The Hindu Business Line : Why not make green your lucky colour?

STORY so far: The flushing out of fake-drug manufacturers goes on like clockwork, but we are shocked to see that the goons are no ordinary lot — they had kidnapped a well-known scientist and kept him in their custody to know secret formulations.

Another dramatic thing happens on Sep 11, when activists attack a research farm in Bangalore. The video that I help take leads to the arrest of many rowdies. Monsanto chief calls to thank me.

Episode 47

Green is my favourite colour. Not that I am imitating anybody, nor that you can find me draped only in green, with green jewellery, green cosmetics and so forth. You could be wrong if you guessed that I walk only on green carpets, and travel in green cars, or graze on palak for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But greenery has an appeal for me, though the azure of the sky and the sea can clasp my attention indefinitely. It was, therefore, a pleasant surprise that a CII invite was on my table — for the Green Summit 2003.

The event, billed as "a unique international conference-cum-exposition on Green Business" had its importance as "the first Summit of its kind in the country" with the objective of creating a green movement in the country.

Its theme was "Green is Competitiveness" to demonstrate that green is not just "investment intensive" and so simply a drain of money but can enable companies face global competition. I remembered how a friend of mine had attended the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2003 organised early this year by TERI. While inaugurating the summit, President Kalam had stressed that environmental concerns needed to be integrated into every developed plan. Greening, therefore, is not an expense head, but a revenue-earning proposition.

There are green initiatives everywhere. Such as colleges adopting green policy to plant more trees, ensure proper waste disposal, recycle trash and so on. At the international level, World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg around 2002 middle, was touted as "the biggest international gathering ever" with about 60,000 delegates flowing in. To manage all the waste that would ensue a conference of such a scale, a project called `Greening the WSSD' was launched to reduce the summit's "giant environmental footprint". The `green plan' included a big emphasis on saving electricity and water. Toilets were equipped with two buttons, to give delegates the choice — "between a big and a short flush".

Global warming was on the agenda of the summit. But since it was realised that the summit itself would generate about 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, a gas responsible for the global warming. "Any conference there's bound to be a lot of hot air," wrote Franz Kruger for Radio Netherlands. So, to be a part of the solution, rather than the problem, the Summit organisers came up with a scheme "encouraging delegates to buy climate legacy certificates for 10 dollars each." It was estimated that 5 million dollars would be raised "to support alternative clean energy projects as a way of balancing out the summit's own emissions".

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Though the summit was on the scale of a WTO-gathering which usually invites the worst of protests, there was some ruckus outside. Representatives of some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) termed the effort as "Greenwashing Corporate Crimes". They were criticising the corporate world for causing damage to environment. Protestors alleged that the corporates were shedding "crocodile tears". I realised how it is important for companies to plug green as a priority area to attend to.

It would be too short-sighted to pursue only profit-goals, even at the cost of ecology. Such an approach would soon be asking for trouble — in the form of activists at the door — and heading for a lot of negative publicity.

After hardware park, software park, film park and so forth, now it is the turn of `green park'. As part of its Vision 2020 initiative, the Andhra Pradesh Government has decided to develop a `green park' in a sprawling 1,000 acres of land in Jedcherla of Mehboob Nagar district. The park would be the exclusive domain of non-polluting, green technology, energy efficiency and waste management technology industries. "Should tell the boss to book a plot there," I jotted down in my diary.

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On the sidelines of the conference, a major corporate house took those interested out on a brief trip to its premises. Ah, it was breathtaking to see thick foliage and carefully tended bushes. It was scorching outside, but the 10-minute walk we took through the avenue-like ambience, was highly refreshing. "This must have cost you heavily," I remarked to that company's CEO, Pachaiyappa.

"It did, and it continues to, Swati," he said. "But our business has grown manifold. We save on advertisements. To make a sales call, we don't go to the potential customer. We invite him over here."

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At the mailbox: There is a mail from M. M. Rojavathy: "What is the eligibility for BPO jobs? How to apply for the BPO jobs in MNCs? How am I to prepare for such jobs? What are the names and addresses (e-mail id or Web site addresses) of the companies where BPO or some processing jobs are available?"

You would have to study the `appointments' ads that come regularly in newspapers. Also, keep track of write-ups about the BPO industry that appear in the IT supplements such as e-World (http://www.thehindubusinessline. com/ew/index.htm).

"Hello Swati," writes Arun Rahul, doing his B.Tech in VIT, Vellore, apart from pursuing an MBA. "I read your article. It is going on very nicely. Have you done CA? Where are you working? What are the steps that you have taken to reach that stage if you can please reveal them? Sorry for asking this thing: are you a married woman? Many surveys say that after marriage woman may not cope up with their jobs. But, I think if women can't cope up, then how can men? I think women are having more capability to do work."

Let me try to answer your questions, Arun. If you had read the first few episodes, you would have known that I am a CA. I am working in a biotech company that has diversified into software and BPO too.

I am not married; not yet. It is quite a compliment that women can cope with work as much as men can. I think I'd show your mail to my boss and ask for a raise!

(To be continued)

Swati_CA@hotmail.com

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