Confluence 2010 Press Release (Day 2)
PANEL DISCUSSION: “Challenges in Formulation and Implementation of Inclusivity in Governance”
The second day at Confluence 2010 at IIM Ahmedabad revolved around the theme of“Challenges in Formulation and Implementation of Inclusivity in Governance”. The morning sessions were opened by Sebastian Morris, a senior professor at IIM Ahmedabad.
To begin the discussion, he raised several issues ranging from the increasing role of the private sector to the enhanced role of state support for the poor (now flush with cash as India powers along at 8.5% GDP growth per annum) to the vast potential of e-governance and information technology in improving inclusivity. The panel consisted of a diverse set of three individuals each with decades of rich experience. They addressed the issues put forward by Prof. Morris through the examples of their respective fields.
The first panel member to speak was Mr. Anil Swarup, the Director General of Labour Welfare. Largely, his talk revolved around the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), a health insurance scheme aimed at the poor. He talked about the various challenges faced while trying to conceptualise and implement a scheme of this sort all across the country. One major idea he had implemented was to charge consumers Rs. 30 as insurance premium – the rationale was that if the poor pay for their insurance, not only will they be more aware of it, they will also demand it. He also made it mandatory in several hospitals to accept cashless transactions. He identified that a critical part of any public private partnership (PPP) scheme was to convince all stakeholders that they stand to gain significantly if they adopt the new scheme.
The next panel member was Mr. Alok Kumar, Secretary of the Central Electricity Regulation Commission (CERC), who is an IAS officer with over 20 years of work experience in the industry. He described the happenings in the power sector over the last 60 years, and the challenges that it faced. He illustrated how India had gone from having a capacity of 1,500 Megawatts at the time of Independence to having 1,60,000 Megawatts capacity today. He spoke about the several problems that he had identified including massive cross-subsidisation –for example, while farmers in Punjab were wasting electricity at Rs 0.20 per unit, those in Mumbai were receiving it at Rs 9 per unit. To show the impact of availability of electricity and prove the value of inclusivity in amenities, he gave the example of a groundbreaking study that had been conducted that showed the direct correlation between the number of school enrolments and the penetration of electricity supply (as children could study in the night with electricity lighting).
The third speaker of the panel was Mr. H.K. Dash, the chairman of the Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board (GWSSB). He talked about inclusivity in the growth in water supply and illustrated how Gujarat had shown the way to the rest of country in terms of water security. He talked of how to bring the water to the villages and the challenges of salinity, potability etc. Like the other speakers before him, he stressed on the importance of infrastructure creation and community engagement in making projects of this nature successful.
STATECRAFT
Day 2 also witnessed the start of „Statecraft?, an event conducted in co-ordination with Equipoise, the Economics Club of IIMA. Statecraft is one of the few Model United Nations Summits to be hosted by a business school. The event saw participation from a variety of colleges including IIMA, IRMA, MICA, National Law School Bangalore, National Law Institute Bhopal and SPJIMR. The committee representing United States of America, South Africa, Germany, Ethiopia, Libya, Brazil, India, China and others sought to debate two motions – the economic unification of Africa and whether developed countries should use trade sanctions against developing countries that are accused of environmental and human rights abuses. The discussion in the committee was highly productive and the committee managed to come up with a set of working papers that laid down a roadmap for economic unification of Africa. The session on Day 3 promises to take the debate forward so that the committee can come up with a comprehensive resolution for the topics chosen to debate on.
CORPORATE COMBAT
The much awaited Corporate Combat, Confluence?s flagship event, started today with 6 teams competing to be the best at combating crises in a corporate environment. The teams participating were IIMA, IIMB, IIMC, IIML and SPJIMR. The game involved running a boiler company that had presence in 3 geographies having a total of 9 customers. The teams went through 4 rounds of simulation and made 2 presentations addressing marketing, strategy, finance situation and public relations of the company. The event will continue on Day 3.
PODIUM
Podium, an event aimed at involving students in understanding the problems of the marginalized, is being conducted for the first time in Confluence. It provides students a platform to express their views on the issues faced by the marginalized and provided them an opportunity to give solutions for the same. The theme of Podium on Day 1 was “Innovations in business”. The theme on Day 2 was “Innovations in governance” and included participation from IIM Ahmedabad, SPJIMR, Birla Institute of Management and others. The winning team on Day 2 was IIM Ahmedabad, which spoke about the rampant corruption in India and suggested several ways, including a call-in helpline to combat the lower-level corruption.
OMNISCIENT
Omniscient is a unique event in Kronos that pits teams against each other through not just one, but multiple cases in a variety of contexts. After the initial shortlisting, five teams from NITIE, Great Lakes, XLRI, IIM Shillong and IIM Ahmedabad had made it to the finals. The teams presented an analysis of their case to a panel of judges and for the final round, modified their presentations on the basis of feedback. The event has been really close and the competition promises to go down right to the wire. Results are eagerly awaited!
MASTERPLAN
Masterplan, the Indian subcontinent?s biggest business plan competition, finally concluded today after a tough battle. The teams had presented their business plans in the first round, and for the second round, the judges grilled them by springing various scenarios onto them which could potentially harm their business. They were tested on the strength of their plans in such scenarios. Two teams, from IIM Bangalore and IIF Delhi, emerged as joint winners and ISB Hyderabad were the runners-up. Several contestants consider this event as a showcase of their plans and are in fact serious about taking up these ventures rather than keeping them just contest entries.
SECTORAMA
Sectorama, a flagship event of Confluence, was conducted successfully today, in co-ordination with the Consult Club of IIMA. After the initial shortlisting, 6 teams had been invited for the presentation including IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Lucknow, SPJIMR and MICA. Presentations were delivered on a variety of sectors like Education, Transport & Logistics, Media & Entertainment, Financial Services, Tourism, Automobile & Ancillaries. The teams identified lucrative business opportunities in their respective sectors and then chalked out a comprehensive strategy for entry. The winning team was SPJIMR who presented on the Education sector and runners-up was IIMB who presented on Logistics.
RETAIL KING
Retail King is a flagship event at Confluence, held in association with Niche - the Marketing Club of IIMA. Retail King is a one of its kind event where teams take part in active buying and selling of goods in a real market scenario. After a grand kick-start with a two hour trading window today afternoon, the action shifted to the next round - with four hours of trading window and a much bigger market. With non-stop negotiations and deal making, the event brings out that best that management graduates have to offer. 70 teams took part in the preliminary round of which 9 teams have been shortlisted for the final round, the results of which will are expected later
TALK BY MR RAVI NARAIN
Mr. Ravi Narain, the CEO of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) spoke on the trends and future expectations in the Indian bond and equity markets. Overall, he was optimistic about the near future and said that he does not expect the markets to consolidate – the NSE has been slow on a trend towards consolidation. Narain observed that bonds and currencies have historically been traded on the OTC market and there is no reason to suggest that that would change. Despite the fact that sophisticated investment vehicles were among the major factors behind the US recession, Mr Narain was optimistic about the future of sophisticated vehicles. He said that these vehicles did not work in the mature Western markets, but that wasn?t reason enough for them to not work in the Indian context.
CONCLUSIVE REMARKS
Mr. Anil Swarup, Director General of Labour Welfare, said “I found the experience at Confluence amazing. At one time, I was trainee at IIM Ahmedabad for four months, and loved the campus stay. So it is always a pleasure to come back to the campus. The atmosphere here promotes learning and there is an infectious energy around