The seminar was held to commemorate 15 years of Indian economic reforms, and to celebrate 10 years of IIM Kozhikode’s establishment. The event assessed the achievements and fallouts of fifteen years of liberalization, and identified means for future development. The discussions revolved around three sectors: Infrastructure, Manufacturing and ICE (IT, Communication and Entertainment). The seminar also focused on Public-Private Partnership as a model for future growth and the role of managers as drivers of change.

A host of eminent personalities from the highest echelons of industry and government shared their experiences and vision for the high growth sectors of infrastructure, manufacturing and I.C.E. The speakers included:

· Shri Suresh Pachauri—–> Honorable Minister of State for Personnel, Public
Grievances, Pensions and Parliamentary Affairs

· Shri Rajeeva Ratna Shah—–> Member Secretary, Planning Commission

· Mr. B D Khurana———> President, Reliance Infocomm

· Mr. K Ananth Krishnan—–> CTO & VP, TCS

· Mr. P. S. Banarjee—–> Executive Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers India

· Dr. P Nandakumar—–> Professor & Economics Area Chair, IIM Kozhikode

· Mr Partho Banerjee—–> President & CEO, Hughes Communication India

Shri Pachauri talked about the importance of probity in public life, and the space vacated by the state, which is being occupied by the free market and civil society. He mentioned that the Indian Economy now stands greatly liberalized and integrated with the global economy. He cited as erroneous the belief that public servants have not played a major role in the growth of the economy after liberalization, because no growth can take place without having strong governance systems in place. Systemic reforms require a strong, performing bureaucracy, and thus public servants have played, and are still playing an integral role in development. However, this demands a radical role shift, from that of being active participants in the market process to that of setting and enforcing the rules of the game for the market competition. Thus now they need to become facilitators, and stay alert to emerging global opportunities, along with their associated risks, if the country is to be an attractive investment destination.

There are enough success stories that bear testimony to successful policy mechanisms, he said, citing the examples of IT & Telecom. He praised visionary leaders like the late Smt Indira Gandhi, who understood the critical importance of science and technology, and Shri Rajiv Gandhi. We should be grateful to the late PM Rajiv Gandhi, he stressed, since it was he who established the telecom committee under Mr Sam Pitroda in 1985, and introduced computers in India at a time when they were nascent even in advanced countries.

He stressed the need for providing global opportunities for all-inclusive growth, since there are still millions who have little assets or skills to participate in the growing economy. Thus, he said, public servants have a greater role in ensuring growth with a human face. It is their responsibility to implement policies that upgrade status of old economy sectors like agriculture, while remaining sensitive to environmental sustainability concerns. In such a scenario, he said, the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme of the UPA government assumes added significance, since it tries to spread the benefits of liberalization across all segments of society.

Shri Pachauri quoted Kofi Annan, “Good governance is perhaps the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and bringing growth.” Therefore, he noted, professionalism in public servants is an overarching value, as they seek to balance the old values of Neutrality, Transparency, Diligence, Probity, and Fidelity, with the new imperatives of Innovation, Initiative, and Creativity. The key to gaining public trust, he said, is to focus on results, but not at the expense of process. Since erosion of public trust and cynicism towards governance can lead to loss of public order, he said public servants needed to be committed to ethics, and use their judgment and discretion while carrying out official duties.

Shri R R Shah, Member Secretary, Planning Commission, focused on demographic dividends that India could reap if it can unleash the power of its youthful population. He started his talk by juxtaposing today’s economic situation with the pre-independence era, and comparing the self-sufficiency and zooming 160 billion plus forex reserves of today with the poverty and insecurities that were present at the time of Independence. He then talked of emerging fields like nanotech and the huge amounts of data that need to be processed now, thus making it necessary for us to greatly strengthen our existing ability with supercomputing, since it will lead to future strategic advantage. He mentioned the visionary bureaucrats in the early 80s who first understood the importance of IT and initiated its adoption in offices and school curricula. Due to that, IT has now entered our genetic makeup and thus Indians have excelled in this field.

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Shri Shah then talked about the demographic advantage that India has, due to the high youth ratio. He said that for the next 25 years, India will have the largest number of young able workforce, and we should leave no stone unturned in utilizing this 25-year window that history is giving us. He noted that developed countries are not liberalizing labor rules not because they are feeling liberal, but because they need the skilled manpower that we are providing them. He cited a BCG study, that says that there is going to be a shortfall of skilled manpower to the tune of 45 million, and India is going to supply 25 million of that manpower. Mr Shah stressed that we need to impart those skills to this young workforce that are demanded by the global economy, and have adequate global economy linkages to harness that skill. Thus, he said, the 11th Five-year Plan has Human Resource Development as its core thrust area. Unless we exploit this opportunity, he warned, we could end up with 25 million unemployed labor rather than globally respected professionals. He said institutes like the IITs and IIMs are an important part of such skill-upgradation initiatives. Building India into a knowledge society has to start from below, he noted, and thus the huge initiatives being taken by the current government in increasing the primary education outlay. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan outlay has been successively increased from Rs 1800 crores to 5000, then 7000, and now 11000 crores by the government, and in next year’s budget, it will be 13200 crores, he informed the participants. He said that enrolment rates in primary schools were rapidly rising, but a focus should also be maintained on the retention rate, by reducing the number of dropouts. In the second phase, this universalization of education would be extended to the secondary stage, and later to vocational education, which would take a major investment. He said that higher education is based on a troika of 3 concepts: Expansion – More enrolment, Inclusion – of all segments of society, and Excellence – in the skill sets being imparted to our youth.

Mr Shah said that the Moily Committee, of which he is a member, is actively working on this. At the next levels, we need to focus on intellectual property and R&D;, since Manufacturing and Operations can be outsourced, but those who have intellectual superiority control the levers. Finally, he said, we must move towards strategic superiority, by creating workforces so skilled and specialized, that no other country can do the kind of work Indians can do.

Dr Krishna Kumar, the Director of IIM Kozhikode, spoke about the phenomenal growth of IIM Kozhikode over the first decade of its establishment. He discussed how politicians, administrators, industrialists, and educationists have to partner to achieve economic growth and ensure its equitable distribution. IIM K’s strengths in the fields of Faculty Development Programmes (FDP), Research initiatives, and Management Development Programmes (MDP) were also highlighted. Special focus was given to Executive Education Programmes through the Interactive Distance Learning (IDL) mode, by having Hughes Communication as a technology partner. He detailed the networks with foreign Institutions for research and perspective building, and the focus on collaboration with management Institutions in India for undertaking joint programmes. He also talked about the stellar record of IIM K in strengthening industry-institute interaction through conferences and seminars across all functional areas of business.

Mr K Ananth Krishnan, CTO & VP of TCS talked about the prospects and challenges in the IT sector. Mr BD Khurana, Group President of Reliance Infocomm, spoke about India’s digital future. Mr PS Banarjee, Executive Director, PwC gave a speech on enhancing the competitiveness of Indian manufacturing. Professor P Nandakumar, Economics Area Chair at IIMK, talked about Indian infrastructure and economic variables. Mr Partho Banerjee, President & CEO, Hughes Communications India, discussed the march towards e-economy.

The event saw active participation from industry delegates and management students.