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Press Release: 2nd October, 2004 Mr. Deepak Bagla, Director, Citigroup: Quoting the ancient Egyptians practice of keeping treasure at the bottom of pyramid, Mr. Bagla highlighted the importance of understanding the dynamics of treasure hunt. He said that it is critical for each student to have own perspective about this dynamics. Mr. Bagla looks at the pyramid from 3 aspects - one, it is inevitable, second, it is revolutionary and taking shape and third, it has come sooner than expected, so we need to brace up and dig in deep. As against the bottom-up approach followed by economists today that sees development and profitability as two different objectives, Dr. Prahlad's proposition focuses on development and profitability as a single objective. Mr. Bagla stressed on the need of collaborative effort from both the government and the private companies. Prosperity cannot work on an oasis basis, it has to be a landscape, and the only way prosperity can be a landscape is if we get it to the bottom of the pyramid. He said the single largest factor for success of societal evolution is the public-private partnership but first we should overcome the psychological barrier. Second, a partnership can work well only when all 4 entities i.e. NGOs and the development and financial organizations in the government and private sector, are treated equally and when they work in close coordination. As a consequence, we are going to see a fast paced society with increasing consumerism and our success in reaching the bottom of pyramid will be determined by our ability to match pace with this change. The future will see a fast change in polarization of capital, shared responsibility of government and private sector and high level of consumption. Change is inevitable and for prosperity to be sustainable it has to be inclusive, inclusive of the opportunities lying at the bottom of the pyramid. Prof. Alok Chakraborty: Can we progress without looking at the bottom of the pyramid? No, it is not possible without the public private partnership and change in the mindset. So we need to develop a dualistic and divisive model of development, which is not only competitive and but also promotes collaboration and cooperation because that is the need of this era. So one has to go beyond making money by targeting these people, we have to provide opportunities for development of these areas. India has a huge population of creative people and we need to harness their energy to create a world-class industry. In the end, the speakers responded to the queries raised by students and guests present for the occasion. To ease the mind after such a mentally invigorating session, the internationally acclaimed "Mamata Shankar Ballet Troupe" treated the audience to a superlative performance. Concluded. Contributed by - |
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