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JULY 2016 VOL. 02 ISSUE 10 `60 RNI NO: UPENG/2014/62662 ISSN 2455-0426 PR NO: UP/GBD-212/2015-17 Date of Publishing 04-07-2016 Date of Posting 07-07-2016

Tottering Tertiary Education

2 I July 2016

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4 I July 2016

16 Tottering Tertiary Education

Higher or tertiary education has been in thick of news over last few weeks, albeit for wrong reasons. There is tussle between Delhi University teachers and University Grants Commission (UGC) over leaching load of college teachers, promotion policy for college teachers is in turmoil, education policy is in news for mostly wrong reasons and IIM Bill is again stuck in tracks. The silver lining is that for the first time an Indian institution, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, broke into the top 30 in the UK’s Times Higher Education’s Asian Universities ranking. It jumped 10 places to no 27. For a country of its size, history, tradition, culture and contribution to global body of knowledge, India’s current status in global higher education is unsatisfactory to say the least. It is indeed a shame that educational system of a society whose most fundamental tenets are based on deductive argument, has lost the element of questioning and argumentative analysis. We don’t educate our youth enough, we don’t attract best of talent in teaching, we don’t spend enough on creating state of the art infrastructure for research and we constantly lose our top minds to foreign universities which offer high quality learning and conducive environment for advancement of knowledge. www.governancetoday.co.in

INITIATIVES OF PRIME MINISTER MODI OFFER OPPORTUNITIES FOR DUTCH COMPANIES TO COME UP 38 WITH INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS Alphonsus H.M. Stoelinga Ambassador of the Netherlands to India

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Editorial

Clean up the mess in colleges

ast month two distressing news came in. In a really bizarre incident, the topper of Bihar Intermediate Arts topper was arrested when she could not pass the retest she had to appear in wake of the news which showed her lacking in the subject in which she had topped. Second, even more bizarre news was that an economics teacher in a UP college had no clue about what “audit” meant and what IMF stood for. The two incidents showed systemic malaise that Indian college education is suffering from. On the one hand, we have students entering tertiary education system without basic knowledge, but armed with marks, and on the other hand, we have people manning that system which are ill equipped to impart knowledge, to put it in best terms. There is another aspect of the system too. The PMO has pitched for maximum freedom for those institutions which are capable of emerging as world class centers of learning and research. All regulatory supports will be provided to them as help. Government has been working on bills that would allow research institutions to tie with foreign universities without any hassles. And in the recent Times Higher Education list, Indian institutions have made progress with IISc Bangalore jumping 10 spots in the Asian top 200 list. So, how do we make sense of these two strikingly opposite set of facts? Unfortunately, the bad part is what defines the broad tertiary educational system today. There are islands of excellent institutions which are too few in number; rest of the system marks time in hopelessly substandard quality. Naturally, something is seriously amiss in how we have gone about developing our colleges, technical institutions and the like. We have too few colleges in all streams of knowledge. The competition for IITs and IIMs is tougher than those for Harvard and MIT. Even general college seats are too few as indicated by the cut off marks in Delhi University. Also our quality is poor and we are not investing enough in creating knowledge. We are not filing enough patents and our universities are not churning out enough research papers. But are our professors good enough to direct research or churn out papers? Point to ponder! In another development, Raghuram Rajan, the globally celebrated financial economist, the RBI governor who did not shy away from making comments uncomfortable to the government, has decided to hang his boots and return to academia where he feels more at ease. The man who predicted the collapse of 2008 becomes only the first RBI governor in 23 years to not have an extension. His hawk like focus on prices made inflation management the centerpoint of monetary policy during his tenure. For this stance, he often found himself at odds with the government but he stood his ground nevertheless. He also went against the normal accommodative stance as far as tolerating banks’ poor balance sheets is concerned. He goaded them to reveal bad loans, forced them to clean up balance sheets, and empowered them to go after willful defaulters. Inflation targeting and cleaning up banking system will be Rajan’s legacy as RBI governor. We hope to see him again in another important chair in policy making apparatus of the country. Best regards

Ajit Sinha Editor-in-Chief www.governancetoday.co.in

July 2016 I 7

THUS THEY SPOKE I have promised that there will be no inquiry into the source of the undisclosed income and assets if the declaration is made voluntarily. That is why I am saying it is a good chance for becoming part of a transparent system. Narendra Modi Prime Minister of India India which has shown so much keenness and desperation in getting NSG membership, it is not required at all. We are comfortable outside NSG. If we become members of NSG, we will have more loss. There will be no gains for us. Yashwant Sinha Former Union Minister I am not surprised by the drama leading up to the resignation of Raghuram Rajan after three years as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. First, someone is assigned to use foul language and attack a well-respected international expert who has been quietly doing a great job. Sam Pitroda Former Chairman, National Knowledge Commission We have a good set of people. We can put together a proper plan for the next three years. I’m in charge for one year, but it’s important to plan beyond as well. And that’s what I presented: a three-year plan which took care of the Future Tour Program FTP as of today, various challenges the team has, and how to address them. Anil Kumble Head Coach, Indian Cricket Team I am still at the periphery in Bollywood. The fact is that I have stopped trying to be part of the interior now. I am very comfortable where I am right now in my career and with myself. I have become mature. May be that’s because of my age... I just want to make films. Anurag Kashyap Filmmaker, Bollywood A negotiation with the European Union will need to begin under a new prime minister and I think it’s right that this new prime minister takes the decision about when to trigger Article 50 and start the formal and legal process of leaving the EU. David Cameron Prime Minister, UK 8 I July 2016

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GOVERNANCE WATCH

23.5% pay hike for Central government employees

Cabinet approves National Civil Aviation Policy

The Centre recently announced an overall increase of 23.5 per cent for over one crore government employees and pensioners in line with the Seventh Pay Commission’s recommendations. The hikes will come with the August paychecks and be paid with effect from January 1, 2016. The arrears for the six months will be disbursed during the current financial year (2016-17) itself. The starting salary for new recruits at the lowest level has been raised to Rs 18,000 from Rs 7,000 per month. Freshly recruited Class I officers will receive Rs 56,100. This reflects a compression ratio of 1:3.12 signifying that the pay of a Class I officer on direct recruitment will be three times the pay of an entrant at the lowest level. The approved maximum pay, drawn by the Cabinet Secretary, is Rs 2.5 lakh per month (against the current Rs 90,000), higher than the salaries drawn by MPs.

The Union government recently cleared a plan to replace a decade-old rule of allowing new domestic airlines set up in India to fly on international routes. According to the new rules, a new airlines will need to deploy 20 aircraft or 20 per cent of the total fleet size, whichever is higher, on domestic routes in order to secure international flying rights. The ‘5/20 rule’ was approved by the government in December 2004 when many decisions were taken to protect national carrier Air India. At that time, along with Air India, Indian Airlines, Jet Airways and now defunct Air Sahara were allowed to fly on international routes. IndiGo, launched in 2006, had to wait till 2011 to begin operating on international routes and SpiceJet, which began operations in 2005, had to wait till 2010 to do so. New airlines, such as Vistara and AirAsia, can now fly to international routes after operating at least 20 aircraft in the domestic market.

Radical changes in FDI policy regime Opening economy further, the government recently relaxed FDI norms in a host of sectors including civil aviation, single-brand retail, defence and pharma by permitting more investments under automatic route. Other sectors in which FDI norms have been relaxed include e-commerce in food products, broadcasting carriage services, private security agencies and animal husbandry. The decision to further liberalise FDI regime with the objective of providing major impetus to employment and job creation in India was taken at a meeting chaired by PM Narendra Modi. This is the second major reform in the FDI space. The Centre in last November had significantly relaxed the foreign investment regime. The new policy changes hope to increase the ease of doing business in the country, which in turn is expected to push up FDI inflows. India saw $55.46 billion of FDI in the financial year ended March 2016, up from $36.04 billion two years before that. www.governancetoday.co.in

July 2016 I 9

GOVERNANCE WATCH

Labour reforms introduced via Rs 6,000cr textile package The Union Cabinet recently introduced labour law changes while approving a Rs 6,000-crore package for the textile and apparel sectors. A key element is increase in overtime for workers which should not exceed 8 hours per week, translating into nearly 90 hours over three months. The current norm allows only 50 hours of overtime in three months. The cabinet approved the introduction of fixed-term employment, which was an industry demand to deal with the seasonal nature of demand. A fixed term workman will be considered on a par with a permanent workman in terms of working hours, wages, allowances and other statutory dues. While the move is unlikely to result in higher burden on companies, it provides flexibility in hiring to deal with seasonal rush, especially for exporters. The government also announced a change in income tax laws to allow for deduction in case more permanent workers are hired by textile and garment units.

India joins elite missile club In what may be called a historic moment for India, the country recently joined the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) as a full member and said its entry would be mutually beneficial to enhance global nonproliferation norms. Marking India’s first entry into any multilateral export control regime, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar signed the instrument of accession to MTCR in the presence of France’s Ambassador-designate Alexandre Ziegler, The Netherlands’ Ambassador Alphonsus Stoelinga and Luxembourg’s Charge d’Affaires Laure Huberty. India’s entry into MTCR comes days after it failed to get NSG membership due to stiff opposition from China and a few other countries. Significantly, China, which stonewalled India’s entry into the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) at the just- concluded Seoul plenary, is not a member of MTCR. The MTCR membership will now enable India to buy high-end missile technology and also enhance its joint ventures with Russia.

Govt allows shops, malls and cinema halls to run 24x7 Paving the way to turn India into a 24x7 country, the Union Cabinet recently approved the Model Shops and Establishments Bill, which will permit shops, malls, restaurants, banks and cinema halls to choose their hours of operation. Once adopted by states, in part or full, the model law will let establishments employing 10 or more workers operate through the year – with flexibility of work hours. However, it will not cover manufacturing units. Announcing the move, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the model law was aimed at ensuring uniform working conditions across the country, improving ease of doing business, and generating employment opportunities. Limiting the hours of operation of smaller shops puts them at a disadvantage because commercial establishments in malls have the benefit of staying open on all days and for longer hours, he added. Once adopted by a state, the model law will allow women to work nights. 10 I July 2016

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GOVERNANCE WATCH

Curb politics on campus, suggests education panel A government panel entrusted with making suggestions for the new national education policy has recommended restrictions on political activities in universities and colleges across the country. The committee, headed by former cabinet secretary T S R Subramanian, has also said that educational institutions should consider derecognising student groups based explicitly on caste and religion and also restrict the period for which students can stay on campus. Expressing concern over the increasing number of student protests, the committee, in its report, states, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Agitations, disturbances, gheraos and other disruptive movements are being increasingly witnessed on campuses with potential to interfere with normal academic activities. As a result of this, examinations often get delayed or postponed. These disturbances are generally caused by a small section of politically active students and work to the detriment of the majority of serious students.

State-run banks seek immunity from CBI, CVC Public sector banks have sought protection from unnecessary oversight from agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Central Vigilance Commission on decisions related to loans that are taken collectively. According to reports, the issue has been flagged to the Bank Board Bureau (BBB) headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai and also came up for discussion with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley recently in the context of settling loans on commercial terms. The latest move from banks comes against the backdrop of the high-profile case where former liquor baron Vijay Mallya has dues of close to Rs 9,000 crore and banks have mounted massive efforts to get the businessman to pay back. In the past, even top civil servants have expressed concern over the unwarranted scrutiny by the CBI and CVC, which they say hampers quicker decision making.

Panel to study feasibility of holding Lok Sabha, state polls together In a move to synchronise state and Lok Sabha elections, the Union government recently set up a committee in the law ministry to study the feasibility of simultaneous elections to break the current cycle of assembly polls being held, sometimes more than once, every year. The committee is likely to complete a report by this month for the Cabinet to take a final decision before an all-party discussion is initiated. The exercise is intended to initiate the process of aligning state and national elections â&#x20AC;&#x201D; after all-party consultations â&#x20AC;&#x201D; by enacting constitutional amendments before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The PM had expressed his views during the budget session when he responded to a suggestion for simultaneous polls put forward by BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab by saying that political leaders should begin a discussion in this regard. Modi indicated that he was supportive of such a proposal if it took shape. www.governancetoday.co.in

July 2016 I 11

GOVERNANCE WATCH

Delhi cabinet nod to Mohalla sabhas

E-dropbox for kids to report abuse on the anvil

Setting in motion the process of creating a new form of decentralised governance ahead of the municipal polls next year, the Delhi cabinet recently approved the formation of 2,972 mohalla sabhas across all 70 assembly constituencies in the city. The mohalla sabhas, to be notified soon, are likely to become functional entities by early August. Each sabha, covering 3,0006,000 residents, would be given funds and the power to identify schemes for the area. Last year, the Aam Aadmi Party government had experimented with a mohalla sabha pilot project in 11 assembly constituencies. In the run-up to the 2017 civic polls, AAP’s decision to make 2,972 sabhas functional could play a big role in amplifying the party’s presence on the ground. Mohalla sabhas will coordinate with government agencies for the execution of developmental works, identify and facilitate beneficiaries for social sector schemes, and solve grievances with the help of local officers.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development is working on an e-dropbox that will let children complain about abuse, molestation or harassment in everyday situations in school, bus, tuition classes or at home. According to officials, simple language, pictures and icons will be used to ensure that even young children can use this facility. The online complaint box will be hosted on the website of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). The icons and the response system are being designed by the commission. The project was inspired by Delhi Police’s ‘Operation Nirbheek’, under which complaint boxes were placed in different schools, allowing girls to anonymously complain about any abuse. Many of the complaints were converted into FIRs. They helped bring to light incidents of abuse at homes and schools that children were too scared or inhibited to speak about.

Tamil Nadu tops in imparting skill training to urban poor Tamil Nadu has taken the lead in skill training of urban poor in the past two years, followed by Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. The southern state has also left others far behind in providing financial assistance for setting up individual and group enterprises besides forming maximum number of self-help groups. As per a release of Housing and Poverty Alleviation Ministry, 4.54 lakh urban poor have been imparted skill training during the past two years out of which about one lakh either got jobs or were self-employed. With the ministry aiming at scaling up placement/ self-employment to at least 70%, it is roping in all the ministries concerned. The ministry has proposed to appoint a central Nodal Agency for speeding up disbursal of bank loans to urban poor besides involving non-banking finance institutions and micro-credit agencies. NGOs are also proposed to be involved in a big way for giving a fillip to urban poverty mitigation programmes. 12 I July 2016

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GOVERNANCE WATCH

Odisha unveils higher education loan scheme Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik recently launched Kalinga Sikshya Sathi Yojana, a scheme that will ensure meritorious students do not stop enrolling for higher education due to lack of funds. Under the provisions of the scheme, the state government would provide education loan at only 1% interest per annum to students undergoing higher education, including management, law, engineering, medicine and others. The state government has earmarked Rs 500 crore from its own resources for the purpose. “I fully understand the financial stress the parents, especially of the poor and middle class, undergo in meeting the education cost of their children. This historic and pioneering step of my government will reduce the loan burden of thousands of parents and financially empower poor students to pursue their aspiration in higher education,” Patnaik said. He dedicated this scheme to former CM Biju Patnaik on his birth centenary.

PSLV C34 successfully injects 20 satellites into orbit Taking yet another big leap in space technology, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) used its workhorse PSLV-C34 to inject 20 satellites including 17 foreign satellites into orbit in a single mission and set a new record recently. The 320-tonne Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C34) took off on its 36th flight from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre with 20 satellites including its primary payload Cartosat-2 series, which provides remote sensing services, and earth observation and imaging satellites from US, Canada, Germany and Indonesia. It was also 14th flight of PSLV in ‘XL’ configuration with the use of solid strap-on motors. With Cartosat-2 weighing 727.5kg, PSLV lifted off a total of 1,288kg in to space and began placing the satellites into orbit about 17minutes later. ISRO scientists said the demonstration is for their next mission when they are planning to inject satellites in different orbits using a single rocket.

Anil Kumble appointed head coach of Indian Cricket Team Former India skipper Anil Kumble has been appointed the new head coach of the Indian cricket team for a period of 12 months. The 45-year-old former leg spinner fended off competition from 56 other applicants, including Ravi Shastri, India’s former team director, to the top post. After Duncan Fletcher’s contract had expired following the ICC World Cup in 2015, the post of head coach was left vacant with Shastri being appointed team director for subsequent tours. Kumble takes over the side from Shastri, whose contract expired after the World Twenty20. Kumble’s name for the role was put forth by the three-member advisory committee comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, headed by Sanjay Jagdale, the former BCCI secretary, who interviewed the shortlisted applicants about their goals and ambition for the future of Indian cricket. Kumble’s presentation is said to have been the clincher in his appointment. www.governancetoday.co.in

July 2016 I 13

GLOBAL WATCH

Women judges for Malaysian Shariah High Court Creating history in the Muslim-majority state of Malaysia, two women were appointed as judges of Malaysia’s Islamic Shariah High Court. The two women – 40-year-old Noor Huda Roslan, and 41-yearold Nenney Shuhaidah Shamsuddin, received their letters of appointment from Selangor’s Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah during a ceremony at the Istana Bukit Kayangan. Explaining their appointment as a step towards positive development for the judiciary, Shamsuddin stated that their appointment followed Malaysia’s ratification of the UN’ Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against women. The step is being seen as a move towards empowerment of women. Shariah High Court deals exclusively with Islamic laws, having jurisdiction upon every Muslim in Malaysia.

Turkey’s in mending mode The new Turkish government mostly comprising Erdogan allies is re-evaluatng its foreign policy, reportedly in an attempt to end its era of strained relations with certain countries. Beginning with announcement of restoration of diplomatic relations with Israel, it also expressed regret to Russia over downing of a Russian warplane, a few months ago. The move is being viewed as a rare attempt of reconciliation in the divided Middle East. The country is making overtures towards Israel reportedly in the wake of lucrative Mediterranean gas deals. However, fear looms large over the security risks for both sides. On the other hand the Turkish President’s apologies to Vladimir Putin, over shooting down of the Russian jet is being viewed as an attempt to persuade Russia to lift economic sanctions. It is to be noted that Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, after assuming office had said that Turkey needed to “increase its friends and decrease its enemies”.

China’s moves shifting fuel dynamics? While the world is busy following Brexit, China is busy cranking up its crude oil imports – a move that can shift global fuel dynamics and impact the global energy market. The increase in imports is apparently an effort to cover the strategic shortage of crude in the country which had emerged because of 7.3 per cent reduction, in May, over last year. In first five months of this year, imports and domestic production totaled to 240.9 million tonnes, while their refinery output was 221.3 million tonnes. It means 19.6 million tonnes went into either commercial or strategic reserves. Another indicator is increasing exports of refined products, particularly gasoline and middle distillates such as diesel and kerosene. In first five months this year, diesel exports have surged 322 per cent to an equivalent of about 271,000 barrels per day (bpd). 14 I July 2016

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GLOBAL WATCH

Thumbs up to RTI in Sri Lanka Sri Lankan parliament has unanimously passed the Right to Information (RTI) bill with amendments. The bill was first presented on March 24, this year while the amended bill was presented on June 23, this year for the second reading and was passed following two days of deliberations. The bill aims at providing for Right of Access to Information to the people. As per the bill, subject to the provisions of section V of the Act, every citizen shall have a right of access to information which is in the possession, custody or control of a public authority. Every public authority has been directed to appoint an information officer and maintain records in electronic form to facilitate the provisions of the bill. A citizen or public authority who is aggrieved by the Commission may appeal against such decision in the Court of Appeal.

Russia’s participation in Rio 2016 Olympics hangs fire Chances of Russian athletes to compete in the Rio Olympics seem bleak as the world athletics’ governing body unanimously has upheld its ban on the country for systematic doping. International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has argued that the progress in reforms was not enough to allow Russians to participate. However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that was concerned about the innocent athletes has not ruled out granting Russian athletes a special dispensation. Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin has denied that Russian authorities ever colluded in doping, and has urged authorities concerned not to use sport to push an anti-Russian agenda. While Putin’s spokesman vowed legal steps to defend Russian athletes against a ban, Coe gave hope stating that efforts will be made to send some Russian athletes to Rio as neutral competitors if they had undergone proper drug testing in other countries.

Social media details for US visa likely People travelling to the United States may soon have to provide details of their social media accounts while applying for a visa. The news spread following a proposal from the US’ Customs and Border Protection agency to add a section in the online as well as paper application forms demanding information associated with the applicant’s online presence “—Provider/Platform—Social media identifier”. The idea behind the proposal is that the data will help in the “investigative process” and provide the Department of Homeland Security with more information through which “possible nefarious activity and connections” can be analyzed. This new addition will be optional for the time being. Passwords will not be asked. The government has asked for views of the public on the proposal and will accept the views till August 22. www.governancetoday.co.in

July 2016 I 15

COVER STORY

Tottering Tertiary Education Anand Mishra

igher or tertiary education has been in thick of news over last few weeks, albeit for wrong reasons. There is tussle between Delhi University teachers and University Grants Commission (UGC) over leaching load of college teachers, promotion policy for college teachers is in turmoil, education policy is in news for mostly wrong reasons and IIM Bill is again stuck in tracks. The silver lining is that for the first time an Indian institution, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, broke into the top 30 in the UK’s Times Higher Education’s Asian Universities ranking. It jumped 10 places to no 27. For a country of its size, history, tradition, culture and contribution to global body of knowledge, India’s current status in global higher education is unsatisfactory to say the least. It is indeed a shame that educational system of a society whose most fundamental tenets are based on deductive argument, has lost the element of questioning and argumentative analysis. We don’t educate our youth enough, we don’t attract best of talent

16 I July 2016

in teaching, we don’t spend enough on creating state of the art infrastructure for research and we constantly lose our top minds to foreign universities which offer high quality learning and conducive environment for advancement of knowledge. If India seriously wants to realize its oft repeated ambition of becoming a world leader, its educational system, especially its tertiary education system has to improve, radically and comprehensively.

Unfavorable numbers Indian higher education is among the top three in the world, along with the United States and China. According to All India Survey of Higher Education 2014-15 (AISHE) (Provisional data), there are 757 Universities, 38,056 Colleges

www.governancetoday.co.in

and 11,922 Stand Alone Institutions in the country. As per the survey, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for higher or tertiary education in India is a little over 23 per cent. This is quite low compared with the global average of around 30 per cent. China has a GER close to 30 per cent; Brazil (35 per cent), US (34 per cent), Japan (55 per cent) and UK (58 per cent) are much higher placed. It is generally assumed that higher the GER at tertiary level, better is the country placed on research, innovation and economic rankings. Even more distressful is the fact that the enrolment ratio for PhD is as low as 0.34 per cent. This is when the world is witnessing a boom in PhD graduates. China has already overtaken the US as the largest PhD producing country. Surely, the quality of a Chinese PhD is not close to that of the US, and it takes fewer years to complete a PhD in China than in the US, but the bottom line is that countries that India intends to compete in

global marketplace are churning out lot more researchers than us. It is ironical that even though a larger fraction of students enroll in science in India than in the US, the EU, Germany and the UK, India produces just about 4,500 PhDs in science and engineering each year, compared to 25,000 in the US and 30,000 in China. This lack of focus on research has prevented spillover effects of innovation on the economy, which could ratchet up countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overall productivity. Also our pupil to teacher ratio for tertiary education is a low 24 which is worse than even Pakistan. According to a UNESCO study, China had a Pupil to teacher ratio of 19.5 in 2011; Brazil (20.5, 2013), US (12.5, 2013) and Singapore (13.5, 2013) were much ahead of India. Another worrisome aspect is the massively skewed gender ratio in teaching. At allâ&#x20AC;?India level there are merely 64 female teachers per 100

male teachers, as per AISHE. These indicators underscore the poor quality of education reflected in the poor global rankings. In the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2016, there was no Indian university in top 250. In the top 400 universities, India has only two institutions, namely IISc Bangalore (in 251-300 Category) and IIT Bombay (in 351400 category). Compared to this, China had two universities in top 50 and eight in top 400. To be fair, though, Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s performance has started to improve on Asian level as stated earlier. Also, it should be noted that Indian institutions also tend to score lower because of very low internationalization level, which is a crucial parameter for rankings. But ranking are not the only indicators of the poor state of

IISc Bangalore has consistently been the topmost Indian institution in global rankings www.governancetoday.co.in

July 2016 I 17

RATCHETING UP Rankings of 8 out of top 10 Indian institutions in THE top 200 Asian list improved in 2016. But 8/10 Indian institutions in top 100 are specialized institution and not universities offering full spectrum of programs Institution

2015

2016

IISc

IIT Bombay

IIT Kharagpur

IIT Delhi

IIT Madras

IIT Roorkee

IIT Guwahati

Jadhavpur University

IIT Kanpur

100-110

Punjab University

100-110

No of Indian institutions in top 200: 16 Source: Times Higher Education (THE) Asian University Ranking 2016

quality of teaching and learning is quite poor and is not commensurate with our national aspirations. Third, there is very low expenditure on knowledge creation which could foster innovation. According to an Ernst & Young study, by 2020 India would require 40 million university seats, which is 14 million seats more than present, if it has to reach the GER of 30 percent as mandated by the 12th five year plan. Further, by this time, the country would need 500 million skilled workers. This can be made good only by setting up 800 more universities and roughly 40,000 colleges, the study said. And we have not even uttered the word quality yet. By any yardstick, it would be a tall order for the government, alone or aided by the private sector. Needless to say, innovative methods are required to expand the higher educational

affairs in education. The knowledge creation is another aspect where India lags far behind. Indian academic institutions are not hot for research and except for IITs and IISc, not many institutions are devoting enough resources for basic research which could result in patent filing. As for writing research papers, an average IIT faculty publishes one paper per year compared to six that an average MIT faculty publishes and an average IIM Ahmedabad facultyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s teaching workload is over 50 percent more than the international average. All of these reflect a substandard educational superstructure with islands of quality institutes followed by a large number of poor quality institutions.

What ails the system? Broadly, we are facing three fundamental problems as far as higher or tertiary education is concerned. First and foremost, we are staring at a severe shortage of adequately trained manpower at virtually every level of workforce. What this means is there is a huge mismatch in demand and supply of tertiary education. Second, the 18 I July 2016

India needs millions of adequately trained workforce to staff burgeoning requirement in

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infrastructure rapidly. Over next couple of decades, India is expected to emerge as one of the largest economies of the world. This massive growth would result in swelling of middle class which could reach around 500 million mark by 2025, according to a report by McKinsey. Further, in about a decade, the country would have the youngest population in the world with average age less of than 30 years. As India would slowly overtake China as the largest population in the age group requiring tertiary education, there would be a huge demand for colleges and universities. It is therefore not without reason that the 12th five year plan of the Govt. of India has marked expansion as one of the three central pillars of education. But just churning out graduates with degree is not enough. Quality

emerging sectors like BPOs

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is a prerequisite for employment. And increasingly, quality is not a static factor. It is a dynamic concept wherein employees need to be smart enough to learn new things and adopt to new, shifting job requirements in accordance with the changing market realities. Such workforce is by attitude flexible and adaptable. Unfortunately, current system does not prepare students for this paradigm. And direct fallout of a poor educational system is unemployable, inflexible workforce. According to former NASSCOM Chairman Kiran Karnik, companies are able to take less than ten per cent of applicants which is a very low selection ratio. Level of employable graduates in healthcare, manufacturing and financial sectors is around 50 percent; the same for IT and BPO sectors is over 70 percent. Naturally, we are not churning

out graduates who could take up jobs straightaway. This forces most companies to put additional resources in training of new recruits which adds up on cost. While it is true that unemployability is a byproduct of poor academic background of students entering the tertiary education, the culpability of educational system in not improving them sufficiently can also not be questioned. Quality of education is an outcome of investment in resources. And no resource is harder to procure, deploy and nurture as the human resource. For long, the poor quality of faculties in colleges and universities has remained a completely unaddressed issue, brushed under the carpet, the result of which is visible today. Furthermore, there is a chronic shortage of college and university teachers; different estimates show Indian colleges and universities are facing a faculty shortage of 30-40 percent. This translates into overburdened teachers which is clearly unsustainable if even basic quality has to be delivered. Result of such stretched workforce is that teachers, even when interested, cannot put extra effort in improving the quality of education they impart. Further complicating the matter is that most faculty members start teaching with no training in teaching which limits their ability to engage students and encourage original thinking. Next, the rigid, outdated curricula do not allow much scope for innovative teaching. The revision of curricula is mostly a non event kind of exercise with very little input from either subject experts or industry. Final cog in understanding the poor quality of imparted education is the remuneration of faculties. Barring some top universities, most universities and colleges pay their teachers poorly, thus failing to attract good talent into teaching. Even our premier institutions donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t pay enough to bring high end faculty from either industry or foreign universities. Shail Kumar, an alumnus of IIT and author who has also been associated with July 2016 I 19

There is too much division and compartmentalization in the higher education. The result of this is that students are not able to think freely and in all directions. This freedom is very much required. Only when you are allowed to think freely that you come up with something new and novel. Currently, there is too much of focus on marks and grades, which should not be the case. Each student should be encouraged to seek his own interest and work accordingly. Educational programs should be created to enable students to access various curricular areas with mobility. Prof. Yash Pal Noted scientist, educationist and former chairman of UGC

a major area of discussion today. Recently, the UGC came out with a new system of university teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; evaluation which focuses on quantifiable parameters that makes evaluation more authentic. It included parameters such as number of publication in prescribed journals, attendance in seminars, research guidance etc. However, to ensure fairness towards teachers from socially and economically backward areas, UGC later shifted a bit of focus from research to the quality of teaching. Additionally, students have also got a say in evaluating teachers for the first time. Such measures would ensure that faculty focuses on quality of teaching as well as on knowledge creation. Another big problem, according to former UGC Chairman and noted educationist Prof. Yash Pal is that there is too much focus on marks and grades, which does not give students the freedom to think beyond boundaries. The recent move to allow students to create their own curriculum has also not progressed well, primarily because of lack of capacity of universities to offer choices. On their part, most universities and colleges are short of funds to start new courses and programs, even if they are sure they will get regulatory approvals for the same.

Government on job University of California (UC) at Berkley and UC, San Diego, says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are not attracting the best and the brightest talent to become faculty members in our colleges and universities. Unless we change this reality we will continue to fall short on our needs and aspirations and any transformation will be on thin ice.â&#x20AC;? (Full interview in later pages) Knowledge creation through research has been the Achilles heel of Indian higher education system for long. And the reason for the lack of focus on research is that after Independence, emphasis was primarily laid on putting in place an educational infrastructure that 20 I July 2016

can churn out enough decently educated manpower to staff the nascent industrialization. Research and creation of knowledge was not on the agenda as it was considered highly resource intensive and needed a long gestation period to show the result. Because of this reason, research institutions were segregated from teaching institutions, cutting teaching faculties and students from contemporary research. This has hurt all segments of education, but most harshly impacted were technical and basic research which needs sustained investment of resource and time. The promotion of faculties is

To be sure, the government is taking well intentioned steps in the right direction. Most basic aspect is finance and the government is willing to put in money, thus obviating the perennial resource crunch that has been the hallmark of educational planning. It is putting more money for research and has made it easier to tap this funding for any worthwhile research project. Besides, it has now become possible for small innovation centers to get funding from government. The Universities for Research and Innovations Bill (2012) allows universities to act as educational and research hubs, and be open to all, including foreign www.governancetoday.co.in

However, the overall quality improvement is not possible unless the affiliated college system, which enrolls over 80 per cent of undergraduate and over two third of post graduate (masters) students is reformed. These colleges do not have their own degree awarding powers; they just deliver the courses, curricula and examinations specified and are regulated by their parent state universities. With this level of coverage, it is necessary to beef up their capacity and ensure strict compliance with the prescribed teaching standards. As such, government should strengthen the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) to run periodic quality audit to these affiliated colleges. Because education is primarily a state subject, states should be roped in to participate in ensuring quality. According to L.S. Shashidhara of IISER, Pune, the first round of unlocking of Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economic potential since 1991 was made possible because of the works of some of the excellent engineering schools, agriculture/medical colleges and universities founded right after independence. However, the contemporary socio economic realities of the country demand creation of an educational architecture that is geared up

KEY INNOVATION SCORES OF INDIA AND INNOVATION LEADERS Innovation Parameters

India

Leader

Score

Country

Score

-8.32

Singapore

14.99

$1,248

Norway

$18,218

Researchers per 1,000 Population

0.15

Finland

7.41

Government Expenditures on R&D (per capita)

$464

Korea

$1,995

Government Funding of University Research (per capita)

$12

Singapore

$382

Total Citations, per 1,000 Citizens

0.08

Switzerland

73.8

Contribution to global innovation Expenditure on Education per Student

Source: Contributors and detractors ranking from Information Technology foundation (Jan 2016)

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The PMO wants these institutions to be given complete freedom from UGC regulations. They can fix course duration, decide their curricula, charge fees as they deem fit and pay their faculty competitive salaries. This is the template that government can be expected to replicate if proven successful in these 20 institutions.

Patents Filed IndianEducation EducationsInstitutions Institutions Patents Filed byby Indian

IISc Bangalore

G H Raisoni College of Engineering

Siddaganga Institute of Technology

Sree Chitra Tirunal Inst. of Med. Sci.

University of Calcutta

Sastra University

Rajaram Bapu Institute of Technology

Bharath University

Amity University

Saveetha School of Engineering

342

IITs (Collective)

institutions, and allows them total autonomy. Institutions such as Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISERs) and National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) have been created which foster research at undergraduate and higher education levels. Also, it is making all efforts to bring in capabilities from outside government to allow public academic institutions to innovate and evolve. The move to increase industry representation on boards of IIMs and reduce scope for political interference in making rules and regulations are laudable steps. Similarly, the efforts to provide 10 public and 10 private institutions with all regulatory help so they could emerge world class education and research centers is commendable. In this aspect, India has taken a cue from China which focused, in stages, to develop selected institutions as world class learning centers. Only recently, the Prime Ministerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office (PMO) advised the human resource development ministry that these should be given full autonomy.

Source: Intellectual Property India Annual Report 2013-14

July 2016 I 21

to take up the twin challenge of creating knowledge and churning out a huge number of trained manpower that is able to pick up skills periodically. Even with best of efforts, government institutions can’t do it alone. They can simply not supply the required number of skilled workforce that India needs over the coming decade. As such, the private sector, which currently accounts for nearly 60 percent of all tertiary enrolment, has to be tapped into. According to experts, many private sector players want

and make money for the investor. Needless to say, these impediments must be removed in order to attract serious private players to set up universities. Further, there should not be any strings attached on either the tuition fee or the faculty salaries. With the passage of time, some of these private universities would emerge in world class institutions. The government has focused on three overarching challenges, namely excellence, expansion and equity for higher education during twelfth five-year plan. The moves

NOT A ROSY PICTURE Key tertiary education data • No of tertiary educational institutions: 757 Universities, 38056 Colleges and 11922 Stand Alone Institutions in India • There are 43 Central Universities, 1 Central and 13 State Open Universities, 69 Institutes of National Importance, 316 State Public Universities • College density, i.e. the number of college per lakh eligible population (population in age-group 18-23 years) varies from 7 in Bihar to 58 in Puducherry. All India average is 27 • 76% Colleges are privately managed of which 61% are PrivateUnaided and 15% are Private Aided • Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Higher Education 23.6, in 18-23 years age group • Distance enrolment constitutes 11.7% of the total enrolment • About 80% students are enrolled in Undergraduate level Programs • PhD enrolment about 0.34% • Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) in Universities and Colleges is 24 • About 61% teachers are male, 39% are female Source: All India Survey on Higher Education data (Provisional)

to get into education sector, but are dithering because of some crucial reasons. First of all, there is no freedom allowed to private universities to create their own curricula which leaves little scope for the emergence of differentiated core competence. Secondly, the imposition of no-profit condition forces them to adopt dubious ways like capitation fees to make money. This leaves little benefit from creating a brand and leveraging the same to deliver value to students 22 I July 2016

like IIM Bill, The Universities for Research and Innovations Bill, granting autonomy to institutions, and providing financial incentive to pursue research and monetizing the same are surely steps to ensure excellence. But these would come only through radical improvement in institutional infrastructure, faculty development and greater interaction with foreign universities and industry. The expansion remains a challenge as scaling up of existing

structure may still not be able to make good the human resource gap. By leveraging the Internet and latest communication technologies, massive open online course (MOOC) should be used as an alternative education delivery mechanism. However, MOOC must not be taken as the alternative to the formal campus based education. It needs to be strategically fit into the formal structure so as to ensure maximum value to students. But perhaps the biggest challenge is to reform the educational paradigm which focuses too much on structured learning instead of encouraging students to develop critical thinking, fostering interdisciplinary research and promoting the creation of intellectual property at universities. There is a virtual absence of research in university campuses and there is no platform for interaction between researchers, college faculty and students. This needs to be reversed. A commendable step in correcting this anomaly has been the setting up of IISERs which blends research as an integral part of curricula. Such institutions must be replicated at large number and in multiple streams of education. The focus of education has shifted from knowing facts to understanding logic and applying them to gain incremental knowledge. Simultaneously, educational institutions’ role in advancing knowledge has become very important. It is, therefore, necessary to deploy enlightened minds as faculty who could ignite the passion for excellence in students. Second, it is necessary that faculty and students who want to spread wings are allowed space to fly. Regulations must not be restrictive; they should facilitate the creation and nourishment of intellect. At no point in history, intellectual capital was more precious. We have contributed immensely to the prosperity of west by providing brain power. It is time we employ this power to make India prosperous. anand@governancetoday.co.in

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COVER STORY

Time to leverage technology Government needs to play an active role in encouraging educational institutions in adopting latest technology for teachings and delivering course content Ramesh Kumar Raja

tâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not too long back when a classroom meant assignments, blackboards and chalks, heavy duty lectures, etc. Online education, on the contrary, was like Greek and Latin to most people. Things are a lot different now with the advent of technology each passing year. Be it in a school or college, the classrooms are gradually creeping towards infusion of modernity in the education system. Classy laptops, tablets, pen drives and e-learning, now a part of daily education are enough to demonstrate the transition from brick-and-mortar learning to technology-based education. While e-learning has become the need of the hour, technology ensures that data quality remains the topmost priority. Although India couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t embrace technology too soon, it has finally www.governancetoday.co.in

come of age having learnt from its past mistakes. With access to high speed broadband internet and low cost computers and mobile devices, there has been growth in the use of technology for learning. The country today is one of the fastest growing markets for e-learning based products and services. This segment is expected to have a turnover of $40 billion by the next year. The technology can be used in various ways to bring about overhaul in the Indian education system. Even the government plans to enhance digital literacy of the country to 50 per cent from the current 15 per cent by bringing out encouraging policies to give push to technology based learning. Many entrepreneurs and startups have grabbed this opportunity to develop technology based educational products for private and government schools, colleges and universities.

Among universities, Amity University, Manipal and Symbiosis were the trendsetters and now the fad has caught on with schools as well. There are a number of websites like Khan Academy and various YouTube channels that offer video lectures by eminent scholars and teachers in various subjects. E-learning has also vastly facilitated the distance learning, which is a way of learning where the students or working professionals can learn the courses remotely through online access and interact with faculty via online classroom. It helps students to interact with their mentors or tutors directly through chat, e-mail or phone call. India is a developing country and for many students who are living in remote places or villages getting degree for higher education is still a distant dream. In such circumstances, technology enabled distance education can help them complete July 2016 I 23

their studies, upgrade their skills and get a degree. This gives the students or working professionals the flexibility to learn at their own time without the compulsion of going to a class. According to All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2014-2015 conducted by Ministry of Human Resource Development, the total enrolment of students for distance education constitute 11.7 per cent out of which 46 per cent are female students. Accessibility

classrooms. Gadgets like tablets and laptops are used to take down notes. Animated contents are created on various subjects and in different languages so that students can have better understanding of a complex subject in a simple way. Various colleges and universities in India are integrating online Learning Management System or LMS platform into their web portal. Students can remotely login to access course material and also

As per a Counterpoint Research report, India has become the second biggest smart phone market in the world after China with more than 220 million active users. This presents a huge opportunity for delivering e-learning content through mobile apps. Today educational mobile apps are available on popular platforms like Android and iOS. Developers are creating educational apps based on particular subjects. They are

of broadband and hi-speed internet along with low cost computers to tier 2 and tier 3 cities has made learning seamless without any blips. Since technology has become an integral part of classroom based teachings in many schools, colleges and universities, projector screens are used instead of blackboard for teachings and hand writings of teachers are replaced by power point presentations. Students experience a different kind of set up in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s technology based

attend live classes with teachers. Pre-recorded lectures, videos can be uploaded on the LMS platform making it easy for students to go through it multiple times. LMS adoption is still poor in many parts of the country where students do not have the access to computers or broadband internet. However, the government is providing computers to remote areas and creating content that consumes less data and can be easily accessed on internet.

simplifying complex concepts with easy to understand illustrations and animations, puzzles, games etc. There are apps available for grammar, physics, chemistry, mathematics and so on. With the prices of tablets and smart phone coming down, people from villages and remote areas can also make use of these apps to learn and update their skills. Although some of the institutions in India compare well with worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best universities and colleges,

24 I July 2016

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bulk continues to languish in poor quality. A super-power hopeful India is thus gazing at a future generation of employment-unfit workers lacking in basic communication, arithmetic and cognitive skills. We lack quality teachers and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India programme, which currently is more inclined to distributing tablets and technology in public schools, will fail if it disregards the most critical component in the wheel i.e. teachers. A campaign which has been welcomed as one of the pillars of governance has till now failed to build a roadmap, not just for connecting students with the best teachers, but also to provide an environment to create better teachers. But while there is no denying the fact that digital education is the yardstick for the future, these technologies cannot replace teachers. They can only complement them. Therefore, what India requires today is digital technologies tailored around teachers to enhance education and ensure uniform quality of teaching across the country. Teachers need tools that help them create personalised assignments and tests or customise the curriculum to get the best out of every student. This would not only make learning more appealing for every student, but also help teachers do a better job consistently. Online learning platforms have, till date, failed to make an influence on India’s broad educational environment, primarily because they are mostly just digitised textbooks and course content. What India needs today is allinclusive education technology platforms that can connect all the dots – deliver good quality content in a secure environment, channelize communication and collaboration between students and teachers and more significantly provide tools for teachers to improve teaching methods. Digital classroom platforms like Mobiliya Edvelop are developing a new form of valuebased digital education that goes

beyond making course content www.governancetoday.co.in

GOOGLE UNVEILS FREE EDUCATIONAL TOOLS Search giant Google recently showcased new tools to improve the experience of teachers and students. The company launched Cast for Education app, Quizzes in Google Forms and much more for classrooms. The Cast for education Chrome app lets student and teachers turn the main computer, which is connected to a projector, into a main Cast destination. Both teachers and students can access the connected PC. Teachers also have the option to approve or disapprove connection requests from students. The search giant also introduced the Expeditions app, which was available as a beta since September last year. The app is now available for everyone. Teachers can download the app on a set of devices and choose over 200 Expeditions for students. The app works in conjunction with Google Cardboards and is only there for Android. The iOS app version is said to roll out later. Google Forms also received a new feature called Quizzes. It will let teachers automatically grade multiple choice questions. This would save time in manually grading students. Teachers also get the ability to add a review in the form of explanations, supplemental websites or review videos. There is also an option to disable students from sending a copy of responses to themselves. The search major also announced some new creative apps for Chromebooks aimed at schools. These apps include Explain Everything, Soundtrap and WeVideo. “We’ve worked closely with our partners to offer these apps to schools at a special price when all three apps are purchased together,” Google said in a statement. These apps can be purchased along with the Chromebook or separately and are available as an annual subscription per license from Chromebook resellers in the US. available online. Mobiliya Edvelop recently helped the Chinese government drive rural education initiatives by connecting poor and remote schools in the rural areas in western China to urban learning centres. The boards and universities, which are responsible for promotion and development of education, should push specific teacher training programmes through

online platforms that teachers can take up from anywhere, anytime, thus enhancing quality of teachers across regions and centres. Besides, the government needs to play an active role in encouraging educational institutions in adopting latest technology for teachings and delivering course content. ramesh@governancetoday.co.in

July 2016 I 25

INTERVIEW SHAIL KUMAR | AUTHOR AND FORMER PRESIDENT, IIT FOUNDATION

WE NEED A GRAY REVOLUTION TO TRANSFORM INDIA’S HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM Higher education in India is ridden with complex issues which need immediate and comprehensive attention. Shail Kumar has been closely associated with the top tertiary education in India and the US. An MBA from Indiana University, Bloomington and B.Tech from IIT Kharagpur, Shail has been an administrator with UC Berkeley and UC San Diego, and is a former president of IIT Foundation. He has authored Building Golden India: How to unleash India’s vast potential and transform its higher education system. Now. Shail has also founded two start-ups and has held executive positions in several Fortune 500 and Silicon Valley based corporations. In an e-interview with Governance Today, Shail dwells upon some of the crucial aspects of higher education in the country. EDITED EXCERPTS:

In your book, “Building Golden India”, you say that Indian higher education which you call India’s nerve center, is in crisis. Please elaborate. Yes. First let me explain why higher education system is the nerve center for any nation, especially India. Higher education system, according to globally accepted standards and definition, includes universities, colleges, and vocational schools. Thus, higher education system prepares professionals for all sectors of the economy, including teachers for primary and secondary schools. In a vibrant system, colleges and universities are enablers of research, innovation, and entrepreneurship, addressing problems facing the society and nation, and preparing individuals for lives and careers. This means that higher education system affects future of the person, family, society, economy, and the nation. It is one system that affects us all just as the nervous system 26 I July 2016

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affects a body. That’s why I term it the nerve center of the country. Second, even though India’s higher education system has come a long way since independence, it is in crisis. It is broken on all fronts that matter and is disconnected from the needs and aspirations of its people, society, industry, and the nation. The following key facts point towards a crisis: • Just over 20 per cent of the people who could be enrolled in higher education are currently enrolled in colleges and universities. Most developed nations are in the 50-95 per cent range for this metric. • India’s premier higher education institutions such as the IITs, IIMs, and AIIMS serve less than 0.5 per cent of the total students enrolled in colleges and universities. Further, they are all narrowly specialized institutions — an outdated model for building a Golden India. • According to one study, 7590 per cent of the graduating students from India’s colleges and universities are considered unemployable by the industry. • Industry is spending 6-12 months of training to make these students ready for productive work. • After close to 70 years of independence, India does not have one world-class comprehensive research university and just one university, IISc Bengaluru, was ranked in the top 500 of global rankings. The nation, the society, and its individuals are paying a huge price for the dysfunctional system. There is hyper-competition among students to join one of the premier institutions. An increasing number of students are going overseas for higher education. Because majority of the students who have received their degrees in India are considered unemployable, there is hyper-competition among corporations to recruit and retain employable graduates. Industry is paying a price of high employee turnover and escalating salaries. All www.governancetoday.co.in

this while, India’s mega challenges are going unsolved.

You have indicated India needs a Gray Revolution. What do you mean by it and how is it expected to help? India has done well in times of crises. The green revolution followed a severe food shortage, and the white revolution

I have shared a framework for comprehensive reforms at the national and state levels some of which are mentioned below: • Establish 20–50 new worldclass comprehensive research universities in the next 10 years. • Transform 20–50 existing institutions of excellence, such as IITs, IIMs, and AIIMS, to National Universities of India (NUIs) status. • Immediately stop establishing new single field institutions, such

• Great educational institutions are not built by money, but by talented and dedicated teachers.” P.V. Indiresan Award-winning IIT faculty member and former director of IIT Madras. • Surely the composition and quality of the faculty is the single most important determinant of the character and prestige of the university.” Donald Kennedy Former president, Stanford University. • All of these schools [two-thirds of the best US universities] correctly assume that the quality of the faculty is the most important factor in maintaining their reputation and position.” Henry Rosovsky Former dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and briefly acting president, Harvard University. transformed milk production and distribution. The 1991 economic liberalization was also done at gunpoint. India had no foreign exchange reserves left and had just pawned its gold deposits to keep its promises. Similarly, we need a Gray Revolution for the crisis in our higher education system which would transform India’s higher education system on all the key dimensions – scale and speed, scope and structure, and excellence and impact. It is about reimagining the system — setting the bar high, establishing a system with multiple pathways for students, dismantling meaningless regulations and regulatory bodies, and attracting the best and the brightest talent to be faculty members. In my book —Building Golden India: How to unleash India’s vast potential and transform its higher education system. Now.

as IIT, IIM, AIIMS, IISER, NIT, IIIT, NISER, IIPH, ISI, NIFT, NID, and Nursing and Teacher Training Institutes. • Prepare, attract, and retain the best and the brightest minds as faculty members. Currently, there is no worldclass multidisciplinary research university in India. Establishing forty to one hundred NUIs will build critical scale and excellence at the highest levels. NUI must be comprehensive and include all fields—arts and humanities, architecture and city planning, biological sciences, business, education, engineering, law, mathematical sciences, medical sciences, nursing, physical sciences, public health, public policy, and social sciences—all co-located in one campus. Further, NUIs must excel in research, innovation, and education. They must make an impact on the local community, July 2016 I 27

state, region, and the nation. They must also foster interdisciplinary thinking, dialogue, and research. As the primary doctorate-granting institutions, they would be expected to prepare the next generation of faculty members for colleges and universities. Finally, these NUIs must have a capacity of thirty to fifty thousand students per campus. NUI alumni who become faculty members and teachers will raise the quality of teaching and research in colleges and universities around the country and quality of teaching in primary and secondary schools. Spread across the country, the NUIs would also serve as state and regional hubs for excellence in research and innovation, education, and entrepreneurship. NUIs would be expected to set the standard for excellence in the country and be in the top echelons of global rankings within ten to fifteen years of their founding. One of the fundamental changes we must institutionalize is a radically new compensation and incentive structure for the faculty members. Their total compensation and incentive structure has to be benchmarked with the local industry and global faculty compensation and not pegged to IAS or any other government category’s pay scales. A flexibility to pay differential salaries based on market forces and merit must be part of this transformation. World-class incentives must also be matched with world-class processes and accountability, such as the tenure system.

In your book, you have put in case studies on many Indian and US universities. What in your opinion are the central features that distinguish Indian universities from the American ones? In my book, my focus is on the higher education system and not 28 I July 2016

the institutions per se. However, I have researched and created case studies on several universities in India (Nalanda University from India’s Golden Age), and US (UC Berkeley, Stanford University), so that we can learn valuable lessons. I have reviewed extensively the US system (at a national scale), California (at the state scale), and briefly covered relevant lessons from Singapore, Finland, South Korea, and China.

There is a marked difference among premier institutions in the US and India. In India, the top institutions, i.e. IITs, IIMs, and AIIMS, are narrowly specialized institutions that provide education in just engineering, management, or medicine. Further, they provide education to a very small fraction of the applicant pool. Till recently, they were mostly focused on teaching. On the other hand, in the US, premier institutions such as Stanford, UC Berkeley, MIT, and Harvard are multidisciplinary research universities providing education in multiple fields. Their faculty members are dedicated to student learning, conducting research, and making an impact to the society and nation. In India, unfortunately, the quality of education drops precipitously after the top 10-

20 colleges and universities in each field. There is focus on rote learning, curriculum is old and taught without context or application, and there is significant political interference in colleges and universities. In the US, the colleges and universities are mostly independently run organizations with negligible political interference. At another level, universities in the US have to be competitive to survive and thrive. They compete all the time for: attracting the best and the brightest faculty members and students from within the US and from around the world, research funding, private resources, and prestige. As a result, they are constantly exploring ways to create more compelling value and build a unique brand. Therefore, just like Nalanda University from India’s glorious past, the US universities are intimately connected with all of their stakeholders — students, parents, industry, government, and society. No wonder 146 US universities are in the top 500 of global ranking, USA is the number one destination for foreign students, and over 50 per cent of Indian students who study overseas choose a US university!

What is state of IIT’s in your opinion? What reforms are needed to make these institutions world class? Less than one to two per cent of the students who take the IITJEE are selected to join one of the IITs. Thus getting into IITs is still a badge of honor at the undergraduate level for those who make it and for their respective families. However, it is a sign of crisis for India. Like IIMs, AIIMS, and many of the narrowly specialized institutions in India, IITs are an ineffective and inefficient model for today’s and tomorrow’s India. IITs focus only on science and engineering and students are less than 0.2 per cent of the total student enrolment. Some of the IITs have started www.governancetoday.co.in

adding non-engineering disciplines and that is a step in the right direction. We need to stop establishing new IITs and transform some of the existing IITs, especially the original five and a few more, to become world-class multidisciplinary research universities. (please see my detailed answer to question # 2)

There is a general allegation that Indian tertiary institutions are not investing enough material and human resources in creating knowledge. Do you agree to it; if yes, how can this be corrected? I would say that we are not attracting the best and the brightest talent to become faculty members in our colleges and universities. Unless we change this reality we will continue to fall short on our needs and aspirations and any transformation will be on thin ice. Great teaching, conducting research and creating new knowledge, and addressing problems that matter to the society and nation starts with the faculty members. We must change the scope and structure of the colleges and universities, remove old British Raj rules and regulations, and make higher education institutions great places to work. This is why I am proposing a Gray Revolution — an urgent and comprehensive reforms, which also includes revamping the faculty compensation, incentives, and accountability system.

What is your opinion about the promise of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)? It has caught momentum over last five years or so. Do you think this can act as a viable alternative to the www.governancetoday.co.in

formal system, especially at tertiary level? MOOCs, technology, and innovations such as blended learning and adaptive learning must play a big role in transforming India’s higher education system. They offer us a unique opportunity to leapfrog building brick and mortar infrastructure, address the severe shortage of well prepared faculty members, reach students in small towns and villages, and provide excellent education to everyone. This is the only way we

We must change the scope and structure of the colleges and universities, remove old British Raj rules and regulations, and make higher education institutions great places to work can be better prepared to educate and train 20-26 million children who are born in India every year. We ought to think of MOOCs and all such innovations as necessary augmentation to our higher education system. However, MOOCs will never replace the need for creating and sustaining a thriving teaching, research, innovation, and entrepreneurship focused colleges and universities.

India has emerged as one of the fastest developing start-up nations over last few years. What explains this trend and what needs to be done to keep the party going? The start-up story is

encouraging. There are several reasons for this trend. Liberalization of rules and regulations starting 1991, increased globalization, and growing local demands have spurred the Indian economy. This has created substantial demand for new and innovative products and services, and India’s amazing talent has jumped in to cater to this demand. However, to put in perspective, India’s start-up ecosystem is still small. In 2014, India’s share of VC investments was a mere 3.7 per cent of the global total. There are 10-12 million people joining the labor market every year. We need job creators and not just job seekers. The start-up engine has to be supercharged. In addition, our startups must address some of the looming challenges facing the nation such as water, energy, education, health, and infrastructure. This is where a transformed higher education system would be instrumental. Colleges and universities must enable research, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Starting 1940s, Stanford University transformed itself to a world-class multidisciplinary research university by attracting the best and brightest faculty members, building steeples of excellence in all the fields, establishing linkages with the industry, and fostering an entrepreneurial culture. In 2014, it raised close to $1 billion in private resources and companies founded by its faculty, alumni, and students generated $2.7 trillion in annual revenues. If we want to keep the party going, we must transform our ailing higher education system. If we can send an orbiter to Mars, and build nuclear bombs, and our people win Nobel prizes and lead Fortune 500 companies, we can surely transform our higher education system. We have the human potential and the financial resources. Let’s start the transformation. Now. July 2016 I 29

INTERVIEW DR PANKAJ JALOTE | DIRECTOR OF (IIIT) DELHI

MOST INSTITUTES DON’T PAY ENOUGH TO ATTRACT GOOD FACULTY’ Dr Pankaj Jalote, Director of Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Delhi, he has vast experience in software engineering; teaching at various institute including IIT Delhi and Kanpur and has been a part of research work with Microsoft. Talking to Governance Today, he shares his views on the present scenario of technical education in India and how it can be made better in the coming days. EDITED EXCERPTS:

A large number of IT companies complain that over two third of IT graduates are unemployable because of which they have a hard time filling the vacant positions and suffer from high attrition. Your comment. Unemployable IT graduates usually come from tier II and tier III institutes. Graduates from good institutes are competent enough to find a position in any reputed company. Many companies desire to pay a low package of three to four lakhs initially, which does 30 I July 2016

not attract students from good institutes. The hiring of valuable talent at such a low package is difficult as the aspirations of able candidates are generally high.

While there are some top notch IT institutions, they are unable to cater to the total demand of IT education. How can quality IT education be imparted to a large number of students? Yes, this is true. A large number of institutions are unable to cater to the growing demands of IT professionals. Most professors teaching in these institutes are

under-qualified - Unable to answer questions posed by students and possess little knowledge outside the textbook. Such professors do not show real passion for teaching - they sometimes do “just enough”, often do even less. Lectures are mostly one dimensional instead of being conversational. Institutes should focus on improving the quality of faculty, we understand that this can’t be achieved overnight so while in the process of improving the faculty, Small institutes should involve part-time visiting faculties from other top notch institutions and also call upon professionals from the industry to train their students. They should also actively look to get their students to intern at leading IT companies to enrich their skills. www.governancetoday.co.in

Data science and analytics are emerging as a major application area for software professionals. What are IIIT Delhi’s plans for these areas? We have introduced courses like Data Engineering, Data Mining and Data Analytics few years back for our Master’s program, the Information Management & Data Analytics (IMDA) Group at IIIT-Delhi proposes to offer an MTech Program in Computer Science (CS) with specialization in Data Engineering. This course is based on a model which would comprise of both theory and practice. Students apart from taking a comprehensive academic course in theory, will also be given a chance to work hands-on with real world applications. The explosive growth of data coupled with the increasing demands on data management systems has made effective data engineering a necessity in several important and diverse application domains such as geographic information systems, healthcare, fundamental sciences, business and finance. Given the increasing complexity of data, the need for efficient data engineering techniques for obtaining useful information from the data has never been greater. Information can be regarded as an asset, which can significantly facilitate decisionmaking processes in any organization, thereby saving the organization both time as well as money.

What is your opinion on the latest trend of open learning through MOOC? Do you think it can be leveraged to impart quality IT education? Online courses require a lot of self-discipline and most of the students who are enrolled in a degree course do get benefit from online courses.These courses clearly offer high quality instruction at very little (or zero) cost. Institutes www.governancetoday.co.in

may complement their general coursework with a specialized online course with an industry expert. So, online should be a supplement to university education, especially used to develop niche skills. The Academic Senate of IIITDelhi decided that the Institute must leverage the top-class courses being offered by globally renowned professors through these recognized platforms for augmenting our elective offerings, thereby making a wider variety of choices available to students for their elective courses. To enable this, the Senate added a provision for students to earn up to 8 credits (equal to about 2 full load courses) through approved online courses.

Broadly, the standard of tertiary education in the country is not good. What in your opinion are the major reasons for the same and what should be done to improve the situation? India’s higher education system is the third largest in the world; next to the United States and China still we lack the quality of education. The main reason is the lack of quality faculty in many institutes. Most of the institutes do not provide good financial compensation to attract a good faculty. Another reason can be that our approach to education, even in many of the top places, is mostly geared towards developing knowledge and understanding with little emphasis on developing skills and capabilities. Our current approach to education in almost all institutions take a teaching oriented view – for a course the “syllabus” is defined as a list of topics to be covered, and during the semester, instructors give lectures to cover the topics, in which the instructor will explain the topic/concepts and may do some examples. Good institutions

will ensure that the topics are covered, the not so good ones may not even ensure this. In the better Institutes, there may be labs and assignments, though often the final grades depend largely on exams. This teaching oriented approach to education can at most deliver mediocre education. To move towards higher quality education which develops not only deep understanding of acquired knowledge but also development of skills/capabilities of applying the knowledge, it is necessary to move towards learner centric education, as is being done in most developed countries, and as is mandated by the Washington Accord. While this remains the major reason we can say that another reason can be the infrastructure of such institutes.

The government of India has embarked on the Digital India initiative. What are your suggestions on how to make it successful? It is an excellent initiative and we see that all the developed countries of the world are connected with the authorities through the internet. The initiative has a lot of potential in itself if executed in the right manner. We at IIIT-Delhi also had a seminar on transforming Delhi into a smart digital city where we invited proposals form the citizens to make Delhi smarter.

What do you feel about the suggestions to allow foreign universities set up campuses in India? We welcome them, competition will help. We will learn from each other. All countries have some uniqueness in their education system and much of which is good. Learning and adopting good things from theforeign universities would eventually help in growing our educational standard. July 2016 I 31

COVER STORY

The sham of cut-throat competition According to the last updated report of National Crime Records Bureau, 3,807 students committed suicide

The College Admission Game

Sagarika Ranjan

e are talking of suicide. We are talking of kids committing suicide. We are talking of kids committing suicide because of cut throat competition? Is it? Was it because of the competition, suicide would have been in history but this is new. Suicide among children and teens has increased in last decade. The competition is not new, it has just evolved and so have the other things and in the right proportions. Then where did this begin and why is it continuing? Earlier we had 10 schools, there was competition, now we have schools in thousands and still there is competition. Earlier the scope was limited now it has got better, every trade has a professional scope now, and still kids are killing themselves. Surprised? No?

32 I July 2016

Exactly! This is the problem. We have accepted that suicide happens. We have accepted that unsuccessful children kill themselves out of frustration. But that is not as natural as it is made out to be. How do these kids decide at this tender age, when they have not even lived quarter of their lives, that they have failed in life? Psychologists say that at a very tender age the children are being given the idea that success means good schools and good schools and colleges mean big building, high ranking, good-looking faculty, campus size and hoards of cocurricular activities. Lakhs are spent on admission of a kid, as young as three, to a fancy school. For what? To build a class. From then and there the notion is only “good” colleges can help you become somebody, else you will be doomed. Deciding career is not on whether the child is good at arts,

science or commerce but is at what is trending, which subjects define intelligence and which subjects will make the neighbours jealous. Let’s talk about the other set of children. A lady tops in Political science and proudly explains how political science taught her culinary skills. Another topper in Chemistry could not relate H2O to water. These made a mockery of themselves all over and on camera. They did not commit suicide. They had grossly messed it up yet they did not. Why? Because they do not know of frustration, they do not know of fancy colleges, they do not know that anything is more important than life and here, in the last part, they are right. I am not siding with these kids who passed exams by wrong means. I am just trying to tell people that there is something beyond marks. There is an innocent life. These students focused only on marks, just numbers. Ethics, knowledge, future prospects all were thrown to the winds. Over 25 years into teaching profession and a number of years in Delhi University, Prof Ramesh Kumar, talks blunt mocking the parameters that define the credibility of a colleges and schools today. Lamenting the quality of the top bosses who are authorised to appoint teachers or professors, he says, “I have been interviewed by people, members of the reputed administrative bodies for education, who had no clue about education. The panel comprised people who were into pipe selling business or sari selling or were contractors at brick kilns. Imagine these people interview us.” Another person who has been a teacher for 15 years shares that teachers practically do not have www.governancetoday.co.in

a say. “They have set rules, we follow. The students should feel that they are studying in a good college and the parents should feel the same because they are paying our salaries.” She adds that being a teacher today is not about grooming a child but about making the child comfortable, let the child sit in his or her comfort zone and produce results. “I do not understand how that is possible because normally children are reluctant to study and strict discipline is what is needed to make them somebody someday. It wasn’t like these 10 years back but today teaching is all about fancy scrap books, smart uniforms, big buildings, smart teacher; basically just show off. It’s sad.” Well placed sources within the education departments say that teachers are selected on two parameters mostly. One, if they have the basic requisites for the vacancy and second, if they have the ability to turn their backs to “unethical” dealings happening around them in the name of management quota or other quotas. “Frankly, the second criterion is more important than the first one,” says Kumar. The college ranking reports of various publications are what students use to set their goals, unaware of the fact that very few of these ranking reports are actually ‘genuine’. Bigger the campus, more the facilities and more popular the people in the faculty, the higher is the ranking of the college. Set of books, courses, training and credits are considered secondary. There are only two parameters that will land you into the college of your choice – a lot of money and contacts. Student A gets 95 percent and wishes to study in a college but applied through normal procedure, seats were full so he couldn’t get through. Student B gets 60 per cent but has a lot of money. He applies through management quota and gets into the college that Student A couldn’t despite getting a very high score. “These are not institutions, these are shops. We call them shops. Their www.governancetoday.co.in

aim is not to impart education but to make profits even at the cost of children’s lives,” adds Kumar. There are universities, colleges that look for dropouts and allure them into helping them get degrees in lieu of money. Degrees as sensitive as MBBS, B Ed and B tech are being distributed for money. Worst part is the parents are equally responsible for the disaster. It is not important whether the child is comfortable taking science or arts or any subject for that matter, it is important to take up something

for options he met a person who had a proper office in the name of consultancy firm. They guaranteed that he would get admission in a college under Delhi University if he paid Rs 3 lakh and that too with the subjects of his choice. There is no big proof than this of the level of contacts and influence these people have. They claim to have contacts with officers at all levels of administration and are not scared of any police or law. “Fear is not what will happen to these students, a greater fear is

It is sham competition that’s killing kids and their talents. Best institution myth is just offshoot of profit-making factories that mint apparently literate beings for money

good enough to be described in their circle to give them a feeling of superiority. Parents pay any price to get their Wards into those fancy gates, into those institutions that top the charts without giving one single minute of thinking to whether the kid will be able to sustain, let alone be comfortable. Many professors in many parts of India agreed to back door entry, that is admissions in lieu of money. They agreed that education mafia is the biggest mafia today. Black marketing is going on for even the most reputed colleges and universities. A student, on condition of anonymity, shared that there was a time when there was a death in the family and he could not study and therefore got poor grades. Looking

what will happen to those who would be treated by these future doctors; what will happen to those structures that will be constructed under these engineers and how will the very basis of education survive at the hands of such teachers,” adds Kumar. There is no competition, there is nothing like amazing college, excellent faculty or a sure shot great mentoring at any institution. These are all profit making factories that mint apparently literate beings in customized forms, as per the desires of the payee. Here knowledge has taken a backseat and ‘genuine’ capabilities are of no use. All that matters is money. Welcome to this new vertical of black marketing called education. sagarika@governancetoday.co.in

July 2016 I 33

COVER STORY

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Unofficialâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Education on Social Media Dr Rakhi Tripathi

t has been observed that in the last one decade Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in India are moving towards digital presence. Nearly all the institutions have a website ranging from static informational to actively interactive websites. A significant number of institutions have presence on popular social networking sites (SNS) to interact with their stakeholders. Surprisingly, there are a large number of HEI that have unofficial presence on SNS too i.e. accounts/pages of the institutions on social media are not created and maintained by the institution but by someone else and hence, institution has no control over its content. There are HEI that have both official and many unofficial accounts/pages on social media (SM). Facebook here again is the leader in terms of HEI unofficial pages. This development can be seen in both positive and negative ways, though the later part being a serious concern. When compared it has been seen that Government HEI as compared to private HEI are not present on SM officially but on the contrary are more visible unofficially. There are unofficial accounts and pages on social media that have more likes, tweets and updates when compared with authentic ones. Digging deeper it has been found that there are two primary reasons behind it. First, in Government Institutions it is a long process to get approval and second, in these Institutions social media presence is not their priority. A large number of these Institutions have interactive website. These Institutions are engaging its stakeholders in some way. Therefore, it would be better to have an official presence on social media and synchronize the content with its website. This will strengthen the online presence of the Institution. There are Institutions that have

34 I July 2016

more than one unofficial page. Different categories of pages such as batch wise, stream wise etc. are formed. When searched for the Institution on social media several pages appear and it becomes difficult to find the authentic one. For instance, IIM- Ahmadabad has a Facebook page which is linked with its website. This page has many likes and is regularly updated. But while searching on Facebook this page does not appear on top of the search results due to many other unofficial pages being available. This can confuse the stakeholder. Moreover, this can be taken from a different perspective as well. If the unofficial page on social media is made by alum of the Institution then it shows high level of loyalty and eagerness to be connected online. This also shows that apart from administration of the Institution, others are also promoting the Institution. Any positive comment or news will improve the image of the institution and it will gain competitive advantage. On the contrary, unofficial presence on social media can be a matter of concern. As the Institution has no control over the content, any incorrect information can go against the image of the Institution. The unauthorized administrator of the unofficial social media account can upload negative comments, news or images about the institution. The result being aspirants and other stakeholders might be misguided. Out of Top 20 institutions of the country (including IITs, IIMs) 20 per cent are not on social media officially but have unofficially accounts on social media. These HEI have more than one unauthorized social media account and thus are unable to control the content. Majority of the unofficial accounts do not provide

any information related to the institution. IIT Delhi, for example, does not have any official social media presence but there are more than five Facebook pages by the name of IIT Delhi. Most of these pages have irrelevant information. There are also unofficial accounts/ pages of some of these institutions that post negative comments about the institution. This can harm the reputation of the institution. On the other hand, IIM Calcutta does not have any unofficial presence. It is connected to its stakeholders through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. Its content all across social media is synced with its website which itself is very interactive. Therefore, it can be said that these Institutions being a brand and renowned globally will face problems if unofficial accounts are not taken care of. Not only the unofficial, unauthorized and fake accounts on social networking sites of HEI in India must be minimized but also what is trending on social media about the institution must be monitored carefully. The writer is Assistant Professor, Information Technology and Head, Center for Digital Innovation, FORE School of Management

www.governancetoday.co.in

July 2016 I 35

POLICY

Not dropping guard

The last monetary policy review under Raghuram Rajan leaves rates unchanged as inflation risks remain elevated In his last monetary policy review, Rajan emphasized the need to curb inflation and clean banks’ balance sheets

Anand Mishra

hen the RBI reviewed the monetary policy on June 7, nobody was expecting a rate action. No hike was anticipated, no lowering either. What analysts were looking for was the language of the statement, rationale of leaving the key policy rates unchanged and what was RBI’s stance on key regulatory issues such as MCLR and liquidity management. As expected, Raghuram Rajan did not deliver any surprise as far as rates were concerned. What the policy review did was to underscore some crucial issues facing the economy and health of banking sector. On the health of the economy, the review underscored that there are signs of strengthening economic recovery. It stated that thanks to a seasonal pick-up in industries like electricity and the core sector, barring natural gas and crude, registered strong growth in

36 I July 2016

April 2016, though on a low base. It also highlighted indicators such as pick-up in capacity utilization, improved order books, increased cargo traffic at major ports, higher commercial vehicle sales, increased passenger air and freight traffic, and improved cement production and steel consumption as indicators of improved economic environment.

Rates left unchanged amid uncertain inflation environment The central bank kept its policy interest rate structure unchanged citing higher upside risks to inflation trajectory for keeping the rates at present level. Resultantly, the policy repo rate stays at a five-year low of 6.50 per cent. However, the review stated that the stance of monetary policy remained accommodative and that the Reserve Bank will monitor macroeconomic and financial developments for any further scope

for policy action. The central bank maintained a strong focus on the inflation scenario and primarily on account of the possible spikes in retail level inflation, any action on interest rates was not taken. According to an economist with a public sector bank in Mumbai, speaking on condition of anonymity, the RBI has made it abundantly clear over last few reviews that it will not be lowering interest rates unless it is fairly sure that the retail inflation, especially the food inflation, has been sustainably brought down to the desired level. Whether the zeal to contain inflation at any cost remains central to RBI’s endeavors after Rajan has left, will be watched closely by economists, he said. The review specifically mentioned that “Retail inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose more sharply than expected due to a more-thanseasonal jump in food prices. Within the food group, inflation in respect of vegetables, fruits, sugar, meat and www.governancetoday.co.in

fish rose sizably from their prints in the previous month. Inflation in respect of pulses remained elevated; the recent decline in prices of pulses reversed, yielding a sharp increase in April.” It further observed that “services inflation remained elevated on account of house rents, water charges, tuition fees and taxi/ auto fares.” While the above points towards a definite upward bias in inflation, the review also specified a few factors which could ease up inflation, moving forward. It said that a normal monsoon and supply management measures taken up by the government along with

couple of months has hovered around the lengevity of Rajan at the Mint Street, the policy review and Rajan’s statements over this period have focused on addressing some deep rooted structural and regulatory issues with the banking sector. Most crucial of the new things introduced by RBI over last year or so, has been the shift to Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) regime. Introduced late last year, the MCLR regime intended to ensure better transmission of changes in interest rates to borrowers. Speaking in the latest post policy press conference, Rajan said that “There is an MCLR and then banks have to add a spread

advocate of stringent measures to make banks real level of bad loans and last December, RBI had carried out an asset quality review. On the issue, RBI Governor said in the post policy conference, “We are working together with the government on facilitating the process (of banks’ clean up). There are discussions going on on mechanisms that will leave projects with the right capital structures as well as access to credit, with also some incentives for promoters to earn their way out of difficulty…. However, let me emphasize, this there is no intent to go back to the days of forbearance or reverse the move towards transparent bank balance sheet.”

Quarterly Projection of CPI Inflation (y-o-y) for Q1:2016-17 to Q4:2016-17

Inflation has reared up its head again in recent months Source: RBI Monetary Policy Review, June 2016

the introduction of the electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) trading portal, could prevent food inflation from going up sharply. It also points towards capacity utilization in industry which is not at the top level, indicating that industry can increase output without much impact on output price. However, there are risks such as possible crude price increase and payout on account of 7th Pay Commission awards which could lead to higher inflation.

Observations on regulatory framework While much debate over last www.governancetoday.co.in

to it and we have to see how that moves. I think it’s going to take a little while before we can assess completely whether it has had the effect intended.” He further said that “The Reserve Bank will shortly review the implementation of the Marginal Cost Lending Rate framework by banks. Timely capital infusions into constrained public sector banks will also aid credit flow.” Another area on which lot of emphasis has been placed in the last two years is related to clean up of banks’ financials. It is common knowledge that most public sector banks are laden with very high level of bad debts. Rajan has been a vocal

On balance, what transpired from the current round of review is that even though measures are being taken to curb inflation, there are factors which could severely impact price level adversely in the near time. At the same time, a good monsoon could lead to an environment where interest rates could be lowered, moving forward. On regulatory issues, most bankers feel that the measures currently being taken would lead to short term pain but structurally change the banking system for better. That in effect is what Rajan set out to do at the time he was given the charge of RBI. anand@governancetoday.co.in

July 2016 I 37

INTERVIEW ALPHONSUS H.M. STOELINGA | AMBASSADOR OF THE NETHERLANDS TO INDIA

INITIATIVES OF PRIME MINISTER MODI OFFER OPPORTUNITIES FOR DUTCH COMPANIES TO COME UP WITH INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS

The relations between India and the Netherlands have been on an upswing over last few years. Not only has trade and economic relations deepened, the two countries are increasingly cooperating in diverse areas such as innovation, agriculture and renewable energy. To know more about how India and the Netherlands are cooperating on multiple areas of mutual interest and how can the relations between the two countries be further strengthened, Anand Mishra, Editor and Rajesh Mehta , Consulting Editor, Governance Today, spoke to Mr Alphonsus H.M. Stoelinga, Ambassador of the Netherlands to India. Mr Stoelinga joined the Netherlandsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1979 and was posted in Accra, Athens, Lusaka, at the Dutch Permanent Mission to the European Union in Brussels and at the Ministry in The Hague, responsible for the International Development Banks. Since 1995, he has held the position of Head of Mission in various countries and has been acting Secretary General of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. EDITED EXCERPTS:

What is your impression of the current relation between India and the Netherlands and how it has progressed over last few years? The Indo-Dutch relations are nowadays stronger than ever! In 2015 three major trade delegations visited India from the Netherlands; the mission headed by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who led a trade delegation of more than 80 companies and 20 CEOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s of large Dutch corporations, was one of the highlights. These missions are the perfect opportunity to reinforce the relationship between India and the Netherlands and provide a platform to facilitate growth in trade and investment flows between the two countries. Besides the official delegations, there are several developments in place which 38 I July 2016

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will lead to increased interaction between the two countries: the growing presence of Dutch companies in India, the substantial Indian Diaspora in the Netherlands and the increased number of Indian students at Dutch universities.

Which are the areas in which you feel there are maximum growth opportunities for cooperation between the two countries? The agricultural sector is one of the sectors that provides several opportunities for both countries and is an area in which a win-win situation exists. India is the world’s largest producer of milk, potatoes and fruits, and although the country has done remarkably well in terms of output growth, new technologies are required to meet the increased food demand of the Indian population. The Netherlands, being world’s second largest exporter of agricultural products, has sufficient knowledge and expertise in the field of agriculture which can be instrumental for Indian farmers to achieve greater efficiency and productivity. The Indo-Dutch Centers of Excellence are a nice example of how this agricultural collaboration operates in practice; these Centers of Excellence can be seen as a demonstration center and education platform of the Dutch technical practices in the field of agriculture, adapted to the Indian context, in order to showcase the latest Dutch technologies and innovations to Indian farmers. Besides the opportunities for collaboration in the agricultural sector, the initiatives of Prime Minister Modi, such as the Clean Ganga Mission and the Smart Cities project, offer opportunities for Dutch companies to come up with innovative solutions in the field of waste management, water management and urban planning. These opportunities meet a lot of interest in the Netherlands, as they appeal directly to the Dutch core www.governancetoday.co.in

competences and by collaborating with Indian partners can be implemented to the Indian context.

Recently, there was a report of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) on the IndoDutch cooperation on solar energy. Could you share your opinion on this report and on the possibility of Indo-Dutch cooperation in renewable energy? India has great ambitions to become the world’s leading solar power and the Indian Government has planned to increase its solar installations from below 5GW today to 100GW by 2022 — more than double the present solar capacity of China and Germany, the two biggest solar nations! In order to meet this target, India will have to increase its solar capacity substantially. To intensify the collaboration between India and the Netherlands, the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs (EZ) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) already in 2013 in the field of renewable energy. Solar energy is one of the areas this cooperation focuses upon. The Netherlands is namely one of the leading exporters of solar-related products and services, and intensive cooperation on solar energy exists between the Dutch Government, industry and knowledge institutes. The report on Indo-Dutch cooperation aims to identify these mutual beneficial opportunities. By identifying the demand of the Indian solar energy industry and matching it with the supply of the Dutch knowledge and expertise in the field, the report is the perfect mode to initiate increased collaboration between Indian and Dutch companies.

Dairy products is an area

in which the Netherlands is the world leader. On the other hand, India has the largest cattle population. How can Netherlands assist India in development of its Dairy industry? The Netherlands is a dairy country. We are a country of milk, butter and cheese. Although we are one of the most productive and optimized dairy countries, we do not keep this expertise for ourselves: the Netherlands shares this knowledge and expertise with India: the ‘Dutch Dairy Cluster’ (DDC) is for example present in India to aid the Indian dairy sector where applicable. India is the world’s largest producer of milk but also has a need for high-level technology and knowledge to improve the efficiency and quality of the dairy chain. Dutch companies can play an important role here. The Dutch expertise and technology in the area of the whole dairy chain is innovative and unique, and can help the Indian dairy sector with enhancing productivity, controlling disease and clean milk production. Hence the cluster focuses on the entire dairy value chain from farm gates to food plates. The Dutch Dairy Cluster aims to establish partnerships with Indian counterparts to accelerate and facilitate the exchange of knowledge, networks and market insights between India and the Netherlands.

What is your opinion on Smart city initiative of Indian Government? How can India learn from the Netherlands in this initiative? India’s Smart Cities Initiative is a very proactive approach of the Indian Government to address the challenges of urbanization in July 2016 I 39

India. With almost half of India’s population projected to live in cities by 2030, it is important to stimulate sustainable and inclusive economic growth of the citizens through social and technological innovations. Smarter cities can help reduce poverty, improve living conditions and allow innovation and new ideas to emerge. The Netherlands – a small and densely populated delta nation – was one of the earliest urbanized countries. Over the centuries, the Dutch have found creative new ways to manage complex urban situations, from floating buildings to a truly sustainable city: City of the Sun. Through original spatial planning the Dutch have developed a high quality of city living that is wellbalanced with its agricultural landscape.

The Netherlands is a small country but has big impact in areas like innovation. Could you elaborate impact of companies like Shell, Unilever, Phillips, KLM to world economy in general and India in particular. Compared to other European member states, the Netherlands has a highly open economy and the level of trade with other countries is significant. As a nation small in size, we have to look beyond our borders to sustain economic growth. This implies that our multinationals such as Shell, Unilever and Philips also look beyond Dutch borders in order to find new opportunities to expand. What distinguishes these Dutch multinationals abroad is their sustainability as a competitive advantage. A few years ago, several major multinationals in the Netherlands joined forces to set up the Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition. Members of the coalition include Unilever, Heineken, FrieslandCampina, Shell, Philips, AkzoNobel, KLM and DSM, all global 40 I July 2016

players and market leaders in their own, very different sectors. Most of them are also active on the Indian market. These (and other Dutch) companies embrace sustainability as strategic driver of innovation, competitiveness and long term growth, and try to share their knowledge to encourage a wider acceptance among business in and outside of the Netherlands.

Could you please let us know about the IndoDutch Crowd research project which is being conducted at Kumbh Mela in Ujjain? The Kumbh Mela experiment in Ujjain is an Indo-Dutch collaboration in crowd management research. Over a period of one month, (April 22nd- May 20th),

Over the centuries, the Dutch have found creative new ways to manage complex urban situations, from floating buildings to a truly sustainable city: City of the Sun covering an area of 3,000 hectares, the dynamics of mankind’s largest crowd, the pilgrimage of 100 million Hindus, was measured. The research team executed a variety of data collection and experimentation tasks using numerous devices such as sensors, drones and head-mounted cameras placed on hundreds of volunteers, to assess the dynamics of the crowd as “living sensors.” One of the research goals was to understand crowd dynamics such as crowd density, crowd behavior and in particular early signs of unrest in the crowd. The project could prove effective in India where large religious gatherings take place regularly and are susceptible of stampedes.

However the stampede prediction software that will be developed is not only relevant for India, but can be used for the management of large crowds around the world.

Jet Airways has recently made Amsterdam it’s European Hub. Why do you think this has happened and how is going to affect Indo-Dutch relations? A count of 58 million passengers in 2015 makes Amsterdam Airport Schiphol the largest airport in the Netherlands and the 5th busiest airport in Europe. The strategic agreement between Jet Airways and KLM- Royal Dutch Airlines will enable connections between India and 30 European destinations via Amsterdam. Furthermore, the geographic location of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is an ideal, on route layover point for connecting flights to the United States and Canada. Undoubtedly Indo-Dutch relations have and will continue to benefit from this promising partnership. Aside from an increase in tourism, Jet Airways’ direct flight will also for example stimulate greater people to people contact, something which is hugely advantageous for both beneficiaries in terms of business engagements. Moreover, today the Netherlands is home to over 200 Indian companies and over the past couple of years the trade volume between India and the Netherlands has increased to nearly €6 billion. Opting for Amsterdam as the European hub for Jet Airways’ direct flights will surely enhance Indo-Dutch relations for the future and hopefully see the formerly mentioned statistics sore to even greater heights. So in short: three times more direct flights to Amsterdam means: three times more passengers, three times more businessmen, three times more tourists and three times more students from both India and the Netherlands travelling to each other’s’ countries.

www.governancetoday.co.in

July 2016 I 41

GEO POLITICS

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter warned that China could be isolating itself

Thorny waters

Shangri la Dialogue witnesses sharp exchanges as countries get restive over Chinese belligerence Anand Mishra

ver last decade, Asia pacific has emerged as the crucial chessboard of geopolitics. As invariably happens, the region which has seen unmatched wealth generation during last quarter century, has gradually assumed security importance for countries not just located here, but also those who have maintained strong presence here ever since the end of the second world war. The geopolitical and security firmament which was underpinned by the American hegemony in the region and its hub and spokes system of allies has started to come under threat in the wake of the changing economic fortunes in the region. Buoyed by the economic success

42 I July 2016

of last couple decades which has obviously had its benign impact on its military capability, China has increasingly asserted itself in the region with a vision to challenge the American supremacy in the Western Pacific and to control the crucial South China Sea and East China Sea theaters. Not only has it shown willingness to engage militarily with countries with whom it has territorial disputes, it has also of late changed the facts on ground by altering the geographical features of some islets with clear intent to use them for military purposes. Needless to say, other countries in the region have felt threatened by such belligerence and have been looking at outside powers, primarily the US to maintain the status quo that China so deliberately wants to

change in its favor. Even as the US ponders on how to effectively put in place its â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Pivot to Asiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; policy, the global attention has firmly focused on the region to see how the game develops in the region and what it implies for the rest of the world. It is also important because the region is witnessing the emergence of some of the most ambitious trading arrangements which would require a stable and predictable security environment to succeed. In wake of these developments, the annual Shangri-La Dialogue which is organized by London based independent think tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in Singapore, has become increasingly crucial as it tests the mood of the leading stakeholders on the various www.governancetoday.co.in

traditional and non-traditional security related issues of the region. The dialogue which started in 2002 as an “unofficial defense summit” has in last half decade emerged as a powerful “Track One” intergovernmental security forum, attended by defense ministers and military chiefs of most states in the region and key powers from the rest of the world. What makes it special is the fact that it has representations from US, China and most others with whom China has a territorial dispute, in South as well East China Seas. This year, the event was held in the shadow of two crucial developments. First, the Chinese and Americans have come too close to comfort in South China Sea of late. While the US has sent its ships near some of the disputed islands in the region which is international waters, the Chinese have increasingly teased American ships and warplanes while maintaining its claim on most of South China Sea. Second, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague that has been asked by Manila to rule on the validity of Beijing’s nine-dash line under The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), is expected to sentence its ruling in near future. China, apparently sensing its defeat, has indicated that it may exit the Convention should the rulings go against it. It is in this environment that the dialogue of this year was held during June 3-5 at the Shangri-La hotel, from where it derives its name. Attended by over 600 delegates including 30 ministers from 35 countries, the summit was tracked closely by analysts trying to figure out the relative positions of leading players on volatile disputes in both South China Sea and East China Sea. Also the broad stance and vision of countries like US, China and Japan on the Western Pacific was to be seen. As was expected, the event was dominated by the American and Chinese deliberations. Speaking on the second day of the event, the US Defense Secretary Ash Carter made a strong pitch for principled www.governancetoday.co.in

development of the region and requested the countries in the Asia Pacific region to come together to build a “principled security network” based on bilateral, trilateral, and multilateral partnerships advancing shared values. He said that the US welcomed the emergence of a peaceful, stable, and prosperous China that plays a responsible role in the region’s principled security network. However, he said that there is growing anxiety in this region about China’s activities on the seas, in cyberspace, and in the region’s airspace, and warned that China could end up erecting a Great Wall of self-isolation. China, represented by its deputy chief of Joint Staff Department of China’s Central Military Commission,

smaller countries in Southeast Asia. They feel that the commitment of the US to get boots on the ground in the local conflicts, in which it may not have direct stake, has declined over the years. Americans have been at pains to allay such fears and Carter tried to do the same when he spoke of the fact that US was putting its most advanced assets in the region. He also asserted that the US will remain, for decades, the primary provider of regional security and a leading contributor to the region’s principled security network. The seriousness of the assertion and the intent of the US to convince its allies can only be gauged from the fact that a few days ago, it has sent two aircraft carriers to Philippines on a joint exercise, which is quite rare.

Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar at the summit

Admiral Sun Jianguo, made a strong retort even as speakers from many countries alluded to Chinese intransigence in South China Sea. In a speech themed “Strengthen Asia-Pacific Security Cooperation and Promote Regional Security Governance”, Admiral Sun said that China advocates a new security outlook, featuring inclusive, shared and win-win security cooperation. Rejecting Carter’s assertion, he stated that “We were not isolated in the past, we are not isolated now and we will not be isolated in the future.” In a jibe apparently directed at the US, he asserted “We do not make trouble, but we have no fear of trouble.” In recent past, a sense of insecurity has prevailed upon

Another important development from India’s perspective was that the Indian Defense Minister participated in the dialogue after a gap of few years. It also had its first bilateral strategic defense dialogue with Singapore on the sidelines of the summit. With its Act East focus, India has started to take such summits seriously. Also, more than a dozen intelligence chiefs from the Asia-Pacific countries, including CIA Director John Brennan met separately to discuss issues of common concern. This happened even as many speakers spoke of terrorism as a major threat to the regional security. anand@governancetoday.co.in

July 2016 I 43

ENVIRONMENT

Two years of environmental governance Although the Narendra Modi government has done well on pollution standards and monitoring, it needs to do much more on green clearances, forestry and its flagship schemes on sanitation, and the Ganga Ramesh Kumar Raja

s the BJP-led NDA government embarks on its third year in office, the public research and advocacy think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), has come up with an analysis (released recently) on measures of environmental governance, particularly as undertaken by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. While the Narendra Modi dispensation has taken some important steps towards improving the way we manage our environment and resources, some of the big steps that it has initiated are in the danger of remaining mere half-measures if a course correction is not carried out straightaway.

Green clearances There is no significant difference 44 I July 2016

between NDA government and its predecessor, UPA-II, with respect to environmental clearances (ECs) granted for key sectors. For forest clearances (FCs), the average rate of forestland diversion has reduced when compared to UPA-II. The rejection rate of projects continues to be very low; rejection of projects coming up in wildlife sanctuaries and national parks has, however, reduced under the current regime. The mining and infrastructure sector remains a focus of green clearances. Over 300 projects (new and expansion) combining coal and non-coal mining have been given ECs by the government in its two years in power. Among these are 68 coal mining projects. Similarly for FCs, the highest share of total forestland diversion is for mining projects – of about 47,473 hectares of land diverted (combining in-

principle and final approvals), 29 per cent is for mining. According to Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general, CSE, “There is a tendency to ease clearances through incremental changes without making any improvements in the provisions for enforcement.” The CSE analysis emphasises that changes made in the green clearances is largely to ease the clearance process and increase transparency. But this is not helping the ecology as many projects have been cleared in ecologically sensitive and critically polluted areas. “The undermining of people’s participation in green clearances is also worrisome. The NDA government continues to dilute the public hearing process,” says Sunita Narain, director general of the New Delhi based advocacy group. www.governancetoday.co.in

Nearly two years after it was started, the rejuvenation of river Ganga is progressing slow

Pollution control and monitoring Several positive measures with respect to pollution control and monitoring have been proposed which are commendable, the analysis shows. For instance, pollution standards have been tightened for many industrial sectors such as coal-based power plants and sugar. The government, Bhushan says, is banking on technologybased mechanisms and selfregulation by industries for enforcing the regulatory provisions. A key example is the Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS). If implemented properly, these measures will certainly help control pollution. However, this has not been complimented by efforts to strengthen regulatory www.governancetoday.co.in

institutions. Experiences from the other countries show that ‘self-regulation’ and ‘technologyenabled monitoring’ requires strong institutions to deliver results.

Air pollution and transportation Significant measures include the implementation of air quality index, leapfrogging to Euro VI emissions standards in 2020 to lower the gap between emissions standards for diesel and petrol cars, and levying an infrastructure cess on all cars on the sliding scale of pollution potential. “However, the government needs to come up with comprehensive action plans to optimally realise their potentials,” says Anumita Roychowdhury, executive directorresearch and advocacy, CSE. “The government’s

proactiveness to extend LPG connections among the rural poor and households below the poverty line is another welcome move,” adds Anumita. The clean fuel option if extended effectively will significantly reduce indoor and outdoor air pollution in rural areas and improve the health of rural women.

Waste management The six waste management rules notified by the government covering the areas of solid, plastic, electronic, bio-medical, hazardous, and construction and demolition (C&D) waste, are indicative of the importance the NDA places on this issue. The analysis shows that most of the rules have been significantly improved from their earlier versions; the C&D rules have been brought in for the first time. July 2016 I 45

Some key improvements include separation of various kinds of waste at source for better treatment and management and encouraging reuse and recycle. “The opportunity is there, therefore it must be ensured that these rules are properly implemented to fulfil their potential,” says Narain. “Formal integration of the informal sector remains crucial,” she adds. However, with regard to the progress of the government’s flagship programme Swachh Bharat Mission, Narain says, “So far, the success of the programme has been around building toilets which will clearly not be enough. There is very little focus on managing the waste from these toilets which, if not handled properly, can contaminate ground and surface water.” In the area of solid waste management, the plan is to achieve 100 per cent management in a phased manner over the five-year period. So far, only 23 per cent of this target has been achieved.

Cleaning the Ganga “Despite an outlay of Rs 20,000 crore for five years till 2019 for cleaning the Ganga, and several promising plans, on-ground action for cleaning and rejuvenating the river remains far from satisfactory,” says Narain on this crucial intervention of the NDA regime. The CSE analysis shows that so far, the government has met only three of its 13-point agenda for cleaning the river – these are: cleaning the river surface and ghats, creation of a Ganga task force and creation of Ganga grams (model villages) along the main stem of the river. In addition to this, none of the 21 proposals sanctioned since July 2014 for cleaning the river (according to the National Mission for Clean Ganga) have been implemented.

Forest governance Forests remain a key focus of the reform initiatives of the government. But these initiatives seem restrictive in comprehensively 46 I July 2016

addressing the issue of forest management. “There is a suggestive trend of shifting from a people-centric to a more industry-centric and technocratic approach,” says Bhushan. For instance, a major effort of the government remains focused on unlocking the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF), the corpus of which currently stands at Rs 42,000 crore. The CAF Bill 2015 was cleared by the Lok Sabha in May 2016. If properly used through robust planning and accountability, this outlay has a tremendous potential to improve the state of forests as well as the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities, says Bhushan. However, the Bill as

The CSE analysis shows that so far, the government has met only three of its 13-point agenda for cleaning river Ganga. These are: cleaning the river surface and ghats, creation of a Ganga task force and creation of Ganga grams (model villages) along the main stem of the river drafted has several limitations, as per CSE’s analysis. A key concern remains that it does not have any scope for participation of local communities. Proposed measures for forest conservation and management are also focused on increasing forest cover, without emphasising equally on improving biodiversity and productivity of forests. Neither do these measures ensure forest benefits to local communities. “These approaches will neither be able to ensure overall improvement in quality of our forests, nor their

sustainable use by people,” says Bhushan.

Climate change On the climate change front, the government’s engagement offers a mixed scenario, says Bhushan. The Climate Change Conference (COP 21) held in December 2015 in Paris has largely remained a lost opportunity. “The agreement remained largely one for the big polluters, where no targets have been set for developed countries to cut emissions,” says Bhushan. On the other hand, India lost the opportunity to exert the ‘right of development’ of the world’s poor. And even though India could get the words ‘equity’ and ‘common but differentiated responsibility’ (CBDR) included in the agreement, there is no elaboration on how these terms can be operationalized. Similarly, terms like ‘climate justice,’ ‘sustainable lifestyles,’ and ‘consumption’ also remain merely as feel-good factors, as they are only mentioned in the preamble and not in the operational part of the agreement, states CSE researchers. In the Montreal Protocol, India has now agreed to negotiate in amending the Protocol to phase down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). The success of the amendment will depend mainly on the government’s commitment to bypass the interests of the industry, which wants to benefit by selling an intermediate synthetic chemical called hydrofluoroolefin (HFO). On the domestic front, there are hopeful signs of climate change adaptation through insurance schemes to safeguard farmers. The government has also increased the ambition of renewable energy – 100 gigawatt (GW) for solar and 75 GW for other renewables by 2022 – that can be helpful in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. ramesh@governancetoday.co.in

www.governancetoday.co.in

INTERVIEW DR APARAJITA GOGOI | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CENTRE FOR CATALYZING CHANGE AND NATIONAL COORDINATOR, WRA INDIA

WE CANNOT IMPROVE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH WITHOUT IMPROVING OTHER GENDER INDICATORS Even though India is said to be on the verge of becoming a superpower, it lags in many basic parameters related to women and their health and rights. To discuss these issues, Ramesh Kumar Raja talked to Dr Aparajita Gogoi, Executive Director, Centre for Catalyzing Change, one of the most respected NGOs working in the field of gender equity and governance, reproductive health and rights, girls’ education and youth development. She is also the national coordinator for “White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood (India)”, overseeing an alliance of 79 organizations in India at the central level and over 500 organizational members in states. She has worked extensively with the Maternal Health Division of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, in the development of various guidelines and policy document. She has been awarded WIE Humanitarian Award and been named as one of the 100 of world’s most inspiring women by the Guardian newspaper, UK. EDITED EXCERPT:

www.governancetoday.co.in

Despite substantial progress, India missed many of the targets of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) related to overall women welfare and empowerment. How do you interpret this situation? Where did we lack? As per the MDG Goal 5, from an estimated MMR (maternal mortality rate) level of 437 per 1,00,000 live births in 1990, India was required to reduce MMR to 109 per 1,00,000 births by 2015. India achieved a substantial decrease in MMR, to167 per 1,00,000 live births by 2015, but did not meet its cumulative target. India, with a population of more than 1.2 billion people, has many challenges in improving maternal health. There is wide disparity among states in MMR, from 67 in Kerala to 300 in Assam. Steady declines have been noted in fertility, maternal, infant and child mortalities due to numerous favorable efforts by the Government of India, especially the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, but India is a huge country, varied in geography and reach, there are challenges in translating the policies to action to reach to the last mile in the country. Indicators like MMR cannot be always looked at from a health lens. Unless we address factors like economic and social inequities, social issues July 2016 I 47

like child marriage and early childbirth, we will not be able to progress much on health indicators. Another reason for missing out on some of the MDGs could be the lack of mechanisms to monitor overall progress, with very low levels of citizens’ involvement in ensuring and supporting that policies are implemented as planned.

The targets and objectives of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) look quite ambitious. Is it achievable, especially the ones related to women upliftment in our country? Like the MDGs, the SDGs are a statement of aspirations, a voluntary agreement rather than a binding treaty. This is a drawback in so far as countries and states may feel more tempted to fix targets and indicators which may not be as per the larger commitments. India is yet to go public on its SDGs targets and indicators, so we do not have clarity on the targets nor the process to reach the SDG goals. But once the means of implementation of the SDG goals are made public, we need to look at ways of making the process more participatory, and have better monitoring mechanisms. There has been a transition from 8 MDGs to the 17 Goals under SDGs. In comparison to the MDGs, many important issues like maternal mortality could not secure a separate SDG goal for itself, but were amalgamated under larger goals like the Goal # 3 of “Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages”. This may mean less dedicated support for specific issues like maternal health. During the transition from the MDGs to the SDGs, we heard criticisms around MDGs –about the lack of wider ownership and accountability for the goals –about limited involvement of citizens, 48 I July 2016

of civil society, and elected leaders in setting the agenda for the goals, and about MDGs not having any clear accountability mechanisms. Now that the final SDGs are declared, we must look for opportunities to influence mechanisms for greater citizen’s engagement at local, national and global levels. We need to mobilize citizens to be part of the effort to meet the goals, we need to draw consensus in each country on what engagement and accountability mechanisms should look like, and we need to figure out how we can widen the participation of different stakeholders in monitoring progress towards SDGs. For SDGs, or any other policies and programs, to be truly effective, the framework must start with acceptance of the fundamental principle that citizens must be engaged and involved in the effort.

To add to the previous question, the reproductive health and hygiene situation among women in India remains way behind global standard. What needs to be done to improve the scenario? We cannot improve reproductive health without improving other gender Indicators. Gender inequality directly impacts reproductive health and rights. Addressing these sources of inequality is critical to improve reproductive health outcomes. The reproductive health in India is not up to the standards and this is not just due to lack of health services. The reason for this is apathy for girls and women which are very deeply rooted, traditional, and reflect misogynistic mindsets. India is a country where girls are killed before they are born. In the last three decades, according to a Lancet study, 12 million girls have been killed in our country before they were born. In many parts of

the country, sex ratio has dropped to fewer than 850 females per 1,000 males. India is ranked 132 out of 148 countries on Gender Inequality Index as per the 2013 Global Human Development Report. One in every four women faces violence and a rape takes place every 22 minutes. Many of our girls are married before the age of 18. Women between the ages 15-24 years account for 52 per cent of the country’s fertility and contribute to 45 per cent of the maternal mortality. Of the 56,000 maternal deaths that take place every year in India, more than 25,000 are young mothers. Unless we address the above issues, women’s reproductive health will remain a casualty. One way of ensuring that we meet post 2015 maternal health targets is to prevent our young girls from becoming mothers-and to do so, we need to ensure that girls complete secondary schooling – which will make them six times less likely to marry early as compared to others who have little or no education. Girls who are out of school are four times likely to have a child before their 19th birthday. Getting girls to compete secondary education will not only lead to better reproductive outcomes like increasing contraceptive use by four times, but make them economically more independent too.

Your organization has been at the forefront to advocate for better reproductive health and rights. Please share your experience and hurdles in this regard and also your vision for the future. Center for Catalyzing Changes, formerly CEDPA India, works to mobilize women and girls to achieve gender equality. Our vision is a future in India where women and girls are fully empowered and equipped to realize their rights, access opportunities and achieve gender equality. At the core of www.governancetoday.co.in

our work and approach is a belief that achieving gender equality is essential to development, democracy and global progress. We address challenges that girls and women face in our country at different stages of their life cycle. We face many challenges in implementing our programs, mainly because we try and impact the life of marginalized women and girls. It’s very difficult to reach and work with these girls who have limited mobility, and limited agency. It’s challenging to break down social barriers to reach girls. We face challenges in ensuring that women access services. We are moving towards the fulfillment of our vision in our own small little way-reflecting local values and needs, we partner with communities to raise women’s voices, mobilize advocates for better public policies and programs and increase women’s political participation.

Despite good intentions and adequate funding, many good social welfare programs have suffered or become discredited due to implementation failures. Can community monitoring of social programs yield better result? Community monitoring of social programs is very much needed. Citizen-generated data can serve as sources of knowledge to aggregate people’s views and assist decisionmakers in adopting new solutions. We must recognize that citizen generated monitoring data can play a different and complementary role to public sector data. They should look for ways to engage with, acknowledge and support these initiatives. The National Rural Health Mission proposes an intensive accountability framework through a three-pronged process of community monitoring, external surveys and stringent internal www.governancetoday.co.in

monitoring. Community based monitoring (CBM) of health services are recommended and mandated as a strategy to ensure that basic health services reach the grassroot level with transparency and accountability. But the roll out of CBM has been very slow. After more than nine years of NRHM, CBM is taking place in a handful of states and in very few areas in these states. At present, there is no significant convergence with other communitization processes and the existing efforts are not scaled. Attention, efforts and funds need to be devoted to ensure stronger community engagement. Now that the SDGs are declared, we must look for opportunities to influence mechanisms for greater citizen’s engagement at the local, national and global levels. For SDGs or any other policies and programs to be truly effective, the framework must start with acceptance of the fundamental principle that citizens must be engaged and involved in the effort.

What would be your suggestions to ensure that the government and civil society work more in tandem and with greater trust and transparency when it comes to welfare programs? The work of the government and civil society organizations (CSOs) complement each other and this is what makes them effective partners to drive development together. For improved welfare programs, there needs to be greater involvement of civil society actors in policy making and program implementation. CSOs have deep roots in the community and can help government reach and involve community to support their plans for welfare programs. On the other hand, CSOs interventions must be designed to support the government in implementing programs that serve the needs of the most deprived. Government

should encourage innovative ideas from CSOs and partner in implementation.

At ground level and speaking from your experience, do all states share the same level of commitment towards gender empowerment and welfare of the marginalized class or their needs to be more sensitization on a stateto-state basis? The level of commitment towards women’s empowerment and welfare of the marginalized class for each state largely varies, depending on how welfare oriented the government is. Different states are at different levels when it comes to gender equity indicators. If we look at indicators like per centage of girls in schools, literacy levels, women in politics, women as entrepreneurs, farmers, educators, women owning a house and/or land -alone or jointly or fertility rate, we see huge differences. So, each state needs to prioritize and invest in the specific issue that is derailing development. The leadership at state level hugely impacts the political prioritization and investment in issues that impact girls and women. There are a couple of states which has shown improvement in indicators since they invested in programs, for example, the cycle and uniform scheme in Bihar pushed up girl’s enrolment in schools. States need to adopt rights-based approaches that give preference to policies and programs that clearly articulate how they will advance women’s economic and political empowerment and ensure that the voices and needs of women, as rights-holders, are reflected in relevant legal frameworks, policies and programs.

July 2016 I 49

INTERVIEW SOHINDER GILL | DIRECTOR-CORPORATE AFFAIRS, SOCIETY OF MANUFACTURERS OF ELECTRIC VEHICLES (SMEV)

WE NEED A PROACTIVE APPROACH TO PROMOTE GREEN MOBILITY IN INDIA Electric vehicles are the need of the hour, as they could curb the menace of air pollution in cities, especially metros such as Delhi. Although India has made good progress at the policy level, much more is required to make green mobility a part of our daily commute and public transportation. To discuss the issue, Ramesh Kumar Raja had a conversation with Sohinder Gill, DirectorCorporate Affairs, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV), the representative body of the Indian Electric Vehicle Industry. He is the foremost voice today in India advocating promotion of green mobility through electric vehicles. Gill also holds the office of the Chief Executive Officer - Global Business for HERO ECO, a diversified conglomerate with global business interests in electric vehicles, exports, bicycles, healthcare and real estate. An alumnus of Delhi College of Engineering, he started his career with Larsen & Toubro in the Aerospace division and was part of the team developing the Satellite Launching Vehicle for Indian Space Research Organisation. EDITED EXCERPTS: 50 I July 2016

India was one of the key players in pushing the new climate deal at Paris raising hope of more serious move towards clean energy and green mobility. How do you see the future for green mobility in India? Yes, indeed India’s role at the Paris climate led by none other than Prime Minister Modi has been extremely commendable. We can certainly look at a clearer roadmap now towards greener planet and a serious green development agenda. This naturally incorporates the role of clean energy and green mobility in a big way as both would play important roles in mitigating the adverse impact of climate change and the future of our planet itself. I definitely foresee a serious movement in this regard in our country. The awareness is already there; the policy is also in place. In

fact, even before the Paris Climate Agreement, India had laid down an elaborate policy to promote green vehicles. The task and challenge now is to translate this intention into reality. So what we really need now is a proactive approach to promote green mobility.

Are you satisfied with the steps taken by the government to promote green mobility in India? At the policy level, we have made some excellent progress. To begin with, in 2013, the central government launched the visionary and ambitious “National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020” with the intention to bring about a transformational paradigm shift in the automotive and transportation industry. NEMMP visualizes ensuring a population of about 6-7 million electric and hybrid vehicles in India by the year 2020. This will go hand in hand with a certain level of indigenisation of technology to ensure India’s global www.governancetoday.co.in

leadership in some vehicle segments. NEMMP 2020 is a composite scheme using different policy-levers such as (a) Demand side incentives to facilitate acquisition of hybrid/electric vehicles (b) Promoting R&D in technology including battery technology, power electronics, motors, systems integration, battery management system, testing infrastructure, and ensuring industry participation in the same (c) Promoting charging infrastructure (d) Supply side incentives and (e) Encouraging retrofitment of on-road vehicles with hybrid kit. The 2020 roadmap estimates a cumulative outlay of about Rs 14,000 crore during the span of the scheme, including industry contribution. NEMMP has been reinforced with the launch of scheme for ‘Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India’(FAME India) in April 2015. This scheme envisages a support of Rs 795 crore in the first two fiscals starting for electric and hybrid vehicles. Also, the emphasis for migrating to green mobility will be on metropolitan cities in the first phase and then on Smart cities and other cities in next phase.

What should be the future road map? Faster adoption and migration to green mobility requires creation of a vibrant eco-system for electric vehicle. Government should begin by providing infrastructure support for setting up charging stations in at least top 50 cities where there is a significant population of EVs. Unless a city is well populated with charging stations, people will be reluctant to migrate to electric vehicles. The industry also needs financial and technology support in the area of technology development and “make in India” specially related to next generation electronic, electric and battery technology. Another issue is related to availability of finances. Banks have been reluctant to provide loans for the purchase of electric two wheelers. The Centre needs to direct public banks to offer loans at a zerointerest rate.Government should make battery swapping (or switching) facility available at every filling stations wherein a vehicle’s discharged battery or battery pack can be immediately swapped with a fully charged one, minimising www.governancetoday.co.in

the delay involved in waiting for the vehicle’s battery to charge. Government should also permit 100 per cent depreciation on the battery swapping and charging stations put up by the e-taxi/ e-commerce companies and subsidy on 2nd lithium battery for such usage. The Centre needs to maintain 6 per cent import duty on CKD and local components for next three years at least or better, till the time the domestic manufacturing eco-system is fully developed. At the city administration level, we need to ensure that only electric bikes would be permitted to be used for certain commercial activity such as food or e-com deliveries. And it will be highly desirable and symbolic if the government, public sector and large private corporate converted part of their vehicle fleet to electric and provided incentives to their employees to migrate to electric vehicles.

Despite increasing general awareness and an overall good increase in numbers, the actual number of electric vehicles on the road does not match this optimism. The awareness is indeed there and there was 37.5 per cent growth in the number of e-vehicles sold in fiscal 2015-16 as compared to previous fiscal; still our base number remains small. That’s why despite this impressive growth the numbers translates into the modest sales of 22,000 e-vehicles. That’s what I have been trying to emphasize that we need to create a healthy eco-system for green mobility to flourish. For that, proactive efforts and seeding has to come from all levels, all corners.

Are states and local city administration lagging behind in promoting green mobility? There is a big gap between awareness level, policy level and

encouragement level between the Centre and states, when it comes to green mobility. States too need to understand that environment and pollution is not a metro specific problem or is the sole responsibility of Centre. They can play a significant role by giving subsidies on purchase of e-vehicles, by providing infrastructure support, by encouraging green mobility for official movements etc.

What specific benefits can cities like Delhi expect if they migrate to green mobility and is the state government doing enough to promote it? The biggest challenge of India’s large cities is vehicular pollution which has serious health and environmental impact. Delhi citizens are at even greater risk due to rise in pollution but we also need to balance this with the commuting needs of average residents. Delhi has a huge population of twowheelers which are a major source of air pollution. In this scenario, the e-bikes could be the next big tool in combating Delhi’s pollution woes as city looks for sustainable commuting solutions. Every one lakh electric 2-wheeler in place of conventional two-wheelers translates into a reduction of 1,50,000 (1.5 lakh) tons of carbon emissions in three years. For record, Delhi has more than 55 lakh two wheelers and pollution caused by a two-wheeler per litre of petrol is far more than that by a fourwheeler. In comparison, Delhi has only about 60,000 e-bikes on record. So if we encourage and facilitate a large scale migration from fuel fired two-wheelers to green bikes, as visualized by the NEMMP, there would be a substantive reduction in carbon emission and humungous long term environmental and health benefits for city’s residents. The industry is ready to setup 100 charging stations within three months but we need space. The city government can facilitate this. As far as pro-activeness of the city government in promoting green mobility is concerned, I can only say that they still need to cover a lot of distance and need to become more proactive. July 2016 I 51

POLICY

Prohibition is not a solution

The chequered history of banning alcohol is enough to demonstrate that prohibition causes more harm than benefits in India and helps bootlegger, corrupt and criminals Ramesh Kumar Raja

he ancient discipline of yoga is irrelevant without imposing ban on sale of liquor across the country and the Prime Minister must act in this regard, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar appealed to Narendra Modi just two days before the 2nd International Yoga Day which was celebrated on May 21. Although Kumarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statement appears to be an indirect dig at Modi, it brought back the issue of alcohol prohibition on the political agenda, hot on the heels of a complete ban on the sale and consumption of liquor in Bihar from April 1. Prohibition of alcohol was a key electoral promise

52 I July 2016

which Kumar fulfilled with an iron hand, buoyant of his party, JD(U)â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s emphatic victory (in an alliance with Lalu Yadavâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s RJD and the Congress) in the assembly elections last year. With this, Bihar became the second state after Gujarat to recommend death penalty for manufacturers, suppliers and sellers of hooch in cases of death due to spurious liquor consumption. However, this initiative of Bihar is not an exception in its merit. Other parties, such as the DMK and the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and the Congress in Kerala, are also championing this cause one way or the other. These states join a growing list, including Gujarat, a clutch of north eastern states and

Lakshadweep, in imposing a policy which is currently not practised in any country outside the Islamic world. That embargo can win elections is a vivid reminder of the distressing social consequences of alcohol consumption in the form of household destitution, domestic violence and premature mortality. That these policies are completely at odds with history and public health science testifies to the bewildering complexity of the issue. While this move may have gone down well with women voters who support the ban, Bihar is set to lose approximately Rs 5,000 crore annually through excise collection akin to Kerala which faces an estimated loss of more than Rs www.governancetoday.co.in

7,000 crore annually and Gujarat loses an estimated Rs 2,000-3,000 crore in revenue per year. The ban also leads to decline in tourism revenue of a state. Considering the consequences not only to public health but also to the state’s finances and individual freedom, prohibition brings with it many questions. And the first and foremost one is; has prohibition ever worked in this country? Definitely not. India’s experience with prohibition is chequered at best. Between the 1920s and 1930s to nearly two decades after Independence, booze was barred in large parts of the country. The anti-alcohol demonstrations took its inspiration from the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. Vast swathes of present day Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala had implemented ban since about 1937. In 1967 all but two of them, Mizoram and Gujarat, repealed the law. By 1954, almost one-fourth of India was under prohibition and the central government had an April 1958 target to achieve nationwide prohibition, said a report by the justice Udayabhanu committee, which studied the effects of alcoholism in Kerala in the 1990s. However, over the years in the recent history, various states have had their own adventures with prohibition. While Gujarat, Nagaland, and parts of Manipur are still dry, Mizoram lifted prohibitionin 2014 after 18 years of a liquor ban. Andhra Pradesh swore off the booze under the Telugu Desam Party in 1995, but went back to it two years later, after state revenues took a hit. Same happened with Haryana which couldn’t continue prohibition for long. On the other hand, the political parties in Tamil Nadu have yo-yoed with their stand on alcohol since the 1940s. Even if there is a prohibition in a state, it really doesn’t work in India. Nagaland, for instance, has been a dry state since 1989. But it borders Assam, which helps in keeping a nonstop movement of liquor into www.governancetoday.co.in

the state. Just across the border, on the road that enters Assam from Nagaland’s Dimapur, one can easily find rows of liquor shops and makeshift bars. Even in Dimapur, it is not difficult to discover pubs hidden in residential complexes. Similarly, in Gujarat, a dry state since 1960 when it was carved out from the Bombay State, it is said that booze gets delivered to the doorstep faster than pizza, with the right contacts (locally called folder). For those who don’t, places such as Abu Road in the north or Daman and Diu in the south are where Gujaratis throng to quench their thirst. Likewise, in Bihar, people are said to be crossing over to shops in bordering Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengalas well as the foreign soil of Nepal where alcohol is being sold at a premium. Interestingly, Bihar’s pronouncement to bar alcohol comes at a time when states such as Nagaland and Manipur are debating whether to continue with full prohibition or not. R Lalzirliana, excise and narcotics minister, Mizoram had reportedly said, “As the prohibition only increased the sale of spurious liquor, we strongly felt the need to lift the prohibition.” It must be noted that from 1920 to 1933, America had once experimented with prohibition, what they called the ‘noble experiment’. American historian, Thomas Coffey, in his book, The Long Thirst: Prohibition in America, noted that “the death rate from poisoned liquor was terribly high throughout the country during those years. In 1925 the national toll was 4,154 as compared to 1,064 in 1920”. The complex part with India is that it has a frequent problem of spurious liquor. Even those states with prohibition are witness to deaths caused by hooch. In July 2009, 136 people died in Gujarat after consuming spurious liquor. In June 2015, 95 people died after drinking hooch in Mumbai. After the hooch tragedy in a Mumbai suburb last year, a demand for total prohibition was raised in the Maharashtra assembly.

Experiences of states like Gujarat, Nagaland and Mizoram which shows how prohibition gives rise to bootlegging, corruption and crime, it is not wise to say that prohibition is a good idea. It is also evident from the US’s history that how a surge in demand along with illegalisation of alcohol opened up new illegal markets for gangsters to develop and monopolise. According to American economist, Mark Thornton, the prohibition that was undertaken to reduce crime and corruption, solve social problems, reduce the tax burden and improve health and hygiene in the US resulted in a miserable failure on all counts. “There is no evidence to show that prohibition has ever had its intended impact. Of course, just as banning beef has reduced beef consumption, banning alcohol will lead to reduced alcohol consumption. But, there appears to be little or no correlation between, say, domestic violence or household impoverishment and prohibition. Instead, there is an enormous cost to society, and here I refer not to the obvious massive losses to the exchequer but to the criminalisation of the majority of people who drink sensibly to address the problems caused by the minority who do not. It is, in effect, equivalent to banning motor cars because a few drive rashly,” Vikram Patel, a public health expert, writes in a leading newspaper. Patel, also a renowned psychiatrist and researcher, works with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the Public Health Foundation of India and Sangath. Prohibition, as per Patel, is a very poor policy option to address the adverse consequences of alcohol abuse when compared with a range of more effective public health approaches. The ban is rejected by most public health scientists who know this field. Even the World Health Organisation does not approve it. ramesh@governancetoday.co.in

July 2016 I 53

POLICY

Why Odd-even is Odd for India Sagarika Ranjan

ountless policies, dynamism of innovative measures and intention of becoming a lion drives the Indian economy today. In the process, we are talking of development and trying to ape some of the success stories of the west, but without assessing its feasibility. It’s like sowing rice on an arid land and cactus in marshes. The west is talking of research and development for better battery range for clean fuel cars, battery charging stations, battery swap stations etc. They have charging points in offices and public places and therefore are talking about implementing a phase out of fuel powered cars. India is aping the west in the phase out ban but it’s aping without grounds. Recently, the national capital came up with a “pollution control” measure called the Odd-even where either only odd or only even numbered vehicles were allowed to ply on a particular day. The measure was implemented twice on a pilot basis. First phase did present some

54 I July 2016

decline in pollution levels while the second phase showed a rise. Net result therefore is not perceptible improvement. Kanika Kalra, Urban Transport Expert with the Institute of Urban Transport, Delhi, explains that there is a technical issue with the measure itself. This is not a pollution control measure but a demand-management measure. Many countries have used it and it has proved fruitful. So, why did it not work in India? There are many reasons. First this is not a pollution control measure and is a short term measure generally used to level the small discrepancies in achieving a set goal. Second, all commercial numbers were exempted from the measure despite the fact that these commercial vehicles are more polluting as they rarely care about maintenance. The first time when the measure was implemented, schools which are major bus running institutions, were closed and as such, their entire fleet was off road while during the second avatar of the move, those

buses were on roads, resulting in truer assessment of the change in ground realities brought about by the initiative. An anti-pollution control effect triggered by this initiative was that people started buying a second car and on an average 1,200 secondhand cars were sold each day during the 15 day trial. Second hand cars are even more polluting, thus defeating the whole purpose of the measure. The worst is that the government does not want to accept that it was a mistake. Statements that followed the failure report was that there were burnings at the land filling sites that increased the pollution level. This was refuted by all as this is a routine phenomenon. Second reason they cited was that there was waste burning in Punjab and that’s why the pollution level did not dip. Here experts question that if some event in Punjab can affect pollution levels in Delhi, how we expect results from a local solution like odd-even. Another measure that was taken recently was banning diesel cabs www.governancetoday.co.in

in Delhi. Diesel is one of the major pollutants but so is CNG. Diesel emits Sulphur and Carbon Monoxide while CNG adds to the particulate matter and both are equally harmful. Most of the automobile giants have invested a lot of money in manufacturing these vehicles and still more on research and development for making these vehicles. If we see the recent trend, most of the high powered passenger vehicles are diesel powered and nearly all of the SUV sales come from diesel engine variants. One very strong reason for the trend is that diesel sells cheaper and gives good mileage and India is an economy driven market. It is no wonder therefore, that over 45 per cent of the cars are diesel powered. The automobile industry is a big source of revenue and the manufacturers have clout enough to influence policies. As such, government policies have to be very strong to change the scenario but policies alone cannot fix anything. We need infrastructure. “We are inviting foreign investors to make in India but what alternate fuel do we have to offer? How will the system sustain. Do we have enough CNG supply for the country? There is no sufficient supply in Delhi, www.governancetoday.co.in

let alone the other parts of the nation. Have you ever seen a CNG station where there is no queue?” asks Kalra. Taxi and auto drivers say that if for some reason they need to refill their tanks in the middle of working hours, half of their day’s income has to be sacrificed as at any given point of time, the stations have long queues. “To beat this loss, many vehicles are illegally running on LPG cylinders,” says an auto driver from Bihar. This is not because they are willfully doing it; it is because they are forced to do it due to nonavailability of CNG. Often we talk of electric vehicles but where are the charging points? These few thousand e-rickshaws on roads today find it difficult to charge their batteries because of which the owners have to depend on personal electric connection. If lakhs of such vehicles come on road, where will they charge? A couple of years back there was a time when many people had taken to electric cars and motorbikes very enthusiastically but the tempo died off very soon because of the missing charging points. “If you go to Singapore, every office and parking has charging

points. It pushes up the demand for the vehicle as nobody wishes to spend on petrol. When this demand ratchets up, the automobile industry on its own shift from fuel powered vehicles to electric powered vehicles. The problem, therefore, is not feasibility; it is availability. So you can ban hydrocarbon fueled cars only when you provide equally viable alternative. A small step of banning diesel cabs led to a great hue and cry and it had to be called off. The problem is not adherence to any law or ban, the problem is where is the alternative? According to reports, over 5,000 people went unemployed following the ban; the hue and cry is obvious. Banning all ‘bad’ practices one fine day is not the solution; banning ‘bad’ after provisioning for a ‘good’ alternative is the right way. Demand management works only when you provide alternatives. It is stupid to send cars off road when you do not have enough buses on the roads or enough number of metro coaches. Yes, a number of countries including Norway, Canada, and many others have taken steps towards phasing out hydrocarbon fuel powered vehicles but we cannot just follow suit without considering July 2016 I 55

the ground work they did before taking measures. In almost all of these countries, there are enough sources of alternate fuel; there are charging points, CNG stations and dedicated lanes for cyclists and pedestrians. In India you find none. Pedestrians do not exist in the traffic plans at all. The footpaths are refuge areas that are used for everything but walking. “My office is around two kilometers from my place but I cannot walk down even if I want. I tried but couldn’t. The roads and the environment are not congenial to pedestrians. I had to reluctantly quit and take my car for this short distance,” shares Kalra.

Urban Policy, it has sufficient provisions for a good transport system but the problem is that you do not have experts who have an understanding of how to bring the provisions on ground,” says Kalra. She explains that she has been training planning department officials for years and whenever she asks if they have planners in their teams, the answer is mostly no and in very few cases where there is one, by chance, he or she is a town planner and not a transport planner. “It’s like asking a doctor to stitch clothes. It’s that big a mismatch,” she adds. The departments do not have an understanding that there is a need

THE ODDITIES OF ODD-EVEN • ‘This is not a pollution control measure and is a short term measure generally used to level the small discrepancies in achieving a set goal’ • ‘The first time when the measure was implemented, schools which are major bus running institutions, were closed and as such, that entire fleet was off road’ • ‘An anti-pollution control effect triggered by this initiative was that people started buying a second car and on an average 1,200 secondhand cars were sold each day during the 15 day trial. Second hand cars are even more polluting, thus defeating the whole purpose of the measure.’ The basics are missing and so are the homework and ground work before taking any remedial step. There are many companies that have launched a number of CNG models with good mileage but talking to about 50 people, 45 said no just because they do not want to stand in long queues for hours or be stranded in any part of the road because there are no CNG stations at frequent spots like fuel stations. Another very important and basic factor that contributes towards ‘flop’ plans by the authorities concerned is that seldom there is a planner involved in the planning process. “If you take a look at the National 56 I July 2016

for a transport planner; they have not understood the importance of transport planners in our cities. They only hire engineers. A town planner can make the master plan but he or she cannot decide the width of the road or the placement of the roads, foot paths or metro tracks, explains Kalra. However, the dire need to improve our transport system is slowly dawning upon governments. Many cities like Bhopal, Kochi, Ahmedabad, and Surat have shown remarkable improvement when it comes to transport system. Rest of the country, however, is still in a slumber. A genuine difficulty in

development is that there are too many departments and too much overlapping of responsibilities, not to mention the hair splitting of responsibilities in the first place. Only in Delhi, in a few kilometers of roads the land can belong to DDA, DTC, NHAI, and DMRC, Railways, Transport department, the three different municipal corporations and several others. Often there is a plan but it does not get implemented as there is no clarity on which stretch of land or which part of the job belongs to whom. Kalra shares that there is a stretch of road in front of her office near Anand Vihar metro station in Delhi that has been lying unrepaired for last four years. Each time she approaches an authority, she is told that it is not under their jurisdiction. Such conundrum is symptomatic of our working style. Instead of planning whole hog, apportioning the job to respective departments and then sequencing the work properly, we plan in watertight compartments, resulting in the mess that we are in. Entire management of vehicular planning, transport planning and environmental protection has worked alone in the country, because of which none has been able to achieve success. The buck passing and sloppy excuses for own failures must end if we really have to make any headway in pollution control or traffic congestion. In a fractured and animus driven polity like ours, that sounds like a pipedream. But great realities have often emerged out of dreams. So, instead of trying frivolous ideas like odd-even and diesel cab ban, we need to work on the basics of urban transport planning, which is demand and supply oriented and which reduces the need for private vehicle usage. Perhaps a great deal of pressure on roads will be relieved if we could just keep footpaths for pedestrian and create bicycle lanes in cities. That will do more wonder than the mumbo jumbo that we keep seeing frequently. sagarika@governancetoday.co.in

www.governancetoday.co.in

July 2016 I 57

INTERVIEW SURENDRA NATH TRIPATHI | ADDITIONAL SECRETARY & DEVELOPMENT COMMISSIONER (MSME), GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

WE ARE LOOKING INTO SUGGESTIONS THAT WILL FACILITATE GROWTH OF THE MSME SECTOR Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) is the backbone of the Indian economy. Any big industry’s 30 to 40 per cent, in some cases around 60 per cent of the work is done by these MSMEs. This holds true to a number of economies around the world. In case of India, the Ministry’s official description states that MSME contributes nearly eight per cent of the country’s GDP, 45 per cent of the manufacturing output and 40 per cent of the exports. They provide the largest share of employment after agriculture. They are the nurseries for entrepreneurship and innovation and are widely dispersed across the country producing a diverse range of products and services to meet the needs of the local markets, the global market and national and international value chains. Of late there has been a wave of consciousness towards the sector. The Ministry has come up with a number of programs to help and assist entrepreneurs and small businesses. A new policy is also likely to be introduced by October. As a precursor to the final policy, a draft policy has been uploaded on to the MSME website for people to see and comment. In the wake of these developments in the sector, Governance Today spoke to Surendra Nath Tripathi, Additional Secretary & Development Commissioner (MSME), Government of India, on what, how and when to expect from the ministry for this vital industry. EDITED EXCERPT: 58 I July 2016

What can we expect from the upcoming policy and how is the work progressing? The new policy is being framed by a committee, headed by Prabhat Kumar, former Governor of Jharkhand. A place has been assigned to the committee in the ICAR where the work is in progress. A draft policy, which is a framework for the expected policy, has already been uploaded onto the website for the people to comment on. We will take up suggestions from the people and work on the policy accordingly.

What has been the response on the draft policy? So far we have received very good response from the people. We have received around 1,400 comments from around 800 plus people. The suggestions have been compiled and placed before the committee for www.governancetoday.co.in

deliberations. We are looking forward to the new policy.

Could you share with us some suggestions you have received and your reaction to it? There are some good suggestions while there are some that cannot be taken up. For example, there is a suggestion to make all MSME ventures tax free which is not possible. Then, there is a suggestion demanding ease of doing business which is certainly a good suggestion and we are looking into it. As most MSMEs are a oneperson or two-person venture, regulatory burden is of course an issue that needs attention. We are looking into the ease of doing business suggestion and other such suggestions that will facilitate growth of the sector.

How is the department assisting the MSME entrepreneurs? Our chairman himself wants to meet Industry Associations and other stake holders to know the requirements better and act accordingly. We are trying to assess their needs and act accordingly. The department is welcoming the beginners and also assisting the existing businesses. The policy and programs of the ministry address various segments. We are broadly working in two ways. First, by enterprise creation through Entrepreneurship Development Program (EDP) training, and second, through Scale Up programs. Under EDP we provide subsidies and technology assistance, credit plus subsidy and guarantee for credit through various schemes. Under scale up programs we assist entrepreneurs to get to the next level of manufacturing i.e. enhance the business further. In the latter case we also give them guarantee against default that helps the entrepreneurs get loan up to one crore, thus, giving them good enough finance for enhancement. www.governancetoday.co.in

What more can we expect in terms of skill development as most of the skilled labor goes to the big businesses, leaving very limited availability for the MSMEs? A whole new initiative of skill India is on the roll and work is being done in this segment by a number of departments. My department alone trains around 8 to 10 lakh people. There are several other departments too working in this direction. However, the requirement is huge. The need today is for 62 crore skilled workers and we are working towards achieving this objective. The laborers are being grouped together on the basis of common requirements and trained. Such

For students we are trying to vocationalize courses so that they become employable as soon as they finish their education. For the laborers we are organizing training sessions at various places which they can avail without any fee and gain expertise in their fields. training assistances are being given at 1,018 places. Over 20,000 industries have benefitted from this as finding skilled labor is comparatively easy now.

How is the Ministry assisting and encouraging start-ups? We call them first generation, first timer entrepreneurs. They are

categorized under micro category and are given assistance through a very good scheme called the Mudra scheme. Here the entrepreneur can approach for assistance under the scheme through banks or micro financing institutions and avail loan up to 10 lakh, depending on the project. Under this scheme there is less of question asked, less paperwork required and the only important requirement is a viable project idea. If the project is viable enough, all that needs to be done is – the proposal needs to be presented, idea assessed and approved and the loan is sanctioned. Thus, fewer questions asked and more work done.

A lot is being done by the various institutions and the government, however, very little percolates to the masses – the actual needy lot. How do you plan to create awareness? The awareness levels in some of the areas are close to zero and we are working on that. We are focusing on two sets of people – one who are still in schools and need skill training and second who have been into some profession for years and need honing. For the students we are trying to vocationalize courses so that they become employable as soon as they finish their education. For the latter we are organizing training sessions at various places which they can avail without any fee and gain expertise in their fields. We are getting good response and have already trained lakhs of workers. Recently, around five lakh applications have been received seeking training and we expect the number to increase. A lot of effort is being made to strengthen our economy’s roots. The ratios are certainly unfavorable now but the graph of progress is soon to enter the upper quadrant.

July 2016 I 59

HEALTH

Provider or facilitator? Government needs to change its role when it comes to healthcare delivery

High quality government hospitals like AIIMS cannot cater to the bulk of population

Dr Dharminder Nagar

or a long time now, there has been intense debate in India about the extent of role the government should play in providing essential services to citizens. The right wing economists have long argued for the government to withdraw from services, and consolidate its position as provider of infrastructure and facilitator. On the other hand, the Left wing economists have maintained that in a country where more than half of the population lives in poverty, government cannot abdicate its role of providing essential services such as healthcare and education. When they set about the task of nation building, our founding fathers led by late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru modeled the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy on the lines of

60 I July 2016

the then powerful Soviet Union. That model favored greater role of government in all activities of development, envisaging a strong public sector, governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s active role in industry, education as well as healthcare. However, in 1991, India reset its economic path and turned to greater liberalization of goods and services, paving way for the emergence of a strong private sector that is today at the vanguard of many positive changes sweeping the country. However, the debate on whether the government should continue to expand its role as a healthcare provider is still a hot topic.

Public Hospitals: Needs & Challenges To be fair, government hospitals and healthcare centres have been the lifeline of millions of people who

live in rural and semi urban areas or cannot afford substantial out of pocket expenses at private hospitals. Institutions such as AIIMS and other government medical colleges have also been at the forefront of producing some of Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best doctors, leading research and providing healthcare services to the population. However, such institutions are too far and too few to cater to the needs of all Indians. Moreover, in rural and semi urban areas, healthcare delivery at public hospitals continues to be less than satisfactory with shortage of doctors, supplies, as well as services crippling the system. Deficient infrastructure, shortage of manpower, and unmanageable patient load are some challenges afflicting the public healthcare system in India. Private hospitals, on the other hand, are today an essential cog in www.governancetoday.co.in

Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s healthcare delivery. They not only serve to reduce patient load on public hospitals but also provide faster and more efficient services given their needs for profit and efficiency. However, the availability of private healthcare is not only restricted because of the costs involved, but also because of the fact that their presence is highly skewed in favor of urban areas. This brings us to the essential issue of greater need for the government and private sector to work in tandem through specially formulated policies to ensure healthcare delivery to all.

demonized for giving precedence to profits. However, to be fair to them, a private business ceases to be sustainable otherwise. For private healthcare providers, it is not possible to treat patients without costs even if they have the right intentions. The government can enter into tie ups with private hospitals to facilitate treatment for poorer sections of people. Instead of investing in setting up new hospitals, the government can get into PPPs in every city and help

will naturally cover the salaried middle class.

Regulatory reform on the lines of Obamacare The healthcare sector in India also needs major reform and regulation. This is where the Indian government can take a leaf or two out of Obamacare touted as one of the most significant achievements of the outgoing US President. Setting up a health insurance

Government as facilitator The goal of providing universal healthcare is a noble goal which successive governments have listed in their agendas year after year. Many policymakers and experts view this as the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intention of providing healthcare through public sector services to all 1.2 billion citizens of the country. However, given the limited resources of the government and the sheer enormity of this task, it would logistically not be possible for the government for years to raise the number of doctors, staff, facilities and supplies at government hospitals to this level. The need of the hour is to devise policies that put the government in the role of a catalyst or a facilitator to enable a large section of our people get access to quality healthcare. Segmenting the population according to financial wherewithal and identifying subsets for different policy goals is the first step. While the government needs to maintain, improve and even increase its hospitals and primary health centres to provide free of cost healthcare facilities to people living below the poverty line, a number of other measures can be initiated to allow others get better access at private hands. Some of these can be as follows:

Public Private Partnerships Private hospitals are often www.governancetoday.co.in

Ensuring medical insurance for all is a must pursue policy for governments

private hospitals subsidize costs for a select group of people, say those with BPL cards. Or the government can subsidize a small section of each private hospital and allow it to work on the lines of government owned hospitals.

marketplace where Indians can purchase regulated and subsidized healthcare can allow millions have better access to health facilities.

Making Insurance affordable and mandatory

According to estimates almost 70 per cent of the doctors in India are concentrated in urban centres, and urban India enjoys access to almost 65 per cent of the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hospital beds. The reason is that private hospitals do not find it profitable enough to set shop in rural or semi urban areas. Government can incentivize this by offering benefits such as tax cuts, cost sharing etc to private entities. The writer is the Managing Director, Paras Healthcare

If the government makes medical insurance a mandatory aspect like bank accounts and pan cards, the same shall benefit the common people and not force then into out of pocket spending. With millions coming under coverage, banks can negotiate and get really low premium rates. Moreover this shall give the common man the choice of going to any hospital. This

Incentivize private hospitals in rural areas

July 2016 I 61

REALTY

Sluggish realty riding on private equity funds Even though the real estate sector’s domestic front looks dampened, the private equity fund inflow has gained momentum riding high on the norms flexibility government has provided over the last couple of years Ramesh Kumar Raja

here has always been a strong history of institutional investment in Indian real estate through both mediums; direct ownership of property and pooled investment funds. Going back a bit in history, institutional real estate investments had dominated the sector and it was during 1990s that led to the emergence of strategic funds that were targeted to take the benefit of falling property prices and hefty discounts. Thus, in the beginning of the 21st century, private equity (PE) in real estate came into picture as an independent asset class and has been experiencing a huge growth off late. Even though the real estate sector’s domestic front looks dampened, the PE fund inflow has gained momentum riding high on the norms flexibility government has provided over the last couple of years. This in turn is allowing the Indian real estate sector to maintain a good balance of funds and is acting as a messiah in this sector’s revival days. According to Manoj Gaur, president CREDAI-NCR & MD, Gaursons India Ltd, “Even though the domestic demand has failed to meet the expectations of the sector, international fund flow has ensured the upward side of the demand graph. Total private equity investments from foreign funds in Indian real estate grew by over 30 per cent from 2014 to 2015, and in fact, this number shaped up much better in the first half of 2015 and looks even 62 I July 2016

better this year. DIPP’s flexibility of norms and relaxation towards entry/exit barriers has done the trick and the government’s decision towards allowing 100 per cent FDI in construction will be fruitful in years to come”. “For any foreign investor, India is a real potential market that promises long term returns. Speaking about the real estate sector, government has provided a strong boost through its policy measures as well as mammoth infrastructural upgradation plans. With such announcements, private sector and primarily, international front will become extremely active as plans are big and will yield greater returns in future. Tier 1 cities will have the biggest chunk out of it and even last year itself, MMR, NCR and Bengaluru have in themselves accounted for over 70 per cent of foreign PE investments”, explains Rajesh Goyal, Vice president CREDAI-Western U.P. & MD, RG Group. Infrastructural developments in a country serves as the backbone for its realty sector and this is exactly where India is standing out as a strong market. At the same time, having a policy framework that supports and promotes ease of doing business especially for foreign nationals play a vital role towards attracting foreign funds. “PE funds inflow has been on a constant rise and will continue as India promises infra development on a large scale and the government eases the ways of doing business.

Conditions of area restriction of floor area of 20,000 sq. mtrs. and minimum capitalization of $5 million required within six of commencement of business had been removed and since then a lot of FDI has flown in. Another important element that has come up and will act as a catalyst is the implementation of Real Estate Act. Foreigners transacting in India will now have a much secured environment to conduct business,” elucidates Deepak Kapoor, president CREDAI-Western UP & Director, Gulshan Homz. Investments made during early 2000s and till the recession year, i.e. 2008 could not yield good results; coupled with a weakening rupee which depreciated by almost 45 per cent over the last half a dozen years, it has made investors largely hesitant. On the flipside though, www.governancetoday.co.in

in the upcoming four to five years, Indian residential real estate is projected to deliver almost 10 lakh units and thus there is a huge scope for inflow of funds. “In the first quarter of 2016, private equity investments rose by almost 40 per cent at Rs. 3,840 crore versus yearon-year quarter 1, 2015, and here residential front took the majority share. Even the overall funds inflow had grown by over 30 per cent in the first quarter, where even the number of deals closed rose significantly. Relaxation of FDI norms and promise of better infrastructure along with hefty supply coming up are the real reasons behind this funds growth,” enlightens Vikas Bhasin, MD, Saya Group. Residential real estate in India has always been in demand due to the ever growing population. Answering the housing needs of the public was always in the www.governancetoday.co.in

manifesto of the current government where Housing for all by 2022 and affordable housing has been the key jargons. “Participation of investors in real estate through private equity has been a result of long term visions and plans by the government. Housing for all, smart cities and affordable housing is keeping the interest of the investors extremely active, as these are all long term plans that will yield better returns. As the real estate sector move towards better policy implementations, investors will feel much more secured. Real Estate Act is now in place, and if industry status and single window clearance is executed in Indian real estate, this will greatly attract more foreign investors and multiply funds inflow”, shares Rakesh Yadav, Chairman, Antriksh India. Speaking about how well the PE funds market has groomed in

India with a lot more still in pipeline, Kushagr Ansal, Director of Ansal Housing concludes, “India has always been an untapped resource which is now gaining popularity amongst the globe, riding on strong policy measures taken by the government. Our realty sector contributes five to six per cent annually towards the GDP and thus, it is imperative to keep the things active here. Over the last couple of years, funds inflow has increased drastically especially in Tier 1 realty regions. Tier 2 and 3 cities will gain momentum as Smart cities and AMRUT has been worked upon. We are expecting private equity market to grow by almost 60-70 per cent in the upcoming 3-4 years versus today, particularly towards residential real estate, which will be closely followed by commercial and retail as well.” ramesh@governancetoday.co.in

July 2016 I 63

INTERVIEW SUDHIR DASAMANTHARAO | DIRECTOR & GLOBAL HEAD – SOLENIS GLOBAL SHARED SERVICES

YOU WILL ONLY BE ABLE TO GENERATE VALUE WHEN YOU INVEST IN PEOPLE, PROCESS AND TECHNOLOGY Solenis is a leading global manufacturer of specialty chemicals for the pulp, paper, oil and gas, chemical processing, mining, bio refining, power and municipal markets. The company’s product portfolio includes a broad array of process, functional and water treatment chemistries as well as state-of-the-art monitoring and control systems. These technologies are used by customers to improve operational efficiencies, enhance product quality, protect plant assets and minimize environmental impact. Rajesh Mehta, Consulting Editor, Governance Today, spoke to Sudhir Dasamantharao, Director & Global Head of Solenis Global Shared Services. Sudhir has recently authored a book titled The Art of Balancing. Here, he shares his expertise in areas of building global teams and about the basic message of his book. EDITED EXCERPTS: 64 I July 2016

You have been successful in setting up global teams in the past and currently in the process of setting up Global teams at Solenis. What

has been your experience and what will be your advice for leaders who are setting up and leading the global teams. When you are setting up global www.governancetoday.co.in

teams, it is very important to have a very clear vision and the strategy to execute vision. Once you know the vision and strategy, it is very important to articulate the same to your stakeholders and current teams and people whom you are bringing on board. You also need to understand the multiple cultures in which you are going to operate. Further it is very important to analyze the skill set you need in the team. If I have to summarize key aspects to keep in mind while creating global teams are: • Have clear Vision and the Strategy to execute • Understand the Global cultures of various countries you will be operating from • Communicate your vision & strategy • Maintain Diversity in your global teams • Encourage Transparency and Trust in your teams

You have immense experience in Global Shared Services for Large corporates globally. Please share your experience and inputs. To me success of any Global Shared Services or for any organization depends on people, process and technology. If you can get these three things right, will get huge value from global shared services organization. At times what happens is we end up investing or over investing in only one of these categories i.e. either people or process or technology. The key success dependence on how effectively we balance our investment among all the three categories.Global Shared Services has been a key strategic enabler for most of the companies. The organizations that have adopted this model have seen huge benefits out of this model and are continuing to do so. One of the key drivers for setting up Global Shared Services www.governancetoday.co.in

for any organization is cost.A critical point we need to understand is that cost aspect is a short term benefit and more importantly if we have to look at the GSS model in long term perspective, we have to look at the value element.You will only be able to generate value through Global Shares Services when you aptly invest on these three elements, namely people, process and technology (PPT).

You wrote a book “The Art of Balancing”(How much is Too Much). Please let us know more about it. What I tried to share through this book “The Art of Balancing” in life is that if we want to learn “Art of living”, we need to first learn art of balancing in everything we do whether it is in our professional life or personal life. I believe that “Art of Balancing” is “Art of Living.” So we need to keep asking ourselves “How much is Too Much” in whatever we are doing in life. I have touch based on few topics in professional and personal space. In professional space some of the crucial points I have addressed areStrategy Vs. Execution, Coach Vs. Captain (Leadership styles), Professional Relationships Vs. Results and Creation Vs. Disruption. In personal space, these are replaced by Family Vs. Friends, Parents / In-laws Vs. Spouse, Health Vs. Wealth and Family Vs. Individual Aspirations.

Please let us know your views on Startup India, Digital India & Skill India initiatives of Modi Government? I think these are great initiatives and a must for our country to move in the direction from developing country to developed country. These kinds of initiatives generate lot of employment opportunities and create a good reach for our

people in rural India. While I appreciate the Modi government for coming up with these kind of new initiatives, I am also looking to see from government to have clear target date by when we will become a developed nation from developing nation. As we all know it has been many years since we got Independence and we are still called developing nation. As a nation we have great achievements to be proud of, but still we are a developing country. I want to see, and am sure all of us want to see our country as developed nation sooner than later.

What kind of culture & values do you think are important for any organization and how do you establish these culture & values in an organization? Having a right culture and value system are very critical for any organization. Now the question becomes how do you know what are right values for an organization. In every organization we see these values like integrity, respect for people, customer centricity etc.…. mentioned in their home page, walls, notice boards. From my experience these words remain as words, unless everyone in the organization start imbibing them and demonstrating these values. If we can start demonstrating these values then these words will have true meaning. The moment we have most of the people living up to these values established by organization that will translate into true culture of the organization. Most people think values have to be driven from top leadership and I agree with it, but what is equally important is everyone in the organization irrespective of the level they are at also take ownership in imbibing values in true sense.

July 2016 I 65

CAREER

A promising field PK Joseph

SR is essentially a concept whereby companies decide to spent a certain per centage of their net profit either voluntarily or on the account of the legislation, to contribute to make a better society and a cleaner environment. CSR strictly speaking does not imply charity, sponsorship or philanthropy. It is a process through which a company

66 I July 2016

achieves a balance of economic, environmental and social obligation. CSR is now viewed as integral part of business strategy to minimize the business risks linked to uncertainty. In terms of the provisions made under The Companies Act 2013, CSR entails projects or programs relating to activities specified in Schedule VII to the Act; or projects or programs relating to activities undertaken by the board of directors of a company (Board) in

pursuance of recommendations of the CSR Committee of the Board as per declared CSR Policy of the company subject to the condition that such policy will cover subjects enumerated in Schedule VII of the Act. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Sector is emerging as a rapidly growing and promising career domain. It is very true that there is a lot of hype today in the CSR domain. This has happened on account of www.governancetoday.co.in

several reasons. First of all, India is the only country that has brought out legislation on CSR. Every public sector or private sector company that fulfils certain criteria has to spend two per cent of its net average profit of the immediately preceding three years. This is mandated by Companies Act 2013 and the New CSR Rules 2014 that has come in to effect from April 2014. As per media reports one lakh jobs could be created over the next six years, 16,000 companies could come into the CSR Fold and 22,000 crores could be generated. Moreover, the liberalized and globalised Indian economy is witnessing shrinking role of state and growing role of Corporate and Business in overall development of country. Corporates with their wider reach, professionalism, innovation and wealth have the ability to influence the way in which social organization work. The sector unlike other spheres is diverse, the reason is distinct nature of activities of the parent organizations. Due to this opportunities exist within the private, public and voluntary sectors. It is important to highlight that many CSR roles may not be titled as such but their job content may reflect CSR activities. In private sector larger companies may have CSR departments or have CSR functions located within particular areas including marketing, communications, environmental management, public affairs, investor relations, finance, operations and human resources. Opportunities are also opening up in the large accounting and consulting firms, many of which are trying to compete with the niche CSR consulting firms by offering their own CSR client services. Whereas in Public Sector CSR career options can be found in national government agencies, PSUs and international organizations. There are a wide variety of NGOs, industry associations, think tanks and academic institutions engaging in learning and/or advocacy within the CSR arena. Such groups promote and examine the use of CSR concepts within the private and public www.governancetoday.co.in

spheres. It can be better understood by an example: Major Corporations have their CSR wings which are exclusively dedicated towards community development and CSR activities directly or indirectly in the vicinity of their operations sector. Whereas in other companies CSR activity is undertaken by the HR, marketing, corporate communication or the Department dealing with Environmental matters. It is observed that companies whose operations directly impact the nature like mining, manufacturing, power generations etc. have CSR wings that are quite active. They

roles and responsibilities of a CSR practitioner. It is an emerging sector which has got a great impetus post the government mandate of making CSR an essential requirement for corporates. The process of establishing and responding to the CSR agenda within an organization will require specialists who have experience in various fields like social work, health, education and disaster management etc. There are diverse roles for CSR professionals and they come from range of disciplines. Hence, it is hard to be very precise. However, there are some major skills required for

SOME PROMINENT INSTITUTES WHICH OFFER COURSES RELATED TO CSR ARE • MBA in Sustainability, BIMTECH, Greater Noida • MBA in Sustainability, TERI University • MBA in CSR, The Institute of Corporate Sustainability Management (ICSM) • IICA Certificate Programme (ICP) in CSR, National Foundation for Corporate Social Responsibility (NFCSR) • Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) • Delhi School of Social Work, University of Delhi • Bosco Institute of Social Work, Sacred Heart College, Chennai • Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi • National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) Hyderabad • Institute of Rural Management- Anand, Gujrat • Xavier Institute of Social Service Purulia road,Ranchi. • Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar • Gandhi Gram Rural Institute, Gandhi Gram, Dindigul. • Indira Gandhi National Open University, Maidan Garhi, New Delhi (correspondence course).

tackle the grievances of nearby population and engage the stakeholders. In green field projects we have seen corporate giants and governments struggling hard to get the land acquisitions and Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R) issues solved; here also CSR professionals are in great demand. CSR is yet to develop as a distinct career path and there is no single professional body at present that represents the needs and interests of all those working in the CSR domain. This is due to the diverse disciplines involved and also the complexity of the

successful CSR professionals. These relate to business skills, people skills and technical skills. Business skills include building insight, communication skills, decision making, commercial awareness, IT, innovation, strategic awareness, leadership, handling complexity and problem solving. People skills relate to adaptability and empathy, developing others, influencing without power, open minded, integrity, political awareness, self-development and learning, building partnerships, team working and questioning “business as usual.” Finally, July 2016 I 67

technical skills include technical expertise, understanding impacts, stakeholder dialogue, internal consultancy, selling the business case, understanding human rights and understanding sustainability. From above three skills, primarily six core competencies are listed for managers involved with CSR in organizations. These are, understanding society, building capacity, questioning business as usual, stakeholder relations, strategic view and harnessing diversity.

Diploma in Rural development etc. offered by different universities and reputed institution may be right option for career in CSR. It is a challenge for those who are just getting started in the CSR Sector, as most Corporations would look for candidates who have some relevant CSR Experience. Getting on board with a specific company can sometimes become a challenge. Hence, a possible solution would be to opt for internship for a couple of months and gain experience. Many direct CSR roles require

path of an individual. The type of remuneration which can be expected while working in a CSR wing of an organization is; Junior level (Rs 5 lakh per annum), Mid-level (Rs 15 lakh per annum), Senior-level (Rs 40-60 lakh per annum). Further, exceptional and top CSR Positions can go up to Rs 1 crore for CEOs. The perks associated with CSR are good enough to grab the eyeballs but the pertinent issue is how one can get these jobs. There are many institutes which offer courses that could land one a job in the CSR sector.

Some corporates have contributed systematically to social causes

CSR sector recruits its major workforce from the professionals who are in to social work, rural development and other developmental fields to undertake and manage the CSR activities of company. There are an increasing number of qualifications becoming available at Masters Level and as part of MBA courses. The professional courses like Master of Social Works (MSW), MBA in rural development and Post Graduate 68 I July 2016

specialist knowledge and business experience and therefore may not be open to those on graduate programs or just starting out with a company. You may have to take a longer term strategy and build up your skills and experience in relevant areas first. Any career opportunity wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be sought after unless a healthy remuneration is associated with it. Remuneration expectations among other factors decide the career

In short, CSR as a career has just started to take off in India and because of the diversity of the social work and the lack of experienced people in this arena makes it a hot career for those who want to stay in corporate sector, but also care passionately for society and environment. The writer is a Program Head (CSR) DLF Ltd, DLF Foundation

www.governancetoday.co.in

July 2016 I 69

PERSPECTIVE

Unfavorable place! Even though many expats come to India fascinated by its culture and tradition, overall impression of many is not very good Nataliia Zorba

hat is it to be an expat? It is said that a person at least once in a life should go another country, another continent and yes, alone! The degree of hospitality, of course, varies from country to country. So now the real question: What it is to be an expat in India? People keep coming to India but recent attacks on African nationals in India signal an unwelcoming country. Several research reports show that expats don’t look at India as at a favorable place to live. The InterNations Expat Insider survey (2015) places India at 55th position among 64 nations. India has an ever increasing population burdening all resources. Intense competition in education, employment and almost all basics of life simply crowd out some of the residents abroad. Majority of Indians I have met wish to leave the country. Then, why are expats still coming to India? India hosts about 30,000 immigrants from around the world. To know, how India is kind to them, we have conducted our own survey among expats to find out their evaluation of life in India.

How does India attract people from abroad and who are these expats? India offers diversity of culture, climate, religion and art. There is a generous contrast, unique to India. Creative people take risk and come to India. Expats in India are interested in culture and travel, but not in a quiet life. The vast Indian expanses with a diverse geographical 70 I July 2016

landscape beckon travelers from around the world. Because of comparatively lower cost of living in most of the Indian cities than the West with English speaking people, India attracts many expats. The most sapid criterion, which we wanted to know, what has brought these people to India? Indian culture takes first place (57 per cent), unique and diverse, ancient and mysterious. Fast growing economy and special government programs like “Make in India” attract entrepreneurs

and business. Likewise, all have reason. For employees it is their contracts, for students are famous universities, young professionals come for experience while for artists it is the movie industry and unique art forms. Some come for spirituality and religious reasons. India is also popular among social workers

India through the eyes of expats India is a country of contrasts which new expats very often fail www.governancetoday.co.in

to understand. Those who are willing to accept things as they are, remain in India and enjoy, others are nervous at first, and then leave. The very moment they land at the airport, shock associated with all organs of perception welcomes them: noise, chaos and heat. Traffic leaves nobody indifferent. There are chaotic mixing machines, vehicles, pedestrians, rickshaws, dogs and cattle. Motorcycles with three or even more passengers; small trucks carrying loads of people, may be up to 50, standing and traveling for work or some celebration, cause fear in the unwonted eyes. Now, their dwelling place: Here, of course, everything depends on

and anxiety. It is more difficult for a woman, especially if she is white and single. Overtime, the focus is not reduced to the foreigners in the streets, just expats start to react differently, and they start to ignore in an attempt to determine for themselves at least some personal space. Transport is a big problem in self moving around the city. Public transport is not safe. A taxi needs other income and taxi drivers usually do not speak English. An explanation of a location over the phone and then in the car often becomes impossible. On these grounds, expats begin to learn the local language, which is different in

rich foreigners. The “cost of living” index evaluated by our experts stands at 7.7 of 10. So, it is the most eye-catching factor for life in India as compared to other nations. In the neighborhood and at workplace all greeted warmly and called to their home for a visit and to various parties. But our respondents have evaluated index of “hospitality of local people” 5.6 of 10. There are two view points: Those who were in India for less than one year have given high scores to hospitality while those who stayed for long have given low scores. The latter explain that initially locals are very friendly but when expats later ask for any help, they close. In this way the mark of

7.71 6.86

4.71

3.86

3.71

making local friends

entertainment

hospitality of Indian

ease of settling in

2.71

cost of living

woman security

job security

work-life balanced

quality of life

life and health safety

2.71

raising of children

5.71

5.57

ease of making (having) relationship

4.85

Evaluation of ilfe by expats survey by Internations Scores on a scale of 1-10

the income as not everyone can afford the five-star hotel, built as per European standards. Surprises include a great fan instead of chandeliers (without which life becomes impossible later) and, of course, a shower room, which categorically is different from the showers in the rest of the world. An attempt to go out and explore the city means complete chaos and a huge attention from locals: they all look and everyone is trying to help or talk. The attention can be good or bad and brings mixed feelings of joy www.governancetoday.co.in

each state, and if a foreigner travels a lot, just learning the one language does not help. A purchasing of essential products and services encounters a comprehensive overpricing just because of foreign look. Locals always associate foreigners with wealth. Learning the local language and price ranges a bit may decrease a problem, but does not make it absolutely smooth. And then there are service providers like taxi drivers, fruit and vegetable sellers etc. who do not mind fleecing supposedly

the “possibility to have local friends” stands at 5.7 of 10. Very high rating has been given to the entertainment index – 6.9 of 10. Other parameters do not exceed five-point mark out of 10. These other important factors are: life and health safety (4.9); quality of life (4); work-life balance (3.7); job security (4.7); woman security (2.7); ease of settling in (5); raising of children (2.7); ease of making (having) relationship (3.9). From this expert survey we conclude that Indians, through the July 2016 I 71

eyes of expats, know how to be hospitable and make friends but aren’t responsible towards quality and safety of human life and health, especially towards women, life-work balance and growing children. These functions are assumed by a very strong social institution: family. Family survives. It fights for its members’ safety, protects its women and children and helps new couples. Therefore, a lonely expat in this area has a hard time, because the first identification in India comes on the answers to the questions: “What’s your second name? What does your father do? Where is your family?” It turns out that no one social institution assumes responsibility for the safety of life and health of the population and for the full development of human potential in the framework of the country. It

Unfortunately, solving these problems involves a very long process that requires deep analysis and strict actions. Then there are geographical and climatic problems. It is necessary to know if a person can cope with natural factors or not. Most problems faced by expats are same faced by the local people. Therefore, any improvement for Indian population will improve conditions for expats too. As for prices, of course, public policies cannot regulate natural markets and private services representatives. Therefore, there can be only one recommendation, which is improvement in governance over public services. Another issue is of behavior of some locals with foreigners. It relates to morality and education and again needs strict governance.

means that the problem is not only for expats, but also for the locals. If locals have a protected, educated and healthy life in the country, the expats will also have a better life too.

However, local rules like that in Rajasthan where any attempt to communicate with foreigners has to be explained to the police, seems extreme measure, and of course, debatable. Everything apart, the most important is life security. Death of Masonga Kitanda Olivier in Delhi, beating up of Nigerian student in Hyderabad, attacks on nine African nationals in Delhi, beating up of woman in Bengaluru are some of the terrible incidents that point towards a dangerous safety situation for foreigners, especially Africans. While authorities and the media debate about racism angle, life of thousands of people out there is not secured. There is a need for strict laws on violation of the rights of foreign nationals and ensure expatfriendly behavior.

Other problems expats face in India Pollution of air, dust, noise (57%); misbehavior of local people, which includes physical and moral components and attempts to put higher price for common services and products (44%); communication problems with local like language problem and lies, lack of good manners (37%); food (35%); transport (28%); climate and geographical issues like weather, insects, snakes (15%) constitute other major problems that expats face in India. 72 I July 2016

Conclusions First of all being an expat in any country is not easy. There are differences in traditions, mentality, religion, and climate and at times everything is new. An expat leaves all behind to begin life afresh with new language, new law, new job or education, new friends and sometimes even new family. Needless to say they need enabling environment. Foreigners come, try and learn the elements of Indian culture; work for Indian companies or create companies and create employment for locals. They participate socially and volunteer for social causes. Nobody says that only good people come and only with good intentions. There is one fact that people come with an interest in this country. The country should maintain this interest. If India wants to increase the indicator of living standards, expat-friendly programs should be created and improved. Any recommendations on the improvement of public policies and the creation of protective mechanisms of foreign residents will work, if such mechanisms work in relation to local population. But in a country, where the interests of members of society are protected only by family, expats either need to come with family or be ready for inconvenience. NOTE: The result of our research is the generalization of the results of a sociological expert survey and does not carry personal character. Our experts age from 25 to 53; both males and females; countries: Brazil, China, Columbia, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Sri-Lanka, Spain, Thailand, USA, Zimbabwe. Everyone understands that any opinion is subjective and depends on the personal situation and, more importantly, aims and financial situation. Therefore, generalized results are the best reflection of the social picture. The writer is a sociologist and international relation specialist from Kyiv, Ukraine

www.governancetoday.co.in

TOURISM

Un/Incredible India

NCBR Report: 384 cases were under crime against foreign tourists during 2014, constituting 79.0 per cent of total crime against foreigners.

Sagarika Ranjan

he noise from the wheels of her own trolley bag seemed to scare her. The dark alleys she was walking in, however, was better than the taxi drivers’ mob that almost made her freak out. The man whom she was following was not the best among them but probably one of the forced choices. She steps into that quiet hotel where she is given a room that is dirty and shabby; bathroom taps leak and mosquitoes made it impossible for her to sleep. Next morning, she packed her bags to find her incredible India she had seen in the advertisements. However, she decides otherwise. Why? She decided to go back on Day 1 after her checkout bill almost made her feel broke – 50 USD for that “dungeon”? She does not want to be named but wants to be a voice to a number of tourists who have faced similar situations while in their quest for the Incredible India, they see on TV. The tourism department, of late, has come up with glistening advertisements. Bollywood stars and best tourist resorts and hotels all promote Indian states, destinations. This paints a rosy www.governancetoday.co.in

picture of hospitality and diversity of India but the reality speaks this: “There are issues. Ethics, sense of hospitality, helping attitude, welcoming gestures and all the likes are missing. Is it just a few persons’ issue? Certainly not, there are many. A larger chunk try and take advantage of the ignorance of the foreigners,” says a very well placed source in the Tourism Ministry. A closer look into the tourism offices across the country brings out a picture very different from what is being shown in the advertisements. The very infrastructure needed to cater to the promises made by these advertisements is not in shape. Our visitor who decided to return had initially tried to contact tourism department of the country but at 1AM in the night she was directed to IVR that was of no help. The mobile network was not working in the area and there were no paid phone booths to be found anywhere, leaving her with no option but to rely upon private agents who only aim at fleecing every penny making a mockery of the word hospitality and India’s hospitality industry. So where exactly is the fault? Is there not enough money, are there not enough people or are there not enough resources? Sadly, all of these are insufficient and these fleecing agents thrive on the insufficient

rather untapped provisioning of the industry. Sources from the tourism department offices explain that these are terribly understaffed, there is just not sufficient number of people to man the offices, and how can we think of manning these travel counters. These are just set up to follow the protocols. Of course when we have people, they do take care of the desks but that happens rarely. There are a lot of vacant seats at all levels in the tourism ministry. “Most of the staffs in the offices are temps. They have a contract of a few months; some just come to work for a month. How can we expect a system to flourish with people who are here today will be replaced by someone else tomorrow,” said a source from tourism office who has been sitting in the same chair for about two decades. The ratio of permanent staff is very low. Those who are permanent do not have any incentive to perform. The staff explains that there is no incentive to work. “You have decades of experience but no scope for growth. I have been on the same post for last 18 years and no promotions or any other incentivizing has been offered. Sad it is and honestly I do not expect any in the near future.” There is a counter for July 2016 I 73

international tourist counter at the New Delhi railway station to help tourists 24*7, however, the moment tourists de board at the station, hundreds of agents (registered and unregistered) take charge. They do not allow them the space to get to the authorized counter. However, the problem is not with these agents, the problem is with the tourism department. These agents have sufficient men to bring business while the department does not. Less staff is not the only roadblock, though. Development is also hindered as if the tourism ministry wishes to develop a particular area or site; there are almost 10 departments or more that they will have to seek permission from. An officer from the urban development department, on condition of anonymity, explained that if a proposal for any kind of development comes from a different department then it is necessary for that department’s head to have good relations with the approving authority of the department he or she has sent proposal to. If the relations are not cordial, taking consent may take years. Various officers from different departments have agreed to the fact that the departments do not work in tandem. It takes a lot of time to reach consensus. There are decisions where both states and central governments are involved and both coming to consensus is a matter of chance. There are delays, cancellations, reviews, suggestions and thus a lot of inconvenience culminating into unending problems and non-performance of the sector. People come to India following the “amazing” advertisement of Incredible India and return with bitter experiences posing questions to the credibility of the country’s tourism industry. There are these technical problems of staff shortage, coordination and vested interest but what lurks beneath and behind is the big problem – the problem of complacency, self-centric approach and near complete lack of sense of duty among people manning the 74 I July 2016

departments at center and states. “I wanted to buy a couple of bangles and some art jewelry from a store; however, I found the price a little over my expectations so I decided not to buy. This is very strange but you receive disdain from the shopkeeper and some abuses I guess because I did not quite understand what he said but the expressions were enough of communication,” said another tourist who was in India for a month long holiday. One tourist returns with a good holiday, 100s will come but if one returns with a bad holiday, they will advise many more against visiting the country. We are making advertisements but not working on

The other important task at hand is to make the environment congenial for the tourists in terms of security and connectivity. Police, who are supposed to keep agents at bay from a particular area, allow them for a small sum of money. “They let us park at restricted locations for 10, 20 and 50 rupees. You don’t worry madam,” said the driver of an auto I was travelling in. If this is the standard of our police then how can we expect any well organized industry? Policing and discipline are among the most essential requirements of a wellorganized and smooth working set up. Most of the staff, authorized agents and those who directly deal

INCIDENTS OF CRIME COMMITTED AGAINST FOREIGN TOURIST DURING 2014

Source: CFB, Bureau of Immigration

making the infrastructure competent enough to sustain. Security is a major problem and recent reports of rapes, misbehaviors and a number of reports of theft and loot from the foreigners are evidence enough to drive home the point that there is something seriously wrong in how we have developed out tourism industry. There is a need to strengthen the infrastructure at the grassroots level. Rosy and inviting policies and attractive advertisement without a strong set up to cater to the tourists reflect the short-term vision of the ministry for tourism.

with the tourists do not understand the meaning of the word Hospitality. They are always after making some extra money out of the ignorance of the tourists, failing to understand that this one person, if goes with a bad feedback may stop 100s from coming, impacting their long term earnings. Our slogan of Atithi Devo Bhawa is like oil in the industry made up of water. It’s all over when you see from far but the fact is that it’s just a mask that never really sinks! sagarika@governancetoday.co.in

www.governancetoday.co.in

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