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The Year that Was: Call of the Nation

Inducting businessmen into governance is an experiment that has gone awry twice in the past. But that hasn't deterred Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

Published: May 27, 2010 09:25:56 AM IST
Updated: Feb 27, 2014 01:52:14 PM IST
The Year that Was: Call of the Nation
Image: The Hindu Photo Archives
BRINGING UP INDIA: T.T. Krishnamachari in a chat with Jawaharlal Nehru at Meenambakkam airport in October 1955

Most Indians have heard of T.T. Krishnamachari, who founded Chennai-based TTK Group way back in 1928. He was one among three key businessmen — the other two being R.K. Shanmukham Chetty and John Mathai — that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru relied on. Sam Pitroda, a successful technologist in the US whom Indira Gandhi had invited to India to start up C-DoT, became Rajiv’s technology advisor. Shortly after Rajiv’s government was voted out in 1989, Pitroda had to face a CAG audit. Clearly, much has changed since then. Political stability is no longer an issue in Manmohan Singh’s second term. That is why many reckon Singh’s plan to induct senior business leaders into his government is well-timed.

It isn’t easy giving up the comforts of a corporate life for government service. But some have and they know failure is not an option. We chronicle their journey so far.


The Invitation
Arun Maira was on a train in Prague when his phone began to buzz. It was the Indian Prime Minister on the line. In fact, his idyllic vacation had suddenly turned topsy-turvy that morning with an urgent mail and a call from his college batch-mate and deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia. “The PM would like you to join the Planning Commission.”

Shailesh Gandhi got his wake-up call some five years ago. One of his professors chided him: “You used to be so critical about the society. What now?” By 2003, he had sold off his packaging business and become a Right-to-Information (RTI) activist. One day, he got a call from Prithviraj Chauhan, minister of state in the PM’s office, inviting him to come on board.

In June last year, military veteran Raghu Raman became the CEO of Mahindra Defence Land Systems. In the wake of the 26/11 terror attacks, the government decided to set up a national grid that would link up all the intelligence agencies in the country, under the leadership of Home Minister P. Chidambaram. Raman was one of the candidates being vetted by the government to head the NatGrid.
Nandan Nilekani got his call from the PM towards the end of May 2009. Then on June 15, Singh offered him the role of Chairman, Unique Identity Authority of India, with a cabinet minister’s rank.

The Nurturing
Maira has arrived at an interesting time. The Planning Commission is at the cusp of change. The focus has to now shift to shaping strategies, rather than directing budgets. As a heavyweight consultant, Maira has a recipe to deal with the inward-looking culture. He is beefing up the quality and the level of engagement — by reaching out to all stakeholders. Maira’s big areas of focus: Urbanisation and industrialisation.

Shortly after he took over, Raman sent out 40-50 emails to people he knew in the private sector. People from some of the best organisations have responded wanting to help and work, many of them pro bono.

Nilekani’s mantra is consensus building. “At the end of the day, our biggest guarantee of success is if people want the ID,” he says. Gandhi’s team is on a roll. It has cleared 5,800 cases in 2009 as against the national average of 600. But 17 months after taking up the assignment, he understands the institutional challenges better.

(Additional reporting by Mitu Jayashankar)

- This article was earlier published in Forbes India magazine dated February 19, 2010.

WHY DID WE DO THE STORY
For some time, we had been sensing that meaty roles in the government were being coveted by many corporate bigwigs as the government spoke of using private sector talent to drive some of its key initiatives. And when action started to happen, we were quite well placed to jump at the story.
Soon after the UPA government returned to power, big names like Nandan Nilekani, Arun Maira and Raghu Raman were quitting cushy, lucrative jobs to take up extremely challenging and sometimes frustrating jobs in the government.

This marked a crucial shift in the government’s thinking and business leaders’ view of their role in the society. We wanted to understand how these executives were straddling the two worlds and what it would take for them to be successful.

The government also told us about the new performance management system it was putting in place to make governance more efficient.

WHERE DOES THE STORY STAND
If anything, the groundswell of interest among business executives to take up important official assignments has only grown. It remains to be seen whether the government will have opportunities for them and make the transition to a merit-based hierarchical system at least in its crucial departments.

There has been opposition to the performance management system but the government is determined to move on with it.

Nilekani has been able to whip up tremendous excitement in the official circles for the unique identity project. He has been able to bring together various agencies and state governments to plan for the world’s largest such programme. He is now getting into the execution mode.

 

(This story appears in the 04 June, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)

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