[Assam] [asom] Assamese Fears and Saviours
Chan Mahanta
cmahanta at charter.net
Sun Dec 3 04:57:13 PST 2006
> IIMs and others will continue to attract the best, no matter what
>DR. >Debashish Chatterjee says.
*** Debashish Chatterjee hit bulls eye! He is accurate in his
observations and descriptions.
A few weeks back I wrote to Netter Shantikam Hazarika about my own
perception of what is commonly called Business Management: More often
than not is about manipulation. DC was more incisive in
characterizing it as "faking it".
*** Not to take anything away from the IIMs or even Hazarika and his
not-as-hot as them IIMs --- AIM. They do indeed train people to get
well-paying jobs. It is better than nothing. If they CAN become good
managers, they contribute positively.
But the question remains, as DC points out so succinctly: CAN they? DO they?
> IIMs and others will continue to attract the best,
*** 'THE BEST' is a very subjective term. Best according to whom?
Determined with what measurement scale? Obviously it is exam. scores.
Certainly exam. writing skills do tell us a few things. But what have
all those high exam. scoring Indians, never-coming-second class
toppers, all those IIT-First Div. holders and the like have produced?
I would submit, anyone with management acumen would ask that first.
cm
At 12:16 AM -0800 12/3/06, SANDIP DUTTA wrote:
>But you quoted him - so in effect you did say it.
>
>Nothing will happen with the waiting - IIMs and others will continue
>to attract the best, no matter what DR. Debashish Chatterjee says.
>
>SD
>
>----- Original Message ----
>From: mc mahant <mikemahant at hotmail.com>
>To: pseude at yahoo.com
>Cc: assam at assamnet.org
>Sent: Sunday, December 3, 2006 7:11:02 PM
>Subject: Re: [Assam] [asom] Assamese Fears and Saviours
>
>I said nothing.!!
>
>Rest--" Just you wait"
>
>mm
>
>
>From: SANDIP DUTTA <pseude at yahoo.com>
>To: mc mahant <mikemahant at hotmail.com>
>Subject: Re: [Assam] [asom] Assamese Fears and Saviours
>Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 22:29:06 -0800 (PST)
>
>DIV {margin:0px;}
>Hello Mahanta Sir,
>
>Here you go again. In this I aggree with you - if only partially.
>Partially because all schools are not IIMs or Jamunalal Bajaj's and
>hence the less said about such MBA material, the better. However why
>brush under the carpet something positive that someone has been
>trying to do right here in Assam.
>
>At the end of the day, if you debunk something, then suggest
>something thats even better! No point poking the MBA tradition when
>companies themselves dont recognize alternatives.
>
>Thank you again,
>
>SD
>
>
>
>
>----- Original Message ----
>From: mc mahant <mikemahant at hotmail.com>
>To: pseude at yahoo.com
>Cc: assam at assamnet.org
>Sent: Sunday, December 3, 2006 12:00:27 PM
>Subject: Re: [Assam] [asom] Assamese Fears and Saviours
>
>Dear Mr.Dutta,
>
>Can we add a thing or two?
>
>You go Ga Ga at<You seemed to have debunked most others who actually
>have done lots that can be counted materially- for eg. Dr. Hazarika
>of the Assam Inst. of Mgmt. >
>
>Did you read what I forwarded 2 days back<
>
>***********************************
>
>SUCCESS SUTRAS
>
>
>
> HIRE EDUCATION
>
>
>
>Dr. Debashis Chaatterji* (Script manipulation is mine)
>
>
>
>Many of our professional schools are like employment exchanges.
>
>They provide 'Hire Education'.
>
>An Academy that trains young people in hotel management teaches
>students in the art of grooming a personality for making a career in
>the industry. The abiding philosophy is : fake it until you make it.
>
>After that you can show the company your canine teeth.
>
>
>
>The MBA churning mills also enter into alliances with companies in
>a game of mutual deception .The MBA is an acronym for -often without
>minimum professional acumen. Companies recruit them to keep the MBA
>education industry on a perpetual growth path. Strangely no MBA
>school worth its salt can show any positive co-relation between
> Success in the MBA programme and Success as a manager.
>
>
>
>The MBA curriculum is about knowing businesses as a system of
>knowledge. In that, most good business schools do a fairly
>commendable job. MBA's learn to write decent business plans and
>analyze case studies of successful systems. But Successful Systems
>are by and large slow to respond to change. Ironically , a manager's
>job success is very often about Delivering in spite of the system.
>So we now know why many MBA toppers do not succeed as well in their
>role as Managers.
>
>
>
>Hire Education is about finding employment. It is unfortunately not
>about Higher levels of personal effectiveness or professional
>competence.
>
>
>
>Before you fire a non- performing manager, think about firing this
>
> hire education !
>
>
>
>* Author is professor at IIM Lucknow
>
>**************************************
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>From: SANDIP DUTTA <pseude at yahoo.com>
>To: Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at charter.net>, assam at assamnet.org
>Subject: Re: [Assam] [asom] Assamese Fears and Saviours
>Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 16:39:53 -0800 (PST)
>
>DIV {margin:0px;}
>
>Dear Sir,
>
>
>
>Unmitigated Gall - Indeed!
>
>
>
>Didnt the same dysfunctional system give you your IIT degree (and to
>many of us here) that enabled you to get your passport to the west?
>
>
>
>In the course of our conversations have we come accross even one
>do-able and constructive suggestion from you? Apart from blaming the
>"colonial" centre and your oft repeated stories about how EVERYTHING
>is wrong about India, you have little or no ideas. Vague suggestions
>of "reforms", "change this or that etc" is like advising a cancer
>patient over telephone from overseas to go and see a good doctor.
>Its all fine if you are not involved in person, isnt it?
>
>
>
>And who will lead the charge - is it going to be you?? You seemed to
>have debunked most others who actually have done lots that can be
>counted materially- for eg. Dr. Hazarika of the Assam Inst. of Mgmt.
>
>
>
>What we need is a great visionary who can work within the existing
>system and who can implement accountability. Such a person with a
>team thats willing to listen to him can change things in Assam.
>
>
>
>My intention is not to take up valuable server space in assam.org by
>filling up endless pages arguing with you. Your pompous and
>quarellsome attitude makes it difficult to carry on a conversation
>towards any reasonable end.
>
>
>
>I am not surprised by your contention that a Bharat darshan will
>only worsen your perception. The reason is that a one-track mind
>with one-eyed vision cannot be expected to take in the good and the
>bad with equal elan. Your preconceived notions will look for
>specific oppurtunities to further your biased logic. If ever you do
>go for such a darshan, I would suggest that you start from Assam and
>then go outwards. And please do carry some freinds along (if you got
>any) so that we can have some advantage of a difference of opinion.
>
>
>
>Thanks,
>
>SD
>
>
>
>----- Original Message ----
>From: Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at charter.net>
>To: SANDIP DUTTA <pseude at yahoo.com>; assam at assamnet.org
>Cc: assamrs at gmail.com
>Sent: Friday, December 1, 2006 3:06:17 AM
>Subject: Re: [Assam] [asom] Assamese Fears and Saviours
>
>blockquote, dl, ul, ol, li {padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0;}
>Dear Sandip Dutta:
>
> >That is the hallmark of an ignorant society. While the ones
>capable of making a >difference only want to reap undue benefits
>from high office, an equally >ignorant populace either goes about
>just accepting things or just >blaming the "centre" - for the centre
>is a convenient scapegoat.
>
>
>** Was this not where we started?
>
>If so, how do you propose to empower the IGNORANT POPULACE to fight
>back, demand accountability and get it?
>
>** And would people blame the Center, if it did NOT CONTROL the
>resources, held the controls over the purse strings, set down the
>laws and devised the law-enforcement and adjudication mechanisms
>that do not work?
>
>Who would YOU hold responsible under the circumstances and why?
>
>Obviously you hold the ignorant Assam populace responsible, except
>you could not be bothered by the fact that the Indian system of laws
>and its enforcement
>apparatus , that people in a democratic system use to control and
>fight CORRUPTION are dysfunctional, and would not raise your voice
>for REFORMS, while
>criticizing those who do as "-- have nothing alternative to say".
>
>You give a free pass to a colonialist Center, who steals from the
>many of Assam and enriches a few by re-distributing it without
>exercising its controls over how it gets disbursed or giving the
>ignorant populace the tools of a functioning democratic state to
>exercise their controls.
>
>And we are to think you are a part of that vaunted
>desi-knowledge-brigade and not a part of the IGNORANT POPULACE?
>
>That is delusion, if not unmitigated gall, is how I see it.
>
>
> >Corruption is endemic in the whole of south asia. It happens in
>Pakistan too on >an even much greater scale
>
>*** Why not go a step further and include the whole world? After all
>it is a human trait, isn't it? And that is exactly why more
>intelligent people devised
>ways to control it, by PUNISHING bad behavior and REWARDING good,
>something even the ranks of the ignorant populace understand-- as in
>raising children, but which seems to be beyond the grasp of
>apologists of desi-demokrasy.
>
>Oh we know why! Because they know that India is incapable of change,
>of reforms.
>So they settle for 'doing better' while remaining mired in desi-governance.
>To acknowledge it would pull the rug from under the feet of their
>argument that Assam's disaffections are imaginary, or that they are
>their own damn fault.
>
>
>But the people of Assam has no business accepting such half-a**ed
>propositions.
>
>
> >The reason is that many things actually work in those states. In
>Assam they >dont.
>
>*** So how do you propose to CHANGE this? Puja? Prayers? Bribery of
>the gods? Internet Gaali? Or wishful thinking? What?
>
>
> >Institutions have been built in the same way in both places - but
>how is it >they work in a few and dont in others?
>
>*** If they do, why Pres. APJAK's calls for eradicating corruption,
>why the call for a commission to set up a HongKong style corruption
>fighting mechanism, why the call for STRICT enforcement of laws?
>
>The big question he did not address was HOW he would accomplish all that ?
>
>
> >Rather than just sit there and quote from pessimistic newspaper
>articles, a >bharat-darshan is long overdue for you.
>
>*** I quote them to keep those who are either ignorant or are unwilling to see
>the real truths about India, in line.
>
>Yes, I would like to have a Bharat Darshan. But I don't think it
>will improve my perceptions of India, only worsen it. And I know
>Assam quite well, perhaps a whole lot more than most in this forum.
>
>
>cm
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>At 2:20 AM -0800 11/30/06, SANDIP DUTTA wrote:
>
>Dear Sir:
>
>
>
>*******But since subtlety often goes unheeded, allow me to give some
>more clues and see if that helps
>
>
>
>I got all your hints but your problem is that you keep hammering in
>the same old point and you have nothing alternative to say. You want
>to change the whole system? You could give us a few hints on what
>ideas you have and how you plan to go about it? Maybe we can then
>reflect on your noble thoughts?
>
>
>
>My intention was never to sully Oxomiya society. Corruption is
>endemic in the whole of south asia. It happens in Pakistan too on an
>even much greater scale and they dont follow any version of our desi
>demokrasy - at least for now. But the question is why in spite of
>this problem, some states do better than others? In case you dont
>understand what I mean, ask yourself why so many Assamese have
>successful lives in Mumbai or Bangalore and would NOT consider
>returning and its not the other way round?
>
>
>
>The reason is that many things actually work in those states. In
>Assam they dont.
>
>
>
>If you want to understand the difference in the scale of corruption,
>you might want to compare how a Ticket collector behaves on a train
>in Kerala or Tamil Nadu compared to one in Assam.
>
>
>
>Institutions have been built in the same way in both places - but
>how is it they work in a few and dont in others? Only the local
>controllers are to blame and no one else.
>
>
>
>Rather than just sit there and quote from pessimistic newspaper
>articles, a bharat-darshan is long overdue for you. You will
>actually get to see differences in the way supposedly the SAME
>things work.
>
>
>
>Rgds,
>
>SD
>
>
>
>
>----- Original Message ----
>From: Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at charter.net>
>To: SANDIP DUTTA <pseude at yahoo.com>; assam at assamnet.org
>Cc: Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at charter.net>; assamrs at gmail.com
>Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 2:13:39 AM
>Subject: Re: [Assam] [asom] Assamese Fears and Saviours
>
>Hi:
>
>
>I did not follow up, hoping you will be able to connect the dots with the
>
>not-so-subtle hints that I posted.
>
>
>But since subtlety often goes unheeded, allow me to give some more
>clues and see if that helps. I will refrain from connecting the dots
>myself, because spoon-feeding usually is rejected by those who are
>sure they know the answers and are thus not to be patronized by
>others:
>
>
>
> *** WHY is it that all these representatives and their LEADERS,
>
> that the people of Assam elect, throw them out, elect them again,
>
> or elect a whole new slate or party in the fine traditions of
>
> desi-demokrasy; remain UNRESPONSIVE and as our philosophically
>
> endowed explain as "jeyei lankaloi jai, xeyei raabon hoy"
>
> ( whoever goes to Lanka, becomes a Ravan)?
>
>
> There is a serious problem here isn't it?
>
>
> *** Let us take the often bled-over subject of CORRUPTION that you
>
> raised, to smear the entire Oxomiya society as an uniquely sullied
>
> one and as Ram seconded.
>
>
> Is corruption hard to notice? If not how come NOTHING happens
>
> about it? Apparently Indian govt. system has ALL the institutional
>
> mechanisms that FUNCTIONING societies USE to investigate,prosecute
>
> adjudicate and punish the guilty with, at least on paper.
>
>
> And some of our learned friends also tell us that Indian judiciary is
>
> among the world's best.
>
>
> So, how come NO ONE gets convicted and get punished? What seems
>
> to be the matter?
>
>
> Punishment of the guilty is more than mere thirst for blood,
>
> yen for retribution. It is a deterrence. And in civilized
>
> societies it is also creates a social stigma -- a very effective
>
> deterrence, because it smears friends, relatives, families as well.
>
>
> Deterrence comes in many forms.The most reliable and lasting
>deterrence
>
> is moral and ethical compunctions. We know that in western societies
>
> traditionally FAITH and RELIGION helped inculcate and EDUCATION
>
> that promotes critical inquiry helped spread and firmly embed it
>
> with an intellectual foundation.
>
>
> But moral and ethical compunctions are NEVER enough. I have
>
> argued many times in this forum, not very effectively obviously,
>
> that the state cannot depend entirely on the MORAL code: It
>
> also needs civil and criminal codes, that are ENFORCEABLE. That is why
>
> pronouncements like ABV's -- That 'people should NOT be so greedy',
>
> or APJAK's -- that ' that Manjunath was a righteous man who came
>
> from a righteous family and we must strive to make
>
> more righteous families.'or MMS' that 'your CMs can make all the
>
> laws in the world, but what will you do with them' are so
>
> abysmally clueless as corruption fighting steps.
>
>
> *** You gave us a fairly reasonable account of how the monies spent
>
> in Assam for building roads do not produce the results expected. I
>
> posted Tavleen Singh's columns to demonstrate that Assam is not unique
>
> in this predicament, that it is 'pervasive across the length and
>
> breadth of India'.
>
>
>
> It was NOT, as some of you simple-mindedly assume, to absolve
>
> Assam govt. of its sins. Some in the past even made the scatologically
>
> smearing Oxomiya observation " moi gu-khaale toi-w khabi neki ?"
>
>
> So WHY do I cite them?
>
>
> For a very important reason: To show that nowhere in India
>
> the CORRUPT are/could be held accountable.
>
>
> *** Now I want YOU to figure that out. Give it a little thought.
>
> I like to think you are more than able to. But I also realize that you
>
> and others like you, never having seen any different, and
>never paying
>
> attention elsewhere in the world where they might have lived, failed
>
> to NOTICE why or how.
>
>
> But again I will give you some clues: Read my note to Dilip Deka and
>
> ex-Chief Secy. JP Rajkhowa on Nov. 18. If you don't have access to
>
> it, let me know, I will be pleased to re-send.
>
>
> *** I like to think you are sincere in your efforts to understand
>
> the issues. Therefore I hope to receive a response. We don't know
>
> many things. It is NOT a sin not to know things. I always argue
>
> that I don't OWE it to anyone to know ANYTHING, much less EVERYTHING.
>
>
> But if you go silent, like so many others often do, it will mean
>
> only one thing: That you are NOT sincere about your motives. That
>
> ALL you are interested in is asserting Assamese disaffections are
>
> Oxomiya society's own damn fault, 'So don't bother me with facts!'
>
> -- like you did when you began this thread.
>
>
> cm
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>At 3:49 AM -0800 11/29/06, SANDIP DUTTA wrote:
>
>Dear Sir,
>
>
>
>
>Whats new in this article?
>
>
>
>
>This is the same point I was trying to make but you said I was
>ignorant (perhaps you didnt get it :-) ). WE too have local Sharad
>Pawars and Thakreys right here in Assam and they do the same things
>with central allocated money. Guwahati's moonscaped "roads" tell the
>same story of corruption and deprivation originating right here at
>home.
>
>
>
>
>Rgds,
>
>Sandip
>
>
>
>
>
>----- Original Message ----
>From: Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at charter.net>
>To: assam at assamnet.org; assamrs at gmail.com; SANDIP DUTTA <pseude at yahoo.com>
>Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 2:17:10 AM
>Subject: Re: [Assam] [asom] Assamese Fears and Saviours
>
>I am re-posting the following for Ram and Sandip Dutta to read,
>before I return back to the discussions.
>
>
>cm
>
>
>
>
>Horrible Condition of our Roads
>On the Spot
> Tavleen Singh
>
>The first convoy of official cars I encountered, driving to Pune
>last week, flew saffron flags on every car of the size you normally
>see atop temples. My driver spotted Bal Thakeray in one of the white
>ambassadors. No sooner did we pass Mcdonald's in Panvel (a
>travellers' watering hole) than I spotted another official convoy.
>This time no saffron flags, only a car filled with policemen in
>front of a grey Land Cruiser behind which was another car also filled
>with policemen and officials. Alone in the back of the Land Cruiser
>sat Sharad Pawar.
>
>The coincidence of encountering Maharashtra's two most powerful
>political leaders on the same journey made me reflect upon the role
>of politics in preventing India from building the infrastructure it
>so badly needs. Pawar and Thakeray would have driven down the same
>road I had taken from Mumbai so they could not have failed to notice
>its condition. It is no longer a road so much as a dirt track on
>which you bump your way from ditch to ditch to ditch. This is after
>you have driven bumper to bumper past Chembur's hideous slums where
>
>public toilets are so clogged that people prefer to squat along the
>main road beside the rotting garbage in which pigs, dogs and
>barefoot children scrabble for food. Did Mr Pawar notice? Did Mr
>Thakeray who has built a political career out of inciting Marathi
>pride?
>
>Mumbai is Maharashtra's proudest possession. Any talk of it being
>taken out of the State Government's control causes hackles to rise
>across political divisions and yet none of this State's mighty
>leaders appears to have paid any attention to the most basic
>requirements of social infrastructure: clean water, sanitation and
>housing. Had they paid attention, then instead of slums in Chembur
>there would have been affordable housing for the poor.
>
>Instead of evil slum lords there would have been legitimate real
>estate companies controlling the housing market.
>
>As for the dreadful condition of Indian roads, please allow nobody
>to fool you into believing that our roads are bad because of a
>shortage of funds. They are bad mainly because they have been built
>to last no longer than a single season of rain. Why? Perhaps because
>the contractors who build them are well connected enough to be given
>the same contract every year. You notice this more on the drive from
>Mumbai to Pune than on any other road because when you get onto the
>expressway you realize that India can build roads that do not
>
>collapse with the rain.
>
>Once you get onto the expressway you drive along the best road in
>India that has remained totally intact despite this year's
>unprecedented rainfall. When I asked a friend in the construction
>business why this was so he said, "Simple. The Mumbai-Pune
>expressway was built by responsible construction companies with
>
>reputations to protect. Usually roads are built either by faceless
>
>CPWD engineers or by small contractors with big connections."
>
>So one of the flaws in the system is that political leaders hand out
>major road contracts to builders who would not pre-qualify to build a
>public toilet in a more sensible country. The reason for this is
>that the system we devised for these things places total emphasis on
>cost and none on quality. He who makes the lowest bid wins the
>contract, so to cover his costs he cuts corners and uses cheap
>materials and outdated technology.
>
>He could not care less if the road he builds does not survive a
>single monsoon because he has, more often than not, a connection
>high up enough for him to get the contract to rebuild the road again
>
>and again. This is true across the length and breadth of our dear
>Bharat Mata which is why we are internationally renowned for having
>
>the worst roads in the world.
>
>I got off the expressway at Chinchwad which is one of Maharashtra's
>leading industrial towns. Many of India's biggest manufacturing
>companies have factories here and the municipality is believed to be
>one of our richest but the road I drove down was so narrow and
>gutted that I was stuck in an hour long traffic jam consisting
>mainly of massive articulated lorries with names like MAERSK painted
>on their sides. The eternal clash between the new 'emerging' economy
>and our ancient, socialist infrastructure.
>
>The clash would not exist if only we could get our political leaders
>to understand that unless they put infrastructure (both social and
>physical) at the top of their list of priorities we will still be
>talking about our 'potential' to be an economic superpower fifty
>years from now. If we can just build the roads and do something
>about the appalling state of our cities and towns we can start
>making our economic superpower dream a reality in the next five
>
>years. These were the gloomy thoughts of your humble columnist as I
>drove past a sign that warned motorists to be careful on the upcoming
>
>bridge because its condition was 'dangerous.' If we were really on
>our way to superpowerdom then instead of the sign we would have seen
>a repaired bridge. I could go on and on and on.
>
>Recommend this page
>
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