|
|
|
|
| N Kumar, |
| Past President, CII, reminisces |
|
 |
| Rajesh Shah took over as CII President, and my own
name was added to the long list of CII Past Presidents. Rahul Bajaj
was there to bid me farewell on the CII’s behalf and he did
so in a generous speech. |
| So, what were the CII and I looking back on, as
the train slid to a halt at my own station, at the end of my 1997-98
term? A year in which the frustrations perhaps outweighed the achievements.
Or at least, a year in which the political and economic health of
the country was so poor in general that each achievement was hard
won, had to be fought for, tooth and nail. |
| The frustrations were caused by factors beyond our
control. There were financial crises all over the world, and these
especially affected our important trading partners and South East
Asia. Most disastrously, there was the crazy game the political parties
were playing—with each other, with the country. Like children
discovering some new creature and worrying it to extinction, Indian
politicians had discovered the amazing and convoluted things that
could be done with coalition politics. They were monkeying around
with policies and plans, firing off allegations at each other, doing
their best to prevent the country and its industry from settling down
into productive consensus and the kind of stability that allows room
for real growth. If the fiftieth year of our independence was marked
by anything, it was political irresponsibility and corruption, the
failure of our leaders. |
| But I am getting too negative. We must not forget
the achievements, while regretting the fact that these were not more
numerous. This was the year in which ASCON scored a century: it crossed
the landmark figure of a hundred sectoral members. ASCON tied up with
CII’s Trade Fair Division to introduce new sectoral shows on
petroleum, steel and railways. There were new sectoral initiatives
in telecom and electronics. The focus was on finance, demand and competitiveness,
across sectors, and ASCON orchestrated events in which inputs in these
areas were made accessible to its sectoral membership. |
| This was also the year in which the CII really girded
its loins for entry into the information age. We launched the CII
Connect, a countrywide computer network to streamline communications,
improve our organizational productivity, and make access to our information
banks quicker and easier for our members. 219 new entrants, incidentally,
were added to our list of members, bringing the total membership by
December 1997 to well over 3700. It was the year in which the CII’s
China and South Africa offices became functional. |
| It was despite everything, a great year, a learning
year, a year of meeting many personalities, a year where India completed
50 years as a nation, a year when I met with Queens and Princes and
Prime Ministers and Presidents. |
| It was a year of world leaders of industry and leaders
of tomorrow, a year in which I travelled to all corners of the world:
America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle east. A year during which
I went to all corners of India and met leaders of business, and colleagues
from small and large companies, politicians and bureaucrats. A year
I saw all the cars, machine tools and agro products and processed
foods anyone can imagine. |
| It was a year in which we discussed insurance, steel,
world politics and nuclear issues, defence matters and technology;
quality and productivity. This year I outlasted a PM of our country
in office; indeed saw two PMs and two Presidents take their oaths.
A year of great difficulty for our economy even though we had all
the fundamentals going for us as a nation. A year that saw world trade
suffer and the South East Asian tigers plummet and currencies tumble.
A year when, in the US, scandal captured the headlines. A year in
which war almost came. Definitely not a year I would like to forget,
whatever the economists say! |
| The CII train has put me down at my destination
and has carried on, 1998-99, the year Rajesh was President, turned
out to be a bad year for the organisation. Now, Rahul Bajaj is guiding
that train through the tunnels and the stations, patches of light
and darkness. |
| As I heard its staccato engine receding into the
distance, I couldn’t help feeling a twinge of loss. Natural,
of course: it had been such a full and exciting two years that anything
subsequently was going to be a let-down. For a little while, I felt
strangely at a loose end; then the earlier rhythms of my life re-established
themselves. I still make my contributions to the organization as Past
President, but with less and less involvement as time passes, and
this too is right. Autre temps, autre choses, as the redoubtable M Chirac
might say. Other times, other interests! |
| (Excerpted from N Kumar’s recollections of his
year in office as CII President) |
 |
 |
|
