The Hindu Business Line : Clean water through a dirty business deal

STORY so far: I am excited about going to the polling booth and exercising my right to vote. However, what puzzles me is extensive apathy among the educated when it comes to participating in democracy. I wonder if they have lost their interest in governance.

Episode 77

Every vote has a cost, but does it have value? For that question posed last week, there are quite a few responses. "Hello Swati," writes Priya. "As citizens of our country, this is the only time where we can have a say in the political system.

"It is indeed very sad to know that many among the educated are reluctant to exercise it. Reasons could be many. One reason is that the failure to deliver what had been promised by the people elected. Once they come to power they always distinguish themselves as leaders unapproachable. Basic problems of the society are not solved.

"When leaders show indifference, the educated realise that their problems are to be solved through their own grit and hard work; then, they show apathy to voting. Whatever it is, every person's vote is counted and it is the duty of the citizens to cast it and at least abide by the rights given to us by the Constitution. Otherwise aren't they (people who do not vote) too showing negligence?" Quite true.

"Yes, mam, votes do have value," says Kamal Anil Kapadia of PwC, Mumbai. "It is only because we don't vote that unwanted people get elected and rule the country! But, whom to vote for is always a main question?"

Then, there is the mail from my young friend Karthik Narayan: "This was my first ever vote in democratic India. And I exercised my franchise. My opinion on votes is: Yes, votes definitely have supreme value. Election comes up once in five years. Every vote counts. Each of us has the power to elect our representative. And it counts to the core. It gives us a feeling of satisfaction of having been educated in this world. It is our democratic right, no matter what comes out, and no matter what the politicians plot for our country.

"Some people think corruption can be rooted out just by not voting. I don't agree with it at all. I think most of the readers will echo my views. Anyway, u dint tell me anything abt u at all... do tell me. Lotsa love."

Thangavelu is one of the senior correspondents: "Dear Swati, yes, votes have immense value, both tangible and intangible. See the AP results; however technically savvy you are, your feet should be on the ground. Often, high-fliers crash-land. For a common voter, it is an invaluable thing, which he exercises once in five years (usually), to register his appreciation, disappointments or anger, voting in or booting out respectively." Interesting analysis!

"The upper middle class and rich people are not interested in the democratic process for the following reasons: Whoever comes, their business activities or their earnings are not hampered; too lazy to come and stand in the Q; it is below their dignity to stand along with slum dwellers and low caste people." How sad! "Only irony being even though we value our votes highly, you find some one votes your vote or your name is missing in the list. Finally my valuable positive vote to you for your question, for awakening us from the slumber."

Now, what does Mahadevan have to say: "Dear Swati, whether or not vote has got value can be realised only if every hon'ble citizen of our country decides to exercise his/her franchise. As usually said, politicians get elected by people who do not vote.

"We have to create a system whereby everyone votes mandatorily. Till then, only time will prove whether any value can be attached to our votes. One cannot be sure whether it will be a +ve value or - ve value. Whatever said and done, one thing I can say for sure. There is no need to declare a holiday on account of polls. It is an absolute national waste."

*********

Well, 2004 elections are part of history now, though the day when results poured in it was too much for viewers to take in. We are now silent spectators to the ongoing tussle for seats of power, even as our routine work gobbles up all our time.

And that is what happened during the week for me too. As you know, there is acute water scarcity, forcing people to find various ways to solve the problem. In our company too, as temperature soars, so does the outflow for water.

One afternoon, I sat with Chandru to analyse the expenses on this account and then pooled information on available alternatives. When I plugged in these numbers in a spreadsheet and calculated IRR to compare the options, it seemed that desalination could be cost effective, over the long run. I sent an e-mail to Gupta about my findings and sought his views. He called to say, "Swati, arrange a visit to a nearby location where they have a desalination plant. Let's go and see firsthand."

*********

Tan-K-Nee Co was only 30 km away and I had collected details about the installation there by doing a detailed search in Google. First I located a vendor in the business, and among its clients was this company not far away. I spoke to its company secretary Aduj, and evinced interest in seeing their solution. "No problem," he said. "Troublosky did the project for us and they were too good." I fixed the time as Friday, 3 p.m. for a visit, along with Gupta and boss if he was available.

*********

Aduj was at hand to receive us when we reached Tan-K-Nee. "You're doubly lucky," he said. "We have engineers from Troublosky for routine maintenance. I told them you're coming in to see their product." After about an hour, by when I had gathered enough engineering knowledge about water, its properties, cleaning process and so on, Gupta and I were asking engineers more questions.

The company's boss had come to the plant by then and was chatting with my boss some distance away. And it was then that I heard something shocking. The engineers were telling us how they almost got a government order but an official put a precondition. "To reduce the price?" I asked. "No," said the senior engineer. "He wanted us to hike the quote by 10 per cent, but pay him 20 per cent as kickback."

Then, the younger chap took over. He looked at Gupta and said in a hush: "We can negotiate."

I could see that Gupta was feeling disgusted. And a chill went down my spine. One can have all sorts of sophisticated plants to clean up dirty water, but how does one clean up corruption in business deals? Send in your thoughts by Friday.

(To be continued)

Swati_CA@hotmail.com

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Forget CA after five failures midway

What we don't see at RoC

Clean water through a dirty business deal

Activity does not automatically translate into productivity

Too little stress can be stressful too

Cartoon corner