Collaboration, cooperation and new ways of thinking are the new rules of nation building, according to Dr Sam Pitroda, advisor to the prime minister of India.
Collaboration, cooperation and new ways of thinking are the new rules of nation building, according to Dr Sam Pitroda, advisor to the prime minister of India.
Dr Pitroda was invited by the IIMA alumni association for a lecture on 'Nation building in the 21st century and challenges faced'.
"Information and communication technology are the new paradigms on the basis of which a 21st century nation has to be built upon. It brings openness, de-centralisation and democratisation and is a whole new model of nation building unlike the traditional one that was dependent on dominance, control and command," Dr Pitroda said.
He also said that unlike building companies, nation building is very complex and many times very different. Dr Pitroda informed that, "human rights, environmental concerns, democracy and people's participation are the key elements required towards nation building in today's time. Aping western models, especially those of USA, should now be shunned."
According to Dr Pitroda, education, health services, governance model and election process are obsolete. It is time for young leaders of the nation to develop new models based on fundamental values, and other tools for the modern era.
"Creating a national agenda should be the first step in this direction followed by articulating this agenda. Features such as democracy, environment, poverty, health and education should be dealt with by all political parties irrespective of who comes to power. Things have to come from the bottom rather than top, otherwise it has no value," he added.
Other challenges in nation building include elections, political, judiciary and administrative reforms, re-engineering of all processes, simultaneous reformation of labour laws and most importantly, the use of information technology which can bring about transparency and openness.
Towards the end, Dr Pitroda concluded by stressing that domain experts were of utmost importance in nation building. "As IIMA does have the platform to think on the task of nation building, every one of us must think of our strengths and work towards building the same. Gandhi's dream of Ram Rajya can only materialise, when the tools available are used in the right way and time."
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