Fri, Sep 26 03:05 PM
Washington, September 26 (ANI): For people who want their names to float around in space, NASA has created a website that would enable anyone to place their name on the agency's Glory satellite.
The "Send Your Name Around the Earth" Web site enables everyone to take part in the science mission and place their names in orbit for years to come.
The Web site, where participants can submit their information, is located at: http://polls.nasa.gov/utilities/sendtospace/jsp/sendName.jsp
Participants will receive a printable certificate from NASA and have their name recorded on a microchip that will become part of the spacecraft.
NASA's Glory satellite is the first mission dedicated to understanding the effects of particles in the atmosphere and the sun's variability on our climate.
The Glory satellite will allow scientists to measure airborne particles more accurately from space than ever before.
The particles, known as "aerosols," are tiny bits of material found in Earth's atmosphere, like dust and smog.
"Undoubtedly, greenhouse gases cause the biggest climatic effect," said Michael Mishchenko, the Glory project scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York. "But, the uncertainty in the aerosol effect is the biggest uncertainty in climate at the present," he added.
Glory will carry two scientific instruments, the Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor, or APS, and the Total Irradiance Monitor, or TIM, and two cameras for cloud identification.
The APS instrument will help quantify the role of aerosols as natural and human-produced agents of climate change more accurately than existing measurement tools.
The TIM instrument will continue 30 years of measuring total solar irradiance, the amount of energy radiating from the sun to Earth, with improved accuracy and stability.
Understanding the sun's energy is an important key to understanding climate change on Earth.
Glory is scheduled for launch in June 2009 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Glory will orbit as part of the Afternoon Constellation, or "A-Train," a series of Earth-observing satellites. (ANI)
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Speech by Mr.Azim Premji - Chairman WIPRO- Article submitted by Prof Amol Murgai - OSB Aurangabad
A very inspiring, interesting and thoughtful speech by Shri Azim Premji-Chairman of Wipro, At the 37th Annual Convocation 2002, IIM, Ahmedabad37th Annual Convocation 2002, IIM, Ahmedabad
“While change and uncertainty have always been a part of life, what has been shocking over the last year has been both the quantum and suddenness of change. For many people who were cruising along on placid waters, the wind was knocked out of their sails. The entire logic of doing business was turned on its head. Not only business, but also every aspect of human life has been impacted by the change. What lies ahead is even more dynamic and uncertain. I would like to use this opportunity to share with you some of our own guiding principles of staying afloat in a changing world. This is based on our experience in Wipro. I hope you find them useful.”
LESSON 1
“Be alert for the first signs of change.”
Change descends on every One equally; it is just that some realize it faster. Some changes are sudden but many others are gradual.While sudden changes get attention because they are dramatic, it is the gradual changes that are ignored till it is too late. You must have all heard of story of the frog in boiling water. If the temperature of the water is suddenly increased, the frog realizes it and jumps out of the water. But if the temperature is very slowly increased, one degree at a time, the frog does not realize it till it boils to death. You must develop your own early warning system, which warns you of changes and calls your attention to it. In the case of change, being forewarned is being forearmed.
LESSON 2
“Anticipate change even when things are going right."
Most people wait for something to go wrong before they think of change. It is like going to the doctor for a check up only when you are seriously sick or thinking of maintaining your vehicle only when it breaks down. The biggest enemy of future success is past success. When you succeed, you feel that you must be doing something right for it to happen. But when the parameters for success change, doing the same things may or may not continue to lead to success. Guard against complacency all the time. Complacency makes you blind to the early signals from the environment that something is going wrong.
LESSON 3
Always look at the opportunities that change represents.
Managing change has a lot to go with our own attitude towards it. It is proverbial half-full or half empty glass approach. For every problem that change represents, there is an opportunity lurking in disguise somewhere. It is up to you to spot it before someone else does.
LESSON 4
“Do not allow routines to become chains."
For many of us the routine. We have got accustomed to obstructs change. Routines represent our own zones of comfort. There is a sense of predictability about them. They have structured our time and even our thought in a certain way. While routines are useful, do not let them enslave you. Deliberately break out of them from time to time.
LESSON 5
“Realize that fear of the unknown is natural.”
With change comes a feeling of insecurity. Many people believe that brave people are not afflicted by this malady. The truth is different. Every one feels the fear of unknown. Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to manage fear without getting paralyzed. Feel the fear, but move on regardless.
LESSON 6
“Keep renewing yourself.”
This prepares you to anticipate change and be ready for it when it comes. Constantly ask yourself what new skills and competencies will be needed. Begin working on them before it becomes necessary and you will have a natural advantage. The greatest benefit of your education lies not only in what you have learnt, but in working how to learn. Formal education is the beginning of the journey of learning. Yet I do meet youngsters who feel that they have already learnt all there is to learn. You have to constantly learn about people and how to interact effectively with them. In the world of tomorrow, only those individuals and organizations will succeed who have mastered the art of rapid and on-going learning.
LESSON 7
“Surround yourself with people who are "open to change."
If you are always in the company of cynics, you will soon find yourself becoming like them. A cynic knows all the reasons why something cannot be done. Instead, spend time with people who have a "can-do" approach. Choose your advisors and mentors correctly. Pessimism is contagious, but then so is enthusiasm. In fact, reasonable optimism can be an amazing force multiplier.
LESSON 8
“Play to win..!!"
I have said this many times in the past. Playing to win is not the same as cutting corners. When you play to win, you stretch yourself to your maximum and use all your potential. It also helps you to concentrate your energy on what you can influence instead of getting bogged down with the worry of what you cannot change. Do your best and leave the rest.
LESSON 9
“Respect yourself. The world will reward you on your successes.”
Success requires no explanation and failure permits none. But you need to respect yourself enough so that your self-confidence remains intact whether you succeed or fail. If you succeed 90 per cent of the time, you are doing fine. If you are succeeding all the time, you should ask yourself if you are taking enough risks. If you do not take enough risks, you may also be losing out on many opportunities. Think through but take the plunge. If some things do go wrong, learn from them. I came across this interesting story some time ago:
“One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and begin to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw. With every shovel of dirt that fell on his back, the donkey was doing some thing amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and totted off ! Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick is too not to get bogged down by it. We can get out of the deepest wells by not stopping. And by never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up !”
LESSON 10
“Never change: your core values."
In spite of all the change around you, decide upon what you will never change: your core values. Take your time to decide what they are but once you do, do not compromise on them for any reason. Integrity is one such value.
LESSON 11
“We must remember that succeeding in a changing world is beyond just surviving.”
It is our responsibility to create and contribute something to the world that has given us so much. We must remember that many have contributed to our success, including our parents and others from our society. All of us have a responsibility to utilize our potential for making our nation a better place for others, who may not be as well endowed as us, or as fortunate in having the opportunities that we have got. Let us do our bit, because doing one good deed can have multiple benefits not only for us but also for many others.
Let me end my talk with a small story I came across some time back, which illustrates this very well.
“This is a story of a poor Scottish farmer whose name was Fleming. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby dog. He dropped his tools and ran to the dog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the boy from what could have been a slow and terrifying death. The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved. "I want to repay you“ said the nobleman. " Yes," the farmer replied proudly. "I'll make you a deal. Let me take your son and give him a good education. If he's anything like his father, he'll grow to a man you can be proud of you." And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming's son graduated from St.Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known through-out the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin. Years afterward, the Nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia. What saved him? Penicillin. This is not the end. The nobleman's son also made a great contribution to society. For the nobleman was non other than Lord Randolph Churchill. and his son's name was Winston Churchill. Let us use all our talent, competence and energy for creating peace and happiness for the nation.”
“Change is the Only thing that“Change is the Only thing that will Never change. So betterwill Never change. So better adapt to it."adapt to it."
“Change is Universal…“Change is Universal…
Change is Permanent….Change is Permanent….
Be ever willing to Change…..Be ever willing to Change…..
For, change alone leads you to ”success and happiness!!!”
“If one desires a change, one must be that change before that change can take place”
“While change and uncertainty have always been a part of life, what has been shocking over the last year has been both the quantum and suddenness of change. For many people who were cruising along on placid waters, the wind was knocked out of their sails. The entire logic of doing business was turned on its head. Not only business, but also every aspect of human life has been impacted by the change. What lies ahead is even more dynamic and uncertain. I would like to use this opportunity to share with you some of our own guiding principles of staying afloat in a changing world. This is based on our experience in Wipro. I hope you find them useful.”
LESSON 1
“Be alert for the first signs of change.”
Change descends on every One equally; it is just that some realize it faster. Some changes are sudden but many others are gradual.While sudden changes get attention because they are dramatic, it is the gradual changes that are ignored till it is too late. You must have all heard of story of the frog in boiling water. If the temperature of the water is suddenly increased, the frog realizes it and jumps out of the water. But if the temperature is very slowly increased, one degree at a time, the frog does not realize it till it boils to death. You must develop your own early warning system, which warns you of changes and calls your attention to it. In the case of change, being forewarned is being forearmed.
LESSON 2
“Anticipate change even when things are going right."
Most people wait for something to go wrong before they think of change. It is like going to the doctor for a check up only when you are seriously sick or thinking of maintaining your vehicle only when it breaks down. The biggest enemy of future success is past success. When you succeed, you feel that you must be doing something right for it to happen. But when the parameters for success change, doing the same things may or may not continue to lead to success. Guard against complacency all the time. Complacency makes you blind to the early signals from the environment that something is going wrong.
LESSON 3
Always look at the opportunities that change represents.
Managing change has a lot to go with our own attitude towards it. It is proverbial half-full or half empty glass approach. For every problem that change represents, there is an opportunity lurking in disguise somewhere. It is up to you to spot it before someone else does.
LESSON 4
“Do not allow routines to become chains."
For many of us the routine. We have got accustomed to obstructs change. Routines represent our own zones of comfort. There is a sense of predictability about them. They have structured our time and even our thought in a certain way. While routines are useful, do not let them enslave you. Deliberately break out of them from time to time.
LESSON 5
“Realize that fear of the unknown is natural.”
With change comes a feeling of insecurity. Many people believe that brave people are not afflicted by this malady. The truth is different. Every one feels the fear of unknown. Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to manage fear without getting paralyzed. Feel the fear, but move on regardless.
LESSON 6
“Keep renewing yourself.”
This prepares you to anticipate change and be ready for it when it comes. Constantly ask yourself what new skills and competencies will be needed. Begin working on them before it becomes necessary and you will have a natural advantage. The greatest benefit of your education lies not only in what you have learnt, but in working how to learn. Formal education is the beginning of the journey of learning. Yet I do meet youngsters who feel that they have already learnt all there is to learn. You have to constantly learn about people and how to interact effectively with them. In the world of tomorrow, only those individuals and organizations will succeed who have mastered the art of rapid and on-going learning.
LESSON 7
“Surround yourself with people who are "open to change."
If you are always in the company of cynics, you will soon find yourself becoming like them. A cynic knows all the reasons why something cannot be done. Instead, spend time with people who have a "can-do" approach. Choose your advisors and mentors correctly. Pessimism is contagious, but then so is enthusiasm. In fact, reasonable optimism can be an amazing force multiplier.
LESSON 8
“Play to win..!!"
I have said this many times in the past. Playing to win is not the same as cutting corners. When you play to win, you stretch yourself to your maximum and use all your potential. It also helps you to concentrate your energy on what you can influence instead of getting bogged down with the worry of what you cannot change. Do your best and leave the rest.
LESSON 9
“Respect yourself. The world will reward you on your successes.”
Success requires no explanation and failure permits none. But you need to respect yourself enough so that your self-confidence remains intact whether you succeed or fail. If you succeed 90 per cent of the time, you are doing fine. If you are succeeding all the time, you should ask yourself if you are taking enough risks. If you do not take enough risks, you may also be losing out on many opportunities. Think through but take the plunge. If some things do go wrong, learn from them. I came across this interesting story some time ago:
“One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and begin to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw. With every shovel of dirt that fell on his back, the donkey was doing some thing amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and totted off ! Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick is too not to get bogged down by it. We can get out of the deepest wells by not stopping. And by never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up !”
LESSON 10
“Never change: your core values."
In spite of all the change around you, decide upon what you will never change: your core values. Take your time to decide what they are but once you do, do not compromise on them for any reason. Integrity is one such value.
LESSON 11
“We must remember that succeeding in a changing world is beyond just surviving.”
It is our responsibility to create and contribute something to the world that has given us so much. We must remember that many have contributed to our success, including our parents and others from our society. All of us have a responsibility to utilize our potential for making our nation a better place for others, who may not be as well endowed as us, or as fortunate in having the opportunities that we have got. Let us do our bit, because doing one good deed can have multiple benefits not only for us but also for many others.
Let me end my talk with a small story I came across some time back, which illustrates this very well.
“This is a story of a poor Scottish farmer whose name was Fleming. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby dog. He dropped his tools and ran to the dog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the boy from what could have been a slow and terrifying death. The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved. "I want to repay you“ said the nobleman. " Yes," the farmer replied proudly. "I'll make you a deal. Let me take your son and give him a good education. If he's anything like his father, he'll grow to a man you can be proud of you." And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming's son graduated from St.Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known through-out the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin. Years afterward, the Nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia. What saved him? Penicillin. This is not the end. The nobleman's son also made a great contribution to society. For the nobleman was non other than Lord Randolph Churchill. and his son's name was Winston Churchill. Let us use all our talent, competence and energy for creating peace and happiness for the nation.”
“Change is the Only thing that“Change is the Only thing that will Never change. So betterwill Never change. So better adapt to it."adapt to it."
“Change is Universal…“Change is Universal…
Change is Permanent….Change is Permanent….
Be ever willing to Change…..Be ever willing to Change…..
For, change alone leads you to ”success and happiness!!!”
“If one desires a change, one must be that change before that change can take place”
Friday, September 26, 2008
Thought Leadership through management education- submitted by Dr. J Ovasdi OSB Jaipur
Thought leadership through management education The Economic Times 8 Sept, 2008,
Kumar Mangalam Birla
Why has thought leadership become so important at this juncture in history? Every ideology and every system has fallen short, in some way or the other. While capitalism has brought growth and higher standards of living, it has also resulted in periodic instability and often increased inequalities. Socialism brought about greater equality and economic security, but lagged greatly in increasing the size of the pie. Authoritarian states have collapsed, but democracy has also not delivered results, at least quickly enough. So we have to live with huge contradictions: the worst of both worlds. Thought leaders and thought leadership can broadly be segmented into five categories. The first kind of thought leaders, are those whose thoughts inspire, stoke passion, trigger a process of self-inquiry among the listeners. For instance, Rabindranath Tagore’s dream of an India: “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, where knowledge is free;Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls”. Or Churchill who famously said: “Never give in — never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force: never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy”. And the finest text on thought leadership — the Bhagavad Gita. The Gita contains nuggets of knowledge that are invaluable to everyday living, living more fruitfully and optimally. It is much more about philosophy than religion and is universal in its applicability, across religions, cultures and countries. It explains vividly the concept of the mind and the intellect. How one needs to sharpen the intellect to control the mind. Or, how one’s attitude determines one’s altitude, how the past is history, the future is a mystery, the present is a gift, use it optimally by keeping the mind from drifting constantly into the past and the future. The second kind of thought leadership is when through one’s own analysis and experience, a leader forms a framework of thinking to analyse a situation or to effectively sort data. Many years after it was first expounded, Maslow’s Theory of The Hierarchy of Needs continues to be an invaluable mental framework for understanding human behaviour and human motives. Porter’s theory of The Five Forces is perhaps one of the best methods to analyse the attractiveness of an industry and its key value drivers. Third, are thought leaders who are proponents of an ideology that is contrarian to current thinking. The most striking example, Mahatma Gandhi, who countered the forces of violence with totally non-conventional ‘weapons’ — pacifism, moral suasion, fasting. A recent example is C K Prahalad’s Bottom of the Pyramid concept that explains how to stop thinking of the poor as victims or as a burden and start recognising them as resilient and creative entrepreneurs and value conscious consumers.
Fourth, are thought leaders who through innovations, create product or services that meet the needs of a consumer class, very often catering to needs that are unarticulated, but help improve productivity and effectiveness. As part of our quality and TQM process every year, we receive suggestions from shop-floor workers that are amazingly innovative. It is gratifying to see that some of these suggestions result in crores of savings on an annual recurring basis, without requiring major investments. I believe, the worker who has gone beyond the call of duty to find solutions to practical problems in his area of work, is in every way a thought leader. And fifth, is that thought leadership that is put to use for altruistic purposes. An example that fascinates me is the Jaipur foot organisation which makes artificial limbs for the disabled. It has transformed the lives of millions by providing artificial limbs at an incredibly low cost. Having etched this background, I offer a few initial deductions. First, thought leadership is not necessarily a result of education, an example of that is G D Birla, my great-grandfather who, with little formal education himself, was a great educationist and the founder of BITS-Pilani. Another example is that of Dhirubhai Ambani. Second, it is not restricted to a few fields of work or walks of life or to any section of society. It is universal and sector agnostic. That, takes us to the moot question, “does management education foster thought leadership”? I believe that management education and management educators can facilitate thought leadership in a number of ways. The most significant manner is by the way they conceptualise and think about management education itself and the way they prepare their students, through their curriculum, assignments, projects, question papers, methods of evaluation and above all through the insights they bring into the classroom. Also, management educators must believe that management impacts and applies to every area wherever resources are used and therefore, it goes well beyond corporates and industry, and thought leadership across all areas of work. As Professor Donald Haider of Kellogg’s Business School says, “the universe of hospitals and universities, opera and orchestra companies, family service agencies and religious organisations, soup kitchens, environmental advocacies and civil rights organisations” are all a crucial part of our economic, social and civic life. In a situation like this, it is incomprehensible to see management or management education restricted to corporates and industries alone. Management education usually focuses on building a professional — a brand manager, an investment banker, a financial analyst, or a market researcher. But a thought leader is not just a professional. She is a person who is aware of the context in which she works, is sensitive to society’s concerns, deeply cares about the well-being of all and has an intensely personal point of view about what can and needs to be done.
It is the powerful combination of the professional and the person that stimulates thought leadership. You rarely see a thought leader without a deeply human core. Management education represents a unique opportunity in the life of an individual to develop points of view that shape the professional and can potentially shape the type of individual she is. However, my own strong belief is that management education cannot by itself create thought leaders. Management education can play a role to an extent and no further. It provides information, ensures a minimum development of understanding, ensures a whole lot of mental gymnastics. But converting that information, refining it to knowledge and then intuition, is left entirely to the student. Going further, to be a thought leader is entirely left to the initiative and drive of the seeker, the student. Thought leadership requires passion, commitment to a cause, the conviction in one’s beliefs. It requires the ability to train oneself to become an outstanding leader — through understanding one’s strengths and honing them, and one’s weaknesses and working on them relentlessly. It calls for discipline, and most times for personal sacrifice. It calls for focus, patience. To get to be the best in class, you need to work at it. Daily. Consistently. Passionately. It entails an attempt to achieve personal mastery. It requires a good human being. Very importantly, it requires facing and letting go of one’s fears and self-limiting beliefs. As Lord Chesterfield said, “it is not possible to discover new oceans, unless one is willing to lose sight of the shore”. All of this calls for personal conviction, stretching beyond imagination, a strong personal desire to make a difference. Can this be taught through management education? I believe it can’t. But there is a crying need for thought leadership — be it the fields of polity, bureaucracy, industry, NGOs, media, what have you. It is upon us as a country to work collaboratively and create the social environment and infrastructure to foster thought leadership. It’s time to take charge of one’s own destiny as a country. Whilst several western economies have begun to age, we in India, have a demographic advantage. From now up until 2050, we will have the largest number of young working people in the world. Can this resource become an advantage for India, if it is bereft of thought leaders? I believe it cannot. (The author is chairman, Aditya Birla Group)
Kumar Mangalam Birla
Why has thought leadership become so important at this juncture in history? Every ideology and every system has fallen short, in some way or the other. While capitalism has brought growth and higher standards of living, it has also resulted in periodic instability and often increased inequalities. Socialism brought about greater equality and economic security, but lagged greatly in increasing the size of the pie. Authoritarian states have collapsed, but democracy has also not delivered results, at least quickly enough. So we have to live with huge contradictions: the worst of both worlds. Thought leaders and thought leadership can broadly be segmented into five categories. The first kind of thought leaders, are those whose thoughts inspire, stoke passion, trigger a process of self-inquiry among the listeners. For instance, Rabindranath Tagore’s dream of an India: “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, where knowledge is free;Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls”. Or Churchill who famously said: “Never give in — never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force: never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy”. And the finest text on thought leadership — the Bhagavad Gita. The Gita contains nuggets of knowledge that are invaluable to everyday living, living more fruitfully and optimally. It is much more about philosophy than religion and is universal in its applicability, across religions, cultures and countries. It explains vividly the concept of the mind and the intellect. How one needs to sharpen the intellect to control the mind. Or, how one’s attitude determines one’s altitude, how the past is history, the future is a mystery, the present is a gift, use it optimally by keeping the mind from drifting constantly into the past and the future. The second kind of thought leadership is when through one’s own analysis and experience, a leader forms a framework of thinking to analyse a situation or to effectively sort data. Many years after it was first expounded, Maslow’s Theory of The Hierarchy of Needs continues to be an invaluable mental framework for understanding human behaviour and human motives. Porter’s theory of The Five Forces is perhaps one of the best methods to analyse the attractiveness of an industry and its key value drivers. Third, are thought leaders who are proponents of an ideology that is contrarian to current thinking. The most striking example, Mahatma Gandhi, who countered the forces of violence with totally non-conventional ‘weapons’ — pacifism, moral suasion, fasting. A recent example is C K Prahalad’s Bottom of the Pyramid concept that explains how to stop thinking of the poor as victims or as a burden and start recognising them as resilient and creative entrepreneurs and value conscious consumers.
Fourth, are thought leaders who through innovations, create product or services that meet the needs of a consumer class, very often catering to needs that are unarticulated, but help improve productivity and effectiveness. As part of our quality and TQM process every year, we receive suggestions from shop-floor workers that are amazingly innovative. It is gratifying to see that some of these suggestions result in crores of savings on an annual recurring basis, without requiring major investments. I believe, the worker who has gone beyond the call of duty to find solutions to practical problems in his area of work, is in every way a thought leader. And fifth, is that thought leadership that is put to use for altruistic purposes. An example that fascinates me is the Jaipur foot organisation which makes artificial limbs for the disabled. It has transformed the lives of millions by providing artificial limbs at an incredibly low cost. Having etched this background, I offer a few initial deductions. First, thought leadership is not necessarily a result of education, an example of that is G D Birla, my great-grandfather who, with little formal education himself, was a great educationist and the founder of BITS-Pilani. Another example is that of Dhirubhai Ambani. Second, it is not restricted to a few fields of work or walks of life or to any section of society. It is universal and sector agnostic. That, takes us to the moot question, “does management education foster thought leadership”? I believe that management education and management educators can facilitate thought leadership in a number of ways. The most significant manner is by the way they conceptualise and think about management education itself and the way they prepare their students, through their curriculum, assignments, projects, question papers, methods of evaluation and above all through the insights they bring into the classroom. Also, management educators must believe that management impacts and applies to every area wherever resources are used and therefore, it goes well beyond corporates and industry, and thought leadership across all areas of work. As Professor Donald Haider of Kellogg’s Business School says, “the universe of hospitals and universities, opera and orchestra companies, family service agencies and religious organisations, soup kitchens, environmental advocacies and civil rights organisations” are all a crucial part of our economic, social and civic life. In a situation like this, it is incomprehensible to see management or management education restricted to corporates and industries alone. Management education usually focuses on building a professional — a brand manager, an investment banker, a financial analyst, or a market researcher. But a thought leader is not just a professional. She is a person who is aware of the context in which she works, is sensitive to society’s concerns, deeply cares about the well-being of all and has an intensely personal point of view about what can and needs to be done.
It is the powerful combination of the professional and the person that stimulates thought leadership. You rarely see a thought leader without a deeply human core. Management education represents a unique opportunity in the life of an individual to develop points of view that shape the professional and can potentially shape the type of individual she is. However, my own strong belief is that management education cannot by itself create thought leaders. Management education can play a role to an extent and no further. It provides information, ensures a minimum development of understanding, ensures a whole lot of mental gymnastics. But converting that information, refining it to knowledge and then intuition, is left entirely to the student. Going further, to be a thought leader is entirely left to the initiative and drive of the seeker, the student. Thought leadership requires passion, commitment to a cause, the conviction in one’s beliefs. It requires the ability to train oneself to become an outstanding leader — through understanding one’s strengths and honing them, and one’s weaknesses and working on them relentlessly. It calls for discipline, and most times for personal sacrifice. It calls for focus, patience. To get to be the best in class, you need to work at it. Daily. Consistently. Passionately. It entails an attempt to achieve personal mastery. It requires a good human being. Very importantly, it requires facing and letting go of one’s fears and self-limiting beliefs. As Lord Chesterfield said, “it is not possible to discover new oceans, unless one is willing to lose sight of the shore”. All of this calls for personal conviction, stretching beyond imagination, a strong personal desire to make a difference. Can this be taught through management education? I believe it can’t. But there is a crying need for thought leadership — be it the fields of polity, bureaucracy, industry, NGOs, media, what have you. It is upon us as a country to work collaboratively and create the social environment and infrastructure to foster thought leadership. It’s time to take charge of one’s own destiny as a country. Whilst several western economies have begun to age, we in India, have a demographic advantage. From now up until 2050, we will have the largest number of young working people in the world. Can this resource become an advantage for India, if it is bereft of thought leaders? I believe it cannot. (The author is chairman, Aditya Birla Group)
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Developing Interpersonal Skills through the Taming of the Tongue - Ms. Jessy Johnson OSB Pune
Developing Interpersonal Skills through the Taming of the Tongue
Jessy Johnson
Faculty Member,
Omegan School of Business,
Pune
jessy.johnson@gmail.com
In our quest to become Effective Leaders, it is pertinent to add to the list – the taming of the tongue. For to have control over one’s tongue is to reach a level of perfection where the whole body is held in tight rein. Consider the ability of man – Once we put a bit in the horse’s mouth to make it do what we want, we have the whole animal under our control. Or think of ships: no matter how big they are, even if a gale is driving them, they are directed by a tiny rudder wherever the whim of the helmsman decides. So the tongue is only a tiny part of the body, but its boasts are great. Think how small a flame can set fire to a huge forest; the tongue is a flame too. Among all the parts of the body; the tongue is a whole wicked world: it infects the whole body; catching fire itself from hell, it sets fire to the whole wheel of creation, Wild animals and birds, reptiles and fish of every kind can all be tamed and have been tamed by humans; but nobody can tame the tongue – it is a pest that will not keep still, full of deadly poison. We use it to bless the Lord and Father but we also use it to curse people who are made in God’s image: the blessing and curse come out of the same mouth. My brothers, this must be wrong- does any water supply give a flow of fresh water and salt water out of the same pipe? Can a fig tree yield olives, my brothers or a vine yield figs? No more can sea water yield fresh water. James: 3:1-12.
The above passage from the Bible throws lights on the ability of man to do exceptionally difficult tasks successfully and yet he is unable to tame his own tongue. On one hand, the author views the tongue as a pest capable of releasing deadly poison and on the other hand, he speaks about the goodness that can emanate from the tongue. This is double mindedness and calls for taming of the tongue such that it becomes a channel or a wellspring of positive communication.
Of what value would the taming or the control of the tongue benefit a budding professional? Management we have learnt is the art of getting things done through others; yet it begins with managing ourselves.
There goes a story of a wise hermit who relates his experience of managing others. In the first 25 years of his life, he focused on managing and changing the world. Unhappy with his attempt, he shifted his focus for the next 25 years to his family but to no avail. He then realized that the change that he was referring to had to begin with him. This attempt he began to make in the latter 25 years and was pleased with the result. With his change, he had better relationship with his family; his outlook towards the world too had changed. Life was never so meaningful. “Alas”, he thought to himself at a ripe old age, “I wish I had begun the process of transformation earlier in my life!”
The control of the tongue is imperative in the process of change and transformation. When we are caught up with obstacles or called to put forth our thoughts (feedback) our tongue recoils and we plunge into self pity, remorse and hatred. When it becomes intolerable, we have no control over the tongue and may sometimes abuse causing havoc and disruption in relationships.
Interpersonal skills we often say are the hallmark of a good manager. A wise man/woman will use the tongue effectively to encourage and support his/her team. When it comes to reprimanding the team, he/she will use restraint to speak the rights words at the appropriate time i.e. timely feedback, focusing on the weakness rather than on the person, reprimanding in private, when necessary so that the self-esteem of the team member is well-intact, listening attentively so that the person is given a fair opportunity to express his/her point of view. As a Manager and Leader, we must use the tongue effectively to lavish praise and applaud the efforts of a team member. To acknowledge the efforts of a team member goes a long way in boosting the individual’s morale as well as builds the loyalty of the person to the organization. We must make it a point to not only be critical but also applaud a good performance.
Also a good leader stays away from flattery. Flattery is empty and unproductive. It may fetch us instant support but the moment we are exposed, it will rob us of our integrity. Any feedback that we hence provide will go unnoticed and unacknowledged. Similarly, boasting about one’s caliber and competence only is not as effective as a modest, yet confident performance that speaks twice about our abilities.
An approach to Taming the Tongue:
Short Tempered, Partial, Aggressive are Weaknesses or Areas of Improvement that we highlight. The question is – Do we want to work in rectifying these weaknesses and if yes– It calls for Taming of our Tongue.
A Holistic View
We may have our own explanations; what matters however is whether we have taken a holistic view of the situation. Reprimanding someone for a failure or a job not done is not short temperedness so long as we are within control of the choice of words and have not become abusive in our words. If our goal is to improve the situation, then the feedback must be given immediately and objectively. That is, our focus is on the job and not on the person. ‘You are sloppy’ v/s ‘That was a sloppy job’ – makes a lot of difference. In the first case, we are saying that our colleague/team member is Sloppy; whereas in the second case, we are holding their self esteem intact and are only pointing to the job. In other words, we are telling the person that the job could be done better. Sometimes, on the spot feedback must be avoided especially, in the presence of other people -for public feedback can lead to very embarrassing situations for the receiver.
Before, arriving at any conclusion, it is important that we hear all parties concerned. It’s very tricky, when we receive feedback esp. negative from one party against another. At this point of time, as a leader we must reserve our opinion on the subject, until we have heard the other party too. Very often feedback received could be peppered with fake information. To avoid any damage, we should buy time to authenticate the information.
Inebriated Conditions
In an inebriated condition especially, we may not have control over our tongue and soon enough the beans are spilled and the worst is said and displayed much to the chagrin of others.
It’s sensible therefore to refrain or have limited quantity of alcohol to have a rein on our tongue.
Aggressive Behavior
Aggressive Behavior is a Win-Lose Situation where we want to win; no matter what happens to the others. So crazy are we about winning that we may resort to any measure to get our way and get our way, we certainly will; but perhaps only for a short while. Aggressive behavior is vexatious to the spirit and if it becomes part of our personality, sooner or later we will be seen as an obstruction in the wheel, which has to be extracted for the betterment of the system.
Instead assertiveness can be nurtured by providing space for co-existence, allowing others to also express themselves, just like the harmonious functioning of the human body; where the heart, mind, limbs, eyes, ears and every other organ must co-ordinate with each other. The eye cannot say to the hand “That I don’t need you” nor the head say to the feet “I have no need of you”. If one part is hurt, all the parts share its pain and if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.
Email Etiquette
Control of the tongue can also be extended to email etiquette. The same rules apply. Where verbal dialogue is possible, email communication should be avoided. In many cases, conflicts occur due to mis-interpretation of email messages resulting in a spate of hate mails.
On the contrary, had the dialogue taken place across the table, the fireworks could be avoided and a mutual understanding could have prevailed.
At Home
As the saying goes, charity begins at home, let the Taming of the tongue be exercised everywhere - even at home. Relationships with parents, spouses and children are very special and need to be harnessed. A kind word can re-assure and satisfy a family member more than all the gold in the world. Relationships break with verbal battles and while it’s turmoil for the family members; it could be entertainment for the neighborhood. We have a choice to keep the tongue reined and listen instead, to put in our views thereafter and even if the relationship cannot be mended; we can still part with kind words. Hard to practice, however, prayers to the Almighty to give us the grace to endure, to tackle the toughest of words and people can fetch us the grace to forgive and pray and bless the person/s instead. And behold! There is transformation in the person/s and in us as well - All because the tongue chose to praise and worship rather than resort into endless verbal dialogues.
To conclude, taming of the tongue is a life-long pursuit, the sooner we begin – the better our relationships.
Jessy Johnson
Faculty Member,
Omegan School of Business,
Pune
jessy.johnson@gmail.com
In our quest to become Effective Leaders, it is pertinent to add to the list – the taming of the tongue. For to have control over one’s tongue is to reach a level of perfection where the whole body is held in tight rein. Consider the ability of man – Once we put a bit in the horse’s mouth to make it do what we want, we have the whole animal under our control. Or think of ships: no matter how big they are, even if a gale is driving them, they are directed by a tiny rudder wherever the whim of the helmsman decides. So the tongue is only a tiny part of the body, but its boasts are great. Think how small a flame can set fire to a huge forest; the tongue is a flame too. Among all the parts of the body; the tongue is a whole wicked world: it infects the whole body; catching fire itself from hell, it sets fire to the whole wheel of creation, Wild animals and birds, reptiles and fish of every kind can all be tamed and have been tamed by humans; but nobody can tame the tongue – it is a pest that will not keep still, full of deadly poison. We use it to bless the Lord and Father but we also use it to curse people who are made in God’s image: the blessing and curse come out of the same mouth. My brothers, this must be wrong- does any water supply give a flow of fresh water and salt water out of the same pipe? Can a fig tree yield olives, my brothers or a vine yield figs? No more can sea water yield fresh water. James: 3:1-12.
The above passage from the Bible throws lights on the ability of man to do exceptionally difficult tasks successfully and yet he is unable to tame his own tongue. On one hand, the author views the tongue as a pest capable of releasing deadly poison and on the other hand, he speaks about the goodness that can emanate from the tongue. This is double mindedness and calls for taming of the tongue such that it becomes a channel or a wellspring of positive communication.
Of what value would the taming or the control of the tongue benefit a budding professional? Management we have learnt is the art of getting things done through others; yet it begins with managing ourselves.
There goes a story of a wise hermit who relates his experience of managing others. In the first 25 years of his life, he focused on managing and changing the world. Unhappy with his attempt, he shifted his focus for the next 25 years to his family but to no avail. He then realized that the change that he was referring to had to begin with him. This attempt he began to make in the latter 25 years and was pleased with the result. With his change, he had better relationship with his family; his outlook towards the world too had changed. Life was never so meaningful. “Alas”, he thought to himself at a ripe old age, “I wish I had begun the process of transformation earlier in my life!”
The control of the tongue is imperative in the process of change and transformation. When we are caught up with obstacles or called to put forth our thoughts (feedback) our tongue recoils and we plunge into self pity, remorse and hatred. When it becomes intolerable, we have no control over the tongue and may sometimes abuse causing havoc and disruption in relationships.
Interpersonal skills we often say are the hallmark of a good manager. A wise man/woman will use the tongue effectively to encourage and support his/her team. When it comes to reprimanding the team, he/she will use restraint to speak the rights words at the appropriate time i.e. timely feedback, focusing on the weakness rather than on the person, reprimanding in private, when necessary so that the self-esteem of the team member is well-intact, listening attentively so that the person is given a fair opportunity to express his/her point of view. As a Manager and Leader, we must use the tongue effectively to lavish praise and applaud the efforts of a team member. To acknowledge the efforts of a team member goes a long way in boosting the individual’s morale as well as builds the loyalty of the person to the organization. We must make it a point to not only be critical but also applaud a good performance.
Also a good leader stays away from flattery. Flattery is empty and unproductive. It may fetch us instant support but the moment we are exposed, it will rob us of our integrity. Any feedback that we hence provide will go unnoticed and unacknowledged. Similarly, boasting about one’s caliber and competence only is not as effective as a modest, yet confident performance that speaks twice about our abilities.
An approach to Taming the Tongue:
Short Tempered, Partial, Aggressive are Weaknesses or Areas of Improvement that we highlight. The question is – Do we want to work in rectifying these weaknesses and if yes– It calls for Taming of our Tongue.
A Holistic View
We may have our own explanations; what matters however is whether we have taken a holistic view of the situation. Reprimanding someone for a failure or a job not done is not short temperedness so long as we are within control of the choice of words and have not become abusive in our words. If our goal is to improve the situation, then the feedback must be given immediately and objectively. That is, our focus is on the job and not on the person. ‘You are sloppy’ v/s ‘That was a sloppy job’ – makes a lot of difference. In the first case, we are saying that our colleague/team member is Sloppy; whereas in the second case, we are holding their self esteem intact and are only pointing to the job. In other words, we are telling the person that the job could be done better. Sometimes, on the spot feedback must be avoided especially, in the presence of other people -for public feedback can lead to very embarrassing situations for the receiver.
Before, arriving at any conclusion, it is important that we hear all parties concerned. It’s very tricky, when we receive feedback esp. negative from one party against another. At this point of time, as a leader we must reserve our opinion on the subject, until we have heard the other party too. Very often feedback received could be peppered with fake information. To avoid any damage, we should buy time to authenticate the information.
Inebriated Conditions
In an inebriated condition especially, we may not have control over our tongue and soon enough the beans are spilled and the worst is said and displayed much to the chagrin of others.
It’s sensible therefore to refrain or have limited quantity of alcohol to have a rein on our tongue.
Aggressive Behavior
Aggressive Behavior is a Win-Lose Situation where we want to win; no matter what happens to the others. So crazy are we about winning that we may resort to any measure to get our way and get our way, we certainly will; but perhaps only for a short while. Aggressive behavior is vexatious to the spirit and if it becomes part of our personality, sooner or later we will be seen as an obstruction in the wheel, which has to be extracted for the betterment of the system.
Instead assertiveness can be nurtured by providing space for co-existence, allowing others to also express themselves, just like the harmonious functioning of the human body; where the heart, mind, limbs, eyes, ears and every other organ must co-ordinate with each other. The eye cannot say to the hand “That I don’t need you” nor the head say to the feet “I have no need of you”. If one part is hurt, all the parts share its pain and if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.
Email Etiquette
Control of the tongue can also be extended to email etiquette. The same rules apply. Where verbal dialogue is possible, email communication should be avoided. In many cases, conflicts occur due to mis-interpretation of email messages resulting in a spate of hate mails.
On the contrary, had the dialogue taken place across the table, the fireworks could be avoided and a mutual understanding could have prevailed.
At Home
As the saying goes, charity begins at home, let the Taming of the tongue be exercised everywhere - even at home. Relationships with parents, spouses and children are very special and need to be harnessed. A kind word can re-assure and satisfy a family member more than all the gold in the world. Relationships break with verbal battles and while it’s turmoil for the family members; it could be entertainment for the neighborhood. We have a choice to keep the tongue reined and listen instead, to put in our views thereafter and even if the relationship cannot be mended; we can still part with kind words. Hard to practice, however, prayers to the Almighty to give us the grace to endure, to tackle the toughest of words and people can fetch us the grace to forgive and pray and bless the person/s instead. And behold! There is transformation in the person/s and in us as well - All because the tongue chose to praise and worship rather than resort into endless verbal dialogues.
To conclude, taming of the tongue is a life-long pursuit, the sooner we begin – the better our relationships.
BIO- FUELS - An article submitted by Dr. J Ovasdi
BIO-FUELS - UNDERSTANDING THE ISSUES
Dr. Alka Awasthi
Deputy Director CECOEDECON
JAIPUR
Email dralkaawasthi@yahoo.com
Background
Bio-fuels are solid, liquid or gaseous fuels derived from plant or animal matter as against fossil fuels that are derived from long-dead biological material. The word ‘bio-fuel’ literally means ‘fuel from life.’ The use of prefix ‘bio’ seems to confer an environmentally friendly value to the product. But this is a misconception because the bio-fuels are actually being produced only from cultivated plants (and are therefore agro-fuels) and the process is certainly not environmentally friendly.Bio-fuels seem attractive as a solution to both climate change and fossil fuel scarcity. Since plants fix carbon dioxide a major greenhouse gas, growing more bio-fuel producing plants can theoretically lower atmospheric carbon dioxide. Other advantages of bio-fuels lie in a broader geographic spread of energy supplies, reduced dependence on fossil fuels and most importantly reduced dependence on foreign oil produced in geo-political hotspots. Energy security is a pressing concern with governments because of the large amount of resources spent on buying oil, the balance of payments problem, and the impact of rising oil prices on the price of other commodities. Given the large tracts of wastelands (supposedly un-productive), and the unemployment situation, there seems to be enough justification to go ahead with bio-fuel cultivation on a large scale.Inspired by these objectives governments and businesses are racing to produce bio-fuels. The scale of resources diverted to bio-fuels is immense involving huge subsidies to bio-fuel cultivation and diversion of large amounts of water and land from other competing uses. At this moment it is worthwhile to pause and take stock of the situation to ponder a few important issues – will bio-fuels actually provide the perceived benefits; what are the environmental and human costs of switching to bio-fuels?Claims of mitigating climate change
Much of the original attraction of bio-fuels lay in their perceived carbon neutrality. As crops grow, they fix carbon from the atmosphere. When they are burned as bio-fuels this carbon is simply released back producing no net effect on atmospheric carbon. Actual life cycle analysis (LCA) have shown that bio-fuels do lead to net GHG emission, but the net GHG emissions are less than when fossil fuels are used. Latest research disputes even this claim of comparative carbon savings from bio-fuel use. Nobel Laureate Paul Crutzen and colleagues have shown that decomposition of nitrogen based fertilizers used in bio-fuel cultivation actually increase GHG emissions and worsen global warming.There are also carbon emissions from bringing new land into cultivation – as we burn or let rot trees, grasses and other vegetation, as we plough up soil, we allow carbon previously fixed in soil and vegetation to enter the atmosphere. The increasing demand for bio-fuels will lead to clearing up of new land including forests and other wild areas. Cultivation of bio-fuels in these cleared up areas will first lead to increase in GHG emissions and then decline in emissions as plants grow and begin to fix atmospheric carbon. The time required to fix an equal amount of GHG previously released by the clearing up process is understood as ‘payback’ time. Fargione et al (2008) have estimated that when grasslands are cleared up for corn-based ethanol in US they will continue to be net emitters of GHGs for 93 years, i.e. the payback time would be 93 years!In order to avoid catastrophic climate change, global emissions must fall within the next ten to fifteen years. Therefore, bringing more land under cultivation of bio-fuels is clearly not a viable option. But the targets set by countries world over for bio-fuel production will lead to more land clearing as well as emission of GHGs for at least fifty more years! Cost of abatement
If the mitigation of climate change is the main objective of bio-fuel promotion, it is important to examine whether bio-fuels represent a cost effective means of achieving GHG reductions. Work by the International Institute of Sustainable Development, Geneva, has found that the cost of abating a tonne of CO2 equivalent through bio-fuels in EU is €575 - €800 for sugar-beet ethanol and over E600 for rapeseed bio-diesel. When compared with the current typical costs of CO2 abatement of €50 - €100, using bio-fuels seems to be a pretty expensive way to reduce GHGs.Are bio-fuels the most effective options?
At present the debate on bio-fuels is focused mostly on producing energy for transport. Biomass can be used far more efficiently in static applications such as heat and power generation than in the transport sector. Billions of dollars are going in to support bio-fuel production, but these bio-fuels account for less than 3% of the overall transport fuel demand. Is this expenditure justified in consumption of nearly half of the world’s food crops? Even the US can meet only 16% of its oil demand by diverting all the corn produced in the country to bio-fuel production. If all the concern is about availability of transport fuel there are far more cost effective options such as promotion of more efficient driving methods and better enforcements of speed limits.Bio-fuels for whom?
Bio-fuels provide significant prospects for meeting rural energy demands. There are large numbers of villages that are still off the grid and use ingenious means to derive energy from locally available biomass. If the land and water resources of rural areas are to be used for bio-fuel cultivation, then the first right to energy produced from these sources should be of the local people. This bio-energy can be used to produce electricity, husking and grinding machines, oilseed presses, and electric induction motors. This will allow communities to use Jatropha oil as a fuel for agricultural processing and electricity generation that in turn can be used to provide lighting, charge batteries, power communication equipment and even pumping water. The benefits of this can be particularly beneficial for women who will be able to reduce time spent on unpaid activities such as collecting water or milling grain. It makes more sense to help 2 billion people to produce their own electricity and other energy needs than in keeping 800 million cars and trucks on the road. But at present the bio-fuel market is geared towards export and the resources of the poor are being used to provide energy for the rich with private cars. All incentives are only serving business interests who will be able to make deeper inroads into land and other resources that hitherto belonged to the people.Can we meet bio-fuel targets?
There is just not enough land and water to meet the bio-fuel targets that the world has set itself. To ensure food security for all, world food production needs to be increased by 100% but arable land available for expansion is only about 10 to 20% of the demand. Water is under even greater pressure than land. Agriculture accounts for about 80% of the global water demand. At present nearly 500 million people live in countries chronically short of water. For food security the agricultural production has to be doubled by 2050. Further global warming is expected to lead to a decline of 16% in world agricultural GDP. In this scenario is it justified to divert land and water resources to production of fuel instead of food?What is the impact on achievement of Millennium Development Goal 1?
Even before bio-fuels the achievement of MDG1 (reducing extreme poverty and hunger) was considered difficult. Over the last three years food prices have risen by more than 80% and increasing bio-fuel demand is believed to contribute to about 30% of this price increase. The European Commission suggest that higher food prices are good for the rural poor as it also reflects increase in prices of agricultural products and therefore greater earnings for farmers. But the flaw in this assumption is that even farmers are net food consumers and the increase in food prices may push them into poverty and hunger. A World Bank analysis estimates that recent price rise has led to an increase in poverty of 105 million people worldwide. Therefore, bio-fuels may have already pushed over 31 million people into poverty. It has been estimated that the European Commission’s bio-fuel targets will lead to an extra 50-100 million hungry people by 2020.Absence of policies, guidelines and safeguards
It is surprising how Jatropha and other bio-fuel crops are being promoted at a large scale throughout the country when there are so many unanswered questions about their economic viability and socio-environmental impacts. Although a national bio-diesel policy was promised by early 2008, the draft text has not yet been made available for public comment. There is a flurry of government incentives for bio-diesel promotion but there are no clear guidelines on rural credit. Using this gap in national level policy, the states are moving ahead with their own incentives to attract foreign investment. There are several publications that describe harmful effects of Jatropha such as dermatitis, cancers, seeds are poisonous when eaten, and inhaled vapors can be toxic. These plants are even known to have allelopathic effects, i.e., they produce chemicals that retard growth of other crops. The Cramer’s Committee (2007) has formulated sustainability criteria for supporting bio-fuel projects. Some international banks use the sustainability criteria to check out the following important features about the proposed projects before sanctioning them:• Net CO2 emission (GHG balance)• No competition with local food and energy needs• Biodiversity conservation• Impact on local economy (prosperity)• Working conditions, human rights, living conditions• Environment protectionIn India the banks do not even consider the potentially harmful effects of bio-fuels. Given the lack of effective environmental regulation and formulation of sustainability criteria for bio-fuel promotion, such wide-scale promotion of bio-fuel plantations could spell disaster for the environment and the society.The rush to promote bio-fuels
Pursuing the aims of tackling climate change as well as rising petrol import bills, the Indian government is using all possible state machinery to promote bio-fuels. The Planning Commission has proposed that 20% blending of petrol should be achieved by 2020. The Biodiesel Association of India is lobbying for more land to grow agro-fuels, rise in guaranteed price for purchase, and tax exemptions. FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) has made recommendations to the Agriculture Ministry for a 10 year tax holiday on corporate Jatropha cultivation. It has also called on the government to use the NREG (National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme) to make villagers plant Jatropha. National agencies such as Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), National Oil Seeds and Vegetable Oils Development Board (NOVOD) etc. have already made considerable progress by bringing out a wastelands atlas of the country to identify lands for bio-fuel cultivation, development and identification of high yielding varieties.In Andhra Pradesh the district water agencies have been told to give priority to irrigation for Jatropha cultivation. Governments in Punjab, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh are offering subsidies on drip irrigation for Jatropha plantations. There are many instances of arm-twisting of Sarpanches not to resist allocation of land for bio-fuels. Similar government support to traditional crops can assure local food security and raised standard of living in the rural areas, but all these incentives and tax holidays for bio-fuel cultivation will only produce energy and earnings for the rich leading to even greater disparities in income in the country.Can small holders deliver?
The focus of the world’s bio-fuel business is on involving the small holders, community organizations and landless with the objective of improving their standard of living. The small farmers have no resources and technological know-how. At present the agronomics of Jatropha is not well understood. It is claimed that the plant is drought resistant, but experience shows that it cannot produce commercially viable output under water scarcity conditions. In semi-arid areas hot winds are seen to desiccate the plants. Irrigation is essential in the first year of growth, but farmers are being misled that water is not needed. In arid and semi-arid areas bio-fuel farming can divert precious water from more legitimate needs such as drinking water. It is still not understood how these plants will respond to intercropping. Many private companies are contacting the farmers and selling seedlings but fail to provide extension support so that many farmers have actuallylost on earnings from their fields for 2 to 3 years. Commercial bio-fuel plantations need both irrigation and fertilizers that add to input costs. There is a general understanding that the Jatropha plant is a hardy plant, but under monoculture conditions many viral and insect infestations are seen, indicating that huge amounts of pesticides will be needed. Also of concern is the small holders’ capacity (lack of) to meet certification needs for the international market. Small holders do not have the capacity to cushion the risks of fluctuating market demand and prices. If they are expected to grow bio-fuels, there has to be some market interference; will international trade agreements permit this? The European Commission is proposing sustainability criteria from 2010 onwards, but refuses to include human and labor rights within these criteria. Even the WTO will not deal with human and labor rights because the so-called social standards are illegal under WTO law. With private businesses entering the bio-fuel trade, we should be worried that labor rights are not sacrificed to private profits.Putting wastelands to use – the Rajasthan case
The Indian Government has identified 400,000 ha of wastelands for Jatropha farming. Following suite, the Rajasthan Bio-fuel Authority has identified about 40995 ha of wasteland and plantation of Jatropha has already begun in 11 districts. The catch is that the ‘wastelands’ are defined as degraded village pasturelands, degraded forests and other unused land. These lands are called wastelands because they provide no revenue to the government, otherwise these land are of immense importance to the local communities. Wastelands are productive sources for the marginalized – the extremely poor, landless and herders. Their importance lies in their value as source for wild foods, fuel wood and fodder for livestock. The CPRs can contribute up to a quarter of household incomes for the poor households and these are the people most dependent on these common resources. These people are also unorganized and lack the strength to protest.Effects on food security
Use of food plants for bio-fuel production has already been seen to contribute to increase food prices the world over. Together with the expected climate change induced fall in global crop productivity, land diversion to bio-fuels will make it impossible to feed the increasing human population. Apart from this promotion of large scale monocultures in biodiversity rich areas could wipe out local agro-diversity. The decimation of local climatically adapted cultivars will erode the genetic diversity that forms the basis of evolution, adaptation and crop improvement. As a result there will be less hope of increasing the productivity of existing crops to achieve food security.Bio-fuel production targets and human rights
Driven by the need to fulfill targets, government departments have taken over the land of tribals for Jatropha plantations. Tribals and small farmers are afraid that entering into contracts will bar them from growing food plants for their own use. Private agencies actually discourage crop diversification and intercropping. All this is happening in the most food insecure regions of central India inhabited by tribals in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh. At risk are people whose rights to land are not documented, or are poorly protected by traditional rights. These people lack a voice in the decision making forums and can be easily shoved into landlessness and hunger.In Malaysia in the Sarawak forested mountain region 40% of the forests have been cut down to plant oil palm – a bio-fuel crop. The rivers and water sources have been rendered unfit for drinking due to large amounts of chemicals used on the plantations. People can no longer grow their food crops once the plantations come up. People who resist land take over are tortured and jailed. Even common lands are taken over by commercial bio-fuel plantations. Customary law grants rights over these lands to tribals but the government itself has sold these lands to companies. With so many concerns about the economic viability, social and environmental impacts, and unregulated expansion of the bio-fuels sector, it is indeed imperative to take stock of the situation and weigh the pros and cons. Does the benefit of blending transport fuel justify the take over of millions of hectares of land, destruction of biodiversity and food security, rise in food prices and violation of human rights?
Dr. Alka Awasthi
Deputy Director CECOEDECON
JAIPUR
Email dralkaawasthi@yahoo.com
Background
Bio-fuels are solid, liquid or gaseous fuels derived from plant or animal matter as against fossil fuels that are derived from long-dead biological material. The word ‘bio-fuel’ literally means ‘fuel from life.’ The use of prefix ‘bio’ seems to confer an environmentally friendly value to the product. But this is a misconception because the bio-fuels are actually being produced only from cultivated plants (and are therefore agro-fuels) and the process is certainly not environmentally friendly.Bio-fuels seem attractive as a solution to both climate change and fossil fuel scarcity. Since plants fix carbon dioxide a major greenhouse gas, growing more bio-fuel producing plants can theoretically lower atmospheric carbon dioxide. Other advantages of bio-fuels lie in a broader geographic spread of energy supplies, reduced dependence on fossil fuels and most importantly reduced dependence on foreign oil produced in geo-political hotspots. Energy security is a pressing concern with governments because of the large amount of resources spent on buying oil, the balance of payments problem, and the impact of rising oil prices on the price of other commodities. Given the large tracts of wastelands (supposedly un-productive), and the unemployment situation, there seems to be enough justification to go ahead with bio-fuel cultivation on a large scale.Inspired by these objectives governments and businesses are racing to produce bio-fuels. The scale of resources diverted to bio-fuels is immense involving huge subsidies to bio-fuel cultivation and diversion of large amounts of water and land from other competing uses. At this moment it is worthwhile to pause and take stock of the situation to ponder a few important issues – will bio-fuels actually provide the perceived benefits; what are the environmental and human costs of switching to bio-fuels?Claims of mitigating climate change
Much of the original attraction of bio-fuels lay in their perceived carbon neutrality. As crops grow, they fix carbon from the atmosphere. When they are burned as bio-fuels this carbon is simply released back producing no net effect on atmospheric carbon. Actual life cycle analysis (LCA) have shown that bio-fuels do lead to net GHG emission, but the net GHG emissions are less than when fossil fuels are used. Latest research disputes even this claim of comparative carbon savings from bio-fuel use. Nobel Laureate Paul Crutzen and colleagues have shown that decomposition of nitrogen based fertilizers used in bio-fuel cultivation actually increase GHG emissions and worsen global warming.There are also carbon emissions from bringing new land into cultivation – as we burn or let rot trees, grasses and other vegetation, as we plough up soil, we allow carbon previously fixed in soil and vegetation to enter the atmosphere. The increasing demand for bio-fuels will lead to clearing up of new land including forests and other wild areas. Cultivation of bio-fuels in these cleared up areas will first lead to increase in GHG emissions and then decline in emissions as plants grow and begin to fix atmospheric carbon. The time required to fix an equal amount of GHG previously released by the clearing up process is understood as ‘payback’ time. Fargione et al (2008) have estimated that when grasslands are cleared up for corn-based ethanol in US they will continue to be net emitters of GHGs for 93 years, i.e. the payback time would be 93 years!In order to avoid catastrophic climate change, global emissions must fall within the next ten to fifteen years. Therefore, bringing more land under cultivation of bio-fuels is clearly not a viable option. But the targets set by countries world over for bio-fuel production will lead to more land clearing as well as emission of GHGs for at least fifty more years! Cost of abatement
If the mitigation of climate change is the main objective of bio-fuel promotion, it is important to examine whether bio-fuels represent a cost effective means of achieving GHG reductions. Work by the International Institute of Sustainable Development, Geneva, has found that the cost of abating a tonne of CO2 equivalent through bio-fuels in EU is €575 - €800 for sugar-beet ethanol and over E600 for rapeseed bio-diesel. When compared with the current typical costs of CO2 abatement of €50 - €100, using bio-fuels seems to be a pretty expensive way to reduce GHGs.Are bio-fuels the most effective options?
At present the debate on bio-fuels is focused mostly on producing energy for transport. Biomass can be used far more efficiently in static applications such as heat and power generation than in the transport sector. Billions of dollars are going in to support bio-fuel production, but these bio-fuels account for less than 3% of the overall transport fuel demand. Is this expenditure justified in consumption of nearly half of the world’s food crops? Even the US can meet only 16% of its oil demand by diverting all the corn produced in the country to bio-fuel production. If all the concern is about availability of transport fuel there are far more cost effective options such as promotion of more efficient driving methods and better enforcements of speed limits.Bio-fuels for whom?
Bio-fuels provide significant prospects for meeting rural energy demands. There are large numbers of villages that are still off the grid and use ingenious means to derive energy from locally available biomass. If the land and water resources of rural areas are to be used for bio-fuel cultivation, then the first right to energy produced from these sources should be of the local people. This bio-energy can be used to produce electricity, husking and grinding machines, oilseed presses, and electric induction motors. This will allow communities to use Jatropha oil as a fuel for agricultural processing and electricity generation that in turn can be used to provide lighting, charge batteries, power communication equipment and even pumping water. The benefits of this can be particularly beneficial for women who will be able to reduce time spent on unpaid activities such as collecting water or milling grain. It makes more sense to help 2 billion people to produce their own electricity and other energy needs than in keeping 800 million cars and trucks on the road. But at present the bio-fuel market is geared towards export and the resources of the poor are being used to provide energy for the rich with private cars. All incentives are only serving business interests who will be able to make deeper inroads into land and other resources that hitherto belonged to the people.Can we meet bio-fuel targets?
There is just not enough land and water to meet the bio-fuel targets that the world has set itself. To ensure food security for all, world food production needs to be increased by 100% but arable land available for expansion is only about 10 to 20% of the demand. Water is under even greater pressure than land. Agriculture accounts for about 80% of the global water demand. At present nearly 500 million people live in countries chronically short of water. For food security the agricultural production has to be doubled by 2050. Further global warming is expected to lead to a decline of 16% in world agricultural GDP. In this scenario is it justified to divert land and water resources to production of fuel instead of food?What is the impact on achievement of Millennium Development Goal 1?
Even before bio-fuels the achievement of MDG1 (reducing extreme poverty and hunger) was considered difficult. Over the last three years food prices have risen by more than 80% and increasing bio-fuel demand is believed to contribute to about 30% of this price increase. The European Commission suggest that higher food prices are good for the rural poor as it also reflects increase in prices of agricultural products and therefore greater earnings for farmers. But the flaw in this assumption is that even farmers are net food consumers and the increase in food prices may push them into poverty and hunger. A World Bank analysis estimates that recent price rise has led to an increase in poverty of 105 million people worldwide. Therefore, bio-fuels may have already pushed over 31 million people into poverty. It has been estimated that the European Commission’s bio-fuel targets will lead to an extra 50-100 million hungry people by 2020.Absence of policies, guidelines and safeguards
It is surprising how Jatropha and other bio-fuel crops are being promoted at a large scale throughout the country when there are so many unanswered questions about their economic viability and socio-environmental impacts. Although a national bio-diesel policy was promised by early 2008, the draft text has not yet been made available for public comment. There is a flurry of government incentives for bio-diesel promotion but there are no clear guidelines on rural credit. Using this gap in national level policy, the states are moving ahead with their own incentives to attract foreign investment. There are several publications that describe harmful effects of Jatropha such as dermatitis, cancers, seeds are poisonous when eaten, and inhaled vapors can be toxic. These plants are even known to have allelopathic effects, i.e., they produce chemicals that retard growth of other crops. The Cramer’s Committee (2007) has formulated sustainability criteria for supporting bio-fuel projects. Some international banks use the sustainability criteria to check out the following important features about the proposed projects before sanctioning them:• Net CO2 emission (GHG balance)• No competition with local food and energy needs• Biodiversity conservation• Impact on local economy (prosperity)• Working conditions, human rights, living conditions• Environment protectionIn India the banks do not even consider the potentially harmful effects of bio-fuels. Given the lack of effective environmental regulation and formulation of sustainability criteria for bio-fuel promotion, such wide-scale promotion of bio-fuel plantations could spell disaster for the environment and the society.The rush to promote bio-fuels
Pursuing the aims of tackling climate change as well as rising petrol import bills, the Indian government is using all possible state machinery to promote bio-fuels. The Planning Commission has proposed that 20% blending of petrol should be achieved by 2020. The Biodiesel Association of India is lobbying for more land to grow agro-fuels, rise in guaranteed price for purchase, and tax exemptions. FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) has made recommendations to the Agriculture Ministry for a 10 year tax holiday on corporate Jatropha cultivation. It has also called on the government to use the NREG (National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme) to make villagers plant Jatropha. National agencies such as Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), National Oil Seeds and Vegetable Oils Development Board (NOVOD) etc. have already made considerable progress by bringing out a wastelands atlas of the country to identify lands for bio-fuel cultivation, development and identification of high yielding varieties.In Andhra Pradesh the district water agencies have been told to give priority to irrigation for Jatropha cultivation. Governments in Punjab, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh are offering subsidies on drip irrigation for Jatropha plantations. There are many instances of arm-twisting of Sarpanches not to resist allocation of land for bio-fuels. Similar government support to traditional crops can assure local food security and raised standard of living in the rural areas, but all these incentives and tax holidays for bio-fuel cultivation will only produce energy and earnings for the rich leading to even greater disparities in income in the country.Can small holders deliver?
The focus of the world’s bio-fuel business is on involving the small holders, community organizations and landless with the objective of improving their standard of living. The small farmers have no resources and technological know-how. At present the agronomics of Jatropha is not well understood. It is claimed that the plant is drought resistant, but experience shows that it cannot produce commercially viable output under water scarcity conditions. In semi-arid areas hot winds are seen to desiccate the plants. Irrigation is essential in the first year of growth, but farmers are being misled that water is not needed. In arid and semi-arid areas bio-fuel farming can divert precious water from more legitimate needs such as drinking water. It is still not understood how these plants will respond to intercropping. Many private companies are contacting the farmers and selling seedlings but fail to provide extension support so that many farmers have actuallylost on earnings from their fields for 2 to 3 years. Commercial bio-fuel plantations need both irrigation and fertilizers that add to input costs. There is a general understanding that the Jatropha plant is a hardy plant, but under monoculture conditions many viral and insect infestations are seen, indicating that huge amounts of pesticides will be needed. Also of concern is the small holders’ capacity (lack of) to meet certification needs for the international market. Small holders do not have the capacity to cushion the risks of fluctuating market demand and prices. If they are expected to grow bio-fuels, there has to be some market interference; will international trade agreements permit this? The European Commission is proposing sustainability criteria from 2010 onwards, but refuses to include human and labor rights within these criteria. Even the WTO will not deal with human and labor rights because the so-called social standards are illegal under WTO law. With private businesses entering the bio-fuel trade, we should be worried that labor rights are not sacrificed to private profits.Putting wastelands to use – the Rajasthan case
The Indian Government has identified 400,000 ha of wastelands for Jatropha farming. Following suite, the Rajasthan Bio-fuel Authority has identified about 40995 ha of wasteland and plantation of Jatropha has already begun in 11 districts. The catch is that the ‘wastelands’ are defined as degraded village pasturelands, degraded forests and other unused land. These lands are called wastelands because they provide no revenue to the government, otherwise these land are of immense importance to the local communities. Wastelands are productive sources for the marginalized – the extremely poor, landless and herders. Their importance lies in their value as source for wild foods, fuel wood and fodder for livestock. The CPRs can contribute up to a quarter of household incomes for the poor households and these are the people most dependent on these common resources. These people are also unorganized and lack the strength to protest.Effects on food security
Use of food plants for bio-fuel production has already been seen to contribute to increase food prices the world over. Together with the expected climate change induced fall in global crop productivity, land diversion to bio-fuels will make it impossible to feed the increasing human population. Apart from this promotion of large scale monocultures in biodiversity rich areas could wipe out local agro-diversity. The decimation of local climatically adapted cultivars will erode the genetic diversity that forms the basis of evolution, adaptation and crop improvement. As a result there will be less hope of increasing the productivity of existing crops to achieve food security.Bio-fuel production targets and human rights
Driven by the need to fulfill targets, government departments have taken over the land of tribals for Jatropha plantations. Tribals and small farmers are afraid that entering into contracts will bar them from growing food plants for their own use. Private agencies actually discourage crop diversification and intercropping. All this is happening in the most food insecure regions of central India inhabited by tribals in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh. At risk are people whose rights to land are not documented, or are poorly protected by traditional rights. These people lack a voice in the decision making forums and can be easily shoved into landlessness and hunger.In Malaysia in the Sarawak forested mountain region 40% of the forests have been cut down to plant oil palm – a bio-fuel crop. The rivers and water sources have been rendered unfit for drinking due to large amounts of chemicals used on the plantations. People can no longer grow their food crops once the plantations come up. People who resist land take over are tortured and jailed. Even common lands are taken over by commercial bio-fuel plantations. Customary law grants rights over these lands to tribals but the government itself has sold these lands to companies. With so many concerns about the economic viability, social and environmental impacts, and unregulated expansion of the bio-fuels sector, it is indeed imperative to take stock of the situation and weigh the pros and cons. Does the benefit of blending transport fuel justify the take over of millions of hectares of land, destruction of biodiversity and food security, rise in food prices and violation of human rights?
Saturday, September 20, 2008
A MUST READ ARTICLE - submitted by Prof Amol Murgai
It was probably the April of 1974. Bangalore was getting warm and gulmohars were blooming at the IISc campus. I was the only girl in my postgraduate department and was staying at the ladies' hostel. Othergirls were pursuing research in different departments of Science.
I was looking forward to going abroad to complete a doctorate in computer science. I had been offered scholarships from Universities in the US. I had not thought of taking up a job in India.
One day, while on the way to my hostel from our lecture-hall complex, I saw an advertisement on the notice board. It was a standard job-requirement notice from the famous automobile company Telco (now Tata Motors). It stated that the company required young, bright engineers, hardworking and with an excellent academic background, etc.At the bottom was a small line: "Lady candidates need not apply." I read it and was very upset. For the first time in my life I was up against gender discrimination.
Though I was not keen on taking up the job, I saw it as a challenge. I had done extremely well in academics, better than most of my male peers. Little did I know then that in real life academic excellence is not enough to be successful.After reading the notice I went fuming to my room. I decided to inform the topmost person in Telco's management about the injustice the company was perpetrating. I got a postcard and started to write, but therewas a problem: I did not know who headed Telco I thought it must be one of the Tatas.
I knew JRD Tata was the head of the Tata Group; I had seen his pictures in newspapers (actually, Sumant Moolgaokar was the company's chairman then) I took the card, addressed it to JRD and started writing. To this day I remember clearly what I wrote."The great Tatas have always been pioneers. They are the people who started the basic infrastructure industries in India, such as iron and steel, chemicals, textiles and locomotives They have cared for higher education in India since 1900 and they were responsible for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Science. Fortunately, I study there.But I am surprised how a company such as Telco is discriminating on the basis of gender."I posted the letter and forgot about it. Less than 10 days later, I received a telegram stating that I had to appear for an interview at Telco's Pune facility at the company's expense. I was taken aback by the telegram. My hostel mate told me I should use the opportunity to go to Pune free of cost and buy them the famous Pune saris for cheap! Icollected Rs 30 each from everyone who wanted a sari When I look back, I feel like laughing at the reasons for my going, but back then they seemed good enough to make the trip.
It was my first visit to Pune and I immediately fell in love with the city.To this day it remains dear to me. I feel as much at home in Pune as I do in Hubli, my hometown. The place changed my life in so many ways. As directed, I went to Telco's Pimpri office for the interview.There were six people on the panel and I realized then that this was serious business."This is the girl who wrote to JRD," I heard somebody whisper as soon as I entered the room. By then I knew for sure that I would not get the job. The realization abolished all fear from my mind, so I was rather cool while the interview was being conducted.Even before the interview started, I reckoned the panel was biased, so I told them, rather impolitely, "I hope this is only a technical interview."They were taken aback by my rudeness, and even today I am ashamed about my attitude. The panel asked me technical questions and I answered all of them.
Then an elderly gentleman with an affectionate voice told me, "Do you know why we said lady candidates need not apply? The reason is that we have never employed any ladies on the shop floor. This is not a co-ed college; this is a factory. When it comes to academics, you are a first ranker throughout. We appreciate that, but people like you should work in research laboratories."I was a young girl from small-town Hubli. My world had been a limited place. I did not know the ways of large corporate houses and their difficulties, so I answered, "But you must start somewhere, otherwise no womanwill ever be able to work in your factories."Finally, after a long interview, I was told I had been successful. So this was what the future had in store for me.
Never had I thought I would take up a job in Pune. I met a shy young man from Karnataka there, we became good friends and we got married.It was only after joining Telco that I realized who JRD was: the uncrowned king of Indian industry. Now I was scared, but I did not get to meet him till I was transferred to Bombay. One day I had to show some reports to Mr Moolgaokar, our chairman, who we all knew as SM. I was in his office on the first floor of Bombay House (the Tata headquarters)when, suddenly JRD walked in. That was the first time I saw "appro JRD". Appro means "our" in Gujarati. This was the affectionate term by which people at Bombay House called him.I was feeling very nervous, remembering my postcard episode. SM introduced me nicely, "Jeh (that's what his close associates called him), this young woman is an engineer and that too a postgraduate.She is the first woman to work on the Telco shop floor." JRD looked at me. I was praying he would not ask me any questions about my interview (or the postcard that preceded it).Thankfully, he didn't. Instead, he remarked. "It is nice that girls are getting into engineering in our country. By the way, what is your name?" "When I joined Telco I was Sudha Kulkarni, Sir," I replied. "Now I am Sudha Murthy." He smiled and kindly smile and started a discussion with SM. As for me, I almost ran out of the room.
After that I used to see JRD on and off. He was the Tata Group chairman and I was merely an engineer. There was nothing that we had in common. I was in awe of him.One day I was waiting for Murthy, my husband, to pick me up after office hours. To my surprise I saw JRD standing next to me. I did not know how to react. Yet again I started worrying about that postcard. Lookingback, I realise JRD had forgotten about it. It must have been a small incident for him, but not so for me."Young lady, why are you here?" he asked. "Office time is over." I said, "Sir, I'm waiting for my husband to come and pick me up." JRD said, "It is getting dark and there's no one in the corridor. I'll wait with you till your husband comes."I was quite used to waiting for Murthy, but having JRD waiting alongside made me extremely uncomfortable.I was nervous. Out of the corner of my eye I looked at him. He wore a simple white pant and shirt. He was old, yet his face was glowing. There wasn't any air of superiority about him. I was thinking, "Look at this person. He is a chairman, a well-respected man in our country and he is waiting for the sake of an ordinary employee."Then I saw Murthy and I rushed out. JRD called and said, "Young lady, tell your husband never to make his wife wait again."
In 1982 I had to resign from my job at Telco. I was reluctant to go, but I really did not have a choice. I was coming down the steps of Bombay House after wrapping up my final settlement when I saw JRD coming up. He wasabsorbed in thought. I wanted to say goodbye to him, so I stopped. He saw me and paused. Gently, he said, "So what are you doing, Mrs Kulkarni?" (That was the way he always addressed me.) "Sir, I am leaving Telco." "Where are you going?" he asked. "Pune, Sir. My husband is starting a company called Infosys and I'm shifting to Pune.""Oh! And what will you do when you are successful." "Sir, I don't know whether we will be successful." "Never start with diffidence," he advised me "Always start with confidence. When you are successful you must give back to society. Society gives us so much; we must reciprocate. I wish you all the best."Then JRD continued walking up the stairs.I stood there for what seemed like a millennium.
That was the last time I saw him alive.Many years later I met Ratan Tata in the same Bombay House, occupying the chair JRD once did. I told him of my many sweet memories of working with Telco. Later, he wrote to me, "It was nice hearing about Jeh fromyou. The sad part is that he's not alive to see you today."I consider JRD a great man because, despite being an extremely busy person, he valued one postcard written by a young girl seeking justice. He must have received thousands of letters everyday. He could have thrown mine away, but he didn't do that. He respected the intentions of that unknown girl, who had neither influence nor money, and gave her an opportunity in his company. He did not merely give her a job; he changed her life and mindset forever.
Close to 50 per cent of the students in today's engineering colleges are girls. And there are women on the shop floor in many industry segments. I see these changes and I think of JRD. If at all time stops andasks me what I want from life, I would say I wish JRD were alive todayto see how the company we started has grown. He would have enjoyed it wholeheartedly.My love and respect for the House of Tata remains undiminished by the passage of time. I always looked up to JRD. I saw him as a role model for his simplicity, his generosity, his kindness and the care he took ofhis employees. Those blue eyes always reminded me of the sky; they had the same vastness and magnificence.(Sudha Murthy is a widely published writer and chairperson of the Infosys Foundation involved in a number of social development initiatives. (Infosys chairman Narayana Murthy is her husband.)
I was looking forward to going abroad to complete a doctorate in computer science. I had been offered scholarships from Universities in the US. I had not thought of taking up a job in India.
One day, while on the way to my hostel from our lecture-hall complex, I saw an advertisement on the notice board. It was a standard job-requirement notice from the famous automobile company Telco (now Tata Motors). It stated that the company required young, bright engineers, hardworking and with an excellent academic background, etc.At the bottom was a small line: "Lady candidates need not apply." I read it and was very upset. For the first time in my life I was up against gender discrimination.
Though I was not keen on taking up the job, I saw it as a challenge. I had done extremely well in academics, better than most of my male peers. Little did I know then that in real life academic excellence is not enough to be successful.After reading the notice I went fuming to my room. I decided to inform the topmost person in Telco's management about the injustice the company was perpetrating. I got a postcard and started to write, but therewas a problem: I did not know who headed Telco I thought it must be one of the Tatas.
I knew JRD Tata was the head of the Tata Group; I had seen his pictures in newspapers (actually, Sumant Moolgaokar was the company's chairman then) I took the card, addressed it to JRD and started writing. To this day I remember clearly what I wrote."The great Tatas have always been pioneers. They are the people who started the basic infrastructure industries in India, such as iron and steel, chemicals, textiles and locomotives They have cared for higher education in India since 1900 and they were responsible for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Science. Fortunately, I study there.But I am surprised how a company such as Telco is discriminating on the basis of gender."I posted the letter and forgot about it. Less than 10 days later, I received a telegram stating that I had to appear for an interview at Telco's Pune facility at the company's expense. I was taken aback by the telegram. My hostel mate told me I should use the opportunity to go to Pune free of cost and buy them the famous Pune saris for cheap! Icollected Rs 30 each from everyone who wanted a sari When I look back, I feel like laughing at the reasons for my going, but back then they seemed good enough to make the trip.
It was my first visit to Pune and I immediately fell in love with the city.To this day it remains dear to me. I feel as much at home in Pune as I do in Hubli, my hometown. The place changed my life in so many ways. As directed, I went to Telco's Pimpri office for the interview.There were six people on the panel and I realized then that this was serious business."This is the girl who wrote to JRD," I heard somebody whisper as soon as I entered the room. By then I knew for sure that I would not get the job. The realization abolished all fear from my mind, so I was rather cool while the interview was being conducted.Even before the interview started, I reckoned the panel was biased, so I told them, rather impolitely, "I hope this is only a technical interview."They were taken aback by my rudeness, and even today I am ashamed about my attitude. The panel asked me technical questions and I answered all of them.
Then an elderly gentleman with an affectionate voice told me, "Do you know why we said lady candidates need not apply? The reason is that we have never employed any ladies on the shop floor. This is not a co-ed college; this is a factory. When it comes to academics, you are a first ranker throughout. We appreciate that, but people like you should work in research laboratories."I was a young girl from small-town Hubli. My world had been a limited place. I did not know the ways of large corporate houses and their difficulties, so I answered, "But you must start somewhere, otherwise no womanwill ever be able to work in your factories."Finally, after a long interview, I was told I had been successful. So this was what the future had in store for me.
Never had I thought I would take up a job in Pune. I met a shy young man from Karnataka there, we became good friends and we got married.It was only after joining Telco that I realized who JRD was: the uncrowned king of Indian industry. Now I was scared, but I did not get to meet him till I was transferred to Bombay. One day I had to show some reports to Mr Moolgaokar, our chairman, who we all knew as SM. I was in his office on the first floor of Bombay House (the Tata headquarters)when, suddenly JRD walked in. That was the first time I saw "appro JRD". Appro means "our" in Gujarati. This was the affectionate term by which people at Bombay House called him.I was feeling very nervous, remembering my postcard episode. SM introduced me nicely, "Jeh (that's what his close associates called him), this young woman is an engineer and that too a postgraduate.She is the first woman to work on the Telco shop floor." JRD looked at me. I was praying he would not ask me any questions about my interview (or the postcard that preceded it).Thankfully, he didn't. Instead, he remarked. "It is nice that girls are getting into engineering in our country. By the way, what is your name?" "When I joined Telco I was Sudha Kulkarni, Sir," I replied. "Now I am Sudha Murthy." He smiled and kindly smile and started a discussion with SM. As for me, I almost ran out of the room.
After that I used to see JRD on and off. He was the Tata Group chairman and I was merely an engineer. There was nothing that we had in common. I was in awe of him.One day I was waiting for Murthy, my husband, to pick me up after office hours. To my surprise I saw JRD standing next to me. I did not know how to react. Yet again I started worrying about that postcard. Lookingback, I realise JRD had forgotten about it. It must have been a small incident for him, but not so for me."Young lady, why are you here?" he asked. "Office time is over." I said, "Sir, I'm waiting for my husband to come and pick me up." JRD said, "It is getting dark and there's no one in the corridor. I'll wait with you till your husband comes."I was quite used to waiting for Murthy, but having JRD waiting alongside made me extremely uncomfortable.I was nervous. Out of the corner of my eye I looked at him. He wore a simple white pant and shirt. He was old, yet his face was glowing. There wasn't any air of superiority about him. I was thinking, "Look at this person. He is a chairman, a well-respected man in our country and he is waiting for the sake of an ordinary employee."Then I saw Murthy and I rushed out. JRD called and said, "Young lady, tell your husband never to make his wife wait again."
In 1982 I had to resign from my job at Telco. I was reluctant to go, but I really did not have a choice. I was coming down the steps of Bombay House after wrapping up my final settlement when I saw JRD coming up. He wasabsorbed in thought. I wanted to say goodbye to him, so I stopped. He saw me and paused. Gently, he said, "So what are you doing, Mrs Kulkarni?" (That was the way he always addressed me.) "Sir, I am leaving Telco." "Where are you going?" he asked. "Pune, Sir. My husband is starting a company called Infosys and I'm shifting to Pune.""Oh! And what will you do when you are successful." "Sir, I don't know whether we will be successful." "Never start with diffidence," he advised me "Always start with confidence. When you are successful you must give back to society. Society gives us so much; we must reciprocate. I wish you all the best."Then JRD continued walking up the stairs.I stood there for what seemed like a millennium.
That was the last time I saw him alive.Many years later I met Ratan Tata in the same Bombay House, occupying the chair JRD once did. I told him of my many sweet memories of working with Telco. Later, he wrote to me, "It was nice hearing about Jeh fromyou. The sad part is that he's not alive to see you today."I consider JRD a great man because, despite being an extremely busy person, he valued one postcard written by a young girl seeking justice. He must have received thousands of letters everyday. He could have thrown mine away, but he didn't do that. He respected the intentions of that unknown girl, who had neither influence nor money, and gave her an opportunity in his company. He did not merely give her a job; he changed her life and mindset forever.
Close to 50 per cent of the students in today's engineering colleges are girls. And there are women on the shop floor in many industry segments. I see these changes and I think of JRD. If at all time stops andasks me what I want from life, I would say I wish JRD were alive todayto see how the company we started has grown. He would have enjoyed it wholeheartedly.My love and respect for the House of Tata remains undiminished by the passage of time. I always looked up to JRD. I saw him as a role model for his simplicity, his generosity, his kindness and the care he took ofhis employees. Those blue eyes always reminded me of the sky; they had the same vastness and magnificence.(Sudha Murthy is a widely published writer and chairperson of the Infosys Foundation involved in a number of social development initiatives. (Infosys chairman Narayana Murthy is her husband.)
Friday, September 19, 2008
Babies are good communicators..............
Babies are 'good communicators' even in the absence of speech
Babies as young as one can pass on useful information, claim German scientists, who added that infants are excellent communicators.
To reach the conclusion, researchers at the Max Planck Institute asked 49 one-year-olds to help their parent find an object that had fallen out of sight while the adult wasn't looking.
Most of the toddlers were able to help their parent.
"One-year-olds, before they have language skills, can point informatively and communicate appropriately for ignorant adults," the Daily Express quoted the report, as stating.
In another experiment the parent saw the object fall - and the babies knew they didn't need to help.
Researcher Malinda Carpenter said: "In contrast to classic views of infant communication, infants' early pointing at 12 months is already based on an understanding of others' knowledge and ignorance, along with a motive to help others."
Babies as young as one can pass on useful information, claim German scientists, who added that infants are excellent communicators.
To reach the conclusion, researchers at the Max Planck Institute asked 49 one-year-olds to help their parent find an object that had fallen out of sight while the adult wasn't looking.
Most of the toddlers were able to help their parent.
"One-year-olds, before they have language skills, can point informatively and communicate appropriately for ignorant adults," the Daily Express quoted the report, as stating.
In another experiment the parent saw the object fall - and the babies knew they didn't need to help.
Researcher Malinda Carpenter said: "In contrast to classic views of infant communication, infants' early pointing at 12 months is already based on an understanding of others' knowledge and ignorance, along with a motive to help others."
Monday, September 15, 2008
Think Tank Club - Ahmedabad
Photos of The Inauguration of The Think Tank Club - Ahmedabad
( click on this link)
http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/8/29/2071506/My%20Documents/Inauguration%20of%20TTC%20at%20Ahmedabad%20Campus%5B1%5D.ppt
( click on this link)
http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/8/29/2071506/My%20Documents/Inauguration%20of%20TTC%20at%20Ahmedabad%20Campus%5B1%5D.ppt
Friday, September 5, 2008
Monday, September 1, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
