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November 1-15, 2010 |Vol. 01 Issue 19 | `30

Bhupinder SinghHooda: Gurgaonwill soon turn into

a global cityp.18

One manscampaign to rout ragging fr

Indias collegp.08

Haryanaswomen-onlyrural BPO rings in

sweeping changep.12

spot report:bIHAr Is votIng or good governAnce

P.22

no tAKersorrAtAntAtAsMoneY!(Or why Harvardis drowningin Indiandonations)

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3/52www.GovernanceNow.com

EditorB V [email protected]

Managing EditorAjay [email protected]

Peoples EditorAnupam Goswami

Deputy EditorsPrasanna Mohanty, Ashish Mehta,Ashish Sharma

Assistant EditorSamir Sachdeva

Special CorrespondentsBrajesh Kumar, Trithesh Nandan

Principal CorrespondentsGeetanjali Minhas, Danish Raza,Jasleen Kaur

CorrespondentsShivani Chaturvedi, Neha Sethi,Sarthak Ray, Sonal Matharu

Chief of Bureau (Special Features)Sweta [email protected]

DesignParveen Kumar, Noor Mohammad

PhotographerRavi Choudhary

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Printed, published and owned byMarkand Adhikari. Printed at UtkarshArt Press Pvt Ltd, D-9/3, Okhla Indus-trial Area Phase I, New Delhi, 110020.Tel: 011-41636301, and published at24A, Mindmill Corporate Tower, Sector16A, Film City, Noida 201301. Tel: 0120-3920555. Editor: B V Rao (Responsible forselection of news under the PRB Act)

Volume 01 Issue 19

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22 A tAle o AlMA MAtersRatan Tatas $50-million gift to Harvard, following fatcontributions from N R Narayana Murthy and AnandMahindra, triggered major questions. Why can Harvardlook up to the holy trinity of India Inc., while alumni ofIndian institutions assume government will do that job?

16 voe o cofeceIgnore the doubting Thomases ensconced in theirarmchairs in noisy TV studios. Biharis seem set tovote decisively in the ongoing assembly polls

36 Whe he aw eemy Tenants are misusing the lacunae in the Enemy

Property Act, 1968, to harass landlords

44 rih way o api apoAhmedabads bus rapid transport system, unlikethe one in Delhi, is a model of project planningthat puts people at the centre. One of the plannersshares secrets of its popularity

18 Ieiew wihbhpie sihHooa

Gurgaon will

become a globalcity in a few years

42 Iiw wihpakah Kma ci

Infrastructure for egovernance is largein place, but theapplication needsto be accelerated

50 la WOut of the frying paand into Iceland?

contents

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4/52GovernanceNow | November 1-15, 20104

25 ya whThe Narmada people continue theirepic battle for survival far awayfrom national consciousness

People of the Narmada valley marked their 25 years ofstruggle against big dams without much fanfare a fewdays ago, quite clearly because their struggle has goneout of public discourse and national consciousness. Asad comment indeed given the seminal contribution they

made towards what we have come to recognise now, though not ful-

ly implement yet, as good governance practices. It was their strugglewhich, for the rst time, raised a voice for right to information, rightto land and forests, right to food and livelihood, right to resettlementand rehabilitation and, above all, questioned the logic of big dams,a deeply awed growth-centric development paradigm that benet-ted a few at the cost of the others and proposed smaller dams, checkdams and other water harvesting measures, instead, to take care of

the water needs. They were also the ones, for the rst time, to seekpeoples participation in decision-making.

Post independence, there have been several major political move-ments; some, like those in Punjab and Assam, died down but others, inKashmir, parts of the Northeast and the tribal heartland, continue tosimmer. What sets people of the Narmada apart is their adherence tothe Gandhian non-violence and satyagraha, not by compulsion but bychoice. Ashish Chadha, who teaches anthropology at Yale University,

USA, wrote an article in the Hindustan Times a few months ago recaling his days of the Manibeli satyagrah of 1991 in which Medha Pakar, activists of her Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) and some tribaplanned to drown themselves in rising waters of the Narmada. (ThMaharashtra hamlet went down in 2009.) He remembers what mem

bers of the dreaded Peoples War Group said to him: We told Medhtai to let us lead the movement for just one day. We will see to it thathis dam (Sardar Sarovar) is never made. Gandhian non-violence wnot do you any good. You dont know this government. It will trampyou. It will mercilessly crush you.

Medha didnt relent and the prophecy came true. She and her NBstand discredited and marginalised today, thanks to suppressioand vicious state-sponsored campaigns. Their place has been take

over, in the tribal heartlanat least, by the maraudinMaoists (after PWG anMaoist Communist Centmerged in 2004) who havbrought to centre stage thdebate about good gove

nance and alternate dvelopment models. Medhmay not profess violenbut is now often seen in thcompany of Maoist front oganisations and ArundhaRoy, the celebrated authwho batted for Medhanon-violence for manyears, is thoroughly dislusioned and has becoman apologist for the cult Maoist violence.

As for the Narmadas haless people, their strugg

ED I TOR I A L S

I wa hi whih, h im,ai a i ih

imai, ih a a , ih a iih,ih ma haiiai a,a a, qih i i ama a faw wh-i m.

Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress

Party president Sonia Gandhi, has

claimed in a newspaper interview

that he can win from anywhere if and

when he chooses to contest an elec-

tion. The businessman from Moradabad known for

supplying the marital surname to Priyanka Gandhi

did not rule out the prospect of joining politics at a

later date but added that he would do so only when

he felt he could make a dierence. Thats mighty

gracious of him. His mother-in-laws mother-in-

law, Indira Gandhi, seldom spared a thought for

such prerequisites. Neither did his mother-in-laws

brother-in-law, Sanjay Gandhi. Nor do, for that

matter, scions of most other political clans.

Vadras claim has curiously come even as his wife

has chosen to take the back seat in favour of her

brother Rahul Gandhi who is being groomed for the

top job. As son-in-law of Indias rst political family,

Vadra can surely be excused for harbouring politi-

cal ambitions of his own. Yet, his claim that he can

win from anywhere smacks of arrogance that is

born of nothing more than association by marriage

with the Nehru-Gandhi family. It is symptomatic of

a political culture that has strayed too far from its

philosophical underpinnings. It is as belittling for

the Indian democracy as his brother-in-law Rahul

Gandhis claim that he can become prime minister

whenever he chooses. It reects the notion of en

tlement that has come to pervade powerful politic

families across the country. Rahul Gandhi and Ro

ert Vadra are perhaps perfect representatives of th

culture. If one can assume a claim to the top job b

virtue of being a direct descendant, the other can

least count on winning an election on the strength

being the spouse of another direct descendant.

The Nehru-Gandhi family may be the mo

remarkable representative of this culture but th

Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu, th

Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, the Rashtriya Jana

Dal and the Lok Janshakti Party in Bihar and th

Akali Dal in Punjab and are variations on the sam

theme. These are all stories of a genuine leader,

rst-generation political entrepreneur followe

by benefactors whose sole merit may be litt

more than association through relationship by th

leader. This perpetuation of political power an

associated privileges by a few is a far cry fro

the political culture of a majority of leaders of th

m im ihmRobert Vadras boast underscores the need for Indias political cultureto rediscover its democratic underpinnings

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freedom struggle who represented and led the

masses against the tyranny of British Raj. That it

took just a few decades for political leaders to turn

from custodians of public trust to inheritors of

political power and public money points to a

dangerous degeneration or perhaps to the fact that

democracy is an alien construct that has failed to

take root in its desired form in this country.

It cannot be anybodys case that Vadra should

not aspire for a career in politics or, for that matter,

that Rahul Gandhi should not aspire for the prime

ministers post. There is nothing to stop a great

leaders son or other relatives from becoming as

great or even greater leaders in their own right, just

as there is nothing to stop a great musicians son

or daughter to follow in their father or mothers

footsteps sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan can

conceivably succeed Baba Allauddin Khan in every

walk of life. It is equally possible, though, as in the

case of Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir

and his pioneering lmmaker son Jean Renoir, that

successive generations can produce geniuses

dierent elds. The problem arises only if a Rah

Gandhi lays claim to a post just because his fathe

grandmother and great-grandfather once held

or a Vadra assumes a following just because he

married into the rst family of Indian politics. Whe

a Lalu Prasad pronounces a 20-year-old son as h

successor, he is not oering his son for a lifetim

of public service but rather announcing the ne

claimant in line for the riches of political power.

Such claims, assumptions and appropriation

militate against the fundamental concept of demo

racy, the framework that we adopted for ourselv

at the time of independence and continue to swear b

Independent India has spawned its own versio

of the Westminster model that is being perfecte

by successive generations of political clans. Fro

this culture of entitlement to enlightenment, India

democracy needs to traverse a long and arduo

journey to rediscover its philosophical underpi

nings and serve any meaningful public purpose.

endures. Unocial assessment (as perJustice AP Shah report of June 2010) putsthe number of people yet to be fully reha-bilitated at 2,00,000. There is no ocialword on it decades after construction of

the Narmada dams (30 major, 135 medi-um and 3,000 small ones) began. That isbecause dispute over the very denitionsof submergence area and project af-fected family continues even today. TheNarmada Tribunal and then the supremecourt added to the mess by saying reha-bilitation could happen pari passu withthe dam work.

Benets from the Narmada dams?Well, the ground realities are vastly dif-ferent from what was promised becausesome of the dams and most of the canalwork remain incomplete. Disputes overwater allocation for irrigation and power

plants have ensured that even the build-up facilities remain under-utilised. Kutchand Saurashtra, in whose name Gujaratgovernment built up a resistance to theNBA, may have got water for drinkingbut nor for irrigation because the canalworks are struck in the rst phase (theywill get it in the third phase). In any case,only 1.5 percent of cultivable area inKutch and 7 percent of cultivable area inSaurashtra were to get water.

The Narmada struggle has providedcountless lessons, without putting a gunto our head. Probably that has proved tobe their undoing.

An acclaimed novel, taught at auniversity or close to a decade,can be removed rom the syllabusovernight because somebodys

son wants to make his political debut hit-ting the right note. The party in power,which claims to be somewhat more tol-erant and more inclusive than the oppo-sition party o this illustrious ather-sonduo, rushes to justiy this ban. Enthusedby the camaraderie cutting across theparty lines, the book-ban party now alsowants a burqa ban. All this is happeningin a city that has reached where it hasreached solely due to its openness to what

the academics call The Other.It is surely a sorry journey so ar that

we have made, rom the days o singingWhere the Mind is Without Fear. Butlets look at the brighter side o laaireRohitnon Mistry.

That our universities and the whole high-er education system are not as inlexibleas we thought them to be. You thought a154-year-old university would not botherto revise the syllabus and, see, they canmake changes even midway through anacademic session. Lets be content withthat. It would be wishing too much thatsuch changes were somewhat positive too.

That our politicians do care or our eucation. You always thought they wonhave time to spare about matters o (hecomes the telling phrase) mere academic interest, busy as they would be cuttindeals with land maias and party hopperHow wrong we were! O course, we wisetcetera etcetera.

That but or the bans and burnings, a mjority o us would have orgotten what lerature smells or tastes like. Except Salman Rushdies Satanic Verses, MistrySuch a Long Journey and may be a bit Taslima Nasrins Lajja, do we have pulic readings these days? Theres a ring

truth to what a character in Italian mastItalo Calvinos I on a Winters Night a Traeler says: nobody cares more or literatuthan dictators and ascists (the corollabeing that those who should be caring literature are caring more or positions oacademies and akademis).

That this highly productive debate ovthe Mistry books ate should now expanThey should propose a Right to be Oened and a National Policy on Ban (BookCinema, Statues and Other Cultural Proucts) along with a Commission on simillines. There seems to be a political cosensus on that direction.

There is nothin to stop a reatleaders son or other relativesrom becomin as reat or evenreater leaders in their ownriht. The problem arises only ia Vadra assumes a ollowin justbecause o his association withthe frst amily o Indian politics.

sh a y jyDont you wish textbooks were merely of academic interest?

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Finance minister

Pranab Mukherjeeidea of presentingone consolidatedbudget, insteadof separate rail-way and generalbudgets, may notbe a revolutionaryone but is certainlysomething that islong overdue.The railways formsa much smallerchunk of govern-ment expenditutrethan the days of thBritish rule (whenit was the fulcrumof governance) anddoes not merit aseparate exercise.Besides, railwayprojects have be-come a barter itemfor electoral gains.With all railwayministers beingfrom bengal orBihar in the past de

cade, the two statescornered the largesportion of big proj-ects. The currentminister, MamataBanerjee, has a seprate investment plafor her own statewhile unwarrantedbonuses come bythe way of railwayemployees.Can we bring inmore accountabilita holistic approach

to planning andcheck waywardbehaviour of ministers by merging therailway budget witthat of the generalone to make oneconsolidated budgefor the country?

Join the debate,send your views t

[email protected]

This is reference to the political up-date In Bihar no paid news will begood news (October 16-31). Thesedays, paid news makes the morn-ing papers a good fiction read.

Like most politicians, the media isnow focused on material gains.Who will watch the watchdog now?It is indeed sad that some jour-nalists are not honest to theirprofession anymore. Profit-drivenproprietors/owners decide newscontent, not editors.

Mahesh KumarOn e-mail

Evidently ored

Apropos A soldiers 4 years jailfor 4 worthless documents (Octo-ber 1-15), I thank you for publish-

ing a well-researched article onme. But the unidentified internalsecurity analyst with Delhi think-tank has assaulted my integritysaying I met Rosanna Minchewafter office hours. I never metMinchew outside my assigned dutyand/or in private, neither does thechargesheet claim so.I have documented proof against

the forged documents my detrac-tors presented before the courtand later, sent to prime ministerand defence minister to a get a

sanction for prosecution.This unidentified person haseither based the remarks on suchevidence, which both, the courtand the government, turned downor or he/she may be one of thosewho envied my progress earned bysheer hard work and dedication.

Commander Mukesh Saini (Retd)New Delhi

India -Bharat disconnect in Bihar

I read the excerpts of Bihar CMNitish Kumars speech at theGovernance Now Forum in August(September 16-30).

I am from Ara-Bhojpur where vil-lages within a 10-20 km radiushave no electricity connection. Mostdont have BSNL connection. Thefew roads that are there are in avery bad state. None of the schoolshave proper sanitation.I would like to ask the CM that ifthis is the state of Aras develop-ment, how has Bihar managed togrow at 11 percent?

ShashikantAhmedabad

Indias rowin millionaire cluband poor millions

This refers to More and more mil-lionaires now (October 16-31).The increasing number of million-aires in India is a good sign. Manyfrom the middle class are becom-ing millionaires. This is a sign ofeconomic development.But the majority in India is stillpoor. The government shouldmake more employment and liveli-

hood opportunities for their growthinstead of focussing on policieslike reservation.

Mahesh KapasiNew Delhi

Judin the judes

This refers to Half of last 16-17CJIs corrupt (October 1-15) . Ihave been a victim of former CJIY K Sabharwals corruption andnepotism. He had once shieldedsenior judges by refusing to invoke

an in-house procedure based ona petition of mine, an act publiclycondemned by justice S P Bharu-cha.Instead of stemming the rot ofjudicial corruption, the governmentis bringing the eyewash judicialaccountability bill. The bill providesfor stringent and exemplary punish-ment for complainants of judicialmisconduct if they fail to provetheir charge.

A national judicial commission isa better idea with retired judgesof supreme court as member-nom-inees of president, prime minister,opposition leader, chief justiceof India, bar council with chiefvigilance commissioner as an ex-

officio member. This commissioncan empowered for appointmentsand probes into higher judiciary.Unanimous resolutions passed byall judges of supreme court on con-duct-code and in-house procedureshould be authenticated by makinga relevant law. All appointments toa state high court should be madefrom outside the state to reducechances of nepotism by the judgesfavouring bar council colleagues.

S C AgarwalNew Delhi

Corriendum

In the lead story, Pride Wash,of our October 16-31 edition, wementioned that the two flyovers onthe Mayur Vihar-Noida road weremeant to ensure non-stop travel forthe athletes to the velodrome (inNoida) and back. It should havebeen to the Noida expressway andback for the cycling event. Theerror is regretted.

Editor

L E T T ER S

Write to Governance NowWe invite your suggestions, reactions

to the stories and analyses and, of

course, your own take on all mattersrelated to governance. You can email

or send snail mail. All letters mustaccompany your postal address.

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DEbatE

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So tat nobod s

nds up k AmanWhen a young medical student fell prey to ragging,his father held back his tears and took on themenace that has terrorised college entrants andsnued out promising lives

Sonal Matharu Professor Ra-

jender Ku-

mar Kachroorecalls thesequence ofevents viv-idly. Just an

hour after he had spoken tohis son Aman, his wife calledand told him that their sonwas in trouble. Kachroo triedagain to call Aman, a 19-year-old rst-year medical studentwho was studying at Dr Ra-

jendra Prasad Government

Medical College in Himach-al Pradesh. A professor from

Amans college took the calland informed him that Amanhad passed away. Kachroo,who had taught for years inAfrica recounts the tragedythat visited the family, with-out taking his eyes o thecomputer screen at his homein Gurgaon.

Ask me any question youwant to ask, he says, break-ing the dead silence.Young Aman had been

beaten to death by senior students and he became yet an-

other victim of the menace oragging that torments collegentrants and snus out promising lives. Like other parentthe Kachroos too were be-reaved beyond consolation.But Rajender Kachroo heldback his tears and decided totake on the enemy that lurkein educational institutions, epecially in the hostels, acrosthe country.

Kachroo took it upon

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himself to root out the insti-

tutionalised crime of rag-ging and suddenly peoplecame forward to support hiscause. Some joined the can-dlelight vigil at New DelhisIndia Gate, some participatedin the discussions that ragedin the media, several morewent online with their com-ments and suggestions, whileothers came forward to of-fer their support in the courtcase against the four accused.Many more cases of ragging

tumbled out of the closetfollowing Amans death onMarch 8, 2009. A week later,he met the then human re-source development minis-ter Arjun Singh who intro-duced him to members of theRaghavan Committee whichhad been formed by the min-istry to suggest measures toroot out ragging.Yet, 20 months on, Kachroo

concedes that much moreneeds to be done inside the

walls of Indias colleges andhostels. Much work has beendone but much more needs tobe done, reads the conclud-ing sentence, in bold, at thebottom of the 14-point sum-mary of the achievements ofhis programme, Eradicationof Ragging.

Having worked in univer-sities and colleges across theworld, Kachroo realised thatragging was peculiar to India.

Yet, there was simply no leg-

islation against ragging. Eventhe University Grants Com-mission (UGC), until recent-ly, had only guidelines whichwere not binding. We are aseniority syndrome country,he says, In our society, thechild cannot talk to his ownparents. In oces, juniorscannot talk to seniors. Theyhave to agree with what theirseniors say. We see it in bu-reaucracy, in civil services,

in all government sectors,

in households and every-where else in the society. Itis the same in colleges. Stu-dents, who have nothing toshow o, show their senior-ity. Ragging is unique to Indiaand over the years it has justgrown.

Kachroo made a technol-ogy-based plan to eradicateragging and made a presenta-tion to the Raghavan Commit-tee. Eventually the supreme

court approved this plan,which was modied along theway through suggestions ofcommittee members and 13regulatory authorities that in-

clude all education councils.Kachroo explains the planas a four-pronged approach.First, every student shouldbe able to communicate to acentral call centre and makea complaint, which should befollowed up by informing theprincipal of the college, anti-ragging squad and the police.Second, a mechanism shouldbe created to communicatewith the parents and the af-fected children. Third, a data-

base should be created of allstudents and parents who canbe constantly informed foryears consecutively about theevil of ragging through textmessages on mobile phones.Fourth, an independent moni-toring agency, a non-govern-mental agency, should be ap-pointed to follow up the casesthrough the courts and thepolice.

Kachroo ruled out the pos-sibility of reaching out to ap-

proximately 26,000 collegesand over four crore parentsacross India through non-gov-ernmental organisations. Tochange a system, you haveto enter into the system. Youcant sit outside and expectthe change, he says, NGOshave a limited approach.They hate the government,work from the outside andfail to deliver. They cant han-dle problems of this magni-tude. It is beyond blogs, be-

yond candlelight vigils.So, under the banner of

Aman Satya Kachroo Trust,started with contributionsfrom friends, family mem-bers and Amans insurance,Kachroo began work on theimplementation of the planwith the help of the govern-ment. HRD minister Kap-il Sibal inaugurated the callcentre Kachroo had proposedin his plan, just three months

after Amans death.But, Kachroo says, this was

not the solution he had envisaged. The call centre refusedto register complaints unless

the caller was a relative ofthe student concerned. Onlyblood relations could regis-ter the complaints. Moreovethe callers had to give theemail addresses and phonenumber of the vice-chancel-lor in order to get their com-plaints registered. Throughseveral applications led under the Right to InformationAct, Kachroo found out thatdespite these restrictions thecall centre received 1.5 lakh

calls within six months. Ofthe 1.5 lakh calls, many ofwhich were queries, 350 complaints were registered. Nonof these was followed up.The only work done on thecomplaints was that the UGCwrote a few letters to the college principals who did notbother in the least. Of these350 complaints, 180 were noeven looked at, he says.

Kachroo found out that theresponsibility of running the

call centre was given to agovernment company, EdCILIndia Limited, without anytenders released. The proj-ect was just handed to EdCILwhich was also supposed tomake the database he hadmentioned in the plan. O-cials at EdCIL, however, rub-bish Kachroos complaints.The helpline was started 18months back and as soon aswe receive any complaints,the SHO and the dean of the

college are informed immedately. The complaints can beregistered in 11 languages,says an ocial who does notwish to be identied, Thehelpline could not haveoperated without a properdatabase.

Of the four points undermy plan, only one has beenimplemented by the minis-try, Kachroo says, WhateveI have done till date I couldn

We are a seniority

syndrome society.Juniors haveto agree withwhatever theirseniors say. Wesee it everywhere,in bureaucracy,in civil society, inhouseholds. It is thesame in colleges.Students who havenothing to showo, show theirseniority.

Rajender KachrooAmans ather

(Facing page) Rajender Kachrooat his home in Gurgaon.

pop potcs poc prformanc

Individual Initiative

Ravi ChoudhaRy

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Individual Initiative

have done without the gov-ernments support. But it hastaken too much time. It takesmany months to get thingsmoving. Bureaucracy is slow.

Luckily, though, his missioncaught the eye of PresidentPratibha Patil who wrote let-ters to all governors in this re-gard. Kachroo also launched

awareness campaigns in dif-ferent states where he wentto various colleges throughvice-chancellors support.Tamil Nadu showed great in-terest and facilitated lecturesin universities. Over 100 col-lege principals and six vice-chancellors came to attendthe talk, he says. This led toa feature called declare yourcollege ragging free on thewebsite of Kachroos Trust,

amanmovemont.org, where-by students can declare con-dentially whether their col-lege is ragging free or not.Students voting under thissection of the website gavetheir colleges name, mobilenumber and email-id. Each

student voting here adds toKachroos personal databaseof colleges and students.

While Kachroo quit his part-time involvement with the in-

house fashion business to con-centrate on the anti-raggingcampaign, he is being helpedby a neighbour and a girl from

Jammu who is looking afterthe database of the website.His 22-year-old daughter,Sinead, who worked with himfor a year, has recently gone

to Belfast for her studies. Alot of people are supportingthe Aman movement throughblogs and social network-ing sites, but the real changeis needed in the heart of thecountry, he says.

Last month, he recalls, hemet outside the court the fa-ther of one of the accusedwho is in jail now. The father,a lecturer in a medical col-lege in Simla, told him that his

son had also been ragged asa fresher. His wife had thenasked him if he could do anything to help their son. He saihe couldnt. He felt helpless.Kachroo understands the feeing too well. He knows the authorities are unapproachable

mostly in smaller states anduniversities. Institutes in In-dia do not communicate withthe students. They live in twdierent planes, he adds, IfI had gone to the principalto plead my sons case, noth-ing would have happened.He would not have listened tme. But Kachroo regrets thahe did not even try, much likethe father of the accused whohas to now suer his sonscrime and punishment. I wi

always regret it for the rest omy life, he says. That makeshim even more determinedto carry on until the supremecourt guidelines are imple-mented. I have this piece ofpaper which sets the stan-dard. It has to be implement-ed. It is implementable. Unleit is implemented, Ill [email protected]

Kachroo ruled outthe possibility ofreaching out to

26,000 colleges andfour crore parentsin India through

NGOs. Unlike many

others, he workedalong with the

government andentered the systemto change it. Youcannot sit outsideand expect thechange, he says.

Home page o the anti-ragging website started by Rajender Kachroo(right) photograph o his son Aman Kachroo.

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CaofcangThe man behind the women-only BPO centrein rural Haryana advocates socio-capitalisticbusiness models to harness the human capitalavailable in abundance across India

Hemlata Aithani

ust six months ago, Puja, 18, and Bim-

la Devi, 35, spent their day cookingmeals, tending to cattle and workingin the eld - the everyday work of ru-ral women across Haryana. Never intheir wildest dreams had they imag-ined that they could one day be sit-ting in an oce working away furi-

ously in front of a computer.Today, this is the remarkable reality of

hundreds of women in Tikli and Aklim-pur villages. Their agrarian way of lifehas not changed they still cut fodderfor their cattle and clear the cow dung but they are now equally adept at using a

computer. They work in a Business Pro-cess Outsourcing (BPO) centre, which hasset up shop in the heart of their village. Arst-of-its-kind women-only rural BPO inIndia, this centre was started by Harva,which stands for harnessing value of ru-ral India.

I never thought I would be able towork on a computer. It was a big thingfor me. But now working on the keyboardcomes so easily to me. We come here foreight hours and do our job. Im so proudof myself, says Puja.

And how did these simple women getthe hang of using a high-tech device likepros? Its all thanks to a three-to-four-month rigorous training course. Bim-la can now type 35-40 words a minute,

can mine relevant pieces of informationfrom a pool of data and can do data entryperfectly.

But accomplishing this was not easy.Getting these women to step out of theirhomes was no mean feat. It took a lot ofpersistence to get them to break the rigidcultural and social barriers of their male-dominated society. It was the persuasivepowers of Ajay Chaturvedi, a banker, whois a business management graduate fromthe University of Pennsylvania and an en-gineer from BITS Pilani, that worked likemagic on these women. When we heard

of Ajays proposal we were elated that wewould be trained and get jobs, recallsPuja.

So it all began six months back with 500women, who were selected to be trainedin computer basics. Irrespective of theirformal education, they were selected fortheir ability to read and write, and somebasic understanding of the English lan-guage, apart from their willingness tolearn, says Chaturvedi.

Training was provided free-of-cost andduring the course they learnt about oce

culture and etiquette, basic English andcommunication skills, apart from Micro-soft Oce computer applications. Initialthis was dicult for them, recalls Arch-ana, 29, who has a 12-year-old daughter

and a one-year-old son. We were shy,a bit hesitant and all of a sudden had todeal with machines and technology. Butgradually, with training and motivation,we picked up fast, she says.

Their determination not only got themthrough the training but they were re-warded with short-term employment.Out of the 500 women initially selected,200 completed the course and 50 were dployed on various projects. Twenty women are still working on projects, whichinvolve data mining, while 30 more women are likely to get work as new projects

come in.While the opening of the BPO has crea

ed jobs for these rural women, Chaturvedi emphasises that this is in no way anNGO (non-government organisation)project, which aims at social welfare andpays less attention to accountability. Hebelieves that the only way to better utilisthe rural India market is through socio-capitalistic business models.

This is a business venture with a con-science and social responsibility. I ama capitalist, who would see whether a

J


People Power

7/28/2019 Issue 19 (Low Res)


business model is viable and protableor not. After ensuring this, the socialcause can be served. If I create value,create business and opportunities, it willbenet everyone, including the villag-ers, says Chaturvedi.

He also frankly admits that he didnot employ the women out of charity.

Women are overall superior beings, farmore hardworking and serious. Theycan do a job in half the time that mencan. They are good at multi-tasking andecient and can work at a stretch with-

out taking breaks, whereas men tend toalways take many small breaks duringwork hours, he says.

Chaturvedi proudly gives the exam-ple of a 25-year-old woman - a Class VIIIpassout - who learnt all the characterson the computer keyboard in just threehours, something that is not easy evenfor people like me, he smiles.

Interestingly, the BPO centre is notChaturvedis only rural venture. Thisentrepreneur left his lucrative job withCitibank to tap rural talent and opportu-nities. He has already dabbled in com-

munity farming for non-rain-dependentcash crops in Uttarakhand. He wants toexpand this project to 10,000 acres acrossthe country that will benet 10,000 farm-ers in the next four to ve years. He hasalso been providing credit to rural peo-ple through micro-nancing. Waste man-agement is his upcoming project.

But for now, he wants to take thisBPO model to other villages after see-ing its success in Tikli, Aklimpur andsurrounding villages. He has six otherstates in mind and has already laid the

groundwork to open a centre in Biharand Uttarakhand.

Working at the BPO centre has helpedto enhance the image and status of women in a state notorious for its skewed se

ratio and masculinised culture. It hasproved to be their ticket to economicfreedom, even though in a modest way.

Bimla, mother of a girl who is in ClassVII and a boy in Class II, was over themoon when she received her rst salaryof little over Rs 2,000. Whatever littleamount I got, it was mine. It was a re-sult of my hard work and I realised itsworth, she says.

Adds Suman Devi, 28, a mother of twoWe feel economically empowered. Itgives us a sense of security. We spend thmoney on ourselves and contribute to

household expenditure, apart from sav-ing some for the future. Reena, 18, themost vocal of the lot, gives her take: Ifeel city people always think rural women are illiterate and uncultured. But nowwe have proven them wrong. We are educated and all we need is just an oppor-tunity. Since the villagers know we aregetting salaries every month, they toowant to send their girls and daughters-ilaw over here.

The last six months spent at theBPO have made them better with time

I feel city people think

rural women are illiterate

and uncultured. Now we

have proven them wrong.

We are educated. All we

need is an opportunity.

The villagers know we

are getting salaries every

month, they too want to

send their girls here.Reena, 18Employee at BPO

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management and multi-tasking. Earlierwe used to spend the entire day in doinghousehold chores. But after joining theBPO, we nish all our work by 10am, comto oce, work here and go back for theevening chores, says Bimla.

Apart from being a source of their -nancial independence, the BPO centre hasbecome a place for these women to makefriends. Now they have their own spaceamidst 20 computers in this two-roomcentre nestled among sprawling elds.

We have bonded really well. During ourbreaks we share our happiness and sor-rows, married life, problems and issues, ahome or outside. It gives us a lot of emo-tional support, says Manju Yadav, 25, whohas a daughter.

All they want now is some sustainablelong-term projects, which would guarantethem regular work and income. But for thtime being they are enjoying their new avatar, and keying in their success story. n Womens Feature Service

The BPO centre is not

Chaturvedis only rural

venture. He has already

dabbled in community

farming for non-rain-

dependent cash crops in

Uttarakhand. He wants

to expand this project to

10,000 acres across the

country that will benet

10,000 farmers in thenext four to ve years. He

has also been providing

credit to rural people

through micro-nancing.

Waste management is his

upcoming project.

Rural women in Tikli and Aklimpur villages o Haryana now usecomputers with ease.


People Power

7/28/2019 Issue 19 (Low Res)


potcsThe prime minister recently issueda at asking ministries not to nameschemes indiscriminately after formerprime ministers Indira Gandhi and Ra-

jiv Gandhi. A number of ounderingIndira, Rajiv schemes are tarnishing theleaders names, feels the government.

So, the cabinet secretary on behalf of

the PM sent out a letter to all minis-tries asking them to exercise discretioin naming the schemes after the twoGandhis.

Seems like the Congress policy ofaunting legacy needs the two namesas much as the countrys most famoussurname.

Manpreet Singhlearnt the hardway that lial bondssupersede all kin-ship. After being

sacked as the -nance minister ofPunjab, Manpreetwas ousted fromthe Shiromani AkaliDal (SAD) allegedly at the behest ofhis uncle Punjab chief minister ParkashSingh Badal and cousin Sukhbir Badal,the states deputy chief minister.

The younger Badals had no love lostbetween them. So, when Manpreettalked of a Rs 70,000 crore debt-waiv-er oered by the central government

with riders like cut-ting power subsidiesto farmers and levy

ing user chargesin some sectors,

Sukhbir demandeManpreets oust-

er saying no suchproposal had been

received.With the SAD staunchly behind the

deputy chief minister, Manpreet wasshown the door as the FM for anti-party activities. That it happened whenManpreet was meeting union nanceminister Pranab Mukherjee in New Dehi shows there is no room for either disent or scal prudence in the party.

Maya a-mih

n aiih gahi-vi i i gjaaii

baa baa

Gujarat voters do not

seem much enthusedby the prospect of a mouse-click becoming their record-ed vote. While 183 regis-tered to vote online in therecent elections to six mu-nicipal corporations, only124 actually clicked theirchoice. Surat, at 59 e-votes,saw the most enthusiasticparticipation, while Vadoda-ra escaped a washout witha solitary vote cast online.Ahmedabad recorded 40 on-

line votes while Rajkot andJamnagar had nine and 10e-voters respectively. K C

Kapoor, chair-man of the stateelection com-mission whichhad spent Rs 3

crore on the proj-ect, said e-voting

would catch on onceproper facilitieswere in place.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Maya-wati is nothing if not innovative.

Recently in Delhi for talks with theprime minister, she held a press conferenceoutside his 7, Race Course Road residence,complete with a makeshift podium and itsperiphery cordoned o by a thick ropeto keep jostling journalists out.

High-voltage lamps were put up to showMaya in the best light. Territorial policing

by the UP police helped secure the 10X6feet podium.

Instructions to the media arrived intandem with Mayawatis cavalcade. Theassembled journalists were rst asked tomaintain order and then those in front ofthe camera were asked to sit. Mayawaticame, read out a three-page statement withher face lit up (by bright lights) and left having ensured sucient media coverage.

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Vote of condenceIgnore the doubting Thomases ensconced in their armchairs in noisytelevision studios. Biharis seem to have made up their mind to votedecisively in the ongoing assembly polls

Ajay Sinh

We arebarely out

of Patnawhen thecar sud-

denly breaks down on nation-al highway 31. As a helpfulmechanic tends to the punc-ture at a tyre-repair shopclose by, the upcoming as-sembly polls that loom largeon everybodys consciousnessprovide a ready subject forconversation. This is a yadavbastion, represented by Nand

Kishore Yadav, a BharatiyaJanata Party leader and min-

ister in the coalition govern-ment led by Nitish Kumar.

Are you satised with thedevelopment in your area? Ipose a general question to thesmall gathering around theshop. What development?There is no development,somebody replies noncha-lantly. Do you mean the Nit-ish Kumar government hasdone nothing at all, I per-sist. Of course, the person

maintains, without so muchas the batting of an eyelid.

You mean, Nand KishoreYadav has let you down? Iask. No, he has done a lotfor the area and he deservesre-election, comes the re-ply in the same breath, withno attempt to explain thecontradiction.

This is Bihar. Often theprimordial identity of castesuces to surmount thephysical realities in this stateSuch identities have proved

7/28/2019 Issue 19 (Low Res)


decisive in the past and it isevident that caste remains apalpable force. I have beenspeaking to somebody whohails from the yadav casteand lives in an adjacent vil-

lage. He points to the barberdiligently lathering the face ofanother villager with shavingsoap and says, in order to bol-ster his argument, Ask thisbarber about developmentand he will vouch for the factthat Nitish Kumar has notbeen able to give him even ashop. The barber, who hasbeen quiet thus far, sudden-ly retorts, As if Lalu or Rabrihave bothered to gift you abualo in the 15 years that

they have been in power.This is the new Bihar. Just

ve years ago, no barberwould have dared to answeranybody from the politicallydominant yadav caste in thisfashion. It would have led toan instant show of muscleexing with dire consequenc-es for the barber. Today, de-spite the overwhelming pres-ence of certain dominantcastes in pockets, extremelybackward classes (EBC) and

dalits have developed theirstake in the political systemand are nding their voices.Unlike in the past they are nolonger swayed either by rhet-oric or intimidation.

This impression is rein-forced while driving throughBeguserai, Khagaria, Saharsa,Purnea and Bhagalpur. Onegets a distinct feeling that anunusually quiet electorateof the extremely backwardcastes and dalits is more than

determined to play a decisiverole in this election. The turn-out in the rst phase of theelection is just an indicationof the mood of this sectionwhich is signicantly largeand quite conscious about itsentitlements. If maha dalitsin Saharsa are elated abouttheir women getting medi-cal facilities while deliver-ing children, they openly ad-mit that such measures have

changed their lives. An aver-age Bihari woman today isa proud mother of girls whocycle down to their schoolswithout worrying about theirsafety.

These measures are doubt-less insignicant for thedominant castes which haveacquired immense politi-cal clout over the years. Butin a state where half of thepopulation lives in abys-mal poverty and illiteracy,state intervention of this na-ture has engendered hopeamong a vast majority of theelectorate.

There are indeed genuinecomplaints about an inef-

cient and corrupt bureau-cracy that is not able to ef-fectively implement variousschemes. But still, peopleare usually optimistic abouta better future should theNitish government be givenanother term.

Bihar is however still a com-plex political ground wherealmost everybody you meetseems to have turned into apsephologist these days. Askany educated man on the

road in Bihar about his as-sessment of assembly pollsand he will reel out statisticsin staccato notes. He will pas-sionately talk about the pos-sible political conduct of 14.7percent muslim voters, 14.2percent yadavs, 5.5 percentkurmis, 4.6 percent bhumi-hars, 5.9 percent rajputs, 15percent dalits and 18.4 per-cent extremely backwardcastes. At the end of the con-versation, he will try to con-

vince you about his infer-ences on the basis of statisticsthat are nothing more thanprojections on the basis of the1931 caste census data.

The average Biharis pas-sion for psephology has noth-ing to do with his mathe-matical frame of mind. Farfrom it. Figures are primarilyused to prove presumptionswhich tend to become popu-lar political discourse. This

psephological trait is most evident during a brief stopoveat a roadside dhaba in Navgachia near Bhagalpur thatleads to a chance encounterwith the four-member band

known as ON Mishra. Asthe name suggests, this is agroup of musicians and singers belonging to the maithi-li brahmin caste. Ajit Gau-rav Jha, a vocal member ofthe band, admits candidlythe casteist bias of band andsays, I told Mishra (head ofthe band) to borrow or stealsome American name thatcan make an impact.

The band members appearas passionate about poli-

tics as they are about music.You see all this talk aboutdevelopment is a sham,he says while qualifyinghis statement with a rid-er, law and order has cer-tainly improved. Has Ra-hul made any impact on theyoungsters? I ask, expect-ing a favourable responsefrom the group. Not at all,the Congress is nowhere inthe picture as the party haslost touch with the people,

says Jha. Then your obvi-ous choice would be LaluPrasad? I ask. No way, LaluPrasad cannot be a choice. Wwill nally vote for Nitish Kumar, Jha says, gunning theengine of his motorcycle toproceed for his performancein a nearby township.Jhas dilemma is only reec

tive of what sociologists callthe coalition of extremesthat has been assiduouslybuilt by Nitish Kumar. His im

age of an able administratorhas endeared him to stake-holders who are averse tochanging the existing socialequilibrium. And these stakeholders are so numerous thathey are expected to create apro-Nitish wave that may enup defying all psephologicalpredictions and apologists fothe Lalu-Rabri regime. n

[email protected]

An unusually

quiet electorateof the extremelybackward castesand dalits is morethan determined to

play a decisive rolein this election.The turnout inthe rst phase of

the election is justan indication ofthe mood of thissection whichis signicantlylarge and quiteconscious aboutits entitlements.


Poll Vault

7/28/2019 Issue 19 (Low Res)


Bhupinder SinghHooda is one ofthose leaders who

have a 360-degreeunderstanding ofpolitics and gov-ernance. He was amember of the Lok

Sabha for four terms, leader of op-position in the Haryana assembly forone term, and now he is in his secondterm as chief minister. In this inter-view with Sweta Ranjan, Hooda dis-cusses his plans for industry as wellas agriculture in his state. Excerpts:

Haryana has done the country

proud in the Commonwealth Games.Players rom Haryana bagged 15 oIndias 38 gold medals. What is thesecret behind this success?Haryanas sports policy is very dier-ent and that is why our players havedone well in the CWG. There are threereasons. First: good infrastructure. Inthe last four-ve years we have pro-vided good infrastructure even in vil-lages. We have constructed 171 sta-diums. Haryana is a small state but ithas more than 350 stadiums. We aremaking a boxing stadium in Bhiwani.

The second key factor is that we runa talent hunt programme called playfor India. We invite children fromthe age groups of 8-14 and 14-19. We

judge them on a sports and physicalaptitude test (SPAT). Those who get 75percent marks win scholarships.

In the last ve years we have givendirect recruitment as DSPs (deputysuperintendents of police) to 11 play-ers including boxer Vijender Singh

and the members of the womenshockey team. Three percent jobsin Haryana police are reserved for

sportspersons.Those (from Haryana) who have

won gold in the CWG will get Rs 15lakh each, silver winners will get Rs10 lakh each and the bronze winnerswill get Rs 5 lakh. Their coaches toowill get Rs 3 lakh, Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1lakh in the three categories.

Gurgaon is a jewel in Haryanascrown but its inrastructureleaves much to be desired. Did thegovernment allow private real-estatedevelopers to run away with windall

prots instead o holding themaccountable?Not at all. Old Gurgaon has someproblems but not new Gurgaon. Thenew master plan is very systematised.We have tried to improve the existinginfrastructure too. We are improv-ing the transport system. We are get-ting buses and connecting this modeof transport with the (Delhi) metro.There used to be dierent agenciesfor road maintenance but now thewhole job has been assigned to a sin-gle agency. Gurgaon will become an

international city in a few years.

Yet, Gurgaon has the image oa swanky city, while the rest oHaryana seems neglected.No, I dont agree. When I came topower in 2005, Haryana was 14thamong the states in per capita invest-ment. Today, it is number one. Theseare Planning Commission gures. Inper capita income, it is next to Goa.

Haryana is witnessing not only industrial growth but also agricultural de-velopment. Education is also impor-

tant. We have got a qualitative changin education. Employment opportu-nities can come easily but the youthalso need to be made employable.

Why is the power supply scenario inthe state so dismal?We have set up four more plants toprovide electricity to all the villag-es, towns and industries. Haryanawas formed in 1966 and yet in 2005when the Congress came to power,the state was generating only 1,587MW of electricity. When I took over i

March, 2005 the total power availabiity was 4,031 MW. Only one plant waset up in 40 years but in four years whave set up four more plants that wiadd 5,000 MW. Power demand hasbeen growing by 10 percent a year,the total electricity demand today is6,000-7,000 MW, most of which webuy at high prices from other states.But with the new power plants wewill be able to solve the power crisis

Traditionally, Haryana has not beenknown as an industrial state. It has

seen some industrial developmentonly due to its proximity to Delhi.How do you propose to make it moreindustry-oriented?We propose to form an industrial es-tate in each district because landholding is shrinking. If the grandfatherheld 10 acres of land then the grand-son is left with just half an acre. Theycant survive on that small piece ofland. Industrialisation will bring in

Gurgaon w

bcom a goba ctn a fw ars

INTERVIEw |bHupInder sIngH HoodA

7/28/2019 Issue 19 (Low Res)


opportunities. Industry will also pro-vide balance against agriculture. Inve years Haryana will become aneducation hub of not only a nationallevel but international stature.

Being a leader o the armers, whatresponse do you get when you talk oindustrialisation?In Haryana, people are aware that in-dustrialisation brings jobs. Unemploy-ment is a major issue that we need totackle as landholdings are shrinking.As I explained, if the grandfather had10 acres, the grandson is left with justhalf an acre. That is too small a pieceof land to sustain a family. Industri-alisation brings job opportunities forsuch people who cannot depend on

land any longer.

Haryanas model o land acquisition isbeing cited as a rare success. How doyou view this policy?We are still working on improvingthe policy to give more benets to thefarmers. But the current policy is therst may be in the world whichhas a provision for annuity for thosewhose lands are acquired.

How does this provision work?The farmers get the compensationbased on the market value of the landacquired. Along with this we also giveannuity for 33 years. Along with full

compensation we will give Rs 15,000per acre for each year for 33 years this amount will go up by Rs 500 everyyear. If the government acquires landand gives it to a private developer,then he has to pay Rs 30,000 per acreper year and Rs 1,000 enhancementevery year. Moreover, there is a pro-vision of giving farmers small plots atalternative sites so as to secure theirfuture. The farmer also gets residen-tial plots ranging from 75 yards to 350yards. In case of an SEZ (special eco-nomic zone), 25 percent of jobs created

are reserved for the aected people.

How will annuity help armers?It gives them some stability becauseif an old farmers land is acquired themoney will continue to reach his chil-dren. The old man depends on his chil-dren. With annuity, the old man willfeel condent and secure. n

[email protected]

In Haryana peopleare aware thatindustrialisationbrings employment.Unemployment is a majorissue that we need totackle as landholdingsare shrinking. Time hascome to think about this.

Half an acre is too smalla piece of land to sustaina family. Industrialisationbrings job opportunities

for such people.

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christmas cheer will come amonth early this year for the1977 and 1980 batch senior IAS of-cers. November is pregnant withthe promise of promotions for thesebureaucrats. The cabinet secretar-iat has processed the promotionsand IAS ocers from the 1977 batchwill be appointed as secretariesto the government of India while

the ones from the 1980 batch willbecome additional secretaries.

The Eminent Persons Group willbe combing through the conden-tial annual reports of the 1978 and1981 batch ocers. In three months,the EPG will list probables for thenext round of promotions. By March2011, it will be coming out with the1979 list.

Sri Lanka president Mahinda Raj-apaksa was the chief guest at theclosing ceremony of CWG 2010 butthe the Games organising commit-tee felt obliged to keep this detailshrouded for as long as possible giv-en the negative publicity Rajapaksa

attracts in Tamil Nadu and the worldmedia over the sorry condition of SriLankan Tamils. Though Rajapaksa isreported to have agreed to presidingover the ceremony well in time, theOC and the Congress had to worryabout UPA ally DMK.

Telecom minister A Raja wain Moscow in October for somocial work. However, most feethat the jaunt was timed to allowhim to escape the heat over the 2Gscam when it comes up for trial a

the supreme court.He is learnt to have cleared a le from telecom

regulator TRAI regarding legal issues surroundinthe 2G spectrum sale which will be presented a

the apex court, before leaving for Moscow.Insiders say Raja has been told to be ready to qu

the ministry if he loses the legal battle. But TamNadu politics watchers say it would anyway be dicult for DMK to stay with UPA-II with the state asembly elections approaching.

We kid you not! Lal Krishna Advaniis the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)candidate from Supaul in the Bihar as-sembly elections. Cocking a snook atthe BJP senior, Mayawati has elded anamesake from the constituency. TheBSP roster of candidates include a Prab-hunath Singh, in the running from Da-raunda, and a Krishna Sahi, contestingfor the Hathua seat.

The BSP cadre have been instruct-ed to clarify aliations of these can-didates during campaign to avoid all

confusions.Such are the whims of Mayawati!


Power Buzz

Gussng gams for a gust

Raja cools his heels in Moscow

T namsak

bi mh h a Forgn ands ntrst Aagr mor

DelhiDiARy

Gubernatorial gae

Bets are now on if fertiliser minister M K Alagiri was spotteon foreign shores more frequenly than at his ministry, parliamen

and cabinet meetings combined.Alagiri was in China on a privat

visit recently. He has been abroafrequently this year and for inordinately long periods. He has been on such sojourns to the US, Autralia and Singapore. Alagiri has been abroad fomost of 2010 rather than attending his duties aa minister. The Indian embassy in the respectivcountries know of these visits. On two occasionIndian diplomats have informally conveyed theireservations on the durations violating norms tthe foreign aairs oce in South Block.

The PMO, however, quietly relaxed the norms oministers visits in their private capacity.

Hans Raj Bhardwaj is a harried man thesdays. The Karnataka governor found himseat the centre of controversy over his report seeking the presidents rule in the state after the BJ

government won an equally controversial trusvote. Long before the BJP cried foul over the report, the Congress-led UPA government knew thaa political hot potato had landed in its lap.

The governor received much ak from both political and bureaucratic quarters for this bungleHowever, North Block and Raj Bhavan insidersay it was never Bhardwajs idea to moot the presidents rule for the state that it may have comfrom Delhi rather than Bangalore. Sources say thait was a union minister who was in constant toucwith the governor who had made the suggestionto him.

7/28/2019 Issue 19 (Low Res)


pocPrime minister Manmohan Singhhas rejected the planning commis-sions Integrated Action Plan (IAP) topromote all-round development of the

Maoist-aect districts. The PM was un-happy with a mechanical and run-of-the-mill plan which merely proposed toincrease fund allocation to various ex-isting centrally-sponsored schemes. The

panel had prepared a Rs 13,742-croreroadmap for 60 districts across ninestates. The PMO wanted to know howIAP would make any dierence to the

present situation and how would itstrengthen the panchayati raj institu-tions. Presently, most of the funds allocated to these areas are either divertedor left unused.

The centre has comeup with yet anotherdraft of the Lokpal Bill,

which, to its credit, bringsthe oce of the primeminister into purview ofthe authority to be set upto investigate corruptioncharges against the highand the mighty. Centralministers, members ofparliament and membersof the defence serviceswill also come under theLokpals ambit but not thepresident, vice-president

and a few others. Thebill envisages a three-member body. The cut-o

date for making a com-plaint has been reducedto ve years, as againstten years in the earlierdrafts, from the date ofcommission of oence.The attempt to set upa Lokpal is decadesold and it remains tobe seen if the presentdraft makes any prog-ress or lapses with thepresent Lok Sabha.

Finance minister Pranab

Mukherjee, it seems, wants toclub the railway budget with

that of the general budget. That isbecause the railway is a small playernow with an annual budgetary sup-port of Rs 16,000 crore, unlike in the20s and 30s when it cornered nearly70 percent of the plan expenditure.

But the moot point is if the mercuri

railway minister, Mamata Banerjeewill let that happen. Over the yearsthe railway has become the personaefdom of the minister who usual-ly comes from the coalition partnerand uses the opportunity to lavishpolitical patronage and largesse tohis/her state for political gain.

r fa h ai ?

rj: a Mai-a iiMi aa -ai

pM m lka ami, pzi

Acommittee headed by C

Rangarajan, chairmanof prime ministers econom-ic advisory council, has rec-ommended that the usualdistinction between planand non-plan expenditurein the government budgetshould be done away with. Itsays merging the two wouldmake linking budgetaryoutlays to outcomes easierand a more comprehensivemulti-year budgeting frame-work possible. In the current

system, non-plan budget isbased on past commitmentsand requirements. Whatev-er is left is allocated to the

plan budget - about 30 per-cent of the total spend-ing by the centre - which

is aimed at asset creationthrough the centrall-

sponsored pro-grammes

andschemes.

7/28/2019 Issue 19 (Low Res)


At about the time that Harvard was drowning in Indian donations fromRatan Tata, NR Narayana Murthy and Anand Mahindra, Valsan Thampu,principal of the iconic St Stephens College, Delhi, was dropping SMS hintsto his mighty alumni for donations to replace 15 old blackboards in thecollege. For a measly sum of Rs 5,000 per board! Have successful Indianalumni not learnt the art of giving back to their alma mater? Or have thesinstitutions of excellence not learnt the art of asking? What is the problemwith higher education in India? Why do our best brands still look to the

government for funds? And compete with municipal schools for a share othe same scarce resources?


Alma Matters

TATAS WillGiVe, BUTWhOS ASKiNG?

7/28/2019 Issue 19 (Low Res)


R

atan Tatas giftof $50-million toHarvard Busi-ness School (HBS)annoyed our so-

cial-media nationalists. Thismorning my eyes poppedwith disbelief when I read thenewsthe very next momentthis unusual thought struckme, Harvard ko Rs 220 croreaur India ko k? blogger Vi-ral Dholakia wrote (http://trak.in/tags/business/2010/10/16/ratan-tata-donation-harvard/)attracting 50 reactions, manysupportive. How ridiculous,why donate to super richAmerican universities? Why

not create something in In-dia? a senior diplomat askedon Facebook to much acclaim.The money would have beenbetter spent in upgradingand uplifting perhaps 200schools for 10 years in select-ed villages in India, Oxford-trained Anil Mehandru con-curred on LinkedIn. Harshwords for one of Indias mostrespected corporate citizens.

Why did Tata take all this

trouble for a school he expe-rienced for 12 weeks for anadvanced management pro-gramme (AMP) 35 years back?Was it the irresistibility of see-

ing Tata Hall etched in stonenext to buildings named afterMorgan, Baker and Bloom-berg? Or has he essayed a larg-er politico-philanthropic moveto silence the critics of IndianInc.?

My take is that our national-ist friends are barking up thewrong tree. For at least threereasons, besides the obviousone that its his money afterall! First, TataTrusts need noreference check for their sup-

port over the years to Indiaspremier academic institu-tions. Two, while Tatas are,by and large, based in India,the group has signicant in-ternational operations. Outof $67.4 billion sales (aroundRs 3,19,534 crore) in 2009-10, around 57 percent camefrom businesses outside India.Third, and perhaps most sig-nicantly, instead of being crit-icised, the HBS-Tata bonding

deserves to be deconstruct-ed by all institutions in ourcountry, particularly primaryschools and those focused onhumanities, because both

seldom get anything fromtheir alumni.

For the same logic, it is hardto fault Anand Mahindra, Claof 1977, MBA81, for gifting $1million to support the Har-vard Humanities Center. Hisis the largest gift for the studyof humanities in the universitys history. The money is tiedto advancement of interdisci-plinary collaborations, and asHarvard president Drew Faussaid, This remarkable gift is

an armation of the impor-tance of the humanities andthe central place of the liberaarts. It comes at a time when is vital to bring a humane andcritical perspective to the ur-gent questions that confront

photos: Ravi Choudha

Rohit Bansal

7/28/2019 Issue 19 (Low Res)


the world. Mahindra under-stands the essential role of thehumanities in this work, and Iam deeply grateful.

Closer home, around thesame date as Mahindras gift,an Indian institution, everybit an icon in the undergradu-ate study of humanities, saidit would be deeply grateful fora lot less. Starved of donors,

Valson Thampu, principal ofDelhis St Stephens College,sent out an SMS (please see ac-companying interview) hop-ing to replace 15 blackboardscosting Rs 5,000 apiece! Theseblackboards have served someof the more powerful mem-bers of Indian society, politics,civil service and academia (seeabridged list of Stephaniansin powerful positions today,including Mahindras fellow

auto-czar Rahul Bajaj) . But tillThampu sent out the SMS, theinsignicant sums involved inreplacing the blackboards hadproved beyond the alumni.

For the sorry contrast, Tham-pu blames himself and the cul-ture of discouraging or evenfearing alumni involvement.He tactfully ignores that bar-ring a once-in-a-decade Dar-

ling, this-is-where-I-spent-the-best-three-years-of-my-lifeserenade with their spouses,many Stephanians dont re-turn to the college that alignsthem to one of the more pow-erful networks in our coun-try. Alumni here think fundingcan be left to the state.

The result isnt hard to see.Sta salaries remain pegged togovernment rules, research in-terests are negligible, deemed

university status is miles away,and students spend more timewriting essays for admissionsin the US, instead of tutori-als that set the earlier gener-ations apart. Equally true istheir demotivation with thebreadth of courses. Studentsof St Stephens famed econom-ics honours course have fewopportunities to blend core

study of history, literature andphilosophy, not to mentionnear-zero interface with thesciences. This is equally truefor someone doing physics,but interested in grasping San-skrit. The result of straitjacket-ing is that while 28,000 appliedfor just 400 seats this year, thebrightest preferred a second-rate engineering course ratherthan an honours course in his-tory, philosophy or literature.

With careers in teaching andthe IAS paling in glamour, afew moved out to polytechniccourses even in their secondyear of undergraduate work.They felt surer in B-gradecourses like BBA and integrated law programmes ratherthan accept the colleges obsesion to exercise its legal rightto allocate 50 per cent seats

under various categories ofreservation.

In contrast, Harvard doesntsuer any disillusionment withumanities. In the words ofMahindra, a humble under-graduate in the lm studiesprogramme of the Departmenof Visual and EnvironmentalStudies, it is able to contributto the cause of the humanitiesand address complex problemin an interdependent world,

In April, the family of the

Infosys founder announced

their decision to donate

$5.2 millionto Harvard for

creating the Murthy Classical

Library of India, which

will, among other things,

have 100 books from Indianlanguages translated into

English. Murthy is a member

of the advisory boards the

Corporate Governance

initiative at the Harvard

Business School.

n r naayaa Mhy Aa Mahia raa taa

In early October the

industrialist announced

he had given Harvard

University $10 million,

the largest gift for the

study of humanities in its

history, for its centre that

is now renamed MahindraHumanities Center.

Mahindra did his MBA

from Harvard in 1981.

The Anand Mahindra

announcement was followe

by one from the Tata Group

chairman who donated

$50 million to the Harvard

Business School to fund

a new building that will

support a range of executiveeducation programmes. Tat

was a student of Advanced

Management Program at

Harvard in 1975.

7/28/2019 Issue 19 (Low Res)


with cross-cultural and inter-disciplinary exchange of ideasin an international setting,and he sees his gift as part ofthe intellectual legacy of Indiascontribution to global think-ing across the arts, culture, sci-ence, and philosophy.

No Stephanian would have aquarrel with Mahindras ideaor even his generous hosting

of the Harvard India ResearchCentre in Mahindra Towers,Mumbai. Stephanians havesat in the classes of some ofthe nest classroom teachersin the world, creating fertileconfrontations of perspectives,histories, and frameworks thatprobed their understandingof the human condition, theworld, and themselves. Theyunderstand what Harvardwould do with Mahindras

money, viz, advance interdis-ciplinary exchanges amongin-house faculty, faculty fromother area institutions, gradu-ate students, undergraduates,and the public, and organisediscussions, lectures, readings,conferences, performances,workshops, and seminars, aswell as graduate and postdoc-toral fellowships, fostering

collaborations among the hu-manities, social sciences, andsciences, in the belief that thehumanities make a uniquecontribution in providingplatforms for debate acrossvarious elds and forms ofknowledge.

But unlike Harvard, at StStephens the quest for criti-cal interdisciplinary researchand unique conversations,has been left to the funding of

the University Grants Commis-sion and the occasional sighsduring networking events.Even networking is done out-side college and with sta likeMohd Amin, awarded the Pad-ma Bhushan this year, broughtin as raconteurs rather thanmirrors of alumni thrift.

The heartening news is thatHRD minister KapilSibal,

alumni of both St Stephensand Harvard, isnt blind to thisproblem. At least for the IIMs(http://www.pib.nic.in/news-ite/erelease.aspx?relid=66338).Sibal has read the tea leaves.He has accepted the corporategovernance report authoredby Maruti chairman RC Bhar-gava, another one by IIM-Kolk-attas Ajit Balakrishnan, and athird one on nancial viabil-ity chaired by Hari Bhartia,

and at least the IIMs no lon-ger have the government toblame. They and the alumnican do several things includ-ing co-create corpuses and us

them to create better sta ansupport infrastructure.

There is no dearth of tem-plates. The real challenge isculture. Harvard, the worldswealthiest university, has$27.4 billion in the bank(please see box on endowmengures corrected up to June30, 2010). Though forced to custa numbers, freeze salariesdelay new buildings and sell$2.5bn in bonds, it has keptgoing for aggressive alumni

relations, in the instant case,conferring Mahindra the Harvard Business School Centen-nial Award (in the ne com-pany of GEs Je Immelt, theWorld Banks James Wolfen-sohn, eBays Meg Whitman)and instituting the Harish C.Mahindra Endowment lecturIn contrast, St Stephens legenhas it that Principal WS Raj-pal gently chided a then largeindustrial group of Delhi whowanted to re-boot the audito-

rium and the gym in lieu ofnaming rights, saying, Thegardener outside our windowwants to donate a larger partof his income, so why just youhis name will be there too!

Many agree with Rajpalsdistaste. Right or wrong, Har-vard doesnt. Academic chairroutinely carry the names ofthe benefactors. So do build-ings. For over 35 years, the

job of managing the endow-ment has been left to Harvard

Management Company (HMCwith assets in ination-track-ing bonds, real estate, timberoil and gas. Jane Mendillo, thefunds president is mandatedto make a number of changesto the funds strategy, mak-ing it more liquid and increasing the share of asset man-agement that is undertakenin-house. The fund employs ahybrid model approach to endowment management, using


Alma Matters

7/28/2019 Issue 19 (Low Res)



Alma Matters

a mix of internal and externalteams that focus on specicinvestment areas. Partner-ships with teams around theworld provide diversication,

insight, and perspective thatgoes beyond what could pos-sibly be achieved through arelatively small team in Bos-ton though at a fraction of thecost.

In its disaggregated form,HMC is comprised of morethan 11,000 individual endow-ments, many like Tatas, Nara-yana Murthys or Mahindraslinked to a particular pur-pose. This, in turn, supportsthe educational and research

goals, academic programmes,nancial aid, and funding ofscience and medical research.Unlike one-o give-us-black-boards SMS at St Stephens,HMCs investment profession-als are integrated into thecommunity, they teach andlecture on campus, speak be-fore alumni and donor groups,and engage on issues key tothe universitys programmesand goals. On the ip side,those who teach full time are

not expected to go aroundraising money. The businessschool makes most of its mon-ey on executive education. Un-like most of our own institu-tions, HBS has dozens of stafocused on marketing andalumni relations. Each week, ahuge database of 60,000 alum-ni receive updates from theschool. These dont just readlike press statements. Theyoften include video, webinarinvitations, high-touch events

and a relentless barrage of re-ferral material. Also, all otherthings being equal, the fac-ulty end up writing cases onalumni companies and serveon their boards. This makesan HBS case a big deal in aglobal CEOs agenda and manytravel thousands of miles tospeak for 30 minutes at theclass when their companyscase is administered for therst time.

In a word, the school doesntlet you forget it. It is unusual,for example, to write from aHarvard lifelong forwardingemail (LEFA) to busy profes-sors like Nitin Nohria, DavidYoe or Shrikant Datar or Mi-chael Porter and not receive athoughtful reply. This doesnt

happen in our own premierinstitutions like IITs, IIMs, theIndian Military Academy orThe Forest Research Insti-tute, at any rate as an insti-tutional arrangement. Herewe train foreign alumni buthardly manage to retain theirinterest. Hamid Karzai, forexample, attended school inHimachal Pradesh, but wewoke up to his potential to dobusiness, a little too late. St

Stephens could have playedTrack-2 with Zia-ul Haq, butit refused to receive him afterZia accepted the invitation ofthe colleges Informal Discus-sion Group and even sent hisambassador Humayun Khanin the advance party. HBS, incomparison, played for the

long term and rememberedto celebrate Tata with the out-standing alumni award wayback in 1995! Not surprisingly,the ambitions of Yoe, Nohriaand Tarun Khanna in Indiasexecutive education markethave his backing.

In contrast, St Stephens hasthe talent pool, but remainspreoccupied with the searchfor paved roads, and sus-tainable funds for salaries,

maintenance and upkeep. Itis too much to expect any re-search output or innovationand, in fact, easy to extrapolatthe state of other academic institutions of similar or lesserpedigree.

In India, alumni of the IITs(and Mumbai University and

BITS Pilani) remain the rareexception though even theirschools dont chase them me-thodically. I wonder why?

Is it merely due to their largnumbers? Or is it exposureto the American tradition ofnamed endowments? Whyare we silent when our almamaters eschew their prideand autonomy and queueup before the UniversityGrants Commission (UGC) for

A Stephens classroom with one o those blackboards that need to be replaced.

7/28/2019 Issue 19 (Low Res)


expenses we can defray? St Ste-phens, it will sadden its illustri-ous alumni over 129 years, maycompete for UGC validation(and paltry additional funding

of Rs 1 crore!) under a windowmeant for colleges with poten-tial (sic) for excellence. Po-tential for excellence! Is thatall that the college has? In fact,why St Stephens at all? If onlyalumni came forward, thesescarce resources can easily goto a less fortunate and geo-graphically remote institution.

Optimists say the intent is notin question here. Structuresare. What, for instance, wouldthe alma mater do to ensure

the money is well spent? Wouldit allow oversight committeesrather than citing infringe-ment of autonomy? These arevalid questions and collegesgasping of breath need to an-swer them transparently. Theyalso need a good social mediastrategy. Rather than expectingalumni to visit their websites,nothing stops Principals andlegendary teachers to open apage on Facebook and regular-ly engage their alumni. If Drew

Faust and Nitin Nohria can, socan Deepak Pental and SameerBaruah. If Harvard can attracta 9 CEOs-in-residence (http://www.hbs.edu/news/releases/2010entrepreneursinresidence.html) Indian alumni too wouldbe equally keen to spend a fewmonths undertaking a sabbati-cal amidst the next generationat IIM-A. Simple things like apermanent e-mail ID (@IIM-A)can create a surprising amountof loyalty.

On their part, rather thancriticising Tata and Mahindra,alumni need to understandthat giving back isnt just aboutaltruism. If the alma matergoes down, they go with it. nThe writer is CEO & Co-Founder

of Hammurabi & Solomon

Consulting and an alumnus

of St Stephens and Harvard

Business School.

[email protected]

M a hakFAMOUS STePhANiANS

Kai siacentral minister

sama Khhi

central minister

vihaa sihcentral minister

na paaikchie minister o Orissa

sahi picentral minister o state

Jii paaa

central minister o state

Mk sih Ahwaiadeputy chairman,Planning Commission

Mai shaka Aiyaormer minister

K M chaahkhacabinet secretary

Ahk chawanance secretary

shi shaka Mnational security advisor

Kc vmaRAW chie

diijay sih

Former chie minister o MadhyaPradesh

K nawa sihFormer central minister

shahi thaFormer central minister o state

siaam YhyCommunist Party o India (Marxist)Politburo member

s Y Qaihi

chie election commissioner

rah bajajchairman o Bajaj Group

gakiha gahiormer governor o West Bengal

rajmha gahiFormer MP

A shiormer central minister, veteran

journalist

A Maiamember, Planning Commission

tHeAtre And cIneMA

Kka sshama

Kai bi

shkha Ka

rha sh

WrIters, poets And crItIcs

Khhwa sih

Amia ghh

pai Kih

ramahaa gha

MedIA

bakha dtelevision journalist

saaika ghtelevision journalist

b g vhormer editor,The Hindustan Times

sma dy, journalist

swamiaha s Akaia Aiyaconsulting editor, Economic Times

raha bahounder, Network 18

bk rySocial activist andeducationist

7/28/2019 Issue 19 (Low Res)


Valson Thampu,the principal ofSt Stephens Col-lege, says the

alumni are notto blame for notgiving back totheir alma maters

in India. Excerpts from an exclusiveconversation with Rohit Bansal:

Why are alumni not giving back?Against alumni o US junior schoolsand Ivy League colleges, why do weappear so reluctant?Reluctance is not the problem. Indi-ans are comfortable in giving. Croresof rupees are given to religious insti-

tutions. But when it comes to aca-demic institutions, alumni dont knowwhere to give. Education is not intheir line of thought. Alumni dontknow what to support and fund.They think of education as a stateresponsibility.

Theres no doubt that presently thestate pays nearly everything. But theaggregate infow is pretty small. Thestate discharges its responsibility,but the alumni dont.Well, my message is not to blame

the alumni. I argue that they haventbeen explained the need. No one, in-cluding St Stephens, has been tellingthem that their idea of state fundingisnt true.

Then whats stopping you?I am consciously changing that. AndI am seeing signs of change. Evenoutside the IIT system, I hear Loyola,Chennai received a large amount.

Shri Ram College of Commerce has rceived some Rs 40 crore.

Then why is it that only some

institutions o excellence aresucceeding? Why are others like StStephens ailing to replicate that?We failed so far because we assumeda bogus air of self suciency andprestige. We were scared that if weask alumni for help, the word willspread and our brand value wouldsuer.

But isnt that a genuine concern,particularly i some alumni want aquid pro quo!Indeed, one of the unwritten suspi-

cions in the past was that alumni do-nors will demand their pound of esat the time of admissions.

Some would say that college willindeed get beholden. It will be soldout to alumni with the moneyLets look at this dierently. In ev-ery ruling on minorities institutions(including St Stephens) the supremecourt talked of tax payers money an(by implication) the payers rights. Ithink the same logic should extend toalumni who are willing to pay for the

betterment of our college. This can bdone without compromise in academic criteria.

You mean alumni wards who have 9percent marks anyway!No, I mean wards who fall within apre-dened margin of considerationsay ve percent (less than the cut oSuch margin of consideration canbe extended without extending the

i bam St Stpns! W

wr scard f w ask aumnfor p, our brand vauwould suer!

INTERVIEw |vAlson tHAMpu

Indians are

comfortable ingiving. Crores

of rupees are

given to religious

institutions. But

when it comes

to academic

institutions, alumnidont know where

to give. Education

is not in their line

of thought.

7/28/2019 Issue 19 (Low Res)


academic wholeness of the college.

This would mean anybody with Rs50,000 o spare cash can cover up orve percent lower marks!Well, if someone with 91 percent isbeing considered alongside anotherapplicant with 96 percent, I wont be

upset about it. But this cant be for Rs50,000. Rs 5 lakh may be consideredas a threshold. More importantly, thetotal number of such students admit-ted each year will have to be capped at2 percent of our annual intake of 400.So, we are talking of seven-eight newstudents.

Just to understand your idea better,what happens i 10 alumni instead

o seven-eight donate Rs 5 lakh andeach o them satises the margin oconsideration?All other things being equal, we canhave a draw of lots.

And what i theres an 11th alumniwho donates Rs 50 lakh, i.e., 10 times

o the threshold limit?She will be treated equally.

Then on pure logic she would cut backto Rs 5 lakh and the college will loseRs 45 lakh.I see the point. Perhaps, a proportion-ate number of lots can be added intothe hat.

Some would eel very uneasy with a

draw o lots, albeit with a ceiling o 2percent o the total new admissions.The draw of lots with adequate safe-guards is just an operational issue.The philosophy is more important,i.e., if alumni respond they need to beacknowledged. I see no reason to shyaway from acknowledging such do-

nors on a tablet and to archive themon our website. I have started this pro-cess already (http://www.ststephens.edu/principal_msg.htm)

Hardly the way your predecessorswould have gone about it!I dont support a one-way trac. Oneof my predecessors said, We as aninstitution can only give, we have noright to ask. I would rather try toconscience-ise the alumni, makethem think about the college, and tryand get them to meet and think as

one group. Presently, they meet andthink in splinters. It should have beenour duty to facilitate and broker thischange.

You are saying as i it was StStephens that was wrong.

Yes, I dont blame the alumni. I blamemyself! I blame the college!

You recently sent out an unusualmessage to some alumni, StStephens College would welcomethe donation o 15 white boards so

that we can move on rom the blackboard and chalk. Those who canarrange or one, two or three o themto be delivered to the college arewelcome to do so. I am sending thisSMS to a ew ellow Stephanians.Why such a shocking message. Yousay whiteboards cost just Rs 5,000apiece!Within a few minutes of my messageRajiv Talwar (former IAS ocer, nowCEO, DLF) committed to take that re-sponsibility. Another alumnus com-mitted 5,800 square feet of Kota stone.

The website now acknowledges thegivers. I have just put up on the web-site the project estimates for what weneed to upgrade our science block. Myphilosophy is to create a culture of be-necence and operationalising it. Isee no point in continuing with a lackof vision. Instead, how about genuinereciprocal bonding! n

[email protected]

Ravi ChoudhaRy

7/28/2019 Issue 19 (Low Res)


Asit Koticha,chairman ofASK Financials,is a philanthro-pist-business-man with a dif-ference. BeforeAnand Mahindra

and Ratan Tata made headlines fortheir huge donations to Harvard,Koticha, a commerce graduate fromPodar College, announced that hewould build a school of philosophyand an international convention

centre for Mumbai University at acost of more than Rs 100 crore. Cer-tainly the biggest gift to a university,or any educational institution in Indiafor that matter, it raises hopes that hisgenerosity will inspire others to payback to their alma maters. In aninterview with Geetanjali Minhasthis Mumbai-based businessmandiscusses his big-ticket donation.Edited excerpts:

What prompted you to makesuch a huge donation to Mumbai

University?For two reasons. First, I believe ineducation. In my view, Mumbai Uni-versity is the most deserving but mostpeople give it a miss. The departmentof philosophy approached us for theconstruction of a school of philoso-phy. Dr Rajan Welukar, vice chancel-lor of the university, said they had alarge plot of land at the Bandra-Kurlacomplex and they wanted to utilise

that. Secondly, there was also a needfor a good convention centre as nei-ther Mumbai University nor the cityhas one of international standards.Some time back, an international con-ference on mathematics was to takeplace but it had to be shifted to Hy-derabad due to the lack of necessaryinfrastructure. The central govern-ment cannot maintain huge infra-structure. For that reason people likeus have to come forward and that willhelp in the long run.

Do you expect others among thealumni to emulate your gesture?The response after the news brokehas been really encouraging andoverwhelming. Unfortunately, Mum-bai University had lagged behind oth-er institutions in this regard.University fees are highly sub

issue 19 (low res)

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