Will this ever happen in India?

March is the appraisal month. The Self Appraisal is the first step in the month long appraisal process in which every employee fills in his achievements, any accolades received from clients/managers during the year, areas of improvements, strengths , aspirations and goals for the future year.
The goals have to be strictly SMART (Specific Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time bound). Each goal has to be clearly mentioned with a fixed timeline. The appraisal next year will review how much of it one could achieve. Framing SMART goals gives clear direction to the aspirant and is the first step towards realizing your goals.

With election season round the corner, it is only natural to compare companies’ appraisal process with that of the country. Why there is no such appraisal system for the politicians who are responsible for the health of the country? Company appraisal directly impacts the career of its employees and which in turn is related to the health of the company. Ditto for the country.
Every party’s election manifesto talks of removing poverty, regular water supply, more jobs opportunities, better road conditions et al with no time lines , no specific goals. Individual appraisal impacts one professional and one single organization but the appraisal of the contesting candidate has an impact on the health and the future of the entire country.
What if a country is run like an organization! The credentials of a candidate are scrutinized fully before assigning him the responsibility of running the country. Clear policies framed with SMART goals, strengths listed, areas of improvements demarcated.
Sample this – Twenty roads will be repaired in the first quarter with monthly quality checks by the quality team, government schools will have to face the audit by external auditors to avail the aid for the next year…. Will that ever happen in India?

Who is responsible for the mess?

“History is a boring subject and what am I going to gain by mugging up what happened two centuries ago and which king ruled over which country.” – Nikhil my son who is appearing for 9th std hates History and he tells that with pride. We always have a war of words when I ask him to study History.
I love reading about kings and their wealth but the way they depict and describe in school text books it does appear very boring. Moreover school text books are not updated regularly.
Yesterday I was teaching him Economics. In a chapter on Poverty, they have explained about poverty line, how it is determined and what was the poverty line in 1975 and how poverty is the result of British policies… blah blah. When I was studying Economics in college, these were the same things I had studied. Out text books haven’t changed at all. And most importantly for how long will we keep blaming Britishers for the mess we are in, how about the mess that our politicians have created since Independence and continue to create. Are they not more responsible for the state of our country and not letting our country grow?