Volume4 issue 4 corporate citizen

INTERVIEW

Ramnath Subramaniam, CEO, Maharashtra Village Social Transformation Foundation

Volume 4, Issue No. 04 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in

LOVED & MARRIED TOO Prateek Mathur and Pragya Jha

May 1-15, 2018 / `50

Interview

Archana Srivastava, Head HR, Continental CTF & FM India

SURVEY PwC Digital IQ Survey Results

Health

Dynamic Duo: 69

Bond of trust Asmita and Vinay Prakash Goel, on their two decades of togetherness

Instilling fitness within corporate houses

CII HR & IR CONCLAVE

Discussion on impact of organisational structure changes

2 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 67

Registered with RNI, under Reg. No. MAHENG/2014/60490 Pune posted Reg. No. PCW/179/2018-2020 Posted at BPC, Pune CSO 411030 on 15th and 30th of every month. Licenced to Post without Pre-Payment Licence No. WPP-252.

Corporate Citizen, Krishna Homes Housing Society, Flat No 2 & 4, Bulk land No 4, Near Iskcon Mandir, Sector 29, Ravet, Akurdi, Pune 412101. Tel. (020) 69000673-7. or Post Box No-4, Dehu Road Cantt. Pin - 412101.

68 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

feedback

Look at the bigger picture also

Nowadays, people including media are losing sight of the big picture. The S.K. Jha column in Corporate Citizen issue 2, Volume 4, April 1-15, titled ‘Beware! A new world order is in the making’ was a real eye-opener on why we in India have to change and start thinking for the country, keeping aside our internal differences and making our country strong, to withstand any changes in the world. It really looks at the bigger picture of the world order and were does India stand in that order. We are used to inside look, but this opinion piece was an outside look… interesting.

—Narendra Pardeshi, Project Manager

Just a thought Follow ideals of Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in respect of holidays on birthdays of great leaders. Don’t declare holiday on my death, instead work an extra day if you really love me, said Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam who was People’s President of a country where there are too many political holidays on birth and death anniversaries of leaders, both at central and state level. Every great leader always insists that people should work hard for any success. Therefore best tribute to great leaders is to declare their birth and death anniversaries as extra-work day by increasing office-hours by half an hour on these special days. Such a bold announcement quoting Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam will not attract political resistance in name of vote-bank politics. System will automatically stop unholy political demands to declare such holidays for birth and death anniversaries of more and more leaders across India.

—Madhu Agrawal, Delhi

Keep the tradition alive

INTERVIEW

DINEsh In an era where nobody BhojWaNI, hEaD-DIsTRIBuTIoN hR, sTaR uNIoN DaI-IchI LIfE INsuRaNcE co. LTD talks about our wounded veteran warriors, it was nice to read through your cover Big Data & story on Daulat and Lt Gen The Un World Digitisation Happiness driving Vijay Oberoi, titled ‘Wise manufacturing report 2018 excellence & Wonderful’, in Issue 2, Volume 4, dated 1-15 April, 2018. I salute Corporate DyNamIc Duo: 68 Citizen for the way it pays such fitting tributes to our war heroes who still inspire us to a cause greater than HarsHini KanHeKar, rupa and ourselves. Please keep this First woman ajinkya Dantale firefighter of india tradition alive through your ‘Military to Management’ series. I also enjoy S.K. Jha’s Tax column and Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian’s editorial pages. With lovely pictures and tadkas (corporate trivia) sprinkled here and there, each issue of Corporate Citizen is a collector’s item indeed.

—Col. Sunil Singh, Gurugram Volume 4, Issue No. 02 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in

April 1-15, 2018 / `50

SurVey

Wise & Wonderful Daulat anD lt Gen Vijay OberOi

interVieW

lOVeD & MarrieD tOO

Informative and inspiring

Right at the outset let me thank Corporate Citizen and Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar for such a lovely write-up about me. She has covered all the points I have been mentioned in such a beautiful manner and I am so very happy for that. The magazine is quite informative and inspiring. One thing of concern I thought I must

Circulation NOTICE to ‘Corporate Citizen’ Subscribers

We here by inform our esteemed Subscribers of ‘Corporate Citizen’ magazine that we have Postal Registration Licence. Under this registration the date of posting is 15th and 30th of each month from Pune. Please allow minimum seven (7) days to reach your destination in India. If subscribers do not get copy of any fortnight, do alert us in email at: circulations@corporatecitizen.in OR call on 020 69000676, 77. Just send your subscriber number or full postal address with name. Make sure to email only.

share is that the printing quality could have been better and probably because of the dark background, visibility-wise the content of the article was not very clear, This is my personal opinion and therefore if possible kindly look into the matter while printing the next edition.

—Ritwika Ghosh, Dance Exponent, Kolkata

We look forward to your feedback

We at Corporate Citizen, believe that information should not be a one-way street. Your opinion and views about this issue are most welcome. Your ideas and new thoughts you may have, to enhance the content quality of our magazine, are most welcome. We rely on you to keep Corporate Citizen, on the positive and cool note, through your interaction on this page—just as you trust us with the content that we bring you, every fortnight. Mail us your views on: corporatecitizenwriters@gmail.com

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 3

Editor-in-Chief’s Choice / Shekhar Gupta

Suspicion and fear replace euphoria amongst Corporate India Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian

T

he euphoria of Corporate India over Narendra Modi’s rise has ended. It’s been replaced by suspicion and fear as he has let businessmen know they can’t see him as their own, like in Gujarat.

Delhi and Mumbai, we keep saying, are like two sovereign republics, yet to establish diplomatic relations with each other. That situation hasn’t changed very much. The relative power of the two varies, depending on just one variable: the strength of the government in Delhi. The cities, for clarity, are mere metaphors for the power establishments, one representing politics and the other legacy, old-economy Indian entrepreneurship and the financial world still pretty much controlled by a small ecosystem of friends and families, interconnected with marital, ethnic, caste (and sub-caste or clan) ties, plus IOUs. This is like India’s permanent capitalist and financial establishment. It doesn’t change.

The regimes change in Delhi. Even if we take 1989 as the cut-off (when India’s permanent single-party rule ended) Delhi now has its eighth prime minister. The ruling parties or arrangements have swung between deep secular Left—Gowda’s cabinet had two CPI ministers holding key positions; home and agriculture—

4 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

for the first and last time ever; and unabashed Hindu Right, when the BJP won a full majority without even one minority Muslim or Christian MP elected.

Mumbai can usually find its way around any political establishment. It knows the tactics and instruments. It also has patience, helped along by the presumption that regimes in the capital change. It doesn’t, therefore, bother too much interfering in the “internal affairs” of the other republic.

A turning point came 2011-on. Legacy Corporate India decided it was time for a regime change and that it was capable of bringing it about. There were three forces driving it. First, some of the better entrepreneurs were fed up of the policy paralysis, denial of environmental clearances or fuel linkages after they had borrowed billions and put plants on the ground.

They wanted a functional, pro-business government.

Second, and I say it with great care, where India’s old capitalism comes from, there isn’t much love lost for Muslims and never mind that “my best friends are Muslims”. So, can we now have a government that will be pro-business and also show the Muslims their place? The third, and the most important factor, therefore, was that option was now available.

Corporate India got more involved in ‘Mission Modi’ than at any time in national politics. Mumbai thought it had found its man for Delhi. It believed it succeeded and there were whoops of celebration. That ended quickly. Four years on, it’s now turned into suspicion and fear. Mumbai is finally, and deeply, frightened of Delhi. Old-timers say the fear is like in the months of V. P. Singh’s raid raj.

The fact, however, is that nobody has been raided yet. So what are they complaining about?

At one level, it is the frustration of jilted lovers. This isn’t the government Narendra Modi had promised us. Nor is this the Narendra Modi of Gujarat we had voted, rooted and contributed for. An important and positive factor with the Modi government is that lobbying mostly doesn’t work in Delhi any more. His isn’t a government that believes it owes anybody anything.

Big business doesn’t like it. It wants him to be like he was in Gujarat, with open doors and a big heart. But after coming to power, Modi has shifted his politics to where the votes are. And the businessmen don’t count.

The tough fact is, never in our economic history, not at least since 1991, has big business been so powerless.

There is also a more complex side to this. As a consequence of Modi resetting his politics as a champion of the poor and a corruption fighter, the taxman has been given unprecedented powers. Tax terrorism of today, if you hear the same businessmen who contributed heavily to his campaign—and are still putting money for him in electoral bonds—is worse than anything they remember, they say. Tax departments are being given targets to meet and much greater powers than before. Almost everybody has a horror story, either his own, or something “we all keep hearing”. Industry associations and chambers CII, FICCI, and Assocham have very little clout or persuasive power left.

It isn’t in the nature of corporate India to speak anything other than paeans of praises for any government.

A couple might just have whispered some criticism of demonetisation, but were chastened by a slap on the wrist—just a friendly phone call from Delhi. Indian business’s greatest challenge right now is the frozen credit system. This government, though, isn’t mostly to blame for it, most debts turning bad were given or evergreened in UPA’s times, especially in the go-go years of 2009-12.

The rot in the system was known for at least three years, but left too late to be resolved. Several things came in the way of timely resolution. First, the change at the top in the Reserve Bank of India. Then, the shock of demonetisation before the new governor had settled down. Barely had that debris been cleared when GST was pushed through. The system had not been prepared for any of these changes, and therefore, got fully consumed in dealing with these. The bank bad-debt resolution was kept for the government’s last year. Today’s stress and distress are a combination of all these factors: of being dumped by the political establishment you thought was your own, tax terror and frozen credit.

This entrepreneurial fear and loss of morale is for real, and most inopportune when good corporates are seeing profits and demand rise. Steel, in the dumps not long ago, is booming, and so is cement. The bankruptcy process of the first “dirty dozen” is proceeding well and banks should see sizeable amounts coming back, especially from steel companies. At the same time, 12 of the 21 PSU banks are so broke that the RBI is closely monitoring any lending by them. One, IDBI, is now a basket case. And those that can lend are hesitant, for fear of visits by the CBI and ED long after they retire.

In this environment, everybody is overcorrecting, from banks to borrowers to RBI. The latest example being the circular the central bank issued in February barring any restructuring except through the bankruptcy process after a set timeframe. Nobody wants to take any chances, least of all the RBI. The silent new governor was never allowed (or chose not to allow himself) to build the stature for the job. The government is now trying to get this circular diluted.

The big, rich guy’s biggest fear isn’t bankruptcy, but the police. As we noted earlier in this piece, none of

An important and positive factor with the Modi government is that lobbying mostly doesn’t work in Delhi any more. His isn’t a government that believes it owes anybody anythinG... them has been raided or prosecuted criminally yet.

But Vijay Mallya first, and then the Nirav Modi-Mehul Choksi duo have given Corporate India a foretaste of criminalisation of economic offences. Phobias rise not from reality, but illusion. The most popular current illusion is: the PSU banks are in a mess. The Modi government also needs some big private sector trophies to affirm its anti-corruption credentials before the polls. So on whose neck will the sword fall next?

To that extent, the outing of the ICICI-Videocon story is cathartic. The whistleblower’s 2016 letter had been floating on the power-WhatsApp circuit for weeks.

Many would feel relieved that it’s out in the open now so all sides can have their say.

Phobias, as we said, are often not based on reality.

But they can be a reality as this one is. http://www.sakaltimes.com/opinion/suspicion-and-fear-replaces-euphoria-amongst-corporate-india-15675 May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 5

Contents 18

Volume 4 Issue No. 04 May 1-15, 2018 www.corporatecitizen.in

Cover story

Dynamic Duo 69

Bond of trust

Asmita and Vinay Prakash Goel, on their two decades of togetherness and how they are the backbone of each other’s success

9 COLLYWOOD Chatpata Chatter from the Corporate World 14 WAX ELOQUENT Who said what and why 16 THE TAX MAN COMETH How citizens can be active stakeholders in the difficult job of tax collection 6 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

14

26 CII HR & IR CONCLAVE Discussion on impact of organisational structure changes on career paths 30 ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT An alumnus, Rohit Tugnait talks on the foundation that Indian Institute of Modern Management (IIMM) (now Balaji Institute of Modern Management (BIMM) has built in him and the work experiences 34 INTERVIEW Ramnath Subramaniam, CEO, Maharashtra Village Social Transformation Foundation (MVSTF), on their commendable CSR initiative

38

34

38 INTERVIEW Archana Srivastava, Head HR, Continental CTF & FM India, on how digitisation has helped HR and more

26

40 CAREER TRENDS What may help build careers and architect careers in true sense?

42 TRAVEL Nepal as an adventure travel destination 44 LOVED & MARRIED TOO Prateek Mathur and Pragya Jha, on their transition from college sweethearts to a newly-married couple

40

30

46

48

46 CAMPUS PLACEMENT Bhasha Manghani on her campus placement experience and how she made it into the corporate world 48 HEALTH Strength and conditioning coach, Chinmoy Roy, on instilling fitness within corporate houses 50 SURVEY Understand the status and

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 7

contents

Editor-In-Chief Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian Consulting Editor Vinita Deshmukh vinita.corporatecitizen@gmail.com Assistant Editor & Senior Business Writer Rajesh Rao rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com Senior Sub-Editor Neeraj Varty neeraj.varty07@gmail.com

42

Writers Delhi Bureau Pradeep Mathur mathurpradeep1@gmail.com/ Sharmila Chand chand.sharmila@gmail.com

trajectory of Digital Growth in organisations 54 BOLLYWOOD BIZ Stars who have found themselves on the wrong side of the law

Bengaluru Bureau Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar sangeetagd2010@gmail.com

56 PEARLS OF WISDOM How happiness moves in a circle

54

57 MOBILE APPS Apps that secure your data 58 UNSUNG HEROES-2 Dr Ravi Dwivedi and his pursuit to become an engineer on his own merit 66 THE LAST WORD Women in India have much to offer to build a better country and a better planet for future generations!

Pune Bureau Joe Williams / Kalyani Sardesai / Namrata Gulati Sapra Marketing Manager Delhi: Mohamed Rizwan riz.mohamed@hotmail.com Manager-Circulation circulations@corporatecitizen.in West : Jaywant Patil, +91 9923202560 North : Hemant Gupta, +91 9582210930 South : Asaithambi G, +91 9941555389 Creative Direction Sumeet Gupta, www.thepurplestroke.com

58

Be A Corporate Citizen

How do you like this issue of Corporate Citizen - The Cool Side of Business?

Send in your views, news, suggestions and contributions to corporatecitizenwriters@gmail.com.

We would love to hear from you!

8 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

Graphic Designer Shantanu Relekar On Cover Page Asmita and Vinay Prakash Goel Cover Page Pic Vivek Arora Website / Online Subscription www.corporatecitizen.in For Advertising, Marketing & Subscription queries Email: circulations@corporatecitizen.in (Corporate Citizen does not accept responsibility for returning unsolicited manuscripts and photographs. All unsolicited material should be accompanied by self-addressed envelopes and sufficient postage.)

Tel. (020) 69000677 / 69000672

collywood

People in the news

Nupur Mallick, HR chief, Tata Sons TCS HR director (UK & Ireland), Nupur Mallick, a TCSer since 1997, replaces S. Padmanabhan as the HR chief of Tata Sons. will replace Padmanabhan, who has been handling the HR portfolio for the past 18 months, was given this responsibility following N. S. Rajan’s resignation in the wake of Tata Sons removing Cyrus Mistry from the chairman’s post in October 2016. Rajan was hired

by Mistry in 2013. Mallick’s proposed appointment highlights Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran’s move to strengthen his leadership team.

Chandrasekaran has been building up a support system comprising external hires and candidates from TCS where he was the CEO before becoming the chairman of Tata Sons last year. Old Tata guards have been unhappy that key portfolios at Tata Sons have been allocated to new recruits with some even complaining to Ratan Tata about the change in culture. Padmanabhan will retire from Tata Sons on turning 60 this May under the company’s HR policy. Besides heading HR, Padmanabhan oversees ethics and sustainability at Tata Sons following the recent exit of Rajan. Padmanabhan is also the chairman of Tata Business Excellence Group (TBExG), a division of Tata Sons. It is unclear who will be his successor at TBExG. However, Padmanabhan, who has been with the group for 36 years, will continue to be on the board of Tata companies such as Tata Chemicals as the retirement age for non-executive directors is 70 years.

Gupte heads HR at Standard Chartered Sachin Gupte is the new Head of Human Resources of Standard Chartered Bank, India. He takes charge from William Paul who retired after having a stint of almost a decade with the Bank. Prior to this appointment, Gupte was the Head of Human Resources, Global Banking (GB) and Transaction Banking (TB) at Standard Chartered. He has 16 years of service in the Bank holding various HR roles in Mumbai, London, Chennai and Singapore and has been instrumental in the restructure within GB and TB and also designed and implemented the talent strategy for TB. He will report to Zarin Daruwala, India, CEO and Peter Hatt, Regional Head, HR, ASEAN & South Asia and Global Head, HR, Private & Commercial Banking.

Balakrishnan joins Ola as CPO Susheel Balakrishnan joins Ola as the Chief People Officer. The post has been vacant for a while since Yugantar Saikia made his exit from the company. Balakrishnan, an alumnus of TISS Mumbai, was based out of Dubai and West Asia for the last 14 years. Having worked with Yum Restaurants MENAPak for 11 years, his last designation was that of chief people officer. Balakrishnan is a strong, commercially-oriented human resources professional skilled in transformation, business partnership, HR consulting, culture change, and executive coaching. Post his stint at Yum Restaurants, Balakrishnan dabbled in several consulting assignments.

Based out of Dubai, he was business development director at Food Labs. Simultaneously, he was executive board member of Future Legends Cricket Academy and managing partner of 720 Transform Consulting.

He spent a large part of his career (12 years) with P&G. He started in 1991 and his last designation was that of HR associate director.

“Balakrishnan will head HR across the Ola group. He has successfully led organisation and culture-change efforts that have become global best practices, in roles that have impacted 3,000 to 30,000 employees,” said Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder & CEO, Ola Cabs.

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 9

collywood Star India bags Indian cricket rights SAP elevates Naik Giving a boost to his morale, SAP promoted Bhuvaneswar Naik to the position of vice president - HR at the Office of the CEO. Naik, who was the head of global talent management and a member of the global HR leadership team, will also lead HR for SAP Leonardo, which is the European multinational company’s new digital innovation system and has moved to Palo Alto, California in the Silicon Valley. Naik led a strategic global transformation programme disrupting performance management through eliminated performance ratings to build a culture of continuous dialogue. He was also involved in co-innovating and developing an app with SAP’s Success factors for future deployment to customers. He has had a stint with SAP in the past, from 1996 to 2005. In 2015, Naik moved into SAP and was based in Bengaluru as its head - HR, India and was also a board member of SAP Labs India. But his earlier move into the company was in the 2010, where he was the vice president – people processes, Asia Pacific at Capgemini.

He has ample experience as he has worked with brands such as Yahoo, SE Technologies and the Taj Group of hotels.

This can happen only with Indian cricket. After bagging a cheque of `16347.50 crore for global media rights for a five-year period for the Indian Premier League (IPL) from Star India, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) got richer by yet another big money as they got a cheque of $944m (`6138 crore) for bilateral rights for Indian cricket during the same period. It was just in the month of September 2017 that BCCI struck a deal and now it is Disney’s newly-acquired India arm, Star India Pvt Ltd, who tore a cheque for $944m (`6138 crore) to bag the rights for Indian cricket. In the process, Star India has now committed a massive $3.36b (`22,485.5 crore) to Indian cricket between now and FY 2022-23.

In what turned out to be a fierce online bidding process with its closest rival Sony Pictures Network (SPN), Star eventually bid `19.41 crore more to take home the BCCI rights. The former Rupert Murdoch’s Fox-led India arm—which has now been taken over by Walt Disney, following a

$54b deal in late 2017—will pay BCCI a little in excess of `60 crore (`60.176 crore, to be precise) per match. SPN and Reliance Jio Infocomm were the other bidders in the fray. This is the fourth deal struck by BCCI after the title rights, jersey rights, IPL and now the bilateral series rights. In the latest deal, Star listed the per match value for each of the five years of the deal as follows: `46 crore (per match in year one), 47 crore (year two), 46.5 crore (year three), 77.4 crore (year four) and 78.9 crore (year five), respectively. To give an idea of what this investment may mean from a global perspective, Major League Baseball (MLB), one of the world’s biggest sports properties, pays close to `52 crore per game.

Nakanishi to head Honda Cars India Honda Cars India has appointed Gaku Nakanishi as its new president and CEO. Two new directors have also been appointed to drive the company’s sales and marketing function. Nakanishi, before taking charge at Honda Cars India, served as president and CEO of Honda Automobile Thailand since 2015. He has worked with Honda Motor Co. for nearly 30 years and in many international markets including North America, Mexico, Japan, Thailand, CIS, the Middle East and Africa. Rajesh Goel, who has been associated with Honda Cars India for over 22 years, has been appointed senior vice-president and director (Sales and Marketing).

Over the past few years, he has headed several critical functions, including purchase and quality.

During his career at Honda, he has had two overseas long-term assignments in Japan in 2001 and again in 2015. In his latest assignment, he served as general manager in charge of Purchasing Division

10 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

2 (Worldwide), in Honda Motor Co. in Japan since 2015 with responsibility for powertrain and electric/electronic components. Makoto Hyoda, who has been in India since April 2017, has been elevated as director (sales and marketing), from the erstwhile position of Operating Head. Hyoda has been associated with Honda Motor Co. for the past 22 years.

Sanjiv Mehta to take Karunakaran now over as HUL chairman in Cargill Business Services Sanjiv Mehta, chief executive officer and managing director of Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) will take over as interim chairman in addition to his existing roles.

This move was made after Harish Manwani retired. Manwani has been the India unit’s longestserving non-executive chairman, having been in the position since 2005. During his tenure as chairman, Manwani oversaw a period of sustained growth, with the business nearly tripling in size, and HUL reinforcing itself as one of India’s most admired firms, the company said in a note. Manwani joined HUL as a management trainee in 1976 and joined the HUL board in 1995 as a director responsible for the personal products business. In 2005, he was appointed to the Unilever executive committee as presidentAsia, Africa, Middle East, and the role later expanded to include central and eastern Europe.

From 2011 to 2014, he was chief operating officer of Unilever. One of the most successful leaders of HUL, Manwani strongly believes that the challenges businesses face today can only be addressed through the “4G sustainable growth model” of competitive, consistent, profitable and above

all, responsible growth. This model has been central to the company’s business strategy in India. Mehta’s appointment will be an interim arrangement until the company identifies a new chairman. Last month, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India had accepted most of the recommendations made by the Kotak Committee to improve governance standards in listed Indian firms. This includes separating the post of chairman and managing director. The HUL board will ensure compliance with the new regulation of separation of the two positions by April 2020.

Raj Karunakaran joined Cargill Business Services as the chief of HR of the Bengaluru-based firm. Karunakaran was the director HR/global HR business partner for Philips Mobile Surgery business, before joining Cargill Business Services. In his role he will take direct accountability for translating business strategies and challenges into human capital strategies, plans, HR actions across six global strategic locations at Bengaluru (India), San Jose (Costa Rica), Uberlandia (Brazil), Nanjing (China), Sofia (Bulgaria), Rosario (Argentina), Gurugram (India). With Philips, Karunakaran was the global HR Business Partner for Image Guided Therapy (IGT) Mobile Surgery business, wherein it included developing HR Strategic priorities based on critical business imperatives and deploying key initiatives around leadership capability, business critical competence, creating a high-performance culture for the business across geographies in various functions like Product Development, Marketing, Customer Services, Procurement, Manufacturing, etc., in India and the Netherlands. Karunakaran’s professional journey began with Tech Mahindra as an HR generalist in 1998 and he then moved to Astra Zeneca as a manager - HR after three years. He has also worked with Fidelity Investments before he joined Philips in 2009. He stayed with Philips for almost close to a decade and grew through the ranks before joining Cargill Business Services. A business management graduate from Barkatullah Vishwavidyalaya, Karunakaran completed his post-graduation in human resources from Savitribai Phule Pune University. With over two decades of managing leadership qualities, his rich and cross-cultural exposure has helped him in handling the entire gamut of HR including strategy formulation, organisation development, HR business partnering, culture building interventions, change management, talent acquisition, talent management, compensation and benefits, training and development and performance management.

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 11

collywood McCann Worldgroup ropes in Mahendru

Walczak joins Lemma Technologies as Advisor Pune, India-based leader in Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Advertising, focused on developing programmatic advertising solutions, Lemma Technologies, announced the induction of Bob Walczak as an Advisor on their board. Bob Walczak is a marketing industry pioneer, having served as founder and CEO of ad tech startup Ringleader Digital, one of the first companies to develop a comprehensive mobile ad server and patented mobile ID technology. Currently, he is working on a venture in the Blockchain and Crypto category. Prior to this, Walczak was the Executive Vice President of Global Product at Xaxis, WPPs programmatic audience business. Walczak also served as Global CEO of Light Reaction, the outcomes performance advertising division of Xaxis. Earlier, Walczak was General Manager for IPONWEB’s BidSwitch where he grew the

platform’s revenues 500 per cent and doubled its client base in a year. Prior to BidSwitch, Walczak was GM & VP of Product and Emerging Media at PubMatic, where he developed the company’s mobile and emerging media business from inception to more than 25 per cent of the company’s overall revenue in less than three years. “Outdoor Media isn’t stationary anymore—it moves, it talks and it even thinks. One such company in the industry that set foot on this avant garde path is Lemma Technologies. I am happy to join this prestigious organisation which strives to be in the forefront of innovation to become the world’s leading Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) programmatic ad exchange platform, fortifying its core objective— coming up with the most resourceful ways to help their customers achieve apex results,” said Bob Walczak, on his move.

Mittal, now president of CII Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman, Bharti Enterprises took over as the President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for 201819. He takes charge from Shobana Kamineni, Executive Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd. Others to make a move in CII were Uday Kotak, Founder and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank as President-Designate for 2018-19, while Vikram Kirloskar is the new Vice President for the current fiscal. Mittal has many other posts—he is the Chairman of Bharti AXA Life Insurance, Bharti AXA General Insurance, FieldFresh Foods and Centum Learning, and he is also on the Board of Bharti Airtel and is Managing Director - Bharti Realty Holdings. Mittal’s association with CII has been long. He has served as the Chairman of CII Northern Region in 2004–05. Besides being active 12 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

at the Regional level, Mittal also chaired the National Committees on CII Agriculture, CSR and Public Policy Council. “He also served as member, India-Pakistan Joint Business Forum (IPJBF) and several government committees and governing councils of Institutions of Excellence like ICAR. Mittal had been elected as a member of the National Council of CII several times since 1999,” the Chamber said in a statement. President-Designate Kotak holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and an MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai , while Kirloskar who is the Chairman and Managing Director of Kirloskar Systems Ltd. and Vice Chairman of Toyota Kirloskar Motor is a graduate in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.

With over 20 years of experience, Jyoti Mahendru, an alumnus of IMT Ghaziabad, got McCann Worldgroup calling as she joins them as executive vice president, human resources. She in the past has worked in the capacity as s VP - HR at Bharti Walmart as well as Barista, besides a stint with STAR TV in their HR department for five years. She kicked off her career as an independent consultant for eight years. She joined KNAV International in 2017 as practice director – HR solutions, where she was setting up their HR consulting vertical wherein she worked on the entire HR framework including best practices in culture management, talent acquisition, talent management, engagement and performance management.

“Mahendru will add more value to our organisation. She has vast and varied experience, and also an understanding of and sensitivity towards a people-driven culture,” said Prasoon Joshi, chairman - APAC, CEO & chief creative officer, McCann Worldgroup India.

Commenting on the move, Jyoti said, “I look forward to supporting the company and its growth through meaningful HR contribution”.

Compiled by Joe Williams joe78662@gmail.com

wax eloquent

India is on the right way

Take a look at what our corporate leaders have to say about recent trends and their experiences in the business world

Spirit of justice

In the business of creating shareholder value

“We are in the business of making money and giving shareholder the return. I am the largest shareholder.

So, the more the money shareholders make, the more I gain.

So, I am clearly in the business of creating shareholder value.”

“There may be disagreement, but there must be respect for the other person’s dignity.

Dignity and civility; order and rule of law; fairness and justice; entrepreneurship and aspirations—we have to achieve all of these.

We cannot pick and choose.”

Ram Nath Kovind, President of India Courtesy: https://www.hindustantimes.com

Gautam Singhania,

Chairman and Managing Director, Raymond Ltd Courtesy: https://www.

bloombergquint.com

Opportunity around global trade challenges “We are passing through interesting, challenging but also an opportune time. If we play our cards properly-and that is what we are trying to do-we can actually benefit from it by creating an opportunity around the issues that are happening globally.

We have no choice but to respond in a very positive manner.”

Suresh Prabhu, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Courtesy: www.economictimes.com

Governments come and go, but India grows

Goals act like magnets

“I set a goal for myself when I was 20, to write an international bestseller one day.

Goals act like magnets, they pull you to what you want. Positive thinking without positive action is wishful thinking.”

Shiv Khera, author Courtesy: Mint

14 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

“Elections always provide a lot of uncertainty in the markets. Governments come and go, but India grows. Because of our demographics, positioning vis-à-vis the world as a domestic economy and big internal markets, we will do fine unless if we get some form of an extreme left government which I don’t see happening. Irrespective of the governments, India has grown in excess of six per cent. I wouldn’t let political fear stop me from investing.”

Ramesh S Damani, member, BSE Courtesy: http://www.business-standard.com

Time for industry to start investing “It is time for industry to take the risk and build new capacity. We cannot have scams. Doing business responsibly is critical to the success of industry. We value the assurance of a red carpet but cannot live under fear that it can be pulled out from us at any moment.”

Shobana Kamineni, president, CII Courtesy: https://deccanchronicle.com

Building foundations for future growth

“Global business and India share a symbiotic relationship and the country is the most attractive market in present times when there is a slowdown in many parts of the world. Our major focus at this time is not profitability but building foundations for future growth, having partners who can run their business responsibly.”

Krish Iyer, president, Walmart India

Courtesy: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com

We are trustees of a business

India as a beacon of stability

“In India, a lot of things have been done on an informal basis. A lot of people have treated their businesses as their own instead of considering that they are trustees of a business.

A business is a separate entity. It is not the same as the owner of a business. That is where corporate governance comes in. And that is true of all businesses as well as banks.”

“Global investors still see India as a beacon of stability in the emerging markets space.

Predictable policy and institutional strength make India stand out among peers. Further, the economy’s resilience during various global downturns is no mean feat. India is expected to be the fastest-growing economy in the world and that should be reason enough for investors to take an interest in India.”

Arundhati Bhattacharya,

former SBI chairman

India at centre-stage of global energy affairs “Many companies and many governments want to be a part of India’s great success story. And, of course, it is not only to help India but also want to do business in India. This shows that India is on the right way and India is becoming more and more important as the centre of attraction for investments.”

Fatih Birol, executive director, International Energy Agency (IEA)

Madhur Agarwal, head of

Courtesy: https://www.livemint.com

debt capital market, JPMorgan India

Courtesy: https://www.livemint.com

Courtesy: economictimes.indiatimes.com

Data Security is an unsolved problem “Indian companies have grown much faster than other markets. Where rest of the world would have taken 30 years, Indian companies have done that in 10 years.

When you grow so quickly the data you collect has also exploded in a short span of time. By definition it means that you are exposed to threats such as hacking, data breach and so on. Data security will be a huge area of focus for us. It is still an unsolved problem and difficult to manage” Anil Chakravarthy, chief of Informatica

Big dreams of celebrity

Courtesy: https://www.moneycontrol.com

All that matters to me is my craft

It is crucial to be data-vigilant

“My reference points for building a character are real people. Twenty years of struggle introduced me to so many different characters that my memory bank is well stocked; I have enough resources for the next 15 years!

That’s because I was jobless for a very long time, and all I did then was observe people.”

Courtesy: Financial Express

Nawazuddin Siddiqui,

Jonty Rhodes, South African cricketer

actor

Courtesy: Hindustan Times

“While we are becoming a ‘Digital India’ and while India is the world’s largest data consuming market, it is crucial to be data-vigilant and only accept the permissions which you might be truly comfortable with.

After all, data is the new ‘oil’ and it is important to keep your ‘well’ secure and leak-free.”

Shrenik Gandhi, co-founder, White Rivers Media

India-connection “I had no expectations when I came to India and that is possibly the reason for the long relationship with the country. I practice ‘Make in India’ as often as possible. In fact, my daughter is also named ‘India. ” Courtesy: https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com

“Till the 2000s, life was all about waiting for opportunities and working hard, but millennials are now besieged with options and workspaces, where almost everything is digital. I had to lose all my fear and try out at least 15 jobs before I got here.”

Malini Agarwal, author and blogger (famous for her fashion and film blog, Miss Malini) Courtesy: Mint

Compiled by Rajesh Rao rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 15

The Tax Man Cometh

You can help catch the thief!

by S K Jha

(IRS (retd) and former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax)

The taxman’s job is not an easy one, considering that he has to deal with the rich and powerful with immense ability to hurt, even mortally. Most economic crimes can be nipped in the bud if citizens are alert and raise the alarm. People’s participation in identifying the culprits and helping to bring them to book is quite essential

Unlike the regular tax desk which is manned by a tax officer whose job is to levy tax on you, this desk is manned by a non-serving tax officer who wishes to share his experience of 35 years in the tax department, while, discussing tax provisions. It is advantageous to know how the tax department thinks and acts when, as said by Benjamin Franklin, “In this world nothing is certain except death and taxes” Recently, an Ajay Devgan-starrer, ‘Raid’ was released, which was immensely liked by the public. This film was based on a true incidence of an Income Tax raid which took place in the 1980s in Kanpur. Ajay Devgan portrayed the role of Ajay Patnaik, a young IRS officer who was a Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax. The search action was against a politically powerful MLA. The film truthfully showed the hardship faced by the honest young officer while doing his job to unearth black money, which included a mortal attack on him and his wife. The undeterred hero finished his work without fear and unearthed the biggest seizure of cash and valuables of that time. The search proceedings were initiated and later were helped by an anonymous caller, who, in fact, was the daughter-inlaw of the targeted politician. People had the opportunity through this film to see a real-life hero who was not in uniform and belonged to the hated tax department. The Income Tax department is perceived as a negative-work department, comprising of corrupt officers and officials. The film, to some extent, must have cleared the perception of the people about taxmen, as ‘black sheep’ exist everywhere as well as real good people. “There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between there are the doors of perception,” said Aldous Huxley.

Tough call

The inquiry or even search by the Income Tax department is very tough, as unlike in the case of the police, officers have to deal with the rich and powerful people of the society. The police deals with criminals and antisocials who are easily 16 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

identifiable and in most cases are from the lower strata of society. The culprits amongst the social and economically elite are not easily identifiable and they have the façade of respectable people.

Further, they have the assistance and support of the best legal brains. There is always a danger for tax officers that the targeted people under the inquiry and search will put counter-complaints against them. The officers have to walk on the razor’s edge between the honest call of duty and personal problems they may face. The targeted people having access to high offices in the country do everything to kill the inquiry. The easiest thing for them is to bribe the officers, but things become difficult if the officer involved is honest.

In the latter scenario, they approach the high-

er-ups to derail the inquiry by putting wrong complaints against the officer. They also threaten the officer with physical harm. The tax officers have no power of arrest at the stage of inquiry or raid, unlike in the case of the police and some other enforcement agencies. This makes their position more vulnerable.

To illustrate my point of personal anxiety given to an honest officer, I cite the live example of the case of one of my colleagues. The inquiry conducted by this officer had squarely caught one leading industrialist. The industrialist tried all kinds of tricks to save himself, but could not succeed against this officer. Ultimately, one day he found out the bank account of the officer from his peon and deposited a huge sum of

money in that account and complained to the CBI and other vigilance departments against the officer, with the evidence of the cash deposit. The officer was put to a lot of hardship as unaccounted cash was in his personal bank account, but finally his reputation saved him after the true facts were detected by the CBI. I personally faced the threat of murder and kidnapping of my wife by a leading business group.

These are occupational hazards of an honest tax officer which people generally do not know.

They only come to know about some dishonest officers who are caught or who harass taxpayers for personal gain.

these facts in mind while forming their perception about the Income Tax department and its officers.

Citizens‘ role

There is no denying the fact that much is desired to be done by the department. Till there is black money in the economy, the tax department cannot afford to say that it has succeeded. Our taxGDP ratio is still low compared to major rising economies. This cannot be possible unless citizens play an active role. Our citizens have a dual role to play. First, they have to be tax-compliant citizens. They should voluntarily come forward to pay their due taxes in due time. Secondly, they should play the role of whistle-blowers when they see the crime of ∕∕ evasion of taxes in The small their neighbourhood or when it comes bunch of to their knowledge. government Citizens have to be and active stakeholders in the difficult job of bureaucracy tax collection for the should be country. seen only as It should be the facilitators. responsibility of They will make the tax department that names of whisrules and laws tle-blowers always and will try remain a secret and to administer their safety is ensured.

In this context, people them, but the know that the success of such should tax department will rules and laws never have the huge manpower required will depend to monitor 130 crore upon all the citizens. The departpeople of the ment has about 5,000 country IRS officers, and together with all offi∕∕ cials, the strength of the department is 7 lakh employees. HowBonanza tax collection ever, these days the department is relying upon technology to collect information about tax evadFinancial year 2017-18 has just ended and the preliminary report from the government is that ers but even then the role of personal information direct tax collection has reached a record high of provided by whistle-blowers is more important. `9.85 lakh crore during this fiscal year which is Technology can trail the footprints of money in more than 50% of the total revenue receipts. Both the economy, but the quantum of black money in the taxmen and the taxpayers deserve credit for our pockets will remain unknown unless personal achieving this landmark. There is another satisknowledge-based information is provided. fying happening this year. The number of new Income Tax or GST or any other tax is only a taxpayers of direct tax has gone up to more than small limb of our national economy. The couna crore, a sizeable jump over the preceding year. try as a whole and its success depends on its The number of Returns of Income Tax filed in the total wealth, social fibre and harmony and such year has gone beyond six crore. Such creditable other related issues. The country for all its issues performance which will ultimately help our econand problems is dependent upon its people, as a country means and includes its people located omy would not have been possible without the on its geographical area. The government is just hard work put by the taxmen. People should keep

an agent of the people. It is made up of the team of people elected by the people and the same is assisted by the bureaucracy, appointed by the elected government. People have to become stakeholders in all spheres of activity. The small bunch of government and bureaucracy should be seen only as facilitators. They will make rules and laws and will try to administer them, but the success of such rules and laws will depend upon all the people of the country. To give an example, we have strict laws on rape, but still rapes happen, as the mindset of our people has not changed to respect women. The government will catch and punish the rapists, but this evil in our society will not go till the people take the right resolve. We have to name and shame the criminals and make them outlaws.

Take the case of Nirav Modi, the scamster who has run away from the country after the biggest bank fraud. Was he alone in the scam? No, there were active and passive participators in the crime. The active ones were the connected bank employees and his accomplice staff. The passive participators were our negligent auditors and the people around him who had some knowledge of the fraud but chose not to inform the concerned departments. These people decided to be passive onlookers. The fraud could have been nipped in the bud and he would have been arrested had the people around him and around the culprit bank officers played the role of vigilant citizens.

We too are partners in crime

The country belongs to all of us, not only to elected representatives and some government officers.

We are the public, and they are the public servants. We have corrupt public servants because to break the laws in our favour, we offer them bribes. They are guilty, but we are also partners in the corrupt practices. The government has brought in a big reform in our indirect-tax system by bringing in the GST but most of us are trying our best to find loopholes to evade the tax.

GST is missing the expected targeted collection, not because the new system is bad but because we have found methods to derail it.

We talk too much about our rights but what about our duties? Our duty is not limited to casting our votes and electing the government but also helping a smooth governance. Our duties are as important as our rights, if not more. Let us remember the words of Thomas Jefferson, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” We must pay the price if we wish to enjoy the blessing of our freedom by doing our duty. We have to help our public servants to provide good public service instead of only criticising them. Strikes and dharnas may fall among our rights but can burning public properties and attacking the police force be also considered our rights? Let us ponder over a simple question, do we actually love our country? An introspection will lead to some solutions.

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 17

Pics: Vivek Arora

Asmita’s upbringing had been in a joint family and that I think is one of the reasons why my parents saw a perfect match in her for me. As we met more frequently and also our family members interacted more often, we saw a natural compatibility between both the families —Vinay Prakash Goel

18 / Corporate Citizen / May March 1-15, 1-15, 2018 2018

Dynamic Duo :

69

Cover Story

Asmita and Vinay Prakash Goel

Bond of trust The core of a relationship that started at the impressionable age of 24, highlights ‘cohesiveness’ in their two decades of togetherness. It did not matter that Asmita Agarwal hailed from a business family and that Vinay Prakash Goel’s folks were always into professional careers. With a B.Sc. from Lucknow University, Asmita Goel’s natural ability for crafts and design earned her a diploma in fashion designing.

A homemaker by choice, her dynamism continues with her first love for design.

Her passion towards design has resulted in her role as a non-commercial wardrobe consultant and stylist. Her passion to positively impact society is reflected in her social work with NGOs like Bagiya and Pure Hearts foundation. Vinay happily gives credit to Asmita for being the ‘backbone’ for his success. A mechanical engineer from IIT Lucknow, he made his sojourn as a campus recruit with the Aditya Birla Group, paving career heights gradually with companies Indo Gulf Fertilisers, Birla Copper and the Adani Group in 2001 where he has since continued and heralds his position as the CEO of its Mining and Trading wing. A peek into their lives together with Corporate Citizen

Jab We Met “It was the evening of 11th August 1997, when we first met through our parents and frankly speaking, we hardly spent 20 to 25 minutes speaking to each other. Back then, both of us seemed very reluctant to speak but, gradually as we spent more time with each other, we kind of got along quite well...” reminisced Asmita Goel. The marriage though arranged, the courtship phase for Asmita was a journey in itself. “It started off from being a formal introduction to the shy stage to becoming friends to fiancé and finally it turned out to be a love-cum-arranged marriage.”

Vinay Prakash Goel’s family background, primarily into service professions, assimilated Asmita’s joint family values into the Goel family. “Asmita’s upbringing had been in a joint family and that I think is one of the reasons why my parents saw a perfect match in her for me. As we met more frequently and also our family members interacted more often, we saw a natural compatibility between both the families”, said Vinay Prakash Goel.

For Asmita, it was her father’s verdict on Mr Vinay Goel that paved her matrimonial path. “It was my father who had seen him as an ambitious person besides coming from a very good family.

Both of us have lovely parents and siblings and all of us kind of get along very well.”

Not just the win-win family amicability but, ‘simplicity’ in their overall bearing has stood the test of time. “...I think the quality which stands out the most in both of us is our simplicity. Being from humble family backgrounds, there are some things which come naturally to us and simplicity is just one of them!” said Asmita.

While their individual upbringing acted as an alloy for marital synergies, Vinay believes that, “Asmita’s upbringing in a joint family has had a deep impact on the values that our children have imbibed. She brought a sense of togetherness in our family”; to which Asmita said, “Simplicity, discipline, concern for others and focused approach have been imbibed from Vinay’s family.”

By Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar

Love Aaj Kal Definitely not your typical ‘love at first sight’, but Asmita and Vinay Prakash Goel laud each other’s individual contributions in their journey together which defines their terminology of ‘love’ entwined with ‘trust’.

May 1-15, 2018 August 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 19

Cover Story “Frankly speaking, she has managed her social and family commitments, the associations with NGOs with almost negligible contribution from me, but I wish that post the Vinay Prakash— 25 years of our marriage, we would bridging employer and employee gap reverse our roles...” said Vinay Goel.

“Asmita is the backbone of our family and has ensured that I do not have to worry about anything related to family. Many a time, she has performed dual responsibilities of being a mother and a father too,” he said.

On the parameters for building a successful marriage, Asmita confesses that, “I don’t know the definiThe Goels at Stonehenge, tion of a ‘successful marriage’. But, UK—Asmita, Niharika, The Goels at the Delhi Half Marathon Pranjal and Vinay (L-R) certainly can say that there are two things which are most important in a marriage—one is trust and second is in understanding the feelings of the other person.”

Vinay quips saying, “I too agree that the most important thing in a relationship is ‘trust’, which allows you to share everything with the other person without any fear. The lack of fear is very important in a relationship which helps to bridge the In sync with the past and the future, Vinay and Asmita Goel Vinay and Asmita—family extensions and more gap between a couple and that comes from trusting the other person...”

If admiration be a component of any relationship, then Vinay and Asmita Goel are quite vocal about Like other couples, Asmita and Vinay too have their own likes and disthis. “...I admire Vinay’s passionate character and his ‘Never say die’ attilikes but, with a silent approval for each other’s interests. “I like shopping tude. I like the fact that he is a complete family man. He treats his office and Vinay dislikes the same, but every now and then he will surprise me colleagues and their family members as part of his extended family and by buying something, which I would have wanted for some time,” said frequently involves office colleagues in our family events and involves us Asmita. in the events of his office. Through this, he has integrated his office and On the hobby front, both Vinay and Asmita enjoy going out for movies, us akin to a joint family. His statement of bringing a smile to his 20,000 spending evenings listening to Sufi music, exploring new travel destinations family members in office by sacrificing a few at home makes me proud,” or countries. Asmita has lately been following cricket to sync in with Vinay’s said Asmita. deep interest in the game. For Asmita, it is a ploy perhaps to bond with the Expressing his admiration for Asmita, Vinay said, “I have always found two men in her life—hubby, Vinay and son, Pranjal! An ‘effervescent’ soul, Asmita’s presence of mind very fascinating. She has a brilliant ability to Asmita finds solace in dancing and exploring regional cultural festivals too. anticipate things and plan accordingly. Frankly speaking, she is stronger than me in dealing with any medical issues. Most importantly, she is very ‘Designed’ homemaker caring and gentle and valPost completing her fashion designing course in Delhi, she worked with “I too agree that the ues our family more than an export house but, “As my family were seriously on the lookout for maranything else.” riage proposals, reality struck me that my life was going to change soon. It most important thing in was then that I had started preparing myself mentally for marriage. Life On managing differa relationship is ‘trust’, marriage was neither very difficult, nor very easy. It had its own set of ences, Asmita categorwhich allows you to share ically said that “While after challenges as I had to move to a completely new set-up in my life, but Vinay everything with the other we have had differences supported me a lot during that phase.”

It was a conscious decision on Asmita’s part to be a homemaker, despite of opinion on multiple person without any fear. her ‘triggers’ then, when she wished to do a little bit more in her life. Howthings in the past and I The lack of fear is very ever, “Seeing Vinay’s passion towards his career, I thought that it would be am sure we would have important in a relationship such differences in fu- good if I support him in all possible ways...” which helps to bridge the ture too, but we have al“My first love is “design thinking” and I must thank Vinay that he supgap between a couple and ways respected the two ported me in this. More than anything else, I derive a sense of satisfaction and joy when I spend time on these things. Initially, it was just about our —mutual trust that comes from trusting aspects small house in ‘Nirvana Country’, Gurugram and worked on creating muland understanding—and the other person...” tiple layouts for that site. I have also had the opportunity to design the layensured that they remain out and interiors of our farmhouse along with our construction/landscape —Vinay Prakash Goel intact.”

20 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

partners and have personally come a long way, learning more in this field...”

On the tribulations that dog most homemakers, Asmita is honest enough to acknowledge that the role of a homemaker continues to be undervalued in today’s age and times. Her thoughts that homemakers should actually be kept above all other professions is quite striking as she connects a family’s financial well-being to that of the efficiency of a homemaker. “They make the most important and priceless investment by investing their time in supporting their husband, in upbringing of their children and taking care of the entire family. Their contributions cannot be compared to anything else and stands invaluable,” she said.

“Although things have changed over the years but in certain sections of our society, there is a belief that women are meant to be only homemakers and therefore, there is nothing special about being homemaker... When we have such thoughts in our society, we are ignoring the fact that a woman makes a choice to focus on home instead of building her own career to ensure that her husband is able to focus on his career, she makes a choice to ensure that her children have her at home to take care of their smallest of needs, she makes a choice to sacrifice her own priorities for the priorities of her family,”she adds.

Social giver In her desire to make a positive impact on society, Asmita has visited villages and slums with poor infrastructure, unhygienic living conditions to gather information and work towards their betterment with NGOs and find some social solutions.

Her tryst with social service began as a teenager when she felt strongly for lesser-privileged children who lacked opportunities to educate themselves, for ailing patients who could ill afford medical facilities and for women who lacked basic sanitation facilities. “...That feeling continued with me for a very long time and it was post my marriage that I started associating myself with small NGOs at infrequent intervals...”

But, three years back a chance meeting with the founders of the NGO, Bagiya nurtured her latent desire to pick up on her ‘social giving’ track. “It was truly inspiring to note the kind of work that they were doing for the welfare of the society. Since then, my association with the Bagiya foundation and a few others have taken on a concrete shape and I have been spending a lot of quality time on multiple initiatives. I am personally going through a phase where I believe that since God has given us so much, it is our responsibility to help those who find it difficult to fulfil their basis needs.”

Asmita’s ideology on women empowerment is “Encourage women to be self-reliant, inculcate a positive self-esteem, have confidence to face any situations and become economically independent. Stay strong, stand up and have a voice to live with dignity.”

Tête-à-tête

The parenting ‘highway’ Asmita and Vinay are parents of young Pranjal and Neeharika. Pranjal is a budding Engineer studying at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Canada. “...And gets quite fascinated with anything related to new technologies.

His dream is to build racing cars for Formula One championships. By nature he is very loving and caring,” said mum Asmita. Neeharika, a 9th grader is more inclined towards extracurricular activities such as dancing and singing.

“By nature, she is very emotional like Vinay and every now and then she comes up with bizarre pranks.”

Family bonds

Quality time: Vinay Prakash Goel: While Pranjal is away at college abroad, the three of us make it a point to go for a walk after dinner and most importantly, without our smartphones. During that time, we talk about how we spent our current day, and the things lined up for the next day for all of us.

Asmita: Neeharika and I spend a lot of time together whenever we get a

chance after her school. She has started to involve herself in cooking some of things she loves eating and has become a very good cake baker.

Cherishing each other Vinay Prakash Goel: The attachment shown by Neeharika and Pranjal is very dear to both of us. Pranjal carries his ‘Never say die’ attitude with him.

He gets upset with his failures but recovers very fast and always focuses on improving himself in everything that he does, be it sports or studies, etc.

Neeharika is very young but has the maturity to understand the problems in society. Her concern for social problems is very visible and she is very active with NGOs at such a young age. She frequently visits Bagiya and Pure Hearts foundation and contributes to various initiatives such as tree plantation and ‘no-plastic’ drive, music classes, handicrafts making, etc.

Value system Asmita: Today, children have access to information online which was not available during our childhood. We were used to our grandfather and grandmother telling us stories till late in the night. These days, children spend more time on smartphones than with their families. Therefore it becomes even more important for parents to spend time with their children.

Time spent with children helps to share in each other’s feelings, develops a strong sense of trust between children and their parents and this is the most important value.

Dreams ‘ahista ahista’ Vinay Prakash Goel: I wish for good health and success for my family.

Asmita: I wish to see my daughter Neeharika and son Pranjal to remain good human beings throughout their lives and to carry our family values wherever they go.

Philosophy of ‘life’ Vinay Prakash Goel: The only way to do great work is to love what you do.

Asmita: Don’t worry, be happy. sangeetagd2010@gmail.com

“He has integrated his office and us akin to a joint family. His statement of bringing a smile to his 20,000 family members in office by sacrificing a few at home makes me proud” —Asmita Goel

CC

tadka

Why we can’t recall books?

Can you recall the plot and names of the major characters of the last novel you read? If not, you’re not alone. Jared Horvath, Melbourne University researcher, says it’s happening because now we’ve Google, which makes remembering such stuff pointless. “We’ve become overly reliant on our recognition memory, the one that remembers where some information is stored – book, CD, online – rather than our recall memory.” So, “not only do we consume books and movies less mindfully, we’re also bingeing on them,” Jared explains.

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 21

Cover Story

Dynamic Duo :

69

Asmita and Vinay Prakash Goel

Mining maestro

Mining is one of the most capital-intensive and intricate businesses in the world, and it is one which the $11 billion Adani Group excels at. It takes a certain calibre of leader to successfully run a mining industry, and Vinay Prakash Goel is just the right man to take charge.

Corporate Citizen chats with the dynamic CEO, Mining and Trading, of Adani Enterprises Ltd. who exudes a quiet charm and confidence as he speaks passionately about his journey from humble beginnings to reaching the top of one of India’s most valued companies

By Neeraj Varty Take us from your education and the early days of your career.

Vinay: I am a mechanical engineer, from IET Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. I got campus-selected by Aditya Birla Group. I worked there for eight years; four years with a company called Indo Gulf Fertilisers which is based in Jagdishpur, Sultanpur. From there I got transferred to Birla Copper in Dahej, Gujarat, which is their sister concern.

So I started with Mechanical Maintenance, then I went to Purchase, then Port Commercial. So I worked for eight years before moving to Adani Group in 2001. This was the first change in my career. At that time, I joined as a senior manager with DGM rank.

At that time, Adani Group wasn’t as huge as it is now. Today, it ranks in the top-10 groups. With the company growing so fast, I got the opportunity to grow with the company. I have been with Adani for 17 years now.

You spent your career in just two companies.

Nowadays you see a lot of young employees job hopping every two years. Is that a worrying trend?

I got more opportunities in Adani Group than I would have, had I been job hopping. I think employees should not switch a job due to remuneration or appraisals. However, if they are not content with their work, then they should consider moving. If job satisfaction is not there, it is definitely a reason to move from one company to another. Long-term commitment gives you an opportunity to perform your best, and gives others time to notice. I think I am the living example of this. So in my view, unless you have any issues with job satisfaction, you should not switch.

22 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

You have been at the helm of Adani Group, and before you have been in the Birla Group. These are quintessential Indian companies. Do you see any difference in the style of working between here and the company headquarters in other countries? Do you feel there is a certain uniqueness, style of functioning, work culture perhaps to Indian companies?

In Adani Group, I am heading the Coal Trading and Mining group, and I find that the culture factor is the most important. If you are working in India, you have to really understand the way Indian culture is. Similarly, in other countries, we have to get localised to work better there. Whether it is an Indian company working outside of India, or an MNC working in India, a clear understanding of culture is important.

I don’t think it is to be of any concern for any Indian employees whether they work with an Indian company or a foreign company. Nowadays most of them are MNCs, and Indians are very adaptable that way.

In your tenure as CEO, what are the initiatives taken by you that you are proud of?

I have been the CEO for almost nine years now. There have been many decisions that are worth mentioning.

One of the things that I believe in is that your manpower and resources are always more important than you are. So you have to be very keen while recruiting. When I go on recruitments, I try to see whether the person is smarter than me or not, so that we have a team that actually has the meta energy required for this job.

“I got more opportunities in Adani Group than I would have, had I been job hopping. I think employees should not switch a job due to remuneration or appraisals. Long-term commitment gives you an opportunity to perform your best, and gives others time to notice.

I think I am the living example of this�

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 23

Cover Story

Aerial view of an Adani Coal Terminal

Secondly, for the past eight years, I have been working on my mistakes.

At each year end, we receive a document that states what mistakes we have made in the past year, what could have been better, and what can we do to ensure that these mistakes don’t happen in the future. We take ownership of our mistakes, and then chalk out a plan to ensure that they don’t happen again. This is one of the reasons why we have seen a lot of transformation and turnaround here.

Another thing that we have introduced is the Townhall meeting. There we connect the dots within the organisation, and ensure that even the junior-most person is heard. We ensure that the communication goes to them also in a proper manner. Because of this, our team is achieving better and better results.

And because of this we are able to achieve results with a small team also.

In Australia, there was a controversy regarding the barrier reef; do you think such controversies can be avoided in your industry?

We’re talking about the coal mining industry, where the environmental concern is definitely more. Let’s get one thing out of the way—Do we need coal mining or not? The answer is yes, because today 67% of power comes from coal. From focusing on the renewable energy resources like solar and wind, you are not going to get more than 50% of the power. Not even in the coming 15-20 years. So with these things, coal mines are going to be there at least in our generation and the next generation. What we need to do is think as a responsible miner, and work on how much impact mining will have on the environment. To ensure that if we dig out one tree, we should plant 13-14 trees to maintain the ecological balance.

The second thing is to ensure If you see the ratio of that CSR activities are there, so men to women in the that the communities where we operate in are not affected negamining profession tively and only positivity. We proin other countries vide good education and health like South Africa and care to the community so that they get benefit from our initiaAustralia, it is more tives. So if we can take care of all like 50:50 if not even the ill effects of mining, I don’t more. If we ignore think we will face any challenges. half the population of Whatever has happened was a bad effect of mining our country, how can certainly in the past 50-60 years, but we are we achieve progress working on it now, and our results are there. or growth?

24 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

Do you feel that there’s some disparity between what is demanded of students by the industry and what they have been skilled for?

There is some truth to that. The reason why Indian universities are not doing at par with the foreign universities is because of the lack of connect with the corporate world. Today, the requirement we have and the product we are getting from the universities are not matching. Neither we are telling them what we need, nor are they approaching us to clarify our requirements. We still have a dated curriculum which is almost 15 years behind. So I think the time has come that we can collaborate to create an advanced curriculum. I think Indian education needs to change to keep with the times. Inviting industry leaders to speak at institutes is a good step. When I get opportunities to come and speak at institutes, I use it to position the industry to connect with the students.

It’s a good initiative.

Do you think women are adequately represented in the Mining or power sector? Or do you think a lot more can be done here?

I am not sure about the exact numbers. But I think that the ratio is skewed towards men. Only around 12-14% of employees would be women. I think this is due to the old thinking that a man is stronger than a woman. So because of the gender bias, mining was considered a difficult and unsuitable job for women which I believe is a myth. If you see the ratio in other countries like South Africa and Australia, the ratio is more like 50:50 if not even more. They operate heavy equipment also. I think we should come out and discuss openly about the female participation in mining industry. If we ignore half the population of our country, how can we achieve progress or growth?

How would you define your leadership style?

Earlier, I used to be in an authoritative style, I used to be a pacesetter.

I set the goals myself and then asked my resources to follow it. Recently, it has changed from authoritative to a participative one. Now I let people work with me to decide the target we have to set, and let them take the ownership. It has also reduced the stress I had because of the responsibility. If you want to set the budget and targets, you want it to flow from bottom to top. The strategy and broader numbers can be worked out by the top management, but the rest of the input should come from bottom to the top. Because of this, we find ownership coming at all levels. It has helped us to grow faster than our competitors.

With your busy schedule, do you believe there is something called as a work-life balance?

A work life balance is something I have been preaching to people (laughs).

I want them to have a Sunday. I want them to spend time with their family.

It’s actually in your mind. What I believe is if you are enjoying what you do, if you have satisfaction in the kind of work you have been doing, there is a work-life balance.

When you are at work for 8-10 hours, be dedicated to the work. It’s the same with family. People in my generation didn’t have this awareness, but I am sure that people of current generation will have it better.

marketing of our industry. Today, we don’t have to go to the site to blast coal. We can sit in air-conditioned office while operating a controlled mining process. We have drones for surveying the mines. The technologies have changed the face of mining. But this isn’t getting highlighted to everyone. Work in mining is more rewarding than other sectors.

I don’t think there is much awareness about mining—such a core and important sector. When you go for recruitment drives, do you come across this?

I visited ISM Dhanbad a couple of months ago, it is a mining institute. But what I saw was that people took mining as an engineering choice because they couldn’t get mechanical or electrical.

I too went from mechanical to mining in due course in my profession.

Now what I see is the perception that mining is a blue-collar job, while IT or banking is thought of as a white-collar job. It’s all because of improper

Is there also the perception that the mining business is not going to be around for a long time due to alternate energy sources gaining traction and the whole environmental issue?

I have been in this industry for 17 years. Before that I was in the coal trading business. Adani Group has a lot of data regarding this. From that information, I can tell you for sure that mining is going to be there for next 50 years.

Plus, the jobs have been evolving too. Now you don’t just have a mining engineer, you have an environmentalist. You have people working on drones and robotics. The complete compliance with DGMS is done with the help of drones now.

The perception was In another two-three years I that mining is a blue- expect there to be more visibility about our work.

How so?

This sector needs young people with a good grasp of technology to work with cutting-edge mining equipment. This part is the most rewarding too.

The incentives are huge.

collar job, while IT or banking is thought of as a white-collar job. Today, we don’t have to go to the site to blast coal.

We can sit in airconditioned office while operating a controlled mining process. We have drones for surveying the mines.

Where do you see the Adani Group under you in the next five years?

We want to be seen as one of the most admired companies in India, and contribute much more to the GDP than now. We don’t want to be seen as a company with billions in profit. We want to be seen as a good employer with active community engagement. We should be known for our environment protection initiatives as well. So the target we have set for ourselves is to focus more on the soft aspects than the hard aspects of the business.

What is your philosophy of life?

Professionally, I will be with the group till I enjoy my work here. Personally, I want to pay my debts to the society. neeraj.varty07@gmail.com

CC

tadka

19 crore Indians have no bank account India has 19 crore adults without a bank account despite the success of the ambitious Jan Dhan Yojana, making it the world’s second largest unbanked population after that of China, according to the latest Global Findex Database released by the World Bank.

However, it also showed that the country’s adult population with a bank account has more than doubled to 80 per cent since 2011.

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 25

CII HR & IR Conclave

Organisation Structure and Career Path With the change in organisation structures in the new environment, what’s going to happen to the capabilities that are going to become hot skills and how is all these going to impact in terms of career paths? This was the topic of one of the panel discussion, at the recently-concluded Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) HR & IR Conclave 'HRevolution', held at Hyatt Regency, in Pune. The topic discussed was Organisation structure and Career path and the panellists were K. Sitaram,

O

ftentimes when we are talking about organisations wanting to drive accountability or trying to drive quick decision making, trying to drive empowerment and behaviours like this, we leave a lot of reward behaviours, said Anjali Byce starting the discussion. It is a very powerful example of how you use organisation structure to drive a customer-centric organisation that drives behaviours that are really going to deliver the business. "We have been hearing how Tata Motors went through this beautiful attempt to look at reorganising—a very bold step of the organisation with such a large and old legacy, to crash down the number of designations and structures in the organisation. You step back and look at something forward, it takes a lot of courage," she said.

Anjali Byce: Can you (Rajesh Lele) take us through, what were the key drivers? What’s changing and why did you need to go through this change? What were the principles you used and what were the learnings?

Rajesh Lele: The background to this is the automotive industry—everybody would realise is a capital intensive industry—product development, in that sense, is a multi-year effort, and products last a long time. So, you may end up servicing trucks, which may have actually built a decade back or more. A lot of that has been organically grown in the Indian scenario.

What’s changed over the last four-five years is, first and foremost, the product lifecycle got shorter, therefore the ability of the organisation to be far more fluid with the approach that we take for product development launch and sales and service, from the line and across the value chain, has to come down significantly and be speeded up significantly.

The second aspect, one which we are all faced with, is technology. Today, the automation component in each of our vehicles, could range anywhere from 20 to 60 per cent, and we are on the cusp of seeing driverless cars, where most automotive organisations and even non-automotive organisations are moving towards. That technology driver, is the second driver which is kind of pushing the automobile industry, in the last four-five years.

Coupled with that is the regulatory dimension, with things like BS3, BS4 and the norms around emissions and so on, which constantly call for us to change the specs and dimensions of our product.

26 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

Director - Human Resources, GE Supply Chain - South Asia, GE India Industrial Private Ltd; Anjali Byce, Convenor, CII Pune HR & IR Panel & Director-Human Resources, SKF India Ltd (Moderator) and Rajesh Lele, General Manager and Head eHR, Tata Motors Ltd. Corporate Citizen brings you the excerpts of the discussion

By Rajesh Rao

In middle of all of that, an organisation which was kind of growing organically, was faced with certain challenges and we realised that the way we were set up did not really give the flexibility and agility that we needed to be effective in the marketplace. And that’s the genesis or one of the key principles that we have, when we embarked on these changes.

When new mission, vision, values statement were rolled up recently, coupled with that were key components in terms of structure and performance system—it’s not just about the structure, but it’s actually about how people should behave within that structure, how people will interact with each other within that structure, and what is the value system that we have. As you mentioned that we have a legacy, so therefore we definitely expect internally and externally, to have a certain set of norms and values. So, all of that was kind of looked at and that’s been the genesis of our journey.

We relooked the way we were set up from a structural standpoint. We did some changes in terms of making the businesses a lot more resourced and agile. So, the business units themselves now are more empowered, better set up, therefore to be able to decide how they want to go ahead, with the kind of products that they have. And therefore the product management accountability was put within the business units themselves. That’s one of the key changes that we brought about. Earlier, conceiving the product was one part of the organisation, design was the other part, the manufacturing was the third part and sales and service, etc. was the fourth part. Here what

we are saying is, we are putting everything within the organisation, within the business unit and saying that you make it from the conception to market and then even beyond. So, what is the lifecycle of the product, is also within that business unit itself.

So, that was one of the key principles-the flexibility, the agility that the business unit needed and the flip side of the coin therefore it brings in accountability. You have the accountability of the delivery of results, whether it is sales, market share, revenue, margins—all of that accountability now rests with the business. And as a result of that, the other dimension was the technology and therefore to keep pace with the industry, to keep pace with the technology, we needed nimbleness and agility, and that’s the third pillar we set-we really need this approach. So, that’s been the genesis, that’s been the kind of shift, in terms of why we did it, what we did.

Coming from GE, you are in an organisation that has diverse businesses and each of them having varied organisational structures. What is your experience in terms of what’s happening and what it means to you as a company?

K. Sitaram: There is a huge amount of change happening across the organisation now. Simple thing, customer is not ready to pay for nonvalue, so any thing which is not having value to a product, customer is not interested to pay. So, those structures have to go. So, huge amount of structural Pics: Yusuf Khan

K Sitaram, Director - HR, GE Supply Chain – South Asia, GE India Industrial; Anjali Byce, Director-HR, SKF India and Rajesh Lele, General Manager and Head eHR, Tata Motors

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 27

CII HR&IR Conclave changes are happening. We are more talking about customer-centric, mission based themes, result-based themes. So, go after the market, change the deal. First, get the deal and then do the back working, do the working so that you make money. It’s entirely different from the traditional way of working.

Organisations wanting to drive accountability, quick decision making, empowerment-we leave a lot of reward behaviours.

It is a very powerful example of how you use organisation structure to drive a customer-centric organisation that drives behaviours that are really going to deliver the business

But as a result of all of these changes, what is your reflection on the implications of these structural changes or the absence of any structure? What are the implications of the competencies that are considered by organisations?

Sitaram: One of the biggest competencies that is coming into play is adaptability. What I am doing yesterday is not what I am doing today.

And change is happening at such a fast pace that companies don’t have time to even think.

We don’t even have time to figure out what is the new technology coming in. For example, we were always talking about improving efficiency, improving productivity, bringing advance machines and so on—suddenly you start hearing something called 3D printing, additive manufacturing, that’s going to rewrite the whole factory set-up, you will be no more having huge machines—and its catching up fast. So, we need to have people, who can adapt. So, adaptability is the key competency which will come. You cannot say, I have never done this before, so I will not it do now.

Lele: In my view, the key area would be critical thinking—questioning why we do what we do. From a competency and capability point of view, is it actually adding value to my organisation, or why am I doing this?

That’s one of the areas where competency would be necessary. Technology is the other area where competency is needed—how do we adapt to that? Again, from the regulatory point of view, how do those regulations affect the setup that we have? How does it affect the way we manufacture?

Not just our processes but the core technologies that we use and how do that change. The other change we would have to deal with is the way our business model is changing. The consumption patterns, especially in the passenger vehicles, have changed. The business model and consumption patterns are changing and therefore how do we get the frontline people to be able to sell in this kind of environment? Also, where cargo-sharing and load-sharing, etc., is slowly becoming a reality, driverless trucks that deliver cargo are reality today in the West and will take some time to come here—in the line of that how to make our frontline sales people effective, is another question we also have to deal with.

We relooked the way we were set up from a structure standpoint, did some changes in terms of making the businesses a lot more resourced and agile. The business units themselves now are more empowered, better set up, to be able to decide how they want to go ahead 28 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

Anjali Byce

I don’t think we can divorce critical thinking and analytical skills, etc. from the leadership anymore. When we talk about leadership, it must include all of these things, otherwise it is not leadership in the new world.

What do you see changing, whether it is on the structure dimension, the way careers are being played out, or capability?

Sitaram: Most of our career has been about dealing with unions. I am yet to come across an HR professional, who says, “My union is very easy to handle”. Any union, any company, is very tough, aggressive, hostile, etc. So, whenever you do management discussion, all the management discussion endsup establishing that it is the management’s responsibility to run a factory and union or workmen are only there to stop the work or shut down the factory. But in reality, all the management staff, for their qualification and experience, if the factory shuts down, they may find some or the other job, but most of the workmen don’t find one. So, who should have more responsibility to run a factory? Look at union side—when the union comes and negotiates with you, 90% of the time the conversation is about the supervisor. That the supervisor is biased, that he did not give leave, he put me in the wrong shift, etc. So, all your energy gets sucked there. From the employee perspective, why do employees want to form a union? You have taken an employee, putting him as a contract labour for five years, without a salary increase. How many of us would be interested to work in a factory, where there is no salary increase, if there is no salary increase for five years. The day you become an employee, you want increase all the five years from the industry.

So, what we have done is, we have changed the whole paradigm—we said, we will not have any supervision of the factory. We have a factory with 600 operators—if you ask the operator which department he works, he will say he is from machining, or warehouse, or quality—we also wanted to break it. All the factory is divided into teams, based on the customer product and these teams, as there are no supervisors, all the team members are workers. I have 33 HR managers, each HR manager takes care of his team.

Once a month I have a session with all Rajesh Lele these HR managers—they do what I do,

that the whole process gets failed. So, what we teach is don’t aim for perfecfor their team. They plan their training, they plan their career aspiration, tion. Especially when you are doing people change, don’t aim perfection. they do their engagement initiatives, they are responsible for everything.

How are we involving people? They are part of the change, they are And these positions are not permanent, like no one can claim that I am part of the design, acceptance is very high. We got an objective, but how team captain for life. So, every 18 months there is mandatory relocation— to do, where to do, when to do, is always designed by the people who get the team has to sit and select themselves. So, they get multi-skilled. How impacted. That’s how change is tough but it’s not impossible. it works? The team meets in the morning, they decide what to produce, and how to resolve issues.

Lele: The approach that we took was, to a certain extent, to establish a There is something called open board communication system—either small team that was responsible for this transition and lot of communicathe team is capable of solving, then they should solve and work and if the tion that went on—lot of training for the managers and leaders, that also team is not capable of solving, they have to just go and write on the board. helped in terms of at least in understanding and acceptance. And in some All of the leadership team have been instructed not to interfere. They do areas where we have to hold back, we listened and we did kind of rolled better when we don’t interfere. All of us have been instructed not to be back in one or two areas that didn’t go well with people. So, yes it has been part of their meetings. Their only job is to go and have a look at the board. a kind of interactive process, but that’s the reality.

So, they are to the fore, they get customer feedback. It’s been going well for five years, it is not easy—we still have traditional people in the company, who keep pulling it back. In a traditional company you have supervisors, the ratio is one to ten, so we may end up having 60 supervisors on the shop floor and to manage those supervisors we have another four managers. So, the salary of 65 people, customer is not going to pay. We diverted that cost of 65 people to workers. We put education, free time, they manage the show. So, One of the biggest that’s the structureless shop floor.

competencies that is coming

At Tata Motors, what is the strategy into play is adaptability. What you are following to change the mindI was doing yesterday is not set of the people to work within the what I am doing today. And structure? change is happening at such Lele: Definitely we have taken a multi-prone a fast pace that companies approach. One is, in the new structure, people have to live and work within the structure. It don’t have time to even think. is the second layer of exercise which is the job or figure out what is the new evaluation exercise which has been done as a technology coming in K Sitaram result of that and people will be given specific job descriptions in terms of what are their expected outcomes from them in the new organisation structure. SecIt’s very impressive to not have supervisors on the shop floor, ondly, there is lot of training that we have done over the last year and we but what are the challenges that you faced to get the workcontinue to do that in terms of people management. Because, ultimately force to be mature and also the union buy in the transformathere are people that will live out that structure and to that extent we have tional change that was brought in? been training managers and we have been training people, to be able to Sitaram: It was not the operators who were tough, managers were tougher handle people better within the structure, in the context of their new roles to handle. They had many questions, they didn’ t believe that this will work. and responsibilities. So, even when the new structure was announced, it They didn't want to let go. So, we did lot of training to the managers that was not just mass emailer. There were clear and strategically structured this is value adding. Forcefully, what we have done is we have removed few workshops, which were done at different levels within the organisation. people from the system, kept them out of the shop floor. We brought in lot The leaders of the different businesses were present and the rational and of transparency. It was relatively easy for the shop floor. The moment we why things were done the way they were done, was presented to them. So, let them, they embraced, they took over, they showed double the energy to there is a lot of time, effort and investment, which is going into helping ensure that they are successful. people understand that how structure should be lived up to. That’s one rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com clear strategy that was taken and of course, since this all is relatively new, we will see the proof, in may be a few months or years to come, as to how this is working out and then take a call.

CC Can you share with us whether there was resistance to change and how was it handled?

Sitaram: Whenever you bring change, there is a resistance. Because 100 per cent of the people will never buy in the change that you want to bring in. Every change brings some amount of pain and shaking. All the people who were sitting comfortably, you are pushing them to be uncomfortable and every uncomfort brings lot of noise. What happens in any change intervention is, people who are accepting change, who have embraced change, they move on. People who have not embraced change, they are the people who are very noisy, they make huge amount of noise in the system

tadka

India has slowest 4G speed Despite having one of the largest 4G availability in the world at 86%, 4G speed in India is the lowest among 90 odd countries. The average speed in India is 6.37 Mpbs. Denmark (33.09 Mbps) tops the list of nations with highest 4G speed. However, no other country has made a faster jump to 4G technology than India, as 4G in India is cheaper than anywhere else in the world.

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 29

Alumni Spotlight-2 Rohit Tugnait, alumnus, Balaji Institute of Modern Management

Luck & lot of Hard Work

A little bit of

The foundation that IIMM built in me, and the work experiences I’ve had in a little over the last decade and a half,

have carved me into a manager, who enjoys the challenge of stress and finds creative

solutions to keep the ship sailing full speed ahead. And all of this started with three

simple words from my first captain,

Bala Sir... ‘Problems are opportunities’

30 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

By Rohit Tugnait

D

espite all of us having made our own individual mark in various career paths, I’m sure the one thing that will be voiced in common amongst the alumni is the two years we spent in Indian Institute of Modern Management (IIMM), now known as Balaji Institute of Modern Management (BIMM). They were the most memorable times of our lives.

Coming into the regimented set-up of IIMM and its captain, Bala Sir, was a shock for me to get adjusted in the system initially. You waltz into a serious MBA institute after spending casual three years of graduation, thinking life will still be largely about socialising with friends, spending leisure hours in a canteen and attending a few classes in between all of this fun.

The truth was far from that. We walked into six hours of classroom, two to three hours on assignments, research, preparation of PPTs for the next day, for seven days a week, for most weeks of the year. It was far from what any normal young adult would want, yet this set the ground for building up character, a sense of achievement, friendships of a lifetime, loyalty to the captain (aka Bala Sir) and most importantly, corporate knowledge that’s taken most of us a long way.

IIMM not only equipped me with knowledge but also turned me into an individual who could take on pressure and still make lucid decisions. A person who, to some extent, could take failure but then would want to work harder to prove to myself and others that I am an effective manager and success is bound to come my way.

My first job was with TOI in Pune and I remember two and a half years into the job I had moved into a comfort zone where I was not giving my full potential to the job and it’s at this juncture that I was exposed to office politics for the first time. I was made to look complacent in a system when that was not the case. It was a humiliating experience but also one that made me strong. It pushed me to take a plunge out of my comfort zone and I took on a different medium, the Television, by joining the Star Group. I’ve never really looked back since. I moved at a pretty fast pace and reached the position of Vice President (VP) in MTV within eight years of leaving TOI and I don’t think that would have been possible without the kick that I got in that company.

My point is, don’t let failures get you down. Of course, things will hurt you and you will question yourself but let that burning turn into a sense of drive to prove yourself to the system.

Channelise that feeling to something construc-

What you need to work on for yourself, is a strong need to learn, absorb and be inquisitive about things around you, question everything no matter how silly it sounds— that’s the only way to gain knowledge. Always be honest and respect the point of view of not just your seniors but peers and even people that you lead Rohit sharing a smile with friends

tive. If you manage it, you’ll begin to feel more powerful than ever).

I think once you move into the corporate world, there are a couple of elements that you need to get lucky with and there are a few that you need to work on your own. Luck plays a role with regard to the kind of boss you get to work with. If your boss is secure in his/her abilities and is a true leader, you get to learn and grow with that him/ her as part of his/her work lifecycle.

What you need to work on for yourself, is a strong need to learn, absorb and be inquisitive about things around you; question everything no matter how silly it sounds—that’s the only way to gain knowledge. Always be honest and respect the point of view of not just your seniors but peers and even people that you lead. For, you will realise at some point that all of these things will come together in helping you grow not just in your workplace but as a human being with character that people will want to emulate and follow.

Most of what I’ve written above has helped me reach a stage of running a digital content company today. Being a COO means managing various departments and largely firefighting

problems from the start to the end of the day.

But the foundation that IIMM built in me and the work experiences I’ve had in a little over the last decade and a half have carved me into a manager who enjoys the challenge of stress and finds creative solutions to keep the ship sailing full speed ahead. And all of this started with three simple words from my first captain, Bala Sir... ‘Problems are opportunities’.

CC

tadka

India is world’s 6th largest economy India is now the world’s sixth largest economy, displacing France. The five economies ahead are the United States, China, Japan, Germany and United Kingdom. India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the worth of the economy, is clocked in at $2.6 trillion for 2017, according to the database of the IMF’s World Economic Outlook (WEO) for April 2018.

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 31

Sikkim is home to Mt. Khangchendzonga,

UNESCO WORLD MIXED HERITAGE SITE Khangchendzonga National Park

The first 100% Organic farming State in India

R.O. No. : 227/IPR/Pub/Dis/17-18

the third highest mountain peak in the world.

Pilgrimage Tourism

Adventure Tourism

Interview

Be the change

Times are changing, and the youths are taking the matters in their hands—to change the country! Envisioned to create thousands of model villages, the Maharashtra Government is taking one step at a time, aiming for a total transformation in its latest initiative called the Maharashtra Village Social Transformation Foundation (MVSTF). Last month, Ramnath Subramaniam, CEO, MVSTF was happy to announce that they have spread its footprint in 18 districts of the state covering 584 villages.

Commending the groundwork of the Chief Minister Rural Development Fellows (CMRDFs), Subramaniam said, “The Fellows form the core of this CSR initiative and they are doing a splendid job by staying put in the villages allotted to them thus ensuring direct connect with the villagers”. As a part of its expansion programme MVSTF has spread its wings to seven new districts, namely, Pune, Buldhana, Washim, Akola, Hingoli, Latur and Jalna to the current existing 11 districts, namely, Aurangabad, Beed, Nanded, Parbhani, Nandurbar, Amravati, Chandrapur, Yavtamal, Gadchiroli, Wardha and Raigad.

In conversation with Corporate Citizen, Subramaniam shares some important insights on the initiative

By Ekta Katti Enlighten us about the Maharashtra Village Social Transformation Foundation…

Maharashtra Village Social Transformation Foundation, is a not-for-profit (section 8) company, institutionalised by the Government of Maharashtra to create 1,000 model villages.

Maharashtra Government has embarked on a rural development journey to transform 1,000 villages in the state, worst-affected by social, economic, livelihood, connectivity and infrastructural challenges. The focus in these villages is to create an inclusive growth model and transform them into model villages that are selfsustainable by collaborative and focused efforts.

Realising the need to enable greater convergence between the State, Corporate and the Civic society, this first-of-its-kind Public Private Partnership is the brainchild of Hon. Chief Minister 34 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

Devendra Fadnavis. It aims to solve problems such as better access to clean drinking water, housing for all, sanitation, skill development, digitisation of schools, among others. The organisation was launched in January 2017 and started operations in April of the same year, when the Hon. CM inaugurated the pilot cohort of over 150 young Fellows at YASHADA, Pune. Since then the programme has grown by leaps and bounds under the aegis of the Hon. Chief Minister and the mentorship of Mr Praveen Pardeshi, Additional Chief Secretary to the CM. Centrally, it is being led by a group of professionals from diverse backgrounds such as banking, social development, human resource development, project management, to name a few. On ground, we have the Chief Minister Rural Development Fellows working with the district and local administration and guided by the respective

district collectors along with support from our Lead Development Partners such as Tata Trusts, Reliance Foundation, Aditya Birla Foundation, Mahindra Rise, etc. along with grassroots NGOs and social enterprises among others.

What sets this CSR apart from the rest?

Unlike typical CSR projects which focus on creating impact in silos, essentially in one or limited cause areas or verticals, MVSTF aims to create a platform for convergence of stakeholders such as the Government, CSR Foundations, HNIs, NGOs and the citizens to enable sustainable and holistic development. The social development problems of our time are complex and need to be solved using an ecosystem-level approach. Most importantly, the programme is designed where in all stakeholders complement each other. The Government reach is matched by Corporate

Under the MVSTF, an education camp held for the kids at Wardha

You can improve educational outcomes of a student by not only training teachers or providing infrastructure, but also by creating an environment conducive for learning, sanitation infrastructure and other facilities expertise. This programme enables bottom- to top-level policy making wherein the Village Development Plan (VDP) is prepared by the CM Gram Parivartaks in consultation with the villagers who decide the priorities of their village needs and spend in a data-driven and most importantly participative manner.

For example, you can improve educational outcomes of a student by not only training teachers or providing infrastructure, but also by creating an environment conducive for learning, sanitation infrastructure and other facilities. We help all our stakeholders amplify their impact manifold by working with the Government. The social impact delivered for every rupee invested in the programme is much more than any conventional CSR project.

The real heroes are the Chief Minister Rural Development Fellows who are

constantly on their toes, right? Your views on that?

Yes, that is absolutely right! At the core of our mission are the Chief Minister Rural Development Fellows (CMRDFs), who are young and extremely passionate about creating an impact. These highly-driven and motivated youth, typically between the age group of 22-26 work directly with the villagers in the most backward parts of the state. Demographically, it comprises people from all kinds of backgrounds, from journalism to social work, agriculture to engineering to arts—each one of them creating value in their own unique way. The Fellowship is a full-time residential and intensive programme, where every CMRDF is assigned a Gram Panchayat, basically a cluster of three-four villages and are the ones leading its developmental agenda. The fellows dedicatedly live in the assigned GP for the span of the fellowship which enables them to know first-

hand the issues and challenges of the villagers and gain community insight and acceptance.

The Fellows spend the first few months collecting data about the most pressing issues and the best ways to address them. They then work closely with the local and district-level administration to create developmental plans to solve these problems. The Fellows are keyed to ensuring more efficient delivery of schemes, better planning and allocation of resources along with management of the implementation of these projects. Our Fellows, in a way, enable better democracy and the most sustainable kind of development at the grassroots. These CMRDFs are facilitators of change, driving the programme across the state. We currently have over 280 CMRDFs working in over 19 districts. We are extremely proud that the cohort has as many as 25% female Fellows who are leading some incredible efforts in their villages.

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 35

Interview ment for us. Eventually, we aim to be a model for all the other villages, not just in the state, but across the country.

Gadchiroli-Bamboo tree guard

The social development problems of our time are complex and need to be solved using an ecosystem-level approach How are the Fellows screened for the initiative?

The Fellows are selected through a process which entails a written test followed by a round of interview. The selected Fellows are then provided a week-long training by industry experts along with field visits to model villages such as Hiware Bazar and Nidhal. This kind of exposure prepares them to begin their journey of transforming their villages. The kind of work our Fellows have managed to do is truly inspiring and a model for anyone who wants to emulate it.

There are many youngsters who would want to join the army of CMRDF; your advice to them?

If you want to solve the toughest problems, create the best kind of social impact and serve the society, then this is the place for you. We offer an opportunity to work closely with the government, the largest social development agency along with Under the MVSTF, a gas distribution initative for the habitants of Chandrapur

some of the biggest philanthropic institutions such as the Tata Trusts, Reliance Foundation, Aditya Birla Foundation, Mahindra Rise, to name a few. Every day would throw up new challenges, anxious moments, excitement but at the end of it all, the feeling of doing something for mankind at such a young age is gratifying.

What, do you think, is the outcome of the initiative?

We aim to see large-scale development across 1,000 villages. The objective is to empower the villages and the grassroots democracy to identify problems, maximise use of Government schemes and policies, effective use of resources leading to increase in overall Human Development Indicators.

Access to clean drinking water, housing for all, skill development and livelihood, solar electrification, increase in farm incomes and digitalised schools are major areas of growth and develop-

Could you walk us through a district that has changed drastically?

While we have seen tremendous development across all our districts, I can share a case-inpoint of Wardha as one of them where we have seen great efforts coupled with support from the administration and the Lead Development Partner. We have seen extensive work around skill development and livelihood, in areas such as LED bulb manufacturing, livestock and poultry farming, mushroom and silkworm cultivation, along with sanitary pad packing and distribution, which have both, economic and social gains for the villagers. The Fellows have also enrolled more than 200 youth in the villages into various skill development programmes.

Over 210 agricultural tool kits have also been provided in order to improve the state of farming.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, the district has over 300 houses already under construction. Some fellows have also led modern interventions such as e-banking and cashless economy.

Due to a painting initiative undertaken, the villages will witness the rise of 18 schools and 15 anganwadis which will create better learning infrastructure for the students consequently improving their learning outcomes.

Our Lead Development Partner, Mahindra Rise, is also building 150 toilets in public places, to make them open defection-free and improve the state of health and sanitation. Construction of soak pits for liquid waste disposal is another initiative aimed towards the same.

The net social impact of these and other initiatives across the district has been very positive, with the villagers involving themselves in the process and sharing ownership and responsibility along with our Fellows. “Be the change you want to see in the world,” said Mahatma Gandhi and it’s heartening to know that our work is a step towards that and the sustainable development we aim to create.

ektaakatti@gmail.com

CC

tadka

Going back to Gurukula India had lots of Gurukula, residential schooling system where students lived with their guru. However, it died a natural death in independent India. Now an affiliate of RSS wants to revive this highly sacred system which stressed on the oral tradition of intonation and recitation of Vedas. It’s organising a Virat Gurukul Sammelan in MP’s Ujjain shortly and several countries want India’s help in opening gurukulas.

36 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

Interview

People can make or break the

Organisation Archana Srivastava, Head - HR, Continental CTF & FM India, like any HR, is a people person and likes to interact with them.

During her first job as a software engineer, she found out that she should be managing the most important asset of any organisation, i.e. its employees. After her post-graduation in HR, she has worked in leading industries in corporate and business HR, right from her internship. In an interview with Corporate Citizen, she talks on how digitisation has helped HR and what needs to be done to improve gender diversity and more…

By Vineet Kapshikar Tell us about your education and career.

Archana Srivastava: I have completed my graduation in computer applications with specialisation in software engineering. After my graduation, I started working as a software developer with a Delhi-based firm. In one of the conversations with my mentor, I told him, “I am trying to make sure that every aspect of my work makes sense. I want to ensure that I pave the path to build right culture and it’s a well-known fact that right culture or collective mindset of people is something which makes or breaks the organisation.” That conversation led me to opt for HR for my post-graduation.

I completed my post-graduation in HR and when I was in the third semester, I had to do a summer internship. I got the opportunity to do my internship with Thermax. Generally, when students start their internship, they work for two-three months, they take their certificate and they part their ways. Fortunately, I was given a live project to automate Thermax attendance and leave management system.

That project was Thermax’s pending project since long time and new EVP - HR was not happy with the progress of project and on one evening he called up the project team. Having IT background, I had explained about the project and told him that if this is the way project will be implemented, it will never go live; then 38 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

he asked what’s the right way. I explained him the right way. He gave me a deadline and told me that now onwards you are the project manager but you have to ensure that it gets implemented on time. I made a commitment to him but since I was a trainee, he was sceptical and said. “What if you fail? I can’t even sack you because you are nowhere on the Thermax map.” I replied him that if I fail, you don’t give me project certificate and that will be a big loss for me because without a project completion certificate, I will not be able to complete my degree.

I completed the project before time, and then they had given me a pre-placement offer. And that’s how my HR career began in Thermax. In my Thermax tenure, I automated HRMS, assisted EVP - HR in many OD interventions like Organisation & Management review, running development centres, was COE for job rotation and given him a concept note on ‘Job level’. Later, I shifted in Business HR role. I also worked with companies like VA Tech Wabag and Kirloskar Oil Engine Ltd. I had a clear milestone of heading HR by the age of 30 years. Fortunately, I got an offer of Head - HR from Kalyani Steels before I turned 30. Somehow, I didn’t like Kalyani Steels role.

Hence, I switched to Continental AG in November 2014; I was recruited by Emitec Emission Control Technology Pvt Ltd for heading their HR function. Emitec was acquired by Continental in July 2014.

After around one and a half years, I have been given an added responsibility of heading HR of another Pune Plant of Continental. So currently, I am heading HR for both the Pune plants of Continental.

Pic: Yusuf Khan

What are the challenges that you come across your role, and how do you cope up with them?

The backbone of any organisation is the people on the front line. No matter what industry you are in, success depends on engaging and managing the talent and potential of the entire workforce from the bottom to the top. Machines, Material, Money & Method can’t go beyond their defined way to create value but Manpower can go beyond the way to create the exceptional value for organisation and vice versa. And HR is the custodian of these ‘Value Creators’.

Hence, any organisation must place a high priority on talent management. The secret of success is the ability to transform ordinary people into extraordinary. That’s the most challenging job of HR and to cope with this challenge, one needs leadership and a special management approach, i.e. transforming ‘doers’ to ‘leaders’ by following five steps of PRIDE model: P- Provide a positive working environment R- Recognise, reinforce, and reward each individual’s efforts

I- Involve everyone D- Develop the potential of your workforce E- Evaluate and measure continuously

How do you think role of HR has changed over the years?

In earlier days, HR was known for transactional activities like managing payroll, leaves, attendance and handling employee’s grievances, etc.

However, in 21st century, HR’s role has completely changed. Now, HR is playing a role of strategic partner, change agent and employee advocate. It is looked as wealth creator for organisation.

How do you see the freshers entering the corporate world, and what is your advice to them?

Check what you are passionate about? What sort of work brings joy to you? Don’t be the part of rat race because every individual is different and so do their natural preferences. I would suggest undergo MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) test; this test will tell you your natural preferences.

Everyone’s aspiration is different; there are people who say they don’t care what tag they are being given, GM or clerk. The only things that matter to them are the material and tangible gains they will be getting out of their job. For a few, it might be the role they are playing and how their role is contributing to the bigger picture. For some, it might be learning.

So try to find out what is it that drives you.

digital profiles provide far more insight into a candidate than a traditional résumé can.

What are the efforts being made to encourage and empower women?

Right from government to corporate, they are focusing on the diversity and one of the diversity parameters is the gender diversity. Bringing in female talent does not mean that you will compromise on quality. It should be merit-based.

One thing you should keep in mind is that you should not discriminate on the basis of gender —she is a female, so she will not be able to do this work, she cannot be site in-charge—you have to keep those perceptions away. Give women equal opportunities and then see how they will deliver, they are more well-organised and hence they are more productive. In our company, there is an initiative called female talent development.

The objective of this programme is to give right platform to talented women at early stage of their career so that they too can take up leadership roles.

To i n c r e a s e g e n der diversity, we ensure that there should be 50 per cent female candidates’ CVs which are being given to line managers for shortlisting. We are supporting female retention by providing more visibility. Helping them at the time of their maternity, helping them manage the job and family together.

No matter what industry you are in, success depends on engaging and managing the talent and potential of the entire workforce from the bottom to the top

How has digitisation changed corporate hiring?

HR processes are also evolving in the digital area and are opening up to new horizons every day. Today, every company is striving to become 100% digital. For example, in Continental, vacancy gets approved via ePR (Electronic Personnel Request) and as soon as it gets approved, it goes to Kannexa (internal recruitment tool) and recruitment gets initiated, currently this process is semi-automated. However, we are looking forward to make recruitment process 100 per cent automated where from profile invitation to on-boarding everything would be paperless, only interviewing and evaluating the candidate will have a personal touch. Other innovative methods like use of social media, big data and other technologies have given tremendous insights into individual jobseekers that are now gradually becoming primary screening methods. Creating

Tell us about your company’s CSR activities.

We have partnered with those CSR partners who are not that big but they are really doing a good job and struggling with generating funds. Currently, we are working with NGOs, Swadhar and Deepgrih. They both are active in child education and women empowerment.

How do you manage to balance work and life?

I have only two priorities in my life, my family and work and I love both. And ‘working hard for something we don’t care is called stress but working hard for something we love is called passion’.

So you see, I have no stress in my life… all I have is passion.

What is the philosophy of life that you live by?

Be original and strive to be the better version of yourself rather than copying someone. vineetkapshikar@gmail.com May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 39

Career Trends Neetubala Raina

Principal HR Advisor (Associate Certified Coach by International Coach Federation)

Are you a

Career Architect?

Success lies more in saving careers to develop those to fit into right opportunities than hiring impulsively to meet the dynamic and urgent business needs

A

brand to an organisation is what a reputation is to a person. You earn reputation by trying to do things well and “walking the talk”. While you expect your employees to stay committed, are you doing enough to build your credibility as well? Are you proactively analysing roles/work you can offer before screaming loud, “We build careers”, “We are the career architects”?

Yes! Your employee is the CEO of his/her career but remember that even a CEO is successful only when s/he receives timely support from the teams around. Invariably, both organisations and employees have to deal with the consequences of the dynamic environment today; however, both have to learn to build credibility in view of the inevitable dynamics that one has to thrive into, to evolve stronger and attractive as an employer/ employee. A few points to ponder over that may help to build careers and architect careers in true sense: Don’t oversell the job: Overselling has never won greater returns eventually in any business and it certainly cannot when you are dealing with talents. Remember that best fit may not be the right fit whereas right fit will be the best fit.

Hiring a competent candidate for a position that may not provide growth beyond three years’ time period is not really fair; think over, would it justify

40 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

your decision later, if s/he has to worry about exploring the external world for opportunities for further growth? This holds true even more for the senior roles wherein both organisation as well as the employee expect a longer association for stability.

Impulsive hiring leads to firing: You may be impulsive in a certain areas of recruiting process but refrain from impulsive hiring. This does damage even before your first step toward building a career. Would it not be a wiser decision to delay hiring by a week or so than wondering what to do with a hire who was offered for your own impulsivity and with no concrete visibility?

And think of the plight of the hired talent; s/he wouldn’t know what to do even before starting to work and what about the insecurity that creeps in besides you increasing your operative cost and creating negative perceptions?

Do you witness the job burnout: Your key talents are the ones who suffer the most owing to burnouts! While you may think you are throwing challenging assignments to them, however, do not exploit their bandwidth to extract multiple results! Only when you enable them, providing timely support to move upward, will they display discretionary efforts to help you build and create strong customer base for high delivery margins.

One primary reason for your high operative cost

is also your ignorance to build an emotional connect that is based solely on your value system.

Money will fetch you temporary retention, but if they are emotionally disconnected they will leave you in the pursuit of a nurturing environment; and they will leave you when you need them the most as they feel cheated though no one is indispensable today, not even CXOs. High performers themselves are partly to be blamed.

They rise to the occasion and get the job done so well and silently, so you ‘reward’ them with more work. It’s not the poor performers or the mediocre folks who get asked to do more. They’re barely managing as it is. You send, and get emails from your high potentials in the wee hours of the night and morning. They've so many vacation hours-unused.

Retention has to benefit both organisation and the talents retained: Do not retain talents just to meet your interim objectives, that’s indeed a selfish outlook which highlights your

Retention has to benefit both organisation and the talents retained: Do not retain talents just to meet your interim objectives, that’s indeed a selfish outlook which highlights your value system, not in a good light value system, not in a good light. Yes! Nurture the credibility you market while attracting talents and shouting, “we are career architects”. If you do not have a long-term career visibility for your key talent who wishes to move on, let him/her leave to venture into new areas of identified opportunities. This shall avoid tension you may create if a key talent is retained besides the fact that a lot of mental and emotional bandwidth is wasted in dealing with the consequences. You may want this key talent to come back for an opportunity for which s/he fits the best! So let such talents be your ambassadors and not the unhappy customers while they exit! Hence your approach to retention and development can label you as “good” or a “bad” employer! Should you not be trying to save a career to build it with the right opportunities?

Do not promote to demote: Your highpotential talents will have aspirations and to meet those you need not push them into the available roles, instead support, develop them to manage and excel in those roles. Talent must be developed in view of an identified role that they can grow into. They must not be pushed into roles to fill in the talent gap for lack of time and resources or just to grab a business opportunity by managing the situation at the cost of a career! If they fail to perform due to unrealistic expectations, who is at fault? Are you at fault as YOU pushed them?

Do you have a plan-B to save them? If Yes! Good, else such a mindset and approach is detrimental to the culture-building process as it destroys trust that impacts employee engagement visibly.

Information flows rapidly; today the workforce is so well connected that they are “separately living together virtually”!

Is your leadership inspiring “Careers”; role models impact the learning curve: While you may lack the readiness for right leaders at times, and the business urgency may press for such decisions but when you promote pseudo leaders, you empower undeserving people. A pseudo leader dilutes the culture, causing the best talents to flee and the remainder to lose all motivation. This collapses career opportunities within an organisation, adding to the attrition of high-potential talents. Also, such leaders promote employees who may not be scalable, for their own insecurities which further adds to the talent engagement challenges.

That said, success lies more in saving careers to develop those to fit into right opportunities than hiring impulsively to meet the dynamic and urgent business needs. Is not dynamism a way of life today? Why should you blame the fallout of your impulsivity or unpreparedness to manage careers on the dynamic environment more often? When you prudently focus more on the available capabilities, bottom line optimisation is a natural outcome; in contrast, when it is misunderstood, this conundrum perpetually complicates and mystifies talent management challenges unfolding issues like talent retention and knowledge leak, which eventually is bound to nullify your efforts, taking you a step back. While you are singing the age-old tune loudly to them that they have a pivotal role to play in building an organisation, trust, they are working hard to build a career as they have aspirations but they’re watching you silently!

Confidence is silent, insecurities are loud!

So, are you saving careers to build those? Are you a career architect?

CC

tadka

Grabbing the Uber deal Cab biggie Uber Technologies is all set to sell its South Asian business to bigger regional rival Grab, it has been widely reported. The deal marks the industry’s first big consolidation in Southeast Asia, home to about 640 million people. As part of the transaction, Uber would get a stake of as much as 30 per cent in the combined business, sources said, valuing the entire business at $6 billion.

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 41

Travel

Nepal for adventure aficionados

In Nepal, adventure comes at a very affordable price without any compromises as compared to other

adventure travel destinations

By Sharmila Chand

Snowy caps of the Himalayas in Nepal

Milind Bhide made his passion, his profession.

Contrary to popular opinion, he thinks that the adrenaline rush that adventure offers us is but only the tip of the iceberg. He is also propelled by the belief that it is something that helps us deal with the unknown force of nature.

Making a jump from an education in science and a career in finance, he took the next leap by organising an adventure trip in 1993. What started as a common love for the Himalayas with a bunch of like-minded mountaineers soon became a business idea. The demand for trips and treks grew, and soon, ‘Countryside Adventure Holidays’ was born, scheduling fullfledged adventure travel to the mountains, especially Ladakh.

Which is your favourite holiday destination?

My favourite holiday destination is Nepal. It has 42 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

been a favourite place of mine since many years now and for many reasons.

Nepal is home to eight out of 14 peaks on the planet above 8,000 metres, Mt. Everest being the highest. Nepal is enriched with a diverse contrast in topography—you can get to see mountain landscapes, the high-altitude desert wherein one can go to the medieval kingdom of Lo Manthang.

There are dense jungles teeming with flora and fauna like the Chitwan National Park. There are also mighty Himalayan glacier rivers. This topography offers some of the classic treks in the Himalayas. One can raft or kayak down the rivers, or do a jungle trip to see the great Bengal tiger. Nepal has a bucket list destination for every adventure aficionado worth his salt.

When did you visit last?

I last visited Nepal in July 2017, for a trip to Kailash Manasarovar in Tibet. For a lot of travellers, Kathmandu also happens to be an entry point to visit Tibet, as Nepal – China borders are open for tourism.

Mardi Himal

What do you like about the place?

What I like about Nepal is that it is a truly fabulous place for adventure and outdoor lovers like me. Since it is home to some of the most picturesque mountainous landscapes of the world, there are innumerable trekking opportunities.

Some of the classic treks are Everest Base Camp, Annapurna Base Camp, Around Annapurna and Langtang Helambu. In the Annapurna region, there are a few easy or soft treks such as Poon Hill.

If one visits Pokhara, one can also indulge in daytime adventure activities such as rafting, paragliding, zip line and day hikes. In Nepal, adventure comes at a very affordable price without any compromises as compared to other adventure travel destinations. The guides and other staff are well trained and qualified.

A memorable experience can be had without lightening of your wallet, thus making it economical and guilt-free.

The Nepalese people are very friendly, hospitable and hardworking. They will go out of their

way to ensure that you as a tourist in their country leave with a smile and good memories. The culture with great hospitality definitely adds to the charm of the place when you have smiling faces all around.

Tell us about the destination—what should not be missed, what do you recommend to see and do?

Thamel is a neighborhood in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu which has since long been a tourist hotspot. Teeming with book and souvenir shops, outdoor gear shops, cafes and restaurants serving a wide variety of cuisine it is a mustdo tourist experience when in Kathmandu. ● Pokhara is another important town in Nepal, where one can do a whole bunch of adventure activities such as paragliding, zip lining, bungee jumping, rafting or microlight flight. In the evening, a visit to the numerous cafes and a leisurely boat ride in the Phewa Lake can also be done. ● Take an early morning mountain flight from Kathmandu to view the big mountains. At a very close distance you will get to see great peaks, from Kanchenjunga to Everest. ● Most of the trekking trails in Nepal are made comfortable as you use the cozy teahouses en route with warm dining areas and sumptuous food. You also have a choice of doing the trek with luxury lodges that offer you a warm bed, hot showers and a five-course meal. ● Those who want indulge and splurge can plan a champagne breakfast by flying in a chopper high in the mountains with Everest and other peaks in the background—these make for a marvelous sight since they are sunlit in the early morning hours.

Which are the restaurants you like?

In Kathmandu, a wide variety of cuisines is available at the following restaurants. Each of them offers a unique culinary experience. ● Nepali food - Tukuche, Bhojan Griha, Bricks Cafe

● Indian - Ghare Kabab, Moti Mahal, Bawarchi ● Newari - Nanglo ● Chinese - Annapurna Hotel, Beijing Duck, China Town ● Italian - Road House, Fire & Ice ● French - Vino Bistro, Pauline’s, Le Sherpa, Chez Caroline ● Continental – Mul Chowk, Summit, ● Japanese - Koto, Kotetsu, Sunset View ● Korean - Arirang ● Bhutanese - Dechenling Garden

for the services, but ensure that they make a respectful living.

What can other destinations learn from that place?

There is a lot that other destinations can learn from Nepal. The concept and culture of teahouses along the major trekking routes give a unique insight into the local culture and lifestyle. This is a good experience and also provides the locals with a respectable source of income.

Viable and sustainable tourism is also fast

Which are the good hotels to stay there? ● Hyatt Regency Kathmandu ● Yak-N-Yeti - the oldest 5-star hotel, very centrally located right on the Darbar Marg ● I also prefer Shangri-La, a small 5-star hotel with good services at Lazimpat. ● In the mid range, you have many choices like Hotel Tibet, Kathmandu Guest House and Fair Deals by Marriott. ● For a luxury experience, I would recommend Babar Villa and Dwarika’s Hotel, both heritage hotels. These are some truly beautiful properties Pashupatinath with their own illustrious history and a distinctive Nepalese touch in their architecture and vibes.

Three tips you can give to fellow travellers for that place? ● Be mindful when on high-altitude treks. Al- Pokhra titude sickness can be fatal if ignored. Take nec- Nepal is home to eight essary medication and out of 14 peaks on the precaution. Make your planet above 8,000 arrangements through a reputed and experienced metres, Mt. Everest travel agency. being the highest. ● Avoid carrying Indian Nepal is enriched with currency notes of high dea diverse contrast in nomination , i.e. `500 and `2,000. In Nepal, it is ille- topography gal to possess these bills. ● Get an insurance policy which will cover adventure activities and chopper evacuation.

CC According to you, how can that destination be improved?

Nepal is a country that has gone through a lot of upheaval in the past decade. Insurgency, political crises and most importantly, the earthquake of 2014 have left the country and economy in a shambles. Hence the onus is on the tourists to help the people sustain and make a respectable income. I would request people not to bargain

catching up. In addition to preserving the local culture as well as the environment, resorts, retreats and lodges that operate in this way also provide employment to the locals in the area and run CSR programmes in their respective areas. For example, the Tiger Tops Lodges in Chitwan and Bardia National Parks is home to 14 domesticated elephants. At both lodges, visitors can interact with these gentle giants and learn more about their lifestyle from very close quarters. chand.sharmila@gmail.com

tadka

Mass exodus of rich Indians

At least 23,000 dollar-millionaires have left Indian citizenship in the last half decade.

2.1% of India’s rich left the country in 2017 alone, compared to 1.3% for France and 1.1% for China.

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 43

Loved & Married too It is not often these days that a college romance fructifies into a wedlock. Corporate Citizen unlocks the story of love that has culminated into marriage, for we believe in the stability of a relationship and family unit.

We bring to you real-life romances that got sealed in marriage

By Kalyani Sardesai

H

e’s based in Mumbai, while she’s working in Pune—and it’s not yet been a year of marriage.

Despite the stresses of holding jobs in two different cities, Prateek Mathur and Pragya Jha are revelling in the afterglow of being just married, as well as the promise this glorious period represents.

Quickly enough, they have worked out for themselves the futility of quarrel and conflict and have decided instead on making the most of the weekends together—from sharing a late home-cooked Valentine’s Dinner to watching their favorite Bollywood movie. And they have their eyes on the larger picture—this is but a temporary arrangement until they can live together.

Back to the beginning

A part of the 2013-15 batch of BIMM, both have degrees in marketing. He’s from Alwar, Rajasthan, while she’s from Bilaspur, Chhatisgarh. As it happened, friendship came first. From taking classes together to sharing an early breakfast before classes, it was a classic case of opposites attracting. He’s reserved, quiet and patient. She, in her own words, is ‘hyperactive’, outgoing and impatient. Someone who wants it all right now.

“But he’s the voice of patience and reason; so it all works out,” she grins. “So many couples who start out together don’t make it to marriage, but he’s grounded and positive and we complemented each other.”

Despite the rigours of classes at Balaji, they were together a lot. Gradually, love blossomed

All of 27, corporate couple Prateek Mathur and Pragya Jha are about to complete a year of marriage. Here they are, sharing with us the transition from being college sweethearts to a just-married couple

Togetherness just commenced 44 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

and Prateek proposed to her. “She did not respond then and there,” he reminisces. “But a little while later a call came from her hostel room.

It was a yes.”

There were the parents to be convinced though. He’s a Kayastha, and she a Brahmin.

Luckily though, despite both sets of parents being conservative and culturally rooted, they were open minded enough to give their children’s chosen one a chance. “The parents met each other at the convocation. Both families liked each other and were ready for the next step,” he says.

Both were duly wed in May 2017 in Nagpur, where Pragya’s parents are based.

From strength to strength

Couples in the same phase as we are ought to realise that careers are being built, one’s spouse can be away a lot. Each partner must support the other, and also cut them slack.

Don’t make an issue of absences and long hours” —Pragya Jha

As of today, Prateek is senior brand manager with Reliance Wealth Management in Mumbai while Pragya is deputy general The manager Bajaj Allianz Inmantras surance. Life is busy, hectic of a and with all the struggles that accompany the initial marriage days of work life. But neither is complaining much. Week ends are for togetherness, Trust and shared moments. Ad mittedly though, things can Cutting each get stressful when both live other slack in different cities. “It’s always

nice to have your spouse on Not letting hand. But when you live in fights fester different cities, it does not

always happen,” expressAdjusting with es Prateek. “For instance, each other and we went through a slightly the situation stressful time when she was down with dengue.”

“The thing is though, PraRespecting each teek is the sort of guy who is other's dreams always there for you,” shares Pragya. “I am very lucky that way. “And yes, he did take leave to be there for her. romantic number after the other to her. “That “Couples in the same phase as we are ought to was one of the highlights of our college days. realise that careers are being built, one’s spouse He would take part in music competitions and can be away a lot. Each partner must support usually win them too.” the other, and also cut them slack. Don’t make Both are ambitious and driven. However, an issue of absences and long hours—instead Pragya is quick to point out that he is also very savour whatever moments you are granted tosupportive and evolved as compared to other gether,” said Pragya. men. “I am a career woman. I need to grow Romance and surprises are important, but and do well on my career,” she says candidly. these days it’s a gentler version as compared to “But he’s hugely supportive of everything I do. those heady days in college. “But on the whole, What’s more, he is very hands on when it comes things don’t feel very different from the time to household chores.” we were courting,” says Pragya. Perhaps it has Prateek is equally appreciative of his young something to do with the long years of dating and effervescent wife. “She’s very strong and deeach other—and a relationship rooted in friendtermined. Whatever she’s doing, she makes it a ship. Perhaps it also has to do with his wonderpoint to give it her best and doesn’t relax until ful voice—and the fact that he can dedicate one she has achieved her target,” he says.

Fights are inevitable—as they are in every marriage. “But the important thing is to step back a bit when things are heating up,” he says.

So who is the one to apologise first ?

“Oh, it’s him,” laughs Pragya. “And I am the one to get annoyed, whosoever is at fault. But he’s loving and conciliatory— and usually the first to apologise.”

Though they haven’t yet had ‘the’ talk yet—as in the prospect of starting a family—both are pretty sure that marriage and career can and do go hand in hand.

“I am all for Pragya continuing to work after baby. Any breaks and time-offs need not necessarily be taken by her,” rounds off Prateek. kalyani.sardesai@gmail.com

CC

tadka

India in top spot India will claim the top spot among the world’s fastest-growing major economies this year, shows a Reuters poll of economists. The recent poll predicted India’s economy will expand 7.4 per cent in the fiscal year that began in April, 2018, which is in line with the IMF projection.

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 45

Campus Placement

L

ack of confidence is the reason for failure. At the time of placement, you are the only person responsible for yourself, so always be there for yourself. These are the views of Bhasha Manghani, who passed out from a well-known college from the city and successfully stepped into the corporate world. She had never expected to do so, as she underestimated herself even after she completed her B.Com honours from the Institute of Excellence in Higher Education, Bhopal. Her post-graduation stint at the Balaji Institute gave this St. Joseph’s Convent Senior Secondary Girls High School, Bhopal passout a new lease of life. “It was this stint and my elder sister Komal’s encouragement that gave me a new twist to my life,” says Bhasha who joined Panasonic India Pvt. Ltd. in Gurgaon as their branch marketing manager.

“People with prior experience sometimes have preconceived notions, which may not be true for a certain organisation but as a fresher one gets to learn from his or her everyday experience, and also brings in newness to the system and processes”

Early days…

Bhasha Manghani was an average student during her schooldays. But she did have her special qualities. “I have always been a very expressive and outspoken person. I never keep anything within myself, and that has been my strongest attribute till today. I believe in sustaining all my relationships. For me, family and friends are most important,” says Bhasha who loves dancing and was one of the best spikers (volleyball player) at her school. She was very active in taking part in cultural events. She was one of the few girls who took part with

Being ‘average’ is no deterrent

Bhasha with her family

After being an average student throughout her school and college days, Bhopal-born youngster Bhasha Manghani made it into the corporate world through positive thinking and self-confidence

By Joe Williams

46 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

boys in many events. And staying away from the family has moulded her into a perfect person.

“I feel once you start living on your own one gets to learn a lot. I was a very lethargic, lazy and spoilt kid. Since I have been in Pune and now Gurgaon, I have transformed,” she says.

Taking things in stride has been one of her abilities. She never had any plans to do post-graduation. However, she strongly believes in destiny and that whatever happens, happens for good.

“I had no plans to come to Balaji, I had never

Bhasha with friends

heard about it,” she recalls. It was her brother-in-law who did his MBA from BIMM who persuaded her to do it there.

Going through placement…

As a fresher, it was all about learning new things. “A fresher always has more advantage, you get time to learn and prepare yourself and easily adapt to the organisation,” says Bhasha, who is placed with Panasonic India Pvt. Ltd. in Gurugram. “People with prior experience sometimes have preconceived notions, which may not be true for a certain organisation but as a fresher one gets to learn from his or her everyday experience, and also brings in newness to the system and processes,“ she opines. She was appointed as the branch marketing manager, Gurugram, but soon was transferred to a national role and now handles promoter management and operations at Panasonic HO. This was her second calling at placement, after she fell short with Frost & Sullivan who did not shortlist her. “I will never forget the date, December 23, 2017, and came out weeping from the interview room,” reBhasha at her calls Bhasha. But there convocation with was something else in her batchmates destiny at Panasonic. But here again she was pessimistic about her chances as there were over 200 candidates waiting for the call, for which only 10 would be chosen. But it turned out that she was one among them. “That was my happiest moment. I called up my parents and conveyed them the good news. There were many questions that were lingering, such as will I get hired, and if so, will I be able to sustain myself in the corporate world, but with the encouragement from my family and friends I overcame them all,” says Bhasha who thanks her college for showing her the right path. “I feel SBS has played a vital role in shaping my goal and I am sure other passouts will agree,” she says, and goes on to add, “I think one thing which has made me strong is constantly believing in myself and never thinking you are less than anyone. I credit my success to Sri Balaji Society.

This college has given me a lot of confidence, the world’s best friends, and memories to cherish forever.” Unlike other students who never forget their schooldays, for Bhasha it is her MBA which will stay strong in her memories.

“For me, my MBA days will be remembered the most, as the most enriching days of my life,” says Bhasha. “My sister Komal has been my in-

spiration. She did her MBA in finance and I saw that she managed to make a happy life for herself.

I was inspired and decided to follow her path. That’s how I decided to pursue MBA and a career in that field.”

Six tricks to share

1. Don’t go after the package, ever. The profile and the brand of the company should attract you.

2. Never underestimate yourself.

3. Don’t follow your friends’ choices. During my college days, I saw many people sitting for placements just because their friend had applied.

4. Always be prepared with a brief about the company you are applying for. This’ll boost your confidence and give you an edge over others.

5. At the interview, never try to portray something you are not. Never be too ambitious with your answers. Be realistic with your replies.

6. Bring in a new angle to the conversation. Being out of the box always helps and gives you an upper hand.

What did you want to become when you were at school?

It’s quite stupid, but during my childhood, when anyone used to ask me what do you want to be, my reply always was, I want to be a successful person. I didn’t know what success meant, at that time. But now when I look back at whatever I

“When I look back at whatever I have achieved at this stage of my life, I know success is when you are able to make yourself and your family and loved ones around you happy. It is when people start believing that you are capable of achieving something in your life”

have achieved at this stage of my life, I know success is when you are able to make yourself and your family and loved ones around you happy. It is when people start believing that you are capable of achieving something in your life.

On a lighter note, I always regret that I did not learn dance professionally. That is something I missed, but as they say, it’s never too late and maybe in the future, I will actually learn different forms of dance and do justice to my passion.

What’s your message to your juniors?

Just keep believing in yourself. Never look back at what you could have done, look for what you can do. Never regret anything in life. Listen to what your heart says and go for it. Thinking about consequences makes us weak. joe78662@gmail.com

CC

tadka Flood forecasting, digitally Why can’t we have a digital atlas which can predict which rivers are flood-prone? But now, thanks to ISRO and Water Resources Ministry, a solution has been found. The Union government has prepared a digital atlas with maps of flood-prone areas that gives real-time information and warnings about any rise in the water level of local rivers and streams that can inundate crops and homes. The ministry plans to issue flood atlases for all the major 20 river basins in the country by 2020.

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 47

W Health

By Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar “While Virat Kohli is the toughest and most fit, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble were one of the most dedicated fitness trainees. I consider Irfan Pathan and Md. Kaif as two of the fittest cricketers of the previous era. M.S. Dhoni is a natural who does not need to train much and Wriddhiman Saha is one of the fittest sportsmen I have trained so far,” said Chinmoy Roy, strength and conditioning coach, Kolkata. “Back in 2006, Sourav (Ganguly) has gone on record in the ‘Sport Star’ magazine, saying how I helped him in his ‘comeback’ to the Indian team under Greg Chappell,” he added.

Not just cricketers, Chinmoy has rubbed shoulders with his celebrity trainees from Bengal, Tollywood queens—Raima Sen, Paoli Dam, actor Tota Roy Choudhury and film star Dev Adhikari, among others.

“The driving force behind launching Roy Training System was to unleash a wider spectrum.

I could see that a majority suffer from joint pain, metabolic issues and obesity. So, I felt the need to diversify and educate myself on other health aspects too. Roy Training System also conducts Corporate Fitness Hunt and creates concepts on fitness shows and competitions. I had three centres before but I now focus on only two of them.”

Corporate hold: He regularly ran corporate workshops in Kolkata until 2015.

2014 saw Chinmoy tie in with Singapore based EcoOils and conducted workshops for them in Singapore. This opportunity enabled him to get an extensive offer with EcoOils in 2015 when he hosted workshops in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore for them.

His module for any corporate workshop is to run separate programmes for different levels of fitness. “During the workshop, I segregate the young from the older executives and also identify individuals with knee and back pains. I tell this group that their first job is to fix the pain.

The weight loss or the cardio exercises are then designed, keeping in mind their individual ‘pain factors’. Like those with a knee pain, you are asked not to jog. They are given non-impact cardio like shadow boxing, cycling, etc. as a fitness regime in consideration of their prevailing aches and pains,” he added.

Keeping his corporate workshops simple, an advice to his corporate clients is to “Tell the executives to set aside 25-30 minutes of their day for workout. I give them easy options. For most, it is not possible to hit the gym everyday as most are either travelling, busy or retire late to bed. So, my advice to them is that they can either do the workout at the workplace or at home. I demo exercises and make the employees do it at the workshop. I advise them to alternate between strength and cardio training every day.”

48 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

Chinmoy with film star Paoli Dam

Adding strength to health mantra Zeroing in on what he calls the ‘Roy Training System’ that draws inspiration from legendary fitness gurus—Paul Chek, Mike Robertson, Mike Boyle and the like, Kolkatabased Chinmoy Roy, a certified strength and conditioning coach, lends ‘scientific‘ benchmarks to his training circuits. He played in the Kolkata League football matches and also in first division cricket, but gradually diversified into fitness training as a way to keep his connect with sports, following sports-related injuries. A fitness course with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) landed him the opportunity to train the Bengal junior cricket team in 2001; thus paving the way for his long innings with the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) from 2001-2015.

He was Head Fitness Coach for the National Cricket Academy camps from 2005-2010 and an assistant trainer under Greg Chappell in the Indian Cricket camp in 2005; and in 2008, he became the India ‘A’ trainer. He was invited by the National Academy as a teaching

faculty in 2008. He gained much mileage by personally training the cricketing doyen from Bengal, Saurav Ganguly from 2005 to 2012. Also a sportswriter, Chinmoy has had a stint with the Outlook magazine from 2012 to 2016 for his ‘Sports Tip’ column.

Since 2010, he has been engaged with Star Ananda TV channel for a fitness show. He continues to write fitness columns for the Anandabazar Patrika (ABP) and The Telegraph, Kolkata. He shares his experiences with Corporate Citizen on instilling fitness within corporate houses and why strength training is essential for all Training with Irfan Pathan

Chinmoy with ‘Dada’ Saurav Ganguly

‘Core’ factor: Chinmoy specifies sim-

ple core exercises like plank, side plank, and bridges that can be done at home or at the office cubicle during coffee/snack break. “These keep the midriff section strong and helps to keep back aches at bay which is a common complaint from desk-bound office goers. I also educate them on how pain strikes at the shoulders and knees. So, doing some shoulder strengthening exercises like Y-T-W raise while lying on floor or leaning on the office table also helps to keep the shoulders healthy. Similarly squats, step-ups and hamstring curls can be beneficial in keeping the knee joints in good health,” said Chinmoy.

Besides, he also educates them on more potent metabolic issue that can surface silently and unknowingly. “All of a sudden your blood screen shows high sugar, cholesterol or the BP seems high. To keep the silent enemy at bay there isn’t any substitute to exercise.”

Chinmoy explains that any exercise that raises heart rate encompasses a cardio workout.

“So, you need not have to look for a park or field to do cardio exercises. A spot high knee, spot brisk walk in your room or in the confines of the cubicle is good enough with intervals of 30 seconds to one minute in one repetition.

There are many variations of on-the-spot cardio exercise. I demonstrate these exercises at the corporate workshops which are equally simple for anyone to do. For those who fancy walking, I tell them that you can use the tiffin or coffee

“For those who fancy walking, I tell them that you can use the tiffin or coffee break to climb four-five flights of stairs or simply come out of the confines of the office and do a 10-minute brisk walk...” break to climb four-five flights of stairs or simply come out of the confines of the office and do a 10-minute brisk walk.”

‘Wo-mania’: Chinmoy‘s take on fitness and women has its own tongue-in-cheek appeal, as he questions women on whether they should trigger their desire for working out and ponder over whether looking and feeling good actually appeals to them or not.

“Since cardio exercises produces happy hormones. It gives a glow to the skin; besides exercise can also help a racing mind to settle down.

So it’s a win-win scenario (physically and mentally) if you get yourself into some form of a training routine,” he added.

He advocates that charting out a target is always helpful. “For it would keep him or her going. One can set a goal like ‘I will lose 6 kg in the next 6 months’. Once that is achieved, the next goal can be set again,” he said. “Once the goal is achieved one can self-reward oneself.”

Child’s play: In a gadget-savvy world,

single-minded devotion to ‘virtual’ games has reached alarming proportions where parents struggle to wean kids off their iPads or smartphones and Chinmoy has a two-prongled solution. “One, give them a condition: if they exercise for half an hour, they get one hour of

TV viewing. Two, each kid has his or her own preference of sport. Throw that sport to them.

And create the exercises relevant to sports—if a child loves football, make him run with the football rather than making him just run plain!

For those kids who do not like sport, give them funny activities. Create a group and give them some group activities to perform.”

Absolute mantra: “I drive home one

point that you got to trigger your desire. The desire to stay fit is the mantra. If you do not see a healthier you in the future, then no one can make you do the exercises. I also tell people to choose exercises to their liking,” he said. sangeetagd2010@gmail.com

CC

tadka

Bengaluru cheapest city in Asia

Bengaluru is the cheapest city to live in Asia. Bengaluru holds the 129th spot in a list of 133 countries, ranked according to their cost of living. Singapore, the world’s most expensive city, tops the list.

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 49

Survey

What is the Digital IQ of Corporate India?

With traditional marketing getting saturated, Digital is emerging as the new frontier. Every company must have Digital as part of their overall strategy to succeed. With a view to understand the status and trajectory of Digital Growth in organisations, global professional services firm PwC has conducted the 8th Digital IQ Survey. Corporate Citizen brings you the results

By Neeraj Varty

50 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

W

ith India rapidly transforming, CEOs in India appear to be confident about the growth prospects of their businesses. 71% of the respondents in India are confident about digital growth in the coming years.

Similar to global organisations, in Indian companies too, there’s a strong focus on digital for revenue enhancement, customer experience improvement and commercial innovation.

Who is in charge of digital initiatives in organisations?

The 2017 Digital IQ Survey indicates that 78% of the respondents feel that their CEOs are the true champions of digital and 48% state that it is their CEOs who build and create the digital strategy for their organisations. The respondents also believe that CEOs are highly involved in prioritising digital investments.

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 51

Survey What digital activities can a CEO be responsible for?

Setting digital strategy

48% 48%

Mumbai Global Prioritising digital investments

45% 49%

Mumbai Global Customer-facing services and applications

Mumbai Global Data & analytics

Mumbai Global

09% 24% 03% 14%

48% of both Indian and Global employees believe that the CEO should be responsible for setting the digital strategy. However, India is behind global companies when it comes to holding the CEO accountable for every digital initiative.

Indian organisations are ahead of their global counterparts in driving digital innovation To what extent do you agree with the following statements about innovation?

Have a consistent way to measure the value of Identifying opportunities to digitalise our enterprise. digital innovation efforts.

79% 90% Actively engage with external sources to gather new ideas for applying emerging technologies.

59% 81% 52 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

66% 79% A dedicated team for digital innovation.

43% 77%

The concept of a CDO is yet to gain popularity Chief digital officer (CDO) is still a long way from becoming a standard job title. Of the world’s largest public organisations, less than 10% have a CDO, either in name or responsibility, as opposed to digitally mature organisations, more than half of whom have already instituted the role of a CDO or its equivalent in their organisations. Either some other executive does the job

(other than the CIO) or the organisation feels that digital is an integral part of the way they do business and hence it’s every executive’s job to drive growth through digital. In India, 81% of CIOs are involved in leading digital initiatives. However, a unique trend for the country is the high involvement of the marketing function in exploring emerging technologies and innovations.

If your company does not have a CDO, why not?

Generally, a CEO creates a CDO position when the digital initiatives start yielding tangible financial benefits. In India, multi-tasking is very common. The CDO’s role is assigned to some other executive in addition to their regular role.

Our CIO fulfills the role.

47% 62% Another executive (not the CIO) fulfills the role.

Digital is a part of an executive’s job description.

18% 12%

22% 17% .

Digital is not a significant part of our strategy

Don’t have a CDO currently, but are planning to add one.

05% 03%

08% 06%

What value does India expect from its digital technology investments?

Indian organisations are beginning to relate digital closely to customer-facing technologies, and, as expected, are assigning a greater share of their spending to customer focused digital initiatives than their global counterparts. Their priority from Digital is to deliver a better customer experience as compared to grow revenue or increase profit, which is a very encouraging sign, and is something global counterparts can learn from India.

Grow revenue

72% 68% Create better customer experiences

34% 57%

Global

India

Increase profits

47% 34% May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 53

Bollywood biz

Bollywood Celebrities who have Broken the Law Saif Ali Khan

Saif had had another brush with the law in 2012 when he was accused of punching a businessmen during a dinner outing at a five-star hotel in Mumbai. He was booked for assault under section 325 of the IPC and was arrested, only to be released on bail.

Madhur Bhandarkar

The director who’s famous for his movies with female protagonists like Chandni Bar, Satta, Page 3 and Traffic Signal, was arrested for allegedly raping an aspiring actress.

When no conclusive evidence turned up, the courts found him not guilty and let him go.

Sooraj Pancholi

The son of Bollywood actorcouple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab is embroiled in a case of abetment of suicide of British-American actress Jiah Khan, who was found dead at home in June 2013. The matter is still in the courts. Sooraj made his debut in 2015 in Hero, but the movie bombed and so did his career.

5454/ Corporate Citizen 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen/ May / May 1-15, 2018

SANJAY DUTT

The original Bad Boy of Bollywood Sanjay Dutt was held guilty for his involvement in the 1993 Mumbai bombings that killed 257 people in Mumbai.

The Supreme Court sentenced him to five years in jail in 2013 for illegal weapons possession under Section 15 of TADA. He was arrested on 19 April 1993, for possession and destruction of an AK-56 rifle, which was a part of a cache of arms and explosives that had landed in India prior to the blasts of March 1993. On 31 July 2007, a TADA court in Mumbai sentenced him to six years' rigorous imprisonment under the Arms Act and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on him. He has since paid his dues to society after spending 42 months in the Yerawada jail in Pune and being released in 2016.

Bollywood Superstar Salman Khan was recently convicted for killing two endangered blackbucks in the 1998 Jodhpur poaching case and has been sentenced to 5 years in Jail but has been granted bail. While he may be the poster boy of incarcerated Bollywood stars, he is by far not the only one.

Bollywood has a laundry list of stars who have found themselves on the wrong side of the law.

Corporate Citizen lists some notable Bollywood Celebrities who have broken the Law.

By Neeraj Varty

John Abraham

Heartthrob John Abraham, who otherwise boasts of an impeccable public image, has also had a brush with the law.

In 2006, he had injured two people with his speeding bike.

Finding him guilty, the Bandra Court had pronounced a 15day jail sentence against him.

But the Bombay High Court gave him bail. The case has since been scrapped.

Fardeen Khan

In what was front page news at the time, Bollywood actor Fardeen Khan was arrested by the Mumbai police for drug possession in 2001. He was caught red-handed for buying cocaine from a drug dealer. Fortunately for him,, his clean record came to his rescue, after which he underwent a detoxification course. In 2012, the actor was granted bail with immunity in the drug case.

Monica Bedi

90s actor Monica Bedi spent almost two years in jail when she was arrested along with underworld don Abu Salem on a fake passport case after they were extradited from Portugal.

She was later released from a Hyderabad jail in 2007.

Shiney Ahuja

Shiney Ahuja was on his way to becoming the next big thing in Bollywood with his brooding persona in films such as Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi and Gangster but his career went south when his domestic help accused him of rape in 2009.

The media went into a frenzy as the very much in-demand actor was arrested and tried for the heinous crime. She later retracted her charge but the trial court judge refused to accept it and convicted Ahuja based on circumstantial evidence. A fast track court sentenced him to seven years of rigorous imprisonment in 2011. His appeal is pending in the Bombay High Court.

However, the case spelled an end to his Bollywood career.

May May 1-15, 1-15, 2018 2018 // Corporate Corporate Citizen Citizen // 55 55

Pearls of Wisdom

By Dada JP Vaswani

Experience Real Joy!

On the road of life are many who carry loads on their weak shoulders: and the loads are not merely physical. As you bear the loads of others, you will find that your hearts are filled with a wondrous feeling of happiness and joy.

I

f you would have the real joy out of life, don’t remain idle for a single moment.

Keep yourself busy all the time. The best and noblest of all action is to bring comfort to the comfortless, joy into the lives of the sorrowing, struggling ones. The happiness we give to others comes back to us.

Happiness moves in a circle.

The happiness that moves out of us flows back unto us.

A doctor related to me an incident which I cannot easily forget. He was once called to see a pale, sad, seventeen year old girl. A number

of physicians had examined her and were unable to arrive at a diagnosis. They said that she was a psychological patient. When my doctor-friend saw her she lay on a sofa in a small room which was filled with silk tapestries. Her eyes were half-closed, her head was bowed and she was pale like a marble-statue.

The doctor easily guessed her sickness. She suffered in her gilded cage because she had never gone out to give happiness to those in need. The doctor asked her to get ready to go out with him and her father.

‘With you?” asked the girl. “Where?”

In an undertone the doctor said: “That is my secret. I can only tell you that it is for your good and that of your father.”

The girl got ready and the doctor took her and her father to a quarter where poor people lived.

They took with themselves many things in cash and kind. At the first house which they visited, the doctor had to help her to keep her balance, as she walked to the second, she went ahead of the doctor. At the third, she almost ran. When the children kissed her hand the poor women thanked her, both she and her father cried for joy.

That outing seemed short to her. And every day, she searched for those whom she could make happy. She attained health, joy and happiness, which were not found in her palatial home but in the broken cottages of the poor to whom she gave the service of her generous heart.

Those of you who are frustrated with life, who feel unwanted, useless and bored, try this same medicine, and there will be no end of real joy for you.

Beloved Dada said to us: “Did you see him on the road?

Did you leave him with the load?”

On the road of life are many who carry loads on their weak shoulders: and the loads are not merely physical. As you bear the loads of others, you will find that your hearts are filled with a wondrous feeling of happiness and joy.

On the road of life are many who carry loads on their weak shoulders: and the loads are not merely physical. As you bear the loads of others, you will find that your hearts are filled with a wondrous feeling of happiness and joy 56 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

Mobile apps

NordVPN

A virtual private network is a way to keep all your online activity private by encrytping all the data coming in and out of the device and securing all internet traffic.

The NordVPN Android app reroutes and encrypts all internet traffic to make the connection private and secure.

Orbot

Apps that Secure your Data In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, it has been proved that our data faces more threat than ever before. By using user data, nefarious organisations can target your bank accounts, steal your digital identity and also manipulate elections in any country. There is no reason to worry, though.

By using the apps listed here, your data can be kept out of bounds on the internet

By Neeraj Varty

Websites you visit tend to store your location and preferences when you visit from a regular browser. The best way to browse privately on an Android device is to use Tor’s application. Called ‘Orbot’, it is a free proxy that uses Tor to encrypt internet traffic, then re-reoutes it though computers around the world. The app is available on smartphones using Android 4.0 upwards.

1 Tap Eraser

Phones have a habit of getting lost, and the precious data on your phone can be accessed by thieves. With 1 Tap Eraser, a single tap is all you need to quickly erase everything on your phone: caches, call history, SMSes, internet history, etc. For an app that has an automation feature, look no further—you will be able to set trigger events that will prompt the app to erase your Android device. These conditions can range between failing to key in the correct password a number of times or a change in SIM cards.

1Password

If there’s one simple way to increase your changes of staying safe, it is to change your passwords, though it can get confusing remembering the different passwords to each account.

1Password does the hard work for you by remembering everything.

All data is encrypted, so the app keeps the information safe and allows you to sign into your favourite sites with one click.

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 57

Unsung Heroes-2

The Making of an Engineer

From a lower middle-class family, Ravi Dwivedi, had a burning desire in his heart to become an engineer on his own merit. Today he is working on his postdoctoral thesis in engineering and still keeps his ambition to soar higher “The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself.”

—Mark Caine

I

On his return home after completing his training in Chennai, his mother said to him with a repentant heart, “Alas! I could not make you an engineer!” This proved to be the turning point in his life 58 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

t was a cold morning at Air Force Station, Udhampur. As a helper to a vehicle mechanic, he was washing a truck in the Mechanical Transport yard. Lying under the truck, dismantling the gearbox, dirt and crow shit fell on his face and he had to wipe his face with his hands smeared with grease. Yet, neither could the cold dampen his spirits, nor the rigours of a soldier’s life tire him out, because there was a burning desire in his heart: to become an engineer.

It is my privilege to present before you engineer, Dr Ravi Dwivedi, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the prestigious Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal. His involvement with the students can be gauged from the fact that even while I was interviewing him, more than a dozen students called on him, seeking his guidance.

And to each of them he spoke patiently and satisfyingly.

Ravi was born into a lower middle-class family in Auraiya near Etawah (UP). His father was a clerk in the Railways and his mother a teacher. He remembers himself as being a brilliant student till Standard IV, after when he claims his brilliance waned by the time he had reached Standard X, which he passed with a second class. After having earned a diploma in Automobile Engineering in 1975, his family’s poor financial condition coupled with his father’s illness forced Ravi to take up the job of an airman in the Indian Air force in 1978. He was posted as an MT Technician helper.

On his return home after completing his training in Chennai, his mother said to him with a repentant heart, “Alas! I could not make you an engineer!” This proved to be the turning

point in his life, his mother’s words rekindling in him a burning desire to become an engineer someday.

After an abortive attempt to pursue Engineering at the AMIE during his posting in Udhampur, he graduated in Arts to enhance his qualifications. Destiny then brought him to Chennai once again, for his conversion training and promotion to being a mechanic.

His interest in theatre and his handsome looks landed him a leading role in a Hindi play in which his partner happened to be none other than the pretty daughter of his Commanding Officer (CO), Wing Commander Pandey.

Ravi’s performance in the play not only won him accolades but also brought him close to the CO’s daughter. It was not long before the CO offered his daughter’s hand to him in marriage. “I pleaded that I could not accept the offer, because of the glaring gap between the statuses of the two families. Moreover, I did not want to sell myself,” says an upright Ravi. Going a step further, the CO went on to assure him of guidance and help to become a commissioned officer. However, a self-respecting Ravi politely declined the offer, and instead opted to become an engineer on his own merit. To facilitate the completion of his BE, Ravi requested his CO for a posting in Gwalior, from where he could earn his BE at MITS as a part-time student. “I told the girl to wait for me, if possible,” said an emotional Ravi. However he feels guilty for not being able to meet either the girl or her father, in spite of his best efforts.

In Gwalior, destiny seemed to play hide and seek for even after qualifying in the admission test at MITS, he was denied admission on flimsy grounds. A middleman demanded `5,000 for admission which he declined to pay.

He cried on seeing his selection letter being torn before his very eyes. Ironically now MITS invites him for delivering lectures and as an external examiner for conducting B.Tech and M.Tech examinations.

When Ravi diverted his attention towards the world of theatre, he became a Grade B artist at All India Radio, even as he simultaneously qualified as an ‘Ayurvedacharya.’

In the Air Force, Ravi received timely promotions, becoming a Sergeant in 1990. But after having completed the bond period of 15 years’ service, he decided to quit. His decision to quit was not supported by his family; yet, it was his desire to become an engineer that drove him to.

Thereafter, Ravi was selected as a tractor engineer in Hari Nagar Sugar Mills and posted at West Champaran, Bihar. The job was very demanding but the perks were luxurious. “My wife was thrilled to get a lavish house, a cook, a vehicle, and a servant,” recalled Ravi. During

Dr Ravi is working on his post-doctoral thesis and on a textbook for engineering students. He also guides M.Tech and PhD students. His ambitions still soar high as he says, “Zameen to choo li hai, aasman choonna baki hai“ his 15-month-long dedicated service, the sugar mill multiplied its profits.

In 1994, another opportunity knocked at his door. A vacancy for the post of Assistant Workshop Superintendent at MANIT, Bhopal was advertised. “I felt as if this post in my dream college was meant for me! Being a diploma holder, I applied and got selected out of 56 candidates, most of whom were engineers,” said an exultant Ravi. Later he learnt that the post had been created to accommodate a contractual employee who had been working there for eight years. The job would have slipped out of Ravi’s hands had it not been for the insistence of the Chairman of the selection Committee whereby a via media was found by increasing the number of posts from one to two. The decision to quit the prized job at Hari Nagar Sugar Mills was not easy, but his passion to become a qualified engineer again fuelled him on.

T

he opportunity of a lifetime appeared in 1995, when the BE evening course at Samrat Ashok Technological Institute (SATI) Vidisha was restarted. “I felt it was a godsend for me,” said Ravi. During these five years, his routine stretched him almost to breaking point. After his duty hours at MANIT from 9 am to 5 pm, he would rush to catch the

train to Vidisha and attend classes from 7 pm to 10 pm. On the way back, he would board the Jhelum Express, which would invariably be late.

He’d often reach home in Bhopal around 3 or 4 the next morning, and after a short nap, rush off to office! Needless to say, he had to squeeze in time for studies also. It was his grit and dogged determination that saw him through those years. A grateful Ravi reverently placed his BE [Hons] degree at his mother’s feet.

Thereafter he took two years’ study leave and did his M.Tech, emerging a topper with distinction in 2003. Armed with the requisite qualifications and a thorough knowledge, he was selected as a Lecturer, became a Senior Lecturer and made his way up to Associate Professor. He realised his dream of wearing ranks on his shoulders when he got commissioned in the NCC, where he presently holds the rank of ‘Captain’. In the meantime, he continued his academic pursuits and earned a PhD in 2012.

It is noteworthy that although there is no provision for awarding a ‘distinction’, one of the persons who evaluated his thesis strongly recommended that he be given the same.

Dr Ravi is working on his post-doctoral thesis and on a textbook for engineering students. He also guides M.Tech and PhD students. His ambitions still soar high as he says, “Zameen to chhoo li hai, aasman chhoonna baki hai”—the earth has been touched, the sky is yet to be touched.

May God keep the fire in him alive so that he lives his dream!

(Based on an interview of Dr Ravi Dwivedi with Major Pradeep Khare) The above story is featured in “Unsung Heroes” ISBN 978-81-7108-902-4 by Maj Pradeep Khare (pradeepkhare2011@gmail.com). It is published by Better Yourself Books Mumbai.

CC

tadka

Largest startup incubation hub to come up in Rajasthan Udaipur in Rajasthan is aiming to set up the biggest startup hub in the country with a capacity to accommodate 700 newcomers.

Akhil Arora, Principal Secretary, IT and Communication Department of Rajasthan, stated that it will be bigger than the biggest T-Hubs operational in India. The startup hub has plans to give start-ups and entrepreneurs, free of cost space, internet connections and other infrastructure facilities. Plans are to invite some of the best incubators, have professionals to handle the management, and top corporates to mentor the startups.

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 59

Claps & Slaps Corporate Citizen claps for ex-Rajya Sabha MP and cricket legend, Sachin Tendulkar for donating his entire salary and allowances to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

Corporate Citizen slaps the underlying problems that inflict tendencies in our paramilitary jawans to resort to ‘suicides’.

With his six-year term as a parliamentarian ending recently, he has pledged his salary drawn, to the tune of nearly `90 lakh including other monthly allowances. Acknowledging this charitable act, the PMO’s office has also issued a letter of appreciation which states: “Prime Minister acknowledges this thoughtful gesture and conveys his gratitude. These contributions will be of immense help in providing assistance to the persons in distress.” During his term, Tendulkar is said to have made good use of the MP Local Area Development fund. Data shared by Tendulkar’s office has claimed to have sanctioned 185 projects across the country. Around `7.4 crore of his allocated `30 crore is being utilized for educational and related structural development, including building and renovation

of classrooms. He is said to have adopted two villages under the Sansad Gram Adarsh Gram Yojana Scheme, including Puttam Raju Kandriga in Andhra Pradesh and Donja in Maharashtra. Sachin, however, is known to have attended only 7.3% sessions since coming on board as a Rajya Sabha MP in 2012. This poor attendance record translates to 29 appearances out of nearly 400 Parliament sessions.

When in session, he had raised a mere 22 questions during his tenure and did not introduce any bills while in office. Despite his poor attendance as an MP, his magnanimous donation during his exit seems to have once again bowled the nation over setting a different kind of precedence for others on the parliamentary aisle to follow. Hope Sachin’s gesture of the ‘Good Samaritan’ also evokes the right response amongst his innumerable fans and fellow MPs to set some philanthropic goals for themselves too!

60 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

In the face of situations that have yet to find a handle with the government or the defence sector machinery, ironically, ‘more paramilitary personnel committed suicide than were killed on duty in the last six years’. This shocking revelation by the Union home ministry as told to a parliamentary panel—“During the last six years, about 700 personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces have committed suicide and the rate of voluntary retirement is approximately 9,000 personnel per year,” the ministry said, “…189 CRPF jawans have committed suicide since 2012, while 175 have been killed in action during the same period.” The ministry also said that “…529 Border Security Force personnel have taken their lives since 2001 while 491 have been killed on duty. This trend has also been noticed in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police force (ITBP), the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), according to the ministry. The reasons include “lack of stability, loneliness and domestic strife”, as told by senior officials of the ministry, led by the Union home secretary, to the Parliament’s Committee on ‘Estimates’, headed by senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi. The comparative suicides and killed-in-action ratio is highest in SSB (1:8), followed by CISF (1:63) and ITBP (1:4). The ministry acknowledged that people stay away from their homes from 10-11 months which obviously leads to marital discord and there might be suspicions and counter-suspicions and allegations which could also lead to suicide,” said the home secretary. The main reasons for our forces to ‘hang in their boots’ forever is attributed to their heavy workload. As a result, army personnel are often denied leave. “Forces like the CRPF and even the BSF and ITBP are instructed to move from Assam to Kerala and Kerala to Kashmir. “Thus they could not stay at one location and they do not stay at one location and do not have any headquarters at a fixed location. Perhaps, this disturbance is also a contributing factor in incidents of suicides,” the home secretary told the committee. It’s time the government takes step to stave off these worrying factors and liberate our soldiers from their agony and help stop any such suicides from happening again!

(Compiled by Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar)

Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian

From The Mobile

Speech Pope Francis gave in his sermon!

You can have flaws, be anxious, and even be angry, but do not forget that your life is the greatest enterprise in the world. Only you can stop it from going bust. Many appreciate you, admire you and love you. Remember that to be happy is not to have a sky without a storm, a road without accidents, work without fatigue, relationships without disappointments. To be happy is to find strength in forgiveness, hope in battles, security in the stage of fear, love in discord. It is not only to enjoy the smile, but also to reflect on the sadness. It is not only to celebrate the successes, but to learn lessons from the failures. It is not only to feel happy with the applause, but to be happy in anonymity. Being happy is not a fatality of destiny, but an achievement for those who can travel within themselves. To be happy is to stop feeling like a victim and become your destiny’s author. It is to cross deserts, yet to be able to find an oasis in the depths of our soul. It is to thank God for every morning, for the miracle of life. Being happy is not being afraid of your

62 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

own feelings. It’s to be able to talk about you.

It is having the courage to hear a “no”. It is confidence in the face of criticism, even when unjustified. It is to kiss your children, pamper your parents, to live poetic moments with friends, even when they hurt us. To be happy is to let live the creature that lives in each of us, free, joyful and simple. It is to have maturity to be able to say: “I made mistakes”. It is to have the courage to say “I am sorry”. It is to have the sensitivity to say, “I need you”. It is to have the ability to say “I love you”. May your life become a garden of opportunities for happiness... That in spring may it be a lover of joy. In winter a lover of wisdom. And when you make a mistake, start all over again. For only then will you be in love with life. You will find that to be happy is not to have a perfect life. But use the tears to irrigate tolerance. Use your losses to train patience. Use your mistakes to sculptor serenity. Use pain to plaster pleasure.

Use obstacles to open windows of intelligence.

Never give up....Never give up on people who love you. Never give up on happiness, for life is an incredible show.

— Pope Francis

Era of Big Data

Story written

by Chetan Bhagat in his FB post One night, just before the shopkeeper was about to close the shop, a dog came into the shop. There was a bag in its mouth. The bag had a list of items to be bought and money.

The shopkeeper took the money and kept the items in the bag.

Immediately, the dog picked up the bag of items and left. The shopkeeper was surprised and went behind the dog to see who the owner was.

The dog waited at the bus stop. After some time, a bus came and the dog got into the bus. As soon as the conductor came, it moved forward to show his neck belt which had money and the address as well. The conductor took the money and put the ticket in his neck belt again.

When it reached the destination, the

dog went to the front and wagged his tail indicating that he wanted to get down. The moment the bus stopped, it got down. The shopkeeper was still following it.

The dog knocked on the door of a house with its legs. Its owner came from inside and beat it with a stick.

The shocked shopkeeper asked him, “Why are you beating the dog?”, to which the owner replied, “he disturbed my sleep.

It could have taken the keys with it.”

This is the truth of life. There is no end to the expectations people have from you. The moment you go wrong, they start pointing at our mistakes. All the good done in the past is forgotten. Any small mistake committed then gets magnified. This is the nature of this material world.

The property left behind by Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was estimated…

He owned l 6 pants (2 DRDO uniforms) l 4 shirts (2 DRDO uniforms) l 3 suits (1 western, 2 Indian) l 2,500 books l 1 flat (which he has donated) l 1 Padmashri l 1 Padmabhushan l 1 Bharat Ratna l 16 doctorates l 1 website

l 1 twitter account l 1 email ID l He didn't have any TV, AC, car,

jewellery, shares, land or bank balance.

He had even donated the last eight years’ pension towards the development of his village.

He was a real patriot and true Indian.

India will for ever be grateful to you, sir.

Make sure all your friends and dear ones read this without fail.

Hello! Is this Gordon’s Pizza?

No sir, it’s Google’s Pizza.

Did I dial the wrong number?

No sir, Google bought the pizza store.

Oh, alright, then I’d like to place an order please.

Okay sir, do you want the usual?

The usual? You know what my usual is?

According to the caller ID, the last 15 times you’ve ordered a 12-slice with double-cheese, sausage, and thick crust.

Okay, that’s what I want this time too.

May I suggest that this time you order an 8-slice with ricotta, arugula, and tomato instead.

No, I hate vegetables.

But your cholesterol is not good.

How do you know?

Through the subscribers guide. We have the results of your blood tests for the last 7 years.

Maybe so, but I don’t want the pizza you suggest—I already take medicine for high cholesterol.

But you haven’t taken the medicine regularly. Four months ago you purchased from Drugsale Network a box of only 30 tablets.

I bought more from another drugstore.

It’s not showing on your credit card sir.

I paid in cash.

But according to your bank statement you did not withdraw that much cash.

I have another source of cash.

This is not showing on your last tax form, unless you got it from an undeclared income source.

To HELL With Ur Pizza!! ENOUGH!!

I’m sick of Google, Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp. I’m going to an island without internet, where there’s no cellphone line, and no one to spy on me.

I understand sir, but you’ll need to renew your PASSPORT... it expired five weeks ago.

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 63

astroturf amount of pressure and stress on you, ultimately taking away your free time and joy for a while but you need to stay patient all this while, if you wish to come out of this situation.

Aries

March 21 - April 20

This month will bring new challenges in your life. In order to achieve the desired results, you will have to work really hard. You need to find a lot of motivation in order to achieve the targets that you have set for yourself. The stars above you are playing a fair game to make you work hard and achieve the desired results but at the end, it seems that you may be able to achieve it well anyway.

(www.dollymanghat.com)

Fortune favours the bold and the lucky

Your attitude is your altitude, says Dolly Manghat, our renowned Astrological expert and believes she helps people create their own prophecies rather than live predictions

other.

TAURUS

April 21 - May 20

Material pleasure defines Taureans. Their love for comfort is only topped by their downto-earth nature and their hard work. They are practical people.

They prefer working on their own. They prefer rationality over imagination. For Taureans, May brings an opportunity to think differently. It may require for them to go out of the box to get ideas, as the usual way of handling things might not work.

LEO

July 24 - Aug 23

The month of May brings some positive news as far as your career is concerned. With Venus influencing your charts positively, you will be witnessing good developments in your career. Positive results will start manifesting post 17th of this month. The placement of planets predict a very sound financial health. The signs of a positive financial growth are seen in the middle of the month.

GEMINI

May 21 - June 21

For Gemini, this month is about ideas and more ideas.

Being a creative month for you, work and career will be very rewarding. you may land some big projects leading to career boost. You will be multi-tasking majorly during this month and are going to excel in it, bringing out some exceptionally creative results.

CANCER

June 22 - July 23

Things are looking bright and cheerful for Cancerians. There is a renewed sense of brightness and confidence exuding from you. You will be cheerful and excited all this month. The effect of moon is only adding to this energy.

VIRGO

Aug 24 - Sept 23

Those born in the zodiac sign of Virgo will find May 2015, highly career-oriented. This is the time you need to completely stay focused on furthering your career goals. When opportunities will be in your favour to support your professional dreams, you are going to be completely preoccupied with the pursuits connected to advancements in your career. Wonderfully rewarding changes with regard to your job or business are bound to thrill you. .

LIBRA

Sept 24 - Oct 22

People who fall under the sun sign Libra, are generally consid-

64 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

ered to be very balanced people.

May turns out to be very favourable for you in terms of professional growth. Travel that is undertaken this month for the purpose of your profession, would turn out to be highly rewarding. You can expect someone from among your female friends to do a favour to you that would become the cause of your success.

SCORPIO

Oct 23 - Nov 22

People under the sun sign Scorpio come with a balance of passion and emotion. You will find yourself occupied with a lot of competition around you this month.

However, the zeal with which you conduct yourself and your tasks, would become an inspiration for many others around you. This month, you should try and ease out a bit so that your lifestyle can turn up more productive.

SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 22

This month, your stars are positioned quite favorably to allow the best of everything come your way. This month, you will discover that you are being asked to work harder than usual and devote more energy at work than what you were hoping for! This will end up casting a tremendous

CAPRICORN

Dec 23 - Jan 20

Charged with a lot of positive energy this month, the start will be quite rewarding and promising. The sun’s healing powers will be working in your favour this month. There are huge chances that those people who have been suffering from long illness will find some respite this month.

However, as the recovery takes place, there is a need to take care of your health.

AQUARIUS

Jan 21 - Feb19

People falling under this sun sign tend to have a very strong will. this month you will soon find out, as the month begins, that financial prospects are bright for you this month. Those who are dedicated in the field of fine arts would also find this month to be highly rewarding.

All people who deal in government sectors would also find gains this month. Any travel undertaken for the purpose of business would be beneficial.

PISCES

Feb 20 - Mar 20

May 2018 will bring some very important changes. Your ambitions and dreams will soar higher than those in the past.

Pisceans are also set to experience some new changes in their lifestyle and personal space. Utilise your energy during the month to get the best results possible.

Address: 143, St Patrick’s Town, Gate# 3, Hadapsar IE, Pune-411 013.

Tel.: 020-26872677 / 020-32905748 Email: connect@dollymanghat.com/ info.dollymanghat@gmail.com

Subscribe for Corporate Citizen and grow in Life

To, Circulation Manager Corporate Citizen (Business Fortnightly) Krishna Homes Housing Society, Flat No. 2 & 4, Near Iskcon Mandir, Sector 29, Ravet, Akurdi, Pune - 412101. Tel. (020) 69000673-7.

Email : subscriptions@corporatecitizen.in Website : www.corporatecitizen.in Subject : Payment for Subscription of Corporate Citizen NAME:

SUBSCRIPTION FORM

POSTAL ADDRESS:

CITY:

Building Name- Apt. Number / Bungalow Name-Number

STATE:

Landline No.:

Society Name

PIN CODE: Mobile No:

E-mail Address: DOB:

(d d)

/

(m m)

/

(y y)

Profession (If any) :

Designation (If any) :

Company/Organisation (Where Applicable): I want to subscribe :  For One Year (24 Issues)  For Two Years (48 Issues)  For Three Years (72 Issues)  For Ten Years (240 Issues)

: : : :

Yes / No Yes / No Yes / No Yes / No

- - - -

Subscription Amount Subscription Amount Subscription Amount Subscription Amount

: : : :

`1,200/`2,300/`3,400/`10,000/-

I am remitting a sum of `

through a bank draft / cheque bearing number dated drawn in favour of ‘Corporate Citizen’ towards payment of the subscription amount for One / Two / Three / Ten years, subscription.

Date :

Signature of Subscriber

CRADLE OF LEADERSHIP

PROF. SUDHIR K SOPORY, VICE CHANCELLOR, JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY (JNU) Volume 1, Issue No. 21 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in

January 1-15, 2016 / `50

CORPORATE CULTURE

Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank on women in leadership and gender diversity

INTERVIEW

An in-depth interview with Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director India with Kingston Technology and Rajeev Bhadauria, Director, Group HR, at Jindal Steel & Power

Dynamic Duo 21 MEERA SHANKAR AND AJAY SHANKAR

UNFLINCHING SUPPORT

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 65

the last word

Ganesh Natarajan

The Power of SHE!

While many men may hate me for saying this, the Indian male does have the tendency to blame circumstances, teams and sometimes bosses for their inability to meet the goals they or their organisations set for them, but I have rarely met a woman who did not take full responsibility for her success and occasional failure

I

t is always surprising when a nation as advanced and progressive as the US in so many ways finds itself unable to elect a woman to the highest office in the land. Well into the campaign, American friends would tell me that at the end of the day Trump would win the election because Hillary Clinton as a woman would be unacceptable to large percentage of the white male population. Whether that prophesy turned out to be the truth or it was a combination of other factors that made Hillary come out second best to Trump at the hustings, the fact remains that the US is one country which still has to show by action rather than words that a competent woman can reach any levels she chooses to reach!

In many ways, we in India are far more fortunate. This March on Women’s Day I took joy in the fact that seven of the nine entities we have invested in from 5F World were either founded or run by women, the president of India’s leading business association, the Confederation of Indian Industry, was a woman, Shobana Kamineni and the incoming president of NASSCOM is a woman, Debjani Ghosh. The only surprising fact would be that both Shobana and Debjani have been the first women to be elected to those offices in a country where

Ganesh’s leadership team in Pune, a team with 75 per cent women can never go wrong

it has been a privilege to encourage and mentor young women to reach their full potential and rise to leadership roles themselves.

One of the most obvious areas where we have seen women outdo men has been in the social sector.

If one notices the passion brought to the table by women like Anu Aga, Meher Pudmjee, Chairperson of Thermax and SVP Pune, Ruchi Mathur, CEO of Pune City Connect, Shaheen Mistry, founder of Akanksha and Teach for India and the six extraordinary young women who manage the chapters of Social Venture Partners in the country, there is no room for doubt why they use their penchant for empathy and relationship building to shine in this sector. But what is equally delightful is that so many women are dispelling the notion that women

Indira Gandhi became PM decades ago. India can truly be proud that in Government, Corporate and Social sectors, there is now no glass ceiling when it comes to the ability of smart, confident women to reach the top in their chosen field of endeavor.

It is often said that any successful man needs at least five women to take him to the pinnacle of success—mother, sister, wife, daughter and possibly a teacher in school and it is to the credit of all women who have succeeded in India in the last few decades that most had to overcome male and female skepticism, Women in India have much to family pressures offer and we need to ensure and expectations through education of men and often the disapproval of society and the next generation that to get to where they their potential is not denied in reached. In my own any manner case, the initial inspiration came from have a tendency to drop out midmy mother Subbalakshmi who was career when family responsibilities pitchforked after marriage into a increase. Thanks to supportive orfamily where she had 10 siblings of my father and his parents to take ganisations like ICICI, Zensar and care of and still managed to do her many others, husbands taking more postgraduate degree after marriage responsibility for sharing home and in Kolkata and become a career child caring tasks and the availabileducationist till her demise in the ity of facilities for managing young eighties. And through my career children, women like Renuka Rambuilding teams and organisations in nath of Multiples, Aruna Jayanthi of NIIT, APTECH, Zensar and now 5F Capgemini and Vanitha Narayan of World and Social Venture Partners, IBM ,to name just three, have shone

66 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

on the national and global stage and continue to inspire many young women to follow in their footsteps.

It was also extremely heartening to note the prowess displayed by our young women including the amazing sixteen-year-old shooter from Haryana who dominated the early days of the Commonwealth Games and beamed at us from the podiums on our television screens. In a country and in states where many women still do not get the respect they deserve, it is good to see the new generation committed so fully to their chosen fields and have the world at their feet.

One common character trait that one notices in all these success stories in every walk of life is the commitment women bring to any task they take up and their ability to make the ecosystem work for them to carry them to success. While many men may hate me for saying this, the Indian male does have the tendency to blame circumstances, teams and sometimes bosses for their inability to meet the goals they or their organisations set for them, but I have rarely met a woman who did not take full responsibility for her success and occasional failure.

She, in India, has much to offer and we need to ensure through education of men and the next generation that their potential is not denied in any manner and we let the power of true equality shine through and build a better country and a better planet for future generations!

Dr Ganesh Natarajan is Chairman of 5F World, Pune City Connect and Social Venture Partners, India.

Printed and published by Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian on behalf of Sri Balaji Society. Editor: Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian.

Published from : 925/5, Mujumdar Apt, F.C. Road, Pune - 411004, Maharashtra.

Printed at Magna Graphics (I) Ltd., 101-C&D Govt. Industrial Estate, Hindustan Naka, Kandivali (W), Mumbai - 400067.