"Franklin Roosevelt, who challenged a nation to overcome its fears; Winston Churchill, who demanded and got blood, sweat and tears from his people; Albert Schweiter, who inspired a reverence for life; Albert Einstein, who gave us a sense of unity in infinity; Mahatma Gandhi, David Bengurion, Golda Meir, and Anwar Sadat, who rallied their people to great and humane causes; Jack and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., who said we could do better-all are gone now... Where are their successors? Why have we not had any true leaders in the White House in a generation? Why are there no potential presidents who inspire or even excite us? Where, for God’s sake, have all the leaders gone?"
Warren Bennis in Managing People is like Herding Cats

“No doubt, India has its democracy intact but the increasing say of religion and caste in the country’s affairs is reducing the system to a farce. The nation has more temples and mosques than schools and hospitals put together. Electoral politics is ousting every bit of decency from public life. Even parliament has been made a point of ridicule. Pakistan is a convenient whipping boy for all that fails in India…. The reason why such people (politicians) have come into prominence is the devaluation of norms. Men with values have been pushed to the background or their number has dwindled… There is no segment of activity which does not reek with corruption, crime or callousness. Where does "the good of all" figure when practically all eyes are focused on how to grab office or assignment? India, an apostle of democracy, beats other countries when it legislates that MPs and MLAs can also occupy any public office without inviting disqualification. We talk of our spiritual heritage but what we mean is fundamentalism.”
Kuldip Nayar in Gulf News

“Lack of leadership hits one square in the face, starting at the municipal level, all the way up to the highest offices in the North Block and South Block of India’s capital. These powerful people have little real understanding of what it would take to make India a nation that cares for all of its people; indeed, they have little intent to achieve such a goal, in any case…The slogan of the present crop of Indian "leaders" in power is "India Rising," after the previous crop was kicked out of power because of the fraud of their campaign slogan, "India Shining." To say that the country is reaching "new heights" of success is almost criminal. To begin with, India possesses, as it always has, the potential to be a very powerful and economically sound nation. The opportunity to make that happen lies at the doorstep of India’s leaders. Seventy-one percent of the population—742 million people—are below 35 years of age. In other words, India is not a graying nation; it is full of young people. It can be moved with a positive leadership….Another area where India excelled in the past, and the reason why India is still on its own two feet, is its now much-neglected agricultural sector. Blessed with fertile land like no other country in the world, India is not only self-sufficient in food, but it has the ability to feed a billion others. But, to the visionless leaders of today, the agricultural sector is a problem, because that is where the majority of the poor reside. These agricultural workers, lacking education and neglected to the extreme, remain bound to their land, scraping out means of survival. In the suburbs of metropolitan areas, some of these farmers get the opportunity to sell off their land to the housing developers, and a few of them thus move into a stable life. Otherwise, for most in India’s agricultural sector, life is cruel and there exists little opportunity to improve their lot…”
Ramtanu Maitra in Executive Intelligence Review