THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI

WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 2014 18

Q.
WHICH ARE THE MAJOR
HUMAN CAPITAL TRENDS
FOR THE COMING YEARS?
The key trends for the future are:
> The rise of the borderless workforce
where teams would be virtual and
mobile across political boundaries;
> Use of predictive analytics in talent
management and to drive the
performance of the workforce;
> New challenges and opportunities for
organisations with rise in use of social
media;
> A need to enhance an inclusive
culture to leverage the increasing
diversity in the workforce;
> A focus on developing internal talent
that is agile to change and global in its
outlook.
Q.
DO YOU THINK INDIAN
ORGANISATIONS ARE READY
TO DEAL WITH THEM?
Indian organisations may not have all
the requisite tools to handle the above
challenges. For example, to build a
predictive model, we need a lot of
historical data and advanced analytical
tools and our data sanity needs to
improve many-fold for the same. Some
organisations have started their journey
but it will take some time to build
historical data.
Q.
THE LAW NOW RECOGNISES
TRANSGENDERS AS THE
THIRD SEX. HOW CAN WE
ASSIMILATE THEM INTO THE
WORKFORCE?
Over the recent past, the pace of
change has been significant as
evidenced by changes in legislation
and the emergence of a more visibly
united third-gender community - not
just in India but across Asia.
Companies are taking note of the
same and putting in place
programmes and processes for these
professionals in India that help make
the workplace more inclusive.
Companies have a leadership role to
play in challenging mindsets and
creating a safer environment for third-
gender individuals.
Q.
WHAT DO YOU
EXPECT FROM THE NEW
GOVERNMENT THAT HAS BEEN
FORMED?
The new government has come to
power with the promise of good
governance. I expect the government to
quicken decision-making by bringing in
rigour and discipline that helps create
an enabling framework for industrial
growth. This, together with a
consistency in fiscal policy will enable
companies to plan for the medium-term
and thereby, help the industry to plan
better.
Q.
CSR V/S SUSTAINABILITY: DO
YOU THINK THERES TOO
MUCH FOCUS ON THE FORMER
AND TOO LITTLE ON THE LATTER?
While businesses maximise shareholder
value, they have a responsibility to all
the stakeholders, including the
communities in which they operate, the
consumers they serve and the
environment whose resources they use.
We have a responsibility to help devise
solutions to key global challenges
where we can have the most impact. We
categorise these responsibilities in three
distinct areas: human sustainability that
addresses diverse and complex global
nutrition needs; environmental
sustainability and talent sustainability.
Q.
WE ARE SEEING MORE
INDIAN CEOs AT THE HELM
OF GLOBAL GIANTS.
The credit goes to the Indian value
system, which puts focus on hard work
and acceptance of change and the
ability to take on challenges as the two
critical factors for the rise of Indian
CEOs. Unlike other
markets, an Indian
executive gets
the unique
exposure of a
multi-cultural
society, one
nearly as diverse
as the modern
global
marketplace.
India is a highly
competitive and
complex market
and provides an
opportunity to
combine global
learnings with
Indian
resourcefulness.
ankita.shreeram
@timesgroup.com
THE CSR AGENDA; THE NEW LAW FOR TRANSGENDERS AND THE
NEW GOVERNMENT - HOW IS THE MODERN-DAY HR MANAGER
ADAPTING TO THESE SUDDEN CHANGES? ANKITA SHREERAMSEEKS
A FEW INSIGHTS FROM SAMIK BASU, CHRO, PEPSICO INDIA

The central
government has re-
cently made an announce-
ment to set up eight new IITs.
This will be in addition to
the existing 16 IITs. The gov-
ernment is also planning to
set up ten more AIIMS-like
hospitals and 70 cancer hos-
pitals across the country. The
newer ones amongst the 16
IITs are already facing a
number of problems such as
fund crunch, a lack of per-
manent campuses, a dearth
of basic facilities and faculty
shortage. The newer AIIMS
are facing similar challenges
too. In view of the huge lia-
bility from the proactive ex-
pansion that took place in
the Eleventh Plan, the focus
should have been on consoli-
dation. Not surprisingly, the
former students of IITs have
begun an online petition
seeking a review of the move
and 6,000 signatures are re-
ported to have been gathered
in less than a week. The peti-
tion demands that the infra-
structure of the existing IITs
should be first strengthened
and upgraded before new in-
stitutes are started.
The structure of our high-
er education is such that
opening some institutions
may not lead to any
major improve-
ment in the
overall quality
of education. In
fact, the state in-
stitutions that
account for the
overwhelming
share of about
90 per cent of
the total enrol-
ments in all
public institu-
tions (including
state and cen-
tral ones) re-
quire dras-
tic im-
provement.
The affili-
ate system
burdened with bureaucracy
and a neglected hinterland
is one of the most damaging
legacies of the British rule.
These affiliated colleges
should be given autonomy to
function properly.
Private higher education
now accounts for one-third of
overall enrollment and four-
fifths of professional educa-
tion enrollment. Private en-
gineering and management
schools account for 90 per
cent of the total enrolments.
In medical education, the
proportion of private seats is
about 55 per cent. Unlike
their public sector counter-
parts, private institutes have
certain inherent advantages:
they are free, to a large ex-
tent, from the government
reservation policy both for
students admission and
teachers appointment. They
are not bound by mechanical
bureaucratic rules and enjoy
the liberty to experiment
with new ideas and can
launch new disciplines. They
are demand-driven and
therefore, likely to remain in-
dustry-focused. The govern-
ment can support some of
the best private institutions,
based on their performance,
so that they can expand and
grow as world-class institu-
tions.
Nothing should divert the
attention of the government
from its core responsibility
i.e. providing quality educa-
tion to all. Experts have ar-
gued that higher education
in the present form is not ca-
pable of heralding a new era
and cannot prepare the coun-
try for a competitive world.
While India urgently needs a
massive expansion of educa-
tion opportunities of around
1500 universities nationwide
to attain a higher GER, such
expansion would require ma-
jor reform in the regulatory
structure. The present regu-
latory mechanism is flawed
in some important respects
barriers to entry too high,
cumbersome system of au-
thorising entry, a multiplici-
ty of regulatory agencies
where mandates are both
confusing and overlapping.
There is a clear need to es-
tablish an independent regu-
latory authority that takes
over the role of the UGC and
the entry regulatory func-
tions of the AICTE, the MCI
and the BCI.
The size of Indian institu-
tions is another problem. Ex-
perts have noted that India
has the distinction of having
the largest number of insti-
tutions for higher education
in the world almost four
times the number of that in
the US and Europe and more
than seven times the number
of institutions in China. On
an average, a university
should have about 20,000 to
50,000 enrolments and as far
as possible, universities
should be well-rounded or
comprehensive, covering al-
most all disciplines. Most of
the institutions of national
importance and central uni-
versities confining them-
selves to only a few courses
and only upto a certain level
of education are in fact, one
of the reasons why Indian in-
stitutions do not figure
among worlds top universi-
ties. From this perspective, it
would appear that the IIMs,
IITs and AIIMS or for that
matter, even statistical insti-
tutes or agricultural univer-
sities should not have been
established as standalone in-
stitutions. Therefore, by im-
proving and expanding the
existing institutions, the gov-
ernment will achieve the
same objective that it intends
to accomplish by opening
new institutions.
- The author is director at the
Union Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare. He recently
submitted his doctoral
dissertation on higher
education to the University of
Delhi. The views expressed are
personal
WE DO NOT NEED NEW
INSTITUTES. WE OUGHT
TO MAKE THE EXISTING
ONES WORLD-CLASS
IM
A
G
E
S
B
A
Z
A
A
R
I expect the
government to quicken
decision-making by
bringing in rigour
Is the governments
decision to open eight new IITs
and ten new AIIMSs
the solution to the
employability crisis, asks
Shailendra Kumar
SUCCESSION DILEMMAS
THE RISE OF THE
INTELLIGENT BUREAUCRAT
MILLENNIALS ARRIVE!
WHAT'S IN A TITLE?
TO READ THE FULL VERSION,
CLICK ON LEADERSHIP AT
www.ItsMyAscent.com/
CareerAdvice
e- reads
Product: TOIMumbaiBS PubDate: 09-07-2014 Zone: MumbaiCity Edition: 1 Page: TOIM18 User: vijaym2008 Time: 07-08-2014 20:44 Color: CMYK