“Local is the solution to the global”: Arun Maira
Centre for Public Policy hosts 6th lecture of its Foundation Day Lecture Series on 10 July on ‘Putting the wind beneath the Indian economy's sails’
10 July, 2024, Bengaluru: “India needs to take advantage of its demographic opportunities for faster and sustainable growth”, observed Arun Maira, former Member of India’s Planning Commission, while addressing an audience at IIM Bangalore. He delivered the 6th lecture of the CPP Foundation Day Lecture Series earlier today, on the topic: ‘Putting the wind beneath the Indian economy's sails’, hosted by the Centre for Public Policy (CPP) at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB).
A leader in the business, public and social sectors, a consultant to leaders, an author and a thought leader, Arun Maira is currently Chairman of HelpAge International. He was Chairman of the Boston Consulting Group India, and was also with the Tata Group in India and abroad for 25 years.
Sharing his own experiences in working with the Government and in formulation of policies, Arun Maira centred his talk on what he termed the “Three ‘Ls’ of Public Policy” essential to achieve sustainable development of any nation, explaining them to be listening, learning and local.
“Although India’s economy is growing very fast, the country needs a fresh perspective and to revisit its policies. Poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon and wellbeing has many facets. When you listen to a poor person with respect and give that person dignity, you learn how to help, which cannot be achieved by counting and calculating as economists are prone to do. Quantitative economics is not enough to guide public policy. You need to listen to the voice of the real people.”
Highlighting that innovation is the creation of something new that did not exist before, or of creating something known but in a novel way, he added, “It is a process of experimenting and learning in action. Multiple stakeholders must learn together to create a nation’s competitive advantage. Policy makers must learn how to nurture the learning required by the nation’s enterprises and its people. In an interconnected world, the only sustainable competitive advantage of any nation or enterprise is its ability to learn and improve faster than any potential competitor.”
He went on to explain that a nation can build its economy with the strength of its own people. “India’s vast population, willing to work and learn, is an asset and can provide Indian enterprises the competitive advantage. Human beings are unusual assets whose value will improve over time as they can boost own capabilities by learning and through motivation. Output is the result of labor and labor is the most abundant resource that India has, but least utilized, unfortunately. Companies should value the potential of Indian citizens, engage them, value and nurture them. Income should increase at the bottom of the economic pyramid to create a larger market of businesses. The ease of doing business should give way to the ease of learning and earning of common citizens.”
He pointed out that growth has to be inclusive and cannot be at the cost of environmental sustainability. “Faster, inclusive and sustainable growth is the need of the hour. In the drive for further economic growth, we are damaging infrastructure that nature provides. The consequences can overwhelm whole communities, countries and nations. A completely new paradigm is needed to solve the systemic problems of increasing inequities, continuing climate change and collapsing global financial and trade systems. However, policies should be aligned to local needs. One global solution for the environment, society and economy will not cater to every nation. Local systems solutions, cooperatively designed and implemented by communities, is the only way which can lead to inclusion and sustainable growth, as well as achieving the SDGs. Local is the solution to the global.”
He summed up his talk by saying, “We need to listen to each other within our communities with respect, get to understand own realities and live in harmony in a shared earth.”
Arun Maira’s talk was followed by a brief interaction with the audience, moderated by Prof. Anil B Suraj, faculty of Public Policy and Chairperson, N.S. Ramaswamy Pre-doctoral Fellowship as well as the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion at IIMB, who also delivered the vote of thanks. “We need to collectively find new forms of governance based on values we cherish”, he added during the audience interaction.
Dr. Gopal Naik, Senior Fellow, Chairperson and Jal Jeevan Mission Chair Professor at the Centre for Public Policy, IIM Bangalore, delivered the welcome address and introduced the speaker, adding, “Arun Maira has been an advisor to many organizations and networks for social change.” Dr. Naik also spoke about the various activities of the Centre for Public Policy and how it has evolved over the years.
Prof. Rishikesha T Krishnan, Director, IIM Bangalore, also addressed the audience, congratulating CPP on completing 24 years. He listed the topmost takeaways from Arun Maira’s talk as the focus on learning, his systems perspective, how capitalism needs to remake itself and how we need to look at Economics in a very different way.