NOVEMBER 27: Corporate organisations should not lose sight of business in their quest for good corporate citizenship. Eminent management consultant, playwright and columnist, Gurcharan Das categorically states that corporate organisations should not engage in social development activities with their shareholders' money. ``Social responsibility should be taken up only at the individual level, and not at the organisational level. But, the management can think of a social agenda if the mileage from such activities strengthen the organisation's profile and stake-holders' value,'' says he.Management of public goods should be left to the state, he says, and adds that the state in turn should steer clear of business activities and focus on creating the right conditions for the business groups to function.
Das is a strong votary of liberalisation and believes that a reforms-propelled 7 per cent growth rate is what will give India the right impetus to ``take-off''. Dividends from this growth pattern will beimmense, he says. At a recent talk on `The new emerging India', organised by the Habitat Centre in Delhi, Das stated that this high growth rate will create a large middle class in the country which will act as the backbone for long-term economic development. The management expert drew an imaginary line between Kanpur and Chennai to explain his theory of development.
``I believe that a 7 per cent growth rate will enable us to wipe out poverty on the western side of this line by year 2020; and on the eastern side of the line by the year 2040,'' he said at the Habitat Centre.
``Further, 50 per cent of the population on the western side of the line will become middle class by the year 2020; and likewise, 50 per cent of the population on the eastern side of the line will attain middle class status by the year 2040,'' he stated on the basis of an extrapolation of the current economic trends.
Das believes that with the initiation of the second generation of reforms, the growth rate may go up to even 8-9 percent. ``Of course, this can be achieved if both the state and business do what they are best at,'' says he.``Seven per cent growth rate is big stuff. Every additional percentage point creates roughly 1.5 million jobs in the country,'' he says.
In the long term, he believes that ``the $420 per capita income of today can go up to $5,500 in absolute terms''.
Das says that in every society, the top 15 percentile will succeed regardless of the state of the economy; the bottom 15 percentile will fail regardless of the growth processes. It is the in-between 70 per cent are truly dependent on growth. The immediate goal of the government should be to bring down poverty to 15 per cent of the population. This will enable the government and the private players to develop and deliver meaningful social security measures, he says.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.