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Saturday, December 19, 2009
Nair leads Discussion of Decision Making in Indian Government at 17th Global Symposium in New Delhi
Reported by David Pells in New Delhi
The Honorable A Nair, Principal Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office, Government of India was a featured speaker on 15 December at the 17th Global Symposium 2009 - Managing Projects, Programs & Portfolios - held at the Hotel Hyatt Regency in New Delhi, India. Mr. Nair led a panel discussion on "Speeding the decision making processes - new possibilities."
Joining Mr. Nair on the panel were Mr. Pratyush Sinha, Central Vigilance Commissioner; Dr. S N Dash, Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries; Mr. Anjan Roy, Advisor, FICCI; and Mr. David Pells, President and Managing Editor, PMForum, Inc., USA.
According to Mr. Nair, "I need not tell you of the importance of such meetings as this one. We as a nation are doing everything we can to support the management of projects, but I consider this as an opportunity to learn from you and other speakers today."
"Ours is a very robust federal democracy," Mr. Nair added. "We have a parliament, ministers responsible for their actions, state parliaments; there is a clear division of powers and responsibilities. This is a basic framework. And the prime minister is very specific; he is working to improve our systems and decision making."
According to Commissioner Sinha, "There is often a fear of decision making, but most procedures can be changed. We also need to focus on better cost estimates during project planning, then incorporate accountability, transparency and vigilance. But often the real problems are human failures."
Specifically addressing decision making, Mr. Sinha stated, "We often have good planning, but poor coordination between agencies, or between the federal government and states. Also, there is sometimes a lack of expertise and knowledge, and the project initiation process is much too bureaucratic. For example, in one case we found that 162 signatures were required before a capital procurement could be approved. We are often too process oriented rather than outcomes oriented. In order to accelerate decision making, we must have flatter structures and emphasize outcomes.
According to Mr. Roy, "We have conducted some studies and some analysis showed 3500 man-days for a major project to be approved and implemented. There are several important delays to decision making, but mostly it is a matter of time. For example, today I was meeting a group from Singapore. There is interest coming, but delays are roadblocks to investment. Policy reforms are not needed; procedural reforms are needed. And often procedures affecting project implementation are in the hands of state governments; for example, environmental laws are the responsibility of the central government, but environmental clearances and implementation are at the state level. That must be the second wave of reform, at the state level."
India has fair laws," Mr. Roy continued. "We do not discriminate against foreign investment. But our legal system is very slow; it often takes 10 years for a case to be concluded. We need to accelerate decision making, and accelerate our legal system. Also, India for many years has been providing IT to the world but we are not using IT effectively in our own country."
The 17th Global Symposium provided an opportunity for Indian government officials, project managers and company executives to come together for presentations and discussions about managing projects & programs in India. The 17th Global Symposium was jointly organized by Project Management Associates (PMA) and the Centre for Excellence in Project Management (CEPM), in association with the International Project Management Association (IPMA). The 17th Global Symposium in New Delhi was organized under the Chair of Mr. B K Chaturvedi, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India, who is also the Chair of the 2009 International Advisory Committee (IAC). The Programme Director was Mr. Adesh Jain, Honorary President of PMA. For information about the symposium or to see copies of presentations, visit http://www.cepm.com/gs09/default.aspx.
Founded in 1993, Project Management Associates (PMA) is a non-profit registered professional body of projects and business managers, aimed at strengthening project management in India. PMA's vision is to be an apex agency for promotion of project thinking in India and worldwide for continuously enhancing delivery potential of programs and projects, thereby providing competitive edge to organizations, and growth to individuals. Based in New Delhi and with branches in Hyderabad, Pune and Ranchi, PMA serves members and stakeholders throughout India. PMA is the Indian national association member of IPMA. The Managing Director of PMA is Mr. Arvind Agarwal; the honorary president is Mr. Adesh Jain. For more information, visit www.pma-india.org. For more information about IPMA, visit
The Centre for Excellence in Project Management (CEPM) is a project and programme management education, training and consulting organization based in Noida, New Delhi, India. The company offers basic and advanced project management courses, on the web, in public seminars and in-house workshops. CEPM's Certificate in Project Management (CIPM) is a high quality, low-cost project management qualification; CEPM also offers certification training in support of both PMI's PMP® certification as well as IPMA's 4-level competence-based certification program. For more information, visit http://www.cepm.com.
The Honorable A Nair, Principal Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office, Government of India was a featured speaker on 15 December at the 17th Global Symposium 2009 - Managing Projects, Programs & Portfolios - held at the Hotel Hyatt Regency in New Delhi, India. Mr. Nair led a panel discussion on "Speeding the decision making processes - new possibilities."
According to Mr. Nair, "I need not tell you of the importance of such meetings as this one. We as a nation are doing everything we can to support the management of projects, but I consider this as an opportunity to learn from you and other speakers today."
"Ours is a very robust federal democracy," Mr. Nair added. "We have a parliament, ministers responsible for their actions, state parliaments; there is a clear division of powers and responsibilities. This is a basic framework. And the prime minister is very specific; he is working to improve our systems and decision making."
According to Commissioner Sinha, "There is often a fear of decision making, but most procedures can be changed. We also need to focus on better cost estimates during project planning, then incorporate accountability, transparency and vigilance. But often the real problems are human failures."
Specifically addressing decision making, Mr. Sinha stated, "We often have good planning, but poor coordination between agencies, or between the federal government and states. Also, there is sometimes a lack of expertise and knowledge, and the project initiation process is much too bureaucratic. For example, in one case we found that 162 signatures were required before a capital procurement could be approved. We are often too process oriented rather than outcomes oriented. In order to accelerate decision making, we must have flatter structures and emphasize outcomes.
According to Mr. Roy, "We have conducted some studies and some analysis showed 3500 man-days for a major project to be approved and implemented. There are several important delays to decision making, but mostly it is a matter of time. For example, today I was meeting a group from Singapore. There is interest coming, but delays are roadblocks to investment. Policy reforms are not needed; procedural reforms are needed. And often procedures affecting project implementation are in the hands of state governments; for example, environmental laws are the responsibility of the central government, but environmental clearances and implementation are at the state level. That must be the second wave of reform, at the state level."
The 17th Global Symposium provided an opportunity for Indian government officials, project managers and company executives to come together for presentations and discussions about managing projects & programs in India. The 17th Global Symposium was jointly organized by Project Management Associates (PMA) and the Centre for Excellence in Project Management (CEPM), in association with the International Project Management Association (IPMA). The 17th Global Symposium in New Delhi was organized under the Chair of Mr. B K Chaturvedi, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India, who is also the Chair of the 2009 International Advisory Committee (IAC). The Programme Director was Mr. Adesh Jain, Honorary President of PMA. For information about the symposium or to see copies of presentations, visit http://www.cepm.com/gs09/default.aspx.
The Centre for Excellence in Project Management (CEPM) is a project and programme management education, training and consulting organization based in Noida, New Delhi, India. The company offers basic and advanced project management courses, on the web, in public seminars and in-house workshops. CEPM's Certificate in Project Management (CIPM) is a high quality, low-cost project management qualification; CEPM also offers certification training in support of both PMI's PMP® certification as well as IPMA's 4-level competence-based certification program. For more information, visit http://www.cepm.com.