CRADLE OF LEADERSHIP Sr. Christine Coutinho, Principal, Loreto College, Kolkata Volume 3, Issue No. 21 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in
Dynamic Duo: 63 Dr P. C. Shejwalkar
90 yrs & Young at heart Dr Shejwalkar with daughter Sushama Keskar and wife Usha
January 16-31, 2018 / `50
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RedSeer’s E-tailing Leadership Index 2017, India Loved & Married Too
Saket Khanna and Neeta Valecha CII Manufacturing Summit:
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I am an avid reader. I enjoy reading the Corporate Citizen magazine very much. I share the stories published in the magazine with my friends in the office. Since I am a corporate professional, I look forward to reading, ‘CII and NHRDN Sessions’ and ‘Interviews’ of top dignitaries from the corporate world. The sessions keep me and my friends updated with the current trends in the domestic as well as the overseas corporate world. The interviews of dignitaries has always inspired us. What I feel is that the magazine should bring in more variety of content of global corporate trends and practices. —Purushottam Sawant, Corporate Professional
Will earn applauds from many I was lucky enough to get a copy of your Aug 1-15 edition and I found it to be very
Welcome ‘Consumer Protection Bill 2017’
This refers to the welcome nod of Union Cabinet to new ‘Consumer Protection Bill 2017’ with stringent punishment and fine for misleading advertisements, also holding celebrities promoting commodities accountable. But some more features can and should be added in the Bill to safeguard consumers’ interests. Bill should include ban on levying service-charge in bills by hotels and restaurants. Promotional added quantities publicised free with original pack should be within the main pack only to avoid shopkeepers keeping free packs for themselves without benefitting the customer. Bill should have a provision to make it compulsory to pack all packaged commodities only in packs of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 gm-mltr-kg-ltr only, to avoid gimmick packaging to befool consumers by manufacturers. Goods packed by numbers should be only in packs of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1,000 and similar multiples of 1,000. Presently soap-manufacturers pack 75-gm soap cakes to look alike 100-gm packs and syrups in 750-mltr packs to look alike 1-ltr pack. Even medicines should be packed in similar system unless exemption is sought for units other than specified ones for dose-wise administering. It is ridiculous that even commonly advertised medicines like cough-lozenges are packed in strips of eight rather than normally ten because consumer judges price per strip rather than lozenges. —SUBHASH CHANDRA AGRAWAL, Delhi
A Real Visionary For a person who lost his eyesight at the age of 16, but still completed his education, became an MBA (HR) graduate, is working as principal consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers and is instrumental in creating reservation quota for the disabled across India, is a notable achievement. Mohammed Asif Iqbal is a real role model for India Inc, who has never let his disability come in his way. He has overcome his disability, working with the help of a talking software, which is installed on his laptop and cell phone, which is actually a talking software that provides him an audio output of whatever is on the computer screen. Reading an editorial feature on Iqbal in the Corporate Citizen, Issue 19 (December 16-31, 2017), was very motivating, showing that there is no limit to human endeavour. He is a real visionary. —Arvind Shrestha, Personnel Manager meticulously composed, covering all most all economic spheres vis-a-vis educational institutes, corporate houses, sports, yoga, politics, cinema, defence, important events in the country, NGOs, human bondings and many more. I am sure your endless endeavour to carry on with this magazine has and will earn applauds from many. Especially, the touching stories covering the lives of the defence personnel. To add more value you can also cover hospitals and Indian healthcare sector. —Tarun Banerjee, CEO, PureLife Expert
Need more variety for the cover story
I have been an avid reader of Corporate Citizen for a couple of years now. I have one suggestion to make. I feel that you should have cover stories featuring corporate leaders which chronicle their rise to the top. ‘Dynamic Duo’ is great, but I think some more variety for the
cover story would be welcome. Other than that, I feel the magazine is excellent. Good job. —Rutuja Murbadkar, Belapur, Mumbai
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Editor-in-Chief’s Choice // The Indian Express Investigation Reports //
Engineering Graduates for Industry
The Situation of Colleges
(Express photo: Renuka Puri)
Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian
The fourth-year Electronics batch at MIT Bulandshahr, UP, has 12 students against a sanctioned strength of 60
The arena at the Yogeshwar Dutt Wrestling Academy in Bali, a village near Sonepat, Haryana, comes alive with shouts of “laga, daav laga” each time someone executes a manoeuvre. Here, every afternoon, some 50 trainees in red or blue singlets slam into each other on blue mats, under the supervision of the London Olympics bronze medallist. Until early 2016, the sights and sounds of this space were a little different— this was part of the workshop for mechanical engineering students of the Bhagwan Parshuram College of Engineering. “We had 60 students of mechan4 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
ical engineering in the last batch (of 115) that graduated in 2016. Where you now see blue wrestling mats were several lathe machines,” says S. K. Bhardwaj, 62, principal of the college whose management offered a part of the 27-acre campus to Dutt on a five-year lease. The decision was inevitable. With not a single new admission to any of the five departments of engineering —computer science, civil, mechanical, electrical and electronics—in the last four years, this, as Bhardwaj explains, was the only way to ensure that the institute was not laid to waste.
The teachers were all laid off in 2015 and Bhardwaj has since moved in with his children in Gurgaon. Of the 15.5 lakh BE/B Tech seats in 3,291 engineering colleges across the country, over half—51%—were vacant in 2016-17, according to data obtained by The Indian Express from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the apex body for technical education in the country. The akhada and the vacant benches at Bhagwan Parshuram College tell the story of this crisis staring engineering, which makes up over 70% of the county’s techni-
The glaring gaps
VACANT BTECH SEATS OVER LAST FIVE YEARS
cal education. Management (MBA), pharmacy, computer applications (MCA), architecture, town planning, hotel management and ‘applied arts and crafts’ form the rest. Last year, roughly 8 lakh BE/B Tech students graduated, but only about 40% got jobs through campus placement. According to AICTE data, campus placements has been under 50% for the last five years. This mismatch that underlines the reality of unfilled seats has got AICTE to consider asking technical education institutes which have had 70% or more vacant seats for the last five years to wind up and leave.
Consider these: Close to 30 lakh students in the science stream cleared their Class 12 Board exam in 2015-16. Even if all of them were to aim for an engineering seat, at 15.5 lakh undergraduate engineering seats across the country, there is roughly one seat for every two students. A case of too few people chasing too many seats. MBBS and dentistry, on the other hand, has less than a lakh seats nationwide. From 87,059 B Tech and M Tech seats in 1990-91, the number has risen to 16.62 lakh in 2017-18, a staggering 18 times in less than three decades. Ten states—Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, UP, Telangana, Karnataka, MP, Gujarat, Kerala, and Haryana—together account for 80% of the total seats in the country. They also account for 80% of the total vacant seats in the country. Enrollment data of these 10 states show the crisis is at its worst in Haryana. At 74%, the state has the highest proportion of vacant B Tech seats in 201617. Uttar Pradesh is second with 64% unfilled seats. Tamil Nadu, which has the highest number of engineering seats—2.79 lakh—has 48% unoccupied seats. Of the nearly 370 technical colleges that are on AICTE’s radar for low admissions—30% or less admissions in the last five years—and which run the risk of being closed next year, 153 are engineering colleges. Most of these are in Maharashtra (26), Andhra Pradesh (19), Haryana (17), Odisha (17), Telangana (16) and Uttar Pradesh (11). Last year, a record 49 engineering colleges went bust and shut down. At least half the 153 institutes with low admissions were set up in the last decade. Information Technology (IT) has emerged as the least popular branch, with 770 institutes discontinuing the discipline between 2012-13 and 201617. That’s followed by Electricals and Electronics (635 colleges have stopped the branch), Computer Science (234), Mechanical Engineering (185) and Civil Engineering (139). The maximum number of institutes that discontinued IT were in Telangana (157), followed by Andhra Pradesh (128) and Tamil Nadu (104). Those on their last legs are now taking desperate measures—from offering fee concessions to diluting admission criteria; from paying middlemen to bring in students to hiring underqualified faculty; and, as the Bhagwan Parashuram college in Sonepat has done, letting out part of the campus or even converting the colleges into schools.
What led to this?
Several factors, say experts, but most of them point to what they call the engineering boom that started in 1995 and peaked in the 2000s, fuelled by the IT phenomemon and the Y2K bug. Speaking to The Indian Express, AICTE chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe says, “A large number of people were required for coding then. Your engineering branch did not matter. There was always a job for an engineer in an IT company.” He says that the Union government at that time “may have also been liberal” in approving new colleges as it was focused on enhancing the Gross Enrollment Ratio in January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 5
Editor-in-Chief’s Choice
higher education. As a result, several private institutes came up to feed the industry’s appetite for engineers. “When there was a demand for engineers, the private sector stepped in. A large number of government colleges did not immediately get into modern branches of engineering such as IT and computer science. Our entire IT industry would have collapsed had it not been for these private institutes,” says retired IISc professor D. K. Subramaniam, who is on TCS’s Research Advisory Board. “I remember how TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) would earlier hire only M Tech holders from IITs. But the decision to start recruiting graduates changed the technical education landscape. Everyone wanted an engineering degree,” he adds. The boom, however, ended in a problem of plenty.
Early warning ignored
Alarm bells first went off about 15 years ago, in the shape of the U. R. Rao Committee report of 2003. Rao, former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, had been tasked by the NDA-1 government to review AICTE’s performance. The report had observed that the pace of expansion of technical education was unsustainable and that the explosion in the number of private institutions was fuelled more by speculative rather than real demand. “Barring some exceptions, there is scant regard for maintenance of standards,” the five-member panel said in its report. To alleviate this “serious situation”, the committee suggested a five-year moratorium on all approvals for undergraduate technical institutions in states where the student intake exceeded the then national average of 150 seats per million population. This figure was 1,047 for the southern states, 486 in the west, 131 in the east and 102 in the north. (Currently, the national average of BE/B Tech intake, alone, is 1,286 seats per million population.) However, Rao’s recommendation was never acted upon. Indeed, the reverse happened. According to AICTE data, 2008-9 witnessed an increase of almost 30% in engineering intake over the previous year—the highest in a single year since 2001—with over 700 new institutes being approved. Many point out that it coincided with a period when AICTE was rocked by allegations of rampant corruption. That year, the CBI caught then AICTE member-secretary K. Narayan Rao accepting a bribe from the owner of an engineering college in Andhra Pradesh. The incident eventually led to the suspension of then AICTE chairman R. A. Yadav. The CBI 6 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
registered three cases against him, but did not chargesheet him. The effects of this indiscriminate expansion in the sector were probably first felt after the global economic crisis of 2008, when growth slowed in the US and Europe, the main markets for IT companies. Interviews with institute heads and students reveal that shrinking jobs, exacerbated by low employability of graduates, took the sheen off engineering. An immediate fallout of this was a drop in campus placements. In 2016-17, only 40% of B Tech graduates got placements, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar told Rajya Sabha earlier this year. Experts also point to a shrinking economy to explain the problem, with job losses across both old and new economy sectors—from textile to capital goods, banking to IT, startups to energy. “The economy is in a bit of a stationary mode. Industries are not making any investments and so there aren’t enough engineering jobs in the market at present,” says former IIT-Kanpur director Sanjay Dhande. An engineering degree in this climate offers little return on investment.
Trainees at the Yogeshwar Dutt Wrestling Academy in Bali, Sonepat. Until last year, this was the mechanical engineering workshop of Bhagwan Parshuram College of Engineering. (Express photo: Ritika Chopra)
We had 60 students of mechanical engineering in the last batch (of 115) that graduated in 2016. Where you now see blue wrestling mats were several lathe machines — S. K. Bhardwaj High risk, low return
“A student in a private engineering college spends about `6 lakh on his course over four years. However, once they graduate, they are offered jobs that pay as little as `10,000 a month. So why would he or she want to invest in an engineering degree?” says Vinod Choudhury, head of Vishveswarya Institute of Technology in Ghaziabad, when asked about seats going vacant. The institute, set up in 2007, had almost 90% of its B Tech seats vacant in 2016-17. However, a slow consolidation has begun. While the number of new engineering institutes is at an all-time low (30 last year), the number of closed colleges—49—is a new record. The B E/B Tech and M Tech intake is also shrinking steadily—from 19 lakh seats in 2014-15 to 16.5 lakh this year. M. A. Anandkrishan, an educationist who served as chairman of IIT-Kanpur for almost a decade, says he is not happy with this pace of consolidation. “(Waiting for colleges to turn unviable before shutting them) is a long and painful process and the students caught in this churn are the
biggest losers. AICTE should impose a moratorium on new approvals.” S. S. Mantha, who took over as AICTE chief in 2010, is against this approach. “It’s not tenable. In 2012, we tried to impose a moratorium but couldn’t as the Constitution allows everyone to practise the profession of their choice. How can the regulator stop them?” After 2012, the AICTE is making yet another attempt to restrict approvals for new institutes. In a letter sent out earlier this year to all state governments, the AICTE said they could apply for a moratorium, provided they backed up their demand with a ‘perspective plan’—that is, map the current situation of industry, jobs and total seats in education, and use that to predict the demand for engineers. Will this new plan consolidate the sector and cut down on ghost campuses? For now, the answer is up in the air, much like the dust that hangs over the wrestling arena at the Sonepat college. (This article was originally published in The Indian Express. It is an Express Investigation - Part I: Why an undergraduate engineering degree in India is rapidly losing value—and currency) January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 7
Contents 22
Cover story
Dynamic Duo 63
90 & Young at Heart
The life, struggles, successes, love and joy of the Father of Management Education in Maharashtra, Dr P. C. Shejwalkar
11 11 COLLYWOOD Chatpata Chatter from the Corporate World 15 Economy Overview Role of Indian economy in Asia 2025 and how it can become a $7-trillion economy 8 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
Volume 3 Issue No.21 January 16-31, 2018 www.corporatecitizen.in
38 16 WAX ELOQUENT Who said what and why 18 EXPERT VIEW Bitcoin is getting to be the new big coin
16 32
28 CII Manufacturing Summit Jugaad 4.0 vs. Industry 4.0 32 CRADLE OF LEADERSHIP Principal Dr (Sr.) Christine Coutinho, Loreto College, Kolkata, speaks about her passion for development of higher education and her exceptional love for her students
28
38 INTERVIEW In conversation with Jay Narayan Vyas, scholar, analyst, academician, administrator, manager, and bureaucrat
50
44 CAMPUS PLACEMENT Vatsala Mandar on her experience of campus placement and her new innings as a relationship manager 46 LOVED & MARRIED TOO From friction at work, to best buddies, partners at work, and partners for life—Saket Khanna and Neeta Valecha’s story of how they met, fell in love and got married
44 18
50 SURVEY The results of the E-tailing Leadership Index, 2017 chronicling e-commerce in India 54 HEALTH Sugar-sweetened beverages and their alarming link to obesity
46 January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 9
contents
56 Editor-In-Chief Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian Consulting Editor Vinita Deshmukh vinitapune@gmail.com Senior Business Writer Rajesh Rao rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com
56 PEARLS OF WISDOM The real secret behind your cravings
Senior Sub-Editor Neeraj Varty neeraj.varty07@gmail.com
58
Sub-Editor Vineet Kapshikar vineetkapshikar@gmail.com
58 BOLLYWOOD BIZ Taking a look at some of the best Bollywood films on social issues
Writers Delhi Bureau Pradeep Mathur mathurpradeep1@gmail.com/ Sharmila Chand chand.sharmila@gmail.com
60 MOBILE APPS The best apps for your toddler
Bengaluru Bureau Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar sangeetagd2010@gmail.com
66 LAST WORD Ganesh Natarajan on letting good initiatives roll on
Pune Bureau Joe Williams / Kalyani Sardesai / Namrata Gulati Sapra
60
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66 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! 10 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
Graphic Designer Shantanu Relekar On Cover Page Dr P. C. Shejwalkar, with daughter Sushama Keskar and wife Usha Cover Page Pic By 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
India, key ally, according to Trump
US President Donald Trump has unveiled his ‘America First national security strategy’ giving India a leadership role in the broader Indo-Pacific region and taking a hard line on China and Russia. The security plan released on Monday said: “We will deepen our strategic partnership with India and support its leadership role in Indian Ocean security and throughout the broader region. We welcome India’s emergence as a leading global power and stronger strategic and defense partner. We will seek to increase quadrilateral cooperation with Japan, Australia and India,” said the statement. Trump’s security strategy also stated that the US would continue to push Pakistan to speed up its counterterrorism efforts.
Mukesh plans to take Reliance to the Top-20 Reliance Industries Limited Chairman Mukesh Ambani outlined his vision for taking the firm among the top-20 companies in the world and making it a leading provider of clean energy. Ambani, who delivered the keynote address at Reliance Family Day, said regarding the leadership position of Reliance Industries, “Today, Reliance is a global leader in energy and materials, where operating safely is an obsession. With Jio and retail where Reliance has established a leadership position in India, we are customer-obsessed. Can Reliance be amongst the top-20 companies in the world? Yes, we can, and yes, we will,” he said at the keynote address. Mukesh Ambani also focused on clean energy, saying that in the coming decades, the world will see a transition from fossil fuels to clean, green and renewable energy sources. He envisioned that RIL would be at the forefront of this transition. “Can Reliance become a leading provider of clean and affordable energy to India? Yes, we can... and yes, we will,” Ambani said.
From taxis to food delivery Ride-hailing player Ola is making an entry into the food delivery space again, this time by acquiring Foodpanda India from Germany-based Delivery Hero Group. While the companies did not disclose the details of the deal size, sources have pegged the stock-based acquisition at under $50 million. The move will also see Ola invest another $200 million, as it takes on rival UberEats and incumbents like Zomato and Swiggy. According to analysts, Ola has acquired the third largest player in the food delivery business in India and is focused on broadening its range of services, including the food delivery segment, after Ola Cafe failed to take off in 2015. Saurabh Kochhar, former CEO of Foodpanda India has left the company and Pranay Jivrajka, founding partner at Ola has been appointed as the interim CEO of Foodpanda and will work with the existing leadership team at the company.
January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 11
collywood Xiaomi becomes No. 1 in smartphone sales Chinese smartphone maker and electronics giant Xiaomi has emerged as the top market share holder in top 50 cities in India in Q3, according to a report by IDC. According to the report, Xiaomi grew 120 percent in Q3 with Redmi Note 4 contributing to about 40 percent of total sales for the company. Redmi Note 4 was also the ‘highest selling model within the top 50 cities of India.’ IDC highlighted that Xiaomi’s efforts at expanding its offline reach with the help of Mi Stores and ‘Preferred Partner’ programmes have helped the company grow. Samsung slipped to the second spot despite observing 15 percent quarterly growth. The company continued to rule a number of cities because of its reach and penetration. Lenovo maintained its third spot with 8 percent quarterly growth as New Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai accounting for 40 percent of the total sale. Moto E4, Lenovo K6 Power and K6 Note drove the majority of the sales for the company along with the Motorola sub-brand. Other players like Oppo and Vivo came at fourth and fifth spot, respectively. Oppo moved up as an increasing number of customers chose F3 and F3 Plus as their smartphones with recently launched A71 gaining momentum. Vivo slipped to the fifth spot because of reduced channel spends.
All about the seaplane
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s seaplane from the Sabarmati river marking a dramatic end to a gruelling election campaign, the flight created huge waves in Gujarat’s politically turbulent waters, but very few people are aware of what this plane is all about. It is a fixed wing, singleengine, turbo, prop aircraft with a tricycle-fixed landing gear, equipped with 10 seats. The cabin of the seaplane isn’t pressurised, that is, no air-conditioning, as it flies below 10,000 feet, and there is no stand-up cabin. One has to bow, bend to enter and exit aircraft. It can fly non-stop up to 1,500-2,000 km, which is the distance from Ahmedabad to Dubai. This aircraft is a product manufactured in Idaho, US; engine manufactured by Pratt and Whitney, Canada. It can take off within 285 metres on land and can climb up to 396 metre per minute and land on uneven or difficult runways within 215 metre. And can also take off in six-feet-depth and can climb at 369 metres per minute. It was former aviation minister Praful Patel who had launched the first seaplane ‘Jal Hans’ at Juhu aerodrum in December 2010. These seaplanes plied between Havelock and Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar islands. However, the operation was stopped in 2014 due to financial non-viability and non-renewal of agreement. Kerala did have the privilege as the first seaplane took off from Kollam in June 2013, but its commercial operations never started.
Lenovo’s Rahul Agarwal on exercise mode
12 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
As the year comes to a close, it is the start of New Year resolutions. In the case of Lenovo chief Rahul Agarwal, the end of the year is a chase towards completing a resolution he made at the start of the year—completing 300 days of working out. The MD of the technology company said that he aimed to beat his 2016 record of 298 days, this
year. Posting his journey on a social media platform earlier this month, Agarwal wrote, “24 workouts away from hitting the magical 300 for the year. Part of me is telling me that it’s perhaps not so important to put such aggressive goals… look for more balanced and wholesome fitness.” Now that’s inspirational, wouldn’t you agree?
Salman Khan emerges as the Sultan of Indian celebrities
Sharma, Head-HR, DHFL Pramerica DHFL Pramerica Life Insurance, appointed Sharad Sharma as the SVP and Head-HR. Sharma with over two decades of experience in both domestic and international companies will add to boost the firm both within Indian and overseas market. Sharma’s, previous stint has been with SBI Card, where he was the EVP and Chief People Officer and headed HR for GE’s BPM unit and the HR function for the credit card JV between GE Capital and State Bank of India. It is understood that his move has come in after GE’s exit from the business. Sharma believes that the insurance sector in India has a huge potential for growth, and is the reason for him to make the move. A Delhi University graduate and who also holds PG diplomas in IR and PM and also in training and development, Sharma’s role at DHFL Pramerica, will be looking at capability-building distribu-
tion, along with scalability. He will also be looking at the digital journey for HR in the coming times, which will be an exciting phase for HR professionals in the insurance sector. As the DHFL Pramerica is looking ahead at the transformation and next phase of expansion, the HR agenda is also going to be significant, which has attracted him towards joining them.
Salman Khan is once again the highest-earning celebrity in India. For the second time in a row, the Dabangg Khan has taken the top spot in the Forbes list of top 100 Indian celebrities. Following him on the list is Badshah of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan, Indian skipper Virat Kohli, Khiladi Akshay Kumar and others. Aamir Khan who was at the 14th position last year has witnessed a major jump in his position. This year he is at the sixth position, defeating Priyanka Chopra, Hrithik Roshan and Ranveer Singh. According to the list published by the magazine, the total earnings of Salman for the year 2017 stands at `232.83 crore which constitutes 8.67 per cent of the total earnings—`2,683 crore-of the top 100 celebrities of the year. Shah Rukh’s total earnings for the year as quoted by the magazine is `170.50-crore and Virat grabs the third position in the list with `100.72 crore in his kitty. However, the top-three names are in the same order as they were on the 2016 list. Also, the growth of the South Indian film industry reflected on the Forbes list of 100 celebrities as 13 actors from down south made it to the list. This included Prabhas and Rana Daggubati of Baahubali fame, among others. The number of Bollywood actors is down from 35 to 33, reducing their cumulative earnings by 13 per cent from the previous year. January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 13
collywood Apple nearing $2 billion sales mark in India Apple Inc, the maker of iPhones, is now within touching distance of crossing $2 billion in sales from India, although the world’s most valuable technology company faced significant headwinds late last year because of the impact of demonetisation, which slowed down the pace of its growth in the country and hurt sales.According to documents posted with the Registrar of Companies
on Tuesday, Apple India Pvt Ltd posted sales of `11,619 crore ($1.8 billion) for the year ended March 2017, compared with `9,937 crore in the year-ago period—which translates to a 17% growth in a country, which Apple globally has termed as one of its fastest growing markets. In the preceding 12 months ended March 2016, Apple India had reported a growth of 53%.
HR most valued in India Workforce Agility Barometer Report, ‘Navigate Asia Pacific’s Future Talent Frontier’ by KellyOCG revealed that in India, HR is more valued than its neighbouring countries. The study was conducted amongst 210 C-suite-level executives across India, Singapore, Australia, and Malaysia from industries, such as banking and financial services, life sciences, healthcare and medical services, and manufacturing. It is understood that the foundation of a successful organisation rests on its employees and hence, people management is always at the core of any flourishing business, and HR, which is responsible for the same cannot just be discounted in business strategy planning. Interestingly, in India, the role of HR is immense with more than half the respondents (59 per cent) admitting to having engaged their HR team right at the beginning of the business strategy development stage itself. An additional 27 per cent of respondents engaged with their HR teams 14 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
at the operational planning stage. HR can not only support business in defining the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of the strategy, but HR has the power to use the right tools and capabilities to ensure efficient execution of the strategy. Hence, it makes sense to involve HR in business strategy right from the beginning itself. Elobarating on the concept and the subject, Francis Padamadan, country director, KellyOCG India, is of the view that the role of HR is evolving with the emphasis being on the impact on business. “We are seeing forward-looking organisations involve HR in a lot of business-related decisions as it has a bearing on strategy, people/ their roles and in general, the culture of the company. HR is expected to contribute not just from a talent but an employer-branding perspective too,” said Padamadan.
The Mouse gobbles the Fox The Walt Disney Co. has set a $52.4 billion, all-stock deal to acquire 20th Century Fox and other entertainment and sports assets from Rupert Murdoch’s empire, which also owns the Star brand of channels in India. The deal between Disney and 21st Century Fox marks a historic union of Hollywood heavyweights and a bid by Disney to bolster its core TV and film businesses against an onslaught of new competitors in the content arena. This move makes Disney arguably the biggest content studio in the world, which is already riding high on a record $5 billion in ticket sales for its movies in 2017. After aquiring Fox, Disney gets its hands on several valuable properties like the streaming service Hulu and the IP of Marvel’s X Men and the Fantastic 4, as well as Time magazine’s best show of the last century - The Simpsons. Compiled by NeerajVarty neeraj.varty07@gmail.com
Economy Overview Janmejaya Sinha
The Role of Indian Economy in Asia 2025 How can India become a $7-trillion economy by 2025 and grow at the same pace as it did in the past? America all the way…
The last century was all about America—from 1950-2000, America went from being a $1.5-trillion economy to being a $10-trillion economy and there was no country that could succeed without getting into the American consumer’s wallet. If there were two countries that benefitted post-World War II, they were Japan and Germany; these countries that were destroyed in World War II were the two other winners of the twentieth century. No one else really mattered. If you look at the way the world went from 1950-2000, every company and country were first targeting the American consumer, then the German, Japanese and then the western European consumer.
The world till now…
From the year 2000, CII helped, CII was China, India, and Indonesia. If you really looked at what happened from 2000-2015, in 2000, the top 17 most populous countries were only 20% of the GDP of the G7 countries, i.e. 58% of the world’s population was only 20% of the G7’s GDP. However, in 15 years, the growth was the fastest in human history, it went from 20% to 63%—a-tripling in 15 years. It all happened with the help of China but supported strongly by India and Indonesia. From the year 2000, China became a $11-trillion economy, from a $1.2-trillion economy—growing almost 10 times. India and Indonesia went on from being $500 billion to $2.2 trillion and $200 billion to almost $1 trillion economies respectively—4.5 times. That is why it is very likely that India will be a $7-trillion economy by 2025 and by growing fast as it was growing in the past. To be a $7-trillion economy requires us to change our mindset. We by 2025 will be a $4-trillion economy in terms of consumption, the third largest in the world. We will be having $1 trillion of construction and infrastructure. We will go from having 200 companies with revenues of $1 billion to 800 companies with revenues of $1 billion. We will have two of the five largest cities in the world. The state will be play an important role in most of the developments. However, it will be critical for India to manage the geopolitics because currently, our textile
To be a $7-trillion economy requires us to change our mindset. We by 2025 will be a $4-trillion economy in terms of consumption, the third largest in the world industry is dying because of bad bilateral agreements. Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Vietnam are taking away what rightfully should have been ours. The global arrangements are under flux. Military and economic powers are not always aligned, such as Germany and Japan are large economic powers but not military powers.
What should India do?
Right now, the world does not have much maturity in its leadership, as it should have but for us to win, and take advantage of the future, I believe four things are needed. First, we need to create conditions to adopt industry 4.0—we don’t have the choice to go from industry 1.0 to 2.0 to 3.0 and then to 4.0. If industry goes to 4.0, industry 2.0 will not exist. We need to recognise this, because the nature of manufacturing is changing.
Who will make the best cars of tomorrow, will it be a car manufacturer or will it be Google or Tesla? We cannot assume that the original incumbents will be the incumbents of the future. So we need to take industry 4.0 seriously and create conditions to adopt industry 4.0. Second, we need to fill gaps in social infrastructure even more quickly than hard infrastructure. If we cannot provide education and skilling, we will not be able to take advantage of industry 4.0 and right now, we are not doing enough on social infrastructure of education, healthcare and skilling and this is going to be a necessary condition for manufacturing in future. Third, we will need to be better at bilateral negotiations because we have lot to offer as consumers and global arrangements are not working efficiently. Fourth, we need to engage with global media to get a better medium. The global media treats India very badly. We actually do not cover them well. But we find that global media is negative and our media is not helping us in that aspect. In India, we need to challenge our old mindsets as to where to put our money and not to think in the terms of populism. It will not help us any further because our aspirations have changed, and our politics must quickly adjust to that. (Dr Janmejaya Sinha is Senior Partner & MD and Chairman, BCG -Asia Pacific)
January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 15
wax eloquent
Look at India afresh
Take a look at what our corporate leaders have to say about recent trends and their experiences in the business world
Is 2018 as much a dream run as 2017?
Mantra for reviving private investment
“Finally, a lot of startups are coming up, a lot of activity is happening. A little boost to animal spirits can certainly help.” Uday Kotak
vice-chairman and managing director of Kotak Mahindra Bank Courtesy: http://www.timesnownews.com
“The year 2017 started in a very pessimistic kind of environment. We had DeMo and Trump victory and 2017 has delivered. It is said that bull markets are born of pessimism and that is what has happened in 2017. As we enter 2018, the situation is completely the other way around. The market environment is very optimistic. There is a lot more positivity around it and you are seeing little bit more exuberance. I too believe that we are in middle of a structural bull market. Indian economy has had a great run of over next 5-7 years.” Vikas Khemani, President & CEO, Edelweiss Securities Courtesy: economictimes.indiatimes.com
The commerce of filmmaking
Your storage is not yours if not secured
“There is an explosion in even the number of ways that one can consume data at an individual level, at a corporate level, at an enterprise level, and at an entire government level. The way we create and process data around us is changing for good. It is time to make a few changes and upgrades to make good use of these changes. But, also do not compromise on the security of your data —your storage is not yours if not secured.” Vishal Parekh
marketing director, Kingston Technology & HyperX India Courtesy: https://pc-tablet.com
16 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
“I believe the commerce of every film lies in its story. When you make a film that will cater to variety of audience then automatically business follows. When you’re attempting a genre that is likely to touch many hearts and people, you just have to make sure you do it in a way that there is no compromise on creativity and the issue on hand concerns the entire spectrum of social strata. That will eventually decide what its box office destiny will be.” Ali Abbas Zafar, film director
Courtesy: http://www.livemint.com
e-commerce happens once in a generation “Something like e-commerce happens once in a generation, and the right kind of e-commerce in India, like I said, would bring a new kind of democracy in terms of access, in terms of choice, in terms of aspirations. For Indian e-commerce focusing on anything other than transforming India using e-commerce is a wasted opportunity in terms of using your intellectual capability to do something useful.” Amit Agarwal, country head, Amazon’s India
Courtesy: https://yourstory.com
Cricket, celebration of what democracy can do “Cricket today has opened itself to a true meritocratic world, which is why today’s cricketers come from across castes, regions, incomes; etc; all barriers have been broken. I am a romantic when it comes to cricket; I see the sport as a celebration of what democracy can do if it provides equal opportunities to all.” Rajdeep Sardesai, TV anchor and consulting editor, India Today Television
Courtesy: http://www.afaqs.com
Beauty with a Purpose
“Change is everything, it is common with all entrepreneurs. We love what we do, that’s why we change it. As a doctor and Miss World, my purpose is the same. You want to do something good. If I hadn’t won, I’d still be doing what I do. Once you are confident, and comfortable with who you are; once you are unapologetic about yourself, things fall into place.” Manushi Chhillar, Miss World 2017
Courtesy: http://indiatoday.intoday.in
Hungry to stay on top of the world
“This is not a small country. And, the Indian culture I would assume is hungry for stuff to stay on top of the world and compete in the world markets. There’s huge amount of opportunity and lots of problems to be dealt with. That’s pretty much true anywhere but I think the scale is probably the most fascinating thing about India” David Allen, renowned business coach and author
Courtesy: https://www.thenewsminute.com
Enough consumption strength in India
India could be a $10-trillion economy
“You can actually start to say that India could be a $10-trillion economy. India is one of the absolute biggest growth pockets in the world. Reforms by the (Narendra) Modi government are not perfect in terms of execution, but they are jolts. It’s not to say there are no risks or challenges, but to have scale and population like India, the growth potential is present.”
“There is enough consumption strength in India, the main issue is to translate it to real consumption. This is the first thing that needs to be done. This partly requires putting money back in the hands of the people and this can be done by consumer credit, through tax savings, etc.” Sidharth Birla, chairman, Xpro India Ltd. and president, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Courtesy: http://www.businesstoday.in
Dominic Barton, MD, McKinsey Courtesy: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com
Leveraging technology for inclusive growth “Technology is evolving rapidly in multiple areas, more importantly, they are fusing together to create new application and also creating new disruptive and innovative emerging business models. This is enabling the leveraging of technology to new services, new entrepreneurial ventures in the rural and deprived sections of society by not only empowering them to pursue new livelihoods, improve productivity, but also to access markets that were conventionally thought beyond their reach.”
Best kind of art comes out from difficult times
“In India, as in the rest of the world, we are going through a period that is very tentative, politically, socially, and in every way. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it is the best time for art because the best kind of work and the best kind of art comes out from difficult times, and that’s why we have such amazing films being made, and hopefully the trend will follow all over the world.” Sonam Kapoor, actor Courtesy: http://variety.com
R Ramanan, mission director – ATAL Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog
Courtesy: http://digitallearning.eletsonline.com
Need for data privacy and security policy “The debate around Aadhaar has brought citizen data privacy to the forefront. Historically, this had not emerged as a pressing issue even through the e-commerce boom. We expect the Government of India to come out with a data privacy and security policy that applies to both government and private enterprises that handle consumer data and sensitive information.” Siddhartha Chatterjee, CTO, Persistent Systems Courtesy: http://www.moneycontrol.com
Indian market, a complex mix “It would be wrong to look at the Indian market as simply a reflection of the developments that are happening in the West. Rather, it’s a complex mix between global influences and strong, important elements of India’s history and cultural essence.”
David Wilkins, faculty director, Center on Legal Profession, Harvard
Law School
Courtesy: https://barandbench.com
India has done very well from an international perspective
“What India has done exceptionally well is in terms of its reputation in the international markets. In terms of signalling that major reforms are taking place and the government is responding to issues of the economy. GST, bankruptcy reforms and ease of doing business. So, India has done very well from an international perspective.” Gita Gopinath, John Zwaanstra professors for Economics, Harvard University
Courtesy: economictimes.indiatimes.com
Compiled by Rajesh Rao rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com
January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 17
Expert View
Bitcoin is getting to be the Big Coin by S K Jha
(IRS (retd) and former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax)
Bitcoin is getting to be the Big Coin. Its value is skyrocketing, and many are buying into it. The Bitcoin is virtually spinning out into a parallel money market. But what is Bitcoin, what is the attraction, and what are the dangers? Here is a glimpse into the phenomenon of the Bitcoin
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
hese days ‘Bitcoin’ is the talk of the monetary market. People are betting on its value which has skyrocketed in recent months. Bitcoin is turning into a Big Coin. However, there is also a section of experts who consider it a bubble which can burst any time. The value of one Bitcoin has gone up to US $14,000 which approximates to ` 9 lakh. This means that for 10 Bitcoins one can purchase a luxurious Mercedes Benz car or BMW car. Just about eight years back when the value of the Bitcoin was being tested for the first time, it was found that 10,000 Bitcoins could purchase one pizza. The sharp rise in the value of the Bitcoin in such a short time is mind-boggling and beyond reasonable comprehension. It is being heard that world over people are mortgaging their properties to have a taste of the Bitcoin pie while blaming their luck for having missed the early ride in the Bitcoin cart.
What is Bitcoin?
What is Bitcoin? It is a cryptocurrency with a worldwide payment system. It is the first decentralised digital currency, as the system works without a central bank or a single administrator. The network is peer-to-peer and transactions take place between users directly through the use of cryptography without any intermediary. These transactions are verified by network nodes and recorded in an immutable public-distributed ledger, called a blockchain. The Bitcoin was invented by an unknown person or group of people under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto and the same was released as open-source software in 2009. The process of creating Bitcoins is called mining. They can be exchanged for other currencies, products and services. In 2010, Nakamoto handed the
network alert key and control of the Bitcoin core repository over to Gavin Anderson, who later became the lead developer at the Bitcoin Foundation. Nakamoto subsequently disappeared from any involvement in Bitcoin. Decentralisation of the system was done by Anderson. Bitcoin is pseudonymous, meaning that funds are not tied to real-world entities but rather to Bitcoin addresses. Owners of Bitcoin addresses are not explicitly identified, but all transactions in the blockchain are public. In addition, transactions can be linked to individuals and companies through ‘Idioms of Use’. Bitcoin exchanges where Bitcoins are traded for traditional currencies may
18 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
be required by law to collect personal information. The system permits having a new Bitcoin address for each transaction and this ensures financial privacy. Unlike paper currencies, Bitcoins cannot be minted. They can only be mined. There are only 21 billion Bitcoins that have been created. At present only 16.8 million or 80% of all the Bitcoins have been mined. Bitcoins can be bought from various digital currency exchanges such as Uncoin, Zebpay, coinbase.com, coindesk.com, etc. These can be purchased by the use of credit cards or debit cards. Bitcoin is a digital asset without any earmarked value attached to it as is the case of
normal currencies world over where the central bank of the country attaches a fixed value to each currency. The value of Bitcoin is determined by the demand and supply in normal trade. The owner of Bitcoin cannot go to any central authority in case of any loss or any attached problem as it is not regulated by any authority. Is Bitcoin legal? There is no clarity on this issue. The Government of India or the RBI has not pronounced any strict law banning it as illegal. No such law has been made in other countries either. However, the RBI has cautioned people investing in Bitcoin. Similar caution has been articulated
owned by syndicates, organisations or individuals.
Bitcoin income is taxable
As per Indian Income Tax provision, income earned against Bitcoin will be taxable as capital gains or business income, depending on the facts of the case. If the investment in Bitcoin is done in the capacity of investors, the income earned on it will be taxed as capital gains, while if the investment is done as an organised and periodic activity, then it will be taxed as business income. For capital gains purposes if the investment is for less than three years, then the same will be taxable as short-term capital gains and the tax liability will be higher as compared to tax liability in the case of long-term capital gains, when the investment
processed in a maximum ten minutes. ➏ The central government cannot take it away as it is decentralised, and no one has control over it. The maximum that the government can do is to ban it, but still Bitcoin will have value in those countries where it is not banned. Bitcoin can be encashed in those countries where there is no ban on it. ➐ People cannot steal payment information from merchants as no secret is involved like in the case of credit or debit cards or in the case of online transactions. ➑ It is non-inflationary. In fact, the Bitcoin was created in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008 when more currencies were being printed in US and other developed countries in order to pump more money into the system to help to improve the situation, and which had immense inflationary pressure in the market. Bitcoin is independent and aloof from the normal monetary system and so inflation does not get caused by it.
‘Is Bitcoin legal? There is no clarity on this issue. The Government of India or the RBI has not pronounced any strict law banning it as illegal. No such law has been made in other countries either’ is for three years and above. Like in normal cases, the non-disclosure of assessable income will attract tax on the concealed income along with penalty and in extreme cases, even prosecution. The Income Tax department has recently conducted survey action against Bitcoin exchanges to study the modus operandi of Bitcoin investment and also to identify tax evaders out of identified Bitcoin investors.
Why do they love it?
by SEBI also. A PIL has been filed before the Supreme Court and the apex court has asked for the response from the government. Similar warnings of caution have also been issued in other countries as well. Despite RBI’s caution, Bitcoin exchange Zebpay is adding 2,500 users a day. Recently, US SEC has issued a strict warning to Bitcoin investors to be cautious, but despite all these warnings, the Bitcoin market cap has gone up to US $200 billion. According to Bit infor, a website tracking Bitcoin price and ownership data, there are 10 ‘Digital Wallets’ holding more than $1-billion-worth Bitcoins. However, it has not revealed where in the world these wallets are located or whether they are
Why is Bitcoin becoming a Big Coin in value despite all the warnings of caution? The short answer can be, because of people’s increasing love for it. The increasing love is based on some intrinsic advantages: ➊ The anonymous nature of it is its biggest attraction. There is an in-built mechanism in the system of Bitcoin that nobody will ever know the identity of the parties in a transaction. The only thing visible will be their wallet address. As per the rules of the country, the identity will be disclosed by a person only when he is encashing the Bitcoin in normal currency. ➋ A likeable attribute of the Bitcoin is payment freedom. There are no intermediaries, no bank holidays, no bank strikes, no boundaries or hoarders and no payment limit. ➌ There is no fee or minimal fees in Bitcoin-based transactions and hence it is more economical. ➍ There are fewer risks for merchants and the same is really liked. ➎ It is much faster compared to banking transactions. It can be as fast as e-mail and it can be
There are perils...
Then why are warnings of caution raised against Bitcoin? The reasons are: ➊ Volatility is its most negative attribute. The swing in its price gives it the status of ‘water bubble’. The variation in price is highly irrational. ➋ The software system behind Bitcoin is still in the process of development. An investor may suffer in future due to the weakness of the system. ➌ Imminent government action and policy may hit it. ➍ There is no scope of recovery or any value, if for a reason the Bitcoin wallet is lost, as there is no undertaking of promise to pay, like in a legal tender. ➎ Bitcoins have become the most preferred ransom sought by cybercriminals, especially those causing ransomware attacks. ➏ Bitcoin has all the negative attributes to become the carrier of unaccounted funds. There is an urgent need in our country and also the world over to take the issue of Bitcoin more seriously. There may be a way for e-ponzi schemes to be devised by scamsters in the lack of virtual money. There is an urgent need for enacting laws and regulation. There is some confusion as to whether to ban it altogether, or to permit it with rules and regulations. There is one school of thought that says that Bitcoin helps the policy of the government for less physical cash in the economy while the other school is dead against it as it is seen as used by people with black money, and that it is also used in criminal activities. Last but not the least, gullible investors will be the worst victims when the bubble of the Bitcoin bursts.
January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 19
0 9 Cover story
Dynamic Duo: 63 / USHA
and Dr P. C. Shejwalkar
g n u yt oeart ah &
Dr P. C. Shejwalkar is known as the Father of Management Education in Maharashtra. What is less known is that he strived to be an entrepreneur and educationist since the tender age of sixteen. Corporate Citizen walks along with him on the occasion of a major milestone in his life - his 90th birthday. We walk him down memory lane to find out the life, struggles, successes, love and joy of young Shejwalkar that carved out within him a master visionary educationist who pioneered management education in Maharashtra By Vinita Deshmukh
20 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
Pics: Yusuf Khan
January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 21
Left: Dr Shejwalkar as a bright young boy Above: With wife Usha and daughter Sushama Below: Dr Shejwalkar made his mark as an educationist at a young age. Young Dr Shejwalkar with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
The essence of my life is not always to conquer but to fight well; not to triumph but to struggle. I have struggled my entire life but with the difference that I always emrged successful, though slowly - one step ahead, each time - Dr P. C. Shejwalkar
22 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
Dr P. C. Shejwalkar turned 90 on 16th January, 2017. He is unarguably the Father of Management Education in Maharashtra. At a time when management education was unheard of in Maharashtra in the 1970s, Dr Shejwalkar persuaded the University of Pune to launch a full time, post-graduate course and thereafter founded the prestigious Institute of Management Development and Research (IMDR). He was treading an unknown territory when he made IMDR an autonomous institute, inspiring several others to follow suit. Shejwalkar stands tall in the educational field for his innovation, enterprise and relentless pursuit of excellence. After his long stint at IMDR—which is synonymous with his name—he is presently the Founder Director of the Institute of Management Education (IME) which he established after his retirement in 1989. People retire between 58 and 65 years of age. They keep harping on the leisurely time they now deserve but not Dr Shejwalkar. At the ripe young age of 90, he is physically present at IME office, sharp at 11 am He goes home for lunch break, after which he is back again in office at 4 pm until 7 pm. Thereafter, he goes back home where people come to meet him. Or else, he is speaking at some function in the evening, where he is invited as a chief guest, and such invites are in plenty. His zest for life has not ceased. Instead, with childlike passion, he yearns to improve the educational sphere through his writings, speeches and correspondence with the powers-that-be. He describes his work as “enjoyment’’ and is therefore hardly stressed, he says. He is presently penning a book on people who inspired him in his life. He resides on the first floor of his bungalow and walks up and down, twice a day, despite bad knees. He is so involved with those around him that he feels the pain and joy of one and all. His inspiring story should shake all of us from negativity to positivity; from hate to love; from pain to joy and boredom to the blessings of all that we possess but don’t recognise. Read on…
My childhood
I was the youngest child in my family. My father was just an ordinary station master and his
Cover story salary was not much, with no pension. By the time I finished my matric examination in 1945, he had retired. Instead of asking my father to bear the burden of my college fees and other expenses of commuting daily from my home in Thane to Sydenham College in Churchgate, I thought I should find my own ways to finance myself. I scored excellent marks in matric which is 86%—in those days it was difficult to score so high. I was fortunate to have got admission in Sydenham College, which was a prestigious educational institution and the first ever commerce college of India, started in the 1930s. Professors teaching there were selected from the scholarly Indian Education Service (IES) category.
Teenage entrepreneur
I was just 16 years old when I began my college education. I felt that I must earn. I started selling some small products in the local trains from Thane to V T (now renamed CST) station. I used to sell scented supari which was very
it. Although I wanted to take up teaching as a profession, entrepreneurship in education was very much on my mind though I did not know the path to it those days.
Earnings as a vendor
In those days I used to earn `200 per month which was a good source of income for me. At that time a haircut would cost four annas and a cinema ticket was available for six annas. Besides, I would also spend on home expenses. My father didn’t expect anything from me, but was appreciative of my efforts and ambition to earn while learning.
Hectic college life
I used to start from my house in Thane at 9 am and reach Sydenham College in Churchgate at 11 am sharp. After college would get over at 3 pm, I used to go from hotel to hotel, selling scented supari, until 8 pm. After that, I used to serve as a night teacher in one of the Marathi night schools in Thane, teaching slum-dwell-
“I used to also work as an enumerator at the Bombay Corporation during election time. I had to go from house to house to conduct a survey. Here I found some of the well-dressed people in good homes being very snobbish, whereas if I went to a chawl where workers resided, they were kind-hearted” popular in those days. During Diwali time, I would sell utna and firecrackers. However, soon I realised that selling in local trains was not permitted; I used to be regularly asked by the ticket collector to get down from the train.
H
owever, I didn’t give up. I thought, let me go from hotel to hotel to sell these products and I really started doing that. Here, I got a ringside view of the socialist system, social values, and social way of thinking. In some hotels, when they saw a young boy of 16 years, so enterprising, they cheered me, welcomed me and gave me a cup of tea too. However, there were other hoteliers who literally drove me out and asked me not to come again, ever. This was a unique experience for me. Also, entrepreneurship is something that was alien to Maharashtrians those days; they were afraid to enter into
ers’ children, before I finally reached home. There I got another insight into the abysmal poverty that existed, where children didn’t have proper clothes to wear, would not get to have their bath regularly, but they were hungry for education. I felt very passionate about teaching such children who wanted to come out of their dismal circumstances through education. The guardians of the children too were very happy and were in fact curious to know more about me. So, five of them invited me to their home one evening. I obliged and went to one of their homes, which was a small hut. They were appreciative of my teaching at the night school. Grandmother of a student who welcomed me said, “I don’t have a bouquet of flowers to welcome you but I give you this incense stick,’’ and then she made a nice cup of tea for me. I was intrigued as to how she managed to get such a good quality cup. I was stunned to find out that she had hired the cups for me. I was truly overwhelmed. I realised that though these
January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 23
Cover story
“In Mumbai local trains which ran from Thane to CST, I used to sell scented supari which was very popular in those days. In Diwali I would sell utna and firecrackers” people are poor, they are large-hearted. I used to also work as an enumerator at the Bombay Municipal Corporation during election time. I had to go from house to house to conduct a survey. Here I found some of the well-dressed people in good homes being very snobbish, whereas if I went to a chawl where workers resided, they were kind-hearted. High-class people don’t give any value to those who do mundane jobs, while below-poverty-line workers, despite their poverty, try to be good citizens.
Full-time teaching
I got a first class in B Com. After my graduation, my first job was in a government day school in Thane’s B. J. High School of Commerce. They wanted someone with a commerce background. The salary for a teacher in those days was `70 per month, but because I had secured a first class in B Com, they offered me `95 per month. I took up the job and simultaneously pursued my post-graduation. By the time I finished my post-graduation, there was an opportunity to become a lecturer in a college. There were very few commerce colleges those days, unlike today. One was in Mumbai and the other was the BMCC College in Pune which had just started. I desired to be in Pune and so applied for the job of a lecturer in BMCC. The Principal was kind enough; he said there was no vacancy at the moment but I should leave my biodata with him and he would contact me in case of a vacancy. So, I applied at J. G. College of Commerce in Hubli, as they were in search of good teachers —who were scarce those days. Apart from my salary, they gave me a free residential apartment and free meals because they wanted me to serve there permanently. It was a good college. The Principal was very kind and I enjoyed my tenure there. But as the year came to an end,
that I had come all the way from Ahmedabad to meet him, he offered his home to stay over, saying that only he and his wife lived in his official bungalow. Finally, in 1954 I joined BMCC as a lecturer with a salary of `210. This was the start of my career in Pune. I had hired an accommodation for `60 per month at Hirabag, Off Tilak Road. I purchased a bicycle for commuting to and fro college. We had to teach in two shifts—morning as well as evening. So, I would come back again after lunch. Life was a struggle, but I had made up my mind to work hard. In 1956, I told the Principal that I wanted to register my name for PhD. I approached Gadgil, who was the chairman of the Selection Committee. He welcomed my request and asked me to work under my Principal, T. N. Joshi. So, I started working as a research student under my own Principal, so my interaction with him increased.
The thesis
the Principal said that he wanted me to sign a bond for three years. I asked why? He said, people like you who hail from Mumbai and Pune run away the moment you get a job in Pune or Mumbai. I declined to sign the bond as my aim was to come to Pune for post-graduate research work. I was inspired by a renowned scholar, Dr Dhananjay Gadgil and wanted to do a PhD. Then another job came my way—it was from Ahmedabad’s H.M College of Commerce. I served for one year and I enjoyed teaching there too. By then I was 22 years old and was teaching as Assistant Professor, with a salary of `190. This was enough for me to live a comfortable life in a city like Ahmedabad.
B
MCC yet had no vacancies but it was my dream to teach in Pune. However, when I once again spoke to the Principal of the college, he said my placement would be confirmed the next academic year. He did confirm. He wrote to me saying, “You are appointed, come immediately”. However, while posting my letter of appointment, he forgot to mention the name of the city. So, the letter travelled for two months before I received it. I hurriedly went to Pune to meet the Principal but he apologised, saying, since I did not reply, they had already appointed someone else, but for one year only. When he came to know
24 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
I took the subject of railway finances for my PhD. Why railway finances? Because I was very interested in the subject. I knew the names of all the Mumbai local train stations consecutively by heart. People used to say, why don’t you work in the railways if you are so interested, but I used to tell them there was no teaching job there and I was not interested in administration. Here also my hard work did not end. I used to visit the Sydenham College library for my research inputs. I used to also take tuitions in the evening as I needed more money. It was quite a struggle. In 1958, I submitted the thesis after six months of research. Both my examiners were foreigners, so I was tense. One of them was from America—he was the chairman of the Railway Board those days and the other was the former Chairman of the Railway Board of Malaysia, after retirement. After submitting my thesis, it took six months for the result. I was happy that I secured my PhD and started taking more active part in cultural activities and in giving lectures. I used to also write articles in local newspapers. My wife supported me immensely on all fronts.
Tryst with Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar
After I finished my M Com in Siddharth College, started by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in 1945, I applied for a lecturer’s job and I was selected for the interview. To my great surprise, it was Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar himself taking our interviews in his capacity as the chairman of the committee. I was rather tense, wondering as to what kind of questions he would ask. He did ask some rather difficult questions, which I tried to answer. Fortunately, I was selected.
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cient, students are knowledgeable—they learn from their surroundings. Earlier, this was not the scene, and teachers were also fewer in numbers. My challenges were small. Today’s challenge is in a fiercely competitive world. The problem is that every year one crore people come into the employment market. The spread of education has increased but no one is bothered to see whether they have skill-oriented education or not. For example, everybody can use a computer, but how many can do photography? There is a huge demand for skill-oriented people.
hen, Babasaheb Ambedkar asked me whether I knew that the college was meant for the backward category for those who wanted to serve the country. He asked me as to what I could do for the college apart from teaching? I said, Sir, whatever you tell me to do. Will you do social work? I said, yes Sir—tell me what kind of social work. And then he stumped me by asking whether I was willing to marry a girl from another caste. I promptly said yes, why not? He prodded further—will you marry outside your community? I said, “Yes Sir, why not? I am a forward-thinking young boy”. I thought he was pulling my leg, but then the head clerk took me to the girl’s house, which was in the outskirts of Mumbai. She was good-looking and cultured, but since I was only selected for the post of a lecturer and not yet got the job, I decided not to plunge into marriage so soon.
Definition of wealth
I have never considered wealth in terms of money. My relationship with my well-wishers, friends and relatives constitute my wealth. Small, innocent kids, with a smiling face are also a part of my wealth.
Health
I feel healthy and refreshed in the morning, after my exercises. I maintain health by controlling my diet and keeping myself as much as possible, away from smoking and drinking. I have bhakri with milk for breakfast and fruits for lunch. Occasionally I indulge in lunch if any of my favourite dish is cooked. After I turned 85, I’ve cut down on my supper and eating out.
“Today’s students are lucky and happy, because they are being provided all the facilities. A school going kid gets a transport, mobile, computer, just everything. Eight and ninth standard kids get to use the mobile and they can communicate so much” Thereafter, my uncle took up the responsibility of finding a bride for me and I met my present wife, Usha. She was seventeen and a half years old and I was 22 years old. This is how I married this girl, 66 years back. Whatever be the strange request of Dr Ambedkar, I was so fortunate to be interviewed by this great man. I wish I had recorded that interview. I got married in 1951 before I took up a job in Hubli.
My family
Sushama Keskar is my only daughter; she is 65 years old. She is also an educationist and an academic scholar. She did her B Com, M Com and MSW. She completed her PhD and was the Principal of SNDT College, Pune for six years, before she retired recently. My home is a modest bungalow in Deccan Gymkhana area. It is thanks to the books I wrote that I earned money to build a house. I first built the ground floor for `69,000. At that time I bought the land for `3.5 per sq ft., and the total area was 3,700 sq ft. Today, it is `15,000 per sq ft. After some years, I built
My philosophy of life
the first floor for my son-in-law. He is also in the educational field. He was the Principal of Dr P. D. Patil University. They have two sons—both of them are in the USA. I have two great-grandchildren.
Today’s generation
Today’s students are lucky and happy, because they are being provided all the facilities. A school going kid gets transport, mobile, computer, just everything. Eight and ninth standard kids have access to the mobile which allows them to create and communicate so much. The sky is the limit for them. My great-grandson who is in America is now 10 years old. He uses the mobile and talks with us on Skype. He cannot speak in Marathi; he talks fluently in English.
Attitude of today’s students
In my personal opinion, we were required to work hard. Teachers were very strict. Today I find that they have changed the technique: a teacher does not get after the students and does not punish them. Young teachers are effi-
The essence of my life is not always to conquer, but to fight well; not to triumph but to struggle. I have struggled my entire life but with the difference that I always emerged successful, though slowly—one step ahead, every time.
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Enhanced digital advertising on smartphone and data prices The growing demand for smartphones and falling data prices has resulted in a likely increase in digital advertising spent in the country to the tune of `13,000 crore by December 2018 at a annual growth rate of 35%, according to a Assocham-KPMG joint study. The digital ad spending is expected to witness an increase from the current `9,800 crore due to the easy availability of 3G and 4G services and the current surge in internet highway networks.
January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 25
Cover story
If you oppose, happiness disrupts Sixty-six years of marital bliss has much to do with sharing life’s struggles together, adjusting with each other and standing by solidly with a spouse who has always been on the go, to bring in quality management education to the next gen. Meet the adorable couple, Usha and Dr P. C. Shejwalkar, the latter confessing that it was his better half who helped him move forward, by keeping peace and harmony at home
M
arried for 66 years, Usha and Dr P. C. Shejwalkar portray the bliss and contentment that emanates from a life of togetherness that has witnessed struggles and hardships, but with a never-give-up
By Vinita Deshmukh attitude. It is on this formidable foundation that they have earned success, happiness and marital bliss. The very charming and dignified Sushama Keskar, their only daughter and herself a well-acclaimed educationist portrays the scholarly and cultured upbringing that she has had. In fact, the MBA bug runs in the entire
26 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
family. Their son-in-law, Dr Anil Keskar, presently, Advisor, Management Studies, Dr. D. Y. Patil Vidyapeeth is the former HOD of PUMBA and former Dean, Academics of Symbiosis International University. Their children, Amarnath and Ambika have pursued MBA after their graduation. Both of them, along with their spouses, reside in the USA.
Full support
Usha Shejwalkar is extremely talented—a vocalist of repute, she was for many years an artiste at All India Radio; she also has several albums to her credit. Besides, playing table tennis was her passion. However, these qualities are not as well-known, because giving unflinching support to her husband’s passion for MBA education scored over everything else. Says she, “Giving him cooperation in whatever he did has been the main aim in my life.’’ Dr Shejwalkar quickly asserts, “It is true, she has supported me extremely nicely. And she has done so relentlessly, without complaining,. The secret of my being able to work even at this age, for hours together, is because there is peace and tranquillity when I come back home.’’ Usha Shejwalkar though states candidly that the secret of their happy marriage is because she has unconditionally submitted to him. Says she, “I was 17 years when I got married so did not have much maturity. However, I understood within two to three months of our marriage that he was a very strict person and did not like being opposed. So I decided to keep saying ‘yes’ to whatever he said.’’ Dr Shejwalkar butts in, “Oh, that’s an utter lie. When did I oppose you?’’ And then they laugh. On a more serious note, she says, “He has worked very hard to become successful in his life. He did his PhD at the age of 26. At that time we were living in just one room and struggled in life to come to this stage of contentment and happiness.’’ So, what according to her, is the secret of a happy marriage? Says Usha Shejwalkar, “if you oppose, then happiness disrupts. However, I must add that he encouraged and supported me in my singing talent.’’
Think as one
Another admirable decision that the Shejwalkars took was regarding family planning, “At a time when having a single child by choice was unheard of, I told him that we should have only one child, be it a boy or a girl. He stood by me in this decision and I really appreciate him for that.’’ As for today’s couples who are not as tolerant of each other as the earlier generation, she feels, “girls today have the freedom to express their opinion and make a choice, which I think is good. But, they should not go to the extreme. They must try to be compatible with each other.’’ Adds Dr Shejwalkar, “I don’t blame women—they were suppressed by the husband and their family members for decades. Now they are educated and independent, so they have their say and rightfully raise their voice. It is true that divorces are on the rise— that’s because of intolerance towards each other. Mutual adjustment is necessary for a successful marriage.’’
(Right): Son-in-law, Anil Keskar (Below Left): Dr Shejwalkar’s grandson, Amarnath with granddaughter-in-law Dr Shruti, granddaughter Ambika and grandson-in-law Harshad Khurjekar and great-grandsons Amogh and Aditya; (Below Right): Sushama Keskar
“At a time when having a single child by choice was unheard of, I told him that we should have only one child, be it a boy or a girl. He stood by me in this decision and I really appreciate him for that” — Usha Shejwalkar What is the secret of their fitness? Says Mrs Shejwalkar, “I used to play table tennis a lot in my earlier years. We would both go for walks together too. Nowadays we find it difficult to go for long walks. And we eat in moderation.’’ Like they say, ‘Happy is the man who finds a true friend, and far happier is he who finds that true friend in his wife.’ It aptly fits Dr Shejwalkar.
I grew up in a scholarly environment —Sushama Keskar
It is difficult to talk about your own family members, but my memories of my father is that he was always busy with his work and study. At times, he didn’t spend much time with his family. Despite that, I remember we had a bicycle, and he used to take me on the small seat (in front), to his friends’ houses. He used to also take me to Sarasbaug once in a while. Although I was the only child, I was raised by my parents just like other children. The environment in the house was conducive to studies as there used to be lots of books at
home, mostly on subjects my father studied or taught. I used to read them with great interest. That’s how I was inspired to take up the same profession as my father’s. I chose Commerce and later pursued MMS (Master of Management Science) and stood first in the University of Pune. I then pursued my PhD in Management. I worked at the SNDT College of Commerce from 1980 and retired as Principal in 2014. After retirement I did a course in Psychology and I am a part of the Vishakha Committee in several corporate entities. Both my children have also done MBA from the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management. My son is a software professional. My daughter who completed her engineering and MBA from India, pursued MS in the USA. She is into jewellery designing. My son has two children—the elder one, Amogh, is 10 years old and the younger one, Aditya, is 5 years old. My daughter-in-law, Shruti is a doctor of Naturopathy, and also teaches yoga. vinitapune@gmail.com
January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 27
CII Manufacturing Summit
Jugaad 4.0
vs
Industry 4.0 stands for the changes that are collectively being driven in manufacturing companies by nine distinct trends. However, many of these changes have still not impacted Indian manufacturing in a major way, as the economics of these technologies work very differently in India compared to other, more developed nations, given the different cost structures in India. With cutting corners and finding quick-fix solutions still being the norm in many companies, a panel discussion at the 16th CII Manufacturing Summit, held recently at Taj Vivanta, in Mumbai, explored what it means to adapt Industry 4.0 in a low-cost, India-centric frugal innovation context. The panellists, Naushad Forbes, Summit Co-Chairman, Immediate Past President, CII & Co-Chairman, Forbes Marshall; Ashish Bhat, Executive Vice President and Head, Digital Factory, Siemens India; Jurgen Hase, CEO, Unlimit - powered by Reliance; and Ravi Srivastava, Senior Partner and Managing Director, BCG Delhi, shared their experiences of shop floor-level technology innovations By Rajesh Rao
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e talk about Industry 4.0, we talk about technologies, about competitiveness, connecting it to enterprises, software and then we talk about lot of hardware. We talk about additive manufacturing and 3D printers, as such. We talk about embedded software and intelligence in products. So, we have many concepts about Industry 4.0—our goal would be to have clarity on what it is and how do we get there? What are the steps we should follow, to actually adapt Industry 4.0 effectively in our own organisations?
What is Industry 4.0 and how is Siemens deploying it both in-house and as an offering for customers?
Ashish Bhat: In the Eastern philosophy there is a question, who is god? And the answer many times is that you can know who he is, but he is not who but something else. Lot of discussion around Industry 4.0 goes around underlying technologies of manufacturing, auto robots, big data analytics, and all of that. The challenge is that if you pure28 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
ly take technological view of approaching Industry 4.0, first, it is not output-oriented and you can dive deep into the solution very fast. What Industry 4.0 is supposed to address in terms of KPIs, are the four fundamental KPIs.
Creating market: The first one is creating market
than to market. How fast can you do it? If you look at automotive industry, it is about seven-year-cycle time, to three-year-cycle time, 18-month-cycle time—so one year for a new product. It’s all underwritten and underpinned by Industry 4.0. I use more examples from
Ind
ustry 4.0 Pics: Yusuf Khan
The panellists (L-R): Ashish Bhat, Executive VP and Head, Digital Factory, Siemens India; Naushad Forbes, Summit Co-Chairman, Immediate Past President, CII & Co-Chairman, Forbes Marshall; Jurgen Hase, CEO, Unlimit - powered by Reliance; and Ravi Srivastava, Senior Partner and MD, BCG Delhi
automotive industry because that is the cutting edge of industry 4.0 technologies. good, all parameters are alright and also quality in making products is up the value chain—because we want to know the value chain in terms of manufacturing. Ever seen those aspects of quality, which are important for the organisation?
dustry 4.0 in one sentence, I would say that the ability to produce individualised and customised products, at same cost as mass production, is the explanation for Industry 4.0, and all the underlying technologies that go into that. For SMEs, Industry 4.0 is even more important, because it allows you to scale. And it allows you to participate in multiple supply chains. So, it gives you flexibility and the flexibility is the key.
Flexibility: The third, which for me is extremely im-
Efficiency: And the fourth one is of course efficiency,
Quality: The second aspect is quality—first-time unit,
portant is flexibility. If somebody tells me to explain In-
it is output by input—if you look at capacity utilisation
January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 29
CII Manufacturing Summit of industry, the focus is more to do same with less, it is about efficiency discussions. So these are the four KPIs you have to keep in mind and where the pain-points for any of our organisation are, as we addressed it earlier.
How do you apply apply the four pain-points to manufacturing?
Ashish Bhat: What we addressed with our customers, we also applied to ourselves, because we are a manufacturing company. You take the manufacturing value chain and break it into discreet logical steps, the first part is product design—what is the shape of the car that I am going to make, or the door of the car. Every device we talk about these days, is a mechatronic device. If you take your phones, it has electronics, it has software and mechanics. If you take the car nowadays it is 50-70 per cent software— the electric car will go more and more into software. So, every widget you see, is a mechatronic item, because it has a physical design, it has a mechanical design, electronic design with software inside. You can define the whole dynamics of the product and the product design in the virtual world, by the way technology is available for that. That means if I am designing a new car, I am designing the car, I am changing the shape of the car, looking at the hotspots and even doing the wind tunnel testing of the car and then coming back and again changing the shape, till I get the product perfect. Once I have the product I move into the production design. How do I make this product? Therefore I define in the virtual world, how my production line looks like? What are the sources I need, human and non-human sources? And then I do all my scenarios on capacity, constraints and everything else, till my production process starts. I am still in the virtual world and not yet moved to the real world. I have the product in the virtual world— and all this is OPEX there is no CAPEX as yet. I have done the production planning in the virtual world and now I build the line and everything else. Once the line is built, we call it production execution and this is where you see all the automation, software and everything else comes in. And beyond that goes service. So, once you manufacture the product, you need to know the quality of the product, to bring it back. These are the five steps of the value chain and
in the end you take data from service, you bring it back to your product design and we call it the performance step. In the industry 4.0 journey, you can chose any of the steps where you want to start, because data moves backward and forward. So, taking your four points of pain and seeking where you need to take them and go forward and then looking at the manufacturing value chain and saying, where do I need to work more now and later and what is closest in term of the industry—that’s been our approach.
How Industry 4.0 is relevant to India and how you see it unfolding in India?
Jurgen Hase: There is no limitation of applica-
"If it works in India it works around the world—I mean it is a huge advantage. It is not negative, it’s a huge advantage— you have to do it right with the right people" -Jurgen Hase tion in the digital transformation. This is why we have chosen the name “Unlimit” for our company. It’s a dedicated unit and we are enabling all these things from connectivity up to end-to-end sources. My generation, for example, I am a person who is buying a car and for me the car is a status symbol. I have four kids and believe me, my kids would never buy a car. We are living in a shared world, and I am sure kids are sharing everything. So, this is a bigger trend you see and it’s also impacting the manufacturing process. In my last ten years that I have worked in Europe and around the world, people have asked me many times, what is different in India? My learning is… for example, we have implemented a full organisation, in 15 months. Normally, I have done 20 per cent of this in four years, in Germany. Here it is much more agile and superfast—to implement IT services in India is a huge advantage and you have to be ready for it. You are starting normally with 80 per cent ready to market, then developing step-by-step
"Industry 4.0 in one sentence, is the ability to produce individualised and customised products, at same cost as mass production, is the explanation for Industry 4.0, and all the underlying technologies that go into that" -Ashish Bhat 30 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
when you are in the market—it is little bit different here. Industry 4.0 doesn’t mean only in the manufacturing plant itself, it is also about logistics, moving targets, moving assets, your connection to transport and logistic companies and to suppliers—you have to be connected all the time. It’s a huge issue, but it can be an advantage. Another thing is you cannot copy and paste used cases from around the world in India. One example is Smart Parking—in Germany, you are driving vehicles a little different compared to India. If you want to implement Smart Parking in India, it doesn’t work. In an area, in outdoor India, where around 20 cars should park, with dedicated space for each of them, I am sure they will park 200 rickshaws. Here you cannot copy and paste, you have to adapt to different conditions. Another part is data security cloud, whatever you are doing it has to be local, which is the right way. I am sure it is absolutely right way—data privacy, data security. Tthe last one and big part is privacy. We have adapted ourselves a lot—you cannot use any hardware from outside. If you want to scale it up and move towards mass market, you have to start with your own hardware. This is also a deep learning. If it works in India, it works around the world-I mean it is a huge advantage. It is not
negative, it’s a huge advantage—you have to do it right with the right people. In the beginning it is all about, saving money and efficiency, and then second step is adding new services. And this you have to do as a journey, step-by-step. Don’t start and implement on day one, then you are struggling. Create a three-five years strategy of where you want to be. Include from the beginning all your vendors and partners. Then you will see more and more efficiency and you will be at the core of all the activities.
What are the actual implications on employment eventually and where is the employment actually creating the tension, in Industry 4.0?
Ravi Srivastava: My grandfather used to say— he started his carreer selling in Ahmedabad—he said that if you can do business in Ahmedabad, you can do business anywhere in the world. So, just to take your proof of concept a point further—I have always believed that if you really want to test the proof of concept of the self-driv-
can produce lot more. And the constraint to job creation will come, if the market for consumption of product were constrained. If you look at India’s share of manufacturing output globally, it is miniscule. And hence if we were to drive productivity improvement, if we were to leverage Industry 4.0 technology to fundamentally improve our competitiveness, we can actually start capturing much higher share of global manufacturing output. And that for me would actually drive up employment, rather than drive down employment. That is something which all of us should recognise. The second point is, the nature of jobs will change and that’s true for any technology change or revolution, that’s happened over the ages. So, manual labour gets automated—in the past what people
"The most searched for term, in terms of job description today on LinkedIn, is data scientist. And our report also shows, the domain within Industry 4.0, with applications as of today by Indian companies is around analytics" -Ravi Srivastava ing car, take the smartest self-driving car that you can possibly find and have it operate on the average Delhi road and see what happens. Turning to the employment question, there are all these doomsayers of what Industry 4.0 is going to do to employment. It is actually creating employment and not just of software programmes, it is creating employment in very interesting directions. Where are those opportunities and how do we prepare for? First, I think, all the doomsday scenarios around Industry 4.0 taking away jobs, I fundamentally disagree with it. If you look at economic growth and job creation, the biggest driver anywhere in the world is around productivity. If you have productivity improvement, it will drive through and Industry 4.0 ultimately, at the end of the day, is something which can help us drive productivity. Does that lead to fewer jobs—one can argue that I can do the same amount of work with fewer people, which actually by definition is productivity improvement. Or I can eliminate a set of jobs, because I have automated them or I have technology to drive them. At the level of the unit of an individual company, that is probably true. If you expand it to industry or economy level, is it that with the same workforce I
used to do mentally, got replaced by computers. Now also it is the same, there is no difference—the nature of jobs will change. The most searched for term, in terms of job description today on LinkedIn, is data scientist. And if you look at our report, the domain within Industry 4.0, which also has maximum application as of today by Indian companies is around analytics. It’s a low-cost way, something which anyone can deploy, even with data that exists today, to drive improvement. So, will the nature of jobs change? Absolutely. Will we require many of the low-end manual labour jobs that exist today, let’s say 10-15 years down the line? Probably not. But, will that be replaced by several other jobs, not just around software but also around hardware—looking at sensors, understanding technologies? Manufacturing some of these technologies themelves, will be there. There are several new skills and new jobs that will be required, going forward. The third point I want to make is, that it has fundamental implications for economy as a whole, within agenda for the government and for educational institutes. It also has implications for individual companies. So, if you look at industry associations or the government or our education bodies, they start preparing
people for the skill sets that are required by the industry in the future, but as innovation cycles get shorter, they actually get shorter than our education cycles. What that means is, people who trained for something in universities or in schools, by the time they are into the job, there training itself starts becoming irrelevant. Therefore, you need to have continuous reskilling that gets driven. And some of that reskilling initiative and infrastructure, need to be created by the government and industry bodies. Some of it will also have to be created by the companies themselves. The last point, that manufacturing bodies would start preparing for is, if you take your workforce today and if you project ten years down the line—out of every hundred people, probably, 30 of their tasks will not exist as they exist today and another 30-40 would require substantial reskilling compared to how that work is done today. You might still have 130 people, because you have had grown your business substantially. But the mix of skills in that workforce would actually be very different. While it is easy to look at it from a micro picture, as you start driving it down to individual people, individual employees. How will you engineer such a massive change, restructuring of the skill base of our workforce? It is something which requires very active thinking. Naturally, very active action is literally starting today. rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com
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People with disabilities continue to face hiring impediment Hearing loss and deafness pose challenges to both workers and their employers. 92.1% of employees were reported deaf and another 7.4% were hard of hearing in a survey amongst 500 employees. Some 18 million people comprising the deaf and hard-ofhearing population in India, there are limited opportunities for them in India Inc. due to lack of training. the National Action Plan 2015 - the goal is to create 2.5 million jobs them by 2022.
January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 31
Cradle of Leadership Pics: Gobinda Saha
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Literacy and hope
Sr. Christine Coutinho Principal, Loreto College
32 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
Tucked away on Middleton Row, Kolkata since 1841, a sombre residential haven for Irish nuns has stood testimony to the vision of Mary Ward, founder of the Religious of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (I.B.V.M.), fondly known as the ‘Sisters of Loreto’. The congregation takes its name from the Marian shrine at Loreto in Italy. Mary Ward lived in an era when Catholics were persecuted in England and Europe faced religious mayhem; in an era when women’s rights were unheard of; she envisioned setting up schools for young women. Her legacy took shape in India when the first of 12 Loreto Sisters came to Calcutta in 1841 and began their educational mission and opened the first Loreto School in 1842. The beacon was further carried forward some 105 years ago in 1912 with the inception of the iconic Loreto College Kolkata. The year 2017, saw the Loreto Order celebrating its 175th year of existence in India. History has it that by the turn of the century, as Loreto House School grew larger, there was a pressing need for more space and the old Loreto House building was extended. A few years later, St. Thomas’ House, located next to the church and at the doorstep of Loreto House was purchased from the Archbishop, to run the infant school classes. Eventually, it was on February 2, 1912, that the newly established Loreto College was housed within the same premises and today both the school and the college share space and amenities across 2.75 acres. The legacy has been further heralded by its eminent alumni—Lady Aruna Paul, kathak danseuse Prof. Amita Dutt, Uma Ahmed (Member of Human Rights commission), Dr Arundhati Ray (Former HOD, B Ed), Margaret King (Principal), Aruna Gomes (Principal), Dr Krishna Sen, Tilottama Mukherji-Tharoor, Sharmila Tagore, Moon Moon Sen and her actor daughter Raima Sen – among an almost endless list of prominent Loreto women. Ranked at all India 18th by NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework) 2017, Loreto College is affiliated to the University of Calcutta (CU) and adjudged an NAAC accredited 5 star college in 2000 and as a College of Potential for Excellence (CPE) since 2006.
“Loreto might have begun as an elitist institution when the sisters first came in; particularly at the college level. We still have students from privileged backgrounds but we also have students from other backgrounds. It is no longer as elite as it used to be. Loreto always had room for students who were not entirely privileged” — Dr Aditi Das Gupta, Senior Associate Professor, Loreto College
With Principal Dr (Sr.) Christine Coutinho at the helm since 2009, her ‘passion for development of higher education’ and her exceptional love for her ‘lassies’, Loreto continues to impart new impetus to learning, empowerment, freedom and aspiration for new age women. Corporate Citizen gained valuable insights from one of the senior most professors, Dr Aditi Das Gupta, who has been associated with Loreto College since 1982 and is in her 36th year of service in the English Department and from Dr Sushma Sahai, Associate Professor (Geography)
By Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar
“I work relentlessly for this college and this is my passion”, said Dr (Sr.) Christine Coutinho, Principal, Loreto College, Kolkata. She reiterates that running the college is “tough but, it is really worth it”. She believes that together with the 850-odd students and more to come, the college promises to forge valuable associations within society and beyond.
Entwining the Past with the Present Corporate Citizen: What are the success points that make Loreto, a sought after institute? Aditi Das Gupta: The college was established by Irish missionaries and imbibed the aspects of Loreto education which is common to all its schools and colleges. The emphasis on quality education has been a part of Loreto’s conception from the very beginning. When the sisters first came to India, the idea was to offer education of a certain quality. The other aspect was on holistic development—not academics alone—as students were exposed to many different ways of learning that remains ingrained even today. Today, there is this great emphasis on interdisciplinary studies which has actually been a
part of Loreto training since its inception in 1912. They did not call it ‘interdisciplinary’ then and the labels might have been absent, but students were encouraged to listen and taken out to see plays and films, even before we had the various media forms. Students were actually taken out to attend lectures at the Indian Museum along with formal music education within Loreto’s schools and college. Because it was controlled by the missionaries, there was an emphasis on building a certain social awareness in the students’ ethos. Even a student from very privileged background, didn’t get insulated and that’s an aspect of Loreto education. Students engage in social work in a systematic manner, which is an integral part of the Loreto curriculum. How diverse was the Loreto background in the early years and the current makeup? Aditi Das Gupta: The beginnings since 1912 saw Christian girls, specifically, catholic girls, attending the college but two or three years later, girls from some of the leading Bengali families enrolled too. The daughters of eminent Indian doctor, educationist, and philanthropist and ‘swadeshi’ entrepreneur-Sir Nilratan Sircar were among the students of Loreto in the first decade. The daughter of the January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 33
Cradle of Leadership
Loreto College campus
“We have Geography which is run in parallel to Economics and Sociology and is our forte. We have a strong hold to cover most of these subjects and students can choose FROM. Earlier, they didn’t have much of a choice but now we offer more electives and options” —Dr Sushma Sahai, Associate Professor, Loreto College Indian poet Manmohan Ghose attended Loreto too. Gradually, it no longer stayed as a college primarily for Christian students; you now had not just ‘Bengalis’ but students from very many different communities—the Thai, Chinese, Jewish—joining the institution. As late as 1951, as per some reports, the then student-president had said that there were some 14 different languages being spoken amongst Loreto students. Sr. Christine Coutinho: We encourage girl students from other countries to come to us because with the culture of our college, we can always imbibe something new. Thai students are very gracious and with them, our girls turn gracious too. We also have girls from the Austrian Greek Orthodox community. So far, we have not increased the fee structure for foreign nationals and they are paying the same fee as anybody else.
Could you exemplify the Loreto consciousness? Aditi Das Gupta: Sir Nilratan Sircar’s granddaughter, Lakshmi Chaterjee, despite hailing from an affluent class, went on to do pioneering research on women labourers in the tea gardens. Her contributions lie in her consciousness which she imbibed from her learnings at Loreto. She may have come from a very exclusive background but her field of work was one in which she was certainly reaching out way beyond her social boundaries. This kind of community
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connect remains an integral aspect of Loreto’s learning environment. How has the changing socioeconomic dynamics in Kolkata impacted the intake of Loreto students? Aditi Das Gupta: Kolkata was very cosmopolitan in those days until very recently as the first city of the British Empire. Initially non-Catholic students could come from the more privileged classes but this was not true of the Catholic students. Loreto might have begun as an elitist institution when the sisters first came in, particularly at the college level. We still have students from privileged backgrounds but we also have students from other backgrounds. It is no longer as elite as it used to be. Today, Kolkata is no longer ‘that’ sort of a cosmopolitan hub, but, we still have students from a wide section of Indian communities with different religions and language backgrounds. The shift was a gradual open-door policy. While Loreto always had room for students who were not entirely privileged but in
of these subjects and students can choose from. Earlier, they didn’t have much of a choice but now we offer more electives and options to choose their major and minor subjects from within their syllabi combinations. How has the syllabus attuned to modern times and employability? Sushma Sahai: It is governed by the market demand. Going by the criteria on employability, we have introduced a placement cell. There are certain subjects like Economics and Psychology which gain higher employability. With counselling an integral part of many schools, there is immense scope for child and corporate counselors. Sociology and Psychology as subjects are the need of the hour and so we part of our current syllabus under the aegis of the University of Calcutta, offered by Loreto College. L to R - Sister Christne, Aditi Das Gupta and Sushma Sahai
What does the 18th ranking by NIRF 2017 and the NAAC accreditation imply for Loreto College? Sr. Christine Coutinho: NIRF has not made any difference to us in getting any form of grants. But, the Government of West Bengal is very happy with us as we have got this NIRF ranking along with St. Xavier’s College. Sushma Sahai: The change in the policy of the NAAC in June opened it to all institutions and we got ours in 2012. We were the first college in Eastern India who went in for this accreditation. We also have an ‘A’ grade and were exempted as
A class in progress at Loreto College
terms of the ratio, lately there is greater access for these students as Loreto is just reflecting the countrywide changes in opening our doors to higher education. Sushma Sahai: The shift began many years ago and admission based on income barriers is no longer prevalent. It’s a public misconception. Today we have first-generation learners. We therefore have introduced certain general course studies like Geography. Some of our first-generation learners have had no formal schooling and some come from the Indira Gandhi Open University (IGNOU). Loreto’s doors are open to all and we believe in inclusive education for all.
Evolving with the Times How has the syllabus evolved since the early days?
How would you measure the growth of Loreto since you took office in 2009? Sr. Christine Coutinho: Our growth has been in all areas including infrastructure, amenities, academics, the quality of education and the academic results too have improved.
Aditi Das Gupta: We initially called it a Liberal Arts college with emphasis on English and History. The B Ed department played a very active part and till date does so. Consecutively, and for over a decade, we have had first-class rank holders. Since 2009, we had Economics as an elective but have now converted that to a major. Subjects like Mathematics have been introduced along with Sociology. We now have an Honours degree in Economics too. We have been offering a UGC-funded certificate course in Human Rights since 2006. Certain subjects which are currently in demand such as Film Studies, Journalism and Mass Communication have been added post 2000 to attune with the changing times. Sushma Sahai: We have Geography which is run in parallel to Economics and Sociology and is our forte. We have a strong hold to cover most
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Indian students continue their quest for American universities Indian students going to the United States grew by 12.3% to 186,267 in 2016-17 as against the previous 2015-16 data that had recorded around 165,918 students. According to the Fall 2017 International Student Enrolments Hot Topics Survey by Institute of International Education (IIE) in cooperation with other US-based educational bodies, India was up by 12.3% as against a 6.8% growth by China.
January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 35
Cradle of Leadership a high-performing institute; our next and 4th accreditation cycle is in 2020.
Taking Shape Did you encourage any new learning or disciplinary measures post-2009? Sr. Christine Coutinho: Yes, we introduced the open book test and a new concept of 30 hours’ library. If students don’t perform well or they have lower attendance or if their academic performance is poor because of ill health, we provide extra hours under the guidance of our teachers who also monitor them. If students need any extra help, it is made available. But, students have to take a small test at the end of the 30 hours to help us quantify on their academic performance. Do students opt for this 30 hours’ extra library learning as a disciplinary measure? Sr. Christine Coutinho: Yes, but they are terrified by the thought of this 30-hour window to prove themselves. If they have low attendance within the condonable limits, they do opt for this and I have really seen improvement in them. This extra 30 hours is mandatory if they fall short of the 75% stipulated attendance stricture. Though this is kind of a penalty, it helps to keep things in check. We have also seen that some students voluntarily opt for this extra 30 hours. In a new incentive, if a student uses the library as an ongoing practice and makes good use, she is given a special certificate. These certifications add on to master courses. We also give certification for full attendance as high as 97%, as an incentive for coming to college and studying. Can you quantify Loreto’s growth? Sr. Christine Coutinho: Parameters would basically be the results and pass percentages. We are affiliated to the University of Calcutta (CU) and our passing percentage is therefore graded as per CU norms. I don’t think any college has had 100% pass percentage at the B A/B Sc (Honours) level but we have had. Number of our first class rankers has also multiplied. Normally, you didn’t get many first classes in B A. (Arts) but this has also increased. We have had university toppers, especially in Economics and Psychology. Sushma Sahai: When we talk about growth, there are quantitative parameters which most people look for but at Loreto, we also look for the qualitative. From the infrastructure point of view, we added a new floor for our new PG
wing; we have a women’s cell which is part of our community outreach programme and a Research Cell. We also liaise with corporate houses for seminars that also come for placements. All these have happened in the last 3-4 years. We don’t have to ask Cognizant. In fact, they come to us and pester us to give them Loreto students! Any other means by which you are able to quantify Loreto’s growth? Sr. Christine Coutinho: An aspect for quantifying our growth has been through our own publications. Every seminar that we do, we bring out a publication. The convener of the seminar is
Two of our History research paper-books were released in 2013 by Lord Swaraj Paul. Students design these books, the book cover etc. and we give them a merit certificate for their acumen. The entire organisation is involved with the theme, budget, the invitee list and the entire backup required for the official book/research paper launch.
Minding Funds How does Loreto fund its initiatives? Aditi Das Gupta: We receive government grants in the form of salaries, and grants given under different plans. Some are sanctioned grants and there are other specialised funds which we receive under the CPE (College of Potential for Ex-
Library at Loreto College
normally the editor of the publication. We have been doing this for the past five years and we already have about 10-15 publications. The process of compiling of the various seminar papers is tedious and time-consuming. For the teachers who present the papers, this is something that they can take to build up on their credentials for future career advancement. Sushma Sahai: We also have a journal published by the department of English called ‘Critical Inference’ and the best part is that this journal has become part of the UGC list. This builds up on our impact factor and is an honour for us. Besides, we document everything that is done in the college. Each and every contributor gets a copy and is invited for their respective book launch. Mini research papers are presented by the faculty. The idea is also to give visibility to the college when handed over in the public domain.
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cellence) and under RUSA (Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan). We always lack the money to do as much as we want to. We have also been turning to private sponsors and funding, not on very large scale but to some extent many of our seminars are funded by other bodies. The bulk is still government funding. Does NAAC accreditation enable college in its funding? Sushma Sahai: The fact that we were one of the first colleges that went in for NAAC accreditation in Eastern India, speaks volumes about our academic excellence but also on our affinity for holistic learning. Besides, we are also considered under CPE (Collge of Potential Excellence) which is granted by the UGC. Accreditation involves academics, environmental consciousness, the infrastructure being offered and other
amenities in place. Since 2006, the college has received grants from the UGC for both recurring and non-recurring expenditures that have gone a long way in improving our public perception that we are a CPE college. What are the admission criteria? Sr. Christine Coutinho: We offer B A / B Sc (Hons.) and B A / B Sc general degree courses. For our Hons. Course, we ask for higher percentage especially for our Psychology department as the demand is way higher for this stream. We are the best college so far for Psychology because we have good teachers. For our general category students, the minimum requirement is 50% in grade XII or equivalent. In fact, around 65-75% Intercollege debate in progress at Loreto College
“students need to reflect; especially girls need to take informed decisions. Very often they make mistakes and some of the mistakes are irreversible. Through value education classes, I teach them dignity and that they are precious and that their education is their dowry and men cannot bully them” — Sr. Christine Coutinho, Principal, Loreto College of Psychology incumbents from University of Calcutta are from Loreto College. What is the teacher-student ratio? Sr. Christine Coutinho: The teacher student ratio is around 1:16 overall for the college. We don’t have big departments; we have one unit for each of the departments in Science, Psychology and Geography. Economics comes under our Science stream which would have around 30 students.
Philanthropic Bend What is the significance of the women’s cell in the college? Sr. Christine Coutinho: These are women who are in their late 20s or early 30s. All of them are first-generation learners and primarily come from the minority Muslim community. They are all in different stages of learning and so study in batches of 5 to 15 in a class. They follow the National Institute of Open Schooling system (NIOS) in Std 10th, because they come to us at a stage where they might have finished Std 6th or 7th. Our task is to bring them to comply with Std 8th. It is with the help of our retired teachers that they complete Std 10th and finish off Std 12th. They are incapable of paying their fees during their examination. Their books, fees and the entire programme are funded by the college. We have fixed deposits made for the women’s cell;
You seem to be a ‘Green’ campus? Sr. Christine Coutinho: The college plans on putting up a rain water harvesting system. We have started with a vermin composting pit which is ready and plan is to make it a waste free campus.
should there be any money generated through our open-day charity programmes; the entire proceeds go to fund the Women’s Cell. The college pays the students fees from its coffers. We don’t have much by way of fixed deposits but we would rather do it for these women, who we see growing in their respective lives. Running this cell is voluntarily done by the teachers. It takes these women 4 to 5 years to finish Std 10th but teachers are patient with them. Some move on to pursue Bachelors in Education (B Ed) or TTC at the primary level, while others graduate and work in offices. It is such a joy for us, especially when they perform for Teacher’s Day. The confidence of these women can be attributed to the efforts of the women’s cell teachers who have trained them to conduct a show or presentation by themselves. Besides the women’s cell, do you have any other outreach programmes? Sr. Christine Coutinho: Our students compulsorily have to render 12 hours of social service before they graduate. The third and final year students have to write the impact of the service that they have done within the community. They are free to go to any NGO or homes for the aged, children in distress, and women in distress. Many go to Shishu Bhavan or Rainbow homes. Many such orgnisations also approach Loreto for help and service.
Your advice to the young generation. Sr. Christine Coutinho: They need to reflect; especially girls need to take informed decisions. Very often they make mistakes and some of the mistakes are irreversible. Through value education classes, I teach them dignity and that they are precious and that their education is their dowry and men cannot bully them. Intuition is never old-fashioned and it will prevent them from many dangers in life; so rely upon your intuition. You have to multitask and juggle commitments. sangeetagd2010@gmail.com
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Gender diversity mismatch in Indian companies A BCG survey showed that of companies promoting diversity, have benefitted by only 29%. Women’s representation in Indian firms stands at around 27% of the country’s total workforce, as against 38% globally. Women account for 17% of senior management positions in India, compared to 26% in emerging Asia-Pacific countries; in the BSE 500 companies, only 3% of CEOs are women.
January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 37
Interview
“You need to understand that unless we mess up on governance, nothing can stop the rise of India. If you have bad governance then you’ll have to pay for it. About 2,000 years back, India and China accounted for 50% of the world’s GDP. Then, there was an aberration for 200 years; now the top three out of four economies belong to Asia. India and China are all set towards having more than 50% of the world’s GDP. So happy days will be here again”
Pics Yusuf Khan
38 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
Good Governance is the Key Scholar, analyst, academician, administrator, manager, a bureaucrat and even a politcian. Architect of the Gujarat’s industrial policy even before liberalisation became a fashionable term. Foremost a water expert, he’s accredited with the implementation of the Sardar Sarovar project. That’s Jay Narayan Vyas, a man of many parts. Corporate Citizen spoke to Vyas when he recently received the Jal Mitra award for his stellar work in water management. He speaks here on the general scenario of the Indian economy and the water crisis
a long and effective contribution as a bureaucrat in the State’s Industry department followed by a political career spanning more than 20 years.
From an IIT engineer, how did you turn to politics?
By Vinita Deshmukh ay Narayan Vyas is a politician, scholar, analyst, academician, administrator, manager and a public life functionary from Gujarat. He was the Cabinet Minister for Gujarat’s Health & Family Welfare department from 2007 to 2012. A graduate in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B), he is also a post-graduate in Marketing Management and Law. Vyas has teamed up with Bakul Dholakia, former director of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, and Mukesh Patel, an eminent tax expert, scholar and columnist, for an annual post-budget discussion. The session conducted by the trio has been happening over the past three decades and attracts a huge participation from people in trade, industry, commerce, academics and the bureaucracy. Vyas is a water management expert. He headed the Sardar Sarovar Dam project and was responsible for its implementation. It was one of the largest multipurpose water management projects in India. He subsequently guided the implementation of this project as Minister-in- charge of Sardar Sarovar and other major irrigation projects. He has had
Jay Narayan Vyas: It was a slow transformation. After I graduated from IIT, I taught for two years in an engineering college in Vadodara and then switched over to government engineering Services. After which, it was a lateral entry into the State Industry Administration. I became the first non-IAS chief of the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC). That was in April 1975. That was the real turning point, as even if had I been an IAS officer, I wouldn’t have progressed so far, so fast in the state service. Three years later, I was posted as Managing Director of the Industrial Exchange Bureau which was equal to the rank of secretary. I held that position for a good 12 years. This gave me an opportunity from 1975 onwards, to work with all the chief ministers directly. Modi was nowhere in the picture at that time. He became active from 1985 onwards. When I was in the government, none of these forerunners today had entered politics. One day I thought I should hang up my boots. It was stupidity, but no, I am not repenting. But before I left, I wrote industrial policies for almost 15 years. When Gujarat was formed, it was the 8th industrial state in the country. By the time I left it was at the first position and I’m happy to say that I played a vital part in that success.
Please elaborate your role in making Gujarat No.1 in industry…
That was the time of a tightly licensed industrial raj. There was a spineless organisation called the Director General of Technical Development (DGTD) which used to ration the production of
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Interview various industries. It would severely limit production capacities of cement industries and so on. There was also a draconian law called the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA). So, to counter these, I founded this organisation called the Industrial Extension Bureau in 1984. It became the model of industrial promotion in the country. The first thing I offered was the single-bank conceptualisation and the single window concept. I also introduced the concept of inviting investors to the state instead of doing the reverse. Lalit Mansingh was the Ambassador to the UAE at that time. So, he organised a delegation of 30 probable investors from Dubai and they landed in Mumbai. From there I took them to Gujarat’s major industrial locations like Umbergaon and Vapi. And ultimately brought them to Ahmedabad for a meeting with the chief minister. The Reserve Bank of India later sent me a notice, stating that I had violated Section 8 of the Act, questioning me on expenses on the transportation, food, travel and passports of the invitees. I convinced the central government that we need to change this attitude, else forget about foreign investors. They agreed. Subsequently, I was a part of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) committee which directs on how NRIs can invest in India. Finally, the change of heart in terms of a liberalised economy happened during Rajiv Gandhi’s time and was perfected during Manmohan Singh’s tenure as Finance Minister under Prime Minister Narasimha Rao.
What is your vision of the GST?
Basically, the idea of one country, one tax, is good. The taste of the pudding lies in its implementation, though. Nobody would say the idea is bad. It will add to the GDP by at least 2%. Any new policy is initially resisted. You are accustomed to a certain system and the administration is also new to it. There are many doubts and queries in the minds of stakeholders. The remedy lies in settling them down. The government also should have an open mind, willingness to walk that extra mile and come to some compromise. Stakeholders should not have any wrong apprehension. The government has promised that it will compensate all the stakeholders for the next five years, which, according to me, would be a big loss to it. They say industry will take care of that aspect but these are all assumptions. Friction is the greatest destroyer of energy. But then without friction, you and I can’t walk. There will be some anxiety in the beginning but ultimately it will settle down.
What kind of anxiety?
The first thing is processional anxiety. Traders have been protesting because this will create
problems for them. Because nobody wants anything that makes them answerable to the officers or open their dealings to government scrutiny. On the other hand, if there are genuine mistakes, the government should rectify. The government cannot afford to overlook the stakeholders. There will be a solution. These are all initial reactions.
What do you think about farmers’ tax waivers?
The malaise goes far deeper. Nobody has understood this problem correctly. This is what I humbly believe as an analyst. If waiving the debts of farmers helps in overcoming the problem, then I am all for it. However, this will not end it. Basically, you have to accept the fact that these are not caste agitations like the Patidars, Jats or Gujjars. These are the agitations of the farmer who is increasingly finding agriculture a non-remunerative business. There are a few reasons for the same: ● Agro input costs are high. If you read Swaminathan’s inputs, they are very interesting. Somebody asked him can we recreate the second green revolution? He said no, it has turned into a great revolution. ● The farmer is a producer but has no control over two vital things—when to sell and at what price. I would want the farmer, not to just sell, but to have the capacity to defer the sale, so that he can get the optimum price for it. Like the milk business today, where the white revolution has been the ideal model. Earlier, people in Central Gujarat were throwing away the milk because there was no buyer. Then the white revolution made the milk producer the boss. Because he became the processor, he became the seller. And now he’s become the vital link in the food processing chain. When this happens for farmers, they won’t cry. ● Most dangerous and important is the fragmentation of agriculture. The size of the individual agricultural land which was 4.5 hectare when we wrote our first Five-Year Plan in 1951 has been reduced to 1.5 hectare which is about 3000 sq. ft. In the process, the country is losing because fragmentation is resulting in 45% of the yield being wasted. Secondly, such small farm lands are economically unviable. Because of that 99.9% of farmers have converted into marginal entrepreneurs and increas-
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ingly they are pushed below the poverty line. So why would they do farming? Even if debts are waived, it’s not viable. Debt is a very temporary solution. For that you’ll have to corporatise agriculture without the farmers losing their land title. This is the first thing to be done.
Have you given any inputs to the government?
I have written to the PM on this issue. I am sure it’s been attended. But if a person like Dr Swaminathan is frustrated, then what should I say about this country?
Do you blame the bureaucracy?
It’s a vicious circle. In any country bureaucracy is very important. The main problem is that the present agricultural institutions are not top -grade. You'll have to think about high-tech agriculture.
Your views on the service industry segment suffering losses…
It will not decline. It’s temporary. The compo-
sition of the GDP has changed. Earlier, it was 50% industry - 50% agriculture. Today it is more or less 18% agriculture, 22 % industry and 60% service. This 60% will slowly move up to 80%.
What about the Trump effect?
You need to understand that unless we mess up on governance, nothing can stop the rise of India. If you have bad governance then you’ll have to pay for it. About 2,000 years back, India and China
haunt India. We provided more than 5,000 cubic metre water per person per year when we wrote our First Five-Year Plan. Today, it has reduced to less than 1,200 cubic metre per person per year. And there is acute disparity in the distribution of water — 2/3rd of the water is supplied to 1/3rd of the population. This is a cause of concern as it will lead to water wars.
What’s the positive side of the Modi government?
The positive side is that laws which the earlier
“There was also a draconian law called the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA). I founded this organisation called the Industrial Extension Bureau in 1984. It became the model of industrial promotion in the country. The first thing I offered was the single-bank conceptualisation and the single window concept. I also introduced the concept of inviting investors to the state instead of doing the reverse” accounted for 50% of the world’s GDP. Then, there was an aberration for 200 years; now the top three out of four economies belong to Asia. India and China are all set towards having more than 50% of the world’s GDP. So happy days will be here again. In 1977, George Fernandes came up with an idea that any foreign country that wants to do business in India should bring down equity to below 40%. Coca-Cola and IBM left. Why did they come back? Because now, only in India there’s retail aplenty. India is the largest free market in the world. And the size of the middle class is only growing. So India can rule the world in the near future, provided it takes care of the following issues: 1. Governance: The way governance exists today, politicians are losing their credibility. This is a major problem. 2. Youth: This demographic dividend can be a demographic disaster because of two reasons. You’ll not have the jobs to keep them busy. You need to go back to the time when you respected labour. Today, the carpenter’s kid does not want to become a carpenter though he earns a good `1,500 a day. Today employability of youth immediately after college is hardly 20%—you need to re-teach the remaining 80%. In any case, automation itself requires retraining. The type of employment will change but you need to be ready for such things. Are we? 3. Resources: Water and food security will
In a democracy, the success of the government depends on how much an individual contributes to it. If you keep your surroundings clean, the whole country will look clean. People will change slowly. That doesn’t mean you stop doing it. A good beginning has been made. Unclean water will create havoc. It’s scary. 70% of deaths in the last two years were due to water borne diseases.
What is your advice to citizens for investing their money?
It is not a very good idea to keep your money in fixed deposits as fixed-time investments are going to be less and less remunerative. We are living in a declining-interest regime. So if you can’t be competent to deal with the stock exchange then go for other instruments that are available, like mutual funds. I’ll always insist that we should invest 20% of your savings in gold. It will not let you down. For the rest 80%, keep 50% in SIP and 30% for short-time investment.
You’ve written a number of books. When do you get time to write?
administration was not able to pass, have been passed, like the Land Acquisition Act or GST. There is no policy paralysis. However, we need to see how effective the implementation is.
What can an individual do to overcome the water crisis?
Your views on the Swachh Bharat Mission…
We need to understand that wherever there is misuse of water, it must stop. If we keep the tap running while brushing, 5-10 litres of water gets wasted. While using your face wash, you could be wasting somewhere between 8-15 litres of water. Don’t leave the tap on while shaving, instead use a tumbler. You’ll save around 10 litres of water. When I was the Water Resource minister, I had taken a bold step of restricting water supply in Ahmedabad and diverted that excess water to 4,000 villages who were drinking chloride-contaminated water. I gave them a source, now they are blessing me. But that day, people threw stones at my house. Most of the water, almost 80% is used by agriculture. But when it comes to saving water, we who use 20% need to take the step. Industry cannot use a lot of water. They have started going in for waste water circulation within their premises. Farmers should understand that even they cause wastage of water. The ground needs moisture but it need not be flooded with water. But unfortunately political parties encourage such wastage to lure voters. So they do not take a harsh stance against any potential or consolidated vote bank.
Whenever I get time, I keep writing. My next book is on a very different topic, about friendships in the epic, Mahabharata. You know about the war, but if there wasn’t friendship in it, it wouldn't have happened. There are many friendships in the Mahabharata—Draupadi and Droncharya, Krishna and Sudama, Krishna and Kunti, Karan and Duryodhana, to give a few examples. The book will be in Gujarati.
What is the philosophy of life that you live by? Enjoy your life.
vinitapune@gmail.com
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Indian teenagers strong on smoking behaviour Over 50% of teenagers in India smoke cigarettes because they believe it helps reduce stress and that it makes them appear “cool” among their peers. A survey showed that over 52% teenagers believed that smoking helps increase concentration levels. While nearly 90% of teenagers said they would continue smoking if there is no resistance from their parents. Over 80% of them noted that it is okay to experiment with smoking at least once.
January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 41
Corporate Trend
Beat the Competition at Work
Is startup job the best bet?
Doubts abound with freshers considering to start a career in a startup, whether it will be good for their future prospects. Startups recently have become a platform for great success stories in India with sound backing of investment, technology, leadership and market. Is working with a startup the best bet to start your career? By Rajesh Rao
W
ith India fast transitioning to a startup environment and as entrepreneurial success stories abound— young aspiring graduates are inspired to join the startup bandwagon, for better opportunities and growth, even if it involves taking risk in volatile territory. Does it make sense to bet on working with a startups to start your career?
Finding a startup job Startup founders are always on the look-out for people with entrepreneurial passion and if you have that you are a sure choice. Connecting and social networking with people who are already involved with a startup, is the best way to find job opportunities in startup companies. Then there are startup community events and meetings, where you can find busy startup founders and coworkers.
42 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
Understand the startup work culture Know the startup work culture, before you move into the job, these are small and fast-growing companies with minimum HR process. You have to make your own good spot and be in tandem with what the company demands. You have to review if the startup ecosystem will cultivate your career dreams. Be ready for multiple roles-multitasking Understand that you are not in a conventional setup; work environment at startups is fastpaced and everyone is expected to play multiple roles and be ready for multitasking. You will get no warm-up period as you are in a volatile zone that demands agility, flexibility, risk -taking abilities—if you have them, then only take a leap. Hone your skill sets Don’t look at startup as a place for a lifetime employment, but take it if you want to prune your existing skills and be competent. Your role and title do not matter here, what is important is what you can do for the company. So, the best thing to do is to optimise your stint for learning and networking. Turbulent but full of opportunities Working at startups is like take-a-chance decision, but you can get lucky big time, if the startup sets in to grow with a marketfit product and increasing customer base. Startups are turbulent but full of opportunities. rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com
Campus Placement
Have the right attitude
to be successful After completing her MBA in Marketing and Finance from a renowned business college in Pune, Vatsala Mandar, from Sikar, Rajasthan, is placed at Liberty Videocon General Insurance, in Pune, as a Relationship Manager By Vineet Kapshikar
M
eet Vatsala Mandar, one of the pass-outs from a wellknown management institute from Pune who made it big by getting placed through campus placement at Liberty Videocon General Insurance, which is a joint venture between multinational groups Liberty Mutual and Videocon Industries. Vatsala’s parents played a huge role in her campus placement process and her institution groomed her and successfully made her a part of the corporate world. It was a tough journey for this girl from Rajasthan who had to leave her family and stay all alone in Pune. Attending conferences and meeting people from the corporate world moulded her to face the competitive and challenging corporate world.
Early life…
Vatsala was born in Sikar, Rajasthan. Her father is a doctor in Sikar and her mother is a homemaker. She spent her early childhood in Sikar. Vatsala is like any other simple girl. “I did my entire schooling from St. Mary’s School, Sikar, Rajasthan. I was an average, hesitant child who did not like going to school and talking to new people. Although, Step by Step Public School taught me how to be social and how to talk to new people without being hesitant”, she adds. She completed her graduation in Commerce from Rajasthan University. After graduation, under her brother’s guidance she opted to do her masters from one of the best management colleges in Pune, even though it meant that she had to stay away from her family. She did her specialisation in marketing and finance. “I chose to be in marketing and finance sector because this field offers long-term opportunities with many diversifications. The ad44 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
“
The two-year journey of my MBA was a holistic learning experience. I never thought that rules and regulations would groom and nurture me in a person who would be capable of facing problems and turning them into opportunities vantage of being in marketing field is, one gets wonderful opportunities to connect and interact with many successful and inspirational corporate leaders and learn from their hard work and experience. Their teachings will always be useful in my corporate career,” she adds.
Placement experience…
“I joined Liberty Videocon General Insurance Pvt. Ltd. I give credit to my college, which has played a vital role in developing my personality and preparing me for the corporate world. My college regularly motivated and helped me in preparation for interviews for the placement”, she says. “The company that visited our college for the campus interview, i.e. Liberty Videocon General Insurance, took two rounds of group discussion, a psychometric test, and two rounds of interview—firstly a creative introduction round, followed by the final interview round with the Marketing Head. Like every other student who had come for the interview, I too had butterflies in my stomach before the final interview but I recalled my mother’s teaching to be positive and confident in every situation of life, so I went for the interview with an optimistic mind and I answered the questions with confidence. Questions were mainly based on subject knowledge and interpersonal skills. The interviewer checked on many aspects including personality, patience, aptitude and analytical skills. And I am happy to say that my dear old mother’s magic, her last-minute advice, worked, I cleared the final round and was placed on 21st December 2016,” she says.
On her success story…
“It is always a wonderful feeling to see your
Vatsala with friends
friends being placed and commencing their corporate journey. I also felt happy in their successful placement and enjoyed with them but at the same time, one might get under a peer pressure for one’s own placement. I give credit to my college, which helped me in every aspect of my life and treated me equally. My parents have always supported me and they were always there to help me. They have taught me how to stay positive and motivated me whenever I faced difficulties”, says Vatsala.
“When it feels like we are living a mechanical life, which loops in the same pattern repeatedly, but actually, it is not the case. For example, it is impossible to take the same breath twice or standing in the same stream of river twice. One has to move forward. When we are standing in darkness and we are unable to see any further, the first step which we take is the one which guides us. It is same about life,” Vatsala adds.
On her college journey…
Be confident and have positive mind with right attitude Be yourself and be an opportunist Never hesitate in asking for help from colleagues. They might give the best last-minute advice Don’t give up, believe in yourself Keep setting yourself for new challenges vineetkapshikar@gmail.com
“The two-year journey of my MBA was a holistic learning experience. I never thought that rules and regulations would groom and nurture me in a person who would be capable of facing problems, and turning them into opportunities. In the first year of MBA I learnt many things, which I would not have learnt in any other B-school. Those learnings made me more confident about myself. Struggle remains the part and parcel of my campus placement. Knowledge is an asset that will always remain with me wherever I go in life—knowledge never goes waste. Even after all ups and downs, I stayed calm and was working in order to improve myself because ‘an arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward. So when life is dragging you back with struggles, it means that it is going to launch you into something great’. I always kept myself motivated, kept a positive approach and that’s how should one survive the tough times,” she adds.
Life is all about...
For her, life is all about having an idea, developing it, and taking it further, to accomplish the goal.
Advice for juniors...
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Indians and India score gastronomically About 60% of Indians intend to plan a gastronomic getaway in 2018. Goa (49%), Kerala (35%) and Lucknow (33%) were the top places that Indians would visit for their cuisine. The 2017 India Gastronomic Survey marks the importance of food on holiday and that Indians are set to become even more thoughtful about their food experiences when travelling.
January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 45
Loved & Married too
It is not often these days that a college romance fructifies into a wedlock. Corporate Citizen unlocks the story of love that has culminated into marriage, for we believe in the stability of a relationship and family unit. We bring to you real-life romances that got sealed in marriage
From sparks flying to love sparking F From friction at work, to best buddies, partners at work, and partners for life— Saket Khanna and Neeta Valecha’s love story reads straight out of a Karan Johar script! Directors at startup MealTango, one meeting was all it took to change perceptions, and led to marriage and a life together… By Shehnaz Chawla
46 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
rom sparks flying and friction at work, to best buddies, partners at work, and partners for life—Saket and Neeta’s life story reads straight out of a Karan Johar script! Except, there was no drama, just good old-fashioned karma, and lots of love. Meet Neeta Valecha and Saket Khanna—both directors at their own startup, called MealTango—a home-food startup that has received recognition from master chef judges and global press alike, as well as gained attention from home chefs in 14 countries. As CEO and founder of MealTango, Saket Khanna is a versatile professional who understands the challenges of building a business. He has consulted across the US, and worked with a London-based startup. Saket is an engineer from the University of Pune (VIT College) and further graduated with a full-time MBA from the University of Oxford, with a specialisation in Entrepreneurship. His better half, Neeta Valecha, is a director and advisor in the company, MealTango. Neeta is certified in Design Thinking from Stanford University, from where she did a distance programme. She too is a qualified engineer, and completed her engineering from the Bhopal University (Hitkarini College). They both started their careers in technology. Saket started working in 2003 at Infosys, and had the opportunity to consult with Bank of America, New York City and Capital One Bank, Richmond, Virginia—both Fortune 500 companies
in. Post his MBA, he also worked with a London-based startup. Same company, different locations Technically it was love at first sight, but if you read their cute love story, there was no love when they first interacted with each other. The sparks did fly, but of a different kind. They did not see eye to eye, literally, at work. This techie couple first spoke when they were working for Infosys. Saket and Neeta used to work together at Infosys, where they were part of the same team— him in the USA, and Neeta, a lone team member operating out of Monterrey, Mexico. Sitting at two different locations, the workplace sort of brought them together but also drifted them apart. Neeta reported to Saket. At that time, there were so many infrastructure issues, and somehow the two just did not get along! In fact, Neeta quit the company and returned to India, and she had a feeling it had something to do with Saket. Which of course still bothers Saket! A couple of years later, when Saket was leaving for his MBA in Oxford, he came to India for a twoweek break. Their old work team decided to have a get together, and Neeta reluctantly agreed to join. Some of the team members had to coax her—‘Saket’s not such a bad guy... come on over to the party’. Not so god-awful after all! As per the logistical arrangements, Saket had to pick up Neeta from E-Square, on University Road, in Pune. He had an inkling that Neeta may not particularly like him too much, given their professional past. Anyhow, when he stopped the car to pick up Neeta, she hopped in, he saw her through the rearview mirror, she saw him and something clicked! Saket thinks that they realised they weren’t such god-awful people after all, and before they knew it, they wanted to get married to each other! Based at two different foreign locations, Saket and Neeta had not much cared for each other. However, as it turned out, one meeting in India and they were in love! William Shakespeare so profoundly wrote ‘The course of true love never did run smooth.’ True love always encounters difficulties. However Saket and Neeta did not encounter that many difficulties and they have their siblings to thank! They are not of the same caste. He is a Khatri and she is Sindhi. As expected, some family members had their concerns. But times are a-changing today, aren’t they? Neeta’s two older brothers had already had intercaste marriages, and Saket’s
As husband and wife, it is easy to figure out when the other person is pulled down by something. So I would say it’s genuinely difficult to keep professional work out of our personal lives. But we have some rules that we go by—for example, we try to keep one day in the week completely free of work —Saket
parents belong to different castes too. So, although there were objections from distant family members, they were able to quell them. As soon as they got the green light, they decided not to offer the relatives any further opportunity to influence their family members—and they went ahead and tied the knot. Things moved superfast after they met for the first time in India. They started dating when Saket joined the MBA programme in September 2011. They were engaged in January 2012, and married in April 2012. Yes, it was that fast!! Neeta loves how Saket is always very positive and Saket and Neeta were married in the tradiis able to communicate when things are tough. tional Indian wedding style—yep, the big fat His amazing communication skills and his emIndian wedding! They were married in Jabalpur, pathetic and optimistic nature is what keeps her Madhya Pradesh—at Neegoing. ta’s hometown. The wedding Their five-year-old marrituals went on till the wee riage has been like an excithours of the next morning. ing merry-go-round. The Saket still gets embarrassed on startup running in parallel seeing the wedding videos — demands all their time and because he looks so sleepy by attention and has been like • Attraction the end of it! Shortly after the a child for them. Add to the Of course, this is an marriage they went on a honmix, they also have two cats. important part of every eymoon to Harihareshwar in Yes, they both love cats! Saket intimate relationship. This Maharashtra. Thereafter Neefeels that their relationship can go up and down over ta joined Saket in London and has gotten only better over time, but should not be they toured Scotland. People the years. One important undervalued. told them that they should skill that they learnt was how • Communication have said that they had their to communicate and underThe little things can turn honeymoon in Scotland—but stand each other when they into big things, unless for them the honeymoon will do not see eye to eye. “But we are comfortable to always be their simple holiwe are also best buddies!” he discuss even the little day in Harihareshwar. That quickly adds. Their way to niggles in life. So it’s very is Saket and Neeta for you— resolve fights and arguments important to be able to a simple and honest couple is very interesting and they communicate, especially with no frills. believe that as a rule, it’s not when we don’t see eye to After marriage, Saket went about who’s right, but what’s eye on a topic. back to the UK, to complete right for both of them. Cer• Understanding his studies and Neeta worked tainly there are times they You aren’t married to in Hinjewadi, Pune staying don’t see eye to eye. But a clone. So when you across town with his parents, whenever there is a differdon’t see eye to eye, it’s in Magarpatta city, Pune. ence in opinion, they find it incredibly important to try While Neeta is vivacious, useful to be curious—why and understand the other’s adventurous, supportive, fidoes the other person feel perspective. nancially astute and enjoys the way they do? Why do • Respect pampering Saket, Saket is they think their approach is No relationship can be more laid back. Neeta loves the way to go. The best part built without trust and to take on a lot of projects is, “you quickly realise that respect for each other and tries to wrap it up as of both are trying to do what’s • Forgiveness yesterday! On the plus side, best for us—so there’s comWe all make mistakes that means she’s always getmon ground already. It is just sometimes. Look at the ting a lot done. On vacation a matter of discussing which big picture, learn from our he loves to chill, while Neeta way makes best sense and mistakes, and move on. loves going all over the place. what's important to each of
Saket and Neeta’s 5 Pillars of Marriage
January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 47
work out of our personal lives. But we have some rules that we go by—for example, we try to keep one day in the week completely free of work. We do ‘digital detoxes’ with no WhatsApp and no work discussion. But it’s a challenge when you run your own business,” says Saket. Family bonding Saket loves to go for a vacation to Neeta’s parents place in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. “Her parents pamper me no end. We enjoy going on vacations, and spending time together. We are a tea-time family (though everyone fiercely enjoys their own type of tea), so we like to hang out over a hot cup.” Saket’s parents stay in the same building but in different apartments. “The fact that we stay in separate apartments in the same building gives us the space as well as the closeness with family.” Adds Neeta, “Saket's parents give us the space we need, and are there whenever we need advice. So it works out quite well, actually.”
us,” feels Neeta. Neeta also feels she used to be quite defensive earlier. “But over time I learnt that it’s okay to be at fault or consider the other’s opinion with an open mind.” Quality time with each other • We love to watch TV shows. Some of our favourites being ‘low stress’ shows like Scorpion and Entourage. But we also dig shows like Homeland. • We love to travel—even to a nearby ashram. Otherwise beaches are Neeta’s favourite. Anytime Goa is mentioned, she can hear it from miles away. • Read - It’s tough to keep up with this habit with so many distractions. But we both enjoy a good book. • Enjoy the balcony view and chat - Always good to catch up on the goings on, what we’re thinking, our dreams, aspirations, fears and challenges.
Throw in a cup of tea, and it’s even better. • Exercise - We enjoy exercising together. Long walks, cycling expeditions and swimming. Haven’t gotten into running yet, though it could be our next challenge. Partners at work and in life So how do they manage to keep the professional personal life balance, given the fact they work together in the same company? Neeta is a Director and Advisor at MealTango, and advises in several areas like social media, operations, customer success and more. Saket is a Director and Chief Executive at the young food company. Saket looks after finance, technology and marketing. “I won’t say we’re too strong here! As husband and wife, it is easy to figure out when the other person is pulled down by something. So I would say it’s genuinely difficult to keep professional
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What advice would you give to younger couples? • Communicate as much as you can. Respect each other. Don’t run away from topics you don’t see eye to eye on. It’s okay to be wrong— this is not a ‘who’s right more’ competition. • It’s always good to understand where the other person is coming from. • Never laugh off a matter as trivial or stupid —it’s always good to be an open listener. Never raise your voice at the other. Be willing to listen to the other person’s thoughts and feelings without judgment. Sometimes it is difficult to communicate what is in the heart, and sometimes it can be difficult to understand too. • If things get heated, a good discussion once tempers cool and you are willing to listen to another side is always good. shehnazchawla@gmail.com
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Ransomware alerts Indian companies Laws in India are inadequate to address issues related to cybercrime prevention, detection and investigation, according to KPMG’s India’s Cybercrime Survey Report. 69% of organisations believe that ransomware is a significant risk to them, and that 43% had experienced some form of attacks in the past one year. With 3% of the organisations reporting on cyber incidents; 40% of end-users feel that crosscountry jurisdictions act as a hindrance in lodging a complaint with cyber cells.
Claps & Slaps Corporate Citizen claps for district collector Dr Poma Tudu, who scaled a 4-km hostile stretch to meet the people of a nondescript village, Samatapadar on the hilly terrains of Nuapada in Odisha It’s not an easy feat even for the tribals, the 73-odd families who reside and have to travel over 90 km to reach their district headquarters to avail of government services. The area is understood to be infamous for its human-animal conflict and alleged alley for naxal activities. But, the gritty IAS officer, Dr Poma Tudu, trekked the terrain for around two and a half hours as she left her vehicle at the foothills. It shows that the district collector has taken CM Naveen Patnaik’s instructions in its true essence that is ‘all senior bureaucrats to spend more time at the district and grassroots level instead in the Secretariat building.’ A similar attempt was made by Sub Collector Saroj in 1992 but the effort did not materialise into actionable goals. In 2012, the then District Collector Jaya Kumar V had visited the village but no developmental programmes have been initiated since. The village of Samatapadar lacks road connectivity, electricity, or a government-run social welfare measures. So, Dr Tudu’s visit came as a surprise as she descended on the quiet hamlet to discuss welfare schemes on food security, children’s education, vaccination programmes, jobs under MNREGA programme, etc. She was accompanied by District Project Director Brushabh Chandra Nayak and they conveyed their mission to provide a road map to this village. According to Dr Tudu, “Samatapadar is one of the zeroconnectivity villages of Nuapada. The 4-km stretch will require cutting of the ghats and we have already taken up this issue. Funds have been allocated and we have started talks with the forest officials as it is in the forest area. We also reviewed the social security schemes there and have old-age pension, widow allowance, disability pension, whether they have been covered under the national food security system and found that some were still to avail these facilities. So they are now in the priority list.” The Collector is said to have conducted an integrated VHND (Village Health and Nutrition Day) session there and they are planning for a health camp soon. The ‘nirman shramiks’ will be registered to avail the benefits under the labour department scheme. The livelihood activities of the villagers were also reviewed. She is also looking at conducting medical camps in a proposed community hall where villagers could also watch television. Electricity accessibility might take time; hence the Collector is planning to provide at least one solar bulb to each family. While it’s a wait and watch situation, the villagers are full of praise for the lady as they look forward to the basic amenities promised.
Corporate Citizen slaps all forms of corporal punishment meted out to students and young adults Despite the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) stipulating guidelines for eliminating corporal punishment from schools, the most recent episode in Kolhapur where a Std VIII girl student was punished with 500 sit-ups by the principal for not completing a Hindi project, is yet another wake-up call when nurturing the next generation. In this case, the girl underwent treatment at Mumbai’s KEM Hospital as the tremors in her legs continued unabated and swelling in her vertebra had not reduced. Recently, four school girls of Std XI from Vellore, Tamil Nadu (TN) jumped into a well at Panapakkam for being punished for ‘bad behaviour’ and were told to bring their parents to school. It was stated that the students were forced to hold their hands up in the air for over two hours as the teachers hurled abuse at them, calling them dogs, buffaloes and “worse than Mumbai dons”. After school hours, 11 of the students were made to take a special class and told to bring their parents the next day. While the entire class had allegedly been made to stand outside the classroom and scolded, it was these four girls who felt emotionally ‘pressurised’ to take the fatal step. Reacting to the TN situation, activists said that the alleged treatment of students at the Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Panapakkam, could be classified as corporal punishment, banned by law. In a 2007 study, ‘Child Abuse in India’, found that “psychological aggression, or an attempt to cause a child to experience psychological pain to control or correct their behaviour, was often more pervasive than physical punishment in the country.” On the flip side, and in the wake of the ‘Panapakkam suicides’, child rights expert K. Shanmugavelayutham said he had been receiving messages from various teachers’ unions expressing fear and confusion about dealing with students. “For so long, teachers have used only corporal punishment while handling students,” he said. “At the village and town level, they are not trained in enforcing discipline in the classroom.” The Right to Education Act puts the onus on the school management committees to deal with corporal punishment, which is said to be mandatory only up to Std VIII. According to Shantha Sinha, former head of NCPCR, “In such instances where these school managements are functional, the instances of corporal punishment have come down.” It’s time that strictures be formalised for both teachers and students to when ‘not to cross the lines’! (Compiled by Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar) January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 49
Survey
The E-tailing Leadership
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Index
The e-commerce market in India has exploded, and it is showing no signs of slowing down. India has the second largest user base in the world and its appetite for online shopping is growing exponentially. In order to understand the Indian customer’s preference in the e-commerce sector, management consultancy RedSeer has prepared the E-tailing Leadership Index for India. Corporate Citizen brings you the results Compiled by Neeraj Varty The Current Scenario in the e-commerce Market The e-commerce in industry in India is growing at a tremendous pace. It was worth about $3.9 billion in 2009 and is on its way to cross $188 billion by 2025. According to a study done by Indian Institute of eCommerce, by 2020 India is expected to generate $100 billion online retail revenue out of which $35 billion will be through fashion e-commerce. Online apparel sales are set to grow four times in coming years. India has an internet user base of about 450 million as of July 2017, 40% of the population, which is expected to go up to 70% by 2020. This makes e-commerce the sector with perhaps the largest potential to grow in the coming years. The Indian e-commerce industry contains a handful of well-funded players. eBay was one of the first to enter the Indian market, but unfortunately it is not doing well now. Flipkart, based in Bengaluru, was the first true breakout player in the market, and it took India by storm by introducing Cash on Delivery, an option to pay using cash when the item is delivered to the customer. Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce company, entered India rather late but has since made up for lost time by becoming going neck to neck with Flipkart. But where exactly do these players stand currently? Let’s find out using the ELI. January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 51
Survey What is the E-tailing Leadership Index (ELI)?
ELI is a comprehensive assessment of overall performance of e-tailers in customers’ mind. It is based on the three pillars, which are:
The number one criteria for evaluation in the ELI index is trust. Indian customers are as much more wary about online purchases and trust is of paramount importance. Value for money is the second criteria for evaluation. E-commerce websites are synonymous with excellent bargains and this has struck a chord with Indian customers. The last criteria is user experience, which is determined by the simplicity and ease of making purchases, along with options such as Cash on Delivery which makes buying a hassle-free experience.
Methodology Used
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Brand-Wise Performance Flipkart remains the most trusted brand in the Indian e-commerce market. However, Amazon scores the highest marks in providing a great user experience. Unfortunately eBay, which was the first to enter the Indian market amongst other surveyed competitors, scored the lowest in the list on all parameters.
Segment-wise Leaders When it comes to metros, Amazon and Flipkart are market leaders. It is interesting to note that for the higher end of the market, Amazon wins in all the tiers, while Flipkart scores in the lower end of the market.
neeraj.varty07@gmail.com January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 53
Health
Sugar-
sweetened beverages lead to
obesity The review published in the journal Obesity Facts, the journal of the Eurpoean Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) concludes that sugar-sweetened beverages are associated with obesity and countries that have not done anything to reduce the consumption of the so-called ‘empty calories’, like, for example India, should do so quickly before we have an ‘obese’ next gen
Analysis of new studies including 2,50,000 people confirm sugar-sweetened drinks are linked to overweight and obesity in children and adults. A new review of the latest evidence on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), which includes 30 new studies published between 2013 and 2015 (and none of them industry-sponsored)—concludes that SSB consumption is associated with overweight and obesity, and that countries that have not already done so should take action to reduce the consumption of the so-called ‘empty calories’ that these drinks contain. The review is published in the journal Obesity Facts, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO), and written by a team of authors including lead author Dr Maria Luger, Special Institute for Preventive Cardiology and Nutrition SIPCAN, Salzburg, Austria; EASO President Elect Dr Nathalie Farpour-Lambert (University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland) and Dr Maira Bes-Rastrollo, University of Navarra, Spain, and Carlos III Institute of Health, Spain. “The evidence base linking SSBs with obesity and overweight in children and adults has grown substantially in the past three years,” explains Dr Farpour-Lambert. “We were able to include 30 new studies not sponsored by the industry in this review, an average of 10 per year. This compares with a previous review that included 32 studies across the period 1990-2012.” She says, “This new, more recent evidence suggests that SSB consumption is positively associated with obesity in children. By combining the already published evidence with this new research, we conclude something that in many ways should already be obvious: public health policies should aim to reduce the consumption of SSBs and encourage healthy alternatives such as water. Yet to date, actions to reduce SSB consumption in many countries are limited or non-existent.” Of these 30 studies included, 20 were in children (17 54 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
prospective and three randomised controlled trials [RCTs]) and 10 were in adults (9 prospective and 1 RCT). Almost all (93%) of the 30 included studies in children and adults revealed a positive association between SSB consumption and overweight/obesity, while only one prospective cohort study in children showed no association. The one randomised controlled trial in adults demonstrated no effect of the intervention (replacing SSBs with water and education counselling versus education counselling only). While those adults receiving the intervention lost more weight, however the result was just outside statistical significance.
“There is no doubt that we can reduce the consumption and impact of SSBs, but we need both the political will and the cooperation of the beverages industry to achieve it” —Dr Farpour-Lambert A total of 2,44,651 study participants were included in this new systematic review. Regarding the geographical area of the studies included, 33% were done in Europe, 23% in the US, 17% in Middle or South America, 10% in Australia, 7% in South Africa, and the remaining 10% in Iran, Thailand and Japan.
Although the authors acknowledge it is near impossible to conclude with absolute certainty a direct cause-and-effect relationship between SSB consumption and overweight and obesity, Dr Farpour-Lambert says, “Associations between SSBs and body weight measures might be affected by other diet and lifestyle factors, but the majority of the prospective cohort studies adjusted for these possible confounding factors including several nutrition and lifestyle factors, and for all, except for one study, a positive association between SSB consumption and overweight/obesity was found. This suggests an independent effect of SSBs.” Dr Bes-Rastrollo says, “Numerous countries across the world have high levels of SSB consumption, and even those with low intakes are observing sharp increases. Therefore, the combined evidence published before and after 2013 confirming that SSBs have adverse effects on body weight gain or obesity in children and adults provides a rationale for urgent policy action.” The authors point to the success of higher taxes on SSBs in Mexico, where sales have fallen by 12%, most sharply in the poorest parts of the population (by 17%). Dr Bes-Rastrollo adds, “Various countries have now established and implemented approaches focusing on the reduction of SSB intake by limiting its availability, increasing market price, raising public awareness through education programmes via the media or at school, introducing tax policies, and improving labelling.” A report from Euromonitor International indicates that to date, 19 countries have so far introduced taxes on food and drinks and that more aim to do so in the near future with the target of reducing sugar consumption by 20% in accordance with the WHO guidelines. The UK is a country about to introduce a sugar tax, beginning in April 2018. The authors say new and innovative strategies are needed to reduce SSB consumption. Dr Farpour-Lambert says, “There is no doubt that we can reduce the consumption and impact of SSBs, but we need both the political will and the cooperation of the beverages industry to achieve it. One successful and feasible example of a gradual reduction strategy is the UK salt reduction programme: The food industry has gradually decreased the quantity of salt added to processed food over the past decade. In this programme, incremental salt reduction targets were set with a clear time frame for the food industry to reach them.” Dr Farpour-Lambert concludes, “Future research should focus on the following questions: How can we effectively reduce the consumption of SSBs in different populations? What is the impact of interventions on body weight or obesity in children and adults? What are the responsibilities of the food and beverages industry, policymakers, public health institutions, communities, schools, and individuals? Is a sugar tax feasible and effective for solid food, and what impact will it have?” “The balance between the responsibility of individuals, health advocates, and governments and society must be clarified. It is important to mobilise multiple stakeholders and to develop operational synergies across different sectors. Professional networks and the food and beverages industry must be encouraged to promote healthy diets in accordance with international standards.” (Source of the article: www.karger.com) January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 55
Pearls of Wisdom
By Sri Sri Ravishankar
Secret behind your cravings The
The repeated experience or association of a particular sense object makes you want it more. You think about it—and it creates a sensation of more wanting
T
he association of a particular sense object over and over again creates a sense of craving for it. If you are used to drinking coffee every morning, then even though you are not born with a coffee fervor, you have begun a habit within you that has created a craving. How did it all start? The habit of drinking coffee didn’t happen in one day! Addiction starts with a repeated experience of a particular object. It becomes a habit—and the nature of habit is that it does not give you joy. It gives pain. Therefore, drinking coffee will not
carry you to heaven but if you don’t have it, it can give you hell! The repeated experience or association of a particular sense object makes you want it more. You think about it—and it creates a sensation of more wanting. Wherever you put your attention in the nervous system, the craving for that begins. With association comes desire. And with desire comes anger. Whenever a person is angry, behind that anger is a desire. Whether fulfilled or unfulfilled, desire leads to anger. So you get angry with somebody. The next step is that you get attached. Now, whoever you
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are angry with, sooner or later you will regret. Regret brings more attachment. By regretting, you do not move away from the person or situation, you move more into it. All this happens in a subtle way. Have you ever observed that whoever you are angry with or hate, you think of that person more than yourself? And as you think of this person, you get agitated or distressed. On the other hand, if you think of someone you love, you have a nice feeling and your nervous system assumes that form. When your nervous system assumes either of the forms, it becomes like that and you get
regularly. Once the memory of “Who am I” is lost, the memory of “What do I want in my life,” the “reality” and “seeing life in context with the universe” is lost, wisdom is lost. Then there is no happiness and peace. The mind is like a mirror, whatever comes in front of it is reflected in it. But a mirror doesn’t cry, “Oh, I got dirty!” when a dirty picture comes in front of it. And it doesn’t jump up and say, “Oh, I have got these wonderful qualities” when something good is reflected. When you’re driving, you can see in the mirror that there is a garbage can behind your car. Just imagine the mirror identifying itself with the garbage can. Or, imagine the mirror identifying with some beautiful scenery. In both cases, what would you say? It’s a stupid idea, it’s not the case. The mirror is neither the garbage can, nor the scenery. And that is exactly how it is with our own consciousness. Our consciousness is like a mirror. Different images come onto it, and they all move away. Know this, and be free. When we get attached to any of those images, that is bondage. So, wake up and see—the mind is a mirror. Anybody you think of, their emotions and their state of mind latches on to you and is reflected through you. If you keep thinking about happy people, you get happy. Thinking about unhappy things, you feel unhappy. That’s why I have said, “Don’t hate anybody.” Not for the sake of the person whom you hate, but for your own sake. Your own mind, your nervous system, will assume the form, shape, and colour of that person. The most intelligent thing to do is not to hate anybody, because whomsoever you hate, you get those impressions embedded in you. (This article is originally published in http://www. wisdom.srisriravishankar.org)
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If you keep thinking about happy people, you get happy. Thinking about unhappy things, you feel unhappy.That’s why I have said, “Don’t hate anybody” drawn to those kind of people. This is entanglement. Therefore, an obsession brings anger, which, in turn, brings entanglement. Entanglement clouds intellect. Your wisdom and judgment are lost; your ability to understand and access the situation is lost. This is a chain reaction and it happens in such a subtle manner that you don’t even realise it. Entanglement, whether out of craving or aversion, clouds the intellect. And a distorted intellect doesn’t let you be in peace. Such an intellect does not even bring up the emotions—the subtle feelings within you. Any feeling you get will be gross and will make
you heavy. With a clouded intellect, the memory of pleasant things is lost. Life has two sets of memories: memories of pleasant things and memories of unpleasant things. Children often have pleasant memories more than the unpleasant ones. That’s why they are so cheerful. But as we grow up and lose our innocence, our unpleasant memories increase. Spiritual practices help bring back the pleasant memories more and more, and reduce unpleasant memories to almost an insignificant amount. Therefore, it is important to meditate
Lungi, the most preferred attire in India Lungi is the most widely worn traditional garment by males in India, followed by dhoti and the male kurta-pyjama set, according to a recently released data from the National Sample Survey Office for 2011-2012. While 52% reported purchasing one lungi in the past year, followed by 21%, purchasing a dhoti, while a 13% buying a kurta-pyjama in the year before the survey was carried out. Odisha tops in male consumption of lungis; followed by Bihar, West Bengal, Tripura and Tamil Nadu. Haryana and Delhi took the lion’s share in purchasing of the kurta-pyjama suit.
January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 57
Bollywood Biz
The Best Bollywood films on
Social Issues
India has the world’s largest film industry, but movies which highlight social issues are woefully few. There are, however, some notable films, which, aside from focusing on issues which are integral to society, are thoroughly entertaining. Without further ado, Corporate Citizen brings you the best Bollywood films on social issues By Neeraj Varty
PADMAN
Issue Highlighted – Women’s Sanitation Padman is an upcoming Indian biographical comedy-drama film written and directed by R. Balki, featuring Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor and Radhika Apte in lead roles, which is inspired from the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham, a social activist from Tamil Nadu who invented a low-cost sanitary pad-making machine and is credited for innovating grassroots mechanisms for generating awareness about traditional unhygienic practices around menstruation in rural India.
Peepli Live
Issue Highlighted – Farmer Suicides Peepli Live is a black comedy which highlights the plight of farmers in India. The concept could have been a serious thought-provoking documentary but the humour in it made it a commercial success. The movie shows how politicians exploit farmers for their own gains. It also hints at how certain unscrupulous elements in the media will go to any lengths for a “good story”. The movie was also selected for the Sundance Film festival, the first Indian film to make that cut. 58 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
Antardwand
Issue Highlighted – Dowry and Groom Kidnappings Antardwand won the National Film Award for Best Film on social issues at the 2009 National Awards. The film was based on groom kidnappings that took place in Bihar in the last decade. Eligible bachelors are abducted by a bride’s family and forcefully married so that they can avoid paying high dowry to the groom’s family. Groom kidnapping cases registered a surge after a period that marked the exponential rise in cases of women being mistreated by their in-laws because of their ever-growing hunger for monetary gifts from the bride’s family in the form of dowry, which is shockingly carried on in this day and age.
Taare Zameen Par
Issue Highlighted – Dyslexia In India, parents excessively pressurize their children to study. Children who are weak in certain subjects or suffer from certain learning disabilities have to endure a lot of scolding and unfair comparisons. This hampers the child’s confidence and interest in studies. In Taare Zameen Par, Aamir Khan plays the role of a teacher who was dyslexic in his childhood. The movie shows the difficulties faced by a dyslexic child due to lack of understanding from the parents, and the high pressure to perform well in academics faced by young children who often aren’t equipped to handle it.
Toilet: Ek Prem Katha
Issue Highlighted – Open Defecation Toilet: Ek Prem Katha is a comedy film in support of governmental campaigns to improve the sanitation conditions, with an emphasis on the eradication of open defecation, especially in rural areas. The movie holds up a mirror to society, showing us how our superstitious villagers, lazy administration and corrupt politicians have actually converted India into an unhygienic cesspool. Women especially are treated more insensitively than cattle. The film was a major critical and commercial success in India, and it also cemented Akshay Kumar as a champion of social causes.
neeraj.varty07@gmail.com January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 59
First Words for Baby
First Words for Baby is a vocabulary app to help toddlers learn how to talk better. It features simple navigation that should work well for adults and kids. Additionally, it contains the pronunciations for over 120 words spanned across 11 categories. Each word is accompanied by an image. It should keep your child entertained for a while. The free version of the app does come with advertisements. You can pay `120 to remove them if you want to.
Mobile apps
The best apps for
s r e l d tod
If you are a parent, you have probably faced this dilemma. There are many apps and games available for kids but not nearly as many for toddlers. Most games are too complicated and violent for toddlers, and there isn’t much that they can learn from these apps. However, with some searching, one can find some really good apps for small children. To make your job as a parent easier, we bring you some of the best apps and games for your little one By Neeraj Varty
60 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
ABC Kids
ABC Kids is a simple app that helps teach kids the alphabet. The way it works is kids trace the letter and the app tells them what the letter is. It also includes a matching game along with capital letters and lower case letters. There are also plenty of colorful animals and environments that’ll hopefully help keep your kids entertained. The app will even work in such a way that it doesn’t allow the child to exit the app. It’s a completely free app that dosen’t have any advertisements or in-app purchases. It’s one of the better apps for toddlers.
Drawing for Kids
Drawing for Kids is a fun little drawing and colouring app. It includes a mode where kids can trace various animals. It includes 30 things for your kids to trace and colour. There are also a bunch of fun animations and sound effects that should help keep your kids engaged. It’s a great way to inspire some creativity in your little one. It’s also a free app that doesn’t have advertising or in-app purchases.
Nursery Rhymes and Kids Games
Nursery Rhymes and Kids Games is the best place to find toddlerfriendly media. It features a tonne of digital content for your kids. There are nursery rhymes, songs, stories, games, and other content specifically made for toddlers. Along with all the stuff, the app is totally interactive and lets your kids tap on stuff on the screen to make them do fun little things.
Sensory Baby Toddler Learning
Sensory Baby Toddler Learning is an app that not just focuses on learning, it also includes a lot of other things to stimulate other senses. For instance, the app vibrates when your kids interact with the game. It also has stuff like gyroscope support so the app will respond when your kids twirl and move your phone around. There’s a bunch of stuff to do in the app and it does a great job of sharpening their sensory skills neeraj.varty07@gmail.com
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PROF. SUDHIR K SOPORY, VICE CHANCELLOR, JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY (JNU) Volume 1, Issue No. 21 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in
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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
January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 61
DrDr(Col.) (Col)A. A Balasubramanian
From The Mobile
The Pregnant Deer
In a forest, a pregnant deer is about to give birth. She finds a remote grass field near a strong-flowing river. It seems a safe place. She goes into labour. At the same moment, dark clouds gather around above and lightning starts a forest fire. She looks to her left and sees a hunter with his bow pointing at her. To her right, she spots a hungry lion approaching her. What can the pregnant deer do? Remember she is in labour! What will happen? Will the deer survive? Will she give birth to a fawn? Will the fawn survive? Or will everything be burnt by the forest fire? Will she perish to the hunter’s arrow? Will she die a horrible death at the hands of the hungry lion approaching her? She is constrained by the fire on the one side and the flowing river on the other and
62 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
boxed in by her natural predators. What does she do? She focuses on giving birth to a new life. The sequence of events that follows are: - Lightning strikes and blinds the hunter. - He (the hunter) releases the arrow, which zips past the deer and strikes the hungry lion. - It starts to rain heavily and the forest fire is slowly doused by the rain. - The deer gives birth to a healthy fawn. Check the circumstances that took place above and ask yourself whether the deer had any influence in the chain of reactions that happened to her enemies—right in front of her eyes. In our life too, there are moments of choice when we are confronted on all sides with negative thoughts and possibilities. What we must not do is take our eyes off the ball. We must
remain focused on the issue at hand. Some thoughts are so powerful that they overcome us and overwhelm us. Maybe we can learn something from the deer. The priority of the deer, in that given moment was simply to give birth to a baby. The rest was not in her hands and any action or reaction that changed her focus would have likely resulted in death or disaster. Ask yourself: Where is my focus? Where is my faith and hope? In the midst of any storm, do keep faith in the creator always. He will never ever disappoint you. NEVER. Remember, he neither slumbers nor sleeps! The strong person knows how to keep their life in order. Even with tears in their eyes, they still manage to say, “I’m ok” with a smile.
Ekadashi Upavasam and Nobel Prize... Nobel Prize for medicine has gone to a Japanese scientist Dr Yoshinori Ohsumi for his research on autophagy. Autophagy means to ‘self-eat’. In other words, the process by which the human body eats its own damaged cells and unused proteins. Autophagy is a natural process and one which occurs in cases of starvation. The failure of autophagy is one of the main reasons for accumulation of damaged cells, which eventually leads to various diseases in the body. Autophagy is important to prevent/fight cancer and plays a vital role in degrading and ‘consuming’ cells infected by bacteria and viruses. We must observe here that ancient India had recommended a practice of fasting (on Ekadashi) one day in a fortnight. Many of us religiously follow this practice to this day as a penance for spiritual progress without any idea of the biological and therapeutic benefits of this practice. Through
this process of fasting induced autophagy, our body repaired its damaged and degenerated cells or used up the proteins of the damaged cells for its survival. Whenever modern science conquers a frontier in any field, it somehow relates back to a quaint spiritual practice followed in India for generations. A day in a fortnight spent in prayer and divine contemplation was a tonic for the mind and soul while the practice of fasting ensured that the body would heal and rejuvenate itself. Clearly, our ancients believed in a process of holistic healing of both the body and the mind. They could, quite remarkably connect the yearning for spiritual progress in a human being with the biological necessity of the human body. One cannot but marvel, and bow our heads with admiration and reverence, at their wisdom and deep scientific understanding of the body and the mind.
Always treat people with respect One of the very powerful laws that may change the way you lead as well as the way you live and relate to people is ‘To get respect, give respect.’ Once a highly respected consultant was engaged at a great sum of money to reveal his many years of wisdom with the management team of a large organisation. The consultant walked into the meeting room and looked intensely at the group. He then reached for a marker and wrote four words on the board behind him: “Treat people with respect.” He smiled at the executives. And the he left. — Robin Sharma
Designer of the PVC Medal (IA 921 Maj. Gen. Vikram Ramji Khanolkar and Mrs Savitribai Khanolkar on the day of their marriage at Lucknow.) Savitribai Khanolkar designed the PVC Medal. She was born on 20 July 1913 in Switzerland as Eve Yvonne Maday de Maros. She met Cadet Vikram Ramji Khanolkar who was visiting Switzerland during a term break from the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, UK. They fell in love and married later. Subsequently, she changed her name to Mrs Savitribai Khanolkar. Mrs Khanolkar was chosen to design the medals owing to her in-depth understanding of Indian culture and her artistic skills. Besides designing the PVC, she designed the major gallantry medals for both war and peace, namely Ashok Chakra (AC), Maha Vir Chakra (MVC), Kirti Chakra (KC), Vir Chakra (VrC) and Shaurya Chakra (SC). She also designed the General Service Medal, 1947 which was used until 1965. Interestingly, her daughter Mrs Kumudini Sharma's brother-in-law, Maj. Somnath Sharma, was posthumously awarded India’s first PVC, in the Battle of Badgam in 1947. Mrs Khanolkar passed away on 26 November 1990.
January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 63
astroturf freelance kind of work and work that offers a lot of freedom and change. The electronic media and online world are favoured. The only problem with freelance career is uncertainty and insecurity—learning to live with this has been one of your main lessons over the past seven years.
Aries
Mar 21 - April 20
FINANCE AND CAREER
A new financial era is beginning in your life this year and it will continue for at least seven more years. Uranus makes a major move on the May 16th into your 2nd house of money and remains there until November 8th. In general, you need to be a risk taker and overcome fear and develop courage. Uranus in the money house suggests earnings through hi-tech sector. It favours online activities and cutting-edge technologies. There can be interesting situations in investments or business ventures. You will succeed through sheer merit; it’s all about being the best at what you do. You will experience the positive results of this approach in 2019 and 2020, when you start to reach new career heights.
(www.dollymanghat.com)
Your Fortune In
2018
Dolly Manghat, our renowned astrological expert scripts major trends for the New Year. Read what you have in store for you. Let it be your guideline to crack 2018!
GEMINI
CANCER
FINANCE AND CAREER
FINANCE AND CAREER
May 21 - June 21
other.
TAURUS
April 21 - May 20
FINANCE AND CAREER
Your financial planet is next to the Moon, which is the fastest and most erratic of the planets, but since you are adaptable by nature and can change your attitude at a drop of a hat you will be able to manage your resources pretty well. The Mercury retrograde periods are from March 23rd to April 15, July 26th to August 19, and November 17 to December 6th. The real action is in your career, you can expect many positive changes—rise in status and prestige, money follows. There are two eclipses in your 10th house of career this year—a solar eclipse on February 15th and a lunar eclipse on July 27. These eclipses indicates shake ups in your company or industry. Uranus’s entry in your sign on May 16th signals favour from higher authorities as your bosses and higher-ups appreciate your dedication and work. With Uranus in your 1st house people see you as a successful persona.
Yet again another inactive aspect, your money house is also not active as only short-term planets are moving through there rather quickly. In spite of no activity you will feel richer by the end of the year and more confident of your achievements. On the 17th November, the Moon’s North node will move into your money house and stay there for the rest of the year. The North node tends to show excess and in finance this is a good thing. Better too much than too little. There will be two lunar eclipses and these always impact finances and in addition to this there is also going to be a solar eclipse on July 13th that occurs in your money house. This will create dramatic financial changes, good or bad, depending upon your attention. You are bound to be more ambitious than usual as long-term planets are mostly in the upper half of your chart this year. Jupiter is also making beautiful aspects to your career planet Neptune almost all year. Thus, your position and status will be elevated in your profession or business.
64 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
June 22 - July 23
The year ahead looks very prosperous as Jupiter makes beautiful aspects to you so there is definitely going to be financial expansion as happy opportunities arise. You are accompanied by good luck in everything that you do with utmost sincerity. There are going to be many dramatic financial shifts and course corrections this year, more than usual. We are going to experience three solar eclipses this year and since Sun is your financial planet this will impact you in more ways than one. You will be making some fantastic moves and changes. Also two eclipses—one solar and one lunar—will occur in your money house. So four out of the five eclipses will impact your money house as they occur there. My intuition says that you might underestimate your earning Jupiter in your 5th house indicates that children or children figures are the motivating force for financial success and also come up with ideas and inspirations. Also indicates earnings that cater to youth market. The planet Uranus favours a
LEO
July 24 - Aug 23
FINANCE AND CAREER
With your money house not hosting any planets, finance remains status quo. Throughout the year you will experience a stable kind of situation and would be satisfied with your progress. Jupiter in your 4th house signals good fortune in real estate or in industries that cater to home self-improvement, or hotels, basically, service industries. Mercury, your financial planet is fast moving and often an erratic planet, so be prepared that the same goes for your finances this year. Mercury goes retrograde three times this year, compared to what has been happening last year, which was four times. When it goes retrograde, it is a time to put your financial life under review and to refrain from making important purchases or investments. This year the periods are from March 23rd to April 15, July 26th to August 19th, and November 17th to December 6th. Be prepared for major career changes, which can happen unexpectedly and suddenly. It favours a freelance-kind of career. Uranus is also your love planet. His position near your mid-heaven from May 16th to November 6th shows that your social graces will have a good impact on those that matter.
VIRGO
Aug 24 - Sept 23
FINANCE AND CAREER
Jupiter in the 3rd house indicates buying of new precious and expensive things for your comfort. You will be able to earn money through your communica-
tion skills and contacts. Venus is your financial planet and is in her natural domain; in any given year she will move around all the zodiac signs. Since Venus is in retrograde, will spend an unusual amount of time in your money house—from August 7th to September 9th and again from October 5th to November 16th. This time is best used to review your finances. A time to gain clarity on your financial goals and the improvements you wish to make.This is not a strong career year as most of the long-term planets are below the horizon of your chart. Your 10th house is not the house of power, and with exception of the shortterm planets, it is basically empty. The year 2018 is more about gaining internal harmony; about feeling right than rather doing right.
LIBRA
Sept 24 - Oct 22
FINANCE AND CAREER
Last year Jupiter was in your sign hence you experienced a strong financial year. This year will be even better as Jupiter spends most of his time in your money house. This is a classic signal of prosperity and good fortune. It shows expansion in earnings. Those of you who have stock portfolios will find them worth much more. Jupiter not only increases earnings but brings in financial opportunities as well. For investors, this position favours telecommunications, transportation and media companies. Buying, selling, trading and retailing are favoured as well. There is another important thing that Jupiter brings in and that is great financial faith and optimism. Do read the book ‘Your faith is your fortune’. You will have inspired financial ideas and a great intuition. Neptune is making a great move on July 13th, which helps you to restructure and reorganise. This is a strong financial year but not a great career year. Wealth will be more important than status prestige or professional recognition.
SCORPIO
Oct 23 - Nov 22
FINANCE AND CAREER
You do have a very prosperous year ahead so learn how to enjoy yourself constructively. As said earlier that Jupiter’s move into your sign heralds a multiyear cycle of prosperity. Jupiter is your financial planet and his position in your 1st house for most of the year shows windfalls coming to you. You will not only feel prosperous but also project an aura of happiness. In the eyes of the world you will become the ‘money person’. Jupiter’s wonderful aspect to Neptune the entire year round shows a marvellous financial intuition, and luck in speculations. On November 8th, Jupiter moves into your money house, bringing in even more prosperity. The three solar eclipses will affect you and create upheavals in your career life. There will be two eclipses in your 10th house, one solar and the other lunar. Consider this; there will be five eclipses in all and four of them will affect your career. Learning how to make course corrections, being flexible will help you tide over the situations.
SAGITTARIUS
Nov 23 - Dec 22
FINANCE AND CAREER
The year ahead, as I mentioned is prosperous—a continuation of the last two years. Saturn, your financial planet, is now in your money house, in his own sign of Capricorn. Thus, he is both ‘celestially and terrestrially’ strong. He is operating with maximum power. This spells higher earnings. His move into Capricorn late last year is another good signal, it gives good sound financial judgment. Last year you might have been more speculative and risk-taking. Now you need to take methodical, step-by-step approach to wealth. You will be able to build your wealth over time in solid kind of ways. The financial planet in Capricorn favours gaining control over your finances, rather than letting it control you. For investors, Sat-
urn in Capricorn favours the commercial real estate industry and the ‘blue chip’ sector of the market. Pluto has been in your money house for many years now and he will remain there for many years to come. Pluto rules debt, and his position favors bonds and the bond market. He also rules taxes. Thus, the message of the horoscope is that good tax planning and tax efficiency is important in finances.
CAPRICORN
Dec 23 - Jan 20
FINANCE AND CAREER
Important financial changes are happening in your life this year and this is only the beginning. With your financial planet’s move out of your 4th house and into your 5th house indicate happy situations. It may be for a short haul now but from 2019, it’s for a very long haul. Though you will still be earning and spending from home, from the family and family connections, but as the Uranus enters your 5th house, there will be a financial shift too. Till date you spent time a bit recklessly, now Uranus’s move into Taurus will bring a more conservative kind of outlook. The financial judgment will improve. The financial planet in Taurus favours investments in solid kind of structures like land or gold. The financial planet in the 5th house makes you very speculative. But it will be different than it was over the past seven years. You will be more controlled in speculation, it will not be rash and impulsive.
AQUARIUS
Jan 21- Feb 19
FINANCE AND CAREER
You can look forward to a prosperous and successful year. This is a strong finance and career year. This actually has come for you after a long period. Jupiter is in your 10th house of career until November 8th, this indicates promotions and pay rises. You will receive financial favours of bosses’ parents and authority figures. Your good career reputation which should be
guarded zealously brings in higher earnings as well. Neptune, as your financial planet, signals good financial intuition. It also indicates an affinity for industries involving water and its utilities. Pharmaceuticals and natural gas are good areas for investments. Financial information and guidance can come through your dreams and visions, through psychics, astrologers or spiritual channels. The whole year is going to be good financially. When the period is slow, you just need to pull up your socks, work harder for your goals than usual. Do not lose your focus.
PISCES
Feb 20 - Mar 20
FINANCE AND CAREER
The big news this year is Uranus moves out of your money house, thus giving you financial independence and freedom. He moves into 3rd house of communication. He will spend six months in the money house and half in the 3rd house. The full-blown transit will begin next year. Uranus favours technology—computers, software, robotics and the whole online world. The electronic media will work to your advantage. All these areas are interesting as investments or business. Whatever work you’re actually doing these activities are important. You will spend more time on technology and also earn from it. Uranus in the sign of Aries favours startups and this is a burgeoning field. People in the hitech world can be playing an important role in your finances. Your financial planet is Mars and he is relatively a fast-moving planet. So be prepared for many short-term trends too. The year ahead is a strong career-year—basically you are preparing for Jupiter’s move into your 10th house of career effectively from November 8th onwards. 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
January 16-31, 2018 / Corporate Citizen / 65
the last word
Ganesh Natarajan
2018: Let the good initiatives roll on!
Entrepreneurship and the creation, and growth of startups will probably be a dominant theme in our country and the world, as the struggle with job losses and paltry new job creation continues
A
nother new year has rolled in and almost imperceptibly, we have grown a year older and hopefully a year wiser. For me personally, the last year has been one of new learnings as we built a new entrepreneurial organisation 5F World and saw it grow, touch the lives of many clients and people and spread its wings in our chosen world of digital technologies, skills and social enterprises. This year has reinforced my faith in the optimism of youth, the power of entrepreneurship and the fruits of hard work as I rejoice in the success of many first-time entrepreneurs and their teams whose lives we are touching in myriad different ways. Entrepreneurship and the creation, and growth of startups will probably be a dominant theme in our country and the world, as the struggle with job losses and paltry new job creation continues and it may be worth understanding what really differentiates good entrepreneurs from the also-rans. In our own 5F World ecosystem, we have seen the enthusiasm with which a news veteran Mini Menon and a young historian Akshay have set about building their enterprise, Live History India Digital. Starting with a conviction that India has hordes of interesting stories about every culture and every location hidden away in folklore and the minds of a few ancient historians, this company has committed to tell these stories in interesting digital formats. With the
ital , founder of LHI Dig n with Mini Menon Ganesh Nataraja
search into the digital ecosystem has revealed many gems in the form of startups and young companies who have a unique value proposition and the commitment to build and scale solutions in the increasingly competitive world of digital transformation. A company like Systech, which has operations in the US and India and top-name clients in manufacturing, consumer goods, insurance and entertainment is set to become a market leader in the advanced analytics space with its focus on artificial intelligence, machine learning, predictive and prescriptive analytics! And our own majority-owned company Skills
support of a galaxy of well-meaning industrialists, media personalities and India lovers, here is one company that can build knowledge, curiosity and millions of new tourism jobs in the years to come. In the social sector, the continuing availability of corporate social responsibility funds has enabled many well-meaning social ventures as well as PPP initiatives like Pune City Connect to blossom and augur well for the future. Whatever the new year PCC which has a unique model holds for us, it’s important of collaboration to think and move fast, have between Gova strong focus and yet reernment, Civil Society and the main flexible in our approach Corporate sector to life and work, and keep an in the three-key n at i on - bu i l d environment of friendliness ing missions of school transforAlpha, with its strong digital platmation, skills and sustainable job creation and citywide digital literaform for employee engagement, skill search and acquisition and commucy building has been able to touch the live of tens of thousands of Pune nity participation has had a successcitizens and has received unstinting ful debut in the corporate sector and support from the Pune Municipal is now spreading its wings to the Corporation and the corporate education and social sectors to prosector to scale its initiatives. At vide new meaning to the processes Social Venture Partners India, we of education and skills development have seen over 250 philanthropists in the country. In the first month collaborate to guide the fortunes of the year, we are excited about of NGOs and have embarked on a two Indo-US joint ventures we are sustainable livelihood initiative with launching, one to provide a digital a million jobs mission that can proplatform for entrepreneurs to convide meaning to many individuals nect to capital providers, mentors and entities. and corporate opportunities and the other to impart the desired skills in Nationally and globally, our
66 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2018
new technology areas that will open up the doors of new opportunity to young jobseekers and wannabe entrepreneurs. The good news seems to be that there are signs of the economic growth cycle continuing in the US and some parts of Europe and the Indian economy should perk up and deliver new revenues and jobs. We will continue to see barbs and counter-barbs hitting our TV and computer screens as the election noises get shriller in the run-up to the 2019 elections but there is no doubt that adequate business opportunities will exist for those who are willing to think and act entrepreneurially, take measured risks and build teams and organisations that can take on new challenges and opportunities. The stage is set for a new year which will see many more Trumpisms taking us by surprise from the West and election rhetoric jolting us right here in India. We should look forward to a million entrepreneurial flowers which will bloom across the country and the much-promised new generation of jobs created, rather than destroyed by AI and Robotics, and provide hope and employment for millions of job-seekers. Whatever the new year holds for us, it’s important to think and move fast, have a strong focus and yet remain flexible in our approach to life and work, and keep an environment of friendliness and fun in our own environment. Enjoy your new year—the 5F way! 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.