Individual Assignment

Report submitted in partial fulfillment of the course SCEB (2012-13) Socio Cultural Environment of Business

To Prof. Mukul Vasavada Ms. Laxmi Kumbhar

By Aravind Maddireddy
(Section C, PGP12151)

Jan 1, 2012

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

As an Indian, I have always been proud of Nagarjunas philosophical arguments, Harsas philanthropic leadership, Gargis searching questions, Carvakas reasoned skepticism, Arya Bhaata, Ramanujan and Abul Fazl[1] amongst a plethora of other things to be proud of being part of the Indian identity. But, a first-hand observation of the ubiquitous struggles of the marginalized along with multiple forms of social asymmetry often resulting in brutalities and bloodshed all around me transfused within me a deep anguish born out of disenchantment as well as shame at my apathy towards humanitarian struggles and the willful ignorance of the disappearance of Akbars tolerant and egalitarian pluralism. Jonathan Glover says: to function as a restraint against atrocity, the sense of moral identity most of all needs to be rooted in human responses, mainly the tendency to respond to people with certain kinds of respect, and sympathy: caring about the miseries and the happiness of others[2]. The disillusionment from the construct of this course has emphasized this central importance of emotions in my future role as a manager and a responsible citizen. Amartya Sen writes: Identity is a quintessentially plural concept, with varying relevance of different identities in distinct contexts. It is, therefore, of paramount importance to do a deeper evaluation of the identity crises that empower these disparities as they shall dictate my future mandate as a socially relevant manager. The concept of discovered identity vs. chosen identity and the exacting constraints to escape from the ascribed identity are often the sources of these outrages, and cannot be escaped as long as the assignment of priorities between identities is only a matter of discovery and recognition but not one of decision and demanding reason. The norm of acceptance of identities, and of participation leads to political equality but the denial of freedom to choose ones identity, as rightly concluded by Dr.B.R.Ambedkar, does not extend the political symmetry into promotion of social and economic equality. But the connection between democratic politics and resistance to social inequality is strong and can be made more effective through committed public action and participatory activities, thus transforming our current representative democracy plagued by vote-bank politics inspiring fear of the tyranny of democracy into a participatory or even a socialist democracy. It is the intermediation of democratic politics that makes the voices of dissent particularly effective in practical affairs. For example, counterarguments to the caste system which may have had intellectual force in early disputations might have negligible practical impact unless reflected in a politically effective voice and in constructive public discussions. One of the key issues in resolving identity-driven inequalities such as class, gender, caste and community is complementarity and interrelation rather than the independent functioning of different disparities that work in seclusion. Class has a staggering influence on the impacts of caste and gender. Therefore, it is only by providing dual recognition of the role and reach of class taking into account its non-uniqueness as well as its transformational function can incidences like naxalism can be mitigated. We have to recognize, simultaneously, that class is neither the only concern, nor an adequate proxy for other forms of inequality, and yet we do need class analysis to see the working and reach of other forms of inequality and differentiation[1].

Thus, the functional mandate of governments and civil society must not only encompass a broadened scope of identities but must be matched by the proactive involvement of private business and industry to present more normative solutions to these structural problems plaguing Indian democracy and society. As Prof. Anil Gupta observes in reference to the recent protests against the gross display of exploitation of gender inequality on the streets of Delhi, Why doesnt the government let people protest peacefully? I wish the mandarins realize that these protests are an opportunity to bring about change in the basic character of the society, Governments should realize the true argumentative tradition of Indians and closeness of the freedom of speech to the purest form of democracy, and that it is only through enhanced participation of the civil society that social and economic inequity can be decreased. This participation and synchrony also ensures that dangerous policy decisions promoting friendly-fire, such as food policy which created the worst undernourishment and the largest unused food stocks in the world as well as the policy of high wages to school teachers reinforcing the class barriers and social distance between the teachers and the poorer children, thus impairing the delivery of school education, are countervailed. In fact, it is through this participation and crucial scrutiny that the recent initiative of cooked mid-day meals scheme emerged which has the potential to address the twin problems of child undernourishment and school-absenteeism, clearly evident from the responses of both students and teachers at a school served by Akshaya Patra, during my field visit. This course has armed me with an understanding of how more socially beneficial policies can be formed while ensuring optimal returns from a business perspective. I came to understand that business propositions and projects only work so far as the social inequalities causing problems like naxalism or separatism in Andhra Pradesh are mitigated by efforts from both private players as well as governments. [Word count: 880]

References: [1] An Argumentative Indian, Amartya Sen [2] Moral history of the twentieth century, Jonathan Glover