The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, today emphasised on bridging the “enormous” infrastructure, regional and digital divides in India in order the sustain the path of progress.

“We still have to deal with the problems of mass poverty, hunger and disease and corruption… We must ensure greater penetration of quality and affordable social services, create food and energy security for our teeming millions… to upgrade skills, and boost manufacturing in order to provide employment opportunities for our youth,” he said in his convocation address at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA).

The IIMA is celebrating its Golden Jubilee Year and this was its 46th Annual Convocation. In 1968 and 1993, the then Prime Ministers, Indira Gandhi and P.V. Narasimha Rao had addressed the convocations at the IIMA.

The economist-PM said, going forward, the pace of reform in India will depend on how far our policies meet the test of democratic consensus and take into account the vulnerabilities of different sections of our population. Companies undertaking greenfield projects cannot see their factories and units as oases, cut off from the needs and interests of the community around them. “We need to work out more effective mechanisms and principles for the use of land and other resources that reconcile different interests”, he stressed.

He said 2011 marks the 20th anniversary of the launch of economic reforms in India. Recalling his first address at the IIMA in 1994, as the then Union Finance Minister in the early days of the reform process, he said the path was new, the challenges formidable and the outcomes uncertain. “But our resolve was strong and our goals were clear.”

Dr Singh pointed out that the most profound change has, however, been in our mindsets. Education and opportunities have created unprecedented social and economic mobility. There is a revolution of expectations and a surge of aspirations in an increasingly young India. It is the energy and the enterprise of a new generation of Indians that is driving our nation's growth and economic transformation, he added.

Quoting the famous Harvard Professor Michael Porter, the Prime Minister stressed the concept of ‘shared value' for companies, which involves creating economic value in a way that also creates value for society by addressing its needs and challenges. The companies should

take the lead in bringing business and society back together. Dr Singh also said the industry should look more closely at issues like climate change and environmental damage that threaten our way of life and urged it to make greater intellectual contributions to these important debates. Industry needs to link much more with academia or even the voluntary sector to study these issues and frame practical approaches and solutions to these problems.

He asked the IIMs to prepare the youth for the demands of a globalised world and help develop solutions for the critical development challenges. “If you ask me, what is India's greatest strength as a home for management education, I would say it is our spirit of “can-do” and our ability to deal with any situation. There is no better training ground for Indian managers than India itself. If you can succeed in India, you can succeed anywhere in the world!”

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