Of the three elements of good governance, prime minister Narendra Modi has touched on two, and must now complete the triad. The meeting of the PM with the 77 secretaries closely followed the pledge in the BJP manifesto for “open, transparent and systems based government” and “pro-active pro-people good governance”. The manifesto, in the section on institut
Nineteen out of the 227 Greater Mumbai councillors did not ask a single question in any of the ward committee meetings in the calendar year January to December 2013 and seven councillors did not ask a single question over the entire term of two years, since they were elected reveals the White Paper report released by the Praja Foundation. 227 Councillors of Greater Mumbai electe
Public sector enterprises (PSEs) were set up as instruments of self-reliant economic growth. Over the years, they have laid a strong foundation for industrial development of the country. But the sector is often seen as concerned less with profit-making and more with playing a key role in nation-building. In an interview with Jasleen Kaur, OP Rawat, secretary of the department of public
Robert D Blackwill, former US ambassador to India (2001-03), in his physical impression can be somewhat deceptive. When sitting he appears to be almost diminutive but is tall even by American standards and his kindly, almost absent-minded face does not prepare you for the sharp repartees that come your way ever so often in the course of a conversation. Who else could describe Lee Kuan Yew`s rel
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Limited, the biggest profit-making state-owned company, will be among the top Indian firms to contribute and spend on CSR now that the Companies Act has been implemented. The ONGC says it would have a budget of approximately `500 crore for the initiative. Jasleen Kaur checks the details with KS Jamestin, director of human resou
All over the world, an element of theatre has always been a part of politics. In contemporary times, 24x7 media coverage has embellished the political theatre with touches of reality television. In our country, Narendra Modi has proved to be a master of using the changing media language to his advantage. He instinctively translates abstract political messages into palpable images, and thus touc
As a senior vice president at SAP, Jens Ramaus is responsible for product strategy and development, with a special emphasis on the requirements of federal, state and local governments. In a conversation with Ankita Lahiri, Romaus talked about how cloud and mobile technologies will impact the way citizen interact with both the governments and corporates. Excerpts: How do you see
Right from the pilot project mode to a full-fledged business activity, financial inclusion has continuously evolved over the years. In an email interview with Governance Now, Punjab National Bank (PNB) CMD KR Kamath talks about bringing the bank’s FI customers at par with the normal customers, managing the problem of BC attrition, and the need to continuously embrace tech
In a freewheeling interview with Pragya Gupta, the new secretary of department of electronics and information technology (DeitY) says that a decentralised approach to e-governance will work better in a country like India. The 1978-batch Jharkhand cadre IAS officer (who earlier was DG of UIDAI) also wants to increase the pace of backend digitisation and beli
PSU giant Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has always been proactive in carrying out its CSR activities. In an email interview, its CMD CS Verma discusses his organisation’s plans for the immediate future. Edited excerpts: CSR has always been on the PSUs’ agenda. But with the new law it has become a mandatory and an accountable exercise. How will SAIL&rsquo
World Environment Day held since 1972 in the month of June stimulates awareness of the environment and enhances political action. After a period of forty years the international scientific community is calling for a deeper involvement of the social sciences and considering human-environment interaction not in term of trade-offs to protect nature but how best to serve society for the longer term
The new Companies Act 2013 recognises that companies emerge from the rich diversity and economic culture within India. CSR acknowledges the need for companies to contribute back to the societies they come from. One of the best ways to contribute is to strengthen this rich economic culture that is the culture of self-employment. Unlike many developed and developing countries, over
At Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, it is not just about corporate but also personal social responsibility, where employees are encouraged to contribute socially, says Pradeep Singhal, executive director of the company. In an interview with Jasleen Kaur, Singhal talks about the importance of bringing flexibility in the CSR rules to foster innovation. Edited ex
The first reactions to the denial of anticipatory bail of the Facebook user from Goa, Devu Chodankar, would obviously be full of condolences to the death of freedom of expression in India. Come on! Impending arrest for an innocent Facebook post? Really? A harmless, innocent post on a one of the many group pages on a social networking couldn’t mean anything. Of course it is the dawn of the
Besides being the country’s largest power generation company, the government-owned NTPC is also known for its contribution to the social sector. It has been conferred various awards for its CSR initiatives. In an email interview, NTPC chairman and managing director, Arup Roy Choudhury, talks about doing business by adding value to the community through CSR. He also says that an accountabi
Despite being one of the fastest growing economies in the world, India lags behind in terms of ease of doing business: in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings of 2014, India has been ranked 134th out of 184 countries. The rank last year, at 131, was only slightly better. Taking cognizance of this situation, CII and KPMG jointly prepared a report aimed to improving India’
A full-time philanthropist, Rohini Nilekani has over the last few years contributed to a wide range of sectors including education, environment and water. She sold a part of her stake in Infosys for `164 crore to fund individuals and institutions that work for similar causes. In a candid interview with Jasleen Kaur, Nilekani talks about her expectations from an
The foreign policy of a major power seeking to influence world events has to be based on a national consensus to have the assurances other countries would require for stable relations over the longer term. Narendra Modi now has the national vote, the stock market and foreign institutional investors have given their full confidence and have high expectations and the world is watching to see whet
For the party that believes information technology is a big enabler for empowerment, equity and efficiency, will the ascent of BJP into power mean the end of road for Aadhaar? While Nandan Nilekani, the former chairman of the unique identification authority of India (UIDAI), and the Manmohan Singh government had been projecting Aadhaar as the essential tool to drive several socia
On using taxation to reduce income inequality There is immense unrealised potential for revenue collection in India. Raising tax rates as Piketty suggests, especially raising the top marginal tax rate (from the current 30% to, say, even 35%), is a measure I would support (more on that below). More importantly, the tax base in India continues to be very narrow. A
