The Hindu : Business : Bring Growth Competitiveness Index to below 10 p.c.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 05, 2005

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Bring Growth Competitiveness Index to below 10 p.c. — Kalam

By Our Staff Reporter

— Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

The winners of the first ever Lakshmipat Singhania-IIML National Leadership Awards 2004 — (From left) the Secretary, Department of Scientific & Industrial Research, and Director General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, R. A. Mashelkar; Founder, Self Employed Women's Association, Ela Bhatt; and the Chairman of the Tata Group, Ratan N. Tata — with the President, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam; and the Chairman, Board of Governors, IIML, Hari Shankar Singhania (extreme right).

NEW DELHI, FEB. 4. The President, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, today called upon leaders of business, industries, science and technology, banking, community services and social development to collectively work towards bringing the Growth Competitiveness Index of India to less than 10 for realising the goal of making the country a developed nation in a short span of time.

Speaking on the issue of "Competitiveness through Leadership" at the Lakshmipat Singhania — IIML National Leadership Awards ceremony organised by the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, Dr. Kalam said the Global Competitiveness Report for 2003-04 had placed India at the 56th place. Also, he said, in the same report the proportion of scientists and engineers index had placed India at No. 60 which showed a close co-relation between the Growth Competitiveness index and the scientists and engineers index as innovation arises from institutional initiative and the research and development productivity of the firm.

As such, the President said, national innovative capacity had to be the country's important potential to reinforce both political and economic entity with commercially relevant competitive products.

This capacity was distinct from purely scientific or technical achievements and focused on the economic application of new technology, he said.

On what is needed to achieve this, Dr. Kalam said, it was not only knowledge, but also people with passion. The passion should not be limited to the technical aspects but it should also aim towards creating a concern for the society with a view to finding positive solutions to the problems. "We need leaders who can create such passion among our youth and channel their vibrant energy to make the nation competitive."

In this regard, Dr. Kalam, who congratulated the award winners — Ratan Tata, R. A. Mashelkar and Ela Bhatt — said the award had also been instituted for acknowledging and honouring men and women who were impacting and transforming India through their tireless efforts.

Stating that excellence should be promoted in organisations as this would lead to the creation of brand institutions that are internationally competitive, the President said there were five important components to success in this field: design capability, competitiveness, organisational transformation, success/failure management and establishment of institutional ethical standards.

"Leaders are central to any major change effort and we can conclude that the transformation equals leadership. Without strong and capable leadership from many people, restructuring, turnarounds and cultural changes do not happen well or at all. Also, there is a need to manage the process in change projects to keep the operation going out of control which needs sound managerial support. Hence, highly successful transformation efforts combine good leadership with good management. Such a combination I would call as creative leadership."

Finally, Dr. Kalam said creative leaders at the top of enterprises today would encourage others to leap into the future, help them overcome natural fears and expand the leadership capacity in their organisation, thereby providing a profoundly important service for the entire human community.

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