In Favour of Women

In Favour of Women

By Narendra Luther


The world is divided unequally between men and women. As he last census confirmed, men outnumber women in our country – heavily in some of our states. That is one reason why men chase women. In some countries like Russia in which millions of men got killed in World War II, there is a shortage of men and so it is women who chase men. In nudist colonies I understand men dream of clothed women. I am not concerned here with the number and type of women but their position in society. There is no doubt that whatever their number, women are discriminated against everywhere in varying degrees. Historically they have been confined to the hearth and home. Nature too has made them in such a way that they are believed to be unable to stand shoulder to shoulder with men though a number of more interesting postures are permitted.

Over the years women have been agitating against the disabilities and handicaps imposed on them by male – dominated society. It is indeed surprising that it took women more than a century of agitation to secure the right to vote. The ballot paper is surely not a weight which the ‘weaker sex’ could not carry since the weakest amongst them are condemned to much harder labour even within the four walls of their homes A woman has to work twice as hard as man to be considered equal to him. Many of the disabilities imposed on them have been gradually removed and more are in the process of further elimination. Women are now allowed in the armed forces of many countries including ours, some say on the basis of their superiority in combat demonstrated at home. They have flown into space.

The Male View

First, it is necessary that men’s minds be disabused of the notion that they work harder than women. The nature of their work may be different but it certainly is not less arduous. One such man who thought he worked harder than his wife, wanted to see after all what his wife did the whole day that she complained about having been tired at night.

So he prayed: "Dear Lord: I go to work every day and put in 8 hours while my wife merely stays at home. I want her to know what I go through, so please allow her body to switch with mine for a day”. God, in his infinite wisdom, granted the man's wish. The next morning, sure enough, the man awoke as a woman.

He arose, cooked breakfast for his mate, awakened the kids, Set out their school clothes, fed them breakfast, packed their lunches, drove them to school, came home and picked up the dry cleaning, took it to the cleaners. On the way he stopped at the bank to make a deposit, went grocery shopping, then drove home to put away the groceries, paid the bills and balanced the chequebook.

He cleaned the cat's litter box and bathed the dog. Then it was already 1 P.M. and he hurried to make the beds, do the laundry, vacuum, dust, and sweep and mop the kitchen floor. After that he ran to the school to pick up the kids and got into an argument with them on the way home. He then set out milk and cookies and got the kids organized to do their homework then set up the ironing board and watched TV while he did the ironing. At 4:30 he began peeling potatoes and washing vegetables for salad, breaded the lamb chops and snapped fresh beans for supper. After supper, he cleaned the kitchen, ran the dishwasher, folded laundry, bathed the kids, and put them to bed.

At 9 P.M. he was exhausted and, though his daily chores weren't finished, he went to bed where he was expected to make love, which he managed to get through without complaint.
The next morning, he awoke and immediately knelt by the bed and said, “Lord, I don't know what I was thinking. I was so wrong to envy my wife's being able to stay home all day. Please, oh please, let us trade back."

The Lord replied, "My son, I feel you have learned your lesson and I will be happy to change things back to the way they were. You'll just have to wait nine months, though. You got pregnant last night."

The Female Angle

On the other hand, there is the story of a delegation of women who went to God to complain why they were made to undergo labour pains. Why don’t men get them, they asked. God said there was some wisdom in the way He had arranged matters. Women were adamant and so God agreed that the for the next birth in their locality the prospective father would suffer the pangs of labour. Soon a baby was due. When the woman was ready to deliver, it was the man in the third house who went into labour pains!

The moral is that we should not envy the other sex for the role assigned to them on considerations of biological differences. But beyond that surely women can do a lot of work that at present is being done by men.

Whither Woman

Sometime back our own Indian School of Business at Hyderabad ran a daylong seminar on the subject on the subject of enhancing the scope for women to take on more of the type of work that is traditionally considered the male preserve. Some highly successful women entrepreneurs came and spoke about their experience and their aspirations. I was glad to see such women and even felt proud of their achievements. Every body agreed that indeed they should be encouraged to go further. But our legislators will not pass the Bill granting them 30 per cent reservation and go on blaming some invisible opposition for that.

Sitting there, I wondered whether they ever realized that women were the worst enemies of women? The mother discriminates against her daughter in favour of her son. She wants her daughter to be packed off in marriage at the earliest. Then the mother-in-law proceeds to smother her no end. She leads the pack in declaring war on her if she happens to carry a female fetus.

Also a question worried me. Why were they eyeing the greener side of the hedge without having achieved excellence in their traditional domain? Why was it that the world’s best cooks, best tailors cutters and drapers, best fashion leaders, best interior designers, were men, not women? After all they had been at these jobs since the beginning of life. Why do they want to put on soldiers’ uniform, fly planes and sit on boards of companies?

But then afraid of being dubbed as an MCP, I kept quiet. That is one thing I have learnt from women who are content to be women and are even proud of their identity. But don’t misunderstand me. I like women. I am all in their favour.

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On Forms - filling & filing

On Forms - filling & filing
By Narendra Luther

All bureaucracies run on forms. They are necessary for creating data and records. Organizations are sustained by records. They are necessary for every action and to justify every inaction. Our birth is recorded; our death is recorded. In between there are series of occurrences which are recorded. When you are enrolled for studies it is recorded; when you finish them a certificate is issued. If a student secures the highest marks, he or she creates a record. If anyone surpasses that record, a record is broken and a new record is created. If you apply for a job, a record is to be submitted. If you get one, that is recorded. If you are sacked, that is recorded. If you are honoured a record is made. Every promotion and demotion is recorded. If you go to hospital a case sheet is prepared. When you come out dead or alive a discharge note is prepared. For getting rations a record is required. For buying a vehicle it is compulsory to create one. Our arrivals and departures from one country to another are recorded. And unbeknownst to us, so many of our movements are noted and recorded. About some of them we never come to know. But if they cross a certain point of tolerance by the authorities you are required to appear before some one or the other and record your statement. The Election Commission issues you an ID card on the basis of a record it creates. So does the Income Tax department before it issues a PAN Card. That is the beginning of the submission of annual record of your income and expenditure. You cannot breathe – or stop breathing without a record.

Optional Records

Beside these the creation of some records is optional. If you want a credit card, you have to create a record. So also for a cell phone. All your incoming, outgoing and missed calls are recorded. If you want the facility of an email, you have to give your record to the service provider. It is gratifying to know that the invisible and uncared for common man creates and leaves behind so many ‘foot prints’ and ‘visiting cards’ behind him. And then, every ten years the Census people descend on you to ask you to fill up forms asking information about your name, age marital status, sex (luckily, not its frequency), your contribution to the population, your ability to read or /and write, your income and what have you. That helps the government to create data about the growth and decline of key indicators about the national economy.

Form Filling

To create these numerous records, the citizen has to fill up forms – and then file them somewhere or the other on pain of penalty An average person has to fill up forms and file them for himself, his spouse, his children and his parents. Some one should undertake research n how many forms one has to fill in is lifetime in order to live peacefully. To some extent it is necessary for the sake of keeping records which again are necessary for accountability, particularly in public organizations. It is necessary for officials not only to do things but also to show how and why they did that. They sometimes create data to cover their acts of commission and omission – and to cover themselves!

I detest filling up forms. I loathe their look. They scare me; they intimidate me; they horrify me. I look at them. If they are optional, I throw them gleefully in the waste paper basket. If they are mandatory, I swear at them and then push them aside to fill them up in good time. Every time they stare at me and threaten me with dire consequences of crossing the last date. My dislike for form filling is particularly acute because of the habit of not filling them over decades. Some one always filled them up and I only signed at places marked with a cross in pencil. The rest was automatic. I only saw forms and signed them away. And then I found one day that I had to fill them up on my own. I saw for the first time that my days were inundated with forms that had to be filled up by a fixed date and filed in different offices some of whose existence I wasn’t even aware of. Time had come for me to reap the crops created by forms filled up earlier for me by my minions and which I had only deigned to sign. To do that I had to fill up another bundle of forms. Forms for claiming life insurance, for getting my provident fund, gratuity and the like. I had to mention facts of which I was genuinely ignorant, like my wife’s date of birth. To ask her was to invite trouble. To guess it was to run the risk of giving false information and to clear the confusion, to have to fill another form. The only columns that I could confidently filled were few. I consulted a friend in similar plight who showed me his form. He had yet filled up only a few columns but assured me that he was making progress and could help me. I had a look at his form. It read as follows:

Name: Ram Mohan
Father’s name: Krishna Kumar (as told by mother).
Born: yes
Sex: occasionally
Marital status: normal

I knew that he was not the one I could turn to for help.

Saral Form

Of all the forms that send a tremor down my frame is the one to be sent to the Income Tax department. It does not brook any bona fide oversight. It calls it a ‘false return’. It accuses you of ‘concealing income’. It can send you to jail for that. Its 'saral' - easy and assessee –friendly form consists of four pages to be filled in duplicate (or is triplicate?) and to be accompanied with enclosures. There is no question of extension of the last date of filing the return. If the organization deducting your tax at source has not sent you the certificate, you cannot claim that. It is your responsibility to secure it or forego the benefit. I keep my accounts scrupulously. I prepare my tables of income and expenditure with the utmost care. I check them again and again. Then I sent round a word that I am looking for a seasoned form-filler. I even advertise for some one who can do a safe job of filing up the form for me. Timidly, I pay a little more tax than is due. It is better to get a refund than to get a notice for having ‘concealed’ some part of income. A minor oversight is publicized; a conscientious return is ignored. I relax when the refund comes, but then the panic of having to fill up the form for the next year begins to seize me.

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‘A Life in Our Times’

‘A Life in Our Times’
By Narendra Luther

I was a student of economics and topped the university in as an honours graduate. But by the time I did that, I developed a phobia for the creeping dominance of mathematics in economics. I therefore shifted gear and went on to political science to do my post –graduation. But later when I was selected as a British Council scholar to do a course in industrial management in Leeds, I was again confronted with the monster of mathematics in Operations Research. When I mentioned my difficulty to my tutor, he said math was simply a short hand. I could achieve the same result by long hand. That was consoling but like Alice in wonderland, I had to run faster to remain at par with my colleagues in the international group. In the flexible system of a western university, I was permitted to cross the hard terrain by giving two lectures on public administration!

Economics made easy

I mention this by way of background to how I came to study some one in economics who brought no mathematics into it. It was John Kenneth Galbraith who died recently at 97. I had kept up my reading of economics selectively even after getting a secure job and amongst the economists I came to admire were Keynes, Rostow and Galbraith. They helped me to appreciate ‘the economic system as a complex interaction of people and organizations whose actions cannot simply be understood through highly rational and mathematical models of the economy.’ Galbraith was able to communicate complex ideas in a compelling way to laymen

Here I intend to pay my tribute to Galbraith whose autobiography published in 1981 provides the title of this article.

Galbraith was born in Canada in 1908 but educated at Berkeley in the US and taught economies at Harvard. Politically he belonged to the Democrat Party of the United States. During the Second World War, he served in the in the Office of Price Administration and wrote a book on his experiences in controlling inflation. He also did a stint in the Fortune magazine. Out of that experience came the term ‘technostructure’ – the group of specialist managers who take the real decisions in organizations including governments. President. Kennedy, for whom he served as a speechwriter, appointed him ambassador to India where he served for two years from 1961. Here he developed a good rapport with Nehru who was then the prime minister. In his autobiography he deals with the situation and people in India.

Demolisher of myths

He challenged the traditional dictum that consumer is the king. The hapless consumer is manipulated and exploited by the firms through the medium of advertising. He also declared that the big firms were not at the mercy of competition; they gang up and control government. He had an elegant and provocative style marked by wit and sarcasm. He could not only take but also make a dig against himself and lampoon his subject: ‘Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists’. Further, ‘the only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.’

I never took him as an economist but as a jesting philosopher. He was the first to question the use of GDP as a measure of economic progress. The concepts of ‘quality of life’ and ‘Human Development Index’, which are now used by all agencies including the UN, owe their origin to his questioning the traditional methodology. He coined some of the other terms, which are today part of the current terminology of public discourse, like ‘the affluent society’, and ‘countervailing power’. He followed the tradition of Thorstein Veblen when he talked of ‘private affluence and public squalour’. I believe it was out of that challenge that the current concern for ecology grew.

Men and chairs

My favourite passage comes from his book The New Industrial State. How perceptively he divides human beings in to two categories:

‘Clearly some individuals do add luster to organization. The accomplishments of the great physician are his own, not those of the hospital where he serves. The achieve­ments of the poet are his own, not those of the institution where he is currently the artist in residence. Similarly the opera singer or actor and, though not always, the great scientist.

Men are, in fact, either sustained by organization or sustain organization. They are either esteemed because­ of organization or the organization is esteemed because of them. The individual is himself rarely a sound judge of these matters. Those who are esteemed because of organization almost invariably attribute the acclaim to their own personality. ­

But there is an infallible test. That is to observe what happens to the individual when he leaves the organization or retires. The great physician is not greatly diminished by being separated from his hospital. Nor, except as regards regular salary, is the poet when he leaves the university. Nor is the competent newspaperman when he moves on. Nor the great scientist nor the entertainer. They sustained, were not sustained by, the organization to which they belonged.

By contrast the politician when he is defeated, the ambassador when he retires, the university president when he becomes emeritus and the peacetime general who fails to become a corporation president face total obscurity. They were sustained by organization; on losing its support they pass permanently into the shadows. To some who have naturally assumed that their eminence was their own the shock is very severe. Others sense their situation. Nothing explains the primordial vigor with which politicians fight for office and seek retain it to senility and beyond. Between being in and out of political office the difference is not slight. lt is total. "


I endeavoured to belong to the fist category.

Besides his best selling books on Economics, Galbraith wrote two novels, a book of satirical sketches, and a study of Indian painting. In 1977 he presented the BBC television series based on his book The Age of Uncertainty which deals with the evolution of economic thought since Adam Smith,

The laughing philosopher

His Memoirs is gripping because of his candour, humour and anecdotes. Ambassadors, he observed, have barely work for an hour a week if they represent important countries. Their cocktail parties, ostensibly a means for gathering intelligence and information, rarely serve that objective.

The Memoirs contains eight maxims for success in working in government. He admits candidly that he revised all his draft five times – the Memoirs underwent six revisions! ‘My spelling is often impressionistic; my punctuation is erratic; so more rarely is my syntax; my memory though generally good, is subject to lapse… my sense of taste is fallible; and so too is my impression of what is or is not clear’. His editor, Andrea Williams rescued him. He spent three to four hours daily on his current book in addition to the time reading and thinking on the subject.

Galbraith gave many like me me instruction and illumination when he seemed to be only entertaining. I salute him.

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Advice on advice

Advice on advice
By Narendra Luther

Advice is what you ask when you already know the answer but wished
you didn't.

Nothing is so readily given and so grudgingly taken as advice. The tendency to indulge in it is directly related to the age of the dispenser. In fact, a senile person tends to repeat the same advice to the same person. It has nothing to do with the success or failure of the free vendor of advice. On the other hand an unsuccessful person gives advice by of warning by giving his on example. Every parent has a lawful right to give advice to his children irrespective of their capacity to do so. Some children succeed in life by disregarding the parental advice. Giving advice is one way of showing superiority on one’s part. It is assumed that if you give advice you are deemed to have been a success in your life. Asking for it also often cloaks a subtle form of sycophancy. When a person asks what is the secret of your health or success, he makes you feel you are a healthy/successful man. After that the adviser is disposed to grant favour to the seeker of advice, which generally is the original objective of the seeker of advice.

Three ways

There are three ways of giving advice. First is the direct personal method. That method relates advice to one’s own experience. It gives examples from one’s own achievements or failures. Hard work, thinking big, pursuing a dream, facing risks, braving odds, standing up for truth and honesty, systematic approach to work, slow and steady pursuit of a goal, good PR with people are some of the elements of various pieces of advice to which children at home are subjected by way of rehearsal. Since they can’t but listen to it the advice-giver is emboldened to step out to a wider circle. If he does not encounter any rebuff there, he then moves further into the wide world and preys on people enjoying themselves in groups or parties. In religious gatherings and political meetings, willing victims are found in plenty. Annual functions of educational institutions and celebrations of similar kind are good occasions for worthies to impart advice to youngsters and other members of the audience on character building and achieving success in life. It may even go to the other side and exhort the listeners not to care for mundane success because there are better things in life than to hanker after for material success. It depends upon what sounds better.

The Approach

The approach can be self-centred or objective. In the former case, one relates every piece of advice to one’s own success or failure. It starts with a declaration: ‘When I was your age…’ or When you reach my age…’ or ‘what I am’, I am because…’ or ‘I believe.’ or I always practised…’ Youngsters don’t like this approach because it has a parental ring about it. Elders too don’t feel happy about it because of the ‘I’ element in it. But the recipients are victims of good manners. We all are. In this case it is better to dwell upon one’s failures. That makes for novelty which is more interesting. Also it is nearer the truth because, come to think of it, every one is a failure in a manner of speaking. That is because ambition has no limit. It grows on itself. The more you achieve, the more you want to achieve. Even if you become the president of the country, you may feel you should have achieved it earlier or secured more terms than you did. There is always a way of looking at things. Talking about one’s failures openly puts one’s audience at ease. They feel they are not so inferior after all.

The Impersonal Approach

The other approach is impersonal. You don’t bring yourself into the discussion. You talk about the philosophy of success and failure and give examples from scriptures or epics, biographies and autobiographies. Mythological and historical figures provide good raw material for this exercise. How did Arjuna become an outstanding archer? Why was Yudhishter’s dog admitted to heaven? Why did Alexander stop where he did? Why did Aurangzeb win the War of Succession? How Tagore came to establish the Shantiniketan? There is no end to anecdotes and stories that tell the secret of success and failures. Such impersonal references make one appear both non-egotistical and learned. They serve to enhance the speaker’s reputation as a widely read man.

Practice or Precept

The third method is not to give advice but to make it available by practice rather than precept. You do not advise, you do not preach but do your own job. If you make a mark, you will automatically become a role model for some people. Unbeknownst to you many youngsters – and surprisingly many oldsters too -- will try to emulate your example. After all how many of us have met men like Mahatma Gandhi or Nehru or Nelson Mandela - to mention only three from a galaxy of names of people who have made a difference in the world - in flesh and blood. But two generations of Indians and innumerable persons from abroad have tried to draw lessons from their lives. People have read their autobiographies or biographies or read about or heard about them and striven to adopt their ideals. That is the best form of advice. Such persons remain mythical figures rather than concrete persons and inspire the masses as invisible gods do – or even God does. Real-life idols sometime reveal their feet of clay and the ensuing disenchantment occasionally disorients the worshippers and followers. That is why leaders keep a distance from their fans and followers. That is how they retain their mystique. Ideas are more powerful than persons and ideas outlive persons who conceived and propagated them. If the ideology fails, it is the surviving practitioners who are blamed. It is therefore good for heroes to die early. Imagine J.F. Kennedy living to ripe old age and being found out as an expert philanderer. Those who have to give something don’t delay. They make their gifts and depart. Of course there are some exceptions and you all know about them. One good feature about any advice is that it should be brief and this discourse seems already to have violated that canon. So it is time I hung up.

I for one don’t believe in giving or taking advice. I can pick up a piece of advice depending upon the occasion from numerous sources. As for giving it, I give it only to my dog. He does not care. He does not listen. Yet he wags his tail as if in gratefulness. He lives his happy life as he is destined to. As he is content to do. To his wagging tail is attached a piece of advice – for me as well as you.

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No Free Lunch, but…

No Free Lunch, but…
By Narendra Luther

Thee is a modern American saying that ‘there is nothing like a free lunch.’ But what about water? So far restaurants have not started charging for water unless it is the mineral variety. In fact in India even before taking your order, the bearer plonks a glass of water in front of you, particularly in the South. No body asks you to pay for it in case you change your mind and having slated your thirst, decide not to eat there and walk out.

It used to be a common practice to set up stalls on roadside offering water to general public on festivals and auspicious days, like the birthdays of some Sikh Gurus, and the Muharram procession. That is supposed to earn you spiritual ‘merit’. Thanks to the shortage of water, this tradition is fading now.

For our domestic water supply we pay as a matter of course. The charges keep on increasing every now and then and we submit to it with a murmur. It is called ‘safe’ water supply though most of us either boil water before drinking it or use water purification equipments like ‘Acquaguard’. My wife uses both of them to make sure we don’t suffer from any water-borne disease.

Free Water

But in the countryside water is still free though its safety is not talked about. One can draw water from a river, a lake a well or a pond. Or at least that is what we thought. A screening of a recent film by K.P. Sasi ‘ ‘The Source of Life for Sale’ was an eye-opener. Water is an indisputable source of life. Seven–tenth of earth and two–third (women0 to three-fourth (men) of human body are composed of water. Animals and humans die more of thirst than of hunger. Dehydration is a great cause of death particularly amongst infants who can’t spell out their demand for water. Lack of water causes drought and that results in famine. That in turn leads to suicide by farmers and death for the poor. Thus, water is more important to our life than we imagine.

Sasi’s documentary takes us from Kerala to the North via Chhatisgarh and showcases how water which has been traditionally available free to people is being denied to them.

Rivers in Periyar, Malampuzha. Attapadi, Sheonath and Kelo, and parts of the Ganga Canal have been sold to private firms to make coca cola to be sold in the market. Small, scattered communities including tribals who depended on the water for their crops and for their domestic needs were shown forcefully protesting against it. NGO’s marched in procession raising slogans venting their anger. An old unlettered tribal woman showed a rare degree of eloquence in her denunciation of the deal made by the government. An old man voiced his betrayal by the MLA of the area for his ‘collusion’ with the private party. The firm had thrown a bund across the river to pump out water for its plant. That meant the lower part of the river became dry and the lower riparian habitations went without water. There were accusations of corruption against authorities in deals involving such sales.

The problem of water shortage is compounded by the over- exploitation of ground water as revealed by a recent survey. It has been said that the future wars will be not for oil, but for water. It seems that we already witnessing trailers in the interstate disputes about water in our country.


The Garland Canal Project

The film showed with telling effects what it means to be deprived of water. The sale was described as a part of privatization and globalization. Multinationals come and grab resources that belong to the community, for their private profit. Once we swore by Socialism. Today the pendulum has swung to the other side, to Privatization.

The film also made out a case against the project of the interlinking of rivers – the ‘Garland canal’ system. The eminent engineer, the late Dr. K.L. Rao conceived it long before there was any debate about socialism versus privatization. He believed it would rid the country of the spectacle of simultaneous drought in some areas and flooding in others. The NDA Government approved the massive project in principle and it is understood that preliminary technical studies have been initiated on that. It seems perfectly logical inasmuch as it will ‘even out’ the levels of water in all the rivers in the country. But, the opponents of the proposal argue that it ignores the ecological aspects of the various river systems. Interlinking will entail bunding of rivers and diversion of water at a number of places. That, in turn, will result in diminution, if not denial of water to downstream areas. Damming of rivers will also cause submersion of vast areas displacing communities in different parts of the country. It is against that that prospect that persons like Medha Patekar are agitating.


Wisdom of Tentativeness

I would concede that some of the proposals for new uses of have been made by experts in the genuine belief that they will promote the welfare of the people as they perceive it. That brings us to the crucial point of how much reliance we should place on expert advice. The best of experts sees only his side of the picture. In fact the more the specialization, the more the narrowing of the focus. There is a loss of width of vision in specialization. A specialist does not - indeed cannot – appreciate the opposing point of view. For policy - makers and final decision- takers, it is necessary to integrate the Hegelian thesis and anti-thesis into a synthesis. There is a greater need for debate on such issues than we have today in spite of our legislatures where the party line over rides the need for the examination of the merits of a proposal. The view of the party in power often is nothing but the command of the leader right or wrong. The policy of the Opposition, on the other hand, is based on its obligation to oppose. In how many cases have opposing line being taken on a given issue by the same party depending on whether it is in power or in opposition?

Sitting through the screening of Sasi’s documentary, I felt sorry at the poor attendance in the hall. More so because I saw no bureaucrats and politicians for whom the film would have appeared heretical against the current official dogma. I felt that such films should be screened in the secretariats and before experts and the intelligentsia so that different perspectives can be seen by those who are going to decide the fate of millions of the poor of the country. As Bertrand Russell put it, ‘Fools are cocksure; wise men are in doubt’. In other words, the need is for an open mind. That will enable us to take a holistic view before taking a final decision.

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A time for exit

A time for exit
By Narendra Luther

I don’t mean to exit from this world but a prelude to it. I mean the time to superannuate, to stop working regularly for a job, or as is commonly put, to retire.

Full man, half pay

Before retirement the wife gets half husband and his full salary. After retirement, she gets back the full husband and half his salary. The age of retirement is decided on the basis of a multiplicity of factors like expectancy of life and the state of health, and the availability of manpower in any society. It varies from country to country and time to time. The key consideration is the level of mental capacity in most jobs. In India it used to be 55 for the employees of government under the British and remained pegged at that for a number of years after independence. Then it was argued that our expectancy of life which was thirty-three at independence had risen to over sixty. Also 55 was too early for retirement. While the employee had still many family responsibilities to discharge, his income was suddenly reduced to half. On the other hand, the government lost the benefit of mature experience and advice. Basically, it was the serving employees who wanted to prolong their tenure. So the government extended the age of retirement to 58. After some years when the government’s financial position was tight, the employees gave an ingenious helpful suggestion. If the age of retirement were extended by another two years, the government would make huge savings by postponing the disbursement of terminal benefits to retiring employees. It would also maintain the same establishment costs instead of adding pension to the salaries of new employees. Also, India would automatically become closer to the western advanced countries where the age of retirement was well over 60. Of course the old arguments of a further increase in the expectancy of life, better health and maturity of experience of older employees were always there. So, the government again succumbed and extended the age of superannuation to 60.

In the U.S. the age of retirement is 65; in England 68. It is around that figure in most of the advanced countries of the West. With them one of the reasons is shortage of manpower. They make up this shortfall through selective immigration. They issue work permits and allow immigration in crucial sectors in which they need people. They can thus pick up the best readymade human capital from all over the world. In a way the under- developed and developing countries extend massive assistance to developed countries through the supply of trained manpower. Considering the overall cost of turning out a physician, an engineer, an architect or the like, it can be safely assumed that for every person going to the developed counties of the West, from India, we are giving them an invisible financial aid of at least 10 million rupees. But that is a digression from our theme. Let me return to it.

The main consideration for sending people home on retirement is their lowered physical and mental capacity. That is why in the civil list retired employees are listed unfeelingly under ‘wastage’. Experience of thirty years, which some old fogies boast about, is nothing but the experience of ten years multiplied three times. According to experts, there is a gradual loss in physical and mental faculties which sets in after 40. It becomes pronounced around sixties when one moves towards old age and senescence.

Never say die


While for normal job the age of superannuation is determined on the basis of old age, it is ironical that for more important jobs, the age of superannuation is either higher or nonexistent. For example, all our constitutional posts have a higher age limit. The judges of High Courts retire at the age of 62; of the Supreme Court at 65. Members of the State Public Service Commission retire at 62, of the Union at 65. So is the case of the Election Commission and the Central as well as the State Administrative Tribunals. Recently the Chief Commissioner under the Right to Information Act and the State Commissioners have been appointed. All of them are retired bureaucrats. Retired judges of high or Supreme Court are appointed to head various commissions of inquiries which are set up every now and then.

There is no age limit for governors, legislators, and ministers. All governors are either retired servicemen or politicians. Legislators and ministers take the most crucial decisions affecting various aspects of our life, well-being and liberty. So is it to be assumed that the normal rule of nature as to the diminutions of faculties does not operate in the case of these important high functionaries.

In the case of judges we are told that a higher age for retirement ensures their independence. Can two or five years more than other functionaries do that? The lure of commissions after that term should be enough to dilute that. The constitution of the U.S. has sought to ensure independence of the judges of the Supreme Court by giving them a term for life. That provision can certainly ensure independence. Apart from them in most countries Field Marshals of the armed force also don’t retire. But that is by way of honour. Both Judges of the Supreme Court and Field Marshals stop attending office whenever they feel like but continue to get their full salaries and perks.

In the case of our legislature that is our MLA’s and M.P s, and the political executive, the argument is that they are elected by the people and it is for them to decide whether a particular person is too old to discharge his functions properly. So, we will continue to have presidents, prime ministers, chief ministers and ministers who may suffer from multiple disabilities but who directly or indirectly manage to secure the necessary endorsement.

Fact and Myths

So we have one fact and three fictions operating in our system. The fact is that beyond a certain age the physical and mental faculties of individuals decline preventing them from giving their best. The first fiction is that this law of diminishing faculties does not operate in the case of higher jobs. The jobs inject appropriate aphrodisiacs into the system of ageing persons. The second fiction is that the pull of power and pelf declines two to five years after the normal age of superannuation. The third fiction is that the masses know whether a person can continue to perform long after the normal old age.

The moral from our prevalent practice is that you require fit persons with limited wear and tear for lower level of jobs. For higher jobs impaired faculties are prime qualifications.

It may appear to be a bundle of ironies and contradictions. But that is life - a fiction based on further fictions. So, stop grousing and accept the facts and fictions of life - so says saint Kabir.

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Bush shirt and Buffet

Bush shirt and Buffet
By Narendra Luther

Americans gave the world the bush shirt and the buffet after World War II. These improvisations were to meet new exigencies. Now they are part of accepted norms in dress and entertainment. Their search for the novel and the innovative is continuous and unending.
In the last few weeks during my tour of the United States, I have had ample opportunities to study various aspects of life in America. I am impressed by the fact that they have managed their affairs so well. Their genius for improvisation is something to be admired. For every conceivable physical, social and psychological situation they have devised coping mechanisms. Their range of inventions and innovations for dealing with domestic chores is vast. Supermarkets offer a fascinating range of home tools for every conceivable situation. Their town planning is meticulous and there is no question of any one getting away with the smallest violation. Their concern for the aged – whom they call ‘seniors’ – is touching. I visited some residential complexes for seniors. If there is a heaven, it must be quite close to the conditions prevalent there. The care with which they deal with the disabled is also remarkable. They are provided for separately in every public place and utility. Even the meanest establishment has public conveniences – what they call ‘Rest Rooms’. Their traffic regulations are stringent and any violation is strictly dealt with.
Innovative approach
Their craze for experimentation is reflected in the number of titles of books published every year on every conceivable topic. Some of the books I read included ‘Dying Well’, ‘Why We Die’, ‘Meetings at the Edge’, ‘The Professor and the Madman’, and ‘The Art of Imperfection’. They gave insights on life, disease and death. The quaint titles of books in stores and libraries suggest the range of research going on in various fields. Hard to believe but according to Andrew Gabrois of R.R. Bowker Co., 185,000 titles were published in the US in 2004. No subject is taboo for them. People experiment and share their experiences freely. The new knowledge and analyses generated are available in bookstores and public libraries where, incidentally, the use of Internet is free. An average city library is better equipped than most of our university and official libraries. The quality of service and the courtesy of the staff are incredibly superior to any thing one gets in India. The World Economic Forum in its report for 2003-04 lists technological advance as one of the three determinants of the Growth Competitiveness Index (GCI). U.S. is one of what it calls the ‘core innovators’. It is not so in technology only, but in its parent -- Attitude. You see that attitude documented in the museums spread all across the country.
Dignity of Labour
No body feels embarrassed by the way they dress. I never had an occasion to wear any dress except the most casual. The consideration that guides the choice of dress is functionality and convenience.
The other thing that strikes one is the dignity of labour. No body is ashamed of doing any thing to earn a living. Students working as waiters are quite common. I met two female university professors. One was living with a carpenter and the other with a truck driver.
Our Advantage
I talked to many persons of Indian origin about some of these features of life in America. They all agreed that it was indeed a distinguishing mark of the American society. Their explanations varied. One refrain was that it is because of the small population that all that is possible. It is both a cause and an effect of prosperity.
In India all our progress is negated by the growth in numbers. The fall in law and order is also largely due to that. It is true no doubt, but is rather a simplistic explanation. Also a deeper analysis of the demographic profile encourages some hope for us in India despite the growing numbers. Today, thanks to advances made in public health and social security, the population in the advanced countries is ageing fast. In Europe in 1950, the population over 60 years of age accounted for 12%. In 2050, it will be 32%. On the other hand, the population under 14 will decrease from 27% to 16%. Today 66% of the expenditure in European countries is on education, health and pensions. With the ageing of the population, this will only increase and they will be caught in the Wagnerian bind. This will result in an increase in the public debt. A similar phenomenon is taking place in the United States. According to the March 2005 issue of the Harper Magazine, for every two workers in General Motors there are five pensioners. As against that, in India by 2030 the ratio of working population will double while the increase in the dependent population will be marginal. That will give an edge to India against the developed west.
Our Productivity
But before we proceed to celebrate the prospect, let us pause to consider the balancing factors. First, our per capita productivity is about one tenth that of the U.S. One example will suffice. According to the Institute of Management Development, Lausanne, during the past decade, steel production in the US has jumped from 75 to 102 million tons while the number of workers has fallen from 289,000 to 74,000.

Immigrants’ paradise
A further sobering remark was made by a young Indian analyst in America. The emerging adverse demographic profile of the States will be countered by the immigration policy of the U.S. It can tap the productive segment of the population of any country to meet its needs. It can select, it can pick and choose and so meet its critical requirements in the economy. America is an immigrants’ paradise. For those who have visited the Ellis Island and seen the historical statistics displayed in the Museum so attractively, understand the America was built by the best of immigrants from all over the world. The process has not stopped yet. Because of the factors mentioned in the beginning of this essay, the US still remains the magnet for every ambitious person in the world. Young people all over the world are ready to serve America by providing it the most critical resource – human capital. America does not have to spend on skilled manpower; it has just to open the gate and hordes of young, highly skilled, hard working, ambitious persons from all over the globe will rush to meet its needs and more. America is great because the rest of the world is continuously engaged in contributing to its growth. We may criticize it, abuse it, revile it, but we are always at its beck and call and our best talents are only awaiting an opportunity to be let in to the land of opportunity.
High growth is both its cause and effect. There is some food for thought in that.

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