Steel is an essential input in the economic development of any country, its consumption being an important parameter of progress. After Independence, top priority was given to the steel industry, which Jawaharlal Nehru took a special interest in. As a result, many integrated steel plants were set up with the help of several developed countries. Despite a good beginning, the steel industry in India did not develop as fast as it should have. While India and China began at the same level, today China is far ahead of us as are many other countries. There are several reasons for such a situation but one important reason is our general lack of pride in our work.
It was also felt that the government’s monopoly of all developmental activities has also been a cause, bringing about a major policy change which encouraged more private investment in developmental activities. The result of this change is yet to be seen fully but the initial response is heartening. This change in policy has also encouraged the public sector to perform better. Steel production in India is still dominated by the public sector, though the position is changing gradually. New investment in steel is now mostly in the private sector.
The public sector production has to improve mainly by way of more efficient working and modernisation, but fortunately, the response of the public sector in steel has been very encouraging in the new situation, giving rise to healthy competition between various plants. Some years ago, the Prime Minister had introduced an award for the best integrated steel plant in the country and the first award for the year 1992-93 went to a public sector unit, the Bhilai Steel Plant. I got an opportunity to visit this plant in July 1995. I noticed that the achievement of winning the PM’s trophy was a matter of pride for everyone working in the plant. During a discussion with the management, I was told that the credit went to their workers and officers as they were a motivated lot and always worked to perform better. The results of the year 1993- 94 and 1994-95 supported this statement.
I also learnt that the plant has been performing well on account of several factors, the most prominent being the strong work culture. There was a sense of pride in the job and that made all the difference. This reminded me of my meeting with a service manager of British Gas in the year 1990. At that time
I was in the UK to attend a course on ‘Public Enterprises Management’. During this course, we were taken to the British Gas Company office for a visit. It was a service branch and its main function was to take care of the complaints of the customers, a job which was being done quite efficiently, galvanised as it was by an elaborate incentive system introduced to reward efficiency. The most impressive part was the pride glowing on the faces of everyone. I still remember the beaming face of the service manager while explaining the importance of his job which was linked with consumer satisfaction. The spirit with which he worked was praiseworthy and the result was that everyone in the office was a satisfied person, and encouraged to do even better.
The message is that our attitude towards our job or work should change. For most of us, our job remains the same, whether we join it by choice or by the force of circumstances. For most of us a change is either not possible or is not in our hands. Since we spend a good amount of time on our job, we ought to develop a positive attitude towards it. Otherwise, it adversely affects our life and the result is unhappiness. A sense of pride should be developed towards it. The society needs the services of all and we play a complementary role to each other. Everyone is important at his place as even the highest cannot exist without the low. While the aim should be to strive towards high positions, no purpose is served if we keep grieving about being in a lowly position. In that case we downgrade ourselves and others also treat us as such. Instead we can turn even the so-called lower jobs into important ones by changing our attitude towards it. Srimad Bhagavad Gita, in its chapter on Karma Yoga says: “Better one’s ‘duty’, though devoid of merit, then the ‘duty’ of another well-discharged. Better is death in one’s own duty; the ‘duty’ of another is fraught with fear” (3/35). If all of us accept the importance of our duty and perform it well, the world will change so much for the better that there will be no cause for any grievance.
