Who Is Your Good Friend? Who Is Your Well-wisher? The Human Dilemma in Everyday Living!

Jesus Christ when he lived on earth as a human being some 2000 years ago, tried to reveal the truths about God and what God expects from people. As he knew the human limitations in understanding greater truths, he tried to make his idea understandable to the common folks by teaching them through small stories or parables. [You may read all the parables of Jesus and meditate about those by clicking this link. Thanks to the people who have compiled it!]

Now we often find it difficult to get a good friend even while we are surrounded by scores of friends and relatives. Unfortunately good Samaritans are difficult to find. While we all have many friends, acquaintances and family relatives, we many not find any good Samaritan among them when you need it most.

The good Samaritan in the parable as told by Jesus was perhaps a non-Jewish man from Sumer regions adjoining the land of the Jews. Jews of that time did not approve of their culture, civilization and religious beliefs and hence it was almost unthinkable for them to imagine to have any thing good from these peoples.

But Jesus purposefully made the good man who helped out the wounded and helpless Jew without expecting any thing in return as a man from Sumeria. A totally unexpected person who would extent all out help to a helpless man in utter need of some help!

There could be occasions when we find such good Samaritans in our lives too. Most often it is not the friends and relatives who extent us the help we badly need at times. In those most difficult times, sometimes the agencies of God come to our aid through such good Samaritans.

When it happens, it is quite human for us to think about all those on whom we have been relying too much, only to find that they had deserted us on the times we needed their support most. Naturally that gives much pains.

I have experienced that. Perhaps those near to me might have experienced such a thing from me even. I might not have been in a position to help some of them during the times they needed it from me most.

Humans have a great weakness. They want to be friends and relatives of those who are better of. If you are somebody countable in the society, people respect you and would be eager to help you, even when you are not in any need for any such help. But the moment your weakness gets exposed, 99 out of 100 would desert you. This weakness of humans has originated from the animal trait of imitation that is within us. Just as a chimp would like to imitate the superior humans around it, inferior humans would try to imitate those humans around them whom they consider as superior. Hero worship in humans is due to this. Knowingly or unknowingly, we get a type of satisfaction when our boss or wealthy neighbor or wealthy acquaintance or a relative holding some influencing power show some friendly gestures. 

On the other hand we get elated and feels like a king when some of those humans whom we consider as inferior show some respectful friendliness towards us. This is due to another peculiar mind trait that is within us. All of us want to be some kind of a king or a boss! 

Humans help each other expecting reciprocation. But such friendships are often based on our complex mind entangled in what is termed as the god-dog syndrome. We help others when we feel as gods to someone or when someone forces us to be like serving dogs or servants. 

Else, we commercialize our services to others. The entire system of trade and business is depended on the unique manner in which humans have learnt and implemented the money system. Money is nothing but the measure of the value of our services to our fellow men!

But when we rise above these and does some selfless service to others, we learn to transcend beyond our human weaknesses and acquire godliness. 

Such gestures too come from us occasionally. Many of us do selfless service to our fellow men and women who are in need. While some of us have ventured in to the task of pooling our selfless efforts and gestures, a greater number of us are cleverly transforming such efforts for our selfish purposes!

A good majority of us fail to do understand the need of others and extent help when they need it most. We are often suspicious of others and their motives and hence fail to recognize reals from fakes. Because we live in a world which is full of deceptions than good. And we are all part and parcel of this world.

I have written some time earlier about our selfishness and pride that prevent us from getting nearer to God.

When I decide to share my problems with some one whom I consider as my well wisher, I am seeking and exploring my god given options of good fellowship from my human brothers and sisters. God wants us to be compassionate to each other. But many often we are failed and pained by the breach of trusts that we face from our near and dear ones. Those of whom we considered as our own fellows who would be of help and support would do such things to ridicule and mock us from behind us taking advantage of our exposed weaknesses!

Even Jesus faced such a betrayal from Judas who had been his trusted disciple for quite some time! Remember, Jesus too faced such a thing when was apparently becoming weak and appearing as helpless. Judas would have never done such a betrayal had Jesus displayed his power and position!

Again we betray others because of ignorance. We want to belittle our friends and gain an edge over them because we have that irresistible desire to become a king for some time. We want that power of the king to display our pride and superiority over others and many of us consider the best place to show off is in front of those who know us well. So a friend or relative asking for a help would immediately gives some ulterior ego satisfaction in many of us. At that time we use to retaliate and show of our kingly nature!

How sad! Is it what God wants us to do? 

Could we find good Samaritans among those around us? Could it be possible for us to be a good Samaritan to others? It is indeed a dilemma that we face in our daily lives. Remember, this dilemma is faced by all regardless of their wealth and position, quite often.

But to realize more about it you need to comprehend it in a much deeper manner. 

If you have not yet comprehended it, read that good Samaritan story that Jesus told and meditate over it. 

But you could do that meditation only when your pride level is conducive for that! 

What Should Be Done To Improve Governance In India ? Some Suggestions !

Some Aspects of Complex Governance of Modern India!

How do you consider a man having a big head, large eyes, small hands, bent legs, long tongue, closed ears and a big belly? Perhaps he has a big brain and he is very intelligent. He can see well with his large eyes. He can talk well and taste well with his long tongue. But he cannot do any thing properly as he has small hands. With his bent legs he cannot run or walk properly. He cannot hear what others say because his ears are closed. Of course he eats well. 

No doubt no one would like to have such an individual in their home. The man is ugly and imperfect from our viewpoint. 

In a similar way, a government having various ministries and departments which are disproportionate to their normal functions, would obviously be a monstrous organization which would not do its functions in a balanced manner. Obviously, the people of the country with such a monster governing it could not expect anything good from it. In such governments some ministries would be placed at higher prominence than really required marring the other ministries to practical negligence and insignificance. It is like giving importance to one's mouth only always because it is the one which speaks!

In a family too, the parents often neglect their wise children who are more mature and harmless and give undue importance to the kids who are noisy and quarrelsome making the family ruin later. This is because of the human weakness of fear. Humans fear noisy fellows!

In politics too, such a situation prevail. The more noisy and illogical a leader is, the more he or she is likely to garner support and benefits. The wise advises of the less noisy ones often go unconsidered. This happens everywhere. 

If a country needs to progress, it needs to develop in all fronts in an equitable basis. The practice of pleasing the talking big mouth always need to be moderated. All parts of the administration should get equal importance and all should get the care and support they actually need to function. So if the defense ministry getting pampered more at the cost of the home ministry would make the country fail in some aspects of its security. If telecom ministry is pampered more than the postal ministry, the country would again fail to achieve progress in some areas. 

Unfortunately, this kind of a situation arises from the improper selection, training and placement of the officers who are supposed to man these departments. Though many wise people have pointed out to the flaws in the system of recruitment and placement of officers of the governmental systems of India, nothing has changed much from the pre-independence era. The system continues without much change.

The government officers in India are selected by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) at the central, all India level , by the various Public Service Commissions (PSC) of the states and the Staff Selection Boards (SSB). The UPSC selects fresh candidates for various all India services by a highly competitive examination. The top ranking candidates are normally absorbed in the so called elite services of India called the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Indian Foreign Service (IFS). Members of these three services are conventionally given higher prominence in the Indian governmental system and the IAS now has established their indisputable place as compared to all other services. This is because the manner in which the IAS officers are selected and placed to head any type of organization in India without any consideration to their expertise or knowledge in that field. It has now become an established practice in India that an IAS officer could be the chief executive or head of any field regardless of it being a ministry, an public sector industry, a government university, a training institute, a government department, a government sponsored society or any autonomous institution. 

Though the IPS officers are trained for law and order and policing, they too could be placed in a similar fashion in any non policing department or organization. However, they get such opportunities to head 'offices of profit' less than their IAS brothers and sisters. 

There are other services which the Indian public are less acquainted with. But that does not mean that they are unimportant. They too could be placed to head any organization at the will of their political and senior bureaucratic patrons even while they know pretty nothing about the functions of such organizations. Such services are called the Indian Forest Service, the Indian Audit and Accounts Service, the Indian Railway Service, the Indian Postal Service, the Indian Engineering Service, the Indian Telecom Service, etc. etc. It is not necessary that the UPSC conduct all India examinations for all these services always. The UPSC also inducts other specialists like geologists, doctors, etc to be posted as specialist government service officers in various departments and ministries. However, such officers often do not get opportunities to head top posts even while some of them might be much more suitable with respect to their knowledge and competency. They are often made subordinate to those from the elite cadres.

The military officers are selected by an entirely different procedure. Though the military officers are better trained, disciplined and with required managerial and functional skills, the services of their experienced senior levels are not very much used in the governmental organizations just as their counterparts from the elite administrative services. 

Often experienced experts in various governmental departments like doctors, engineers, etc find some not so trained generalist having much lower length of service from the so-called elite services becoming their bosses who are less capable of understanding certain aspects of their jobs. Consequently, such bosses would be miserable failures in making effective decisions for the good of the country in the long run or getting any long term policy decisions which are justified and correct. Since political bosses are not experienced experts, the inexperienced bureaucrats immediately below the levels of the political bosses would make up a system which is not competent to handle complex issues of governance in a knowledge driven manner.

It is also important to consider the educational qualifications of the candidates who are selected to the elite services. The direct recruits need only a bachelor's degree in any discipline to appear in the all India civil service examinations. Graduates , post graduates or even PhD holders in medicine, engineering , arts, science, etc are all treated at par. While writing their examinations, they are at liberty to chose options of subjects at their choice regardless of the formal educational qualifications. This makes the civil service examination a kind of screening test and not some thing to evaluate the specific field of knowledge of the candidate for a specific job. These candidates are selected for various cadres based on their choices based on the ranks they obtained in the civil service examination. Such choices essentially do not give much credence to the aptitude of a candidate for the job. For example, a person could become a senior police officer of the country, even if he or she does not possess some of the essential physical and mental attributes that are needed for such a job. Even the selected candidates have any common educational backgrounds in common! 

The freshers may get a few months' training for induction in to the elite cadre of officers of the government. But once the cadre is allotted they remain in that cadre till retirement. They cannot escape the brand once they are branded. 

In addition to the fresh candidates selected this manner, an equivalent numbers are promoted from the staff cadres. In short, the government officials of the class one government services of India do not have any commonality among them except their branding. This often creates interpersonal rivalries and envies. Superiority and inferiority complexes are generated among these people. While they are trained to treat themselves as superior to the common citizens, within their own class, they are either inferior or superior. The god-dog syndrome is highest among the government officers of India.

Unfortunately, the same class of people would not allow the system to be drastically changed. Democracy or no democracy, the government officials have a common mindset all over the world from time immemorial. It is too difficult to change it. Politicians, the so called people's representatives, are also scared of the officials because without the latter the former have no existence or no power!

I know that I am nobody to comment over the present system or to give any suggestions for improvements. Yet, I think there is a common logic that the present system of selection of government officers needs to be changed. The system of arbitrary postings of the all India service officers in any ministry or any department without the requisite understanding of the functions should stop. The background educational qualifications and experience also should be given equal importance while a person is posted to head an organization or department. 

It would be a good idea to have many all India services to serve various functional ministries and the persons for such services should be selected based on the specific knowledge that is needed for such ministries or departments. 

Some three and a half decades ago, the late Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi mooted such an idea. But she failed miserably, even though she was much more powerful politically than her later day political successors. This was because of the clever manner in which some of those elite class administrative service officers played against the idea.

The public sector is a big governmental function. Yet the government does not have any all India industrial management service. Even in such services, the functions of various disciplines vary widely and there is a need to look in to this aspect too. The practice of politicians occupying executive posts also needs reconsideration.

It is indeed a complex situation. A situation where power and service considerations go hand in hand with favoritism and performance requirements. A situation where priorities are difficult to be ascertained. Is it the country or is it the individual that is important? 

It is easy to declare the country as important in public, but it is too difficult to practice that in private.

Independent republic of India has survived more than a century now. It has become old. The old generation of people of India themselves are those born after independence. They are no more likely to be with the ideals of their parents. The youngsters of India are no more taught about civic responsibilities in the schools. No more they are taught about the importance of being honest and compassionate. The modern public schools of India set up by societies formed by clever elites with skills and tactics of garnering power and money have turned out to become factories that produce export oriented, stereotyped, human robots with much knowledge and least wisdom to work for multinational corporations (MNC) rather than improving their own nation! And the elitist administrators of modern India have helped out much to accomplish this.

There are millions of middle class people who think that they have benefited from such a progress that India has made. From their viewpoint they could be right. 

But in reality, the rich in India are getting richer and the poor are becoming poorer. The numbers of the latter are increasing. The affluence of the rich are not proportionately getting transmitted to the less affluent in a natural manner. And some ill conceived administrators think that they have done a big thing by subsidizing a few starchy food to the poor to maintain their lives to do all those menial jobs, the works which could be branded as essential services in the event they ever think of stopping their work!

Every officer belonging to the various governmental organizations is part of the executive branch of the government and they are all professional leaders who are responsible for assisting and guiding their elected political heads of the government in accordance with the constitutional framework of the country. The elected leaders in a democratic system as defined in its present constitution need not be any one who has the majority support of the people. The elected leaders are also not required to be with any well defined educational or other such competency qualifications to become the heads of the various governmental functions. But that is not the case with the professional leaders of the government. They have to have some competency qualifications.

It is very obvious that the Constitution of India  requires the professional leaders of the governmental systems (the officers of the government or the public servants) to be with proven competency. Had these officers with the right mix of the 4C's I wrote some time ago (Competency, Character, Courage and Compassion) there is absolutely nothing that could have prevented India from achieving the best administered and governed country in the world by now. But India is not such a country now. Transparency International and others in the world consider India as one of the poorly administered and badly governed country marred in corruption of all kinds.

I am not telling that all officers of the government are without the 4C's. I am also not telling that the Indian system of governance is bad every where. What I want to stress is about the importance that should be given in screening and selection of the professional leaders of the government so that they are all with the right kind of the 4C's. If some have the 4C's while others do not, then we get a system similar to a bullock cart that is pulled by one able bodied oxen and one one lame and lazy one. The cart is likely to move in a circle rather than moving forward. An administration manned by a mix of able officers and incompetent ones would most likely make it in a vicious circle!

Incompetent officers would allow their non-professional political leaders to assume and take over their functions. They would be too willing to oblige their non-professional political masters. That would cause the country to move towards collapse. It would be similar to the situation where the professional pilot of an aircraft allowing his employer and owner of the plane with no pilot licence to pilot the plane! A competent professional pilot would not allow his owner employer for such an experiment even when his employer commands him for compliance in abusive language! That is because the professional has enough courage and competence to face such situations. 

Regrettably such situations are happening in India for quite some time. That is causing the government machinery to under perform. Fortunately, the government machinery is not like an aircraft. Its failure to catastrophe may not happen in a few minutes. It would take some years!

The constitutional architects of India, while ensuring selection of people with higher Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and cleverness as a measure of their competencies did not place equal importance for the other three C's, character, courage and compassion.

The effect is a gradual slip and degradation of professionalism in the elite class officers of Indian government. Soon some of those kinds would find their positions in the selection boards to make things slip from bad to worse!

India is now a country of favoritism. True professionals are no more preferred to occupy the top professional posts of governance. 

Incompetent professionals due to their incompetence are afraid of competent juniors. Only competent ones can be mentors of competent subordinates. Hence, incompetent professionals who head top hierarchies would knowingly or unknowingly cause incompetency to perpetuate in the governmental organizations.

As time passes, the whole system would saturate with incompetent people.

And that would be the time when the system collapse totally.

A new republic with a new constitution would likely emerge! Else there could be emergence of many republics!

I am not telling this. That is what history teaches us. 

If that is not to happen, what is required to be done is not so difficult to understand.

Hope you could get what I meant.

Escaping from the 'God-dog' Syndrome !

A person inducted as a responsible link in any organisational set up would immediately land in to a very complex behavioural situation. He or she is boss and subordinate to some one all at the same time ! An organisation regardless of its objective and purpose, is made up of an endless chain. But most people fail to understand this 'endless' characteristics of the organisation. What is apparent in an organisation is a powerful head with many weak tails, linked together by links of varying strengths and powers.

Human psychological trait is a mix of master-slave behaviours. Though both characteristics are essential for our survival, there is a danger of people forgetting this in built mechanism.

In an organisation when people are entrusted with various kinds of powers, they assume the role of the master or God. Those entrusted within their command then have to assume the role of the obedient servants. Some play their role as servants too well with unquestionable loyalty to their masters. In an organisation where a boss happens to have subordinates showing abnormal dog like loyalty there is a danger of the boss getting elevated to a pseudo psychic level of a god. The boss starts thinking as the god of all that he or she surveys!

The danger starts from this. Organisational career growth is a lure built in the system to exploit the ambition of people to move from the servant to master levels. But it works for only immature people who are so gullible and foolish into forgetting their real individual nature when someone praise them meaninglessly or award them with a temporary title of a 'higher' post.

So for all individuals in an organisation the 'god-dog' syndrome develops to varying degrees. For those at the top levels the god characteristics most prominent infront of those below. But unfortunately for this 'god' to maintain his or her  status as 'god' a higher level of 'dog' nature has to be exhibited infront of his or her boss. Thus the god-dog trait has to be highest at the highest levels. Such a situation makes these unfortunate fellows at the top organisational levels always in a pseudo mind set which makes them forget about their true self.

Many such pseudo gods face the 'fish-out-of-water' situation when they are out from the organisation by retirement or retrenchment.

Their life becomes pathetic at some point of time due to their earlier acquired pseudo god status with no 'dogs' to serve any more!

This syndrome is everywhere. But in the governmental organisations where 'gazetted' powers are more, the syndrome is more damaging. Damaging the true self of the individuals.

Organisations are made for the benefit of all individuals in the society and are groupings of conveniences for societal order and development.

As the society develops with all people contributing to a common cause, all individuals will become part of some organisation or many organisations at the same time.

They will have to play the roles of the master and the slave all at the same time.

But role plays should not change the true self.

But for immature individuals it is very difficult to realise the realities of life.

If they learn to escape from pseudo life situations such as the god-dog syndrome, it will do much good to them, to their family and the society all at the same time.

[Reproduced from the Author's Blog at SiliconIndia Website]

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