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Kumar
Mangalam Birla
Chairman, Aditya Birla Group
Business Today
23 December 2007
When
you view India through a prism, its multi-faceted
refractions are awesome, unique and partly
distressing. A multiethnic, multi-religious,
multilingual, multi-cultural diverse democracy,
rich in its distinctive heritage —
India is, indeed, captivating. Our democracy
resonates throughout the world. Moreover,
the way in which India has transformed itself
from a colonial, agri-based backwater economy
into an independent, modern, knowledge-driven
one is the stuff of case studies at the
best-in-class business schools the world
over. While the youth leader must appreciate
these facets, he or she must have a thorough
understanding of the different strands that
go into the weave of India. The partition
in the aftermath of our freedom struggle
has left a scar, as has the divide in the
name of God. India is a country of extreme
paradoxes. We are reckoned as a nation of
tremendous opportunities and, yet, it is
a reality that India is a place of perpetual
struggle. We have large tracts of our country
that have yet to witness any economic advancement.
There
are issues of quality of life. Even in parts
of our country where we have tremendous
economic prosperity, the social fabric is
under tremendous pressure.
We
are home to over a billion people, which
is one-sixth of the world population. We
are also home to nearly one-fourth of the
world’s poor who live on less than
a dollar a day. We have basic issues pertaining
to infrastructure, healthcare and education.
We need more than $300 billion in infrastructure
to bring our country on par with global
standards. We have not been able to ensure
quality healthcare at an affordable cost
to our people. We are still in the process
of evolving systemic solutions to issues
that confront us on this score. We face
a daunting challenge in education in so
far as millions of our children do not complete
basic schooling. In India’s hinterland,
the girl child is more often than not denied
education and is an object of deep neglect,
even killed before birth.
Then,
there is a widening of the urban-rural divide
and tremendous disparities of growth between
states and regions and a disconnect between
the backward regions and the rest of the country.
These are the ground realities that must beg
a major mindshare of the youth leader. Working
towards untangling these knots is by no means
easy but he and his teammates should strive
to take India on a different level altogether.
That said, there are several positives that
can be leveraged. There is a tremendous air
of optimism. The BRIC Report categorically
asserts that by 2020, India will grow to be
the world’s third-largest economy, next
only to China and the US. The exuberance that
we feel is a consequence of where we have
reached today.
Inflection point
We
stand at an inflection point today. And for
the takeoff listen to the words of our Prime
Minister, Manmohan Singh: “We need to
build institutions which are robust, which
inspire confidence and which can enforce the
rule of law in a fair manner. We need a polity,
which is inclusive, equitable, caring and
just. We need a social order, which every
citizen owns and is proud of. These are goals
which will take us to our destiny.” The
Prime Minister’s statement captures the
essence of the task ahead. It is against this
backdrop that one looks at the leader for
the youth of India. Of our population of over
a billion, 54 per cent of India is below the
age of 25. As predicted by the World Development
Report 2007, our demographic transition and
the peak will come in the year 2030. That
is the time when India will be the leader
in the global pool of human capital.
This
asset, our youth, holds the potential and
promise to power our country to greater
heights. How can the youth leader prepare
our nation? He should epitomise extraordinary
leadership and statesmanship. While he should
necessarily be India-centric, he must be
keenly aware of the forces of globalisation
and their impact on India. Today, globalisation
inextricably links the future of India with
the future of the world. And the fortune
of India to the fortune of the world.
A
passion for the process of nation building
at all levels and the need to change processes
that are detrimental to the holistic growth
of our people and our nation must be his
DNA. He must keep in harness his own personal
ambition or the desire to put his own distinctive
seal on the nation. For him, politics must
be a calling, a vehicle for public service
in the larger national interest. His leadership
style should be action-based and not depend
on rabble-rousing slogans.
Today,
the youth is increasingly wary of stereotypes
and playing to the gallery. He must lead by
example. His stories must be inspirational.
While his disposition must be rooted in realism,
he has to keep his compass pointed on our
positives.
He
must be able to set out a bold vision, project
that vision and drive it across right down
to the grassroots. In the Indian context,
the leader’s vision should be to perpetuate
a prosperous, secure and dignified future
for all of our one billion-plus people and
assure our rightful place in the comity of
nations. He must marshall the intellectual
and emotional equity of youth power in the
urban and rural areas in the nation-building
process, together with creating heightened
awareness on issues such as conservation of
natural resources, hygiene, discipline, respect
for law, civic citizenship, dignity of labour
and the pride of being an Indian.
The
quintessential leader is the captain of the
ship. Therefore, he has to set the direction
of the ship. Necessarily then, he should have
the courage of conviction and be an optimist.
An awareness and a mastery of his own limitations,
the humility to acknowledge them, the spunk
to confront and the capability to live with
hardships must be germane to his nature.
He
must have the ability to illuminate issues
with laser-beam clarity. One of the fundamental
challenges is our system of education that
needs a deconstruct and a reconstruct. Today,
our education system puts our students on
a process line. He or she will need to dream
of an education system for India that enables
every student to reach his or her maximum
potential, implying that each individual
is running a race with himself or herself
to be the best one possibly can be, to hone
one’s talents such that they empower
him with a tremendous strength of self-confidence.
The education system should promote a scientific
temper, which is the best way of unleashing
our people’s creative potential. Knowledge
economies develop only through encouraging
the faculty of original thinking.
Sir
Winston Churchill once said: “…the
empires of the future will be the empires
of the mind.” How true these words
ring in the age of the knowledge economy.
The vocationalisation of our educational
process should be a priority. He must recognise
that a country as large as ours needs to
differentiate by putting in place an education
system that offers options to cater to the
different aptitudes and capabilities of
students.
In
a step-wise manner, this scientific temper
must permeate into our nation’s hinterland
where education is a far cry. Quality education
and economic self-reliance through self-employment
must be integral planks of policy and power
politics posturing.
Value-driven
The
leader also needs to be driven by a framework
of values. The values that he espouses will
define his character and personality. He should
be steadfast on ethics, have a strong moral
fibre and work towards good governance and
probity in public life. As Ralph Waldo Emerson
said: “Character is everything.”
He
must sense and work towards a politics of
constructive engagement. He should be able
to stoke forward-looking political leadership
at all levels of our polity. He must have
the art of managing coalition politics.
He should be a seeker of sorts, one who
is eager to learn more. He should not be
egocentric. He should always stoke the spirit
of intellectual courage, recognise great
ideas from all quarters and have the intellectual
honesty and humility to give credit wherever
it is due. The leader should leverage his
understanding of critical issues to connect
people across divides— the public and
private sectors, the NGOs, academia, the
scientific community and intellectuals—
while he himself communicates and connects
with the diverse segments of society.
While
connecting with the masses, he must surround
himself with specialists who can help him
develop insights into intricate issues of
policy. He must engage with experts, interest
groups, academia and think tanks to take
this further. He must collaborate and build
intellectual bridges. He must engage with
youth leaders in other parts of the world
and embed his new learning and their relevance
to our polity. Going forward, the youth
leader must seek unbiased feedback from
the constituents that he serves.
Youth
leaders must establish themselves more as
ideating leaders rather than iconic ones.
Above all, leadership, in every sphere,
will have to be about compassion. Even in
business, we cannot adopt a system of unbridled
capitalism; we have to work towards a system
of compassionate capitalism, which implies
making market forces work for the poor,
and striking a balance between GDP growth
and equity. Growth for growth’s sake
can never be an end in itself.
As
an economy, we are growing at a 9 per cent
plus. Even politicians very candidly admit
that growth in India is largely driven by
the private sector because the sector has
huge entrepreneurial capabilities. The leader
must have the vision to leave business and
industries to business sector and channelise
the attention of the government to national
issues. The youth leader will need to speed
up the pace of change.
There
is a whole new generation that wants change
even faster. This generation has different
aspirations and is looking for opportunities—and
quickly—and the political leadership
will have to be sensitive to this. The youth
leader must learn to master his mind, which
entails a certain degree of spiritualism
in life even as his work will have down-to-earth
ramifications.
Spirituality
is not about rigid rules. Spiritual knowledge
will help him to be strong. It will also
enable him to face the rigours of public
life with equanimity and fortitude, brush
aside the past and take forward the lessons
learnt into the future and not let circumstances
overtake him. Youth leaders in this mould
can build an even more vibrant India, global
in outlook, brimming with peace, prosperity
and an air of general wellbeing. True leaders
leave a trail.
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