Hypocrisy and being critical could be just millimetres apart!

Hypocrisy and being critical could be just millimetres apart!

People hate subsidies. They say it takes us toward the Stone Age. But many of them, at least from my generation, have forgotten that they could complete higher studies with the meagre salary that their parents used to earn in the eighties and early nineties. Many of those cheap educational programs came from subsidies. (Though, I can understand the millennial generation hating subsidies because they hardly have enjoyed them.)

Second, people hate political and corporate leaders who talk about philanthro-capitalism. However, when Michael Porter lectures about creating shared value, i.e., simultaneously creating economic and socio-environmental values, the very same people applaud in the audience. (Though I can understand the millennial generation getting confused encountering this new form of capitalism.)

Third, people look at Prof. Md. Yunus and Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam with awe and appreciation for their generosity toward the poor and the downtrodden and their efforts to empower the latter. However, when the same people dissuade others from donating dimes to street side paupers giving excuses like “You know what! This pauper may use your money on drugs and alcohol”; I’ve difficulties to figure out their true self. (I see the millennials forthright in helping the needy though; kudos to them!)

Fourth, People want to join an IIT because it's the best. After all, they would be able to earn six figure salaries! They also shower prasies on India's Mangalyaan, Chandrayaan, Gaganyaan, and so on. But, when India's founding fathers are called names, they keep quite. Do they suffer from selective amnesia for it's them who had the vision to establish institutions of higher learning like the IITs and public sector undertakings like ISRO. (I see millennials are losing interest in history and related subjects. In doing so, they're losing out, though. I ain't saying whatever history is there to see is all that's to see; they can instead make their own research. However, doing research in history won't earn fat pay cheques; hence, many of them are apathetic. Instead, they prefer google-search and Wiki-research. That's not history; isn't it?)

Fifth, I see people flaunting at others (especially their non-technocrat and non-managerial brethren) about their corporate positions and roles and ranting about their engineering prowess, finacial wizadry, production knowhow, marketing tricks, and so on; belittling the others for not having scientific education and trainings in management science, in the process. But when they themselves without any scientific training and formal education in social sciences talk about what’s happening in the social psychology, socio-political and economic-sociology fields, of course with their commonsensical mindset, even shruging off the tenets of some of the tallest figures in the field of social sciences like Amartya K Sen, Jean Drèze, Jagdish Bhagwati, and so on; what do they think? Do they think that social sciences are just written in English language without any inherent technicalities and empirical groundings? Or, social sciences are at best commonsense? Did I forget to mention that that they also do some google search and Wiki-research to gather key-book knowledge to score brownie points over the specialists in non-technical and non-managerial fields?

And then, I look at the sky and ask myself, “Isn’t that hypocrisy and critical thinking are just millimetres apart?”😊

(A real life example! In August 2000, I was interviewed by Dr. Paresh K. Joshi, faculty member Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (TIFR) and an adjunct faculty at BITS-Pilani, for an MS scholarship at BITS-Pilani. At that time, I had nearly six years of experience in thermal power plant operation field. He asked, "Tell me something that you've done until now?" And I replied, "I'm an engineer; I've done my bachelor of engineering from the Regional Engineering College, Rourkela. I've hands on experience in the power plant operation field. Specifically, I know how to operate the state of the art CFBC boiler, turbo-generator, pneumatic ash handling system, coal handling plant, dimineralised water section, ash pond management, and so forth. I've the experience of thermal power plant maintenance too. I also know the managerial aspects like TQM, JIT, etc." He looked straight into my eyes and said, " So, all you've done is some clerical stuffs!" I asked, "How?" He replied, "Clerks do things; they seldom think! Have you invented/discovered the CFBC boiler technology? What about JIT or TQM? "Hmm!" I pondered.)