CRADLE OF LEADERSHIP
Founder Vice Chancellor, Prof. (Dr) Ranbir Singh, The National Law University, Delhi (NLUD) Volume 3, Issue No. 15 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in
From My Wall
Phatak un (R Ar
D.) ET
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A heart-tugging Facebook post by Sangeeta, wife of Major Akshay Girish Kumar, martyred in Nargota terror attack
Dynamic Duo: 59
Dare To Do Major Arun Phatak (Retd.) and his enterprising wife Pratibha, on life in the Army and making a mark in the corporate world
October 16-31, 2017 / `50
Survey Ease of Doing Business survey by NITI Aayog and banking corporation IDFC Career Fest 2017 Careers in BPO and ITES sector
2 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
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Guest Talk / T Hari Editor-In-Chief’s Choice
Dr (Col) A Balasubramanian
Pill to Pillow Epidemic The epidemic of ‘pill to pillow’ needs to be addressed by centring healthcare around the needs of the patient in a manner that makes ‘kill the pill’ a motto for everyone
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hat would you rather spend your dollar on-getting well or being well? As simplistic as it may seem, for years India and several other countries have been doing exactly the opposite. Mortality and Morbidity be damned, we continue junking our health often with detrimental lifestyle choices. Worse case there is always a pill if we hit the pillow! The epidemic continues to spread. The inevitability of an aging mind and weakened body long been forgotten. Pilates and workouts mostly keep us looking good but are we giving our mind and body what it needs or are we simply letting “unpredictability” knock at our doorstep. And yet we blame our health problems on perennial issues of skewed healthcare infrastructure, mounting healthcare expenses and feel the “government” isn’t doing enough! Little do we realise that India needs at least 75% of the population to be covered to considerably bring down the expenditure on healthcare and if the high incidence of ‘preventable’ lifestyle diseases is prevented or detected early, it can considerably reduce the healthcare spend. For instance, diabetes is a preventable disease. Adopting pre-
ventive care can help find an early cure and bring down the costs. The Parochial approach towards the healthcare system is now affecting the per capita cost on healthcare. Indian government spent 1.3% of GDP on healthcare in 2015-16, abysmally low but almost all of it is for curative purposes. Unfortunately, India’s healthcare delivery system does not support a preventive care methodology and when illness strikes, most people bear the cost of treatment from their own incomes.
Healthcare plans that follow a ‘one size fits all’ approach are bound to fail!
Our cookie cutter mindset fails to realise that each individual has his own genetic makeup and needs to be treated differently. Taking 10,000 steps on a pedometer in isolation isn’t a walk towards wellness.
The pathway to predictive and personalised care requires much more!
Most importantly, it requires radically realigning healthcare priorities. Episodic, reactive ‘fix’ or dealing with a health issue needs to be replaced with pre-emptive therapies. The ‘amplified spend’ on late stage disease management can very October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 3
Guest Talk / T Hari well be contained through early detection, timely interventions and more importantly better focus on wellness.
Several disruptive technologies focused on predictive intelligence are now coming to the fore
The preventive care system can be enhanced using futuristic technological modules such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), SMAC, Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data Analytics. The ability to predict the risk of a specific disease or medical condition based on the individual’s genetic profiling finds its roots in mining accurate and robust personal health data. Which, in the IoTised world of device integration, is now not only a possibility but also lends itself into AI and use for clinical decision support systems for more accurate diagnosis and better clinical interventions. Furthermore, technology enables bridging geographical
Technology enables bridging geographical gaps in the heath ecosystem by helping the population avail consultations via video calling and electronically connect with medical practitioner sitting miles away
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gaps in the heath eco-system by helping the population avail consultations via video calling and electronically connecting with medical practitioner sitting miles away. Technology can also go a long way in recognising localities as per disease prevalence and take proactive steps.
But are we ready for it?
The future of healthcare is a journey that requires each one in the ecosystem to accept, adopt, practice and embrace two key things: ● Behavioural: preferential shift from curative to preventive care ● Science as the backbone: deep integration of big data and smart devices
Let me begin by explaining the first one−Behavioural
Reflex mechanisms aside, the human mind is naturally habituated to what’s not good for it. The mind reads what it seeks in most instances and then we have Google to confirm what we believe is right or wrong with us. Generic messages are noise in today’s word smitten world. To progress towards a well-being focused lifestyle, we need to get “smarter” and for that there are several smart sensors and devices-digital mirrors, sleep tracker mattresses, smart scales and plenty of app on the smart phones. Copious amounts of unstructured data are being collected at every touch point and yet we are caught unaware when a medical condition hits us. This needs to change-we need to get
smarter with what we are doing with this information and use what’s being tracked to get back on track. But with the hectic pace of everyday lives, we have muted the shout outs from these smart devices. Or in worst case, we hear the voice but are not sure how we can link this information with our health plan. A diagnostic report cannot be deciphered easily; a smart report on the other hand brings better insights both for the clinician and also for patient education. Which is why we require a virtual health assistant who can string together the disparate information from multivariate sources, structure it in the required form and make it portable real-time. Most importantly, talk to us and help create a personalised health regimen, schedule timely check-ups and facilitate our healthcare needs end to end. A pit stop of sorts-yet in a non-intrusive way!
But is that even possible in today’s siloed world?
I am envisioning CallHealth’s three-dimensional platform that perfectly blends all entities within the healthcare eco-system, channelises them to the customer as per their needs and uses a robust health information system to collect, structure and analyze the data that is gathered from each source. Currently, our highly integrated platform enables the patient to connect with a doctor sitting miles away giving his consultation. Our patients’ health records are safely and securely recorded in our system data for it to be accessed and shared with professionals and family members, as and when required. We believe that by leveraging technology we can not only eliminate the tyranny of time and distance but also can bring healthcare to people in remote tier II areas. Complex as it may sound, doing so with simplicity is science, which is the second point I would like to reflect upon. The integration of big data is the much-awaited revolution in the Indian healthcare ecosystem. Big Data is a tool for new-age players like CallHealth to disrupt the traditional forms of healthcare delivery models and modernise approaches that keep patient at the centre of the entire process. At CallHealth, every interaction with customers and their health data is recorded and processed under Clinical Decision Support System. Be it ‘Symptom to Disease’ or ‘Drug to Disease’ mapping, data scientists are not only looking at ways to better the diagnosis but are actively looking at predictive health modelling, pattern recognition and personalised care monitoring to predict, prevent and treat various health issues ranging from physical to mental disorders. A personalised and customised system of integrated healthcare delivery enables us to track and observe the health lifecycle of our customer base-patients. This real-time access to all patients’ records simultaneously makes it convenient for people, who are busier due to
To progress towards a well-being focused lifestyle, we need to be ‘smarter’ and for that there are several smart sensors and devices-digital mirrors, sleep tracker mattresses, smart scales and plenty of apps on the smart phones the prevalent lifestyle, who tend to defer health check-ups for a ‘later time’. Further, using probability and statistical trends, CallHealth is able to enhance the service portfolio and make those services readily available that correspond with the recurring diseases or issues. For example, in Hyderabad, we have been able to observe and record trends of the recurring diseases across the city. Additionally, we foresee the market of smart devices in healthcare growing at a rapid pace in coming years. It will lead to significant reduction in the operational cost of healthcare service providers, further, making healthcare services far more effective and affordable. CallHealth has well-integrated a wide range of smart devices (promotive, prognostic, diagnostic and therapeutic health devices) into its analytical architecture that stores all patient health data generated through these devices and doctor-patient interactions. With more and more data points getting stored, CallHealth’s platform is able to recognise complex health patterns, carry predictive analytics and make the whole healthcare experience more affordable, hassle-free and transparent. The objective is to change the reactive cure mindset of the patients and the industry to preventive care. The shift is only possible with the use of future technologies at the most basic levels, such as building and maintaining portable electronic health records for all and using the intelligence derived from data to develop personalised health plans and better manage healthcare outcomes. Which is why, we are actively partnering with Corporates to bring tailored health solutions for employees. The CallHealthHealthcare Lounge is more than a physical clinic on-site, it is a hi-tech and hi-touch blended healthcare delivery model that: A. Provides a combination of physical and virtual access to doctors, nurses, specialists, wellness experts, medicines, diagnostics, hospital facilitation and more B. Utilizes data storing and analytic tools through CallHealth’s Health Information Platform to understand and monitor the health index of the corporates C. Develops and executes health management programmes aimed at tangible clinical outcomes that have the potential to substantially improve workplace productivity and reduce the incidence of lifestyle related health disorders. Clearly, the epidemic of ‘pill to pillow’ needs to be addressed and the solution is in centring healthcare around the needs of the patient in a manner that makes ‘kill the pill’ a motto for everyone! (T Hari is a multi-disciplinary leader, who-as the CEO of CallHealth, is laying the foundation for a disruptive healthcare services model that could be replicated globally.) October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 5
Contents 22
Cover story
Dynamic Duo 59
Dare to do
A candid interview with Maj Arun Phatak, who after retirement, has led several corporate organisations to the path of success and with his wife Pratibha, a dynamic enterprising woman in her own right
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9 COLLYWOOD Chatpata Chatter from the Corporate World 13 MANAGE MONEY All that you want to understand about profit 14 WAX ELOQUENT Who said what and why 6 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
Volume 3 Issue No. 15 October 16-31, 2017 www.corporatecitizen.in
16 EXPERT VIEW Lessons to learn from the Infosys corporate debacle
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18 INTERVIEW Pramod Sant, Vice President-Head of Import Export and Export Control and Customs at Siemens Ltd. on impact of the current government on manufacturing 30 CAREER FEST 2017 HR professional, Gurubharan Swaminathan, Regional HR Head, Tata Consultancy Services on career opportunities in BPO and ITES sector
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34 CRADLE OF LEADERSHIP Founder Vice Chancellor, Prof. (Dr) Ranbir Singh, talks about the remarkable achievements of The National Law University Delhi (NLUD), and why it is recognised as a premier institution in law education
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42 HR TALK Prabhash Nirbhay, founder and CEO, Flipcarbon, on entrepreneurship, education and the latest trends in HR 45 FROM MY WALL A wife’s touching note on her Facebook wall, on how she smiles through her tears and keeps the memories of her martyred husband, Major Akshay Girish Kumar, alive 46 CAMPUS PLACEMENT Damini Parsewar shares her experience of college and the first job 48 LOVED AND MARRIED TOO Dinesh K Pillai, CEO, Mahindra Special Services Group, and his better half Rupal, on their 25 years of value-based marriage 50 SURVEY Results of the Ease of Doing
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contents
Editor-In-Chief Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian Consulting Editor Vinita Deshmukh vinitapune@gmail.com Assistant Editor Prasannakumar Keskar prasanna.keskar@gmail.com
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Senior Business Writer Rajesh Rao rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com
Business survey, conducted by NITI Aayog and banking corporation IDFC
Senior Sub-Editor Neeraj Varty neeraj.varty07@gmail.com Sub-Editor Vineet Kapshikar vineetkapshikar@gmail.com
54 HEALTH The Eatwell Guide provides fundamental guidelines to achieve a healthy and balanced diet
Writers Delhi Bureau Pradeep Mathur, mathurpradeep1@gmail.com/ Sharmila Chand, chand.sharmila@gmail.com
56 PEARLS OF WISDOM Dada J P Vaswani on how your expectations can become powerful currents of energy 58 BOLLYWOOD BIZ Highest grossing Bollywood film franchises of all time
Bengaluru Bureau Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar sangeetagd2010@gmail.com Pune Bureau Joe Williams / Kalyani Sardesai / Namrata Gulati Sapra
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Manager Circulation Mansha Viradia +91 9765387072, circulations@corporatecitizen.in West : Jaywant Patil +91 9923202560 North : Hemant Gupta +91 9582210930 South : Asaithambi G +91 9941555389
60 MOBILE APPS Details on new iPhones unveiled by Apple 66 LAST WORD Making blended learning, the standard, for education and skills of the future
Creative Direction Sumeet 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! 8 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
Graphic Designer Shantanu Relekar On Cover Page Pratibha and Major Arun Phatak (Retd.) Cover Page Pic by Yusuf Khan 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
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People in the news
Jethmalani bids goodbye to legal practice He has several name tags, good, bad and ugly. Better known as the Devil’s Advocate, maverick lawyer, rebel and genius, this flamboyant Ram Boolchand Jethmalani who has the honour of standing in the Bar for 76 years, has called it quits to legal practice. He made this announcement at a function organised by the Bar Council of India to felicitate the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra. Jethmalani turned 95 years on September 14. One of the highest paid lawyers in the Supreme Court, Jethmalani did hint about this big announcement while mentioning a service matter to Justice Kurian Joseph. A Rajya Sabha member from Bihar, Jethmalani has appeared in many leading and high profile cases. Jethmalani was the law minister during BJP’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee led NDA government for a short time. Ram Jethmalani obtained a law degree at the age of 17, and was the youngest lawyer to practise. At that time, the minimum age for becoming a lawyer was 21, but a special resolution allowed him to practise at 18.
Cooper to quit Goldman Sachs Edith Cooper, the Global Head of Human Capital Management (HCM) at Goldman Sachs, is said to be set to bid goodbye to the company by the end of this year. Dane Holmes, the Global Head of Investor Relations and Global Head of Pine Street is expected to replace her. Cooper joined Goldman Sachs in 1996 to lead the firm’s Energy Sales Group. Within two years she was elevated as the Managing Director and soon became the partner. She was co-head of the commodities business in Europe and Asia, based in London. In 2002, she handled the firm’s futures business. Being the senior black woman in the company, she led the discussion on race and equality. Cooper has also been associated with Board of Trustees of the Museum of Modern Art, Mount Sinai Hospital, the Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership & Ethics (COLE), the President’s Council of Howard University, as well as the Northwestern University Board of Trustees. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Horizons at Brunswick School.
Piyush Goyal defends bullet train project
There have been talks of the pros and cons of the bullet train. But the newly appointed Union Railway Minister Goyal drew a parallel to the criticism Suzuki faced when Maruti was brought in 30 years ago. “I’d like to draw a parallel to Maruti Suzuki. When we partnered with Suzuki to bring in Maruti, a lot of people criticised the move. Can we imagine now that those two models, which aren’t even made anymore, changed the way we travel?” Calling it a revolution in transportation in the country, he is hopeful that the bullet train can bring about change in transportation in a similar way. This project which costs `97,636-crore will use Japanese bullet train technology. This Japan-India collaboration will also serve as a model for the adoption of the Shinkansen technology by other Indian railway systems, with China also aiming to win orders for the projects. This 500-km Railway line between Mumbai and Ahmedabad in Western India, is likely to commence in 2023. It is based on the Japanese high-speed technology Shinkansen, which is better known for its safety and comfort.
October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 9
collywood Adobe introduces pay parity policy With an intention to close in the gender wage gap, and in a bid to promote diversity and inclusion in the workforce, Californiabased software major, Adobe Systems has introduced a gender pay parity policy in India. “Adobe Systems Incorporated announced it expects to close the gender wage gap in the US by the end of its fiscal year, with women paid $1 for every $1 earned by male employees,” the company said in a statement adding, “There will remain no wage-gap between white and non-white employees, as previously announced last year.” In India, Adobe said female employees are currently earning 99 per cent of what male employees earn and is working to close the remaining gap. “Fair pay and equal treatment aren’t just the right things to do, they also have a significant, positive impact on the business bottom line. We will continue to push for full pay parity globally,” said Donna Morris, Executive Vice President, Customer & Employee Experience, Adobe. Adobe’s US and India employee populations combined comprise 80 per cent of the company’s global workforce. “We are excited to announce pay parity at Adobe India, which is aimed at abolishing the gender pay disparity in the technology industry. This is in line with our commitment towards building Adobe India as a diverse and inclusive workplace for all,” said Abdul Jaleel, Vice President, People Resources, Adobe India.
Savvy Merc for Ambani
He has Z-category security on board but the Reliance Industry Chairman Mukesh Ambani goes one step ahead to procure the world’s most sophisticated armoured vehicle to enhance The age of becoming a manager and supervisor is also very young. The average age of a manager is about 25 and the average age of entering the field is 21-22 personal security. The fortified Mercedes Benz is mounted on a normal S600, as this vehicle has Level-9 vehicle resistance (VR9), the highest available currently, and is customised at Benz’s Sindeltingen plant in Germany. This armoured vehicle was registered at the Mumbai Central Regional Transport Office (RTO), according to sources. But
a source said: “As Chairman of India’s largest private conglomerate, Mukesh Ambani is the custodian of the interests of more than 2.8 million shareholders. He has Z-category security since April 2013. An armoured vehicle complies with advice of the security establishment for protectees of this level.” According to the source, to acquire this vehicle they had to queue up at No. 57 on the global wait list for the 2015-model armoured S600. The base price of a 2015 model Mercedes Benz S600 is a plebeian `1.5 crore. The rest of the price is accounted for by cost and fitments of Level-9 armour, import duty on the armour and corresponding levies and insurance.
Force Motors ties up with Rolls-Royce
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Force Motors have tied up with Rolls-Royce Power Systems for setting up a Joint Venture (JV) to produce engines for multiple applications like rail and power generation. According to sources, the company will build a manufacturing facility as part of the JV at a cost of about `300 crores. “A dedicated manufacturing facility meeting the standards and specifications laid down by Rolls-Royce will be built by Force Motors at its site in Chakan near Pune. This JV will produce complete power generation systems, including associated spare parts for Indian as well as global markets,” Force Motors said in a statement.
Nadella’s book tells it all The name Satya Nadella is synonymous with the tech sector. But very few know him personally. Who could be a better person than Nadella himself, to give us details about his life and his journey to become the CEO of software giant Microsoft? The most celebrated leader in this sector, Nadella goes down memory lane while offering rare insights into his personal and professional life in a book, ‘Hit Refresh’. The book is co-authored by Greg Shaw and Jill Tracie Nichols, and is on the stands. This book also includes a foreword by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Nadella in a blog on LinkedIn said it was about two years ago when he set out to tell the story of Microsoft’s quest to rediscover its soul and imagine a better future for everyone,’ which draws inspiration from the digital world where the screen is refreshed by hitting the function ‘F5’ key. Giving an insight to his book, Nadella said, “We believed ‘hit refresh’ was the perfect title for all the three storylines of the book - my personal journey so far, the company’s ongoing transformation, and the coming of the wave of technological and
Devleena, new Chief of Staff at Culture Machine
economic change.” Nadella, who took over the reins of Microsoft in February 2014 from Steve Ballmer, goes on to stress that the book is no “victory lap or a how-to manual” but a set of reflections, ideas and principles on transformation and is hopeful that this book will inspire people to discover more empathy in their own lives. On the same lines, Nadella recounts how his wife helped him value quality when their son was born with severe disabilities 21 years ago. “It’s (also) a quality that shapes our mission of empowerment at Microsoft and our quest to meet unmet and unarticulated needs of customers. And it’s this quality that helps us as a society to move forward in creating new opportunity for all,” he wrote in the blog. Nadella will donate all proceeds of the book to Microsoft Philanthropies.
With its focus on streamlining operations during the company’s growth phase, Culture Machine has found Devleena S Majumder as the best person to bring in as its Chief of Staff (COS). As President, People & Culture, she played a key role in initiating a discussion about the first day of period leave in the company, which was well received by the employees. In her new avatar, she will be responsible for driving operations across the board. She will be ensuring that the major operations of the organisation are streamlined through one source, while reporting to Sameer Pitalwalla, the CEO and co-founder of the company. Majumder has experience of over 18 years in areas of strategic business partnering, organisational development, analytics, employee engagement, organisational culture building, compensation management and leadership talent acquisition. “Since its inception, Culture Machine’s growth has been exemplary. As we gear up for a more streamlined growth phase, our immediate goal is to align corporate functions so that we can leverage both the experience and expertise that our respective teams possess. With the new role, I hope to bring in synergy and rigour to the existing system and ensure the organisation is driven to work towards a common goal,” said Devleena about her new role in the company. October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 11
collywood Gurveen Singh Head-Global HR of Reckitt Benckiser With four executives opting for the exit door, Reckitt Benckiser has elevated Gurveen Singh as the Global Head of Human Resources. The British consumer healthcare company claimed that the four top gun exits was a mere coincidence and were all voluntary decisions. The company confirmed the movements, saying that Deborah Yates, Head of HR is being replaced by Singh, who is currently Head of HR for developing markets. India-born Singh is based in Dubai in her current role, which she has been serving for three years now. Prior to this, she was Regional Human Resources Head for South Asia. Singh is a management graduate from XLRI Jamshedpur, and an honours graduate in Philosophy from Delhi’s Lady Shri
Khan, Chief HR officer at Sasken Technologies
Ram College. Singh is among the few talented HR professionals who have risen up the ranks. Some of the other Indian officials in global leadership roles within HR are Tanuj Kapilashrami, Global Head of Talent at Standard Chartered Bank, Leena Nair, Senior Vice President for Leadership and Organisation Development at Unilever and Bhuvaneswar Naik, Head of Global Talent Management at SAP SE. Recently, Sameer Khanna, who was the Head-HR India, Ericsson, took up the role of the Global HR Business Partner for Product Area (PA) Managed Services (MS) Network, PA- Managed Services IT and MS Strategy.
Maruti Suzuki India elevates Vinod Rai as the Head-HR With over five years in the company, Vinod Rai has been elevated as the Head-HR (Engineering, QA, and Rohtak R &D), Maruti Suzuki India. Rai, who was the Head-HR (supply chain and plant) will now be responsible for leading end-toend HR operations of engineering, quality analysis, as well as Rohtak R&D facility, which has an employee strength of about 3200. He was responsible for setting up standardised HR/IR capabilities for the company’s external stakeholders or vendor companies ensuring sustainability for the overall business in his previous role. Being a
little different from the regular internal HR function, the role itself was challenging and offered him remarkable exposure to third-party integration. With that experience in hand, Rai takes the lead for managing HR for another critical arm of the company. Commenting on his new role, Rai said, “R&D is where the future of Maruti Suzuki is created, and hence, it is extremely crucial to the business. With investments into research and development, quality assurance and engineering, the company has also made some internal changes in HR. This role is much larger, allows
12 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
me to contribute to internal HR and will also be a great value-add to my experience.” Rai is a management graduate and had joined Maruti Suzuki in 2011 as the Head-Talent (Corporate). Prior to this, he also worked with Jubilant Life Sciences as the Head, DGM-Business HR and Talent Acquisition.
Arif Khan has been appointed as Chief HR officer of Sasken Technologies, (formerly Sasken Communication Technologies). For this product engineering and digital transformation solutions company, Khan, who brings over two decades of experience, will be reporting to Rajiv C Mody, Chairman, Managing Director & CEO. He will be responsible for Global HR including business HR, compensation and benefits, recruitment, resourcing and policies. “As Khan taps into the tremendous opportunities that the market place is providing today, his addition will enable us to attract the best-in-class talent, which will accelerate our growth trajectory,” said the CEO of the firm while welcoming Khan into the family. Khan, who was heading the Harman Connected Services’ global strategic operations joins Sasken with extensive experience in business operations and has worked with senior business leaders in product engineering, strategy, business management, and global operations. Khan’s experience spans all facets of HR from conception to fulfilment, coupled with a deep understanding of the underlying drivers of business. He has been part of over ten acquisitions of varying sizes across organisations he has worked for, and has demonstrated experience in smooth transitioning, especially in the HR area. Compiled by Joe Williams joe78662@gmail.com
manage money Dr Anil Lamba
Can you increase profit without increasing sales?
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If you don’t know how to make and sell you can never make profit, is profit the result of finance management? What is there to understand about profit?
on-finance persons often wonder, “What is there to understand about profit?” One must know how to make and how to sell. Profit is the result. I am not at all underestimating the importance of the ability to make and to sell. If you don’t know how to make and sell you can never make profit. But if profit is the automatic result of making and selling, then two organisations that know equally well how to make and how to sell, should also make the same profit, isn’t it? But that never happens. Pick up any two businesses (motor car manufacturers, running hotels or in the construction business) more or less of the same size, similar capital investment and even similar sales, the profit will not only not be the same but it is also possible that one of them is making profit and the other losses. This is because profit is the result of finance management.
What drives profit?
Today, I will give you three drivers of profit. Profit in any business is the result of the optimisation of the following: 1. The cost of capital 2. The proportion between performing and non-performing assets, and 3. How long in the year the performing assets actually perform. Let’s examine all three.
The capital invested in any business The cost of capital
is usually a combination of the contribution made by the owners (equity), the outside lenders (loans) and also that which is borrowed in kind (the creditors - supplying goods and services on credit). It is important to remember that each of these has a cost. The outside lenders' cost is the most obvious, that is, the interest rate. The cost of suppliers' credit is couched in the price quoted (which has a built-in interest component). The owners’ contribution is often mistakenly considered to be free of cost, when, in fact, it is the most expensive source of money. (at the
very least it should be taken at twice the interest levied by outside lenders) Taken together, one can arrive at the weighted average cost of capital.
performing and non-performThe proportion between
ing assets If a business makes a list of all the assets that it owns, with a little effort, it will be able to classify all the items into two types, viz. Performing Assets (PAs) and Non-Performing Assets (NPAs). NPAs should not be mistaken to be non-essential. NPAs simply mean those assets that do not earn. So NPAs can be further broken up into essential NPAs and non-essential NPAs. It is the biggest crime to possess non-essential NPAs.
the performing assets How long in the year
actually perform Even Performing assets do not perform throughout the year. If a business runs for six days in a week, the assets do not perform for 52 days in a year. If one follows a five-day week, the assets don’t perform for 104 days. If one runs a holiday resort in Goa, it probably performs for three to four months in a year. How to use these three drivers to improve profit. There is scope for improvement on all three fronts. On the cost of capital front: Some sources of capital are more expensive than others. If the capital composition was made up of a relatively larger proportion of cheap money and a smaller proportion of expensive money, the average cost of capital can be reduced. On the cost of PA:NPA front: Almost all the assets appearing on a Balance Sheet are a result of the actions of people who do not even recog-
nise themselves as finance persons. The decision as to which machine should be purchased, of what capacity, of what make etc. is taken by some technical persons. The volume of inventory to be held is a decision of the materials manager. Debtors are the result of the actions of the sales persons. Each of these people usually consider themselves as non-finance persons. If everybody in the organisation recognised that finance management is their responsibility, if the organisation had taken the effort to impart finance literacy amongst all its personnel, if everybody in the organisation understood the concept of cost of capital, if everybody recognised the crime of possessing a non-performing asset and if financial prudence had been exercised at the time of acquisition of the assets itself, the organisation could have possessed a relatively larger proportion of PAs as compared to the NPAs. On the utilisation of the PAs front: That an asset is a performing asset is not enough. It has to perform. I don’t understand why organisations are shut for a day or two every week. Do, by all means, give your employees an off, but why should the organisation be shut. Don’t buy a new plant just because you have reached full capacity. If you are running just one shift a day, you have not reached full capacity yet. Sweat your assets. Consciously work on these three fronts and I can virtually guarantee that your profit will go up even with existing turnover. And now, with a perfect Balance Sheet at your disposal, try and increase turnover too, and you will see dramatic improvements in the bottom line. (Dr Anil Lamba is a practising 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)
October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 13
wax eloquent
India in charge of its own destiny
Take a look at what our corporate leaders have to say about recent trends and their experiences in the business world
Strategy of an investor
“Investment should be based on the age. If you’re 70 years old, bring down equity and increase debt investment. If you’re in the 20s, invest more in equity and reduce the debt. That’s the model you should apply.” A Balasubramanian,
CEO, Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund Courtesy: http://indianexpress.com
Cos exist for the benefit of the state+consumers Indian state and Indian customers do not exist for the benefit of companies, but the companies exist for the benefit of the state and the consumers. For example, Air India, who does it exist for, whose benefit? It has to be for the country, consumers should get the benefit. We need `5000 crore of taxes to keep it going, am I getting value for my money? Then why is it existing, why should I as tax payer support industry where it cannot stand on their own feet, which cannot deliver the return on my tax money, which is invested, which any investor would want from his money?
RC Bhargava, chairman, Maruti Suzuki Courtesy: Economic Times
Core of India is stable, strong and tolerant
Put more money in the pockets of the people
“The priority for all policymakers has to be around putting more money in the pockets of the people. The focus should be to increase disposable income, incentivise consumers to consume, to invest, and with that everything else should follow—interest rate policy, taxation policy, administration policies. We are sitting right now at one of the nicest sweet spots for the country.” Hitendra Dave, head of global banking, HSBC India
Courtesy: Business Standard
14 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
“If you look at the strength of our institutions, for example the Supreme Court judgment on privacy recently, it reaffirms our faith that the core of India is stable, strong and tolerant, and that we will retain this going forward. But that doesn’t mean we should be complacent and not be aware of the potential dangers to this core. So, I think eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. So we should be vigilant.” Raghuram Rajan, former RBI Governor Courtesy: http://indianexpress.com
India, a roller-coaster ride “India is one of the most demanding markets in the world. Also, as far as market volatility is concerned, I have seen more changes in the last 18 months than what I would have seen in my whole career. BS III to BS IV, GST, demonetisation… the industry has seen unprecedented changes. It has been a roller-coaster ride.” Guenter Butschek, expat CEO, Tata Motors Courtesy:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com
Protecting citizen data “Blockchain technology and quantum computing are likely going to lead the next revolution and it will change banking and e-services unrecognisably. India’s Supreme Court has addressed the issue of confidentiality; government and business now need to adapt to allay these concerns.” Yuri Afanasiev, resident coordinator in India, United Nations Courtesy: http://www.business-standard.com
The order has changed
“The country is like a child that has smeared its face with dirt and the government is doing what a mother does—rub it clean. For the first time a former ambassador has told the US congress that business is being done properly in India. This is a big thing. This shows the order has changed.” Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev, spiritual leader Courtesy: The Economic Times
Learning from global markets
“It’s not the job of a licensor to tell a company in India how to run its business. It’s a two-way street. India is a very dynamic market and there are trends that you can adapt to at the same time, as a more mature market like the UK.”
Emerge as the winner or merge with the winner
“Consolidation is a part of human evolution. In internet, the winner takes all. You have to emerge as the winner or merge with the winner. There is no room for No. 3. Whether we do it (consolidate the market) or not.” Rajeev Misra, CEO, SoftBank’s Vision Fund
Courtesy: http://timesofindia. indiatimes.com
love to have an economy of your size
“I would love to have an economy of your size, growing at 5-6%. Anybody would like to have that trajectory. Here, you see a country that is changing in a substantial way. India was under performing versus its potential and the answers were in-house and not somewhere else. India is in charge of its own destiny.” Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever
Dan Frugtniet, VP, licencing and business development, Viacom International Media Networks Courtesy: www.financialexpress.com
Courtesy: www.economictimes.com
Digital revolution in India “Digital India is one of the biggest government programmes in the world. It aims to bridge the gap between the digital haves and have-nots by channelling Aadhaar, eSign, digital lockers, Aadhaar Pay and BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) to offer citizen-centric services. The tripod of 1 billion digital identities, 1 billion mobile devices and more than 250 million bank accounts is set to unleash a digital revolution in India.” Sanjay Poonen, chief operating officer, Customer Operations, VMware
India-a great place to do business
“A great country and a great place to do business. My vision for India is it will be one of the top three markets in the world for Coca-Cola. India is going to return to vibrant growth...India can be a very successful place to build the business. The ideal is let’s get from six to five on the way to being no 3 is the mandate.” James Quincey, president and chief executive, Coca-Cola Courtesy: http://timesofindia. indiatimes.com
Courtesy: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Automation is the order of the day “Yes, jobs will be lost and automation is the order of the day. There will be two aspects of work handling. While the mechanised work will be outsourced to robots for higher productivity and consistency, humans, on the other hand, will take care of the thinking part and will still be relevant in decision making. Artificial intelligence is still some time away from seeing robots think on their own.” Jayant Davar, co-founder and managing director, Sandhar Technologies
Courtesy: http://www.autocarpro.in
Time to increase our footprints “I learnt a lot about cricket, business and life in the IPL and cannot equate the experience to any equity or words. This can be a wonderful opportunity to look for talent in another continent and take our brand global. It’s time to increase our footprints.” Preity Zinta, actor, co-owner of Kings XI Punjab, who has recently bought South Africa T20 Franchise
Courtesy: www.economictimes.com
I am not just a pretty face
“When I got into the industry, I was very clear that if I didn’t establish myself as a serious actor, I’d always just be the token pretty girl. But it was a really frustrating process. I’d keep hearing that from my agents and reps, “they [the studios] said you’re too pretty for the role.” I hated that label, I certainly don’t view myself as just a pretty face.” Freida Pinto, actor
Courtesy: http://elle.in/culture/freida-pintointerview-elle-september-issue/
Compiled by Rajesh Rao rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com
October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 15
Expert View
Battle of cultures by S K Jha
(IRS (retd) and former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax)
The Infosys imbroglio was many-layered, but the key issue was that of lack of communication between the old management and new. What could have been sorted out with mutual trust and consultation spiralled out of hand. There are lessons to learn for others, from this corporate debacle
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”
I
nfosys has been in the news lately for the wrong reasons. This is painful for everybody. Infosys came on the corporate horizon in 1992 and since then caught the imagination of the country, as it was the first great startup company of India. A few technocrats led by N R Narayana Murthy left their jobs and came together to give birth to this great company. The founders led by example in nurturing it. The company became well known for its corporate governance. Its growth was also fast and it became the second biggest IT company after TCS with its presence in many countries. Narayana Murthy took voluntary retirement from the chairmanship and gradually all the founders too quit. Nandan Nilekani left earlier for a government assignment to head UIDAI and become the person behind the origin of the Aadhaar card. The company’s board of directors too changed and noted technocrat Vishal Sikka was brought in as the CEO of the company, who happened to be the first outsider to head the company. The problem started brewing between the founders and the new board of directors over the changed working style. There was open criticism by Narayana Murthy against Vishal Sikka. In just three years, Vishal Sikka announced his resignation and this led to turmoil in the share market. The shares of Infosys lost 12% market value the day Sikka put in his papers. There were allegations and counter allegations for a few days and now the Board of Directors has been reconstituted with Nandan Nilekani as the non-executive chairman. A hunt for a new CEO has started and for the time being Pravin Rao has been appointed as the interim CEO, who earlier was the chief operating officer of the company. In the sequence
of events, the company has earned a bad name. Its corporate governance is being questioned.
What led to the fall-out?
What were the reasons behind these happenings? The reasons apparently given were Sikka’s salary, high severance package given to CFO Rajiv Bansal, the appointment of Punita Kumar Sinha as independent director, the emergence of two power centres, scepticism against aggressive acquisition as in the case of Panaya, the conduct of the board of directors, especially of the chairman, R Sheshasayee, etc. The performance of the company in the prevailing market situation was not the issue. The lack of transparency in corporate governance was questioned. The high salary of the CEO and the severance package to the outgoing CFO were seen by the founders as being against the culture of Infosys. The culture of Infosys, according to the founders, is of compassionate capitalism as per which the highest salary payable to top executives including the CEO should not be more than 50-60% of the median salary, and the same ratio is also applicable in the case of any severance package.
16 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
The appointment of Punita Kumar Sinha as independent director was questioned on the ground that she happened to be the wife of a politician, although very qualified, as the policy of the company was to keep distance from politics and politicians. The founders together with their family members hold 12.75% shareholding in the company, but the new management did not address their concerns about the transparency. The culture of the company has been organic growth of the company and not growth by acquisition like in the case of Panaya, where the price of acquisition was under suspicion. The reasons for the growing problems were there, but they did not appear to be big enough to push a great company like Infosys to public disrepute and to the resignation of the CEO and Board members.
Multi-layered reasons
The reasons, as the situation indicates, had many layers. First, it appears to be psychological. The founders built this company with their sweat and blood. They were not businessmen and they came from modest backgrounds. The company reached great heights with their passion and
dedication. While the company was growing, it was not their objective to take out money from the company in the form of high salary and high perks. They tried to save money for the company so that the company could grow more rapidly. In the process, the founders became emotional and possessive about the company. When a new Board and an outsider CEO came, the founders could not delink themselves from the company. The new CEO was undoubtedly a competent technocrat but his huge remuneration pained the founders as they thought that the resources of the company were getting
would have been good and complete if the new management would have told them as to which of their suggestions were being implemented and which not, based on valid reasons. In the absence of proper communication, there was reason for the founders to feel hurt and this triggered the problem. The new management could have respectfully explained to the founders that what they were doing was good for the company and that having two power centres was not good. Things were simple, as the founders were not seeking any personal favours, either for them or for their families, and the differences related to perception. These differences could have been nipped in the bud by respectful communication. The third layer of reasons appears to be the clash of two cultures. As in human relationships, the concept of a ‘generation gap’ applies in the corporate world too. The ‘old’ has to go and the ‘new’ has to take charge as the only thing constant is ‘change’. Earlier the company would have been run by the principles, which were best for the company then. Now, in the changed situation of new innovations and automation,
tionship problems among persons running the companies. The relationship problem can be among the Board members, the staff, between old management and new management, between minority and majority shareholders, between workers and management, etc. Shareholders, management, staff, workers and customers have to be on the same wavelength for robust corporate growth. As we have seen in the case of Infosys, the real problem was of relationship and nature between people of the old and new managements. A public spat, like in the case of Infosys, does not bode well for our corporate sector and we must see that such things do not arise. Unfortunately, it keeps recurring. Recently this happened in the iconic Tata Group too. Normally it is believed that a family controlled company will not have corporate strife as management change does not bring outsiders, and it is just the father giving the baton to his son. Such companies are run as closely held family companies despite the fact that they are stock exchange listed public limited companies. But in fact bigger battles are fought in such companies. In the case of professionally managed companies, the dispute is mainly based on the issue of style of doing things, but in the case of family owned companies, the dispute is on the issue of ownership of the money-making entities. The psychological problems of jealousy, ego and lust for having more money are the principal reasons of dispute in such companies, and as the joint family breaks, the company also breaks. We can see examples in the old Birla Group, Piramal Group, RP Goenka Group, Mafatlal Group, and so on. At least in professionally managed companies we do not see battles in courts over milk-giving cows. In good professionally managed companies, the shareholding pattern does not permit it. Summing up, a company has to grow. It has to go for change and in the process there can be some misunderstanding as it happened in the case of Infosys or the Tatas. Efforts should be made so that misunderstandings do not become disputes that malign the brand of the company. If the brand suffers, then everybody associated with the company also suffers, such as shareholders, employees and customers. But risks have to be taken to grow. As Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook said, “The only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” What is needed is to have a robust corporate culture, where small issues do not transform into big problems and tarnish the name of the company.
“The performance of the company in the prevailing market situation was not the issue. The lack of transparency in corporate governance was questioned. The high salary of the CEO and the severance package to the outgoing CFO were seen by the founders as being against the culture of Infosys” drained out. Though the founders had retired, they kept considering the company as their child. The new style of functioning of the company was in conflict with the old style, with which they had built the company. The founders could not adjust to the new reality that their child was now in different hands. They were hurt as they felt that they did not have any say in the management of the company, which they had created. This emotional hurt of the founders became the seed of the dispute between the old and new management.
Communication is key
The second layer of reasons was the lack of proper communication between the old and the new. Here, there was an old group, which thought that it was its duty to give advisory suggestions to the company while there was a new group of technocrats who thought that they were doing things correctly. There were two types of thinking, and there was no connecting bridge. Good communication could have worked as a bridge, but that was missing. The ideal situation would have been to give proper respect to the founders by considering their views. The communication
the company has to make necessary corrections to become profitable and competitive in the fast changing world. There can be a situation of a clash between old techniques and new techniques. Just as in the case of a family where there can be difference in the thinking process of father and son, so also in the case of a company, there can be difference in the style of doing things between the old management and new management. The difference is due to a generation change, but there is nothing wrong in it as long as the objective continues to be the growth of the company. If both the concerned parties appreciated this fact then there would have been no problem. Many good companies of the past like Kodak, Nokia and Blackberry have vanished or lost their ground as they failed to adjust to the needs of Gen Next. Probably, Infosys was in the process of change being brought about by the new management, but the same was misunderstood, or not properly explained.
Issue of relationships
Companies are inanimate bodies but run by living human beings. Problems arise due to rela-
October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 17
“ Today, supply chain plays a very vital role in determination of new factory locations. If you do not have an efficient supply chain mechanism in that country, then the factory may be useless �
Interview
Moving The supply chain function may not be a glamorous job, but it is definitely a crucial one. Recognised today as one of the most important functions of any organisation, the supply chain industry is finally getting its due. It is also becoming widely popular amongst the youth, with more than 30% of management students opting for the field. Despite that, not much about the profile is known to the layman. With a view to understand what the industry is about, Corporate Citizen chats with Pramod Sant, Vice President - Head of Import Export and Export Control and Customs at Siemens Ltd. Mr Sant is a three decade veteran with a rich and varied experience across the vertical, and one who has seen the turn of the tide for the industry from its nascent days to the powerhouse it has become today. He talks about his first job, his long and fruitful journey with Seimens, and the impact of the current government on manufacturing By Neeraj varty
18 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
Tell us about your journey.
I have been brought up in Nasik. I’m a mechanical engineer, from Sardar Patel College of Engineering. I did my diploma in business management from Pune. After this, I did various courses related to supply chain management. Once my education was over, I went back to Nasik, and started working with Crompton Greaves, where I worked for around seven years. After that fulfilling tenure with Crompton Greaves, I joined Siemens in supply chain procurement in the year 1989. At that time, there were very few engineers who were venturing into supply chain roles. In fact, in those days, the term supply chain hadn’t even been coined; it was called the purchase department or the materials department. I joined it and after a few months began to find it very interesting. In Siemens, I got a lot of opportunities to learn. When you work with a global company, you have a wide variety of roles. We have close to 11 verticals like wind power, healthcare, power generation, etc, and they are all different. In the beginning, I was working in the Nasik factory for close to nine years. I have always had a close bond with Nasik and was happy to be placed there. I was heading the strategic purchasing department. I moved
swer with a Mark Zuckerberg or a Bill Gates. However, if you were to be asked the names of the top five people in the supply chain industry, you may not know even one. It will never be as glamorous as tech or finance, but I believe supply chain is finally getting its due. Today, supply chain plays a very vital role in determination of new factory locations. If you do not have an efficient supply chain mechanism in that country, then the factory may be useless. There was a case where a transformer making company in the UK, which was well established, decided that the factory would directly put the finished transformers on the vessel, and then it would be shipped worldwide. However, they later realised that the cost of getting the vehicle to the factory was so high that they had to shift the factory. If they had consulted the supply chain department, this could have been avoided. The supply chain personnel’s role has become critical in industries today. I directly report to Sunil Mathur, MD and CEO of Siemens India. Earlier, the supply chain head would report to the factory head, or the commercial head, but now you will find that the supply chain reports directly to the top level in companies. They now form a part of the core leadership team. We have a supply chain person in our board of directors too. If you look at e-commerce, the supply chain is paramount and it is actually the chief expenditure of the industry. In fact, you rate these different e-commerce companies based on their efficient and timely delivery. Supply chain has become the chief differentiator. Even in B-schools, I find that over 30% students are now opting for operations and supply chain management.
Forward to Mumbai in 1999 due to company requirements, and took over the project purchase function. I also took over the indirect materials function, which included things like logistics and travel. A big company like Siemens spends over `100 crore only on travel, so you have to negotiate and have arrangements with airlines, hotels, cabs etc. Doing that gave me tremendous experience and I learnt the power of bargaining, which can be applied from the simplest thing like buying vegetables, all the way to multi-million dollar deals. After this, the company trusted me to head the import export function for the company. To give you an idea of the scale I was dealing with, we pay close to `800 crore only as custom duty per annum. Our exports are close to `2000 crores. The best part of this was that, in these roles, I received complete autonomy and independence along with global support. I believe the Siemens think tank is way ahead of time, and by working with them, you learn a lot. .
Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple and a celebrity, is also from the supply chain background. However, do you think the supply chain industry is not glamorous and attractive enough for the youth?
Pics: Yusuf Khan
I agree that it is definitely not glamorous. If you ask me the name of the top five people in finance, you might be able to answer immediately. If you ask the names of the top technology people, you will definitely be able to an-
Recently, the government has focused a lot on boosting manufacturing in India. Do you think it has provided adequate support to the supply chain function as well?
Yes. If you look at the finance ministry, the customs department or the tax department, you won’t believe that in the last two years, they have come up with so many changes in line with their ease of doing business initiative. Some changes are extremely useful. For example, they introduced a policy called single window. When you import anything, it is inspected based on the type of product, a food product will be inspected by a food agency, medicines will be inspected by the drug control authorities, and so on. By having multiple agencies involved, the time increases substantially. Now, they have formed a single process called single window. When you import something, you declare the contents in advance. Then the approvals will be taken by the responsible agency online itself, without you having to go to them. The customs will take care of everything, and the clearance time, which was earlier very high, has been brought down substantially. This concept is far better than the policies in even some advanced countries. October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 19
Interview
“ If you look at e-commerce, the supply chain is paramount and it is actually the chief expenditure of the industry. In fact, you rate these different e-commerce companies based on their efficient and timely delivery. Supply chain has become the chief differentiator “ What are the lessons you have learnt while working on the shop floor?
You learn unparalleled practical knowledge on the shop floor. It is on the shop floor that you find out what you actually know and whether you are cut out for the industry or not. Theoretical knowledge can only get you so far. The shop floor is where you can test your mettle. You also get to meet a lot of people from different social classes, age groups and skill sets. On the shop floor, your output can be directly seen. It is not intangible, and you cannot hide behind technical jargon while you nap at work.
Do you think there is a dearth of women in the supply chain industry?
If you look at the supply chain industry, there are very few women. My logistics head is a woman. When she went to the port for the first time, the officials working there were not allow-
ing her to enter. She was not allowed to board the ship. Even safety shoes for women are not readily available in India. Same is the case with helmets. It is a sad fact. In the case of Siemens, we have no barrier for women. We encourage women in every facet of our business. Despite that, I agree that a lot more needs to be done to encourage women in the industry.
Under your leadership, what initiatives have been implemented?
We have a very good web based system, which we have built to track shipments. We are able to track each and every one of over 38,000 shipments originating from over 33 countries around the globe. The system also gives you great KPIs, which help us track performance of each and every person in the supply chain. When the World Bank prepares its rankings, they analyse this data and the customs depart-
20 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
ment also monitors this data. I, along with my team, helped to make this system. There are also some awards that customs department received from the government based on our data, and I am very happy about that.
How do you manage work-life balance with your hectic schedule?
I feel there is no work life balance. It is a myth. One often bleeds into the other. Work today is everywhere. You are in contact with your office through your smartphone all the time. Going forward it will be extremely difficult to separate work and home. What you need, therefore, is a good hobby. I, for example, like world heritage sights. Across the globe there are 1400 world heritage sights. In India, there are around 30. I love to visit these places in my spare time. I have seen around 65 of these sights along with my family. Places like India, Italy, Egypt and Cambodia are a delight to visit. Also, you must be seeing large trucks carrying shipments on the roads. Every logistical company keeps a miniature model of these trucks, and I love to collect them. That is another hobby of mine. I have been carrying these models from the 80s. I also collect miniature bells. I have over 600 bells from around the globe.
Tell us about your family.
My wife is a housewife; who is a wonderful classical singer. My daughter has done engineering in computer science and is now in the US for further studies. My son is giving his 12th board exams. neeraj.varty07@gmail.com
Corporate Column Sunita Narain
Director General of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and the Editor of Down To Earth magazine. She is an environmentalist who pushes for changes in policies, practices and mindset
Old answers for ‘new’ monsoon
Mitigating floods and droughts has only one answer: obsessive attention to building millions and millions of connected and living water structures
F
loods in the time of drought are India’s new normal. Let us get this clear. Each year without fail, a vicious cycle of crippling drought and then devastating floods plays out before us. Sometimes this cycle gets so bad that it even makes it to the headlines. But the fact is that this cycle is getting a new normal. First, floods and droughts come together. Today, even as 40 per cent of the districts in India face prospects of drought, close to 25 per cent districts have had heavy rainfall of more than 100 mm in just a matter of hours. Secondly, the rainfall is not only variable but also extreme. Chandigarh, a city of open parks, was recently submerged in water. It had deficient rainfall till August 21, and then it got 115 mm of rain in just 12 hours. It drowned. In other words, it got roughly 15 per cent of its annual monsoon rain in just a few hours. Bengaluru hardly had any rain and then it poured. It got 150 mm of rain in just about a day, which is close to 30 per cent of its annual monsoon rain. It is no wonder that the city drowned. Mount Abu got over half its annual monsoon rain in two days. This is the double whammy I have discussed countless times in my articles. The fact is that on the one hand, we are getting our water manage-
ment wrong—we are building in floodplains, destroying our waterbodies and filling up our water channels. On the other hand, climate change is beginning to show its impact on the monsoon. It is leading to more rain in a fewer number of rainy days, as scientists have predicted. We now see more rain and more extreme rain events. This year, up to mid-August, data shows that India has had 16 extremely heavy rain events, defined as rainfall over 244 mm in a day, and 100 heavy rain events, defined as rainfall between 124 to 244 mm in a day. This means that rain will become a flood. Worse, in met records, the rain will be shown as normal, not recognising that it did not rain when it was most needed for sowing or that the rain came in just one downpour. It came and went. It brought no benefits. Only grief. It is time we understood this reality. This means learning to cope with twin scenarios, all at once. This means being obsessive about how to mitigate floods and how to live with scarcity of water. But the good news is that in doing so,
one can help the other. But we need to stop debating, dithering or dawdling. We know what to do. And we have no time to lose—climate change will only increase with time as weather and rainfall will only get more variable, more extreme and more catastrophic. Take floods. The media has reported that the government is considering—which can only be called a hare-brained scheme—desilting the massive Brahmaputra to control floods in Assam. This is not just unfeasible but an unnecessary distraction as it means we will lose more time. In Bihar, the government wants to do more of the same by building embankments along its rivers. This is when its own Kosi is perhaps the only river in the country, which is called both mother and witch. It comes down from the Himalayas; is known to bring vast quantities of silt; and, changes course with regular precision. We know that all efforts to tie up the river by building embankments have not worked; the silt fills the river and the bed rises, and the water spills and seeps out across the region. This year’s floods in Bihar have already taken over 250 lives (conservative figures) and devastated more than 10 million people. Not small! And remember, with every flood and every drought the poor get poorer. The entire development dividend is lost; homes, toilets and schools built are washed away and livelihoods, destroyed. The answer to floods is what has been discussed for long. In fact, it was practised in these flood-prone regions many decades ago. It requires planning systems that can divert and channelise water so that it does not flood land and destroy life. It means linking rivers to ponds, lakes and ditches so that water is free to flow. This will distribute the water across the region and bring other benefits. It will recharge groundwater so that in the subsequent months of low rainfall, there is water for drinking and irrigation. It will also ensure that there is food during the flood period, as wetlands are highly productive in terms of fish and plant food. Mitigating floods and droughts has only one answer: obsessive attention to building millions and millions of connected and living water structures that will capture rain and be a sponge for flood and storehouse for drought. The only question is: when will we read the writing on the wall? Get with it. Get it right. Source : http://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/ old-answers-for-new-monsoon-58569 (The author is Director General of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and the Editor of Down To Earth magazine. She is an environmentalist who pushes for changes in policies, practices and mindsets.)
Remember, with every flood and every drought the poor get poorer. The entire development dividend is lost
October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 21
) D.
Maj Ar
Cover story
Phatak (RE n T u
Dare to do Dynamic Duo: 59 Pratibha and Arun Phatak
Major Arun Phatak (Retd), in his short military service became a veteran of three wars, which he followed up by becoming a veteran of many a business enterprise. His wife Pratibha has been an entrepreneur in her own right. Recently they celebrated 50 years of marriage, which began with a strange twist in the tale, all thanks to the handiwork of a determined soldier‌ By Vinita Deshmukh
22 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
Pics: Yusuf Khan
October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 23
M Cover story
Major Arun Phatak (Retd.) passed out from the National Defence Academy (NDA), where he carved a niche for himself in various sports like squash, tennis, basketball, fencing, swimming, cross country and particularly boxing. Continuing his unbroken record at the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Major Phatak was commissioned in the Artillery in 1961. During his short span of military service of just 16 years, he actively participated in the three wars of 1962 with China, 1965 and 1971 with Pakistan. After the 1971 war, Major Phatak took voluntary retirement on compassionate grounds. He had his business education from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management and St Mary’s University from Canada, after which he entered the corporate world. Although he was selected by prestigious Multi-National Companies (MNCs), he chose to join a medium-sized Indian chemical company (Hico), where he could practically apply the management concepts and theories learnt at Business School. Within a short span of time, the company grew exponentially. Thereafter, he joined Brihan Maharashtra’s Canadian operation as President and worked for five years. There he acquired international experience in Marketing. Subsequently, the company requested him to return and take over as CEO of the India operations. In 2002, he took over as the President & Executive Director of ABG Shipyard Ltd. He was part of the expansion programme of the company to establish additional shipyards. The company manufactured indigenously sophisticated specialised ships for the Defence, Coast Guard and commercial shipping. Presently, he wears many hats, all of which pertain to the sale of various equipment required for the Defence. He is the Chairman of Tonbo Imaging, which manufactures thermal imaging and night vision devices for the Defence. He is also the President of Precision Power Products specialising in power electronics and embedded systems. He is the CMD of Meridian, MD of Filtrex Systems India, and is associated with several other companies such as Sheorey Digital Systems and Garware Wall Ropes. His present mission is to work towards self-reliance and indigenisation in defence production. His wife Pratibha is a dynamic individual in her own right and has dabbled in various enterprises. They have an unusual story of a love marriage. Corporate Citizen spoke to them at length on their personal and professional success…
Arun’s glance fell on Pratibha and he decided to audaciously cross the Laxman Rekha. Recalls Arun, “So I went with my friend, Col. Ramesh Pathak. He was playing cupid, as he wanted Pratibha’s cousin, to get hooked to me. We met at Pratibha’s cousin’s place, with no idea of what was in store. Pratibha’s cousin, who I was supposed to ‘see’ and who had shown great interest in me from my earlier encounters, deliberately sat next to me, as she wanted to impress me. In the meanwhile, my friend’s aunt asked Pratibha who had just returned from Kolhapur, “Why don’t you go sit with all the young people?” She reluctantly came out and sat with me on my other side and then the bell rang. I liked her instantly so began talking to her. I had nothing in my mind until then.’’ Arun’s friend was disappointed as he was ignoring Pratibha’s cousin and quietly started kicking him under the table, gesturing that he should take to Pratibha’s cousin. Says Arun cheekily, “I told him to keep his mouth shut as I knew what I was doing. And I kept up the conversation with her. Initially her mind was
I convinced her that life in the London would not be as exciting as life in the Army. Ultimately the last sentence I said wasremember we are Army officers who ‘for your tomorrow, we sacrifice our today’. Thereafter, I wooed her with Frank Sinatra’s famous number ‘Strangers in the night’” -Arun
Jab We Met
Maj Arun Phatak: Still a bachelor at the age 27-28, everyone around me felt I should get married soon. I would tell them that I would think about it, but something should click. Pratibha cheekily butts in, “Yes, a happy bachelor with lots of girlfriends.” And sure enough, it clicked when Arun stumbled upon Pratibha, and how! Like in a scene from a Bollywood movie script, he actually snatched her away from a London based suitor whom she was to get engaged to, by the sheer power of his gift of the gab. Says Arun, with pride still writ large on his face, “This girl was about to get engaged. So her family had gone to Kolhapur to seek the blessings of Ambabai. Her future husband being from London, they were all excited that they will get to go to UK.’’ It so happened that it was Pratibha’s cousin who was eyeing him, but 24 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
on the London guy. To cut the long story short, I kept pursuing Pratibha as this was the girl I wanted to marry. She was not convinced initially. However, ultimately there was a hurricane courtship, leading to marriage.’’ So, how did he finally win her over? Recalling an incident, Arun says, “During our courtship, I took her to the Fergusson Hill in Pune. I convinced her that life in London would not be as exciting as life in the Army. Ultimately the last sentence I said was-remember we are Army officers who ‘for your tomorrow, we sacrifice our today’. Thereafter, I wooed her with Frank Sinatra’s famous number ‘Strangers in the night’ in which one of the lines was, ‘Something in your eyes was so exciting.’ Pratibha stopped me, mid-way. I said what happened. She said, “I have always been told by my mother to be truthful. I am wearing contact lenses.’’ I said, “I don’t care. You’ve got beautiful eyes.’’ She was convinced but said, what about the London guy? Arun cheekily told her, “I think we are slated to be married. Forget about everything else. So forget London.’’ She agreed to marry him. Says Pratibha, “We met on 27th May 1967 and got married on 15th July.’’
The shortened honeymoon…
Pratibha: I did not have many ups and downs in the Army but it taught me to expect the unexpected. The first lesson was immediately after marriage. His first posting was in
Ambala; the first time that I went to Punjab. Arun: We had gone to Shimla for our honeymoon. My leave was for two months. However, like a good soldier, I came back to the regiment, five days in advance. I reached Ambala at 10 pm and reported to my Commanding Officer just as I arrived at the station. His immediate response was, “Excellent! Your battery is going for operation tomorrow at 5 am and I am certain that you would like to lead it. When I broke the news to Pratibha, she was devastated, as she didn’t know anybody there. I assured her that in the Army regiment you have a lot of people to take care of you. I requested my friends’ wives to look after her. So they all gathered and told her, “This is part and parcel of Army life and we are here for you.” One of my friend’s daughters
came and stayed with her. So she got assimilated quickly. Separation is a tough thing.’’ Says Pratibha, “He had gone for a good eight days which scared me. The General’s wife, who lived opposite our house, saw me crying when I was seeing off Arun at the gate. She came to me and said, “This happens in every Army wife’s life. But it happened too early for you. Everyone has to go on such duties, but don’t be afraid. We all are there. Don’t cook for seven to eight days. We are going to send you all the meals. My daughter will stay with you.’’ Says Arun, “This is the beauty of comradeship in the Army. Soon she got used to the young officers and captains who were bachelors coming in the middle of the night for food. So she became the quick egg-burji expert. So it works like that. We are a family; the young officers are part of my family too. They have every right to come and say ‘I’m hungry’.’’
Life in the Army…
Says he, “In the Army, the wives have one rank higher than their husbands. If I’m a Major, she will be treated as Lt. Colonel. There is chivalry and gallantry in this lifestyle. Ladies are given a very important role because they contribute so much to the community in terms of the love, affection and homogeneity that they innately possess. They always have to go hand-in-hand with their husbands. For example, if I’ve joined the regiment as Commanding Officer, she has the default role as the First Lady. She also has to look after the welfare of all the Jawans. That is very essential, as ultimately in the Army, you have to lead the front with the soldiers. The highest sacrifice of life and death is done by them; they treat you like God. Therefore, you don’t only like them, you have to love them like a family. You have to call each one by their name. You cannot say ‘tum idhar aao’. You have to know about their family, their problems. So that’s the cohesion that’s required.” Pratibha: We do a lot for the Jawans’ wives including teaching them to be literate and training them with skills like knitting and stitching. Many of them pursue adult education very seriously and have become teachers too. Those who learn stitching or knitting, learn to earn during their spare time. There is so much uncertainty in a soldier’s life that such activities empower the wife, when the need arises. Pratibha had to once again face separation from Arun, when, after three months of marriage, he was posted to Tezpur, which was not a family station. “Separation means unhappiness,’’ says Pratibha, “When Arun got transferred back to Mumbai after six years, one of the Senior Colonel’s wives told me that out of their 35 years of marriage they lived together only for 11 years. This prompted me to force Arun to leave the Army, which he really loved and continues to do so.’’ October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 25
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First step to corporate life
Arun: Since I had been through three operations, Pratibha felt it was a good idea to see the other side of this life. So, I enrolled at the Jamnalal Bajaj Management Institute while I was posted in Mumbai. Pratibha: I supported him completely. Although I enjoyed Army life, it was too unpredictable, particularly with our two sons’ education. It was time, I thought, that we should settle in one place and so I urged him to leave the Army. Arun: I forewarned her that if I left the Army, we would have to begin from scratch and she may have to take up a job too. She was quite ready for that. So I put in my papers at the Army Headquarters. I got the release papers a month before the 1971 war. But then I thought, if I leave just before the war, it will always prick my conscience. I wrote back to the Army headquarters to hold my papers as I wanted to participate in the war and to release them after the war. This was highly appreciated by the then Army Chief, Field Marshal General Sam Maneckshaw. Pratibha was upset though. She said, you have already been in two wars. Why are you doing this? I told her, “I have been groomed to fight the war. To back out of the war at this stage, will be a shame. So I stayed on.’’ Post the war, Arun quit the Army and preferred to work for smaller companies. He reasons “I thought why not join a small company and actually practice what I learnt.’’ As for Pratibha, she started working in the front office at the Taj. Says she, “I worked there for a year and really enjoyed the working there. However, soon Arun got a job in Hico Chemicals in Mahim, so we shifted there and I left the job. We had a two-bedroom apartment but we lived happily, despite the fact that we were used to large houses in the Army. It doesn’t make any difference to my personal thinking.’’ Appreciating the role of her father-in-law, she says, “I didn’t have a mother-in-law but my father-in-law was staying with us. He said, “You’ve done a beauty course so why don’t you do something. I don’t want you to just sit at home. I will look after the children. The boys used to go to Bombay Scottish. I was fond of beauty, doing make up and all, so I pursued an intensive six-month Cosmetology Course.” After that she says, “My father-in-law insisted that I open my own beauty salon. He said don’t take money from your husband. Take a bank loan. He accompanied me to the bank for the same. For six years, I ran my beauty salon in Mahim and trained about four girls. The parlour was very popular in the neighbourhood.”
Immediately after our wedding, he went for an operation for a good eight days and that was scary for me. The General’s wife, who lived opposite my house, saw me cry. She said, ‘This happens in every Army wife’s life...’” - Pratibha
Moving overseas
Thereafter, the Phataks moved to Canada to establish a distillery in Nova Scotia. Says Arun, “My cousin had been asking me to leave Hico and join him. So I finally quit Hico and joined Brihan Maharashtra to take over the Canadian operation. That’s how we went to Canada where we lived for five years.’’ Says Pratibha, “My younger son was in the second grade and my elder one was in the fifth. I decided to take up a job in Canada too. I took up jobs
26 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
because I used to feel guilty that, if I hadn’t nagged him to leave the Army, he would have served the mandatory years and earned pension.’’ As for Arun, there has been no repentance. Says he, “Look, I’m a very happy person. It propelled me to do more for my earnings.’’ Adds Pratibha, “Money never bothered us. Both of us came from middle class families and we were content with whatever we had. What was important was that we were happy together.’’ The Phataks lived in Halifax, which is the provincial capital of Nova Scotia, a renowned business district of Canada. Says the enterprising Pratibha, “We stayed in Halifax for two years and then we moved to Edmonton. After we settled down, I hesitantly went to a beauty salon for a job. I showed my certificates and told them about my experience. They insisted on a written and a practical test. For this, they gave me a book to study as they are wary of customers suing them. Hence, any employee has to be adequately qualified to take up a job. I passed the test with good marks. Then I had to go in for a driving test in order to be able to go to work. And then I was given the job of an assistant in the parlour, which was a great and enriching experience for me. There were people of different nationalities, such as Italian, French, Canadian and so on.’’
Appreciating her fiery spirit, Arun says, “She was very supportive and a go-getter despite having come to a strange land. Says Pratibha, commending the role of her young boys: “In this, the boys also played a major role. Ashu was seven and Vinit was ten years old. We hired an apartment next to the school, on the 18th floor, from where we could see them on the playground. That’s where the Army training came in good use. Arun trained them as he would train an NDA cadet. He was tough with them as he wanted them to join the Army. Every day they had to climb 18 floors to reach home, once a day, without using the lift.’’ Says Arun, “Ultimately physical fitness is the most important thing. So initially, we used to take a break on the 4th floor. A few days later it was at the 8th floor. But once a day they had to climb the 18th floor. This was helpful to them.’’ Adds Pratibha, “Every day we used to climb up, and people would say-there go the Phataks.’’
up to his expectations. He gave me freedom to do what I wanted and so I enjoyed starting a small enterprise, Omega, where I manufactured soft luggage. Quips Arun, “I was happy that she ran her business successfully.’’ Arun: The husband and wife should have a harmonious understanding of each other. Both must gauge the needs of the partner and complement
To Los Angeles for two years
However, soon the enterprising Phataks migrated to Los Angeles in the US. Says Arun, “From Canada, we shifted to America because both my brother and sister lived there. My sister, Asha, sponsored us and got us the green card. That period was very important for our childrens’ education. It would help both my boys if they studied in the American education system. There too Pratibha started a beauty salon, for which she did an advanced course in trichology from Vidal Sassoon. She also did the advanced hair course and earned expertise in that too.’ Adds Phatak, “Both children studied at the University of Pennsylvania, which is an Ivy League college. Vinit studied Philosophy and Entrepreneurial Management and is a successful entrepreneur. Ashutosh did economics and music and is a music entrepreneur who founded an academy in Mumbai called the True School of Music. Both our sons live in Mumbai. Vinit is happily married and his wife Miel (daughter of environmentalist Bittu Sahgal) was educated at Bryn Mawr College. She is the key person who holds our family together along with their wonderful son, our 10-year-old grandson Siddharth, who gives us tremendous happiness and a sense of pride.
The husband and wife should have a harmonious understanding of each other. Both must gauge the needs of the partner and complement each other accordingly. They should help each other to achieve and I always believe that the wife should have her own career so that she has an opportunity to grow. Also, she should be given the freedom to do what she likes” - Arun
What has kept the marriage?
Pratibha: Understanding and compromise. In my case, Arun was very fond of the good life and wanted me to be with the times. I enjoy living
each other accordingly. They should help each other to achieve and I always believe that the wife should have her own career so that she has an opportunity to grow. Also, she should be given the freedom to do what she likes. Arun and Pratibha reside in a sprawling bungalow in Pune, surrounded by nature. Every brick is lovingly put in by Pratibha, who takes pride in saying that she referred to several home design books to finalise on the architecture and interior designing of the bungalow. Here, they live amidst peacocks and a variety of birds, flora and fauna. And to add to the melody, Arun’s little orchestra corner springs happiness and joy, for he just loves to take to the mike and croon with the Karaoke. Like Shakespeare said, “If music be the food for love, play on, play on.’’ And it fits aptly to both of them.
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Indians workforce prefers entrepreneurship over jobs Around 83% of the Indian workforce would like to be an entrepreneur, higher than the global average of 53%. According to the Randstad Workmonitor survey, entrepreneurial ambition among the workforce is highest in India, with 56% of respondents in a survey indicating that they are considering leaving current jobs to start their own business.
October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 27
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The Driving Force
Maj Arun Phatak (Retd.), after retirement from the Army, led several corporate organisations to the path of success through innovative strategies in management and marketing. Some glimpses of his army training and corporate life... By Vinita Deshmukh What were your earlier influences in life?
While I was in college, I joined the NCC. Before that, I was in the RSS for three years. We used to start with ‘Namaste Sada Vatsale Matrubhumi’-a salutation to the country-which had a great impact on me. We lived spartanly and used to attend camps where we were taught discipline. My elder brother, Mohan, despite being a polio victim, completed his M Com, MSc in Statistics, stood first in Pune University in MA Economics and also pursued law. Thereafter, he received a Fulbright Scholarship which took him to the USA. He was like my friend, philosopher and guide and inspired me to take to sports, as he himself could not.
What made you choose the armed forces as your career?
In college, I joined the NCC and won the best cadet prize. The winners were taken to the National Defence Academy (NDA) for a visit. The academy looked very impressive so I decided to join it. Fortunately, I got through the entrance test. NDA has been the most important influence of my life, because it groomed me physically and mentally. You get to play so many games, even polo, gliding and so on. Where else can you get such facilities? Besides, I played squash and competed at the national level. It was like a dream come true for me. Then I realised that you have to do tremendous amount of studies. NDA brings your educational level up to BSc/BA. All this exposure makes you a comprehensive human being, besides making you patriotic as in the Army training we are taught that the nation comes first always and every time. With the training of the RSS in my childhood and NDA in my adolescence, it was easy for me to take on challenges. It made me upright and tough. To be successful in life, you have to be ethical, honest and have the moral courage to stand up for your conviction, besides being physically fit.
Your foray into the corporate world, and how the army culture helped you ‌
Army is all about teamwork, whereas in the corporate world, it is more about individualistic achievements. After I quit the army, I got offers from MNCs like Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Hindustan Lever and others but I decided to opt for a modest Indian company, Hico Chemicals. They were into import substitution, which at that time was considered a patriotic activity, as it saved foreign exchange. I joined there as a Commercial Manager and instantly realised how the culture here was different from the Army. The organisation was old but it had not grown with the changing times. There was no comprehensive strategy to maximise output of the sales personnel, because of which a lot of time and money was being spent loosely. I decided to pep it up, by instilling the team spirit amongst the employees and successfully reorganising the sales force. 28 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
How was the experience abroad as a corporate person?
Fabulous! I went to Canada and did an evening programme on marketing management, just to know what they teach, which is different from here. There too, my army experience and culture helped me a lot. My assignment was to set up a plant in the underdeveloped province of Canada in Nova Scotia which had one incentive under DREE (Department of Regional Economic Expansion). The government used to give you $50,000 non-refundable grant, to start off the enterprise. The idea was to create jobs in that area. While I took up this challenge, I realised that, just as when you fight a war, networking is important here too. I found out that there are 10 provinces in Canada, each with an autonomous liquor control board that controls the buying and selling of liquor. So, we decided to invite all the liquor control commissioners for a visit to India. This would give us an opportunity
to establish a rapport with all of them. They accepted the invitation and I took them on a tour of India, spending a fortnight with them. We became very good friends. We also had an excellent relationship with all the Liquor Control Commissioners of all the 10 provinces of Canada and we were interacting on a first name basis.
What were other promotional strategies?
With the training of the RSS in my childhood and NDA in my adolescence, it was easy for me to take on challenges. To be successful in life, you have to be ethical and have the moral courage to stand up”
We had series of events planned in Canada and USA to promote our liquor. When we were launching our product in USA, our launch was planned in the famous New York discotheque, Studio 54, where I thought we should invite Maggie Trudeau, the wife of the then Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau and mother of the present PM Justin Trudeau. She was a very charming and celebrated socialite who happily accepted to be the chief guest for our launch. This turned out to be a very successful event. There is another famous personality I stumbled upon, who was a patriarch of Camus Cognac. One day I was flying from Paris to Prince Edward Island. Fortunately, the person sitting next to me was Michel Camus, from the famous French liquor manufacturing company, Camus Cognac. We got into conversation and he asked me, what do you do? I said, ‘I have a small distillery’. ‘Where?’ he asked. I said, India and Canada. Showing surprise he said, “Canada? You are distilling there? Very good.’’ I asked him his name and he said he is Michel Camus, the owner. I was amazed. I told him it was an honour and privilege to meet him. Interestingly, Michael Camus was trying to get into the Canadian market since the last four years, but he was not able to break the ice. So he was on his way to meet the Liquor Control Commissioner, with whom he had an appointment at 10:30 am the next day. I also had a dinner appointment with the commissioner on that very day. I asked him, “Would you like to join me at dinner with the Liquor Control Commissioner since I am meeting him this evening?” He was again surprised. However, he hesitantly accepted my offer and to his pleasant surprise, the dinner went off very well. For Camus, the next day’s meeting was a mere formality. That day he walked away with one container load of the order, with his Cognac Company being listed the same day. Thereafter, we became very good friends. I also tied up with his company for Napoleon brandy that we made with their collaboration. We used to import Cognac concentrate for that. So when our company was closing down because of various issues in Canada, he asked me to take up Camus marketing for North America for them. He offered to pay $250,000 salary and an apartment in Manhattan. I was tempted, but my cousin needed me desperately in India to repay the debt, which he had incurred in Canada. I agreed, as indirectly I too was morally responsible. I returned to India and repaid the Canadian debt completely.
What are you presently doing?
of that. Arvind Lakshmi Kumar is one of the brightest sparks. Along with him are Jagrut Patel, Sumeet Patel and Ankit Kumar, who have amazing knowledge about all our Defence programme where all of us are trying to give our country all indigenously designed, developed and manufactured products in electro-optics, which are of world class standard. The company is exporting these products to developed countries, which is a matter of great pride. They are doing amazingly well, so much so that recently Tonbo got an order for $100 million from the Peruvian Army. American drones, which are carrying their attacks on terrorists, are using Tonbo imaging equipment.
I was the President and Executive Director (ED) of ABG Shipyard and served there for a decade. Here, we built 150 ships, 15 of them were interceptor boats and three pollution control vehicles for the Coast Guard. We also won a contract of `2400 crore from the Indian Navy. During that time, I used to go to USA frequently as we were strategising a joint venture with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman Corporation. We were thinking of taking over the American Shipyard as it did not have any more naval orders from America. The American Shipyard people had invited me to consider running the shipyard as ABG’s. At that time, I met four brilliant young Indians, one was working for NASA and the rest were working for the US Department of Defence. I said, “Guys, why don’t you come back and do something for our country.” They said they would love to, but would I mentor them? Would I be their Chairman? I happily accepted so they came back. Now Tonbo Imaging is the result
You were in Taj on the night of 26/11 Mumbai Terror Attack and you rescued many people…
We were in the Rendezvous on the 21st floor, which is a banquet hall where we were having a meeting of the Indo-Korean Trade Association. There was a panic when the attack started. Somebody said we have a Major from the Army so why doesn’t Maj. Phatak take charge of the situation? I was given responsibility by the group. I immediately thought of the Army and called General Officer Commanding, Maj Gen. Hudda. He knew me very well, being an old soldier and asked how he can help. There is a fire exit from Rendezvous, which comes out behind the Taj. I suggested he should send a Platoon to secure all the exits of the 21st floor. We secured the exits and by 3:30-4 am, I was able to bring down by staircase, the entire group without any harm, thanks to timely support by Army, as usual.
What is your advice to young corporate managers of today?
I will implore young managers that they should always think of our country which should come first, always and every time. They should be truly secular and consider themselves as Indians and without any parochial affiliation. They should never forget their responsibilities to society; always reach out to all the sections of the society and help as many needy people as possible. They should be physically fit, morally upright and stand up to their conviction. Everyone should make an effort to arrest degradation of the environment by following correct environmental practices. We should never forget the Armed Forces personnel who keep vigil 24x7 to keep us safe and secure-in that sense; their contribution to the society is over and above any bureaucrat.
What is the secret of your fitness?
I wake up early at 4 am. I walk for 7-8 kms in the morning along with my dog, Tasha (being an animal lover) and swim for an hour in the evening. I never carry any burden at night when I go to sleep. I am a people’s person and love to meet people. My greatest assets are my comrades and friends in the Army, Navy and Air Force and civil society. They have enriched my life.
What is the philosophy of life you live by?
I as an individual owe so much to the country, to society, friends and family. I don’t say it is debt, but I say it is my duty to do as much as possible. I now work for the Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre. I am also a Patron of the Red Cross. I am Chairman of the Environmental Cell of the Armed Forces of the Bombay Natural History Society. Renowned environmentalist, Bittu Sahgal inspired me and brought me into nature conservation. We must care for people and nature for sustainable development. And I believe in doing as much as possible for the downtrodden, under privileged and physically challenged people. Art, literature and music makes a complete human being. You must pursue all these for fulfilment of life. vinitapune@gmail.com October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 29
The next greatest jobs might not be in engineering, law and medicine, but could be in fine arts, humanities, could be in mathematics or music. Therefore, it is important that we redefine what we thought of careers yesterday and what are actually going to be the careers tomorrow" 30 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
NHRDN Career Fest 2017
Careers in BPO and ITES There are several initiatives aimed at generating employment and employability in our country with an aim to transform opportunities for India’s youth to move up the value chain of employment and make our demographic dividend a blessing. In this context, the Mumbai Chapter of the National HRD Network had recently organised their 'Career Fest' in Mumbai, as a platform to provide the student community and young professionals an in-depth understanding of career opportunities in diverse sectors and enable them to make informed career choices. Human Resources Professional, Gurubharan Swaminathan, Regional HR Head, Tata Consultancy Services - BPS, has a rich experience of 12 years working with Tata Consultancy Services. He has worked as a Regional Head of Human Resources managing a hundred-member HR team for 18,000-employee workforce in Chennai. Corporate Citizen presents his talk on career opportunities in BPO and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) sector, wherein he states that which jobs will be replaced by robots in future, how to be relevant in this fast developing industry and how career opportunities are changing daily… By Vineet K
I
will talk about the few changes that we are seeing in the world today and based on those changes how should we prepare ourselves to choose our careers in this new age. The most important skill you need to have before entering the new age job market is to unlearn and learn. If you want to be employed in this fast changing world, you should have agility in learning newer things and skills. We did an analysis on the number of jobs that exist today and those jobs, which won’t be there in the future, 45% of jobs that exist today will be lost. All the jobs that will be lost are the jobs, which are repetitive in nature and which are rule based decision-making in nature. While, the jobs that are going to remain are jobs that involve creativity, imagination and the jobs that require empathy and human connect. If you look at medical field, the doctor will be replaced faster as compared to the nurse. There are robots, which can perform surgeries, but care giving is a very human thing and no robot can replace that human empathy. So doctors will be replaced faster than the nurses. In factories, robots are going to replace the entire assembly lines. The designer who will design the next generation car cannot be replaced. Another thing that is happening rapidly is that the jobs are becoming redundant so you need to ask yourself that ‘what do I have that a robot doesn’t and which can never get replaced’. If you are able to tell a joke, you won’t be replaced. If you are giving care that cannot be replaced by robots. Therefore, gain skills that cannot be replaced by robots.
Reality of tomorrow
A couple of decades ago, engineering was the most
sought after course in India. In the elite B-schools such as Harvard, management and law were the most sought after courses. The most number of applications received last year for such elite B-schools were for fine arts. The next greatest jobs might not be in engineering, law and medicine, but could be in fine arts, humanities, could be in mathematics or music. Therefore, it is important that we redefine what we thought of careers yesterday and what are actually going to be the careers tomorrow. The whole concept of job and career is changing. The jobs of tomorrow are going to be something called as a Hollywood Model. If you take a particular movie crew that comes together for a movie. The movie crew is not full time employees of that movie. They all come together for that particular movie. After they have done with one movie, they move from one movie to the other. When an artist is working on a movie, he or she has signed up to 2-3 movies parallelly. That could be the reality of the tomorrow. Many people are freelancing; many people are taking multiple projects, which could also be the reality of tomorrow.
What is Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) or Business Process Services (BPS)?
BPS industry in India has a workforce of about 2.5–3 million employees. They are the unsung heroes; they work in the back end of the every single transaction that exists today. Earlier, people used to assume that BPS means call centre or data processing. BPS is not data processing. Like as I said earlier, Indian BPS industry has a workforce of about 2.5–3 million employees out of which 85,876 people are employed in TCS-BPS, it changes by the hour. What is interesting October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 31
NHRDN Career Fest 2017 to note is that imagine in a workforce of 85,000 employees, we have 400 doctors. You might be wondering what doctors are doing in a business company. Not just doctors, we also have 600 mathematicians and statisticians and about 400 graphic designers. All these people are working in the BPS environment. We are servicing 20 different industries. The industries range from pharma to mortgages, to banking to insurance to manufacturing. Let’s take pharma industry for example, when a particular drug is introduced in the US, it goes through Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approvals. Now our BPS employees and the doctors, which I earlier told you about, are involved in analysing of those clinical trials and submitting their reports to the pharma companies and which then the pharma companies submits to the FDA. So next time when you see a drug that is released in the market there is a huge contribution of BPS folks in launching the drug in the market. Similarly, in the banking industry, you must have Most of the finest heard of havala transacactors in the movie tions–illegal funds transindustry, today, fer, where the black money is sent. Now in BPS, in started with drama. banking sector, we have Drama is live, movie a department called is not and this is anti-money laundering and there are about the exact difference 1200 people working in between BPS and IT, anti-money laundering unit. They are operating because in BPS you for about 40 banks across are working on live the world. Their job is to transactions all the monitor transactions happening through the time. For example, banks all over the world you are working on so that they can identibank’s data. From fy if there is any money-laundering going on. the time, I put my We have ex-CBI officers, ATM card into the ex-Financial Regulators ATM until I get my in those jobs. How many of us must have thought cash there are four that CBI officers and FiBPS transactions nancial Regulators are involved in BPO jobs? involved"
Market Research
If you remember during the US Presidential election, most of the market research had predicted that Donald Trump would lose but the opposite happened. Now for the market research, 800 of our mathematicians and statisticians are involved. They do market predictions for companies, for policy makers around the world–they analyse the data. For example, you must have heard about Walmart, the larg-
est brick and mortar retailer. The way they stock their inventories has a particular pattern, now the pattern has to tell us that when do I need to stock up something and when it needs to be reordered. One of the studies showed that whenever there is a cyclone or a storm approaching, people stock up on beer, candles and marshmallows. Now the jobs of analysts is to predict and give models and say whenever a storm is approaching, according to data models, you need to stock up on these seven things, the sales of which will be 20 times the sales of other items. This is done in the BPS. Many times, we will meet people who will say that BPO is about data processing and customer support. In addition, there are a myriad of other things happening in BPS. There are 20 different industries and across these 20 industries, we do some fascinating work.
Jobs in BPS
Jobs in BPS are categorised in six types depending upon the complexity.
32 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
Pics: Yusuf Khan
●Simple Data Entry – Simple Data Entry just involves entering data into the system, like DPP work. ●Complex Data Entry – Here you look at multiple fields, enter the data, correct the data, edit the data etc. Rule Based Decision Making – For this type of work there are set of transactions you have to do based on a set of rules that you are given. One example is insurance claims processing. We process claims for about 12-13 of major insurance companies in the world. There are set of rules given saying that when a claim comes to you these are the things that you need to check, if these are met then you have to approve and if not then you have to reject. ●Analysis Based Decision Making – For this type of work I have given you the example of Walmart, where you analyse and then make a decision. ●Judgement Based Work – This is an extremely difficult type of work because it involves judgement. For example, consider this scenario, given the financial reports of these 15 companies among which of these companies should your investor invest in? Now you have ratios to look at but it is not simple math. It involves intuition; it involves judgement and all of that. This is called judgment based decision working. ●Coding Based Work – This type of work is in line with IT. Now in the next 2-3 years, first two type of jobs will be merged into automation. Computers will do the job much more efficiently and much cheaply. Simple data entry and complex data entry will be automated. The third type of
work, which is Rule Based Decision Making, in which half of jobs we will lose to automation in next 18-24 months. The only kind of job, which will be left for us, is little bit of rule based decision making, which computers cannot do because of regulations, analysis based decision-making, judgement based decision-making and coding based work. So that’s what the entire business industry is going to be left with.
Application of BPS
BPS industry for example, comes into picture in the Passport Seva Kendra. Few years back, I remember standing in a queue of the passport office. You then needed to have a contact in the first place even to get an appointment. You had to go at the passport office there at least 2-3 times. You had to wait for at least 45 days to get the passport. Now the appointment is online, you go at a particular slot; even if you are half an hour early, you can’t get in, the middleman is completely eliminated. You spend two hours’ time in the passport office. You get your passport sent to you at your home. Now that’s the magic of BPS to transform something.
Difference between BPS and IT
If you have to compare BPS and IT, the simplest example is the difference between movie and drama. Most of the finest actors in the movie industry today, started with drama. Drama is live, movie is not and this is the exact difference between BPS and IT, because in BPS you are working on live transactions all the time. For example, you are working on bank’s data. From the time, I put my ATM card into the ATM until I get my cash there are four BPS transactions involved. From the time that I raise my request for a fraudulent transaction and get a response, there are 14 transactions involved. Everything you are working on is a live transaction. The impact what you are doing is live. In a drama, if you cannot afford to make a mistake such as forgetting a line. However, in a movie you can edit and make it look like it actually happened, you can shoot with a different person. You don’t have that kind of luxury in the drama. That is the difference between BPS and IT industry.
Cost of Error
Another thing about BPS industry is that the 500th transcation is as important as the 50,000th transaction. I will give you an example that happened recently, there was a credit card transaction that had happened where one employee had made a mistake in the decimal point. Now decimal point mistake is hardly a mistake right? The actual amount that had to be transferred was $5000 but the decimal point was put after 12-13 digits and had become
cess then rather than being a team leader, you move into SME and after you moving into SME, you become a process expert, domain consultant and senior domain consultant etc. ●Transition Career Field – In this field, you are establishing a new process. You will not stay in a particular process more than a couple of months. For example, in the US, suppose Pfizer is giving us a particular job of doing clinical drug testing for three of becoming a their new drugs. Now Career Streams manager and the transition team will in BPS supervisor is also go to US, study the pro● Operations Career cesses, create a process Stream – In this stream, very young. The map, learn the process, people are doing the average age of a come back to India, transactions. One of the teach the people and advantages of the BPS manager is about 25 train them, establish the industry in the operaand the average age process, make sure that tions career stream is the of entering the field it is coming as per the entire industry’s average matrix and move into age is 24-25. No other is 21-22" the next process. The industry in the world next process could be a will have that as the avbank in Holland or banana cultivation in Afrierage age. The age of becoming a manager and ca. Transition team will keep moving from one supervisor is also very young. The average age project to another. I call it the James Bond field. of a manager is about 25 and the average age of ●Sales – Jobs in sales in BPS is same as of any entering the field is 21-22. That is one advantage industry. of BPS industry. ●Pre-sales Career Stream – The pre-sales team Once you are delivering in a stream, you are supports the sales team to make the sales. They taking care of these operations live. It could be help in doing the research, analysis, supporting insurance claims processing, it could be bankthem with the materials involved to make the ing fraudulence alert or it could be pharma drug pitch. Doing the analysis of the pitch and saying trial testing. You could be managing one particwhat went wrong, what went right, what could ular team. have been improved etc. In this career stream, you typically join as a trainee then you become an experienced em● Quality Team – They are the audit unit of BPS. As I had told you earlier that every transployee then you become a team leader or delivery manager or customer leader etc. If you action is as important as the other transaction. join a bank, you spend probably your whole life They have to ensure that the process quality in one particular bank and learn transactions of every process transition is maintained that of that particular bank. However, if you are goes through. joining a BPS company let’s say TCS-BPS, you vineetkapshikar@gmail.com would be processing transactions for 20 different banks. You will look policies and practises of all these banks. Your learning in that domain CC space becomes much stronger, that is in the delivery space. ●Subject Matter Experts (SME) Space – SME is where you super specialise into a particular area. For example pharma, you can get super specialised into clinical drug trial and drug testing Maharashtra is on track to become a or in banking for example, where you can get trillion-dollar economy, given the impetus super specialised into money laundering and to infra development in the last three years. credit card fraud operations. The state has attracted more than half of the total foreign direct investment in the You can specialise into a particular area and country last fiscal year. This was stated be a subject matter expert. That can be a stream. by CM, Fadnavis at the 5th edition of the When you start your career as a team member Progressive Maharashtra Summit. and when you become specialised in your pro$500 trillion. Now imagine if the transaction had actually completed, not just the bank but also the treasury of the internet banking would have been empty. They would have to call up the Prime Minister of that country and tell him that ‘sorry, your country is bankrupted due to a decimal point error made by our BPS employee’. Thankfully, we had a process that caught that error. The cost of an error is The age of extremely high in BPS.
tadka
Maharashtra to become a trilliondollar economy
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Cradle of Leadership Prof (Dr) Ranbir Singh Â’
Founder Vice Chancellor, The National Law University Delhi (NLUD)
Holding the Beacon for Law Education
The National Law University Delhi (NLUD) has risen to a premier position in law education in a short span of time, getting recognition for high-quality teaching and pioneering research. Its students stand out wherever they go, be it the judicial services, overseas institutions or the practice of law. This remarkable achievement has come about through deliberate thought and action. At the core of this effort stands its founder Vice Chancellor, Prof (Dr) Ranbir Singh By Pradeep Mathur 34 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
I
ndia’s capital is home to prestigious universities including the JNU, University of Delhi, IIT Delhi, AIIMS, Jamia Millia, NSD, IIFT and IGNOU. A recent addition to this list is the National Law University Delhi (NLUD), whose law graduates have brought accolades to their alma mater in a remarkably short span of time. They have repeatedly topped the exams of Delhi, Punjab and Haryana judicial services and civil services exam. Several, who graduated from here have joined the world’s top-ranking law schools like Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, Harvard and Stanford. To know what makes NLUD the most sought-after law school in the country, Corporate Citizen spoke to its founder Vice Chancellor, Prof (Dr) Ranbir Singh, who is considered to be an authority on Modern Jurisprudence. Excerpts: Your website says you don’t believe in rankings. Why? I’m not very ambitious. I prefer working quietly. If you do a good job, its vibrations travel. You need not make publicity. That’s why you find NLUD is the least-publicised institution throughout the country. We openly say, please don't rank us. We don't believe in paid rankings. My rankings are my students. If my students do well, my faculty does well, why do I need any publication to rank me? They don't understand the institutions. How they can rank me? If so, why did you go for the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF)? UGC has made NAAC re-accreditation process mandatory for all higher education institutions and NIRF ratings are necessary to brighten the future of our students. How has NAAC and NIRF rated NLUD? NAAC accredited us with a CGPA of 3.59 on a four-point scale. They gave us ‘A’ grade in 2016 for five years. We’re the only law university in the country included in the top 100 club by NIRF. Unlike IITs and IIMs, which are in a separate category, we had to compete with 3800 odd universities assessed by the HRD Ministry and the competition was very tough. Isn’t that an incredible achievement for a university, which hasn’t completed even a decade of existence? How has legal education changed in the past two decades? It has undergone a paradigm shift, particularly after the initiation of economic liberalisation in 1991. It unleashed new challenges for law graduates as the process of liberalisation brought up many new socio-legal issues and business
October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 35
Cradle of Leadership opportunities in the growing globalised world. How did this journey of NLUD begin? It started in 2008, when the Delhi government passed the NLUD Act on directives of the High Court of Delhi. I joined it on July 21 after hosting the convocation of my law school in Hyderabad. We started classes in September.
State-of-the-art moot court hall
Were you working in Hyderabad, earlier? Yes, before taking charge of NLUD, I was the founder Vice Chancellor for NALSAR (National Academy for Legal Studies and Research) in Hyderabad, which was India’s second National Law University. I was there from 1998 to 2008. Prior to that, I had a stint (1996-97) at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore (NLSIU), India’s first law school. I had a role in the National Law School movement too. Does it mean that you established not one but two law schools? Yes. After the first law school NLSIU started functioning in Bengaluru in 1988, no other law school came up for ten years. Five batches of the Bengaluru law school came out and its products started making their presence felt. In 1996, at a conference of law ministers in Bhubaneswar, it was decided that since the Bengaluru experiment had proved to be a success, we should open similar law schools/ universities in every state. Thus, the second law school came at Hyderabad. How did you become its founder V C? Since I was teaching at Bengaluru law school at that time (1996-97) and also associated with the national law school movement for reviving India’s legal education, their choice fell on me. Chandrababu Naidu the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh invited me to be the founder Director and Vice Chancellor of Andhra’s first
law school named National Academy of Legal Studies and Research or NALSAR in 1998. How long were you there? I was there for ten years. Interestingly, after NALSAR, new law schools came up in Bhopal, Kolkata, Jodhpur, Raipur, Gandhinagar, Lucknow and other places within a relatively short time. Meanwhile, NALSAR, Hyderabad had started making a name for itself and by 2008, we had overtaken NLSIU, Bangalore in national rankings and became the best in the country. How could you do that? Right from beginning, I was conscious that I had the mandate not only to compete with NLSIU, Bengaluru, but to overtake it as soon as possible. I realised I could not beat this challenge unless I got liberal financial support to create the necessary infrastructure and get the best of faculty. I
also worked hard to motivate students to acquire the technical and professional skills through moot court competitions and similar activities. Soon, results started flowing and NALSAR became known for its overall excellence. Why did you come to Delhi? Supreme Court Justice Dalveer Bhandari visited Hyderabad around that time. Since he knew me, he also expressed the desire to visit the law school in Hyderabad. He met me at NALSAR and said, “We’re planning a law school in Delhi and if you’re interested, we'll be very happy.” To cut the story short, I came to Delhi because I belong to Haryana and my hometown is just about 100 kms from here. So, I came here in July 2008 and since then, I have been busy establishing the National Law University Delhi (NLUD). In less than ten years, you brought
A basketball match in progress at NLUD campus (left); Dance performance at NLUD’s annual fest KAIROS (right top) NLUD’s Dwarka campus (right below)
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Justice TPS Chawla library (left), A class in progress (right top), Library that offers best legal literature (right down)
NLUD on top of all other law schools. I don’t want to get into numbers, but it’s a fact that today the three best law schools in the country are Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi and NLUD has its own place. It is second to none in terms of quality of students, faculty, infrastructure, library, moot court competitions, debates, other intellectual activities and above all, in terms of research. Why this special focus on research? I felt, if I’ve to make NLUD known as the best law school in India and abroad, I’ve to do something different. Since the research culture is missing in most of our universities, I decided to focus on creating this culture here. With this mandate, when I recruited my faculty, I had two objectives in mind: one, to have some very eminent jurists whose experience would be a great asset to a new entity, and two, to have some young but very talented faculty who would bring the most contemporary and latest approaches to research and teaching at this University. Who did you select then? Some are very eminent jurists like Prof (Dr) Upendra Baxi, former V C of Delhi University, Prof Sasidharan and Prof BB Pande. They joined as Distinguished Professors. We have Prof Mahendra Pal Singh, renowned Constitutional Law scholar and former V C of National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. We also have Prof (Dr) A Jayagovind, former V C of NLSIU, Bengaluru and some five-six other very eminent law teachers as visiting professors. We also have some young faculty who came from abroadwith backgrounds of law schools like Oxford, Cambridge, Stanford, NYU School of Law, Yale or Harvard to carry on the culture of research. We have a strong 50-plus faculty today. We have
‘If you do a good job, its vibrations travel. You need not make publicity for yourself. That’s why you find NLUD is the least-publicised institution not just in Delhi, but throughout the country. We openly say, please don't rank us. We don't believe in paid rankings. My rankings are my students’ about a dozen research centres, where we have room for 50 research scholars involved in cutting-edge research. That's why NLUD is today known as a research-centric law school. What are the areas of research? All areas of contemporary relevance-laws governing the internet and telecom, corporate laws, transparency in governance, labour issues in informal sectors, banking and financial laws, laws relating to death-row prisoners and laws on sexual offences, to name a few. Do you also do something for the industry? We do a lot of work for the government and industry, for the Law Commission, for the Women’s Commission, and various other commissions. We do research work for the parliamentary standing committees. We've been preparing the government report on human rights for the Human Rights Council. The recent human rights report was prepared by me. I was a part of the delegation to Geneva. We regularly help the government in improving the draft law for any new legislation. We do a lot of training programmes for senior government officials in different areas like income-tax or intellectual property rights or criminology.
We also do similar programmes for officers of the Bureau of Police Research & Development. We also organise high-level international and national conferences, moot court competitions, workshops and seminars on newly emerging areas of law. What kind of courses do you offer at NLUD? We have a five year LLB (Hons) degree programme after 10+2. Then we offer a one-year LLM programme and PhD. For every course, we have an all-India entrance test. Admission to NLUD is strictly on merit. There is no quota—either for NRI-sponsored candidates or for the management. No quota even for the Chief Justice of India! What about SC/STs? That’s statutory quota, which has to be given because we’re a public-funded institution, but otherwise no discretion to anybody. Do you take students from the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT)? No. I didn’t become part of CLAT, though I was instrumental in introducing it. I decided to have a separate test called the All India Law Entrance Test (AILET) conducted by NLUD.
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Cradle of Leadership
(Clockwise from top) 1. V C Prof Ranbir Singh with members of a foreign delegation at NLUD 2. V C with students who won trophies for NLUD 3. With foreign delegates at a conference at NLUD 4. Delegation of Uganda
want, they can devise their own curriculum and change it every semester. I give them the latest audio-visual tools to explore different ideas and make the classroom experience stimulating. How do they respond? They love it because our students are intelligent. The faculty knows that if they don’t go fully-prepared, they’ll face a tough time in class. How do you engage your students? We constitute a students' bar council within a month of admission and then students themselves organise all activities. My job is to give them money. We also have college mentors to help them. It’s a student-centric law school where they’re involved in almost every activity. What happens when your students appear in court? They stand out. They’re the finest lawyers today. When they go to the High Court and Supreme Court and argue, judges ask them, which place you are from? When they tell them where they’re from, even judges acknowledge the difference.
How many students apply for your AILET vis-a-vis CLAT? For 2000 seats of CLAT, they get some 50,000 applications for admission to 18 National Law Schools (NLS), 43 other educational institutions and two public sector institutes. Incidentally, CLAT is conducted by 18 participating law schools in rotation and its uniformity of standard varies. However, for 80 seats of my fully-residential, five-year programme, I get about 18,000 applications; about 1100 for LLM and about 175 applications for PhD. The un-
dergraduate programme is based on a credits system with additional seminar courses for further learning, pursued as per the interests of the students. It consists of about 50 subjects over ten semesters, five in each semester. Students are expected to submit 50 research projects before graduation. How differently do you do this? I have a highly motivated faculty and the faculty-student ratio is 1:8. I give a lot of freedom to my faculty to be creative and innovative. If they
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What differentiates them from the others? It’s the research-oriented, disciplined and methodical approach and analytical and critical thinking that we teach them. It helps them stand out. The girl, who recently topped the Delhi Judicial Services was from NLUD. The girl, who topped Punjab Judiciary Services was also from NLUD. The girl, who topped in Haryana too was from NLUD and the youngest girl in 201415 to have been selected in the IAS, Aashika Jain, is also from NLUD. Two years back, the Rhodes Scholar was selected from NLUD. There are only two scholarships awarded by Rhodes in the field of law and Rishika Sahgal, a BA, LLB (Hons) student, became the first from NLUD to receive this rare honour. Our students have also
won various national and international moot court competitions. There was a time when students would join law to get hostel accommodation for three years. How true is that today? No. It wasn’t like that. Students never wanted to stay in the hostel for fun. They wanted the hostel to prepare for the civil services. In those days, their journey for IAS would usually start from Allahabad University. Gradually, it switched from Allahabad to Delhi University (DU). People would join law and stay in DU’s Gwyer / Jubilee Hall, and compete for the civil services. From DU, it shifted to JNU and from JNU it went to the IITs. Now from the IITs, it’s swiftly shifting over to law schools and in another ten years, we'll take over the IITs. The maximum number of students in the civil services will come from law schools like NLUD. That's how it’ll continue because law as an optional paper has a comparatively higher rate of success in civil services than other optional papers, giving an edge to our students. Why do we have two different law courses? Actually there are three levels at which legal education is imparted. Standards also vary substantially. At the base-level, we have about 1600 law colleges, mostly in the private sector, offering five-year courses after class 12. Then there are about 250 universities, offering three-year law courses after graduation. Some also offer five-year integrated courses. Then there are about a dozen distance-learning law schools like IGNOU, Annamalai, SNDT Mumbai, etc. Why have the standards in traditional state universities declined? Actually, until the 1980s or maybe early 1990s, the law faculty of the universities of Lucknow, Allahabad, Benaras, Kurukshetra and others were doing an excellent job. These were nurseries for producing good quality lawyers and teachers. But, unfortunately, because of faulty government policies, standards in these law faculties also fell miserably. What policies? The Automatic Promotion Schemes and Rotational Headship Policies. Faculty got ruined, the quality of teaching suffered in the process, and the decline was so fast that now we don’t know how to improve. Was the movement for national law schools also a product of this decline? Yes—it was. Legal circles, especially in academia, were very much agitated. Heated discussions took place. Everybody felt that something must be done fast to improve the standards of legal education.
‘By conducting an entrance test soon after 10+2, if you can select the best of the students for medical and engineering colleges, why can’t you do the same for law schools? If students join a high-quality, integrated 5-year BA, LLB course, they’ll naturally be more motivated, focussed and committed to the profession’ What were their main concerns? People felt our colonial masters were not interested in good legal education for Indians but now things must change. We badly needed reforms. But even seven decades after independence, our policy makers had not done anything to revamp it. The result was, we had a large number of private law colleges in the country, but very poor quality control. Who had to monitor this quality control? First, it is the Bar Council of India (BCI). But it had very little control over standards of legal education. Most students would join law because they had nothing better to do. Second, the bulk of LLB/LLM education was part-time. So, while doing law, you could also do an MA in history, or whatever. Third, most law colleges had poor faculty, mostly part-timers, poor infrastructure, no library or research resources. Fourth, mass admissions in law courses also led to a sharp decline in standards of teaching and evaluation. Legal education was in a complete mess. Nobody took it seriously, yet nothing was being done to reform it.
How did things change? Though the Law Commission voiced its concern in 1958 itself, it was only in the early eighties that a legal education committee headed by the former Vice President of India, Justice M Hidayatullah, was constituted. Prof Upendra Baxi and Prof GL Sharma were its members from the academic side. It also had eminent lawyers like Ram Jethmalani, Ranjeet Mohanty, Rajinder Singh and a few others. After several meetings, they came up with the idea that to have something on the pattern of law schools in America. They recommended a five-year double-degree, integrated law course. Initially the BCI decided to scrap all the existing three-year law courses, but it faced stiff opposition from academia across the country. Why? Those who favoured three-year courses felt it wasn’t a solution to close them down. Others wanted to give the proposed five-year course a try. Some also recommended a four-year integrated course and so it became controversial. Finally, in 1985, BCI resolved to allow both the five and three -year law courses to function simultaneously because it observed that some
October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 39
Cradle of Leadership people decide early, while some take time to realise that they have to do law. Didn’t that cause confusion? It did, but in 1987, after years of deliberation, all confusion evaporated when it was decided to establish the first National Law School of India University (NLSIU) in Bengaluru. It started functioning in 1988 and since then it has been a trend-setter in legal education. Though Prof Baxi was supposed to translate its vision into reality, since he had some other commitments, this responsibility was finally given to Prof Madhav Menon of DU who was well-acquainted with this goal. He accepted the challenge and became the founder-director of NLSIU Bangalore. Today he is considered by many as the father of modern legal education in India. The rest, of course, is history. What was the logic for an integrated five-year law course? The logic was, by conducting an entrance test soon after 10+2, if you can select the best of the students for medical and engineering colleges, why can’t you do the same for law schools? If students could join a high-quality, integrated 5-year BA, LLB course, they’ll naturally be more motivated, focussed and committed to the profession. So, efforts were made to prepare an integrated course curriculum. Why did they mix social sciences with law in this new curriculum? That was done because it was felt that legal education must have a multi-disciplinary approach so that it is socially relevant for proper dispensa-
The beautifully well-kept NLUD campus which provides uniquely furnished spaces for intellectual discussions NLUD
year. A first-year student has to go for a six-week compulsory internship at the library so that he can understand what is legal literature, what is legal database, how to consult a library, what are the documents you need for research and so on. In the second year, you do an NGO placement to understand the interface of law and society because when you work for an NGO, you come to know what problems women, children, the aged, street children and the destitute face, and learn how law can help them. Students get socially sensitised. Similarly, when they come to the 3rd year, they go to the Trial Court because it’s very
‘Your performance in terms of teaching, research, discipline, perception you create, the kind of students you produce—these should be the parameters. Unless and until you compete for that, the universities will be in a bad shape’ tion of justice. That’s why Social Sciences (History, Political Science, Sociology and Economics) were added alongside standard legal subjects such as torts, contracts and constitutional law. What is the ratio of boys versus girls at NLUD? Almost 50%, but lately girls are in more numbers. In fact, most of our best performance awards have been won by girls. How good is the industry interaction of students at the under-grad level? Our system is very different. I cannot speak for others but at NLUD, we have a very strong system of internship, which starts right from the first
important to understand trial court procedures. When they come to the 4th and 5th years, they start going to corporate law firms, senior lawyers, judges and multinationals. They even go abroad for internship. So, it's a very continuous process of internship at NLUD. By the time they pass out, they have been through all these systems which are very important interfaces for a lawyer. What’s the basic idea behind these internships? The idea is three fold, to produce lawyers who are technically sound, who know and understand the interface between IT and law and who are professionally competent through moots and debates and all these activities. They get
40 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
proficiencies in languages; they speak the legal language and do all the things that are socially relevant. They attend legal aid clinics and lok-adalats to become socially relevant people. They enter a purposive order so that they become not only good advocates but good human beings too. We try our best. How does one improve the standard of education? We must give teachers the importance they deserve. Unfortunately, today they don’t matter. Only politics and politicians matter. Nobody bothers what teachers have to say. There was a time when our universities had lots of autonomy. Now there are instances where people are being regulated at the state-level universities for no reason. Universities should be very autonomous bodies. They must, of course, be accountable for what they do and the indicator should be nothing but performance. All grants should be performance-based. Your performance in terms of teaching, research, discipline, perception you create, the kind of students you produce—these should be the parameters. Unless and until you compete for that, the universities will be in a bad shape. How good are your international collaborations? We have several collaborations with the most prestigious law schools abroad including Harvard, Oxford, George Washington (USA), Wallamette (USA), Lewis & Clark (USA), Osgoode (Toronto), McGill (Canada), VU (Amsterdam), King’s College (London), Maastrichit (The Netherlands), Melbourne (Australia) and Johannesburg (South Africa), to name a few.
What’s your take on the huge pile up of cases in our courts? Our justice system is bogged down with judicial delays. Why can’t we implement the recommendations made by several committees and law commissions? Why should we have multiple appeals? Why do we allow adjournments that delay the process? Why do we allow stays? Why is the government itself the biggest litigant in India? Why can’t we have more fast track courts? Why can’t we modernise our courts? Why can’t we keep our courts open 365 days a year and increase the strength of our judges ten-fold? Why do we allow lawyers to stall the cases on grounds of someone being absent or medical emergencies or paperwork problems and so on? Why can’t we do away with archaic laws of the British era which make no sense in today’s world? Even the layman knows, if we have to clear this mind-boggling backlog of over three crore cases in India, we will have to take some drastic measures urgently but then the question arises: Who’ll do it and are we really serious about it?
Away from the din of Delhi, NLUD offers fully-green, picturesque and world-class campus
These MoUs pave the way for smooth student/ faculty exchange programmes.
good people, they go out of the way to retain them. That's how excellence is promoted.
Why people are sending their kids abroad for higher legal education? That's because we have the best of students but we lack the best of institutions. So our brightest kids go abroad and many of them never come back because the scene abroad is just the opposite. They have the best of institutions but they don't have students. So, you’ll find Indian students in top universities of USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. How much we contribute to their wealth is anybody's guess but we’re not bothered. Nobody in India has the time to look into these things.
How true is the notion that education at NLUD is very expensive? The fee I charge for admission at NLUD is some `1.75 lakh per annum. This includes all expenses including hostel, except the mess. This is peanuts if you compare it to the fee charged by private players. If somebody finds it difficult to pay, we provide liberal funding too. That’s not much because once they pass out, their minimum salary at a corporate law firm can be `1 lakh per month.
That means the situation is pretty grave? Oh yes. We’re already in the ICU. Except for a few private schools in the cities, primary education is dead. You don't have good high-school education. You don't have quality college education. Though it’s more than three years now, the central government hasn’t implemented the grades of teachers, till date. They are yet to decide who’ll bear the burden. Where do we stand vis-a-vis top universities abroad? We’re nowhere. Universities in countries like Singapore which came up recently have far higher world rankings. The Nanyang Technological University which came up only 15-years back is the 15th world-ranker today. Similarly, National University of Singapore, or INSEAD— each enjoys top ranking in the world. It’s because they believe in excellence. If they find
What’s your take on the acute shortage of judges in our courts? One very learned judge said, the quality of judges would be determined by the bar and the quality of the bar would be determined by the law school. But, till date, not even a single teacher has been taken into the SC as a judge, though there is a provision under Article 126 that a jurist can be taken to the SC. No law teacher is taken in any tribunal or commission. They’re not taken even on the National Human Rights Commission or Competition Commission of India. Those who teach these subjects day-in and day-out are not even considered for these institutions. They’re persona non grata. This is how our country is run by experts. Who are these experts? Most of them would be bureaucrats or judges. So why would good people come to teaching? But the best of countries in the world are those which respect their teachers, their women and take very good care of their children. We do none of that. How can we call ourselves great if we keep wasting our human resources like this?
What role do you enjoy more—teacher or administrator? I like teaching. I even teach here. I have been a V-C for 20 years, but I teach every year. Earlier I used to teach senior classes but now I teach first year students. I love to teach them. The teacher in me is always alive. That is the most enjoyable thing I know. What’s your vision for NLUD? Where do you see it ten years down the line? My vision is very simple. Ten years from now, I want NLUD to be ranked among the best in the world. I want NLUD products to be highly technical, socially relevant and extremely competent. I want them to be the leaders, not followers, of New India. What is your philosophy of life? Do your best. Do your job sincerely. That's it! mathurpradeep1@gmail.com
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Indian companies on cost reduction spree Around 44% companies are looking at cost reduction targets and roughly 20% Indian companies have set the most aggressive cost reduction targets in the APAC region. According to Deloitte’s first Biennial Cost Survey, 95% Indian companies are more likely to pursue cost reduction as against the APAC regional average of 76% over the next 24 months.
October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 41
If you look at our educational system, we are all to blame. We think education is just colleges and schools. But that is not true. Education is about the environment, which has changed for the worst. Today, children have stopped learning from nature, and the classroom learning has not evolved
Pics: Yusuf Khan
42 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
HR Talk
The
Maverick H R L eader
HR, for long, has been complacent. The need of the hour is a radical and progressive HR outlook, and nobody embodies that better than Prabhash Nirbhay, an HR veteran across different sectors, and the founder and CEO of Bengaluru based think tank ‘Flipcarbon’. He is a maverick, constantly thinking outside the box, and believes that HR must innovate or perish. Corporate Citizen chats with the young CEO, as he shares his opinion on entrepreneurship, education in India, and the latest trends in HR By Neeraj Varty
Tell us about your journey to the CEO’s seat at Flipcarbon.
I have been born and brought up in Ranchi. My corporate journey started in 2002, when I passed out of Xavier’s Institute of Social Service, where I was the batch topper and a gold medallist. I got placed with ACC cement. I was with them for a couple of years, where I spent time working on their new vision statement and their new processes and procedures. I was responsible for training, development and new initiatives. Post ACC, I joined Arvind brands, which was a new journey entirely. I took over employee engagement initiatives and ensured that the performance of the company was enhanced. By the time I left them in 2008, I was handling the end-to-end corporate HR function. After that, I joined SABMiller, as a regional HR manager for Southern India. Subsequently, I moved to a corporate role, where I was responsible for complete employee engagement, including talent acquisition and management. In the three years I spent in that role, my attrition improved from 27-28% to less than 10%. Then I made a move into operations. I was responsible for all the 11 factories of SABMiller across India. In 2014, after what seemed like a lifetime of working in different corporations, I decided that I
wanted to become an entrepreneur, and embarked upon that journey. I resigned from the company with notice, and spent the next few months ideating on my business, and in April 2015, I launched Flipcarbon.
What does Flipcarbon do?
Flipcarbon is an end-to-end HR consulting services firm. We look at HR very similar to a marketing function. Whatever you do in HR, unless you can market it to your stakeholders, you are not a live HR department. Today, we help clients engage with their employees as well as other stakeholders and make sure that whatever they do is a live process. Today, we have clients like John Deere, Relaxo, SABMiller, Neoniche, etc. We are helping Neoniche transform from a startup to one of the best in the industry. It's a transformational agenda.
Do companies outsource their entire HR function to you?
There are different models, depending on whether you are a startup, an established company, or somewhere in between. If you are a new company, even if you want to do something great in HR, you may not be able to afford it. In that case, for a much lower cost, they can avail of our experience
and exposure of 15 years. Selfishly, it is to my advantage if my clients don't learn the HR function. But I don't believe in that. If I can translate the learning to them as well, then we can both elevate ourselves. I believe in growing together with our clients. I build HR function, operate it and then transfer it to the company's staff (BOT model).
The name of your company is similar to Flipkart. Is that intentional?
(Laughs). No, but I like to tell people that today, we are at the same place where Flipkart was 10 years back. In 2007, Sachin and Binny Bansal used to take out their own scooters, run to bookstores, buy books, wrap it up and then post them to the customers. They were as agile then as we are now. Hopefully, we will have a similar journey as them.
HR, with exponential changes in technology, is evolving rapidly. Do you feel jobs will be lost due to automation?
I have this serious concern with HR people. We keep talking about concepts of partnering, and having a seat on the company's table. I have never heard anyone in finance, operations, or other functions talking about this. If you want a seat at the table, then earn it. If you are go-
October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 43
HR Talk ing to remain a paper pusher, then you will never have that kind of respect. Your job is to help your CEO achieve his targets. If you focus on that, then you will never become obsolete. If instead, you focus on technicalities like bell curve, increments and bonuses, you will never evolve. HR people have been guilty of that in the past. Technology can enable HR achieve so much more. If you look at the real picture, tech has replaced paper in HR functions; it has not replaced processes or people. If you take an employee satisfaction survey by the traditional method, it takes 45 days. If you use technology for this process, you can have the results in hours. These are tech enabled HR people. If HR changes their paper pushing mentality and embraces technology, it will make them much more indispensable to the organisation.
The educational system today is criticised for being too archaic in times of rapid changes in the types of jobs required by the industry. What are your thoughts on this?
If you look at our educational system, we are all to blame. We think education is just colleges and schools. But that is not true. Education is about the environment, which has changed for the worst. Today, children have stopped learning from nature, and the classroom learning has not evolved. When we talk technology, tablets and PCs have become dirt-cheap. Yet we still carry 10kg bags in schools. Then what evolution has happened? Parents, society leaders, are not changing. There is no inquisitiveness in our exams. Our tests are tests of memory, not knowledge. Parents are not changing. If your child gets 80% without studying, you are upset. But if your child gets 90% after mugging up, you feel satisfied. Shouldn't you be happier if your child gets 80% without mugging up? That is the kind of learning that should happen. They want children to stop playing sports and only study. The second group to be blamed is students. Barring a few exceptions, students just compete with each other. True inquisitiveness is not there. They should understand that learning improves with sharing. Look at the companies we have in India. Do we have a Google or an Uber or an Apple? What we have are Flipkart, Ola and Paytm, which with all due respect are copies of Amazon, Uber and PayPal that originated in the west. Nothing is original. You do not have your own innovative company. We are becoming a generation of copycats, because our educational system does not encourage innovation. We like to take credit for every Sunder Pichai and Satya Nadella, but we must understand that it is the companies they work for which shaped them, not us. We are unlikely to innovate anything until we have this culture of mugging up. We are a country of 1.3 Billion people. We study for survival, not for self-improvement.
As far as business climate goes, I believe the current environment is more conducive for entrepreneurship than the past. In the past, you have licenses, permits, and a whole gauntlet of regulations. Today, you have banks willing to support you; you have angel investors willing to fund you as long as your idea is robust
and working for someone is that you have the safety net of a salary. Otherwise, a job is as uncertain as entrepreneurship. In entrepreneurship, you have to own an idea, and I expect even employees to own ideas. Today, Hire and Fire is a culture, and job security is a myth. In entrepreneurship, the challenge is not earning money, it is scaling. Stalling is failing. If you cannot scale up, you should not be an entrepreneur. A small business is like a job. A large business is when the transformation happens. As far as business climate goes, I believe the current environment is more conducive for entrepreneurship than the past. In the past, you have licenses, permits, and a whole gauntlet of regulations. Today, you have banks willing to support you; you have angel investors willing to fund you as long as your idea is robust. As for xenophobia, it has always been around. We may try to deny it, but human beings have always been like this. A lion will never hunt for five deer at the same time. It only hunts when it needs to eat. Humans, though have always wanted more than their fair share. That has always been the case, and unfortunately, I don't see that changing soon. But businesses have adapted and will adapt to these challenges.
What is your idea of relaxation?
I love to curl up with a good book or watch movies. I started reading since 4th standard, and as long as the book is good, I don't need anything else to unwind.
Do you believe in taking your work home?
I am a 24/7 work person. There is no difference between work and home for me. In fact, work is a part of life. People talk about work-life balance, but I think it’s a fallacy. Your life consists of you as an individual, you as a family member, and you as a part of a work group. When all of these are subsets of your life, how can you separate any of these with a clear-cut marker. On certain days, you may not want to work from 9 to 5, and on certain days, you may want to work from 5 to 9. If on Monday I feel that I don’t want to work for the next five hours, I don't. If I feel on a Friday evening that I want to work for the next two days, I do that. Weekends are human creations. There is no necessity that you must work on a Monday and not work on Sundays. I believe that the right time to work is when inspiration strikes and that may be at any hour of any day.
What is your philosophy of life? You became an entrepreneur in 2015. Today, the business climate is marked by protectionism, jingoism and xenophobia globally. How conducive is entrepreneurship now?
The world is changing. We as people are changing. Nobody wants to do the same job Monday to Friday. The only difference between entrepreneurship
44 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
My philosophy of life is living in the moment. I do not believe too much in the future. The future is a creation of what we do today. If you are spending today well, then you are taking care of the future. If you are spending today in worry, you are destroying your future. If I have spent yesterday well, If I have spent today well, then my tomorrow will be well. neeraj.varty07@gmail.com
Pic: Senthil Kumar
From My Wall
Pappa is a star in the sky
Major Akshay Girish Kumar, son of IAF pilot, Girish Kumar was martyred in Nagrota in 2016 in the encounter with terrorists in its Army camp. His wife, Sangeeta posts a touching note on her Facebook Wall…
I
By Sangeeta and Naina Akshay Shirish
t was 2009. The first time he proposed, it didn’t happen the way he had planned. I was visiting him in Chandigarh with a friend. We drove to Shimla but there was a curfew there. The restaurant he had booked had closed early and he had forgotten to get the ring. So he went down on one knee with a red pen drive that he had in his pocket! In 2011, we got married and I shifted to Pune. Two years later, Naina was born. He would be gone for long periods for his professional assignments. Since my daughter was young, our families suggested that I come back to Bengaluru. But I stayed on. I loved the world we had created and didn't want to leave it. Life was an adventure with him. From going to meet him at 14000 feet with Naina to sky diving as a family, we did it all. In 2016, he got posted to Nagrota. We were staying in the officer’s mess as our house was not yet allotted. On November 29th, we suddenly woke up at 5:30 am to the sound of gunshots. We thought it was training but there had not been any intimation. Soon even grenades went off. At around 5:45 am, a junior came in to tell him that militants had taken the artillery regiment as hostage and he’d have to change to combat clothing.
time. But we never expect things to go wrong. The last thing he said to me was “You must write I sobbed like a baby, like my soul was being about this.” ripped apart. Two other soldiers were martyred All the ladies and children were put in a room. but they saved the women, children and the Sentries were stationed outside the room and men who were held hostage. we could hear constant firing. I sent a text to I got his uniforms, clothes and all the stuff we my mother-in-law and a conversation contincollected over the years in a truck. I tried hard ued between her, my sister-in-law and me as the to fight back my tears. I haven't washed his regimorning wore on. At 8:09 am, he texted us on mental jacket and when I miss him a lot, the group saying he was in the firefight. I wear it. It still smells of him. Around 8:30 am, we were shifted to a safer place. We were still in our At first, it was difficult to exLife was pyjamas and chappals. plain to Naina what had hapan adventure with The day wore on and there pened but now her papa is a him. From going to was no news. I started getstar in the sky. Today, I have meet him at 14000 ting jittery and had a sinking set up my own place with the feeling. At 11:30 am, I could feet with Naina to sky things we had collected. He not help myself and made is there alive and speaking to diving as a family, a call. One of his team memus through the pictures and we did it all bers picked up the phone and the memories we created. We said, “Major Akshay has gone to a smile through our tears because we different location”. Around 6:15 pm, his know that’s what he would have wanted commanding officer and some other officers us to do. Like they say, if you haven't felt your came to meet me. He said, “Ma'am we have lost soul being torn apart, you haven't really loved Akshay. He was martyred around 8:30 am.” My with all your heart. Though it hurts, I will alworld collapsed. I was inconsolable. I wish I ways love him. had texted him. I wish I had hugged him good(Source: https://www.facebook.com/ bye. I wish I had told him I loved him one last beingyou17/posts/458386917893937) October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 45
Campus Placement
Never give up
and always
think positive From a small village Wadhona, in Latur district to a metro like Mumbai, it has been a dream run for Damini Parsewar By Joe Williams
D
amini Parsewar never wanted to be like other village girls, but wanted to move out of the village. Starting her academics from the Zilla Parishad School in her village, Damini stepped out of her house to do her diploma from Yavatmal district, and then engineering from the College of Engineering in Pune where she successfully completed her B Tech. Determined and willing to go through the grind, Damini did face rejection in her first attempt during the campus placement, but did not lose hope, and made amends to the flaws and came out with flying colours in her second interview. Today placed at BPCL,
I have made my parents proud, and most importantly my village, and I am proud to be called a village girl. Hard work and determination helps people to achieve their dreams
46 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
her childhood dream to become an engineer in the technical field has been achieved. As she becomes nostalgic, she cannot believe that she has become an engineer and is the only girl from the village to have achieved this feat. “I have made my parents proud, and most importantly my village, and I am proud to be called a village girl. Hard work and determination helps people to achieve their dreams.� It was tough in the beginning, but there is always success after hard times, and this hope was the reason for Damini to have reached the pinnacle in her life.
First failure created slight fear in me regarding the following interviews. I was emotionally shaken up as I could not accept the first rejection since I had consistently good results since my childhood. I though to myself that I need to prepare well for the upcoming interviews “I will support my family as because of them that I am something in the society. It is my duty to be with them,” says Damini. Being a topper throughout school and also in the board exam, she went on to do her polytechnic from a Government Residential women’s college in Yavatmal. “It was during this period that I was left to do everything by myself, which changed my life style. Washing clothes, keeping the room tidy and other things made me change my way of life,” says Damini. Damini was one of the favourites in college as many students would come to her for guidance and she was ever ready to help them. “I used to help the students in studies which helped me enrich my knowledge,” says Damini. Being an outstanding student, getting admission to the College of Engineering in Pune was an easy task. “COEP was the turning point in my life. The college ambience and the teachers were all very helpful, and I am sure because of this the college is known as one of the best colleges in Maharashtra when it comes to engineering,” recalls Damini. She came from a joint family, wherein members in the family shared each other’s viewpoints. Grandparents, uncles, aunties and their children kept the house always noisy. Her grandfather was the principal of the Zilla Parishad School where she did her schooling. “We are a joint family and my father is a farmer while my mother is a house wife.” “Admission to the COEP was the happiest moment of my life. Many were of the opinion that it would be a big task to get into the college. However, being an outstanding student throughout school and college and with just one seat available for lateral entry students in the open catego-
ry I had no option but to top Maharashtra. And it was the happiest moment in my life, as I succeeded in achieving the first rank in diploma and getting that seat in my dream college.” Like many students, the first interview during the campus placement was not good for Damini as she was rejected by Sun Pharma. “That first failure created slight fear in me regarding the following interviews. I was emotionally shaken up as I could not accept the first rejection since I had consistently good results since my childhood. I thought to myself that I need to prepare well for the upcoming interviews.” Being strong and staying positive, Damini got placed at BPCL as an executive manager. “After my placement at BPCL, I understood the importance of the adage, “Failures are the pillars to success.”” Getting into one of the best PSUs changed Damini’s approach. “I am extremely happy that I got into one of the most reputed PSUs, but I cannot be complacent since I still have my whole life in front of me.” Now it was time for Damini to adjust herself into the new corporate world. “I have my task cut out as I need to adjust to a new place, a new organisation, new people and doing everything on my own which is a challenge in itself. My main aim is to excel in every field and explore new opportunities in the long run”. “It was my parents who always supported me and encouraged me for further education, despite the financial crunch and also my teachers, especially at the government residential women’s Polytechnic College, Yawatmal.”
Six tricks to success…
1. Be patient because good things take time to happen 2. Hard work is the key to success 3. Be positive in all aspects of life 4. Have faith in yourself and your abilities 5. Never think about past misfortunes 6. Always do whatever is dear to your heart joe78662@gmail.com
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tadka
India produces the world’s most-expensive coffee India, Asia’s third-largest producer and exporter of coffee, has started producing the world’s most-expensive coffee. It is being made by a start-up in Coorg district, in Karnataka, from the poop of civet cats. Civet coffee, a drink of the elite consumed widely in the Gulf nations and Europe, is sold for `20,000-25,000/kg abroad.
October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 47
Loved & Married too
The silver circumference of commitment
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
Married for nearly 25 years, Dinesh K Pillai, CEO, Mahindra Special Services Group, Mumbai and his better half Rupal represent the time-honoured values of commitment and faith in the institution of marriage despite the challenges of a corporate career. Two sons, Vikram (22) and Rahul (19), complete the picture By Kalyani Sardesai
T
his love story is interesting and unusual for several reasons: the ease with which it worked through cultural differences (he's a Nair from Kerala, and she, a Jain) and parental apprehensions about how would they ever adjust and they staying firm on their decision to marry. What made their case even more solid, despite their lack of years, was the unusually wise decision to sort out their finances and first invest in a house, before saying 'I do'. "Our parents saw how sincere and committed we were and eventually gave us their blessings," says Rupal.
Back to the beginning
“I think knowing each other well is very important before marriage. The expectations tend to be less grandiose and more realistic� − Dinesh 48 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
Both Dinesh Pillai and Rupal Dhruv met in the first years of their respective degrees at Mumbai's KC College. He was working towards a BSC in Physics and she, in Microbiology. She was the studious type, while he was a happy go lucky sort of a person, equally interested in life outside the classroom and all the fun and excitement that college years bring in their wake. "We would meet in the library and generally chat about this, that or the other," he reminisces. Gradually, the friendship intensified, and he asked her to marry him. Considering this proposal was made at the 'ripe old age' of 19-not to forget his popularity with girls, it did not take the practical Rupal long to turn him down. But he was perseverant, and the duo stayed in touch even as he went to study engineering and she took up a part time job giving tuitions. Amidst all this, he did tell his parents, but they thought it was not a well-thought out decision considering how young they both were. Besides he was a non-veg and she a veg; this would cause considerable practical problems, they argued.
Soon, after completion of his engineering course, Dinesh got a job in Nelco in the Electrical and Automation Department, which was designing and implementing process automation solutions for steel mills. While he was posted in Jamshedpur for the first assignment, the relationship continued. So, one day, in the midst of a conversation, his parents asked him if he really was completely firm, and he said, “Yes.” Though his parents agreed for the marriage, the untimely demise of Dinesh's grandfather again put the date of the marriage in question. However, by this time, Dinesh had given his word to Rupal's parents and there was no looking back. So, in May 1993, they were finally wed in a court ceremony.
The building blocks of togetherness
Both Dinesh and Rupal are a study in contrast, yet both complement each other well. “She's practical with a lot of financial acumen and I am grateful for that aspect of her personality. What's more is that she is a courageous woman-much more so than me. She's also social and talkative, and has a quick temper. On the other hand, I am a man of few words. Also I like to keep the peace by generally backing off from arguments,” he smiles. So were these the qualities that first attracted her to him? “No,” he laughs. “She is beautiful and at the age we met, it matters.” “He is honest and speaks his mind clearly,” says Rupal. “Most importantly, he is committed and keeps his word. That is his finest quality.” Besides, considering that they knew each other for several years before marriage, it gave her enough time to analyse his personality. “I think knowing each other well is very important before marriage. The expectations tend to be less grandiose and more realistic,” adds Dinesh. Post-marriage, both moved into their little flat in Borivali in Mumbai-the one they had booked well before their nuptials. As things panned out, the adjustment issues predicted by the elders never really came to be. “To begin with, we were living by ourselves. Besides, it was an independent decision in every way. At the same time, given the pressures of living in Mumbai and managing by ourselves, we had to work as a team,” she says. To balance work and family, she took up a job as a computer programmer in a stock broking firm, eventually giving it up when family became more demanding. “What I appreciate enormously about her, apart from her intelligence, is her ability to
“Honestly, movies and dining out are peripheral things. The important thing is to just have each other’s company” − Rupal multi-task, plan and manage everything so merough and tumble of fast paced careers and ticulously,” he says. “I am a workaholic; always lifestyles? have been, but she manages to keep our lives “It's a different world,” says Dinesh, carefully. and home running on well-oiled wheels.” “Paradigms and aspirations have both changed Parenting is an important arena of team work today and everyone is opinionated and unfor any couple, and despite the fact that Rupal willing to compromise. Also, considering how is the hands-on parent given Dinesh's constant tough and demanding things are, young peowork and travel pressures, both are firm about ple tend to burnout. However, everyone has to certain values. decide for themselves what's “We are not the sort of parimportant to them.” ents who will push the children “The tolerance and patience for studies or achievement. We that are required to keep relawant them to do their besttionships alive and this cannot that's all. It's more important, be built overnight; parents have Plan your careers and we feel, for them to be well-bala duty to inculcate them early finances carefully. Little anced, normal people who on in their growing children. things add up are kind and respectful,” says Also, it would be a good idea Compromise is not a Rupal. “Besides, we want them for younger people to sit back bad word to be people who don't need and ask themselves what exactmaterial things or lots of monly are their priorities and why? Respect your partner ey to be comfortable.” They want the best of everyfor their individuality thing-in a jiffy-and that's not Dinesh is the stricter of Cultural differences can possible,” shares Rupal. “Rethe two, but is glad that both be overcome through spect and understanding take the boys confide all in their love and respect time and patience.” mother. “It is very important At the end of the day, both to have an open channel of Give each other time Rupal and Dinesh stress on communication with the chiltrust and affection as the foundren,” he expresses. dation of a marriage. “When you have these, Quality time for the two of them consists of everything falls into place. Over time, you will simply being together. “Honestly, movies and find the communication becomes easier and dining out are peripheral things. The importfree flowing. There comes a time, when neither ant thing is to just have each other's company,” of you need words to understand what the other says Rupal. is saying,” rounds off Dinesh. What advice would they have for younger kalyanisardesai@gmail.com couples these days, especially considering the
Mantras of Marriage
October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 49
Survey
Ease of doing business in India−2017 India needs to create an environment that fosters globally competitive firms, capable of driving and sustaining economic growth. The government’s Ease of Doing Business initiative is critical for achieving and tracking this favourable environment. That being said, how effective is it really? The Indian government’s NITI Aayog and banking corporation IDFC have conducted the Ease of Doing Business survey to answer this question. Corporate Citizen brings you the results Compiled by Neeraj Varty
50 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
F
or far too long India paid insufficient attention to the centrality of the business environment for wealth creation, which is in turn critical to combating poverty. As a consequence, entrepreneurs, the engines of wealth creation, struggled to do business in the face of onerous policies and regulations that were designed to choke rather than enable business. The reforms of 1991 marked a clear change in direction as successive governments started paying attention to difficulties faced by businesses. Nonetheless, there remained far too many impediments. By and large, India remained a tough place to do business. The present government has made easing the business environment, especially for small and medium businesses, a clear area of focus. If the business environment for these firms can be made more competitive and conducive, the vast number of low productivity micro enterprises, which employ a disproportionately large part of India’s non-agricultural workforce, will be encouraged to graduate to small and medium enterprise category. Let us first look at where India stands in comparison to our neighbour China.
India vs China
A comparison of India and China graphically illustrates how the highly skewed distribution of employment in India in favour of small firms undermines the productivity of workers. Figure 1.1 depicts the distribution of employment in manufacturing in India among small, medium and large firms. In India, small firms, defined as those with less than 50 workers, employ 84% of the workers. The corresponding proportion in China is 24.8%. Medium and large firms in China employ 75.1% of the workers compared with just 16% in India.
Let us look at relative wages by the size of enterprises. These are shown in Figure 1.2. In this figure, we set the wages in large enterprises in each country at 100 and then compare this wage to those in medium and small enterprises. In China, where large enterprises dominate, wages in medium and small enterprises are much higher than their counterparts in India. The gap between the two countries is particularly glaring in small enterprises. Whereas the wage in small enterprises in China is almost 60% of that in large enterprises, in India, it is only 20%. These figures actually underestimate the difference once we recognise that the real wages in large enterprises in China are significantly higher than those in India. October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 51
Survey Average time taken for all approvals Area of doing business
Average time taken for old enterprises and young enterprises in getting approvals Average time taken (days)
Average time taken (days) 0
20
40
60
80
100
120 140
Setting up, land and construction Setting up a business
86.6
Land allotment
100.7
83.6
Construction permits
58.7
NOCs for construction
33.9
118.3
0
Number of observations Startups Nonstartups
Environment Renewals
14
421
45
1,249
Construction permits
44
1,103
NOCs for construction
40
1,150
Environment approvals
Labour compliances
1,362
60.4
47.9
25 33
894
71
1,603
Days lost due to strikes
Infrastructure
Hours of power shortage
44.0
Hours of water shortage
46.7
11 18.4
4.2
20.3***
9.2
8.5
46.1***
3.1
3.7
18.0***
1.7
2.9
2.3
4.0
5.3
8.5
3.3
4.5
6.1
3.0
5.6
4.5
2.1
3.2
2.5
0.4
0.7
0.7
2.0
3.4
4.7
1.8
2.3
7.6
3.0
4.0
133.8
53.7 59.8
Labour 56.2
4.3
60.6
43.9
41.3 4.9
Hours of water shortage
627
33.3
52.0
44.4
33.4
11.4*
50.6
39.2
Hours of power shortage
1,917
44.4
39.7
Sewerage connection
459
38.3
17
1.0
2.1
-7.4***
2.0
3.1
4.3
2.3
3.5
2.1
2.3
2.9
5.1
40.9
25.4
21.0
Taxes
Taxes
80 41.3
Registering for all other applicable taxes
3.4 108.6
74.5
65.9
Water connection
791
50.2
83
Registering for VAT
Difference in mean
Infrastructure
29
24.6
Standard error
56.3
54.0
Electricity connection
43.9
33.6
140
80.2
62.2
Labour renewals
1,167
43.5 49.1
Days lost due to strikes 3.5 3.8
Sewerage connection
88.3
Environment Renewals
1,130
72.6
50
30.2
120
Old Young enterprises enterprises
87.7
Labour
Water connection
100
Land allotment
80.4
33 56.9
Electricity connection
80
Environment 68.2
Labour renewals
60
Setting up, land and construction
1,938
Environment Environment approvals
Labour compliances
40
Setting up a business
112
75.5
56.6
20
36.4
VAT registration
1,576
46.7
79
41.3
Startups
Registering for all other applicable taxes
1,476
39.2
41.3
37.8
42.9
Old enterprises
Non-startups
Young enterprises
*** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1
Young manufacturing firms are concentrated in a few states. Around 63% of manufacturing start ups are located in Maharashtra, Telangana, and Gujarat. Maharashtra alone hosts about 32 of the 141 young manufacturing firms in our sample. In contrast, Goa, Haryana, Nagaland, Tripura, and Uttar Pradesh account for only one manufacturing start up each in this sample. For start ups, the time taken for setting up a business is distributed over a wide-range, from zero to around 180 days
Time taken for setting up a business and getting land allotment and construction permits
Time taken for environment and labour
Time Taken for startups
200
Time Taken for startups
200
150
Time taken (in days)
Time taken (in days)
The previous graph compared the experience of manufacturing â&#x20AC;&#x153;start upsâ&#x20AC;?, which started operation in or after 2014 with older manufacturing firms that started operations before 2014 in the area of ease of starting a business. In this graph, the survey focusses on indicators other than those relating to starting a business. For this purpose, it chooses a different definition of young and old. Accordingly, in this chapter, an enterprise is classified as old if it has existed for longer than ten years and young otherwise. As per this definition, of the total enterprises surveyed, 799 are classified as young and 2,477 as old.
100 50 0
150 100 50 0
Setting up a business
Land allotment
Construction permits
All NOCs for construction
52 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
Environment approvals
Environment renewals
Labour approvals
Labour renewals
The time taken for getting environmental approvals is distributed over a wide range from around five to around 180 days (Figure 5.2b). The slowest 25% of enterprises took between 55 to around 125 days for getting labour approvals. For start ups, the duration for getting electricity connection ranged from around five to 80 days. The median time taken for registering for taxes was around 22 days.
The survey shows the average time taken (days) for enterprises in low-growth states and high-growth states for getting all approvals and the differences in their means. The time taken is higher for enterprises in low-growth states for all areas of doing business except for land allotment with the difference being significantly higher in the case of getting construction permits, all approvals for construction, environmental approvals, environmental renewals, labour approvals, labour renewals, electricity connection, and days lost due to strikes. Enterprises in low-growth states reported significantly less number of hours of water shortage in a typical month. neeraj.varty07@gmail.com
Time taken for setting up a business and getting land allotment and construction permits Time taken for young and old firms
Time taken (in days)
400
300
Excludes outside values Old Young
200
100 0
Starting business
Land allotment
Construction permit
Construction NOCs
Time taken for environment and labour approvals Time taken for young and old firms
200
Excludes outside values Old Young
150
Time taken (in days)
In all areas of doing business, the share of young firms reporting that they faced no obstacles for getting approvals is nearly the same as the share of old firms reporting that they faced no obstacles. The share of firms reporting that they faced very severe obstacles in getting approvals was the lowest for both young and old firms. Overall, young enterprises are less likely than their older counterparts to cite most issues as being major or very severe barriers. Environment is the exception. In particular, young enterprises are: 15.6% less likely to report setting up a business to be a major or very severe obstacle compared to old enterprises 21% less likely to report land and construction to be a major or very severe obstacle compared to old enterprises 14% less likely to report labour to be a major or very severe obstacle compared to old enterprises 29% less likely to report water and sanitation as being a major or very severe obstacle and 8.5% less likely to report electricity being a major or very obstacle compared to old enterprises 21% less likely to report taxes as being a major or very obstacle compared to old enterprises 7.22% more likely to report environment to be a major or very severe obstacle compared to old enterprises. The young firms in this study are largely concentrated in five states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat. Very few young firms belong to high-value manufacturing sectors or high-skill high technology sectors (with the exception of pharmaceuticals). Many are small in size. Young firms paint a more favourable picture of the business regulatory environment than old firms.
100
50 0
Environment Approvals
Environment Renewals
Labour Approvals
Labour Renewals
Average time taken for enterprises in high-growth and low-growth states Variables Setting up a business Land allotment
Low growth rate states
High growth rate states
Difference in mean
104.6 (4.01)
101.02 (3.55)
3.58
119.39 (11.65)
123.85 (9.26)
-4.46
Construction permits
83.52 (3.73)
68.69 (3.37)
14.84***
NOCs for construction
65.63 (2.53)
48.44 (1.74)
17.19
Environment approvals
75.17 (4.57)
69.38 (4.67)
5.77
Environment renewals
67.11 (5.38)
51.99 (2.72)
15.11***
Labour compliances
73.03 (5.27)
52.38 (2.88)
20.65***
Labour renewals
55.01 (4.22)
37.47 (1.62)
17.54***
Days due to lost strikes
5.46 (0.48)
4.14 (0.45)
1.32*
Electricity connection
58.58 (2.82)
44.58 (1.59)
14.00**
Water connection
46.65 (2.85)
41.47 (2.15)
4.98
Sewage connection
49.24 (3.91)
47.86 (3.36)
1.37
Hours of power shortage
36.93 (1.28)
33.87 (1.36)
3.06
Hours of water shortage
21.04 (2.22)
28 (2.68)
-7.76***
Registering for VAT
49.23 (4.17)
35.64 (1.38)
13.59***
Registering for all other applicable taxes
52.74 (4.47)
35.14 (1.38)
17.60***
October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 53
Health
Cheers to healthy eating
What you should eat and what you should not might seem elementary but even the health conscious ones need to be reminded time and again. So here are some tips provided by National Health Service (www.nhs.uk)
54 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
T
he Eatwell Guide shows how much of what we eat overall should come from each food group to achieve a healthy and balanced diet. You don't need to achieve this balance with every meal but try to get the balance right over a day or even a week.
(Remember that fruit juice and/or smoothies should be limited to no more than a combined total of 150 ml per day.) Fruit and vegetables are a good source of vitamins, minerals and fibre.
Eat at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables a day
Starchy food should make up just over a third of the food we eat. Choose higher-fibre, wholegrain varieties, such as wholewheat pasta and brown rice, or simply leave skins on potatoes. There are also higher-fibre versions of white bread and pasta. Starchy foods are a good source of energy and the main source of a range of nutrients in our diet.
Most of us aren't eating enough fruit and vegetables. They should make up over a third of the food we eat each day. Aim to eat at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables each day. Choose from fresh, frozen, tinned, dried or juiced.
Base meals on potatoes, bread, rice, pasta or other starchy carbohydrates. Choose wholegrain where possible
Have some dairy or dairy alternatives (such as soya drinks and yoghurts). Choose lower-fat and lower-sugar options
Milk, cheese, yoghurt and fromage frais are good sources of protein and some vitamins, and they're also an important source of calcium, which helps to keep our bones strong. Try to go for lower-fat and lower-sugar products where possible, like 1% fat milk, reduced-fat cheese or plain low-fat yoghurt. Eat some beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other protein. Aim for at least two portions of fish every week-one of which should be oily, such as salmon or mackerel. These are good sources of protein, vitamins and minerals. Pulses such as beans, peas and lentils are good alternatives to meat because they're lower in fat and higher in fibre and protein, too. Choose lean cuts of meat and mince and eat less red and processed meat like bacon, ham and sausages.
On an average, women should have about 2,000 calories a day (8,400 kilojoules) and men should have around 2,500 calories a day (10,500 kilojoules)
Choose unsaturated oils and spreads and eat in small amounts
Unsaturated fats are healthier fats and include vegetable, rapeseed, olive and sunflower oils. Remember all types of fat are high in energy and should be eaten sparingly.
Eat foods high in fat, salt and sugar less often and in small amounts
These foods include chocolate, cakes, biscuits, sugary soft drinks, butter, ghee and ice cream. They're not needed in the diet and so should be eaten less often and in smaller amounts.
Drink plenty of fluids â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the government recommends 6-8 cups/ glasses a day
Water, lower-fat milks and lower-sugar or sug-
ar-free drinks including tea and coffee all count. Fruit juice and smoothies also count towards your fluid consumption but they contain free sugars that can damage teeth, so limit these drinks to a combined total of 150ml per day.
How does the Eatwell Guide work?
The Eatwell Guide divides the foods we eat and drink into five main food groups. Try to choose a variety of different foods from each of the groups to help you get the wide range of nutrients your body needs to stay healthy. It's important to get some fat in your diet, but foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar have been placed outside of the circular image as they are not necessary as part of a healthy balanced diet and most of us need to cut down on these. Unsaturated fats from plant sources, for example vegetable oil or olive oil, are healthier types of fat. But all types of fat are high in energy (calories) and so should only be eaten in small amounts. On an average, women should have about 2,000 calories a day (8,400 kilojoules) and men should have around 2,500 calories a day (10,500 kilojoules). Most adults are consuming more calories than they need. Find out how food labels can help you to choose between foods and to pick those that are lower in calories, fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt.
Combination foods
Many foods, such as pizzas, casseroles, pasta dishes and sandwiches, are combinations of the food groups in the Eatwell Guide. With these meals, check the ingredients and think about how these fit with the sections on the guide to help you achieve a balanced diet.
Does the Eatwell Guide apply to everyone?
The Eatwell Guide applies to most of us â&#x20AC;&#x201C; whether we're a healthy weight or overweight, whether we eat meat or are vegetarian, and no matter what our ethnic origin is. Anyone with special dietary requirements or medical needs might want to check with a registered dietician on how to adapt the Eatwell Guide to meet their individual needs.
Children under the age of two
The Eatwell Guide doesn't apply to children under the age of two, because they have different nutritional needs. Between the ages of two and five, children should gradually move to eating the same foods as the rest of the family, in the proportions shown in the Eatwell Guide. Read more about babies, toddlers and young children's nutritional needs in Your baby's first solid foods. (Source: http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/ Pages/the-eatwell-guide.aspx)
October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 55
Pearls of Wisdom
By Dada J P Vaswani
Always
Expect
The Best Your expectations can become powerful currents of energy creating the conditions you desire and dream of, if they are allied to prayer, belief and faith. Therefore, choose to expect nothing but the best!
56 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
There is an inviolable law of life: whatever you expect will come to you. We all wake up with certain expectations: some of us literally spring up from bed with the thought, ‘I know that today is going to be a wonderful day!’ Others, open their eyes to the new day with a depressing thought: ‘Oh no! I know this is going to be one of those awful days when everything will go wrong!’ You are creating your day with your own thought forces! Your expectations can become powerful currents of energy creating the conditions you desire and dream of, if they are allied to prayer, belief and faith. Therefore, choose to expect nothing but the best! Develop a strong sense of focus on all that is positive. Do not let your mind oscillate between
anxiety and fear; just repeat to yourself that reassuring mantra: All is for the best in this best of all possible worlds! Tell yourself, in the words of Robert Browning: "God is in his heaven and all is well with the world!" We must never underestimate mind power, the power of the will. Finding health, happiness and harmony in all that you do — depends on thought-habits. Truly has it been said that even happiness is the product of habitual right thinking! Imagine a huge square slab of ice one-and-a-half miles, and 92 million miles high. It would reach from the earth to the sun. Scientists tell us that this gigantic cake of ice would be completely melted in 30 seconds — if the full power of the sun were focused upon it. Mental sunshine is equally powerful! When you have the will to live for your ideals, to live your passion, the sunshine of your faith and confidence will melt the ice of insecurity and uncertainty. Mental sunshine will cause the flowers of peace and joy and serenity to bloom wherever you go! Therefore, cultivate the will to be positive — create your own mental sunshine! The universe works like an echo. Whatever thoughts you may have, they will rebound on you. The picture that we paint of ourselves is assimilated by our subconscious. There are people who focus their attention only on problems and difficulties. Tell them of your dreams and plans, and they will say, "No, No! It is impossible! It will never work." They will point out all the drawbacks and weakness in your plan, and try their best to convince you that you cannot win. These are the people who can boast, "Bring me a solution and I will give you a problem!" Be positive in your approach and you will find solutions to all your problems. The man with the positive attitude may be surrounded by adverse conditions, but he will look for a place to stand on; he will seek a solution; he will expect the best results; and he will invariably succeed. Remember, this is the great law of life. That, which you expect, always comes to you. It may come to you tomorrow, it may come to you fourteen years hence, but it will surely come to you. Therefore, why not expect the very best? Expect success and you will achieve success! David Hartman of Pennsylvania became blind when he was eight years old. He had al-
ways dreamt of studying medicine; but the medical school to which he applied for admission discouraged him severely by pointing out that no one with visual disability had ever completed a medical course. Hartman refused to be negative. Courageously, he took on the task of "reading" by having twenty-five medical textbooks audio recorded for him. At twenty-seven, David Hartman became the first blind student to complete medical school. How wonderful is a positive attitude! "You are not what you think you are. You are what you think," said Thomas Jefferson". Nothing can stop the person with the right mental attitude from achieving his (or her) goals. Nothing on earth can help the person with the wrong mental attitude." When people say to themselves again and again, ‘I am unhappy’, ‘I am miserable’, ‘People are against me’, ‘Conditions are against me’, ‘I am overwhelmed by my problems’ and so on, they are gripped by a misery of their own making from which there can be no release except through their own effort. They imagine that they are injured beyond repair, and they simply cannot rise above their problems. Instead, they must affirm to themselves, ‘I was born to be happy’, ‘Happiness is my birth right’ and ‘God created me to be happy’. As their conscious and unconscious thinking changes, conditions and people will also change miraculously. Thought by thought, step by step, as their minds change, the world will also change. And the best that they expect will come to them!
cultivate the will to be positive — create your own mental sunshine! The universe works like an echo. Whatever thoughts you may have, they will rebound on you. The picture that we paint of ourselves is assimilated by our subconscious
CC
tadka
Indian reeling under an under-employment ecosystem
Niti Aayog, in its ‘3-Year Action Agenda’ report for 2017-18 to 2019-20 said that not unemployment but a “severe under-employment” is the main problem facing the country. It said that a focus on the domestic market through an import-substitution strategy would give rise to a group of relatively small firms behind a high wall of protection.
October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 57
Bollywood Biz
The Highest grossing
Bollywood film franchises
Film franchises are the safest and most lucrative bet for studios worldwide. The recall value and brand name of these franchises ensures a huge opening and a dedicated fan following amongst audiences. While Hollywood has several successful franchises like the Fast and the Furious and Star Wars, Bollywood has only recently realised their importance, and they are quick to jump on the bandwagon. This edition, we list the highest grossing Bollywood film franchises of all time By Neeraj Varty 58 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
Baahubali
No. of films – 2 box office Collection – `2,555 Crore Baahubali, with just two films, is the biggest film franchise in India. The first part, subtitled The Beginning was released on 10 July 2015. The second part, subtitled The Conclusion, released on 28 April 2017. The novel series, subtitled Before the Beginning, had its first novel The Rise of Sivagami releasing on 7 March 2017. The animated series Baahubali: The Lost Legends started on April 19, 2017 on Amazon Prime Video with episode “Legend Begins” and it will soon be shifted to Colors TV. The films in the franchise were jointly produced on a `430 crore budget, and have grossed `2555 crore worldwide, making it the only franchise to collect over `2,000 crores at the box office and the only franchise where its films have grossed more than `500 crores worldwide.
Dhoom No. of films – 3 Total box office collection `807 crore Yash Raj Films’ action film series has belted out three movies so far, with Dhoom 3 being the biggest hit of the lot, making over 500 crores at the worldwide box office. Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra play central characters, while actors John Abraham, Hrithik Roshan and Aamir Khan appeared as antagonists in the three films, respectively. The total gross of the three films is `807 crore, making it the 2nd biggest franchise in Bollywood, with an average of `269 crore per film.
Krrish
No. of films – 3 Total box office collection – `511 crore Krrish is a franchise of Indian science fiction films, superhero films, television series, comics and video games. All three films star Hrithik Roshan, and are produced and directed by his father Rakesh Roshan. The first two films were blockbusters in the Indian market, and hits in the overseas markets. The third film was released on 1 November 2013 and was declared a blockbuster shattering many box office records grossing over `300 crores at the box office. In 2013, an animated television series based on this Krrish film series, and named Kid Krrish, aired on Cartoon Network India. It also spawned a spin-off animation-cum-live-action series titled J Bole Toh Jadoo that aired on Nickelodeon. In total, the three films have grossed over `511 crores at the box office with an average of `170 crore per film, and a fourth sequel is already in the works.
Houseful
No. of films – 3 Total box office collection – `500 crore Houseful is a comedy film franchise set in London, and has a repeating cast of Akshay Kumar, Ritesh Deshmukh and Boman Irani. It is the only comedy franchise in the list, and has grossed an average of `167 crore per film, for a total of `500 crore. A fourth instalment is being developed, and will most likely release in 2018. neeraj.varty07@gmail.com October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 59
Mobile apps
Meet the new iPhones
It’s that time of the year again, when Apple unveils their new iPhones. This year, we didn’t just get the evolved versions of the current iPhones in the form of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, we also got iPhone X, which marks the tenth anniversary of the iPhone. Corporate Citizen brings you the details By Neeraj Varty
iPhone X
Ten years after the launch of the phone that redefined what “smartphone” means, we have the iPhone X (pronounced ten). A decade ago, most smartphone owners used keypads but very quickly, they wanted to use nothing but a touchscreen. Today, Apple reached the inevitable conclusion – the sole hardware button that controlled iOS has been retired. It’s all screen on the front now and it marks more than one first for Apple. However, it is important to note that Apple is behind the curve on bezel less phones, as the Samsung S8, the LG Q6 and the Xiaomi Mi Mix are all phones with bezel less screens. The iPhone X uses the company’s first AMOLED display on a phone (after a couple of years of experience with the Apple Watch). The screen panel is called Super Retina Display and measures 5.8” big with 458ppi pixel density. The bezels that are so familiar to Apple buyers have melted away, leading to an odd shoreline up north – the selfie camera, earpiece and several new sensors live there. They enable Face ID, the replacement of Touch ID (there's no fingerprint reader on the iPhone X at all!). Face ID uses a flood illuminator (so it works in the dark) and a projector that paints 30,000 points on your face (sounds similar to the Kinect). The system is much more secure than Touch ID, with a failure rate of 1,000,000 to 1 (fingerprints are good for 50,000:1). The dual camera on the back of the iPhone X is the first mobile cam to shoot 4K 2160p video at 60fps. The highest possible 1080p frame rate is also doubled, now reaching the impressive 240fps. The main camera boasts new, improved 12MP sensors. The telephoto also sits behind brighter aperture f/2.4, while the regular camera stick to f/1.8. Both have optical image stabilisation and the quad-LED flash now supports slow sync. The iPhone X borrows more than AMOLED from the Watch. This is also Apple’s first phone with wireless charging too. It uses the popular Qi standard, but enhances it with AirPower. The phone is powered by the Apple A11 chipset, which evolves the two-tier CPU design – it has two powerful cores and four energy efficient ones. A new charger made by Apple can charge the iPhone X, an Apple Watch and the AirPod case simultaneously. The best thing about this is 60 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
that you can see the battery charge of each device on the iPhone screen. The Apple iPhone X will arrive later than the 8 models — pre-orders start October 27 and sales begin from November 3. There are two colour options: Silver and Space Grey. The 64GB model will cost $999 and there's a 256GB option as well. In Europe, the prices start at £999 in the UK and €1,150 in Germany. The phone will cost approximately around a lakh in India, which is extremely expensive for any smartphone.
iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus
The Apple iPhone 8 and 8 Plus bring a new design with glass on the front and back, alongwith the latest Apple A11 Bionic six-core chipset, new cameras, louder stereo speakers and new durable glass. Underneath the glass the 4.7” and 5.5” display are new units but of the same resolution as the ones on the iPhone 7/7 Plus. You still get 3D Touch, Cinema Wide Colour Gamut and True Tone. The two phones are still water resistant as well. The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus look the same as their predecessors only instead of a glass front and aluminium sides and back, the new phones come with a glass front and with a series 7000 aluminium frame in between. Apple boasts that the glass is the most durable than in any smartphone. The cameras retain the 12MP resolution but Apple claims a new sensor sits behind the glass with an improved ISP. The A11 Bionic chip works with that to enable faster low light focusing, improved sharpness and dynamic range, and lower noise. More importantly it enables 4K at 60fps and 1080p at 240fps video recording. The main camera on the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus is a 12MP snapper with f/1.8 aperture, the iPhone 8 Plus also has a secondary telephoto camera of 12MP resolution and f/2.8 aperture. As usual, Apple is bringing a new chipset with its new iPhone line-up. This year Apple moves from a quad-core A10 Fusion to a six-core A11 Bionic with a first-ever Apple-designed GPU. The A11 Bionic chip features two high-powered cores that are 25% faster than the corresponding ones in the A10 Fusion. The other four cores are power efficient and are 70% faster than the two low-power cores in the A10 Fusion. The GPU is the first Apple-made one and is comprised of three cores, promising 30% faster performance compared to the GPU inside the A10 Fusion. neeraj.varty07@gmail.com
Claps & Slaps Corporate Citizen Claps for cricketer, Gautam Gambhir for pitching in for five-year-old Zohra, daughter of martyred Kashmir policeman ASI Abdul Rashid
Corporate Citizen Slaps the civic apathy and lack of management of climate change causing deluge in Indian cities year after year
Zohra’s heartbroken images were in circulation after her father was slain in a terror attack at Anantnag in Kashmir. Rashid was killed when militants fired at him at Mehandi Kadal. The Anantnag terror attack on ASI Rashid moved Gambhir to such an extent that he did not stop at just expressing his support by a series of tweets and pledged to bear the educational expenses of little Zohra throughout her life. ASI Abdul Rashid was gunned down by militants on August 28, and Gambhir’s humanitarian spirit has seen him tweet his intentions of paving the life of his daughter Zohra. Gambhir expressed his compassion for Zohra by twitting, “Zohra, plz (please) don’t let those tears fall as I doubt even Mother Earth can take the weight of ur (your) pain. Salutes to ur (your) martyred dad, ASI Abdul Rashid.” His other tweet said, “Zohra, I can’t put u 2 (you to) sleep wid (with) a lullaby but I’ll help u 2 (you to) wake up 2 (to) live ur (your) dreams. Will support ur (your) education 4 (for) lifetime #daughterofIndia.” Zohra has thanked Gambhir for his kind gesture saying, “Thank you Gautam Sir, me and my family are very happy with your gesture, I want to become a doctor.” Gambhir was quick to respond with another emotional tweet, “Zohra Beta, don’t thank me, u r lik (you are like) my daughters Aazeen & Anaiza. Heard u wana b (you want to be) a doctor. Just spread ur (your) wings n (and) chase ur (your) dreams. WE R (ARE) THERE.” This is not the first time that Gambhir has impacted lives through his philanthropic work. April 2017 saw Gambhir in his ‘Good Samaritan Avatar’ when he decided to support the children of 25 Central Reserved Police Force (CRPF) Jawans, killed in a Maoist attack in Sukma district of Chattisgarh. Then too, the left-hander batsman had taken to Twitter and pledged to look after the educational expenses of the children of those martyred in the attack. He had announced that his ‘Gautam Gambhir Foundation’ would fund the education of those children. The Gautam Gambhir Foundation has been seriously working on asserting charitable work. The cricketer recently launched a free community kitchen in West Delhi. He was spontaneous in reacting to other social issues such as the recent ‘Gorakhpur tragedy.’ He tweeted via a photo, “My colleagues @ #EkAsha #communitykitchen1 showing discontent wid (with) black bands over inaction following #GorakhpurTragedy.” With his tweets displaying intentions to save lives, ‘Gambhir’ is definitely a winner-his actions surely follow his heart-a ‘sixer’ for sure!
India’s commercial capital Mumbai witnessed deluge twice in this monsoon. Normal life in the Maximum City came to a grinding halt as roads and railway lines became waterlogged, flights got grounded as water poured over runways. Similar scenes were witnessed in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Gurugram too. This is not happening for the first time. In fact, several Indian cities have been witnessing such deluges year after year. The experts blame it on several factors : the gross apathy towards planning of infrastructure and complete collapse of civic amenities when they are needed most due to apathy towards its maintenance and upkeep. The experts say, such flash floods in urban areas are mostly outcomes of haphazard development projects being carried out in these cities. These are man-made disasters to some extent. In most cities, encroachments have come up in various waterbodies, obstructing their flow. According to the experts, what worsens the situation is lack of proper drainage systems. While the population of cities has been skyrocketing due to migration, the drainage lines there, which were laid decades ago, have been falling inadequate. Moreover, the drainages, both natural and man-made, get blocked due to fillings by mud, plastic, etc and the rainwater accumulated. Though the civic bodies routinely make claims about clearing the fillings in natural streams and drainage lines ahead of monsoon, the deluges lay bare the reality. Besides, the experts point out, the lack of open spaces has also been contributing to the situation. Since most lands in cities are covered with asphalt and concrete due to construction of buildings and roads, the possibility of the water percolating in the earth reduces and the amount of water flowing on the surface increases. The experts say the gross apathy towards management of climate changes also adds up. Despite the existence of the Disaster Management Act of 2005 or the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) that was constituted in 2001; little or no effort seems to be affected at the individual state or city levels. Here we can take a lesson or two from Odisha, where empowering the local community is seen as a big game-changer with the development of Cyclone Management Centres, which are community-based organisations with a local ‘Sarpanch’. (Compiled by Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar and Prasannakumar Keskar) October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 61
Dr (Col) A Balasubramanian
From The Mobile
Two Minutes Management Course Lesson One
An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, “Can I also sit like you and do nothing?” The eagle answered: “Sure, why not.” So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit, and ate it.
Management Lesson
To be sitting doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.
Lesson Two
A turkey was chatting with a bull. “I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree,” sighed the turkey, “but I haven't got the energy.” “Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?” replied the bull. “They're packed with nutrients.” The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally, after the fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree. He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.
62 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
Management Lesson
Nonsense might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.
Lesson Three
A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold; the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realise how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.
Management Lessons –
(1) Not everyone who puts you in trouble is your enemy (2) Not everyone who gets you out of trouble is your friend (3) And when you're in trouble, it's best to keep your mouth shut! This ends your Two Minutes Management Course.
Don’t wait for the parrot to die This story is of a woman who bought a parrot to keep her company, but she returned it the next day. “This bird doesn't talk,” she told the owner. “Does he have a mirror in his cage?” he asked. “Parrots love mirrors. They see their reflection and start a conversation.” The woman bought a mirror and left. The next day she returned; the bird still wasn't talking. “How about a ladder? Parrots love ladders. The happy parrot is a talkative parrot.” The woman bought a ladder and left. But the next day, she was back. “Does your parrot have a swing? No? Well, that’s the problem. Once he starts swinging, he’ll talk up a storm.” The woman reluctantly bought a swing and left. When she walked into the store the next day, her countenance had changed. “The parrot died,” she said. The pet storeowner was shocked. “I’m so sorry. Tell me, did he ever say anything?” he asked. “Yes, right before it died,” the woman replied. “In a weak voice, it asked me, ‘Don’t they sell any food at that pet store?’” Sometimes we forget what’s really important in life. We get caught up in things that are good while neglecting the things that are truly necessary. Take a moment to do a “priority check”, and strive for what is most important today.
Excellence is driven from inside A German once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby... Surprised, he asked the sculptor, “Do you need two statues of the same idol?” “No,” said the sculptor without looking up, “We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage...” The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage... “Where is the damage?” he asked. “There is a scratch on the nose of the idol.” said the sculptor, still busy with his work. “Where are you going to install the idol?” The sculptor replied that it would be installed
on a pillar twenty feet high. The gentleman asked, “If the idol is that far who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?” The sculptor stopped work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, “I will know it...” The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else appreciates it or not. Excellence is a drive from the inside, not outside. Excellence is not for someone else to notice you but for your own satisfaction and efficiency. Don't climb a mountain with an intention that the world should see you, climb the mountain with the intention to see the world.
I am a Teacher Behind that doctor, It's me, a teacher... Behind that economist, It's me, a teacher... Above those astronomers, It's me, a teacher... I carry the light even though they mostly make jokes of me... But I am a teacher... I don't qualify for a bungalow or a villa or earn enough to buy an expensive house or a car... like corrupt officers and corrupt politicians But yes, I am a teacher... Some think or even say that I have too many holidays, never knowing that I spend those holidays either correcting papers or
planning what and how I'm going to teach when I go back to school/college Because I am a teacher… Sometimes I get confused and even get stressed by the ever-changing policies over what and how should I teach... Despite all that, I am a teacher, I love to teach, and I'm teaching... On paydays, I don't laugh as corrupt officers and others do, but by the next day I love to come with a smile to those that I teach... Because I am a teacher.... The main source of my satisfaction is when I see THEM growing, succeeding, having all
those assets, bravely facing the world and its challenges, and I say yes I've taught in spite of living in a world opened by Google.. Because I am a teacher.... Yes, I am a teacher... It doesn't matter how they look at me, It doesn't matter how much more they earn than I do It doesn't matter that they drive while I walk, because all what they have is through me, A teacher... Whether they acknowledge me or not... I am a teacher.... Dedicated to all the amazing teachers
October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 63
astroturf You could expect an eventful and healthy month ahead. Health improves by the day. Platonic friendships are highlighted with like minded people with similar interests.
Aries
Mar 21 - April 20
Greatest days: 22, 23, 24 Hectic days: 18, 19, 25, 26 Honey days: 18, 19, 27, 28 Money days: 17, 18, 20, 27, 28, 30 Profession days: 23 You may feel as if you are somewhere far away lost in the world where other people and their needs seem important than your. Arians are very independent by nature and hence this period will be a bit challenging for you. other.
TAURUS
April 21 - May 20
Greatest days: 16, 25, 26 Hectic days: 20, 21, 27, 28, 29 Honey days: 16, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28 Money days: 20, 30 Profession days: 23, 24, 27, 28, 29 This is the time to grab opportunities, especially for the job seekers. There is also scope of making money making from several opportunities. Power in this house shows a great focus on health, which if balanced well can improve your energy levels.
GEMINI
May 21 - June 21
Greatest days: 18, 19, 27, 28, 29 Hectic days: 16, 22, 23, 24, 30, 31 Honey days: 17, 18, 20, 24, 28, 30 Money days: 19, 20, 30 Profession days: 20, 21, 30, 31 You could expect a real happy month. Explore and get involved in whatever you desire to indulge in. The 18th and 19th seem happy, as singles can come in contact with like-minded people.
CANCER
June 22 - July 23
Greatest days: 20, 21, 30, 31 Hectic days: 18, 19, 25, 26 Honey days: 17, 18, 23, 26, 28 Money days: 19, 20, 30 Profession days: 16, 27 Even though you may feel stressful, health remains good. You
(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
could also be planning for your career in your spare time visualising what you aspire and creating the infrastructure for career progress later on.
LEO
July 24 - Aug 23
Greatest days: 22, 23, 24 Hectic days: 20, 21, 27, 28, 29 Honey days: 17, 18, 23, 24, 27, 28 Money days: 16, 20, 30, 31 Profession days: 17, 18, 27, 28 There could be a lull in your career but you do not need to panic. This pause in your professional life is actually good for you as it helps recreate your world. Keep focus on your home and emotional well-being. Your family life increases and widens.
VIRGO
Aug 24 - Sept 23
Greatest days: 16, 25, 26 Hectic days: 22, 23, 24, 30, 31 Honey days: 17, 18, 20, 27, 30, 31 Money days: 16, 20, 21, 25, 26, 30 Profession days: 20, 30, 31 Finances remain the main headline this month. As the month progresses, your interests in working for money decreases and wanes even though earning power remains strong. Hard work pays off. Health remains excellent.
64 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
LIBRA
CAPRICORN
Dec 23 - Jan 20
Greatest days: 16, 25, 26 Hectic days: 18, 19 Honey days: 17, 18, 19, 27, 28, 30 Money days: 20, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30 Profession days: 17, 18, 19, 27, 28 Career remains your point of focus this entire month. It will be frenetic, active, competitive, and successful. There is cosmic conspiracy to make you successful— to elevate you. Nothing can stop as you become unbeatable.
Sept 24 - Oct 22
Greatest days: 18, 19, 27, 28, 29 Hectic days: 25, 26 Honey days: 16, 17, 18, 27, 28 Money days: 16, 20, 21, 25, 26, 30 Profession days: 19, 30 This month your personal independence and power is stronger than last month. Health remains super. You will have great energy. Your social life expands and rises to new heights.
SCORPIO
AQUARIUS
Jan 21 - Feb19
Greatest days: 18, 19, 27, 28, 29 Hectic days: 20, 21 Honey days: 17, 18, 19, 27, 28, 30 Money days: 20, 21, 30, 31 Profession days: 16, 20, 21, 25, 26 This month is a harbinger of being eventful and a successful kind of month. Restructuring of your professional life is needed to bring in the kind accomplishment that you so desire.
Oct 23 - Nov 22
Greatest days: 20, 21, 30, 31 Hectic days: 27, 28, 29 Honey days: 17, 18, 27, 28 Money days: 20, 22, 23, 24, 30 Profession days: 19, 30 This month brings a happy and prosperous month so enjoy the aspects of the planets. This period will bring a multi-year cycle of prosperity, bringing financial windfalls and opportunities.
SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 22
Greatest days: 22, 23, 24 Hectic days: 16, 30, 31 Honey days: 17, 18, 20, 27, 28, 30, 31 Money days: 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 30 Profession days: 20, 21, 30, 31
PISCES
Feb 20 - Mar 20
Greatest days: 20, 21, 30, 31 Hectic days: 16, 22, 23, 24 Honey days: 16, 18, 20, 28, 30, 31 Money days: 16, 20, 27, 30 Profession days: 20, 22, 23, 24, 30 For the past couple of months, you have been eliminating waste in your career and now is the time to declutter your personal life too. You will feel better and lighter. You could be travelling due to career. Address: 143, St Patrick’s Town, Gate# 3, Hadapsar IE, Pune-411 013. Tel.: 020-26872677 / 020-32905748 Email: connect@dollymanghat.com/ info.dollymanghat@gmail.com
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CRADLE OF LEADERSHIP
PROF. SUDHIR K SOPORY, VICE CHANCELLOR, JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY (JNU) Volume 1, Issue No. 21 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in
January 1-15, 2016 / `50
CORPORATE CULTURE
Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank on women in leadership and gender diversity
INTERVIEW
An in-depth interview with Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director India with Kingston Technology and Rajeev Bhadauria, Director, Group HR, at Jindal Steel & Power
Dynamic Duo 21 MEERA SHANKAR AND AJAY SHANKAR
UNFLINCHING SUPPORT
October 16-31, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 65
the last word
Ganesh Natarajan
Bring in technology in education There is a real opportunity to make blended learning the standard for education and skills of the future. Are we going to get committed?
W
e have tried and failed and we keep trying without the necessary conviction to make technology-enabled skills and education a reality in this country. The problems are many. Schools in small towns and rural India and even the municipal schools in large cities suffer from uninspired teachers and poor quality infrastructure and teaching. With a million youth entering the job market every month and just a couple of lakh finding good quality jobs, the newly minted Skills Ministry is in need of comprehensive solutions to provide a steady stream of well skilled manpower in the country, prepared to meet the demands of jobs as well as entrepreneurial opportunities. Many women are at home, unable to do long commutes and stay away from young children for many hours during the day resulting in a waste of a national resource of well-educated women. All this begs the question-are we attacking the right problems? In the last two decades, many attempts have been made both by the government and the corporate sector to bridge the gap between expectations of industry and what is taught in academic institutions and skilling centres in the country. An early attempt by the Confederation of Indian Industry in Western India, where industry leaders were encouraged to work closely with second tier academic institutions bore fruit and the institutions participating in it were able
to build bridges with corporations When skills and education go together and also benefit from industry involvement in faculty upgrades and student connects to enable industry The problems of single digit perconfidence to develop ahead of the centage course completion rates placement season. And for the last and the general apathy towards five years and more, some trainlearning without physical or live ing institutions like Global Talent interventions have slowly found Track through their unique “source some solutions with innovators and train” model have demonstratlike the founders of Fuel 50, Career ed that even second tier academic Waze and Skills Alpha through the institutions from smaller cities and use of contemporary technologies town can produce good quality hulike Artificial Intelligence, Learning man resources if the connections to Analytics and adaptive learning to job giving industry participants can customise learning methods and be made early. outcomes to the specific needs of An important fact to be considindividual learners. ered is that while there is much to An example from Skills Alpha be said for quality and objective reshould serve to underline the difdefinition and ference in apenhancement proach today The newly minted in the academic the use of Skills Ministry is in in and skilling intechnology for need of comprestitutions across learning. Meet the country, the Aditi, a twentyhensive solutions scale we need to provide a steady four-year-old is impossible to digital native stream of well provide without work ing in skilled manpower extensive use of the marketing technology. department Technology experiments have of one of India’s largest insurance been many in the country from the companies. She is already bored early ventures by Doordarshan with of the repetitive nature of her job Country-wide Classroom and Zee and needs an engaging method of Telefilms with Zee Education to use learning the skills she needs while the power of the television medium retaining affinity towards her role. to reach out on an all-India basis to Enter Skills Alpha, one of the newthe recent MOOCS, which have est start ups in our entrepreneurial seen a modicum of success in well eco-system and it would appear to implemented instances in excellent have found the perfect solution to institutions like IIM Bangalore. the problem of motivating Aditi However, by and large they have and millions like her in India and proved to be a damp squib. possibly hundreds of millions of
66 / Corporate Citizen / October 16-31, 2017
youth who are disengaged from their current vocation and dissatisfied with the opportunities they have in corporations, society and the world! Skills Alpha is a platform that uses the best of engagement tools to provide a truly adaptive learning environment for Aditi. Aditi is engaged by an Artificial Intelligence “learning bot” from the minute she gets on to the platform, which enables her to assess her own aspirations and goals, look at alternative learning and career paths and get thoroughly engaged on a journey of content discovery, opportunity exploration and learning throughout her tenure in the organisation. The advantage of platforms like Skills Alpha are threefold. First, they are able to move the learning and development discussion from training and content consumption to motivated learning and context creation. While the operations and human resource heads have the opportunity to define career and skills imperatives, the platform leads Aditi to a self-discovered and self-paced path that enables her to realise her own aspirations and link them to the organisation plan. Second, the use of new technologies like interactive video, augmented and virtual reality and the ability of platforms to adapt the content that is served up to Aditi’s personal learning style (extensive videos rather than presentations) make the whole process pleasant and experiential. And finally, the application of cognitive tools, starting with the “bot” and extending to a host of new technologies makes the efficacy of learning and organisation development go up by an order of magnitude while substantially reducing the cost of training. Dr. Ganesh Natarajan is Chairman of 5F World, Pune City Connect & Social Venture Partners, Pune.
Printed and published by Dr. (Col) A Balasubramanian on behalf of Sri Balaji Society. Editor: Dr. (Col) A Balasubramanian. Published from : 925/5, Mujumdar Apt, F.C. Road, Pune - 411004, Maharashtra. Printed at Magna Graphics (I) Ltd., 101-C&D Govt. Industrial Estate, Hindustan Naka, Kandivali (W), Mumbai - 400067.