A Tale of Two Destinies
US & India Bound In Knowledge Bond

By Tulsi Tawari & Satya Swaroop

Economic development through exchange of goods and services, i.e., business, must have existed ever since man began to experience 'growth in human-efficiency' achieved by creative collaboration. This is how man learned value of creating surplus-time beyond making a living. Thus began pursuit for individual aspiration.
Man's creative thinking then set him on the path of exploration to understand the secrets of nature that baffled him. What we see today, all around us, the wonders of immense technologies is naturally a cumulative result of creative application of human mind.
The irony of our times however is - that caught in the web of complexities, generally deliberate, man remains utterly confused between what he does and what he really wishes to do. How few really attain 'freedom of time and mind' to understand and pursue their true aspirations?

The answer perhaps lies in this dilemma:

Whatever is desirable and purposeful continues to remain unviable and whatever is viable is not always desirable.
There was a time in the ancient past when human beings had only one choice: work for the whole day for food and maybe little more. Thanks to individuals who thought beyond: in search of knowledge! Gradually, man has discovered nature's hidden principles and achieved ability to do much more work in tiniest fraction of his time. For instance, less than five percent of population is producing enough food for all in the US. And now, with the advent of communications revolution in general, and internet technology in particular, man has no finite bounds. The irony however is: the key issue for most people in all nations is still the same ancient one, i.e. making a living!

Building Knowledge-driven Societies:
An Initiative of Entrepreneur-India & New Media

Where and how all the human-efficiency created by science and technology is getting lost? The world as it exists today, only a few people by chance or rare conviction are able to work towards exploring and fulfilling their dreams, the rest remaining in the rut of survival, physically or else mentally. Is it possible that we live in a world where individuality is suppressed and crushed through organized manipulations of one or other kinds?
For instance, the September 13, 1999 issue of The Wall Street Journal ran an article. A section of the article read: “ For all the talk of mutual funds for the masses, of barbers and shoeshine boys giving investment tips, the stock market has remained the privilege of a relatively elite group. Only 43.3 percent of all households owned any stock in 1997, the most recent year for which data is available, according to New York University economist Edward Wolf. Of those, many portfolios were relatively small. Nearly 90 percent of all shares were held by the wealthiest 10 percent of households. The bottom line: That top 10 percent held 73 percent of the country's net worth in 1997, up from 68 percent in 1983.”
“Global wealth, global connections, and technological capabilities have never been greater. But the distribution of these global gains is extraordinarily unequal”, says the World Bank's development report of 2000-2001.
Interestingly, the problem of growing 'inequality' and 'divide' is not nation-specific, rather evenly applicable to the entire world population (whether developing or developed). The divide exists among nations, as well as among people living in one nation:
A) Among nations: the average income in the richest 20 countries is 37 times the average income in the 20 poorest countries, doubled in the past 40 years.
B) Within any nation: for instance, the richest 10 percent of people earned 30.5 percent of total income in the USA, 30.4 percent in China or 33.5 percent in India during 1997/98.
Does anyone really believe that those who earn and possess major part of wealth are doing any superior work than the rest of the people? So no wonder, when Jeff Faux, the then President of Economic Policy Institute of US, attempts to draw our attention in his article, Three Things Learned, published just after the September 11 incidence about illogic in relationship between quality of work one does and money one earns from:
A teacher in New York City schools starts at $30,000. A brand new securities lawyer starts at $120,000. Does anyone believe that this represents sensible priorities? And does anyone believe that the firefighters who marched into that inferno did it for money?
Could it be possible that there exists fundamental problems with the principles and structures around money that facilitate exploitation in the garb of freedom and justice? Is understanding and correcting the confusion that exists in our methods and systems is beyond our collective wisdom? Could it be that greater money is possessed by those who do not necessarily create wealth rather simply find a way to transfer to themselves?
Money does not exist in nature. It is creation of human ingenuity to provide wheels to the process of barters otherwise limited within small villages. Money is meant to measure value-added growth. However, it seems that intellectual corruption has destroyed the sanctity of money by scheming subtle instruments of transferring money without adding any new wealth, thus defeating the very purpose for which money exists!
The challenge and hence opportunity before the new breed of business and policy leaders therefore, is to ensure that the sanctity of money is recovered in a way that greater value-additions bring greater incomes. Otherwise, with all the economic progress, the societies in every nation would continue to remain bonded in artificial circles of survival since greater part of capital is allowed to transfer towards non-wealth creating initiatives instead of empowering those initiatives where knowledge could create abundance of wealth and prosperity for all concerned. The question is:
“Whether what is desirable for fulfillment of every individual will be allowed to become viable or what appears beneficial to satisfy the ego of a few would only matter, even if undesirable or harmful.”
In the history of mankind, there never has been a moment as decisive as today. People from different nations are beginning to feel and know each other, at arm's length in truest sense. The barriers of languages disappear when people begin to trust each other. The process of expansion of village-boundaries, that started with the invention of wheel, thousands of years ago, has finally reached the ultimate boundary, what we now call globalization.
Future leaders no longer can afford to think about supremacy of one nation over another, rather how to make this world a place, as caring as mother's womb for all its citizens. Although all nations have their roles to play USA and India representing two distinct and complimentary characteristics, have a unique destiny together.
While people from all nations have done their bit, world economy and business is primarily being driven by American leadership, for the past several decades, for better as well as for worse. Grappling with cold wars with Russia and wondering about the prevailing conflict-ridden world, this is how John F. Kennedy, the great leader of the 20th century, expressed his anguish and concern:
“The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.”
The past century has seen the two sides of the man: one, of bringing devastation through man-made wars, two, of finding new frontiers in knowledge through science & technology.
In his 1962 speech given at Rice University in Houston, Texas, President John F. Kennedy reaffirmed America's commitment to landing a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s. Although he did not live long to see with his own eyes, but the whole world saw Neil Armstrong set the first foot of man on the moon on July 20, 1969! Such was the power in this worthy vision, that created greatest synergy and goodwill among human minds across the world. Man can take up a worthy challenge and make it happen, we have already experienced. At the time, making that decision was not easy. Doubting Thomases were skeptical what purpose it would serve to invest $ 10 billions in a decade. But as JFK could foresee ...
“The growth of our science and education will be enriched by new knowledge of our universe and environment, by new techniques of learning and mapping and observation, by new tools and computers for industry, medicine, the home as well as the school.”
Today's all major advances that we see all around us, whether in computers, in communications, in weather prediction, in healthcare, in all sectors of economy, owe a great deal of progress to that one decision: Man-on-the-Moon, that Americans rallied behind. Greater and greater amount of work can be done in lesser and lesser time. But behind this success lies: commitment and conviction of the whole nation working as one TEAM towards a collective goal, without thinking about individual benefits alone. Return on Investment on $ 10 billions of US $ 1960s would probably be highest ever made in the history of mankind. This is how the hidden power of human minds unfolds for wealth creation.
The USA has become a chosen destination for all people including those of science & technology from the world over. Great leaders like Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and others, have championed against all odds, the cause of freedom and equal opportunities for all of the society. With thrust given to individual's performance and reward, US has constantly been attracting talent from all other nations. With continuing flux of migrants spread over the entire landscape, the US has the rare distinction of becoming a melting pot of the world, at present time.
Yet, there has been something lacking in American approach. Why is it that an average American family is not emotionally stable? Is the drive for individual's independence in contradiction to being a part of a harmonious family? Was it always like this in America or somewhere some error has happened that has led the nation this way?
It is quite ironical that the US which believes in individual's independence of supreme value in its own society, fails to live up to this very principle when it comes to act as one independent nation in the group of several such nations. Why so, is the real question.
Respected by world scholars as a cradle of civilization, India's age-old mystic culture continues to charm a western visitor, in the midst of all forms of contradictions and chaos, coexisting side-by-side. While US, with all its prowess, is caught with fears of insecurity and distrust to such levels that each individual is scrutinized as potential bomber, India continues to hold self-inspired peaceful gatherings of millions of people, year-after-year.
Thanks to the deeper analyses of life by ancient social scientists, India has preserved the knowledge of coexistence as greater truth, despite all kinds of conflicts around during thousands of years. This is what most outsiders may feel as the vital undercurrent in Indian lives, irrespective of apparently contrasting characteristics. With her conviction to values of non-aggression and self-control, India has duly earned the distinction of being a nation where people from diverse cultures and faiths found home to coexist, with affection and respect. India has proven to be a melting pot of the world since older times.
The ideal approach in achieving a prosperous and happy life for all individuals in a society, is possibly to develop the ability of combining the following two abilities with appropriate discipline:
• Economic Independence empowering individual's dynamism
• Emotional Coexistence in matters of relationship-building
For any society, emotional-coexistence remains the hidden foundation under the ground, on which the dynamism of independence can build tall towers of individual aspirations. It is unfortunate that Indian society of recent times, gifted with such strong base from their ancestors, failed to empower individuals for excellence. In comparison, the US people have demonstrated the dynamism of individual aspirations by building castles practically in the air, even without having as sound a base of family values as Indians are blessed with. Imagine what both societies could learn from each other.
Stronger the foundations, greater the stability would be, and vice versa. India represents the that foundation of coexistence whereas USA has demonstrated its ability to empower individual-dynamism. In their own interests and the world as whole, both these countries, who share and cherish individual freedom and expression as the greatest virtue, have a unique joint-role and opportunity to play a historic role in shaping the future era for all.
The challenges that world face today are the making of the man himself. Whether the issues of environmental degradation, social-unrest, broken families, growing economic exploitation … on and… on. The undoing of the mistakes made therefore is within the power of man. At the root of most ills that world faces today, there appears to be a common denominator: maximization of personal gains at the cost of whole. Nations wanting to succeed at the cost of other nations. Organizations wanting to succeed at the cost of nations and environment. Individuals wanting to succeed at the cost of other individuals and organizations they are part of. The key problem faced is that of finding a new order… where all people can have opportunities to grow without hurting others or the environment. Is it beyond human ingenuity? is the question.
In every nation and society three forces are always at work: 1. creative and positive, one that brings about scientific innovations and growth in human efficiency 2. negative and political, one that destroys all the work of positive creations in the arrogance of feeling superior 3. complacent masses, being swayed by a dominant force, currently by the negative one. The challenge that the world faces to day is one of positive and creative leadership, a dynamic demonstration of intellectual integrity.
The sustained prosperity of society depends upon which of the following two principles are adapted by policy-makers and business leaders in day-to-day activities:
1. Commerce-driven Knowledge (i.e., what is viable is not necessarily desirable): This is where one can earn great personal profits without necessarily adding fresh wealth. Transfer of wealth (ToW) dominates creation of wealth (CoW).
2. Knowledge-driven Commerce (i.e., what is desirable becomes viable): This is where personal profits always come from contributing fresh-wealth in the economy.
In the new world ahead, no one nation in the world or no one individual in a city is a superpower, the only winner. All are going to achieve their firsts, in fields of their natural aptitude. Like in a symphony orchestra, every instrument can have moments of its own climax, and yet very much remain a loyal-member of the whole group for all the time. This is how we can hope to achieve the identity of self and yet be in harmonious coexistence with others.