Mallika Writes: Just Speaking

Take the First Step

A few months ago I received an invitation from the apex body of the Finnish Investment Agency, SITRA, to go and lecture. My co-speaker was to be ex President Kalam. I wondered at the selection of the two of us – why not someone from Industry? My caller assured me that the choice was correct; the powers that were in Finland wanted potential Finnish investors to India to understand the development strategies of the social sector voices – apparently from Prof. Kalam the concerns of the rural Indian, from me, of women all over.

Our first couple of days in Helsinki were spent exploring, officially and not, the sites and the industrial strength of the country. Top most of course on their list was the success story of the decade, Nokia. We were shown around the plant, the research wing, the new products showroom. And as we were wined and dined by Nokia and other industrialists, one reservation about India continued to ring through – our sky high and all pervading corruption. Is there no way out of it, I was continuously asked. Two days later I decided to bell the cat. After Prof. Kalam had spoken at length about his PURA dreams with slide after slide in a power point presentation, I started talking of the need for inclusive growth, something totally neglected by both indigenous and foreign investors in India. I shared my views on the reasons behind the rise of Naxalism and general violence, of the growing non-inclusion and the simultaneous glorification of vulgar displays of wealth. And then I came to corruption. I shared my view that in India there are different kinds of corruption. One is at the top, the corruption of greed, where politicians, bureaucrats and leaders of the Corporate world trade a few hundred or thousand crores to earn a few more hundred thousand crores. The other was the corruption of the poor, the needy or simply those seeking to get things done – bribing a clerk to move a file, an attendant to get something done, a traffic cop to overlook speeding offence so that one could get to work on time. Yes, I admitted, the problem was enormous and difficult to solve. But I said, Finland was not such a corrupt country. In fact, in Transparency International ratings it always came up tops as the cleanest. It was also a very prosperous country where industry flourished and the per capita incomes were very high. In fact it was THE country to take the high moral ground. Could I then get the assurance, I asked, from all Finnish businesses who had investments in India, especially Nokia with their many manufacturing plants, that they HAD taken the high moral ground? That they had in fact not given a single bribe?

Silence. I could see the corporate honchos squirming, avoiding looking straight back at me. Not a single hand was raised to assure me that bribes hadn’t been paid. Obviously, the high moral ground was different when spoken about and when acted upon. And there in lies my case. If we continuously rue the ills of our country, continuously criticize the low levels of public morality, should we not be able to say “I do better”? Can we not take the first series of individual steps to make the change that needs so desperately to be made? Can we not, in our private lives decide not to break rules, not to overtake from the wrong side, not to bribe or break a queue because “we are like that only” ? We underestimate the power of one. Each of us is an important pivot of change. Try making a difference and being true and right, following the law – and see how quickly others will follow.

August 10, DNA