Gyan Sangam's PSU 'reform

In my last piece, I had raised just a few of the many questions that Prime Minister Narendra Modi could have asked bankers at the "Gyan Sangam" - the Bankers' Retreat in Pune. What came out of the meeting? In a mishmash of hyperbole and management jargon, the prime minister announced that this was the "first step towards catalysing transformation … informal discussions helped achieve meeting of minds, which in turn enabled strategic goal-setting".

The prime minister then went on to praise the banks in successfully implementing Jan Dhan Yojana, which he curiously claimed "would help redefine goal-setting among banks, due to enhanced confidence levels following the success of the programme". After this follow two of the most important statements of the meet.

First, the government banks would be run professionally, and there would be no interference. But accountability was essential, said the prime minister. According to him, "the government had no vested interest, and public sector bankscan derive strength from this fact".

Second, while there will be no political interference, it will continue to mean political intervention, "in the interest of the people". After all, "India is a democracy" where the voice of the common man has to reach such institutions. According to Mr Modi, this can happen only through "political intervention". In these words lies Narendra Modi's approach to running the public sector enterprises. If this government puts out a white paper on PSU (public sector undertakings) reforms ever (most unlikely), I think it would contain the following subtext:

• The government is in absolutely no hurry to bring down its stake and relinquish control over the PSUs or to give them complete freedom to operate.
• The PSUs will be given day-to-day functional "autonomy" even though they will be firmly tied to the apron strings of their respective ministries.
• The PSUs are extended arms of the state. Hence, they will be pressed into service to implement government policies and programmes such as Jan Dhan Yojana and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
• They will be made accountable for government policies, and their performance - possibly in that order.

The Modi government came to power in May 2014. The first Budget, two months later, was a disaster, set against the high hopes generated by Mr Modi's pre-election slogans on governance. Instead, to the surprise of Mr Modi's supporters who wanted to see a rapid dismantling of state enterprises that illogically continue to run businesses like airlines and hotels, the government has continued with the same principle - of PSUs being extended arms of the state.

At the Gyan Sangam, Mr Modi asked banks to move to the second phase of Jan Dhan - promote financial literacy by encouraging competitions in schools, much like mock Parliament competitions. He also instructed the public sector banks to develop common strengths in software and advertising, help develop 20,000-25,000 "swachhta entrepreneurs" a bank, offer loans to students (despite huge bad loans on this account) and avoid "lazy banking" - whatever that means. The prime minister also told the bankers that "as part of corporate social responsibility, banks should take up one sector each year to play a positive role". In short, it is business as before, with politicians ordering managers in PSUs what to do with their business, no matter how ludicrous their instructions sound.

In the Budget last year, the government had provided for around ~60,000 crore of disinvestment. Eight months later, only one disinvestment has happened. This is a bogus case of disinvestment - a sale of five per cent stake in Steel Authority of India Ltd to Life Insurance Corporation, another government-owned organisation.

In all fairness, I have no doubt that the government means well. Mr Modi will not use the PSUs - and especially public sector banks - to push personal interests. There will be fewer phone calls to bankers to favour "x" or "y", as has happened with all regimes in the past. Indeed, the department of financial services promptly followed up on Mr Modi's promise and issued a release to bank and insurance chiefs assuring them of freedom, of non-interference in commercial decisions, transfers and postings, etc. It directed them to take decisions in the best interest of the organisation without any fear or favour. It even warned them they should use this freedom fairly and would be held accountable if they didn't. Possibly, the government will choose the right people to lead them. There may also be administrative moves to appoint better people to the boards.

But this is no reform. This is pushing for administrative and operational efficiency within the current structure, something that every leader from Indira Gandhi onwards has tried - and failed. This is not to say that Mr Modi will fail, too. Indeed he will succeed far more than previous prime ministers.

But Mr Modi's philosophy of governance was embodied in statements such as "minimum government, maximum governance" and "the government has no business to be in business". If Mr Modi has to live up to these words, he will have to make a radical departure from the past, not offer us mere operational efficiency while continuing to treat the PSUs as extended arms of the government.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have asserted at various times that they will do whatever is in "the interest of the nation". This has been the favourite phrase of all sorts of leaders - fascist, communist, capitalist and benevolent dictators, believing in "democracy" - if run by a single party. Most thoughtful people will be unimpressed with such statements of intent from politicians. They will rather look for institutional reform of the PSUs based on sound economic principles that dictate the right kind of ownership, competition, incentives and exits. They will not find any of these principles being applied in India anytime soon.

Greek tragedy - Act II?

Developments in Europe have dominated the headlines over the past couple of weeks, and not in a good way. Before the attack on the office of the magazine Charlie Hebdo, the major story was the prospect of Greece exiting the euro zone after a new government takes office. This is hardly surprising, given the increasing difficulties that the country seems to be facing in executing its revival plan. But, surprise or not, the looming possibility of exit apparently frightened global financial markets enough to cause serious turbulence for a couple of days. As things stand, the nervousness seems to have abated, but we should under no circumstances assume that the story has ended. After provoking significant global turbulence in 2010, the Greek economic situation is back centre stage.

To put these concerns into perspective, let's look at the performance of the Greek economy over the past few years. It has operated for a part of this period under the plan formulated by the troika - the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 5.4 per cent in 2010, 8.9 per cent in 2011, 6.6 per cent in 2012 and 3.3 per cent in 2013. 2014 is likely to have seen no change in GDP, which may actually reflect an improvement, given the relentless decline over the past four years. Does this mean the revival is underway? Perhaps, but when you take into account the fact that GDP is now almost 25 per cent less than it was in 2009, any disenchantment on the part of Greek citizens with their economic condition and prospects is entirely understandable.

The fragility of the economy is further reflected in other parameters. The unemployment rate is almost 26 per cent. Youth unemployment is almost 50 per cent. About 20 per cent of the workforce is classified as being in long-term unemployment, having been out of work for over a year. The fiscal deficit is over 12 per cent of GDP, with the debt-GDP ratio at 175 per cent. From the Greek citizens' perspective, this looks like a situation from which any tangible improvements in standards of living, let alone a return to the pre-2010 levels, are going to be slow, uncertain and unevenly distributed. The commitment to the current economic framework, then, has to be very weak. The counterfactual claim - that things could become even worse in the alternative scenario of an exit from the euro zone - presumably does not carry much weight.

How does one compare the two alternative trajectories? Predicting outcomes and time frames is hazardous even with the help of sophisticated models, but broad patterns can be visualised. The key to staying on in the euro arrangement is the ability to get sovereign debt under control, that is, achieve a sustained reduction in the debt-GDP ratio. A well-known requirement for this, to put it simply, is that the growth rate of GDP must be higher than the real interest rate.

Over the past few years, with interest rates at close to zero and the rate of inflation at around a negative one per cent, with the growth rates indicated earlier, this condition was far from being satisfied. However, in 2014, with the inflation and interest rate scenario remaining more or less the same, growth seems to have accelerated; even zero growth is a significant improvement over the record of the past four years! If this situation persists, with the expected inflation and monetary policy trajectory for Europe, it should rein in the sovereign-debt burden.

However, this turnaround may not mean much in terms of the standard of living. The consequent benefits that the economy can obtain in terms of staving off a severe public expenditure compression may allow some government services to be maintained, but certainly not enough to restore them to pre-crisis levels. In other words, a positive macroeconomic development may not be enough to generate political support for the status quo in and of itself.

As regards the exit option, the most significant benefit to Greece will be from the sharp depreciation of the new national currency vis-à-vis the euro. As has often been pointed out, the entry into a currency union brings with it the risk of a misalignment between domestic macroeconomic conditions and the exchange rate. Greece, as well as other euro-zone economies, have struggled with this misalignment for the last few years. In contrast, economies like Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, which are part of the European customs union but not the monetary one, have done relatively well in the post-crisis years; an important reason for this is because their currencies float with respect to the euro.

A sharp depreciation of the Greek exchange rate will clearly have significant expansionary effects, as Greek exports, including tourism, will suddenly become much more attractive. The impact may, of course, be diluted by the relatively weak demand conditions in the rest of Europe, which, under any circumstances, will remain Greece's largest trading partner. However, a depreciated exchange rate is not an unambiguous benefit. Obviously, imports will become more expensive, contributing to an acceleration in inflation, which will neutralise some of the benefits of a more competitive exchange rate over time.

From a structural perspective, four or more years of decline, with very little new investment may constrain domestic producers from exploiting opportunities provided by exchange rate movements. In this case, the costs will be borne immediately, while the benefits are neither certain nor quick.

The bottom line is that Greek citizens have no obvious choice in front of them. The upheaval in global financial markets caused by the prospect of an exit was perhaps more reflective of a fear of the unknown than any visible consensus about the tangible impact of an exit. The fact that things stabilised quite quickly reinforces this perception of indecisiveness. Persistent market instability can have significant adverse impacts on trade and investment, but, compared with 2008, conditions in both financial and commodity markets suggest far less vulnerability to such spillovers.

Ultimately, the Greeks will have to make the choice that they collectively believe is in their best interests. Going by the experience of the three largest Eastern European economies, the best arrangement for Greece, as well as some others, could be the customs union. This could also be the least disruptive outcome globally.

Public sector no panacea for the government

Public sector enterprises may not be financially sound enough to plug deficit or revive investment

India's public-sector enterprises are receiving the kind of close attention that they had become quite unused to for several years. Since 1991, for much of the post-reform period, public-sector enterprises or PSEs were largely seen as inefficient, a drain on national resources and, therefore, worthy of either divestment, privatisation or closure. Little else was contemplated for them.

The mood has changed quite unexpectedly in the last few weeks. First came the mid-year economic review by the government that underlined the need for increased publicinvestment to revive the economy - since the private sector was woefully short of funds, the banking sector was already overstretched and the governance structure for the much-hyped public-private partnership projects exposed them to several kinds of financial risks and weaknesses. The central exchequer, too, faced a resource crunch that did not allow the government to spend more money on new projects for fear of widening the fiscal deficit.

So what was the way out? The government, therefore, started looking at the 229-odd operational public sector companies to check if they could be encouraged to step up investment by using their reserves. The total cash reserves with these companies at the end of March 2013 were estimated at Rs 2.66 lakh crore.

Could all of it be used to kick-start some of the stalled projects? This appeared a tall task since not all of them were operating in areas where new projects needed to be set up or existing projects were stuck. Most importantly, the cash reserves with the PSEs were already deployed in financial instruments, and withdrawing them from those for re-deployment in new projects might be qualitatively different - but their net incremental impact on the system would be debatable.

An alternative option, therefore, was to gently persuade some of these public sector undertakings to declare special dividends, so that the government could get those resources and channel them for projects that needed to be set up. Remember that this was one of the preferred options of finance ministers during the United Progressive Alliance regime. In the current financial year also, dividends from PSEs will constitute a significant chunk of revenues, and will likely far outstrip the proceeds the government will book from the sale of its equity in some of these enterprises.

All this was perhaps fine. But the big dilemma the government will face now is in allocating the required resources to public sector enterprises next year, without having made any progress in their financial restructuring.

Consider some numbers. In the current year, the government provided Rs 39,663 crore by way of equity to a total of 146 PSEs, up marginally from Rs 36,976 crore in 2013-14. But there is a catch. The bulk of these equity investments - almost 82 per cent of the total equity outlay - was cornered by Air India, the National Highways Authority of India and public sector banks needing recapitalisation. Last year, their share in the equity provided by the government to PSEs was even higher, at 87 per cent of the total government contribution towards equity at Rs 36,976 crore.

Note that, in spite of such equity infusion, these PSEs continue to rely primarily on their internal generation of resources to fund their fresh investments and expansion plans. Apart from the equity contribution, all that the government offers them are loans estimated at Rs 6,637 crore in 2014-15, compared to Rs 5,514 crore last year.

The sorry state of affairs in the PSEs is evident from the fact that they could generate only Rs 1.42 lakh crore from internal resources this year, a drop of about 13 per cent over Rs 1.63 lakh crore they generated from internal resources last year. The decline in internal resource generation has been compensated by a rise in equity contribution from the government and an increase in their mobilisation of resources from the markets through bonds and other financial instruments.

But the sobering thought that must be dawning on government officials is that tapping the public sector to improve the investment rate can become a fashionable idea, but the figures tell a different story - of financial problems and shareholders' negligence made worse by opportunistic use of their available resources and political interference.

CBI drawing up blueprint to incorporate Enterprise Risk Plan

On January 1, Anil Sinha, the new Director of the Central Investigation Bureau (CBI), gave a 40-minute “inspirational” speech to all his officials, setting the direction for the next two years of his tenure.

The Supreme Court had called the CBI a “caged parrot” of the government when Anil Sinha’s predecessor, Ranjit Sinha, was heading it. Another CBI head had been charged with helping crony businessmen. Sinha is on the path of an image make-over, plus a reordering of the body.

The agency is preparing a plan incorporating an Enterprise Resource Plan programme, a forward-looking exercise often undertaken by chief executives of corporate houses to minimise the risk element. All officers will be encouraged to do a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis for the organisation and their own role in it.

Sinha told officers he was reconciled to spending no time with his family at all over the next two years and that he’d told his family as much.

“The speech was impressive. He told all of us that the CBI should not be seen only as a premier investigative agency of the country but that of the world. We need to compete with the likes of agencies such as FBI (US Federal Bureau of Investigation) and that is where he has set the new bar for the agency,” said an official, who was present at the meeting.

CBI was told to work fearlessly, to go into an investigation without a mindset and the ultimate motive should be to satisfy the courts.

This comes at a time when the agency is under scrutiny in the courts in many high-profile cases. Its sleuths have already drawn criticism in the Sohrabuddin encounter case, in which Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah was discharged as an accused recently by the Bombay High Court. Even the duration of the CBI counsel’s argument in the court was a parameter in the judgment passed by critics.

Sources said agency officials in Mumbai were examining the court’s order and Sinha would be guided by his investigators in deciding whether an appeal should be filed. All eyes are also on how the CBI proceeds in the Hindalco coal block case, in which the agency is set to quiz former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the orders of the trial court. It had quashed the agency’s closure report in the case last month and ordered for examining Singh, who held additional charge of the coal ministry when the alleged scam took place, along with other former officials of the PM’s office.\

there is need for specialist security force, independent regulator

India needs to highlight its world-class nuclear security, says report

Study finds there is need for specialist security force, independent regulator

With the spectre of nuclear terrorism growing, the international community is concerned about the security of India's nuclear facilities. The worry has grown since 2010, when radioactive Cobalt-60 surfaced in a New Delhi scrapyard, killing one person and hospitalising eight others.

Now, an important new academic study has found India's nuclear installations better protected than most western countries have believed. "Unlike other recent evaluations, we assess that India's nuclear security measures are comparable to best practices globally," says Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, who authored the report, "Nuclear Security in India", released on Tuesday at a Delhi think tank, Observer Research Foundation (ORF).

The report rebuts the more negative conclusions of earlier international studies, such as that of the non-partisan Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), concluding that the NTI "did not examine Indian nuclear security in depth". In contrast, the ORF study included field trips to survey nuclear security in the UK, France and Japan.

The report recommends, "India needs to be more pro-active in publicising its achievements. The Indian reticence in this regard is particularly surprising considering India has a strong case to make."

This is good news for the government, which is campaigning for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group; as well as three other counter-proliferation regimes - the Missile Technology Control Regime, Australia Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement.

The report finds that New Delhi's unwarranted secrecy about security structures and protocols has created a perception of poor procedures and standards. "The assumption appears to have been that India was not transparent because its nuclear safety and security measures were below par, although that is far from true," it says.

Even so, the report recommends several changes, such as the establishment of a specialised security force to protect nuclear facilities.

"While the CISF (Central Industrial Security Force), which currently handles the task of securing nuclear facilities, has done a good job so far, its mandate is vast. With the Indian nuclear establishment set to expand, it might be preferable to have a separate force that only secures nuclear facilities," says the report.

Besides nuclear facilities, the CISF's 140,000 personnel are used for securing space establishments, airports, seaports, power plants, sensitive government buildings and even some heritage monuments.

The report also recommends a fully autonomous nuclear regulator. Currently, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), which oversees the functioning of nuclear establishments and facilities, operates under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). Since the AERB is required to oversee the DAE, this is widely perceived as a conflict of interest.

The report states: "There has to be clear separation of roles and functions between the nuclear establishment and its regulator to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest."

The report evaluates India's preparedness to counter three main forms of nuclear terrorism. First, and most unlikely, terrorists could mount a catastrophic attack with a full-scale nuclear weapon. Such nuclear devices are extremely hard to obtain and require expertise to operate, but cannot be ruled out until nuclear supermarkets - like Pakistan's AQ Khan network - are eliminated entirely.

Second, terrorists could sabotage a functioning nuclear establishment, such as a power plant, effectively transforming it into a slow-burning nuclear bomb.

Doing this from within would require sophisticated technological expertise, but a 9/11 style attack from the air remains feasible.

Third, and most feasible, is the explosion of a "dirty bomb" in a heavily populated environment. This is a relatively simple device in which explosives are packed with radioactive material.

With the explosion spreading hazardous radioactivity over a large area, time-consuming and expensive decontamination would be required, with the second-order impact of an attack on the economy and the psychological effect on the public. This danger demands that users such as hospitals and education institutions tightly safeguard radioactive material.

Relevance of Swami Vivekananda as Youth Icon of India

Every year since 1985, the Government of India observes 12^th January, the Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda as National Youth Day. To quote from the Government of India's Communication, “it was felt that the philosophy of Swamiji and the ideals for which he lived and worked could be a great source of inspiration for the Indian Youth.”

India is one of the youngest nations in the world, with about 65 percent population under 35 years of age.    It is expected that by the year 2020, the population of India would have a median age of 28 years only as against 38 years for US, 42 years for China and 48 years for Japan. The youth are indeed the most dynamic and vibrant segment of the population in any country.

Swami Vivekananda once said, “Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourselves weak, weak you will be; if you think yourselves strong, strong you will be.”

He also said, “See for the highest, aim at that highest, and you shall reach the highest.”

His message was simple yet powerful. Vivekananda conveyed his ideas directly to the people, especially to the youth. His message broke through the shackles of caste and creed and spoke of a language of universal brotherhood. What he said captures the great importance of his ideas and ideals among the youth in our country today. He personified the eternal energy of the youth and their restless quest for truth. It is entirely fitting that 12^thJanuary, the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, is observed as National Youth Day to rekindle the eternal message of this great patriot and son of India. 

But how to make youth realise  the relevance of Swami Vivekananda in these exciting and challenging times, when on the one hand people and nations are engaged in the noble task of developing the personality and leadership qualities of the youth by involving them in various nation-building activities, while on the other hand there are challenges of hunger, poverty, unemployment, corruption and terrorism.

Among the various ways which Swami Vivekananda suggested to rebuild the Indian society, Education was the primary means for empowering the people. He once said, “The education which does not help the common mass of people to equip themselves for the struggle for life, which does not bring out strength of character, a spirit of philanthropy, and the courage of a lion – is it worth the name? Real education is that which enables one to stand on one’s own legs.” For him, education meant secular learning that built character and instilled human values in students.

The Government of India while commemorating the 150^th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda sanctioned a “Value Education Project” of the Ramakrishna Mission (an organisation established by Swami Vivekananda which is widely recognized for its commendable work in the areas of value based education, culture, health, women’s empowerment, youth and tribal welfare and relief and rehabilitation), to help to inculcate in children a moral compass and a value system against the tide of commercialism and consumerism that is sweeping our societies.

It also gave an endowment of US$ 1.5 million to the University of Chicago, for establishing the Swami Vivekananda Chair to focus on Vivekananda, through lectures, seminars and suitable related academic activities on Indian Culture and Indian Studies. The Chair will be held by each scholar for a period of two years.  The University of Chicago will also facilitate exchange of research scholars between the University of Chicago and the Government of India. This permanent endowment will help spread the message of harmony of religions, understanding between nations and the spiritual oneness of humanity, which Swami Vivekananda worked for.

According to Swami Vivekananda, “Teach yourselves, teach everyone his real nature, call upon the sleeping soul and see how it awakes. Power will come, glory will come, goodness will come, purity will come, and everything that is excellent will come when this sleeping soul is roused to self-conscious activity.”

The Government is also making efforts to convert teachings of Swami Vivekananda into practice in the current context.  To meet the need and aspirations of more than a billion people is not an easy task unless some integrated action is taken in areas where the country has a core competence. Agriculture, Education, Healthcare, Reliable and Quality Electric power, Surface transport and Infrastructure for all parts of the country, Information and Communication Technology and Strategic sector are the areas closely inter-related and if the work on these areas for an integrated action start in the right earnest it will lead to food, economic and national security of India.

     The Government has embarked on the mission of building a united, strong and modern India to fulfil the vision of the great thinkers like Vivekananda. “Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat”, following the principle of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”. These  are not merely slogans but a commitment to the people particularly to youth to take the nation to new heights. A number of path-breaking initiatives have been introduced recently. ‘Make in India’ campaign has been launched to develop India as a global manufacturing hub. ‘Digital India’ initiative seeks to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. ‘Skill India’ is being launched to impart necessary skills to prepare Indians for the opportunities in Indian Economy as also the opportunities abroad. A number of initiatives, including Smart Cities Project, have been launched for developing infrastructure. In all these ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ and ‘Clean Ganga’ Mission have been launched for building a clean and green India.

All these initiatives of the Government require active involvement and support of youth as they are the major stakeholders of future of this country. Skill development and Entrepreneurship is the flagship programme to put India on the road to become developed nation. Government is making all efforts to invest hugely in youth of the country because it is necessary in the ambitious task of building a modern and prosperous India. And as Swami Vivekananda once exhorted, “Arise! Awake! And stop not till the goal is reached”, let us all unite and work for the country with Purity, patience, and perseverance as the Swami felt long ago that these three are essentials to success.

Swami Vivekananda and Nation building

Swami Vivekananda was a dreamer.  He dreamt big day and night.   But, the only theme of his dream was India.  This one word stirred extraordinary feelings in the deepest regions of his heart.  Perhaps, he was the greatest patriot to have ever been born in this country.  The testimony of Mahatma Gandhi vouches for this assertion.  Mahatma Gandhi visited Belur Math in 1921 and before leaving he wrote in the Visitors’ Book that after reading Swami Vivekananda’s works, his patriotism for the country had increased thousand fold.  One of the Western disciples of Swami Vivekananda, Sister Christine, wrote in her reminiscences, “Our love for India came to birth, I think, when we first heard him (Swami Vivekananda) say the word, “India”, in that marvelous voice of his.  It seems incredible that so much could have been put into one small word of five letters.  There was love, passion, pride, longing, adoration, tragedy, chivalry, himweh, and again love.  Whole volumes could not have produced such a feeling in others.  It had the magic power of creating love in those who heard it.”    In fact, his love for our motherland was perhaps the singular factor which held him tied to this earth.  He was a born Yogi. He was  a great contemplative and diving deep into meditation was the natural drift of his mind.  However, he sacrificed all these to serve our motherland. 

Swami Vivekananda knew everything about India like the palm of his hand.  What was the source and basis of his knowledge?  He was a keen student of history and had a thorough knowledge of India’s glorious past.  He was immensely practical in his outlook and that helped him understand the then condition of our country.  After the passing away of his Guru and mentor, Sri Ramakrishna, he had gone on a pilgrimage of the entire country on foot.  He met people from every segment of the society, from the richest to the poorest, from the most learned to the most ignorant, from high caste priests to those condemned as the low caste, from Maharajas to penniless beggars.  The firsthand knowledge which he gained through his explorations gave him a complete understanding of our country including the causes for its downfall.  Being a visionary and endowed with an extraordinary intellect and even a more feeling heart, he could find out the cure for India’s maladies and for restoring her to her former glory.  He predicted that India’s future glory would far surpass her past glory.  He felt deeply concerned and pained by the degradation of our country.  He said, “If there are holes in this national ship, this society of ours, we are its children, let us go and stop the holes. Let us gladly do it with our hearts' blood; and if we cannot, then let us die. We will make a plug of our brains and put them into the ship, but condemn it never.”  After a stay of four years in the West, during which he achieved extraordinary fame and recognition and was virtually lionized by the society; when he was about to depart for India, a Westerner asked him how he was feeling about returning to his motherland.  In reply he said, “India I loved before I came away.  Now the very dust of India has become holy to me, the very air is now to me holy; it is now the holy land, the place of pilgrimage, the Tirtha." 

Swami Vivekananda clearly identified the causes for our downfall, one of which was the neglect of the masses which he labeled as the great national sin.  He said, “The poor, the low, the sinner in India have no friends, no help – they cannot rise, try however they may.  They sink lower and lower every day, they feel the blows showered upon them by a cruel society, and they do not know whence the blow comes.”  He said that millions were oppressed in the name of religion and one of the chief causes of India’s ruin was the monopoly of education by a few belonging to the privileged classes. 

Swami Vivekananda said that the whole difference between the West and the East is in that, they are nations i.e. civilizations, whereas we are not.  While the higher classes in India and the West are the same, but there is infinite distance between the lower classes of these countries.  He lamented that for centuries people had been taught theories of degradation and have been told that they were nothing.  The masses have been repeatedly told that they are not human beings and frightened for centuries till that they have become animals.  Laziness, lack of energy, want of sympathy and appreciation for others were at the root of all miseries and that they should be given up. 

Another cause according to him was our exclusiveness. India went into her shell as the oyster does, and refused to give her jewels and her treasures to the other races of mankind, refused to give the life-giving truths to thirsting nations outside the Aryan fold.  He said that we shut ourselves from the outside world, did not go out and did not compare notes with other nations.  One of the drawbacks of our nation according to him was that it totally lacked in the faculty of organization and that we are altogether averse to making a common cause for anything.   He said that the first requisite for organisation was obedience which we lacked as a race.  He said, “In spite of the greatness of the Upanishads, in spite of our boasted ancestry of sages, compared to many other races, I must tell you that we are weak, very weak. First of all is our physical weakness. That physical weakness is the cause of at least one-third of our miseries. We are lazy, we cannot work; we cannot combine, we do not love each other; we are intensely selfish, not three of us can come together without hating each other, without being jealous of each other.”  According to him another major reason for India’s degradation was the trampling of the women.  He said that our country is one of the weakest in the world because Shakti was held in dishonor here.  In addition to the causes identified by Swamiji, corruption, particularly in public life has become yet another major cause.  But, then the solutions given by Swamiji cover this malady also. 

What is the way to regeneration?  The first step in this regard is uplifting the masses by restoring their lost individuality and faith in themselves.  Swami Vivekananda said that we should remember that the nation lives in the cottages and that no amount of politics will be of any avail until the masses of India are once more well educated, well fed and well cared for.  He said, “our mission is for the destitute, the poor, and the illiterate peasantry and labouring classes, and if, after everything has been done for them first, there is spare time, then only for the gentry.”  He said emphatically that we should feel proud of our past and derive our strength and inspiration from those glorious chapters of the bygone days.  Along with this he also advocated respect for the great men of the country.  He was of the firm view that material civilization was absolutely necessary to create work for the poor.  He said, “Bread! Bread! I do not believe in a God, who cannot give me bread here, giving me eternal bliss in heaven! Pooh! India is to be raised, the poor are to be fed,education is to be spread...”  He said that uplift of women deserves utmost priority and only after that can there be hope for any real good for the nation.  He said, “All nations have attained greatness by paying proper respect to women. That country and that nation which does not respect women has never become great”. 

Swami Vivekananda laid the greatest emphasis on education for the regeneration of our motherland.  He said, “Education, education, education alone! Travelling through many cities of Europe and observing in them the comforts and education of even the poor people, these brought to my mind the state of our own poor people, and I used to shed tears. What made the difference? Education was the answer I got.”  According to him, a nation is advanced in proportion as education is spread among the masses.  But, what was the education that he advocated?  According to him “education is the manifestation of perfection already in man and that what a man ‘learns’ is really what he ‘discovers’ by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge.”  Hence he said that our process of education should be such that it helps the students to manifest their innate knowledge and power.  He advocated a man-making character-building education.  He said, “We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one's own feet.”  He said that education must make the students self-reliant and help them face the challenges of life.  He was highly critical of the so-called educated who do not care for the poor and downtrodden.  He said, “So long as the millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold every man a traitor who, having been educated at their expense, pays not the least heed to them.”  According to him, three things are necessary to make every man great, every nation great and that is we should have conviction in the powers of goodness, the absence of jealousy and suspicion and helping all those who are trying to be and do good. 

Swami Vivekananda had immense faith in the youth of this country and said that they would work out his ideas like lions. “That you may catch my fire, that you may be intensely sincere, that you may die the heroes' death on the field of battle — is the constant prayer of Vivekananda.”