma (work), not one's birth. 

•  The Indian society honoured people for their achievements irrespective of their caste. For instance, Valmiki, once a low-caste robber, became a great sage and author of the epic Ramayana. Veda Vyasa, another respected sage and author of the monumental epic, the Mahabharata, was the son of a fisher-woman.

• The Manu Smriti, which codified the caste system, belongs to a class of books that are geared towards ethics, morals, and social conduct - not spirituality or religion.

• The view of the caste system as "static and unchanging" has been disputed by many scholars.

• Some scholars believe that the relative ranking of other castes was fluid or differed from one place to another prior to the arrival of the British.

• The distinctions, particularly between the Brahmans and the other castes, were in theory sharper, but in practice it now appears that social restrictions were not so rigid.

• Movement has always been possible, and especially in the middle regions of the hierarchy. It was always possible for groups born into a lower caste to "rise to a higher position by adopting vegetarianism and teetotalism" i.e. adopt the customs of the higher castes.

• There is also precedent of certain Shudra families within the temples of the Shrivaishava sect in South India elevating their caste.·There have been cases of upper caste Hindus warming to the Dalits and Hindu priests, demoted to outcaste ranks.

• Many movements in Hinduism have welcomed Dalits into their fold, the foremost being the Bhakti movements of the medieval period.

• The first mention of the formal varna Indian caste system is in the famous Purush Sukta of the Rigveda, although it is the only mention in the entire body of the Vedas and has been decried as a much later, non-Vedic insertion by numerous Indologists like Max Muller and also by Ambedkar.

• In the Mahabharata, Bhrigu tells Bharadvaja that caste divisions relate to differences in physical attributes of different human beings, reflected in skin colour. Bharadvaja responds not only by pointing to the considerable variations in skin colour within every caste (if different colours indicate different castes, then all castes are mixed castes), but also by the more profound question: ‘We all seem to be affected by desire, anger, fear, sorrow, worry, hunger, and labour; how do we have caste differences then.

• The Bhavishya Purana, (dated to be between 1500 to 2500 years old), decries the caste system- Since members of all the four castes are children of God, they all belong to the same caste. All human beings have the same father, and children of the same father cannot have different castes.

•  Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador to Chandragupta Maurya's court in India classified people of India into seven classes: philosophers, peasants, herdsmen, craftsmen and traders, soldiers, government officials and councilors.

• Fa Xian, a Buddhist pilgrim from China, visited India around 400 AD. Only the lot of the Chandals he found unenviable as outcastes by reason of their degrading work as disposers of dead. But no other section of the population were notably disadvantaged, no other caste distinctions attracted comment from the Chinese pilgrim, and no oppressive caste system drew forth his censure. In this period kings of Shudra and Brahmin origin were as common as those of Kshatriya varna and caste system was not wholly rigid. 

•  Caste, claimed Gandhi, had nothing to do with religion. The discrimination and trauma of castes, argued Gandhi, was the result of custom, the origin of which is unknown.

•  Some sources suggest that the caste system became formally rigid during the British Raj, when the British started to enumerate castes during the ten-year census and meticulously codified the system under their rule.

• The rapid growth of train travel, with coaches packed with passengers from all caste segments of Indian society, suggests that the nature of British stereotypes about caste system in India, prior to 1860s and thereafter through the 1940s, were flawed.

• According to the 1901 Census Report on India, only 8 to 17 percent of Brahmins were involved in a religious occupation, only 8 percent of one Shudra sub-caste commonly assumed to be dedicated to leather work was actually involved in leather work, and less than 50 percent of several sub-castes were involved in their traditional occupations. Rest were involved in occupations such as farming or labour.

• Several reports published between 1995 and 2005 propose that Indian tribal and caste population samples they studied, have similar genetic origins and have received limited gene input from outside India. These studies imply that racial differences may not have influenced caste system in India.

• Numerous other countries have minorities which have been ostracized, discriminated again, denied civil rights, considered impure or shunned due to low social standing in recent human history. Examples include Burakumin in Japan, Jews in certain parts of Europe, Afro-Americans in the United States, Oriental Jews in Israel, Al-Akhdam of Yemen, Baekjeong of Korea, Midgan of Somalia and Osu in Nigeria.

To sum up, caste is a social institution and not a religious one. It has been found to exist also in countries other than India, societies other than the Hindu society. It has roots in unknown social traditions and has evolved over time. Various castes do not have significant racial/genetic differences. In the beginning, caste was flexible and a basis for division of labour. Over the period, the divisions became rigid, may be, owing to the tendency to preserve knowledge and skills by passing these to the next generation in the family and the practice of endogamy. The caste system was not so static and rigid as many think it to be. People have been adopting occupations which may not have been traditionally meant for their caste. Many persons of lower castes were given due recognition and respect for their spiritual and literary achievements. Men and women of different castes travelled together in packed coaches of trains during the British period, implying thereby that the caste system did not prohibit intermingling of castes at the social level. From time to time various social reformers endeavoured to eliminate caste based discrimination.

Chanakya explains the Varna Vyavastha from the Great Vedas

The Positive Contribution

            Is it that the caste system has only negatives associated with it? Or, did it have some positive side also? Indian civilization is the oldest civilization on earth. How did this civilization survive so long? Possibly, because its social structure was much robust than any other civilization.  Also, may be because it could preserve and expand its knowledge-base in a manner, no other civilization could. Thus a stable caste structure helped in passing on the knowledge and skills from one generation to the next. The knowledge was preserved by tradition of ‘Shruti’ (receiving the oral knowledge from the Guru) and ‘Smriti’ (storing the knowledge in memory), which became possible because of the caste structure.  The skills required for making various kinds of handicrafts and other products could be preserved and refined due to the caste based skill specialization and skill inheritance. No wonder, Indian handicrafts and textiles were exported across the seven seas and the Indian economy was the world’s most prosperous economy throughout a major period in the recorded history. 

The Tripod Framework and the Caste System

In my earlier post (The Tripod Framework: A Compass We Need While Sailing On High Seas), I had proposed a ‘Tripod Framework’ for prioritizing life goals. The quality of life is dependent on our achievements in three distinct spheres. The economic sphere deals with production of goods and services which are required for a comfortable physical existence. The spiritual sphere deals with life enriching activities like literature, arts, music, religion etc. The third sphere, namely the socio-political sphere, is about all social and political structures and institutions which are necessary to maintain a peaceful and harmonious environment to facilitate unhindered pursuit of activities in the first two spheres. It is necessary that the society excels in all three spheres for being a vibrant and sustainable civilization.

           
       The caste system addressed the needs of all the three spheres for the society. Thus, Brahmins were required to deal with issues in the spiritual sphere by nurturing a religious, spiritual and philosophical environment to facilitate enrichment of lives through spiritual endeavours. The Kshatriyas were required to focus on the socio-political sphere to devise ways and means for providing internal and external security so that law and order could be maintained.  The other two varnas, namely Vaishyas and Shudras, were required to look after the economic sphere. Shudras were the producers (artisans, farmers etc.) and the service providers (barbers, washer-men, masons and labourers etc). Vaishyas were the financiers and marketers of the goods so produced. Thus the caste system provided a very stable framework for addressing every need of the society.

The Caste based Discrimination as Sunk Costs

            In management and economics there is a concept of ‘Sunk Costs’.  Sunk costs are those costs which were incurred in the past and which cannot be recovered in the present. Thus these costs are irrecoverable and hence sunk. The theory says that the sunk costs, being irrelevant for the present, should not influence the decision making. Though, psychologically it is difficult to ignore the sunk costs. Similarly, conflicts, discrimination or humiliation the Indian society had to undergo due to rigid caste system, is a sunk cost to the society. This sunk cost should not influence our decisions about the kind of future we want to build for ourselves.

The Way Forward

            It is clear that with development of modern means for preservation of knowledge and skills, the caste system has lost its relevance. The caste based divisions are prone to exploitation by forces inimical to the welfare of the society. The opportunistic elements like the politicians have been exploiting the caste divisions for their vested interests. Caste has become an easy tool for segmentation and positioning by the political marketers but with dangerous consequences. However, caste identities are so well entrenched in the society that they cannot be obliterated overnight.  In a society where arranged marriage is the norm, the practice of endogamy cannot be changed so easily. But as society opens up due to migration and education, the caste-boundaries will surely diminish if not vanish altogether.

            It is imperative that we have to transcend the caste boundaries to become one people and one nation. We cannot let the future be the captive of the past. We must forget whatever happened in the past and focus on what we can do now for making our future bright. At various forums on social media, I find people bragging about their caste identities. There is no problem about being proud of what you are as long as it is not intended to denigrate others. When we think of India, it is sum total of all caste/religious groups. When we feel proud of what India has achieved in the past, we must remember that it is a collective achievement of all the castes and groups. Every caste had some special quality and played a special role in enriching this civilization. Some cultivated knowledge, some excelled in bravery and martial arts, some produced world class goods and many others enriched the society by their endeavour to serve quietly. Every caste contributed its bit in helping the civilization survive and flourish. Let’s be proud of each other.

Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Indian_caste_system

The Tripod Framework: A Compass We Need While Sailing On High Seas

            While sailing on high seas, one needs to have a compass lest he loses his way. Our lives with all their challenges and twists and turns are no less complex than sailing on high seas. While dealing with these day-to-day challenges, we lose sight of our way and float randomly towards an unknown direction in an uncontrolled manner. Most of the time we are so pre-occupied with our daily chores that we do not have time to ponder about the direction our lives are leading to. Rarely when we have the luxury of thinking about our lives, we find ourselves handicapped to think clearly as we are unable to find a lighthouse to guide our thoughts. In absence of a suitable framework for guiding our thought process in the right direction, we find ourselves at sea and wish there could be some way to resolve complex issues that we face.

            The model proposed here is intended to resolve such complex issues that we face as an individual, as a society or as a nation. I wish to call it the ‘Tripod Framework’ as it has three legs dealing with three spheres in which our lives operate.

The Economic Sphere

First and foremost, we must ensure our existence. Therefore, the Economic Sphere (ES) deals with acquisition of everything that is necessary for our survival in this world. If we don’t have food or shelter, we may die. If we do not have medical facilities, then also we may not be able to survive. Same is true of many material goods and services as unavailability of such goods and services would jeopardise our existence. Pursuit of all such necessities of life can be called our ‘Economic Sphere’.

The Spiritual Sphere

            Having ensured that our existence is not at risk, we must strive to enrich our existence. How do we enrich our lives? We don’t want to just live, we want to live happily. All our activities in pursuit of happiness can be broadly categorised as our ‘Spiritual Sphere’ as such activities provide food to our souls.

            Don’t get misled by the nomenclature. Here word ‘Spiritual’ is being used in a broad context to include all kind of activities which yield happiness and give meaning to our lives by enriching our existence. Therefore, Spiritual Sphere would as much include activities like, sports, music, theatre, social work, literary activities, arts etc. as much as it would include religious and other conventional spiritual pursuits.

The Socio-political Sphere

            To be able to perform our activities in the Economic Sphere and the Spiritual Sphere, it is necessary that we must have an atmosphere which is conducive to unhindered pursuit of our activities in these two spheres. Therefore, we have another sphere of our life which ensures that obstacles in our path for free conduct in the first two spheres are minimised. I call this third sphere as the ‘Socio-political Sphere’. This consists of all social and political structures and institutions which are necessary to establish an atmosphere of peace and harmony to facilitate activities in the first two spheres. Our activities in this third sphere are necessary to strengthen these social and political structures and institutions like family, community, governments etc.

The relationship between the three

            The three spheres are interdependent and are held together through a symbiotic relationship. If we do not perform enough in Economic Sphere, our physical well-being would be jeopardized and we shall not be able to achieve any progress in other two spheres. If we neglect our activities in Spiritual Sphere, our life would become worthless and this will adversely affect our motivation to perform in the Economic Sphere and the Socio-political Sphere. Further, if we neglect our responsibilities in the Socio-political Sphere, the social and political systems and institutions would degenerate gradually and our environment would get vitiated. This will prevent us from effectively conducting ourselves in the other two spheres. As a result, we will not only jeopardise our own existence but also foment chaos in the society.

            While the three spheres are interdependent, at the same time, their nature and character are quite distinct. As the three spheres address issues in three distinct dimensions of our existence, their cores are very different. The three spheres do interact but the interactions happen only at the boundaries.

Prioritization

            At any given point in time and at a particular stage of life, the three spheres carry unequal importance. Realization of the relative importance of the three would help in setting right our priorities in life.

            First and foremost, we must ensure our physical existence. Therefore, till sufficient degree of economic well-being is achieved, we should give top priority to the Economic Sphere. However, once we achieve reasonable degree of economic progress, any further progress in Economic Sphere does not add much value to our life. When such a stage is reached, our focus should shift to the Spiritual Spheres as that is the only way we can enrich our lives and achieve happiness which is necessary to give meaning to our existence. Again there could be occasions, like a natural disaster or a war, when we should shift our focus to the Socio-political Sphere to ensure that the well-being of our Socio-political system is not compromised.

            Priorities change as we progress is our lives. As a child we had all play and no work. Therefore, we were engaged only in the Spiritual Sphere. Then we had to go to school (an economic activity) and we were gradually shifting our focus to the Economic Sphere. Then we got employed and married. As our responsibilities increased, we had to ensure that supply of material goods and services necessary for survival of self and family were provided. Thus we were mainly focussed on the Economic Sphere but as we were also concerned about our family, we were also operating in the Socio-political Sphere. As we grow further, economic needs take a back seat and the urge to engage in the Spiritual Sphere grows. Therefore, when this stage is reached, we should try to develop some hobbies or engage in religious and spiritual endeavours.

            We should not rest with achievements only in Economic and Spiritual spheres. Once we achieve a fulfilling and meaningful existence in life, we ought to give due attention to our duties in the Socio-political Sphere. In a society where due importance is not given to the Socio-political sphere, the social and political institutions would get dominated by people of lesser intellectual capability and of doubtful integrity and such a situation would be detrimental to the well-being of everyone.

            In the old age, when our capabilities of performance in the Economic and Socio-political spheres are inadequate, we can shift our focus towards the Spiritual Sphere. Thus life began with the Spiritual Sphere and it should also end with the Spiritual Sphere.  

Ideology Formulation

            In classes of management schools, the students are taught that we must do segmentation analysis before we attempt to design a product. For an effective and useful product, it is necessary that the product should address the needs of a particular segment only. Any attempt to address needs of multiple segments would reduce utility of the product.

            Similarly, the three spheres of our lives are the three distinct segments of our existence. Though, all the three spheres of civilization are interdependent, their cores are very distinct. Any ideology, to be effective, must respect this distinction and focus on only one of the three spheres. Unfortunately, many of the ideologues were oblivious of this distinction and have preached ideologies encompassing multiple spheres of our lives. As a result, such ideologies have failed to address the real issues and created great deal of confusion and conflict causing misery to their followers as well as others. All such Khichdi (cocktail) Ideologies are cause of much of the conflict and violence that we see in today’s world.

One of such Khichdi Ideologies is Marxism/Communism. Though, it is aimed at ameliorating the problems in the economic sphere, it also ventures into the Socio-political sphere and makes exhortations for violent revolution. The result is there for all of us to see. Millions of lives have been lost without any success in achieving the desired objectives of equity and justice for the poor. The Jihadist Ideology is another such ideology. It straddles between the Spiritual Sphere and the Socio-political sphere and prescribes creation of a universal caliphate (essentially a political institution) by forcing every human being to convert to Islam through coercion. The result, again, is disastrous. The Buddhist philosophy is much appreciated worldwide for its message of peace through Ahimsa (non-violence). But again, followers of Buddha extended the doctrine of Ahimsa beyond the Spiritual Sphere to include the Political Sphere. As a result, a strong tradition of warrior-ship and military art was lost leading to centuries of subjugation of the country by foreign invaders. The plight of Tibetans in today’s world is the manifestation of the same mistake.

Policy Formulation

            Governments operate in the Socio-political sphere and therefore, should focus on that only. However, that does not mean that the existence of the other two spheres should be ignored. In fact, the existence of the Economic Sphere and the Spiritual Sphere should be considered in policy formulation to avoid any adverse consequence in those spheres. Therefore, policies should be formulated ensuring that they do not adversely impact activities in Economic Sphere and neither should they create conditions which render pursuit of activities in the Spiritual Sphere difficult.  Objective of State Policies should be to create conditions which facilitate freedom of citizens to pursue activities in Economical and Spiritual Spheres.

            In my earlier post (Marxism: A Historical Mistake),   I have suggested that the state has a limited role in the Economic Sphere i.e. to ensure adequate competition. If sufficient competition is not there, the state must regulate the market.  Apart from that, state should resist temptation to indulge in the Economic Sphere. However, we must be alive to the condition of vulnerable sections of the society who, due to severe poverty, are unable to sustain activities in the Economic Sphere. Therefore, some kind of hand holding may be necessary in such cases to ensure that they survive till benefits of the free economy reach them. The hand holding should be in the nature of providing adequate work opportunity and not in the nature of freebies which render the beneficiary dependent on state largesse forever.

Value of Freedom

            Some governments, without realising that their role is limited only in the Socio-political Sphere, extend their activities to also encompass the other two spheres namely economic and spiritual spheres. This adversely affects citizens’ freedom to act independently in these two primary spheres of their lives. Such intervention by these governments may have grave consequences on the well-being of the citizens and the society.

            For example, communist governments control every form of activity in the Economic Sphere, leaving very little freedom for citizens to innovate and improve efficiency. Such economic system cannot be sustained for long. Further, communist governments totally prohibit/regulate activities in the spiritual domain. Such restraints on the spiritual activities make the citizens’ life dry and worthless.

            To ensure sustainable and enjoyable life, it is necessary that citizens be given full freedom to act in the Economic and Spiritual Spheres. In respect of these two spheres, the role of the Government should be that of a facilitator only.  This would explain why a religious state e.g. a Hindu Rashtra or an Islamic (sharia) State would not be such a good idea. 

©Sunil Bajpai

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Marxism: A Historical Mistake  

Rockfeller Infotech: The Twists And Turns Of A Business 

Rockfeller Infotech: The Twists And Turns Of A Business

As I was engrossed in a file, my attention was broken by the voice of my secretary, Jagmal.

 “Sir, the notices are ready. You may please sign these so that they may be dispatched today itself.”

            I looked at the bunch of papers Jagmal had put up before me. These notices were to be sent to those taxpayers whose 15^th June (2007) advance-tax installment payment was not satisfactory. The previous day,  the Commissioner had convened a meeting of all the Addl. Commissioners of Income Tax and reviewed the advance-tax collection. Though the performance of my Range was quite satisfactory, yet he had directed to identify those taxpayers whose Advance- tax installment was less than their corresponding installment for the previous year and to seek their explanation to justify the shortfall. This was to be done by issuing notices as prescribed under the Income Tax Act. Jagmal had prepared the notices accordingly.

            As I was browsing through these notices, I saw that one of them was for Rockfeller Infotech (RI). 

            I personally knew Sh. Surendra Sharma, one of the Directors of Reckfeller Infotech. Just a couple of years back he had come to me and told that very soon Rockfeller would be the largest tax payer of my Range. Thus finding the name of his company among the cases who did not pay any advance-tax this year was kind of a shock. I thought it would be better to talk to Sh. Surendra Sharma before issuing the notice. Hence a call was made to him and an appointment was fixed for the following day. 

            The next day Sh. Surendra Sharma (SS) arrived and I started enquiring about the reason for not paying any advance tax this year. 

Me:     What happened Mr. Sharma, I find that your company has not paid the June installment of Advance-tax?

SS:      Sir, unfortunately, this is true. Rockfeller Infotech is having a tough time.

Me:     But only a couple of years back you were so upbeat about Rockfeller’s future.

SS:      Indeed, I was, but the whole situation changed quite dramatically.

Me:     Why, some accident?

SS:      No, just that the business environment changed so fast that we could not cope with it.

Me:     Really, but how?

SS:      It is a long story, will take some time to tell.

Me:     Don’t worry; I have enough time for you.          

Surendra Sharma thus began narrating his story. I was listening curiously. I kept on probing and Surendra kept explaining. As a result, though I intended to know just the reason for the Advance-tax default, I ended up  listening the whole story behind Rockfeller’s rise and fall. The same is summarized hereunder. 

Background 

            The Sharmas were a well known and respected family of Moradabad. Surendra’s grandfather Ram Datt Sharma inherited the family brassware business and made it grow continuously so that at one point they were the biggest exporter of Moradabad. But as Ram Datt grew older, the business started dwindling because his health did not allow him to devote much time on the business. Though it was a family business, Ram Datt’s elder son, Raghu Datt, did not join him. Raghu preferred to become a professor of Physics rather than running the family business. The younger son Yagya Datt was a bright student and Ram Datt thought that it would not be appropriate to ask Yagya Datt to scarifice his studies for the sake of business. Thus there was no one to support Ram Datt and gradually the business had to be closed.   

            Meanwhile, Yagya Datt joined IIT, Kanpur to do BTech in Electrical Engineering. The Electrical Engineering program at Kanpur is part Electrical and part Electronics. Yagya Datt was more interested in Electronics and chose most of his electives from this stream. He loved to design various types of small electronics gadgets. Once he designed a circuit for conducting the ‘Just a Minute’ (JAM) competition at Culfest, the IIT Kanpur inter-college cultural festival. Soon he became known around the campus as the ‘Electronics Guru’. 

            Yagya Datt completed his BTech program and immediately got an offer from the Rockfeller foundation to pursue post graduate studies at an American university. Most of his batch mates were proceeding to USA for higher studies and his family also wanted Yagya Datta to accept the Rockfeller fellowship. But Yagya Datt  found his love for India too much to overcome and refused the offer. 

            Thus the old family workshop was refurbished to set up a business for electronics manufacturing. Ram Datt agreed to provide the necessary capital. Though the fellowship was not accepted, Yagya Datt had developed some fancy for the word ‘Rockfeller’ and therefore the new venture was named ‘Rockfeller Infotech’. 

The Initial Years          

To begin with, Rockfeller manufactured a small educational computer for teaching electronics to engineering students. For those times, this product was a marvelous innovation and marketing it to various engineering colleges was not a big challenge. Rockfeller sold this product for 4-5 years and Yagya Datt was a satisfied enterpreneur. 

            In 1989, Surendra Sharma, the son of Yagya Datt’s elder brother Raghu Datt, completed his masters degree in Commerce and joined Rockfeller. Surendra was young, dynamic and ambitious. He could see that educational computers had only a limited market. Thus he advised his uncle to search for some other business. Yagya Datt thought Surendra’s  advise was sensible. 

            They had a relative in the Railway Board who was aware of Yagya Datt’s genius in electronics R&D. He advised them to study the Track Monitoring system being imported by the Railways. There was no comparable product which was available domestically. Moreover, the Railways were paying huge cost for maintenance of these machines and yet, they could not get satisfactory service. 

            An R&D team was assigned the project of developing the track monitoring system indigenously. Within months, Rockfeller launched their own Railway Track Analysis System (RTAS). 

            RTAS was a huge success. It was an excellent substitute for the imported system and they immediately received order for 14 machines. Over next 2-3 years the Railway business grew substantially. 

            Soon the foreign manufacturers started lobbying with the government and the Railway Board changed its policy. As a result, the RTAS became an unviable product. The things came to such a pass that it became almost impossible to run the business. 

An adversity offers an opportunity           

6^th December, 1992 was a fateful day in the history of India which shall not be forgotten ever. Following the Ram Janmabhumi agitation, the Babri Masjid was demolished. This event shocked the entire country. The communally sensitive town of Moradabad was particularly affected and was engulfed by communal riots immediately. The troubled Rockfeller Infotech could not withstand this blow and had to pull down its shutters abruptly. Yagya Datt was in a shock but Surendra thought that something must be done to tackle the situation. 

Surendra got in touch with Dr. Saifuddin, a professor at IIM Lucknow. The professor analyzed their business and explained them the Porter’s 5 forces model. He told them that Railways is a huge organization and in comparison RI is just a small fry. Using Porter’s 5 forces model he explained that, under the circumstances, their sole customer the Railways had undue bargaining power. There is no way RI could have a profitable business with them (Railways) on a long-term basis. 

Thus Sharmas decided to search for an alternative business. They had a friend who was a dealer for Anjaleem, a Baroda based company selling PCO machines. Through this friend they learned that the business of PCO machines was a growing industry. They decided to explore further. 

The era of pay telephony was launched in 1989 by Sam Pitroda under patronage of the late Prime Minister Sh. Rajeev Gandhi. Thus, in 1992, the PCO Industry was about three years old and was growing rapidly. Apart from Anjaleem, the other major players were CPD (Bangalore), Digi Control (Delhi), and Pactel (Hyderabad). Market size was about 70000 machines per annum. 

Initially, the PCO machines were designed with an inbuilt Tarrif Table. This system was prone to manipulation and the government had been receiving complaints regularly. Thus in January 1993 a new policy was announced whereby PCO machines were to be based on a new technology which allowed tariff calculation using pulse received from the telephone exchange. This policy was to come in force from September 1993.

Sharmas realized that they had an opportunity before them. After being locked up for more than a month, the factory was reopened. Yagya Datt was at his favorite job once again – R&D. Surendra was raising and readying his team for their new business. They had 9 months, but their prototype was ready by July, 93 and the production began very soon. 

Despite being a late entrant, RI had no such disadvantage as they were the pioneers of the new generation PCO machine. Competitors also developed similar machines but the Rockfeller PCO system was a cut above the rest.

The Marketing Efforts 

            All this while, marketing was not recognized as a separate activity at RI. Yagya Datt used to look after R&D and Production. All other activities including Marketing were left for Surendra. With launch of the PCO machine, the need for a dedicated Marketing setup was realized.           

Initially a sales team of 7 to 8 persons was setup under a Marketing Manager. Stockists were appointed in UP, Punjab and Haryana. These stockists supplied to dealers who were located in various district headquarters.            

The initial setup was a mix of Level-1 and Level-2 distribution. For the Northern states L-2 distribution was used whereas for other states since sales volume were low it was not feasible to appoint stockists and sales were done directly to dealers.  

            In 1993 they could sell about 50 machines per month and as marketing efforts progressed, this figure kept rising. As a result, the sales which were just about Rs. 40 lacs in 1993-94 rose to about Rs. 11 crore by 1999-2000 (Exhibit 1). By that time RI was selling about 12000 machines annually and had about 7% share of the total market (Exhibit 2). The sales force also grew in size to 30 and their marketing network had spread across the country. Coin Phone was added to the product portfolio by this time.

26th January 2001- An earthquake jolts Gujarat and another the telecom Industry

           

On that fateful day, while Gujarat was devastated by the Bhuj earthquake, the government came out with a policy that calls up to 200 km distance could be made as local calls. This was big jolt particularly for the pay telephony industry. 

            STD calls were the major source of revenue for the PCO operators. Now that less than 200 km calls were local calls, one would pay just a few Rupees for them. As a result daily sales dwindled drastically for PCO operators. 

            This affected Rockfeller Infotech badly. Their dealers could not sell the machines as the pull factor was missing totally. The dealers thought of switching over to some other business. The company sales force was demoralized as they found no logical way to convince these dealers that PCO business had some future. The perception in the market was that the PCO business is dead. 

            No. of machines sold per month dropped rapidly (Exhibit 3). Falling numbers prompted Surendra to consult their old friend Prof. Saifuddin (IIM Lucknow). Surendra & Prof. Saifuddin made field visits to some districts in UP, Haryana and Rajasthan. They retrieved the 6 months call data from the memory of various PCO booth machines. After coming back, they analyzed this data and the result was startling. (Exhibit 4) 

The apparent may not be real 

            Analysis of the PCO data showed that PCO revenues had indeed fallen drastically post 26 January 01. But number of calls per day had gone up sharply. Though, most of these were local calls. The PCO owners would charge Rs. 2 per local call which cost them just 85 paise. Thus the margin per call was more than 100%. Further analysis, (Exhibit 2) showed that PCO owners were making more profits than what they made prior to the 26 Jan, 01 policy. 

            The analysis was thus quite revealing and dramatically boosted the sagging morale of the management team. A seminar of the entire sales force was convened and the analysis of the data was shown to them. Everybody was startled to find how misconceived their own understanding of the situation had been. They realized that sharp decline in the top line need not manifest in a decline in the bottom line.  

            The learning from this seminar considerably boosted the morale of the sales force. The re-invigorated sales force spread out across the length and breadth of the marketing network and convinced the channel members that the situation was not bad at all for the pay telephony industry. They (the channel members) in turn sold the same message to the PCO operators. 

            The results of this exercise were amazing and within 3 months (Exhibit 3) sales volumes increased considerably to reach pre-January ‘01 levels. This also resulted in arresting the trend of turn over in the sales force and retaining them was no more so challenging. 

  Management education helps 

            Now the business at RI was growing rapidly. The 200 Km local call policy had resulted in exponential growth in the local call business and the Rockfeller coin phone had become the market leader in its segment. 

            Despite this, Surendra was not satisfied. He realized that his lack of formal management education was preventing him from embarking on a flight of fancy. His ambitions were not fulfilled yet. Thus he decided to join a 4 months executive program at IIM Ahmedabad.

            After completing the course, Surendra started analyzing his business with professional insights he had acquired at IIM Ahmedabad. He realized that though the Rockfeller products were of better quality yet their market penitration was not so impressive. After careful thinking, he could find two reasons. 

            One, though internal tariff tables were banned after 1993, still some PCO machine manufacturers provided the tariff table in the machines so that if desired, the unscrupulous operators could manipulate the bills to cheat their customers. The RI channel partners tried to impress upon the RI management that they should also provide internal tariff table in their machines in order to compete in the market. Sharmas were conscientious people and rejected such suggestions. 

            Two, RI had a two tier marketing channel of stockists and dealers. RI used to sell to the stockists and the stockists in turn supplied to the dealers. In this scenario, selling outside UP was considered inter-state sale and could be made against C forms only. Otherwise sales tax @ 10% was chargeable instead of 4%. Many dealers would promise to give C-forms later but would not comply. As a result RI had to take additional burden of the shortfall of 6% sales tax. To avoid this, RI demanded security from dealers but they were not willing to oblige. As result, it was difficult to sell out side UP. 

            To overcome this problem, Surendra decided to open warehouses in other states. For this purpose, Surendra got in touch with, his batchmate at IIM Ahmedabad, Prakash who was the Chief Business Development Officer at Getex, a reputed logistics company. The creation, management and operation of various warehouses across the country was outsourced to Getex. 

            Thus Surendra was able to overcome the major bottleneck in the RI marketing channel. Now, moving goods to warehouses could be treated as stock transfer and thus requirement of C-forms was obviated. Henceforth, the sales started growing out of UP also. 

The Golden Years           

Year 2003-04 brought drastic change in the pay telephony business. The policy was revised and private players (the telecom companies) were allowed to enter this business. The companies like Tata Telecom & Reliance Communications seized the opportunity immediately. They were allowed to operate on WLL network. For this purpose, a device called Network Interface Unit (NIU) was utilized whereby a normal phone could be connected to the WLL line. Thus a normal coin phone could be usedfor setting up a PCO on WLL network.  

            These companies resorted to proactive marketing and soon such coin phone PCO’s could be seen in every nook and corner of the country. At this stage, the pay telephony market reached the rural market also. 

            Thus the demand for coin phone and PCO machines grew manifold. In the initial years (pre-privatization), the growth witnessed was in the range of 5 to 10%. But in the current scenario, the growth exploded. Within two years, the industry sales increased from 1 lakh 20 thousand machines per annum to 12 lakh machines per annum. 

            Now, Rockfeller Infotech started selling directly to Tata and Reliance. Earlier they were selling about 800-1000 machines per month. But now 2000-3000 machines per month were sold to Tata alone. Similar growth was witnessed in coin phone sales as well.  

            In 2004-05, another change was brought in. The NIU based setup was also allowed for GSM networks. This brought in players like Airtel and Idea in the pay telephony market. 

            RI became a major supplier to both Airtel and Idea and, as a result, the sales grew rapidly. The business grew so much that these companies ( Idea, Airtel, Vodafone) started seeking supplies from China. Soon some Chinese companies developed similar products to compete with the Indian Players. 

Good Times do not last long 

            With the China trump card in their armour, the telecom companies started arm twisting the Indian manufacturers. Result was a price war and falling margins. Soon the Indian manufactures stopped manufacturing and instead started supplying by buying from China. Thus most of the players established partnerships with Chinese manufacturers. 

At Rockfeller, Sharmas were in a dilemma. But they ultimately decided to play on their own. They thought that their core competencies were R&D and manufacturing and by closing these operations, they would be deprived of these competencies. For some time they stuck to manufacturing PCO machines.    

History repeats itself 

But this business was no longer lucrative. The mobile revolution was at its peak and almost everyone could afford a mobile phone. Hence the need for going to a PCO arose rarely. As a result, for RI, the sales were dipping rapidly and at the same time, due to the Chinese competition, the margins were shrinking. 

Sudden downfall in the PCO business forced Sharmas to analyze the reasons for the decline. Soon they realized that they were in the same situation, as Rockfellor Infotech was, when they were having business with Railways. The Porter’s five forces model was proving its applicability once again. Like Railways, the telecom companies like Idea, Airtel etc. were giants when compared with R.I. Thus R.I. found itself once again in a situation where the buyers had undue bargaining power. Hence Sharmas realized that they had no option but to exit the PCO business. 

Changing track 

A meeting of the top management team was convened to discuss what course to adopt for future. After much deliberation, they zeroed on Power back-up business (inverter, UPS etc).

After narrating his story, Surendra explained that Rockfeller Infotech was incurring huge losses as their Power back-up business was yet to takeoff properly. This was the reason why no advance tax was paid this year.  

My curiosity wasn’t satisfied yet. Thus I probed further. 

Me: What made you opt for power back-up business? It is a B2C type    business whereas the pay telephony business was B2B type.

SS:      You are right. It was a tough decision. But this seemed to be our best bet.

Me:     How?

SS:      We realized that the reason why we succeeded in pay telephony was that it was an India specific business and there was no threat of any competition from global electronic firms.

Me:   So you thought that power back-up business is also India specific.

SS:      That’s right. Shortage of power is a problem specific to India and thus it is unlikely that the global firms would enter into manufacturing of inverters.

Me:     But marketing inverters would be an entirely different ballgame.

SS:      Indeed. But we thought we would adjust ourselves and our existing marketing channel would be able to market the inverters.

Me:     But, for inverters, service commitments would be too high.

SS:      You are right. For providing service to the inverter buyers, we have set up a dedicated service team. Whereas the channel partners shall be responsible for selling, R.I. shall provide the necessary service backup.

Me:     Then, why aren’t your inverter sales picking up?

SS:      Unfortunately our sales network hasn’t been quite stable. We had relied heavily on our old channel partners but most of them left us.

Me:     Why?

SS:      Well, we committed a grave mistake.

Me:     What?

SS:      When the pay telephony market was at its peak, in order to smoothen the delivery mechanism, we introduced our channel partners to our major customers like Airtel and Idea. While the pay telephony business was falling rapidly, the telecom business was exploding. These telecom companies needed to strengthen their network and very conveniently they lured our channel partners.

Me:     That’s sad.

SS:      Yes, and we couldn’t do anything.

Me:     Oh.

SS:      Sir, now you would appreciate that our default of not paying advance tax is not deliberate.

Me:     Of course.

SS:      Now that you have heard of my story can you tell me where did we go wrong?

Me:     Can’t say.

SS:      But in your career you would have studied many businesses.

Me:     Yes, but not in so much detail.

SS:      Sir, just think about it and if you get some idea, do let me know.

Me:     Of course, I would.  

With this, Surendra begged to leave. As he left, I was left thinking how Rockfeller Infotech would be able to revive itself.               

©Sunil Bajpai

Exhibit 1

Financial Performance of Rockfeller Infotech 

Financial Year	Annual Sales(Rs lakhs)
1993-94	40
1994-95	80
1995-96	150
1996-97	250
1997-98	500
1998-99	800
1999-00	1100
2000-01	1300
2001-02	1200
2002-03	2800
2003-04	3800
2004-05	4500
2005-06	5000
2006-07	2500
2007-08	1500

Exhibit 2

Economies of a typical PCO 

	Before 26th Jan  2001
	Local calls within a city like Moradabad	Local calls within 200 KMs with 95 dialling	STD calls with 0 dialling	ISD calls with 00 dialling	total per day
No. of calls a day	6	0	15	1	22.00
Avg duration of call in minutes	5	0	3	3
Chargeable minutes	6	0	3	3
Cost per minute to PCO owner	0.33	0	7.56	20.16
Call rate per minute charged by PCO in Rs per  minute	0.6667	0	9	24.00
Avg Amount charged per call Rs.	4	0	27	72	24.23
Sservice charge per call	0	0	2	2
Total amt charged per call	4	0	29	74	24.23
Total amount charged per day	24	0	435	74	533.00
Avg. cost per call	2	0	22.68	60.48	20.21
Margin per call	2	0	6.32	13.52	5.56
Mark up per day	12	0	94.8	13.52	120.32
Total cost of all calls	12	0	370.2	62.48	444.68
Percentage of margin	16%	0	16%	16%	0.48
Commission by BSNL per day	1.92	0	0	0	1.92
Margin per day	13.92	0	94.8	13.52	122.24
Margin as % of rev					22.93%

Exhibit 2 contd…

	From March 2001
	Local calls within a city like Moradabad	Local calls within 200 KMs with 95 dialling	STD calls with 0 dialling	ISD calls with 00 dialling	Totals per day
No. of calls a day	6	35	5	1	47.00
Avg duration of call in minutes	5	5	3	3
Chargeable minutes	6	6	3	3
Cost per minute to PCO owner	0.33	0.33	7.56	20.16
Call rate per minute charged by PCO in Rs per  minute	0.67	0.67	9	24
Avg Amount charged per call (Rs.)	4	4	27	72	7.89
Service charge per call	0	0	2	2
Total amt charged per call	4	4	29	74	7.89
Total amount charged per day	24	140	135	72	371.00
Avg. cost per call	2	2	22.68	60.48	5.70
Margin per call	2	2	4.32	11.52	2.73
Mark up per day	12	70	21.6	11.52	115.12
Total cost of all calls	12	70	123.4	62.48	267.88
percentage of margin	16%	16%	16%	16%	0.64
commission by BSNL per day	1.92	11.2	21.6	11.52	46.24
Margin per day	13.92	81.2	21.6	11.52	128.24
Margin as % of rev					47.87%
Gain(+)/Loss(-) in margin per day as compared to pre 26th Jan)	0	58	0	0	6.00
Gain(+)/Loss(-) in margin per day in %	0		0%		4.91%

 

Exhibit 3

No. of Units sold – Year 2001 - PCO Machines 

Month	No. of Units
January	1070
February	250
March	195
April	150
May	350
June	850
July	985

 

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