Changes in public policy & individual behaviour, and recognizing need for social action are need of the hour: Guha at IIMB’s sustainability conclave
Jointly hosted by IIMB’s CCGC & SustainabilityNext, the conclave addresses key issues surrounding India’s sustainable all-round growth
June 11, 2016, Bengaluru: “Liberalization has come with many good things, but it has also brought a peculiar blindness to the environment and the negative impact has led to the depletion of our natural resources,” lamented environmental historian Dr. Ramachandra Guha, at the conclave on ‘Crafting India’s Sustainability Growth Model – How not to Copy China or the West’, hosted by IIM Bangalore on June 11, 2016.
Defining “three waves” of Indian environmentalism at the conclave, Dr. Guha identified the first wave that spanned from 1915 to 1950 as “a wave of thinkers”, who warned about the dangers of following the resource and capital-intensive western model of industrialization. The second wave, he said, were social movements that were non-violent with an impact on public policy and science. “The third wave is all about making changes in public policy and recognizing the need for social action by taking useful learnings from the first two waves,” he explained.
The conclave, organized by IIMB’s Corporate Governance and Citizenship (CCGC) and SustainabilityNext, an e-magazine which provides relevant content from practitioners and thought leaders, discussed models of all-round growth that India could pursue, how India can test and validate a few of these models by 2025, the key barriers to overcome in enabling a shared vision and how India’s culture/heritage can be leveraged to craft such models.
The conference was designed to enhance the learning of professionals from diverse fields. It was aimed at business leaders, entrepreneurs, executives, academicians and students.
The conclave began with Manoj K Chakravarti, Chief Operating Officer, CCGC at IIM Bangalore and Benedict Paramanand, editor and publisher of SustainabilityNext, delivering the welcome address and introducing the theme of the conclave.
The conclave proved to be an engaging experience with a line-up of distinguished speakers. Sustainability expert Professor Ram Nidumolu, CEO, Innovastrat.com, spoke about the two main models of capitalism – the western model of free markets and the Chinese model of state ownership. He remarked that both models had evolved to be “the worst form of capitalism”. According to him, self-interest, the driver of the capitalistic model, had led to 1% of the population becoming richer leading to a lack of balance in the different forms of capital such as human capital, natural capital and financial capital. His recommendation for India was a balanced all-round growth model that moved away from the notion of self-interest to shared interest (self and others including society, nature), maintaining the importance of individualism. “Ancient Indian philosophy can substantially contribute to the development of such a model,” he said.
Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman, Akshaya Patra, defined sustainable growth as integrated balanced development in all the areas of human personality such as physical, emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual and environmental. Imbalanced growth in any one of the domains at the cost of any other domain can never be sustainable, he observed. “I firmly believe that well-being and happiness must be the heart of India’s sustainable growth model,” he added.
Panel Discussion & Open House
Professor P D Jose, IIMB faculty from the Corporate Strategy & Policy area, hosted a panel discussion and Open House during the post-tea session of the conclave. He set the context for the panel discussion by raising the questions: ‘What choices does India need to make without consequences and what choices does India need to make with consequences?’, ‘How carefully should India make these choices and at what cost?’, and ‘How to moderate India’s growth ambition with the right environmental public policy?’
Nagaraja Prakasam, Impact/Angel Investor, spoke on how India could look at growth from an entrepreneurial perspective. He emphasized the importance of entrepreneurs taking part in solving the country’s problems by playing on its strength and not by just copying the west. He also pointed out the importance of entrepreneurs in looking at supporting the survival of the rural economy to avoid movement of rural population to city slums. Offering examples of social impact-funded projects in sustainable areas, he discussed the importance of measuring companies on profit, planet and people for sustainable growth.
Professor Vasanthi Srinivasan, IIMB faculty from the Organizational Behaviour & Human Resources Management area, spoke on human capital and human capital development and suggested ways to transform and harness individual potential into collective capability. She said, “I am a great believer of the power of individuals as I have seen the transformation of individuals, who touch millions of lives.” She identified three dimensions -- integrated thinking, collaboration of different stakeholders and systemic thinking -- to transform and harness individual potential into collective capability.
Patrik Antoni, Country Head, Sustainability, IKEA India, spoke about sustainability practices at IKEA. He said, “When they think sustainability, any company needs to think of three things -- how the company’s products and services help customers lead a sustainable life, how it uses its resources to make these products, and how it engages with the community to make a positive difference.”
Santhosh Jayaram, Partner and Head, Sustainability and CSR Advisory, KPMG, focussed on the India model through a consultant’s lens. He looked at the different stakeholders such as industry and government with suggestions for each. “The government must drive policy by consulting the right stakeholders and academia can play a big role in India’s growth story, by helping integration of government and industry,” he said.
Madanmohan Rao, Research Director, YourStory.com, highlighted the role of knowledge management as the glue holding all together. “India is in a state of entrepreneurial boom and entrepreneurs have started connecting to each other to scale up through partnership,” he observed. Offering examples of a few social enterprise projects in India, he emphasized the importance of coupling social media with ground activism.
The sessions were followed by questions from the audience. The conclave was also webcast. The models which were discussed at the conclave will be turned into a working paper and shared with Niti Aayog, relevant ministries, think tanks, universities, etc. The highlights and keynote summaries will be published in SustainabilityNext and other newsletters.
Click here for photo gallery
Changes in public policy & individual behaviour, and recognizing need for social action are need of the hour: Guha at IIMB’s sustainability conclave
Jointly hosted by IIMB’s CCGC & SustainabilityNext, the conclave addresses key issues surrounding India’s sustainable all-round growth
June 11, 2016, Bengaluru: “Liberalization has come with many good things, but it has also brought a peculiar blindness to the environment and the negative impact has led to the depletion of our natural resources,” lamented environmental historian Dr. Ramachandra Guha, at the conclave on ‘Crafting India’s Sustainability Growth Model – How not to Copy China or the West’, hosted by IIM Bangalore on June 11, 2016.
Defining “three waves” of Indian environmentalism at the conclave, Dr. Guha identified the first wave that spanned from 1915 to 1950 as “a wave of thinkers”, who warned about the dangers of following the resource and capital-intensive western model of industrialization. The second wave, he said, were social movements that were non-violent with an impact on public policy and science. “The third wave is all about making changes in public policy and recognizing the need for social action by taking useful learnings from the first two waves,” he explained.
The conclave, organized by IIMB’s Corporate Governance and Citizenship (CCGC) and SustainabilityNext, an e-magazine which provides relevant content from practitioners and thought leaders, discussed models of all-round growth that India could pursue, how India can test and validate a few of these models by 2025, the key barriers to overcome in enabling a shared vision and how India’s culture/heritage can be leveraged to craft such models.
The conference was designed to enhance the learning of professionals from diverse fields. It was aimed at business leaders, entrepreneurs, executives, academicians and students.
The conclave began with Manoj K Chakravarti, Chief Operating Officer, CCGC at IIM Bangalore and Benedict Paramanand, editor and publisher of SustainabilityNext, delivering the welcome address and introducing the theme of the conclave.
The conclave proved to be an engaging experience with a line-up of distinguished speakers. Sustainability expert Professor Ram Nidumolu, CEO, Innovastrat.com, spoke about the two main models of capitalism – the western model of free markets and the Chinese model of state ownership. He remarked that both models had evolved to be “the worst form of capitalism”. According to him, self-interest, the driver of the capitalistic model, had led to 1% of the population becoming richer leading to a lack of balance in the different forms of capital such as human capital, natural capital and financial capital. His recommendation for India was a balanced all-round growth model that moved away from the notion of self-interest to shared interest (self and others including society, nature), maintaining the importance of individualism. “Ancient Indian philosophy can substantially contribute to the development of such a model,” he said.
Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman, Akshaya Patra, defined sustainable growth as integrated balanced development in all the areas of human personality such as physical, emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual and environmental. Imbalanced growth in any one of the domains at the cost of any other domain can never be sustainable, he observed. “I firmly believe that well-being and happiness must be the heart of India’s sustainable growth model,” he added.
Panel Discussion & Open House
Professor P D Jose, IIMB faculty from the Corporate Strategy & Policy area, hosted a panel discussion and Open House during the post-tea session of the conclave. He set the context for the panel discussion by raising the questions: ‘What choices does India need to make without consequences and what choices does India need to make with consequences?’, ‘How carefully should India make these choices and at what cost?’, and ‘How to moderate India’s growth ambition with the right environmental public policy?’
Nagaraja Prakasam, Impact/Angel Investor, spoke on how India could look at growth from an entrepreneurial perspective. He emphasized the importance of entrepreneurs taking part in solving the country’s problems by playing on its strength and not by just copying the west. He also pointed out the importance of entrepreneurs in looking at supporting the survival of the rural economy to avoid movement of rural population to city slums. Offering examples of social impact-funded projects in sustainable areas, he discussed the importance of measuring companies on profit, planet and people for sustainable growth.
Professor Vasanthi Srinivasan, IIMB faculty from the Organizational Behaviour & Human Resources Management area, spoke on human capital and human capital development and suggested ways to transform and harness individual potential into collective capability. She said, “I am a great believer of the power of individuals as I have seen the transformation of individuals, who touch millions of lives.” She identified three dimensions -- integrated thinking, collaboration of different stakeholders and systemic thinking -- to transform and harness individual potential into collective capability.
Patrik Antoni, Country Head, Sustainability, IKEA India, spoke about sustainability practices at IKEA. He said, “When they think sustainability, any company needs to think of three things -- how the company’s products and services help customers lead a sustainable life, how it uses its resources to make these products, and how it engages with the community to make a positive difference.”
Santhosh Jayaram, Partner and Head, Sustainability and CSR Advisory, KPMG, focussed on the India model through a consultant’s lens. He looked at the different stakeholders such as industry and government with suggestions for each. “The government must drive policy by consulting the right stakeholders and academia can play a big role in India’s growth story, by helping integration of government and industry,” he said.
Madanmohan Rao, Research Director, YourStory.com, highlighted the role of knowledge management as the glue holding all together. “India is in a state of entrepreneurial boom and entrepreneurs have started connecting to each other to scale up through partnership,” he observed. Offering examples of a few social enterprise projects in India, he emphasized the importance of coupling social media with ground activism.
The sessions were followed by questions from the audience. The conclave was also webcast. The models which were discussed at the conclave will be turned into a working paper and shared with Niti Aayog, relevant ministries, think tanks, universities, etc. The highlights and keynote summaries will be published in SustainabilityNext and other newsletters.
Click here for photo gallery