Business of Freedom

Some of the best slogans / punch lines written almost a century back still ignite passion among us Indians. For example, 'Inquilab Zindabad' (Muhammad Iqbal), 'Vande Mataram' (Bankim Chandra Chatterjee), 'Swaraj is my birth right and I shall have it' (Lokmanya Balgangadhar Tilak), Give me your blood, I will give you freedom (Subhash Chandra Bose),' et cetera.

Some of the best organized events till date are the Dandi March, the bomb explosion by Bhagat Singh in the Legislative Assembly without killing anyone, etc.

After going through the works from the year 1800 to 1950 (management as a concept also started along with industrial development during the same time), it is obvious that India, to a great extent, missed out on the Industrial Revolution because most of the available talent in India put all its energy into the Independence movement, sacrificing all else in the process.

In short, the talent of that period opted for the 'business of freedom' rather than for the 'business of profit.' Let us look at the example of food shortage which has shaken the nation along with the terrorism.

When Lal Bahadur Shastri became the Prime Minister of India, the most important item on the nation's agenda besides defense, was food. He reminded the nation that dependence on food imports undermined the country's self confidence and self respect and gave the nation a new slogan - ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan'. On 21st September 1964, Shastri government decided to implement a Five year Defence Plan for enhancing the strength of India's defence force by March 1969 to -

• i. an army of 825000 men, and
• ii. an air force of 45 squadrons of modern fighter aircraft.

For the first time the country had a clear plan to move towards the requisite level of defense capability.

Shastri had accepted that the only possible means of satisfying India's rapidly increasing food needs was for Indians to invest more of their own resources in agriculture. Shastri overruled the then Finance Minister T. T. Krishnamachari and accepted Agriculture minister C. Subramaniam's proposal to increase the procurement price for food grains.

This was Lal Bahadur Shastri, who could not only understand and analyse the problem, but also work on it to come up with a solution that would benefits the country in the long run. This resulted in combining the twin strengths for the long term success of India as a country, viz. Defence and Agriculture.

Shastri had identified the ‘Core Competence' of India, a word, a concept coined by the management guru C. K. Prahlad (b. 1941) for corporate. ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan' perfectly clears the check list which will qualify it as the right analysis of the core competence of India, i.e. Bharat.

He knew India can not import food for 60 million people in those days (it is true even today) and the whole world put together will not be able to feed 60 million people. India had to be self sufficient in food production. Much admired Green Revolution was Shastri's gift to nation. He also understood the India's geographical location and need of strong defense.

By "Jai Jawan Jai Kissan" Shastri had not only defined India's "Core-Competence" but also has seen the Indians as human being while "Bottom of Pyramids" look at then as consumers alone.

Reading the works of any leader of Independence movement is like touching the soul of India. These individuals' thoughts and actions provide insights into ways and means of managing people, regarded as the most important resource of any society or organization

One will be amazed with strands that run parallel between Management Guru's and Freedom Fighter's thoughts. The idea is not to say that one copied it from the other; but idea is to bring out the art and contextual part of management.

The book Business of freedom is an interesting read with many more similar examples and learnings which can be used in business even today.

Sandeep Singh, Author of "Business of Freedom" and conducts leadership training programs based on "Bhagwad Gita and Freedom Fighters". Sandeep Singh email : sandeepconsultant@gmail.com  and phone no is 9967135000.