Top ex-Gujarat babu tells Modi: Not yoga but solar system is our biggest source of energy

An email alert to Counterview from a top ex-IAS bureaucrat, termed as Gujarat’s turnaround man for revamping loss-making state public sector undertakings (PSUs), has sought to take a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remark on the Yoga day – that the ancient Indian exercise provides an “infinite solutions” within ourselves, offering “the biggest source of energy in the universe.”
The email alert by Alexander K Luke insists, “Actually, no. The sun is the biggest source of energy in our solar system. Other more distant stars emit more energy…” Wondering whether Modi meant by energy “human motivation, the unending desire to do something constructive and bring it to a conclusion”, he tells in a tweet Modi, “Modiji, it is not energy we need but human motivation...”
Known to have resigned from the IAS in November 2006, when he served as managing-director, Gujarat State Fertilisers and Chemicals (GSFC), which he had just turned around, Luke further tells Modi, “You cannot motivate intelligent human beings by threats, fear and greed, you have to appeal to their self worth...”
A 1975 batch Gujarat cadre bureaucrat, Luke was given negative confidential report by Modi despite turning around GSFC even after a top industrialist compared him with Lee Iacocca, who had turned around Chrysler, and Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Ahmedabad took a case study on how he managed to “save” GSFC. Currently, he lives in Kerala, his home state.
Pointing out that this is a major reason why Modi, who rode to power in 2014 by showcasing Gujarat model, “created” by turning around state PSUs, is today unable to achieve success, Luke also seeks to take a dig a some “journalists”, who are known to have asked him: “Sir, Apko itni energy kahan se ati hai, roj 18 ghante kaam karne ki?” (Sir, how do you get so much energy for work for 18 hours a day?).
He appears to reply back, “As we Indians are not privy to his daily schedule, this may be treated as mere conjecture. Modiji himself has never claimed he works 18 hours daily”, adding, somewhat sarcastically, “He does work hard, and we see him on our screen doing so, mainly announcing some new scheme for our benefit and telling us how much India is ahead of other nations.”

Luke’s tweets, he is no a “worshipper at any altar”, yet he claims, his life actions follow “Krishna's sermon to Arjun, this makes us aware of our own cowardice”, which he calls “the voice of truth, truth which has lived through thousands of years and whispers to all of us, even now... It will continue to guide us if we but choose to listen.”
And what does he mean by “truth”? To quote him again from this tweets, recalling how he revived Gujarat PSUs – Sardar Sarovar, Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd (GACL), GSFC, he says, he did this by overcoming “the obstacles” in ensured that they rode to “glory.” He regrets, however, “This was a truth suppressed in 1996, 1998 and 2003. But it was a truth.”

Luke continues: “I was fortified with truth. Courage comes only if you have truth by your side. Seeking the truth, courage will come as a bi-product… Without truth you will never have courage, without courage you will never revive great PSUs...” He adds, “Truth is not mysticism, religion, high philosophy, or andar ki atma ki awaz, or any such thing. It is not memory's searchlight into the past. It is material reality, the objective situation prevailing today.”

Comments

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Whither Jeffrey Sachs-supported research project which 'created' Gujarat model of development for Modi?

Even as Donald Trump was swearing-in as US President, a friend forwarded to me a YouTube video in which veteran world renowned economist Prof Jeffrey Sachs participated and sought an answer as to why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "afraid to fly" despite being invited to Donald Trump's swearing in ceremony. This took my memory to 2003, when I -- as representative of the Times of India -- had a short tet-a-tat along with a couple of other reporters with Sachs in the chief minister's office in Gandhinagar.

Busy taking books to the needy, this rationalist exposes miracles in a superstition-infested Gujarat society

I knew his name as a campaigner against the sheer wastage of the large amounts of ghee brought by devotees from across India for a major religious ceremony conducted every year in Rupal village, near Gandhinagar, the Gujarat capital, on the ninth day of Navratri. I had seen him at several places during my visits to different NGO meetings as well as some media conferences.

No to free thought? How Gujarat's private universities are cowing down their students

"Don't protest"—that's the message private universities across Gujarat seem to be conveying to their students. A senior professor told me that students at the university where he teaches are required to sign an undertaking promising not to engage in protests. "They simply sign the undertaking and hand it over to the university authorities," he said.

'Potentially lethal, carcinogenic': Global NGO questions India refusing to ban white asbestos

Associated with the Fight Inequality Alliance, a global movement that began in 2016 to "counter the concentration of power and wealth among a small elite", claiming to have members in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, the Philippines, and Denmark, the advocacy group Confront Power appears all set to intensify its campaign against India as "the world’s largest asbestos importer".

To be or not to be Sattvik: Different communities' differing notions of purity and fasting

This is a continuation of my last blog on Sattvik food. When talking about Sattvik, there is a tendency to overlook what it may mean to different sections of people around the world. First, let me redefine Sattvik: it means having a "serene, balanced, and harmonious mind or attitude." Derived from the Sanskrit word sattva, it variously means "pure, essence, nature, vital, energy, clean, conscious, strong, courage, true, honest, and wise." How do people achieve this so-called purity? Among Gujarati Hindus, especially those from the so-called upper castes who are vegetarians, one common way is fasting. On fasting days, such as agiyarash —the 11th day of the lunar cycle in the Vedic calendar—my close relatives fast but consume milk, fruit juices, mangoes, grapes, bananas, almonds, pistachios, and potato-based foods, including fried items. Another significant fasting period is adhik maas. During this time, many of my relatives "fast" by eating only a single me...

Sattvik Food Festival: Shouldn't one question notion of purity, cultural exclusion in food choices?

Recently, I visited the Sattvik Food Festival, an annual event in Ahmedabad organized by Anil Gupta, professor emeritus at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A). I have known Prof. Gupta since 1993, when I sought an appointment to meet him a few months after joining The Times of India in Ahmedabad—one reason why I have always been interested in the activities he is involved in.

Beyond the Sattvik plate: Prof Anil Gupta's take on food, ethics, and sustainability

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a rather lengthy comment (I don't want to call it a rejoinder) on my blog post about the Sattvik Food Festival, held near the Sola Temple in Ahmedabad late last year. It came from no less a person than Anil Gupta, Professor Emeritus at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), under whose guidance this annual event was held.

World Bank approved $800 for Amravati despite negative internal view, court, NGO objections: CFA

Despite over 170 representatives by civil society organisations, hailing from 17 countries, all of them written to the World Bank’s executive directors calling upon the top banker to defer its approval, even as seeking further detailed studies, the Bank’s board of directors has approved $800 million for the Amaravati Capital City project.

Search This Blog