Volume5 issue 2 corporate citizen

CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT THOUGHTS Volume 5, Issue No.02 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in

INTERVIEW AMIT JOSHI, ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT-HR, JUBILANT LIFE SCIENCES May 1-15, 2019 / `50

Session

Survey

What do voters want in 2019

CII-CFO Meet 2018 — Navigating Through Uncertain Times

Corporate Stalwart 8

Towering Leadership

P Ramakrishna, CEO, India Mobile Congress and Principal Advisor, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), talks about the telecom industry in India, the 5G revolution, and what goes into organising a world-class global event in record time

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Loved & Married Too

Yogesh & Kirti Unde

on their togetherness and how they keep it alive and vibrant

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cover inner

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back inner

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cover back pg

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FOLLOW UP Contemporary management thoughts

CII SESSION GlObalISatION 4.0 advaNtaGES aNd ChallENGES March 16-31, 2019 / `50

Volume 4, Issue No. 24 / Pages 68 www.corporatecitizen.in

iNTervieW

nA HAzAr An e

Ranjan Sarkar

Military to Mass ManageMent

Executive Vice President - HR, Exide Industries Limited

Sudhir Mateti,

TakiNg STock

Ajay Tyagi

Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)

SUrvEy COvEr StOry

Value of Villages For the revival of unemployment & resurgence of our economy

Anna Hazare, on his metamorphosis from battling it out for the Indian Army to relentlessly waging a battle against corruption in the role of a social crusader Loved & Married Too

Sarvesh Jadhav and Utpala Patankar on their equation

interview

J Sivakumar

Head HR and Admin, J K Fenner SurveY

Deputy General Manager-HR, Syntel Telecom

PwC ‘Workforce of the Future’

tête-à-tête PS Kumar, Founder, 360° tranSFormation Volume 4, Issue No. 11 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in

emerging Consumer Survey india tomorroW - 1 Manu S Pillai:

August 16-31, 2018 / `50

nHrdn ir SuMMit

AlIgnIng buSIneSS StRAtegIeS And IR ImpeRAtIveS our tAx exPert on:

mind games of tax evaders

From International Relations to Indian History Manu S Pillai, historian, author and the winner of 2017 Yuva Sahitya Akademi Award reveals his eventful life journey Loved And MArried

Samantha Rodricks and Arthur Ignatius on what binds them together

Anna Hazare, the Winner without a Chair!

In the March 16-31, 2019 issue of Corporate Citizen, we had published the cover story on internationally acclaimed Social Reformer Anna Hazare, titled ‘Value of Villages.’ It gave an indepth insight on how this military man, after retirement from the Indian Army, came to be the transformational leader of the masses. With utmost humility and without the power of a chair, he has followed the Gandhian path of holding agitations by going on fasts, 19 times, in the last four decades. Besides his historic role in India Against Corruption (IAC) movement in 2011, which forced the UPA government to pass the Lokpal and Lokayukta bills, which became an Act, he has campaigned single-handedly to compel the central and state government to implement laws pertaining to good governance. Last month, after 43 letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ever since he came to power in 2014, appealing to him to institute the Lokpal, Former Supreme Court judge, Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose has been appointed as the country’s first Lokpal, the anti-corruption ombudsman. When contacted by Corporate Citizen, after this historic feat, Anna Hazare humbly stated that “it is because of the relentless work put in by volunteers and good wishes of thousands of citizens who stood behind us during our 2011 campaign that Lokpal has become a reality. In a year or two, people will understand the importance of this post as they can lodge an official complaint of corruption with the Lokpal against the prime minister, former prime ministers and all other ministers. It is very powerful.’’ Kudos to the octogenarian crusader who has a never-say-die attitude!

The Ivory Throne set to adorn the silver screen

In the August 16-31, 2018 issue of Corporate Citizen, we had featured Manu S Pillai, the author of the award-winning The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore (2015), and Rebel Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji (2018). Formerly Chief of Staff to Dr Shashi Tharoor (MP), he has in the past worked at the House of Lords in Britain, with Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE DL, and with the BBC on their Incarnations history series. Written over six years and researched in three continents, Manu’s first book, The Ivory Throne won the 2016 Tata Prize for best first work of non-fiction and the 2017 Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar. Recently, The Ivory Throne, published

by Harper Collins, is all set for a screen adaptation, having been sold to Arka Mediaworks, the studio behind the Baahubali franchise. Hailed by readers and the press as one of the most fascinating and gripping slices of Indian history, with its warrior queens and ‘female Maharajahs’, enveloped in the dynamics of a princely court in colonial India, The Ivory Throne became an instant bestseller on publication in the year 2015. Ananth Padmanabhan, CEO, HarperCollins India stated that “Manu’s magnificent book is now one step closer to finding new life on screen. Manu’s page-turning narration, coupled with the incredible cast of characters makes The Ivory Throne one of the most awaited book-to-screen adaptations from India. We’re also delighted that the book is in the capable hands of the team at Arka Mediaworks who rewrote cinematic grandeur with the Baahubali films and I’m confident we’re going to see an adaptation that’ll be appreciated by viewers all over the world.” Shobu Yarlagadda, a co-founder of Arka Mediaworks, stated that, “we’re excited to start work on bringing the stories and research that Manu Pillai put into his book, The Ivory Throne, to screens.’’ Manu S Pillai is ecstatic. He stated, “I am delighted that Arka has optioned The Ivory Throne, and will summon their phenomenal expertise and creative abilities to try and bring alive this remarkable tale of power and princely politics on screen. Sethu Lakshmi Bayi, the protagonist of the book, was one of India’s most remarkable queens, with a life story that is truly gripping – it is most exciting to visualise her tale on screen.’’ Kudos to Manu Pillai, one of the youngest history researchers of India!

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Editor-in-Chief’s Choice / Shilpa Phadnis

Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian

‘It’s a company born out of a culture of empathy, purpose’

Mindtree’s founders and employees say they are battling to preserve the company’s unique ethos

B

ENGALURU: Mindtree is the stuff that middle-class dreams are normally made of. It’s the story of 10 IT industry professionals — from Wipro, Lucent and Cambridge Technology Partners — coming together, pooling in $1.6 million, and two decades later, being courted for over $2 billion.

But in this case, the founders are not happy. It has nothing to do with the money they could potentially earn though. They believe they built a company so culturally unique that it should not go to another company that, in their view, has a very different culture.

Those in Mindtree think of their culture as a mix of empathy, integrity, and purpose. Empathy was visible at inception in 1999, when the company unveiled a logo created by an alumnus of the Spastic Society of Karnataka, Chetan. Since then, the company has had a special emphasis on the differently-abled.

Mindtree staff are not employees or resources. They are Minds. On induction day, Mindtree Minds are individually met by the CEO or COO, they get to know each other, and the new inductees are made aware of the guiding values. Employees own a sixth sense of the firm.

“When Mindtree completed five years, the founders

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and some executives went to Tirupati. When we were going downhill by foot, we cleared the garbage strewn along the way. We picked up some eight truckloads of garbage,” recalls S Janakiraman, one of the founders.

It was a unique bonding around such values that was the genesis of the company. In the run-up to the launch, the founders had a number of discussions, some over lunches and dinners, others just sitting under one of the magnificent tree in Bengaluru’s Cubbon Park.

One of the crucial discussions happened at Taj Gateway’s iconic restaurant Karavalli, when Subroto Bagchi and Krishnakumar Natarajan (fondly called KK), who were then in Wipro, fleshed out the idea. Prior to that, Ashok Soota, who was also at Wipro, had met Coffee Day founder, VG Siddhartha for lunch. The latter assured funding whenever Soota was ready to take the plunge.

Rostow Ravanan was the youngest of the founders, Janakiraman laughs as he recollects his first meeting with Ravanan, who was then working at Lucent. Wipro was negotiating to set up Lucent’s R&D centre in India, and Ravanan was proving to be a tough negotiator. “It was Ram versus Ravanan,” he says.

On the launch day, Mindtree hosted a get together that was attended by Wipro chairman, Azim Premji and Infosys co-founder, Nandan Nilekani.

Mindtree initially operated out of a two-room office provided by Siddhartha. Three founders – Scott Staples, Anjan Lahiri and Kamran Ozair – took small office space in New Jersey, US. Staples won the first customer for Mindtree, and it happened to be Lucent. “A man named Rod Trombly (in Lucent) knew Scott, Ajan, Kamran and Amit had the fullest confidence and trust in them. No one else could articulate the architectural problem he was battling with as well as this team could and we got the job,” wrote Subroto Bagchi in the paper Making of Mindtree 2.

In India, their first customer was Fabmart, which

Mindtree staff are not employees or resources.

They are Minds. On induction day, Mindtree Minds are individually met by the CEO or COO, they get to know each other, and the new inductees are made aware of the guiding values.

Employees own a sixth sense of the firm was setting up an e-tail business. Ashok Soota was keen to do business swith Hindustan Unilever. So he wrote to Keki Dadiseth, the then chairman. They got a call from HUL. Bagchi recollects how “small and naked” they felt when they stood to make the presentation - no case studies, no customer references. But they won the deal.

“Ashok was our godfather. He anchored the team.

He was the first to have a 360-degree appraisal for leaders and brought in best-in-class HR processes,” Janakiraman says. Soota had even put in place succession planning, identifying shadow leaders and who they would shadow for.

On January 28, 2011, Mindtree faced its biggest crisis till then, when Soota called it quits abruptly. The speculation is that he disagreed with the others on what to do with Kyocera Wireless, a company Mindtree had acquired in 2009. Siddhartha again played the white knight, buying out half of Soota’s 11% stake. Siddhartha was a very helpful promoter to the founders, and a good board member. I’m sure that he will be missed,” says David Yoffie, prof. at Harvard Business School and formerly a Mindtree board member.

This article was originally published by Times of India (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/ india-business/its-a-company-born-out-of-a-culture-ofempathy-purpose/articleshow/68473850.cms) May 1-15, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 5

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Editor-in-Chief’s Choice / Ashok Soota

Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian

I empathise with both parties. It is logical for Siddhartha as an investor to divest since he obviously has other requirements to deploy his funds. I also empathise with the founders who are ostensibly doing their best to raise funds and retain control. In their place, I would have done the same, only more aggressively

Understanding the Mindtree Conundrum

A new win-win would be if Siddhartha is able to monetise his Mindtree investments and if the management is able to raise the money at a price which a strategic investor is willing to pay Siddhartha’s association with the founders of Mindtree began well before the company started. Around the middle of 1998, a mutual good friend, K Jairaj, suggested Siddhartha and I meet for lunch. I had no idea of the agenda and was surprised when Siddhartha expressed I should start out on my own and whenever I did so, he would be happy to provide venture funding support. This was followed by a separate meeting with Lip-Bu Tan, chairman of Walden (venture capital firm), who left me with a similar offer. Accordingly, when I “met” my co-founders through Walden, the funding was assured. Most of the founding team lined

up largely by Subroto Bagchi were current and past members of my team!

Mindtree’s launch in August 1999 with Siddhartha’s venture firm GTV and Walden as our partners was the beginning of an amazing, supportive, non-interfering relationship with both, which continued well beyond Mindtree’s 2007 IPO. Both Walden and GTV brought us leads for customers and Siddhartha was able to support us in multiple other ways due to his local presence, including keeping space available in his Global Village Techpark till Mindtree was large enough to move in with buildings built to our design.

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While the relationship began with me, Siddhartha soon also built bonds with other founders, primarily Subroto and also Krishnakumar and Rostow, the current CEO. In 2011, when I decided to leave Mindtree (and start Happiest Minds), Walden and I were the largest shareholders with about 22% of the company. When we both decided to divest, Siddhartha moved decisively to pick up most of our shares and become a “white knight” for the founding team. If not, Mindtree could very well have faced in 2011 a situation similar to what the remaining founders are now facing.

This turned out to be a win-win as the team delivered excellent returns for Siddhartha while they continued on the journey of building Mindtree.

At this juncture when the market has been abuzz with rumours regarding Siddhartha’s plans to divest, I empathise with both parties. It is logical for Siddhartha as an investor to divest since he obviously has other requirements to deploy his funds. Also, a 20-year investor relationship is as long as you will see and for which any management could wish.

At the same time, I also empathise with the founders who are ostensibly doing their best to raise funds and retain control. In their place, I would have done the same, only more aggressively. However, considering the market value, the founders would require a combination of financial strategies to retain control and I am sure they will actively explore multiple options.

A new win-win would be if Siddhartha is able to monetise his Mindtree investments and if the management is able to raise the money at a price which a strategic investor is willing to pay. The amounts are large and, as of now, it’s not clear if the remaining founders can make this happen. The matter has been making news for several months and I’d like to believe that the delay in effecting a strategic sale is due to Siddhartha giving time to the founders to provide an alternate solution.

However, this had to close within a finite period and it seems that a larger IT company is poised to make its moves to reach the threshold of 26% holding for an open offer. The new buyers will have to take several more steps before they acquire control. If this happens, they should also keep in mind that the Mindtree leadership has delivered excellent returns to shareholders since the 2007 IPO. Accordingly, they should do their best to retain the key team members by giving them appropriate leadership roles in the new integrated structure. However, the founders have also indicated that they will make a concerted effort to retain control.

I wish them great success in this endeavour, though the odds seem stacked against them.

(The writer was the founding chairman & CEO of Mindtree. He’s now executive chairman at IT services firm Happiest Minds) This article was originally published by Times of India (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/ india-business/understanding-the-mindtree-conundrum/articleshow/68473859.cms)

Mindtree staff kickoff #MindtreeMatters campaign Mindtree has started leveraging social media to fight L&T’s unsolicited bid to acquire the company. A few hours before L&T informed stock exchanges, some Mindtree employees, including a few senior managers, took to Twitter with the hashtag #mindtreematters. The employee advocacy campaign, though a sidelight, showcased how social media narratives were finding its way even into corporate takeover battles.

One of the employees on Twitter said “….. we are a collection of unique minds that cares about people as much as profit; a culture that embodies excellence, not just economics; a state of mind, not a state of flux. Another said, culture and values set us apart and L&T could potentially destroy the fabric of it.

Founders have resisted the L&T takeover bid, arguing cultural incompatibility between the two companies.

Social media has remained a barometer that reflects the mood of employees in times of distress. While the L&T juggernaut appears unstoppable, the digital campaign will open up a new battlefront, which the acquirer cannot ignore.

However, HR experts cautioned that employees expressing their disappointment online could be exposing themselves to social media profiling by prospective employers. “While their intentions are upright, it’s fraught with risks in an age when digital footprints of employees are often tracked,” a senior HR executive said.

This article was originally published by Times of India (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ business/india-business/mindtree-staff-kickoffhashtag-campaign/articleshow/68472483. cms )

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Contents 20

Volume 5 Issue No. 02 May 1-15, 2019 www.corporatecitizen.in

CORPORATE STALWART 8

Towering Leadership P Ramakrishna, CEO, India Mobile Congress and Principal Advisor, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), talks about the telecom industry in India, the 5G revolution, and what goes into organising a world-class global event in record time 11 COLLYWOOD Chatpata Chatter from the Corporate World 16 WAX ELOQUENT Who said what and why 18 EXPERT VIEW The steady rise and steep fall of Jet Airways—analysis of what caused the decline and rise and fall of many an airline over the years, in the Indian airlines’ sector 24 SESSION Corporate leaders in a panel discussion at CII-CFO Meet 2018, discuss how business leaders need to transform and keep their performance levels high, as the business environment becomes dynamic, complex and chaotic 30 INTERVIEW Amit Joshi, Associate Vice 8 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2019

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President-HR, Jubilant Life Sciences, outlines his long and varied innings in an array of sectors and industries and changes in the Human Resource Management as a function, over the years 32 TÊTE-À-TÊTE Varun Gupta, Director, Calco Poly Technik, talks on his corporate journey creating efficient products for the plastic industry

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34 CASE STUDY The case study dwells on the efforts made by Tata Chemicals to improve a lot of its contractual labour through two successful schemes – Suraksha and Desh Ko Arpan 38 INTERVIEW Neelam Makhijani, Country Director and CEO, ChildFund India, talks on her strategic leadership, the NGOs reach in India and why for her it is a privilege to serve those who are less advantaged

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42 WORK CULTURE It’s Reetesh Pandey’s fourth year in Malaysia working with British American Tobacco—he sheds light on his ongoing stint in Malaysia 44 STARTUP STORY Lakshana Chaddha Jha, CEO and co-founder, sRide, talks on how her award-winning company came into being

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46 LOVED & MARRIED TOO Couple Yogesh and Kirti Unde, on their togetherness and how they keep their relationship alive and vibrant 48 CAMPUS PLACEMENT Parakh Ajmera, on how he has come a long way at a very young age, in the corporate and business world and why for him passion, patience and determination is important

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CONTENTS

CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT THOUGHTS

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

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Sub Editor Vineet Kapshikar Creative Direction Sumeet Gupta, www.thepurplestroke.com

50 SURVEY All India Survey on “Governance Issues and Voting Behaviour 2018” with a purpose to assess voters’ priorities, and to rate the performance of Government on these priorities 56 UNSUNG HEROES 21 Story of a Medicine Baba who collects surplus or unused medicines from people and distributes them to the needy

Graphic Designer Shantanu Relekar Writers Delhi Bureau Orchie Bandyopadhyay archiebanerjee@gmail.com/ Sharmila Chand chand.sharmila@gmail.com

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Pune Bureau Joe Williams / Kalyani Sardesai / Namrata Gulati Sapra Advertising and Marketing Manager Delhi: Mohamed Rizwan riz.mohamed@hotmail.com

61 MOBILE APPS The best apps to help you plan a summer vacation 66 LAST WORD The value of Public-Private Partnerships—collaborating for social causes is truly the way to build a great country

Kolkata Bureau Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar sangeetagd2010@gmail.com

Chennai: Anil Kumar Menon anil.menon@corporatecitizen.in

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COLLYWOOD

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS

Ratan Tata inaugurates renovated building of Meherbai Tata

Azim Premji raises philanthropy bar with $21 billion total pledge India’s second-richest man, Azim Premji, gave away 34% of his shares in Wipro Ltd to charitable causes, confirming his status as the most philanthropic Indian. The shares given away by Premji—a man known for his frugal ways—are valued at about $7.5 billion. With the latest contribution, the total value of funds committed by the billionaire to Azim Premji Foundation’s philanthropic activities is ₹1.45 trillion ($21 billion). This includes a 67% economic ownership of Wipro, the foundation said. Premji inherited his father’s vegetable oil company and transformed it into a global software powerhouse. One of the world’s richest men, Premji still flies economy class, avoids costly cars and ostentatious displays of wealth. In terms of philanthropic contributions in the country, Premji is ahead of others by a distance. Although India has seen a rise in individual donations of late, contributions of ₹10 crore or more account for more than half of individual philanthropy and Premji’s donations alone account for more than 80% of this.

Mercer appoints Arvind Laddha as CEO for India The Mumbai-based consulting company, Mercer, announced the appointment of Arvind Laddha from JLT Independent Insurance Brokers (JLT) India, as CEO of Mercer India. The appointment will become effective upon the closing of the transaction between Mercer’s parent company, Marsh & McLennan Companies, and JLT, which remains subject to the receipt of certain antitrust and financial regulatory approvals. Laddha comes with over two decades of experience in advising clients on benefits consulting and administration, strategy and investment planning. During his tenure at JLT, he led the Employee Benefits Practice in India and served as CFO establishing its Global Employee Benefits Analytics centre of excellence.

Tata Trust Chairman Ratan Tata inaugurated the renovated building of Meherbai Tata Memorial Hospital (MTMH) in Jamshedpur. Speaking on the occasion, he said Tata Trust is putting a dream of contributing a grid of the hospital so that lives may be saved. Tata said, “We look forward to more lives that may be saved and serve mankind.” Chairman of Tata Sons, N Chandrasekaran said, “We are extremely delighted that this new cancer building has been completed and delighted that it has been inaugurated by Tata. This will provide significant help to affected patients of this part of the world and Jharkhand, he said while appreciating that the building was completed within very short time”. Later, talking to newsmen, General Manager (Medical), Tata Steel, Air Marshal (Retd) Rajan Choudhary and Dr. Sujata Mitra, Director of MTMH, said the hospital increased beds from 72 to 128.

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COLLYWOOD Leo Puri takes over as Chairman of Northern Arc Capital Debt capital group, Northern Arc Capital, has appointed Leo Puri as its first independent, non-executive chairman of the Board. In his career of more than three decades, Puri has worked extensively in the UK, USA and Asia and brings to bear strategy, investing, and operating CEO experience. He was the Managing Director of UTI Asset Management Company till September 2018 prior to which he has been a senior partner at McKinsey & Company as well as Managing Director at Warburg Pincus. In his new role, his extensive experience in strategy, investing and execution is expected to help Northern Arc during its next phase of evolution and growth.

Facebook to mentor startups leveraging AI Social networking giant, Facebook, launched the “India Innovation Accelerator” programme with a focus on “Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Social Good”, under which it would mentor and support promising startups which are leveraging AI to address gaps within high social impact areas.“We are an ally for India’s economic growth and social development and this summit is our effort to understand how we can contribute to the development of deep tech in India, as well as corral resources to use these technologies to develop impactful solutions for tough and persistent problems,” Ajit Mohan, Vice President and Managing Director, Facebook India, said in a statement. The social media giant also launched “100 scholarships for students and developers” who are focused on nurturing their ideas for utilising AI for social good. The scholarships would enable the students to gain access to advanced courses on Deep Learning. The winners would be provided courses on AI and machine learning (ML) by professors of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras. “At Facebook, we are also committed to growing the local AI ecosystem, which can be achieved by providing support to startups, to the student community, and by ensuring diversity within the ecosystem itself,” added Mohan. Another popular Facebook tool under the “AI for Social Good” initiative is its Blood Donation tool, which helps connect blood banks and hospitals to blood donors who have registered themselves on the platform. According to the company, to date, more than 35 million people have signed up to be donors globally.

Netflix testing cheap, mobile-only plan in India In India and other select countries, content-streaming platform, Netflix, is testing a new mobile-only subscription plan that would cost users $3.63 a month (`251). The basic Netflix streaming plan in India starts from $7.27 (`500) and the test plan would slash

the existing subscription plan exactly by half. ”We will be testing different options in select countries, where members can, for example, watch Netflix on their mobile device for a lower price and subscribe in shorter increments of time,” The Verge quoted Netflix as saying.

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Apple Card, the first-ever credit card for iPhones

Bharath Devanathan to lead growth and EV for bounce Bengaluru-based urban mobility startup, Bounce, has appointed Bharath Devanathan as the Senior Vice President, Growth and EV. Devanathan comes with nearly 20 years of diverse experience in the space of internet, Technology and E-Commerce streams. His diverse and global experience makes him a multi-dimensional leader.

In his previous stint, he was the COO of Groupon Inc’s APAC emerging markets region and earlier had worked with brands

Although it remains unclear as of now, the statement from the content-streaming platform hints that it could start offering weekly or bi-weekly subscription options alongside or instead of monthly plans. Netflix declined to share what other countries would be involved in the test besides India. The test in India makes sense, given that Netflix has already expressed interest in the country, the

like Yahoo and Booz & Company.

In his new role, Devanathan will bolster the leadership team and will look into Bounce’s Business growth & expansion, Strategy and Operations. He will additionally focus on electric vehicle initiatives. With its patented keyless technology, Bounce users can pick up/drop the bikes, bicycles or electric bikes anywhere in the city at any time. The company does about 150K rides on a week on week basis.

report said. Todd Yellin, Product Vice President at Netflix gave a keynote in Mumbai addressing the company’s future plans of expanding interactive TV shows and Netflix original content from India on its platform. However, since this is a test, not all users would be able to be part of the new plan and it is also possible that Netflix could decide on not making it a permanent option after all.

Entering the lucrative credit card business, Apple has introduced the Apple Card, that is built into the Wallet app on iPhone, offering customers a familiar experience with Apple Pay and the ability to manage their card on their devices.

Apple is partnering with Goldman Sachs and Mastercard to provide the support of an issuing bank and global payments network. According to the company, Apple Card simplifies the application process, eliminates fees and encourages customers to pay less interest and providing a new level of privacy and security. Apple Card also offers a reward programme with Daily Cash which gives back a percentage of every purchase as cash on customers’ Apple Cash card each day, the company said in a statement.” Apple Card builds on the tremendous success of Apple Pay and delivers new experiences only possible with the power of iPhone,” said Jennifer Bailey, Vice President of Apple Pay. Customers can sign up for Apple Card in the Wallet app on their iPhone in minutes and start using it with Apple Pay right away in stores, in apps or online worldwide. Apple Card uses machine learning and Apple Maps to clearly label transactions with merchant names and locations. Purchases are organised by colour-coded categories such as Food and Drinks, Shopping and Entertainment. A unique card number is created on iPhone for Apple Card and stored safely in the device’s Secure Element, a special security chip used by Apple Pay.” Goldman Sachs will never share or sell your data to third parties for marketing or advertising,” said Apple. “We are excited to be the global payments network for Apple Card, providing customers with fast and secure transactions around the world,” added Ajay Banga, President and CEO of Mastercard. Apple has also designed a titanium Apple Card for shopping at locations where Apple Pay is not accepted yet. Apple Card needs no number, CVV security code, expiration date or signature on the card.

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COLLYWOOD Azure Power Puts over 500 MWs of Solar Power Projects Azure Power, a solar power producer in India, announced that it has commissioned a cumulative capacity of over 500 MW since last fiscal year, bringing the company’s total operational portfolio to over 1,400 MW, one of the largest solar portfolios in India.

Over the past three months, Azure Power has commissioned over 250 MWs, among the highest installations by a company in this period. All utility-scale projects commissioned since the past fiscal year were commissioned ahead of schedule.

Recent commissioning of projects includes the final phase of a 260 MW solar project in Gujarat and a 100 MW solar project in Karnataka. With the commissioning of these projects, Azure Power’s operational

capacity in Gujarat is now over 270 MW, the largest in the state. Speaking on this occasion, Inderpreet Wadhwa, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Azure Power, said, “We are pleased to have commissioned over 250 MW during the current quarter. Our ability to complete projects ahead of schedule and at scale is a testament to our efficiency and reliability as a trusted solar power producer. We continue to demonstrate our strong project development, engineering, and execution capabilities and are delighted to make this contribution towards realisation of our Hon’ble Prime Minister’s commitment towards clean and green energy, through solar power generation.”

Elle and HP: Giving personalised content In the Instagram era, you have to be photo-ready, is what Nina Garcia, Editor-in-Chief of Elle Magazine said about her meeting with Enrique Lores, HP’s president imaging and printing. Someone wanted her to pose for a photograph with Lores and she had hesitated because she felt she wasn’t camera ready.

At HP Reinvent 2019, the company’s biggest global partner event, Garcia and Lores gave details of a collaboration between them with the latter trying to find an ally for HP in print. For Garcia too, who at that time had just taken over as head of the fashion magazine, there was a good reason for the collaboration.” We met looking for ways to shape things up,” she said. This was when they decided to have cover posters for readers but did not know whose poster

customers would like to collect.” So right there we started being strategic,” Garcia said about how the subject was chosen. The cover had to be of someone who had a fan base and a social media presence. That was how Kim Kardashian featured on the cover, which was signed by her.

“This was a personalised cover from Kim. Then it was Jennifer Aniston. They were unique,” she said. Lores asked her whether there could one day be a fully personalised magazine for an individual.” That is a dream.

We have incredible data from our digital site. That would be a logistical feat but this is possible,” she said. Lores gifted her a blue scarf that had been produced on an HP Stitch machine. He explained later that it helped to overcome the problem of ink colour matching and provided consistency.

Tech Mahindra only Indian firm among top 20 global digital companies

Anand Mahindra-led IT firm Tech Mahindra is among the top 30 digital firms globally, the only Indian company, on the list

by Spectator Index showed.

Amazon, Netflix and NVIDIA are the top three firms in the ranking.

Tech Mahindra is ranked at 15 spot on the list. Meanwhile, Tech Mahindra reported a 13 per cent sequential rise in Q3 profit to `1,203 crore. Notably, the consolidated net profit jumped 27.5 per cent on-year. The firm’s revenue rose 3.6 per cent on quarter to `8,944 crore. In the October-December period, the software exporter won a key contract from one of the largest banks in the ANZ region for digital channel integration across core banking processes and asset finance.

Compiled by Orchie Bandopadhyay archiebanerjee@gmail.com

14 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2019

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REALITY CHECK

Water: The clock is ticking

Day Zero has been postponed to next year for Capetonians. When is your turn? Are you ready?

BY BHASKAR SINHA

A

handful of prognosticators estimated that residents of Cape Town, South Africa, might experience ‘Day Zero’ on Earth Day (April 22), this year. The deadline eventually shifted to World Environment Day (June 5). Providentially, by virtue of some administrative restrictions and co-operation from concerned residents, eventually, that day has shifted to another year as of now. If Day Zero becomes a reality, it would be the last day when all Capetonians would receive the last supply of water from the municipality. After that, the once-booming city would turn dry.

What holds true for Cape Town is also the same for other cities, continents and countries across the world. So when is your date? Are you ready to live with minimal or no water? If we do not become serious now, World War 3 is definitely going to happen over the scant potable water resources which are still around.

The United Nations and the World Wide Fund for Nature estimate that by the year 2025, almost two billion people globally would live with grave water inadequacy. They also predict that at the present rate, half of the current population will face great water stress by 2030. Asians and Africans would bear the burnt.

Now, let us look at the status of potable water in India. Only four per cent of the world’s total clean water is available in India although it accounts for eighteen per cent of the world’s population. So there is definitely a huge mismatch. If this trend continues, India will become waterless before 2050. In 2016, WaterAid reported that 76 million people in India have no access to safe drinking water, whereas per capita water availability has dropped from 3,000 cubic metres to just 1,123 cubic metres in a fifty-year period.

India’s Niti Aayog was assigned to prepare a re-

port on the ground reality of the demand for water. Its report is alarming since it predicts that by 2030, the water demand would be twice as much as the available supply. By 2040, all the sources of potable water would probably be exhausted. Right now, 600 million Indians face a dangerous to extreme water crisis and about 200,000 perish every year due to insufficient access to safe water.

Without a doubt, it is a critical situation and with each passing day, it is marching towards becoming a calamity. Also, 52 per cent of India’s agricultural land remains dependent on the vagaries of nature in the form of unreliable rainfall.

Even if the expansion of irrigation facilities can be programmed in the future, where would the groundwater come from? States that are poor performers in water management include Jharkhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. They are not getting better anytime soon. At least not till there are changes in the lifestyles of their residents or sustainability becomes the core theme of livelihood. More future fights between states would be inevitable like we see happening now between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over the Cauvery or between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over the Krishna. Notably, at Shimla this summer, tourists were sent back home without being given boarding and lodging, due to a paucity of potable water.

Creating water chemically is a very expensive affair. But Indians can try and save water. Again, cues can be taken from Capetonians. We need to close the tap after use, repair leaking pipes, start dry cleaning of floors instead of wet cleaning or mopping, do rainwater harvesting, plant trees regularly, level the land and do deep ploughing during summer. Sometimes, indigenous innovative solutions are more effective than high-cost technologies.

In 2009, NASA reported that the Indus basin was the second-most ‘over-stressed’ aquifer in the world. It also stated that the rate of exhaustion of groundwater levels in northern India was about one metre in every three years. North India is prone to a number of risks like seawater ingress, soil contamination, probably due to arsenic and fluoride and the like. Free electricity and groundwater for irrigation as election sops by several governments have made the case worse. There was an unprecedented growth of private tubewells in agriculture also, as surface water was not always available. The ‘Exclusivity principle’ of Indian law allows complete rights to landowners over groundwater. This regulation needs to be revisited and amended as per the changing scenario. Policymakers need to make the security of water, food, environment and energy their central themes.

Recharging groundwater may solve some of the basic problems. Though the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) has an active role to play, plenty of room is available for private citizens or non-profits to take a substantial interest. The people of Rajasthan dig ‘beris’ to harvest rainwater and recharge groundwater. Beris also lessen stress on village women to some extent, as they no longer need to travel great distances to collect water.

People in northern Karnataka also dig lakes and make sand pits to stockpile every droplet of rain.

Literacy in water management is very important.

Though human-made climate change is a reality, we can still arrest it a little by making sustainability the core of our ethics. Public and private parties should join hands together and make this earth livable again for a few more centuries.

(This story was originally published in https:// www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/water/water-theclock-is-ticking-61277) May 1-15, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 15

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WAX ELOQUENT

Making It Happen

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

Global brand that is truly from India

“I saw an opportunity to build a global brand that is truly from India. You can see global brands in every nook and corner of India. But, can you see Indian brands in the lanes of cities in the Middle East, South East Asia, or Europe?

Not until now. OYO is the single brand that is working to make that happen.”

Minimum income guarantee scheme

“The idea that you want to target very poor and give them the ability to build their livelihoods makes sense. But at the same time, whatever you create, you don’t want that to hold people back from looking for jobs, from going out to work.”

Aditya Ghosh, CEO, India, South Asia, OYO Courtesy: https://yourstory.com

Raghuram Rajan, former Reserve Bank of India Governor

Courtesy: The Economic Times

Millennials are a crucial segment “Millennials are a crucial segment of the workforce, and we are seeing opportunities to recognise them in ways that are relevant to them around the world. For them, jobs are not just a means of earning money. They want to make a difference and they want to contribute to something purposeful. Ultimately, one important strength of great workplace culture is the ability to evolve and adapt to an always changing and growing workforce.”

Dave Petersen, CEO, OC Tanner

Courtesy: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Millennials choose products better Perform or perish

“Today, the voter is wiser and more discerning and tends to re-elect governments that perform well and throw out those that don’t perform. The adage of elections today is “perform or perish.”

Prannoy Roy,

veteran journalist and author

Courtesy: https://www.thenewsminute.com

“The older generation was more trusting and not researching-oriented. Millennials do their research and identify what they want to buy. They trust Google and their research more than what anyone says. They are rational, questioning in nature and choose products better.”

Yashish Dahiya, CEO, Policybazaar Courtesy: Business Standard

That’s what brands are for “In any market you do business in, you will find that there are pockets of those who excel and some we can enable. You have to do it through inspiration. That’s what brands are for.”

Kevin Plank, CEO, Under Armour Courtesy: https://www.livemint.com

It is a very fluid situation

“Market in its own wisdom tries to capture both greed and fear.

The optimism that BJP will win 250-260 seats has been captured for sure. But they have also captured that it may not come. It is a very fluid situation.”

Raamdeo Agrawal, joint managing director at Motilal Oswal Financial Services

Courtesy: https://economictimes. indiatimes.com

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The country cannot be auctioned for politics

We have the makings of a very solid scenario

“We have the makings of a very solid scenario for the next five years and I would venture to say that if this government comes back, there will be a fair amount of continuity and that will be something that foreigner investors will look at very closely and provide the impetus for the next leg.”

Nandita Parker, Managing Partner, Karma Capital

Courtesy: https://economictimes. indiatimes.com

Importance of low prices “We learnt about the importance of low prices. We also struggle with low prices but we also work very hard and succeed.

We never operate with fat margins. We are the happiest when we make homes beautiful for people with thin wallet.”

“It is the same country, same politicians, same politics, same policies and sometimes I get fearful of the way this country is going to polls. It seems the politicians have formed a group to auction the entire country. Somebody says I will give you `6,000, somebody says I will give you `1,500.

People forget it is our money.”

Basant Maheshwari,

Co-founder & Partner, Basant Maheshwari Wealth Advisers Courtesy: https://economictimes. indiatimes.com

Jesper Brodin, president and chief executive officer, Ikea Group, Courtesy: Mint

There can’t be a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach “This is especially true today, in the backdrop of unprecedented changes around us. Whether you are working with an individual or on a solution for a client, you have to really make the effort to understand them before you try to solve for them. It’s always important to catch the pulse of your audience to gauge their needs, and only then address the issue in its own unique way. It may require a little extra effort, but the results go a long way.”

Satyavati Berera, Chief Operating Officer, PwC India Courtesy: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Opportunity to re-imagine banking in India Skills are perhaps more important than a degree

In India, you have the same issues. Open jobs, (but) no matching skill sets. You have got to believe in a few different things than I think you believed in the past. One is to believe that skills are perhaps more important than a degree.

Ginni Rometty, chief, IBM Courtesy: https://www.businesstoday.in

“The opportunity to re-imagine banking in India is very real, because the overall customer experience in India is still a challenge. Lot of private sector banks are good, but if you look at the market, there is a large public sector presence. There is a good opportunity for a bank with a good offering to be able to build scale and scope.”

Piyush Gupta, Chief Executive, DBS Group Courtesy: http://www.cogencis.com

In favour of India “Look at the demographics, you have big chunks of the 1.3 billion population that are going to turn into consumers.

So India will be differentially attractive. We expect the reforms and the government changes to continue. There is superabundance of capital around the world and they’re saying where do we deploy: it’s here.”

Manny Maceda, global managing partner, consulting major Bain & Co

Courtesy: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com

India holds a huge opportunity

“India is one of the countries that has a fantastic innovation power — not only on the mechanical engineering and innovation side, but also on the electronics and digital side. There is an abundance of innovators. As an innovation country, it is one where we are scaling up rather than down.”

Mads Nipper, group

president and CEO, Grundfos Holdings

Courtesy: www.financialexpress.com

Compiled by Rajesh Rao rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com

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EXPERT VIEW

The steady rise and steep fall of Jet Airways

BY S K JHA

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

Jet Airways saw a phenomenal rise from its humble beginnings when the Indian skies opened up to private enterprise, but the last few years have seen a steady decline. What caused the decline?

Has it got to do with Jet Airways and its management, or is there something endemic in the Indian airlines’ sector that has seen the rise and fall of many an airline over the years? An analysis….

T

o some, the sky is the limit and to those who love aviation, the sky their home. A poor boy, born in Punjab in 1949, dreamt of making the sky his home by creating a well-respected airline company.

Rags-to-riches story

The poor boy was Naresh Goyal and his airline company, Jet Airways. It was a real rags-to-riches story, he literally flew from the street to the sky.

Naresh Goyal lost his father when he was a child.

He worked in the office of his maternal uncle, who was in the travel agency business, and in the process of his working, he learnt the tricks of the trade. He wanted to be a Chartered Accountant but due to poverty, he could only complete graduation in commerce. Next, he started his own firm with some money from his mother and partly from his salary. The firm was named ‘Jet Airways’ and its business was marketing for foreign airlines. People used to laugh at the name of his firm, which represented something big connected to actual flying, but that didn’t demoralise the young man. The firm gradually went on expanding its business and it became a general sales agent (GSA) of some important Middle East country airlines.

An important event that happened in Naresh Goyal’s life was when Jet Airways started its own commercial airline in 1993 after the liberalisation of the Indian economy and the open sky policy of the government. Initially, the airline started with four leased aircraft with seed money coming from M/s Tail Winds, incorporated in The Isle of Man. The backing of some Middle-East investors including Gulf-Air and Kuwait-Air helped in nurturing the newly born company. Jet Airways went on adding strength by creating its own fleet of aircraft. Following the IPO of Jet Airways in 2005, Naresh Goyal emerged the 16th richest man in India as per the Forbes magazine. This high position was lost in in 2007. Jet Airways acquired Air Sahara for `1450 crores. Market experts believed that it was a costly buy but Naresh Goyal was bullish as it would give a big market share to Jet Airways. The company had to go into debt to finance this costly purchase. Jet Airways

had another feather in its cap, when in 2013, Etihad acquired 24% of its shareholdings. The peak period of the company thereafter continued for some time and then the decline started. Due to bad weather, an aircraft faces turbulence. In the same way, Jet Airways started experiencing turbulence due to surrounding circumstances.

Jet Airways is in the news these days due to the sad exit of Naresh Goyal along with his wife from the Board of the company. The ill health of the company was in the news for the last one year as the loss booked by the company for FY 2017-18 was `636 crores when for the same year Indigo reported a profit of `2242 crore. The debt burden of Jet Airways as on 31 March 2018 was a mammoth `8425 crore. But Naresh Goyal was still confident that he would get some angel investor to save his company. As reported in the

media, he contacted Mukesh Ambani, the Tatas and Etihad for help. Help did not come forth unless he stepped down, and he never wanted to do that.

Meanwhile, the liquidity crisis went out of hand and some aircraft were grounded. Pilots threatened to stop flying unless their salary arrears were paid. As a last resort, Naresh Goyal approached lender banks and they agreed to help the company provided Goyal together with his wife would step down. As per the terms of the settlement, banks would advance `1500 crore emergency fund and they would get 11.4 crore shares of `1 each, for a majority shareholding of 50.1%. It has been explained by SBI that the acquired shareholding would be a temporary phenomenon and a suitable buyer for the company would be located by May end, while a lend-

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er-banks created management would administer the company in the interim period.

Jet Airways had a fleet of 124 aircraft at the start of the year but it was flying only 26-28 aircraft on March 24 before the exit of the Goyals.

It was a sudden fall for the czar of aviation, who had moved to the sky from the streets after reigning for a long period of 26 years, in the highly competitive and specialised industry of aviation, which requires a lot of skill and training.

dian aviation sector. India has the third largest and the fastest growing aviation market in the world in terms of domestic tickets sold. In the year 2016-17, the annual growth in domestic passenger departures was 23.5%, as compared to 3.3% in the US and 10.7% in China. But the aggregate loss of the aviation sector is expected to reach `3600 crores in FY 2018-2019, up from `2550 crores in FY 2017-18, according to credit rating agency ICRA.

Rise and fall of many airlines

Main issues

The steep fall of Jet Airways raises the question as

The obvious reason as seen by experts for the decaying financial health of aviation sector companies are summarised in brief here. First, rising fuel prices. Here, the airline company has no control, as airline turbine fuel (ATF) price is controlled by oil exporting countries. Second, the depreciation in the value of the rupee adds to the cost of imported ATF. Third, unsustainable the competition in the domestic market is killing.

Airlines sometimes sell tickets at a loss to beat competition in the market and thus remain in business by depending upon volume and market share. Fourth, it is the higher capacity addition which works as a multiplier of the loss. There is a technical term, ‘aviation-seat-kilometre’, which is the base to measure loss or profit. If an air-

Jet Airways acquired Air Sahara for `1450 crores. Market experts believed that it was a costly buy but Naresh Goyal was bullish as it would give a big market share to Jet Airways to whether this is a stand-alone case or whether there are deeper problems in our aviation sector?

Our national carrier, Air India, is no longer Maharaja, as it was known earlier. Taxpayers’ money was being used for the last many years to keep it in flying condition. It has huge accumulated losses so much so that the government has failed to attract any suitable buyer. Kingfisher came with a huge bang from the courtyard of billionaire Vijay Mallya and vanished in a short-time with the promoter running away from the country with the money taken from banks to keep Kingfisher flying. SpiceJet was in deep trouble when the old management sold the company lock, stock and barrel. In the earlier period of privatisation of the sky, some small airlines got sucked in by the bigger airlines then.

There seem to be some paradoxes in the In-

craft has 100 seats and it flies to a destination at 100 km, then 100x100=10,000 will be the aviation-seat-kilometre. Seat capacity has to be kept at an optimum level so that there is profit. Fifth, there should be a symbiotic correlation between these two important parameters for a healthy financial result. Sixth, it is the ever-rising airport cost which harms the profitability of the airlines.

Seventh, the frequent intervention by the government also harms the airlines. It has been seen that governments interfere in the pricing of the tickets keeping the interest of the flying public in mind while overlooking the condition of the airlines.

Why some do better?

One fact that cannot be denied is that despite the bad circumstances, some airlines do better than the others. Experts have identified some

of the reasons. First, attracting customers better than others. This is normally done by promoting infrastructure convenience, and by satisfying flyers with good service and by keeping ticket price competitive. Satisfied customers of an airline add to the volume of the business by booking tickets in advance which can be treated as friendly interest-free advance. Second, managing the fleet goes a long way in keeping the airline company healthy. The fleet has to be operated in such a fashion that the perishable loss of empty seats is avoided and the load-factor is properly managed. Third, it is managing people which becomes very important. Productivity in airlines and yield per employee have to be looked into. One main reason for Air India’s state is the huge burden of an unproductive employee load. Fourth and very important is managing finance. Per unit cost and per unit revenue have always to be kept in mind by the management. Funding for growth is essential but the debt to asset ratio should never be lost sight of. Jet Airways suffered due to the highcost purchase of Air Sahara and since then it gradually went into a debt-trap. A strong management and a capable workforce are the two most important attributes for success, together with financial discipline. Inflight services too constitute a potent tool to attract customers.

Non-stop flying curtails cost and successful airlines keep these things in mind.

The government, on the other hand, should take some steps to nurture the aviation sector.

ATF should be brought under GST so as to reduce its cost caused by taxes. Secondly, the government should announce a clear aviation policy and stop meddling in the affairs of the airlines.

The government should strictly focus on the security aspects only and not on aspects of operations and finance.

CC

tadka

Tezpur University hosted Northeast India’s biggest science festival In order to strengthen science, technology, and innovative activities in the state of Assam, Tezpur University recently hosted Northeast India’s biggest science fest “The 2nd Assam Science Festival” at the University premise.

The Assam Science Festival was organised by Assam Science Technology & Environment Council, popularly known as ASTEC under the aegis of Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of Assam. This time the science fest was organised by the council with the active support of Tezpur University.

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CORPORATE STALWART-8

‘TOWERING’ LEADERSHIP India and the Mobile Revolution

India is the world’s second largest smartphone market. The Indian telecom industry is going through one of its most exciting phases, and there is no better platform to showcase these changes than the India Mobile Congress (IMC). IMC is South Asia’s largest digital technology forum where voice, data and a billion people converge.

Corporate Citizen chats with P Ramakrishna, CEO of the India Mobile Congress and Principal Advisor at Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) about the Telecom Industry in India, the 5G revolution, and what goes into organising a world-class global event in record time

By Neeraj Varty For the telecom industry, the situation is like the classic Charles Dickens line, "It is the best of time, it is the worst of times".

The best of times for consumers where they get the lowest data prices in the world, but the worst of times for the telecom industry where there is a price war, intense competition, and consolidation?

It is the best of time because the future and opportunities in the sector are many folds. The way technology is shaping up with the inclusion of 5G, IoT, AI, and AR/VR, these things are transforming business opportunities in the telecom industry. It is also the worst of times because of a price war leading to tariffs being the lowest in the world and high taxation, levies and spectrum cost. I am pretty sure that the situation would be back in favour of the industry eventually.

For decades, India has trailed the world when it comes to telecom.

We missed the bus on 3G. We were behind the rest of the world when it came to 3G adoption.

When it came to 4G, we bridged the gap to a large extent. But we were still a little behind. Now that we are on the cusp of 5G, The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) doesn't want to lose the opportunity to make India a front leader.

We have a good secretary in Ms Aruna Sundararajan, and I am confident India will be in line with the rest of the world when it comes to the 5G revolution.

Do you feel that profitability is a problem for the industry in 2019?

Those constraints are huge. Already our earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortiza-

tion (EBIDTA) are less. Telecom has an extremely high capital requirement so the investments made in the industry are enormous. Also, 5G is a completely new deployment. Unlike 2G and 3G, you cannot overlay on the existing network and get it done. The spectrum is different, the electronics are different. Large investments will be required on the spectrum as well as the auctions.

That being said, I expect things to stabilise soon.

There are many consumer telecom events on the global stage such as Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona every year. Do you think India should host such events here as well?

Yes, because India being a prominent player in the telecom industry, we do not have an event that addresses the technology which enabled the needs of over one billion consumers. We want IMC to be destination technology event for the whole of South Asia. Many level 2, level 3 team members of the telecom ecosystem have very little opportunity to visit MWC or CES. We want IMC to take this role.

We are also in discussions with MWC for partnering and enhancing the level of IMC. MWC DG was in IIMC 2018 and was surprised by the audience and quality of the programme.

Three of our members are on the board of GSMA. We have a good representation there.

MWC wanted to send a team of technical people to evaluate us. This is extremely encouraging and

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Pics: Ahmed Shaikh

we will be sharing this data with MWC on our Barcelona visit. That should help sway opinion in India's favour.

What are some of the key initiatives you have taken that you are really proud of?

I was a part of the first digital modem designed in India in the year 1992. I was part of the first wireless rollout in a telecom circle for JT Mobiles in Andhra Pradesh in 1995-96. I was a founding member of a startup in the passive infrastructure sector called Aster. I ran the company to the USA and was there for 12 years. Then came India Mobile Congress. I had no background of events.

With just our thoughts and ideas, we managed to make it a success.

What goes into preparing for a world class event?

There are a lot of risk elements one has to consider. Last year we played it a little safe and took on a partner who has a background. We held the event in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. Pragati Maidan has all the infrastructure already built in, but we had to just put the pieces together. This year we did the event in Aerocity, New Delhi, and it was a forest land of about 10 acres. They gave us possession of the land on October 11th. They were supposed to give us possession on October 6th, but there was a delay. The event was on October 23rd. Everyone puts up their stalls by the 20th. We built the entire structure on 50,000 square meters from scratch in less than just 12 days. Putting a world-class event with zero error for 56,000 visitors, 5000 Global CXO’s, four Govt. of India Ministers, delegation from 30 nations, facilitating requirements for 700 plus media personals required close to about 1000 staff working day and night with a management team of seven members was a herculean task and we are proud that we executed successfully.

Indians have a talent for working under constraints.

Absolutely. Let me give you an example. The South Koreans (Samsung) signed up with us and they came to see the facility. At that time, they saw the venue and took pictures and sent it back to their headquarters. They had signed a contract with us that they would be the Principal Sponsor. They were worried upon seeing the pictures and asked us how we would

We want IMC to be destination technology event for the whole of South Asia.

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CORPORATE STALWART-8 manage to complete building the structure on time and they were doubtful that the event would go as planned. They came down again a week later and surveyed the venue. They were amazed at the progress we had made in just a week. They took pictures again and sent them back to Korea. This time, a reply came. "This is Incredible India".

You interact with Management and Telecommunications students on a regular basis. Do you feel there is a disconnect between what the industry expects from graduates and the output of the educational industry in India?

Yes, I believe there is. There are two issues.

There is a gap and there is a change. Telecom is a constantly evolving industry. The needs of the industry keep changing and educational institutes sometimes struggle to keep pace. The new National Digital Communication Policy lays out the opportunity to build 10 million jobs in the sector and institutes need to gear up to skill and train this kind of resources.

Recently there was an incident in Norway where several birds died during 5G testing. A recent Rajnikant film, 2.0, also revolves around the issue of telecom radiation being harmful to birds and even humans. Is there any truth to these fears?

I am a subject matter expert on Electromotive Force (EMF). I conduct a lot of talks on this subject. Electromagnetic radiation can be categorised into two types: ionizing (e.g., X-rays, Radon, and cosmic rays) and non-ionizing.

The energy of electromagnetic radiation is determined by its frequency; ionizing radiation is high frequency, and therefore high energy.

Whereas, non-ionizing radiation is low frequency, and therefore low in energy. Ionizing radiation can be dangerous, whereas non-ionizing radiation is safe.

The radiation emitted by mobile phones falls into the category of non-ionising radiation – lower energy radiation that doesn't have enough energy to damage our cells. Visible light, infrared, microwaves and radio waves are all forms of non-ionizing radiation.

There are thresholds according to world standards. Usually, these thresholds have a built-in safety factor of 50 (unit). Over that, India added

a safety factor of 10. In effect, the thresholds in India have a safety factor of 500 times. Network operators have to adhere to these. If these thresholds are reduced any further, it may lead to call drops or other network related issues as already we are well within the prescribed limits. I don't know there are other countries that have as high safety factors built in as India.

ticipating. Already we are working on exclusive 150 international buyers visit and promote Make in India products through a buyers/sellers meet.

We have now doubled the net area, our conference facilities are extended by an extra seminar hall. We envisage five government ministries supporting us. Our exhibitors too are going to be a lot more this time.

India Mobile Congress 2019, is scheduled for 14th October. What have you envisaged for it and how do you plan to top last year’s event?

Can IMC act as a platform for startups to showcase their talent? What is IMC doing to foster innovation?

IMC 2019 is scheduled for 14-16th October 19 at Aerocity. The theme for IMC 2019 is Imagine The New Connected World: Intelligent, Immersive and Inventive. Under this we would bring nine sub themes 1) Intelligent Edge 2) Autonomous Things 3) Immersive World 4) Privacy and Ethics 5) Smart Spaces 6) Augmented Analytics 7) Future Logistics 8) MHealth and 9) Inventive Unicorns. We would bring Trails, Product Launches, Investments, experience, Discussions, Knowledge Sharing and Networking in all these areas. We have confirmations from some Global Leaders and CEOs and looking forward to double the size of visitors footfall and companies par-

IMC always had a section on startups. Last year it was on apps and this year we would focus on 5G use cases. We are tying up with 5G test labs of Ericsson, and others to encourage startups on new use cases and applications

IMC always had a section on startups. Last year it was on apps and this year we would focus on 5G use cases. We are tying up with 5G test labs of Ericsson, and others to encourage startups on new use cases and applications. We are also in discussion with Agni – The Innovation Foundation, Govt. of India to bridge Innovation and International Commercialisation gap in Technology Sector. Our theme for startups this year is Inventive Unicorn’s; with an objective that last five years India has focused a lot on developing startup ecosystem and we have thousands of them now, but what next? How do we scale them up? How do we nurture them to be Unicorns?

How does the 5000 global CXO’s present at IMC 2019 would look at these startups, for unique cooperation? With this focused approach for startups, we want some tangible benefits to the participants including funding opportunities.

We already achieved some success with startups participated last year and we are happy we are able to bring value. We are going to give free space for startups for exhibiting their products.

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with them rather than an e-commerce play. Understanding the diverse role each of this business conglomerate as they can adopt new business models and one such can be e-commerce.

What is your vision for IMC in the near future?

Our objective is very clear that we want to bring as big if not bigger event than MWC Barcelona to India. India should be the doorstep to technology innovation and technology adoption and it should showcase its strength to the world through IMC. Top Global CXO’s should mark their calendar as the must attend event for the year. We are also looking into bringing social upliftment for the nearby society and business with this global footfall. Each year of IMC would bring millions to local car rentals, Hotels, food houses, event industry and other SMEs.

Do you believe in a work-life balance?

There should definitely be a balance. There should be an understanding with your partner and it took time for us to build but we have

tisers for IMC, considering technology trade shows are still a niche in India?

Yes, we are growing by 200% every year, we are EBITA profitable, but we are not looking for any funding at this stage. Looking at this exciting sector – technology, it is going to be an interesting space in the next 3-4 years with the 5G roadmap. A lot of technology companies would like to focus on 5G related products and services and most of them need a platform like IMC to showcase. We are well supported by our parent Body COAI members and we are ready to sustain the growth by unique partnership models without sacrificing our objective as South Asia’s largest technology showcase. Our only challenge at this stage is that we do not have an international standards scalable exhibition centres to host such big events in India. Hope the new ones being constructed in Delhi would give an opportunity to scale to MWC Barcelona level in coming years.

Despite being a massive market for smart technology (especially smartphones), India has a dearth of OEMs and largely depends on China for manufacturing.

What can be done to encourage manufacturing in India?

Some positive steps have been taken by the Govt. of India to encourage manufacturing in India. It has already excited international companies such as Samsung, Xiaomi, and Oppo to set up manufacturing facilities in India. Now we see a growing ancillary of industries coming up in Noida and SriCity in Andhra Pradesh in a big way which include Lithium Batteries, Glasses, Screens etc. But the real ecosystem in manufac-

We are growing by 200% every year, we are EBITA profitable, but we are not looking for any funding at this stage. Looking at this exciting sector - technology, it is going to be an interesting space in the next 3-4 years with the 5G roadmap turing would come only when we have foundries and fabs, which I see as a distant future as globally all units have currently surplus capacity. Now Govt. policies should be discussed to encourage these companies to set up big floor shop in India.

Do you think that with companies like Reliance Jio entering into e-commerce and content creation, India is on its way to developing an ecosystem like China’s BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent)?

Content and rise of Chinese Hubs such as Baidu, Alibaba was more to do with demand in China and local language barriers. But for companies such as Google, Amazon etc they do not have language barriers for the Indian market, they have only policy barriers. So I see one more Baidu won’t be there in India, but there would be a Google or Amazon, or Walmart having biggest operations second to the US in India. Companies like Jio and Airtel would play a dominant role in content aggregation platform hosting, service bundling, and user acquisition. Companies like Jio, Airtel should focus as in the US like Verizon and AT&T and make sure the technology delivery hold is

achieved that balance. I am allowed to work from anywhere. If I do not have work in Delhi, I go back to Hyderabad. I travel only when I am required to.

What's your idea of relaxation?

I love spending time with my kids neeraj.varty07@gmail.com

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According to a recent survey by the World Economic Forum (WEF), some central banks are emerging as early movers and leaders in blockchain experimentation and research. Innovative uses of blockchain by central banks include anti-money laundering efforts in Hong Kong; using Ethereum that enables automatic transactions in France and sharing interdepartmental information in Brazil.

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CII-CFO MEET 2018

Navigating through uncertain times

Challenges and opportunities for finance function (fuel prices, inflationary impact, regulatory changes and market)

Change is the new normal for individuals and organisations. How you and others behave and respond to change and external forces, will create opportunities to demonstrate new ways of leading and managing within your organisation.

Leading in turbulent times requires guidance versatility, decisiveness, influence, resilience and courage. The business environment is dynamic and complex, as well as chaotic. Multiple stakeholders have divergent perspectives, demands and expectations. External political, bureaucratic, social and economic forces challenge organisational vision and strategic aim and intent. As business leaders, how you all need to transform and keep your performance levels at peak, was the panel discussion topic, at the recently held CII-CFO Meet 2018, at Hotel Hyatt Regency, in Pune.

Corporate Citizen brings you the excerpts By Rajesh Rao Panellist - Sandeep Sachdeva, Partner, Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan (Moderator); Sanjeev Rastogi, Managing Director, Syngenta Services Pvt Ltd; Sachit Nayak, Co-Convenor, CII Pune Finance & Taxation Panel and Chief Financial Officer, Eaton Technologies Pvt Ltd; Richard Stephenson Managing Director, Global Head, MNC Subsidiary Banking Coverage and Treasury Services and Sales, JP Morgan; Manoj Bhat, Deputy CFO & Global Head, M&A and Corporate Planning, Tech Mahindra Ltd Sandeep Sachdeva: Change is constant and we all are living in a changing atmosphere. It is nothing new, but what is different this time is the speed by which the change is coming and the quantum of change that is coming in terms of disruptive technology. And from the regulatory side, bankruptcy code, GST and the changes in arbitration law, have come. The world is moving closer and we are now becoming a small family.

The Indo-China trade war is impacting India. The relationship between the US and Iran is also impacting India. There is also impact of different economies on India, with respect to oil, currency and inflationary things. So, basically, we all are moving through changing times. What is important is the culture and the DNA of the organisation, to make it through the changes.

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times. Likewise, Eaton is also another hundredyear-old organisation and they have grown and gone through various uncertainties. And on the contrary, there are companies like Kodak—they were pioneers in photography and they are the ones who first invented the digital camera, But, they couldn’t focus on that and today they are not much known in the market. The digital photography space has gone to somebody else. So, basically, how companies adapted to the changes, the agility of the company to get through the changes and anticipate the changes, are the deciding moves on which the companies will survive.

In human life also, the mortality rate is very high in its initial stage of life and it decreases as one moves in the middle stage. Similarly with the corporates also, but having an organisation for more than 50-100 years, really shows their disci-

pline, how they have adapted to the changes and their agility.

Q: With respect to culture, what do you (Richard Stephenson) see as the core value of your organisation that allows it to not only to adapt to the present changes but also to those which are likely to come in the future?

Richard Stephenson: With respect to crisis and DNA, having been in the banking industry for almost thirty years, I have had the experience of living through and working through a number of crisis. The grandfather of all of them being the financial crisis that took place globally, around ten years ago, and certainly, I am sure as in India and rest of the world, there are all sorts of nolook backs, in terms of what transpired there. On a personal basis, if you will, I do recall in March

2008, on a Sunday evening, receiving an email— there was a word that Bernstein was under considerable distress and this was a company that had stock traded. It was an announcement that came across the wires that JP Morgan had purchased Bernstein for $2 a share.

I remember, running up to my wife, she had some kind of concept on that and I told her that it must be a misprint. And, in reality, as we know, indeed it was not. The next morning I went into our office-we were encouraged to run across the street that I am actually working now, and introduce ourselves to our new colleagues. The difficulty and sadness in which that experience was felt, I felt it as well, it has remained with me for the rest of my career. And I say that for a number of reasons-one was-that was in March 2008 and Lehman didn’t take place until September

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CII-CFO MEET 2018 of 2008-so, that wasn’t even the depth of crisis felt very deep at that time. But, I do think that’s a very high level and what’s important of that is, how it cascades down into our own businesses, whether they be in finance or corporate space or banking space.

I think, what has transcended is that the ability of all of us to be very honest and forthright in terms of what could go wrong in our business and frankly stress test and put those potential scenarios through test cases. And whether its strong currency movements, whether it is one or more clients running in stress and going under, whether it was my case at a time, really making sure of a couple of things. This is quite micro, but it gives you an idea in terms of the DNA. Throughout a business, whether it’s a corporate or in banking, I think, it is to be very good at practice. And throughout the course of subsequent crisis that was not as seminal as the financial crisis, but certainly, the Brexit vote, the energy crisis of January 2016, the market of the last couple of months, those were the trying times for the DNA, that has continued to serve as well.

Q: (To Sachit Nayak) Apart from the values, how culture and employees and how the group together is a family? How it is also important with respect to the overall DNA and culture of your organisation?

Sachit Nayak: Eaton is about 107-year-old company and it has its share of flips and flops. To stay relevant, what is needed is strong core values and foundation. I would really talk about six leadership attributes, which really drive Eaton’s culture and those are passion, accountability, transparency, ethics, efficiency and learn. The last two, efficiency and learn, is where there are a lot of opportunities for you to learn and grow. As a result of that, we feel, it has given lot of employees a tremendous amount of growth and drive innovation. Specific to Pune, in 2016, there were three things, which as a part of the change, we started planning. So, in 2017 there were three big transformation projects we were working on and all three went live on the 1st of July. One which, every company in this room was impacted, that is GST and the two other where Eaton was involved. All these three had a tremendous amount of challenges and change. So, change is the only constant and I think the team had the resilience to drive the behaviour as well as the results. And, all three have been successful and stabilised.

Q: Tech Mahindra is an organisation having a huge employee base and in this changing times and technologies getting outdated very fast and new things coming up, what is the organisation plan and the culture, with respect to reskilling the people and how you are navigating this kind of technology changes?

Manoj Bhat: We are about 120 thousand peo-

With respect to crisis and DNA, having been in the banking industry for almost thirty years, I have had the experience of living through and working through a number of crisis -RICHARD STEPHENSON

Eaton is about 107-year-old company and it has its share of flips and flops. To stay relevant, what is needed is strong core values and foundation -SACHIT NAYAK

ple across the globe, out of which 70-80 thousand are in India and the rest is spread across 90 countries. In terms of really what’s our business, the way we look at our business is that we are actually trying to help our customers change and across the globe, our customer business is being disrupted, across industries. If we have to be a driver of change, we have to be a partner in transformation, ultimately we have to change faster than what is happening in the technology

market and all of us probably know 7-8 years is a technology cycle and every eight years technology changes.

Now it’s just so happened, in the last 3-4 years, I think a combination of mobility, a combination of higher compute power, a combination of cheaper sensors is causing this whole digital revolution and penetration of internet. So, from our perspective we looked at it—going back to our culture and our philosophy, which is Mahindra

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We need to change and the key to success is how effectively we are engaging with employees and how effectively you are telling them, what is your contribution and what is next for them -SANJEEV RASTOGI

If we have to be a driver of change, we have to be a partner in transformation, ultimately we have to change faster than what is happening in the technology market -MANOJ BHAT

period of time we have made sure that about 80 thousand people are trained on that programme.

And then of course, the advance programmes are lesser numbers. So, one it is just about making sure that from every group, every part of the organisation, training is an important metric and has to be people skills. And people reskilling is an important metric for all managers and they are tracked on that.

Number two is, internally what we run as Hackathons, which are obviously an opportunity for people to explore new solutions, come up with new ideas. We pick a few ideas, out of each hackathon, out of each summit and then we actually fund some of those as business ideas so that they can actually contribute to some wealth generation for the employee. But, more importantly, it feeds back into the overall organisation business and tries to promote a new solution for our customers. As a result of this, we really have now probably funded about 30-40 of these, at varying levels of funding. Some of those are successful and many of them integrated into the business. But clearly, if you go across the company, people are aware of hackathons and people are participating in them and changing.

So, that’s at the grassroots level and then finally if I step back, I think one of the thoughts around disruption is also that it’s an ecosystem play—you can’t really be the sole disrupter. And more and more as ecosystems evolve, whether it’s the fintech ecosystem or players of various kinds, it's about how do we think of skills in the context of a partnership? How do we think what should we have in-house versus what should partner with someone? So, that’s important. Directionally, we have a programme called “TechM Next”, and we have on-boarded about 20 startups now. They are our partners, and we take them under our umbrella, we stitch together a solution using the

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Our greedy brain Group Rise philosophy—and broadly we think that alternative thinking is a key thing. Second is that we are accepting no limit and the third thing is we are driving positive change. So, that’s the mantra for all of us and in fact throughout the organisation, whether it’s our rewards and recognition, whether it’s our overall policies, they are all geared towards these three tenets. So, when we start that, how do we implement it because reskilling itself is actually about alternative think-

ing, actually driving changes in our service offerings to our customers.

So, the way we looked at is that from our perspective we obviously have programmes, which periodically ask people to step up skills. To talk about one of those as example, this whole digital revolution which is happening—we devised a training programme which was for beginners called “Digital One-O-One” and that was probably set up almost two years back and over a

Your brain might account for only about three per cent of your body weight, but it receives about 30 per cent of the blood being pumped by your heart. This shows how much attention and support it requires in comparison to the other seemingly important areas of your body. “The brain is like a spoiled and demanding child, but yet it is extremely smart and efficient,” explains Bennet Omalu, MD, a forensic pathologist, neuropathologist, epidemiologist, clinical professor at University of California, Davis.

It takes about 1/10,000th of a second to respond to something and generate an action.

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CII-CFO MEET 2018 best technologies available and offer a solution to our customer.

So, from my perspective, skills are about obviously reskilling our own employee skills, about acquiring skills wherever available from the market and third is how do we continuously improve on all of these metrics. That’s the way we approach it and so far so good. I think, if I look at one of these metrics, with which we track digital revenue and last year our digital revenue grew in excess of 30 per cent. So, clearly one of the ultimate success of any reskilling programme is how it translates into revenue growth and that’s the core metric everybody has measured on. And that is at the topmost layer, as to how do we track that reskilling is successful and it translates into outcome.

Q: Continuous evolvement is basically a mantra for survival. The current generation which is more talented and energetic, but they have their own aspirations and they want everything fast. Today when people are aware and talk about work-life balance and at the same time aspire for speedy professional growth, the question is (to Sanjeev Rastogi) how do we motivate them? The core is the people and the value system which people carry, but how to motivate this young generation with the old value system of an organisation and make them carry it forward?

Sanjeev Rastogi: Lot of things are changing for the current generation. One is that people are very keen to know what is the job they are getting into and what they want to do in the job. Secondly, as we progress, more retention and attrition was a matrix, so you would expect somebody to be in a job for 2-3 years—so that norm is gone. I think 18 months is a good tenure for somebody to have. The third thing is, people, start questioning the traditional structure—they don’t want hierarchal, they want to be in the forefront, they want to connect with customers, they want to connect with stakeholders. The core thing is the work environment and the work-life balance they talk about. And the fifth, which is a major change that is coming with the millennials and the younger generation is, they want to take the ownership of their career themselves, rather than being at the mercy of their managers or the HR, which used to be the case earlier.

So, this became a challenge for us because we are in this environment and being an agro-chemical company, for us strategies change and everything else change. So, we realised that we need to change ourselves—18 years is a good tenure to look at and attrition is not a matrix anymore. Talent earlier was about grooming people and upskilling people within the organisation, but then we realised that it is not aligned to our business strategy. So, you need to look at what is your business strategy and do you have the talent, otherwise, you acquire that. When you acquire the talent or when

How companies adapted to the changes, the agility of the company to get through the changes and anticipate the changes, are the deciding moves on which the companies will survive -SANDEEP SACHDEVA

you have the talent that you need to nurture—earlier it was the only competency based. There is a module which has come into place which most of the organisation follow. It is about, what are the competencies the person brings in? What are the personal attributes and what’s their knowledge and experience? That’s the combination of everything else when you measure a talent.

Then the whole thing about engagement-how meaningfully you are engaging them with the job, which they are in. What is the value they are

creating, because everything they talk about is, "I don’t want to do this job for two years, doesn’t make any sense". So, you need to connect them to business and business strategies. We have something called micro-skilling, which we have done it for over 30 thousand employees, recently after our acquisition and mergers. Wherein we take them through the company values, purpose, ambition, leadership values and they go through a one-two day workshop. The other thing which we recently introduced and which is quite successful is we have done away with twice a year appraisal cycle because that doesn’t make any sense.

So, appraisals happen on time and anytime when you want to give feedback. We decided, whenever you are engaging with an employee, spend an hour with him, tell him what his contribution is, what his engagement is and how we are going to recognise it. And I think, that has changed the way we engage with our employees. It’s not a typical appraisal like these are your priorities and what you do.

The other important thing we have done on the engagement side is having an Individual Development Planning (IDP) and that’s not common across finance or HR function, it is for the individual. So, you sit down with the employee

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and ask, what you think are your next steps— you invest that and once you invest, you show the commitment of the management to engage with that, going through changes we had in the last three years. The major changes in the agri industry, the consolidation and everything—we are running with almost 10-12 per cent attrition, which is pretty good in the industry and the changes we have gone through internally in the organisation. I think these are some of the steps we need to do and we have done, to successfully engage and motivate our employees. And of course recognition plays a big role, so we have moved away from a monitoring kind of system.

We have moved to digital, so you can say thank you to anybody in the world—you can give them points, which can be redeemed. So, I think there are ways to means, but we need to change and the key to success is how effectively we are engaging with employees and how effectively you are telling them, what is your contribution and what is next for them. And the whole thing about timebound promotions, time-bound changes staying in the role for two-three years, that’s the past.

Q: This disruptive technology has impacted everybody and technology is a big enabler.

Coming to the banking sector, technologies like Blockchain Technology, Big Data, AI, Machine Learning, has brought a completely new dynamism in the banking sector. From a global perspective, how did these disruptions brought a lot of efficiencies and what are the security threats which you are anticipating?

Stephenson: There is a very interesting chart that we saw about 18 months ago, which really had all of the banking businesses across the JP Morgan complex-on exchange, the capital markets, prime brokerage loans and within those spaces-and all the different fintechs at that time, that were niche players and attacking and trying to disrupt those specific banking business. And I think, the first thing that we have done as an institution, is to recognise it and kind of compete head-on through investments and technology and so forth, or to partner or some instances acquire and we have done a combination of all those three things. The latest representation of that strategy is our investment in a fintech centre in Silicon Valley. That will come online in 2020, in the heart of where the best technologists and the best brains and expertise exist, so that we can compete for head-on with Facebooks and the Googles, and the Apples and Amazons, in the fintech space. At the same time, some instances we will look to continue to acquire and one of the companies we acquired was a company called “WePay” which is another kind of payment process. So, the whole arena is changing enormously.

The other element is, for example in the business I am most associated with, which is transaction banking—in the last 18 months, we have hired a head of innovation. So, within the transactional banking innovation space, we have teams and investment and projects going on in AI, APIs, Blockchain, all which is to experiment and innovate within a portfolio of a project, to see if we can get different applications to do either existing banking processes, better, faster, cheaper or new ones within the concept of digitisation of banking. So, it is a very much a portfolio approach, enormously exciting and it’s something where certainly JP Morgan and other financial institutions have to compete on an ever greater scale, going forward.

Q: You (Sachit Nayak) are an innovative company and for you, these technologies definitely must have got a new level of innovations. How you are using these disruptive technologies scale up?

Nayak: Specifically speaking for finance, there are two things, one is improving internal productivity and second is increasing manufacturing productivity. Focusing on internal productivity, we did a pilot, so that we can really understand the proof of concept and in 2017 we did two Robotics Process Automation (RPA) pilots, and we saw success in both those pilots. As a finance

function, this year we launched RPA across all three verticals - R2R, O2P and O2C and we have done this through three waves and by end of this year we will have nine dots in the finance function. It is a good start.

How we went about this is, we actually partnered with Deloitte, took their help in an initial assessment of our financial processes and we looked at what processes and activities will be amenable to RPA. Based on that initial assessment, we then formed an internal team within IT, so that we are bringing that building organisation capability within Eaton and then partnered with automation anywhere as our RPA partner in this journey and I think the results have been fabulous so far. Our payback has been in ten months and productivity savings has been more than 20 per cent.

Q: Whenever there are these technology changes and implementing new things, I am sure it is not always very easy to implement and to kind of convince the people that this is needed and it is going to be helpful. Have there been any instances where there has been some resistance while bringing in these changes?

Nayak: This has woken us up a bit, it is new to us.

We just started in 2018, so definitely it’s change management. One of the things we consciously did by design, is that we looked at skills gap analysis of the folks who are going to get impacted and started reskilling them to things which they can perform better at. And we did specific interventions for these folks. There was apprehension in the beginning but as we really said that we want to retain them—and none of the folks is impacted this year and they have all got into better jobs. rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com (To be continued...)

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Reliance becomes India’s first private company with `10,000 crore quarterly profit Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has become the first-ever private company in India with a quarterly profit of over `10,000 crore. Mukesh Ambani, the Chairman and MD of one of India’s largest enterprise, recently got featured in the 2019 annual list of top ‘100 Global Thinkers’ of Foreign Policy magazine. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, the disruptive telecom venture started by Mukesh Ambani in 2016, has been able to sustain the profitability in the fifth continuous quarter.

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INTERVIEW

New Challenges for HR

Amit Joshi, Associate Vice President-HR, Jubilant Life Sciences has had a long and varied innings in an array of sectors and industries. As he says, HR is in his blood, coming as he does, from a family of HR professionals.

He has witnessed changes in HR right from the time of manual attendance and record keeping to the latest changes that technology has brought in and from the time when HR was seen as a ‘staff function’ to its role now as a ‘business partner’. He outlines this journey in a tete-a-tete with Corporate Citizen…

Could you take us back through your professional journey to where you are today?

I have done my Masters in HR and I am also a Law graduate. I belong to a family of HR professionals as my father was Executive Director HR of one of the Miniratna companies and other family members were also from the same fraternity, so HR is in my blood. I started my career with Standard Alkali, Mumbai. After that I was selected by JK synthetics, Kota, Rajasthan, where I worked for two years. I then joined Hindustan Zinc Limited and thereafter the company was taken over by Vedanta. I continued with Vedanta for another three years after which I joined Samtel group as Head HR for one of their manufacturing sites. When I got a larger role, I decided to join JK Tyre & Industries. I subsequently moved to Vedanta as Head HR for one of their flagship companies, Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd, Korba, Chhattisgarh, where I was heading the HR functions of the company for five years. Presently I head the HR functions of the biggest site of Jubilant Life Science Ltd at Gajraula.

Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd is an integrated global pharmaceutical and life science company engaged in pharmaceuticals, life science ingredients and other businesses. It is part of the Jubilant Bhartia Group. We have a workforce of more than 2400 employees. The company has the best HR practices and a very caring and committed

Pics: Yusuf Khan

BY HARSH THIND

“One of the challenges that comes in the HR field is that sometimes the human mind is very unpredictable, it is one of the most complex creations of the almighty. While people carry baggage from home and behave indifferently, we cannot predict their behaviour and it becomes a challenge”

management and workforce. So this is my journey of advancement and learning through exposure to multifarious industry verticals.

You have a degree in law; is it important for HR freshers to have a good grip on law?

In fact, legal exposure is only the statutory part, during this course one learns and applies logical thinking. Remember, law and even HR is science. It teaches to decide rationally as to what is right and wrong. So in discharging our duties either at home or office we come across situations where we cannot refer to books every time. Even when there are multiple opinions

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and we have to choose, a law background gives insight and confidence to take correct decisions.

That is why I think a degree in law is definitely an added advantage.

You have more than 30 years experience in HR. What changes have you seen in the role over the years?

I have seen the primitive HR where attendance was marked manually, salary calculated and given manually, and all statutory compliances handled by many people filling various forms.

Training was for namesake, as there was no TNI or focussed intervention, ROI was never heard.

Similarly, on advancement and career development, it was only incremental and employee goal setting and appraisal were not structured.

HR was considered a staff function.

Over time I have found that HR has grown exponentially. It is now a business ally, it complements business and is now seen as a business partner. All our interventions, processes, are made to support the business. We have leveraged technology, as a result of which there is speed in decision making, a proactive IR, hence participative and conducive work environment which has enhanced employee engagement and satisfaction. All this ensure business continuity and growth. We now focus on ethics and values rather than disciplining employees. Our employees are inclined towards the betterment of the organisation, implementing global best practices, enhanced employee engagement through improved initiatives and the application of structured problem solving tools. Everyone talks about productivity improvement and employee volunteerism in CSR activities. This is the transition I have seen. HR has marked its footprint in the eyes of the management and is earning respect as a business partner.

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

Challenges start with the pressure that comes in terms of recruitment. Though we have a structured process in hiring professionals through campus, wherever you operate, people still aspire and question as to why people from the vicinity are not inducted. Though I don’t find this a challenge, sometimes we do get into this trap and have to handle such cases diplomatically through a selection process. If they are suitable I don’t mind taking them, else they are rejected, so this is one of the challenges.

Another challenge that comes in the HR field is that sometimes the human mind is very unpredictable, it is one of the most complex creations of the almighty. While people carry baggage from home and behave indifferently, we cannot predict their behaviour and it becomes a challenge. We have to handle situations

involving arrogance, misbehaviour and insubordination. This takes our productive time but we have worked out ways to mitigate them with meditation at work, work-life balance, timely engagement, etc.

The third challenge I face is that employees are not concerned about their well being or their families. They take life very casually. They do not bother about the use of safety equipment/PPE. This sometimes leads to instances which may hinder business operations, hence it is all the more important to take safety as the “way of life”.

While hiring, what skillsets do you look for?

First and foremost, positive thinking, how much the person receives, wants to learn and leverage

amicably with productivity improvement with the nation’s top leadership.

Do you believe in a demarcation between work-life and personal life?

There has to be a demarcation between work and personal life but there are situations where you have to take work home, but it should not be a routine feature. These two are completely different and should never be mixed. One should never talk official matters with family members.

What are some of the lessons you learned in your life?

There will always be hindrance while you take an extra mile and ownership. Newton’s Laws of Motion and the principle, “every action has an equal and opposite reaction” should be our tag

“Skills and competence can be slightly less or more, but if a person has a desire to learn and is ready to accept challenges, that is the differentiator.

Uncompromising honesty and loyalty to the profession and organisation are important skill sets” learning. Skills and competence can be slightly less or more, but if a person has a desire to learn and is ready to accept challenges, that is the differentiator. Uncompromising honesty and loyalty to the profession and organisation are important skill sets. Respect to the nation, organisation and people, reflects the culture and values one is carrying.

You’ve had such an illustrious career, what are some of the key initiatives you are proud of?

One key initiative for me is the development of talent. I am proud that at least 50 of my associates are steering HR in some way or the other across the globe. I am proud I could develop these young professionals by empowering them. Apart from this, I have the privilege in my present and last assignment to work in close collaboration with various business leaders who are globally acclaimed. I have learnt a lot from them. Also my satisfaction is that I could foster a culture of continuous learning and unleash and synergise talent from within the organisation. I have worked with various unions and have developed a culture of proactive IR. I am proud of working with multiple unions and am privileged to sign off a long-term settlement

line for self-motivation, as power comes from within and we should always be prepared to take newer challenges and try to find “opportunities in adversity”.

What advice you would give youngsters aspiring to join the corporate world?

Never look back, there will always be hindrances, don’t get scared. Every problem has a solution, just do your work with dedication and love your company and profession. harshthind10@gmail.com

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tadka Gastronomy on wheels ‘Marriott on Wheels’ will engage its executive chefs across six cities, via their new food truck that is likely to cover 6,761 kms across India; whipping up dishes inspired by each of the selected destination. The journey will kickstart from Mumbai, travelling via Ahmedabad and then onwards to Amritsar, Lucknow, Madurai, Kochi and Pune.

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TÊTE-À-TÊTE

The Sustainable Plastics Push

After pursuing his masters in Analytics and Finance at the Columbia University, New York, Varun Gupta joined Calco Poly Technik, as director where his focus has always been in creating efficient products for the plastic industry that have minimal impact on the environment By Orchie Bandyopadhyay Where were you before you joined Calco Poly Technik?

I have a post graduate degree in engineering from Delhi, I moved to the US and pursued Master’s in Analytics and Finance to hone my business skills at Columbia University, New York. With rich professional experience of 8+ years across functions like corporate finance, business development, I had a brief stint in a hedge fund management company at the Wall Street in New York. There, I analysed investment strategies and made recommendations to hedge fund for investments.

I have also worked with Dr. Bernd H Schmitt who is a renowned professor of international marketing at the Columbia Business School, wherein I assisted him with the launch of his book “Big Think Strategy” and the BRITE Conference.

Thereafter, I joined Calco and commenced its transformational journey, reaching out to different market areas and expanding dealership networks outside India.

Under my leadership, Calco Group has focused extensively on sustainable solutions for the plastic industry. I even spearheaded technology transfer from DRDO for green technology in plastics in 2011. Since 2012, I am actively engaged in manag-

is process expertise, efficient implementation.

Calco relies on slim-line processes, a high degree of automation and flat hierarchies.

What inspired you to launch the company?

India is predominantly a net importer of engineering polymers. Over the past few years, due to accelerating growth in the industry, high-performance materials are either imported or made by foreign corporates with a manufacturing facility in India. However, with a surge in demand in the polymer market, we observed that there was a requirement for an Indian producer who could meet international standards and provide an innovative solution at a significant cost advantage.

This led us to start Calco.

What kind of ground research did you undertake before launching Calco?

For creating Calco, a lot of research was undertaken. First and foremost was to understand the potential customers and their product expectations which was followed by mapping the gap in the current delivery systems and positioning ourselves in the mature market. Later on came the

The most important requirement in today’s time is high fuel efficiency, low CO2 emission, better aesthetics. Our products are innovated around these three attributes ing Calco Poly Technik, which produces high-performance engineering plastic to leading OEM’s and Suzuki, Volvo, Daimler, TVS, Honda, Havells, Phillips, Panasonic, Legrand…to name a few!

creation of infrastructure, team and products in accordance with customer requirements. This was done profusely—we created achievable targets, resulting in consistent year-on-year growth.

What is Calco Poly Technik’s USP? Calco is one of the leading providers of high-performance polymer, colour and additive solutions with an experience of over 18 years and serving more than 1000 customers. The company has invested in state of the art equipment, technology and people empowerment. The company is a global solution provider offering end-to-end solution encompassing product development from concept to product realisation. The real difference

Given India’s per capita consumption of plastics, what is the growth potential of your company?

The plastic and polymer market is on an upward spiral. Currently, India has a per capita consumption of 11kg, whereas the global figure stands over 80kg. However, the growth of plastics is over 14 per cent in India. Considering India’s growing per capita income and a large portion of the population moving to urban areas with better

ability to spend money, we expect 20% year-onyear growth.

What is your global market like and what are your expansion plans?

We have been catering to neighbouring countries which are similar to India and have a large portion of lower and middle-class segments. Such strata are gradually moving upwards with higher expectations and have the ability to spend on the so-called-luxury items. In the near future, we aspire to have our presence in all global major automobile manufacturing hubs, organic or inorganic in nature.

What are the most important things for your customers?

The most important requirement in today’s time is high fuel efficiency, low CO2 emission, better aesthetics. Our products are innovated around these three attributes that make the job of product designers easier.

What has been your greatest triumph and your greatest success in the field of high-performance polymers?

Our focus has always been in creating efficient products that have minimal impact on the environment. We have developed safe flame retardant products that meet all environmental regulations and which have a safe after usage disposal.

What is your commercial strategy and how do you plan to grow your business?

At Calco, we believe in the lean, flexible manufacturing of goods. We also focus on flat hierarchy which puts costs in check and gives better control across different systems and responsibilities. We are capable to service smaller as well as bulk lots within a 24-hour period. This gives us a substantial edge over our competitors in the market. At the same time, this assists our customers to save on inventory costs and maximise profitability from their working capital.

You are currently setting up a new plant…

We are setting up a new plant in Sonipat, Haryana with an investment of `50 crore. The facility will

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We consciously make an effort towards creating a better environment for the present as well as future generations.

A major concern we face today is selfawareness about responsible use of plastics, its disposal and reusability

be the second plant for the company and will be equipped with a fully integrated testing lab facility.

It is expected to be operational by the mid of 2019 with a total capacity of 30,000 tonnes.

Today all want to reduce plastic waste, so we leave the environment in a better place for generations to come. How can you play a part?

As a part of the Swacch Bharat Mission initiative which has commercialised indigenous technology developed by DRDO, Ministry of Defence for ecofriendly solution to the waste management problem, the Government along with the society have been making an effort to reduce plastic waste. We have been trying diligently to make a difference from our end and almost all our products are created with a single focus on sustainability. This is done either by using recycled polymers, using green chemistry chemicals or reducing the carbon footprint of our manufacturing process.

Do you see an opportunity to educate people on recycling?

We consciously make an effort towards creating a better environment for the present as well as future generations. A major concern we face today is self-awareness about responsible use of plastics, its disposal and reusability. The fact that it can be recycled doesn’t give anybody a right to resort to littering.

How do you develop talent, help people grow to the next level and be their best?

It is one of our priorities to build talent and support the development of our employees and help them grow to the next level. We find the best talent straight from colleges, through campus placement drives. The youth has an unadulterated approach towards corporate life and can be moulded as per the respective vertical or domain, as young blood is ready to unlearn

theoretical concepts. Such fresh minds come up with innovative and practical solutions. We conduct numerous training sessions as well as workshops for our employees.

archiebanerjee@gmail.com

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tadka

Is this how the ice age ended?

A new study published in Nature Geoscience shows that the Indian summer monsoon pulled heat and moisture into the northern hemisphere when Earth was entering a warmer climate around 130,000 years ago. This caused tropical wetlands to expand northwards – habitats that act as sources of methane, a greenhouse gas. This amplified global warming further and helped end the ice age.

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CII CASE STUDY-8

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S INDU

BOUR T LA

TRIAL REL

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PRACTICES IN ES T

Tata Chemicals Contract worker ‘Suraksha’ and Scholarship

Succour to the Salt Worker

N ATIO

S - CONTRA C

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in a Report on Good People Management Practices has compiled real-life case studies of organisational initiatives to inculcate best practices in the industry. This Case Study dwells on the efforts made by Tata Chemicals to improve the lot of its contractual labour through two successful schemes – Suraksha and Desh Ko Arpan schemes that offer assistance to families of contract employees impacted by accident at work, and to support and promote the educational aspirations of the children of its salt work labour – over and above the mandatory requirements under law

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Introduction

Tata Chemicals Limited (TCL) is a global company that serves a diverse set of customers with interests that focus on life-Living Essentials (Consumer products), Industry Essentials (Inorganic chemicals) and Farm Essentials (Crop protection and Agri inputs).

Our story began in Mithapur, Gujarat, in western India in 1939 with a small plant that would raise a wealth of marine chemicals from the ocean.

From these humble beginnings, Tata Chemicals has evolved into a market-leading international business, with operations across four continents, and businesses that touch the lives of millions across the globe. The Company manufactures inorganic chemicals, consumer products, crop protection and agriculture inputs, and nutritional solutions. Our Innovation Centre is home to world-class R&D capabilities in nanotechnology and biotechnology.

• Delivering high performance for stakeholders • Caring for the community • Nurturing a committed and passionate workforce Sustainability as a practice is at the core of all of Tata Chemicals’ activities, including corporate social responsibility initiatives, and is intricately woven into all business functions. Our vision is to be a leader in corporate sustainability, focusing on all three elements of 'people, planet and profits'.

Mission: Serving Society through Science

Vision: To be a sustainable company with deep customer insights and engaging relationships with all

stakeholders in industrial chemicals, branded agri and consumer products, aiming to triple market capitalisation by 2020.

Values: Safety, Passion, Integrity, Care and Excellence Industrial Relations - with respect to contract labour

Background

The Personnel Department at Tata Chemicals anchors the hiring of contractual labour since 1972.

Most of the labour workforce come from nearby villages and many of them have lower academic qualification. This workforce is actively involved in activities like housekeeping, canteen, and project work jobs like an erection, welding, support functions, etc., which involve both the genders. The current workforce strength is approximately 2500 involved actively in the above activities. The entire process of contractual labour is monitored at the site, and the process is highly appreciated by the labour department.

Suraksha Scheme@ Tata Chemicals

Tata Chemicals’ endeavour has always been to formulate guidelines for the well-being and security of its workforce. In line with this philosophy, we have launched “Suraksha” Scheme with the objective of providing financial assistance for contract service workforce who may suffer disablement or death on account of any employment-related accident. The benefit under the Suraksha Scheme is given over and above the statutory benefits applicable to the contract service employee. The Scheme was first

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CII CASE STUDY-8

introduced in 1993, but the Suraksha Scheme under the current methodology was started in 2012.

Evaluating the probable numbers of Contracted Service Employees & Method of Funding: Applicability and Coverage of “Suraksha”

The Scheme extends to all establishments/manufacturing units within India wherein 1) The work of the Company is carried out pursuant to a contract awarded directly by the Company 2) The Company has direct control over the premises. The objective of the Suraksha scheme is to provide some financial sustenance to the legal dependants of the contract service employees in case of death/permanent total disablement/partial-permanent disablement while on the rolls of the

The number of applications in the years 16-17 & 17-18 had reduced as the children of the majority of the salt workers were studying in the primary classes or doing their graduation contractor but deployed to work at our sites. The benefit under the Suraksha scheme is provided over and above the statutory benefits applicable to the contract service employee.

A. Monthly Financial Assistance: Applicable only in the event of death or partial permanent disablement beyond 50% loss in earning capacity.

In the event of death or permanent total disablement of the contracted service employee arising out of any employment-related accident, the monthly pension is based on the last drawn PF wages. This monthly pension is increased by `300/- each second year and is to be paid till the deceased person would have attained 60 years of age.

E.g. If a contractual employee loses his life in a fatal accident at the age of 35, and if he is earning a minimum wage of `8500/- per month, then his family members will be entitled for a Suraksha benefit of `8500/- per month for the first year and then an increase of `300/- every two years up to the time he would have attained the age of 60.

In the event of partial-permanent disablement of the contract service

employee arising out of any employment-related accident, resulting in loss of earning capacity equal to or more than 50%, the corpus required to purchase a pension annuity is calculated as follows: Last drawn pay computed at the rate of one month PF wages X percentage of loss of earning capacity X number of months left before attaining 60 years of age.

In both the cases mentioned above, the monthly financial assistance is extended through an annuity scheme purchased either from LIC of India or any other service provider.

B. One Time Assistance: Applicable only in the event of partial permanent disablement resulting in between 25% and 50% loss in earning capacity arising out of any employment-related accident, the one-time lump sum amount is calculated as follows: 50% of the PF wages X percentage loss of earning capacity X number of months left before attaining 60 years of age.

The percentage loss in earning capacity is calculated as defined in the Workmen Compensation Act. Method of Funding: In order to purchase the annuity or provide for the lump-sum payment, the total cost towards the same is shared on a 1/3rd basis by the following parties: * Tata Chemicals Ltd * All employees in the management cadre in India (including Whole -time Directors) * All contractors of the site/location where the accident took place Originally this scheme was started in 1993 with just `1000/- per month for a period of ten years from the date of the fatal accident of the contractual labour when on duty. This scheme has been reviewed periodically by the management.

Other Benefits

In the event of the deceased being an employee of a contractor, the Company will use its good offices with the contractor with whom the deceased was working, to provide a suitable job for a grown-up child of the deceased who is able and willing to work.

Tata Chemicals Limited always believes in caring for its employees, as a part of social security, and enhancing after-death benefits.

Current Status

As of today, a total of four Contractual labourers are being given the benefits of Project Suraksha at Tata Chemicals.

“Desh Ko Arpan”

Established in 1939, Tata Chemicals is one of India’s leading manufacturers of inorganic chemicals. Part of the US$ 11 billion Tata Group, the

Project Suraksha PROCESS FLOW CHART OF THE SCHEME CURRENTLY APPLICABLE

Accident occurred (Minor) Necessary compensation ensured by Personnel department

If the workman is careless and the accident happens then the contracture labour will not be eligible for the suraksha benefit

Accident occurred (Fatal)

Form 21 to be filled up by the organisation and inform to the Assistant Director Industrial Safety & Health `10,000/ financial assistance for funeral activities `10,0000/- given as ex gratia to the family member

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company owns and operates the largest and most integrated inorganic chemical complex in the country at Mithapur, Gujarat. The complex has won several awards in the fields of environmental conservation, community development, knowledge management, innovation and safety. Tata Chemicals is today widely acknowledged as the leader in the chemical industry.

Tata Salt, the pioneers and leaders in the branded edible salt category, reiterated its commitment of supporting the children of the weaker sections with the launch of its 'Desh Ko Arpan' Programme in the year 2002.

The programme is a part of its continuing commitment to the nation by giving scholarships to motivate the children of salt workers towards higher education. The Programme contributes ten paise for every kilo of Tata salt sold during the month from January and August to a worthy cause.

Traditionally, the most deprived socio-economic classes indulge in salt

Tata Salt, the pioneers and leaders in the branded edible salt category, reiterated its commitment of supporting the children of the weaker sections with the launch of its 'Desh Ko Arpan' Programme in the year 2002

No.

Year

Boys

Girls

Total

1

2014-15

77

73

150

1. Should be a full-time regular student in a regular government recognised school under the State Board or All India Boards of Education such as NIOS, CBSE, CISCE. 2. Parents should be working at the Salt Works units of Tata Chemicals Limited, Mithapur location.

3. Students' parent/s should reside in the Panchayats or Scheduled Urban Areas within Devbhoomi Dwarka District of Gujarat State.

4. The student should come from the TCL, Mithapur Salt Work locations.

2

2015-16

100

74

174

Selection Process

3

2016-17

26

31

57

4

2017-18

28

27

55

production in Gujarat and their number touches 65,000. Due to lack of sustained employment, these workers migrate along with their children in search of livelihood, hampering their educational needs. That’s why TCL started this programme for the children of salt pan workers in an effort to ensure their continuous schooling.

Okha Mandal & Kalyanpur region is located on the coastal lines of Gujarat, where a number of migrating populations are engaged in the occupation of salt cultivation. The economic condition of these salt workers is low. Thus with an aim of imparting education to such salt worker children of the region, Tata Chemicals Society for Rural Development (TCSRD) has come up with a special scholarship programme which helps these children get the education and also take care of their financial requirements.

This welfare activity for children’s education will create a platform at a later stage to indulge in holistic welfare of the salt pan workers community, including their education, health and livelihood.

Last year 55 children of the salt workers were given the benefit of this scheme. Each student studying in secondary school was given a scholarship of `3000 to 7000/-. Tata Chemicals has been giving this scholarship for the last 13 years. Every year more and more students have been applying for this scholarship, as parents have understood the importance of education and have become aware of this scheme. When this scheme started 30 students were given the benefit of this scholarship. Last year 70 applications were received of which 20 students were studying in 8th class, whereas 40 students were studying in 9th to 12th class.

Below is the list of applications received by salt-workers children for the scholarship. Only those applications were accepted where the student had attached his father’s salary slip with the form.

The number of applications in the years 16-17 & 17-18 had reduced as the children of the majority of the salt workers were studying in the primary classes or doing their graduation. TCSRD has disbursed scholarships to 436 students from 2014-15 to 2017-18. This scheme is applicable to salt work employees only and does not cover other TCL contractual employees.

School Scholarship Award Eligibility Criteria

The applying student must fulfil all the following criteria:

1. The scholarship amount will be based on the merit scored by the students.

2. A maximum two Jury awards for special consideration may be given (not mandatory) to students with divorced parent, widow(er), bedridden or grave illness to either or both the parents, physically handicapped student or disease resulting in social stigma/increased social vulnerability (albinism/partially or fully blind/deaf/mute/phocomelia/ amputation/wheelchair bound/unilateral or bilateral lower limb/unilateral or bilateral upper limb polio/cerebral palsy/any neurological medical condition since birth or during school age which affects locomotion, hand movement or cognitive function grossly affecting activities of daily living/life threatening disease like cancer, HIV+).

3. Students whose parents are Saltworkers with official TCL designated contractors/manpower vendors, who work in TCL Salt works within the Okha Mandal Zone and has valid ID/Gate pass issued by TCL & Contractor/Manpower Vendor are eligible. Guardians shall be considered in case the student is dependent on the Guardian due to the untimely death of Father/Mother.

4. Children of parents who work under TCL salt contractors will be considered for the scholarship.

5. Students whose parents are dependent on TCL Salt Works for their livelihood and have no other source of income.

6. Students whose parents are salt lifters, salt labourers, cleaners, drivers (tractor, truck, JCB), security guards, pumpmen working in the salt area will be considered.

7. TCSRD conducts an entrance exam. Scholarships will be provided only to those students who clear the written exam.

Mentioned below are the criteria for selecting 8 to 12th std. students for scholarship.

1. The student will be selected on merit.

2. Priority will be given to girls and AA students.

3. Salary slip from March To June of the Year will be considered.

4. Gate Pass Copy/Payment Register Copy Of Contractor will be required.

5. Last result copy to be considered.

6. Bonafide copy of the first and second term to be submitted.

7. Photograph of the student to be submitted.

8. Bank account copy of father, mother or student.

9. Amount may change/vary from year to year depending on the total amount earmarked, the number of students applying and selected.

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INTERVIEW

For over six decades, ChildFund India has been working with under privileged children and youth, with a vision wherein children in India lead a dignified life and achieve their full potential

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Being the

Change She Meet Neelam Makhijani, the dynamic Country Director and CEO of ChildFund India, with an MBA from London University.

Under her strategic leadership, the NGO’s annual reach in India has increased from 1.5 million to nearly three million children, youth, and their families. She sincerely believes it has been her privilege to be able to serve those who are less advantaged than many of us. Many a time, she feels like God’s most privileged child

wished to see

By Orchie Bandyopadhyay

Beginning from school to college to the first job, tell us about your journey.

Born in Delhi, I did my schooling at Frank Anthony. Though education was a priority for my family, I was always a sports person who then went into science and management. I have a Master’s in Business Administration from London University, and an Excellence in Leadership course from Harvard University. I have also done courses like travel tourism as I love to travel.

As a rebel, I wanted to do something different and challenging. I wanted to set an example and create a new path. Not fully knowing where my thoughts would lead me to, I moved to New York at a young age and lived there for 11 years, where I got into journalism. I started my career by working for a leading Asian weekly, writing on South Asian political issues, which connected me with the humanitarian sector.

You have a Masters in Business Administration from London University, how did you get into the development sector?

Wanting to be the change that I wished to see in the world, I moved back to India in 1999 and joined HelpAge India in Delhi to manage their International Fundraising and Communications, which kick-started my career in the charity sector. My hard work paid off and soon I was promoted as the Director and got transferred to work at Help the Aged, UK. I stayed in the UK for 15 years and worked with various global organisations like The Resource Alliance and Oxfam GB. As a thought leader and expert communicator, over the years I have been able to carve a position for myself by training and speaking at various forums, conferences and panels in over 30 countries. While in the UK, I was

awarded as the first Indian Woman Director heading a global organisation. Knowing the need for leadership skills and desire to serve my aged parents and home country, I migrated back to India in 2014.

I believe in destiny and joined ChildFund India as Country Director and CEO. ChildFund India does amazing work but is very quiet about it. I was able to effectively use my skills in communication and branding to make it a known name and a leader in child development, besides providing strategic leadership.

Tell us about your role in ChildFund India.

ChildFund India is part of ChildFund International, a child protection and development organisation headquartered in the USA, operating in 25 countries and annually reaching nearly 18 million children and their families, globally. It strives to ensure the improvement of deprived, excluded, and vulnerable children from remote areas. The NGO assists them to become confident young adults, parents and leaders who inspire lasting and positive change in their communities.

For over six decades, ChildFund India has been working with underprivileged children and youth, with a vision wherein children in India lead a dignified life and achieve their full potential. It annually reaches to nearly three million children, youth, and their families across 15 states through its long-term interventions.

I have always been passionate about inspiring change for maximum impact in the society. Within a couple of years, I have been able to channelise ChildFund India’s core operations. This is done by strengthening the organisation’s ability to fulfil its mandate for

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INTERVIEW children throughout India followed by collaboration with notable academia, corporates, government departments, development agencies, etc. extending its reach and strengthening its foundations for the long-term future development. This has led to the introduction of several innovative programmes. Here, we believe that every child has the right to grow up healthy, be educated and be safe.

We invest nearly 11 million USD/ `80 crore a year in our programmes.

What are the main priorities right now in terms of protecting our children and helping them lead a dignified life?

Though the government has launched many schemes targeting maternal, infant and child protection, India continues to struggle with the burden of the following: child abuse, assault, trafficking, child labour, gender inequality, lack of education, among others. In today’s scenario, child protection has become a major concern.

Through our work, I try to ensure deprived, excluded and vulnerable children have the opportunity and access to possibilities. This will help them to improve their standard of living as well as make them confident young adults, parents and leaders who inspire lasting and positive change in their respective communities.

What more can be done by the government to help facilitate all-round development of poor children in India?

The Government has taken various initiatives and is working really hard towards the implementation of the same, however, still its implementation needs to be further strengthened. Under the multi-sectoral approach, there is a need to create a social, economic and legal environment against child trafficking.

Under The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), India is committed to ensure that each child enjoys the right of participation. The participation must go beyond tokenism.

The government of India has policies, laws, programmes, and schemes around child protection and child trafficking and there is an urgent need for proper implementation of the existing policies and laws at all levels, where we all come in to extend collective support to our government.

Which country do you believe does the best job in terms of fulfilling its mandate towards children and what are their actions?

I feel countries like Singapore, Norway and Sweden are doing really a good job in terms of fulfilling its mandate towards children as these countries are meeting conditions that ensure all kids have a right to a safe, healthy, and protected childhood.

What do you count as the simplest interventions that can make the biggest difference in closing the gap between developing and developed countries on child rights?

Education is indisputably the backbone of any society and a fundamental right of every child.

In the last decade, India has made impressive strides in improving children’s enrolment in formal schooling and reducing the gender gap in enrolment at the primary level. However, despite progress, access and retention are major issues in post-primary education, especially of girls.

Often, parents disillusioned by poor learning outcomes send children into labour for extra income or have their daughters married off early.

I feel if we can educate each and every individual in the country half of our problems will easily resolve.

Currently, ChildFund India’s education pro-

In the last decade, India has made impressive strides in improving children’s enrolment in formal schooling and reducing the gender gap in enrolment at the primary level

gram covers more than 2,000 schools across 15 states – mostly in tribal, hilly, conflict-affected and remote areas. We impact nearly 250,000 school going and non-school going children.

What personally do you think you have achieved since being in charge of ChildFund India?

Within just a couple of years of my joining, I have been able to revitalise ChildFund India’s core operations by strengthening the organisation’s ability to fulfil its mandate to children throughout India. I have been instrumental in extending ChildFund’s reach in India, firming its foundations for long-term future development and placing ChildFund in major Networks and Forums as an influencer.

I have been focusing more on strategic partnerships and collaborations as I believe collective efforts make a bigger and sustainable impact.

ChildFund has a long-standing partnership with the Government of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, National and State Commis-

sions for Protection of Child Rights under the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD). Due to our strategic efforts, participation and interventions today ChildFund is part of various national and International networks making a mark, like Joining Forces, Asia Venture Philanthropy Network, RTE Forum, AMCHAM, Asia-Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood (ARNEC), etc.

I have played a critical role in positioning ChildFund as a brand in the market as well as in front of the media fraternity.

On 19th September, 2018, I on behalf of ChildFund India received “Pralhad P. Chhabria Memorial Global Award for outstanding contribution to Child Development” from Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways and Coal at Priyadarshni Academy’s 34th Anniversary Global Awards Function held in Mumbai, India.

On 31st January 2019, in line with its focus on Child Protection, ChildFund India launched its

Neelam Makhijani with some entrepreneurship beneficiaries

nationwide campaign “KhiltaBachpan” which is my brainchild. This campaign aims to provide children aged 6-18 years, in underserved communities across the country, access to art education, in order to promote cognitive, social and emotional learning, encourage creative expression and inculcate in them appreciation for the richness and diversity of arts in India, while giving them a platform and an opportunity to “ENGAGE. EXPRESS. EMPOWER!”.

How do you measure your effectiveness?

The increasing smiles on the faces of our children are the best scale for us to measure. However, since my joining, ChildFund’s annual reach in India has increased from nearly 1.5 million to nearly three million children, youth, and their families with programmes in 3200 communities, 85 districts across 15 states in India.

It gives me immense pleasure when I see the work on the ground. Amongst many other achievements, my eyes light up when I see young girls and boys earning though mainstream jobs

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are self-employed through entrepreneurial initiatives that we have supported, children are in schools with their storybooks, which they didn’t have before, reading it out!

During your travels in your various roles in the humanitarian sector, has any of your beneficiaries said something that you’ll never forget?

Testimonials and inspiring comments from many people and organisations that I have been associated with have made me who I am.

With HelpAge India, I once was on a project visit and we were distributing basic commodities to very old women and men. On handing over the package to one 80 plus-year-old woman, she bent down to touch my feet. It raised goose bumps, I stopped her half way and asked her to put her hand on my head and bless me. I sincerely believe that many such blessings have got me where I am today. It has been my privilege to be

As an MBA were you sceptical about your ability to fit into the organisational culture of a not for profit?

No, because I felt this is a very good opportunity to bring corporate culture into the culture of a not for profit.

If you had the choice to go back in time, would you still choose to work in this field?

Yes. As a successful woman leader, what do you think is most important for people to learn from you and how to succeed in your career?

Chase your passion: Each one of us has the power to influence and persuade. There is nothing that can stop us except us! For giving back to the society, you need to have that fire in your belly.

Focus: Do what you enjoy doing rather than do it only for the money. What has worked for me is

Neelam Makhijani, Country Director, ChildFund India with children supported by ChildFund

able to serve those who are less advantaged than many of us. Many a time I feel like God’s most privileged child!

What are some of the challenges that MBAs face when considering joining the third sector?

There are some perceptions about the non-profit sector being unprofessional and laid back. These have changed over time and we are seeing the entrance of individuals from different walks of life entering the nonprofit sector.

What hard skills do MBAs bring to the non-profit sector?

Non-profits allow MBAs the opportunity to utilise their skills to contribute towards social issues and change lives. It can be intellectually stimulating to use their business acumen towards social good rather than only for making more bucks!

An MBA is the most versatile advanced degree that one can get, and it can make a big difference to the professionalism of the non-profit sector.

effort goes into strategic thinking. Most inspiring days are those when I am in the field with the children – seeing their smiling faces makes all the effort so worthwhile!

How do you manage work-life balance and work-life integration?

I live with my mother and am very close to my sister and nephews and I admit that I have no work-life balance and I’m not burdened by the fact. I enjoy my work and do it at my own pace. If I am exhausted I just shut off for two days and don’t think about it. I have a quick recovery mode and can get back to full steam after that.

I’m a workaholic and I put the same kind of effort into every job. I have a huge amount of self-motivation and can never be a status quo person as I know that the only constant is change. Even though I haven’t changed many jobs, I believe that I must leave behind a legacy

Neelam Makhijani with children supported by ChildFund

that I have stuck to jobs that I have got into and delivered beyond what was expected irrespective of the level I worked in. Leaving behind a legacy is important.

Dream: Show your depth and reach out, rise above the average. Lead from the front and set an example. You are only as good as a leader if there are people who WANT to follow you.

Emotional intelligence: Knowing what one knows and doesn’t; seeking help and guidance, and being inclusive and listening.

Tell us some of the qualities that you attribute to your family that later shaped your career.

Perseverance and resilience, belief in self, integrity and passion.

How do you organise your day?

It’s quite varied, no two days are similar, which is what keeps me on my toes! Some days are in the office responding to management and operational matters and a significant amount of time and

that comes from giving the right time, commitment and stability.

How do you remain successful while still making time for family and friends?

At the risk of repeating myself, the enjoyment that I get from my work makes everything fall in place.

What are you really into outside of work?

Outside my professional work, I really enjoy travelling to different places to explore and try out different cuisines. I have a pet dog named Chocolate, who is the love of my life. Being an animal lover, I spend most of my time with him. I have a keen interest in sports. Badminton is one of the games in which I have a strong hand. Reading books is also one of my passions. One can learn a lot from books.

So in my spare time, I read books. I enjoy theatre, reading, etc. Being a sportsperson in school (but now with old bones) I can sometimes try my luck at badminton with friends and colleagues. archiebanerjee@gmail.com May 1-15, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 41

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WORK CULTURE

LIFE IS GOOD IN

Malaysia!

Having dabbled with all professions in India, Reetesh Pandey, Senior Analyst, Global Software Asset Management, British American Tobacco, has finally found a home in Malaysia, where he is working happily in a cushy yet rewarding job…

By Namrata Gulati Sapra

R

eetesh Pandey has had a taste of every profession that the mind can imagine. From banking to HR, you name it and he has tried his hand at it, “I have close to 12 years of work experience in various industries viz. Banking, HR Outsourcing, Entertainment and IT. I started my career with Bank of America followed by Cinepolis, AON Hewitt and

lastly with Computer Science Corporation in India. In 2016, I moved to Malaysia and started working with British American Tobacco. It’s my fourth year in Malaysia with the same company!” He sounds content as he sheds light on his ongoing stint in Malaysia.

The Malays Like it Easy!

Let’s just say the Malays like to take it easy and

enjoy their work, explains Reetesh, "Punctuality is not a Malaysian thing. Being a little late is the norm here. But again, it depends largely on the manager. If the manager is very particular about time, then it is usually followed." He adds, “Malaysians don’t like to take pressure nor do they like to pass it on. To put it in a nutshell, the work environment is usually relaxed with moderate to no pressure", he adds.

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the only country which has the most public holidays in the world. As a matter of fact, employees are encouraged to take holidays. Weekends usually are relaxed with no interference from office folks. As far as the dress ethic is concerned, people prefer wearing semi casuals to work", he said.

Work Culture - The Good and the Notso-good Malaysia boasts of a work culture that is almost like a dream come true. It does not believe in inducing stress, yet also makes sure that an employee feels valued and appreciated at all times.

The Malaysian work culture seems to have all the ingredients that put a smile on an employee’s face, Reetesh affirms, "People are very appreciative. Thank you is the most commonly used word in Malaysia. Even a small act of kindness is appreciated. Politics at work is almost negligible. Bosses and superiors are respected. But they always maintain a healthy relationship with Caption their subordinates and are always open when it comes to communication." He enumerates the other factors that will motivate you to carve out a career in Malaysia, "Salary and perks in the country are better than in India. Most of the IT companies have work from home option. That apart, ideas are respected and usually, you have the freedom to work in your own way", he adds.

Though Malaysia’s work culture comes close to perfect, it has its own share of drawbacks.

Reetesh warns, "Not many job options are available in the country as a majority of them are from the IT and service industry." Besides, if you’re looking to migrate to Malaysia to pursue a career, do not lose out on patience, "Be patient if you are in the process of getting hired. Usually, the HR personnel take a time of time when deciding on a candidate. The time period could range from six months to even as long as a year!" he said.

The working life in Malaysia thrives on contentment, "People are usually not much competitive and are content with whatever they have and wherever they are," Reetesh says. It naturally follows them that work-life balance is crucial to the employees and the employers as well, "Work usually starts early, and people prefer going back home on time. Work-life balance is an important aspect of work culture in Malaysia. Malaysia is

Malaysia vs India The Malaysian and Indian work culture are as different as chalk and cheese, "Both the countries have their pros and cons. Malaysia provides freedom at work and has a very good work-life balance. On the other hand, India is more competitive and keeps you on your toes when it comes to work," tells Reetesh, who plans to continue working in Malaysia since he has adapted well to its work culture, "I have already completed my three years in Malaysia and intend to work for at least two more years since it provides great exposure in terms of learning.

Another primary factor that makes me want to continue working here is the work-life balance."

He concludes, "The freedom to experiment with new things has enhanced my knowledge and skills. International exposure always benefits when it comes to a job!", he adds.

What You Should Know Before you

"The Malaysian and Indian work culture are as different as chalk and cheese. Both the countries have their pros and cons. Malaysia provides freedom at work and has a very good work-life balance.

On the other hand, India is more competitive and keeps you on your toes when it comes to work" Move to Malaysia • Malaysia has a multiethnic population and it is common to find Indians working there. This is especially true for Tamilians • English is largely spoken as a professional language • It is quickly becoming a destination for medical tourism • Malaysia is the ninth most visited country by tourists • Malaysia’s unemployment rate is below 4%! namratagulati8@gmail.com

CC

tadka

New measures to handle plastic debris

The Government of Indonesia, in partnership with the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), has recently announced new measures in the country’s ambitious national plan to reduce marine plastic debris by 70%, reduce solid waste by 30%, and to handle 70% of solid waste by 2025.

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STARTUP STORY

By Vandana Patnaik Tell me something about yourself.

Lakshana Chaddha Jha: I have travelled through the country and lived in different cities because of my father’s transfer in the Post and Telecommunications department of India.

I went to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Institute of Technology (NSIT), Delhi. After finishing school I joined Infosys and again got to live in cities like Bengaluru, Mangalore, Chennai, Pune and spent quite a lot of time in the US as well. I did an executive MBA from Columbia School.

Started work with Cognizant US, managing 3000 people.

How did the concept of sRide come about?

On my return to India I started working in Pune, I travelled to work every day from Wakad to Hinjewadi. A five km distance would take an hour and a half to reach during peak hours. I realised that there were people travelling to the same place in an almost empty car from the same residential area. Public transportation was nil and the haggling with auto-rickshaw drivers was draining, first thing in the morning. Their bad attitudes and negotiations about prices were a spoiler for everyone. That’s when in September 2014 I started building this platform with the help of two of my other colleagues and launched sRide app in April 2015 in Pune.

We started by researching at what was available, in terms of technology, apps etc, but found something which was obsolete. Conceptually people understood the idea of carpooling. I hired people from Cognizant and worked on a new-

Carpooling Lakshana Chaddha Jha is a name synonymous with carpooling in India, of which she is the CEO and co-founder called sRide (a short form of Smart ride, Smart, Social and Safe). She was recently awarded the best entrepreneur award in Mumbai at the Indian Business Women conference. In a chat, Lakshana revealed how her award-winning company came into being. Here are the excerpts

need of the Hour

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er, more contemporary app to help people cut down on their travelling time and costs.

Could you please explain how it works exactly?

It is like this that if we are two people travelling to the same destination then we can connect on the app and travel together. So, in most cases it so happens that you work in the same company or in the neighbouring office, you tend to start networking and the trust element also comes in when people are from the same organisations.

What’s the ratio of men to women using this carpooling app?

I am proud to tell you that 55% of our clientele is women. That’s mainly because of the safety and security that this app provides. Plus it empowers the women by solving their biggest problem of everyday commute. And as you know getting a job is easy but the commute involved with it mainly discourages women to take up challenging jobs.

So, since 55% of users are women, it means the rest 45% is male population.

How easy has it been made for them? do you think they benefit as much?

Yes. That is true because most of the car owners are the men. Obviously, they have taken to it in a very positive manner as the vehicles are owned by them, mostly. Most of them know each other as they are from the same locality, offices or social groups.

Does this means that people who want to use their vehicles, register with you?

Yes. Just like in Ola and Uber apps, the vehicle owners register with us. It is an Android and iOS app. Plus this is much cheaper and more convenient than the Ola and Uber apps.

At `3.5/km, carpooling is the most cost-effective with `55 for 15 km with no surge. Ola, Uber will be `300, at a surge price, it is `500.

Shared Ola/Uber will be `120, at a surge price, it is `200. All payments are online and there’s no awkwardness of taking/giving money to friends.

92.5% of the amount to car/bike owners and sRide is just a small fee.

That’s very reassuring. Tell me then how do you tackle the security issue in these rides?

See, since sRide is mainly a carpooling app, generally associated with the people in the corporate world, who are ready to share their rides, these users are company e-mail verified. Then we have mandatory reviews of both car and bike owners and rider to ensure their good behaviour. We also track the rides and there is an SOS button to share your location with your emergency contact number. sRide is a company founded by a Pics: Tushar Mane

15.Lakshana Chaddha Jha SRide Interview.indd 45

Over 55% of our clientele is women.

That’s mainly because of the safety and security that this app provides. Plus it empowers the women by solving their biggest problem of everyday commute woman and 55% of our riders are women who feel safer to go to work with colleagues than in an auto, taxi, bus etc. In addition, I would like to mention that WRI is in a partnership with sRide to help solve the gender mobility issue.

Tell us something more about SRide.

sRide is India’s largest social carpooling app platform that connects riders and car or bike owners to help to commute easier, cheaper and safer, reduces traffic, go green and makes new friends.

There are 20 million cars and 140 million bikes in India with empty seats and sRide’s vision is to solve the commute problem.

Are you people operating only in Pune?

No, sRide has its presence in nine cities (Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, NCR, Coimbatore, Bhubaneswar) and has 10 lakh+ users present across the country. Users use our platform 25-30 times a month to carpool, to work.

This means you must have involved corporate into this programme to make it more effective, since their employees are benefitting from it.

Yes, we are official partners with organisations such as Capgemini, Cognizant, Wipro, Infosys, TCS, HCL, Tech Mahindra across all offices present in 12 cities of sRide Carpool operations. sRide works officially with 400+ companies and has users registered from across 25,000+ organisations/ companies in 12 cities.

Twelve cities? Which means you are always on the move.

Yes, I practically live out of a suitcase and I am totally involved in this business and promoting and overseeing it.

Has your initiative contributed to the society in any manner?

I would say that 10 lakh+ users have completed 90 million+ km of carpool and in the bargain saved CO2 emission (12,000 tons of CO2) equivalent to 800,000+ trees.

Can this app be used by people who aren’t necessarily working for corporate, in lieu of an Ola or an Uber?

Once you are registered and have the app, and you are travelling somewhere alone, so if you want to carpool with people travelling in the same direction, you can use it.

What feedback do you get from the companies, in terms of the efficacy of this programme?

I will give you an example, Capgemini, which is the largest company on board, has in every quarterly meeting mentioned that the work culture has improved because of the easy commute of the employees. Now the women are assured that they have a safe ride back home and the work culture has improved many folds, the organisations see a lot of employee satisfaction and productivity, which is the key to success.

Where do you see yourself five years from now?

I certainly want to see myself building a global brand and to spread out firstly, in all the cities and villages in India. We get a number of requests from countries like Sri Lanka and Switzerland, especially south Switzerland where there is congestion in traffic. Then there’s Brazil, Mexico where there are a lot of traffic issues. People there Google us and find us there. Talks are on with Hugo Boss and we may be expanding all over the globe in some time.

Do you think this will help to empower women?

Yes, these days getting a job is not an issue, most of the women don’t take up jobs because they are worried about the commute to their workplace.

So, in a way, I feel this helps them feel safe in the knowledge that they can safely reach their workplace and give their best to the job at hand. nitts64@gmail.com

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tadka

The $60 billion trade gap

India enjoys a $60 billion trade surplus with the USA, but in the case of China, it has $60 billion deficit.

May 1-15, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 45

20-04-2019 15:44:42

LOVED & MARRIED TOO

Some conversations are forever

As Yogesh and Kirti Unde celebrate a decade of togetherness, here’s to the power of free-flowing conversation to keep a relationship alive and vibrant. Alongside that, Yogesh’s turn as an entrepreneur is bearing dividends even as his training and personality development centre Lakshya Gurukul is going strong in its seventh year. While Kirti is balancing home and hearth with her work as a provisional graphologist. Two kidsAaheli (over seven years) and Ekansh (over three years) complete the picture By Kalyani Sardesai

It is not oft these days that en a college romance fruc tifies into a wedlock. Cor porate Citize n unlocks the st ory of love th at has culminated in to we believe in marriage, for the stability of a relationship an d fa We bring to yo mily unit. u romances that real-life got sealed in marriage

I

n an era that marvels over the archetypal notion of romance, opposites attracting and all, here’s a story that is instead, about the power of shared values and like empowering like.

In their mid-30s now, both Yogesh and Kirti have much in common-their shared Maharashtrian roots, early years of struggle, a love of dance, motivational programmes and a strong belief in entrepreneurship. Both grew up in Ahmednagar but did not spend much time until the final year of graduation that too, just a little before the exams.

“As it so happened, I was pursuing a double degree at the time - a BSc as well as an external BA, all the better to pursue my MPSC exams,” reminisces Yogesh. “A common friend introduced me to Kirti, saying she would help me with notes.”

From the outset, they got on famously. Both had to work their way up - Kirti who had lost her father early on was in earn and learn mode, while Yogesh went to join the State Bank of India.

“I found her to be a hugely self-reliant, strong girl who was funding herself through college-something I admire. At the same time, she is a complete family person. A winsome combination indeed,” says Yogesh.

On her part, Kirti admired the fact that he had the power to dream and work towards them. Hard working and focused to a fault, she recounts an incident when he mortgaged a gold coin gifted to him, just to be able to attend a motivational seminar. “From the outset, he was fascinated by the domain of personality development, public speaking and motivation.

He made it a point to attend every good programme, whenever he could, in the hope, that one day, he would strike out in the same direction. Well, he certainly did that,” she says.

Given the similarities and shared backgrounds, their families were happy to see them bound in matrimony.

The building blocks of a relationship

Post-marriage, the couple lives in Pune, along

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with Yogesh’s parents. “We are both firm believin my life. It is a most reassuring thing to be ers in the joint family system where different sure,” she says. generations benefit from each other’s company,” says Yogesh. “In fact, it wasn’t even an issue with Bringing up babies Kirti. From the first day itself she was clear on As of today, even as Yogesh is busy with Lakshya not wanting to separate a son from his parents Gurkul, Kirti has completed her qualification in on the premise that one day, she would have graphology or the science of handwriting analychildren too and wish to be treated fairly in her sis. This, she says, allows us to work from home, old age”, he adds.

While Yogesh worked with the I always believe that a couple needs to State Bank of India, Kirti comlook at each other as human beings first, pleted her teacher’s training and worked as a pre-primary teachinstead of slotting each other as ‘man’ er at Leapbridge International and ‘woman’ and then glorifying the school (Aundh, Pune), a stint she differences-Yogesh found most useful and rewarding.

Things could have continued on the same even keel, but the need to start his own institute was too strong and Yogesh decided to strike out on his own. To her credit, Kirti was most encouraging, despite being three months pregnant at the time with their first child. “Our families were concerned about the fact that he had traded the security of a job Celebrating The couple that a decade of talks to each other, with the rough and tumble of self-employtogetherness stays together ment. But I had full confidence in his abilities,” she says.

And sure enough, Lakshya games, and one to donate monGurukul has slowly but steadiey to orphans. This way, she gets ly come into its own, through a good notion of her responsibiliTHE its motivational programmes, ties towards herself and the world MANTRAS developmental seminars, workaround,” adds Yogesh.

OF A shops dedicated to different at her own pace, in keeping with aspects of personality developthe requirements of their little So how does a couple with two MARRIAGE ment and more. ones - Aaheli (over seven years) growing children spend quality time and Ekansh (over three years). together?

• RESPECTING Like every couple, both have The risk has been well “It’s very simple really. All we do is talk,” says FAMILIAL BONDS their unique parenting style.

Kirti. “It doesn’t matter what we do-whether it’s worth it • TALKING TO While Kirti is the stricter parent movies, dinner with close friends or an outing It is precisely this mutual conEACH OTHER and also the disciplinarian, Yogesh to the green outskirts of the city. Any excuse is fidence in each other that is the • ENCOURAGING keeps the balance with his relaxed, good enough to just talk to each other...ten years backbone of the relationship.

ONE’S PARTNER easy going stance. into our marriage, we still have not run out of That, and the willingness to adTO FOLLOW THEIR Despite the difference in apthings to say to each other and Thank God for just. “Despite the fights we used DREAMS proach, both are particular about that!” she rounds off. to have early on in the marriage, • CARING FOR respecting the child’s individuality. kalyani.sardesai@gmail.com we always had a strong connect.

EACH OTHER IN “Thanks to the fact that we run a What’s more, whatever the sitWAYS BOTH BIG training centre, we come across uation, both of us have chosen AND SMALL many parent-child equations. We to adjust and help each other CC are both aware of the conflicts that through it,” she says. tend to crop up between parents and children At the crux of it all, is a deep-rooted frienddue to the burden of over-expectations and the ship. “I always believe that a couple needs to outcome of it all. Youngsters have their own look at each other as human beings first, instead views, and those need to be respected as well. of slotting each other as ‘man’ and ‘woman’ and We try to learn from the same,” says Kirti. then glorifying the differences. At the end of the The average person living in Europe loses day, your spouse is a person, just like you and Thus, while academics are important, the two years of their life to the health effects of has a need to be taken care of,” says Yogesh. overall development is even more so. “Books, breathing polluted air, according to a report Kirti chips in that he has certainly taken care respect for elders, as well as a sense of manpublished in the European Heart Journal of her. “He is hugely caring; so much so, that aging money - all of this is important to a in March. The report also estimates about 800,000 people die prematurely in Europe post-marriage, he is my closest confidante. child’s personality,” elaborates Yogesh. “Aaheli, per year due to air pollution, or roughly Truth be told, it is no exaggeration to say that for instance, has her own piggy bank in which 17% of the five million deaths in Europe ever since he entered my life, I have never felt she saves money for different purposes-one annually. the lack of a father or strong paternal presence section for her SIPS, one for fun, books and

tadka

Air pollution on a rise

May 1-15, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 47

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CAMPUS PLACEMENT

Making great strides with small steps From working with Bajaj Finserv Ltd as Collection Manager to helping his father in the family business and then starting his own venture, Parakh Ajmera has come a long way at a very young age. He rides high on his passion, patience and determination.

Corporate Citizen caught up with Parakh to know more about his stint in the corporate and business world

W

By Ekta Katti

hen others believe in running away from problems and obstacles, Parakh feels that problems are opportunities. Facing hindrances head-on instead of evading them has brought about a major change in his life. He believes in living in the present rather than dwelling in the past or worrying about the future. Parakh wasn’t pre-blessed with these attributes, but he has toiled hard to earn them. Now when he is nearing the pinnacle of success, a modest Parakh says, “Picture abhi baki hai mere dost.” A background check on Parakh reveals much more than what meets our eye…

Solidarity and Unity

What essentially shaped Parakh into a better individual was his family. Living in a joint family has been a boon for him. He was born and raised in Gondia, a district on the north eastern side of Maharashtra. Born to a humble couple Sharad and Smita, Parakh says, “The secret behind a happy and successful person is his home filled with family members who exude nothing but love and support. We are a big family and we live happily under one roof. Although many are my cousins, we are all related by blood. They are the ones who taught and showed me the various aspects of life. And I respect my family from the bottom of my heart.”

Parakh’s father has built a saree empire which he has been running successfully for 38 years.

Pankaj Sarees, which is located near Gandhi Pratima, has given the residents of Gondia a chance to rejoice and enjoy fashionable sarees at large. Smita, a homemaker, updates them from time to time with the latest trends in the fashion world. No doubt Parakh inherited his entrepreneurial values from his family.

He finished his schooling from Vivek Mandir High School, Gondia. There he picked up his

“I can proudly say that my college has played a major role towards my success in becoming an entrepreneur at such a young age. The 3-D’s – discipline, dedication and determination played an important role in my overall success”

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fondness for football. Parakh fared well in the sport, so much so that he was appointed captain of the school’s football team. The centre forward also got a chance to represent his school at the district level.

Networking is an art

If networking is an art, then Parakh is surely an artist. All through his college life, one of the important things that he learnt was networking.

Over the years, he met several people from all across the country who added to his experience.

“I made sure to connect with everyone from the

Parakh with his parents Sharad and Smita Ajmera during his convocation ceremony

Parakh entering the college campus in style for his convocation ceremony

“After working with Bajaj Finserv, I realised my potential and gained more confidence in myself. I again started giving a thought to following my dreams of becoming a successful entrepreneur.

Since then I have been chasing my ambition, it is a never-ending process. You conquer your dreams and the very next moment, plot a plan to chase your bigger dreams” college. They were from different parts of the country. Talking to them gave me an idea of their culture and that has helped me create several opportunities. I have made some good friends, who are still in touch with me,” he explains.

Parakh shifted to Pune after his tenth standard. He pursued his graduation in International Business from MIT, Pune and completed his MBA in International Business from a renowned Business school. “I can proudly say that my college has played a major role towards my success in becoming an entrepreneur at such a young age. The 3-D’s – discipline, dedication and determination played an important role in my overall success”, he adds.

The placement hero

During his placement interview with Bajaj Finserv Ltd in October 2017, Parakh did what none could ever think of. Before getting placed with Bajaj Finserv Ltd, he had interviewed for four other companies. While others were eager to get placed, Parakh wanted to learn from every experience.

He aced the psychometric test and the group discussion. During the personal interview, the officials gave him a hypothetical situation where he had to play the role of a collection officer. The officials who enacted as loan borrowers gave him the taste of the real world by acting insolent and refusing to pay the instalment on time. Parakh was up for the game! On the first meeting, he politely asked them to repay the money, when they refused, he returned without saying anything. This happened again, but he kept his calm. On the third meeting, when the borrowers refused to budge, he encashed on his presence of mind. He nonchalantly picked up their phones and wallets and left the room. Parakh was so engrossed in the role that he refused to return until the officials came chasing him.

When he got back, he was welcomed by a huge round of applause. “The interviewers couldn’t control their laughter. They appreciated my poise, composure and the way I handled the situation. They hired me that very moment. My act spread like wild fire and I became famous in college as wasuli (money collector),” he reminisces.

New boy in town

Parakh joined Bajaj Finserv Ltd’s Mumbai branch in May 2018. The city was new. He wanted to paint the town red and gather as much experience as possible. Being the Collection Manager in the Personal Loan section, he grew leaps and bounds within months.

Parakh loved his job. He had dreams to conquer the world. “There were days when nothing worked in my favour. But I did not give up. I was patient. I knew things would fall in place. Soon, my hard work and patience were rewarded. I acquired 99% collection in a day, the highest ever that day across India,” he informs.

Back to the roots

After the fourth month of his joining, Parakh had to return to Gondia to look after the family business. His father wasn’t keeping well. “I took care of the saree business till my father recovered.

Handling various types of customers gave me a sense of the market world,” he says.

Within no time, Parakh became the owner of Ajmera Ply and Hardware. This venture deals with different interior solutions like plywood, veneers, laminates, designer hardware and art decor. They operate from Gondia and the firm has an office in Nagpur which is handled by Parakh and Pranay, his elder brother.

He has come quite far in life. He has tasted success and he loves it. A sincere Parakh dedicates his achievements to not only his parents,

Parakh enjoying with his close friends at a party

friends and family but also to his professors who groomed him.

“After working with Bajaj Finserv, I realised my potential and gained more confidence in myself. I again started giving a thought to following my dreams of becoming a successful entrepreneur. Since then I have been chasing my ambition, it is a never-ending process. You conquer your dreams and the very next moment, plot a plan to chase your bigger dreams,” he signs off.

Mantras for success

Hardwork: Your dreams won’t get realised unless you put in your blood, sweat and tears.

Consistency: It’s one of the biggest factors that leads one to success. Being consistent with your efforts will change your life for the better.

Patience: Never give up! Things will fall in place.

You will reach your goal, just hang in there. ektaakatti@gmail.com

CC

tadka Bengalureans take most personal, car loans The highest personal loan ticket sizes are in Bengaluru, at `47 lakh, followed

by Mumbai (`40 lakh), Delhi (`26 lakh) and Kolkata (`30 lakh), as per data from BankBazaar. In the average ticket size of personal loans taken, Mumbai (`2.79 lakh) was ahead of Bengaluru (`2.66 lakh) and Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata.

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SURVEY

What does the Indian Elections are upon us. What are the priorities of the Indian voter? How do they rank the government on its performance, ADR conducted the All India Survey On Governance Issues And Voting Behaviour 2018 with a purpose to assess voters’ priorities, and to rate the performance of Government on these priorities. Corporate Citizen brings you the findings Compiled By Neeraj Varty

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n Voter want?

Key Findings As per All India Survey 2018, Better Employment Opportunities (46.80%), Better Health Care (34.60%) and Drinking Water (30.50%) are the top three voters’ priorities at the all India level, followed by Better Roads (28.34%) and Better Public Transport (27.35%) at the fourth and the fifth place, respectively.

It is important to note that agricultural related governance issues featured predominantly in the all India top 10 voters’ priorities e.g. Availability of Water for Agriculture (26.40%) that was ranked sixth, Agriculture Loan Availability (25.62%) that was ranked seventh, Higher Price Realisation for Farm Products (25.41%) that was ranked eighth, and

Agriculture Subsidy for Seeds/Fertilsers (25.06%) that was ranked ninth.

The performance of the government on the top most voters’ priority, Better Employment Opportunities was rated as below average (2.15 on a scale of 5), and ranked sixteenth at all India level.

It is a matter of serious concern that for none of the 31 listed voters’ priorities, the performance of the government was rated as average or above average.

The worst performance of the government, as rated by the voters, was on the issues of Encroachment of Public Lands, Lakes etc., Terrorism, Training for Jobs, Strong Defence/Military, Eradication of Corruption, Lower Food Prices for Consumers and

Top 10 Voters’ Priorities and Government’s Performance Ranking in India It is quite clear from the top 10 Voters’ Priorities that Indian voters prioritise employment and basic amenities (like Healthcare, Drinking Water, Better Roads etc.) above all governance issues (including Terrorism and Strong Defence/ Military). The government’s performance score on the top 10 voters’ priorities is below average. This 50

evidently indicates that the voters are unsatisfied with the government’s performance. Hence, the government needs to prioritise and invest more particularly in these sectors. On Better Employment Opportunities, which is the top most voters’ priority, the performance of the government has been rated as one of the worst (2.15 on a scale of 5).

5

46.80%

Voter's Priorities (out of 100%) Govt's Performance Score (Good=5, Avg=3, Bad=1)

45

4.5

40

4 34.60%

35

30.50%

30 25 20

2.15%

2.35%

2.52%

3.5

Average Score = 3 28.34% 2.41%

27.35%

26.40%

2.58% 2.18%

3 25.62%

25.41%

25.06%

23.95%

2.5

2.26%

2

2.15% 2.23%

2.06%

15

1.5

10

1

05

0.5

0 Better em- Better ployment hospitals/ opportuni- Primary ties heathcare

Drinking Better roads water

Better Availability Agriculture Higher price public of water for loan realisation transport agriculture availability for farm products

Agriculture Better law subsidy and order/ for seeds/ policing fertilisers

0

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SURVEY RURAL VOTERS’ PRIORITIES IN INDIA 44.21%

Better employee opportunities

40.62%

Availability of water for agriculture Agriculture loan availability

39.42%

Higher price realisation for farm products

39.09% 38.56%

Agriculture subsidy for seeds / fertilisers Electricity for agriculture

36.62%

Better hospitals / Primary health care centres

32.01%

Drinking water

28.06%

Better roads

24.80%

Better public transport

24.46%

Better law and order policing

21.46%

Sand and stone quarring / mining

20.98%

Water, river, lake pollution

18.20%

Electricity for domestic use

16.98%

School education

13.77%

Empowerment of women and security

13.68%

Eradication of corruption

8.78%

Reservation for jobs and education

8.19%

Subsidised food distribution/ ration

6.87%

Lower food prices for consumers

6.29%

Better garbage clearance

4.42%

Training for jobs

44.21%

Terrorism

44.21%

Strong defense / military

44.21%

Encroachment of public land, lakes etc.

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

% of Rural Respondents The graph highlights the top most voters’ priorities on governance issues in rural India. For 44.21% rural voters, ‘Better Employment Opportunities’ was the utmost priority. Unsurprisingly, given the rural context, the next five top priorities are all related to agriculture; Availability of Water for Agriculture (40.62%), Agricultural Loan Availability (39.42%), Higher Price realisation for farm products (39.09%), Agriculture subsidy for seeds/fertilisers (38.56%) and Electricity for Agriculture (36.62%). Issues like Encroachment of public land, lakes etc. (1.48%), Strong Defence/Military (3.02%) and Terrorism (3.34%) are low on rural voters’ priorities.

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PERFORMANCE OF GOVERNMENT ON RURAL VOTERS’ PRIORITIES Better employee opportunities

2.17

Availability of water for agriculture

2.18

Agriculture loan availability

2.15

Higher price realisation for farm products

2.23

Agriculture subsidy for seeds / fertilisers

2.06

Electricity for Agriculture

2.14

Better hospitals / Primary health care centres

2.35

Drinking water

2.58

Better roads

2.51

Better public transport

2.61

Better law and order policing

2.09

Sand and stone quarrying / mining

2.31

Water, river, lake pollution

2.51

Electricity for domestic use

2.51

School education

1.35

Empowerment of women and security

2.40 1.94

Eradication of corruption 1.45

Reservation for jobs and education

1.57

Subsidised food distribution / ration 1.26

Lower food prices for consumers

1.37

Better garbage clearance 1.02

Training for jobs Terrorism

1.23

Strong defense / military

1.22 1.07

Encroachment of public land, lakes etc.

0.00 0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

1.40

1.60

1.80

2.00

2.20

2.40

2.60

2.80

Government's Performance Score (Good=5, Avg=3, Bad=1) On all 26 governance issues, rural voters gave a below average rating to the government, which ranges between 1.02 and 2.67 on a scale of 5. Issues that are of top priority to the rural voters like Better Employment Opportunities, Availability of Water for Agriculture, Agricultural Loan Availability, government’s performance was ranked 11th, 10th and 12th, respectively. The government’s best-rated performance was on ‘Better Public Transport’ while its worst rated performance was on ‘Training for Jobs’.

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SURVEY

SURVEY URBAN VOTERS’ PRIORITIES IN INDIA 51.60%

Better employee opportunities 39.41%

Better hospitals / Primary health care centres Traffic Congestion

37.17%

Drinking water

35.03%

Better roads

34.91%

Water and air pollution

34.14%

Better public transport

32.71%

Noise Pollution

31.73%

Better law and order policing

28.58%

Electricity for domestic use

25.12%

Facility for cyclists and pedestrians on road

21.70%

School education

19.53%

Empowerment of women and security 17.08%

Eradication of corruption

14.41%

Quarrying / mining

12.84%

Reservation for jobs and education

10.68%

Better garbage clearance

8.73%

Subsidised food distribution / ration

8.43%

Lower food prices for consumers

7.19%

Training for jobs

5.18%

Strong defense / military

4.10%

Terrorism

1.26%

Encroachment of public land, lakes etc.

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

55%

% of Urban Respondents For 51.60% urban voters, ‘Better Employment Opportunities’ was the highest priority, followed by Better Hospitals/Primary Healthcare Centers (39.41%), Traffic Congestion (37.17%), Drinking Water (35.03%), Better Roads (34.91%) and Water and Air Pollution (34.14%). Surprisingly, despite the scarcity of land in urban areas, encroachment of land, lakes etc. was not a priority for urban voters as it was ranked lowest at 1.26%, followed by Terrorism (4.10%), and Strong Defence/Military (5.18%).

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PERFORMANCE OF GOVERNMENT ON URBAN VOTERS’ PRIORITIES 2.10

Better employee opportunities

2.34

Better hospitals / Primary health care centres

2.25

Traffic Congestion

2.40

Drinking water 2.23

Better roads

2.25

Water and air pollution

2.41

Better public transport 2.25

Noise Pollution Better law and order policing

2.57

Electricity for domestic use

2.58 2.32

Facility for cyclists and pedestrians on road

2.28

School education

2.64

Empowerment of women and security 2.18

Eradication of corruption 1.39

Quarrying / mining

1.46

Reservation for jobs and education 1.17

Better garbage clearance

1.84

Subsidised food distribution / ration 1.58

Lower food prices for consumers 1.42

Training for jobs 1.23

Strong defense / military 1.00

Terrorism

1.01

Encroachment of public land, lakes etc.

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

Government's Performance Score (Good=5, Avg=3, Bad=1) On all 24 governance issues, urban voters gave a below average rating to the government, which ranges between 1.00 and 2.64 on a scale of 5. Issues that are of top priority to the urban voters like Better Employment Opportunities, Better Hospitals/Primary Healthcare Centers, Traffic Congestion, government’s performance was ranked 14th, 6th and 11th, respectively. The government’s best-rated performance was on ‘Empowerment of women and security’ while its worst rated performance was on ‘Terrorism’.

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UNSUNG HEROES-21

Channelising Unused Medi This Medicine Baba collects surplus or unused medicines from people and distributes them to the needy

“If

you have any unused medicine, and you want to help the poor, then please donate it,” booms the voice of Medicine Baba, through many a middle-class suburb of Delhi, as he treads his way through the length and breadth of the capital collecting unused medicines.

Dressed in an eye-catching saffron kurta, on which the name of his medicine bank ‘Raahat Hi Raahat’ is printed along with his two contact numbers (9250243298, 9971926518), Nath goes from door to door asking for medicines. Over the past three years, the 75-year-old Omkar Nath Sharma, aka Medicine Baba, has made it his job to trek from door to door, calling out to people to donate their surplus or unused medicines to him.

He then distributes them to the needy families, charitable hospitals and to those who cannot afford them otherwise.

“The best places are the middle-class and lower middle-class neighbourhoods in government colonies,” says Sharma explaining that he rarely receives donations from the posh or wealthier areas. He walks around 5-6 kilometres per day avoiding the Metro Rail as he is unable to afford its fare. From the slums in Manglapuri, where he lives in a dingy rented room with his wife and a 41-year-old mentally challenged son, he travels by buses with the help of his senior citizen pass.

In remote areas, where buses do not ply, he simply walks. He maintains a work schedule with weekends reserved for record-keeping and weekdays spent in the field asking for medicines. He has built up a pool of regular contributors in the neighbourhoods like Green Park, who he calls on when they have medicines they no longer need.

For more than three years, he has been collecting everything, from painkillers to multivitamins, despite walking with a limp, since he was 12 after being hit by a car.

A retired blood bank technician from Kailash Hospital, Noida, Sharma realised the acute lack of availability of medicines after an under-construction Delhi Metro bridge collapsed in Laxmi Nagar, claiming two lives and injuring several construction workers and passers-by. Many of those people had no access to healthcare. The local hospital administered basic first-aid, but nothing else and the injured returned home to die, unable to afford the cost of treatment. That incident shook Sharma and he became determined to not

people with disabilities to get tricycles. This Salet something like this happen again. maritan certainly has walked that extra mile to Many people visit his bank regularly to take help those in need. medicines. Meanwhile, he faced “Thousands of poor people die The Medicine Baba self-created resistance from an unusual quar- as they can’t afford expensive medicine distribumedicines, while at the same tion system seems ter — his family.

When he first an- time, unused medicines worth unorthodox. “It is also filling a real nounced his plans to the family, they millions get wasted. There are need in Delhi,” pawere all pretty unpeople who can’t even afford tients and doctors who work with the happy. “The famsimple painkiller tablets” Medicine Baba say. ily thought I was - Omkar Nath Sharma Treatment is free at shaming them by India’s government basically begging,” hospitals and clinics, but they are often underhe says. “However, later on they have come to staffed, overcrowded and their dispensaries accept it,” he adds. sometimes out of stock of key medicines. Sharma Based on Omkar’s estimates, he collects medknows that loosely distributing medicine brings icines worth `5-10 lakh per month. “One mornreal risks, so he said he will only give them out if ing, I got a strip of anti-cancer medicine that was a patient has a prescription from a doctor. worth `35,000,” he says. Apart from his medicine Shyam Lal, 45, whose only son was suffered gathering efforts, Omkar has also been helping

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cines for the Poor through two days of fever because he was unable to purchase medicine that was too expensive, ultimately obtained the medicine from Mr. Sharma. “I am more

than obliged to Baba Ji as he helped us in those critical days,” said, Lal, a migrant worker from Bihar, referring to Sharma with a Ji, used in Hindi as a mark of respect. “There should be more practices like this for the poor people.” Vimla Rani, a 47-year-old maid said she is alive because of Sharma’s medicines, which help to control her asthma. “I keep on getting inhalers and other medicines from Medicine Baba,” she said.

“Thousands of poor people die as they can’t afford expensive medicines, while at the same time, unused medicines worth millions get wasted,” Sharma said. “There are people who can’t even afford simple painkiller tablets.” His patients have included a heart patient in Central Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, an injured man in South Delhi and a young child suffering from an influenza virus, he said.

“The Medicine Baba is performing a valuable service,” say doctors who work at charitable clinics, and his contributions have become a formal part of their clinics’ operations. “He is a man with a mission,” said Dr. Jaswant Singh, a general physician at the Guru Angad Dev Medical Center (Charitable), run by the Sikh Trust at Gurudwara Guru Singh Sabha, in West Delhi’s Tilak Nagar.

“Even though Sharma is disabled himself, he col-

lects medicine and donates to poor people,” Dr. Singh said. “Some of the more expensive medicines Sharma collects, goes to bigger hospitals, while his own clinic often takes antibiotics and syrups,” Dr. Singh said. Doctors, who work with the Medicine Baba, say their clinics treat him just like any other medicine distributor, except that they don’t pay him money. “We check all medicines given by Sharma, and he also takes my signature on a receipt,” said Dr. Naseem Meraj, who runs Habib Dispensary at Matia Mahal of Jama Masjid, and has been working with Sharma for two years.

One of the clinics where Sharma donates medicines is run by Dr. S. L. Jain, a friendly pediatrician with more than 30 years of experience. He runs a free clinic in West Delhi where he treats about twenty children daily. “My slogan is ‘one window and zero charge’,” said Dr. Jain, explaining that people liked to come to him because he combined the services of a clinic and dispensary together.

Most of the children he treats are malnourished; many of the mothers suffer from anaemia. One of those waiting for treatment at the basement clinic was Manju, a 35-year-old woman, with three children. Her husband worked as a labourer. “I prefer coming here compared to the government hospital,” said the woman, as Dr. Jain handed her some tablets for her son’s cough and something for her daughter’s persistent diarrhoea. “Here, we get looked at almost immediately. There I have to wait for almost the entire day.” “Sharma got in touch with Dr. Jain around four years ago and explained that he collected the medicine,” he said, as a row of mothers with their children, lined up to see him. “Now he provides around five to ten per cent of the medicine I distribute,” added Dr. Jain.

Sharma collects medicines from people and supplies them free of cost to even the leading hospitals like All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Deendayal Upadhyaya Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Lady Hardinge Hospital, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute, etc. He also distributes them to a number of dispensaries run by different religious, sewa organisations, temple committees or Gurudwaras.

But there are complications while dealing with medicines at every step. Apart from the legal and professional problems, there are complications in storing them too, as injections need to be stored in a refrigerator. “In the beginning, I took the help of some doctors, but now I can do it on my own.

My weekends are for sorting and record-keeping and Mondays to Thursdays for ‘begging’. I have purchased a magnifying glass to read the medicine labels. I have also taken a room on rent for `2,000 per month—plus electricity—for the medicine cabinets. A kind-hearted man has donated a fridge for storing injections,” he said.

Sharma has become a familiar face in the campus of Janaki Devi Memorial College in West Delhi, which supports his mission. Media coverage on TV has given him respectability of sorts. His work has moved some people to the extent that they are willing to help him. Dr. Mamata Bhushan Singh, Professor of Neurology in AIIMS, regularly calls him, offering every possible help. Sharma has kept some boxes at Janaki Devi College, Ahimsa Bhavan (Rajinder Nagar), Arya Samaj Mandir (Rajinder Nagar), Saat Manjila Mandir (Tilak Nagar), Ahimsa Vihar Apartment (Sector 9, Rohini) and Sunrise Apartment (Sector 13, Rohini) for collecting medicines.

Apart from donating unused medicines from home, some people have now offered to give medicines after purchasing from the market.

Impressed over this idea, some students of Jamia Millia University and also from IIT Delhi are regularly helping him in this cause. He has also been invited by some universities for sharing his idea with the students.

Sharma said he is very careful about managing all the medicine he collects and distributes and tries to carefully document the process. He prepares a list of all the medicines, syrups and drugs he receives and always asks for receipts. So there is a record to prove their authenticity. “It is a matter of peoples’ lives. I can’t ignore it. I know it is important to note the expiry date,” Sharma said. “Initially, it was difficult to convince people to part with their extra medicines. They used to get suspicious and think that I run a racket, but now things have improved,” Sharma said. Sharma says he makes no profit from the collection and distribution of the medicines.

Sharma’s eventual aim is to establish a free medicine bank, properly catalogued and available to NGOs and charities. For now, however, he has teamed up with various clinics around the city that can make use of the collected supplies.

Dr. Mahavir Prasad Vats, Head of Pharmacy, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, says, “It’s difficult to find people like him, who, despite their handicap, are willing to serve mankind.”

The above story is featured in “Real Inspiring Stories” ISBN 978-81-8430-290-5 by Maj Pradeep Khare (pradeepkhare2011@gmail.com). It is published by Prabhat Publications, New Delhi May 1-15, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 57

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HEALTH

SCALING MIND POWER AT THE 2019 LOS ANGELES MARATHON Pune based athletes - Priyanka Chavarkar and Swati Gadhave came on to a common platform when they represented themselves at the ‘Skechers Performance Los Angeles (LA) Marathon’, 2019. The recently concluded annual world event saw more than 24,000 participants from a record 66 nations. It was no mean feat as Swati, Chief Inspector with the Central Railways at Pune, clocked 42km in 3hr :33 min, with Priyanka coming close at 3hr: 43 min for the same distance.

They share their journey and training, their association with ‘Skechers GoRun Club’, that helped to leverage themselves as first timers at LA and the iconic 33-year old event. Soumen Das, Senior Manager Marketing and Visual Merchandising at Skechers spoke on the association with the event and the company’s goal to build a crop of aspirational runners

By Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar

“G

Going beyond one’s physique, the mind has to be strong, especially for long-distance running. More than body, it is the mind”, said Priyanka Chavarkar, the youngest athlete of Skechers GoRun Club, Pune who represented Skechers India at the Los Angeles Marathon 2019.

For Swati Gadhave, balancing her work life while optimising her training schedule reached a new high with her coach at her GoRun club. “We do get tired with training, endurance and performing but, it is all about will power.

Even at stages when we might have missed a training schedule, our coach motivates us saying that when one has practised all year round; there is nothing to worry about and that is what counts the most. At difficult stages of track performances, such positive reinforcements enhance the mind to push and complete our long-distance runs,” she said. “Skechers is helping new people coming into this sport and I have gained a lot too from my GoRun club”.

“The Pune lady athletes have performed remarkably at the LA run and we all know that it is quite a tough route to run. A lot of good runners crash out mid-way, but they (Swati and Priyanka) not only performed well but also completed the race in a time that they had prepared themselves for.

And, we are quite proud of them,” said, Soumen Das, Senior Manager Marketing and Visual Merchandising at Skechers.

“The Skechers Performance LA Marathon brings me immense joy as running has always been a part of me – my source of happiness for the last 7-8 years. This wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Skechers GoRun Club and my coach there who encouraged me and now there is no going back”- Priyanka Chavarkar, youngest athlete of Skechers GoRun Club at the 2019 Los Angeles Marathon

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Free(dom) to Run One advantage of these GoRun clubs is that registration and training are free of cost. Nobody needs to be a competitive runner to start with but, must aspire to achieve their passion for running and improvising. “At the heart of these running clubs are the coaches and their expertise is what has been attracting people to register with the clubs.

The coaches are under the club’s payroll and as achievers themselves; their techniques and their experiences and achievement with running helps in motivating their trainees,” said Soumen. “The timings are scheduled in such a way that it does not hamper your work-life as most of the activities are conducted early in the mornings at the clubs,” he added.

“When we started our first GoRun club in Mumbai in 2016, we had around 40-50 runners coming every week and today we have seven clubs across six cities and around 800-2000 runners running with us”, said Soumen.

Pune to Los Angeles Priyanka is a full-time athlete and her journey began when she participated in the U-14 category (state) much before she had any association with Skechers GoRun club. “I had stumbled upon GoRun’s Facebook page and their advertisement for the Pune run. My coach too encouraged me to register for the 10 km Skechers run at Pune.

I have been training at the club with my current coach for the past 5-6 years. While my interest were into handball and volleyball at school; it was my then coach who advised me to run professionally. GoRun gave me the direction to achieve it,” said Priyanka.

“The Skechers Performance LA Marathon brings me immense joy as running has always been a part of me – my source of happiness for the last 7-8 years. This wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Skechers GoRun Club and my coach there who encouraged me and now there is no going back,” said Priyanka.

A sportsperson and a former hockey player, Swati started training since 2010 and has been attached to Skechers GoRun club for the past two years. The format and schedule of the club is what attracted Swati as she is a Central Railway employee. However, having made it to the national level, she has been given a year’s leave to train. She did grab the opportunity to win her personal laurel at the LA Marathon.

“Skechers’ club as it enables us to follow different formats of keeping fit that eventually assists us with our running goals. The programme incorporates Yoga and other formats of exercises all year round; besides endurance and other running-related activities”, adds Swati. With Skechers providing her with the kit, her travel expenses and other sundries that help her in her running, she has till now managed a good-work-life balance.

“I feel proud to have been selected as one of the

“I feel proud to have been selected as one of the runners to represent Skechers India. My 14-year-long journey as a runner has been quite delightful.

Skechers Performance LA Marathon was my first ever 42km international run and the toughest one yet” -Swati Gadhave, Skechers GoRun Club athlete at the 2019 Los Angeles Marathon runners to represent Skechers India. My 14-year long journey as a runner has been quite delightful.

Skechers Performance LA Marathon was my first ever 42 km international run and the toughest one yet”, said Swati.

Day to Day Priyanka and Swati, both have mornings and evening schedules. While the mornings are more rigorous with training on speed endurance, running at least 10-20 km daily, and sometimes more with one weekly off-day. Evenings offer a relatively less-strenuous work out modules that throw in yoga, swimming, jogging, stretching and other strength training activities.

Priyanka’s day starts at around 4 am-4:30am; when she has to reach her training grounds at 6 am and completes her activities around 9 am. Her day then merges with college, followed by evening training and she calls it a day around 8.30 pm; to be ready for yet another day of rigour.

Since she is young, there are not many restrictions on her diet. “I have to keep the body light and so avoid rice at dinner. Less spicy or parboiled food, lots of fruits and liquids keeps me going. We are advised not to indulge in outside food or oil-based recipes”, Priyanka added.

Priyanka views that while everyone can aspire to be good runners; professional running has its own rigour and age has a limitation too. “However, at 20-25 years, one can aspire to be a professional runner but, will have to maintain health and fitness a lot more than when one is younger,” Priyanka adds.

For Swati, training can span and alternate between 30-35 km to 10 km per day, as per her specific schedule. While speed workouts and slow running for her is a must, she enjoys her GoRun schedule as it incorporates yoga and other stretching exercises regularly. Her day too starts at 6 am and post running and training activities, she manages her chores and work schedules. “My diet is a good mix of milk, Dalia (broken wheat porridge), even bread and omelettes on some days. I prepare my own juice post-workout. We are advised to go slow on tea and coffee and at times two biscuits with water are used to reinforce energy,” said Swati. sangeetagd2010@gmail.com

CC

tadka Drones to undertake India’s ‘biggest’ land survey exercise Maharashtra State will use drones to undertake the “biggest” land survey exercise in modern India, as the government aims to give ownership rights to about 15 million rural households in the western State, a senior official said on Thursday. Starting June 1, dozens of drones mounted with high-resolution cameras will survey the inhabited areas of 40,000 villages in the State, according to S Chockalingam, director of land records in Maharashtra. The exercise is expected to be completed in three years, he said.

May 1-15, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 59

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PEARLS OF WISDOM By Dada J P Vaswani

Failures Trigger Successes When you stumble on the truth, recognise it! When you stumble on an obstacle, turn it into an opportunity. When you meet with failure, use it as a stepping stone to success

The morning passed quickly, but, when he sat down to lunch, he found that his meal was incomplete without a puff. He succumbed to the temptation and had a smoke. This was repeated hy do we have failures at all?” day after day. Every morning, he made a fresh someone asked me. “Why did resolve not to smoke but every afternoon he God not create a world in which broke it. there was only success – what a Mark Twain, too, in his writings says: “Smokwonderful world it would be!” ing is the easiest habit in the world to give up. I But when you come to think of it, it is failures ought to know - I have given it up a thousand that give meaning to success. Wherever you times!” And so did this young man. But yet he have success, there is bound to be a failure. The did not give up and accept failure. Every day he two go together. It is the failure that draws out reaffirmed to himself: I have not failed, but I the best that is within us. It is the failure that unhave not yet succeeded. Surely, there will come folds, unlocks our hidden powers. In the meaa time when I will give up smoking. His affirsure in which we face failures in the right spirit, mation was one of latent though not realised in that measure that the tremendous power that success. And the day did come when he gave up lies locked up within us is unfolded. smoking. Today, even if he moves in the comIt was Roger Von Oech who said, “Most peopany of chain smokers, he ple think of success and is never tempted. failure as opposites, but Marketing experts Never feel that you are they are actually products tell us again and a failure. Rather believe of the same process.”

It is only when a person again: Success is the that you are on the way to success. Failure occurs bears failures with faith and courage that he gives destination. Failure is only when you accept it as how you get there a failure. It was Marshall the best proof of characFoch, the great French ter that anyone can give.

Army Chief who said “One is never defeated Failure has a place in life. It is very necessary. until one accepts it as such.”

But even as success is not permanent, failure is During the First World War, his country, not permanent.

France, faced many reverses. Everyone thought We must never ever forget that failures are that France would be defeated but Foch never not final. We fail only when we accept failure accepted defeat. He kept on fighting and ultias final. We must learn to think of failures as mately attained success. stepping-stones to success, not stopping stones.

Someone said to Thomas Alva Edison, the There was a young man who had become a great inventor: “Do you remember Thomas, chain smoker at the age of 20. When he turned you failed 24,999 times when you performed 21, he made a firm resolve to give up smoking for those experiments on the storage battery.” Edigood. “I have smoked hundreds of cigarettes,” he son replied: “No! I have never failed! I had only said to himself. “Now is the time to give them up.” discovered 24,999 ways in which the storage On the first morning after his resolve, it was battery would not work.” easy going for him. There was no urge to smoke.

“W

Years ago a young man approached Tom Watson, the legendary CEO of IBM, asking for advice as to how he might be more successful.

Watson responded simply, “Double your failure rate.” The young man walked off and was never heard from again.

As Winston Churchill observed, “People occasionally stumble over the truth, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.”

When you stumble on the truth, recognise it!

When you stumble on an obstacle, turn it into an opportunity. When you meet with failure, use it as a stepping stone to success.

Marketing experts tell us again and again: Success is the destination. Failure is how you get there. Here is what one of them, Richard Fenton, has to say on the subject: “To achieve significant success in today’s world, failure is not just a possibility. It’s a requirement. We must see success and failure for what they truly are.

They’re not opposites, but instead opposite sides of the same coin.”

CC

tadka

Travel discount if you vote!

‘Ghar Jao Vote Karo’ campaign is Thomas Cook’s way of enabling the migratory Indian populace to travel home to vote in 2019 and has offered a discount of `1000 to anyone who can prove they are heading home to vote, by presenting their voter ID or Aadhaar card.

60 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2019

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MOBILE APPS

Vacation Best apps to plan a

The summer is upon us, and this year it is even hotter than usual.

Now is the perfect time to plan a summer vacation and Corporate Citizen brings you the best apps to help you get on your way By Neeraj Varty

Kayak

Award-winning travel app Kayak allows you to search for flights, hotels, and car rentals. The clean interface gives you a full list of possible options, including reduced “hacker” fares, where you book outgoing and returning flights with two separate airlines. You can easily set filters to find exactly what you want.

The app goes a long way in alerting you about price fluctuations with a green “Buy” indicator when it looks like prices are going to go up.

Google Trips

Like your own personal butler, Google Trips tracks your trip reservations, recommends sights to see, creates day plans based on geographical areas or interests which you may have otherwise missed, finds places to eat, offers discounts on attractions, and shares emergency and “need to know” tips. One of the biggest concerns in travelling to far-flung locations in India or abroad is that you may not find an internet connection.

That’s where Google Trips comes handy. You can download any of your trips so you can see all your information offline.

PackPoint

A relief for anyone who hates packing, PackPoint will tell you what to bring.

First enter where you’re going, when, and for how long. Choose business or leisure, then select the types of activities you’ll be doing. The app develops a list based on the information you provided, plus expected weather.

Check items off as you pack them, or swipe to remove ones you don’t need. For example, the app might suggest warmer clothes and skiing gear for a trip to Kashmir whereas it might suggest light clothing and swimwear for a Goa trip.

Citymapper

Navigating a new city can be maddening if you don’t know how to use the local transportation systems, and a breeze if you do.

With Citymapper, you’ll be getting around like a local in no time. Just pick your city, then either a location or your preferred mode. Citymapper gives you complete, clear instructions to reach your destination hassle-free. It also saves a lot of money for tourists new to a city as it recommends reliable public transport which is a lot cheaper than hiring a cab.

neeraj.varty07@gmail.com / Corporate Citizen May May 1-15,1-15, 20192019 / Corporate Citizen / 61 / 61

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Dr(Col.) (Col) A. A Balasubramanian Dr Balasubramanian

FROM FROM THE THE MOBILE MOBILE

Everybody has a story…

We are all in this together.

Nobody has it easy; we all have issues.

When you look at a person, remember that everyone has a story. Everyone has gone through something that has changed them and forced them to grow.

Every passing face on the street represents a story every bit as compelling and complicated as yours.

You will never know exactly what they are going through, and they will never know exactly what you are going through.

We are all fighting our own unique war but we are fighting through it simultaneously, together.

The great story of The Indian Institute Of Science

O

nce, Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata was travelling to Germany. As he stood there, at the door of his first-class cabin in the steam-liner, he noticed a lot of activity on the lower decks of the ship. On enquiring, he learnt that a great Indian Saint Shri Swami Vivekananda was on board the same ship.

Out of genuine respect and curiosity, J.N. Tata decided to pay a visit to the great saint. Swami Vivekananda had, of course, heard about the respected industrialist. As the conversation grew J.N. Tata explained that he was on his way to Germany. “I have with me sacks of soil, from various parts of India. I am taking these samples of soil to Germany. I wish to know if iron can be extracted profitably from any of these districts.” said J.N. Tata to the Saint. To which Swami Vivekananda replied, “Well, sir, even if these sacks contain iron-rich soil, do you honestly believe that the Germans will tell you the truth? You must understand that none of the European nations wishes to see strong steel rich, economically independent India. The soil is probably rich in iron-ore but the sad truth is all you will get from your enquiries across Europe is disbelief and pessimistic reactions.” Needless to say, having

interacted with several Europeans, J.N. Tata knew this to be true. Swami Vivekananda continued, “Why don’t you start an excellent, up-to-date research facility and college here in India? Why don’t you train some good Indian youngsters to identify soil and conduct these tests and find ways of profitably extracting metals? It may seem like a wasteful, burdensome expenditure right now, but in the long run, it will save you many trips to Europe and you can have the assurance of knowing the truth quickly rather than taking multiple opinions due to doubt”. As he could clearly sense J.N. Tata’s mood was in acquiescence he further elaborated, “Seek an audience with the Maharaja of Mysore, H.H. Sir Krishnaraja Wodeyar. Though a subordinate of the British, he will definitely help you in every way he can. H.H. Sir Krishnaraja Wodeyar has been generous enough to sponsor my own trip to Chicago to attend the Parliament of Religions”. As soon as he returned to India, J.N. Tata headed straight for Mysore. And indeed H.H. Sir Krishnaraja Wodeyar did not disappoint him. The King granted 370 acres of land for the setting up of the research facility and college that J.N. Tata had envisioned and it was named, The Indian Institute Of Science.

62 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2018

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Sarcastic quotes

A collection of superb, hard-hitting, humorous comments on govt., politics, bureaucracy by legends.

"In my many years, I have come to a conclusion, that one useless man is a shame, two [useless men] is a law firm and three or more [useless men] is a government." ~John Adams

"I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle." ~Winston Churchill

"Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries." ~ Douglas Casey, (Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University)

"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."

“If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free!” ~P.J. O'Rourke, (Civil Libertarian)

"A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have." ~Thomas Jefferson

"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." ~Aesop "Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!" ~Pericles (430 B.C.)

"The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other." ~ Ronald Reagan

"What this country needs are more unemployed politicians." ~Edward Langley, Artist

“If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed.”

“No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.”

“The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.” ~Mark Twain

“A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.” ~George Bernard Shaw

(Articles published in this ‘From the Mobile’ page are WhatsApp forwards. Corporate Citizen does not independently vouch for their authenticity. It’s a fun page. Enjoy!)

Choose your words wisely…

A lawyer, who had a wife and 12 children, needed to move because his rental agreement was terminated by the owner who wanted to reoccupy the home. But he was having a lot of difficulties finding a new house. When he said, he had 12 children no one would rent a home to him because they felt that the children would destroy the place. He couldn’t say he had no children, because he couldn’t lie, we all know lawyers cannot and do not lie. So, he sent his wife for a walk to the cemetery with 11 of their kids. He took the remaining one with him to see rental homes with the real estate agent. He loved one of the homes and the price was right – the agent asked, “How many children do you have?” He answered, “Twelve.”

The agent asked, “Where are the others?”

The lawyer, with his best courtroom sad look, answered, “They’re in the cemetery with their mother.”

MORAL: It’s not necessary to lie, one only has to choose the right words and don’t forget, most politicians are unfortunately, lawyers.

May 1-15, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 63

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20-04-2019 15:31:00

CLAPS & SLAPS CORPORATE CITIZEN CLAPS FOR THE DEFENCE SECRETARIAT AS IT IS PREPARING TO SEND ITS FIRST BATCH OF WOMEN OFFICERS AS DEFENCE ATTACHÉS FOR OVERSEAS MISSIONS

Piloted under the Nirmala Sitharaman government, it has directed the Army, Navy and the Air Force to identify qualified women officers for these overseas tasks. Selected women officers will likely be posted to missions in Europe and America.

Sources said the first women officers could go out soon on the next “rotation”. This decision to initiate and commission women officers in coveted overseas posting was taken earlier in the year and breaks yet another glass ceiling for women. As defined, “a military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission (an attaché). This post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer who retains the commission while serving in an embassy. Opportunities sometimes arise for service in the field with military forces of another state.”

This new directive, therefore, acknowledges the fact that while women have been occupying distinguished positions as diplomats, ambassadors and even as foreign secretaries previously, they were not very commonly posted as defence attachés. The move is expected to portray India’s evolving defence related diplomacy within the scope of key international players. Recent years have seen India evolving in its diplomatic engagements significantly with key countries. Women can now get commissioned into 10 branches of the Indian Army – Army Service Corps, Electronics and Mechanical Engineers, Army Aviation, Army Air Defence, Army Ordnance Corps and Intelligence departments too. The new move to depute women attachés abroad, along with the new move to offer Permanent Commission to women officers in the Indian armed forces, works to conquer newer milestones for these lady officers and for the machinery of the defence forces from being seen as a male bastion of power and privileges!

CORPORATE CITIZEN SLAPS THE PROCESS THAT IS RIPPING APART INDIA’S NATURAL RESOURCES AND DISLODGING LOCAL TRIBALS IN THE NAME OF PROGRESS The latest to face the brunt is Chhattisgarh’s Hasdeo Arand forest region that had got the Centre’s nod for open cast coal mining in Parsa. Hasdeo Arand is one of the largest connecting stretches of dense forest in central India, that covers close to 170,000 hectares. Parsa is one of the 30 coal blocks in Hasdeo Arand, owned by the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (RVUNL).

The forest range is also one of India’s last remaining confines of a continuous forest and a haven for elephants, leopards, bears and other species of plants and animals, and is a rich water reservoir.

It is spread loosely connecting some parts of Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. A petition has also

been recently filed by a Chhattisgarh-based tribal woman, Tarika Tarangini Larka, seeking to overturn the Centre’s direction and help prevent allotting of any forest land to anyone other than Adivasis residing in that particular area. Larka had sought the SC’s direction to prevent authorities from evicting tribal people and for setting up of a SIT to look into allegations of acquisition of tribal land in the country. “Since a similar matter is already pending before the bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra, the bench decided that this petition too should be placed before that bench,” said Radhika Chitkara, lawyer and researcher on forest rights. Petitions and counter-petitions might get hurled and rehurled at the legal benches; may take years to salvage historical suppression of tribal rights – the need is now to salvage the biodiversity of Hasdeo Arand and other such forest belts judiciously.

Once lost, the irreversibility of ecological disaster can go beyond power generation and a loss to the next generations!

(Compiled by Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar) 64 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2019

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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, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 65

20-04-2019 15:30:03

THE LAST WORD ➊

Ganesh Natarajan

Building successful social eco-systems

➋

Pune City Connect is an institution that has been mentioned several times in this column but the tremendous response of over four hundred beneficiaries and over forty donors, corporates and NGO partners to the PCC annual event in March motivates me to write about the value of Public-Private Partnerships afresh

A

partnership that started in 2016 in Pune at the behest of then Municipal Commissioner, Kunal Kumar with a focus on Skills. Digital Literacy and Municipal Schools have been blessed in the last three years with over twelve crores of CSR and Philanthropy money invested in running six lighthouses, twenty digital centres and two digital literacy centres generously provided and equipped by the Corporation. The ongoing support by Kunal’s successor Saurabh Rao and the Additional Commissioners and local department heads of the Corporation has ensured that this is one Public-Private Partnership that will see no brakes in its progress.

The choice of PCC’s new vision “Sampoorna Pune” is appropriate given the fact that the only way to a sustainable transformation of societies is when the vision is holistic and built on a robust platform of inclusion and scalability. Most readers would know that there are fifteen Municipal Wards under the Pune Municipal Corporation and the vision is that each of the two lakh plus households in underprivileged communities should feel the impact. There could be a child studying in a transformed school, a youth being prepared for employment or entrepreneurship in the lighthouse or even a fami-

ly elder becoming digitally and financially literated in the ward.

Whatever be the touch point, the commitment is that during this journey, there will be an opportunity for upliftment provided to every citizen in the PMC. Which is why the participation of donors, corporate and NGO partners, Government and beneficiaries is so important. The photo that shows each of these categories of eco-system participants holding up cards of distinctive colours at the recent event is only a visual illustration of the vision that resides in all our hearts.

What gives the thirty strong team at PCC more power to do

66 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2019

26.The Last Word.indd 66

2. Ganesh welcoming Rubal Agarwal Addl Municipal Commissioner PMC 3. Corporates NGOs Government and Citizens hold up collaboration cards

➌ and given the open source nature of all the artifacts and technologies that PCC uses and creates, there is delight that so many entities – in India and soon the world is taking pieces of our model, innovating on it and implementing it in other parts of the country.

Two national initiatives that will hopefully see the light of day in 2019 are also inspiring in the

There is delight that so many entities – in India and soon the world is taking pieces of our model, innovating on it and implementing it in other parts of the country what they do so well is the recognition they receive for their selfless endeavours? A super supportive Board of ten leading names in the city, recognition as the best social project among all smart cities in India and a recent selection as the India nominee for support by a significant global Youth Initiative organisation give us the conviction that we are serving our purpose

1. Government and PCC felicitate MD of Principal Global

process of social eco-system development. The Ministry of IT is considering a plan to set up a chain of Technology enabled Skills Centres in various parts of the country with the support of the Confederation of Indian Industry and techsavvy NGOs which will add to the solution for job and entrepreneurship creation in the country.

And the Smart Skills Mission is in

multi-city consultations for a plan to develop incubation and acceleration centres in all smart cities to encourage and enable funding and opportunity access for all entrepreneurs who want to find solutions to the very real problems facing India’ cities.

Collaborating for social causes is truly the way to build a great country. At Pune City Connect we have shown the way. Additional Municipal Commissioner, Rubal Agrawal acknowledged the value of such partnerships at the function.

If there is an active collaboration of everybody in the eco-system, a successful country with millions of social entrepreneurs and micro-entrepreneurs is surely within our reach!

Dr. Ganesh Natarajan is Chairman of 5FWorld and Kalzoom Advisors. He is a former Chairman of NASSCOM and NASSCOM Foundation.

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.

20-04-2019 15:28:38