The CII-IQ celebrated its 9th Anniversary Day on 7th May 2010 at its premises in Magadi Road, Bangalore with a half-day programme. The programme included felicitation of distinguished personalities viz. Mr. Arun Maira, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India; Mr. T.C. Venkat Subramanian, former CMD, and Mr. S.R. Rao, former Executive Director, EXIM Bank of India; an Anniversary Day Lecture on “India@75 : Growth through Quality in Governance” by Mr Arun Maira; Presentations on “India@75 : Qualilty for All” by key personalities engaged in important areas such as availability of Safe Drinking Water; Road Safety Management and Making of a Global SME” and a group of 30-40 school students, studying in Class 5 to Class 8, engaging in giving expression, in painting, to their “Dream Schools”.
The event began by observing a minute’s silence as a token of respect to Prof. C.K. Prahalad, Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan - a great visionary, strategist and a true friend of CII - who passed away on 16 April 2010 in the U.S.
Welcoming the participants Chairman of CII-IQ Mr K.N. Shenoy said that in the three decades plus from the inception of the TQM Division in 1988, the CII-IQ has been able to impact more than 3 lakh people from industry and educational institutions, through the training programmes, handholding services, information sharing events and conferences. The areas of focus have been TQM, Tools & Techniques, TPM, Six Sigma, Lean, SCM, Business Excellence, Education Excellence, Food Quality and Safety, Road Safety, etc.
It was a pleasant duty then, for Mr Shenoy, to felicitate, on behalf of the CII-IQ, the three personalities viz. Mr. T.C Venkat Subramanian, former CMD, EXIM Bank of India; Mr. S.R. Rao, former Executive Director, EXIM Bank of India and Mr. Arun Maira, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India for their outstanding leadership and contribution to promoting Business Excellence; support and guidance in the CII-EXIM Bank partnership; and towards promoting Leadership Excellence and Governance in the country; respectively. Each one of them was presented with a silver salver and a citation in recognition of the contribution.
Accepting the honour Mr. Venkat Subramanian said Technology was playing a frightening role and therefore the challenges before the corporate on all fronts were enormous “Every project has a starting and an end, but the project on Quality has only a start and no ending”, he said.
Receiving the Felicitation,Mr. S.R. Rao expressed “A key element in sustaining competitiveness for a firm is to build internal strength by looking at long term focus, excelling in Quality and Competitiveness so as to achieve and have sustained growth. The need to integrate Quality aspects into business strategies cannot be overstated”.
Mr. Arun Maira said that Demographic Dividend, New Thought Leadership and Quality Governance will be the primary forces that will be driving India to achieve the status of being the 2nd and 3rd largest economies in the world. He felt that India should not be managed by experts alone, but the powers should percolate down to the local bodies who can play a proactive role to meet the highly competitive and challenging environment that India is currently passing through. “India@75 will build people. And people will build India through Quality and Governance”, he said.
The programme also had presentations by 3 eminent people sharing their experiences (a) Mr. S.N. Rao, Managing Director, Supreme Pharma Pvt Ltd. spoke on “The Making of a Global SME” and said that ethical business practices coupled with quality infrastructure, R&D and collaborations were the only aspects which will help companies turn into globally acceptable entities.
Ms. H.V. Gayitri, Project Manager, Naandi Foundation – an NGO – speaking on the topic “A Sustainable Livelihood Model” felt that simple changes using appropriate local technologies can bring in a sea change in the outlook of rural India. She advocated that more PPP models should be encouraged to integrate the rural India to be on par with the mainstream.
Mrs. Archana Bhaskar, Vice President (HR), Shell Group of Companies in India, speaking on the topic ‘Road Safety Management’ said that “as quality aspects were now inbuilt in process systems, safety s tandards should also become a way of life”. She felt that this can happen only if there was firm commitment from the top management in getting the philosophy down to the last level of employee in the company.
Close to 150 industry representatives, domain experts from across the sectors, senior quality and strategic planning professionals participated in the Anniversary Day deliberations. The session presentations were followed by a lively question and answer session.
Concurrently, outside the Conference hall, 45 students studying in Class 5 to Class 8, representing different schools in Bangalore were engaged in giving expression, in painting their “Dream Schools” . While this exercise kindled the young minds to dream about the Schools of their liking, some of the ideas may even get implemented in the schools. Each of these students was given a Commendation Certificate by the Chairman, CII-IQ Mr Shenoy and the Chief Guest Mr Arun Maira.
The dignitaries, as a mark of their visit to the Institute, also planted saplings in the Institute premises.
