• This was the first in the series of Leadership Talks being organized in the memory of Padma Shri Dr. Pritam Singh
• Around 1000 people were a part of the intriguing deliberations

September 5: Manav Rachna Educational Institutions (MREI) along with Education Promotion Society for India (EPSI), NHRDN, BIMTECH and O P Jindal Global University organized a talk on ‘Leadership and Innovation for an Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ in the memory of renowned Management Guru Padma Shri Dr. Pritam Singh.

Around 1000 participants from leading institutes of India and the corporate world took part in the deliberations. Mr. P Dwarkanath, Chairman-Non Executive, GSK Horlicks; Mr. S Y Siddiqui, Executive Advisor, Maruti Suzuki; Dr. H Chaturvedi, Director-BIMTECH; Dr. Prashant Bhalla, President, MREI; Dr. Sanjay Srivastava, MD, MREI and Dr. Asha Bhandarker, professor, IMI shared their perspectives on various facets of leadership with the august gathering.

Reminiscing the unique storytelling approach through which Dr. Pritam Singh would make the most difficult topics interesting; Dr. Prashant Bhalla said: “I had the opportunity to observe several talks delivered by Dr. Pritam Singh who often used to focus on competitiveness. He would often ask not just students, but even corporate leaders to think and put down on paper – ‘what is your purpose in life’. In that context, only when we strengthen innovation and research will our country remain competitive and move ahead. It is heartening to note that the government has been taking important steps in this direction. The National Research Foundation, envisaged under the New Education Policy shall support the culture of research and innovation in India’s higher education institutions. It will strengthen the culture of ‘inclusion’, ‘innovation’ and ‘institution’ in the sphere of education”.

While setting the perspective for the talk, Dr. Asha reiterated that Atma Nirbhar typically relates to self-resilience, self-confidence and self-responsibility. This was further reinforced by Mr. P. Dwarkanath, who said: “The principles of self-reliance and resilience are very imperative for a leader to possess”. Deliberating upon the strong relationship between innovation and Atma Nirbharta, Mr. Dwarkanath added that: “Innovation need not come from the strategic level in an organization; innovation can come from the shop floor as well. All ideas need to be respected, whether or not being implemented. Make in India is not complete unless we say Make in India for the world …that is the transformation we have to achieve”.

Dr. Chaturvedi said: “In an economy struggling with the impact of Covid; innovation and the Atma Nirbhar Bharat campaign can give a fillip to our economy.”

Dr. S Y Siddiqui added: “For our country to be moving towards self-reliance; the biggest example that I have learnt from Dr.  Pritam Singh is transformational leadership. The capability to adopt and adapt and adjust to the new business environment steers businesses towards growth. We will require virtuous leadership in the coming days. The next few years, will require distributive leadership to steer businesses out of the current crisis”.

This was the first in the series of leadership talks being organized in the memory of Dr. Pritam Singh. The other talks in the series will be held on October 1 and November 19.