Volume3 issue 5 corporate citizen

CRADLE OF LEADERSHIP Matthew Raggett, Headmaster, The Doon School Volume 3, Issue No. 05 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in

Dynamic Duo-52

Ageless love Nana Chudasama, social crusader and former Sheriff of Mumbai and his fashion designer wife Munira

Loved & Married Too

Vinita Raj and Dr A Rajkumar

NHRDN Career Fest 2017 HR professionals on Careers in HR

Tax Man Cometh

S K Jha, former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax on what can be done to make education a potent tool for change

May 16-31, 2017 / `50

Military to Management

Wing Commander (Retd.) Madhavan Narayanan

2 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 67

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68 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

Guest Talk / Narendra Modi

EditorIn-Chief’s Choice

Village wells to Silicon Valley,

Indian Women All the Way...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks on the power of women empowerment and enterprise

Dr (Col) A Balasubramanian

‘Wherever women have achieved economic empowerment, their partnership in decisions too has increased.

In any sector, where women were given proper opportunity, they have surpassed men’ - Modi

A delegation of Indian Merchants’ Chamber’s Ladies’ Wing, presenting the souvenir to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, brought out to mark the 50th anniversary

T

oday, when we speak of economic empowerment and partnership in taking decisions, wherever women have achieved economic empowerment, their partnership in decisions too has increased. In any sector, where women were given proper opportunity, they have surpassed men.

Today, women of the nation are flying fighter planes, travelling in space, winning medals for the country in the Olympics. Indian women have been proving their mettle from Panchayat to Parliament. From village wells to Silicon Valley. This proves that the picture sought to be created that Indian women are only good for domestic chores is a myth. If we consider India’s agriculture sector, dairy sector, nobody can deny that if anybody has made the largest contribution to agriculture and animal husbandry, it is women.

If one visits Adivasi areas and observes the activities of men there, we can understand what situation prevails after evening hours. We never pay attention to how women from Adivasi areas manage their houses, carry out their financial activities, the kind of skills and crafts they possess or how they run cottage industries. The skill the Adivasi women possess is their strength, but we never pay attention to it. I believe an entrepreneur is hidden somewhere deep inside every individual. All that is needed is the right opportunity and guidance.

At several places in the country, money is transferred directly to the bank accounts of women associated with the dairy business. Whenever I meet people engaged in the dairy business, I insist that it is better if there are separate bank accounts for women and they deposit the money in the bank accounts of the women who come to deliver milk instead of paying in cash. Consider this: when money is deposited in the bank account of an economically challenged village woman, who rears a cow or a buffalo, she gets empowered. Her voice is noticed in the entire household, she is listened to. Until that happens, all her labour is in vain. Such seemingly small changes give a new strength.

The IMC has the right to one more glory. And that glory is that Mahatma Gandhi himself was a member of the IMC. People who have read about Gandhiji may have noticed that this name I am about to mention is not talked about much. Today I insist you go to Google guru and research on the name, Ganga Baa. Probably, very few people know about Ganga Baa. Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from Africa and his public life started at Sabarmati Ashram. This happened 100 years ago. I learnt that a woman named Ganga Baa, from the same village, who was widowed at an early age, fought against social traditions and started studying again. She had become a widow at a very early age, may be at the age of 8-10 May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 3

Guest Talk ‘The life of the common man changes when these are implemented, when the systems reach out to the last person down the line, and the identity of this government is that it conceptualises schemes, prepares the road map and implements them with constant monitoring to ensure that they are comprehensive…’

years. And Mahatma Gandhi would say Ganga Baa was extremely courageous. When Gandhiji came to know about her, Gandhiji went to meet her at Sabarmati Ashram. When Gandhiji met Ganga Baa, Ganga Baa gave him a gift. The spindle that can be seen every moment with Gandhiji had been gifted to him by Ganga Baa. She had inspired Gandhiji on the subject of women’s empowerment through that spindle. Now an award named after Ganga Baa is being given for women’s empowerment. A book has also been written on her life and work. What I want to stress is that 100 years ago, a woman had so much courage and strength that she could see eye to eye with Gandhiji and speak openly with him about women’s empowerment. Such is the strength of women of our country.

Our society has not merely lakhs, but crores of such Ganga Baas. All we need to do is to give them the strength and empower them. In modern times, India can progress only by strengthening and empowering women in the country.

Keeping this in mind, the government is taking progressive decisions. Where it is needed, laws are being changed.

Where new rules are required, new rules are being made.

Recently, the Maternity Act was amended and the duration of maternity leave was increased from 12 weeks to 26 weeks directly! Even developed nations do not have such rules as of now.

States have been advised to amend the Factories Act too to provide facilities to enable women to work in night shifts. The Disability Act too has been amended to provide for women who are victims of acid attacks, the same assistance, and the same reservation that physically challenged people get.

Besides, the work of networking of an entire police station for the safety and security of women in response to calls made by hitting a mobile phone panic button has also been completed successfully. Now women can use the Universal Helpline number, 181.

Another important decision taken by the government is that women will have the first right to benefits where families get benefits from government schemes. For example, under the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana, priority is given to register the house in the name of the woman. We are well aware, ask any woman, even today, such is the condition in our society, that the house is in the name of the husband or son, the vehicle is also in the name of the husband or son, even the purchase of a scooter is in the name of the husband or son. Wealth can be in the name of women too with some amicability. It needs some encouragement, changing some rules, making some systems focussed on women.

It is yielding results too. Even the rules for grant of pass-

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ports have undergone a major and important change. Now women need not submit their marriage or divorce certificate. A woman can write her father or mother’s name on her passport, as she wishes. The government’s attempt at every step, every ladder, is to ensure that women come forward on their own for employment and self-employment.

Several of you, sitting here, are mothers and sisters.

You can imagine when a mother cooks food using a chulha with firewood as fuel she inhales smoke equal to 400 cigarettes every day. What must be happening when there are children playing at home? What would be her physical condition? Understanding that pain and suffering, I launched a campaign to free these mothers and sisters from the smoke of the chulhas. Now 11 months have gone by and I have resolved that in the coming two years, five crore families who are the poorest of the 25,000 crore families in India will be freed from this smoke. This work is being done under the Pradhan Mantri Ujwala Yojana.

The scheme is one aspect, and laws and rules are the other aspect. The life of the common man changes when these are implemented, when the systems reach out to the last person down the line, and the identity of this government is that it conceptualises schemes, prepares the road map and implements them with constant monitoring to ensure that they are comprehensive…

Friends, today more than 65 per cent of the country’s population is below the age of 35 years. These people have their own dream. They want to achieve something. The government is making efforts at every level to ensure they can fulfil their dreams, use their energy in the right manner. But the whole-hearted contribution of organisations and agencies like yours is needed for that.

I would appeal, rather I would specially urge the dignitaries of IMC sitting here, that when the country celebrates 75 years of independence in 2022-five years away from today-each one of us, every individual, every family, every organisation, every social system, every village and city, can set a target for ourselves as to what we would do as individuals for the society, what we as organisations would do for the country and the society.

I appeal to you people that wherever we go, whomsoever we meet, we should discuss plans for 2022, the completion of 75 years of independence. Prior to independence, under the leadership of Gandhiji, every activity would be done keeping independence in mind. People kept themselves linked to the cause of independence. If someone launched a cleanliness campaign, it was for independence. If someone wove khadi, it was for independence. Several people became teachers and taught for independence. If someone insisted on using Swadeshi goods, that too was for independence.

Not that everybody went to jail, not that everybody hanged on the gallows but everybody did something, whatever they could, for independence. Can we celebrate 75 years of independence in 2022 with our own contributions? Today my appeal to everybody is, let each one of us resolve something for 2022, and walk a few steps to do our bit for the country and the society. This is what I expect from you.

How can women entrepreneurs, who are making products on a small or large scale in various parts of the state, be taken to a larger platform where they can find markets at

national and international level? How can they be made to set up their own market place? A campaign can be launched to spread awareness among them in this regard. Some target can be fixed for 2022 and 500 or 100 camps can be organised to achieve it. It can be a small experiment. I would like to suggest that catalytic agent organisations like yours, corporate houses manufacturing various products, and women’s self-help groups come together. Corporate houses should give the work of skill development to the women self-help groups, provide them raw material and get the type of products they need manufactured from them. Corporate houses should attach these products with their main products and market them. Be rest assured, it will turn into a huge ecosystem where the poorest of the poor will get employment without the government’s involvement, with minimum expenditure. We can work in this direction.

Today, India is a force, which can send hardworking and skilled workers all over the world. Will your organisation be able to develop an online platform where our youth will come to know which country in the world demands what type of skill at a given time?

The government is implementing a national entrepreneurship promotion scheme, under which the government intends to sponsor 50 lakh youths. Will your organisation launch a campaign to spread awareness about the scheme among companies so that the maximum number of youth and women can find employment opportunities? The government is also entering into agreement with private sector to provide jobs to youth getting skill development training. You should be thinking how your organisation can help to ensure that the maximum number of companies get involved in this campaign.

Will your organisation be able to contribute to strengthen state level bankers’ committees? Similarly, will representatives of your organisation be able to contribute at the training institutes of banks? Every member of the Ladies’ Wing of the IMC has a deep understanding of the nitty-gritty of business. To discuss money, business, trade is in their blood.

They know well what problems are faced while starting one’s own business. They have their own experience of facing such problems and overcoming them. They can inspire and guide new people to work in this direction.

Therefore, I hope that you, through your organisation, would be able to reach out to the common man in the society who cannot mix up with you people otherwise, and give them new strength.

On GST: Can we organise small study camps for entre-

preneurs, especially women entrepreneurs, with respect to the GST while there is still time? I am confident that if we can explain to them how to use technology, how to make GST seamless, what is the new tax system, how it is going to help the common man, the GST, which was being demanded for the last several years and which is coming now, will become successful. Contribution from you is necessary to make GST a success.

And changing our understanding of democracy is also needed. Mostly people believe the country becomes democratic if they go once in five years, press a button and get a black spot on the finger. That is not so. Democracy is an ever-continuing process of partnership. Democracy cannot

become successful without partnership of every individual at every level. The government is not a contractor to whom we have given the contract of changing our future every five years. A strong partnership between the government and the public changes the future of the country, its economy and works to fulfil the aspirations of the new generation of the country.

In this 21st century, the problems, the environment in the world has changed. Come! Let us come together and work to fulfil our aspiration of a New India. We must have our own resolve, a road map to contribute for the New India.

Today, I have made some suggestions to you. Probably, you would have better options of your own. My appeal to you is to make attempt with all might to achieve your resolutions.

A New India is the dream seen by 125 crore people of the country. The 125 crore Indians will have to come together to find out ways and work together to bring it into reality.

With this, I conclude.

Thanks!

Narendra Modi (Excerpts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech given recently, at the 50th year celebrations of Indian Merchants’ Chamber (IMC), Ladies’ Wing, in Mumbai via Video Conference. The Ladies’ Wing of the IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry-a premier business and professional women’s organisation with over 2200 members)

‘Democracy cannot become successful without partnership of every individual at every level.

The government is not a contractor to whom we have given the contract of changing our future every five years. A strong partnership between the government and the public changes the future of the country, the economy of the country and works to fulfil the aspirations of the new generation of the country’

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 5

Contents 24

Cover story

Dynamic Duo 52

Ageless love Corporate Citizen brings the inspirational story of social crusader and former Sheriff of Mumbai, Nana Chudasama and fashion designer Munira who were ahead of their times in terms of their inter-religious marriage and continue to inspire through their philanthropic work and family values

09 COLLYWOOD

Chatpata Chatter from the Corporate World 13 MANAGE MONEY

Dr Anil Lamba shows the brighter side of taxation and why Indian taxpayers have no reasons to complain 14 WAX ELOQUENT Who said what and why...

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Volume 3 Issue No. 05 May 16-31, 2017 www.corporatecitizen.in

16 THE TAX MAN COMETH S K Jha, former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax on what can be done to make education a potent tool for change 18 Military to Management Former Wing Commander Madhavan Narayanan, now Director, HR & Admin of Toonz Animation, India on human resource management in the Air Force and the corporate sector

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14

30 NHRDN Career Fest 2017 Santanu Banerjee, Head HR, Aditya Birla Health Insurance and Hirak Bhattacharjee, Head - Sales HR and Legal, Birla Sun Life Insurance on Careers in HR 36 Cradle of Leadership Matthew Raggett, Headmaster of The Doon School, Dehradun on what it means to be the head of India’s renowned boarding school, which keeps up with the changing times

36 30

44 CAMPUS PLACEMENT Mahima Chawla on how a positive, attitude helped her turn setbacks into stepping stones to success 46 LOVED AND MARRIED TOO Entrepreneur Vinita Raj and her husband Dr A Rajkumar on how their distance marriage has made the heart grow fonder

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49 Corporate Trends Work smart using time and efforts in the right way to get results 50 SURVEY ‘World in 2050’ Survey of PricewaterhouseCoopers on what would be the economic landscape of the world in 2050

49

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contents

54 Editor-In-Chief Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian Consulting Editor Vinita Deshmukh Assistant Editor Prasannakumar Keskar Senior Business Writer Rajesh Rao Senior Sub-Editor Neeraj Varty Sub-Editor Vineet Kapshikar

54 health Jashoda Madhavji, Founder Dream N Hustle Media (DNH Media) feels Fitness is a passion and a confidence builder

Writers Delhi Bureau Pradeep Mathur / Sharmila Chand Bengaluru Bureau Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar

56 PEARLS OF WISDOM Sadhguru on how to make marriage work

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58 BOLLYWOOD BIZ Corporate Citizen brings you the best ghost films you must watch 60 mobile apps Best Apps for free ebooks 66 LAST WORD Digital India is not just a toy for the rich and the information savvy but will be truly transformational only if every Indian uses digital power and sees the benefits - by Dr Ganesh Natarajan

Pune Bureau Joe Williams / Suchismita Pai / Kalyani Sardesai / Namrata Gulati Sapra Manager Circulation Mansha Viradia +91 9765387072 North : Hemant Gupta +91 9582210930 South : Asaithambi G +91 9941555389 Circulation Officer Jaywant Patil +91 9923202560 Creative Direction Kiyan Gupta, www.thepurplestroke.com

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Be A Corporate Citizen

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

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

We would love to hear from you!

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Graphic Designer Shantanu Relekar On Cover Page Munira and Nana Chudasama Photographer Yusuf Khan Website / Online Subscription www.corporatecitizen.in For Advertising, Marketing & Subscription queries Email: circulations@corporatecitizen.in (Corporate Citizen does not accept responsibility for returning unsolicited manuscripts and photographs. All unsolicited material should be accompanied by self-addressed envelopes and sufficient postage) Tel. (020) 69000677 / 69000672

collywood

People in the news Jhawar forced out of Usha Martin

Serum Institute to be world’s largest IPV maker Pune-based vaccine major Serum Institute of India (SII), which has acquired a Czech Republic-based vaccine plant, is expected to become world’s largest Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) maker with over 200 million doses by 2020. The total world demand for IPV is 250-300 million doses per year. “The plant we acquired in Holland in 2012 gave us a capacity of 30 million doses. Now, the Czech Republic plant will have a capacity of 160 million doses. In 2020, when the vaccine comes out at this newly acquired facility in the Czech Republic, Serum Group will become the largest manufacturer of IPV in the world,” Adar Poonawalla, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Executive Director of SII recently told the media. As a part of World Health Organisation’s Polio Endgame Strategy, a total of 120 countries across the world including India have replaced trivalent oral polio vaccine and switched over to bivalent oral polio vaccine along with IPV. This has led to a severe crunch of IPV vaccines across the world. Since most manufacturers have pledged their available stock with the government, the shortage of the vaccine has been more acute in private healthcare. The newly acquired plant is a large campus, spanning over 35 acres, at Bohumil in the outskirts of Prague city.

Wipro extends Premji’s association Wipro board has reappointed Azim Premji as Chairman and Managing Director for two years effective from July 31. However, this would be subject to shareholder approval. Premji, who will turn 72 in July, has been with Wipro since the late 1960s, and at its helm has turned a $2-million hydrogenated cooking fat company into an Indian IT powerhouse with nearly $8 billion in revenue. Vivek Wadhwa, distinguished fellow at Carnegie Mellon University at Silicon Valley described Azim Premji as a brilliant visionary who understood the customer and business needs. Stating that Premji has been the pillar of the firm, Wadhwa said that he has met all the challenges they faced with authority.

Former SEBI chief G N Bajpai has taken over as Chairman of Kolkata-based Usha Martin after Prashant Jhawar’s ouster following a boardroom battle. Main promoters of the wire rope and speciality steel manufacturing firm took this action with the support of the lenders, according to sources in the firm. However, in a statement, Jhawar termed his removal as improper.

Incidentally, Prashant is the son of the founder, Basant Kumar (BK), as he was fondly addressed. The meeting was convened by SBI nominee R Venkatachalam. The two main points on the agenda proposed by the SBI nominee were: removal of the Chairman and appointment of a replacement. According to sources, the banks wanted the promoters led by Prashant Jhawar to pledge more shares to secure the loans. SBI has an exposure of `900 crore in corporate debt and `290 crore as term loan. Lenders have been pressing the promoters to pledge their equity against its debt because they were concerned over the losses incurred by the company. There are allegations that despite repeated reminders from SBI and other banks, Prashant has not pledged his 13% stake to banks. However, Prashant contradicted the statement saying that he had pledged his 13% stake with the SBI mid-last year.

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 9

collywood IIM Trichy gets new Director Where would Apple, IBM, Cisco be had they not sourced talent?

Bhimaraya Metri takes charge as the new Director of IIM Trichy, replacing Prafulla Agnihotri, founding director and also custodian of the institute for the last six years.

An academician, Metri has been the Dean of L&T Institute of Project Management, Vadodara, Professor and Dean at MDI Gurgaon, IMI, New Delhi and professor in-charge of PhD programmes at BITS, Pilani. Maharashtrian, Metri did his BE from the Govt. College of Engineering, Karad, his Masters in Engineering from Shivaji University, Kolhapur, and PhD from IIT Powai, Mumbai. Metri is a member of the Decision Sciences Institute (DSI), USA and the Institute of Supply Management (ISM), USA. He was on the Board of Directors of DSI and is the first Indian to be elected Vice President (Asia Pacific Division), Decision Sciences Institute (DSI), Texas, USA.

American giants like Apple, Cisco and IBM have been questioned on their standing if they had not sourced the best. This was sounded by Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel while cautioning against protectionism. “I don’t think we have heard the last word on US policy talk about this because there is a push back internationally that the world has benefited from an open trading system,” he said in response to a question on the rise of protectionist tendencies in major world economies after he delivered the Third Kotak Family Distinguished Lecture, sponsored by the Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies at the Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Patel said calls for protectionism in the US were on account of equity and domestic distribution issues, which “textbook economics tells us should be addressed through domestic fiscal policy”.

He noted that using trade instruments for protectionism may take a nation on a trajectory different from that of growth. US President Donald Trump has called for restricting H1-B visas for professionals to higher-level technical positions paying higher wages and bringing back manufacturing to the US. Chief Economic Adviser, Arvind Subramanian said Trump administration’s stance on H1-B visa would be a cause for worry as a majority of Indian exports in the services sector go to the US. “Something like 50 to 60 per cent of all our exports of services goes to the US. So it would worry us quite a bit,” he said.

Golden Peacock for Jindal Stainless Ltd Jindal Stainless Limited emerged as the best innovators in training practices in the steel sector, and went on to bag the prestigious Golden Peacock National Training award for the year 2017.

The country’s largest integrated steel manufacturers, Jindal, were adjudged as the best in this field

by His Excellency Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, Hon’ble Cabinet Member and Minister of Economy, Govt. of UAE, in a function held in Dubai recently.

This award was instituted by the

10 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

Institute Of Directors in 1998, to identify excellence in training practices at organisations. Jindal

Stainless limited emerged the best among other companies of the likes of Maruti Suzuki India Pvt Ltd, Accenture Solutions, Bosch Limited, State Bank of India, Aditya Birla Financial Services Group, Nestle India, Oil India Limited, Reliance Industries, VFS Global, and L&T Construction Skills Training Institute.

Instituted by the Institute of Directors (IOD) in 1991, Golden Peacock Awards are regarded as a benchmark of Corporate Excellence worldwide.

Baseline signs up billiards champion Pankaj Advani The world billiards and snooker champion, Pankaj Advani, signed a multiple year representation agreement with the sports marketing and brand licensing firm, Baseline Ventures, which also manages Indian badminton stars PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and cricketer Ravindra Jadeja. The 31-year-old champion Advani has the highest number of world championship gold medals won by any Indian athlete ever. He is the only player in the world to win world titles in all formats of both billiards and snooker. Commenting on the deal, Tuhin Mishra, MD at Baseline Ventures said, “We are excited to have Pankaj come on board with Baseline Ventures and show faith in our firm’s ability to manage his commercial interests. He is truly a world champion and a gentleman, the two ingredients which brands always want to be associated with, and is surely one of the greatest athletes of our nation. We look forward to a long and fruitful association.”

Kamark onboards Etihad as CEO

Robin Kamark will be the new Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Airline Equity Partners, taking charge from Bruno Matheu, who is quitting for personal reasons. Kamark, who moves to Etihad from Norwegian financial services firm Storebrand, will lead and develop the Group’s minority equity investment strategy including stakes in airberlin, Alitalia, Jet Airways, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Etihad Regional and Virgin Australia.

Kamark who will report to group president and CEO James Hogan, will take up his new position in October 2017.

Jacqueline opts for juicy stuff Many Bollywood stars have found avenues other than those associated with their known talents to make it in the corporate world. Jacqueline Fernandez has found Rakyan Beverages, the makers of juices under the Raw Pressery brand, to invest in this juicy product.

In the process, she becomes the country’s first celebrity to partfinance a consumer products firm. This trend of funding by celebrities by investing in brands is on the increase, and not just by endorsing them. Singer Madonna funded coconut water brand Vita Coco, rapper 50 Cent had minority stake in Glaceau vitamin water, while Beyonce invested last year in watermelonwater startup WTRMLN WTR. Jacqueline, with over 13 million followers just on Instagram, is not an ambassador but an evangelist

who can have an impact on the top line, many experts believe.

Rakyan runs in-house logistics and manufacturing units that help control cost and quality.

Unlike packed juices that have shelf lives of up to six months, Rakyan products have limited shelf life and need chillers in their supply chain. Globally, shifting consumer tastes are prompting global beverage giants to find ways to diversify away from traditional soda and high-calorie juices. Two years ago, CocaCola Co acquired a minority stake in Suja Life, an organic, cold-pressed juices brand, while PepsiCo bought Naked Juice Co more than a decade ago. In India too, the demand for healthier drinks is increasing faster in urban centres, with consumers switching to fruit-based beverages.

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 11

collywood Roshni Wadhwa, L’Oréal’s HR Director, India L’Oréal India has appointed Roshni Wadhwa, previously Human Resources Director for L’Oréal Singapore, as its HR Director, India.

She replaces Mohit James who has been assigned to a global role. Mohit James had a six year stint as the HR Director for L’Oréal India. He has been moved up as South Asia HR Director for L’Oréal and APAC HRD for L’Oréal’s Professional Products and Active Cosmetics Divisions.

James was picked up from the Indian talent pool of L’Oréal. He has over 23 years of HR experience in Consumer, Manufacturing and IT organisations. Under his leadership, L’Oréal India took several initiatives such as the Management Trainee programme, Employer Branding, Rewards Competitiveness, Gender Diversity Inclusion and Recognition programme. Wadhwa has 19 years of experience in the fields of business HR partnering and organisational development in companies such as Novartis and Pantaloon Retail.

She joined L’Oréal India in July 2013 as General Manager–HR for Consumer Products Division (CPD).

In 2015, she moved to Singapore as Human Resources Director for the country. Talking about the new appointments, Jean-Christophe Letellier, Managing Director, L’Oréal India said, “Mohit has played a key part in establishing leadership teams, hiring of talent, and building a learning, performing and open culture. We are sure he will continue to lead L’Oréal in the APAC region well. We are also delighted that Roshni who has played an instrumental role at L’Oréal in building the proximity of HR with the business, will continue doing great work in developing the ever evolving HR function.” Her appointment takes the number of women on the leadership team of company to 33%.

New Director, HR for Metro Cash & Carry Udiay Khanna, who was Vice President and Head, HR, Samsung Electronics, has moved to Metro Cash & Curry as Director, HR. This is the second stint of Khanna, a XLRI alumni, in retail. Arvind Mediratta, CEO and Managing Director, Metro India, said in an official communiqué, “We are poised for continuous expansion in the coming years. This growth will be fuelled by motivated employees working in a culture of excellence. Khanna has been on-boarded with the vision to strengthen two most vital pillars of our organisation-people and culture.” Prior to Sam12 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

sung, Khanna worked with Bharti-Walmart Joint Venture and then, post the JV, with Walmart India as Vice President, HR Operations and Talent Acquisition. Before joining Bharti-Walmart, he spent 11 years at GE Healthcare, marking growth path from Operations Manager to Vice-President and HR Leader for ITS (Information Technology and Software Business for Genpact). Metro Cash & Carry has over 750 self-service wholesale stores in 25 countries and 100,000 plus employees worldwide. It had achieved sales of around €29 billion in the fiscal 2015-16.

Sushma Rana maiden CHRO of The Smart Cube The Smart Cube has appointed Sushma Rana as its first Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), with a remit to lead the global HR strategy to support the company’s existing client business and its ambitious growth plans.

Sushma brings two decades of leadership experience in human resources and talent management to this role for this award-winning global analytics company. Sushma has spent 11 years with MSL GROUP-part of Publicis Groupe, the world’s third largest communications company-most recently as HR and Talent Director, and a member of the Executive Team. Sushma holds a B Tech degree in Electronics & Communications from the National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur and Masters in Human Resource Development from the Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, Pune.

Compiled by Joe Williams joe78662@gmail.com

manage money Dr Anil Lamba

The brighter side of taxation

I

The highest marginal tax rate, which in the 1960s was a ridiculous 98 per cent, and even at the start of the liberalisation process in 1991 was 60 and 55 per cent respectively for corporate and personal taxpayers, has reduced to 30 per cent. Today, taxpayers in India don't have any reasons to complain

n one of the previous issues, I had painted a very bleak picture of the tax situation and illustrated how just a minuscule percentage of the population pays taxes.

Let me now show you the brighter side of the picture.

Let’s take the case of income tax alone. I receive income and I pay tax on it. What do I do with this money? I have needs. Let’s say I am a salaried person and I have been waiting to receive my salary so that I can purchase a shirt for myself. I receive my salary, pay income tax, and then go and spend this money on a shirt. This money goes from my pocket to the pocket of the shirt seller. It becomes the shirt seller’s income.

March, it becomes part of my wealth on which I must pay wealth tax.

And having paid income tax and wealth tax, a little later, in one of my generous moods, if I gift the item to somebody, I was supposed to pay gift tax. And a little later, if I happen to die, somebody on my behalf was supposed to pay estate duty on the wealth that I leave behind.

Mercifully, in India, many years back, estate duty was abolished.

Subsequently, donor-based gift tax also got abolished (and a milder version in the form of donee-based income tax on gifts received in certain circumstances was later introduced). Wealth tax provisions were diluted to such an extent that a far smaller percentage than before are now liable to pay it. The formula to calculate long-term capital gains was tweaked, to introduce the concept of cost inflation index, that

She pays tax on it. Maybe, she has been wanting to buy a pair of shoes.

When she spends this money, it becomes the shoe seller’s income. The shoe seller pays tax on it. Do you realise each time a rupee merely changes hands, it becomes somebody’s income and the government gets a share of it?

It has been estimated that out of every rupee that is made, more than 97 paise goes back to the government by way of income tax alone.

(Once I was thinking aloud, why only 97 paise? Why not five rupees?

And someone pointed out, that is probably because, by the time 97 paise get collected, the rupee must be getting worn out and discarded).

And this is income tax alone. I earn a rupee; I pay income tax. If I use that money to purchase an asset, and if I still own that asset on 31st

substantially reduced the tax on capital gains and the tax rates on longterm capital gains were also reduced. The highest marginal tax rate, which in the 1960s was a ridiculous 98 per cent, and even at the start of the liberalisation process in 1991 was 60 and 55 per cent respectively for corporate and personal taxpayers, has reduced to 30 per cent.

Today, taxpayers in India don't have any reasons to complain. (to be continued) Dr Anil Lamba is a practicing chartered accountant, financial literacy activist and an international corporate trainer. He is the author of the bestselling book ‘Romancing the Balance Sheet’. He can be contacted at anil@lamconschool.com May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 13

wax eloquent

New ways of Transforming

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

Market is truly determinant for success

“Today’s entrepreneurs would have to be much more nimble, global and competitive because market is truly determinant for success today, unlike our time when managing government was a big determinant in India.”

NR Narayana Murthy, founder, Infosys

Courtesy: http://www.hindustantimes.com

“Change management is a completely new way of transforming your business and servicing your customers. This requires holistic, comprehensive change management, which has to happen in all levels in any organisation for the digital transformation to be successful. The second part is outsider thinking—you have to have focus on user experience—you can have the greatest technologies and the finest innovation but if it’s not easy to find, easy to choose, easy to use and easy to support, it won’t yield results.”

VC Gopalratnam, president - strategy, planning and operations, CISCO India Courtesy: www.financialexpress.com

Three needs for ‘Ease of doing business’ “I am also heading up a task force for ‘Ease of doing business’ for CII. We are asking government just three things. One, make it easy for us to start our business.

Two, make it easy to run our business, and finally, if in case things go wrong, make it easy for shutting down the business.”

Sunil Kant Munjal, chairman, Hero Corporate Service and chairman, Hero Mindmine Institute Courtesy: http://www.dnaindia.com

HR is a partner, not the police

“We define culture as the stories we tell, the people we see as heroes. Wherever possible, we give the 4 Ts—the freedom to choose your Team, Task, Time, and Technique. So people are empowered to do their own job. We make sure that HR is a partner, not the police.”

Sanjay Sethi, CEO,

ShopClues

Courtesy: https://yourstory.com

14 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

What we are looking forward “As far the beverage industry is concerned, what we are looking forward to from the government is a taxation policy and GST which makes it a level-playing field based on the content of the product. So the higher the sugar content, the higher the tax rate and the lower the sugar content, lower the tax rate.”

Venkatesh Kini, president of India and South West Asia, Coca-Cola Courtesy: http://www.livemint.com

Taking risks is stupidity “It is one of the common misnomers about entrepreneurs that entrepreneurs are risk takers. I would say they take calculated risks. Taking risks is stupidity; there is a big difference between the two.”

Vikas Shah, British Indian entrepreneur, MD and CEO, Swiscot Group

Courtesy: http://indiagbnews.com

Why are Bollywood stars so apolitical?

“As actors, your political beliefs and agenda should not be bigger than the story you’re telling. Its best artists remain apolitical. When you go in the theatre, you want to see them as the character they portray on screen. You don’t want to see a political ideology being sold to you.”

Vidya Balan, actor

Courtesy: http://www.huffingtonpost.in

People are our biggest opportunity and challenge

“We believe in inorganic as well as organic growth. On the organic front, if there is something and it makes sense, if there is good marriage between the two, then why not? I will go for it. But it has to make sense, it has to have a clear synergy, it has to do something.”

Neeraj Kanwar, vice chairman, Apollo Tyres Courtesy: Economic Times

Maximum corporate governance

Impressed by Mr Modi “I am more impressed by Mr Modi as a politician than as someone who is executing reforms—yes, GST was extraordinary. But your prime minister is a great politician; he is travelling around the world and making friends everywhere. As a politician, Mr Modi is one of the most successful and exceptional of this generation—no question about that.

No surprise that he has picked up all states in the recent elections. Seventy years since independence, he is cleaning up the gigantic mess with moves like GST, which no one else has been able to do so far.”

“It is important for India Inc, in the current milieu, to run businesses on highest ethics and maximum corporate governance.”

Harsh Goenka,

chairman, RPG Enterprises Courtesy: Economic Times

Jim Rogers, Commodities trading guru and hedge fund manager Courtesy: http://www.livemint.com

Purchase psychology “Being Indians, our purchase psychology is so deep rooted into this sense of touch and feel that bricks and mortar cannot be done away with. In the immediate future, I definitely see e-commerce and bricks and mortar coexisting.”

TV is Diwali

“I’ll always do TV with full respect. TV is Diwali—it is your family face, it’s where you will dress up traditionally, you will sit with the family and enjoy the same rituals. But that doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy your house party where you can be yourself and enjoy intimate conversations at a coffee shop.”

Ekta Kapoor, creative

director and joint managing director, Balaji Telefilms

Courtesy: http://www.business-standard.com

Shashwat Goenka, sector head, Spencer’s Retail Ltd Courtesy: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Ambitious but not competitive “I am ambitious but I am not competitive. When you are competitive, you lose perspective. I have set certain goals for myself. I like to keep my cards close to the chest.”

Arjun Kapoor, actor

Courtesy: Pune Mirror

When things go wrong “Everyone expects you to score, including me. That’s when it’s very important to stay calm, talk to people who are positive. You must not drift away from the basics. When things go wrong, don’t do anything extra.

You just have to be patient during those testing times and work harder.”

Sunil Chhetri, footballer

Courtesy: https://www.sportskeeda.com

Machines replacing humans is a faraway thought

“All of us can execute tasks, understand variations in language and are able to learn by example. We have an intuition and are able to explain why we behave a certain way.

We’re able to engage with colleagues and friends. The truth is that machines can’t do any of these tasks very well today. So machines replacing humans is a faraway thought.”

Rohan Murty, founder, Murty Classical Library of India Courtesy: http://economictimes. indiatimes.com

Compiled by Rajesh Rao rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 15

The Tax Man Cometh-33

What Ails Our Education System?

by S K Jha

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

The education sector is beset with a number of problems, rendering a potentially powerful tool for change and development, frittered and impotent. What can we do to make it the potent weapon it can be?

Unlike the regular tax desk which is manned by a tax officer whose job is to levy tax on you, this desk is manned by a non-serving tax officer who wishes to share his experience of 35 years in the tax department, while, discussing tax provisions.

It is advantageous to know how the tax department thinks and acts when, as said by Benjamin Franklin, “In this world nothing is certain except death and taxes”

E “

ducation is the most powerful weapon, which you can use to change the world,” said Nelson Mandela. Education is the passport to the future, as tomorrow belongs to those, who prepare for it today. If we intend to transform our country into a superpower, we have to give utmost importance to education sector. As Benjamin Franklin said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

In this context, first we have to examine the status of education today. Today, the literacy rate, is 74.4% against 12% at the time of independence. We have improved, but much is still needed. The 2015 UNESCO Report says, in terms of absolute numbers, India, with its 28.8 crore illiterates, had the largest number of adults without basic literacy skills. Keeping statistics aside, even the quality of our education is far from what is desired. We are nowhere in the world in terms of the top 100 colleges/universities.

The recent Bihar Board class XII topper scam is an illustration of the malaise, which our education system suffers. The topper girl said, “I told papa just to get me passed but they made me the topper.” Cheating in exams at high school is common in many parts of our country.

Unemployable graduates

Many surveys show only about 7% of engineering and management graduates are employable and suitable for available jobs. On a wider and softer test, only 40.4% graduates were found employable. Probably, this is why many graduates, postgraduates and professional degree holders apply for jobs likes peons in government offices.

The rot in our education system is a serious issue and one of the main reasons for the big16 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

gest problem of unemployment. India will need to generate 280 million jobs by 2050, when the working age population (15 to 64) will peak, according to a report. Otherwise, the demographic dividend of being a young country could be at the cusp of disaster. The report says, in the 22 years of unprecedented economic growth (19912013), less than half of Indians got the jobs they sought (140 million out of 300 million). It is also true that India is a country with great potential, as 65% of its population in the working age group is young, but to gain from this demographic dividend we have to channelize youths into an employable workforce by providing proper education and skill. Both the central and state governments have to play their roles to strengthen our educational system, as education falls in the concurrent list. For a country of our size, the task is challenging. Our big problem is lack of resources. The outlay of the central government for the current year’s budget is 3.7% of GDP. It has fallen, as after implementation of the report of the 14th Finance Commission, 42% of the income of the central government is passed on to the states, as against 32% in the past. The outlay on education by both the centre and states is much less than the requirement. Funds are needed to create infrastructure for quality education.

As the government does not have adequate funds, private sector, public charitable trusts and NGOs have come forward with the much needed support. The Income Tax Act gives incentives to non-profit organisations and public charitable trusts engaged in education. Their income does not attract Income Tax under Section 11 and 10 (23c) of the Act. Education is considered by definition under the ‘charitable purpose’ for Income Tax to encourage philanthropists to invest in this sector through tax incentives to donors.

Quality of teaching

The other big problem is the lack of good teachers, both in schools and colleges. It is unfortunate that intelligent and qualified people have no interest in teaching-they prefer lucrative careers or careers with power. People often choose to become teachers not out of interest, but because they fail to get jobs in other sec-

tors. Such persons have no passion for teaching and just spend time to get their salary. In villages, the situation is worse as teachers remain absent from schools, carrying out their personal work or farming. Regulatory control is minimal. In many cases, recruitment of teachers in government schools in villages is done on basis of considerations other than merit like bribe, nepotism and political consideration. In one state, the ex-chief minister is in jail in a massive teacher recruitment scam, but many such activities go untraced and unpunished.

The government should facilitate such activity. We do not have spare funds, so FDI in education should be promoted. This will help us save foreign exchange spent on students going abroad. Until big names like Harvard or MIT open their branches here, there can be virtual classrooms It is said in the case of the computer, ‘garbage in, garbage out.’ Same analogy may apply to teaching and students. If teachers are not competent enough to feed young minds with intelligent stuff, we cannot expect much from the students.

Ultimate result is our students are not employable and they go on adding to the crowd of unemployed youth. History shows rich and developed countries became so after scientific revolutions leading to inventions. This needs out-of-the-box thinking and innovations by students. “Education is not learning of facts, but training of minds to think,” said Einstein. Our teachers have failed to ignite our young minds and so our country, with its immense demographic potential, has failed to become a developed country. Our young

engineering students feel satisfied getting a job in a company like Microsoft, but they do not acquire the skills, nor do they have the desire to become someone like Bill Gates. We have to blame the education system and absence of good teachers for this, instead of blaming only the students.

Children should be taught how to think rather than what to think. Mugging and spouting in the exams should never be encouraged.

complete makeover of our educational system.

As John Davey said, “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.�

True emphasis

Our educational system was never like this in the past. India was considered the land of gold, and was known for some of the greatest universities in the world till about a thousand years ago.

We had universities like Nalanda, Taxila and Vikramshila, which attracted students from all over the world. Nalanda alone had 10,000 students, who came from all over. Foreign invaders, who came to loot and plunder, and strip the country of its wealth also burnt the universities and books to destroy our source of learning and awakening. They knew that our country, with its vast knowledge, could re-create its wealth in short time, and therefore destroyed learning systems and universities.

While planning for change in the education system, certain things should be kept in mind.

Education should promote character building.

We must give lessons on values, at least till high school. The objective should be to produce educated good citizens and not just graduates. Students should be taught about our rich cultural heritage. Secondly, emphasis should not be on making students mere bookworms. They should be exposed to sports and health activities like yoga and meditation. Thirdly, students should be tested for their aptitude and interest at the school level and then enrolled for higher education accordingly. If a student has the ability to become a painter, he should not be forced to become an engineer.

It is something like land: the soil of a particular nature can give better yield for a particular crop.

Fourthly, higher education should be offered only to deserving students, while there should be parallel skill building education available, linked with the needs of the industry. Fifthly, the government

After many attacks by invaders, we were down but still not out, as our ancestors tried hard to keep the learning process based on the ancient model intact for posterity. But arrival of the British and the Macaulay system of education proved to be the final nail in the coffin. The Macaulay system envisaged producing clerks and babus as low cost labour to do their administration of this big country. This killed the thinkers in us and we were kept satisfied as petty salary earning clerks, helping the sahibs ruling us. This British legacy system of education has continued into our present time. We continue producing mediocre talent with small exceptions. We dream of a new India, but how can we achieve it with the mediocre? We have to first think of making

should lay emphasis on affordable, quality education and monitoring of school dropouts. Lastly, female education should be promoted.

We are lacking world-class institutions and so many of our bright students go to other countries for higher education. Our students do exceptionally well in foreign countries and are taken for immediate employment by blue chip companies in the USA and Europe. Based on this, many leading foreign universities like to invest in India and start branches here. The government should facilitate such activity. We do not have spare funds, so FDI in education should be promoted.

This will help us save foreign exchange spent on students going abroad. Until big names like Harvard or MIT open their branches here, there

Lost glory

can be virtual classrooms permitting lectures online. Students in India will benefit from their curriculum and also become eligible for certificates issued by them. Virtual classroom concept should be promoted linking our distinguished institutions, as the students will be exposed to the best at less cost. Students pursuing higher education should be encouraged to go for research and innovation. Academic excellence should be measured by the number of research papers and their quality. The research papers should not be an act of ghost writing, but real quality work. The government should financially support innovative projects by students and help them become entrepreneurs. In the process, they will not be job seekers but job givers.

It is an admitted fact that given the opportunity, Indian students excel, since they are hardworking and intelligent. It is the fault of our system that we have not achieved what we are capable of. There are many intelligent students who do not go up the ladder because of poverty and lack of resources. We have to pursue several schemes under the Right to Education. Resources should reach deserving students and inclusive education should be our goal. India is a young

country and India will surely do well because of her youth. We just have to be careful and the demographic dividend will come to us.

CC

tadka

Budget facts

Former Prime Minister of India and then Finance Minister Morarji Desai has presented the maximum number of budgets - 10, more than any other minister — and an interim budget between 1959 and 1968.

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 17

Ma

an

n Nar ava ay dh

Leading from the Front, but Creatively While there are no parallels in the scale of human resource requirement or management in the Air Force and the corporate sector, both work on the foundations of leadership and teamwork to deliver efficiently. There are lessons to be learnt from across sectors, says former Wing Commander Madhavan Narayanan, now Director, HR & Admin of Toonz Animation, India Pvt Ltd

By Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar

18 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

A

A teenage fascination for airplanes and the desire to become a pilot scripted former Wing Commander Madhavan Narayanan’s flight passage with the Indian Air Force (IAF). He found his role model in his own father, who was Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and a keen wildlife photographer. Former Wing Cdr M Narayanan took immense strength from his stoic father who battled to survive his post-operative illnesses for more than 20 years. However, early beginnings saw M Narayanan charting his journey as a young cadet with the NCC Air Wing (Senior Division). His strong determination enabled him to fly through successfully in many qualifying examinations and earn him a scholarship to learn flying under the NCC Air Wing. Post completion of his PPL (Private Pilot License) from the Kerala Flying Club, Trivandrum, he actively joined the IAF. He eventually moved on to the administrative rung and continued with the IAF, logging 22 years of service.

Although his tryst with the corporate world came about as a much needed decision to balance his duty to his ailing father and his profession, it revealed his HR leanings and people management skills. Currently serving his second innings with Toonz Animation India Pvt Ltd, as Director- HR & Admin, he shares his experiences and learnings from the armed forces that ‘trains to lead from the front’ -which he leverages in his corporate role.

The early days What made you choose the Indian Air Force (IAF) in your early years?

As a teenager, I was very fascinated by airplanes and wanted to become a pilot. I joined the NCC Air Wing senior division and passed the PABT, a qualifying series of tests required to become a pilot. I got a scholarship to learn flying through NCC and did my PPL (Private Pilot

License) from the Kerala Flying Club, Trivandrum. This led me to join the IAF. Although I was selected for the flying branch in the IAF, I could not clear the medicals and hence joined the administrative branch of the IAF. I have done flying only in civil for my PPL through NCC and served a total of 22 years, including the one year training at the Air Force Academy, Hyderabad.

Do share your early life I was born in Trivandrum and did my early schooling in many parts of Kerala. I completed my higher secondary schooling from Model High School, Trivandrum and thereafter completed my graduation there. My father was an IFS (Indian Forest Service) officer who became the first Principal Chief Conservator of Forests in the state of Kerala. My mother, a rank holder in M Sc, was a lecturer during her younger days and then left the job to look after the two brats-I and my brother.

Did any family member inspire you to join the IAF? No, none in the family inspired me to join the Air Force.

It was my good friend from school, the Late Flt Lt Remakanth, a recipient of the President’s gold medal in Scouts, who inspired me to join the NCC Air Wing along with him. Unfortunately he passed away in a road accident in 1987. We joined the Air Force (AF) together, which ultimately made me a proud AF officer. My mother too encouraged me in pursuing my interests, which included joining the AF. My other pillar has been my better-half, Lakshmi Prabha who has been wonderfully supporting me throughout my career. In our 31 years together, she has stood by me even under the most difficult situations. For us, while we move destinations, it is not too difficult, as within the services, officers have a set pattern May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 19

Military to Management to follow. But for a lady it is not so, and she has adjusted well in all circumstances.

What training did you undertake and what impact did it have in your career?

While in the IAF, I undertook Advance Security and Intelligence Course at the Air Force Intelligence School, Pune; the Advance Criminalistics Course from the National Institute of Criminology & Forensic Science, Delhi and the Chief Administrative Officers’ (CADO) course from the Air Force Administrative College, Coimbatore where I topped the course and was awarded for excellence in academics and stood first in the overall merit list. I had also undergone a Project Management Course from the College of Defence Management, Secunderabad. The Chief Administrative Officer’s Course and the Project Management Course helped me a lot in taking decisions both in my IAF as well as in my corporate career as I learnt some key techniques of administration and management through these courses.

how did they impact your career?

I have undergone Advanced Security and Intelligence course apart from the Advanced Criminalistics course. I was deputed from the IAF for a month long course in Delhi where they teach you various aspects of forensic science used in criminology and investigations using forensic science.

I am therefore trained to investigate cases in the most comprehensive and effective manner. Human Resource Management (HRM) is part of administration in the IAF. Training is one of my passions as I have had an earlier stint as an instructor for administrative cadets in the AF. What were your learnings from each of the positions held in the IAF? The training period was very tough, not only physically but also academically because the idea is to make one mentally and physically tough.

The module is to go through endurance tests to enable one to withstand stress and it is a real

What was the last designation that you held within the IAF? My last role was that of Chief Administrative Officer (CADO) of a Forward Fighter Base in Bagdogra, West Bengal. I had to opt for pre-mature retirement on compassionate grounds due to my father’s chronic illness in the year 2005 and since then have been serving in the corporate sector.

Do chart out the different roles you played in the IAF. I was inducted into the Permanent Commission of the IAF in June 1984 after a year-long training at the Air Force Academy, Hyderabad. Thereafter, I was posted at a Transport Aircraft Base in Jorhat, Assam for three years. Thereafter, I was posted back to the Air Force Academy as an Instructor for administrative branch cadets in May 1987. I was then selected as Staff Officer (similar to an ADC in the Army) to an Air Marshal and I moved to Air Headquarters to New Delhi (April 1989). After a four-year tenure as Staff Officer, I was posted to the Southern Air Command, Trivandrum (1993) and subsequently was selected for a Provost and Security course at Air Force Intelligence School, Pune. Then I was posted as Asst Provost Marshal and Commanding Officer of a Provost Unit in Trivandrum (January 1994).

Following the Command tenure, I moved to Allahabad as Dy. Chief Administrative Officer of an Equipment Depot (September 1997). My next move was to Southern Air Command again, in April 2000 as the Command Works Officer before I opted for early retirement, having served as the Chief Administrative Officer (CADO) in Bagdogra from April 2003 to May 2005.

What were your specialisations and 20 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

presenting issues effectively. As a Commanding Officer and CADO, I have heightened the skills of people management further, wherein I could motivate my subordinates and ensure an effective work system.

Drawing parallels in HRM Is it possible to draw parallels in HRM training in the corporate sector with that of the defence forces?

Military HRM is unique and in the Air Force (AF), there is no specific class for HRM. But, at the same time we do undergo a lot of leadership training which I feel is all about managing people and not really the current HR practices we usually refer to in the corporate sector. AF HRM is primarily on how to lead a team, how to mo-

While there are no parallels in the scale of human resource requirement or management in the Air Force and the corporate sector, both work on the foundations of leadership and team work to deliver efficiently tivate a set of people and on how to encourage them to perform to their best.

learning experience that equals none other and is the first step to training in the armed forces. We were then trained to suit the requirements of the branch we specialised in and further trained to lead a team and motivate them, etc. As a Staff Officer, I was able to enhance my communication skills as we are always dealing with very senior officials including government officials outside the armed forces. I was also responsible for going through the various cases which came to the Air Marshal, giving me an overall experience of

Can the AF take a page out of corporate HRM and learn from them?

I really don’t think so, as things are completely different within the corporate segment and in the armed forces. When we talk of HRM from the corporate viewpoint, it is basically about manpower planning to start with, then on recruitment, moving on to training and performance management aspects leading to employee engagement such as, in motivating individuals. The entire gamut of such functions and more already exists within the defence sectors.

Does it mean the HRM structure in the defence sector has much more to offer?

I do not think there is any learning required from the corporate to the military. Let us draw an analogy on manpower planning itself in the corporate sector viz., the defence sector. For manpower plans done by HR departments, we

look into each department and on the people count required to accomplish the task. If I compare it with the AF, IAF has a huge department by itself for manpower planning called the DPP (Directorate of Personnel Planning) and we deal with huge numbers in the AF compared to any company. Here, with respect to manpower planning, we talk about 1.5 lakh personnel in the IAF, compared to around 200 or 250 or even 1000 employees in large corporations. IAF has a separate department within HR itself under DPP. It works around similar aspects akin to those in the corporate from manpower planning to recruitment. In the case of recruitment itself, there is one huge set-up of recruitments working separately for personnel below the rank of officers and for higher-ups. For officer cadres, the IAF has three selection centres in India at Dehradun, Varanasi and Mysore and these selection centres act independently for recruiting officers. The results are reviewed at AF HQs where other departments take up evaluation, ranking et al. For training, there is a separate command by itself with more than 150 training units all over the country with Bengaluru serving as its HQ. In the AF, for every aspect of human resource function you take, there are very big directorates and thousands of personnel working in each of these segments manpower planning, recruitment, training, etc.

For performance management, there is a separate set-up. Since these departments already exist in a much larger scale in the AF, I have yet to come across such a system within the corporate sector which can beat this system in the AF. So, can the corporate imbibe anything from military HRM structures?

In the defence sector, leadership means to ‘lead from the front’ and we set an example ourselves.

Unlike set notions that senior Wing Commander or Air Marshals ‘give orders while all others slog’, these senior officers physically combat with the enemy or against terrorism. We often hear some Major or Colonel taking in the bullet. The thought process that goes behind the sacrifice is that ‘we don’t allow the enemy bullet to go behind us unless it goes through our chest’. This kind of active leadership is what motivates the subordinates. As we lead from the front, our subordinates or the fighting force are charged up and show equal responsibility. They do it with their heart and soul and this is just not a case of mere following of orders by their seniors — it is this attitude that differentiates leadership within the defence force and the corporate.

Can the defence forces imbibe any aspect from corporate HRM? Basically, what happens in the military is more of regimentation; you cannot generally oppose an idea of your superiors but can subtly pinpoint some changes. However, you cannot negate, but

Wing Commander Madhavan Narayanan receiving ‘First in Overall Merit” shield from (Retd) Air Commodore PC Sharma at the Air Force Administrative College (AFAC), Coimbatore

Wing Commander Madhavan Narayanan receiving the ‘Best in Academics’ cup from (Retd) Air Commodore PC Sharma at the Air Force Administrative College (AFAC), Coimbatore

have to take orders from your superior. However, in the corporate, if you keep saying ‘yes sir’, it is not considered good. It shows lack of independent thinking. In the corporate, you can disagree with your boss but can also put across your point and that is well taken. Most corporate bosses are willing to receive good points from their subordinates. This, I think is a very good personnel trait and the defence forces should think of adopting this seriously and listen to the views of the subordinates, especially when it calls for certain key decision making.

How is HRM an essential business requirement for companies today?

As most organisations know, the biggest asset of any organisation is its human resource. HRM is no more a support service but a core function in any company today. As equipment and technology get upgraded, there is a need to upgrade HR too, and constantly, for any successful business.

A highly trained, motivated and committed workforce will make all the difference. Personnel working in HR are usually ‘unsung heroes’ as the function they perform is crucial for the growth of the company, but it rarely comes to the fore.

Do share your industry to HR associations.

I have been a member of the National Institute of Personnel Management and Madras Management Association. I do undertake training sessions and have done so with some of the corporates that I worked with, especially sessions on team building and leadership, change management, time management etc.

Most corporate bosses are willing to receive good points from their subordinates.

This, I think is a very good personnel trait and the defence forces should think of adopting this seriously and listen to the views of the subordinates May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 21

Military to Management Work-life transitions Why did you make the transition from the IAF to the corporate world?

My father’s illness was the primary reason for my work-life transition. Besides, the transitory nature of life in the armed forces was affecting my children’s education. Also, defence remuneration was not as adequate in those days to meet increasing expenses of quality higher education.

A corporate switch therefore seemed a good and interesting idea; a new experience whereby I felt that I could use the skills acquired over the years in the IAF, effectively in the corporate world. Following a year-long hospitalisation post his heart bypass surgery, my father, also a chronic diabetic patient had to live with post-surgery complica-

tions for the next 23 years and this recuperative phase was a struggle for both my parents. That was when, I as the elder son, was duty bound to be with him. I therefore took a backseat from the IAF or, I would have definitely continued till I attained actual retirement in the IAF.

man and he asked me one final question: “The core employees in this company are artists with a creative mind, whereas you are used to highly disciplined personnel who obey orders unquestioningly. How are you going to manage people here?” My answer was, “There’s a difference between executing an order just for the sake of it, and doing it with your full heart and soul. We in the armed forces are leaders by example and we are trained to lead from the front by motivating people and helping them believe in themselves.”

How did you make the transition from the IAF to the corporate world?

I got in touch with a few civilian friends who advised me to approach a few companies in Techno Park, Trivandrum. I received an interview call How easy or difficult was the transiimmediately from a company called Toonz Anition into the corporate mation India Pvt Ltd. sector?

After the interview by Armed force The transition was not the CEO, I was interpersonnel tend to easy at all. Initially, viewed by the Chairpeople looked at me have a more disciplined differently because approach to their of my armed forces work, have enhanced background. Apprehension existed at observational skills and both ends. However, are generally able to within months evemotivate the work-force ryone realised that I was approachable without the need to and accommodative, offer higher pay without compromising on regulations that needed to be followed. Soon, I was widely accepted by everyone.

Do share with us on the role transitions you have had in the corporate sector.

While I adapted and was engaged strictly within HRM roles, I did switch a few companies in different cities. I have been Senior Vice President– HR & Admin at Asianet Satellite Communications Ltd and currently I am serving my second tenure with Toonz Animation India Pvt Ltd as Director–HR & Admin. I had a short tryst with the health care sector after my stint with Asianet, before re-joining Toonz.

Why did you choose HR, of all other corporate functions?

My skills and experience are best suited for human resource management. I also have a passion for training & development which is part of modern HR practice.

Forward command What is your advice to armed personnel who would like a switch in their careers to corporate life?

While it is important to understand that things are much better in the armed forces today compared to earlier times both monetarily and comfort-wise, if anyone is keen on a career switch, I’d advise them to quit the armed forces much before they attain the age of 45. Besides, 22 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

and night. It was on the 19th day that I got a call from the Superintendent of Police communicating to us that a person collecting firewood deep in the forest saw a huge piece of cloth which he handed over to the local forest guard, who subsequently informed the police. On hearing the news, I suspected it to be a piece of parachute which is called the ‘Tail shoot’ in all fighter jets and is deployed for breaking the speed of the jet when it lands. I alerted the Air Marshal who was camping with us and on our arrival at the spot, to our utter shock, we saw a huge crater and pieces of the aircraft. The jet had shattered like glass and two trees were uprooted. This was basically due to the plane going down vertically and that is why it could not be located from the sky by the helicopter. We could retrieve only human boneremains, which was put in a coffin, sealed and handed over to the family. It was a very traumatic period for all of us and it was only the teamwork, dedication and physical and mental endurance which led us to recover at least the mortal remains of the young pilot. Such incidents put things into perspective and equip us to see the larger picture while dealing with issues.

Living life: they should also pursue and acquire additional management qualifications and try to build contacts while being in the services, as these are useful when you leave the armed forces. Most importantly, be mentally prepared for some drastic change - both positive and negative, in the new world. Try to enrol in pre-release courses sponsored by the armed forces in good management institutions.

Yes. Military training for a few years will groom youngsters to be more responsible and passionate towards their job and profession, this is probably why it is mandatory for the youth to join the services in some developed nations. Essential traits include leadership qualities and the ability to work under pressure.

Are there differences in the mindset of defence personnel moving into the corporate stream in comparison with their corporate counterparts?

Each background has its own merits. I would say that armed force personnel tend to have a more disciplined approach to their work, have enhanced observational skills and are generally able to motivate the work-force without the need to offer higher pay as the ‘carrot’ approach.

Do cite a memorable yet learning experience in the IAF… We learn how to manage a crisis in the Air Force and teamwork is the other parameter that can make or break any situation. When I was the CADO of the Fighter Base, there was an incident where a young fighter pilot who was undergoing advanced training in an MIG 23 aircraft disappeared from the radar screen during a routine sortie. The possibility was that the aircraft had crashed. Normally, the pilot ejects before crashing and a Search and Rescue (SAR) helicopter flies to the approximate location of the crash site and locates the pilot who has ejected, in order to rescue the pilot. However, in this case, the SAR helicopter searched for an entire day but could not locate the crash site or the pilot. Further aerial searches were carried out for three days without any result. We then called the army for a ground search as the terrain was a thick forested area and difficult to approach. We had set up camps in the forest and the army jawans and commandos could not locate anything for days.

The entire team worked all 24 hours of the day

Your advice to young executives in their climb up the corporate ladder?

Take the initiative to do a bit extra than what is expected. In most cases you’d find that there is no need to think of complex strategies every time to resolve issues; thinking logically can help resolve them. It is a much underrated virtue. Also, learn to stay calm and not buckle under pressure. Be a team player as that’s the sign of a true leader.

Do you think youngsters should be more robust in joining the IAF or armed services?

Reminiscing...

What is the philosophy of life that you live by?

It’s a simple philosophy-work hard and enjoy life.

How do you manage work-life balance?

I believe that work-life balance can be achieved through planning and an organised approach.

If you’d like to pursue a hobby or something of interest once a week, you need to chart a plan to make that happen and ensure that you stick to that. After a tiring day of work, I enjoy listening to music and I also enjoy singing whenever I get the chance. I’m passionate about golfing and play on the weekends. sangeetagd2010@gmail.com

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tadka

Voda+Idea merger biggest-ever Vodafone and Idea Cellular have announced India’s biggest ever merger and the combined company will be global number two in subscribers, with over 394 million subscriber base in India. The merged company will become undisputed leader in India. The combined merger will give them market share of approximately 35 per cent.

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 23

cover story dynamic duo 52: Munira and Nana Chudasama

Ageless love We all know about Nana Chudasama, former Sheriff of Mumbai, by his pithy, in-your-face banners. But he, together with his wife Munira show how it is to be epitomes of the culture of humility, togetherness, love for people and joy for life, and how to live a life of wit and companionship...

E

By Vinita Deshmukh

ven before Twitter made its global appearance in 2006, social crusader and former Sheriff of Mumbai, Nana Chudasama was on ‘Twitter Mode’ through his historic banners across Mumbai. The banners, in a few words, presented (and continue to do so), the witty, sarcastic, and sometimes cool side of current events that were/are the talk of the town. Some of such banners that created a stir were: ‘IRONY: Majority of MPs crorepati; majority of people, poor.’ Or ‘Pen is mightier than the sword, Agitate, Debate but don’t vandalise.’ His mission continues. One of his latest ones was: ‘Demonetisation: You can dash, smash or crash, but still no cash.’

Fondly called Nana, he was twice elected Sheriff of Mumbai, during which his campaign for ‘I love Mumbai’ was a runaway success. As an Indian equivalent of international social organisations like Rotary Club, he founded Giants International, which is in active mode today with 500 branches in India and several branches across the world, including USA, UK, South Africa, Mauritius and Ukraine. Giants undertakes social projects like family welfare, disaster management, environment and education.

In his 80s, Nana’s mobility has reduced, but his keenness in what’s happening around him can be seen in the glint of his 24 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

Whether it’s the peon who comes to him or a Mukesh Ambani who visits him, he is the same to all of them.

Everywhere we go, he keeps meeting people.

He will meet the liftman and ask him how he is, as if he is an old pal of his - Munira Chudasama

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 25

cover story

It’s a happy family: (left) Shaina NC with her parents

My dad’s marriage to my mother was never a bed of roses, a Hindu divorcee marrying a Bohra Muslim during the late 1960s was extremely controversial, to say the least. But it is clearly Munira who has been his pillar of support for over 40 years. She was always there for him through thick and thin and did all the heavy lifting behind the scenes (Akshay, excerpt from the book (History on a Banner)) eyes. More importantly, the love and affection between his wife, Munira and him, is palpable. Life in the wheel chair has not been easy for Nana, but Munira makes him feel at ease. Also, that does not stop him from posing for photographs for us, with Munira, cajoling, propelling and affectionately asking him to pose — smilingly pushing him to look at the camera, like a young mother does with her kids. Nana’s enthusiasm manifests in his quick response to her requests as he looks into the camera and tries hard to keep his head on his shoulders. So, when and why is he confined to a wheelchair? Munira, with an air of positivity, brushes off saying, “Oh, it is just a result of not exercising. Otherwise all his faculties are perfectly healthy.” Nana stares in agreement. Knowing Nana, who loves to wax eloquent on any subject and possessed the gift of the gab to make a stranger his friend in an instant – it’s unbelievable that he is so quiet now. It is fondly said that no one loves Mumbai like Nana does. And as for his ‘banners’, Mukesh Ambani, during the book release of his compilation of banners and their relevance, had stated that Nana is indeed the original Twitteratti of the world.

Munira was born and brought up in a wealthy and educated Bohra family of the Jasdanvallas of Mumbai, which strongly believed in girls’ education. Munira is a double graduate, thanks to her forward-looking parents; worked as a banker and then carved a niche for herself in the world of fashion through her renowned boutique, ‘The Golden Thimble’.

Their daughter, Shaina NC, the national spokesperson of the BJP carries on her mother’s legacy and has another frill to the glory through her 26 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

designer sarees that are patronised by Bollywood stars too.

Says Munira proudly, “I joined a bank but my parents were very conservative when it came to daughters taking up a career. But someone convinced them, saying, what is the use of educating them and not letting them work? That’s how I worked for a short time in the bank and thereafter I opened ‘The Golden Thimble’ boutique which I ran for 35 years, without any formal education in fashion designing.

Those were the lovely days.’’ She has now handed over the boutique to her daughter, Shaina.

Jab We Met

Munira, who recently celebrated her 80th birthday, is an epitome of elegance and charisma. Her affable nature and love for ethnic clothes and jewellery sets her in a class apart. Their love story is set in the backdrop of the 1960s when even in urban Mumbai, inter-religious marriages were taboo. Nana’s father was the erstwhile Police Commissioner of Mumbai while Munira’s father was a wealthy Bohra businessman.

How did they meet? Says Munira, who does all the talking, time and again looking at Nana to get his nod of approval, with a sweet smile, “I don’t remember, but we would often date in the cafes after we first met in 1966, though I can’t remember the date and venue of our first meeting. I come from a family of staunch Muslims, and a very large family — seven

sisters and two brothers. I was the youngest of the lot and the only person to break the norm, marrying out of the community. Those days, no one eloped. We did so in 1969 and got secretly married.’’

Where did you marry then? Says Munira, “Here, in this house. The landlord was an old Parsi lady and she was a very lovely person. At that time, Nana was a bachelor and was looking out for a place to stay. Somebody introduced him to her but she was reluctant. Nana has his endearing ways, because of which everyone loves him. She said she would not give him a rent receipt; not permit him to make any changes in the house and would not spend a penny for any repair work. Nana agreed to all her terms. As she got to know him, she adored Nana because he is very human. She was a lady of tremendous intelligence who had seen the world. She single-handedly brought up her two differently abled sons.”

Quips Shaina, “It was she who got my parents married.” The Chudasamas subsequently bought the house and have been residing there till today.

Voice of the Common Man

Love for all

What is it that she loves about Nana? “Coming from a conservative family, I found him a totally different individual. I was not aware that there are other ways of living life, like being socially sensitive. More importantly, he is always good with everyone. Even his enemy becomes his absolute devotee, which is indeed remarkable. That’s because he does not fight with anybody. Another important thing that I learnt from him is the attitude towards money. For him, money has not been a concern.

When he was young, he used to say, ‘I treat money with contempt; I can get it whenever I want.’ His friends used to say, because you have it, you are saying so’ He would say, ‘I don’t care even if it comes.’ When we built our house in Pune, I used to say ‘Nana, How will you do it?’ He said, ‘Don’t worry, it will happen’ and it really happened.’’

Did you face any opposition from your families? “No, his family was different. In stark contrast, my family was very staunchly conservative. My father wouldn’t speak to me at all after that. My mother, a gentle Sunday is family time lady was very nice about it. Once, she went to my father and said, ‘You are not speaking but your daughter is missing you.’ He sternly said, ‘Tell her that I am alright and not to worry’.”

The other great quality of Nana, says Munira, is his silent support to her for her enterprise. She narrates, “After marriage, I started ‘The Golden Thimble’. Initially, I used to work in his office but he felt it would be better if I had my own business. He encouraged me a lot. I remember, when I had started the boutique, it was like a French Salon. It wasn’t like a proper boutique, with counters and all the other frills. The place belonged to Nana, otherwise investing in the place would have been way out my reach. It wasn’t doing well, naturally, because I was not qualified, and in those days one usually wasn’t advertising. I was worried, what if it doesn’t work? He said, ‘So if it doesn’t work, we will close it down.’ That has been his attitude. He doesn’t fret and fume about anything. Whether it’s the peon who comes to him or a Mukesh Ambani who visits him, he is the same to all of them. Everywhere we go, he keeps meeting people.

He will meet the liftman and ask him how he is, as if he is an old pal of his. They feel so good.”

How did he start the Giants International? Says she proudly, “He was with the Lions and the Rotary. He said, ‘Why not an organisation in

Nana Chudasama’s book, ‘History on a Banner’ is a compilation of his thought-provoking banners on Mumbai’s Marine Drive that caught the attention of thousands of commuters. It is an interesting chronicle of current events that shape our collective destinies.

Nana, who gifted me this book, autographed it stating, “Humour is the essence of life.’’ And that’s precisely the content of the book.

Writes Mukesh Ambani, “…The essence of Nana Chudasama is his wit and humour and his

courage in using it to point out aberrations in our political, economic and social life.’’

Writes Shobhaa De, “For years and years there have been just two significant voices that have accurately reflected the aspirations and angst, the hopes and frustrations of the ‘aam aadmi’ in Mumbai – R K Laxman’s and Nana Chudasama’s. Laxman’s pocket cartoons and Nana’s banners have spoken on behalf of the common man for decades.

India and spread it worldwide?’ And you know at that time Lion’s and Rotary used to pay large amounts. I remember I used to get $20 when we travelled, oh gosh, I thought that was a great amount. Nana said, ‘Indians don’t have to be taught how to serve, it is in our blood, so let’s start an organisation from India, starting with a prayer, from the Upanishad.’ He always said to the members, ‘I don’t want cheques from anyone; I want you to give yourself to a cause. If you are having a blood donation give your blood first then take from others.’ So, Giants began with five to eight of his friends and now there are more than 500 groups all over the country. There are branches in other countries too. Conventions take place in different parts of the world, in Mauritius, London and all over.’’

Prior to that in 1963, Nana had revived the Jaycee movement in Mumbai and was its National President.’’

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 27

cover story States the Giants International website, of Nana’s objective launching it: “After the search for food and shelter man yearns for recognition in the society he lives in. At a later stage, he seeks a manifestation/realisation of the mission of his life. There he doesn’t think of the material returns and works selflessly to pay back something to the society, which developed him to the present status. Helping the needy, serving to eradicate the suffering of the downtrodden becomes of prime importance to him.

It’s here he feels Giants provide a universal platform where he can meet many, think on the common cause and transform that thinking to action.

Those to whom life has been kind should not accept this good fortune as a matter of course, but it’s one’s duty to think continually of those who have been denied this privilege.’’

How did his ‘I love Mumbai’ campaign trigger off? Says Munira proudly, “It (Mumbai Sheriff) is a 300 year old post and is a nominated one. The Governor and Chief Minister choose the individual. I remember Sharad Pawar was the CM at that time and had praised Nana’s work. As for the ‘I

Our Lovely Parents Shaina NC, besides having made it successfully in politics and entrepreneurship, is the glamorous and dedicated daughter of her stalwart parents, Nana and Munira Chudasama. She gives a high score to her parents for having made her what she is today.

Says she, with great pride in her voice, “The greatest characteristic of my parents is that they are the same with all people, irrespective of their status. They have no air of arrogance in them or towards others. They have always displayed extreme tolerance and patience. This has made me value every person I come across. I learnt from them how important it is to spend time with family. Despite my parents being social activists and very busy, I remember as a child that they always had time for us. I initially resented that my mother was working, but later on I realised that it made me independent, and the importance of the value of making on your own.’’

“In those days my parents eloped and got married and it was a very big deal then for my mother to pick up the courage to have an interreligious marriage. She is the pillar of the house.’’ When Corporate Citizen approached Munira for an interview, the first thing she said was, “You must speak to Shaina as

love Mumbai’ campaign, there was some opposition from some political leaders but Balasaheb Thackeray supported him whole-heartedly.’’

Nana, as a family man

An article in the magazine, ‘Upper Crust’ aptly reflects how much of a family man Nana is. It states: “Nana Chudasama loves Bombay. And Bombay loves Nana. But one mistake Bombay and no Bombayite will ever make is to invite the former Sheriff out on a Sunday for one of those fashionable society champagne brunches that begin at 10 with a late breakfast and end at 5 over high tea.

For Nana will just not accept such an invitation.

It would almost amount to sacrilege. ‘Sunday is for family and home,’ he will say reluctantly but firmly, Cuban cigar in mouth, the hands gesturing helplessly. All of Bombay knows that Nana is a kind man and an accommodating man. The city and its citizens are uppermost on his mind. But not on a Sunday. He becomes a family man, then.’’ “…I also say, a responsible citizen should be accessible to his children and his children to him. My idea of chilling out on a Sunday is being around the family, playing with my dog Tandy, watching the sea, smoking a cigar, reading and watching TV,” he is quoted, saying.

On marriage and togetherness

the father-daughter bond is so thick.

I come later.’’

Writes Akshay of Nana as a father, “No matter what his accomplishments for society or for our city of Mumbai are, to me his greatest accomplishment is what he has done for my sisters Brinda, Shaina (popularly known as Shaina NC) and me as a father, and as grandfather to Aahana, Aashti, Wyoma, Shanaya and Aayan and as a father-in-law to Alfaz, Manish and Aparna. I cannot remember a single occasion when we have needed him and he has not been by our side, be it an opening for Brinda, assisting Shaina with her political career or attending my law graduation…Nana may not have been a great academician but his Herculean common sense has taught us the simple joys of life, the importance of humility and the virtue of giving rather than taking.’’

28 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

Having been together for 48 years, what does she think about marriage? Says Munira, “It is all about give and take. Nowadays, they all want to take; no one wants to give. Even now, there are so many from even my generation who don’t care about their loved ones.’’

What are the important ingredients to keep a marriage? “You have to find out his or her plus points and take it from there; I don’t believe anyone who says my life is so lovely, from the beginning — all rubbish.

You have to work hard towards your marriage. One thing Nana used to say, ‘I hate going for these 50th anniversary parties – from outside they are grand, and then the bedroom scene at home is fights and quarrels.’’’

So, what is your advice to the younger generation? “Times have changed; keep in mind the positive things; just keep your marriage going and just for the sake of old age, it is so important to have a spouse. At that age, you need somebody to fight with, get angry with. Do treasure simple moments like when your spouse says how you are feeling today or have you had your cup of tea today. Even that matters a lot.’’

Writes her son Akshay, a legal luminary, in Nana Chudasama’s book, ‘History on a Banner’, “My dad’s marriage to my mother was never a bed of roses, a Hindu divorcee marrying a Bohra Muslim during the late 1960s was extremely controversial, to say the least. But it is clearly Munira who has been his pillar of support for over 40 years. She was always there for him through thick and thin and did all the heavy lifting behind the scenes.’’

Children’s upbringing

“We did not choose elite schools for our children as we wanted them to grow up as normal human beings. They went by school bus. This made them independent and very strong, internally. Life is too fast now and it is difficult to cope up. In the hurry to race fast, there is no time for values. I am not against technology but too much of it is ruining the minds of young children. Everyone is obsessed with wealth — now wealth has become the absolute thing to gauge someone’s worth, which is so disgusting.”

he never drank. He was a constant cigar smoker.

Since five years, he is not keeping well.”

The inter-religious harmony

Dolly Thakore, the noted media person who had interviewed Nana and Munira had stated in her article on ‘Communalism Combat’, “The silver lining to this problem is that some brave individuals have taken life into their own hands, defied society and proved that barriers of religion, caste, and nationality do not jeopardise their happiness. A good example of this is our twice over sheriff of Mumbai, Nana Chudasama, a hugely successful public figure who continues to fight for causes, be it the environment or AIDS.’’ Munira had stated in the interview: “Sadly, religion is of prime importance in society. In filling up school forms and applications for my children, I always left a blank where it asked for religion. I left it for my children to choose what they want when they began to understand such things.” She never imposed Islam or Hinduism on them. They had a Christian maid for 30 years and many Sunday mornings saw Shaina accompanying her to the Church.

Munira believes that in any relationship if either person is a fanatic about his or her religion it never works. “There are three dominating factors in a relationship faith, food, and festivals,’’ she says.

Nana, on a determined note told Dolly Thakore: “Whatever people may say, this country is a secular country and I have great faith in secularism. No one has tabooed me because I married a Muslim. This is the inherent strength of this country. Any nation that calls itself secular must encourage intercommunity marriages.

My parents would have liked me to marry not only a Hindu but someone from one’s own community. But even my first wife was a Patel.

I have always had opposition. But I went by what I felt was right.”

Indeed, Nana and Munira represent the culture of humility, togetherness, love for people and joy for life – ingredients that are largely missing today, in the race for keeping up with technology and making money one’s goal. vinitapune@gmail.com

Whatever people may say, this country is a secular country and I have great faith in secularism. No one has tabooed me because I married a Muslim. This is the inherent strength of this country. Any nation that calls itself secular must encourage intercommunity marriages (excerpt from an interview in Communalism Combat)

So what is the hope? What do you think of the future? Says Munira, “I still feel that the handful which are there, have to keep the fight on; you don’t give up or just become a recluse and say ‘there is nobody is like me so what is the point of conversation.’ I feel that the fight should be there all the time. I read something very nice the other day; it said, ‘It took me an entire life to create a living but after that I did not know how to live’.

You create and create and then forget what life is.’’

What is the philosophy of life that she lives by? Says she, “I am obsessed with truth and obsessed about being straight in life. I am very obsessed about doing Vipassana too and I am happy when I came back after doing it. However, when I used to come back, Nana would say, ‘Munni you have become very intolerant after Vipassana.’ My kids used to also say the same. I took it positively, they mean well for me and there is no ulterior motive to push me down. I always introspect a lot, you know, because I was so obsessed with truth, and I felt that I was not able to tolerate the lies in people. Nana would say, ‘don’t go beyond and get angry with somebody.’”

What is her secret of keeping fit and elegant? Sharing her beauty secrets, Munira says, “I started dyeing my hair now. I do my exercises and do not use cosmetics on my skin. If I have eaten too much, then I skip my next meal. I never go on a fastidious diet. As for Nana, he was the best tennis player of his family. He was very active, he never overate and

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tadka

‘Older the happier’ in corporate India Around 65% of corporate respondents between 22-25 years of age, showed early signs of depression that were income-related issues, compared to 55% in the age group of 31 years and above, according an ICICI Lombard survey. While people in rural areas are more at peace than their urban counterpoint, only 39% respondents in Tier-1 cities were happier and content in comparison to 41% of respondents in Tier-2 cities and 46% in Tier-3 cities; 66% of women were generally found to be happier than men.

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 29

NHRDN Career Fest 2017

The Future of Jobs

HR

Careers in

The country is going through major economic transformation and employability is a key factor towards making our demographic dividend, the young workforce, a significant competitive advantage. In this context, the National HRD Network (NHRDN) Mumbai Chapter, recently organised a Career Fest at Nehru Centre in Mumbai. The aim was to provide a common platform to bring together industry, academia and student community, with the intention of helping students to make informed career choices by having in-depth knowledge about the professions prevailing and also about the

30 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

diverse sectors which are there.

Two senior HR professionals with multifaceted expertise, Santanu Banerjee, Head HR, Aditya Birla Health Insurance and Hirak Bhattacharjee, Head - Sales HR and Legal, Birla Sun Life Insurance, shared some pertinent facets of their profession and took the students through HR models, giving them the essence in terms of what are the qualities that is required if you want to really become a successful HR professional

By Rajesh Rao

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 31

W NHRDN Career Fest 2017

Why join HR? Santanu: There were several careers that all of you could have chosen—why not marketing, information technology, sales, finance, or operations. Some of you might be good with people or managing people, or people and people behaviour is of interest to you, or building the organisations culture, making judgement of who is right and who is wrong for the company, understanding the human mindset in an organisation, training people working on their learning architecture, or you love interacting with people.

I love working with people, I am a people’s person—more than fifty per cent of the crowd will say that anywhere you go. I am actually good with handling people, as if knowing people is not enough. Someone among you said that I have good judgement of people and their capabilities and know how to select the good from the bad and the bad from the ugly. Someone said, I am an outgoing person and can quickly establish connect with people—are you a party animal?

What are the underlying feelings which you didn’t say—I am not good with numbers please spare me, finance is not my cup of tea and I will not be able to sell. I prefer a desk job as I am more analytical, I prefer a laptop to desktop.

I will not be able to take the work pressure in sales. These are some of the unstated believes.

What is HR required to do?

Santanu: HR is very different from working with people, knowing people—all this does not happen. HR has the least amount of say in interviewing people. The most amount of say rests with the function head—for whom you are recruiting the people. So, HR has become a partner in strategical execution. What do you mean 32 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

by that? We had an HR conference few days back which was only on execution, why because CEOs and the leadership team are beautiful on strategy, excellent board room meetings happen year-after-year, month-after-month, day-afterday, on what is good for the organisation. The ball drops when it comes to execution. An HR is that strategic partner, who will bridge that gap between strategy and execution.

Three principles of HR How do you build capacity?

Hirak: Most of the HR strategies which is there across the organisations, are known to each of the organisation, so it’s a public information.

Then why is it that most of the organisations can’t copy it? Basically, because of the finesse and excellence, most of the organisations are able to do it—execute with excellence. And that’s the key of any organisation and that’s where HR comes into play in terms of how you execute, help and partner, in terms of strategy execution. That is how you build your capacity. Then you talk about how you become an expert in the way of how you build organisational efficiencies. Most of the organisations you see, grow very flabby—you develop so much of cost, you don’t create efficiency and then you go back into layoffs, cutting people, closing down branches and offices. That’s the last thing you would want to do. You need to have optimum capacity building in an organisation. That’s the first model as to how to capacitate the organisation by right strategic execution and creating right efficiencies.

How do you build capacities?

Hirak: Next is that you need to be agile enough to understand the voice of the customers and your customers are your employees. Because, what happens when the organisation scales.

In a vast organisation like ours, we are around 20,000 odd people—your ability to scale up becomes so high that sometimes you lose your agility to understand the voice of the employees at the bottommost level. You need to be enough agile to understand that because you need to work on employees contribution and engage with them faster. With around 20,000 employee strength how do you ensure that it seamlessly cuts across—you have strategy, cost and everything is fitting in terms of going to the last person and that’s when we are talking about building your capabilities within the organisation. That is how to build the managerial capabilities—each and every level of the organisation or the hierarchy of the organisation, is becoming capable to manage same thing—it percolates down. That’s the uniformity that gets created. And all this will finally become an agent of transformation-

shaking processes to build the culture. All this becomes a culture.

How do you build culture?

Hirak: Each of you belong to a family, which is of different culture. Each of you have a culture and each of them are unique and that’s how each of the organisations are. Culture is the third pillar—it is not that these three pillars are silos which are going to stand on different pillars. There is a commonality and that’s why the structure is built accordingly. All your HR strategies, if you want to become an HR professional, will only work on these three principles.

Nothing else works—how do you build capacity in the organisation, how do you build capability which is learning capability and skill building, and eventually the bottom-line is culture.

Competencies required to be an HR Agent of change Santanu: HR should be the agent of change. Just like all of us come from different cultures—in different cultures different things are acceptable and some things are not acceptable. In an organisation we have to build a common culture and that requires a huge amount of change management. The entire business structures and business models are undergoing huge amount of transformation, especially in areas which are very HR centric. Service organisation, where everything is human resource, there is no expenses on plant, machinery or anything.

HR is the only agent of change which can transform an organisation-what we described as agile-and can face the challenges of tomorrow.

So, change is extremely important and HR has to be the agent of change.

Functional expertise Santanu: HR must be a true functional expert.

In some places, where HR has not been so successful, HR has changed its job to non-technical. Everybody in the organisation understands HR, but everybody in the organisation do not understand finance or IT. But, you go to any functional manager they will say I know HR— but truth is they don’t. We have to make our subject matter and express it, and then people will start accepting you as functional experts.

Leadership Santanu: HR for long has been very silo function, often to the extent that what HR does and what the business does, there is little commonality. Business is going in one direction and HR is going in another direction. Earlier, I would not see many HR leaders becoming business leaders. But the world has changed and now I can keep giving examples where HR professionals have become business leaders.

Understanding of numbers Santanu: Understanding of business, understanding of finance, understanding of numbers, has become so very important. Even if it is an unstated belief that I am good with numbers or I am not good with numbers. If you are really not good with numbers, HR is not your space, because you really have to get into a dialogue with your CFO and head of operations. You will have to do number crunching which is superior to theirs, to prove them through data, through insights that whatever I am saying makes sense.

Understand the concepts of business Hirak: Making people redundant and laying them off is the easiest and lousiest thing you can do. But, how you make a person productive—first and foremost is you need to understand the business, the nuances of the business, the cost efficiencies and all of it so well that you can then use your HR technical knowledge to plug it into the process. My maths teacher always used to say that whenever you make a mistake, first you understand the concept, then apply the formula, and then you will get at the solution. So, first and foremost is to understand the concepts of business.

Options in HR from career perspective HR Business Partner Santanu: The first opportunity is HR Business Partner—a very abused term. I have never heard a finance business partner; I have never heard an information business partner. Why do we need to use this word business partner?

Are we so divergent from our business that we have to repeatedly remind ourselves that we are a business partner? This is more of a HR generalist profile. HR business partner means an HR generalist, one who does recruitment, selection, employee life cycle management and one who basically helps meet the HR requirements of a business across the entire life cycle.

The competencies required: Solid understanding of business and ability to think.

Should be a fast thinker because every solution that you will have to provide has to be unique, a source and solution, a compensation solution or a performance management solution. Every solution has to be unique, so you have to think on the think. You have to provide business solutions and not HR

solutions, it’s important that whatever solutions you provide it should impact the business. Each problem that people will come up with will be unique—the business HR requirement, business HR delivery, business HR problems. So, you have to really think on it, there is no uniform common solution. In some of the businesses, the pressure is very high—a pressure cooker situation. So, the relationship between the boss and the subordinates and the peers, is not always congenial. This person needs to have a clear understanding of labour laws, labour compliances, how to handle people. Some of it will come through knowledge. So these are the competencies required for a HR generalist known as HR business partner.

Making people redundant and laying them off is the easiest and lousiest thing you can do. But, how you make a person productive—first and foremost is you need to understand the business, the nuances of the business, the cost efficiencies and all of it so well that you can then use your HR technical knowledge to plug it into the process Hirak Bhattacharjee, Head - Sales HR and Legal, Birla Sun Life Insurance

HR Specialist Hirak: Talking about skills sets, we need to be functional experts and that is where HR specialist comes in. An HR specialist if you see, spans across facets like you can become a recruiting specialist, which means you can become a sourcing person. Or you can become a compensation lead, where compensation can be your forte.

Specialist roles and competencies required

Pics: Yusuf Khan

Organisational Development (OD) specialist Hirak: Is a very abused term again in terms of everything that falls under OD. Everybody wants to do OD but understanding OD is very difficult.

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 33

NHRDN Career Fest 2017 HR Legal and Risk specialist Hirak: Earlier Industrial Relationship was a very niche and technical job, but subsequently when the service organisations came into play, when the economy opened up in 1991 and the services industry really grew and manufacturing did not grow-suddenly HR came into play as a profession. Today, HR has become a very important function and in context of service organisations, it is where it comes as HR legal and risk specialist. Today, most of the organisations are looking for people who can work on this particular part.

HR Operations and Shared Services Hirak: When you are working in an organisation, which has lot of scale, it is very pertinent and important to maintain the hygiene factors.

That’s where HR operations and shared services become very critical.

Santanu: Human resource shared services, is nothing but HR operations made simple through two process - one is a voice process, so more often you see these days HR managers don’t accept calls. Now we have toll free number where employees can call and they can know everything related to their compensation, related to their any benefits, anything that they just want to know. That is the voice-based system.

provident fund, or who are my dependents who are nominated for medical claim to information like what was my rating three years back.

Everything has been made simple through the process of shared services. Why it’s called shared services? Because more often than not, a number of companies are sharing this common pool of services, which is provided by an external vendor.

Leadership role Hirak: These are areas which are going to be HR specialist’s core areas. You can chose as per your choice, what you want to become. But the core of this is that, if you want to become specialist in all these areas, the first and fore-

Gone are the days when recruitment need to be done by us and us only. There are recruitment process outsourcing companies, who do the recruitment on our behalf. So mass level hires, for example when a company requires about ten thousand employees in a period of 4-5 months—it’s impossible for an HR team in a company to complete the hiring process in a short period of time, so we employ Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) Santanu Banerjee,

Head HR, Aditya Birla Health Insurance

Human Resource Information System (HRIS) Hirak: How do you use the analytics part, which is your big data. In an organisation which function is more productive? In the sales function, which geographies are more productive? How to create productive efficiencies? All this is now part of HRIS. Santanu: HRIS is basically the repository where human resource data is kept. It where an interface is available to the employees to interact with that data base, to update their records, to do core HR activities like performance management and sometimes engagement. So, this has become the nerve centre, as you call of HR. All HR analytics, data, the key insights, design that defines the HR interventions are actually coming from human resource information systems.

34 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

The second one is an internal based system, where the employee is anywhere on the globe, he is given a page of his own. For example, my name is Santanu and wherever I am, Aditya Birla Group has given me a page. If I log into my page I can access everything, right from who are my dependents, whom I have nominated for my

most is the generalist HR. When you become the head of HR, you don’t become a specialist, you have to understand all the functions of HR and you have to do some of these roles in some way or the other and also look in terms of HR business partner. And that would eventually take you to a leadership role in HR.

Recruitment Specialist Hirak: Delivering results, meeting stakeholders, adapting to change, creating problem solving are some of the competencies required for this role. When you are hiring people you need to know in terms of what are the various laws and what happens is, when you are working specifically in various geographies, not only in the country but across the globe—suppose you are hiring for Sri Lanka or Nepal, Germany or wherever it is, you need to know in terms of what are the various labour laws there. When you are becoming Recruitment Specialist all this play in terms of your role. Hence, it is very pertinent that when you get into any kind of a role, you need to be in the depth of the role, the width can come over a period of time. But I think the most critical is to get into the depth of the role.

organisations fail in terms of culture. That’s why recruitment becomes very critical for us.

Santanu: Gone are the days when recruitment need to be done by us and us only. There are recruitment process outsourcing companies, who do the recruitment on our behalf. So mass level hires, for example, when a company requires about ten thousand employees in a period of 4-5 months—it’s impossible for an HR team in a company to complete the hiring process in a short period of time, so we employ Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO). How to define the governance matrix of the RPO? What will the RPO do? How do you ensure that the right kinds of candidates are flowing in? How do you ensure that the right sourcing funnel is been worked out? It’s a very different kind of skill. So recruitment specialist is not necessarily a person who interviews. Recruitment specialist is a person who knows about recruitment processes, so he can design recruitment processes in India or abroad.

Learning Specialist Hirak: Having learning specialist has also become important, because how to skill people, how to reskill people, consistently educate people to become and be contemporary of whatever is happening in the organisation, is very important.

Learning specialist is becoming increasingly important because you need to consistently train and retrain people. Because, you are evolving in terms of your policies, processes, product, design and the way that sales practices have to be done.

So that needs to consistently evolve and that is where learning specialists play a very big role. It is also a skill in terms of how do you train people.

Hirak: As you scale up an organisation, specifically an organisation where I belong to is insurance, where getting sales people is very difficult.

Now what you do in terms of creating your employable pool. What happens is, when you go across in terms of hiring and hiring challenges, generally when the employable pool gets depleted, it is not the people who get depleted, there are so many graduates who are passing out, but are they employable in the context of your organisation and how do you create that? You don’t want to go back and start a finishing school. So we are working with colleges, various graduate and undergraduate colleges, in terms of how we can skill them. So that when they pass out, they become employable in our context. These are the things as a recruitment specialist, you need to concentrate on, as to how to create an employable pool.

The first and foremost is the culture of hiring people, because if you don’t hire people with the right cultural integration, that’s when most

Self-awareness First is you need to be self-aware as to what is it that you have to deliver. Empathy: This is very important if want to make a career in HR, you need to be empathetic to people, you need to understand in terms of people’s needs.

Compensation Specialist Hirak: Compensation Lead is the backbone of the organisation. In terms of how do you define the compensation schedule is about again understanding the geographical nuances of wherever you are working. How do you fit the compensation? How do you ensure that you pay the right compensation to the right person?

What are the type of compensation designs that you need to do? How do you keep people motivated? Everyone work for money, so how do you define what money motivates people?

First and foremost is the sales person—how do you define his incentive schemes and that he stays motivated? So, that’s the basic job of a compensation specialist.

Personal competencies Eventually if you have to become a successful HR professional, you need to have your personal competencies.

Social skills How are we going to influence people—when you hire people you don’t decide, the functional people are deciding, but you need to influence that this person doesn’t fit into the culture and that is where social skills come into in terms of how you resolve and how you get into conflict management. If you want to pick up a career in HR, you need to understand how to resolve conflicts, get into a conflicting zone and come out of it.

Self-regulation That is self-control because HR is also a

custodian of ethics. The ethical value, the culture—you need to protect the culture of the organisation and that is where your selfregulation comes. Because you are dealing with recruitment vendors and shared services vendors, your personal integrity has to be of top quality. You are setting the culture of your organisation.

Motivation You need to be self-motivated because if you want your organisation to stay motivated by motivating the employees, you yourself have to be motivated first.

This is how we groom people Santanu: Our group believes in taking people at a nascent stage in their career and then groom them. You will not find many lateral hires in our group because we take people at a very junior level and then groom them. So, normally as you move up your career, when you become a head of HR, you need to have exposure to all the facets of HR. So, we ensure that the person we take and the person who is going through our talent management philosophy, has the complete exposure to all facets of HR. In the grooming process, assessment happens and a person’s capability is analysed through tests, interviews and other mechanisms and then the role that is fit for the person is decided. A destination role is chalked out and the time that is needed to reach the destination role is given.

Hirak: The qualities which we clearly look in freshers are your ability and agility to learn and second is hard work. The appetite to learn and work hard has to be there consistently. rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com

CC

tadka

India is 4th most optimistic country Corporate India is 4th most optimistic globally as 85% of the businesses are hopeful of economic recovery as against China’s 48%, according to Grant Thornton International Business Report on global optimism index for the January-March quarter of 2017.

India ranks second in citing regulations and red tape as growth constraints, in Q1 2017. 56% respondents quoted this as an obstacle against 57% of Q3 2016.

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 35

Cradle of Leadership Matthew Raggett / Headmaster of The Doon School

The Doon School

for a

Meritocratic India

Internationally acclaimed educationist, Matthew Raggett, took up the post of headmaster of The Doon School, Dehradun from Dr Peter McLaughlin who retired in May 2016 after serving for about eight years. Before coming to Doon, Raggett was Principal of Leipzig International School, Germany for the last seven years.

He’s a keen mountain biker who loves gardening and driving cars.

This new headmaster of Doon School signals a change in tone as he brings in a whiff of fresh and friendlier air and holistic approach to focus on overall happiness rather than elitism in this 83 year-old institution.

But that’s not all. He’s also dropping ICSE board in favour of Cambridge from this very session. For, he believes, “It invites kids to think and create original content” and thereby strengthen India’s intellectual heritage.”

In a candid interview, Raggett shares cheerfully his extensive career in international education, policy-making and implementation with Corporate Citizen. He spoke about what it means to be the head of India’s best boarding school and how he plans to introduce a new IGCSE + curriculum from this session onwards

By Pradeep Mathur

W

What is common between politicians like Rahul Gandhi, Dr Karan Singh, Navin Patnaik, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia; businessman Gautam Thapar (chairman Avantha Group), Malvinder and Shivinder Mohan Singh (Ex-owners Ranbaxy and presently owning Fortis Healthcare)? Well, they’re all Doscos (a term used for Doon School boys)—India’s first public school modelled on the lines of elite British schools like Eton and Harrow. Although there’re only about 6000 Doscos, they include some of India’s most prominent politicians, IAS officers, writers, sportsmen, journalists and business magnets.

The best-known alumnus has, of course, been the former Indian Prime Minister Late Rajiv Gandhi.

Satish Ranjan Das, a Kolkata lawyer and advo-

36 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

cate-general of Bengal who was the founding father of this school, wanted it to be modelled on the British public schools but ‘alive to Indian ambitions and desires’. By the way, Doon School actually adopted the national anthem “Jan Gan Man” in 1935 itself, which is 15 years before India adopted it.

However, it was an Englishman, Arthur Foot, Doon’s first headmaster, who, in 1835, stated, “Our boys will join an aristocracy, but it’ll be an aristocracy of service, not one of wealth, privilege or position.”

With a teacher-student ratio of about 1:6, Doon School has strength of around 520 students and admission test is held for in January and April for pupils aged 13 for class 7 (known as D-form) and ‘very small admissions for those aged 14 for class 8 (known as C-form)’.

School provides sample question papers for entrance test for English, Mathematics and Hindi

We are certainly elite in character but not elitist and aristocracy simply means rule by the best and we live that out because we prepare our boys to lead and serve a meritocratic India but in a global context May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 37

Cradle of Leadership and they need to take verbal and non-verbal tests before being invited for an interview. Over 25% of those admitted are helped through scholarship and bursary programmes and they come from “all socio-economic backgrounds—from babus to billionaires—and get the same world class education, whether rich or poor”.

The school has five Boarding Houses (Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kashmir, Tata and Oberoi) and two holding houses (Foot and Martyn, named after former headmasters) where new students live for a year before moving to one of the main houses. Each house is run by a housemaster (an active member of the teaching staff) who is assisted by a senior boy known as house captain.

One senior boy serves as school captain and is assisted by prefects from each house. Boys are assigned to houses at the time of admission and show great loyalty to them especially during intra-house sports competition.

The general impression is that Doon School is still an elitist and aristocratic school meant only for the princes and nobles of erstwhile royal families or those belonging to the rich and powerful corporate houses.

That’s only partly true. Yes, we’re certainly elite in character but not elitist and aristocracy simply means rule by the best and we live that out because we prepare our boys to lead and serve a meritocratic India but in a global context. As for the rich and powerful tag, all I want to say is, we’ve always believed in merit and only those who qualify our entrance test and interview get admission.

Also, there’s a difference between being elite and being elitist. We’re not a snobbish school and have never been. We run lots of social service programmes. More than 25% of our students receive financial aid. Lots of our students, coming from different parts of the country are on scholarships and bursaries, many of them supported by our alumni. I want to clear this impression that we’re an elite school where only the sons of the rich and powerful can go. We're all for boys from the service classes. We've lot of financial aid available for those who come from defence background. For certain boys, we pay everything for them. We know we’re underrepresented in southern states and so I want to find a group who can help us on this. We’re constantly looking at how to serve India better.

You’ve worked with some of the most reputed schools in England, Germany, Singapore, Spain, Canada and Austria. What’s common in the schooling of these countries?

Well, the funny thing is that wherever you go, children are children and teachers are pretty similar as well. They’ve chosen a profession where fundamentally they believe in giving and improving things, not just for the kids but to make the world a better place.

38 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

Annual sports day of the school

Tell us a bit about schools in different countries you worked in.

Well, my journey to these places has been quite interesting but I think Germany, where I worked for seven years, has some good schools like we heard about schooling in Finland which is rated very high too. I’ve worked in Singapore also for four years. It has a system of education that values academic success above things like creativity, imagination, ingenuity and initiative. Memory testing and rote learning is prevalent in the best of schools in Singapore and there is a culture of intense competition, which is just not attractive.

Spain has a system where no matter what you do, you’ve to study Spanish literature, Spanish geography, Spanish history and philosophy up to a particular point. Mainstream schools in the UK, where I’ve studied and worked, are also very good because they develop curiosity, academic and thinking abilities, creativity and communication skills with confidence. Then India, of course, has an interesting education policy because it has a British legacy, which is now getting redrafted to move the next generation of learners forward.

So what has brought you to Doon?

I've known Doon School for a long time because one of my colleagues in Canada started his career over here. He was a chemist here and he always used to say what a fabulous place this was. He introduced me to Doon. So, I always wanted to come here with my wife Lindsay but could do so only last year, on 20th of March, for just four days and immediately fell in love with this place. In Germany, I knew I want to find a place that’s exciting, vibrant, and slightly crazy and complicated because my kids were getting older and I was ready to show them something different as well.

What was your first impression of Doon?

My first impression was: What a gorgeous environment in which you can learn. But my next impression was that the boys were fantastic, enthusiastic, inquisitive, articulate and very friendly and that made me came back twice in May. Incidentally, I was offered a couple of jobs by some other schools too in the last two years.

But I wasn’t interested in them because those were family-owned and for-profit schools where the office next to that of the headmaster was of the owner or the educational director who was the daughter-in-law of the owner (laughs). There are many such schools here where the Head is merely a puppet and the nature of governance is not something that I’d like to work with. So, when I got the offer from Doon School, I felt really excited because it’s not just any other school that focuses on academic excellence only but on academics plus everything else.

When you met Doon’s Board Members, what did they tell you about their priorities?

They were looking for someone who has met many perspectives, worked globally and has rich experience of implementing and running the CIE (Cambridge International Examinations) programmes in schools. In my previous schools, we introduced new aspects of CIE curriculum and introduced entirely new vocational curriculum that the International Baccalaureate (IB) offers. Moreover, I’ve years of experience of working with IB curriculum. They were also looking for someone who’ll be able to explore the pedagogy and the practice of teaching in the school to keep it moving forward as well.

Other than this, they wanted someone with an MBA who has worked in the kind of schools

Basketball court at the school

One of the things about India which is different from other countries is that there exists a huge power distance in this country that comes with leadership position, title, name and all of that. Germany, the last place I worked in, is the least power distant country that I’ve worked in.

Anyone will say anything to anybody

they would like to compare themselves with in global benchmarking.

I believe you're going to introduce the IGCSE Board (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) of the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) from the new session.

Yes. That's right. The IGCSE is a two-year programme but it comes at the end of Kindergarten.

However, we're doing it from 7th class because Doon starts from 7th onwards. So, IGCSE Board has actually been introduced from 7th class only but now it'll be introduced for classes 9 and 10 as well because we've been preparing students for this from class 7 itself.

How prepared is your faculty for this change over?

You can’t introduce something of this kind unless you've prepared your faculty for it. So, for the last four years, our teachers have been going through a custom-made training by the Institute of Education in London. It's called the PGCSE (Post-graduate Certificate in Secondary Education). Nearly 40 of our teachers have already gone through this research-based training programme, which is equivalent to a master's degree. It's a process of continuous improvement for us. Incidentally, we've a teachers' training centre at our school where we run this Cambridge training for teachers from other Indian schools. Since 2014, our staff has been involved in it and we bring Cambridge trainers in from other parts of the world as well.

Annual sports event

You are also changing the seating pattern in May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 39

Cradle of Leadership

Doon’s Nursery for Writers

N

No story on Doon School, spread in over 72 acres, is complete without talking about its weekly publication titled The Doon School Weekly which is perhaps the oldest running school magazine in India.

Established in 1936, a year after school’s birth in 1935, it’s distributed every Saturday morning. What makes it different is the fact that it represents the collective efforts of a very talented and dedicated group of student editors and reporters dedicated to maintaining the highest standards in editorial print.

Printed in black and white, this 6/8-page A-6 size, loosely-held magazine offers topical articles on current socio-political affairs, interviews, letters-to-the-editor, crossword puzzles, cartoons, poems and reports on school trips, society meetings, concert reviews, matches and such other events held in the school during the week.

Penned by students and staff, sometimes they’re quite critical of the changes taking place in the school. For example, in the March 11(Issue No 2462) edition, there is a onepager by Aryan Chhabra which raises serious questions about the School’s adoption of the IGCSE curriculum in place of the ICSE curriculum and what its long-term implications are for those who wish to apply to Delhi University colleges.

Similarly, there is a hard-hitting piece written by former Dosco CC Chengappa titled “Tradition Endangered” (Issue No 2457) which critically examines the recent changes to the School’s 90-year-old UNESCO heritage structure.

“Though I do not agree with arguments forwarded by both Chhabra and Chengappa in their articles, you can see how editorially independent we’re with regard to the contents of the Weekly,” says Matthew Raggett. In fact, this freedom to free expression has led many student contributors to later become “great authors, politicians and journalists,” he points out, adding that the list includes some great names. For example, poet and novelist Vikram Seth (class of 1970); Man Booker prize winner Amitav Ghosh (class of 1972); Times of India’s journalist Swaminathan Aiyar and veteran editor BG Verghese; broadcast journalist Karan Thapar (class of 1971); historian Ramchandra Guha (class of 1973); politician Manishankar Aiyar (class of 1967); Pronnoy Roy and 40 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

Tejeshwar Singh (class of 1965), to name just a few. “They were all very active contributors to the Weekly and some of them also worked as editors of the Weekly. I think it must have had a positive influence on them which must have helped them achieve great heights as writers and journalists in their respective careers.”

The ranks of former Doon School Weekly contributors also include editors at The Economic Times, and Foreign Affairs magazines, as well as reporters at The Wall Street Journal, Hindustan Times; The Washington Post, The New York Times and many other newspapers and magazines.

Other school magazines include The Yearbook and The Doon School Information Review. Publications by academic departments include VIBGYOR (Art), Echo (Science), The Econocrat (Economics), Infinity (Mathematics), Grand Slam (Sports) and The Circle (History and Political Science).

Extracurricular activities are also a compulsory element of School’s life, and there are around 23 clubs and societies, including politics, drama, photography, aero-modelling, dramatics, painting, sculpture, carpentry, amateur radio, music (including Trinity music examinations), senior and junior English debating societies, Model United Nations, chess and astronomy. In many societies pupils come together to discuss a particular topic, presided over by a schoolmaster and often including a guest speaker. The school has often invited prominent figures to give speeches and talks to the students; these have included heads of state, politicians, ornithologists, naturalists, artists, writers, economists, diplomats and industrialists, to name a few.

the classrooms. That’s interesting but why?

See, your classroom arrangement is just as important as your curriculum. When your classroom set-up is in harmony with your teaching style, the benefits can be endless otherwise it can be detrimental. For example, if you’ve three rows and the teacher's bench is in the front in the classroom, there is very little opportunity for a feedback because the teacher is not in a position to get anywhere. But that's what every classroom looked like when I came here. Almost 50% boys never had a teacher standing next to them because he couldn’t move. But now, in the new set-up that I’ve worked on, the teacher is able to move around freely, be next to every boy and the students are also working together and collaborate. Incidentally, collaboration is the most valuable skill you ever need in the workplace.

How is this affecting the feedback?

Well, it’s improved a lot because one of the things that gives the most rapid learning is the immediacy of feedback. If a teacher is able to stand next to someone, look into what he's doing, comment on it, give them a sense of how they can improve it, then they're going to learn faster and that’s exactly what is happening now.

What other areas you’re concentrating on?

I’ve already started making changes which are being noticed by one and all. I mean, if you’d come here six months ago, there would’ve been a very heavy desk here in my office. The classic power desk in which one person can sit in one high position and everyone else had to stand up around it. You can't have your knees up and you can't do anything together. I immediately got rid of that by putting in a table where we can all work together and there is no sense of fear. Everybody can say what he feels like. It’s part of the same idea that we’re all working together which is why it's

important that the doors of my office are always open as much as possible.

What’s the reaction of your staff and students?

I think whoever you are, you've got to be able to hear that you might be wrong. You've got to recognise that other people's ideas are probably better than yours. It's the same with masters. One of the things about India which is different from other countries is that there exists a huge power distance in this country that comes with leadership position, title, name and all of that. Germany, the last place I worked in, is the least power distant country that I've worked in. Anyone will say anything to anybody. Germans have a reputation for being forthright because distance doesn't exist. Again, that's a country where your ministers work for you and not for themselves and heads of school recognise that they're working for their staff and students and that's something I also tried to share with my teachers at the start of my time here. My understanding of my job is that they don't work for me, I work for them.

How are you trying to build leadership in your students?

At Doon, leadership is learned through the culture as much as the curriculum and is implicated in activities well beyond the classroom. It’s often developed informally. So, leadership is taught through our leading clubs, societies and sports teams. It's also developed through innovative and creative projects linked to the school’s social service programmes that range from flood management to the library and games to technology.

House life through the prefect system also provides leadership and collaborative experiences.

➊

At Doon, leadership is learned through the culture as much as the curriculum and is implicated in activities well beyond the classroom.

It’s often developed informally. So, leadership is taught through our leading clubs, societies and sports teams

So, how are you using the prefect system to develop leadership?

When I first came here, I met with the prefectorial body of the school. We've 20 prefects and the school captain. In my first meeting, I asked them what it is about being a prefect. And, they said, well, it's about punishing students. It's about having power to do certain things. I immediately thought that's what I need to work on. Incidentally, before I came, prefects were appointed during what they call ‘scooping’.

➋ 1. The school library 2. Students practicing instrumental recital 3. Drama students

Please elaborate on ‘scooping’.

It’s a Dosco word which means if you want to become a prefect, you’ve to make yourself ‘visible’ to your housemaster and other masters and that will make you look good and the prefect material. But I felt this is not the way to do things. Prefect is a position of responsibility and therefore they’ll have to apply for it and get elected from the prefectorial body. They’ve to realise that punishments are an indication that your leadership has failed because you had to resort to using power.

➌ May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 41

Cradle of Leadership So how did you do that?

We ran a workshop ‘So you want to be a prefect’, for which 63 out of the 105 students of class 11 came and 52 applied to be prefect because others realised that leadership is not for everyone.

What happened during the workshop?

I tried to explain to them what real leadership was. How it works. How by being caring and helping those who are in a lesser position of power than you makes them a true leader because the opportunity to take advantage of younger boys exists if power exists.

So, have punishments gone completely?

No. They’ve not, but I’ve made the prefects understand that punishment is the last resort. Your job is counselling. A leader is someone who has positive influence. We're drafting the Prefect's Punishment Table. So, they’ve recently abolished the awarding of ‘lines’ as punishment.

How much time it'll take to measure the effectiveness of these measures?

It’ll take three years because in three years time, the people coming up to the very top-end of the school will see and remember this is what we've been talking about.

We do have students who’ve the potential to do well at international level, but what we do is: we provide, like in our academics, broad curriculum of sports and facilities for that. In the next couple of years, we’re going to build an international level sports centre that will upgrade our facilities and include indoor climbing as well as squash, basketball, and so on. Right now, we’ve four squash courts, three tennis courts and two very nice basketball courts. Then there is a shooting range with a beautiful cricket pitch that also holds good for hockey and football.

There are sports classes in the time table. We've PT in the morning, and after lunch, we've sports, or social service or Socially Useful Productive Work.

There was a time when Doon used to produce stalwarts in politics, media, literature as well as civil and defence services. Why

Else’ on gays in India, which includes his time spent over here. Look at the writing he does in his works for the World Bank and the UN. He’s an author whose books on development, public health and gender issues have made huge impact on the care and development for the people of HIV in India. Then there are people like Sandeep Dutt whose pioneering work for the Fabindia Schools has been acknowledged world over as he’s working to provide affordable quality education in rural and urban India. We’ve got guys who are chairman of enormous industrial organisations in India and their family foundations are doing incredible work. You can’t imagine the work they are doing to support the arts, education and development of this country. But it’s done just quietly, not publicly. Again, if you want me to name politicians, other than the Gandhis, we’ve many including Jitin Prasad, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Dushyant Singh (son of Rajasthan CM

Goutam Thapar (Chairman) with Union Minister Arun Jaitley at Founder’s Day 2016

What’s the response of the parents to your reforms?

You get feedback from parents, who are either very unhappy or very happy. Everybody else in between doesn't care. Many parents of boys, who’ve been here for six years and now leaving, have told that they’ve never seen the boys looking happier in the school. They appreciate the new classroom arrangements and construction of five covered benches around the main lawns where boys enjoy sitting and doing work in the vicinity of nature and that builds social capital too.

How good are your boarding houses?

I’m working in the boarding houses to increase the privacy that boys have because there is really not much privacy and also introducing pantries so the boys have access to bread, milk, fruits, cheese and so on. Teenage boys are like horses they love eating but you're not supposed to have your own stock in school because that introduces inequity into the system. So, pantries will help. In some countries, you can't run a boarding house unless you have a pantry.

Tell us about sports activities at Doon. Do you train the students for big sports events like Olympics?

We compete in the Indian Public Schools Sports Tournaments for whatever sports you can imagine, be it boxing, swimming and the rest. But if you're talking about Olympics, we're not. We're not a sports academy. We're a school.

42 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

it’s not producing that kind of stuff anymore?

That’s probably reflecting around the world. But I disagree when you say we’ve stopped producing geniuses. I keep meeting our boys who are doing great work and changing the society. Of course, we’re proud of Doscos like former PM Rajiv Gandhi and my favourite writers Amitav Ghosh and sculptor Anish Kapoor. The list is endless. You’ve got people like Anil Kumar, the co-founder of ISB Hyderabad,which is considered India’s best institute of management, churning out people who’re influencing the way leaders think.

We’ve produced some great writers like Vikram Seth, Ram Chandra Guha and journalists like Pronnoy Roy, Aroon Purie, Karan Thapar, Vikram Chandra and Virender Prabhakar who’ve made huge impact. Talking of the new generation, I want to think of Siddharth Dube who has written a book titled ‘No One

Vasundhra Raje) and then there is Yash Gandhi who is a key political aide and war-room boy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A low-profile professional, I’m told, he’s said to have played major role in creating the Brand Modi and manages his social media content and analytics right there in the PM Office.

So you mean this impression is totally wrong?

No, but I see it differently. People have said to me: What are Doscos doing now? I say everything.

They’re leading TV channels, anchoring news and thereby influencing the way people think.

They’re making films. People like Roshan Seth, Himani Shivpuri, Chandrachur Singh acted in films. People like Shayan Italia are producing music. India’s only Olympic individual gold medallist Abhinav Bindra is also from Doon. There’re

go outside, I know anything can happen. People here drive without having any anticipation but to be in the middle of here is incredible. There’s so much to learn here. Each time I come back from my home in Germany or from Singapore where I worked, I feel so glad because India has more vibrancy, more energy, and more dynamism than anywhere I've ever been and that’s very exciting.

What would you say to a boy who wants to study at Doon?

If he’s coming from a day school from cities like Delhi or Gurugram, I’ll tell him to join here because he’ll be breathing cleaner, he'll not be travelling to the school for two and half hours a day, he'll not be exposed to gadgets and he’ll get a different exposure. Our mission is to attract and develop exceptional boys from all backgrounds to serve a meritocratic India and we take our responsibility to find what’s exceptional in boys very seriously. I’ll assure him of an all-round education built on foundations of Service, Sports, Creative Arts and Academics in lush green Chandbagh estate. I’ll tell him that we take very good care of our boys in the boarding houses. I think, is good for the kids who want to join Doon where we prepare teenagers for today’s competitive and inter-connected world and help them turn their ideas and passion into something original and valuable.

What I find here is an incredible willingness to participate in experiments, to try new things and to see how they work. Because of this urge to experiment, some of our students have done some very interesting things in the creative fields many, who may not be in public eye but doing great work. We’ve a social worker in Meerut who does community work silently. Similarly, we’ve got surgeons who are leading healthcare specialists in UAE, causing huge impact on medical policies of that region but without glamorising it.

How could Doon School remain at the front?

What I find here is an incredible willingness to participate in experiments, to try new things and to see how they work. Because of this urge to experiment, some of our students have done some very interesting things in the creative fields. By having so many activities, so many opportunities for students to try things, try handling leadership, try creative writing and again it's same with the staff. We give them opportunities so that they can try things and flourish. If we could carry this spirit forward, we’ll remain at the forefront.

What is your philosophy of life?

It is to recognise that I might be mistaken, that I’m not complete. It’s also to try and be enthusiastic and curious about everything. Incidentally, I think, curiosity and enthusiasm are the biggest gifts that a parent can give to their child. As soon as you start losing those two things, you’re on the road to a mundane existence and that's a tragedy.

What is it that you really like about India?

I’ll use the words of my friend Deepak Arora who used to teach German here. He’s lived in Germany and is currently head of a local school.

He once said, “Germany is organised hell and India is chaotic heaven” and that's exactly how I also feel. Though it’s not so chaotic in the school but as soon as I go outside the gates, it's complete chaos. I love driving here. It’s insane but I've never felt as excited in a car as I do here. When I

You teach Physics. What do you enjoy more—teaching or administration?

Working with people and helping them try and be the best version of themselves excites me.

What’s your mantra for churning out leaders from your school?

We’ve lots of old boys doing great work in different fields. They’re willing to help. With their support, I want to send our boys for internships and placements, so that they may learn how to turn their passions and dreams into reality. I’ve already begun this process. mathurpradeep1@gmail.com

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Bengaluru’s IT sector pays more

As per the Randstad Salary Trends Study 2017, Bengaluru, with an average annual CTC of `14.6 lakh, beat India’s financial hub, Mumbai, with `14.2 lakh. Hyderabad and the National Capital Region (which includes Delhi, Gurugram, and Noida) ranked third and fourth respectively.

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 43

Campus Placement

‘Life is a big learning lesson’ Coming from the Pink City, Jaipur, Mahima Chawla has managed to colour her life with a positive, neversay-die attitude that helped her turn setbacks into stepping stones to success and made her a champion

By Joe Williams From Neerja Modi School and Seedling Public School, Jaipur, to graduation (BA Economics) at St Xavier’s College, and masters in Telecom Management from a leading city college-that sums up the academic story of this Rajasthani girl, Mahima Chawla. She now makes her cut in the corporate world as she joins a leading private sector bank, IndusInd Bank.

Mahima shares with Corporate Citizen her journey from her home town into corporate banking. Mahima’s first choice was to become an IAS officer, but she did not have to look hard for a second option, because her parents always wanted her to be in banking. She has now made it happen.

Positive attitude makes one a champion

She did take some time to get to know what education was all about. Her parents were her initial teachers, like it is, for any child. Her positive attitude saw her turn into a ‘champion’ as she was known among friends.

“Life is a big learning lesson and it starts from day one of your life. I took my basic educaMahima with her friend tion from my parents before proceeding with school and college,” she confides. Her subsequent graduation in BA Economics (Hons.) from St Xavier’s College, Jaipur, boosted her confidence and she made 44 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

every impossible event possible with her positive attitude. “One thing is sure, be positive and everything will fall in place,” she stresses.

Learning beyond the books

Teachers, she says, are just not merely people who teach you from textbooks. “My teachers in my schools and colleges were more than just teachers, and that has made a big difference,” she says. She did have some favourites, one among them being her teacher Pankaj.

“My favourite teacher was Pankaj Sir who was my Informatics Practices teacher. He was a person who taught us more than the subject, who taught us how to live life happily, no matter how many ups and downs we were going through.”

Working with NGOs

‘The biggest challenge in the placement process was to keep believing in yourself, despite the rejections. One should believe in oneself and remember that nothing great ever came easy. More than your skills and knowledge, it’s your self-belief that makes you walk out victorious from all platforms’

For Mahima, it was not just schools and colleges that taught her what life was all about, her stints with NGOs also made things different.

“I have been a part of many NGOs, and my entire process was a learning process, I did best learning experience among them was not lose hope, but learnt from my mistakes with AIESEC. This organisation gave me so and made it happen,” says Mahima. “The bigmuch to remember in my life, so many friends gest challenge in the placement process was to from different parts of the world. It gave me keep believing in yourself, despite the an opportunity to inspire people and rejections. One should believe in bring a change in the lives of oneself and remember that slum kids and also work for nothing great ever came women’s empowerment.” easy. More than your Her Masters in Teleskills and knowledge, com and Management it’s your self-belief that will go a long way in makes you walk out her life, as it was here victorious from all that she learnt how to platforms.” live away from home.

Yes, it needs a “It was here I learned strong heart to stay how to face challenges confident even after all alone and to live being rejected six times. with people from differ“I never lost hope as I kept ent backgrounds and placMahima with her family believing in myself ”. But being es. Being a part of the Corpopositive in the face of failure takes rate Project Studies and Corporate every bit of determination, so it really Relations teams gave me a completely tested Mahima’s mettle. different exposure and a chance to work with a “My never-say-die attitude helped me hold great bunch of people,” she says. myself together in tough times. In all my difThe first job of anyone’s career is what brings ficult times, I never had the fear of falling down the twist in one’s life, while it was her college because I knew I would get up. And one gets up that gave her the kick-start to her corporate inonly after a fall,” she says. nings with a banking organisation. “I wanted to start my career with a decent organisation.

There have been many who helped make I am fortunate to have been a part of one of things happen for her. “First and foremost has the city’s best colleges, which enabled me to been the Almighty who gave me the strength get placed in a leading private sector bank. My to withstand the pitfalls,” Mahima is quick to college made me confident enough to face the say. “My parents and my younger sister, Gunplacement process.” jan were always there to boost my morale.

Gunjan has been a great pillar of support, beFailures before the win sides my parents. My friends stood by my side and taught me how to lead a life with posiHowever, getting there was no easy task. After not making the cut in her first six attempts, she tivity and self-confidence. And a big credit strived hard to make it in her seventh. “The goes to my friends in SBS, namely Shorbani,

Chetan and Yogesh who supported me and gave me confidence to face all the challenges during my PGDM.” Destiny is not a matter of chance, it’s a matter of choice for Mahima. “If you think you can, you are right! If you think you can’t, you are right again!! Because it’s your life, it’s going to be your decision,” is her motto.

Six tricks to success:

➊ Be positive and always believe in yourself. ➋ The more you sweat in practice, the less you bleed in the battle. ➌ Always be on top and never look down on yourself. ➍ Do not rest on your laurels, but build on them and many will follow. ➎ The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their own dreams. ➏ It’s not what you show to the world, it’s what is within you that makes you successful in life.

Joe78662@gmail.com

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Delhi tops internet readiness among states Delhi takes the first slot as the top state in terms of internet readiness in areas like e-infrastructure, e-participation, IT environment and government e-services, as per a report by industry body, Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). Delhi state is followed by Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 45

Loved & Married too It is not often these days that a college romance fructifies into a wedlock. Corporate Citizen unlocks the story of love that has culminated into marriage, for we believe in the stability of a relationship and family unit. We bring to you real-life romances that got sealed in marriage

Breaching distances:

A love that overcomes all Married for seven and a half years, dynamic entrepreneur Vinita Raj and her medico husband Dr A Rajkumar are living proof of the fact that love, actually, is about accepting the spouse with their dreams—and unique individuality. For better and for worse, in good times and bad, in togetherness and a (temporary) long distance arrangement...

Marriage is as beautiful a journey as you choose to make it. This is their story and this is how they tell it

“It

By Kalyani Sardesai

46 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

is a silly idea to fight nature or attempt to actively change it. It is instead, a far better option to own a person—particularly your life partner—with their God-given qualities. If someone handed you tender coconut water, would you want to tamper with its taste in anyway? No? Well, the same holds true for a human being,” expresses Dr A Rajkumar, Sr Assistant Surgeon at Government Villupuram Medical College, near Chennai.

He sure would know. For the last few years, his better half Vinita Raj has been in her hometown Indore with their daughter Kaelyn, even as she builds up their dream project—a linguistic translation business that engages over 173 wom-

en from home and ensures they stay employed without losing touch with their familial responsibilities. “It’s a fabulous job that she is doing,” says the 37-year-old Rajkumar fondly. “She is a born entrepreneur, hugely dynamic and energetic. She has it in her to build things. Wherever there is a good thought and intention she will bring her own positivity to it.” If that sounds like a supportive husband, Vinita (36) is quick to point out that, “Supportive is too small a word. He is, in so many ways, the wind beneath my wings. It is he, who put it into my head that I would be much better off, self-employed, and helped facilitate the necessary arrangements to make it all work, with minimum fuss.”

And to think, she had resisted him with her might from the word go.

Vinita Raj and A Rajkumar with Vinita Raj’s mother Madhu Sidhwani

Vinita Raj and her daughter Kaelyn

She is a born entrepreneur, hugely dynamic and energetic. She has it in her to build things.

Wherever there is a good thought and intention, she will bring her own positivity to it − Rajkumar Back to the beginning

This love story started in 2008, when Vinita, an ex-academic co-ordinator with an Indore-based college was looking for help with a research paper.

“Those were the days of Orkut, and I went online looking for medical professionals of the psychiatric community to answer my questions.”

Call it a Shah Rukh Khan hangover, or whatever, she typed in “Raj’ (after SRK’s iconic movie roles) and lo and behold, at that precise moment, Dr ‘Rajkumar’ came online. “He was very helpful and answered all my doubts,” she says.

As far as she was concerned, it was just a professional interaction. But two days later, he wished her for her birthday (as the date was listed on the site) and asked for her address so as to send across a bouquet. “I was taken aback. I told him in no un-

certain terms that while I was grateful for his help, I was not interested in anything else,” says Vinita.

But the enterprising doctor from Tamil Nadu was not to be put off so easily. “He gave a local florist my number and it did not take the florist long to locate my address and send across a five feet tall bouquet of roses.”

Vinita was furious. “I have been brought up very strictly by my mother, who raised my brother and me single-handedly after parting ways with my father, 37 years back. She is a nononsense lady, and there would have been hell to pay had she been home that day. But luckily she was not,” she narrates.

She called up Raj and gave him a piece of her mind. Still, he was persistent and hopeful and gradually the two developed a modicum of com-

munication. “Nevertheless, I made it clear to him that I was not interested in romance,” she says.

Not one to give up and convinced that he had found the girl of his dreams—dynamic and educated (she’s an MA in economics, has worked with IIM Indore amongst other institutions), yet traditional and balanced, Raj one day, mustered up the courage to propose marriage. Great going, except that it was well past midnight. “I got angrier still. I mean, I was sleeping! So I told him that I would not consider marrying anyone who proposed at that time,” she giggles. In those days, Vinita’s family was also looking out for a suitable marital alliance—from their own Punjabi community. “Everything was almost fixed. But then just a few days before the nuptials, we got some very disturbing information about the family, and everything was called off.” A little while later, Raj called her to congratulate and wish her a happy wedded life. “I told him the whole story, and said the nuptials had been called off,” says Vinita.

To her amazement, he actually cried out in joy. “I was like, this is the first time I have seen anyone this happy for someone else’s misery.”

She would soon know why. In just a bit, Raj would make the journey from Gudalur, Ootywhere he was now employed with a Government Hospital-to Indore, asking for a formal meeting with Vinita’s mother, a high ranking government officer. “As soon as he sat down, he started pulling out file after file — to show us his certificates and prove his credentials as anything but a fraud, unlike my former suitor,” she laughs.

Moved by his earnestness and sincerity, Vinita’s mother made enquiries of her own and found him suitable. “His father, though was not too pleased at the North-South alliance. They are simple Tamil folk and wondered how I would blend in with their family,” recounts Vinita.

But it helped that they were educated people— both retired government school teachers with a deeper understanding of people. “As soon as they met my mom, all their doubts seemed to vanish, and they simply asked what arrangements they needed to make,” she said.

With everyone’s blessings, the duo were wed

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Did you know?

Earlier, January 26, 1930 was celebrated as India's Independence Day or Purna Swaraj Day, when the Declaration of Independence was officially promulgated.

In a resolution passed by the Indian National Congress, it declared Purna Swaraj - complete freedom from the British Raj. However, in 1947, since August 15 became the official Independence Day, the Indian Constitution was adopted on this day in 1950, to mark the 1930 declaration.

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 47

Loved & Married too

The Mantras of a Marriage l Supporting each other's dreams l Making an effort to embrace each other's family l Trusting the partner, and giving them their space l Accepting the partner from the heart in totality

He is, in so many ways, the wind beneath my wings. It is he, who put it into my head that I would be much better off, self-employed, and helped facilitate the necessary arrangements to make it all work−Vinita in September 2009 at Vinita’s guruji’s ashram in Lucknow. “I’d like to point out that my guruji, who was a perfect blend of education and spirituality— having retired as a cardiologist stressed upon the fact that it was of no bearing whether or not the groom was from the same community. What was important was to look at him as an individual and human being,” says Vinita.

The building blocks of marriage

“The adjustment had not been difficult,” says Vinita. Raj agrees. “It’s a simple thing. Be at peace, and ensure your partner is too. When you start off with that mindset, everything else falls in place,” he says. “I have observed her carefully. Despite being so driven and focused, she’s a sensitive lady, and familial support is very important to her. I just make sure that I provide it,” he says. If this is an unusual thought process for an Indian husband, Vinita points out, his parents are instrumental in making him that way. “So many times my mother-in-law has taken up cudgels for me. How many traditional mothers-in-law would do that?” She wonders.

Similarly, his father went out of his way to learn Hindi by enrolling for a proper class to be able to converse with his bahu. “On my first birthday that fell after marriage, he made me a long and elaborate blessing in Hindi. I was touched at the sheer effort and willingness to include me in their world,” says Vinita. “These things add up and you, 48 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

too, want to give it your best shot to love and embrace your husband’s family as your own.”

Career-wise, sans compromise

“Two years into the marriage, I conceived our daughter. We were in Chennai then. It was very hard to manage on both work and home front. My in-laws were reluctant to leave their native Cuddalore for the hustle-bustle of Chennai. As I went back to Indore around this time for my delivery, I realised how much easier things would be with my mother, brother and bhabhi for help,” she recounts.

“Giving up work was not an option. I have always been a working woman, used to making my own decisions, and earning my own income. To stop doing so, it would be to stifle a very basic need. Luckily, Raj understood.” Around this time, she had been working from home—translating newsletters from English to Hindi for an engineering firm. With Raj’s support, she took the idea forward. “I realised there were many talented and educated women sitting at home. Why not start a business that allows them to work from home?” And thus was born Word Dealers Pvt Ltd seven years ago. It currently has 173 women translators engaged on assignment basis. “It is a win-win arrangement. The ladies receive value for their time, clients get commercial assignments translated at a reasonable cost and within an assured deadline—plus no one has to leave home.

This way, we don’t waste talent,” she says.

“In today’s age, it is an important step forward for the economy to gainfully engage its able-bodied and skilled work-force,” says Rajkumar. “Vinita is doing a wonderful job with her ladies, and I am proud of her. Yes, it is hard to stay away from her and our six-year-old daughter as I am at Government Villupuram Medical College in Tamil Nadu for my professional reasons, but this is a stopgap arrangement. We will soon be together,” he expresses.

He is a hands-on and involved father, making sure to be in touch with Kaelyn’s school projects and assorted notices on the parents’ WhatsApp group. “He keeps giving me valuable nuggets from time to time, giving me tips,” smiles Vinita. “When we are together every two months, he fits in a new educational app in my phone and asks me to make sure she learns the concepts. No wonder, Kaelyn is daddy’s little girl, despite being so far away from him.” Birthday parties are elaborate, with Raj going all out to make the decorations. “He totally dotes on her”, says Vinita. “He used to be a spontaneous, child-like person. But the day he heard that I was expecting, he became much more responsible, almost overnight. I cherish this ability of his to adapt to the need of the hour.” High praise, indeed, and Raj shares the sentiment. “She gives her hundred per cent to every role she plays, as wife, mother and employer. She has also found the time to do her LLB with her deft time management,” he says.

“I would not have been able to do all this without his trust, support and faith. As my business grows, and the pressures mounts, he uploads my achievements and awards on social media and advices me on expanding. I am blessed in every way, as I work towards building on our dream.” kalyanisardesai@gmail.com

Corporate Trend

Work Smart Not Hard

When you have just 24 hours in a day, to get the maximum out of your time, you have to start working smart using time and efforts in the right way. You get results from working smart By Rajesh Rao

A

re you working hard, spending long hours just to feel productive and accomplish something. But working hard can be detrimental to your career and health, often leading to stress, ill health, decreased productivity, compulsive behaviour and strained relationships. In such a case, isn’t working smart with tasks a better bet in enhancing well-being and making your life easier.

Work hard smartly

When asked about his hiring policy, Bill Gates had once famously said, “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job, because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” If long hours and hard work does not necessarily mean success and in today’s technology driven work process where time efficiency is greatly valued to increase productivity using saved time—working hard smartly does seem to be a better choice, to get the maximum out of your time and efforts.

Technology can be used in a way to do better jobs and streamline processes to save time.

Work smart the right way

When you have just 24 hours in a day, to get the maximum out of your time, you have to start working smart using time and efforts in the right way. You get results from working smart on right things that really make a difference and your smart choices must be realised into accomplishment.

Work smart and healthy

Long hours of work to meet deadlines, constantly working under pressure, and your health is bound to suffer. Ways to work smart and healthy is to get ample sleep in the night to rejuvenate your body and mind for better productivity next day. Take power naps or periodic breaks during working hours to avoid rigidity of body and refresh your mind. Never miss your breakfast or lunch—have time to enjoy your food and keep yourself hydrated—to

maintain a healthy balance.

What working smart means

Focus on important and urgent Prioritise your work for productive activities Use technology to automate and speed up your task Judge what is rightly needed to complete a task in time Use your screen time judiciously between work and social networking Say no to what is unachievable Do not procrastinate what one should be doing Find your own shortcuts Take a right course of action intended to achieve result, to save on time and effort Give realistic commitments Multitask, but not at the cost of productivity Be well-versed with working processes to maximise productivity and efficiency rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 49

PwC Survey

India, Vietnam and Bangladesh to be three of the world’s fastest growing economies by 2050 The world is rapidly evolving, and developing countries are on their way to becoming economic superpowers. But what would the economic landscape of the world look like in 2050? PricewaterhouseCoopers tries to answer this question through the ‘World in 2050’ Survey. Corporate Citizen presents the findings

After a year of major political shocks with the Brexit vote and the election of President Trump, the world has never seemed so unpredictable. However, this report, based on a rigorous modelling approach, focuses on the fundamental drivers of growth: demographics and productivity and lets us take a reasoned guess on what the world economy will look like in 2050. Following are the key findings of the report: ➊ The world economy could more than double in size by 2050. ➋ Emerging markets will continue to be the growth engine of the global economy. By 2050, the E7 economies could increase their share of world GDP from around 35% to almost 50%. China could be the largest economy in the world, accounting for around 20% of world GDP in 2050, with India in second place and Indonesia in fourth place (based on GDP at PPPs). ➌ A number of other emerging markets will also take centre stage – Mexico could be larger than the UK and Germany by 2050 in PPP terms and six of the seven largest economies in the world could be emerging

markets by that time. ➍ The EU27 share of world GDP could be down to less than 10% by 2050, smaller than India. ➎ Vietnam, India and Bangladesh will be three of the world’s fastest growing economies over this period. UK growth has the potential to outpace the average rate in the EU27 after the transitional impact of Brexit has passed, although the fastest growing large EU economy will be Poland. ➏ Today’s advanced economies will continue to have higher average incomes, but emerging economies should make good progress towards closing this gap by 2050.

Let us consider these points in detail.

50 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 51

PwC Survey Vietnam, the Philippines and Nigeria could make the greatest moves up the rankings by 2050

Emerging markets will dominate the world’s top 10 economies in 2050 2016

2050

China

1

1

China

US

2

2

India

India

3

3

US

Japan

4

4

Indonesia

Germany

5

5

Brazil

Russia

6

6

Russia

Brazil

7

7

Mexico

Indonesia

8

8

Japan

UK

9

9

Germany

France

10

10

UK

2050

up 12 places up 9 places

th

20

19

up 8 places

th

14

nd

nd

th

32

22

28

Vietnam

th

Philippines

2016

Nigeria

Average annual GDP growth rate, 2016-2050

E7 economies

4.3 %

5.1%

G7 economies

4.2%

Emerging markets such as India and China will go on to dominate the world’s economy, taking the crown from developed countries like the US, Japan and Germany.

Countries like Vietnam and the Philippines, which aren’t economic powerhouses today, will go on to make the maximum gains in economic stature by 2050. Nigeria, which comes under the world’s poorest nations in 2017, will also show remarkable strides in that time.

The US and Europe will steadily lose ground to China and India

Global economic power will shift to the E7 economies

The US and Europe will steadily lose ground (12% and 9% respectively, from 16% and 15% today) to China and India, whose share of global GDP will increase from 18% and 7% to 20% and 15% respectively.

E7 economies, which were half the size of G7 economies in 1995, will be double their size by 2040. The economic stronghold of the west will be gradually replaced by Asian economies.

In…

20% 15%

China 18%

US 16%

By… EU27 15%

2015 India 7%

E7

were half the size of

G7

E7

were around the same size as

G7

could be double the size of

G7

And in just 25 years…

12% 9% 2016

1995

2050

52 52 // Corporate Corporate Citizen Citizen // May May 16-31, 16-31, 2017 2017

2040

E7

G7: US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Canada and Italy.

E7: China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Russia, Mexico and Turkey.

2016

2030

2050

China 1

China, 1

United States, 2

India, 2

India, 3

United States, 3

Indonesia, 4

Japan, 4

Brazil, 5

Germany, 5

Russia, 6

Russia, 6 Brazil, 7

Mexico, 7

Indonesia, 8

Japan, 8

United Kingdom, 9

Germany, 9

France, 10

United Kingdom, 10

Mexico, 11

Turkey, 11

Italy, 12

France, 12

Projected GDP rankings

When looking at GDP measured at market exchange, China still emerges as the largest economy in the world before 2030 and India is clearly the second largest in the world by 2050, so there is still a considerable shift in economic power towards Asia in particular whichever measure we use.

Saudi Arabia, 13

South Korea, 13 Turkey, 14

Nigeria, 14

Saudi Arabia, 15

Egypt, 15

Spain, 16

Pakistan, 16

Canada, 17

Iran, 17

Iran, 18

South Korea, 18

Australia, 19

Philippines, 19

Thailand, 20

Vietnam, 20 Italy, 21

Egypt, 21

Canada, 22

Nigeria, 22

Bangladesh, 23

Poland, 23

Malaysia, 24

Pakistan, 24 Argentina, 25

Thailand, 25

Netherlands, 26

Spain, 26

South Africa, 27

Malaysia, 27 Philippines, 28

Australia, 28 Argentina, 29

South Africa, 29 Colombia, 30

Poland, 30

Bangladesh, 31

Colombia, 31 Netherlands, 32

Vietnam, 32

Projected real GDP per capita in 2050

With the exception of Italy, all of the G7 continue to sit above the E7 in our rankings of GDP per capita in 2050.

China achieves a middling rank by 2050, while India remains near the bottom. India’s GDP per capita trajectory over the next 34 years is markedly different to its overall GDP progression, illustrating that while strong population growth can be a key driver of GDP growth, it can also make it more challenging to boost average income levels. In 2016, US GDP per capita was around four times the size of China’s and almost nine times that of India’s. By 2050, these gaps are projected to narrow to around double China’s and around three times India’s, demonstrating long-term income convergence.

Higher GDP per capita

Lower GDP per capita

Projected growth profiles for larger economies

8% 7%

As can be seen from the figure, India will show the maximum growth between 2016-2020, higher than any other country in the world, with China coming in second followed by the USA.

6% 5%

Average annual growth in GDP in PPPs

4% 3% 2% 1% 0%

Brazil

Russia 2016 - 2020

India

China

2021 - 2030

US

2031 - 2040

UK 2041 - 2050

EU27

World

neeraj.varty07@gmail.com May May 16-31, 16-31, 2017 2017 // Corporate Corporate Citizen Citizen // 53 53

Health

Think, feel and look your best Jashoda Madhavji, Founder Dream N Hustle Media (DNH Media), who is one of India's most powerful celebrity publicists and image consultant, feels fitness is a passion and a confidence builder

By Sharmila Chand One of India's most powerful celebrity publicists and image consultants in India as well as a young entrepreneur at 33 years, Jashoda Madhavji has successfully founded a boutique public relations outfit called Dream N Hustle Media. After being trained under her grandfather — Ranjit Madhavji, founder of the iconic Hamilton Studios, for close to four years, Jashoda forayed into brand building at the age of 20 years and helmed senior positions with top media consultancies before venturing out on her own. With a degree in literature, economics and politics and a Trinity College Of London certification in dramatics, she has an expertise spanning across a decade. From movies to music, retail to hospitality, luxury to fashion, theatre to sports – in a short span of time, Jashoda, has dabbled in it all. With a creditable standing in the global fraternity, Jashoda is often referred as Ari Gold of the music PR business and has been instrumental in handling high decibel campaigns for personalities of the likes of Justin Bieber, Kapil Sibal, Dwayne Bravo, Akon, Bryan Adams, Sean Paul, Swedish House Mafia, Pitbull, Jeffrey Archer, Anoushka Shanker, AR Rahman, Armin van Burren, Tiesto, Dimitri Vegas Like Mike, Afrojack, LMFAO, Fatboy Slim, David Guetta, Hardwell, Above & Beyond, Naomi Campbell, Lilly Singh aka Superwoman. Apart

from individuals she has also catered to large format properties like Tomorrowland, Future Music Festival, Sunburn, Pakistan Super League, IPL ,VH1 Supersonic, EVC Festival, Sensation White and the likes.

Your philosophy on fitness?

Don’t be fit to fit in, but be fit because you’re passionate about it. Fitness is a passion and a confidence builder. I believe there is nobody more beautiful than persons with full confidence in themselves and their abilities. As they say, "You are who you are, no more, no less." That's why it pays to think, feel and look your best.

Your idea/mantra about being fit?

I believe you need to feel good to feel fit first. Even if you’ve got that perfect hourglass figure but if you’re not mentally happy you will never be fit.

What keeps you fit and healthy?

I believe it all comes from within.

Fitness is an inside job and comes from a lot of commitment and focus. I try not to do things that will cause harm to my inner wellbeing and health. I try to get enough sleep and stay away from too many late night outings and have a more balanced lifestyle. Thirty minutes of a basic workout thrice a week.

54 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

Your stress busters?

I love spending time with myself.

I think that’s very comforting.

I also do a lot of chanting and meditation. Sometimes you need to shut yourself away from the real world to find some peace. I also love travelling to quaint places and experiencing and exploring new cultures.

Your food philosophy?

getaway from the madness.I have never been to a gym, I always work out on my own. I love going to open spaces rather than being restricted in a congested place which can get monotonous. So you’d catch me jogging in a park

Your diet fads?

I don’t believe in dieting. You have one life, live it well.

Eat healthy and never kill your appetite. Eat small portions throughout the day and try to keep away from consuming too many packaged foods. I love fresh fruits and veggies and I prefer being vegetarian most of the times.

Your yoga regime?

Your exercise fundamentals?

A healthy mind reaps a healthy body and a healthy soul. So always focus on not just looking beautiful outside but feeling beautiful inside.

Most people forget this in the rat race!

Chand.sharmila@gmail.com

I think being fit is an indispensable ingredient for holistic well-being.

Being in the business of the media and PR, one rarely gets time for oneself so fitness really is like a

I generally like doing yoga early in the morning. It has a very calming effect on the senses. A 60 minute session.

Your healthy dose as parting shots?

Eat healthy and never kill your appetite. Eat small portions throughout the day and try to keep away from consuming too many packaged foods. I love fresh fruits and veggies and I prefer being vegetarian most of the times

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 55

Pearls of Wisdom

By Sadhguru

O

ne of the questions that I am asked frequently is how to choose the right person for companionship and marriage. Trying to find the perfect partner is expecting the impossible. One reason why marriage can be tumultuous is that you have to share so many things in this relationship. The issue is neither marriage, nor is it about a man and a womanhusband and wife. In any situation, where you are forced to share a lot with other people, you will face similar problems.

Trying to find the perfect partner is expecting the impossible In a marriage or cohabitation, you usually have to share the same space, the same everything.

How to make a

Marriage Work?

The issue is neither marriage, nor is it about a man and a womanhusband and wife. In any situation where you are forced to share a lot with other people, you will face similar problems

Consequently, every day, you are treading on each other’s toes in one way or the other. In other relationships, if someone is overstepping the boundaries, you can create a distance. Here, you do not have a choice. The greater the overlap, the greater the possibility of friction.

There are many couples who are living beautifully together, who are profoundly in love, and who are fantastic companions to each other. At the same time, this relationship can assume the ugliest forms. One contributing factor is that generally, no one gets to know the ugly things that 56 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

are happening behind closed doors. If someone on the street steps on your feet, you will react in a different way, because everyone is watching.

But in this relationship, no one is watching, so anything can happen.

What is needed to make a marriage successful is not the perfect person – there is no perfect person on the planet. What you need is absolute integrity. Whether someone is watching or not, you should act in the same way. Who you are should not change depending upon where and with whom you are. Once you have established your way of being, interacting with another person can be a joy. Another aspect is that if you try to extract something out of each other and you

or the other person does not get what he or she wants, there will be constant conflict.

What you need is absolute integrity You as an individual have to evaluate if this is just a passing interest, or if there is a strong need to have someone by your side. Not everyone has to get hitched, nor does everyone have to live alone. This is something that individuals have to look at for themselves. You should only get married if there is such a strong need in you that without a companion, you cannot live, and you believe marriage will be a stepping stone for your well-being.

There is nothing wrong with getting married.

married out of charity for the other person. You get married because you need certain things. If the other person is willing to provide them to you, and you live in gratitude, then there will not be too much friction.

Do not look for the ideal man or the ideal woman – there is none. If you understand that it is your needs that make you seek a companion, find someone who is reasonably compatible with you. If you accept, respect, love, include, care for, and take responsibility for each other, it can be a beautiful relationship.

This support may be physical, emotional, psychological, social, or financial – whatever it may be, you do not get married out of charity for the other person. You get married because you need certain things Shadowless Two lives can become one The hope of every lover.

The longing to be enjoined with another life is a longing for completeness of life’s experience.

The beauty is not togetherness but of near perfect alignment Like the shadow and its source being alike in moments of rare perfection. But alas life is of the moving sort.

As the light source moves the shadows will not align with the source. They wax and wane with every passing moment.

The opacity of your Being brings shadows of umpteen kind.

In knowing the transparence of One’s Being, shall you know the shadowless existence of perfect Alignment Love & Grace, (Article is sourced from www.sadhguru.org)

But if you get married without you having the need to do so, then it is a crime, because you will cause misery to yourself and at least one other person. We would advise everyone to get married if the human race was in danger of disappearing, but the human population is exploding. If you do not reproduce, you do humanity a great service.

Leaving that aside, the important thing is thisnot everyone needs to get married.

When someone asked Gautama the Buddha, “Should I have a companion?” He said, “It’s better to walk alone than to walk with a fool.” I am not that cruel. I am saying, if you find a similar fool, then something can be worked out. But based on your need-not because of what society is say-

ing, not because others are getting married, not because you worry about being alone.

What is your intention for your companion?

It should not be something like, “If I’m getting lost, let me have another person who gets lost with me.” Companionship or marriage does not solve existential problems. It just takes care of some of your needs. If you have strong physical, emotional, or psychological needs, then you should look for a companion. You should not get married for social and financial reasons alone.

Another point to remember is that you get married because you need support. This support may be physical, emotional, psychological, social, or financial-whatever it may be, you do not get

CC

tadka

India’s pay rise falls There will be a projected drop in pay increases to an average of 9.5% across industries from 10.2% last year, stated a survey by Aon recently. This 21st annual salary increase study that covered over a 1000 companies has projected a trend that reflects a gradual slowing of rampant pay increases but a higher emphasis on productivity and performance.

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 57

Bollywood Biz

The Most must watch

t s o Gh s m l i F Ghosts may not really exist, but cinema and audience’s fascination with ghost stories is legendary. Ghost films have been around since the advent of cinema, but they are often regarded as guilty pleasures, and not quality cinema. That may be true to an extent, but there are some ghost films, which have transcended genres, and have garnered critical as well as commercial success. This edition, we list the best ghost films you must watch

By Neeraj Varty

The Sixth Sense (1999)

Critics rating – 8.1/10 The Sixth Sense is a benchmark film in so many ways. It signalled the arrival of Indian American director M Night Shyamalan, who was hailed as the next Steven Spielberg after the phenomenal success of the movie. The Sixth Sense is a psychological thriller film about a boy who insists he sees dead people and a psychologist who tries to help him. The movie has been unanimously praised for its tense atmosphere and iconic twist ending which is yet to be matched till today. Apart from being a major commercial success, the film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Shyamalan, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor for Joel Osment, and Best Supporting Actress for Toni Collette.

58 // Corporate Corporate Citizen Citizen // May May 16-31, 16-31, 2017 2017 58

The Shining (1980)

Critics rating – 8.4/10

The Shining is one of the greatest horror films ever made. Based on the bestselling Stephen King novel of the same name, the movie is about a family, which heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future. Apart from being a very effective horror movie, this film tackles many serious issues like alcoholism and depression, and viewers will learn something new every time they rewatch this film. The Shining has inspired countless tropes in ghost stories since its release in 1980, and remains one of the most revered horror movies of all time even today.

Bhoot (2003) Critics rating – 7/10 When it comes to Bollywood movies, there aren’t many, which aren’t inspired from Hollywood movies, or else are too over the top to be considered scary. Ram Gopal Varma’s Bhoot is an exception. Released in 2003, this film is about a stock analyst and his wife who are in search for a flat in Mumbai, and select one which is apparently haunted. What is unique about the movie is it’s modern urban setting, (one of the first in an Indian horror movie), having no songs in the movie, and its use of sound as a medium to scare, rather that the overused horror movie tropes. Bhoot went on to become a huge commercial hit, and Urmila Matondkar went on to receive several accolades for her performance. Bhoot still remains one of the few Indian horror films to receive critical praise along with commercial success, although by now the formula has been repeated countless times by other Bollywood horror films.

The Others

(2000)

Critics rating – 7.4/10 The Others is a movie about a woman who lives in a darkened old house with her two photosensitive children and who becomes convinced that her family home is haunted. Nicole Kidman, who plays the lead, turns in a marvellous performance, which led the film to be nominated for eight Goya awards and two BAFTA awards, a rarity for a horror movie. This movie is a testament that you don’t need expensive special effects or prosthetics to make a scary film.

Sometimes excellent direction and acting is far more effective.

These movies can be streamed from Amazon Prime, Netflix and YouTube. neeraj.varty07@gmail.com May 16-31, 16-31, 2017 2017 // Corporate Corporate Citizen Citizen // 59 59 May

Mobile apps

The Best Apps for Free ebooks Ebooks are now at the height of their popularity. They are easy to download, convenient to store on your smart device, and can be accessed anytime by the tap of the screen. In 2016, the sale of ebooks has overtaken print books for the first time, and the trend shows no signs of slowing down.

The best part about ebooks is that a large number of them are available for free. Just download these apps, and start reading your favourite book for free right now By Neeraj Varty

KINDLE When we are talking of free ebook apps, there is no way we can miss out mentioning Kindle. The Kindle ebook reader by Amazon is the device, which started the ebook trend in the first place, and the Kindle app is no less revolutionary. You can download and read a lot of free books that span nearly all categories from romance to fiction, non-fiction, historical and more. You can also purchase the ones you want to read. It is ideal for those who cannot afford the Kindle Fire tablet by Amazon and are still looking to get a taste of the same.

GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS This app, as the name implies has been developed by Google. Google Play Books allows you to customise the interface while reading books.

You can play with the size and colour of the font, and tweak it to your liking. Not only this, if you are unable to comprehend the meaning of any word, you have an easy dictionary lookup feature as well. The best thing about Google Play is the fact that you can easily download books for free and make a quick purchase too.

GOODREADS Goodreads is the world’s largest reading community.

The app has the best database of books on this planet, and you can find a lot of free books here. There are a lot of paid books as well, but this is an extremely popular app for those who want to get some of the best recommendations. You can access quotes, play trivia and even participate in giveaways as well. This is an online community where you can find almost every title and thus it is a paradise for readers.

NOOK Nook is one of the best free applications for reading books. You can access the books by Barnes and Noble, which is without a doubt one of the leading book retailers. The user interface is very interactive and you not only can import epub and PDF, but this app also offers an integrated store where you can access magazines, newspapers and comics as well. neeraj.varty07@gmail.com

60 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

Claps & Slaps Corporate Citizen Claps for a women-centric edutainment programme on Doordarshan—Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon (MKBKSH), for reaching a viewership of 400 million plus

Corporate Citizen Slaps at the apathy of the pollution board and other civic agencies in dealing with the lake pollution in India’s silicon city, Bengaluru

Launched in 2014, the MKBKSH has been into its second season. It has been translated into as many as 13 languages, and also aired on 216 All India Radio stations. Developed by the NGO Population Fund of India (PFI), the show attempts to address varied issues impacting society on gender-related and health-related causes. Each of the episodes depicts prevalent societal tendencies that primarily impact women and children such as sex selection, early marriage, early and repeated pregnancies, undernutrition of girls, domestic violence etc. The show also attempts to spread awareness about the need to sensitise boys on their roles around social and gender-related issues. In the second season, the show focuses on adolescent issues and peer management as well as stigmas and practices related to menstruation, nightfall, early marriage, delaying first pregnancy, nutrition and mental health.

The story of MKBKSH starts with a young doctor who leaves her lucrative career in Mumbai to improve the quality of healthcare in her village and soon becomes an inspiration for many-mostly women, who begin to challenge societal norms. With a cumulative reach of over 400 million; especially as programme has multiple reruns too-this is first edutainment programme has managed to trigger both TRPs and mass consciousness.

“When we started this show we had concerns about how the show would be looked at, but after 131 episodes and two extremely successful seasons, we realised that the response from the people has been so encouraging. It is an attempt to fight hierarchy and patriarchy at various levels and given the show’s success, we feel that the impact is being felt at the grass root level,” said Feroz Abbas Khan, director of MKBKSH. The show has also been endorsed by celebrities including Bollywood actors such as Sharmila Tagore, Shabana Azmi, Farhan Akhtar, Soha Ali Khan and corporate leader Naina Lal Kidwai, who themselves advocate social change. In Season 2, Farhan Akhtar makes a special appearance as a ‘Sutradhar’ (narrator), in addition to a collaboration with his organization MARD (Men against Rape and Discrimination).

The NGO PFI promotes gender-sensitive population policies and programmes and has collaborated with the UNFPA, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and UNICEF to rebrand and promote the Government of India’s peer educator programme that has reached an estimated 8,00,000 peer educators.

These lakes are also the largest lake bodies in the city. The incidences are not stray occurrences. Over the last 20 years, these lakes have been showing frothing and foaming and have even busted into flames due to accumulation of toxic chemicals and untreated sewage.

In the absence of a sewage treatment plant at Bellandur, experts say, regular deposits of untreated pollutants from factories and sewage from the apartments in the region have led to this catastrophe, though that can be reversed.

Unfortunately, like most large cities, one constraint in Bengaluru is that its administration is controlled by different, and often competing, local agencies. As a result of the gripping lake condition, Bengaluru was also subjected to negative global headlines which perhaps prompted the city administrators to take steps to rejuvenate lakes. The government has now decided to invite British and Israeli firms to present their ideas to solve the sewage and stink problem. However, it has not gone down well with a section of the city’s lake rejuvenation experts.

T V Ramachandra, a professor at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and part of an expert committee set up by the government said, “International expertise is not required to clean up the lakes. It will take only 18 to 20 months to clean up the lakes, if the authorities do it the right way. We have given a reasonably good proposal for the rejuvenation of lakes in Bengaluru...we know how to manage it.”

Though the pollution board and the water and sewage board, are involved in pollution control, lake development and sewage management, it was the Karnataka State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation, which took the initiative to invite the foreign experts.

Scientists have warned that unchecked water pollution could leave Bengaluru uninhabitable by 2025. In another incident, the High Court has directed authorities to renew the license of the cooperative of the local fishermen conducting fishing activities in and around the Mallaghatta Ammanikere, the largest lake in Tumakuru, some 71 km from Bengaluru. The order came after the Department of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries prohibited fishing in the lake on claims that it was polluting the lake, the waters of which are used for drinking purposes.

Irrespective of the causes of water body pollution, it is sad to believe that the number of lanes in the city that was once tagged as a land of ‘kere’ or lakes have been reduced to 194 lakes from 285, in the last 3 decades.

(Compiled by Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar) May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 61

Dr (Col) A Balasubramanian

From The Mobile

➊

Learn leadership from Eagle...

Eagles fly alone and at high altitudes: They don't fly with sparrows, ravens, and other small birds.

Meaning: Stay away from narrow-minded people, those that bring you down. You are known by the company you keep. Eagle flies with eagles. Keep good company.

But accept that you are always ALONE at the TOP.

➋

Eagles have accurate vision: They have the ability to focus on something as far as 5km. No matter the obstacles, the eagle will not move his focus from the prey until he grabs it.

Meaning: Have a VISION and remain FOCUSED no matter what the obstacles and you will succeed.

➌

Eagles do not eat rotten prey: They feed only on fresh prey.

Meaning: Do not rely on your past success; keep looking for new frontiers to conquer. Leave your past where it belongs in the past.

➍

Eagles love the storm: When clouds gather, the eagle gets excited and uses the storm's wind to lift itself higher.

Once it finds the wind of the storm, the eagle uses the raging storm to lift itself above the clouds. This gives the eagle an opportunity to glide and rest its wings. In the meantime, all the other birds hide in the branches and leaves of the tree.

Meaning: Face your challenges head on, knowing that these will make you emerge stronger and better than you were. We can use the storms of life to rise to

greater heights. Achievers are not afraid to rise to greater heights.

Achievers are not afraid of challenges; they rather relish them and use them profitably.

➎

Always test the commitment of the other person: When a female eagle meets a male eagle and they want to mate, she flies down to earth, picks a twig and flies back into the air with the male eagle in hot pursuit. Once she has reached a height high enough for her, she drops the twig and lets it fall to the ground while she watches.

The male eagle chases the twig and catches it before it reaches the ground, and then brings it back to the female eagle. The female eagle grabs the twig again and flies to a much higher altitude and drops the twig again for the male eagle to chase. This goes on for hours with the altitude increasing each time until the female eagle is assured that the male eagle has mastered the art of picking the twig, which shows commitment. Then and only then will she allow him to mate with her.

Meaning: Whether in private life or business, one should test the commitment of the people intended for partnership.

➏

Eagles prepare for training: They remove the feathers and soft grass from the nest so that the young ones get uncomfortable in preparation for flying and eventually flies when it becomes unbearable to stay in the nest.

Meaning: One should always be prepared to leave the comfort zone. There is no growth there.

62 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

➐

When the eagle grows old, his feathers become weak and cannot take him as fast and as high as it should. This makes him weak and he could die. So he retires to a place far away in the mountains. While there, he plucks out the weak feathers on his body and breaks its beaks and claws against the rocks until he is completely bare, a very bloody and painful process.

Then he stays in this hiding place

until he has grown new feathers, new beaks and claws and then he comes out flying higher than ever before.

Meaning: We occasionally need to shed off old habits no matter how difficult; things that burden us or add no value to our lives.

These should be let go of...

Be persistent and never give up.

Be like an eagle and never ever give up!

 How does Moses make his tea?

-Hebrews it.

P u n t a s t i c P u n s

 A cartoonist was found dead in his home.

-Details are sketchy.

 I used to be a banker.

-But then I lost interest.

 England has no kidney bank.

-But it does have a Liverpool.

 They told me I had type-A blood.

-But it was a Type-O.

 I changed my iPod's name to Titanic.

-It's syncing now.

 I stayed up all night to see where the Sun went.

-And then it dawned on me.

 I'm reading a book about anti-gravity.

-I just can't put it down.

 I did a theatrical performance about puns.

- It was a play on words.

 Why were the Indians able to settle here first?

- They had reservations.

 We're going on a class trip to the Coca-Cola factory.

- I hope there's no pop quiz.

 I didn't like my beard at first.

- Then it grew on me.

 Did you hear about the cross-eyed teacher who lost her job?

- She couldn't control her pupils.  How do you know when you get a bladder infection?

-You know urine trouble.

a play with letters...

The Washington Post's invitational asks readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Some winners: 1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realise it was your money to start with.

2. Cashtration: The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

3. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

4. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

5. Glibido: All talk and no action.

And the winner was...

Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

Number of VIPs… Britain

84

France

109

lary?

- A thesaurus.

Japan

125

Germany

142

 I dropped out of the Communism class

USA

252

Russia

312

China

435

INDIA

5,79,092

 Broken pencils are pretty much pointless.  What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabu-

-Because of lousy Marx.

 I got a job at a bakery

- Because I kneaded dough.

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 63

astroturf If conditions or circumstances disturb you make note of them to change later. Your good happens through doing good to others.

Allow others to have their way as long as it isn’t destructive.

Aries

Mar 21- April 20 Greatest days:21, 22, 30 Hectic days:27, 28 Honey days: 21, 22 Money days:17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 Profession days: 22, 30 Those connected with education like teachers, journalists, writers or marketing will have a month of prosperity as you stay motivated.

Health remains good. Relationships will strengthen.

TAURUS

April 21 - May 20 Greatest days: 23, 24, 29, 30 Hectic days:17, 18 Honey days: 21, 22, 23, 24 Money days:16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 26 Profession days:17, 18, 22, 30 Your financial intuition is enhanced and reliable. On the 16th, Mercury will cross your ascendant and enter your 1st house bringing in financial windfalls and opportunities. Your personality shines.

GEMINI

May 21 - June 21 Greatest days:17, 18, 25, 26 Hectic days:19, 20 Honey days:17, 18, 21, 22, 25, 26 Money days:17, 18, 25, 26, 27, 28 Profession days:19, 20, 27, 28 Mars will spend the month in your sign and on the 20th the Sun will enter Gemini. This is the time to make those changes you have long been wanting to make.

You will have more earning power from the 25th onwards.

CANCER

Jun 22 - July 23 Greatest days:20, 27, 28 Hectic days:21, 22 Honey days:21, 22, 30 Money days:17, 18, 25, 26 ,29, 30 Profession days:17, 18, 21, 22, 25, 26

(www.dollymanghat.com)

Fortune favours the bold and the lucky

Your attitude is your altitude, says Dolly Manghat, our renowned Astrological expert and believes she helps people create their own prophecies rather than live predictions Venus spends a month in your 10th house. People who matter will support your career plans.

Your status is enhanced and you may get many opportunities for career growth and business.

LEO

July 24 - Aug 23 Greatest days:21, 22, 29, 30 Hectic days:17, 18, 23, 24 Honey days:17, 18, 21, 22, 30 Money days:16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 26 Profession days:21, 22, 23, 24 Health remains good and gets better after 20th. If you feel under the weather it’s an indication for you to take a breather by slowing down. Career is going great for now as the career planet Venus is moving forward. Love remains status quo.

VIRGO

Aug 24 - Sept 23 Greatest days:23, 24 Hectic days:19, 20, 25, 26 Honey days:19, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28 Money days:17, 18, 21, 22, 25, 26 Profession days:16, 23, 24, 25, 26 Pluto is receiving happy aspects, students below college level will also do well. Health needs to be taken care of after the 20th. If you have good business ideas there will be outside investors.

64 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

LIBRA

Sept 24 - Oct 22 Greatest days:17, 18, 25, 26 Hectic days:21, 22, 27, 28 Honey days:17, 18, 21, 22, 25, 26 Money days:17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 26 Profession days: 25, 26, 27, 28 Your finance remains satisfactory, you will experience delays and glitches as your money planet is still retrograde. Try to remain vigilant in whatever decisions you take. Trips with partners will strengthen the bonds.

SCORPIO

Oct 23 - Nov 22 Greatest days:19, 20, 27, 28 Hectic days:17, 18, 23, 24, 29, 30 Honey days:21, 22, 23, 24 Money days:17, 18, 25, 26 Profession days: 25, 26, 29, 30 Your life has been about emotional wellness and functioning from your emotional comfort zone.

Super Moon on the 25th is very good for giving a push to your career. Earnings happen easily.

SAGITTARIUS

Nov 23 - Dec 22 Greatest days:21, 22, 29, 30 Hectic days:19, 20, 25, 26 Honey days:21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 Money days:17, 18, 22, 25, 26, 30 Profession days: 16, 23, 24

CAPRICORN

Dec 23 - Jan 20 Greatest days:23, 24 Hectic days:21, 22, 27, 28 Honey days:21, 22, 27, 28 Money days:17, 18, 22, 25, 26, 30 Profession days:21, 22 Self-confidence and self-esteem are not at their best right now.

Your way might not be the best way. It is your ability to get on with others—to gain their cooperation and their grace—that brings success.

AQUARIUS

Jan 21 - Feb19 Greatest days:17, 18, 25, 26 Hectic days:23, 24, 29, 30 Honey days:21, 22, 25, 26, 29, 30 Money days:17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27, 28 Profession days:23, 24 May is not a strong career month home and family seem important; career success is happening.

Much healing will happen and obstructions to love can be resolved.

PISCES

Feb 20 - Mar 20 Greatest days:19, 20, 27, 28 Hectic days:25, 26 Honey days:16, 21, 22, 23, 24 Money days:17, 18, 21, 22, 25, 26 Profession days:17, 18, 25, 26 Health needs more attention from the 20th onwards and after 25th four planets are in stressful alignment with you. This should not cause any serious problem.

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January 1-15, 2016 / `50

CORPORATE CULTURE

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

INTERVIEW

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

Dynamic Duo 21 MEERA SHANKAR AND AJAY SHANKAR

UNFLINCHING SUPPORT

May 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 65

the last word

Ganesh Natarajan

Digital to the Last Man

One should not forget that Digital India is not just a toy for the rich and the information savvy but will be truly transformational only if every Indian uses digital power and sees the benefits

T

he impact of Digital India was really felt when the sharp blade of demonetisation made every Indian to find an alternative for cash. Today words like BHIM, Aadhar Payments and Cashless Economy have become part of everyday conversation and there is a real opportunity to understand what Digital can and will mean for us in the years to come.

At the very least, Digital India will provide the glue called Bharatnet, or a massive network of optical fibre and Wi-Fi that enables each person and institution to be connected through multiple devices-computers tablets and phones-providing the ability to access and exchange data at high speed. When fully delivered, Digital India will prove to be one of the great equalisers, removing all asymmetry of information and opportunity and creating a true spirit of liberty, equality and fraternity for a billion Indians.

My favourite example will make this clear. When Prime Minister Modi launched the National Digital Literacy Mission from Morabadi, Ranchi over two years ago, even he would not have imagined the inexorable forces of change it would let loose. Eagerly adopted by the Common Service Centres of the Ministry of Electronics and IT in Rural India and

by NASSCOM Foundation in the cities, with Pune City Connect and

the Pune Municipal Corporation choosing Digital Pune 2020 as one of its key agendas for Smart City Transformation, the NDLM scheme has morphed into a comprehensive Digital and Financial Literacy (DigiDhan) nation-wide movement. Our early rural implementations was in Sudumbre village near Pune, where we expected the youth of the village to be the first adopters of Digital Literacy.

Contrary to this, elderly women of the village took to the training like ducks to water. In a chat with us when we visited the village, one

kart following the global success stories of Amazon and Uber have demonstrated that given the power of information and choice at their fingertips, Indians are willing to substitute the afternoon outing to the store by a quick browsing on the net for goods and services. The immense success of Deep Kalra’s 'Make My Trip' and the adoption of the Internet as a B2B transaction medium by a variety of businesses has shown that this is one change which cannot be reversed.

With new technologies like Social Networks, Mobile Apps, Big Data and Cloud moving to mainstream adoption in Corporate India and new business opportunities in User Experience and User Interface creation snapped up by the

When fully delivered, Digital India will prove to be one of the great equalisers, removing all asymmetry of information and opportunity and creating a true spirit of liberty, equality and fraternity of them gleefully pointed out that the digital capability enabled her to call the bluff of many suitors for her granddaughter, who providing misleading information about their land holdings, which she could challenge by diving into the internet. If this is not information asymmetry addressed, what is?

But a truly digitally transformed company will go beyond such simple anecdotes to make enormous change in the country.

The early business to consumer experiments like OLA and Flip-

66 / Corporate Citizen / May 16-31, 2017

entrepreneurial community, both corporations and individuals have evolved in making Digital India a reality in the past year and more.

However, one should not forget that Digital India is not just a toy for the rich and the information savvy, but it will be truly transformational only if every Indian uses digital power and its benefits. Healthcare including remote diagnostics, telemedicine and education has to be the next.

Particularly in the third and fourth tier locations, it can be made en-

lightening and even entertaining if the search and display facilities provided through new technologies are harnessed and exploited for the benefit of new learners. In a recent discussion with a young Indian executive in California, I was not surprised to hear that middle school teachers in that country have already integrated Khan Academy videos into their teaching process—very much as universities and corporate learning departments are embracing MOOCs and standard content from Coursera and HBR as part of their skill development processes, served up in engaging contexts through adaptive technology platforms like Skills Alpha. Virtually in every field of human activity and endeavour, digital power can change the outcomes and enable a better quality of life and work for all Indians.

The world of Digital is ever changing and one does not expect the average citizen to keep pace with technology evolution.

However, ignore the revolution in consumption that digital will create at your own risk! Digital transformation and Digital India will transform cities, communities and people and the willingness to experiment, explore and adapt will create new opportunities and tremendous excitement for all of us in the months and years to come! We should embrace it willingly to make the India of our dreams a reality.

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

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