Public Funds: A Key Driver of Innovation

The column Schumpeter in The Economist is one that I read and like most for the insightful, razor sharp exposition of thinking and analysis. The latest one has the title ‘The Entrepreneurial State’. This article is based on a book, ‘The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs Private Sector Myths’ by Mariana Mazzucato of Sussex University. The book argues that the state (government) has played a central role in producing game changing breakthroughs and innovations.

The book demonstrates that unacknowledged state support has been the enabler of the consumer electronics revolution that has surrounded us. It lists a number of instances where state funding has been the source of many modern innovations such as Internet (which is rather known), HTML, and touchscreen (which have come from publicly funded universities) and even behind successful companies like Apple (which was funded by a government agency before it went public).

The most interesting part is that the most supportive of all nation states is found where one least expected, the United States. US government funds almost 60% of the basic research. Its armed forces pioneered the Internet, GPS and voice activated virtual assistants. They also provided much of the early funding for Silicon Valley. The research that produced Google’s search algorithm was funded by National Science Foundation.

Schumpeter argues that, at its best the state is the ultimate Schumpeterian innovator, unleashing the forces of creative destruction that provide strong tailwinds for private firms like Apple. To quote:

Economists have long recognised that the state has a role in promoting innovation. It can correct market failures by investing directly into public goods such as research, or by using the tax system to nudge businesses towards doing so. 

The above observation seems strange to many policy formulators in developing countries. Post liberalization, the effort in most developing countries, the neo-converts to liberal state philosophy has been acting what the neo-converts always do – go overboard to show your new approaches. Following this state investment has been moving out of many areas. Public research institutions have been asked to justify their existence in the liberalized economy. The neo-converts forget that businesses are short-termists and will innovate only where return on investment is assured in the near future. I hope Indian policy makers do read what successful and innovative states have done.   

Schumpeter argues that ‘putting all those different state funded technologies together into userfriendly iPads and iPhones required rare genius that deserve rare rewards’. True; but, for that there is the intellectual property system which ensures a limited monopoly in the market place. That should not obscure the importance of state funding which led to such technologies.

Pharmaceutical companies are bigger beneficiaries of state research than internet and electronic firms. Schumpeter says that behind most blockbuster drugs is the NIH support from its annual US$ 30 Mn fund. The following chart that Thomson Reuters had produced sometime back illustrates the point.

What is true for pharma is true in general is true for the rest of innovative enterprises. Most of the early stage innovations, which have long gestation periods and higher risks, are done in academic and not for profit research settings. It is in taking these innovations to the market that enterprises have their special skills. To be fair to pharma companies the development part is a long arduous and risky endeavor.

The lack of innovation in neglected diseases exemplifies this point. Pharma will show interest if there is foreseeable return on investment.  There has to be a market pull. Take the case of Tuberculosis, which even now treats patients with frontline drugs developed in the 1950’s and 60’s; prompting Nature to write an Editorial titled Orphan Giant. Global market for TB is estimated to be only about $300 million. Therefore there is no market pull. If we redraw the world map according to TB incidence the world looks different as below:

So, there is no economic or other compulsion acting either on the industry or the governments located far away from the countries where diseases are prevalent. Compounding this is the complex scientific challenges, unclear route to the market and regulatory environment surrounding the neglected diseases. A study conducted by London School of Economics about a decade back had revealed that big pharma is wary of taking development risks in neglected diseases.

The Open Source Drug Discovery (OSDD) programme, led by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India, had understood this dilemma of the market.  Therefore it advocates that public funding of research and development of drugs for neglected diseases. The countries that are affected by the neglected diseases have a responsibility to spur innovation by investing in research and development. India is showing an example on this through OSDD. OSDD has announced its intent to conduct clinical trials of an anti TB regimen by spending its own funds and at its own risk, in collaboration with TB Alliance.

Public funds need to support innovation. This is clear in the case of market failures. But what Ms. Mazzucato’s book reveals is that even behind successful market driven innovations, public funding has a major role to play. More than anyone else, the newly liberalized economies need to realize this. They just have to learn from the US.

Beware of the 'Good Idea Fairy'

The other day, I found my son engrossed in reading – ‘NoEasy Day’ by Mark Owen and borrowed it from him.  This book is a first hand account of the operation carried out by Navy Seals to take out Osama Bin Laden in his safe compound at Abbotabad in Pakistan. The book is interesting for more than one reason. Apart from being a page turner, written in gripping style and simple yet catchy language by the Navy Seal commander who actually led one of the teams which killed Laden, it contains a number of management principles.

The importance that US military attaches to training comes out clear from the book. Its personnel are put through some of the most excruciating and sophisticated training exercise that mimics the ground realities. They go to the field well trained, conduct operations, are called back to train again. The trainers are themselves people hot from the field. This back and forth continues and the Mark Owen comments that they themselves noticed that they have improved after such regular routines. But they also noticed that the enemy had also evolved with each of their postings. Each time you are prepared to face tougher challenges. The book gets its title from the Seal motto: ‘the only easy day was yesterday’.

One interesting concept that the Seals warn you to be on your guard is that of the ‘good idea fairy’. These are well intentioned people removed from execution of projects who come up with fantastic ideas for others to implement.  These well-intentioned people dream up solutions for non-existent concerns and slow teams down. 

Here is an example that is quoted in the book.  Laden was living in a neighborhood with lots of houses. During the operation there will be lot of gunfire and grenade blasts which is likely to wake the neighborhood up. Someone sitting far removed from operational logistics decided that during the middle of the night attack a group of Seals would be tasked with attaching a police light to the roof of one of Osama's Land Rovers in the early moments of the attack. A group of Seals were to push the Land Rover out of the compound to the road with flashing police lights to convince the locals that it is a mere police action. This group was to then join the battle.

This well intentioned armchair idea was ridiculous from an operational perspective. Why in the world would anyone going to catch the most notorious terrorist of the world, hiding in a compound abutting a Pak military base, without the knowledge of the country, waste any precious time in the attack. And, are the neighbors woken in the middle of the night by the sounds of war -- helicopters, machine guns, explosions -- next door would believe that a local police action was taking place, simply because a car with a flashing blue light happened to be blocking the street? The idea was discarded by the guys who were well trained and experienced in carrying out raids in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The origin of the term ‘good idea fairy’ is in the U.S. military and describes a mythical creature that whispers advice and ideas into the ears of leadership, causing hundreds of unnecessary changes and countless wasted man-hours. Owen says in the book: “if we had all the time we wasted fighting the good idea fairy back, we might have gained few years of our life.”

We all come up against good idea fairies at different points of time.There is a blog by a school teacher how the theory is applicable even in everyday work and on how one should be careful.

There is another interesting blog on good idea fairy at EngineerLeader cautioning against this fairy who shows up in the eleventh hour just when the moment of execution is about to arrive and brings in a whole list of unnecessary changes and additional work. Engineer Leader points out that it is the leaders responsibility to control the good idea fairy and the only way to do it is through courage and preparation.

The good idea fairy preys on the inexperienced, easily confused, and leaders unable to listen to sound advice. To keep the fairy away the engineer leader suggest the following:

Surround Yourself with Subject Matter Experts:  It is not possible for a leader to know everything, nor should you.  When you’re handed a project to lead and you don’t know how to solve each minute component, it is the leaders job to find those that do and enlist their support.

Listen to Good Advice.  Everybody has an opinion but few have good advice.  A good leader develops the intuition to tell the difference, and actually listens to it.  The leader should listen to everyone’s input but then make the decision on the good advice. 

Prepare well and eliminate confusion: Good idea fairy is more likely to visit the confused ones. To eliminate the confusion in problem solving, first step is to define the problem correctly and then begin investing time towards solving that problem.

 Set a Good Idea Fairy Cut-off Date: Ideas are good to have.  Do proper planning through brainstorming.  Get the stakeholders involved and it may lead to innovative and smart solutions. Ensuring that everyone has a chance to contribute their ideas can go a long way to check the good idea fairy. However, at some point the ideas aren’t helpful anymore, and a cut off date for new ideas need to be set. 

The management principle to be learnt: One important management principle that comes out of No Easy Day is that you need to trust the operational leadership. The best laid plans are the first casualty of the battle. So, many a times the best plans are simple and flexible. The operational leadership on the ground should have the flexibility to execute and innovate on the go, especially in complex, constantly shifting, unpredictable situations. It is easy to suggest new ideas, but the one on the ground, executing the task knows how best to handle a situation and it is better to leave it to them than to rely on 'arm chair quarter backs' who might not even have played the game, except watching TV, and are full of ideas and suggestions on what the team should do. 

Keeping the good idea fairies away is a leadership challenge.

Marrakesh Treaty: Access to Copyright Works for Print Disabled

Marrakesh has some special significance for multilateral treaties. It was in Marrakesh that one of the most significant multilateral agreements culminating in the establishment of World Trade Organisation got concluded in 1984. About 60 agreements were signed concluding Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade negotiations at the Marrakesh ministerial meeting on April 15,1994, most significant is the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, which is now commonly known as the "Marrakesh Agreement”. In a way, it is the Marrakesh Agreement establishing WTO was the wind beneath the wings of globalization and liberalization that swept the world in the last decade of the 20^th century.

Now Marrakesh is again in the news for a Multilateral Treaty of another kind, a copyright treaty providing for access to the visually impaired in braille and other print disabled friendly formats. International negotiators of a Diplomatic Conference held from June 17 to 28, 2013 under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) adopted a landmark new treaty that boosts access to books for the benefit of hundreds of millions of people who are blind, visually impaired and print-disabled. It facilitates access to published works in Braille, large print and audio formats.

The Treaty is called the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access toPublished Works for Persons who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or otherwisePrint Disabled. This Treaty adopted by the diplomatic conference will need be ratified and adopted by the nation states and to be made part of their law. The Treaty requires the parties to adopt provisions in their national laws that permit the reproduction, distribution and making available of published works in accessible formats through limitations and exceptions to the rights of copyright holders.

Marrakesh looking South!

The Treaty essentially addresses a concern widely known as “book famine” for the visually impaired. According to the World Health Organization, there are more than 314 million blind and visually impaired persons in the world, 90 per cent of whom live in developing countries and least developed countries of the south. According to the World Blind Union, of the million or so books published each year in the world, less than 5 per cent are made available in formats accessible to visually impaired persons. But for the majority of the visually impaired in developing countries this figure is almost around 1%.

The Treaty provides for the exchange of disabled accessible format works across borders by organizations that serve the people who are blind, visually impaired, and print disabled. It will harmonize limitations and exceptions so that these organizations can operate across borders. This sharing of works in accessible formats should increase the overall number of works available.

Unlike the earlier Marrakesh Agreement which favored mostly the North, the current Treaty favors mostly the blind persons, mostly in the South. In the words of the WIPO Director General Francis Gurry, it tries to access the “book famine” for the print disabled.

Morocco’s Minister of Communications and Government Spokesperson Mustapha Khalfi, who banged the gavel to signify the treaty’s adoption. “Thanks to the blessing that is here in Marrakesh, which we call the city of the Seven Saints, and thanks to you all we were able to achieve what we can call a "Miracle in Marrakesh."

What is the Treaty trying to address

Copyrights law grants the exclusive right over reproduction in any material medium to the rightholder. This includes forms such as braille and other visually impaired. On the other hand copyright law contains fair use provisions which provides access to works for certain non profit uses. Examples are making copies for personal use of research, education etc. These exceptions have been crafted keeping the need of the majority of the population. This does not take care of the need of the visually challenged or the print disabled. So if the print disabled have to get access to copyright works, they have to be given special provisions under fair use provisions of the copyright law. Berne Convention and TRIPS Agreement provides for limitations or exceptions to exclusive rights to certain special cases which do not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work and do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the right holder. These three conditions are squarely applicable in the case of print disabled as these are (i) special cases (ii) do not conflict with normal exploitation of the work, and (iii) do not affect the normal exploitation of the work or his legitimate (commercial) interests. International copyright law has always recognized the need to balance the rights of authors of creative works and the public interest.  Some uses of copyrighted material are exempted from the requirement to seek authorization from the rightholder or to pay royalties.

And yet in more 125 years of Berne Convention (1886), very few countries have provided specific exception to the print disabled. A WIPO survey in 2006 found that fewer than 60 countries have limitations and exceptions clauses in their copyright laws that make special provision for visually impaired persons.  Further, as like other IP laws, copyright laws are municipal laws and are ‘territorial’, these exemptions usually do not cover the import or export of works converted into accessible formats, even between countries with similar rules. Organizations in each country will have to negotiate licenses with the rightholders to exchange special formats across borders, or produce their own materials, a costly undertaking that severely limits access by visually impaired persons to printed works of all kinds. The solution is adoption of an international Treaty which will then be incorporated into the copyright laws of different countries.

  

Recognition of Human Rights in IP Law

The Treaty recalls the international convention on human rights in the opening statement of the Preamble to the Treaty, reproduced below

The Contracting Parties,

Recalling the principles of non-discrimination, equal opportunity, accessibility and full and  effective participation and inclusion in society, proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,

To me this came as a surprise. So far Human Rights have been given lip service in IP treaties and conventions. The entire discussion on IP protection has been, for sometime being carried out, at a single track approach of protecting the author or the inventor. This is despite the Article 27 of the Human Rights convention which, in plain reading, at least to me, talked about a desirable balance between rights of the authors and access to the fruits of science.  

Article 27.

(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Most commentators argued this Article as protecting human rights of the creator, the author or the inventor, on the material interests. Feeble voices were about access and the ability to share scientific advances were ignored or out rightly brushed aside as not reflective of realities. The arguments went thus:- the enjoyment of arts and share in scientific advance is possible only if these are brought to the market. These will be brought to the market only of the material interest of the author is protected. Protection of investment is required to let everyone enjoy the right to access and share the scientific advancement and its benefits. In this argument, intellectual property protection is protection of human right of authors. The rest of the rights in Article 27 flow from this protection.  Proponents of this argument will stretch this argument further and make you believe that investment protection is human right protection. Protecting the intellectual property of the pharmaceutical companies enables your enjoyment of the right to health as otherwise you will not get these medicines in the market. The argument will be further stretched by its proponents to state that intellectual property protection is actually investor protection. For them, fair use and other provisions which brings in a balance in copyright law is an accompaniment which need be strictly controlled to ensure return on investment for works.

What makes this treaty special is that it deals with Article 27 (1) and expressly states about the Human Rights of access to works. This is a fundamental shift in the approach to IP so far. All diplomatic conferences so far have been on rights of authors, protecting it and expanding it. There has never been a diplomatic conference on fair use provisions or on the first limb of Article 27 (1). This possibly has been the first one which was exclusively convened to ensure access to the works.

Progressing with Technology

Technology enables access of works by the blind more than ever before. In its intervention, the Holy See (Vatican) made the following statement:

“Twenty or thirty years ago little could be done about the “book famine”. Printing braille books was time-consuming and resource-intensive. Technology has brought about important changes. Today visually impaired people can read books on computers using text-to-speech technology magnification, by means of so-called braille displays, or by listening to normal audio books. Now every book on the planet can quite easily be made accessible to blind users; instead of the 1% or 5% access of the past, today’s technical capacity allows close to 100%. Our goal, then, is not just a treaty, but rather a treaty that will resolve obstacles to access”.

The Treaty has a clause on the technological protection measures:

Article 7

Obligations Concerning Technological Measures

Contracting Parties shall take appropriate measures, as necessary, to ensure that when they provide adequate legal protection and effective legal remedies against the circumvention of effective technological measures, this legal protection does not prevent beneficiary persons from enjoying the limitations and exceptions provided for in this Treaty. 

There is a footnote to this clause which gives an agreed statement: Agreed statement concerning Article 7:  It is understood that authorized entities, in various circumstances, choose to apply technological measures in the making, distribution and making available of accessible format copies and nothing herein disturbs such practices when in accordance with national law.

VIP Provisions in Indian Copyright Law

The Indian copyright law after its 2012 amendment has provisions relating to access of works for the blind. The Copyright Act 1957 has a two pronged approach to protect the interest of the blind. A special fair use provision has been added to section 52 (za) to provide for making copies for the visually impaired persons (VIP) and organisations working for their benefit. The second prong is the provisions for compulsory licensing for works for VIPs. Rather cutely, these amendments have been called VIP amendments.

The adoption of the Treaty now shows that Indian legislature has been forward looking and disabled friendly in so far as access to works is concerned.

Government of India was represented in the conference and supported the amendments. Their concluding statements can be accessed here. Other than its official delegation, number of Indian experts who work with non governmental organisations was part of the negotiations. K M Gopakumar of Third World Network and Pranesh Prakash of Centre for Internet and Society were present among others. Pranesh made a touching concluding statement. To quote a sentence:

“When copyright doesn't serve public welfare, states must intervene, and the law must change to promote human rights, the freedom of expression and to receive and impart information, and to protect authors and consumers. Importantly, markets alone cannot be relied upon to achieve a just allocation of informational resources, as we have seen clearly from the book famine that the blind are experiencing”.

In their opening Remarks the World Blind Union stated:

Ladies and gentlemen; these next few days you have a chance to create history and really do some good in the world for an often marginalised part of humanity. Please seize it with both hands and help us write a new chapter in the story of blind people’s inclusion in society

This seems to be just what the diplomatic conference did!

‘Decision Making’ - did you say?

“In the current environment” is a phrase that is in currency these days. I have been hearing it for sometime. At first, I didn't notice its widespread use. Even I have used this term, may be many a times. As time passed by I realised how powerful it is.

So what is it about? Is it just a ‘four-word’ phrase, like any other? Or is it more like a four letter word? An apology for inabilities surrounding a particularly human faculty called ‘decision making’? Or is it an excuse for status quo? You may use your philosophical moorings and imagination to add more such questions. But, if you are involved in the decision making in Delhi, either as the decision maker or the beneficiary or otherwise of it, you cannot wish this phrase away and it is bound to come around seeking you.

To the uninitiated or to an outside observer (the aliens from mars, in this case, anyone outside India, or even Delhi to some extent), this phrase may sound a bit outlandish. In any case, environment has impact on everything. Sociologists have studied it and have come up with varied theories on how environment affects productivity. If you are the ‘green’ kind, environment is fragile and protecting it is of utmost priority. However, I am not referring to any of these.

What I am referring to by this phrase is an excuse we have invented in bureaucracy to push away any decision that need to be taken, but could actually be interpreted by someone at some vague point in future, with all the added benefit of hindsight at that point in time, and holding it against me, even after I am well past retirement and am on the other side of the table, feeling all harshness of the system that once I might have helped to create while in job.

Till the other day, I had heard this phrase only in bureaucratic circles. And I should admit, it is used frequently and comes up in almost all decision-making contexts. In particular, any new or novel idea, not to talk about clearly out of the box thinking hits this wall straightaway.

But in a gathering of some friendly souls who are part of the bureaucratic circles, I met an old friend, an entrepreneur who was known to some of us for ages, a well meaning, well connected, hardworking person who keeps himself away from limelight to the extent possible. As the conversation progressed we are talking about economy, growth, etc. All bureaucrats, of course, are concerned about growth rate falling to 5%. And then my friend entrepreneur dropped the four-letter phrase. No one is taking any decision ‘in the current environment’, according to him. Because any decision may have some beneficiary or may be attributed to some imaginary beneficiary. Decision makers are worried that they may be called to answer at some point in time based on the wisdom of a junior level functionary who may audit such decisions, who may have limited world view or understanding of the subject matter, or that of a police investigator who is more comfortable in handling statements of a crime accused than thinking of national economy or progress of the nation. The environment is scary. The decision maker gets hardly any serious chance of defense. In most cases it is her word against the mighty and you know who prevails.

In such cases, as water takes the shortest course, bureaucracy takes the safest course – just chill!

Just chill, as a young friend of mine says, no one will question you if you don't take a decision. You will be getting your salary and promotions, on its standard routine. You will face a difficulty only if you take a decision, which may be questioned later. And your promotion, salary et al, will be called to account. The current system does not recognize performance; it only deters deviance, perceived and otherwise.

But, at what price? This is what my friend was concerned with. He was pointing out a fact which many of us give least thought about - more than 50% of the population of India is under 25. They are all growing up, coming in to the job market every day. If we don't take decisions that will have impact on creating jobs, which of course will mean an entrepreneur some where will make some profit and therefore benefit, how will they get jobs. For the men from mars (outside India, I mean in this context) this may sound really strange. Without letting private sector play its due part how will you ever have economic growth. This is precisely what India’s economist Prime Minister kept repeating – ‘we need to unleash animal instincts of the economy’ to spur growth. By withdrawing themselves to a cage, and taking the safe course, the Indian babudom (bureaucracy, in Indianese) has exactly done the opposite of what our PM wants, kept the animal safely in a cage.

And how do we think about this young India which is predominantly under 25. All decision makers are above 25! Somewhere near 25 is the entry age to the government. And we who are well past 25, are taking decisions for this young nation! Most of us, atleast me do not even have the ability to relate to this young population, the mobile generation, who grew up in an economically resurgent India. A generation who demand their mothers wear jeans (believe me, I heard it; a teenage girl telling her working class mother to wear jeans, as her friends mother is wearing jeans)! When will ‘we’ ever grow up?

And what is this environment? This has been created in the past two years. By the activists by the media fuelled by almost everyone of the self righteous middle class; the group who will speak about corruption but don't hesitate to break laws when it comes to their interest and don't even feel a pinch in bribing their way through to get what they want. And then there are the reality TV show type newscasts, which in a span of 10-15 minute can judge you and convict you and make you feel so bad that you despise that you were ever were born in the milky way, let alone this planet. Together we have created an environment where people ‘like’ (the Facebook kind) those who suspect everything and hunt for a ghost in every nook and corner.

Couple this with the traditional bureaucratic system that we have which is inherently conservative and wary of risks. In a system that do not know how to handle risks, or atleast how to tolerate those who take such risks, you cant really blame the babudom for taking the safe course.

Concerns about the economy and jobs are good when we read newspapers in the morning carrying criticism of the current way of working or when we adorn a self-righteous attitude when the anchor on TV derides the politicians for all ills we face. The reality is that the decisions are to be taken by us, the bureaucrats, who man the system and we just shy away from it. I was taking to a friend who was part of the Indian bureaucracy, but currently with an international organization, who still has close connections with the babudom. I was told about another phenomenon, oft repeated, again, ‘in the current environment’ the Financial Advisors (FA) in various departments have gone into a cage and if they do not decide nothing happens in government. Now, FAs are joint secretary level officers who advice the government department on financial matters. Now, as in any animal farm, Fas are always more equal than others. If anyone holds veto power over the most well thought out pragmatic decision of the subject experts, it is the FA indeed. So if they are unwilling, you can very well imagine what is happening in government departments. And unfortunately this is happening at the beginning of the 12th five year plan, when major investments are required from the government departments. If these important decisions that require financial commitments are not taken, we will have little to write home about at the end of the plan.

Where will we have growth if we don't take decisions? How will we provide employment to our youth? How will India sustain the competition, if we chicken out from taking decisions that let private sector grow? A senior mentor, one of the highest functionaries in the government, keeps pointing out – we have a short window, of the next 10 years, if we miss this, India will only be an ‘also ran’. And our people will be destined to forever struggle with vagaries of the monsoon. In the current environment, one does not have to be an astrologer to predict that we are riding straight into this storm.

Who wants to ride a tiger; however majestic it may look, if there is even an outside chance of it eating you up! The reformist zeal has almost disappeared. We are happy to be in our safe heavens. Two hoots to the economy and about jobs, I better save some part of my anatomy, and you know what it is!

Sad…but that is the reality, ‘in the current environment’.

India of tomorrow is India of today with its substantial young population. If we don't take decisions that propel the India of today to a vibrant India of tomorrow, we will be letting an opportunity slip by our hands. And I see it almost happening, hoping at the same time, fervently against hope, that the environment changes…that we don't let our next generation down.

Commitment: the many ways of reminding about it

In a manner of speaking, life is all about commitment. It is commitment that brings in determination to do otherwise difficult tasks. It is interesting, sometimes, to see this principle reinforced at the most unusual of the places.

I was camping with a group of friends at Kanatal, further up of Mussouri and Dhanolti, at a camp site called Wildex. Managed by a group of youngsters, the place provides excellent outdoor activities and well built swiss type camps to sleep. At 8000 feet above mean sea level, surrounded by pine trees, it is a good place for group activity. Many a times the clouds come kissing.

One of the activities was a trek to a nearby temple Surkundadevi. It is at about a height of about 10,000 ft above MSL (9,995 to be precise) about 7 kms from the camp (much less as the crow flies).  The place is a steep climb of 2000 feet from where the road ends to over about 2 kms. The base is about midway between Dhanolti and Kanatal, and you wont miss it as you see a large number of pilgrim’s cars parked by. Even at the base level, the elevation being 8000 ft, and surrounded by lush greenery of the surrounding mountain slopes. The place is picturesque, even if you do not want to go up to the temple, for the religiously minded there is enough to worship.

However, a large number of people prefer to trek up. There is a steep climb through concrete paved walkway which may have an average gradient of 30 degree, which at places becomes a steep 45 degree climb. As you go up the view from becomes more spectacular. Each step you go up, you are rewarded by the scenic beauty around. At the same time your body is tested to the limits, your leg muscles hurt, your lungs remind you that you are stretching yourself. As you watch the pilgrims pant their way up, many thoughts cross your mind. Pilgrims of all ages are climbing. I see a young couple holding their baby in their hands and walking up. There are old people, who otherwise find it difficult to walk two kilometers on plane road, climbing up the steps and the incline. They are all committed to climb up and fuelled by their religious beliefs. I had another pure trekker with me who was trekking for the scenic beauty and not for religious reasons. It gave us a chance to chat up about the indirect way in which religion lets people see new things they haven’t seen before.

If you don't climb those difficult steps you wont see the beauty. Why is it that most temples are built on hill tops, in otherwise inaccessible places? Yet lots of people visit. The more inaccessible the more committed people become. Take the case of Sabarimala in southern India. In addition to being inaccessible, requiring a trek through tiger infested forest of Western Ghats, the beliefs demand that the pilgrims observe a 45 days strict fast of vegetarian diet, abstinence and penance and travel through a difficult route. Vaishnavo Devi temple near Jammu which requires an arduous trek in the inhospitable terrain of high altitude Himalayas is another example. Similar is the case of Hemkunt Sahib, a Sikh Gurudwara located way up in the Himalaya. In all these places you will find most unusual of peoples, old, physically challenged, those with small kids in hand trekking up hills that others dare not to and so on. They all share a determination to see their God or follow the faith they believe in. Commitment brings in a rare determination that propels people to do such otherwise impossible tasks.

In all these places religion reminds people of one basic tenet of life. Commitment! It is commitment that drives people on all these difficult terrains. It is a religious way of reminding people that life is about commitment.

One basic common theme that links all successful people is the commitment to the cause, which they espouse. Commitment brings in a determination. A resolve and steel. Such determination is the key to success, in any walk of life. Innovation demands commitment.

Through the difficult treks that it puts on their pilgrims way, religion reminds them once again that life is all about commitment and determination.