BUSINESS ASHRAMA: A UNIQUE ISLAND OF ETHICS

Just the other day I was having a casual chat with our HR Head over the issue of Business Ethics and the relevance of the ancient concept of ‘dharma’ in modern day businesses. He happened to mention about a small Indian Company located in Belgaum in Karnataka known as Polyhydron. Frankly, I had heard about the company for the first time, but what he told me after that struck a deep chord in me and thereafter I did a lot of looking up and reading on the company and the unique system of unparalleled (at least in India) business ethics followed by it. This whole article is about this business unit which can be described as a symbol of honesty and ethical practices- a true "Business Ashrama".

The company had modest beginnings in 1987 when the Late Suresh Hundre, established this unit and was its CMD until his demise in 2013. In his own words he envisioned the company to be “a place for grooming karmayogis based on an experiment of integrating spirituality with business which produces excellent results.”

The comprehensive Vision Statement of the company says: “We will create an island of excellence through focus on customer, employee-empowerment and continuous improvement. Polyhydron will nurture an ethically managed organisation. We will not exploit our customers, suppliers, government, society and nature”.

The company does conduct routine business activities like manufacturing, marketing, finance, HR etc. but with a refreshing difference. Be it any field of activity, the emphasis is on honesty, ethics and empowerment to the true sense of the words. In manufacturing, a worker on the shop-floor can reject a material if not found up to the mark and he is the final authority. While marketing their products no attractive concessions or discounts are offered to the customers and the stress is on quality and value for money. In FY 1995-96, the company’s turnover touched Rs.5.75 crores without offering any discounts and the company paid complete corporate tax of Rs.1.5 crores. The emphasis is not to save or steal tax and a tax consultant who offers to devise methods to ‘save’ tax is not welcome. The company rather takes pride in paying higher tax every year as the same is a true sign of their growth and continuous improvement.

I believe there is a sign board at the entrance of the company which says “We do not pay bribes”. There are numerous tales of Government Officials and Inspectors who were refused bribes and were asked to be absolutely forthcoming about their observations as the company decided to take the observations as a free critique and improve shortcomings rather than take them otherwise. This underlying policy in words of Late Mr Hundre is “Honesty is not the best policy. It is the only policy. We are honest, we are transparent and we do not pay any bribe.”

Management of the unit is simple. It is based on “mutual trust” and in the unit there are only two layers i.e. the management and the workers- there are no supervisory staff. All the employees are expected to be honest and follow ethical practices. Everybody in the organisation knows the figures of net profit, material cost, labor cost, tax paid to the government, excise paid, payments made to the suppliers etc. Even outsiders like government officials and customers have access to this information. Anybody in the organisation can challenge any voucher! There are no “debtors’ no “creditors”. Obviously there are no bad or doubtful debts. Suppliers are paid the moment the material is accepted and customers pay immediately on delivery.

This concept of “Business Ashrama’ and complete empowerment is unique as is the method by which Polyhydron distributes gains. The wealth created is first calculated and then 30% is shared with employees, 5% with shareholders, 1% with society and balance 64% remains in the business for growth. (of course, this is all after the payment of corporate tax as per existing rules)

With industries and corporations world-wide facing the problems of frauds, trust deficit and mismanagement, Polyhydron undoubtedly is an example of “Value-based Management” and a role model to the world in this ancient yet novel concept of spiritual management.

THE LEGEND OF BABA HARBHAJAN SINGH

Our Country is an ancient land with ancient legends. Tales of guardian shrines and  beliefs bordering the supernatural are  commonplace in India. Many of these legends are prevalent in mountains and in-hospitable locales, which more often than not have the brave soldiers of the Indian Army as their only residents. I had the good fortune of visiting one such shrine 3 years back- the shrine of Baba Harbhajan Singh- the unofficial guardian saint of the rugged land of Eastern Sikkim, which I visited last year. The legend of the Baba and his Shrine perched high up at the base of the famous Nathula Pass is one of simple faith and honest belief, which drives and motivates the men of the Indian Army guarding those dizzy heights. It is an amazing tale which I just could not resist sharing with the readers.

The tale begins on February 9, 1966 when Sepoy Harbhajan Singh got enrolled into the Punjab Regiment. Enlisted in the Army at an early age, the young soldier found himself posted on the misty heights of the Sino-Indian border near Nathula Pass. The year 1968 saw heavy rainfall and vicious floods in the region. On 4 October, 1968, while escorting a mule caravan from his battalion headquarters at Tukla to Deng Chukla, he fell into a fast- flowing stream and was washed away. The search for his body continued for a couple of days but was abandoned due to inclement weather.

Legend goes that a few days hence, Harbhajan Singh appeared in the dream of one of the Officers of his unit. In the dream, he informed his colleague that he was no longer alive and told him the exact spot where his body would be found. He asked him to construct a Samadhi at the spot where his body would be found. After saying that he would always patrol in the area and never give up being a soldier, he disappeared. The man woke up and dismissed the dream as a manifestation of his grief for Harbhajan Singh’s loss. It wasn’t until another member of the same unit had the same dream down to the last detail that suspicions were aroused. It seemed an incredible coincidence that two people could have dreamed the same sequence of events. When a search party was dispatched to the spot that had been described in the dream, late Sepoy Harbhajan Singh’s body was found. He was cremated with full military honours and a Samadhi was made at Chhokya Cho as per the wishes that he had expressed in his dream. The first part of the dream had been accurate and what about the second half about remaining a soldier forever? 

Soon reports of a man seen patrolling the area began filtering in. Soldiers deployed in the area would talk of a lone uniformed man on horse patrolling the region. Forces on the other side of the border confirmed these reports and claimed that they too had seen the ghost rider. Over the years, soldiers in the area began seeing Harbhajan Singh in their dreams where he instructed them of loopholes and unprotected areas from where the Chinese could attack. His instructions generally proved to be accurate and the legend of Baba Harbhajan Singh grew. 

Meanwhile, the popularity of the shrine was also growing. It gained significance as a religious spot and people came with the faith of having their problems solved or their infirmities cured by the Baba who had come back from the dead. The Samadhi dedicated to Harbhajan Singh consisted of a three room complex where a bed would be laid out for him and his uniform and boots would be displayed for the visitors. Caretakers of the Samadhi would swear that each morning the bed sheets would be crushed as if someone had slept in the bed the previous night and the carefully polished boots would be soiled and covered with mud.

Story also goes that the Baba was promoted posthumously and finally ‘retired’ a few years ago as a Honorary Captain. A pay check would be sent home to his mother in Kapurthala every month and more interestingly, he would go home on annual leave on September 14 every year. Soldiers would pack his trunk with basic essentials and ‘Capt Harbhajan’ would be accompanied by two soldiers all the way to Kapurthala by train and brought back after a month the same way. This tradition continued for many years until he ‘retired’.

The Samadhi dedicated to Harbhajan Baba is located amidst a beautiful panorama of high mountains broken in places by gushing waterfalls and dotted by multi-coloured shrubs. Taxi drivers and soldiers passing through the area generally stop at the Samadhi to pay obeisance to the revered Baba. Not doing so is supposed to bring bad luck. Devout believers from all over Sikkim and Bengal visit the Samadhi bringing the sick and the elderly in the hope of a miracle. They bring bottles of water and take back those lying there. It is believed that water left at the Samadhi over a period of time turns to holy water and is capable of curing ailments. In fact, I carried a few bottles back home including one for an ailing uncle.

In a society that is dictated by tradition and supported on the pillars of faith, it is not uncommon to find a legend of this kind. Perhaps the Chinese are just as devout as we are, because at the monthly flag meetings between the two nations at Nathula, even they set a chair aside for Harbhajan Baba!

As the red Chinese flag flaps in the icy winds next to the tricolour, a lone figure perhaps stands and watches- ever alert, ever watchful, ever zealous, and ever protective of his country’s honour. A zeal that has lasted beyond death!

THE NATIONAL WAR MEMORIAL OF INDIA: TOO LITTLE TOO LATE?

One afternoon about a 10 years ago, I happened to be travelling through the town of Tula about 200 km from Moscow. At the town centre was an impressive structure which quite looked like a military commemorative. I was pleasantly surprised to see little school children in smart uniforms lined up opposite the structure. Out of curiosity I told my driver Dmitri (who thankfully spoke some English) to stop, so that I could observe the proceeds. I suddenly saw as to what appeared to be a newlywed bride and groom come up to the structure and stand and bow in reverence. I was mystified and asked Dmitri as to what was going on. What he told me really warmed my heart as a soldier. The ‘structure’ was the local war memorial at Tula which commemorated all the soldiers form the region as well as all the Russians who died fighting in the famous ‘Battle of Moscow’ of World War II. As per local tradition in many cities of Russia, newly-weds always pay obeisance at the local war memorial immediately after the formalities at the church were over. Dmitri added that over 9 million Soviet soldiers and reservist males died defending the Fatherland in WW II, so much so that the number of women in the Soviet Union was much higher than the number of men after the Great War.  

It has been a decade past since that incident, but it all came back to me today, when there is talk going on in our country on a National War Memorial being approved for construction in New Delhi. Far from being elated, I was actually ashamed and saddened that the 67 years, 6 major conflicts and numerous insurgencies since independence do not seem to have awakened the Nation’s collective consciousness as a whole regarding the aspect of respecting the soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice in the defence of India. The demand for such a memorial should not be coming only from the armed forces but from the citizenry as a whole.

Whilst we have precious real estate in Delhi wasted so wantonly as memorials for politicians with dubious histories and almost zero National contribution, it has taken almost 7 decades for the Armed Forces to even reach the stage of ‘in principle’ approval of the Memorial. I daresay that even our colonial masters- the British had more gratitude for the Indian Soldier as is evident from beautiful and serene war memorials constructed for the soldiers of the British Indian Army in New Delhi (India Gate- which we continue to use as the adhoc National War Memorial), Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and Kohima in India and a number of other places overseas such as the Neuve Chapelle Memorial in France, Florence Memorial in Italy and so on.

Nothing can be more ironical than the fact that even today; India honours its war heroes by placing wreaths at a memorial that was added on to a relic of the British Raj. The Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate in New Delhi was and remains an after-thought rather than a true National War Memorial to honour the memory of more than 20,000 soldiers who have died on duty. Independent India’s rulers never thought it fit to erect a monument equally, if not grander than the India Gate, to honour the memory of our soldiers, airmen and sailors who died since 1947.

At the Amar Jawan Jyoti, we perfunctorily salute the ‘Unknown Soldier’ but fail to remember the soldiers who died battling India’s enemies. Each of them had a name, a face, a regimental identity. All that, and more, is obliterated by our half-hearted gestures. What remains is a sense of bitterness among the loved ones left behind by our men in uniform.

National War Memorial proposals have been made time and again but successive governments have dragged their feet. To add to this, there has been dogged resistance by the bureaucracy and the Delhi Urban Arts Commission and other such Anglophile forums which instinctively reject anything that may seem to alter the colonial vista of Lutyens’ New Delhi. The last time we heard about the proposal was more than two years ago when the then Defence Minister AK Antony stated hurdles in the way of building a National War Memorial had been removed. Since then there had been a pregnant silence until In July 2014 the Narendra Modi Government finally announced plans to construct a National War Memorial around the canopy in front of India Gate and a National War Museum in adjoining Princes Park. Whether this is another empty political rhetoric or truly a sincere promise- only time will tell.

The callous and insensitive attitude towards a National War Memorial by the Nation as a whole, has definitely left a deep feeling of hurt in those who gave their sons, daughters and loved ones to fight and die for the nation and also resulted in poor appreciation of their sacrifice amongst generations of Indians- totally opposite of the Russian example that I have quoted above. We are no doubt proud of our Armed Forces, but that by itself is not enough. It is time for us as a Nation to overtly express gratitude to our men and women in uniform. A grand National War Memorial in the National Capital to honour the martyrdom and perpetuate the memory of the martyrs would be a small token of acknowledging that debt of gratitude until then it will remain as a blot on our collective conscience as a people.