All through this blog I want the reader to understand that I do regard that the revelations made by Mr Raju are extremely shocking and shameful. However, I through this blog want to look beyond the most superficial layer and understand the human being before we brand him “FRAUD”. The issue is not as simple as identifying black from white. There are a lot of things that need to be assimilated before jumping to conclusions.
I would like people to understand that the mess that has been uncovered by Mr Raju is not his responsibility alone. It is a collective failure of the team of management that comprises of the Board of Directors and the Senior Management; and the Auditors from PWC. Then why is Mr Raju alone being made the scapegoat?
There are 2 sets of people I am completely not comfortable trusting when it comes to disemmenating information to the general public:
1. Media
2. Politicians
Let me explain why:
Media - I was watching a news channel and was thoroughly annoyed on seeing pictures of Mr Ramalinga Raju crossed over in bright red with FRAUD written in striking bold. This is a very cheap methodology that sadly the Media all over the world ,more so in India is practicing. In their attempt to sensationalize news they resort to techniques that play with the minds of the audiences. The images and stereotypes are brought down to such low IQ levels that people who don’t even know Mr. Ramalinga Raju or Satyam still manage to absorb them. In these times of gossip loving, where idiotic shows like “Big Boss” are the best shows on TV ,criticizing and ridiculing a man of Mr Raju's cadre sells like hot property. This ideally shouldnt be the way the issue is dealt.
Politicians – If there is one political party that has benefitted from Satyam it has to be the TDP. Mr Raju and the ex chief minister N Chandra Babu Naidu were the ones that were responsible for giving the CYBERABAD picture to Hyderabad and sadly there is a news item in which Chandra Babu Naidu says that the Satyam scam was known to the existing Congress Government. The newbie from Praja Rajyam Mr Chiranjeevi says Congress Government is responsible for the fiasco. Every politician pitching in is just in it for mudslinging and gaining political mileage in the process.
Let me remind all these easily forgettable idiots the good that this man has done.
1. Satyam was founded in the year 1987 at a time when many people didn’t know what a computer is, and it now employs 53000 thereby providing them livelihood.
2. The Cyberabad alias for Hyderabad is most often attributed to N Chandra Babu Naidu, with this man's significance always being underplayed. His office was one of the first one's in the Hi-Tec City and so were the contracts.
3. Satyam has started a 108, 104 ambulance operation across 8 states 24x7x365 with the support of the respective governments.
4. If you sit on the Seshadri train from Bangalore to Kakinada you’ll pass through a town by the name “Bhimavaram” in West Godavari district that raised to prominence because of the Byrraju family though not Mr Raju alone.
5. The Byrraju foundation under Mr Raju has ensured that there is a continous water supply in the West Godavari district.
The list is not endless for sure but it runs beyond the number of times the politicians and the media must have thought about the common folk.
The whole plea of mine behind stating all these facts is that the issue is being blown out of proportion by the media and all irrelevant people are trying to take advantage of the situation. There are procedures that the situation demands like putting Mr Raju through a perfect trial but besmirching him is certainly not what he deserves.
I agree that people like Mr Narayana Murthy, Azim Premji , Dhirubhai Ambani are people who brought fame to the country but let me remind you that Mr Raju belongs to that elite list. Satyam is the 4th biggest IT company in India in which IT forms a major contributor to the GDP.
Finally I end requesting everybody to form an impression of him only after understanding him and the fiasco completely.
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PS : As is the case generally I'd like to dedicate this blog ,this time to my younger brother's gtalk status message that read -
The man made a mistake but let’s not forget he has given life to close to 53,000 employees and their families, he made a mistake but he did'nt do it just for his own sake.
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Friday, January 9, 2009
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Terrorism strikes at the Gateway of India - My thoughts
India is going through a very crucial phase economically. The Inflation rate is just getting back to normalcy,although at the cost of the GDP growth rate. The global financial crisis has impacted the financial situation of the country and the RBI is trying its best to restore credit stability into the system. But, Terrorism worsening the efforts is the last thing that India would ever want.
Several attacks spread across the length and breadth of the country and a major terrorist operation that lasted as long as 60 hrs, does raise a question against the lackadaisical attitude of the policy and decision makers. Most of us would agree that in order to get these things into control we need a government that can create a system which should be assertive in suppressing terrorism. That said and understood, there are a few key aspects beyond the democratic setup that have fallen apart which need to be focused before drawing action plans for the future. They are:
1. The weakness of the relations we have with the Pakistani Government - The root of a lot of problems pertaining to peace and religion faced today have their roots in Pakistan. The terrorists have been proved to have Pakistani Origin. The Pakistani Government's non co-operative acts like sending an ISI Director and not wanting to send the Chief add to the misery of the relation. The mud slinging by politicians in Pakistan on their Indian counterparts by claiming that similar attacks have been planned against Pakistan as well ,worsens the little respect we have for each other. All we can infer from this political drama is that peaceful co-operation amidst the neighbours on issues like terrorism is impossible.
2. The negligence of the Indian Intelligence System - With all due respect to the CBI, an attack of this size and duration cannot come as a surprise package to the Indian Intelligence and it in fact did not. If the media is to be trusted as a source it claims that the CBI had information that the Taj would be attacked. But, the seriousness associated with the information died with time. As the attention faded the terrorists had actually utilized this time to such an extent that they had a dry run before the execution.
3. The vulnerability of the Sea Shore - The terrorists apparently hijacked a vessel in the Indian waters, killed everybody on board and used it to enter the city. A lot of these terrorists have fake fishermen licenses which help them enter the city through the harbours. Issues like this expose the vulnerability at the sea ports of the country and more because its a peninsular region with a vast sea border.
4. Business relations - Targeting foreigners is not something new but targeting people who stay in these hotels implies that the intent was to shake well established business relations and damage the country's reputation in the world of business. Trade relations of a few major Indian companies with Israel(majorly Jewish nation) seem to be another interesting reason sited for the attacks. Isn't the India - Pak - Iran Gas pipeline a much bigger proposition than these deals? Why is that being pushed into oblivion?
5. The extremely weak security system - The security guards outside the Taj were armed with service revolvers and were facing an attack without protection ,let alone bullet proof jackets. This makes the attack simpler once the border is breached.
As pointed out at the begin of the blog, the phase that India currently exists shall be etched in the pages of history as a lot of momentum is being gathered to bring the country from the shadows to the forefront. All these weaknesses need to be done away with ASAP. For as long as all these issues aren't addressed properly the dream of attaining superpower status by 2050 will stay a dream.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PS : The blog would be meaningless without paying tribute to all those people that have lost their lives safeguarding us, so we can brood over these things and fight for a better country. "May all their souls rest in peace. Amen !"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Several attacks spread across the length and breadth of the country and a major terrorist operation that lasted as long as 60 hrs, does raise a question against the lackadaisical attitude of the policy and decision makers. Most of us would agree that in order to get these things into control we need a government that can create a system which should be assertive in suppressing terrorism. That said and understood, there are a few key aspects beyond the democratic setup that have fallen apart which need to be focused before drawing action plans for the future. They are:
1. The weakness of the relations we have with the Pakistani Government - The root of a lot of problems pertaining to peace and religion faced today have their roots in Pakistan. The terrorists have been proved to have Pakistani Origin. The Pakistani Government's non co-operative acts like sending an ISI Director and not wanting to send the Chief add to the misery of the relation. The mud slinging by politicians in Pakistan on their Indian counterparts by claiming that similar attacks have been planned against Pakistan as well ,worsens the little respect we have for each other. All we can infer from this political drama is that peaceful co-operation amidst the neighbours on issues like terrorism is impossible.
2. The negligence of the Indian Intelligence System - With all due respect to the CBI, an attack of this size and duration cannot come as a surprise package to the Indian Intelligence and it in fact did not. If the media is to be trusted as a source it claims that the CBI had information that the Taj would be attacked. But, the seriousness associated with the information died with time. As the attention faded the terrorists had actually utilized this time to such an extent that they had a dry run before the execution.
3. The vulnerability of the Sea Shore - The terrorists apparently hijacked a vessel in the Indian waters, killed everybody on board and used it to enter the city. A lot of these terrorists have fake fishermen licenses which help them enter the city through the harbours. Issues like this expose the vulnerability at the sea ports of the country and more because its a peninsular region with a vast sea border.
4. Business relations - Targeting foreigners is not something new but targeting people who stay in these hotels implies that the intent was to shake well established business relations and damage the country's reputation in the world of business. Trade relations of a few major Indian companies with Israel(majorly Jewish nation) seem to be another interesting reason sited for the attacks. Isn't the India - Pak - Iran Gas pipeline a much bigger proposition than these deals? Why is that being pushed into oblivion?
5. The extremely weak security system - The security guards outside the Taj were armed with service revolvers and were facing an attack without protection ,let alone bullet proof jackets. This makes the attack simpler once the border is breached.
As pointed out at the begin of the blog, the phase that India currently exists shall be etched in the pages of history as a lot of momentum is being gathered to bring the country from the shadows to the forefront. All these weaknesses need to be done away with ASAP. For as long as all these issues aren't addressed properly the dream of attaining superpower status by 2050 will stay a dream.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PS : The blog would be meaningless without paying tribute to all those people that have lost their lives safeguarding us, so we can brood over these things and fight for a better country. "May all their souls rest in peace. Amen !"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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