Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai Fallout: Seminal lessons from the seminar circuit

A friend of mine is active on the seminar circuit. All seminars are talk-shops; 95% of the time, nothing new is said. Seminar circles are incestuous. You meet the same people. If you know the speaker’s name, you know what will be said, regardless of topic. However, it is a time for networking, plotting future seminars and getting invited to those being planned. Rare is the seminar that does not recommend a future seminar for more study. There are domestic and international seminars. Hoi polloi are confined to the former. If you have moved up the ladder, you are plugged into the latter.

My friend is never in India. He claims this is because of inflation. If you are continually attending conferences, board and lodging costs are taken care of by others. Delhi hosts at least one conference a day, barring summer months. If you know the circuit, you get free lunches, with occasional dinners thrown in. This is better than gate-crashing wedding receptions. Gate-crashers are unwelcome at weddings. They are welcome at conferences, where organisers always solicit attendees.

My friend and I exchanged notes after the Fai episode and we are in a bit of a fix. NGO is an umbrella term and there are millions of them in the world. Since both of us are typically disliked by governments, every seminar we attend is organised by an NGO. The next time we are invited, should we ask for annual reports? That’s not workable. Typical NGOs aren’t registered under Companies Act.

So, it is a better idea for NGOs to voluntarily opt out of the seminar space. Who will hold seminars? Companies. Companies are now dragged into NGO space; this business of mandatory CSR. The Planning Commission wants to prohibit companies from lobbying. Lobbying can only be done by associations. Seminars are also about lobbying — lobbying about influencing policy. Let’s interpret CSR as mandatory Conference and Seminar Responsibility for companies. Companies will hold seminars, there will be better disclosure. India will set a trend for the world.