To celebrate its Diamond Jubilee Year, All India Management Association organized a special session with The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan on June 7, 2017.
Shri Pranab Mukherjee addressing ‘Special Session to commemorate AIMA’s Diamond Jubilee Year’
It’s pleasure for me to be present amongst you this evening when we are celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of AIMA. You can be proud of sustaining a culture of excellence for six decades. The achievements of the last sixty years, I am sure shall motivate you to even greater heights in the years to come. When you began your journey in 1957, the country was entered into the phase of industrialization, because the major industrial policy thrust was given in 1956 industrial policy resolution. It was the launching of the second five year plan period and subsequently, you have seen how India progressed. And from a country when it began its independence 70 years ago and 10 years before you began your journey, it was one of the poorest countries in the world for more than half a century. From 1900 to 1950 the economy registered just below 1 percent annual average GDP growth. India was in deficit. At that juncture, your organization took a giant leap I must say, not in darkness but with definite aims and objectives that we must come out, fully exploit our potentials, particularly amongst our youth. Give them managerial tools, sharpen their skills and make them the best available many years to manage. It is not merely the management of material. It is also the management of the ethos, their culture and also to carry on the legacy of a heritage which is of 5000 years old civilization.
Today, Indian managers, all over the world are considered as the best managers and are in high demand for almost every sector and there is a keen competition. Being in the administration for a very long period of time I saw, when the option to choose a career comes, the bright men and women are in doubt whether to join the civil service or to join the business and enterprises and manage and face the challenge. Today, India’s economy is regarded as one of the fastest growing and emerging economy in the world. Yes, there may be ups and downs in the long history of our developmental process. There have been moments of encouragement, success, pride, and there have been moments of depression and frustration. But keeping aside that sense of depression and frustration, the country moved ahead. As a result to that, I am just giving one example, a country which almost lived from hand to mouth even up to mid-70s, after 30 years of independence, today the country is producing more than 274 billion tons of grain. It is self-sufficient to meet its own requirement and also producing an exportable surplus. Similarly in industries, in technologies, you know in almost every area, we have made remarkable progress and yet I must say we are managing.
When I shut my eyes and think in my mind – 1.3 billion people living in 3.3 million square kilometers, speaking in 200 languages in everyday life, practicing seven religions, belonging to three major ethnic group- Dravidians, Caucasians, Mongoloids. Yet under one system, one flag, one constitution. We have been able to manage the largest functional democracy of the world where 67 percent of 800 million people exercise their most important political right in choosing their rulers, in selecting 543 members of parliament, from snow-capped Himalaya to sea worth south, and from forests of Mizoram to Dwarka. Therefore management is the most significant aspect of the advancement and progress. I must congratulate Mr. Munjal for the initiatives which they have taken particularly to emphasis on the development of skills and inputs in the students, in the youth will speak of the demographic dividend. No doubt more than 50 percent of Indian people today are in the age group of 25 and below. India will have the largest number of working forces and this advantage we may have for some time more but this dividend will not pay us true dividend if we cannot convert these youth forces, working forces, into productive employment and for that, we require employability and to have employability we must have the skilled persons. Therefore we shall have to impart training, skills and enhance their employability so that entire world market is available to them. Sometimes I shudder to think that what would happen if we fail to achieve this objective. Every year 10 million persons are entering into the job markets and not adequate job creation is being done. Therefore we shall have to depend on startups. We shall have to start small businesses. We shall have to start employment opportunities by becoming employers, not merely job seekers and for that, we require a huge management cadre who will manage all aspects from material to cultural, to philanthropy, spiritual also or corporate social responsibility. They’re not merely a phraseology but it gives a clear signal that the society to which you belong, the environment in which you are functioning, you must link with it and by addressing some of the pressing problems of the locality, environment, society; you can make yourself inevitable part of that system where they will also feel that you are not an outsider. You are not just making money in that area but you are an integral part of that system and environment. I wish you all success.
AIMA has already honored its name and you are completing 60 years. When you complete centenary, when your past will not be there but surely the continuation of the institutions, ideas, principles, philosophies that survived and that survived for many years. The principles, the ideology, the philosophy behind establishing AIMA 60 years ago would remain relevant to object our skills, to make our knowledge updated. The World is changing fast. Technological changes are mind-boggling and change of technology brings disruption. To manage that disruption is the job of the true manager. You are doing that I wish you all success and a very glorious future.
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