Leadership in short supply - Let the wind of Change blow East!

Thursday's events have thrown up a humongous demand for LEADERSHIP. Not only in political space, but in the media as well - while all channels relayed events as is, many of them did not refrain from one-upmanship brownie points with claims like "our reporter was the first...", "these are exclusive pictures..", "we are bringing these to you live...".
Several bigwigs had their bytes prominently relayed by starved reporters. A few channels left their ad space and time intact - the viewer is a consumer after all!
Media gave themselves a free hand, and have assumed that they are beyond regulation.
The watchdog is actually a giant rat greedy for a large piece of the cheese.
(The exception seems to be a series of meaningful discussions moderated by Omkar Goswami in a business channel )
We need leaders who can inspire and innovate, and we need change!
Since November 4, I've been trying to compile a list of 'IDEAL 552', and find myself very far from completing the list. Each person herein has one or more of the following attributes:
1. Seen as clean / has integrity / believes in ethics
2. feel for the masses
3. can certainly make a change.
4. whatever the call, (s)he is a professional.
5. does not appear to have vested interests
APJ Abdul Kalam
Medha Patkar
Narayana Murthy
P Sainath
TN Seshan
Prakash Karat
Brinda Karat
MS Swaminathan
Amartya Sen
Sunita Narain
Ramachandra Guha
Mallika Sarabhai
Cho Ramaswamy
Binayak Sen
Naresh Chandra
Tarun Das
Omkar Goswami
MP Anil Kumar
S Gurumurthy
Sheela Rani Chungath
J Radhakrishnan
Shashi Tharoor
Woefully, my list stops here. Doubtless, you can think of others? (non-celebrities, thank you)
And Googling ethical Indians / clean Indians is of no help. You'll find several Influential Indians though!
PS - On seeing any of these names, if you wish to pigeonhole this blogger's 'ism' - try creativism :)
Adding to the list:
Kiran Bedi
Somnath Chatterjee
Ratan Tata
Vallabh Bhansali
Prakash Amte & Mandakini Amte
Dr V Shanta
Dr V Kurien
For more suggestions, please see comments below.

Comments

  1. Kannamma28 November, 2008

    A good effort
    Can add Kiran Bedi, Somnath Chatterjee and Modi. Not many will agree with my last choice.But I admire his administrative abilities.

    Start a fourth front?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Joseph Pulikotil29 November, 2008

    Hi Swarna :)

    I am listing 11 more names. I hope you will approve.

    INDIRA NOOYI

    ARUNDADATHI ROY

    MEDHA PATKAR

    RATAN TATA

    SONIA GANDHI

    KIRAN MAJUMDAR

    VIJAY MALLYA

    RAHUL GANDHI

    P.T.USHA

    ABINAV BINDRA

    VISWANATHAN ANAND

    Have a good day :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Swarna29 November, 2008

    K, JP
    Thanks for contributing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. lipi03 December, 2008

    Swarna,

    You may laugh at me for my suggestions:) But here they are, because I believe in the choices.

    1. Vivekananda
    2. Adi Shankara
    3. Vidyaranya

    I would pick leaders who have imbibed some of the principles of these stalwarts. It is co-incidental that a Sanskrit-online-magazin Vishvavani has featured an article debating the nomination for India's top-most representative, and the author has nominated Adi Sankara!
    http://www.speaksanskrit.org/vishvavani/vishvavANI_vol2_no2.pdf
    (Incidentally, they carry an article on Vivekananda, too).
    Here is a blog that seems to support his 'nomination'.
    http://intellectualhinduism.blogspot.com/2007/08/adi-shankaracharya.html

    Harvard educated businessmen, lawyers and politicians are the ones that have brought us to the state we are in w.r.t Economy, Politics, Media, Society ... All these people would have done better had they additionally got training in non-exclusive (my god is better than your god) philosophical thinking.

    While I understand your sentiment "wind of change blowing from West to East", I would say that it has to come from within - within those at the helm, and the masses

    ReplyDelete
  5. Swarna04 December, 2008

    Lipi,
    That's very thought-provoking.
    And let us strive for the change from within.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Swarna04 December, 2008

    Here are the links that Lipi provided above -
    VishvavANi Nov 2008, vol 2
    Adi Shankaracharya

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous05 December, 2008

    Its a very good one.

    I would like to suggest these great Indians:

    1. Babe Amte's son and Daughter Prakash and Mandakini

    2. Dr.Shanta from Madras Cancer institute
    http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Citation/CitationShantaV.htm

    3. Dr. Kurien - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verghese_Kurien

    ReplyDelete
  8. Swarna05 December, 2008

    Praveen, Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ramesh Srivats11 December, 2008

    Hey, what about Mallya.

    http://www.rameshsrivats.net/2008/12/100-word-election-speeches-part-2.html

    ReplyDelete
  10. Swarna12 December, 2008

    Ramesh - Granted! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Kat13 December, 2008

    I know you people are modest... at grass roots level proposing your and Indrani's names :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Swarna15 December, 2008

    Kat
    At grassroots level, we are all in! :)

    ReplyDelete

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