Golden Peacock Awards Jury (2011) - Institute Of Directors

Quality TimesRNI NO : 68701/95Quality TimesFrom the EditorEnd of an EraVol. XVI No.4/2011 April 2011Editorial BoardLt Gen JS Ahluwalia, PVSM (Retd.)Pradeep ChaturvediDr Usha DarEditorPradeep ChaturvediEditorial AssistantSushil KumarDesignerShinoj ThomasIOD (Head Quarter)M-52, Greater Kailash - II MarketNew Delhi-110048Tel: 011-41636294, 41636717Fax: 011-29217475E-mail: info@iodonline.comWebsite: www.iodonline.comRegional OfficesMumbai1092, ‘C’ Wing, Oberoi Garden EstateChandivali, Andheri (E), Mumbai - 400 072Ph: 022-28570683, 28571170 Fax: 022-28571495E-mail: mumbai@iodonline.comBangaloreS - 117, Manipal Centre47, Dickenson Road, Bangalore - 42Tele: 91-80-25092234, 25581701 Fax: 25583490E-mail: bangalore@iodonline.comSubscription RatesIndiaLife Subscription Rs. 4000Annual Subscription Rs. 500Each Issue Rs. 45OverseasLife Subscription $ 400Annual Subscription $ 80Published byJ S Ahluwalia for the Institute of DirectorsPrinted at:Maximus PackersOkhla, Phase - I, Mob: 9911305546Total Pages:- 40Contact for SubscriptionM-52, Greater Kailash - II MarketNew Delhi - 110048Tel: 011-41636294, 41636717, Fax:29217475E-mail: info@iodonline.comWebsite: www.iodonline.comThe sudden demise of management guru, and a Gandhian in thoughtsand spirit, Dr Madhav Mehra regarded as a quality guru, brings toend of an era where he started quality movement in the country inlate 80s. Dr Mehra’s has been a remarkable journey, starting from asmall town of Palampur in the Dhauladhar Ranges in HimachalPradesh, working with the central services in the Railways andthen leaving it to promote quality and governance for improving the social welfare andinclusive growth. His charisma was realised at an early stage and in 1996 he was electedas the first President of the World Quality Council based in USA. His Vision of taking Qualityto board room and thereby persuading corporates to take logical decisions and promoteinclusive growth had its impact on the government policies and the actions of corporates.Words can not truly reflect his work. He was a personality whose void would be difficultto fill. It is our bounden duty to carry forward his holistic mission.Lt Gen J.S. Ahluwalia, PVSM (retd) a long time associate of Dr Mehra, and the VicePresident of the Institute of Directors, has since been elected as the President to take thereins of IOD and carry the Institution forward. We are proud to have him to undertake thistask and request all the stakeholders to lend him support.Dr Madhav Mehra had the vision to build IOD as an institution of the people, for the peopleand run by the people. It has therefore been decided to improve our outreach and includesuggestions from all stakeholders while deciding policies and actions of IOD. This decisionhas been taken as we strongly feel that the like minded people will like the mission of IODto move forward and will like to contribute in its build up. Your suggestions will always bekeenly awaited, and your participation in our brain storming conferences will be inspirationfor our future work. We request all to come forward with their suggestions and findreflections of their suggestions in our future programmes.IOD Council has also decided to gradually widen the scope of Quality Times to includequality, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility and environment. It will takesome time before the desired shape of the journal emerges. Your views, articles andfeedback will help the new editorial board to make it come upto expectations.IOD is organising the 6th International Conference on Social Responsibility on April 29 – 30,2011 at Hotel Le Meridian, New Delhi. The theme of the conference is ‘CSR- Driver of SocialInclusion, Sustainability and Profits’. Experts from India and abroad have already confirmed.Draft programme of the conference is covered in this issue of the journal. We look forwardto welcome you all at this conference.CONTENTSPradeep ChaturvediAccountability – Raising the Bar for CSR 4Sanjay AnandThe Role of Investors as Owners in Realigning – The Boardroom Moral Compass 9Andrew DakersDeep Water - Lessions For The Future 15Dr Usha DarDr Madhav Mehra – Getting Ahead of the Curve 19Golden Peacock Awards Jury - 2011 242011 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami 26News & Views 296th Global Conference on Social Responsibility - Draft Programme 36Quality Times 3 April 2011

Quality TimesAccountabilityRaising The Bar For CSR*Sanjay AnandCorporate Social Responsibility (CSR)initiatives can take many forms.However, in the absence ofaccountability borne from an integratedapproach to governance, riskmanagement, and compliance, thepublic face of CSR can crumble in theblink of an eye.In 2006, one multinational companytouted its $97 million communityinvestment in areas where thecompany operated, its $3.2 millionin humanitarian aid to disaster-struckregions, and its $11.4 million inemployee and matching charitablecontributions. Each year, thecompany diligently published itssustainability reports and communityinvestment reports, going so far toinclude a 2009 sustainabilityreporting assurance statement byErnst & Young.On April 20, 2010, these BritishPetroleum CSR initiatives becameutterly worthless. That was the day theDeepwater Horizon exploded, and BPbegan the nightmarish contortionsinvolved in capping the well andcleaning up the 4.9 million barrels ofoil that gushed into the Gulf of Mexico.On January 5, 2011, the NationalCommission on the BP DeepwaterHorizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drillingfound that BP’s time- and cost-savingdecisions (as well as those byHalliburton and Transocean) helpedCorporate social responsibilityencompasses not only whatcompanies do with their profits, butalso how they make them. It goesbeyond philanthropy and complianceand addresses how companiesmanage their economic, social, andenvironmental impacts, as well as theirrelationships in all key spheres ofinfluence: the workplace, themarketplace, the supply chain, thecommunity, and the public policy realm.trigger the explosion and ensuingnatural disaster.The Commission’s report spoke tothe heart of accountability.Acknowledging that governmentalregulation and oversight is critical, itnevertheless said, “…governmentoversight, alone, cannot reduce thoserisks to the full extent possible.Government oversight must beaccompanied by the oil and gasindustry’s internal reinvention:sweeping reforms that accomplish noless than a fundamentaltransformation of its safety culture.”GRC Is Integral To CorporateSocial ResponsibiliTYCorporate Social Responsibilityencompasses more than creatingprograms and initiatives that serve anorganization’s public relations andbranding needs. Rather, CSR is a coreset of values that infuses a company’sgovernance, its approach to riskmanagement, and its complianceefforts (GRC). Harvard’s John F.Kennedy School of Government saysof CSR:We define corporate socialresponsibility strategically. Corporatesocial responsibility encompasses notonly what companies do with theirprofits, but also how they make them.It goes beyond philanthropy andcompliance and addresses howcompanies manage their economic,social, and environmental impacts, aswell as their relationships in all keyspheres of influence: the workplace,the marketplace, the supply chain, thecommunity, and the public policy realm.CSR hasn’t always been perceived sopositively. In the early 1960s, MiltonFriedman argued that an organization’sonly obligation is to its shareholders,and that profit-seeking companies haveno business dabbling in societalissues. To do so would water down theirgoals and objectives. Others arguedthat companies do not have thenecessary skill set to tackle socialissues, and thus had no businessdoing so. Still others expressedconcern that CSR could negativelyimpact global competitiveness byQuality Times 4 April 2011

Quality Timeslessening an organization’s focus onits core competencies.Today, it appears that the opposite istrue, namely that globalization hasincreased the emphasis on CSR,especially as viewed through the prismof integrated stakeholders. Harvard’sKennedy School notes:Companies are facing new demandsto engage in public-privatepartnerships and are under growingpressure to be accountable not only toshareholders, but also to stakeholderssuch as employees, consumers,suppliers, local communities,policymakers, and society-at-large.With increasing expectations frommyriad stakeholders, organizationsmust filter their CSR initiatives throughan integrated GRC framework. In thepast, governance, risk management,compliance, and controls were inseparate silos. That silo approach ledto major corporate malfeasance, as inthe case of Satyam Computer Services’wildly inflated balance sheets, and ofEnron’s fraudulent assets and profits.The primary lesson to be learned fromthese scandals, and others like them,is that organizations must use a topdown,integrated approach togovernance, risk management,compliance, and controls. Thesecondary lesson is that, iforganizations and industries don’t selfregulate,governmental regulators willstep in. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of2002, which many companiesperceived as onerous, was enacted inresponse to corporate fraud atcompanies like Enron and WorldCom.An integrated GRC approach is thenatural outgrowth of sound businessstrategy, largely because integratedGRC supports an organization’sbusiness objectives. Due to its topdownapproach, those on the boardand in the C-suite infuse theorganization with a set of core valuesand priorities that are felt up and downthe corporate ladder, as well as outsideof the organization. Everyone from thevendor to the customer servicerepresentative becomes a riskmanager. Compliance initiatives areshared across departments, servingdouble duty and lowering costs.Controls are implemented on acompany-wide basis, lowering bothexternal and internal threats.CSR and GRC have much in common.As with GRC, CSR is most successfulwhen it is integrated into businessstrategies. Similarly, just asaccountability is a cornerstone of GRC,accountability is the vehicle used toensure that CSR initiatives are alignedwith an organization’s businessstrategies, and that they deliver returnsto shareholders and to otherstakeholders.CSR StandardizationIn 2006, the Global Reporting Initiative(GRI) developed a reporting frameworkthat organizations can use to measureand report economic, environmental,and social performance. Theeconomic strand relates to “theorganization’s impacts on theeconomic conditions of itsstakeholders and on economicsystems at local, national, and globallevels.” The environmental strandrelates to “an organization’s impactson living and non-living naturalsystems, including ecosystems, land,air, and water.” The social strandidentifies performance in the realm of“labor practices, human rights, society,and product responsibility.”On November 1, 2010, ISO 26000 wasreleased. ISO 26000 providesguidelines for social responsibility, andoutlines the principles of socialresponsibility as: accountability,transparency, ethical behavior, respectfor stakeholder interests, respect forthe rule of law, respect for internationalnorms of behavior, and respect forhuman rights.ISO 26000 notes that, “The perceptionand reality of an organization’sperformance on social responsibilitycan influence, among other things: Competitive advantage Reputation Ability to attract and retain workersor members, customers, clientsor users Maintenance of employees'morale, commitment andproductivity View of investors, owners, donors,sponsors and the financialcommunity Relationship with companies,governments, the media,suppliers, peers, customers andthe community in which itoperates.”ISO 26000 takes an integrated, holisticapproach to CSR. It coversorganizational governance, humanrights, labor practices, the environment,fair operating practices, consumerissues, and community involvementand development. In the realm oforganizational governance, ISO 26000addresses the need to use resourcesefficiently, to ensure that historicallyunderrepresented groups areincluded in senior governance, toestablish and sustain two-waycommunication with stakeholders, andto encourage wide participation insocial responsibility decisions.Regarding human rights, ISO 26000addressees eight issues: duediligence; human rights risk situations;avoidance of complicity; resolvinggrievances; discrimination andvulnerable groups; civil and politicalrights; economic, social, and culturalrights; and fundamental principles andrights at work. The standard speaks tofive labor practice issues, namelyemployment and employmentrelationships; conditions of work andsocial protection; social dialogue;health and safety at work; and humandevelopment and training in theworkplace.When it comes to the environment, ISO26000 addresses four issues:Quality Times 5 April 2011

Quality Timesprevention of pollution; sustainableresource use; climate changemitigation and adaptation; andprotection of the environment,biodiversity, and restoration of naturalhabitats. The fair operating practicessection covers five issues, namely anticorruption;responsible politicalinvolvement; fair competition;promoting social responsibility in thevalue chain; and respect for propertyrights.ISO 26000 tackles seven consumerissues: fair marketing, factual andunbiased information, and faircontractual practices; protectingconsumers’ health and safety;sustainable consumption; consumerservice, support, and complaint anddispute resolution; consumer dataprotection and privacy; access toessential services; and education andawareness.Finally, the standard addressescommunity involvement anddevelopment issues, namelycommunity involvement; education andculture; employment creation and skillsdevelopment; technology developmentand access; wealth and incomecreation; health; and social investment.CSR Accountability Starts at TheTopAs with integrated GRC, CSRaccountability starts at the top, with theorganization’s board of directors. Ageneration ago, CSR efforts werelargely philanthropic, undertaken inresponse to societal pressures to “giveback.”Today, CSR efforts demand a return oninvestment, and should be viewed asa core business function. While someorganizations look for direct linkagebetween CSR and financialperformance, other companies findboth direct and indirect value betweenCSR and performance. Direct linkagemight occur, for example, when acompany underwrites a charitableevent attended by a demographic thatdoes not currently purchase theirproduct. An uptick in patronage by thatdemographic following the event wouldconstitute a direct link. Both direct andindirect value might occur, for example,when a company sources “fair trade”products from vendors. The positiveconnotation of “fair trade” burnishes thecompany’s reputation (indirect value)while potentially attracting morecustomers (direct value).In the absence of accountability byorganizational leaders, however, CSRefforts can boomerang and damagethe company’s reputation and bottomline. Starbucks, which touts itspurchases of fair trade certified coffee,created unwanted headlines in 2005when Oxfam International accusedStarbucks of blocking Ethiopia’s effortsto trademark its coffees in an attemptto keep their supply cost low. Oxfammobilized more than 100,000 people,including Starbucks employees, tourge the coffee roaster to negotiate anagreement with the Ethiopians.Today, stakeholders don’t need ahuman rights organization as anintermediary when a companyengages in what is perceived ashypocritical behavior. Facebook,Twitter, and texting enablestakeholders to instantly and globallyhold an organization’s feet to the fire.CSR Audits and CertificationWhile ISO 26000 addresses virtuallyevery aspect of CSR, it is not amanagement system standard. Assuch, organizations cannot be certifiedas ISO 26000 compliant. Indeed,comprehensive certifications in CSRare elusive, and organizations maytake a piecemeal approach to CSRaudits and certification. For example,Social Accountability International hasan affiliate that accredits auditorganizations to certify compliance withtheir SA 8000, a standard thataddresses labor issues and humanrights. Other organizations offer avariety of industry-specific audits andcertifications, such as those for carbonoffsets, the chain of custody for forestproducts, sustainable seafood, and fairtrade.To a great degree, organizations mustrely on internal auditors to assess theiradherence to CSR initiatives. In 2001,Kok et al. proposed a CSR auditinstrument based on a quality awardframework that examined 14components of social responsibilityand the extent to which an organizationhad developed policy for eachcomponent (ad hoc policy, standardpolicy, planned policy, or reviewedpolicy).In 2005, Morimoto et al. outlined thechallenges of developing a CSR auditinstrument that would be applicable toall sectors, and suggested a protocolthat included CSR system architecture(CSR policy, board responsibility,codes of conduct, corporategovernance, stakeholder engagement,environmental management, andcomplaints) and stakeholder factors(employees and contractors,shareholders, clients and customers,local inhabitants, suppliers, and thegeneral public). In the absence of anagreed upon audit framework, internaland external auditors must developtheir own instruments.Accountability Leads to ValueCSR is a core set of values thatinfuses a company’s governance, itsapproach to risk management, andits compliance efforts (GRC). Just asGRC accountability ultimatelyimproves the bottom line and benefitsall stakeholders in an organization,CSR accountability ensures that anorganization’s initiatives are bothefficient and effective. Because bothintegrated GRC and integrated CSRwork to support a company’sbusiness strategies, aligning the twoadds value to stakeholders andshareholders.*Sanjay Anand is Founding Chairperson of SOXand GRC InstitutesQuality Times 6 April 2011

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Quality TimesThe Role Of Investors AsOwners In RealigningThe Boardroom Moral Compass*Andrew Dakers“The issue is not so much that of corporate responsibility, important though that is. It is one of ownership andaccountability… Corporations were originally enabled by specific grant of the sovereign to encourage risk-taking andthe creation of capital. And in due course they came to enjoy limited legal liability. Why? Because it was widelyrecognised that corporate activity served the public good, and it was widely believed that corporate power would belimited to actions consistent with the public good. Thus a whole nation could benefit from the fruits of exploration,innovation and trade…”Situation: Lost CompassToday individual shareholders holdaround an eighth of UK shares. Half ofthe UK quoted corporate sector is inforeign ownership. Domesticinstitutions such as pension funds andinsurance companies own about aquarter of UK shares. Hedge funds,sovereign wealth funds and privateequity are outweighed by a factor of tenby the world’s pension funds, mutualfunds and insurance funds.In ‘Compassionate Economics’ JesseNorman identified a crisis inownership and that the originalrational behind granting corporationslimited liability had been forgotten:“The issue is not so much that ofcorporate responsibility, importantthough that is. It is one of ownershipand accountability… Corporationswere originally enabled by specificgrant of the sovereign to encouragerisk-taking and the creation of capital.And in due course they came to enjoylimited legal liability. Why? Because itwas widely recognised that corporateactivity served the public good, and itwas widely believed that corporatepower would be limited to actionsconsistent with the public good. Thusa whole nation could benefit from thefruits of exploration, innovation andtrade…”Norman went on to explain highlightthat risk taking has becomeconstrained in many of the largestpublic companies, and the focus theshort term, whilst the pay of seniorexecutives has grown exponentially:“But today many of our largest publiccompanies resemble badgovernments in their levels of riskaversion and bureaucracy. They mayhave the outward forms of goodgovernance but the reality is that theirmanagements are often complacentand unaccountable, while auditors,remuneration consultants andcorporate pension fund trustees areinsufficiently independent. These firmsare too focused on the short-term, andtoo much of their revenue is used up inexecutive compensation. Twenty yearsago the average chief executive of aFTSE 100 company earned 17 timesthe average employee’s pay; now it ismore than 75 times.”His remedy is a shift towards a view ofshareholders as owners, not simplyinvestors:“We have had many useful reports andgovernance codes over the years. Butthe real point is that there is still a hugevacuum of ownership. These firmshave investors who regard investmentsas betting slips, not owners who regardthem as property. All parties have ineffect swallowed the standardeconomic view, on which managersand directors are merely agents of theQuality Times 9 April 2011

Quality Timesshareholders, corporations are merelybundles of contractual relationships,and there is no sense apart from theeffects of the invisible hand in whichcorporations exist to serve the publicgood. And they have used that view torationalise inactivity, by pointing out(correctly) that there is often a “freerider” problem in which an active ownerbears 100% of the costs but only partof the benefits of their ownership. Andso corporate value is lost, often untilthe point where the company is boughtby venture capital funds with a smallnumber of very active owners who canthen take the steps necessary torebuild it.“But here again the standard view isboth partial and inaccurate. Thedirectors of a corporation are legalfiduciaries, not merely economicagents. The shareholders are owners,not merely investors. The originalinstitutional context, which linkedappropriate corporate power to publicwellbeing, is largely missing. To talksolely of risk and reward is to ignorethe crucial dimension of activeownership, on which healthy capitalismdepends. The result is to destroy valueand entrench underachievement.”Norman also highlighted that there isconsiderable evidence backing theview that the most responsiblecompanies are also the bestperforming:“Making more companies work slightlyharder through better ownership wouldhave a gigantic effect on Britain’scompetitiveness and prosperity as anation. It would lift profitability,employment and pay scales, whilerestraining remuneration in theboardroom. And even a smallimprovement in shareholder returnswould massively strengthen thecountry’s pension system over the longterm.”The ‘Tomorrow’s Owner’ report fromTomorrows Company highlighted thatin practice many large funds, whichday to day make only marginaladjustments to the ‘weighting’ ofinvestments in their portfolios, are‘universal owners’ of the market. Thisleaves institutional owners with longterminvestments in companiesusually only making marginaladjustments to their stake inbusinesses:“In practice, many fund managers don’tcompletely sell up when they don’t likea company’s prospects, but fine tunepositions around a core holding, goingoverweight or underweight as they seefit, maintaining in effect a long-terminterest in a company.”FoundersDiagram 1: Stewardship spectrum“…Institutional investors can learnsome of the methods of private equityand family business in holdingmanagers to account and makingsure remuneration is well-judged andnot excessive… Among all investors,it is to be hoped that the pain of thecredit crunch and increasing concernover social and environmental issueswill lead to the desire to be goodstewards – to promote the long-termsustainable success of theircompanies.”“With every new intermediary in thevalue chain that links savers toinvestment performance, there is aninevitable erosion of the sense ofstewardship… we need to movebeyond the sterile business ofdemonising particular types ofinvestor, and develop a new focus asto what it really means in practice toprovide for, and encouragestewardship… Stewardship of ourcompanies is part of stewardship ofour future well-being.”The December 2008 report of thewidely respected ‘Marathon Club’concluded trustees should test to whatextent their fund managers or advisersare:High“…well-owned companies deliverbetter long-term performance, and arerecognised as doing so. A 2002McKinsey study which looked at 200top global investors found that threequartersof them would pay a premiumfor companies with good governance.Two other studies, from ISS andDeutsche Bank, have found that goodgovernance improves profitability andlessens risk in US and UK companiesrespectively.”Encouraging better ownershippractices, would improve the prosperityof nations, not just individualcompanies:Families / Trusts / FoundationsEmployeesEngaged shareholders in listed company(direct or through intermediary)Unengaged shareholders in listed company(direct or through intermediary)TraderSpeculatorDegree ofstewardshipLowQuality Times 10 April 2011

Quality TimesvGathering information as widelyas possible, using all the toolsavailable, and evaluating itconsidering independence andlikely knowledge captured, beforerating the value of each piece ofinformation. Why? Investmentmanagers may be too reliant onnormal channels of information,e.g. company reporting,EPS, preliminary resultannouncements, etc. and fail tocapture relevant information thatmay be outside normal channels-“submerged information”. In theNorthern Rock case most sellside analysts focused on positivesignals in the normal channelsuch as director share buying anda prospective dividend increase.How many analysts lookedthrough the bank’s website for itslending criteria?Giving sufficient consideration tobusiness models and theircontinuing appropriateness ascircumstances evolve. Why?There are multiple examples ofcompany’s business models –vertically integrated in structureand business strategy – whichwill inevitably reflect internalincentives. Within these examplesincentives may be misaligned andperpetuate an existing verticallyintegrated structure or holding onto non-core business. Thisapplies to multiple industries. Itmay be possible in such cases tocreate shareholder value throughdivestiture or reorganisation.Really able to challenge theperspectives provided throughcompany reporting processes (I.e.their analytical capability). Why? Akey issue for investors is thatcompanies make use of framingby setting a context for their reportsand presentations knowing thatpresenting a decision in a positiveframework produces a differentresult than a negative one. Forexample, companies tend to pickout numbers they would likeinvestors to focus on. Investorsmust watch out for such spin, forexample, by testing the reportingagainst views held bycompetitors, customers,corporate credit analysts, as wellas equity analysts, and otherrelevant parties.The September 2009 report of theAspen Institute, whose endorsersincluded Warren Buffett and JamesWolfensohn, urged that three areas ofshort-termism need attention andprovide the key leverage points to returnto a responsible and balancedapproach to business and investment:1. Market Incentives: encouragingmore patient capital2. Fiduciary Duty: better aligninginterests of financialintermediaries and their investors3. Transparency: strengtheninginvestor disclosuresResources to support pension fundtrustees and officers adopt this ‘owner’role have thus far been rather limited.Most notable are publications from theUKSIF, the LAPFF and FairPensions.However, these publications can bepoorly signposted, dense and/orinsufficiently comprehensive. A notableexception is the toolkit produced byCDC and Forum for the Future,although its focus is on a fund manageraudience and overseas investments,often in unquoted companies.Target: Developing StakeholderCapacities And CapabilitiesIn response to this situation analysis,five issues emerge aroundhow stakeholder capacities and“the links between ESG factors andfinancial performance areincreasingly being recognised. Onthat basis, integrating ESGconsiderations into an investmentanalysis so as to more reliablypredict financial performance isclearly permissible and is arguablyrequired in all jurisdictions.”capabilities might be improved. Theneed to:Raise Awareness Amongst PensionFund Trustees That A RangeOf Plain English Resources OnSustainable & Responsible OwnershipNo surveys appear to have beenundertaken to ascertain trusteeawareness of existing ESG trainingresources. However the lack of actionby trustees on climate change risks &opportunities in investment portfolios,as evidenced by studies such as therecent ACCA/ ESRC report, wouldsuggest that awareness and take-upof existing training resources is verylow. It is also worth noting that whilsttoolkits and guides exist many can bevery difficult to identify through obviousaccess points such as Google and areoften buried deep within websites.Build Trustees’ Understanding OfTheir Responsibilities As AssetOwnersNew training resources on ESGissues need to be developed that startby establishing how managing ESGperformance supports trustees in theirfiduciary duties. The milestoneFreshfields’ report (2005), undertakenon behalf of the United Nation’sEnvironment Programme FinanceInitiative, concluded:“…the links between ESG factors andfinancial performance are increasinglybeing recognised. On that basis,integrating ESG considerations into aninvestment analysis so as to morereliably predict financial performanceis clearly permissible and is arguablyrequired in all jurisdictions.”Crucially this report debunked the myththat the Cowan v Scargill (1984) caseprovides a basis for pension funds notusing ESG (extra-financial) factors toinform their decision-making. Thiscase has historically been cited as areason for funds not considering ESGfactors. The key extract from the report(pg 9) follows:Quality Times 11 April 2011

Quality TimesCowan v Scargill –a misunderstood UK authorityA number of landmark common law cases are frequently referred to bylawyers and other professionals but are rarely read and more oftenmisunderstood. An example is Donoghue v Stevenson (the snail in theginger-beer bottle), which laid the basis for the modern law of negligence.Those who have read the case will realise that it was never establishedthat there was a snail in the bottle and that the original judgment hasbeen misused over time to support all sorts of theories. To that landmarkbut misunderstood case must now be added the case of Cowan v Scargill.Megarry’s decision has been distorted by commentators over time tosupport the view that it is unlawful for pension fund trustees to do anythingbut seek to maximise profits for their beneficiaries.Notwithstanding his eminence as a jurist, Megarry was a sole judge sittingin the Chancery Division of the High Court, the lowest level of the higherEnglish civil law courts. Read carefully, his decision stands for anuncontroversial position that trustees must act for the proper purpose ofthe trust, and not for extraneous purposes. Megarry himself took theunusual step of revisiting his judgment in print in 1989.He stated it was ‘a dull case’ that would not have been given any attentionbut for the lack of authority and added that in his opinion it decided nothingnew. He explained that Cowan v Scargill did not support the thesis thatprofit maximisation alone was consistent with the fiduciary duties of apension fund trustee. However, he has been ignored or misrepresentedby those who wish to shun ESG, like the newspaper editor Dutton Peabody,who preferred to print the legend rather than the facts.In any event, the case’s practical relevance today is questionable. Fiduciaryduties evolve over time according to changes in social norms and thevalues of society and, to a degree, technological and market changes. Itis, for example, very unlikely that paying equal wages to men and womenor subsidising public transport for the poor, elderly or disabled would beregarded as breaches of fiduciary duties in the 21st century but all wereso regarded not very long ago.this important aspect of assetmanagement.”A greater commitment is neededacross the sector to developing thepractical knowledge and confidence oftrustees to demand changes thatintegrate ESG issues into legalcontracts governing their relationshipswith fund managers, as well as SIPs.A commonly used approach, to developthe skills of pension fund trustees aswell as in many other fields, is to createweb based training portals that providea home and standardised skillsframework. This would seem anobvious way to advance the ESGknowledge and skills of trustees.Develop A Network Of Trustee ResponsibleOwnership ChampionsTransformative change usuallyrequires some level of peer-to-peersupport. However, pension fundtrustees are very isolated withnetworking often limited to thosetrustees who are able attend trainingevents, seminars and pension fundconferences. A number of trusteenetworks already exist including: PMI,TUC, Unison, CapitalStewards andTrusteeWeb – however none of thesehave a focus on ESG issues. Thisfragmentation and the generic natureof the networking platforms, makes itvery difficult for trustees that aspire tochampion ESG issues to locate eachother and share knowledge.Empower Trustees By DevelopingTheir Practical Knowledge AndSkillsIn July 2009 a follow-up to Freshfieldswas published, known as Fiduciary II.One of its key recommendations is:“The Principles for ResponsibleInvestment (PRI) should specify that—in order to maintain theirmembership—all asset manager andasset owner signatories will berequired to embed ESG issues in theirlegal contracts—such as investmentmanagement agreements, andStatements of Investment Principles(SIPs) or Investment PolicyStatements. The PRI requires that‘where consistent with fiduciaryresponsibilities’ signatories shouldcommit to integrating ESG issues intoinvestment analysis; to being active,responsible owners by promotinggood corporate practice in these areas;and to reporting on what actions theyhave taken. We believe that embeddingESG issues in their legal contracts willhelp asset owners hold assetmanagers to account for delivering onWidely Diseminate ResourcesIf a new platform and championsnetwork is developed then to affecttransformational change in the sectora wide range of channels must be usedto raise awareness and disseminatecontent. In the UK this could usemagazines such as Engaged Investorand Professional Pensions to raiseawareness, as well as a syndicationmodel to put training resources onother platforms. To further encouragedissemination, training modulesshould be supported by notes andQuality Times 12 April 2011

Quality Timesmade available under the CreativeCommons license.Proposal: The Responsible OwnershipFrameworkTo address these concerns a draft‘Responsible Ownership Framework’has been developed (see diagram 2).It is proposed that this shouldbe supported by: a website(ResponsibleOwnership.org) thatprovides an introduction to responsibleownership and a networking platformfor trustee ‘ESG champions’; sixtraining modules hosted on the websitethat can be delivered locally by trusteeResponsible Ownership champions orindependent trainers/ consultants; anda summary guide to responsibleownership for pension fund trusteesand officers. These are essential toolsif investor/ owners are to take on theirshare of responsibilities in realigningthe boardroom moral compass andhelp shape a new era in capitalism. It issuggested that each of six trainingmodules should contain an hour ofcontent that could be studied online byself-directed learners or in a workshopsetting. The modules would be asfollows:Diagram 2: The Responsible Ownership Framework Identify and joinappropriatealliances Actively EngageCollaboratewith other activeowners Monitor & Report- Fund mangers’responsible investmentaction plans- IndependentRI audits Disclose tostakeholdersManagerperformanceUnderstandcontext and futurescenariosResponsibleownershipframeworkEstablishmanagement Fund manger procurement and processes andselection criteriaset targets Monitoring & reporting framework LTRI/ESG performance targetsResponsibile Ownershp.org Investment Management Agreement(s)The Toolkit For Pension FundTrustees and OfficersMaking sense of the implications of thefinancial crisis for pension funds - Thismodule would explore: The financialcrisis; Impact on opinion formers;lessons to learn for trustees and fundmanagers; wider system failures; andthe short-medium term outlook.Introduction to responsible &sustainable ownership - This modulewould explore: Defining responsibleinvestment/ ownership (Negativescreening, no screening, positivescreening); Business drivers: Evidencethat a long-term approach works; andthe UN Principles for ResponsibleInvestment.Strategic management of environmental,social & corporate governanceissues - This module would explore:Demonstrating leadership; TheStatement of Investment Principles;Developing funds’ ESG policies;Responsible ownership of different typesof asset; Changing fund managerbehaviour (Mandates, Reporting formatsand Annual ESG review meetings); andindependent ESG advisors/ score cards.Fund managers - monitoring their ESGstewardship performance - This modulewould explore: Demonstrating Natural of financial crisis Stakeholders’ lessons learned Short-medium term outlook Longer term issues Training and CPD Knowledge of LTRIDevelop and ESG issuesinternal capability Leadershipand capacityAgreeresponsibleinvestmentstrategy andpolicies ESG strategy &Policies Statement ofinvestmentprinciples (SIP) UN principles forresponsibleinvestment Asset classapproach Segregated funds Voting templates Consult withstakeholdersleadership; robust ESG managementsystems; investee company relations;investment decisions; changingcorporate behaviour (Settingexpectations with new investeecompanies and Action plans); andPerformance assessment checklist.Trustee board meetings - asking the rightquestions - This module would explore:Identifying and rating ESG risks andopportunities; questions for trustees andfund managers to assess quality of ESGmanagement systems in investeecompanies; questions for fundmanagers to ask investee companies;general questions on the key issues; andsector-specific questionsFuture scenarios and active ownership- This module would explore: Risks andopportunities arising fromdematerialisation / changing resourceflows; campaigning to address flaws inmarketplace rules (Tax, carbon tradingand regulation/ Self-regulation); andencouraging other owners to raise theirgame.ConclusionIt is time for responsible ownership tomove from the being a niche activity tothe mainstream. The United NationsPrinciples for Responsible Investmentprovides a robust theoretical frameworkbut to date there has been a lack of toolsto translate policy into practice and drivedeep and lasting shifts towardssustainable consumption andproduction in the global economy. Inthis post crisis world, now is the timefor new resources such asResponsibleOwnership.org to bedeveloped to provide the newframeworks and capacity buildingresources pension fund trustees andofficers need to advance their practicesas asset owners and help realign theboardroom moral compass. *Andrew’s career has spanned IT at theBBC, business change management atGlaxoSmithKline, campaigning for WWF-UKand most recently leading Public Affairs atBusiness in the Community. Andrew is aparliamentary candidate. He spends hisevenings chairing the project to regenerate thehistoric heart of Brentford town centre. He hasworked in Fiji, India, Uganda and the USA.Quality Times 13 April 2011

Quality TimesQuality Times 14 April 2011

Quality TimesDeep Water-Lessons For The Future*Dr Usha DarIntroductionBP had engaged Deepwater Horizonfor drilling the Mocando well for oil. TheReport on Deep water states “the rignever slept. Most workers onDeepwater Horizon from BP’s topcompany man down to roustabouts putin a twelve hour night or day shift ,working three straight weeks on andthen having three weeks off.”After surmounting a number ofdifficulties at 5.45 A.M a HaliburtonCompany engineer sent an email fromthe rig Deepwater Horizon to hiscolleague in Houston. He had goodnews. “We have completed the job andit went well.” Yet the same day thetragedy occurred. The rig exploded.The National Commission on BP DeepWater Horizon Oil Spill was announcedon May 22, 2010 consequent on the onthe BP Deep Water Horizon Oil Spilland Offshore Drilling on April 20,2010.The mandate of the Commission wasto determine the causes of the disasterand to improve the country’s ability tomake offshore energy production safe.The Foreward to the Report by BobGraham (co-chair) and WilliamK.Reilly(c0-Chair) states that “ Theexplosion that tore through the DeepWater Horizon drilling rig last April 20,as the rigs crew completed drillingexploratory Macando well deep underthe waters of the Gulf of Mexico begana human, economic, andenvironmental disaster….the costsfrom this one industrial accident arenot yet fully counted, but it is alreadyclear that the impacts on the regionsnatural systems and people wereenormous and the economic lossestotal tens of billions of dollars.”The Report observed that “Thescientific understanding ofenvironmental conditions in sensitiveenvironments in deep Gulf waters andin areas proposed for drilling such asthe Artic is inadequate. The same istrue of natural and human impacts ofoil spills….As we know from other oilspills their environmentalconsequences play out in long andunexpected ways.”The Report points out that the lessonslearned from the Deep Water Horizonare not confined to our owngovernment but are relevant to the restof the world.In this paper we examine the lessonslearned from the Deep Water Horizon.Concept of Deep WaterIn the 1950’s the definition of deepwater was water depths beyond 60 feet.In August 1962 after seven years ofresearch and development, Shellannounced that it had successfullytested a new kind of “floating drillingplatform” redefining the marinegeography of commercially exploitablehydrocarbons. The Blue Water 1 was aconvertible submarine consisting ofthree large columns one on each sidethat connected the drilling platform toa submerged hull. Giant mooring lineskept the vessel in position. Until thencompanies had been experimentingwith the ship-shaped vessels called“drill ships” to explore in water depthsbeyond 150 feet but these could notwithstand heavy weight action.Because the Blue Water 1’ hull couldbe ballasted to rest safely below wavelevel, the vessel was remarkably stable.Classified as the first ‘semisubmersible‘ the Blue Water 1 madeits successful test in three hundredfeet of water, and it was equipped tooperate in 600 feet. Complementingthe new floating platform, Shell testedthe first successful sub-sea well headcompletion using remote controls. Asone Shell representative told reporters“We’re looking now at geology first, andthen at water depth.”In June 1975 Shell made amonumental discovery on one of theleases. Shell geophysicists hademployed an innovative seismictechnique called “bright spot” to leaddrillers to an attractive prospect, codeQuality Times 15 April 2011

Quality Timesnamed Cognac in 1,000 feet of waterin the Mississipi Canyon, not far fromthe mouth of the great river. The drillinguncovered an estimated 100 millionbarrel reserve. The Cognac pioneeredother reserves to be known as the FlaxTrend, an area in the Gulf that reachesjust beyond the edge of the ContinentalShelf where there is a flax in the seafloor. The Flax Trend would be the firsttrue oil play in 1,000 feet of waterdepths, the modern definition of deepwater.Policy and LegislationThe foundations for the FederalRegulation of offshore oil and gasdevelopment were laid on the OuterContinental Shelf Lands Act 1953. In1970 starting with the NationalEnvironment Policy Act 1970 Congressenacted new environmental protectionand resource conservation laws. Itrequired Federal Agencies to prepare‘Environmental Impact Statements forall proposed Federal actions.In 1978 the Outer Continental ShelfLands Act was passed. It was the lastmajor resource management lawCongress passed in the 70’s.Institutional ArrangementsThe Office of Offshore Energy andMinerals Management and theRevenue Management Program (MMS)was the Federal Agency for leasing,safety, environmental compliance andcollection of royalty for offshore drilling.Overtime MMS increasingly fell shortin its ability to oversee the offshore oilindustry. The Agency’s resources didnot keep pace with the industry’sexpansion into deeper waters andindustry’s related reliance on moredemanding technologies. The seniorofficials focus on safety gave way toefforts to maximize revenue fromleasing and production.MMS realized that a command andcontrol prescriptive method did notadequately address the risksgenerated by the offshore industry’snew technologies and productionactivities including industrialexpansion into deeper waters.In 1989 the Agency commissioned TheMarine Board of National ResearchCouncil to make recommendations foroverhauling MMS’s regulatoryprogramme to best fulfil its safetymission at current levels of staffing andbudget. The Marine Board’s Reportdelivered in 1990 concluded that MMS’semphasis on a list of “potentialincidents of non-compliance” couldlead to an attitude on the part of anoperator that compliance with the listequals safety, thereby diminishing“recognition of the operators primaryresponsibility for safety.” The Reportrecommended that MMS place itsprimary emphasis on the detection ofpotential accident producing situationsparticularly those involving humanfactors, operational procedures andmodifications of equipment, rather thanscattered instances of non compliancewith hardware specifications.Despite the recommendations noaction was taken . At the time of theMocando blow out the MMS had stillnot published a rule mandating that alloperators have plans to manage safetyand environmental risks.The Agency’sefforts were repeatedly revised,refined, delayed and blockedalternatively by industry or ‘skepticalagency political employees.’ MMS thusnever achieved the reform of itsregulatory oversight of drilling safetyconsonant with practices that mostother countries had embarkeddecades earlier.It was clear that MMS needed to bereorganized. The Secretary of State forthe Interior announced (nineteen daysafter the rig sank) that MMS would bereorganized into three separateentities with distinct missions.:1. A Bureau of Ocean EnergyManagement2. A Bureau of Safety andEnvironment Enforcement3. An Office of Natural ResourceRevenueBP and Oil ExplorationIn the 1990’s the global company whichmade the biggest news in the Gulf ofMexico was BP. This company wasfounded in 1908 and in 1954 it wasnamed British Petroleum. It had fordecades built its business aroundcrude oil in Iran and the neighbouringMiddle Eastern countries. In the 1960’sand 70’s BP achieved great successin discovering and developing oilreserves in the North Sea and inAlaska’s Prudhoe Bay .However by theearly 1990’s BP had been exiled fromthe Middle East and Nigeria. Proudhonand North Sea were in decline. Billionsof dollars had been invested inunprofitable non-petroleum venturesand an ambitious explorationprogramme had yet to bear fruit. Thecompany tottered on the brink ofbankruptcy.Sir John Brown as Executive VicePresident of Sohio BP’s Americansubsidiary he reigned in spending andcut staff to place the company on abetter footing. Returning to London in1989 he reorganized BP,s explorationarm . Upon becoming Chief Executivein 1995 he directed a major part of BP’supstream focus to the deepwater Gulf.In the deals he negotiated to acquireAmoco, Arco, BP emerged with a greatlyexpanded portfolio of Gulf leases andassets.In the late 1990’s BP’s Gulf explorationteam made a series of remarkabledeep water discoveries. Once the fieldscame on line , they vaulted BP aheadof Shell as Gulf’s largest producer. BPjoined with Exxon in developing deepwater discoveries in Hoover and Dianafields in the Western Gulf. Shell shiftedto managing production from its largenumber of deep water developments.BP sprang faster than anyone else toQuality Times 16 April 2011

Quality Timesconfront the Gulf’s nagging explorationchallenge-the saltIn a costly and complex undertakingBP combined new advances incomputer processing for 3D seismicimaging with new methods of acquiringseismic data from multiple directionsto gather a better understanding of thesalt history, stratigraphy, and thesources and migration pathways of oilin deep water. BP’ scientists andengineers found geographicallypromising areas just as large asthose discovered in the shallowerContinental Shelf. However, it isimportant to remember what DaveRainey BP’s deep water explorationmanager said.” One of the lessons wehave learned about the Gulf is never totake it for granted.” Way back in 1970one of the consultants had observed“Each oil well has its own personality,is completely different from the nextand has its own problems.” Too oftenon drilling structures he complained,one found inexperienced supervisorsand employees who overlooked rulesand regulations the purpose of whichthey did not understand, and perhapsmost troubling, even orders frombosses to cut corners, all of whichcreate conditions for an ‘explosivesituation.’By 2010 after numerous acquisitionsBP had become the world’s fourthlargest corporation (based on revenue)producing more than 4 million barrelsof oil per day from 30 countries. 10 %of BP’s output came from the Gulf ofMexico where BP America(headquartered in Houston) was thelargest producer. But “BP had atarnished reputation for safety. Amongother BP accidents 15 workers died ina 2005 explosion at its Texas city,Texas Refinery. In 2006 there was amajor oil spill from a badly corrodedBP pipeline in Alaska.In September 2009 TransoceansDeepwater Horizon semi-submersiblemade a historic discovery for BP at theCompany’s Tiber project. In theKeathley Canyon. drilling in 4,000 feetof water and to a world record totaldepth of 35,055 feet DeepwaterHorizon tapped in a pool of 4-6 billionbarrels of oil equivalent, one of thelargest US discoveries.Drilling in extreme water depths posesspecial challenges to risersconnecting a drilling vessel to the blowout prevention on the sea floor have tobe greatly lengthened, and they areexposed to strong ocean currentencountered in the Central Gulf.Managing higher volumes of mud anddrilling fluid in these long risers makesdrillers jobs more demanding .Connecting and maintaining blow outpreventers thousands of feet beneaththe surface can only be performed byremote operating vehicles. Knowledgewhich is required about localizedgeography, types of hydro carbons andpressure profiles in ultra deep waterwells is not thoroughly developed.Each well indeed has its ownpersonality that requires maintainingan extremely delicate balance betweenthe counteracting pressures of the subsurface formation and drillingoperation. Beneath the salt , pressuresin the pores of the sediment areextremely hard to predict. Reservoirsin lower tertiary are thicker and withgreater viscosity than the fluid found inother rocks. Finally ultra deep waterdevelopments are far removed fromshore and thus from establishedinfrastructure. As a BP technical paperprepared for May 2010 OffshoreTechnical Conference noted “the trendof deep water discoveries in the Gulfof Mexico is shifting towards one withgreater challenges across manydisciplines separated by the conditionsof Lower Tertiary discoveries.”Nevertheless the challenges seemedmanageable and the rewardsappeared worth the perceived risk.Deepwater HorizonAfter purchasing the rights to drill inBlock 22 BP became the legal“Operator” for any activities on theBlock. But BP neither owned the rig ,nor operated them in the normal senseof the term. Rather the company’sHouston based engineering teamdesigned the well and specified indetail how it was to be drilled.BP actually used two Transocean rigsto drill the Mocando well and two BPwell site leaders were required to beon the well at all times.The Marianas began work in October2009 and drilled for 34 days reachinga depth of 9090 feet before it had tostop drilling and move off site to avoidhurricane Ida. The storm damaged therig badly and BP called in theDeepwater Horizon to take over.While Marianas had been anchored inplace with huge mooring chains theDeepwater Horizon was a dynamicallypositioned mobile offshore drilling unit(MODU).It relied on thrusters andsatellite positioning to stay in place.The rig arrived on January 31, 2010 andbegan drilling operations TransoceansOffshore Installation Manager JimmyHarrel took over the responsibility asthe top Transocean employee on therig.After continuous drilling the engineersconcluded that they had “run out ofdrilling margin and would have to stopshort of the original objective of 20,200ft. After cautiously drilling to a totaldepth of 18, 360 feet BP informed itslease partners Anadorko and MOEXthat “well integrity and safety “ issuesrequired the rig to stop drilling further.At that point Macando was stable .Several technical adjustments weremade but it appears that theassumptions on which they workedwere not correct. The Deepwater Reportpoints out the following reasons:first there was no standardprocedure for running the testseither in MMS regulations orindustry protocols.second BP and Transocean hadno internal procedures for runningQuality Times 17 April 2011

Quality Timesor interpreting negative pressuretests and had not formally trainedtheir personnel in how to do it.third, the BP Mocando team didnot have in place (or did notenforce) any policy that would haverequired personnel to call back toshore for a second opinion aboutconfusing data.Finally due to poor communicationit does not appear that performingand interpreting the test had a fullappreciation of the context in whichthey were performing. Such anappreciation might have increasedtheir willingness to believe the wellwas flowing. Individualsconducting and interpretingnegative pressures should alwaysdo so with the expectation that thewell might lack integrity.Impact on NatureThe Deepwater Horizon oil spillimmediately threatened a richproductive marine ecosystem. Tomitigate both direct and indirectadverse environmental impacts, BPand the Federal Government tookproactive measures in response to theunprecedented magnitude of the spill.Scientific knowledge of deepwatermarine communities is limited and asignificant volume of oil wasdispensed so the scientists do not yetknow how to predict the ecologicalconsequences and effect on keyspecies that might result from the oilexposure in the water column both frombelow and near the earth surface.Economic ImpactsThe Deepwater Horizon Water Oil spillput at risk two major industries namelytourism and fishing. Both theseindustries are highly sensitive to directeco system harm and public perceptionand fears of tainted seafood and seabeaches. It may be mentioned here thatGulf coast economy depends heavilyon commercial fisheries and tourism.Impact on Human HealthThe Deepwater Horizon crew bore theimmediate devastating effects of therigs destruction. Eleven deaths andseventeen injuries and theunquestioned trauma of losingcolleagues, the terror of explosionsand fires, the sense of involvement inwider damages that ensued; the rigorsof the investigations and the recoveryeffects and the disruption of thefamilies. The Report observes :“Assessing the environmental,economic and human health damagesfrom the Deepwater Horizon oil spill isof course the threshold challenge. Theeven larger challenge now facing theGulf is how to achieve its restorationnot withstanding years of failed effortsto recover from past destruction”Results of Investigations andRecommendations by theDeepwater ReportThe explosive loss of theMocando well could have beenpreventedThe immediate cause of theMocando well blow out can betraced to a series of identifiablemistakes made by BP, Haliburtonand Transocean that reveal suchsystemic failure in riskmanagement that they place indoubt the safety culture of theentire industry.Deep water exploration andproduction, particularly at thefrontiers of experience involverisks for which neither industrynor government were prepared,but for which they can and mustbe prepared for the future.To ensure human safety andenvironmental protectionregulatory oversight of leasing,energy exploration and productionrequire reforms even beyondthose significant reforms alreadyinitiated since the DeepwaterHorizon Disaster. Fundamentalreform will be needed in both thestructure of those in charge ofregulatory oversight and theirinternal decision making processto ensure that care is taken ofpolitical autonomy, technicalexpertise, and full considerationof environmental protectionconcerns.Because regulatory oversight willnot be sufficient to ensureadequate safety the oil and gasindustry will need to take its ownunilateral steps to increasedramatically safety throughout,including mechanisms thatsupplement governmentenforcement The technology laws andregulations and practices forcontinuing, responding to andcleaning up spills lag behind thereal risks associated with deepwater drilling into large highpressure reservoirs of oil and gaslocated far off shore andthousands of feet below theocean surface. Government mustclose the existing gap andindustry must support rather thanresist efforts. Scientific understanding ofenvironmental conditions insensitive environments in deepGulf waters along the regionalcoastal habitats and in areasproposed for drilling such as theArctic is inadequate. The same istrue of the natural and humanimpacts of oil spills.To these recommendations may beadded another one. It is not enough toconsider the balance sheet or the rankof a company in giving rights for oilexploration. A careful assessmentneeds to be made of the riskmanagement efforts of the companyconcerned.*Dr Usha Dar, Director Research, WorldEnvironment FoundationQuality Times 18 April 2011

Quality TimesDr Madhav Mehra with Dr APJ Abdul Kalam (the then) President of Indiaand Dr Ola Ullsten, former Prime Minister of SwedenDr Madhav Mehra – Getting Ahead of the CurveDescribed variously as amanagement visionary,corporate evangelist and Guruof Substance, Madhav Mehra, aserial social entrepreneur,presided over an array of globalinitiatives that touched almostevery aspect of social, corporateand environment landscape.Called by Media as a rarevisionary and Guru ofSubstance, Dr Mehra realignedthe moral compass of thecorporate boardroom to drivethrough it a silent revolution fora better world.Born in Amritsar, Dr Mehra grewup in the Himalayan town ofPalampur in HimachalPradesh. He was greatlyinfluenced by Gandhi andEinstein in his formative years.He studied in India and LondonDr Madhav Mehra presenting Golden Peacock Life Time Achievement Award for Corporate Governance toSir Adrian CadburyQuality Times 19 April 2011

Quality TimesDr Madhav Mehra with Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India. Also in the picture Dr Ola Ullsten former Prime Minister of Sweden.and qualified in the last examination for Indian AdministrativeService held in London to join the Indian Railway Service.Striven by a deep desire to create a just, fair and equitableworld, he took premature retirement from Railways in 1988and launched the Total Quality movement in India, by settingup Institute of Directors.Dr Mehra not only talked of quality and governance inbusiness, but was a champion of environment focusing onreducing carbon footprint to Combat Climate Change. Hechampioned a path breaking eleven point holistic modelcalled PROACTIVATE focusing on pricing the natural capital,adopting a minimalist zero-waste experiential lifestyle anddematerialized economic growth.Dr Mehra was an author of international repute; whopublished over 20 books and over two hundred articles onLeadership, TQM, Environment, Corporate Governance,Competition Law and Corporate Social Responsibility.Dr Madhav Mehra presenting the Golden Peacock Business LeadershipAward to Shri Azim Premji, Chairman, WiproFounder President of World Council for CorporateGovernance, UK (2000), World Environment Foundation(1997), Institute of Directors (1990), he set up GoldenPeacock Awards in 1992 and Master Class for Directors(2002). He was elected as the First Chairman of USA basedWorld Quality Council (1996). Dr Mehra has trained, coachedand mentored over 50,000 executives worldwide during his23 years long tryst with training. He was deeply involved intending to the warp and weft of social fabric to provide quality,healthcare and education to the excluded and mostdisadvantaged sections through SM Charitable Trust, heQuality Times 20 April 2011

Quality TimesDr Madhav Mehra with His Holiness The Dalai Lamaestablished in 1997. He was champion of small causesand proved how society can be transformed through smallpractical initiatives. He believed that little acts of charity canhave transformational effect.Dr Mehra was a great networker. He was the soul behindfour major international conferences being run by IOD eachyear since 1990 – a Quality Conference in India in January,CSR conference in Portugal in February, Environmentconference in June in India and an International Conferenceon Corporate Governance in London in September.His unique contribution stem from the powerful coalitionor reformers that he had been able to build worldwide inDr Madhav Mehra with Justice M N Venkatachaliah, former Chief Justiceof India, National Chairman of IODthe field of quality, management, social and environmentalresponsibility and governance for constructive engagementbetween government, business and civil society. Theseincluded former Prime Ministers such as Ola Ullsten ofSweden, Ruud Lubbers of Netherlands and Joe Clark ofCanada. He was one of the most sought after keynotespeakers for international conferences worldwide.As President of the World Council for CorporateGovernance, Dr Mehra led a movement bringing abouttransparency, accountability, integrity, equity and socialresponsibility in corporate decision –making. He believedthat the best way to transform societies and orgnisationsis by providing a networking platform.Dr Mehra brought a holistic,transformational andecological approach tobusiness by integratingissues of quality, environmentand governance. Dr Mehrasaid “Attempts to deal withhuman problems in acompartmentalized andpiece-meal manner in thepast have spelt disaster.Humans are indivisiblewholes.”Dr Madhav Mehra with Shri Salman Khurshid (the then) Hon’ble Union Minister for Company Affairs,Shri Veerappa Moily, Hon’ble Union Minister for Law; Justice P N Bhagwati, former Chief Justice of Indiaand Chairman , Golden Peacock Awards and Dr Arijit Pasayat, Chairman, Competition Appellate Tribunal.Born on 03 February 1939, hebreathed his last on 02 March2011 in New Delhi leavingindelible footprints for thecorporate world to follow hisholistic, transformational,networking models ofGovernance. While he is nomore with us, his missionsmove on.Quality Times 21 April 2011

Quality TimesDr Madhav Mehra with His Holiness Swami Ramdevji and Dr Ola Ullsten, former Prime Minister of SwedenDr Madhav Mehra with Dr Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister of MalaysiaQuality Times 22 April 2011

Quality TimesOver 20 Years of Transformations,Innovation & social change“Bringing change in business organizations isalways challenging & onerous. To do itholistially for 20 years covering each dimensionof business in an ethical manner is a uniqquecontribution of Madhav Mehra”Ola Ullsten, former Prime Minister of Sweden.“I am happy that IOD under Dr Madhav Mehrafor his passion and abiding commitment tomake our world a better place to live in. Throughthe IOD, Dr Mehra has made busines andindustry doubly conscious of CSR”Sudharsahn Agarwal, former Governor ofUttarkhand and Sikkim“Dr Madhav Mehra over the last 20 years hasbeen passionately arguing for a more opencorporate functioning… and emphaized theneed for the most scrupulous scrutiny of theCorporat World”Justice M N Venkatachaliah, former ChiefJustice of India.“Dr Madhav Mehra the brain behind the IOD isessentially a corporate evangilist turning themoral compus of the boardooms”Lt Gen Surinder Nath (retd), former chiarmanUPSC, former Vice Cief of Army.“Dr Madhave Mehra is not just a quality guru.He has a lot more to it. Tending the warp & weftof social fabric, empowering slum children, auniveristy of Corporate Governannce,International Academy of Law to make senseof law & justice. Dr Mehra is bringing a silentrevolution”IOD Founder Dr Madhav MehraJustice P N Bhawati, former Chief Justice ofIndia.Quality Times 23 April 2011

Quality TimesReview Summary:Golden Peacock Awards Jury (2011)The Institute of Directors (IOD) has received an overwhelming response. In all total 353 applications were received. Out ofwhich , 135 were short-listed after critical scrutiny for final selection through 3 tier assessment process for the GoldenPeacock National Training Award , Golden Peacock Innovation Award, Golden Peacock National Quality Award , GoldenPeacock Innovation Management Award, Golden Peacock Innovative Product/ Service Award - 2010.An expert assessment team comprising of seven training and management experts was set up to assess the applicationsreceived. Each of the application was reviewed by two assessors independently and was further discussed by the committeefor normalisation of assessments/ reviews. The Committee was headed by Mr. Pradeep Chaturvedi, Advisor, FAO. Andchairman Quality and Safety Forum of Institution of Engineers. Certain clarifications were sought and reviewed by theassessors from the applicants. Limited final confirmation visits had been arranged.Review Parameters/ Criteria:The applications were assessed based on an exhaustive set of parameters as mentioned in the prescribed guidelinescovering all the areas on a total score card of 1000 marks. The applicant scoring the highest among each of the respectiveindustrial categories are recommended to the Jury.GOLDEN PEACOCK NATIONAL TRAINING AWARD -2010WINNERSCATEGORYORGANIZATIONJoint Entry1. Power Management Institute - NTPC LtdTraining Provider1. SVKM's Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies2. Engineering Staff College of IndiaEmployers Category1. IBM Global Process Services2. TATA Motors Ltd, Pune3. Larsen & Toubro Ltd., Electrical and Automation Operating Company4. Punjab National Bank5. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd School of Maintenance Practices6. Durgapur Steel Plant (Steel Authority of India Ltd)7.Reliance Industries Ltd (Hazira Manufacturing Division)Government Category1. National Academy of Defence Production, NagpurSpecial Commendations1. Oil India Limited2. Thomas Cook (India) LtdQuality Times 24 April 2011

Quality TimesGOLDEN PEACOCK INNOVATION AWARD - 2010WINNERSCATEGORYTelecom SectorFinancial ServicesEngineering SectorGovt SectorGender IssuePharmaceuticalsIT ServicesFMCGAutomobilesFarm Equipment SectorORGANIZATIONSpice Mobility LtdUti Asset Management Company LimitedTitan Industries Limited - Jewellery DivisionBharat Dynamics Ltd.Tata Services LtdJubilant Life Sciences LtdComviva Technologies LtdHSIL LimitedMahindra & Mahindra LtdHealthcare TATA Memorial HospitalGOLDEN PEACOCK NATIONAL QUALITY AWARD -2011WINNERSCATEGORYAutomobile SectorSteel SectorHealthcare SectorService ( BPO) SectorORGANIZATIONAshok Leyland Ltd.Bhilai Steel Plant (Steel Authority of India Ltd.)GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Ltd.WNS Global Services Pvt Ltd.GOLDEN PEACOCK INNOVATION MANAGEMENT AWARD -2011WINNERSCATEGORYService SectorIT SectorORGANIZATIONITC Grand Central, MumbaiTATA Consultancy Services LtdGOLDEN PEACOCK INNOVATIVE PRODUCT / SERVICE AWARD -2011WINNERSCATEGORYChemicals & PaintsConsumer ProductsEducationInsuranceFMCGBankingOil sectorORGANIZATIONKansai Nerolac Paints LimitedCavinKare Pvt LtdCentre for Management ServicesAll India Management AssociationICICI Lombard General Insurance CompanyHindustan Unilever LimitedCentral Bank of IndiaEssar Oil LtdChairmanJustice P N Bhagwati, Former Chief Justice of IndiaCo-ChairmanLt Gen Surinder Nath, PVSM, Former Chairman, UPSCQuality Times 25 April 2011

Quality Times2011 Japan Earthquakeand TsunamiThe 2011 Tohoku earthquake andtsunami was a 9.0-magnitudemegathrust earthquake off the coast ofJapan that occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46UTC) on Friday 11 March 2011. Theepicenter was 130 kilometers (81 mi)off the east coast of the OshikaPeninsula of Tohoku near Sendai, withthe hypocenter at a depth of 32 km (19.9mi).The earthquake triggered extremelydestructive tsunami waves of up to 10meters (33 ft) that struck Japan minutesafter the quake, in some casestraveling up to 10 km (6 mi) inland, withsmaller waves reaching many othercountries after several hours. Tsunamiwarnings were issued and evacuationsordered along Japan's Pacific coastand at least 20 other countries,including the entire Pacific coast ofNorth America and South America.The earthquake and tsunami causedextensive and severe structuraldamage in Japan, including heavydamage to roads and railways as wellas fires in many areas, and a damcollapse. Around 4.4 millionhouseholds in northeastern Japanwere left without electricity and 1.5million without water. Many electricalgenerators were taken down, and atleast three nuclear reactors sufferedexplosions due to hydrogen gas thathad built up within their outercontainment buildings. On 18 March,the International Atomic Energy Agencydescribed the crisis as "extremelyserious." Residents within a 30 km (12mi) radius of the Fukushima I NuclearPower Plant and a 10 km (6 mi) radiusof the Fukushima II Nuclear PowerPlant were evacuated.Estimates of the Tohoku earthquake'smagnitude make it the most powerfulknown earthquake to hit Japan, andone of the five most powerfulearthquakes in the world overall sincemodern record-keeping began in 1900.Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kansaid, "In the 65 years after the end ofWorld War II, this is the toughest andthe most difficult crisis for Japan."The earthquake moved Honshu 2.4 m(7.9 ft) east and shifted the Earth on itsaxis by almost 10 cm (3.9 in). Earlyestimates placed insured losses fromthe earthquake alone at US$ 350billion.This disaster had several componentsto be studied separately, and aredescribed below for the understandingof our members.EarthquakeThe 9.0-magnitude (MW) megathrustearthquake occurred on 11 March 2011at 14:46 JST in the western PacificOcean, 130 kilometers (81 mi) east ofSendai, Honshu, Japan, lastingapproximately six minutes. Its epicenterwas 373 km (232 mi) from Tokyo,according to the United StatesGeological Survey (USGS) andJapanese Meteorological Agency(JMA). The main earthquake waspreceded by a number of largeforeshocks, and multiple aftershockswere reported afterwards. The firstmajor foreshock was a 7.2 MW eventon 9 March, approximately 40 km (25mi) from the 11 March quake, withanother three on the same day inexcess of 6.0 MW. Following the quake,a 7.0 MW aftershock was reported at15:06 JST, followed by a 7.4 at 15:15JST and a 7.2 at 15:26 JST. Over sixhundred aftershocks of magnitude 4.5or greater have occurred since the initialquake. USGS director Marcia McNuttexplained that aftershocks followOmori's Law, might continue for years,and will taper off in time.One minute prior to the effects of theearthquake being felt in Tokyo, theEarthquake Early Warning system,which includes more than 1,000seismometers in Japan, sent outwarnings of an impending earthquaketo millions. This was possible becausethe damaging seismic S-waves,traveling at 4 km (2.5 mi) per second,took about 90 seconds to travel the 373km (232 mi) to Tokyo. The early warningis believed by the JMA to have savedmany lives.Initially reported as 7.9 MW by theUSGS, the magnitude was quicklyupgraded to 8.8 and then to 8.9, andthen again to 9.0. This earthquakeoccurred where the Pacific Plate issubducting under the plate beneathnorthern Honshu; which plate this is amatter of debate amongst scientists.Quality Times 26 April 2011

Quality TimesThe Pacific plate, which moves at arate of 8 to 9 cm (3.1 to 3.5 in) a year,dips under Honshu's underlying platereleasing large amounts of energy.This motion pulls the upper plate downuntil the stress builds up enough tocause a seismic event. The break 130kilometers (81 mi) off of the coast ofSendai was estimated to be severaltens of kilometers long and only 32 km(19.9 mi) deep, and caused the seafloor to spring up several meters,causing the earthquake. A quake of thissize usually has a rupture length of atleast 480 km (300 mi) and requires along, relatively straight fault line.Because the plate boundary andsubduction zone in this region is notvery straight, it is unusual for themagnitude of an earthquake to exceed8.5; the magnitude of this earthquakewas a surprise to some seismologists.The hypocentral region of thisearthquake extends from offshoreIwate Prefecture to offshore IbarakiPrefecture. The JapaneseMeteorological Agency said that theearthquake may have ruptured the faultzone from Iwate to Ibaraki with a lengthof 500 km (310 mi) and a width of 200km (120 mi). Analysis showed that thisearthquake consisted of a set of threeevents.The quake registered at the maximumof 7 on the Japan Meteorological Agencyseismic intensity scale in Kurihara,Miyagi Prefecture. Three otherprefectures—Fukushima, Ibaraki andTochigi—recorded an upper 6 on theJMA scale. Seismic stations in Iwate,Gunma, Saitama and Chiba Prefecturemeasured a lower 6, recording anupper 5 in Tokyo.Japan's National Research Institute forEarth Science and Disaster Prevention(NIED) recorded a peak groundacceleration of 2.99 g (29.33 m/s²).Energy Released during theDisasterThis earthquake released a surfaceenergy (Me) of 1.9±0.5×1017 joules,dissipated as shaking and tsunamicenergy, which is nearly double that ofthe 9.1-magnitude 2004 Indian Oceanearthquake and tsunami that killed230,000 people, and flung the 2,600ton Apung 1 ship 2 to 3 km (1.2 to 1.9mi) inland. "If we could only harnessthe [surface] energy from thisearthquake, it would power [a] city thesize of Los Angeles for an entire year,"McNutt said in an interview. The totalenergy released, also known as theseismic moment (M0), was more than200,000 times the surface energy andwas calculated by the USGS at3.9×1022 joules, slightly less than the2004 Indian Ocean quake. This isequivalent to 9.32 teratons of TNT, orapproximately 600 million times theenergy of the Hiroshima bomb.Geophysical ImpactThe quake moved portions ofnortheast Japan by as much as 2.4meters (7.9 ft) closer to North America,making portions of Japan's landmass"wider than before," according togeophysicist Ross Stein. Portions ofJapan closest to the epicenterexperienced the largest shifts. Steinalso noted that a 400-kilometer (250mi) stretch of coastline droppedvertically by 0.6 m (2.0 ft), allowing thetsunami to travel farther and fasteronto land. The Pacific plate itself mayhave moved westwards by up to 20 m(66 ft), though the actual displacementwill have diminished with greaterdistance from the site of the fault.Other estimates put the amount ofslippage at as much as 40 m (130 ft),covering an area some 300 to 400 km(190 to 250 mi) long by 100 km (62mi) wide. If confirmed, this would beone of the largest recorded faultmovements to have been associatedwith an earthquake.According to Italy's National Instituteof Geophysics and Volcanology, theearthquake shifted the Earth's axis by25 centimeters (9.8 in). This deviationled to a number of small planetarychanges, including the length of a dayand the tilt of the Earth. The speed ofthe Earth's rotation increased,shortening the day by 1.8microseconds due to theredistribution of Earth's mass. Theaxial shift was caused by theredistribution of mass on the Earth'ssurface, which changed the planet'smoment of inertia. Due to the effectsof conservation of angularmomentum, such changes of inertiaresult in small changes to the Earth'srate of rotation. These are expectedchanges for an earthquake of thismagnitude.Shinmoedake, a volcano in Kyushu,erupted two days after the earthquake.The volcano had erupted in January2011; it is not known if the latereruption was linked to the earthquake.In Antarctica, the seismic waves fromthe earthquake were reported to havecaused the Whillans Ice Stream to slipby about 0.5 m (1.6 ft).TsunamiThe earthquake caused a massivetsunami which wrought massivedestruction along the Pacific coastlineof Japan's northern islands. Thetsunami propagated across thePacific, and warnings were issuedand evacuations carried out in manycountries bordering the Pacific,including the entire Pacific coast ofNorth and South America from Alaskato Chile; however, while the tsunamiwas felt in many of these places, itcaused only relatively minor effects.Chile's section of Pacific coast is oneof the furthest from Japan, at about17,000 kilometers (11,000 mi) away,but still was struck by tsunami waves2 meters (6.6 ft) high.The tsunami warning issued by theJapan Meteorological Agency was themost serious on its warning scale; itrated as a "major tsunami", being atleast 3 m (9.8 ft) high. The actualQuality Times 27 April 2011

Quality Timesheight predicted varied, the greatestbeing for Miyagi at 10 m (33 ft) high.The earthquake took place at 14:46JST around 70 km (43 mi) from thenearest point on Japan's coastline, andinitial estimates indicated the tsunamiwould have taken 10 to 30 minutes toreach the areas first affected, and thenareas further north and south basedon the geography of the coastline.Just over an hour after the earthquakeat 15:55 JST, a tsunami was observedflooding Sendai Airport, which islocated near the coast of MiyagiPrefecture, with waves sweepingaway cars and planes and floodingvarious buildings as they traveledinland.Like the 2004 Indian Oceanearthquake and tsunami, the damageby surging water, though much morelocalized, was far more deadly anddestructive than the actual quake.Scientific and Research ResponseAccording to the chief scientist for theMulti-Hazards project at the U.S.Geological Survey, the fact that theTohoku earthquake took place inJapan—a country with "the bestseismic information in the world"—meant that for the first time, data couldbe collected that would allowmodeling of an earthquake of this typeand severity in great detail.Andreas Reitbrock, a professor ofseismology at the University ofLiverpool, agreed, stating, "It gives us,for the first time, the possibility tomodel in great detail what happenedduring the rupture of an earthquake."The effect of this data is expected tobe felt across other disciplines aswell. Tom Heaton, a seismologicalengineer, commented that "thetragedy would provide unprecedentedinformation about how buildings holdup under long periods of shaking –and thus how to build them better. Wehad very little information about thatbefore now". James Cave, AssociateProfessor of Earth and PlanetarySciences at Harvard University, saidthat data retrieved from the earthquakecould provide new details in "quakeproofing"large urban areas in thefuture.Economic impactSome analysts are predicting that thetotal recovery costs could reach ¥10trillion ($122 billion). The northernTohoku region, which was mostaffected, accounts for about 8 percentof the country's gross domesticproduct, with factories thatmanufacture products such as carsand beer, as well as energyinfrastructure.It includes the northern Miyagiprefecture, where Sendai is located,about 300 km (180 miles) northeastof Tokyo. The Miyagi area includesmanufacturing and industrial zoneswith chemical and electronics plants.It is estimated that Miyagi accountsfor 1.7% of Japan's gross domesticproduct.The earthquake and tsunami havehad significant immediate impacts onbusinesses such as Toyota, Nissanand Honda, which completelysuspended auto production until 14March. Nippon Steel Corporation alsosuspended production, Toyo Tire &Rubber Company and SumitomoRubber Industries shuttered their tireand rubber production lines, while GSYuasa closed its automotive batteryproduction. This was expected tohinder supply availability forautomakers. Tokyo Electric PowerCompany, Toshiba, East JapanRailway Company and Shin-EtsuChemical were suggested as themost vulnerable companies as aresult of the earthquake.Sony also suspended production atall its six plants in the area, while FujiHeavy Industries discontinuedproduction at most of its factories inthe Gunma and the TochigiPrefectures. Other factoriessuspending operations include KirinHoldings, GlaxoSmithKline, Nestléand Toyota amid power cuts. Thefactory shutdowns, power cuts and theconsequent presumed impact onconsumer confidence could hurt thenational GDP for several months,although economist Michael Boskinpredicts "only minimal impact on theJapanese economy overall."Following threats of further nuclearleaks, Blackstone Group LP,Continental AG and BayerischeMotoren Werke AG (BMW) were saidto be moving their staff outside Japan.Chief economist for Japan at CreditSuisse, Hiromichi Shirakawa, said ina note to clients that the estimatedeconomic loss may be around $171–183 billion just to the region whichwas hit by the quake and tsunami.The Catastrophe Can ImproveJapan’s EconomySome economic analysts considerthat, ultimately, the catastrophe willimprove Japan's economy, withincreased job availability duringrestoration efforts. An analyst atJPMorgan Chase, citing the 1989Loma Prieta earthquake in the SanFrancisco Bay Area and the SouthernCalifornia 1994 Northridgeearthquake, noted that naturaldisasters "do eventually boost output."An analyst at Société Généraleanticipated that Japan's economy willdecline in March but will revivepowerfully in subsequent months.After the Kobe earthquake, industrialoutput dropped 2.6%, but increasedby 2.2% the next month, and 1% thefollowing month. Japan's economythen accelerated substantially throughthe next two years, at more than itsformer rate. Others are of the opinionthat the catastrophe will harm theeconomy.Quality Times 28 April 2011

Quality TimesNews & ViewsFor 3 yrs, 100% of disaster reduction funds lay unspentAt a time when Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) has becomea key policy initiative worldwide in ensuring that there isbetter preparedness in dealing with calamities, India is stillseriously lagging behind. Nearly 100% of the funds meantfor modernization of weather forecast, ocean movement andprediction of other natural disasters have remainedunutilized.The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India tableda report in Parliament last week in which it painted a grimpicture of funds, which were to be used effectively for anupgraded weather forecasting system, lying idle. In thesame way, finances allotted for better prediction ofcalamities such as earthquakes, tsunami and properassessment of coastal erosion and landslides had not beenused.Between 2007-08 and 2009-10, almost the entire amountearmarked in the Budget provisions for modernization ofthe India Meteorological Department (IMD), earthquake riskevaluation centre, development of seafront facility anddesalination plant, aviation metrology and national centrefor medium range weather forecasting had not been spentat all.Coming at a time when thousands have perished in theJapan earthquake and tsunami and billions of dollars worthof infrastructure destroyed, the CAG review shows how theministry of earth sciences reported savings of up to Rs 220crore annually by the IMD.The funds were meant for improvement of climateprediction, including monsoon. There was a proposal todivide the IMD modernization plan into various sub-projectssuch as Doppler Weather Radars, Automatic Rain GaugeNetwork, Automatic Weather System, etc."The savings occurred due to delayed approvals of theschemes, delays in procurement, construction and tenderingand also slow initiation of the project activities," the CAGobserved.The National Centre for Medium Range WeatherForecasting was set up in Noida a few years ago to developa global circulation model for preparing weather forecastup to three days in advance. A budgetary allocation of Rs 17crore for this centre remained unutilized between the fiscalyears 2007 and 2010. It appears that no spending waspossible because approval for the installation of thesupercomputers and for repairs to be undertaken at thecentre were delayed.The major activity proposed for implementation during 2008-09 at this centre was to conduct assimilation experimentson satellite data using the super computer and, thereby,improve the operational weather forecast.The UN has already cautioned India to build capacity andwork towards solutions to manage climate risks whileinvesting at least 10% of all its rescue and rehabilitationfunds towards disaster risk reduction. This has alsobecome important for countries like India as a UNassessment has stated that half of the world's GDP isexposed to disaster risk. And it has also been said thatcountries "which have not invested in DRR are more likelyto fail in achieving their full economic potential." GMR boss pledges $340m for educationGMR Group chairman Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao, a firstgenerationentrepreneur hailing from Srikakulam in AndhraPradesh, on Tuesday pledged $340 million (Rs 1,540 crore),which is equivalent to his personal share in the infrastructureconglomerate, to improve education among the undeservedsections of the society.The move comes on a day when Warren Buffet, thebillionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, arrived on hisQuality Times 29 April 2011

Quality Timesmaiden trip to India to promote philanthropy among thecountry's richest. GMR, in a statement said,Rao has committed his funds to the group's charitable wingGMR Varalakshmi Foundation, which has a presence inIndia and abroad, focuses on education and vocationaltraining for the underprivileged.The 60-year-old G M Rao, who started as a jute trader threedecades ago, went on to create a Rs 5,000-crore enterprisespread across energy, airports and roads. Rao joins thegrowing list of Indian industrialists who are creatingendowments to support social causes. "I have alwaysbelieved that we have a responsibility to give back to thesociety in which we thrive and we owe our success to," Raosaid in a statement.Last year, tech czar Azim Premji donated over Rs 8,000crore by transferring a small part of his stake in Wipro to hisfoundation focused on improving primary education.Reliance Industries created a foundation to provideaffordable healthcare and meaningful rural development in2009. India's largest private sector firm set aside Rs 500crore for this initiative.Indian billionaires have ramped up their philanthropic workin recent past but still lag their western counterparts. A 2010Bain & Co report said that India's contribution to charity wasjust 0.6% of its GDP, while it was 2.2% in the US and 1.3% inthe UK.HCL founder Shiv Nadar gifted Rs 580 crore to hisfoundation that works to strengthen the country's educationframework. While these new-generation entrepreneurs areploughing back a part of their wealth for the society, traditionalconglomerates such as Tatas and Godrejs have gifted someof their holdings to charitable trusts engaged with learninginstitutes and hospitals.Azim Premji against law on mandatory CSR spendingWipro Chairman Azim Premji recently came out stronglyagainst the idea of formulating laws on mandatory spendingby industry on corporate social responsibility."I don't think you generate CSR by putting statutoryrequirements. I think there is enough social consciousnessamong the larger companies to drive it on the basis of whatthey consider their responsibility," he said."My concern is that you get legislation...and a lot of abusetakes place from that legislation in terms of what you defineas CSR and what you define as branding. I would be againstit," Premji added. He, however, said that the government iswelcome to issue such a proposal "as a guideline ratherthan as a mandate or rather than as a legislation." Poor countries pledge to help curb climate changeMongolia says it will erect solar power plants in the frigidGobi desert. The Central African Republic says it will expandits forests to cover a quarter of its territory. Mexico promisesto slash carbon emissions by 30 percent by the end of thedecade.Costa Rica and the Maldives aim to become carbon neutraland even chaotic Afghanistan is promising to take action onclimate change. The pledges from dozens of developingcountries, compiled by the United Nations and releasedMonday, are voluntary, and many made them conditional onfinancial and technical help from the industrial world. Butthe list helps bring into focus demands by wealthy countriesthat everybody reduce greenhouse gases to fight globalwarming. Scientists say carbon dioxide from industrialprocesses trap the Earth's heat, causing climates to changein ways that could alter agriculture, raise sea levels andcontribute to more extreme weather. Industrial countries thatsigned up to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol are obliged to cutcarbon emissions by a total 5.2 percent below 1990 levelsby 2012.Intense negotiations among more than 190 countries havefailed to set new targets for those 37 wealthy nation whenthe Kyoto provisions expire. Most of the pledges nowpublished by the U.N. climate secretariat in Bonn, Germany,have been announced previously. But their listing in anofficial U.N. document formalizes those pronouncements.After a disappointing 2009 summit in Copenhagen, theindustrial countries offered self-declared emission reductiontargets, but they fell far short of what scientists have saidare needed to slow global warming. Poorer countries agreedto join the richer nations and submit their own climate actionplans after the most recent climate conference in Cancun,Mexico, last December. Some countries kept their pledgesvague and brief: China said it would lower its carbonemissions 40-45 percent per unit of production by 2020.India used a similar measure, promising to cut emissionintensity by 20-25 percent. Submissions by others weredetailed in the extreme. Ethiopia listed 75 projects, includingeach new rail line where trains would run by renewableenergy. Argentina, which has outlawed old fashioned lightbulbs, specified subsidies for wind and solar energy. TheHimalayan nation of Bhutan promised never to emit morecarbon than its vast forests can soak up. The Ivory Coastlisted a plan for more hydropower, renewable energy andforest management.Quality Times 30 April 2011

Quality TimesBuffet wants to invest in big economy like IndiaWarren Buffett , 80, one of the world's wealthiest men andbiggest philanthropists, said on Tuesday that he would liketo invest in a big economy like India. He said it makes senseto invest in billions in countries like India, China, the UK orGermany. "India is a very logical place to look at, and I hopeto spend some money here," he said. "I don't consider Indiaas an emerging market, I consider it as a very big market,"Buffett said, adding that emerging (smaller) markets cannotabsorb investment in billions. Buffett, who is on a trip topromote business and philanthropy, is expected to visitTaeguTec India on the outskirts of Bangalore, whose parentcompany Iscar Metalworking Companies (IMC) is controlledby his insurance firm Berkshire Hathway, on Wednesday.Buffett said he would not prefer India's rich to copy the USmodel, but adopt their own culturally appropriate model. Japan nuclear plant overshadows future of nearbytownsOver 70,000 evacuated, 130,000 told to stay indoors within20 km of the plant. If radiation worsens it could mean widerevacuation zone Millions of Tokyoites are worried aboutradiation in tap water or in the air, but the thousands ofpeople living in the shadow of Japan’s stricken nuclear planthave another fear: it may force them to abandon their homesfor years, if not forever.More than 70,000 people have already been evacuated froman area within 20 km of the plant, and another 130,000 arewithin a zone extending a further 10 km in which residentsare recommended to stay indoors. They too could be forcedto leave their homes if the evacuation is extended due toworsening radiation levels.Nobody in government has yet touched on the issue directly,but given growing worries about soil contamination in thelargely rural area and bans on shipping and sales of localmilk and vegetables, many residents fear the worst. “Nobodywants to say it out loud, but I think that in their heartseverybody worries that they won’t be able to go home foryears at least,” said Yoichi Azuma, principal of KoriyamaCommercial High School, not far west of the 30-km zone,whose gymnasium has been turned into an evacuationcentre.Food contaminationFood contamination levels in Fukushima, which is knownfor its peaches, nashi Japanese pears, apples andstrawberries as well as milk and vegetables, have risensharply over the past week, opening up the logical option ofextending the exclusion zone.The United States as early as last week said its citizensshould stay out of a broader 80 km zone, but the Japanesegovernment has not spoken of extension -- a view backedby experts such as Kenji Kamiya, director of the Institute forRadiation Biology and Medicine at Hiroshima University.“We must consider the impact of radiation on human health,but at this point I think the government’s decision is correctgiven the radiation levels,” he said.A Fukushima prefectural official said there are no firmnumbers on how many people remain within the 20-30 kmradius but added that many appear to have already leftvoluntarily, whether from worry or just the growing difficultyof life within an area running out of food and other goods.Media reports say some truck drivers, wary of radiation,refuse to enter the zone.Chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano touched on this onThursday, noting that “social needs” might have to be dealtwith over the longer term.“But we must be careful not to send the wrong messagethat danger is getting bigger if we were to issue such adirection (to evacuate),” he said.What’s in Your Water?The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hassubmitted a proposal of 30 currently unregulatedcontaminants for monitoring in water systems. The listconsists of 28 suspicious chemicals and 2 viruses. EPA isrequesting public comment on this proposal through May 2,2011.The full list of EPA’s 30 proposed contaminants may beviewed.The list includes:hormones, such as equilin, estrone, and testosteronevolatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as methylchloride and methyl bromide1,4-dioxaneanadium, molybdenum, cobalt, strontiumchlorateperflourinated compounds, such as perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid(PFHxS)enteroviruses and norovirusesQuality Times 31 April 2011

Quality TimesThis measure is the third Unregulated ContaminantMonitoring Regulation (UCMR) under EPA’s 1996amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Theamendments require EPA to identify up to 30 unregulatedcontaminants for monitoring every five years.Shifting Sands: Saudi Arabia's Oil Moves East toChinaThe pivotal year was 2009, according to the Paris-basedInternational Energy Agency (IEA). It was then that Chinaconsumed more energy than any other country in the world,even the U.S., prompting an expert at the IEA expert toproclaim "the start of a new age in the history of energy."For Saudi Arabia, which has the world's largest oil reservesand is the world's largest oil exporter, that new age couldn’tbegin fast enough. Over the past 10 years or so, the Kingdomhad been forging closer trade ties with China, becoming itskey source of oil. In 2009, Saudi oil exports to China reachedone million barrels per day (bpd), or 20% of its total oilimports and nearly double the number of barrels it exportedthe previous year; in contrast, U.S. imports of Saudi oil fell toless than one million bpd in 2009 for the first time in overtwo decades. According to Tim Niblock, professor of ArabGulf studies at the University of Exeter in the U.K., the growingSino-Saudi oil trade is a reflection of the two countries'"mutually dependent relationship that has advanced fairlysteadily since 2000."The Chinese need Saudi Arabia as a stable, established oilproducer -- all the more so today as turmoil across the MiddleEast continues, pushing the price of Brent crude to as highas US$116 a barrel in early March, and the Kingdom calmsmarkets with pledges to increase production to fill anyshortfall in supply. The Saudis need China’s burgeoningdemand for oil in light of flat, or even decreasing, demandamong consumers in developed markets. Even with theChinese government lowering the official target earlier thisyear for average GDP growth over the next five years to 7%from 7.5%, the country's thirst for oil looks unlikely to abate.But are those ties now being tested? As unrest sweepsacross the Middle East and North Africa, the entire region ison the cusp of change in ways that will affect the geopoliticsof oil. "The whole political situation is different than what itwas a couple of months ago, and it will stay different for along time," says Niblock. "It is a major turning point. Inevitably,that will have foreign policy effects. But it is very difficult atthis stage to know what the nature of those effects will be,because we're really only at the beginning of a process."Equally unclear, then, is where the Sino-Saudi oilrelationship goes from here.Growing InterestThough diplomatic relations between the two countries wereestablished in 1990, it wasn’t until 2006, when SaudiArabia's King Abdullah made China the first destination forhis early state visits after succeeding his half-brother to thethrone the previous year, that the bilateral relationship beganto gel. As a result, “the Sino-Saudi relationship is expandingacross all levels,” says Paul Gamble, head of research atRiyadh-based Jadwa Investments. He cites 2009 datashowing that China was the source of 11.3% of theKingdom’s imports, including textiles and heavy machinery,compared with 6.6% in 2004, while Saudi Arabia’s share ofChina's imports rose to 11.2% from 4.8% over that time,thanks mostly to oil. In 2010, bilateral trade reached a recordhigh of US$43 billion, a year-on-year increase of 33%,scooting the countries closer to their goal of having theirtrade reach $60 billion by 2015.As for oil, Saudi Arabia shipped 36.7 million metric tons ofoil to China in the first 10 months of 2010, about 19% of itsforeign purchases, according to Chinese government data.Angola, the second-biggest source, sent 33.7 million tonsand Iran 17.2 million tons. It's not just about trade, however."One needs to take into account the significant contractscoming China's way in Saudi Arabia," says Niblock. Thosecontracts involve Chinese companies getting a slice of theUS$385 billion that the Saudi government is investing ininfrastructure, such as highways and railways, under itsfive-year development plan launched in 2009.In reverse, Saudi companies are also investing in China.Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, has tworefineries in China, one in Qingdao province that is fullyowned and another in Fujian province run as a joint venturewith Sinopec, a Chinese petroleum giant, and ExxonMobilof the U.S. Then there's the US$32 billion oil-processingjoint venture in Tianjin in northern China between two otherSaudi-Sino giants -- Sabic and Sinopec -- which went intooperation last year to produce 3.2 million tons a year ofethylene derivatives.An Insatiable AppetiteIn other parts of the world besides Saudi Arabia, China hasdeployed a relatively straightforward strategy to secureaccess to natural resources -- it simply opens its checkbook and uses a combination of inward investments andtrade deals. In Brazil, for example, China lent US$10 billionto national oil company Petrobrás to secure future oilsupplies. China's oil giant Sinopec, meanwhile, bought a40% stake in Brazil’s other major oil company RepsolBrazilfor US$7.1 billion. By August last year, China was Brazil’stop foreign investor, with a finger in everything from iron oreand mineral processing to telecoms and electricity grids.Quality Times 32 April 2011

Quality Times 33 April 2011Quality Times

Quality TimesQuality Times 34 April 2011

Quality TimesChina is also banking on oil-rich Russia. “China’s oilproduction is pretty much maxed out and it needs Russianoil,” Laban Yu, an energy analyst at Macquarie Hong Kong,told Bloomberg in September. “In fact, it needs oil full stopand Russia is close and convenient. As part of agreementsto supply oil, Russia wants to have stakes inside China inventures," including a venture being discussed betweenCNPC and Russia's state-owned Rosneft to build a US$5billion refinery in Tianjin. And to increase exports fromRussia, the first oil pipeline between the two countries wasopened earlier this year, financed by a US$25 billion loanfrom China to Russia. And it's not only China's sizeablecheck book that has made it such an attractive businesspartner. While such policy "agnosticism" might be awelcome counterweight in some oil-producing markets towhat's seen as meddling U.S. foreign policy, it has beendrawing increasing criticism from other trading partners.Iran, which has the world's second-largest oil and gasreserves, is a case in point. Despite several rounds of armsand financial sanctions by the United Nations SecurityCouncil, the U.S. and the European Union over Iran'scontentious nuclear program, China has continued to signoil deals with it.But even close partnerships that eschew politics cannotguarantee oil supplies, according to Ben Simpfendorfer, aneconomist and editor of China Insider web site. “The bestsecurity [for supply] Chinese companies can hope for is tobuy oil at the highest possible price,” he noted in his 2009book, The New Silk Road: How a Rising Arab World IsTurning Away from the West and Rediscovering China, citingexamples of China's state-owned oil companies with deeppockets paying above market rates for oil imports aroundthe world.Drilling DownMeanwhile, in cash-rich Saudi Arabia, China has needed adifferent deal-making strategy. "With one of the world’s mostdeveloped energy sectors in terms of infrastructure andoperating efficiency, Saudi Arabia is not desperate to attractforeign investment to help expand its capacity to produceand export oil," a blog on the Saudi-U.S. Relations Serviceweb site notes. Instead, Saudi Arabia wants to find newsources of steady, long-term demand as Western countriesdecrease their oil consumption of oil.“Chinese investment in the Saudi energy sector is relativelymodest at present, owing to limited opportunities in theupstream segment and Saudi Arabia’s historical preferencefor tying up with Western firms offering advancedtechnology,” says David Butter, head of Middle East researchat the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in London. “What isinteresting is the building of partnerships and joint venturesbetween Chinese and Saudi companies. That’s as closeas the Chinese can get to owning any oil assets,” he adds.Those partnerships and joint ventures mark an importantrecalibration of the Kingdom's oil policy. "Saudi's economicrelationship is certainly shifting," says Niblock. "Most Saudioil is going eastward than westward.In a bid to diversify its energy sources, the U.S. has beenreducing its oil imports from Saudi Arabia, now its fourthlargestsupplier of oil, behind Canada, Mexico andVenezuela. But Saudi Arabia and the U.S. are tetheredtogether in ways that go beyond oil. That includesinterlocking defence and security strategies in the region.The U.S. State Department also confirmed last autumn thatit plans to sell as much as US$60 billion in advanced militaryaircraft, the largest-ever U.S. overseas arms deal. "NeitherChina nor Saudi Arabia want to politicize their relationsbecause each of them have good reason not to," saysNiblock. "Saudi Arabia because it remains strategicallydependent on the U.S. in weaponry and some other keyways; and in conversations I have had with Chinese officials,they say they are worried about the relationship with theU.S. -- they realize the Gulf is very important to the UnitedStates, and they don't want to undermine this."But other observers wonder whether tensions might bemounting. In a 2008 report titled, “The Vital Triangle: China,the United States and the Middle East,” Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)noted that China military buildup around the "vital" sea lanesfor shipping oil out of the Middle East, for which the U.S. haslong provided security is causing unease."Analysts wonder about the purpose of the Chinese-builtdeep-sea port in Gwadar, Pakistan, and its implications fora Chinese military presence far beyond the Pacific Ocean.Gwadar is only 45 miles from the Iranian border and 250miles from the Strait of Hormuz, making it close to the region’smost vital waterways," the report noted. Nonetheless, thereport's authors conceded that the China's "capacity toregulate and dominate the 7,000 miles of ocean betweenShanghai and the Strait of Hormuz lies, by generousestimate, half a century down the road. In addition, atpresent, the Chinese have expressed satisfaction withsimply 'free-riding' off of U.S. control of the aforementionedsupply lines."In a radio interview shortly before a China-Arab trade forumlast September, Yang Guang, director of the Institute of WestAsia and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of SocialSciences in Beijing, said he sees no real sign of ageopolitical rebalancing, even though China is increasinglyimportant for Saudi Arabia and its Middle Eastern neighbors.“If you look at the proportion of trade and investment in theArab world, China still accounts for a very, very limitedproportion. The lion’s share of the business is done withU.S. and Europe,” said Yang.Quality Times 35 April 2011

Quality Times6th International Conference OnSocial Responsibility29 –30 April, 2011, Hotel Le Meridian, New Delhi, IndiaDRAFT TENTATIVE PROGRAMME*Theme: CSR – Driver of Social Inclusion, Sustainability and ProfitsFriday, April 29, 2011Registration0830 onwardsPlenary Session 1 Inaugural Session 1000 – 1115 hrsInaugural SessionWelcome AddressOpening AddressChairman AddressInaugural AddressKeynote AddressSpecial AddressVote of ThanksTea/CoffeeCSR – Driver of Social Inclusion, Sustainability and ProfitsDr. Graham Wilson, Leadership and Organisation Development Specialist, UKLt Gen J S Ahluwalia, PVSM (retd), President, Institute of DirectorsJustice M N Venkatachaliah, former Chief Justice of India,National Chairman, Institute of DirectorsHon’ble Shri Tejendra Khanna, Lt Governor of DelhiD K Mittal, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Corporate AffairsNaveen Jindal, Member of Parliament, Vice Chairman and MD, Jindal Steel & Power LtdU K Sinha, Chairman, Securities Exchange Board of IndiaPradeep Chaturvedi, Vice President, Institute of Directors1115 -1145 hrsPlenary Session - II 1145-1300 hrsKeynote SessionChairKeynote SpeakersAligning and Embedding CSR in the Business StrategyDr M B Athreya, PhD (Harvard), Management ConsultantPeter L. Walker FCIPR, Senior Consultant, PIELLE Consulting Ltd, UKDr Pragnya Ram, Group Executive President, Aditya Birla Management Corp LtdDr Habil Khorakiwala, Chairman, Wockhardt FoundationHardev Singh Kohli, Executive Director, Reliance Industries LtdDr Usha Dar, Executive Research, World Environment FoundationLunch1300 –1400 hrsPlenary Session- III Changing the Growth Model for Distributive Social Justice and 1400 – 1530 hrsSustainable DevelopmentSpeakerH P S Ahluwalia, Chairman, Indian Spinal Injuries CentreDr Pravin Sinha, Senior Project Advisor [TU], Friedrich Ebert Stiftung – IndiaProf. Colin Coulson- Thomas, University of Greenwich, UKT K Vishwanath, Secretary, The Gita Mittal FoundationPooran Pandey, Times FoundationAlok C Sharma, Head Corporate Sustainability, Larsen & Toubro LtdTea1530 -1545 hrsQuality Times 36 April 2011

Quality TimesPlenary Session – IV Driving CSR and Green Agenda through Business Strategy for Brand Image 1545- 1700 hrsPanel DiscussionPanelistsAnaljit Singh, Founder & Chairman, Max India GroupPradeep Chaturvedi, Vice President, Institute of DirectorsAtul Singh, President & CEO, Coca – Cola IndiaDr J J Irani, Director, Tata SonsAjay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Enterprises LtdRajiv Dube, Group President, Mahindra & MahindraPlenary Session - V Accounting Standards, Social Audit, CSR Disclosure and Reporting 1700 - 1815 hrsSpeakersCA G Ramaswamy, President, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of IndiaDr A K Balyan, CEO & MD, Petronet LNGAmalendu Pal, Chief Executive, Partners in ChangeCS Anil Murarka, President, Institute of Company Secretaries of IndiaAshish Makhija, Partners, AMC Law FirmsPlenary Session – VI CEO’s Panel Discussion 1815 - 1915 hrsSubjectChairPanelistsTurning Business into a CauseDr Prannoy Roy, founder & Executive Chairperson, NDTVC S Verma, Chairman & Managing Director, Steel Authority of IndiaA K Hazarika, CMD & Director (Exploration), ONGCArup Roy Choudhury, Chairman & Managing Director, NTPCB P Rao, Chairman & Managing Director, BHELK R Kamath, Chairman & Managing Director, Punjab National BankPlenary Session – VII Presentation of Golden Peacock Awards (National & 1930 hrsGlobal for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Awards - 2011Chief GuestShri Murali Deora, Hon’ble Minister of Corporate AffairsDinner2030 hrsSaturday, April 30, 2010Plenary Session – VIII Making CSR Happen 0900-1115 hrsCase study presentations by the winners of Golden Peacock Awards for CSR - 2011Tea/coffee1115-1145 hrsPlenary Session - IX Global Compact, Micro Finance and Innovation to serve the bottom of the Pyramid 1145 - 1300 hrsSpeakersSangita Jindal, Chairperson, JSW FoundationRep, Punjab National BankRep, ICICI BankRep, Canara BankRep, Doha BankPlenary Session – X Valedictory Session 1300-1345 hrsChairmanValedictory AddressClosing RemarksLunchLt Gen Surinder Nath, PVSM, VSM (retd), former Chairman UPSC, Vice Chairman, Institute of DirectorsConference Summary & RecommendationsR Bandyopadhyay, IAS(retd) former Secretary, Ministry of Corporate AffairsLt Gen J S Ahluwalia, PVSM (retd), President, Institute of Directors1345 hrs** Draft Programme is subject to changeQuality Times 37 April 2011

Quality TimesLt Gen JS Ahluwalia – President of IODThe General Body of the Institute of Directors, at itsAnnual General Meeting on March 18, 2011 in NewDelhi, unanimously elected Lt Gen J S Ahluwalia, PVSM(retd) as its President. He had been the Vice Presidentof IOD, for past two decades.Lt Gen Jaswant Singh Ahluwalia has been the ChiefExecutive and Director General of the Corps ofElectronics and Mechanical Engineers of the IndianArmy from 1992 to 1994. A Post Graduate in electronicsengineering, he has undergone extensive training invarious manufacturing concerns in France and U.K.Apart from Post Graduate management programme,he has undergone a top level one-year programme onStrategic Planning at the National Defence College. Hehas been Dean of the ‘Faculty of Management andIndustrial Engineering at College of EME,Secunderabad. He is also the Present President of‘World Environment Foundation’.His major areas of specialization include GuidedMissile Systems and their simulators, Leadership,Logistics, Equipment Management, PreventiveMaintenance Systems, Quality Management System(QMS), Environmental Management System (EMS),Occupational Health Safety System and Social Accountability. He has a proven track record of outstandingprofessional excellence. He is a qualified lead auditor in Quality Management Systems (ISO-9001) from IQA (UK),and has been associated with the ‘Quality Field’ and TQM, Besides contributing several papers for seminars andprofessional journals. He has authored a well-received textbook on ‘TQM – Concepts and Practices’ in 1993 andedited and published over ten books on ‘Total Quality Management’ published by Tata McGraw Hill and others. Heis on the training and consultancy panels of a number of national organizations.He is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow member of a large number of Foreign / Indian professional engineeringand management institutions. He has been Chairman of the Delhi State Centre of the Institution of Engineers(India) and President of Delhi Management Association.He has also been on the Board of Governors of Engineering Staff College of India, Delhi Institute of Technology,and President of ‘Association of Quality and Environment System Assessors (AEQSA). He also heads the QualityCommittee of the college of Wigen and Leigh (UK), in India.In recognition of his significant contributions of exceptionally high order and distinguished service to the nation,he has been decorated with the highest service award of ‘PARAM VISHIST SEVA MEDAL (PVSM)’ by the Presidentof India in 1994.We all wish him a successful tenure and look forward to IOD growing in leaps and bounds under hisleadership.Quality Times 38 April 2011