CRADLE OF LEADERSHIP Prof. S. Sadagopan, director, IIIT-Bangalore Volume 3, Issue No.18 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in
December 1-15, 2017 / `50
Career Fest 2017
Sandeep Bakhshi, MD and CEO, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Survey
Medical journal Lancet’s survey on the health of the planet Loved and Married Too
Entrepreneurs Priyanka and Bandhan Gupta
Dynamic Duo: 61
Blissful Second Innings
Air Chief Marshal Anil Tipnis (Retd.) and Molina Tipnis
CII HR & IR Conclave
Shishir Joshipura, MD, SKF India Ltd, demystifies Industry 4.0
2 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 67
Registered with RNI, under Reg. No. MAHENG/2014/60490 Pune posted Reg. No. PCW/179/2015-2017 Posted at BPC, Pune CSO 411030 on 15th and 30th of every month. Licenced to Post without Pre-Payment Licence No. WPP-252.
Corporate Citizen, Krishna Homes Housing Society, Flat No 2 & 4, Bulk land No 4, Near Iskcon Mandir, Sector 29, Ravet, Akurdi, Pune 412101. Tel. (020) 69000673-7. or Post Box No-4, Dehu Road Cantt. Pin - 412101. 68 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
feedback
Thought motivating articles
The Corprate Citizen magazine is a perfect read for everyone-whether you are a student, a corporate professional or someone who is not related to the corporate field. The magazine has varied content cutting across all the sectors of industry. The CII and NHRDN sessions are worth reading, they are rich in content and they surely motivate the thinking of readers who don’t get opportunities to attend sessions. The magazine presents the ideas of the speakers in such a fashion, that it is easy to grasp and understand even if you are not an expert in that field. I want to continue reading such interesting sessions and request you to keep them coming. Cheers! —Pranali Rajput, CA, Pune
Handpicked and absorbing
I appreciate that you use valuable space in your magazine to print reader’s feedbacks on what they think of magazine and its content. As per the content, Corporate Citizen has fun articles, which are business related and nicely backed by wonderful photographs. It has been a wonderful experience reading each and every issue and I can’t believe, in months from now you will be completing three years, since you started the magazine. Each issue is worth archiving and worth a reread. It seems like you have created a community of corporate family—those handpicked and absorbing interviews of corporate personalities, their experiences, their success leads and much more. Reading the recent cover story of Sujata Bajaj and Rune Jul Larsen, in your recent
So much respect for Indian culture I enjoyed reading the interview of Sujata Bajaj and her husband, Rune Jul Larsen in your Corporate Citizen issue No.16, Nov 1-15. It is amazing how, despite being a Norwegian, he has so much respect for Indian culture. It is true that when foreigners come to India for the first time, they find it very hard to digest the poverty they see in our country. Wonder what is the solution? —Manisha Kulkarni, Pune November issue 16, seems to be bigger than all the others to date. The connection the couple share with each other, their connection with India, their connection with the work they do, the diversity they have assimilated in their lives—very inspiring read. Happy holiday season to you all. —Shailendra Mutalik, senior management professional
Welcome move to accept deposits in small savings through banks
It refers to welcome initiative of central government whereby banks including top three private sector banks ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank will now accept deposits under various small savings schemes like National Savings Certificate (NSC), Recurring Deposits and Monthly Income Scheme (MIS), till now sold mostly through post-offices. However selected bank-branches were accepting deposits in Public Provident Fund (PPF), Kisan Vikas Patra-2014 (KVP), Sukanya Samriddhi Account, Senior Citizen Savings Scheme-2004 (SCSS). But, it is not sufficient. All saving-schemes available through post-offices should be uniformly available through all branches, rather than selected bank-branches of all public-sector banks. Presently there is a total lack of awareness about banks and their branches accepting such deposits. Moreover, Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) 8-per cent taxable savings-bonds, presently available through very limited and non-publicised bankbranches should also be likewise available through all branches of all public-sector banks. By doing so with adequate publicity, government and RBI can save money by discontinuing sale-commission to agents on such investment-plans, like one-per cent being presently given for sale of RBI 8-per cent taxable savings-bonds.
-Subhash Chandra Agrawal (Guinness Record Holder & RTI Consultant) 1775, Kucha Lattushah,Dariba, Chandni Chowk, Delhi 110006 (India). Follow me on twitter @subhashrti
Tax column delivers sharp insights
The tax column, which is a regular column in Corporate Citizen, is by far my favourite part about the magazine. The writer, SK Jha, being a retired taxman, is extremely knowledgeable and delivers sharp insights and anecdotes about taxation and the lengths of dishonesty people go to avoid paying tax. I have cut them out and made a file with all the tax stories, as they are brilliant and I can read them again and again. I suggest that you can even publish a book with a collection of these stories. I believe it will do extremely well. —Ravindra Vatharkar, Pune
We look forward to your feedback We at Corporate Citizen, believe that information should not be a one way street. Your opinion and views about this issue are most welcome. Your ideas and new thoughts you may have, to enhance the content quality of our magazine, are most welcome. We rely on you to keep Corporate Citizen, on the positive and cool note, through your interaction on this page—just as you trust us with the content that we bring you, every fortnight. Mail us your views on:
corporatecitizenwriters@gmail.com
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 3
Editor-in-Chief’s Choice / Soli J. Sorabjee
Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian
A duty to be tolerant
The rise of intolerance is alarming. Dissent is smothered and self-censorship takes its place, endangering democracy itself.
O
n January 26, 1950, India became a sovereign democratic republic. Its Constitution guaranteed a wide array of fundamental rights which were also made justiciable. The Constitution originally did not make any specific provision for duties of citizens. However, on analysis, duties are implicit because the Constitution permits reasonable restrictions on exercise of fundamental rights in public interest, which is on the premise that exercise of fundamental rights entails duties. The corelation between rights and duties has been recognised by our ancient rishis and in our sacred texts. The Bhagavad Gita teaches us that “Your duty is your right”. Gandhiji summed up the matter admirably: “I learned from my illiterate but wise mother that all rights to be deserved and preserved come from duty well done”. According to Walter Lippman, the renowned American political commentator, “For
4 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
every right that you cherish you have a duty which you must fulfil”. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 (UDHR) recognises the vital link between human rights and duties in Article 29 of the Declaration which states, “Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible”. The American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man of May 2, 1948 prescribes in Chapter 1 Rights and in Chapter 2 prescribes Duties. It is interesting that one of the duties prescribed is “the duty to pay taxes”. The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights of June 26, 1981 prescribes along with guaranteed rights some duties, one of which is “every individual shall have duties towards his family and society, the State and other legally recognised communities and the international community”. Again, it is curious that Article 29(6) prescribes the duty “to pay taxes imposed by law in the interest of the society”. This duty regrettably is not generally performed in our country.
It was in 1976 during the June 1975 Emergency that a specific Chapter IV-A was incorporated in the Constitution and Article 51-A was enacted which lists certain duties to be performed by a citizen. Unfortunately, because of its timing, this was initially viewed with the suspicion that it was an attempt to curtail fundamental rights by way of enactment of the fundamental duties listed in Article 51-A. These misgivings were misplaced. A dispassionate reading of Article 51-A reveals that the basic premise underlying Article 51-A is that freedom without acceptance of responsibility can destroy the freedom itself, whereas when rights and responsibilities are balanced, freedom is enhanced and a better world order can be created. Are fundamental duties enforceable? The Supreme Court in its decision in AIIMS Students’ Union vs. AIIMS ruled that though “Article 51-A does not expressly cast any fundamental duty on the State, the fact remains that the duty of every citizen of India is the collective duty of the State”. Let us face the painful reality that one cannot effectively exercise fundamental rights nor perform fundamental duties unless tolerance is prevalent in society. Tolerance is not merely a goody-goody virtue. It enjoins a positive attitude which permits and protects not only expression of thoughts and ideas which are accepted and are acceptable but which also accords freedom to the thought we hate. Tolerance is desirable, nay essential, because it recognises that there can be more than one path for the attainment of truth and salvation. A tolerant society protects the right to dissent. If there is pervasive intolerance, the inevitable consequence will be violence and that would ultimately pose a serious threat to our democracy. Intolerance has a chilling, inhibiting effect on freedom of thought and expression. Development and progress in any field of human endeavour are not possible if tolerance is lacking. We know how Galileo suffered for his theory that the sun was the centre of our solar system and not the earth. Darwin was also a victim of intolerance and was lampooned and considered as an enemy of religion for his seminal work, ‘The Origin of Species’. Nearer home, we have the example of Raja Ram Mohan Roy whose efforts for reform in the Hindu religion, especially for the abolition of Sati, evoked virulent opposition because of menacing intolerance. We must ensure that we do not revert to those dark days. In its celebrated judgment in S. Rangarajan vs. P. Jagjivan Ram, the Supreme Court emphasised that “we must practice tolerance to the views of others. Intolerance is as much dangerous to democracy as to the person himself ”. At present, the rise of intolerance is alarming. Even a moderate expression of a different point of view is viewed with resentment and hostility and there are vociferous demands for bans. The consequence is that dissent is smothered and self-censorship inevitably takes place. Healthy and vigorous debate is no longer
Tolerance is desirable, nay essential, because it recognises that there can be more than one path for the attainment of truth and salvation. A tolerant society protects the right to dissent. If there is pervasive intolerance, the inevitable consequence will be violence and that would ultimately pose a serious threat to our democracy possible. And when that happens democracy is under siege. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to include the practice of tolerance as a fundamental duty in Article 51-A. The problem is that tolerance cannot be legislated. Hence, we must develop the capacity for tolerance by fostering an environment of tolerance, a culture of tolerance. The Press and news channels have an important role to play in this. They should incessantly preach the message that no group or body has the monopoly of truth and wisdom and we must respect the point of view of the “other minded”. The Press must unequivocally condemn instances of intolerance without fear of adverse consequences. There should be no dereliction of this duty or practice of tolerance. If this duty is conscientiously performed, it would result in a salutary change in our society and also bring about understanding and harmony in relations between the peoples of our vast country. Is this utopian? Maybe. But remember that progress is the realisation of utopias. (This article is originally published in The Indian Express) December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 5
Contents 20
Cover story Dynamic Duo 61
Blissful Second Innings In a candid interview with Corporate Citizen, Air Chief Marshal Anil Tipnis (Retd.) and his wife Molina, speak about how circumstances brought them closer, how they faced their ups and downs together and how as a couple they’re still passionate, intimate and truly adore one another
9 9 COLLYWOOD Chatpata Chatter from the Corporate World 13 MANAGE MONEY Why leveraging per se is not bad and how it in fact helps organisations to exceed their reach beyond their grasp 6 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
Volume 3 Issue No.18 December 1-15, 2017 www.corporatecitizen.in
28 14 WAX ELOQUENT Who said what and why 16 THE TAX MAN COMETH Why Demonetisation and GST are temporary blips and when will real dividends follow 28 CII HR & IR Conclave MD, SKF India, Shishir Joshipura, on how the next revolution ‘Industry 4.0’ is going to change how industries will function 32 CRADLE OF LEADERSHIP Prof. S. Sadagopan, Director, International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore, elaborates on how the institute has made distinctive strides in entrepreneurship, innovation and research 38 NHRDN CAREER FEST 2017 MD and CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Sandeep Bakhshi, on strength and future of India’s human capital
14
32
42
48
42 INTERVIEW Pankaj Sachdeva, Director and Country Head, Ramboll India, on how he has mastered his role in perfecting everything in his life 46 CAMPUS PLACEMENT Shubhra Lal shares her campus placement experience
38
50
48 LOVED AND MARRIED TOO Entrepreneurs Priyanka and Bandhan Gupta on marriage, moments and mutual goals 50 SURVEY Medical journal Lancet’s survey on impact of the man-made phenomenon on the planet
46 December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 7
contents
Editor-In-Chief Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian Consulting Editor Vinita Deshmukh vinitapune@gmail.com Senior Business Writer Rajesh Rao rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com
56 54 HEALTH Shivani Sharma, a mom and a fitness enthusiast on how she is challenging the notions and stereotypes associated with the female body, through weightlifting
58
Sub-Editor Vineet Kapshikar vineetkapshikar@gmail.com Writers Delhi Bureau Pradeep Mathur mathurpradeep1@gmail.com/ Sharmila Chand chand.sharmila@gmail.com
56 PEARLS OF WISDOM How to recognise that jealous thoughts are not the same thing as reality
Bengaluru Bureau Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar sangeetagd2010@gmail.com Pune Bureau Joe Williams / Kalyani Sardesai / Namrata Gulati Sapra
58 BOLLYWOOD BIZ Bollywood stars who own teams in the ISL
Manager Circulation circulations@corporatecitizen.in West : Jaywant Patil, +91 9923202560 North : Hemant Gupta, +91 9582210930 South : Asaithambi G, +91 9941555389
60 MOBILE APPS The best UPI apps for your smartphone 66 LAST WORD Glimpses from the developed world that speak about the good, the bad and the ugly
Senior Sub-Editor Neeraj Varty neeraj.varty07@gmail.com
Creative Direction Sumeet Gupta, www.thepurplestroke.com Graphic Designer Shantanu Relekar
60
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 / December 1-15, 2017
On Cover Page Air Chief Marshal Anil Tipnis (Retd.) and Molina Tipnis Cover Page Pic Vivek Arora Photographer Yusuf Khan Website / Online Subscription www.corporatecitizen.in For Advertising, Marketing & Subscription queries Email: circulations@corporatecitizen.in (Corporate Citizen does not accept responsibility for returning unsolicited manuscripts and photographs. All unsolicited material should be accompanied by self-addressed envelopes and sufficient postage) Tel. (020) 69000677 / 69000672
collywood
People in the news
Infosys innovation hubs in US Infosys will set up a number of innovation hubs in the United States, which is the largest export market for Indian information technology (IT) service firms, with its first centre in Indiana, where it will be hiring over 2,000 local engineers. The Bengalurubased IT major will replicate its Indian model of hiring thousands of freshers from campuses and then training and deploying them on projects for customers in the US. Commenting on the new plan, Nandan Nilekani, chairman, Infosys said, “We are looking at how to create more innovation hubs in the US. We will be hiring 2,000 people in Indiana to create local innovations. What we are realising is, over the decades we have built deep capabilities in creating learning infrastructure and capacity building, and that investment is very valuable.” He went on to add, “We are hiring people locally and will see how by using our learning infrastructure we can do capacity building for the future.” Indian IT firms which traditionally sent engineers to work on projects in the US have been increasingly facing political backlash, putting pressure on them to hire local employees. At the same time, a shift in how clients spend technology budgets towards digital projects, where engineers need to work with customers instead of remotely delivering software, is also pushing them to hire more local engineers. It is an opportunity to exchange innovation models with US companies using India’s digital initiatives, in answer to the rapid changes in the use of technology across businesses that require a new set of skills. Indiana is one of many such innovation hubs planned.
Everstone Group acquires Kenstar Everstone Group has bought the home appliances brand Kenstar from debt-ridden Videocon Group. The Videocon group which is reeling under a debt of over `40,000 crore has been looking for buyers for its various assets including Kenstar in a bid to pay off its debt. This private equity firm in a statement stated that the sale includes the purchase and transfer of the brand and businesses under the brand on a going-concern basis, as well as assets from Century Appliances Ltd. (an associate of the Videocon Group). However, the company did not disclose the deal size. But the transaction as per various reports is pegged at a valuation of about `1,300 crore. The transaction is subject to statutory approvals and specific clearances. Under the agreement, the existing management team at Kenstar led by business head Rajiv Kenue will continue to manage the business, and will be strengthened significantly by the operational capabilities, additional resources and financial investments of the Everstone Group. While Kenstar will operate as an independent business, it will be controlled by Everstone. Besides, Everstone will also enter into a strategic alliance with Videocon Group for manufacturing, cooperation on the Kenstar brand, and developing new products.
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 9
collywood
Pandey of IDFC Bank quits In a bid to take up a new endeavour, the Senior Director of IDFC Bank, Ajay Pandey, has called it quits with the bank which he joined in 2015. Pandey has ample experience (30 years) in the HR field which also includes 21 years in banking, BPO, life science industries and nine years in the Indian Air Force. A postgraduate in human resources management/ personnel management from the Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, Pandey started his career with the Indian Airforce’s technical branch in 1984. Prior to joining IDFC Bank, he was associated with ICICI Bank for over a decade, where he joined as the head of HR for customer service and phone banking groups in December 2005. Growing up the ranks over the years, he moved into the role of business HR head for retail assets in May 2007, and then zonal HR head for the East Zone. In June 2013, he took over as the Deputy General Manager-HR and was heading the recruitment practice for the bank. Pandey’s decision to quit comes only a few months after former Tata Sons’ Head-HR, NS Rajan joined IDFC Bank as the Group Chief Human Resources Officer in May this year.
Kohli, the global superstar Not only has the Indian cricket captain shattered records on the field, he has also made his presence felt off-field. Virat Kohli recently bagged a `110-crore deal with sports apparel giant Puma this year. He has now been named among the world’s top ten athletes with the ‘highest brand value’, ahead of football legend Lionel Messi. According to the Forbes list, Kohli’s brand value is pegged at $14.5 million, which puts him at the seventh spot. Messi is ninth with a total brand value of $13.5 million. Kohli is the only cricketer in the list. Tennis legend Roger Federer leads the chart with a total brand value of $37.2 million, followed by NBA star player LeBron James at number two and the ‘fastest man on earth’ Usain Bolt at third. The number of billionaires in Asia surpassed the US for the first time though the US still has the greatest amount of billionaire wealth.
NPCI likely to name Nayak as new CEO National Payments Corp. of India (NPCI) is close to naming former Visa India head Uttam Nayak as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) after A. P. Hota retired in August. Nayak is currently Senior Vice President of digital for emerging markets at Visa and had earlier held the position of country manager for India and South Asia at the payments firm. Dilip Asbe, the interim CEO of NPCI, may get a new position of deputy managing director.
10 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
NPCI didn’t respond to an email seeking comment. Nayak didn’t respond to calls and text messages either. Hota, who was the CEO of NPCI since August 2010 and Asbe had led the introduction of digital payment systems such as Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) since NPCI was set up in 2009. NPCI, an initiative of the Reserve Bank
of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) was created to help build a strong payment infrastructure. Its ten core promoter banks are State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Citibank N.A. and HSBC. Last year, it expanded the shareholding to 56 member banks.
Ghosh as NSE Group Head-HR Saurov Ghosh fills in the vacant position as the Group HR Head of the National Stock Exchange of India which was lying vacant since June this year after the exit of Chief People Officer Chandrasekhar Mukherjee. Ghosh has spent close to ten years at the Aditya Birla Group, first as the head and executive VP-HR and training with Birla Sun Life Insurance, and then as CHRO for textiles, spinning and acrylic fibre business, a position he had held since 2014. “It was great having spent almost ten years at Aditya Birla Group, but I’ve always wanted to work with diverse industries, and NSE came as an opportunity at a very interesting time. Joining NSE at a time when the whole economy is looking into a growth trajectory, with investors showing huge interest in India brought great prospects of doing meaningful work for further growth of the organisation and its people,”
commented Ghosh about the move. Ghosh shares that his role at NSE is a strategic one that involves people responsibilities for its various segments. He looks at creating a culture of mutual respect and pride with strong governance, compliance and regulations and building a strong employer brand, not just in India but globally. In the past, he has worked with YES Bank as the Senior VP-HR retail banking, and with HDFC Life as the Chief Manager-HR. He started his career as a manager-employee relations at CEAT Tyres in 1994, and then worked with Kirloskar Pneumatic Company as a factory manager before joining HDFC Life. Ghosh graduated in law from Pune University and pursued a master’s in personnel management and HR from JDC Bytco IMSR, Pune University. He is a recognised HR professional and has also won various industry awards for the same.
Bullet train, an exercise in vanity The bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, one of the many pet projects of Narendra Modi which was launched amidst much fanfare, is an exercise in vanity, stated the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to Ahmedabad. He went on to question Modi while asking, “Did the PM consider the alternate of the high-speed train by upgrading broad gauge railways?” The former PM also took a dig at the BJP by asking whether his criticism of the bullet train project would make him anti-national. There were many questions raised by Singh as he said, “By questioning bullet trains, does one become anti-development? Does questioning GST and demonetisation make one a tax evader? This attitude of suspecting everyone to be a thief or anti-national, this low-level rhetoric is damaging democratic discourse,” Singh quipped. This pet project was launched by Modi in the presence of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Ahmedabad. The government has set a deadline of August 15, 2022 for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai high-speed rail network to mark India’s 75th year of Independence. The train is expected to cover a distance of over 500 km in less than three hours. Japan is financing 81 per cent of the `1.08 lakh crore project at 0.1 per cent interest to be repaid over 50 years.
Priyanka among Forbes’ most powerful women Priyanka Chopra has made it to Forbes’ World’s Most Powerful Women List 2017. The Quantico star Priyanka came at 97th on the list, which also featured Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany on the first spot and also included names like British PM Theresa May, American philanthropist Melinda Gates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, media personality Oprah Winfrey, Queen Elizabeth II, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina Wajed, American politician Hillary Clinton, philanthropist and paediatrician Priscilla Chan, and The Huffington Post Cofounder and Editor-in-Chief Ariana Huffington. This is the first time Priyanka has made it to the list. Another first-timer is Ivanka Trump who secured the 19th position. The other entertainment personages on the list include singers Beyonce and Taylor Swift, J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame, who were all named in the ‘15 Most Powerful Women In Entertainment and Media list’ released recently. In addition to Priyanka’s recent strides in American movies, after making her Hollywood debut with Baywatch, she is set to star in two more movies, A Kid Like Jake and Isn’t It Romantic. She is currently featured in the third season of her American TV show Quantico, for which she has won two People’s Choice Awards. She is also going to produce an American show based on the life of Madhuri Dixit. Priyanka is also well-known for her contributions as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Earlier this year, Forbes listed Bollywood’s Top 10 highest paid stars, and Priyanka was ranked 7th with earnings of $10 million. She was the only other female star along with Deepika Padukone to have made it to the list. December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 11
collycollywood Tanvi Choksi moves to JLL
The HR Director of Johnson & Johnson, Tanvi Choksi moved to Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) India as HR head and director, filling in the position which was lying vacant after Sukhdeep Aurora quit to join ANAROCK as Chief People Officer. She will be based in Mumbai and manage the entire south Asian region including India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Mauritius. Her immediate mandate is to create a people strategy for JLL India in line with business requirements and enabling the continued growth of the business into double digits. Sharing her views, Tanvi said, “JLL is embarking on a journey of HR transformation, my role will be to lead this for India and create a strong HR team”. She believes the challenge in her new role will be to build a robust talent pipeline in the real estate industry, creating best-in-class HR practices for the industry. Tanvi joined Johnson & Johnson in August 2007 as HR Manager, but quickly rose up the ranks as she was elevated as HR director - J&J Medical India & Asia Pacific Diabetes Care. She started as an HR generalist for two business units, the finance and supply chain group, business development as well as sales & marketing services. She also handled talent management, campus recruitment, employee on-boarding and learning & development. She launched a
David to lead Renault-Nissan Alliance
reward and recognition programme (Leadership and Growth Awards) for the entire organisation to create a recognition culture at the workplace. She also introduced the WOW Awards to provide instant recognition across different functions for a job well done. Tanvi was the key person behind the design and launch of the induction programme — GenYsis: A new beginning — for the organisation, as an initiative to increase collaboration and shorten the settling-in time for new joinees at J&J. Tanvi is a two-time winner of the President’s award across J&J Pharma in the Rising Star category in 2009, and then in the Enabling Champion category in 2010. A post-graduate in PMIR and human resources from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Tanvi has also worked for companies such as Tata Motors and Monsanto India as HR manager.
State-of-the-art centre at IIT Bhubaneswar The stage is set for IIT Bhubaneshwar to have a different look as a world-class state-of-the-art Centre of Excellence Research and Entrepreneurship Park is to unfold in its campus. The Odisha Government will help set up the centre, which will offer world-class incubation facility, laboratory, and highly-focused courses along with education and skill development programmes. The centre will be using virtual and augmented reality for immersive visualisation. This centre will focus on grooming and skilling the talent in the country. The decision to set up the centre was taken at the second Startup Council Meeting, where around 130 startup ventures also got recognised under the Odisha Startup Initiative. The Government has decided to aggressively promote innovative entrepreneurship in the state and bring some actionable results. The state has nominated XIMB, Centurian 12 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
University, IITM and KIIT for evaluating startup proposals and recommending them to the Startup Council. The Centre of Excellence will be developed with the philanthropic contribution of `2.5 crore from Smt. Susmita Bagchi and a grant of `2.5 crore from the state government. In addition, the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) will provide around `2.5 crore for the development of the centre. In the recent past, the Ministry of Human Resource and Development brought in several policies to upgrade the educational institutions in the country.
Jayakumar David has been appointed as India HR head of the Renault-Nissan Alliance. He will operate from the Chennai office. David will also continue to play his previous role as Vice President-HR, RNTBCI (Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India). David’s vast experience in human resources includes a previous stint as Head of Human Resources and Associate Vice President of HR at Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB). He was the head of HR at Siemens Information Systems. Besides, he has held different HR roles handling personnel, industrial relations, legal management and so on at companies such as Kennametal India, Strides Arcolab and Shahi Exports. A Bachelor of Arts from Bangalore University, David completed his post-graduation in HR management from the University of Madras. In his current role, he will report to Sumit Sawhney, country CEO and MD, Renault India Operations and Thomas Kuehl, President, Nissan India Operations, with functional reporting to Dominique Dumoulin, Alliance global HR Director, Africa-Middle East-India (AMI) region. For specific entity-related activities, he will report to Krishna Sundararajan, MD, RNTBCI. “We are pleased to welcome David in his new role and extend our full support to him in successfully executing his mandate as we aspire to strengthen the Renault-Nissan Alliance in India,” said Dumoulin. Compiled by Joe Williams joe78662@gmail.com
manage money Anil Lamba
Why are highly leveraged companies looked at with suspicion? Colloquially, in a financial context, leverage merely refers to using borrowed funds to finance operations. Financial leverage helps in accelerating profit. Leveraging per se is not bad
Why is leveraging frowned upon?
Leverage is a positive word. It is derived from an engineering term called ‘lever’. Its function is to provide magnification. Colloquially, in a financial context, leverage merely refers to using borrowed funds to finance operations. Financial leverage helps in accelerating profit. To lift a weight, if one takes the help of a lever, the effort exerted at one end is less and the weight that gets lifted at the other end is more. Similarly, with the help of financial leverages, a smaller increase in the sales turnover can lead to
an exponential increase in profit. In engineering, a lever works on the principle of fulcrum. In finance, the fixed cost in the form of interest to be paid on debt acts as the fulcrum.
Is leveraging bad?
Leveraging per se is not bad. In fact, it helps organisations to exceed their reach beyond their grasp. The problem lies with unproductive and foolish borrowing.
Borrowing is bad if...
If the borrowed funds are used for unproductive
purposes and for acquiring non-performing assets. On deploying the borrowed capital, the organisation is unable to earn at least equal to the cost of borrowing. If the utilisation of borrowed funds cannot generate sufficient cash inflows to meet the repayment obligations. If the above conditions are not violated, if the borrowed capital can be deployed productively, if the organisation can earn greater than the interest payable and if it can ensure that cash inflows are more than sufficient to meet repayment obligations, then the more an organisation borrows, the more it will prosper. Therefore when managements proudly announce during shareholder meetings that “we are a debt-free company”, I have never understood whether they are boasting or apologising. They are either saying that we do not have need for any more money since we have stopped growing, or we are not growing fast enough and all our capital requirements can be met from internal accruals or we will use equity capital to fund expansion, which is more expensive than loans. From an investor’s perspective, these are not very encouraging statements. (to be continued) (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)
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 13
wax eloquent
Chance to Change
Take a look at what our corporate leaders have to say about recent trends and their experiences in the business world
Government should not view making money as a sin
What I miss about not living in India
“I always miss the people, the vibrancy, the noise; it’s quiet around here, so every time I go to India and come back, that’s what I miss. So everything here is silence—I miss the people, the vibrancy, the life, the colours and the sounds of India.”
“Every industrialist would not like to have competition. But without competition, work will not happen. Can you imagine the only private oil company that produces oil in India is Vedanta. Nobody else, apart from government-run companies. The only company that produces coal is Coal India. Can any country survive with just one company? The government should not view making money as a sin. Unless you make money, you can’t reinvest or plough back the money.” Anil Agarwal, Chairman, Vedanta Resources Courtesy: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com
Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google Courtesy: https://www.ndtv.com
Shattering stereotypes “I think women leaders can make a significant difference. They are in better position to reach out to other women who for decades have never been asked or felt too shy to express their views to male leaders. This is important as women-who are often the carers in family-understand social problems like health, nutrition and education. All we need is the chance to change things.” Chhavi Rajawat, village head (sarpanch), Soda village, Rajasthan and MBA holder
Jobs are not just about livelihood
“The fact is that given the pressure on the corporates, they will increasingly move to automation and capital-intensive mode of production. So where are jobs going to come from? Jobs are not just about livelihood, but ultimately about self-respect and pride.” Pronab Sen, economist and former chief statistician of India
Courtesy: https://scroll.in
14 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
Courtesy: https://in.reuters.com/article/women-rulers-india
It’s essential to retrain and re-skill
No taboo about privatisation
“There is no secret recipe for success. You just need to keep things simple. If you have guts to stand out, then the chances of you becoming outstanding are pretty high. It’s better to underplay and over-deliver than build castles in the air.”
“There is a process going on to prepare Air India for privatisation which I think is a very welcome sign and I am keeping my fingers crossed if that happens. It will be a positive example for the rest of the industry. Then it actually does make sense. So yes, I think there is no taboo about privatisation.”
Courtesy: Economic Times
Courtesy: http://www.moneycontrol.com
“The ‘how’ of the change (in the way we work) is still uncertain. However, what is certain is that the future will be different. It’s essential to retrain and re-skill, and learn new things all the time. Moreover, data is a powerful asset that will be leveraged a lot more to forecast business growth and it will heavily influence decision-making.” Allen Blue, cofounder, LinkedIn
Courtesy: Economic Times
Thought for food
Sanjeev Kapoor, chef & entrepreneur
Leo Puri, MD, UTI AMC
Accommodate shift in attitudes
“Today’s tech-savvy generation has grown up using mobile devices and they expect to be able to connect from anywhere, anytime. Organisations that want to attract and retain top talent in the fast-developing app economy need to adapt their culture and technology to accommodate this shift in attitudes. Hence, the concept of a virtual workplace is becoming prevalent.” Adil Khan, Enterprise Business Head, Polycom India
Courtesy: https://www.teleanalysis.com
Fail fast, learn quick and keep moving
We will master defence technologies “In the next 10-15 years, India will become one of the largest exporters of military hardware. It will include equipment like land systems, artillery, ammunition, missiles, bombs; we will master these technologies quickly, and do it cheaper than anybody else.”
“An experience-hungry generation, millennials are most happy to try out different things— fail fast, learn quick and keep moving. They want to know that the work they are doing has meaning and a bigger impact, beyond their role; that it impacts society at large.” R. Mahalakshmi, HR Head,
Mondelez India
Courtesy: Mint
Baba Kalyani, group chairman, Kalyani Group Courtesy: Business Standard
Bring up women
We are not scared of any country, any player
“I am happy that we are no longer scared of the Chinese, or the Danes or the Koreans. We are on par with them. We are not scared of any country… we are not scared of any player, because we have beaten all the players. It’s a question of being consistent trying to beat them in the important events like the Olympics and the World Championships, the All-England.”
“We have had cases where a few FMCG companies developed products for women with an all-male research team! How can they create an effective product for women without women? The moment that changed, we started to see thoughtful products in the market. Tech is omnipresent, and if you don’t appeal to half of the population, the product reach will be limited. India’s population consists of about 49 percent women, a similar ratio should reflect in its corporate culture.”
Geetha Kannan, India MD, AnitaB.org (formerly Anita Borg Institute) Courtesy: http://www.moneycontrol.com
Encouragement for solopreneurs “Develop the mental strength to fight many battles. You have to develop the persistence to keep going. Also, mentorship is important. I’ve consistently modelled the behaviours of people that I look up to. You can save a lot of time by learning from the mistakes of others.” Neha Narkhede, cofounder and CTO, Confluent
Courtesy: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jumokedada/2017/10/21/technista-talk-neha-narkhedelinkedin-employee-to-confluent-boss/#660c57336884
India needs growth with jobs, not jobless growth
Prakash Padukone,
“FDI into India has been on the rise because we are still growing faster than the rest of the world. But the hot money, whether in the form of FII or FDI, is not necessarily going to create jobs. What India needs now is growth with jobs, not jobless growth.”
Courtesy: https://thefield.scroll.in
Courtesy: Economic Times
badminton player
Sachin Pilot, former Union Corporate Affairs minister
Sports, a great teacher
“Anyone who has grown up playing sports has a great way of conducting themselves. They also have a sense of professionalism and a positive mindset. You can always tell between a sportsperson and a normal guy. Moreover, the shelf life of a sportsman is so short that they have to give their 200% in terms of hard work and dedication. So, you become mentally strong.” Arjun Kapoor, actor and co-owner, FC Pune City Courtesy: Times of India
Compiled by Rajesh Rao rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 15
The Tax Man Cometh
To Paradise by proxy? by S K Jha
(IRS (retd) and former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax)
The Paradise Papers have once again brought to centre-stage the murky world of money stashing and tax evasion, indulged in by the most affluent and powerful. The only way to contain this practice is to publicly name and shame the offenders, and mete out quick punishment
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”
T
he journey of ‘Panama’ to ‘Paradise’ is in the news these days. The sacred books of all religions advise people to do good deeds in this life so as to reach Paradise in the next birth. But who has that much time? Some rich and smart people have devised a shortcut to reach Paradise by proxy. They have even been sending their most loved possession, their ‘money’ to tax havens for a comfortable stay—something like the cherished place of heaven or paradise.
Leaky papers
Like the Panama Papers, the Paradise Papers too are leaked news about offshore companies and financial arrangements in tax havens by rich and powerful people for the obvious reasons of tax evasion or minimising tax liability. These are the fourth set of global financial leaks. The Panama Papers (2016) were the most immediate predecessors while the two other leaks in the sequence are offshore leaks (2013) and the Swiss Leaks (2015). Documents under the Paradise Papers have been sourced from Appleby, a Bermuda-based law firm, Asiaciti, a Singapore-based service firm and from government records of corporate activity in tax paradises. These constitute 13.4 million corporate records which focus more on large corporate houses than on individuals. The number of Indians including Indian companies is 714. The leaks were obtained by a German newspaper and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journal16 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
ists (ICIJ). The papers related to Indians were investigated by the Indian Express. Big corporate names which find place in the papers are Facebook, Apple, Uber, Nike, Walmart, Allianz, Siemens, McDonald’s. Among the Indians are politicians of leading political parties, a leading film personality and some well-known companies in the field of media, construction, tyres. Surprising, some papers related to Queen Elizabeth II of Britain have also been found. The spectrum of the leak is very wide and disturbing. India stands at the 19th place among 180 countries as per the number of persons involved. Appleby, the main source of information,
operates in a rarefied universe of ultra-highnet-worth individuals, where yachts and private jets are the preferred transport, and mansions sit empty because their owner has several others. Some of Appleby’s clients are also PEPs (politically exposed persons) for whom avoiding unwanted attention is a crucial goal. “The Right People. The Right Places,” reads the slogan on Appleby’s stationery. What offshore services offer to a diverse international elite is
secrecy and discretion, along with the opportunity to minimise or evade taxes. The ultra rich do not want public and media attention, and these are probably primary reasons for offshore trusts. The other reasons are the source of money being invested, which in many cases are not clear. The tax-evaded money, corruption money, drug trafficking money have a tendency to go into the offshore entities so as to protect the identity of such money. The modus
‘In the case of the Panama Papers, 426 Indians were involved. As per a report, action has been initiated in 147 cases, while 279 cases have been found to be nonactionable. Searches have been conducted and undisclosed incomes of `792 crore have been discovered. So far, criminal prosecution in five cases have been initiated’ operandi for the transfer of funds out of the country to these offshore entities are tried and tested methods of hawala, over-invoicing and under-invoicing in export-import business, round-tripping, etc. However, in many cases the fund transfer is also legally done with the sole objective of tax planning and secrecy, and in such cases no harm can be done to the account holders. The persons with evil intention normally create an architecture of a complex web with many shell companies so as to conceal the footprints of the transfer of fund from one destination to another.
CC
tadka
India battles with hunger and nutrition deficiency India’s ranking has slipped to 100 among 119 countries in the 2017 Global Hunger Index. In comparison to 2016, it is down from 97 among 118 countries surveyed last year. The World Bank says the poverty rate in India is 21.2%. The malnutrition rate (stunting among children below 5 years) is 38.4%. According to the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS 4), poor diet and healthcare and poor sanitation have lead to 47.5 million stunted children in India amongst 154.8 million worldwide.
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 17
The Tax Man Cometh
Like the Panama Papers, the Paradise Papers leak is a good thing to happen. It smashes tax havens. People will think twice before hiding their money at faraway places. Once detected, the owner of such money will face the consequences under the new Black Money Law relating to money kept abroad illegally without disclosing in tax returns. There will be tax and penalty and there can also be prosecution. In the case of the Panama Papers, 426 Indians were involved. As per a report, action has been initiated in 147 cases, while 279 cases have been found to be non-actionable. Searches have been conducted and undisclosed incomes of `792 crore have been discovered. So far, criminal prosecution in five cases have been initiated. Notices under the Black Money Law have been issued in five cases. Income Tax investigation does take some time and the result shown is just the preliminary data. For the Paradise Papers, an investigation team has been constituted just like in the case of the Panama Papers by the Finance Ministry of the Government of India, and it has been stated that each case will be considered on its merit. In-depth enquiry and prosecution will follow wherever transaction is not legally done as per the Finance Ministry. Leaks like the Paradise or Panama Papers and such other leaks point to the mindset of some of the rich and famous, which is the same the world over, despite geographical boundaries. They think similarly by hiding their wealth in
‘The process of eradication of any evil like black money is a painful process. We hear a lot of dissenting noise about demonetisation and GST, but we fail to discuss as to why they were brought in. Are we not ashamed when we hear the big names of our country coming in the Panama and Paradise Papers?’
18 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
‘Fear has to be instilled in the minds of people that they will face the harsh treatment of law if they evade tax and transfer money illegally from one country to another. Tax laws have to be simple and rational. There should be incentives for paying tax honestly. The names of the wrongdoers should be made public and they should be shamed. Prosecution cases should be fast-paced and some big people going to jail for economic crimes will give the desired result’
obscure places. They believe in the theory of tax evasion and tax avoidance. Their patriotic feelings go haywire when their own wealth is concerned as they do not like to pay taxes to their own countries. This phenomenon is more magnified in our country as in our case the numbers of taxpayers is less than 4% of the population. The Panama Papers or Paradise Papers are just an indication of the serious economic problem, and the data found is only the tip of the iceberg. Rich people have enough to live comfortably, then why this theft of tax? The correct answer can be given by those people who are indulging in this, but this can also be like the case of kleptomania, where we see even rich people shoplifting at malls. In our country, we see politicians from the ruling and opposition parties fighting on every trivial issues. They make a lot of noise in the Parliament, but the Paradise Papers show that deep down, they are united in their thinking where their own money is concerned. The Paradise Papers bear the names of politicians of all shades.
W
hat is the solution? The world has to unite on the issue of exchange of information relating to bank deposits, tax and trade data. Theoretically, in the G-20 Summit of countries, the leaders have agreed, but fast action has to be seen. Tax evaders of one country living in another country should be repatriated without
delay to face the process of law in the country where they have violated the law. Unfortunately, this is not happening the way it should be. Just see the case of Vijay Mallya. He has comfortably located himself in Britain and not repatriated due to the inordinately slow-moving legal process. Fear has to be instilled in the minds of people that they will face the harsh treatment of law if they evade tax and transfer money illegally from one country to another. Tax laws have to be simple and rational. There should be incentives for paying tax honestly. The names of the wrongdoers should be made public and they should be shamed. Prosecution cases should be fast-paced and some big people going to jail for economic crimes will give the desired result. There should not be any politicisation of actions taken by the government on economic issues. The department should publish the stories of successful search actions. There should not be tax terrorism but people should know that the tax department is in action mode, and that they will be caught if they do anything wrong. The problem cannot be resolved unless the people decide to change their mindset. The Paradise Papers and such other leaks have shown us the mirror that we are not honest. India today is a big emerging country. We have the potential to become a major player in the world, provided we strengthen our economy. We have to invest in our infrastructure and create more jobs. The government alone cannot do this. The private sector has also to chip in. It is a sad state that for the last four years, there is hardly any significant investment by the private sector in the country. The situation has further deteriorated due to the sharp rise in bank NPAs. There is enough money in the banks after demonetisation, but there is not enough credit, of late. Against this background, when we see that some of our business houses are diverting their
funds to offshore companies and tax paradises, it becomes painful. People have to come together and join hands to make India stronger. We should not create a situation of having black money in huge quantities which necessitated the painful process of demonetisation. We have to go for honest business. “Business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business,” said Henry Ford. The process of eradication of any evil like black money is a painful process. We hear a lot of dissenting noise about demonetisation and GST, but we fail to discuss as to why they were brought in. Are we not ashamed when we hear the big names of our country appearing in the Panama and Paradise Papers? Let these papers awaken us. Everything is not made up of greed or politics. Above all this is our country and if the country progresses then we all progress together.
CC
tadka
Co-working in metros gaining ground Deskmag’s annual co-working survey says 71% of the respondents feel that co-working is a creativity-booster while 62% report an improvement in productivity. According to another JLL study, the key drivers of co-working spaces in India are cost, infrastructure and networking opportunities. In Mumbai, National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi, Bengaluru and Pune, a co-working space is likely to lead to cost savings to the tune of 20 to 25% when compared with leasing a traditional office space.
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 19
Cover Story
Cover Story
Dynamic Duo 61
Molina and Air Chief
In the Air Force, it was more relaxed. But I also realised people were not open to work. I told them, how does it matter whether you’re a senior or junior? Whatever you’re doing, you’re doing it for your own people and comfort” — Molina Tipnis
20 20 // Corporate Corporate Citizen Citizen // December December 1-15, 1-15, 2017 2017
Tell us about your first husband.
Molina: He was also Anil (smiles). Major Anil Thackrey. He was our neighbours’ son in Nagpur who proposed and married me when he was a Lieutenant. He became a Captain soon and then Major in the Army. We had a ten-yearlong marriage. He was in the Artillery and on a higher-altitude posting in Sikkim where he stayed for over three years which is rare because people generally get such postings for one-anda-half years only. But they kept shifting him from one unit to another, causing him severe breathing problems because of the lack of oxygen and uncongenial weather.
You were with him wherever he was posted?
No. As soon as we got married, he was sent to Sikkim, a non-family station. For three years, I was with my in-laws in Pune. My son was born there. When he was 6-7 months old, I joined Anil in Hyderabad. But within two months, he was posted to Dhrangadhra (Gujarat) where he had his first heart attack. When he died in 1983, my son was only eight years old.
What did you do then?
I came down to Pune to give my son a home at
M a r s h a l A n i l T i p n i s (Retd.)
my in-laws’ place. My father who retired from a reputed pharmaceutical company in Nagpur also decided to settle down in Pune. He took a bigger flat and we shifted there. Getting admission for my son in the fourth standard in Pune was very difficult. Karnataka High School said that if I took up a teaching job, they would give him admission. For one year, I took that up. My pension was `400, which was enough for his school fees. I had no other means. I decided to start something where I could earn more. I started a boutique. I took coaching from a tailor, then took a garage in a nice area and converted it into a boutique. There were two to three colleges nearby, so a young crowd would gather there.
How did you meet Mr Tipnis?
His aunt retired and settled down in Pune. She was in contact with my parents and enquired if I’d be interested in a second marriage. They told her I was not ready. I too felt, who could guarantee that the second marriage would be successful, and now that I had settled, why should I disturb my child? But she insisted, “Let them meet. We won’t say anything.” He had come to
Blissful
Second Innings Was it fate or destiny? Was it love-at-first-sight? Even they didn’t know. But when Anil and Molina met each other for the first time, they felt, the entire universe seemed conspiring to help them discover each other. Otherwise, there was absolutely no reason for them to even meet, and later remarry. For, both were happy with their respective spouses in their first marriages and life would have continued the same way had tragedy not struck them midways and turned their lives upside down. While Molina, a dietician from Nagpur, lost her first husband because he got seriously ill due to his unusually long posting on the high-altitude battlefield of Indo-China border in Sikkim, Anil’s first wife left him as her kidneys stopped functioning prematurely. Both were just not prepared to face the untimely exit of their partners. While most people fail to take up the challenges in the changed circumstances, Anil-Molina triumphed. Corporate Citizen spoke to this dynamic duo to know how they faced it all and how they’re still passionate, intimate, inspiring and truly adore one another. Excerpts:
By Pradeep Mathur
Mumbai to collect his luggage which came from France. His aunt called him to Pune for a day and that’s how we met.
Did you like him?
Yes I did, but I was in a different mindset when I met him and two of his daughters. The next time he said, bring your son. We met again. We had lunch together. My son didn’t realise what was happening. I also didn’t know how his daughters would react. I thought it would be good for my son, because he was exposed to a services’ life and was feeling like a misfit in Pune’s civilian life.
Why?
We had always taught him to wish elders, but whenever he would do so, people would look the other way. He would complain, why do you teach me something which people don’t even accept? Similarly, he’d wear shoes to go down, but everyone else would be in slippers. He’d speak in English, but everybody spoke in Marathi. I thought he’d be happy if he went back into the services atmosphere. That’s why I agreed to meet him again with my son.
What was his reaction?
When I told him about marriage, he wasn’t happy. He said, why do you need him? I explained that when he grew up, he would go away. Then who would look after me? But he thought that I was thinking on those lines because of finances. “I won’t ask you for anything, but don’t remarry.” Then I said, “Okay, you meet him. If you like him, then only I’ll remarry.”
Then what happened?
When Anil came, he took us out for dinner. My son was very interested in astronomy. When Anil started talking about the stars, galaxies and all that, my son heard him attentively and there was an immediate bonding between them. Thereafter there was no going back. He was happy. In a month’s time, we got married. Post-marriage also, when Anil would come back from office, he would have all his questions ready—which is this aircraft, which is that and so on, because he didn’t know anything about the Air Force.
How was life soon after your remarriage?
For one year, I was in a shell. Then I realised, if I sit like this, the children would not have any family life. As it is, they were without their mother. So I tried to get over it. In those four months, my son had developed a great bonding with the girls. He would keep them busy with his questions. Soon, they started introducing him as their brother. Sometimes I feel his role was only to bring us together. When he left, the girls also began empathising with me.
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 21
Cover Story
How old were they? What was their reaction to your remarriage?
They were all grown up. The eldest was 20, and had got married six months before ours. The next, studying Veterinary Science in Mumbai, was 18 and a half, and the youngest, doing English (Honours) in Delhi, was 17, whereas my son was 12 years old. When their father told them about our marriage, they said, go ahead but remember, you’re not bringing a mother for us. You’re marrying for yourself. That was very clear. They didn’t call me mamma, but treated me like a friend and called me Molina, though they felt my motherly feelings gradually. Now they don’t introduce me as anything but their mother and I’m the favourite naani to all my grandchildren.
Why did none of them join the Air Force?
There was no entry for girls in the Air Force then. If they had the option to fly fighter planes, my younger one would have definitely joined it.
How did you handle Gwalior and later as chief of the Air Force Wives Welfare Association (AFWWA)?
Happiness lies within you. There is no destination for happiness. She’s never worn a uniform but her self-discipline is as high as that of a military person. I greatly believe in self-discipline and self-regulation. I believe each one of us is in charge of our own destiny”- Anil Tipnis
Actually, when I was with the Army, I had seen how things were done. But in the Air Force, it was more relaxed. But I also realised people were not open to work. I told them, how does it matter whether you’re a senior or junior? Whatever you’re doing, you’re doing it for your own people and comfort. So I began doing things myself —flower arrangements on tables, rangolis, etc. When the station commanders’ wives visited us for the commanders’ conference and saw me drawing rangolis, they’d ask, “Oh Ma’am, why are you doing it? and I’d say, ‘So what?’” Gradually, the work culture began changing. Similarly, as president of AFWWA, though I was somewhat strict over the welfare activities, I encouraged people to open up and do things themselves.
When you got married, what was the reaction of the people around you? They were surprised. Who gets married at this
What is she doing?
She is in Mumbai. She got remarried; she had no issues when this accident happened. But she had very good relations with her in-laws. Then her friends introduced her to this boy, Varun Batra, an investment banker and a gem of a person who was with Citibank. He has now left that job and opened an investment banking company with friends. They’re doing well. She has a son and a daughter.
What are your other two daughters doing?
The middle one, the Veterinary Surgeon, started flying with Cathay Pacific and then got married to an Australian guy. They have a furniture business in Melbourne. She’s got a son. The eldest one is in the UK. She’s also a banker. Her first husband was an Indian, born and brought up in UK, but after 14 years of marriage, they separated. Now she’s got a partner who’s a British army officer and two sons. They’re doing well.
What is the secret of your successful marriage?
Respecting and giving space to each other and taking every decision with due consideration for each other.
What if there is a conflict of opinion? (Laughs) He always gets the better of it.
What are your hobbies?
We both love to go out and see new places. We don’t get tired or hassled by air travel or driving. We enjoy it. We both love exploring new things.
Which places have you been to, together?
Can you share some interesting memories of your early married days?
Soon after our marriage, there was an accident and they made Anil the commanding officer for the court of enquiry. So he dropped us off at Gwalior and within two days left for Delhi and other places for a month. We were new and I didn’t know anyone on the station. I had no clue as to how an Air Force station runs. I had not yet shifted my bank accounts and was still shy to ask him for money. When he left, he also wasn’t used to having a wife in the house. So he forgot to give me any money and left. Whatever little I had, I barely managed with that, though later when he realised it, he sent an officer to help me. But, my very first month tested me (laughs)!
qualified French teacher, though she doesn’t teach French anymore.
age, they would say, though privately. But the senior ladies treated me like a daughter and took me under their wings and said, “Okay, she’s new, so what? We’ll tell her how to do it”.
Tell us about your daughters.
Somehow unfortunate things kept happening with us. First, I lost my son, then my younger daughter, and her husband. She married in December 1992 and went with her husband to Pittsburgh, US, for him to complete his MBA, but within a year, they had a car accident and he died. She came back. She always took a cue from me. Since I stayed with my in-laws, she also did so, and then educated herself further. She did her Masters in French and became a
22 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
We’ve been on a few cruises. We have seen many countries including France, Italy, UK, Israel, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, South Africa, Kenya, Brazil and so on. Anil: I also went to China as the serving Chief. In India, we’ve also been to many sanctuaries including Ranthambore, Bharatpur, Kanha, Govindgadh Tiger Sanctury in Rewa, Kaziranga and the rest. We also took our grandchildren to different AF stations and they’re quite impressed.
What’s your philosophy of life?
Anil: Happiness lies within you. There is no destination happiness. In the good times and the bad times, you’ll find a way. You’ll find a solution. We also need to raise our standards. (Pointing to Mrs Tipnis) She’s never worn a uniform but her self-discipline is as high as that of a military person. I greatly believe in self-discipline and self-regulation. I believe each one of us is in charge of our own destiny.
An
air warrior looks back
Why do some military leaders rise to greatness while others falter in their long and demanding careers? Why do some enjoy enormous respect even decades after their retirement while others tend to get ignored? Military historians say, it depends on how they play their role during the war or natural disasters. Air Chief Marshal, Anil Yashwant Tipnis (Retd.) is one such who belongs to the former category. Though he retired on 31st December 2001, after heading the Indian Air Force (IAF) for three years as its 18th Chief of Air Staff; 15 years later, he continues December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 23
Cover Story
to be remembered for his dynamic leadership and tactical genius during the 60-daylong Kargil War in 1999 not only by serving and veteran air-warriors, but also by people at large. Known for his moral uprightness, personal courage and careful planning, Tipnis has rarely talked about how he engineered tactical surprise during Operation Safed Sagar, codename for IAF’s strike, to provide potent support to the ground troops of Indian Army’s Operation Vijay. What was the inside story of IAF’s deadly air strikes which eventually led to not only recapturing of the lost posts but also evicted Pakistan Army’s occupation of Indian forward posts in the KargilDras-Batalik sector? In a trip down memory lane at his Gurgaon residence, the very fit, 77-year-old retired air chief, with his charming wife Molina, talk candidly and patiently about his love for flying and how he faced challenges of his times
By Pradeep Mathur
What made you join the Air Force?
My urge to fly was ignited at age three. My father, a civil engineer, working with the Irrigation Department of pre-Independence Central Provinces and Berar (now MP & Chhatisgarh), joined the army at the start of WW II; he served in Iraq till the end of the War. My mother stayed at Pune to take care of us five siblings and our paternal grandparents. My grandfather helped out with the weekly shopping, as well as by taking care of me, the family’s youngest. After the shopping, he and his friend would sit under the shade of tamarind trees at the base of Parvati, Pune’s famous temple on a hilltop. Often, yellow-coloured aircraft flew overhead; I marvelled at their aerial manoeuvres. On a couple of occasions the aircraft came so low that I found my heart pounding with anxiety; my wonder only grew and a vague wish to be ‘up there’ took root. In 1950, near our house in Deolali, Army had based its Auster observation aircraft in an open field, making it possible to get close to them. The servicing crew allowed us to observe them at work, even allowing entry into the cockpit; feeling the controls and watching all the dials on the console gave me an inexpressible joy. Later, when we moved to Delhi, during vacations, I would sit at Palam airport for hours watching aircraft takeoff and land. I decided there was only one thing I wanted to be—a pilot! When my eldest brother joined the Navy and the next one the Army, my way to the Air Force was without any hindrance!
Could you delve on your schooldays?
After an year at Deolali, as 1950 came to a close, father was posted to Delhi. Our pater, an ardent outdoor man, was impressed with the emphasis our school, Barnes, gave to sports and adventure activities; so, as we three brothers had also taken a fancy to the school, we stayed behind as resident students. Though I was not the brightest at academics (often being chided for being “a disgrace to the Tipnis family” and lagging “streets behind my brothers”), my five years at Barnes were most exciting and memorable. As my proficiency at English improved, my academic performance took an upturn, and the classroom was
no more a dreaded place! Barnes, popularly referred to as the school-on-the hill, had a marvellous locale, with acres of open land, sports fields and swimming pools made out of a quarry and a blocked natural stream. Following the Senior Cambridge curricula, learning was more by application of mind than by rote. Anglo-Indian teachers were friendly, encouraging mentors to us in every aspect of broadening our world. A co-educational school with mostly Anglo-Indian students, there was a fair sprinkling of Parsis, Muslims and Hindus with varied background, giving us a very open, cosmopolitan outlook to life. Over the weekends, boys were encouraged to go out on ‘rambling permits’, which gave us freedom of scouting around the beautiful surroundings of Deolali’s rural area.
of each service, so that they understand each other’s way of functioning. In the last two terms, academics break into two streams: technical and non-technical, the former getting to be science graduates and the latter in arts. Service training, at this stage, gets to be service-specific, cadets for the first time being formally trained for and recognised by their service. I excelled at boxing and sailing, earning academy blues in both the sports. In third year, as I learnt about the principles of flight, airmanship, aero-engines, air-frames and the role of an air force, my interest in aviation grew by leaps and bounds. Familiarisation visits to the Air Force station at Pune had me becoming impatient to start flying training. I still remember very vividly, my first launch in a glider; the thrill of being up in the air was absolutely exhilarating! As gliding was just being introduced, it was in its nascent form, the syllabus was yet to be finalised. Some of us, who got to fly solo, were the envy of our course-mates. It was superlatively exciting, admittedly a bit scary too, to suddenly find oneself up in the sky, all by oneself. At the end of our training, it was a singular honour to be chosen to be the cadet to demonstrate gliding to parents and guests invited for our passing-out parade.
I still remember very vividly, my first launch in a glider; the thrill of being up in the air was absolutely exhilarating! It was superlatively exciting, a bit scary too, to suddenly find oneself up in the sky, all by oneself”
How was the change from the NDA to the Air Force Flying College?
I passed out from NDA in December 1958 and reported to AFFC at Jodhpur, as the new year dawned. It was a remarkable change in Tell us someever y sense: thing about your from the luxutraining at the riant greenery National Deof Khadakvasla fence Academy. (NDA’s locale) to The NDA is a the dusty bowl of unique instituthe Thar Desert; tion, where future NDA was a naof f i c e r- c a d re s tional showpiece of India’s three Receiving the US Commander-in-Chief (Pacific Naval then, a must-visit defence services Command) in New Delhi for every foreign jointly receive head of state, their initial miliwhereas the AFFC was a makeshift arrangetary training over three years. As young boys are ment, a far cry from the present impressive faturned into military men, the first four terms, cility at Hyderabad; NDA training was designed not only have a common academic syllabus, the along Army’s rigid spit-and-polish approach, cadets are also introduced to the characteristics
24 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
Air Chief with Air Force Commanders
whereas the Air Force way came across as easy, if not laid back, on ground. But it was a different story in the air. Once in the cockpit, a pilot underwent a complete transformation: focused on the job at hand, meticulous in his checks and procedures, absolutely insistent on precision flying. It was not only a question of honing one’s psycho-motor skills, but also of acquisition of steadiness of nerve, situational awareness and calmness under sudden change of weather or failure of aircraft systems. One-year training at AFFC was split into two stages: basic and intermediate. As the nomenclatures indicate, basic training developed one’s psycho-motor coordination necessary to use aircraft controls to fly an aircraft. Intermediate training introduced fledgling pilots to fly without the benefit of external reference to the horizon; aerial navigation, formation flying, aerobatics, recovery from unintended attitude/manoeuvring of aircraft. The continuous upgrading of one’s skills was both a challenge and a daunting experience. Intensity of my fascination for flying grew with each new step.
How did you become a fighter pilot? What were your experiences?
At the end of our training at AFFC, we’re split into fighter and transport streams. One’s grading in flying and reflexes in aerial situations were the criterion for decision-making. As the mid
Air Chief and First Lady with the then President K.R. Narayanan (centre) and Vice President Krishan Kant (left) on Air Force Day, in New Delhi
’50s had seen IAF’s WW II propeller-engined fighter fleet upgrade to jets, jets had an aura of frontier technology; so it was most thrilling to get selected for the Advanced Stage of Jet Training Wing at Hakimpet (Hyderabad). The HAL manufactured HT-2 trainer at basic stage which operated at sub-100 mph; on the radial-engined American Texan we had advanced to 200 mph. And, now the Vampire, with its jet engine, was pushing us beyond 300 knots. With no propeller in front, it was an eerie feeling to be floating in air without any apparent power plant. After we’d acquired proficiency on the Vampire, we’re finally introduced to the art of fighter flying in the appropriately named Applied Stage; no more “fun” flying, but learning to use an aircraft as a weapon’s platform. We performed advanced aerobatics, practiced tail-chase (following a hard manoeuvring aircraft); carried out tactical and battle formations; learnt the importance of visual lookout in tactical situations, particularly in aerial combat spotting a bogey (unidentified aircraft) before being spotted yourself was crucial, especially if the bogey turned out to be a ‘bandit’ (hostile/enemy aircraft). And carrying ordnance, cannons, rockets and bombs to become an aerial marksman. While donning of ‘wings’, the official appellation of a pilot, had to await the ceremony at the passing-out parade, we had started strutting around with the swagger of a pilot! After consistently standing second at every stage of flying training, it was an overwhelming experience, to get to the top and receive the Majumdar Trophy (named after “Jumbo” Majumdar, IAF’s legendary flier) for the Best Pilot in jet flying training! After five long years of military and flying training, we’re ready to be inducted into frontline fighter squadrons of the IAF.
Tell us a bit about your first posting.
With President K.R. Narayanan (left) and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Air Force Day, in New Delhi
The British Hawker Hunter was IAF’s leading fighter aircraft at the start of the ’60s decade. I was lucky to be posted to 27 Squadron, the Flaming Arrows, one of IAF’s five Hunter squadrons, in Ambala. Hunters had a dual role—as an air defence interceptor and as a ground attack fight-
er. So, during training, I was exposed to the complete gamut of fighter aerial tactics and its role of destruction of enemy assets on ground—runways, aircraft, bridges, railway yards, dams, army tanks, guns, bunkers, ammunition depots—anything that could debilitate enemy’s fighting potential; but aerial combat is the ultimate valuation of a fighter pilot, for one’s flying prowess is pitted against another. For a young pilot in his early 20s, it was an intoxicating experience!
How do you view the 1962 Chinese attack on India?
The debacle of 1962 against the Chinese was an enormous hit to the Indian psyche, particularly to the military. The positive outcome of the national shame was the realisation that the armed forces could not be neglected any longer. A huge upgrade, both in qualitative and quantitative terms, was undertaken with the help of the Soviets. In 1963, the first MiG-21 squadron, No. 28, was raised at Chandigarh, after seven pilots had been trained in USSR. On my 23rd birthday, I was among the first four pilots to join the unit for training in India. After the 1965 Indo-Pak war, IAF expanded rapidly. Until then, there was only one MiG-21 squadron, but over the next few years, as Indian production surged forward, it became ubiquitous and equipped a total of 15 squadrons. Being a pioneer on the fleet, I found myself moving to a new raising with the aircraft. In less than an year, I became the senior flight commander on the MiG-21 training squadron and later in a squadron upgraded to its latest mark. In between, because of my MiG-21 expertise, and as a winner of the Norhona Trophy for best Pilot Attack Instructor, my services were loaned to the Iraqi Air Force for two-and-a-half years. Having qualified as a Fighter Combat Leader, bagging the Sword of Honour, I served on the staff of the Establishment responsible for developing IAF’s tactics and combat doctrines, as well for the training of senior pilots in combat and tactics. My first staff assignment at Air Headquarters, after graduating from the Defence Services Staff College, was as
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 25
Cover Story an inspector at the Directorate of Air Staff Inspection. This job afforded an opportunity to fly with and standardise all 15 MiG-21as well as the Hunter squadrons. I could also do my conversion onto the first Indian-designed and manufactured fighter, the HF-24 Marut. Having such a deep and varied experience of fighter flying, particularly so the MiG-21, it was but natural that my field flying career culminated with command of No. 23 Panther squadron, changing over from the Gnat to the latest mark of the 21. Commanding a fighter squadron is a coveted ambition of every fighter pilot; whatever comes later is bonus.
What are your war experiences?
Although the one joins the military, are well aware of that preparing for a war is a life long pursuit; its reality hits you only when there is war-like situation. Until there are active operations, it’s the glamour and sagas of heroic valour of past heroes that one imagines himself to have been a part of, rather than of participating in operations yet to be faced. So when an opportunity arises, a true warrior is itching to go into operations. The first time that such a possibility arose was during the 1961—Goa Operations—that it’d be a short, one-way skirmish was a forgone conclusion, So, every fighter squadron hoped that it would be “the chosen one” to give the coup de grace to the Portuguese Rule in Goa. Naturally, most were disappointed; the one unit that, so to say, did get to fire in anger, found it more akin to training exercise, given the benign air situation. With the detection of Chinese incursion into the Aksai Chin area of Ladakh, the two Hunter squadrons at Ambala, had done a few area familiarisation sorties. When some of our troops were lost to Chinese assaults and others withdrew, I found myself part of an eight-aircraft formation, loaded with rockets and cannons, standing-by at cockpit readiness, awaiting formal orders to start engines. After over an hour of staying strapped in aircraft, the station commander, who was glued to the phone in our operational dispersal, reluctantly gave a thumbsdown, indicating cancellation of the mission, much to the disappointment of all. There was never any call for air action thereafter.
Do you think things would have been different had IAF gone into action?
No doubt the war would have taken a different turn, which way, has been speculated upon by many over a period of time. One thing is certain, Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force was in no position to operate effectively from their Tibetan bases; it would neither have been able to provide meaningful support to their ground troops, nor would it have offered any opposition to us. IAF’s initial effectiveness would have been slow, due to insufficient experience in the area; also, a few aircraft losses were inevitable, due to
If you are seeking riches or a life of comfort, the IAF is not the place for you. But if you desire a life full of challenges, whose accomplishment brings you enormous satisfaction. Then come, you have what it takes to be an air warrior!” inadvertent mishandling of aircraft in the rarefied atmosphere of the highmountain ranges. But within a short time, IAF would have come to grips with the local conditions and adjusted its operations. With the IAF in support, our ground troops stood a far greater chance of thwarting the out numbering Chinese marauders. Political leadership had lost its nerve after the initial shock; it is also possible that the Air Force did not press for its use with conviction. At critical junctures, a nation’s leaders have to take well-considered chances, for there are rarely any forgone conclusions; this is what segregates the GREAT from the ordinary!
26 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
How did we perform in 1965?
Given the conditions prevailing at that time, three years were not enough to reap the benefit of measures initiated to modernise and strengthen our armed forces. Pakistan, meanwhile, had gained enormously with its pacts with the US, and the quality of their military hardware had become superior to ours. Emboldened by India’s poor showing in 1962, they planned elaborately to militarily sever J&K from the rest of India. Their Operation Grand Slam to do so would have succeeded, had the IAF not used its vintage Vampires to stop the Pakistan armour from its diabolic plan. Pakistan Air Force’s unanticipated counteraction against our air bases caused disproportionate aircraft losses to us on ground. But our Army and Air Force regrouped quickly to turn the tide with their superior skills and leadership. While in terms of figures of aircraft losses, we didn’t stand well, in the ultimate analysis—we came out victorious by foiling Pakistan’s plan of taking over J&K by force. 28 Squadron’s MiG21s operated from Adampur and Pathankot to ensure safety of our strike forces returning after forays into Pakistan. We also carried out combat air patrols over Lahore and Kasur areas, challenging PAF to air combat on their territory, which they discreetly avoided. Only our squadron commander succeeded in downing a Sabre. On a personal note, two incidents were of particular interest, the first during the war and the second soon after ceasefire came into effect: while coming back to Adampur after giving top cover
to strike formations and their escorts returning to Pathankot, I realised from radio exchanges that one of the Gnat escorts, call sign Black 3, had not yet returned. As we approached our base, I was startled to hear a faint call from Black 3, requesting Adampur for a homing (heading direction for recovery). As there was no response from Adampur, there was a repeat request. As Adampur again failed to respond, I relayed the request, asking Adampur to convey the reading on its direction indicator with a voiceless transmission immediately after mine. This method succeeded in I being able to give Black 3 his homing of 120 degrees to Adampur; an extremely anxious Black 3 wanted a confirmation, which was given, exhorting the distressed pilot to follow it without hesitation. Before I could ensure that he followed the instruction, my leader ordered a change of radio channel in preparation for landing. I was unable to request my No. 1 to revert to the previous channel as there were far too many aircraft requesting priority for attention. On asking my leader why he’d changed channel while I was aiding a pilot needing assistance, he was thun-
derstruck that it was I who was in dialogue with Black 3! That evening Pakistan Radio announced that a Gnat had landed at its unmanned runway at Pasrur; the bearing of Adampur from Pasrur is the same as the homing given to Black 3!! Even after the ceasefire, Pakistan’s ultra-high-level reconnaissance aircraft, the RB57, continued its attempts to sneak into Indian territory; only the MiG-21, with its ability for a dynamic zoom climb (converting extreme high speed into height in a very steep climb) had the ability to intercept the snooping aircraft at its operating altitude in excess of 60,000 feet. It was a cat-and-mouse game, the 57’s attempts to sneak in being foiled with the scrambling of a 21 from our side. But for an opportunity to do a non-routine exercise, one could have easi-
ly got bored with the whole process. So when I was scrambled this day, I was prepared for the oft-repeated process of being recalled after the controlling radar station was satisfied that the intruding aircraft had withdrawn to Pakistan territory. But lo and behold, the interception continued beyond the anticipated stage and I was directed to climb to 11 km (about 40,000 feet) and accelerate to 1.9 mach (1.9 times speed of sound). I was cautioned that I’d be crossing the international border, and ordered to make my missiles “hot” (ready to fire). As I attained the assigned height and speed, I was directed to zoom to 19 km (about 62,000 feet) and search for a target in my front 60-degree-cone. My scan moved to and from my aircraft radar to visual; but all I saw was a blank radar screen and a spot-
itary decision-making in concert and to the successful coordinated functioning of the three services, with absolute mutual confidence.
Wasn’t the Kargil War a high point of your long and successful career?
Undoubtedly, it was an exciting experience with a most satisfying end result. Caught offguard, when Pakistanis moved into Indian Army’s forward posts along the LOC in the Kargil-Dras-Batalik sector, which for years, were routinely vacated at the onset of winter, the Army’s leadership was too embarrassed to reveal their professional faux pas to the government and was keen to recover the situation before the government got wind of it. In its anxiety to keep the situation under wraps, the Army failed to make a comprehensive assessment of the situation, and demanded armed helicopter support without mutual consultation or briefing. Air Headquarters did not find this approach in line with well-established laid-down procedure; at the very outset, it was also realised that given the high terrain, bereft of vegetation, helicopters were highly vulnerable to hostile action from the ground. It was also pointed out to Army Headquarters that use of air power opened the possibility of rapid escalation of air action from the other side, just as we had experienced in 1965 when Vam‘We both love to go out and see new places’ pires were used against Pakistani armour; military prudence also required less azure blue sky. Suddenly, there the Air Force to take the necessary precautionwas absolute radio silence and my ary steps; to do that, government clearance was requests for further directions went inescapable. The air force position forced Army unheeded. I realised, I’d lost radio Headquarters, after considerable delay, to apcontact with the radar station and proach government for air support; but Army’s had little idea of my ground posi- insistence on use of only helicopters persisted to tion. Luckily, my estimation of loca- the point of straining Army-Air Force working tion was reasonably accurate and I relations. Air Headquarters, going against its was able to recover at Pathankot, but professional assessment, relented to maintain with nearly empty fuel tanks! cohesion, but put a proviso that helicopters will operate in conjunction with fighters—a decision Tell us about your experiences of the 1971 War that proved to be crucial in the operation’s ultimate success. for Liberation of Bangladesh. This was a personal disappointment as I didn’t get to participate in it. When War broke out, I What is your advice to young people who may was on deputation to the Iraqi Air Force and Air want to join the Air Force? Headquarters didn’t feel the necessity to recall If you are seeking riches or a life of comfort, the the 20-25 instructors in Iraq at that time. Reports IAF is not the place for you. But if you desire a life coming in regularly from India conveyed a very full of challenges, whose accomplishment brings high morale, as we’d trained and prepared well you enormous satisfaction; if you want lifelong for a war that was inevitable; Pakistan, on the unselfish friendships, if it is the ultimate thrill for other hand, was in disarray with a very low state you to pit your professional skills against an adof morale. versary with devilish intentions; if you want to be The events leading to the Bangladesh War and the man or woman, who, after you are gone, will the war itself, even today, stand as a testimony to be remembered as a “man or woman of worth, the advantages of meticulous planning, patient indeed!”, then come, you have what it takes to be buildup of assets, focused training, and most im- an air warrior! portantly, the synergistic effect of politico-mil- mathurpradeep1@gmail.com December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 27
CII HR & IR Conclave
It is estimated that there will be 50 billion machines that will hum through the Internet, in Industry 4.0—this fundamentally means that 27 million devices will get connected to the Internet every day—they will start to drive the ecosystem. You have only one choice to make, are you going to be the leader or a follower, when Industry 4.0 will be here 28 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
Demystifying Industry 4.0 The industry has been talking about VUCA world for a long time. But today, it is not just about VUCA, it is also facing the phenomenon called ‘Industry 4.0’. With too many changes happening right now, there is a need for industries to do things differently. It is not about best ways of doing the same things but best ways of doing things differently. With this as a context, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) held an HR and IR conclave themed ‘HR Evolution’, recently in Pune. In the inauguration session, Shishir Joshipura, Managing Director, SKF India Ltd, gave a presentation, demystifying Industry 4.0. Corporate Citizen brings you his talk, explaining how we are at the cusp of the next revolution ‘Industry 4.0’ and how it is going to change how industries will function By Rajesh Rao
Welcome to Industry 4.0 What is Industry 4.0? Is it Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Is it robots on the shop floor? Is it Internet of Things (IoT)? Is it automation? Industry 4.0 is concerned with technology, but is it very different from what we experienced so far as human race? Around the year 1800 when the first industrial revolution took place, that’s the time mankind understood how to use basic tools and mechanical components and life was never same again. Today, we take things for granted, but we can't think of our life without the wheel—my company want be in business. The wheel is so basic a concept for us today. Almost 100 years later the second revolution came, when we understood the power of assembly-line operations, when we understood what does mass production mean, when we understood how to break down work in doable pieces for more efficiency. As we moved through the hundred years into the twentieth century, people’s average income went up. It wasn’t complex for a person to understand that he was doing his own work and he was doing part of the work, at a high speed. It was a big thing and there were machines that would make it happen. Another seventy years later, the third revolution happened. As we know it now, the internet and computers, walked into our lives. Smartphones, automation, electronics—we started to see things happen in many such forms and the speed of work became even faster. But, we
as human beings were still controlling the decisions. In all these three phases, the final decisions were resting with human beings. The income also went up—it is definitely different from what our parents were earning. And now another 40-50 years later, we are at the cusp of the next revolution. But, this is not a linear revolution. I really don’t know if the income levels will go up when the fourth revolution comes—in the last three, it definitely happened and we were the decision makers. The fourth revolution is going to be very different—the machines are going to be the decision makers, and not us. And if that happens and the prediction is that the fourth revolution will probably be absorbed in ten years—five years have already passed. So, this is going to be a revolution, which we don’t know much about, which we are going to see in the next five years. If I were talking to you in 2007, there was no Facebook or Twitter then, there was no Tesla or Airbnb—none of these existed. Can we today think about world today without these things? It just happened in ten years—now we will see what is going to happen in the next five years— for sure the complexity is going to be much higher. So, we are asking for doing things of more complexity, at a very high speed, in which decision making rests with something else and not humans beings. So, welcome to Industry 4.0, it is going to be very different.
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 29
CII HR & IR Conclave World of brontobytes The memory size for the new iPhone is 256 gigabytes—not too long ago I was very surprised to find one terabyte external drive, while shopping online. Just to give an idea where we are headed—one flight, two engines, a six-hour flight, flying between New York and Los Angeles, transfers 20 terabytes of information, per engine, per hour. Soon, we are going to be in the world of brontobytes. Why are we going to be in the world of brontobytes? When machines talk to machines, they take up lot of data. Let’s assume right now three billion people on earth are connected through smartphones and we see a revolution taking place. The kirana (grocery) shop has walked into our home. Our banks, travel, airlines and our phones—practically things that you need to travel, to live, to eat—all these basic things can be managed on our small device called mobile phone. Though storing of data, capturing of data, and analysis of data is important, more important is what you do with that data. So, companies that understand what to do with the data that they have from their customers, from their operations, from their interfaces, are the companies that will be the winners. This data management will give rise to new breed of professionals.
We are asking for doing things of more complexity, at a very high speed, in which decision making rests with something else and not human beings. So, welcome to Industry 4.0, it is going to be very different
Connected Co-worker: Today all the workshop teamwork that we do, once outside the room, everybody goes back to his or her own boxes and starts working in one's own environment. Successful companies and HR professionals are all trying to see that how can we retain what’s being shared inside that room. Connected Manufacturing: Today, one production line does not talk to another production line. And then you keep managers to manage that complexity. Connected Manufacturing can help companies become more responsive, turning data insights into actionable intelligence. Digital twin, connected co-workers and connected manufacturing, are three big drivers for 4.0 industry.
What’s work experience today? The capability of human brain to look through the experiences that we had in these 25 years— what we understand and analyse of it to present it into a new situation—may be a better way to do it. You are doing a thing for 25 years, you are very experienced and suddenly it is going to change—we are looking at the speed of doing the work of 25 years in one year and that also with equal power. This is a frightening thought for practically everybody. Because, you are suddenly saying that experience counts nothing, but this is a thought we have to live with. Solving human problems through Big Data Bionic Eye: What is our eye? A tech geek will say it’s a lens that processes millions of bits of information, and projects that in your mental space and you see—we don’t think that way but that’s what is exactly happening. I can have a microchip that can record all the data and same time get it transferred to a supercomputer, which processes and sends it back and a person can see—that is a bionic eye. This is already happening and this year bionic eye will be released. Smart-knee cap: This is something that can be a boon in India. Many of us have seen people of 60+ age having wobbly walk because of some knee problem. So, here is a chip that works out what is your exact walking pattern, how your leg muscles behave as you walk—get that data, process it and put it back and keep adjusting
the knee cap, so you are walking straight. This is happening and this technology is going to change our lives. big drivers for industry 4.0 Digital Twin Technology: You call for timely interventions, that’s basically the model of the digital twin technology—physical world and its digital twin, a smart digital twin which will tell you what is going to happen. There are machines, shop floors, factories, locations—you want to see the condition of every part and that’s going to transmit a lot of data.
30 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
New setup for Industry 4.0 For a new shop floor, digital training will be very different, because you are now going to put conditioning and monitoring everywhere—going to sensorise your shop floor to see what’s happening all the time. The production process will be self-learning. Today, the machines tell the human beings and then the human beings take decisions. A very new setup will be required for the new elements in Industry 4.0, so the digital twin of the current manufacturing shop floor will look very different. We will be needing 5G network, because machines can’t
talk on 4G network. The 4G networks are incapable for managing machine talk, they can only manage human talk. Continuous improvement, real-time action-taking, are the phrases we use today and all companies are driving their excellence programmes like TPM. It is essential that you are trying to speed up things—do them better—but data, robotics, digital twins are going to drive these things. So, new shop floor will look very different. It will be almost like I have a shop floor, I want to put another one on top of it, which is completely different. To me it will be actually a digital twin of what I have. Machines will get smarter and the supervision will get smarter. More importantly, all machines will be interconnected. So, is 4.0 about the machine shop floor and its digital twin? No it is not.
requirement will be very high, as you are going to compete for the future and not for the present. We today compete for the present, what is going to happen this quarter or next quarter. But, importance of strategic agility, is the ability to be agile. 4.0 for Management Experience will no longer will be the differentiator—this is a big change. What you bring on table with 25 years of experience, the chip brings in instantaneously We talk about Internet interacting with people, but when Internet starts to talk with machines, is when experiences will get obliterated completely. Biggest pain for all of us is KPIs, because all the KPIs are insides boxes. So, the purchase person is the only one who can reduce the cost. The maintenance person wants high reliability. The CEO wants sustainability. It is going to give rise to collaborative KPIs and not boxed-in KPIs. And this collaboration is going to be very wide one and not between two people. It is going to be the cost of the whole chain of organisations, starting from the supply end to end customers. It is going to be one big chain. So, the HR professionals need to rethink, how they are going to do the Performance Management Process (PMP) in the future. Predictive vs. Reactive Today we can react very fast—welcome to the world of predictive process, where skills and experience are used not to manage the present, but the future. For the people, it is going to mean that you have to unlearn and relearn continuously. I have done my engineering from in 1983, from a good college—so I have arrived, you think. Please, go back to school every year and become a student for life, but also unlearn what you have learnt. You can relearn, but unlearning is where the difficulty starts.
4.0 is for all of us The 4.0 has other elements—there is going to be 4.0 for everybody, like CXO 4.0, management 4.0, employee 4.0, processes 4.0. So, everything is going to change. Let’s not think that this is about only shop floor and engineers—or let the IT or automation person do this. The 4.0 is not for any one arm of the organisation, it’s for all of us. For CXOs it’s going to call for changes in the mind-sets—big time mindset change. No longer you have to keep waiting for somebody to do the analysis and bring it to you—they need to be live and on the spot. So, the agility
Soft skills vs. Hard skills Hard skills are in vogue, today. All of that is going to be taken by big data analytics and what’s going to matter is soft skills—how much of risk-taking ability you have, how much you are not afraid to face failure and so on. And not the least and never the last, all organisations will struggle with embracing this change and open mindset. Embrace Change So, have we stopped changing, is this it now? Welcome to a world which will keep changing, because context will be changing and changing at a very rapid pace. So, we have to embrace change. Multidisciplinary process side For example, who is going to be the next design-
er for the electric car or the driverless car? Is it an automotive engineer, mechanical engineer, IT professional, software engineer, or chemical engineer? We don’t know, it may be all of them. Gone are the days when automotive or mechanical person was it, because cars are going to be much more software than before. One of the two big electric carmakers in the world is a software company today and it’s not Tesla. It is Moen Electric, a software company in China—they are going to make electric vehicles this year. Analysis is going to rule the day Surprisingly, steel company JSW Steel is going to make electric cars in India. When everything is about software, they say they will be giving the steel anyway, so why not make it. There is a lot of emphasis put on information today—I have the information therefore I have the power, therefore I have the authority and so on. That’s not going to work anymore, because information is going to be in brontobytes and human mind cannot comprehend it. It is going to be analysis that is going to rule the day and not information. Empowerment and speed of change We have to be really very flexible, agile and nimble. We will be using the big change for the people and organisations. Here is the stats It is estimated that there will be 50 billion machines that will hum through the Internet, in Industry 4.0—from three billion human beings over a period of ten years to 50 billion machines over a period of five years. This fundamentally means that 27 million devices will get connected to the Internet every day—they will start to drive the ecosystem. You have only one choice to make, are you going to be the leader or a follower, when Industry 4.0 will be here. rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com
CC
tadka
Second warmest August This August was the second warmest August in 137 years of modern recordkeeping, according to an analysis of global temperatures by scientists at NASA. This temperature will consistently rise in the coming years due to global warming, according to NASA.
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 31
Cradle of Leadership Prof. S. Sadagopan, Director, International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B)
Pics: Sanjay MD
Catalyst to growth Established around the late 90’s when India’s IT revolution had taken off and India became the buzzword in IT circles, this institute was meant to be a catalyser for growth in the IT industry. Looking back with satisfaction, Prof. S. Sadagopan, Director, International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B), elaborates on how the institute has made distinctive strides in entrepreneurship, innovation and research. Stressing on the need for technology to cater to society, firmly based on an interdisciplinary approach even as it underscores ethics and professionalism, he enumerates the unique ways in which IIIT-B creates leaders of tomorrow for the IT industry By Geetha Rao 32 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
What were the reasons for establishing an institute exclusively for Information Technology in Bengaluru?
International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B) was started by the Government of Karnataka (GoK) and the IT industry in 1999 and I was asked to run it. If you look back, there were a few areas in which India’s made major contributions. Globally, Indian textiles, even today, contribute some 30-40 billion dollars as export. ATIRA or Ahmedabad Textile Industry’s Research Association in Ahmedabad and another textile research institute in Coimbatore did some research which helped the textile industry grow, modernize, and adapt to the needs of the economy. Similarly, leather export is another key export contributor, in which the CLRI or Central Leather Research Institute in Chennai is supposed to have played a similar role. So, in 1997, the Karnataka government thought that Information
Technology would be a big export powerhouse and that having an institute which would catalyse the growth of the IT industry would be good. Looking back, it indeed made sense. IIIT-B was born in 1999. Those were interesting times; the world was, in some sense, changing. Y2K was the buzz, obviously the Indian IT industry came centrestage. There was also the dotcom boom and bust. That was also the time people started visualising the IT industry to be a trillion-dollar industry which it eventually became in 2009. But people could not think that IT would come close to auto and oil, the then dominant trillion-dollar industries.
Does that mean that the existing engineering colleges were not up to it?
It’s like this. If we look at the leather industry, the technology of leather has to do more with chemistry and there were enough chemistry departments
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 33
Cradle of Leadership around. But by themselves, they would not have done enough because it needed a critical concentration of chemists with a particular focus. Similarly, with engineering colleges, an institute focusing only on IT would accelerate the whole thing. They must have thought along those lines. When I came on board, I think it really fortunate that the powers that be, both from the industry and the government, gave us complete freedom. And allowed us to shape the institute in our own way.
So, how has IIIT-B been shaped? Could you elaborate on the vision for the institute?
We visualised three things for IIIT-B: First, computing will always play a larger role than simply producing computers and doing some data processing. In retrospect, we feel that we have been vindicated. Second, we felt computer and communications together will probably create opportunities much larger than opportunities created by communications alone or computing alone. Third, entrepreneurship and startups will play a big role. If Infosys could start with limited capital simply because this industry is more brain intensive than capital-intensive, we will have great opportunities for startups. Even with the very first batch, we had a student who had a startup and never sought a job.
In what ways, do you think, has IIIT-B been unique?
One of the things we wanted was to have a non-department structure with individual focus areas with considerable overlap—something along the lines of the Olympic rings, each ring overlapping the other so that no ring is isolated. We realised that people could be interested in at least two disciplines. So we planned for 60-70 faculty members and about 700-800 students. We realised that most innovation would take place in interdisciplinary areas. That’s precisely what’s happening—there’s biology and computing, GIS (geography and computing), banking and technology, automation and technology. We also realised that society would be an important part of all the innovation. Information Technology is so impactful. It impacts everyone. We realised that mobiles would play an increasing role. But who thought there would be nearly a 1:1 mobile ratio in our lifetime? We thought it could happen in 2030. But it happened in 2013 or 2014, right? When something like that happens, it is important to be sensitive to social needs. When a tech like Aadhaar is introduced, we should not be blind to issues like privacy. At the same time, we should not get bogged down by privacy. So we said we need to create social scientists who have an appreciation for technology, who understand technology and who can allow technology to play its role. But, we generally find that many social scientists think that tech is for the big guys, for the rich, for city folks, that tech will never solve India’s problems, that India’s problems will be solved only by khadi and village industry. There are also technologists who feel that if they can make a car that is cheap enough, they will solve the mobility problem. But that is not true. Even if petrol costs zero, even if every Indian can afford a car, we will have more misery. So, we needed to create a set of professionals who could ride two-horse carts, on one side tech, and the other, social science. We had to wait until three years ago when we started offering a programme, MSc in Digital Society. The idea is to take 50% of engineers and 50% of social scientists, put them together, make them work for two years, understand each other, so that they have a deeper appreciation of the other’s viewpoints. Both should avoid dogma. Technilogists should not think they have solutions to all problems. Social scientists should not think technology cannot solve problems. We need a balanced approach.
When you say social scientists, who are you taking in? What backgrounds are you looking for?
We take in sociologists, city planners for this course. We take in PhDs in Economics, people from business schools. We have one person from the 34 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
About the Director l Professor S.
Sadagopan, Director of IIIT-Bangalore, is a product of Madras University, India and Purdue University, USA. He taught for 25+ years at IIT Kanpur, IIM Bangalore, IIT Madras and IIIT-Bangalore in addition to short teaching assignments at RUTGERS, USA and AIT, Bangkok. IIIT-B offers these courses: l Integrated M.Tech l M.Tech in Information
Technology l M.Tech in Electronic
System Design l Master of Science
(Digital Society); and Research Programmes l Besides these,
Continuing Professional Education offers PG diplomas in Data Science; Software Engineering; Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence; IT Security Essentials course media. In fact, we would be happy to have a linguist, because if the content has to be local, it has to be in the local language. Otherwise, we don’t understand the issues of the local language. Secondly, if the content is in Kannada and Tamil, we should be able to search for keywords in Kannada and Tamil. Quite often, many technologists are dismissive about such issues. Content is one thing. But there are other problems. There are doctors who write prescriptions in English. But some patients cannot read English. It is easy for the government to say all doctors must write in Kannada. But that will not solve the problem, it is a waste of time, and doctors should actually spend more time on their patients. If there’s a simple technology that automatically translates a prescription in English into Kannada as soon as it is written, then the doctor writes it in English and the patient reads it in Kannada. Done. So, we have communication engineers, computing engineers, social scientists and pure scientists. Pure scientists, because science is important. Maths is important. We realised we needed a full-fledged mathematician. We have been looking for a person with a background in Biology. Fairly difficult Math is routinely used in cryptography today. You must have heard of bitcoin. Some of these areas use some of the theorems by Ramanujam. This happened because people from mathematics and computer science worked together. I also have a colleague who works in an area called visualisation. Comput-
“To me, first and foremost, a leader must inspire. Second, he must be knowledgeable. Others must feel that they actually gain knowledge from him. Third, a leader should also have empathy. I believe that in the name of leadership qualities, we create bosses. A boss isn’t a leader” er visualisation came out of computer graphics. You see, it was used during election results: how BJP is performing, how Congress is performing, etc. That is visualisation. If pure science, social science, computer science, communication science and others work together, because of their interdisciplinary nature, we will be able to create new startups.
Earlier, you said that one of the things decided upon was that the institute must have a non-department structure. Please explain what that means.
We don’t have a departmental structure, people here work seamlessly. But people need an identity. So we have what are called domains. There are domains and there are domain coordinators. But the idea is, as much as possible, break barriers. We don’t have a departmental budget and departmental space allocation. When you have a budget, you automatically have department buildings.
Does that mean that you have no department buildings at IIIT-B?
All the faculty share space. We have a set of rooms. The first room available is allotted to the first person available. The idea is to make people interact. I think a lot happens when people talk to each other.
But it must be disruptive. How have the faculty members taken to it?
Luckily, they have taken to it well. This is the advantage of being a small institute. We recruit only assistant professors. We take in youngsters. In some sense, they have no legacy. For a majority, it is their first job. We do have maybe half a dozen senior people who have decided to do different things. We have Dr Srikant who is a PhD in Computer Science from Cornell way back in the ‘80s. He spent 15 years in the US with graphics, startups and
big companies. I’d say 45 of the faculty are fresh PhDs this is their first job, they also seem to enjoy it. It also helps that we are located in Bengaluru.
Do students opt for entrepreneurship? Can you please elaborate on some IIIT-B startups?
One of our startups is TutorVista, which essentially disrupted online remote tutoring. Just this morning, one of our startups—from one of the incubated companies from our IIIT-B startup cell— got its first order from the Indian Railways. It will use very sophisticated scheduling algorithms. The railways has a million staff, tens of thousands of drivers, tonne of locomotives. Locomotives are expensive. Each can cost several crores. Quite often, a locomotive is allotted to a driver, but there are delays or the locomotive has derailed, it needs repairs. Sometimes the driver is working for over 20 hours. Generally, people use a simplistic solution— allocate one locomotive to three drivers, and they will manage somehow. But quite often, locomotives are not well utilised. This is a big data problem, requiring much larger computing power. You can’t do it in just any computer centre. You need cloud. Today, if a locomotive is down, the driver does not know what to do. But the startup finds solutions by working on the schedules of thousands of drivers and locomotives. In fact, these are like the problems that companies like Ola have solved. Uber can schedule hundreds of thousands of calls and hundreds of thousands of drivers. This startup claims that if we do something similar, it can save 10% of the locomotives. That is, it will save nearly 20,000 to 30,000 crore. There’s another startup at IIIT-B called M2M, Machine to Machine. The students made a completely India-designed watch. It’s like a google watch, but with more features. It has specialised Wi-Fi. The group’s used two-use cases. One is for workers in mines. When there is an accident or a landslide, these workers cannot come out. And if the message doesn’t reach out fast enough, they perish. Instead, if given the watch, the watch will communicate with those outside. It also has a small camera which takes pictures and automatically transmits them. The second use case is an ambulance carrying a patient. Until the driver and the patient reach the hospital, the doctor usually does not know patient details. With a camera, the driver can send pictures of the patient’s condition and the doctor has much information ready beforehand. Again, some startups succeed because of the interdisciplinary system. For example, we have an e–health research centre where we work with NIMHANS on health related areas. During our interaction, the idea that maybe we should do something about ambulances came up. So, IIIT-B’s vision is to look at IT as something larger than simple computer science courses. Look at it holistically, and look at it also to change India. At the same time, take a balanced view.
What about other interesting projects and startups?
Ideal learning environment at IIIT-B, to stimulate intellectual and personal growth
An interesting project was the one using missed calls. Missed calls are a big phenomenon, and this bright undergrad called Valerie Wagoner studying Sociology at Stanford had heard about India and its use of mobiles. Wagoner thought of looking at science and technology together. She came to Bengaluru. She studied how people in the Ejipura slum used mobile phones. Many were illiterate, what did they use them for? She had never heard of missed calls. But she discovered they used them in a big way. They said missed calls had some advantages. One, you don’t have to spend to make a missed call. There is also what is called a zero-byte message; a woman visiting another town can give a missed call back home to imply she’s reached. For Ejipura residents, within their population, a missed call is actually a December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 35
Cradle of Leadership All students at IIIT-B have WiFi-enabled laptops for their exclusive use and access to a cloud-based printing service
The IIIT-B Library’s ongoing mission is to deliver resources and services to support learning, teaching and research activities
message. So, Wagoner came up with an idea. Those were the days when the banking system was evolving, like core banking. She thought, if a customer’s mobile number is registered with the bank, it knows when the customer gives a missed call. If the bank assigns numbers for extra information, the customer can give a missed call and elicit information. For example, he can know the bank balance via a “missed call”, or the last 10 transactions or the cricket score. You can actually do that by using a small application. Wagoner built a small service around it. I had the privilege of being on the board of Bank of India, so I said let BOI try it. Now every bank uses it. She created a company called Zipdial. It was acquired by Twitter for about 3 million dollars. Imagine, it all began in our Ejipura slum. But if she hadn’t been a sociology student, she wouldn’t have done it. Tech plays a role, but I don’t think anyone of us would have gone to Ejipura, or if we did, we would have seen a lot of maids using mobiles, and that would be that. But she went there, day after day, finding out what they were doing. And then realising that banking was a need. That’s where interdisciplinary social science and technology coming together helped.
What kind of leadership skills does IIIT-B try to hone in the students? How do you inculcate leadership skills they would need in their future careers?
In my personal view, we sometimes make too much of leadership skills. Because to me, the cradle of leadership is about who really is a leader. To me, first and foremost, a leader must inspire. Second, he must be knowledgeable. Others must feel that they actually gain knowledge from him. Third, a leader should also have empathy. I believe that in the name of leadership qualities, we create bosses. A boss isn’t a leader. When students join the institute, we welcome them with the message, “Welcome to ‘your’ institute”. I actually write that on the board at the orientation. The very message is that you own the institute, including hostel food. For example, any hostel food becomes insipid after some time, a common complaint. Turn it into an opportunity: let the student community decide on the menu. They discovered the food was insipid because the menu was programmed, planned. So, they randomised it. Therefore, ownership helps. We also try to communicate that leaders don’t grab, they share. So, students visit slums, institutes, churches, orphanages and spend time, and listened to kids who do not have the same opportunity as us - that’s important. Even democracy offers insights into leadership. Here, there is no separation between faculty and students and staff or the director. We use the same bathrooms, eat the same food. In IIIT-B’s early days, my colleague and I would play a game. He would drop a piece of paper and I would pick it up. The idea is that they own the 36 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
place. This is the 14th year of the institute operation in E-City and we have not painted it even once. Keeping it clean is everyone’s job. We have maids, security guards; we make it abundantly clear to the students that they will be nice to them, they are as important citizens of the institute as we are.
Generally, the argument is that our education system is such that it breeds keen competition, making students so competitive that they are not good at collaborating. But IT professionals need to work collaboratively in teams. How do you then nurture team spirit and collaborative work?
We try to create less of a competitive culture. Placement is important but when somebody gets placed, he or she does not throw a party until the last person is placed. It’s important for them to understand that your success is decided by the success of your batch. To us, this is more important than how we evaluate, how the KPI factor should be; KPI is important, but it is important to do it in a spirit of equality. Avoid undue competition, but some amount is important. We have awards for contribution to campus community life. It is important to get the highest grade, but did you make a difference to the community? We also have KSM – Knowledge Sharing Mechanism. In many institutes, there is this notorious term called ragging. We think, instead of harassing
“Information Technology is so impactful. It impacts everyone. We realised that mobiles would play an increasing role. But who thought there would be nearly a 1:1 mobile ratio in our lifetime? We thought it could happen in 2030. But it happened in 2013 or 2014, right?” juniors, why don’t you help them? Not only is there no ragging, every batch feels their best friends are their seniors. To me, the definition of a leader is a person who is the last person who quietly pushes everyone forward. He is not the first person in the first row who keeps on walking and does not even look back to see whether people follow him or not. Leadership is not only about power, or netagiri. It is an opportunity to contribute. You can be the smallest person and yet be the leader. Here’s an example. We had a security guard, ten years back. There were three girl students who would help him out with money. These girls did not get placed. You would think they would be crying, but it was the security
Students at IIIT-B campus
American company. Obviously, when it comes to certain things, the Intel management would take into consideration the larger American interests than Indian interests. But how can you be sensitive to some of these nuances? Similarly, when you work for the Tatas, do you always take the Indian position? Because Tata’s TCS is not just an Indian company. It probably gets more money from the USA. Another example is a student’s project, based on a glove. In some cases of acute arthritis, the doctor prescribes physiotherapy—a nurse holds your hand and moves it in certain ways some 300 times. But if you don’t get nurses or can’t afford them, you wear this glove and the glove does the nurse’s work. We are working with NIMHANS, getting a patent for it. When you work with doctors, they bring certain skills, certain strengths. You also bring certain skills, certain strengths. You need to know how to respect each other. If the doctor is not involved, you don’t get credit. But he can’t take all the credit either. Across disciplines, how do you ensure that? That’s part of professionalism. Consider the issue of privacy. The glove project collects information about the patient and feeds it into the glove. Or let’s say you take a CT scan at a diagnostic centre. The diagnostic centre won’t tell you what it does with the information. Similarly, you go to a doctor, the doctor gathers information about you and files it. Technically speaking, you own the information. But how do you ensure that the diagnostic centre which has a Phillips machine does not send it to the Netherlands? To me, a simple CAT scan is an imaging device; to a doctor, it is a tool; to a patient, doctor and hospital put together, it is a healthcare aid. Similarly, a bank manager knows about his bank accounts. Technically, should he have access to our information? We still have not answered such questions. It will take a while. I think this is where a technology person and a sociology person must come together, and we will have a balanced view, not an extreme view. This is what is broadly covered in the course on professionalism.
How do you foster gender diversity and sensitivity, whether with respect to students or faculty? How many female students are at IIIT-B? Students at IIIT-B campus
guard who was crying. Because they give him respect, he treated them like his daughters. Ten years after they graduated, the students still send him money. We keep telling our students—he could be more intelligent than us. Only, he had no opportunity or resources.
What about managing teams and collaborative work?
In learning, there must be individual learning. If you are always a sleeping partner, you won’t learn anything. I’d say 30-40% is about individual learning. So, every course has multiple-group projects. We also have larger group projects outside the course—a newsletter, events, compering, or management. Even budgeting. For sports day, students do everything—budgeting, planning, guest management, etc. The advantage is we get students from all over India. We suggest that students don’t form groups by region. Some come from the same B. Tech college and they hang out together. We try to mix them.
What other courses do you offer that will help students in the long run, even in their careers?
We have a multiple dimensional course, which includes ethics. When you work in groups, you must ensure ethics; else, how do you ensure that everyone gets equal credit? Or if someone has done more, how does he rightly get proportionately large credit? Take plagiarism. How do you take care of that? With a course called professionalism. So, ethics is important. These days there’s another interesting dimension—local and global. Let’s say you work for Intel. Intel is an
In technology, India is doing much better than many countries in the area of diversity; 30-40% students in most engineering colleges are women. But it is not reflected in leadership positions. It’s not bad, we are actually better than many countries. But many places in India are not friendly to working women. You don’t have a crèche, you don’t have baby care. We are lucky because we have imbibed a different set of values since we were born in 1999. But even in some premier institutes, women don’t even have easy access to toilets on all parts of the campus. Is it because there are not enough female staff around? No, it is a thought process. But things are changing. IIIT-B is one of the best in diversity among faculty members. Almost 30% are women. One has to make things welcome, easy for women. When female faculty here find it a women-friendly place, they spread the word. That has helped. We also have a far more flexible timings. Most male faculty come at 8:30 am and leave by 4:30 to 5 pm. But a few men and women work from 11 am to 7 pm. Some female faculty with little children work from 7:30 am to 2:30 pm. Some work from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm and then work from home. geetrao@gmail.com CC
tadka India ranked highest in corruption India ranks first amongst the five most corrupt countries in Asia, according to a survey by Transparency International. India has a bribery rate of 69%, the highest in Asia. India is followed by Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan and Myanmar.
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 37
Young India—they are the biggest strength of our nation. there has to be a lot of training in terms of how we have to prepare them for A role in the organisational context. The first and foremost thing I tell the youngsters is that you should not limit your thought process or your mind
38 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
NHRDN Career Fest 2017
Digital economy, employment generation and career growth
Have that NeverSay-Die Approach The strength of India is in its human capital and young India can look forward to the future with lot of optimism. Managing Director and CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Sandeep Bakhshi, senses and strongly believes that the base, ethos and the values that India has, is something which will ensure that the country will grow. Talking in inaugural session of the NHRDN Career Fest 2017, held recently in Mumbai, Bakhshi talks about how we have to prepare young India—our demographic dividend and strength—for a big role in the organisational context. Bakhshi who has played various leadership roles in the ICICI Group over 31 years, believes that our country has a great future and there will be enough jobs and enough opportunities. Corporate Citizen brings you his inspiring talk on varied subjects of employment, career growth, opportunities and more By Rajesh Rao Pics: Yusuf Khan
The whole growth of brand India has been quite distinct and different from the way other developing nations have progressed. After the great depression in 1930, the US launched itself into the industrial revolution. After the World War, Japan and Germany, launched into the industrial revolution. Then we have the growth of countries like South Korea and China. The one common thing is, these countries have taken industry as a base, on which they have launched their own repositioning of growth. India’s growth which started in the ‘90s was based on services pattern and we have seen how the ratio of services and the overall GDP has changed and that’s the bedrock. We had principally started as an agrarian economy and then became sort of industrial, not at par but a very relevant course in the industrial sector. But, it’s the services, which repositioned India. My sense is that services will continue to play a central role as far as our growth is concerned. At the fundamental level, the strength of India is its human capital. The base, ethos and the values that India has, is something which will ensure that India will grow. We have every reason to be enthusiastic, every reason to be optimistic—the youngsters can look forward to the future with a lot of optimism and Brand India will only get repositioned stronger and stronger.
Fundamental change happening across professions
Not only the roles of engineers, but the role of management professionals, the role of HR professionals, chartered accountants, have kind of changed over a period of time. Make in India is very important because every country must have a sound manufacturing base. Even if it is a small part of GDP, it has to be very significant and it has to be there. You can’t have an economy which does not have an industrial base. As large companies become more and more mechanised, they would invariably end up having an inclination towards capital intensity, will have heavy capital investment, and a relatively lighter employability-it is because manufacturing at the core has to compete with the best in the world. If you have to be competitive, you have to produce the best product, at a globally competitive price. Engineers will have to become better in terms of material planning, they would have to have much closer connect with the customers, and have the ability to change the production planning to impact the customers. So, the engineers who were just focused on production and maximising production, would have to have the adaptability to keep changing the configuration, to be close to the customers. In fact, being close to the customers is something that everybody has to do, it’s the December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 39
NHRDN Career Fest 2017 fundamental change which is happening across all professions. The customer has to be at the centre-stage and every activity that we do somewhere along the line has to be towards enhancing the connection of company with the customer’s want.
The whole paradigm has changed
in terms of your cost architecture that will be attacked. I feel that these are the three elements will always be under attack. While technology is a great enabler, at times it can become the biggest barrier to change. At a time when you have a legacy system, it can become a limitation and a constraint to change. Even financial services are bound by legacy system and they will have to end up liberating themselves. To that extent you have cloud computing and you have block-change. But, one can be rest assured that at the end, delivery systems will be there, which will significantly improve quality for the end customer and bring down cost. Eventually what happens, there is a manufacturer and
From my own 30 years of experience in the financial and banking sector... I started in the mid-eighties. The nineties was a largely a B2B setup, when most of the bankers were basically lending to corporates and to SMEs. You could recall that people like us in the nineties did not even think of having a home loan, a car loan was distinct, and getting a credit card was a reason to celebrate. I remember, when some of the banks started, they started to go retail with a basic setup, where you have to go out of your office room to source a customer. Today, look at how the transformation has happened, the whole paradigm has changed. Retail banking today is actually the heartthrob and at the centre of every bank. Similarly, general insurance was B2B, today it is B2C and forms a large part of general insurance. Look at the proliferation of the mutual funds distribution. So, fundamentally one of the key things that is happening is that lot of setups which use to have layers between them and customer, are now directly going to the customer. It’s a very interesting transformation that has happened and people who have moved through the setups have had to adjust to that transformation. Anyone who has not adjusted, I would say has tended to become less and less relevant, because market forces Prior to his current role, Bakhshi was have eventually reigned the Deputy MD of ICICI Bank, where supreme. he was responsible for retail and rural
and mentally we have to break barriers. Within organisation there are barriers, there are silos which have to be broken.
Time to relook at what is employability
In India, we always speak of our demographic dividend and strength and I really believe in that. Young India—they are the biggest strength of our nation. We train them in various subjects, but there has to be a lot of training in terms of how we have to prepare them for a role in the organisational context. The first and foremost thing I tell the youngsters is that you should not limit your thought process or your mind. Don’t
Journey within ICICI
Technologies, anxieties and opportunities
banking. Previously, he was the MD and CEO of ICICI Lombard, a 74:26 joint venture of ICICI Bank and Fairfax Group and one of the eight companies that started operations after the sector opened up to private sector participants in the year 2001. Bakhshi, is an engineer and an MBA by education, joined ICICI in 1986 in the project financing department and worked there until 2001 before joining ICICI Lombard. in January 2002.
Disruption happens f u n d a m e nt a l l y o n broadly three counts. One, if there is latent demand—it is there but it has not been met. Retail banking was also a latent demand—all of us at one time needed a home, needed a car, needed other financial services but may be because of the setup, the delivery systems, these products were not being made available. So, again when there was a latent demand, the way was found through a new disruptive process. The second thing is very large profit pool—if there is a large profit pool which is sitting, you can be rest assured that will be predated. The third is if there is a flap—there is an inefficiency
then there is a customer; there is friction or there is loss of value when the product reaches the customer from the manufacturer. The endeavour has to be to minimise that loss of value. Even in financial services, we still end up having frictions which results in loss of value, by the time the product reaches the customer. So, it is something that would actually be under attack, be under threat and technology professionals will have to be very close to customers. The second thing that is happening is that the product life cycles are getting short. So, in a way, the speed that we have to respond, has to be quick. Organisations have to become so much more agile
40 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
have any preconceived notions, that I want to do this role or I don’t want to be in a customer-facing role. If anyone has this kind of constraint, it is not an appropriate start. The profession asks us to have the absolute thought that I am going to go out in the marketplace and do whatever is required to be done. You cannot even allow in your lexicon that I will not be in a customer-facing role or in revenue generation role-this has to vanish out of your lexicon. So, while preparing students itself, you have to prepare them to take any role. When we look for people, we don’t attempt to get the best and the most qualified person. We want people who have the right attitude and do value the job. If a person believes that this is an institution which has the ability to deliver value in the long run and he or she is willing to commit themselves, without any limitation of department, without any limitation of role—that person I think
is a perfect person. You just have to not put out any fetters. There are only two self-goals which fetter you-cynicism and arrogance. I have worked for 31 years in a company, do you think everything has been perfect for me? The answer is no. Should I become cynical? The organisation is not going to change for me. I really believe that I need the organisation more than the organisation needs me. I am in the company because I need a job. I have the freedom to leave the company anytime, no one will stop me. The fact is, when the simplicity of the connection and association is understood, it makes for a long-term harmonious and fulfilling association for both the parties. Just stay away from cynicism and arrogance and be positive, be daring to do the role that the organisation gives you.
Winning is in the mind
You may not get a company of your choice. But once you get inside the core values of the institution you work for, then you have to make the best of your job, because that choice for you to get that ideal fit, may not be there. That’s something that may be a luxury, because there will be competition for jobs—there is competition for human capital and there is competition for right job also. It’s a game of preparation—whatever you get, give it the best shot and work with hundred per cent commitment. The winning is in the mind, the winning is not in terms of what you know. How you sort of put it to use in the organisation context, is the game plan.
New loyalty manifestation
Whenever you look at any relationship or any association, you have to look at it in totality. So, whenever during your journey you end up getting propositions, which is part of life, you weigh the pros and cons. I have always understood that the world is not perfect—it’s not that the next organisation is perfect. I have gone through upsets and anger at times, but I have taken a deep breath and said that the organisation is not going to change for me. It’s nothing about loyalty-as a profession, we have to keep weighing, as the world is not perfect. Lot of shifts which has happened or whenever people have shifted, it has been at times out of cynicism, at times out of little bit of upset. You have to learn from the politicians—everybody in the political arena loses only to come back again. You have to have that never-say-die approach, the race is never-ending and that’s the way you have to play the game.
My significant influence
At times there are certain fundamental concepts which you gather from your parents. I have spent my first 16 years of my life in Delhi. My parental house was in Meerut. I use to drive there on Friday and come back on Monday morning. Saturday evening was the time when I and my
“The base, ethos and the values that India has, is something which will ensure that India will grow. We have every reason to be enthusiastic, every reason to be optimistic—the youngster can look forward to the future with a lot of optimism and Brand India will only get repositioned stronger and stronger” dad would sit down in our lawn and talk. Once I asked him, how do you define a good general? I was expecting an answer related to wartime valour and other things. First thing he said was—he is a general because he has served the Indian army. At times our identity comes from the organisation, so we have to really value the organisation that we are associated with. The second thing—the general must count his blessings because there were people almost as good as him in the NDA or the army. It is a tough race and there are those who make it and don’t make. You should count your blessings, because there were people who were as good as you or may be better than you, who haven’t cut through the razor-thin elimination process. Thirdly, the general must know that he was a captain yesterday and will be a nobody tomorrow. Today I represent a chair in ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, but I have to realise that this chair is actually in trust for my success. It doesn’t belong to me, after my days are over, somebody else will come. At the end of the day, be happy, be accomplished, but always know that this is something where you put your best and you win. Many a time, a lot of what we achieve is on account of a larger ecosystem, your brand, the people who support you, and the work done by your predecessors.
People who have made huge difference to my life
Second story—was told to me by a doctor who is very close to me. It is was about this mother whose child had developed a cancer-and they were from Barabanki, a place in Uttar Pradesh. The child was about three years old. When the family knew about the child’s illness, they suggested the mother to let the boy die. The mother didn’t let go and tried for what best she can do, but her family and husband didn’t support her. She burrowed some ten thousand rupees from her brother and went to Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, in Lucknow. There, her money got over and her son was still suffering. Then somebody told her about a hospital in Delhi. She had two gold earrings, which she sold and all by herself landed at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, in Delhi. The institute is always filled with a sea of people and it is tough to get admitted even with a powerful recommendation. This mother found her way to the cancer ward, was able to reach the doctor, the doctors later were able to bring in a social organisation for financial support. Today, that boy has recovered and he is hale and hearty. This was all possible because of the mother’s perseverance. Whenever I face a difficult situation in my life, I remember my uncle and this mother. rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com
CC
There are two people who have had a very profound impact on me. One of them is my uncle who was looking after my grandmother, who was bedridden for around ten years. I also tended to my father, when he was in hospital. I realised that in about 45 days that he was in the hospital, he had developed bed sores and we lost him after that. But, my uncle who took care of my grandmother for 10 years, he personally attended to her for 10 years and she did not even had one bed sore. It was, I feel, because of a son’s true love and dedication—when you raise your mental passion to a level where your output reaches a supernatural level.
tadka
World’s largest-selling biscuit Around 400 million Parle-G biscuit packs are produced daily. Rupees 5010 crore, is the worth of biscuit sales registered by Parle-G in 2012. And 6 million, is the Number of retail stores that Parle-G’s distribution network had covered by Jan’13.
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 41
“Anything and everything at your desk, is just a click away. There is no need for anybody to go the distance. This is what the world is today. And this is mainly because of the fast-growing telecommunication� Pics: Yusuf Khan
42 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017 42 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
Interview day. With over 1.1 billion subscribers it is very clear that this industry is on the fast track, especially in India. Anything and everything at your desk, is just a click away. There is no need for anybody to go the distance. This is what the world is today. And this is mainly because of the fast growing telecommunication networks And India is one of the front runners and the investments made in this industry in the last few years is tremendous. Over `3.27 lakh crore was spent in India on Spectrum auctions since 2010. This gives an idea of the pace at which this industry is moving. With the kind of growth and requirement, the scope in this industry is endless and what is more interesting is the fact that the consumers want more and more advanced devices with a network to support that. This has made people in this industry work constantly.
Bridging the gaps
Pankaj Sachdeva, Director and Country Head, Ramboll India has been spearheading the company in bridging the gap between the Indian and international telecom market and has played a key role in building telecom networks and structures and contributed in making our country one of the top among the telecom industries worldwide. At a recent presentation, he addressed management students in Pune. Corporate Citizen brings you his inspiring talk , wherein he hints at potential opportunities for those aspiring to enter the real corporate world By Joe Williams
P
ankaj Sachdeva, a man of virtue and simplicity, is a leading person in the telecom world. He is leading telecom vertical at Ramboll India as the Director and Country Head. His strategies are always client-centric, ensuring that he always has happy clients, both in India and international markets. He is responsible for leading the organisation in its mission of offering holistic engineering solutions to the telecom industry. He is responsible for top and bottom line growth, while envisioning and creating innovative solutions for customers, which are in line with the ever-changing needs and evolving technologies. With the advantage of having global exposure to telecom industry, Sachdeva instrumentally induced global practices in the Indian scenario and scaled great heights. He has been responsible in heading Ramboll in the world market and giving the brand a strong holding. He has been spearheading the company and bridging the gap between India and the international telecom market. He has played a key role in building telecom networks and structures and contributed in making our country one of the top internationally.
Massive effect on the others…
Over the 22 years that he has been working in the telecom sector, he has worked with global organisations like Siemens, Motorola, Ericsson, and IBM in past. His loyalty towards the companies he has worked with is his commendable feature. Currently, he is associated with Ramboll India, which is also one of the top international design and consultancy company, headquartered in Denmark. Pankaj holds an engineering degree in electronics and communication under his belt, capped with a master’s in management studies from the University of Delhi.
Comparisons
Comparing the present day to his student days, Sachdeva smiles as he says “Today, everything is just a click away, and students today are quite prepared than they were in the past, thanks to the technology. As the students make way into the real corporate from the four walls of their colleges, there are many obstacles in their path, but it all depends how they tackle them.” Telecom industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. The changes and the growth are quite obvious from the mobile based apps and internet world which changes every
“One has to see beyond his/her working team and mundane every day routine to learn new things. The corporate world is challenging and we should be prepared to take on the challenges to succeed”
This is an industry which influences other industries as well-right from energy to infrastructure, the changes in telecom have a great impact on other markets and entire ecosystem. The challenges that this industry faced and opportunities it has delivered have in fact made this, one of the fastest growing ones.
Levels of working…
In the corporate world, it all depends on how you scale heights by taking up different roles. It is only by working with cross-functional teams and in synergy with various teams that we can deliver success. Sachdeva repeatedly emphasised the significance of working in a team. It is only when you are a good team player that you will be a good leader. No individual can work alone and attain success. A close eye on the market and market conditions is crucial to achieve the growth of the organisation. One has to see beyond his/her working team and mundane everyday routine to learn new things.
CC
tadka
Avg. age of CEOs 51-60 Around 65% of professional CEOs fall between 51-60 years, indicating that the profile of top management is ageing, as per a survey by global executive search firm EMA Partners; indicating that young managers are no longer ready to go through the grind of serving on the shop floor in remote factory locations or working in presumably difficult markets. They prefer high-growth, emerging businesses located in metros or large cities, or more glamorous roles in other sectors.
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 43
Interview
Challenges make a person more innovative Pankaj Sachdeva took a path completely different from his family. His entire family is full of academicians including his wife who is a professor at Delhi University. His father was also teaching at IIT Delhi, while his mother was working with Indian Agricultural Research institute (IARI). From being a last bencher in school to the frontrunner in college and thereafter, he has a perfect unbeaten innings. His freewheeling replies to questions is a clear indication that he has mastered his role in perfecting everything in his life so far. Excerpts:
com engineers, and moving into telecom industry in structuring the telecom networks, my turning point is perhaps the move from being a team member to a team leader. Personally, the birth of my first child changed my life and that was a turning point.
By Joe Williams Take us through your career
“I would say from meeting all the demands of the clients to interacting with the engineers in the firm in building towers, it has been an interesting run so far. And it was in the year 2015 that I moved to Ramboll, a leading design and Consultancy Company. Ramboll India has designed and deployed towers for all major Indian and international telecom operators and infrastructure providers. We at Ramboll are also working and executing smart city site solutions. So all these years have been challenging all the way. Challenges make a person innovative and innovation leads to growth. We are in the growth phase and my team and I have a long way to go.
What are the challenges?
Through my years of experience, I have attained a multi-sector exposure and challenges are many. Creativity plays a major role in this industry, enabling better results for clients and one’s own organisation. Profit margins is the major challenge these days that the industry is facing with a growing competition. We have seen a decline in the overall profits levels. Data rates have been cut by 70% changing the economics of the industry greatly.
Balancing your work and life
I have a very strong team and we try not to be stressed and under pressure but balance our work. It is good to have or display a strong desire to be more successful than others. This will bring in creativity and innovation. And it is always the team which plays an important role. Ramboll is the undisputed leader in the towers and antennae category, globally, and ranked world number one in this space (Source: ENR Sourcebook 2016).
Social media is a distraction for youngsters. We must use social media sparingly for our own benefit, instead of getting distracted. Parents and guardians play an important role in guiding their children in the right way Relaxation
Spending time with family I feel is the best way to relax, which I do whenever I find time.
Pep talk for youngsters…
Youngsters are surrounded by many challenges and they want to try everything. We must try to focus on a few things instead of knowing halfand-half about a lot of things. Excess of anything is not good for anybody. Social media is a distraction for youngsters. We must use social media sparingly for our own benefit, instead of getting distracted. Parents and guardians play an important role in guiding their children in the right way.
Stress
It is good to have stress as it brings creativity out of you. Something which is not in your control, leave it the way it is, and that is best way to handle stress. Keep your mind engaged in good things. Discuss with your team and if it is something confidential, speak to someone at home. There is no direct way to handle stress, reach out to someone close to you.
Turning point in life
I cannot define a turning point. Being with tele-
44 /44 Corporate / Corporate Citizen Citizen / December / December 1-15,1-15, 20172017
Mentor in life
There have been a few, some directly and some indirectly. Working in organisations, I do have some mentors. But it has been my parents who are the real mentors as they taught me the overall value of life which is very important for everyone.
Women’s role in corporate world
Women have proven themselves and there is no doubt that they are equally or more capable in many fields. They have certain skills which men cannot match up to. Community pressure on women is a discouraging factor for them. Societal norms which expect women to look after cooking and the household prevent them from exploring their strengths in the corporate world. The community and the social taboos are major roadblocks for women. Having said that, I must acknowledge that things are changing today quite fast, we see women excelling in all fields including the corporate sector. Women, contribution is essential for the progression of the world and let us not be roadblocks to that. Joe78662@gmail.com
Corporate Debate
Who is a Better Boss? Man or Woman?
Is it true? Are women better bosses? We had initiated a debate: ‘Who is a better boss—a man or a woman’? Corporate Citizen brings the second part of the interesting insights as shared by a cross section of people working across different sectors By Sharmila Chand Attitude, not gender
Sonali Sudarshan works in public relations and has been doing so since the past two decades. She has worked across agencies from boutique to multi-national ones and now runs her own consultancy, ‘INTELLiQUO’. According to her, being a better boss has less to do with gender and lots more to do with mental attitude. She says, “In many cases, I have worked with a male boss who has been sensitive to me as a mother and understood my timings, while a female boss may not have. Similarly, I have worked with female bosses who are very collaborative and professional, while the male bosses have been gossipy and opinionated. I would say, being a good boss or leader is more about attitude and ability than gender. I do also feel that when women mentor women it is seen in a better light and we should see more of it at the workplace.”
Are women biased towards women bosses?
“Yes, I must confess I do have a bias towards working with women,” says Sonali. “I prefer to work with women entrepreneurs and professionals as they are more communicative and express their needs better. I would also say that women tend to be more transparent in their approach while men can be very opaque. That is one quality that I think men need to work on. Also on the flip side women tend to be more reactive as opposed to men, and that can also be a little stressful in situations when you need calm.” Likewise for Priyanka C Raina, wife of cricketer Suresh Raina and the founder of Gracia Raina Foundation, a female boss is a preferred choice. She says, “I have had a real good experience with
Priyanka C Raina, Wife of cricketer Suresh Raina and the Founder of Gracia Raina Foundation
Shweta Sharma Cofounder and CEO of Ombré Lane
both male and female bosses. It will be difficult for me to choose. But if I was to choose, I think it has been easier for me to share my ideas, thoughts and concerns with my female bosses.”
Stop gender bias and accept role models as bosses
It’s time to stop with the gender bias and accept role models as our bosses. Shweta Sharma, Cofounder and CEO of Ombré Lane rightly says, “Women are moving forward and creating their own semblance through their visions. A lot of researches say that women do make better role models, but a male’s credibil-
ity is the reason why employees choose them! Let’s change this bias and accept good leaders and bosses.” Sonali says, “I think we need to see more and more women in senior positions. That will be the most important way to get both genders at par. We end up losing a very talented workforce to marriage and motherhood. Many cultural and traditional approaches stop women from working after marriage and then after children it becomes even more difficult. As someone who trains and mentors young women, it breaks my heart to see these situations happen. I wish that families and husbands would have greater respect for women’s work and not see it as a time pass. Ambition is important. Also companies need to be more sensitive to mothers and the need for women to be able to look after their children and also be able to work.” chand.sharmila@gmail.com
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 45
Campus Placement
Never give up, failures are roads to
success
Never get distracted during college life, as it this phase that gives you clarity and helps in building your future By Joe Williams
S
he has seen so many places many youngsters don’t get an opportunity to, during one’s early life. Meet Shubhra Lal, one of the pass outs from a wellknown institute (BITM, Pune) who made it big by getting herself placed through campus placement at one of the well-known data and information management services company, Writer Corporation. Though she did not make the cut in a couple of companies that came to the college campus for placement earlier, it was her determination and making amends of all that went wrong in her journey that helped her finally. Her parents’ efforts and her institution helped groom her and made her a part of the corporate world. It was a tough journey for this girl from Jamshedpur who had to leave her parents and stay all alone in Pune. Attending conferences and meeting people from the corporate world moulded her to face the challenging corporate world.
Early life
The daughter of a banker, Shubhra was born in Giridih in Jharkhand. She spent her early childhood in a small village, Sahore near Indore, in Madhya Pradesh. She started her schooling at Vinayak Public School and MGM School there. And when she was in the fifth standard her father was transferred to Jamshedpur, and it was here that she completed her schooling. She graduated with English
honours from Jamshedpur Women’s College. Then she opted to do her masters from one of the best colleges in Pune, even though it meant that she had to stay away from her family. Being the eldest in the family, Shubhra was pampered by her parents. “It was tough staying away, but I recalled my days when my parents gave me everything I wanted. And I thought to myself that it was time for me to give back to them. I did miss them, especially my younger brother, but to get something one has to sacrifice, and I did that,” she said. Shubhra, who
46 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
always wanted to explore the world says her favourite subject was geography. “After being in different states and cities, I had this natural inclination towards geography as a subject.” “I have participated in interschool essay writing competitions at various levels and that helped me meet people and make friends. And most importantly, sports brings out your hidden potential and gives your personality an extra edge! I was a yoga student.” The best thing that can happen to any youngster who is pursuing her masters is
Shubhra Lal with her family and friends
meeting people from the same arena which was part of the curriculum of the college. “I had many opportunities to attend conferences and seminars. I had the chance to be at the Hyatt and Conrad Hotel to attend marketing conferences, where I had the chance to interact with successful people in this field, which was a great learning time for me. And also being the CR of the class helped me in more than one way”, she said.
Fear of placement
Placement is the biggest fear every student faces after academics, and Shubhra was no exception. “Yes, you do have fears and that is pretty normal when you see 350 other students competing for the same job,” recalls Shubhra. “Like other students during placement, even I went through my share of anxiety and fear of missing out,” she said. And due to that she could not make it with the first three companies, HDFC Bank, Mother Dairy and Bajaj Finserv. But she did not lose confidence, as each of these interviews helped her to garner more knowledge and she made amends. “For some reasons I could not make it. That somewhere hit me from inside. But what makes you strong is having faith in yourself and patience that whatever is happening will ultimately turn
played a vital role in shaping her personality. “Preparing for exams, staying awake the entire night was fun. But your childhood days at school and college determine your future, as each phase adds to your overall personality and hence every phase has its own importance.” She emphasises that one should never get distracted during college life.
Memorable moments
“The happiest moment was when I sent my
“I had many opportunities to attend conferences and seminars where I had the chance to interact with successful people in this field, which was a great learning time for me. And also being the CR of the class helped me in more than one way” out best for you,” she stated. “But, because of my positive frame of mind, I was picked up by Writer Corporation, said Shubhra. The struggle did not end there as she had to move to Mumbai for a three-month training session. Although her place of residence was close to her office in Mulund, that she used to travel by local trains. “I used to wonder how people travelled in local trains whenever I used to see them on TV, and it became a reality for me, when I was one among them during my stay in Mumbai. I feel I have overcome all the negative aspects of life.”
On her success story
There were many teachers and others who came into her life at different stages. Her friends too
first salary to my parents,” says Shubhra. During her masters, she overcame stage fear which was a big achievement for her. Her faculty helped her in this mission through her role as a host at the Achievement Night function for seniors. “Overcoming stage fear and hosting a crowd of 500 people made me very happy. That was also one of the many happy moments.”
What life is all about…
“There is no singular definition of life. For every individual it holds a different meaning. For me, life is all about being happy and enjoying small moments. It’s all about making your parents, family and friends proud of you. Life is not something you have to understand. It is
something that you have to live. Give your best each day and take it ahead, keep your conscience clear. Facing corporate life is different than the theories learnt in college life.”
Tricks for juniors…
1. Keep your concepts clear and have a good grip over your domain knowledge. 2. Keep yourself updated with the current happenings in the world. This will be helpful during your GD rounds. 3. Don’t get into the comparing mode. 4. Surround yourself with positive people. That will help you during turbulent times. 5. Do things that you love when you are stressed. 6. Most importantly, spend time with yourself and know more about yourself. 7. Prepare for interviews in advance, keep a check on your body language. 8. Give your best in whatever situation you are in. Joe78662@gmail.com
CC
tadka
Cancer awareness Around 69% have no financial preparedness to deal with cancer, according to Future Generali’s Cancer Financial Preparedness survey. More than half (56%) of respondents were unaware about the incidence of cancer within their family and friends circle. This is alarming, as oncologists’ opine that three in every 10 Indians are likely to contract the disease by 2020. The survey stated that 65.7% (2 out of 3) cancer patients were detected in the 3rd or 4th stage.
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 47
Loved & Married too
It is not often these days that a college romance fructifies into a wedlock. Corporate Citizen unlocks the story of love that has culminated into marriage, for we believe in the stability of a relationship and family unit. We bring to you real-life romances that got sealed in marriage
Unity in clarityequilibrium over equality Both of them are entrepreneurs in their own right, with their eye firmly on the road ahead. And while they are dedicated to their respective careers, their relationship commands equal attention. Priyanka Khandelwal Gupta (32) and Bandhan Gupta (35) on marriage, moments and mutual goals By Kalyani Sardesai
I
t was love at first sight for him. And even as Bandhan Gupta’s father pointed her out to him at a party, asking him whether he would like to get married to someone like her, his answer was: not someone like her, but her. Easier said than done though. Priyanka Khandelwal was an engineering student in Amravati while Bandhan had just returned to the city after completing his education in the US. She was a Marwari, and he a Gupta. Nevertheless, the friendship went from strength to strength. The conversation flowed, there was a deeper connect between the two from the word go. Both were engineering students with a yen for entrepreneurship; both wanted big things from life and were prepared to work for it. There was much to appreciate about each other as well. “He’s knowledgeable and logical. His decisions are generally fair and transparent. His business acumen is sharp and there is so much to learn
from him,” says Priyanka. “Besides, he has a very clear sense of right from wrong. There is no confusion with regard to what he wants to do.” On his part he appreciates her “honesty, sincerity and innocence”. While he was initially smitten by her looks and personality, he slowly got to appreciate her other sterling qualities. “I really like how she conducts herself and her relationships with everyone else,” he says. Poles apart, initially, their personalities have drawn from each other in the 13 years that they have known each other or be it five years of courtship or eight years of marriage not to for-
48 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
get the bringing up of their son, seven-year-old Dharm. “It is a natural process; as you live together, there’s a lot you can imbibe from each other,” expresses Bandhan. As things stand today, Priyanka is the founder-owner of Progressive Edge Day Care and school, behavioural skills trainer and design thinking expert. While Bandhan owns companies of his own, some of them, Saitec Scientific Systems that is into waste management, Robo Infra Engineers Pvt. Ltd. which is into robotics and TNA Advisory Pvt. Ltd., which is a financial advisory. “We are both ambitious and positive about
growing in our careers, as well as staying committed to the little home we have built together,” says Bandhan. “It is a good partnership.” And to think, they almost didn’t make it together.
they wouldn’t have it any other way. “My in-laws live with us and a joint family setup is quite a positive support system,” says Priyanka. “The trick is to look at the big picture and ignore the smaller things.” Far from being a minefield of issues, considBack to the beginning ering their disparate backgrounds, she actually From the day of the party till he actually got her found it easier to adjust in the Gupta household. number and got talking, a good few months “I have gone from a more conservative setup into had gone by. As far as he was concerned, he was a liberal one,” she smiles. “I have a comfortable relatively set, given that he was done with his and transparent relationship with my in-laws. We education, having complete his engineering in even party together.” the US even as his family owned an automobile A lion’s share of the credit, she says, goes to dealership. But Priyanka was still pursuing her Bandhan because “he’s computer engineering and her parents were not fair and objective when exactly happy at the prospects of an inter-cultural issues crop up. That’s match. “Besides, Amravati is a small place and a big plus, and makes there was talk,” she narrates. Despite their efforts, things easy for everyone. the limbo continued. Eventually, Priyanka comHis idea of equilibrium pleted her engineering and moved to Pune for over equality is brilliant. work and study. This was a much-needed break A couple should target that afforded her the bandwidth to explore her to maintain the equilibricareer options and decide what she wanted to do. um which might require “From the outset, I was clear that I did not want a them to switch roles at career in coding,” she says. “I was always creative times.” and wanted to eventually branch out on my own.” Both work punishing hours as their respective One door led to another, and starting with a conbusinesses grow, and as such, work-life balance is tractual-time job with Wipro, she got her big career a myth. “I travel and so does she,” says Bandhan. break as Human Capital Manager with Credit Su“Long, erratic schedules are a way isse in Pune. Now on a firm footing of life at the moment, and it’s fine. professionally, and with the clarity However, every now and then, we of purpose that comes from having rejuvenate ourselves over a cup made it thus far on her own—it The coffee or a glass of wine and talk. was the perfect time to meet BandPillars of a Those few hours with each other han again. “As he realised that I am marriage are a complete charge.” happy settling in Pune, he had givManaging conflict isn’t a big en up his family business and shift deal for either of them. “We both ed to Pune to start afresh. When we Respect each accept our fault and move on,” finally met, we hit it off once more. other's dreams says Bandhan. Even as Priyanka There was much to talk about. The and give each adds: “The one thing I have learnt break of eight to 10 months had other enough from him is to stick to the facts done us both a world of good,” she space and on the hand, and the present mosays. “By then, there was a serenity freedom to ment. It is never a good idea to and sense of acceptance in him that follow them rake up the past.” said it was okay if we didn’t mar Besides, she says, marriage is ried, but his love for me is eternal. Value the essentially about owning change. He had always been a great guy, but strengths “As you grow and absorb newer this maturity was something else.” that your life experiences, you change, and so Soon it was time for her to go partner brings does your spouse. This is espeto Singapore for a work-related to the table cially true of us entrepreneurs project. “And that’s when my par where the learning curve is so ents got to know we were in touch Ignore the small much steeper. What your role as again. After a lot of struggle, they irritants; focus a spouse is to motivate and direct gave us their blessings, finally. on the bigger the change—in the right direcWe got married in 2009, almost picture instead tion,” she shares. as soon as I returned from Singapore and today my parents are so happy to see us together,” she says. Bringing up their baby Joint families Like most young parents, they can be a are keen to bring up their bright The building blocks of a blessing—if and enthusiastic little boy with marriage accepted in the the right blend of sensitivity and Now living in Baner, Pune, their right spirit strength. “He goes to the day lives are busy and happy and
“As you grow and absorb newer experiences, you change, and so does your spouse. This is especially true of us entrepreneurs where the learning curve is so much steeper. What your role as a spouse is to motivate and direct the change—in the right direction” — Priyanka care with me, and returns with me. My mother-in law helps with him, while I take care of his studies,” says Priyanka. “He is all of seven now and it is just the right time to teach him discipline, focus and commitment. We both of us are health freaks and particular about eating right. He is learning that from us, and it makes me so happy”, she adds. She further adds, “He’s a sensitive child and it’s important to bring him up with the right stimuli. He tends to take things to heart, and that’s something we are both working on. It is here that Bandhan’s boarding school experience helps. Bandhan chips in that it isn’t always easy given that they are both young parents. “Each day brings a new learning with it. We read up on info, draw from experience and keep him gainfully engaged with chess, drawing and singing.” Amidst other things, Bandhan says a marriage is essentially about sharing similar values and dreams with your partners. “She is my best friend and sounding board. Our togetherness and understanding of each other comes from the sheer amount of time we have spent together. We are both passionate about progress, and it is lovely to share dreams with each other.” kalyanisardesai@gmail.com
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 49
survey
The fallout of
50 /50Corporate / Corporate Citizen Citizen / December / December 1-15,1-15, 20172017
climate change The environment is at a bigger risk today than it ever was during human existence. Rising greenhouse gas emissions have led to an unprecedented climate change, which has led to disastrous effects like increased temperatures, air pollution and erratic rainfall. World-renowned medical journal Lancet has commissioned a health and climate change survey to study the impact of the man-made phenomenon on the health of the planet and its inhabitants. Corporate Citizen presents the findings Compiled by Neeraj Varty
What is climate change?
Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time (i.e., decades to millions of years). The term 'climate change' is often used to refer specifically to anthropogenic climate change (also known as global warming). Anthropogenic climate change is caused by human activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earth's natural processes. In this sense, especially in the context of environmental policy, the term climate change has become synonymous with anthropogenic global warming. Within scientific journals, global warming refers to surface temperature increases while climate change includes global warming and everything else that increasing greenhouse gas levels affect.
Key Findings ➊ Climate change risks reversing the last 50 years of gains in public health by threatening to undermine their social and environmental determinants. ➋ The response to climate change could potentially be the
biggest global health opportunity of the 21st century.
➌ There is a crucial role for the health profession and health policymakers to play in driving and delivering this transition.
December December 1-15,1-15, 20172017 / Corporate / Corporate Citizen Citizen / 51/ 51
survey What are the effects of climate change?
The obvious external effects of climate change such as floods, drought, heat waves and storms are well known. What is not much known is the insidious effect of this man-made phenomenon. Climate change deteriorates clean water, causes air pollution, and leads to irreversible ecological damage. This, in turn, has led to an alarming rise in cases of cardiovascular diseases and mental illnesses.
Greenhouse gas emmisions are responsible for some of the most life-threatning conditions like respiratory diseases, vector-borne diseases and even undernutrition.
52 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
Oil is the most harmful pollutant, contributing 32% to climate change, followed by coal (27%) and Gas (22%). Oil, coal and gas contribute to air pollution, while nuclear and other radioactive materials contribute to air, soil, and water pollution, which collectively contributes to climate change.
Global health exposure By the end of the century under RCP8.5 (high emissions): ●3 billion additional exposure events will occur for elderly people experiencing a heat-wave ●1.4 billion additional persons will be exposed to drought events per year ●2 billion additional extreme rainfall exposure events will occur annually
Energy sources and their impact on the environment As can be seen from the figure, different sources of energy help reduce or increase the rate of climate change. While wind, ocean and geothermal energy keep pollution low, nuclear and petroleum sources of energy rapidly degrade our environment. The way of the future is clearly renewable energy and not fossil fuels, if we have any desire to see the Earth safe to live on for future generations.
neeraj.varty07@gmail.com December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 53
Health
Breaking Stereotypes Meet Shivani Sharma, a mom and a fitness enthusiast who is challenging the notions and stereotypes associated with the female body, thanks to a well-sculpted body through years of hard work put into weightlifting By Namrata Gulati Sapra Daddy’s little girl Shivani Sharma’s journey in fitness began right from the time she was a little girl. She credits her father with supplying her with ample motivation to be strong, “My main source of inspiration was my father. He imbibed in me the practice of yoga and always told me how to eat healthy and right.” Though Shivani was always healthy and strong, things changed for her after she became pregnant after marriage. Putting on extra kilos took a toll on her body and mind, “It made me lazy and I became less active.” However, she got back on track within two years by incorporating morning walk into her routine. She reminsices, “I still remember how my father used to help me train at the stadium. I also developed an interest in weightlifting, bodybuilding, and HIIT (High-intensity Interval Training) workout/muscle buildup with the help of my younger sister.”
Good diet + exercise = phenomenal results “It is an accepted fact that your body gets best results with 70% diet control and 30% exercise. In my very first step towards fitness in those two years, I did not cut out my diet alone, but also cut out on the food quantity I was eating. Instead of two chapattis, I would eat one, which was complimented by lots of salad, yogurt and mix veg and lentils. At the same time, I ignored tea made from milk. I
stuck only to taking 2-3 cups of green tea during the day but the most important thing was water. I consumed 4 to 6 litres of the ‘elixir of life’ per day.” Her diet plan has gone a total makeover, which befits her well toned, athletic body, “The diet plan suits my bodybuilding, weightlifting. Because I am vegetarian, I take protein shake, all sort of seeds (pumpkin, chia, sunflower, flax) tofu, broccoli, beans, mushrooms, etc. and all the dry fruits, except cashew.”
When changes started to show
Before
In the two years which are a milestone of sorts in Shivani’s journey, her confidence levels also shot up, as did the strength of her body, “Yes, of course, it greatly helped increase my confidence and now I can boldly do my work with tons of enthusiasm.” Coming back to the body, it was responding very well to Shivani’s fitness regime, “First of all, I lost inches initially, but did not reduce weight too much. During that time, I learnt that you should have patience and never quit being loyal to your diet. With the help of exercise, I reduced 15 kg in one and a half years.” Next thing she knew, she was working on the muscle buildup.
Dispelling fear “Somehow, people are not aware of the fact that masculine body is made up of the hormone
54 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
after
You should give time to your body if you want to have a fit or healthy body. When my daughter goes to school and my husband goes to office, that is when I make good use of my time
called testosterone. Women’s bodies have testosterone too but in much smaller amount as compared to men. We can’t be masculine until and unless we develop testosterone and that’s not possible. Women, these days, always complain when it comes to pursuing fitness, we can’t make it, we have household chores to do, we don’t have the time for making us fit’. And then there are those, who blame their pregnancy, ‘We have had c-section delivery’”. She advises against coming up with such excuses for not taking up fitness seriously. “Indian women have such fears but it’s just a myth. I am a homemaker and I love to do the work I do with perfection in my house, that’s why I totally want to do that with my body too. For me, nothing is impossible, this is the only thing which helps me achieve what I am today. Fitness is totally your choice because it needs a lot of hard work to make a masculine body or shape a body part. Yes, it takes too much time and efforts so some Indian women ignore investing time into their fitness and health”. She goes on to elaborate on the fear that a woman experiences when she starts to fear they might end up looking like “Bipasha Basu, Bani J, Saina Nehwal or Sakshi Malik, etc., but women who are against weightlifting should try it once because it has more benefits. They will get much better results once they start lifting weights, as they will lose 40% more fat, clothes will fit better, they will burn more calories, will handle stress better, will build stronger bones, will get into shape better, will live longer,
Shivani’s diet suggestions Breakfast: Oats with apple, cinnamon and jaggery powder Lunch: Brown rice meal with veggies and beans/tofu. The recipe for brown rice is as follows: Ingredients: 1 cup boiled brown rice, broccoli, mushroom, beans, onion, coriander leaves, chili flakes, oregano, fat-free sweet onion sauce, mustard sauce and Thousand Island sauce. How to prepare: Mix well all the ingredients and enjoy! will look smarter, will be way more productive.” As for her own sculpted body, there are all kind of reactions to it from people, “Some people are appreciators,, some criticise, some get inspired, but I am happy with my body”.
Fitness for moms! “You should give time to your body if you want to have a fit or healthy body. When my daughter goes to school and my husband goes to office, that is when I make good use of my time. I give two hours to gymming. My husband has been very supportive of my fitness journey. In fact, he also lost approx. 20 kg and he is working on muscle development these days.” Shivani, by the way, has a good fan following on her Instagram and Facebook accounts. You can find her spreading the word actively about health on her Facebook page, fitmom_shivani and on Instagram, Fit Mom - Shivani. namratagulati8@gmail.com
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 55
Pearls of Wisdom
s u o l Jea
By Robert L. Leahy
Feelings are different from Jealous
Behaviour
When you notice that you are feeling jealous, take a moment, breathe slowly, and observe your thoughts and feelings. Recognise that jealous thoughts are not the same thing as REALITY
P
P
eople have different reasons in different cultures for being jealous. But jealousy is a universal emotion. Evolutionary psychologist David Buss in The Dangerous Passion makes a good case that jealousy has evolved as a mechanism to defend our interests. After all, our ancestors who drove off competitors were more likely to have their genes survived. Indeed, intruding males (whether among lions or humans) have been known to kill off the infants or children of the displaced male. Jealousy was a way in which vital interests could be defended. We believe that it is important to normalise jealousy as an emotion. Telling people that “You must be neurotic if you are jealous” or “You must have low self-esteem” will not work. In fact, jealousy—in some cases—may reflect high self-esteem: “I won’t allow myself to be treated this way”. Jealousy may reflect your higher values Psychologists—especially psychoanalysts— have looked at jealousy as a sign of deep-seated insecurities and personality defects. We view jealousy as a much more complicated emotion. In fact, jealousy may actually reflect your higher
values of commitment, monogamy, love, honesty, and sincerity. You may feel jealous because you want a monogamous relationship and you fear that you will lose what is valuable to you. We find it helpful to validate these values in our patients who are jealous. Jealous feelings are different from jealous behaviour Just as there is a difference between feeling angry and acting in a hostile way, there is a difference between feeling jealous and acting on your jealousy. It’s important to realise that your relationship is more likely to be jeopardised by your jealous behaviour—such as continual accusations, reassurance-seeking, pouting, and acting-out. Stop and say to yourself, “I know that I am feeling jealous, but I don’t have to act on it.” Notice that it is a feeling inside you. But you have a choice of whether you act on it. Accept and observe your jealous thoughts and feelings When you notice that you are feeling jealous, take a moment, breathe slowly, and observe your thoughts and feelings. Recognise that jealous thoughts are not the same thing as a REAL-
56 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
ITY. You may think that your partner is interested in someone else, but that doesn’t mean that he really is. Thinking and reality are different. You don’t have to obey your jealous feelings and thoughts. Notice that your feeling of anger and anxiety may increase while you stand back and observe these experiences. Accept that you can have an emotion—and allow it to be. You don’t have to “get rid of the feeling”. We have found that mindfully standing back and observing that a feeling is there can often lead to the feeling weakening on its own. Recognise that uncertainty is part of every relationship Like many worries, jealousy seeks certainty. “I want to know for sure that he isn’t interested in her”. Or, “I want to know for sure that we won’t break up”. Ironically, some people will even precipitate a crisis in order to get the certainty. “I’ll break off with her before she breaks off with me!”
Your jealousy may be fuelled by unrealistic ideas about relationships. These may include beliefs that past relationships (that your partner had) are a threat to your relationship. Or you may believe that “my partner should never be attracted to anyone else” But uncertainty is part of life and we have to learn how to accept it. Uncertainty is one of those limitations that we can’t really do anything about. You can never know for sure that your partner won’t reject you. But if you accuse, demand and punish, you might create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Examine your assumptions about relationships Your jealousy may be fuelled by unrealistic ideas about relationships. These may include beliefs that past relationships (that your partner had) are a threat to your relationship. Or you may believe that “my partner should never be attracted to anyone else”. You may also believe that your emotions (of jealousy and anxiety) are a “sign” that there is a problem. We call this “emotional reasoning”—and it is often a very bad way to make decisions. Or you may have problematic beliefs about how to feel more secure. For example, you may believe that you can force your partner to love
you—or force him or her to lose interest in someone else. You may believe that withdrawing and pouting will send a message to your partner—and lead him to try to get closer to you. But withdrawing may lead your partner to lose interest. Sometimes your assumptions about relationships are affected by your childhood experiences or past intimate relationships. If your parents had a difficult divorce because your father left your mother for someone else, you may be more prone to believe that this may happen to you. Or you may have been betrayed in a recent relationship and you now think that your current relationship will be a replay of this. You may also believe that you have little to offer—who would want to be with you? If your jealousy is based on this belief, then you might examine the evidence for and against this idea. For example, one woman thought she had little to offer. But when I asked her what she would want in an ideal partner—intelligence, warmth, emotional closeness, creativity, fun, lots of inter-
ests—she realised that she was describing herself! If she were so undesirable, then why would she see herself as an ideal partner? Use effective relationship skills You don’t have to rely on jealousy and jealous behaviour to make your relationship more secure. You can use more effective behaviour. This includes becoming more rewarding to each other—“catch your partner doing something positive”. Praise each other, plan positive experiences with each other, and try to refrain from criticism, sarcasm, labelling, and contempt. Learn how to share responsibility in solving problems—use “mutual problem solving skills”. Set up “pleasure days” with each other by developing a “menu” of positive and pleasurable behaviors you want from each other. Jealousy seldom makes relationships more secure. (The article is originally published in www.psychologytoday.com. The author My along with his colleague, Dennis Tirch published a paper on Jealousy—and how to handle it.)
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 57
Bollywood Biz
Bollywood st
Footbal Bollywood stars may consider acting as their profession, but many consider football their true passion. Although they aren’t actively playing the sport, they have opted for the next best thing —owning a football team. This edition, Corporate Citizen looks at Bollywood stars who own teams in the hottest football league in India—the ISL By Neeraj Varty
Abhishek Bachchan
Abhishek Bachchan is already a proud owner of a kabaddi team from the Pro Kabaddi League. However, that has not stopped the actor from being an active part of the ISL. Abhishek is the co-owner of the team Chennaiyin FC.
Ranbir Kapoor
Ranbir Kapoor has never hid his love for the glorious sport of football. A die-hard FC Barcelona fan, Ranbir Kapoor made a lifelong fantasy come true for himself when he snatched up bidding rights for the Mumbai City FC in the Indian Super League (ISL). When not cheering his team on at events, Ranbir also takes tips from the players to improve his own football skills. 58 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
tars who own
ll Teams
Arjun Kapoor
Hrithik Roshan
Hrithik Roshan is a well-known football fan in Bollywood and the actor seems to be a big driving force for his ISL team too. Hrithik has been the co-owner of team FC Pune City, and is regularly seen cheering his team in their matches. However, it is reported that he may soon part ways with the team for unknown reasons.
Following Hrithik’s footsteps, Arjun Kapoor has become a coowner of the Pune FC team in 2017. He says that he has grown up watching and playing the sport, so he is a natural fit for the team. He has also committed to help build a football eco system in Maharashtra, where budding talent will be provided opportunities to grow.
John Abraham
John Abraham is obsessed about football. He is a talented athlete who has always showed affection for football in his interviews. The actor has also played the impressive game on screen in the movie ‘Goal’. It comes as no surprise therefore that he is co owner of the North East United FC. John is the embodiment of fitness, and often trains with his team to stay in shape as well as learn a thing or two from the pros. neeraj.varty07@gmail.com December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 59
Mobile apps
The Best UPI apps for your Smartphone United Payments Interface (UPI) is a payment system that allows you to transfer money between any two parties. UPI allows you to pay directly from your bank account to different merchants without the hassle of typing your card details, or netbanking/wallet password. UPI apps have changed the way of making payments. They are fast, safe, and extremely convenient and are rapidly replacing all other payment options including cash. This issue, we look at the best UPI apps for your smartphone By Neeraj Varty
Bhim
Tez
PhonePe
SBI Pay
The first UPI app in the list of best UPI apps is BHIM app. This is an official app of the government of India, developed and released by NPCI. It is perhaps the simplest and fastest UPI app available in the Play Store. The interface of the app is minimal with blue icons and white background. You can access each of its services with just a single click. Also, you can complete a transaction or change your bank account with three to five clicks only. BHIM app has all the UPI features. These include sending or requesting money, changing or setting UPI PIN, etc. You can send money using VPA, mobile number or QR code of the beneficiary. NPCI has also included IFSC and account number method with the last update.
The app is not only a UPI app but also a mobile wallet. It is the second fastest-grown UPI app after BHIM. The app contains all the UPI features and mobile wallet features. It has one of the most polished looks. The developers have chosen a nice colour combination. All other UPI apps are meant to send money only. But PhonePe is capable of recharging and paying bills using UPI. It is available in eight languages including English, Hindi, Marathi, etc. You can send and request money, generate and scan QR code, set/change UPI PIN with the app. You can also check your bank balance. PhonePe app can send money using a mobile number only. However, the beneficiary must be registered with UPI. 60 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
Google Tez has been officially launched for Indian users and the app is now available to use. App works with your existing bank account, which means your money will be in your bank and there is no need to add it in wallet. The app works with all Indian banks that support UPI. You can use app for large transfers. You can pay or receive money from anyone who has the Tez app or any other UPI-supported app. Because of Google’s backing, Tez is the most secure UPI app. There are layers of security, first from the bank, then UPI, and then Google. Tez Shield helps in detection of fraud, prevents hacking, and verifies your identity. Each transaction is secured with your UPI PIN.
SBI pay is the standalone UPI app of State Bank of India. Apps from SBI always have the simplest user interface. That’s why it is easy to use for anyone. User experience is also great as transactions can be completed with 3-4 steps only. The icons for almost all main services are placed on its home screen. And other options can be accessed with a single swipe from the left. SBI is the largest public sector bank in India and even if you use any other UPI app, and if you do have a SBI account, it makes sense to have the SBI Pay app, as the app offers several exclusive offers to its customers.
neeraj.varty07@gmail.com
Claps & Slaps Corporate Citizen claps for the all-so-plain ‘khichdi’, yet ultimate ‘desi’ comfort food anywhere in the world, which is being revived as ‘Brand India Food’
Corporate Citizen slaps the occurrence of child marriages despite our laws which are weak when related to individual child marriage offences
Call this mix of lentils and rice by any name — huggi, pongal or pulagam in South India — ‘khichda’ or ‘tahri’ of Hyderabad or ‘khichuri’ in West Bengal—one can trace it to history and among reams of gastronomic stories and legends attached to it. Unveiled as India’s National Food, at the three-day World Food India 2017 event, organised by the Ministry of Food Processing, New Delhi, this humble concoction traces itself as a food for all, without any class, caste or religious barriers. Around 918 kg of the dish was cooked and served on November 4th, at the food event and has bagged an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records. Celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor, assisted by over 50 volunteers, prepared the enormous 918 kg khichdi in a custom-made kadhai (wok) in front of a live audience at the World Food India 2017. The largest serving of rice and beans, the multi-grain, nutritious, high-protein khichdi was prepared in a kadhai seven feet in diameter and with a capacity of 1,000 litres. The world record feat was witnessed by foreign dignitaries and ambassadors as it was in the making at the ‘Great Indian Food Street Hangar’ at India Gate Lawns, New Delhi. The feat had undergone planning and trials for over three months prior to giving it the grand finale touch. And why not! The greatness of the ‘humble’ khichdi is that it can be either whipped up as a sumptuous meal or as a recipe for common ailments as a healthy food alterative. The Ministry felt that “the dish is a favourite of every person, cutting across all boundaries of class or religion. The ‘queen of food’ essentially made of rice and lentils has been part of India’s culinary history”. This humble dish is known to have tempted the British too that they adopted it as their own and popularised it as ‘kedgeree’. In modern times, the focus is on popularising ancient and locally found grains. Brand ambassador of the ‘Great India Food Street’, celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor had curated the entire concept of the ‘Food Street’ at the food event at Delhi. He said, “The largest serving of khichdi was made by using Indian ingredients such as chawal, moong beans, amaranth, jowar, bajra, Indian spices to make it nutritious and high protein. We promote international foods in India and it is our opportunity to showcase our super foods to the world.” So, time is now set for certain western super foods like quinoa to move aside the aisle and give its due to Indian millets and their ilk. With Indian ‘super grains’ gradually moving into cosmopolitan cities once again and in packaged and easy processed forms, khichdi might get more exciting with gains and millets.
A recent survey published by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has stated that Pune ranks 46th in the list of districts with the highest incidence of child marriages. NCPCR, the country’s apex child rights body, referred to data from Census 2011 and drew up a list of 70 districts, spread across 13 states that have had the highest incidences of child marriages in India. The survey covered 16 districts from Maharashtra that included Pune, Thane, Jalna, Latur, Chandrapur, Parbhani and Mumbai. Unfortunately, this data has shown that the number of child marriages in the state had gone up over the decade since Census 2001. According to the 2011 Census, the nine-year period to 2011 saw 15.3 million girls being married off before they reached 18 years. This accounts to child marriage under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006. Data depicts that across 640 districts, in 238 of these districts, the incidences of girl-child marriages is 20-30% and seen largely across Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. Six of the 10 worst districts were detected in Rajasthan, led by Bhilwara (55%) and Chittaurgarh (54%). In states where the incidence was generally below 20%, data showed that there were a handful of districts where the incidence was much higher — Malappuram in Kerala or Gandhinagar in Gujarat. Child rights activist Yamini Adbe said, “I had stopped 18 child marriages but no one was convicted in that. We need to have strong laws to avoid child marriages along with public awareness as child marriages are usually found mainly in the lower and illiterate strata of society.” The findings of the survey, released in June 2017 now assume significance against the backdrop of the Supreme Court order that criminalises sex with a minor wife. For underage brides, the existing law enables termination of marriage, and with the new directive, they now have the right to file charges of rape against the husband for forced intercourse. But, again activists say that in most circumstances these young girls are often poor and illiterate, and so are unaware of their rights. However, senior advocate Indira Jaisingh called the verdict “progressive” and said that the “logical outcome” of the judgment was to make child marriages automatically void. In Section 3 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), a child marriage is voidable but actually puts the onus on the child bride or bridegroom to seek a declaration of nullity from a court of law. This needs awareness across all strata of society and especially in rural or poor families. (Compiled by Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar) December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 61
Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian
From The Mobile
Inspirational parenting Following is a letter from a renowned Hong Kong TV broadcaster and child psychologist. Dear Children, I am writing this to you because of three reasons... 1. Life, fortune and mishaps are unpredictable; nobody knows how long he/she lives. 2. I am your father, and if I don’t tell you these, no one will. 3. Whatever written is my own personal bitter experiences that perhaps could save you a lot of unnecessary heartaches. Remember the following as you go through life… ➊ Don’t bear grudge towards those who are not good to you. No one has the responsibility of treating you well, except your mother and me. To those who are good to you, you have to treasure it and be thankful, and ALSO you have to be cautious, because, everyone has a motive for every move. When a person is good to you, it does not mean he really will be good to you. You have to be careful; don’t hastily regard him as a real friend. ➋ No one is indispensable; nothing is in the world that you must possess. Once you understand this, it would be easier for you to live, when people around you don’t want you anymore, or when you lose what you wanted the most. ➌ Life is short. When you waste your life today, tomorrow you would find that life is leaving you. The earlier you treasure your life, the better you enjoy life.
62 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
➍ Love is nothing but a transient feeling, and this feeling would fade with time and with one’s mood. If your socalled loved one leaves you, be patient, time will wash away your aches and sadness. Don’t overexaggerate the beauty and sweetness of love, and don’t overexaggerate the sadness of falling out of love. ➎ Lot of successful people did not receive a good education that does not mean that you can be successful by not studying hard! Whatever knowledge you gain is your weapon in life. One can go from rags to riches, but one has to start from some rags! ➏ I do not expect you to financially support me when I am old, neither would I financially support your whole life. My responsibility as a supporter ends when you are grown up. After that, you decide whether you want to travel in a public transport or in your limousine, whether rich or poor. ➐ You honour your words, but don’t expect others to be so. You can be good to people, but don’t expect people to be good to you. If you don’t understand this, you would end up with unnecessary troubles. ➑ I have bought lotteries for umpteen years, but could never strike any prize. That shows if you want to be rich, you have to work hard! There is no free lunch! ➒ No matter how much time I have with you, let’s treasure the time we have together. We do not know if we would meet again in our next life. —Your Parents
Family, place of forgiveness A beautiful speech Pope Francis wrote about family. An evangelising spirit in deed. There is no perfect family. We do not have perfect parents, we are not perfect, we do not marry a perfect person or have perfect children. We have complaints from each other. We disappoint each other. So there is no healthy marriage or healthy family without the exercise of forgiveness. Forgiveness is vital to our emotional health and spiritual survival. Without forgiveness, the family becomes an arena of conflict and a stronghold of hurt. Without forgiveness, the family becomes ill. Forgiveness is the sepsis of the soul, the cleansing of the mind and the liberation of the heart. Whoever does not forgive does not have peace in the soul nor communion with God. Hurt is poison that intoxicates and kills. Keeping heartache in the heart is a self-destructive gesture. It’s autophagy. Those who do not forgive are physically, emotionally and spiritually ill. That is why the family must be a place of life, not of death, territory of cure and not of illness; stage of forgiveness and not guilt. Forgiveness brings joy where sorrow has produced sadness. Healing, where sorrow has caused disease. — Pope Francis
Inimitable idlis!
D
uring the days of British Raj, an Iyer and a Britisher were travelling in the same 1st class bogie by Howrah Mail from Chennai to Kolkata. The train left Central at 8 pm and next morning at 7 am it was at Vijayawada. The Britisher had a sumptuous Spencer breakfast served by a butler in livery, but the Iyer opened the top box of his 4-level tiffin carrier and ate four idlis. Lunch at Waltair station (as Visakhapatnam was then called), was a heavy meal served to the Britisher by the Railway Refreshment stall, but the Iyer opened the second box of his tiffin carrier, pulled out four idlis and ate them with relish. The Britisher was curious as to what was happening, but being a Britisher, kept his stiff-upper-lip posture. When the scene was about to repeat itself during dinner at Berhampur, the Brit could no longer contain himself, and enquired, “Excuse my curiosity, what are those white things you have been eating all along?” The Iyer said, “Sir, these are IQ tablets. We South Indians take them regularly and they are also nutritious!” “Oh!” exclaimed the Britisher, “No wonder, you people are quite clever! But how do you make them?” The Iyer went into an elaborate description of the raw material, and process. The Britisher pleaded, “Can you please give me a couple? You need not give them free. I’ll be happy to pay whatever price you quote”. The Iyer thought for a while and said, “Actually I have only three more of them left for tomorrow’s breakfast but since I am going to my relative’s place, I can spare them for you. But they will cost you 20 rupees each”. The Britisher blinked in surprise but paid up immediately. (60 rupees were a lot in those days.) Next morning at Howrah station as they were about to part ways, the Brit asked, “But tell me, are you sure you have told me the entire process without leaving out any details?” The Iyer said, “Yes, I told you all the details”. The Britisher said, “Then why are those tablets so damn costly?” Iyer said, “Remember, I told you those are IQ tablets. You took just three last night and they have started working already!”
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 63
astroturf Profession days: 7, 8, 9, 10 A happy and prosperous month is expected ahead. Living the good life in style will be very much on your cards. Health remains excellent and it also reflects in your overall personality.
Aries
Mar 21 April 20
Greatest days: 7, 8 Hectic days: 5, 6, 11, 12 Honey days: 7, 8, 11, 12 Money days: 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 14, 15 Profession days: 8 Your career and ambitions gain importance. You should focus your energy on doing whatever that can enhance your career or business. Look into various strategies that can suit you. other.
TAURUS April 21 May 20
Greatest days: 1, 2, 9, 10 Hectic days: 7, 8, 14, 15 Honey days: 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15 Money days: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 14, 15 Profession days: 8 Your career and goals are important now. Emotional well-being happens as a side effect of success. Focusing on your career brings in the much-needed success. You will make new friends; singles have the opportunities in meeting like-minded people.
GEMINI May 21 June 21
Greatest days: 3, 4, 11, 12 Hectic days: 9, 10 Honey days: 5, 6, 7, 8, 14, 15 Money days: 5, 6, 7, 8, 14, 15 Profession days: 5, 6, 14, 15 Your love life experiences an upward swing. You are relieved from social and love burden and you experience a new social freedom. Marriage commitments can happen but postpone celebrations till the next year.
CANCER June 22 July 23
Greatest days: 5, 6, 14, 15 Hectic days: 11, 12 Honey days: 7, 8 Money days: 5, 6, 7, 8, 14, 15 Profession days: 3, 14 Health remains good. Schedule in good health spas if possible.
(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 Success comes by focusing your energies to your outside world as relying on others and their graces will be more beneficial. It also helps you to cultivate your social skills.
LEO
July 24 Aug 23 Â
Greatest days: 7, 8 Hectic days: 1, 2, 14, 15 Honey days: 7, 8 Money days: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15 Profession days: 1, 2, 7, 8 Last month you entered your yearly personal pleasure peak and next year your personal pleasure peaks will be much stronger; now is the time to do things which make you smile. You could also perhaps indulge in your creativity. Showcase your talents.
VIRGO
Aug 24 Sept 23
Greatest days: 1, 2, 9, 10 Hectic days: 3, 4 Honey days: 5, 6, 7, 8, 14, 15 Money days: 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14 Profession days: 3, 4, 7, 8 Keep up your good work of paying attention to the needs of your loved and dear ones. Continue your efforts on attaining the right psychological state. Feeling right is more important than doing right these days. Family issues get sorted out this month.
64 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
LIBRA
Sept 24 Oct 22
Greatest days: 3, 4, 11, 12 Hectic days: 5, 6 Honey days: 3, 7, 8, 14 Money days: 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 10, 14, 15 Profession days: 5, 6, 7, 8 Home and family issues will take up much of your time. Your career sector remains status quo. Celebrating time with your near and dear ones will bring in much personal growth. You become more responsible towards your family.
SCORPIO Oct 23 Nov 22
Greatest days: 5 , 6, 14, 15 Hectic days: 1, 2, 7, 8 Honey days: 1, 2, 7, 8 Money days: 5, 6, 14, 15 Profession days: 7, 8 During this wonderful period the rich get richer and finances just soar only if you have done your bit of hard work and investments wisely. You will understand the agony of frivolous talk so think twice before speaking.
SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 Dec 22
Greatest days: 7, 8 Hectic days: 3, 4, 9, 10 Honey days: 3, 4, 7, 8 Money days: 5, 6 , 8, 14,15
CAPRICORN Dec 23 Jan 20
Greatest days: 1, 2 , 9, 10 Hectic days: 5, 6, 11, 12 Honey days: 5, 6, 7, 8 Money days: 5, 6, 8, 14, 15 Profession days: 7, 8, 11, 12 The month ahead is very spiritual for you, in fact, the past twoyear cycle of spirituality takes a turn and your focus is about to change. All natural organisation and management skills get stronger.
AQUARIUS Jan 21 Feb19
Greatest days: 3, 4, 11, 12 Hectic days: 1, 2, 7, 8, 14, 15 Honey days: 7, 8 Money days: 5, 6, 14, 15 Profession days: 1, 2, 9, 10, 14, 15 This is another eventful month. This month marks the beginning of inner growth, you will need to balance your spiritual ideals. Your financial life will improve.
PISCES
Feb 20 Mar 20
Greatest days: 5, 6, 14, 15 Hectic days: 3, 4, 9, 10 Honey days: 7, 8, 9, 10 Money days:3 , 5, 6, 14, 15 Profession days: 5, 6, 14, 15 The career remains strong and still is the main headline of the month. You are in the midst of your career yearly peak. Like last month, you will have harmony with your boss. Address: 143, St Patrick’s Town, Gate# 3, Hadapsar IE, Pune-411 013. Tel.: 020-26872677 / 020-32905748 Email: connect@dollymanghat.com/ info.dollymanghat@gmail.com
Subscribe for Corporate Citizen and grow in Life
To, Circulation Manager Corporate Citizen (Business Fortnightly) Krishna Homes Housing Society, Flat No. 2 & 4, Near Iskcon Mandir, Sector 29, Ravet, Akurdi, Pune - 412101. Tel. (020) 69000673-7 Email : circulations@corporatecitizen.in Website : www.corporatecitizen.in Subject : Payment for Subscription of Corporate Citizen NAME:
SUBSCRIPTION FORM
POSTAL ADDRESS:
CITY:
Building Name- Apt. Number / Bungalow Name-Number
STATE:
Landline No.:
Society Name
PIN CODE: Mobile No:
E-mail Address: DOB:
(d d)
/
(m m)
/
(y y)
Profession (If any) :
Designation (If any) :
Company/Organisation (Where Applicable): I want to subscribe : For One Year (24 Issues) For Two Years (48 Issues) For Three Years (72 Issues) For Ten Years (240 Issues)
: : : :
Yes / No Yes / No Yes / No Yes / No
- - - -
Subscription Amount Subscription Amount Subscription Amount Subscription Amount
: : : :
`1,200/`2,300/`3,400/`10,000/-
I am remitting a sum of ` through a bank draft / cheque bearing number dated drawn in favour of ‘Corporate Citizen’ towards payment of the subscription amount for One / Two / Three / Ten years’, subscription. Date :
Signature of Subscriber
CRADLE OF LEADERSHIP
PROF. SUDHIR K SOPORY, VICE CHANCELLOR, JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY (JNU) Volume 1, Issue No. 21 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in
January 1-15, 2016 / `50
CORPORATE CULTURE
Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank on women in leadership and gender diversity
INTERVIEW
An in-depth interview with Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director India with Kingston Technology and Rajeev Bhadauria, Director, Group HR, at Jindal Steel & Power
Dynamic Duo 21 MEERA SHANKAR AND AJAY SHANKAR
UNFLINCHING SUPPORT
December 1-15, 2017 / Corporate Citizen / 65
the last word
Ganesh Natarajan
The Right to Dream Reflections of reality through the reel world in the form of Aamir Khan movies and some glimpses from the developed world about the good, the bad and the ugly
W
hat is it about alities around marital violence and people some Aamir Khan brutality towards women that still from every part of the movies and televitorments the Indian psyche! world to make their mark and sion productions Three points that the movie shine in the US. My interactions that touch a collective raw nerve in makes loud and clear bear repetiwith many successful Indian CEOs our country. They also set us thinktion here. The first is the deliberfrom technology companies on the ing about the real problems we ate acts of violence that some men West and East Coast demonstrathave to overcome for India to truly seem to believe is their right beed that the American dream is still take her place among the league of cause they have condescended to alive and vibrant for many of our developed nations? His ability to marry a woman who is unable to countrymen. But the general angst reach that place in our consciousmake a livelihood for herself. The against some of the words of Presness that may have recognised and second is the very partial treatident Trump and the dismal revencountered social problems, eiment given to boys in an Indian elations of the alleged actions of ther directly or in anecdotal fashhome and the almost dismissive Hollywood studio leader Harvey ion and his uncanny capability to approach to the female gender. Weinstein show how many cracks weave an absorbing tale that jerk And the third is the denial of the there are in the American system tears, entertains and edand raises questions on ucates at the same time the real progress being The four weeks I spent in the is what makes many of made even in the USA. USA in October opened my Aamir’s productions an The accusations unmissable experience! mind to much that is happen- against Weinstein have Aamir’s first memone good fallout ing for the good and a lot that had orable movie in this which is the unleashis still to be done in a nation genre was ‘Taare Zaing of the tsunami of meen Par’ which caused that has long claimed to be the over a million tweets many mothers to rush and social media comleader of the free world! their kids to doctors to ments with the MeToo see if any of their real hashtag. An appeal by or perceived problems were due Alysaa Milano to her followers on simple right to dream a different to dyslexia. Aamir’s ability to take social media to speak about their dream from what is conventiona secondary role and let a young own experiences has generated an ally ordained—as a few years of debutant steal most of the time international conversation about academics followed by marriage— and affection of the audience made sexual harassment and abuse, in that seems to be the lot drawn by for compelling watching. Close on which over thirty per cent of the girls in many homes even today! its heels the multiple episodes of tweeters have been men. In fact, The four weeks I spent in the television series ‘Satyamev Jayate’ India has been the only country USA in October opened my mind brought many of our domestic where over sixty-three per cent of to much that is happening for skeletons tumbling out of the the tweets containing the hashtag the good and a lot that is still to cupboard and now he has done were by men, which could be eibe done in a nation that has long it again with ‘Secret Superstar’ a ther interpreted as positive in the claimed to be the leader of the free movie about everyday occurrencrecognition by men that there is a world! Meetings with the Indian es in many homes through our real problem out there or could be American community and Jewish nation that shakes us to the core, dismissed cynically by saying that leaders in Washington DC showed even as it underlines the hard rethis just points to a sad state where the opportunity for meritorious
66 / Corporate Citizen / December 1-15, 2017
large numbers of women still do not believe they have a voice! The MeToo hashtag movement has shown that attitudes towards women are reprehensible not just in India but in most developing nations and many parts of the progressive West. It is time for change and men must make the change happen as much as women! Finally, on the right of every person to have a dream, my own personal role model on this is the founder of Mumbai-based Dream Catchers, Sonali Ojha who has also been one of the moving forces of the successful interventions with slum community youth being made by the Pune City Lighthouses for Skills in the city. Recognising that one of the biggest failures of the Skills Mission in the country by the Government and many well-meaning corporations has been the tendency to push participants into a pre-determined skilling programme, Sonali’s approach is one of providing a “safe space” for every youth to articulate their passions and dreams and for the institution to do its utmost to enable that youth to pursue the dream. What this does is to give the power of choice to the youth and set them off on a path where their “agency” to succeed is maximised. We need many more such interventions and deep reflection to make our country a better place for every citizen in future! 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.