introduction to indian ethos and values

8/7/2019 introduction to indian ethos and values

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Indian Ethos and values

CA V Sreeraman


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Before we proceed

Business is meant for profits nodoubt But do we agree that profit motiveover rides all other issues like the meansto earn the same.

We all respect some business houses butdo we really look into how they operate.Consider the following examples.


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Cas e 1 -Is tob a cco

b a d? British American Tobacco and Philip Morrisknowingly lied about a product tobacco

that led to addiction and killed their customers. The World Health Organizationestimates four million people die yearlyfrom tobacco- related illness. No-one hasbeen tried for this conscious infliction of terrible hurt.


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Cas e 2 - Is hum an

life v a luele ss ? Johns-Manville and the Cape Companyknowingly exposed millions of people to

poisonous asbestos. Some 18 per cent of serious exposures are estimated to resultin life-threatening disease. They lied togovernments and workers as they chasedprofits at the expense of life. No-one hasbeen charged with a criminal offence.


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Cas e 3 - Ca re for

other s .The manufacturer AH Robins knew that itsintrauterine contraceptive device would let

loose organ-affecting bacteria wheninserted in women. Many miscarriages andsome deaths later, they went intobankruptcy but no-one was ever prosecuted for this willful infliction of harm .


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Cas e 4- Surpri s ing

Nestl hustled women in poor countries to usetheir powdered milk, instead of breast milk.

When the powder was mixed with impure water,large numbers of babies got sick. Some died. If Nestl did not comprehend this at first,protesters brought it to their attention.

Yet they persisted in their quest for profits at thecost of babies lives for many years .


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Cas e 5 -You too.

Ford made a Pinto car that exploded ontouch. It had known this could happen, but

preferred not to cut into its profits byrecalling the car paying damages to theburnt victims was cheaper.

No-one was ever convicted for thesedeaths by immolation.


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Cas e 6 - O n our ow n

g rou n d Just before dawn on 3 June, 1997, police officersforcibly entered the homes of several women in

Veldur, a fishing village in western India,dragged them into waiting police vans and beatthem with sticks. The only crime committed bythese women was to lead a peaceful protestagainst the environmental impact of Enronsmassive new Dabhol natural-gas plant beingbuilt near Veldur.


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C ruelty.

According to Amnesty International, one of the women who was arrested in 1997 was

Sugandha Vasudev Bhalekar a 24-year-oldhousewife whose husband, BabaBhalekar, was a known leader of theprotests.At the time of the arrest she was threemonths pregnant.


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H a r s h re a lity

She testified to the Judicial Magistrate: Ataround five in the morning, when I was in thebathroom, several male police with batons intheir hands forcibly entered the house andstarted beating members of [my] family whowere asleep.... the police forcibly opened thedoor and dragged me out of the house into thepolice van parked on the road.


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P olice Atrocity

[While dragging me] the police kept

beating me on my back with batons. Thehumiliation meted out to the other members of my family was similar to theway I was humiliated... My one-and-a-half-year-old daughter held on to me, but thepolice kicked her away.


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L a w an d order!

A January 1999 report by Human Rights Watch (HRW)investigators found that Enron was directly payingpolice salaries.

Police Sub-Inspector PG Satoshe, who was in charge of thisoperation, told HRW that Enron was picking up the tab for policing Dabhol. I calculate the number of officers thereand according to the (government set) rates, submit areport to the superintendent of police in Ratnagiri... I donot handle any money. The company pays directly tothe Government.


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W h a t do a ll the s e

me an Is there something called Doing business theright way?If so, how can one define as to what is the rightway?.Can this be prescribed by man made laws andstrictly supervised ?

Are these instances reflective of issues whereinindividuals concerned must have strong urge tohave concern for others without getting worriedabout why and what of it?


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W e do h a ve an

ans wer.Indians take pride in having propounded to theworld the principles of Dharma

Dharma distinguishes between neeti andnyayaNeeti refers to the enactments of legislaturesthat regulate public conduct while Nyaya refers

to the criterion of person action, of what a manshould do by himself and for himself i.e.individual morality.


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C ode of co n duct

Hierarchy is established as follows-Vedas

SrutiSmritiConduct of those who know SmritiVirtuous actions of good people who are pure inheartIntimation of pure conscience


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C o n clu s io n .

This land, Bharatvarsha is a spiritual landwhere religion is one based on

experience and not one based on study. Whatever Dharmas we have acquiredtoday have all come down to us as a result

of experience and not as a result of bookish knowledge. Upanishad says Satyam vada, Dharmam Chara


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In di an etho s .

Plain living and High Thinking

Dharma is the root of our religious tree;bhakti and jnana are its flowers and fruits.

Strength is life; Weakness is death. It istruth alone that gives strength


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In di an etho s

Reforming the lives of people through advice, either spoken or written, or even through propaganda may havea temporary effect; but not lasting benefit.

Anything achieved through pressure will disappear themoment the pressure is withdrawn.The Hinduism has seen spiritual leaders who havesucceeded in revolutionizing thought because they lived

in their own life what they preached; Sri RamakrishnaParamahamsa, Sri Ramana Maharishi, Sri Aurobindo,..the list is illustrious!

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