What Does it Mean to be Indian?

Our institutional architecture and our governance systems are at the core of our societal design which has the three commonly accepted social, economic, and political domains.

The organizing principles of a society define the nature of its institutions and the forms of cohesion which hold its people together. The forces of hierarchy and equality (the vertical plane and the horizontal plane) are in constant dynamic play which impact upon the lives of people in society. The meaning of well-being of the people is manifested accordingly.

The various interactions of people in society can be categorized as:

• Individual-to-individual transactions
• Individual-to-organization transactions
• Organization-to-organization transactions

The operationalization of trust between individuals and between groups of various sizes creates a value system in society as well as the relationship between means and ends to achieve goals.

The relative emphasis on the oral and written traditions is an important differentiator in this process. Increase in the scale of interaction with others, of interactions with unknown people, of commercial transactions, of transactions over greater distance lead to the development of written transactions and maintaining written records.

Governance systems evolve from the need for peace and harmony and the need for dealing with various forms of conflict. Monarchy, autarchy, democracy, socialism, communism are some of the different forms of governance which can function through decentralized and centralized systems. Norms and laws pertaining to various facets of life and to ownership of societal resources are formulated and their enforcement forms the basis of systems of justice.

The need for holistic health and well-being of people, the need for learning and teaching, the need for character building, the need for support systems during celebrations and during calamities and disasters are important anchors which shape the contours of the institutional architecture and of governance in society.

Putting a premium on social identity coupled with decentralized systems of work and governance lead to the emergence of an institutional architecture which nurtures the formation of strong social bonds of community starting from the family, the kith and kin, the clan, the village. Caring and sharing values are embedded to reinforce the social bonds.

Similarly, a premium on work identity leads to different types of institutional architecture and norms.

The emergence of cities as distinct from villages initiates an on-going process of urban growth and decay which is sustained by the production of surplus food in the villages. The dynamics of rural and urban interaction emerge in various forms.

A written Constitution, written laws, a modern institutional architecture based on Western concepts is the reality of our country after Independence. The oral tradition and its ramifications in various domains of society has been a part of Indian society. Written transactions dominating almost all facets of life is relatively new for most of the population.

The flux between the traditional systems and the modern systems and the need for inclusive and sustainable growth for all is churning our society.

How does uncertainty get woven into societal design?

How does achieved and ascribed status get balanced in societal design?

How does the ancient Indian concept of corporation lay the basis for ‘self’ and ‘other’?

How does the modern concept of corporation lay the basis for ‘self’ and ‘other’?

How does governance and people’s participation get integrated in societal design?

What concepts of corporation promote higher degrees of governance and people’s participation ?

How does mutuality and reciprocity get integrated in societal design?

How does continuity and change get integrated in societal design?

The right path is steep and upwards, the wrong path is easy and horizontal

Do not dig a well only after the house catches fire

The worth of the shade is only known when the sun is beating down

Truth always triumphs

For the friendship of two, the patience of one is required

Clouds that thunder seldom rain

A harvest of peace grows from seeds of contentment

He who wants fruits should not pick flowers

The mind of a sage, even when angered, is never perturbed. Can a man heat the waters of the sea with a lighted straw?

Neither mother nor children, nor kinsmen, nor dear family friends follow a man in death; he departs alone. The deeds alone which he has done are his fellow-travellers

• Dharma is a uniquely Indian concept which denotes the foundation of all existence. This is the fountainhead of understanding the universe and ourselves to steer our behavior at various levels in society.
• Stithpragnya is a uniquely Indian term which embodies balance, equilibrium.
• Prarabda and Purushartha are a uniquely Indian depiction of the twin forces of destiny and initiative which together contribute to the life outcomes for each person individually and collectively.
• Panch and Panchayat is a uniquely Indian concept of a collective forum for addressing various governance issues of community living including the family, groups, work, inter-group interaction.
• Sat-Chit-Ananda meaning Truth-Consciousness-Bliss is a uniquely Indian concept which guides and moulds the aspirational energies of people to find meaning and purpose in life.

We can value and understand these uniquely Indian insights to enable us to decipher their relevance in the modern context.

Structured diversity is rooted in plurality and multiplicity at every level and in every domain of existence. Understanding the value of diversity for better integration with the ‘other’ and for higher levels of performance is gaining increasing importance in the West. This has been an anchor of societal design in India and other parts of the East.

The terms ‘Sangha’ and ‘corporate’ both refer to the collective entity which is the opposite of the individual entity. The traditional understanding of sangha has the social identity of people at the core while the modern meaning of corporate has the work identity of people at the core. But both identities are important and the East and the West are learning this reality from their own starting points.

Hukka-paani bandh is a traditional Indian self-regulatory mechanism for compliance with norms and rules adopted by communities and their collective forums. Sanctions are a modern mechanism for getting compliance. The levels at which these mechanisms are in operation – grassroots, state, national, international – and the domains in which they operate are different in the East and the West. Self-regulation and the principle of subsidiarity to build cohesion in society and to improve governance of collective forums can benefit from the traditional and modern experiences of the East and the West.

Stakeholding in society – skin in the game – is a concept which is becoming increasingly popular among thought leaders in the West. The premium put on ownership of one’s own resources for generating livelihood and relating to the economy as well as full liability ownership structures are still in practice in the East. What better basis can be visualized for building a stakeholding society and for developing ‘skin in the game’ for all? Again, the role of full liability and limited liability ownership structures creates different dynamics in the system and calls for re-calibrating the meaning of ‘skin in the game’. The stakeholding patterns in the economy are anchored in the stakeholding patterns of the culture in a mutually reinforcing loop.

The increased interaction between humans as well as between humans and machines across time and space tests our levels of tolerance on many fronts such as:

• Tolerance for differences, dissent, disruption
• Tolerance for similarities, commonalities, sameness
• Tolerance for ambiguity, uncertainty, complexity
• Tolerance for discomfort, hardship, suffering
• Tolerance for dishonesty, cunningness, manipulation
• Tolerance for non conformity, change, newness
• Tolerance for failure, loss, defeat

What are the societal mechanisms for lowering or raising these tolerance levels in individuals and groups?

Societal design which maximizes autonomy for all is the challenge we are facing. The relative emphasis on natural persons and juridical persons is also related to societal design.

Value, values, and valuations emerge from the kind of society and governance forms we choose. Value creation, value capture, and value corrosion develop accordingly.

The difference between self-employment and entrepreneurship needs to be understood in a more detailed way. The gig economy and its implications need to be understood. The differential meanings and societal implications of a sharing economy in the context of subsistence, barter, subsistence-cum-commercial, and market economies needs to be understood.

Doing well and doing good are inter-connected and apply to the inner and the outer world both. How a society prioritizes these and how it organizes its people and institutions to maximize/optimize them defines the meaning of well-being understood by its people and the contours of well-being experienced by them.

It is within this context that the potential of each person is actualized. The concept of Santosha is an anti-dote to hedonism for all which is simply unsustainable in every sense of the term.

Being Indian means learning and knowing how to draw upon our civilizational wisdom to evolve solutions to these issues in the modern context.