Last Saturday to Sunday afternoon I stayed at the Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ashram in Bangalore. It was a time of solitude amidst the Ashram’s blissfully peaceful surroundings.
I had the privilege of a personal one to one audience with Guruji for a half hour Guruji had taken a personal interest / liking for me the last time I visited the Ahsram as the Chief Guest alongwith Sri Vellappilly Natesan at the Malayali Sangamam on 15th August 2013. It was a joyous occasion in which about 8000 Art of Living followers from Kerala had participated.
Guruji had taken me in his car to his room after the meeting and discussed with me my life and future plans. He expressed the feeling that I am not being properly utilised by the powers that be and had advised me to be bolder and strike forth to use my capabilities for the service of the country.
The General Elections came soon afterwards; I was in the forefront of Congress candidates for the Kollam seat which I had represented three times earlier. The intervening period of my absence had made Kollam electorate sympathetic to me, my contributions had been acknowledged especially in comparison to others and the consensus of opinion among the public was that I could win the seat if chosen as the candidate. There was also at least half a dozen other aspiring candidates apart from the sitting MP.
However, at the last minute the seat went to the RSP in compensation for that party deserting the LDF and joining the UDF with their three MLAs.
As has been reported in the Press I have recently been awarded a Doctorate in Public Policy by BITS Pilani. This has been the outcome of four years of research for which I found some time as I do not occupy any notable formal position in the Congress Party either in the Centre or in Kerala.
Apart from my academic work I wish now to devote myself to my profession of Project Management – promoting fast large scale projects mainly for the benefit of Kerala and some other parts of the Country. In other words I am now planning to build on my past experience as a project oriented professional and take a new Avatar as a ‘Social Entrepreneur’.
Among the projects I intend to promote and which are under conceptualisation and development are :
• A World Trade Centre at Cochin
• 2nd stage of Cochin Marine Drive from High Court to Vaduthala with a new city centre of a few thousand acres (subject to environmental clearances to be implemented by the GCDA).
• An affordable housing project network in Kerala for the middle class, on no-profit basis, perhaps with prefabrication technology.
• ‘The Kerala University of Entrepreneurship’ to train a new generation of entrepreneurs who will be the vanguard of Kerala’s economic progress and make our state an ‘Entrepreneurial Paradise’.
• ‘Karmanya – Trust for Education and Training for Employment’ – a no-profit mission to build a network of world class skill building institutions to bridge the gap of ‘unemployability’ due to lack of adequate skills facing Kerala.
• ‘The Kamala Nehru University of Nursing and Para Medicine’ – the first Nursing University in India (private with state help), one of my ideas since I was Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare under Sri Rajiv Gandhi. Conceived as a university with higher nursing and different nursing disciplines which will train thousands of nursing and paramedical personnel for global employment.
• ‘The Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Hospital and Cancer Care network’ in the private sector (world renowned oncologists like Dr. M.V. Pillai of USA and other health care professionals are helping me in this) to address the acute shortage of cancer care infrastructure in Kerala.
• A Geriatric Complexes network under a Trust for integrated social living for senior citizens with state-of-the-art medicare and affordable facilities.
• An Indo-Arab University in Kerala (with support of NRIs and Arab governments) including medicine, engineering etc (utilizing my recently acquired position of Chairman – Asian-Arab Chamber of Commerce which liaises with 27 Arab countries).
• ‘Kerala Manpower Global’ Mission – to help Keralites find employment throughout the World with organisational connections with employing countries and organisations, marketing and placement mechanisms and state support, based on the successful model of Philippines.
• A ‘Kerala Overseas Employees Protection and Welfare Mission’ – for advocacy, redressal of grievances and schemes to improve the living and working conditions of all Keralite employees abroad, with state and public support.
• ‘Kerala Ayurveda Global’ – A global initiative with the participation of traditional Vaidyans, professionals, entrepreneurs and state bodies to take Kerala Ayurveda to the World and the World to Kerala – the citadel of Ayurveda.
• India Agricultural International – An initiative, utilising my experience as MOS (Agriculture), Government of India to take Indian expertise in Agriculture for agricultural development of countries willing to offer large tracts of land for agriculture, food processing etc with handsome government incentives – through a non profit, India based global company – capable of generating large scale employment in those countries as well opportunities for India Agricultural professionals abroad.
• ‘AWAKE’ – (All World Alliance of Kerala Entrepreneurs) - an initiative conceived by me years back and for which now only I have the time – networking Keralite Entrepreneurs, existing and potential, for development of Kerala. Will encompass - training, identification, development and handholding for implementation of projects, viable and suitable for our state, supporting and promoting Keralite entrepreneurs globally across the entire spectrum of business and enterprises development, with coordinating units abroad wherever Keralites have a presence.
• Many more projects in the field of Education, Medicare, Health Tourism, Social Welfare etc. To codify, analyse, evaluate project ideas and organising professional support I have formed my own non-profit consultancy “Indo Global Vision Projects and Consultancies” – with many volunteers and a few paid employees helping me with my work.
In the years to come, probably the last quartile of my life, I am going to concentrate on such work contributing to Kerala and India’s future in my humble way, translating whatever knowledge and experience I have so far gained to practical use, which will benefit our home state and motherland.
I believe a man will be remembered for his work and practical achievements for humanity, however minuscule rather than by any formal position he had held. For instance even now many in Kerala remember me as the “Collector of Ernakulam”, for the work I had done decades ago much more than as a Member of Parliament and a Union Minister.
Incidentally after I embarked on this new course of action I have been elected Chairman of two important international organisations – “Asian Arab Chamber of Commerce” and “Latin American Caribbean Federation of India”. These organisations have the support of all the Governments in the respective regions and the participation of their Ambassadors in India. The central idea is promoting Trade and Commerce as well as providing a dynamic platform for businessmen from those countries and India for networking and development of joint ventures in all feasible areas. The HQ has been selected as Bangalore and several meetings and conferences have already been held. Last month I led a delegation to Suriname (which incidentally has a large population of Indians settled there centuries ago). A large country with a small population – it has opportunities for Indian businessmen in Agriculture and Plantations, Timber, Bauxite, Hydro Electricity, Gold mining etc. I am sure the visit will result in quite a few new Indo-Suriname ventures.
No comments:
Post a Comment