Democracy...?

In management lessons we used to listen to various stories from around the world that tried to teach us one management principle or other. There were 3 stories regarding a Shoe company with different circumstances and, obviously, varying morals. Today I remember the story of the Japanese Shoe company where the workers decided to go on strike as their demands were not considered.

Being the most industrious and creatively productive citizens of all, these Japanese workers invented a new kind of strike that taught a lesson to the world about constructive protesting. What they did was incredible – they didn’t closed down the production units nor did they stop the work as the production contributing to nation’s GDP should not be hampered, let alone shouting defaming slogans or vandalizing. They continued the work as usual manufacturing same number of shoes as they did with a little difference though – they made shoe for only one foot in double quantity. If they were making 100 pairs of shoes per day, they made 200 shoes for a single, say left foot.

This simply meant the productivity of the unit was maintained but the product was not marketable as the factory couldn’t market only one shoe as there would be no takers except for the rare ones who have lost their one foot in some accident. The dispute had to settle one way or other, no matter how long would it take, as the society runs on a fair exchange policy and those workers would make the same quantity of shoes for the other, say right foot when things are settled between them and management.

Wherever there is exchange, give and take transaction, dispute may arise, it is inevitable. Nobody has any right to underestimate the lawful right of other party to make it a fair exchange. And whenever a situation of disagreement arrives, there’s no harm in protesting for your demands, provided those are legitimate. Nevertheless, the way and manner in which such protest is carried out shows the culture and maturity of that civilization.

Democracy is the relatively better system of governance in today’s world and its principle virtue lies in granting freedom of expression to its people, no doubt. Every citizen of democracy has a right to have an opinion, express it and make it public, if the need be. However this same right is one side of the coin and the other side is the responsibility, responsibility towards their countrymen. The coin of ‘right’ always has ‘responsibility’ on other side and ‘being worthy of democracy’ is the ‘edge’ of that coin. One has to mature to a certain level to earn the right as well as the responsibility, nothing is granted!

Our National Pledge has three important lines that nobody should forget ever –

‘I shall always strive to be worthy of it’;

‘To my country and my people, I pledge my devotion’ and

‘In their well-being and prosperity alone, lies my happiness.’

What makes bringing up all this today? Well, being a conscientious, sensitive and socially responsible proud citizen of my Nation, I just can’t stand even the thought of slightest damage to the National property, let alone destroying, smashing or wrecking up anything that belongs to anybody, even a crook.

This week started with the protest and strike of the dairy farmers of Maharashtra is all over the news. There could be disagreements between Government and these dairy farmers and they might have some legitimate demands that they want to be considered. It is completely agreeable that they have all the right to protest for their demands and even get down to streets to seek attention of the system, but is that wasteful protest necessary? Why do you need to spill gallons of milk on the road? Particularly when we are ranked 97 in the Global Hunger Index based on Child Undernourishment and Child Mortality, in the league of Sub-Saharan countries. And top of that, how can anybody do it cheerfully with such a pleasurable enthusiasm, beats me! Just check out the photo...

Germany, known for its excellence in automobile, is the leading European country in terms of growing economy and GDP. However Germans are very keen about their Common Resources and National Property. Here’s an account of experience of an Indian while her visit to Germany –

“When I arrived at Hamburg, my colleagues who work in Hamburg arranged a welcome party for me in a restaurant. As we walked into the restaurant, we noticed that a lot of tables were empty. There was a table where a young couple was having their meal.

There were only two dishes and two cans of beer on the table. I wondered if such a simple meal could be romantic, and whether the girl will leave this stingy guy. There were a few old ladies at another table. When a dish is served, the waiter would distribute the food for them and they would finish every bit of the food on their plates. We did not pay much attention to them, as we were looking forward to the dishes we ordered. As we were hungry, our local colleague ordered more food for us.

As the restaurant was quiet, the food came quite fast. Since there were other activities arranged for us, we did not spend much time dining nor did we consume the entire food that we had ordered. When we left, there was still about one third of the unconsumed food left on the table.

When we were about to leave the restaurant, we heard someone calling us. We noticed that the old ladies in the restaurant were talking about us to the restaurant owner. When they spoke to us in English, we understood that they were unhappy about us wasting so much food. We immediately felt that they were really being too busybodies. ‘We have paid for the food that we had ordered, it is none of your business how much food we left behind,’ my colleague told the old ladies.

The old ladies were furious. One of them immediately took her hand phone out and made a call to someone. Within a few minutes, a man in uniform claimed to be an officer from the Social Security Organization arrived. Upon knowing what the dispute was, he issued us a 50 euro fine. We kept quiet. My local colleague took out and gave him a 50 euro note and repeatedly apologized to the officer.

The officer told us in a stern voice, ‘Order what you can consume, the money is yours, but resources belong to the society. There are many others in the world, who are facing shortage of resources. You have no right to waste the nation’s resources.’

Our face turned red. We all agreed with him in our hearts. The mindset of people of this rich country put all of us to shame. We really need to reflect on this. My colleague took copies of the fine ticket and gave a copy to each of us as a souvenir. This will always remind us that we shall never be wasteful."

By the way, the Japanese and Germans might have shown their commitment and devotion for their respective nation’s productivity and resources, it’s not all gloomy picture at home. The same Maharashtra that is witnessing the wrath of dairy farmers on the date also hosts Mendha Lekha – the first and only village of just 500 population that fought a long peaceful fight to retain their democratic rights and set an example for the world of how a unified effort of a society can have its way to win its almost autonomous local self governance system for living democratically in letter and spirit within a sovereign state by completely respecting and regarding the national constitution of an independent nation. Have a look –