<div>Raghav Jaikar is perhaps one of those ‘lucky’ few who have someone like Ramakant Joshi to take up the fight for them. The rest would not stand a chance in the face of this blatant discrimination on the part of the financing organisation. There are several million who have to suffer in silence.<br /><br />We are likely one of the largest discriminators against our own people. Which means that approximately 80-90 per cent of our 1.2-billion population could be in the chappals of Raghav, having to defend themselves against a type of violence that has to be seen to be believed. Staggering numbers. Staggering violation of basic principles of business.<br /> <br />A simple man that he is, his ire is turned towards Lord Ganesh. Aware that he is a victim and this discrimination is real, he still insists on believing that his God will protect him from this. His anger then is the small discovery that this may actually not happen.<br /><br />Our country, our mess. In reality it’s not God we need to turn to but ourselves. But the odds are stacked against a properly functioning democracy. As long as the powerful have the tacit backing of the government, they can do anything. And in this they share a ‘symbiotic’ relationship (each grows from the other’s efforts).<br /><br />This perverted relationship has to do with curtailing or restricting one’s awareness as a necessary condition for survival. It produces the Raghav kind of condition: cheated, distraught, penniless. Whereas a true symbiosis would have produced harmony.<br /><br />Raghav turns to Lord Ganesh for a very simple reason. He, or for that matter anyone else in his chappals, would do the same. The regulatory authorities, under the auspices (read protection) of the government, appear to have abdicated their responsibility of protecting the interests of all concerned, while upholding what is legitimate.<br /><br />The financiers and their goons can clearly do what they believe is right because they know that there is no authority to stop them. The theme is a common one. We see it over and over again. In this case, it is the loan providers. But we can replace that with any key service provider. For example, education: all kinds of educational organisations mushroom, regardless of the values they embody. Infrastructure: Sixty-plus years since independence and the road system is woefully inadequate. Energy: the market is known to be dominated by the oil mafia. The way these sectors work is no different from the means used by the underworld. This all-pervasive fractionated, hydra-headed mafia is the one that rules the roost. The first victim is the lowest, often referred to strangely as the ‘weakest’ sections, in the pecking order. The next, perhaps, is higher up.<br /><br />The mafia creates its own rules — comply or die; regulates how things move; enforces, naah, forces compliance via subtle to not so subtle coercion. In Raghav’s case we see this form of strong-arm, intimidating tactics that try and create compliance. Conquering armies are known to use these tactics to viciously dominate the conquered. Do we have internal armies that conquer our very own people? And in the midst of this, the elected authority looks the other way. Clearly, the elected authority does not have the leadership. Which really means that the loan providers are ‘allowed’ to take the law into their hands. The public cannot do anything, and nor can the elected party. If they do, they may stand to lose valuable income.<br /><br />Who provides the actual direction? Where do we want our society to go? Leadership is what leadership does. How can we define leadership so that it does what we would like it to do? How do we provide hardworking people like Raghav a sense of security and confidence that they can grow and flourish? <br /><br /><em>The author is a psychologist-psychoanalyst who works as the Coaching Talent Manager for Center for Creative Leadership, APAC. He is based in Singapore</em><br /><br />(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 22-04-2013)</div>
