Sustainability 101
Extend life of durables
It is well known that the best option to minimise the carbon footprint is to extend the useable life if durables. And that means that nothing should be thrown. Everything should be repaired and recycled.
It is very difficult to check the authenticity of various studies. And it is quite a wicked world out there.
But if it is indeed true that the donations from the highly veneered trusts of the House of Tatas are indeed being used to further their business interests in the garb of philanthropy, then it is reason enough:
For every Indian to hang his head in shame . And yet another indicator that the group is nearing its end.
First it was Nira Radia as their super consultant drawing Rs 56 cr pa as official remuneration. Then there was Tata finance and its CEO hanging himself to suicide. And now this. There are other instances but may not be suitable for being shared on a public platform.
The big problem with executives is that they don’t think beyond their tenures. That is why companies have boards. Now these Boards are supposed to have independent directors. They should be independent of the company and also independent of each other. Now let’s see what the last board of Tata Sons looked like.
One Director was a paid consultant of another Director. And he was also the brother in law of the other director. And these three independent directors who seemed completely dependent on each other constituted the independent director dominated Board which removed Cyrus Mistry.
I am not getting into whether Cyrus Mistry was the right man to head the House of Tatas or not. My view is that it doesn’t matter. What matters is your own value system. And the second thing that matters is the deliverables you expect from the independent directors. Are they yes men appointed to nod in agreement. Or are they thinkers who have a mind of their own.
Noel Tata has the makings of a great leader. But he will need change. You can’t just change the titular head and expect radical changes. You have to change the executive head. Unless you do that – it is all lip service.
It is embarrassing to see the House of Tatas standing in queue to raid subsidy budgets of the govt or to seek preferential orders. Petty businessmen do such things. It doesn’t befit the House of Tatas.
One would expect them to be donors and philanthropists – not racketeers and subsidy seekers. That is a very competitive space. And in the end they will lose even in that space.