The future is digital and mobile communication

Masterstroke Interview with Ashwani Singla Founding Managing Partner at Astrum, Ashwani Singla

By Richa Seth

Real People, Real Stories SHARED in a Real Way is the future of Public Relations. Understanding the drivers to human emotions and creating a compelling narrative is where science will provide the edge to creativity, opines Ashwani Singla, Founding Managing Partner at Astrum. He has over two decades of rich experience in the communications industry and has founded India’s first specialist reputation management advisory that uses science to understand and shape public opinion. In an exclusive interview with Richa Seth, he talks about Astrum, his experiences and his views on the future of PR industry. The interview:

Ashwani Singha

1. After being in the leadership roles at Penn Schoen, Genesis Burson-Marstellar, what was your motivation to start Astrum?


Over the years, engaging clients across a spectrum of corporations and political parties convinced me that traditional public relations would need to evolve to science based reputation management if it was to truly find its place inside the board room. Traditional approach had its successes but far and few between. We needed a “Blue Ocean” approach where understanding and shaping public opinion through science and persuasive communication is at the heart of everything we do.

However, this approach needs multi-disciplinary talent at the intersection of research, digital, rich media content and communication to shape opinions in a legitimate and an ethical way. New talent pool needed to be blended with the existing ones. A new beginning had to be made to break the mold.

I also felt, that the large network approach to talent development and growth was out of step with today and often missing the big picture. The rules have changed and new generation workforce, wants to co-create their future. We need to adapt to this new reality quickly to attract and retain the best talent.

Another important consideration was that PR didn’t find a place in the board room and given the absolute criticality of reputation as a factor in business leadership, clients needed an advisory that could work in the C Suite.

So the best way to give shape to my dreams was as they was “to put your money where your mouth is.”

2. What does the name ‘Astrum’ stand for? How has the journey been so far and what has the response been so far for your services, the team strength, what is the geographic presence of the company currently, the client base as on date?

Astrum in Latin means the brightest star in its constellation and the purpose of each Astrum professional is to help our client be that star. A simple idea of helping our client be the ‘first amongst equals’.

I have always believed in building robust institutions that thrive across generations. So Astrum has commenced its journey with the same goal.

We launched in May this year and in the last few months have established a state-of-art full service office in Gurgaon and a growing presence in Mumbai. We hope to inaugurate our Mumbai office soon. We also have a dedicated affiliate presence in over 60 plus cities across the nation. Not stringers.

We have a fully operational cloud-based infrastructure that allows us to work for our clients anywhere-anytime across multiple devices: notebook, tab or a smartphone making our counselors responsive and agile to the needs of our clients. We have built our technology to assure our clients of continuity and consistency in the work we do for them.

We never name our clients due to reasons of client confidentiality, however, I can confirm that clients and prospects have welcomed the approach, as they see a combination of intellectual bandwidth driving strategic thinking with competent professionals delivering high caliber work in-step with their needs today.

With the confidence of our clients with us, the fast growing team of Astrum team combines dynamic young professionals and senior leaders. The proof of the pudding is that our cross functional teams across the disciplines of insights, digital, branding, communications and measurement are working seamlessly in developing and delivering holistic reputation management campaigns. That is the Astrum Way at work already.

We have a refreshing approach to our talent development with accent on learning and growth and an egalitarian and inclusive culture. We are investing in building an empowered organization where learning fuels results and growth. All benefits apply equally to all and not driven by designations. For e.g. the medical cover for my office assistant and me is of the same value and for the same hospitals. No annual appraisals, self approval for leave, travel and expenses, 360-degree feedback for development and multi-channel learning, online, on-the-job and classroom, amongst the things we are focused on. These are already in-place and in-use.

We have achieved much in a very short time because of the caliber of the team that I am blessed to have them. They are passionate about what they do.

3. With the PR industry increasingly becoming specialized, do you see India Inc. willing to pay for such niche consultancy?

Actually on the contrary, Astrum is a specialist and not a “niche” advisory. Reputation is today central to leadership whether corporate or political. Clients are looking for an advisory that can work seamlessly with them co-create a strategy that protects and drives reputation. We help clients answer some very fundamental questions:

• Who do we need to “win”?
• What drives their consideration?
• What do we need to do to lead?
• What do we say to stand apart?
• What is the best way to engage?

Driven by insights, the campaigns we are developing tend to holistic and more effective. So, you can see our focus is to offer a comprehensive solution to our clients to be the first amongst equals. Clients will gladly pay when they value and results.

4. Can you please share details of the campaign executed for BJP during the 2014 General Elections or any one of interesting works done by the Astrum team?

The work we do is confidential to our clients and we would never talk about it. The work that I did for the BJP as the campaign strategist for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections was prior to founding Astrum. We are currently engaged with several clients across NCR and Mumbai. For example, we are helping a client recast their corporate brand including re-design of the corporate identity; to another, we are helping establish a corporate thought leadership strategy, all driven by insights and data.

5. Do you have start-ups seeking counseling & advice and moreover are they willing to pay for it?


I have worked with several start-ups and also invested in a few besides sitting on their advisory boards. As any solid professional, they are hungry for good advice that fuels their business growth and interest in their idea. Money is a function of value and delivery and with the funding coming in liberally, “money for value” drives the consideration.

6. What are the future plans for Astrum?

We are focused on delivering what we promise. As long as we continue to do so, rest will follow. What is really exciting for me is that we are investing today in developing the quality of talent that will not only allow us to deliver our promise but also form the kernel of the future leadership of Astrum.

We plan to launch T.A.R.A (The Astrum Reputation Academy) in early 2016 with the focus on developing our in-house talent and a nine-month campus apprenticeship programme christened The Astrum Young Leaders Development Programme (AYLDP). Great talent will produce great work. That is my belieff.

7. Being a part of the communications industry for over two decades now, how do you see the PR industry shaping up?

Wow. Time has flown and this July I completed two decades in the industry! I am delighted to see it evolve from a nascent to a more mature industry. At Genesis, we led the way in making PR more organized, professional and Strategic. I can say that is true for the industry in general today. The coming of the global firms has brought best practices, international exposure and new thinking to the table, leaving very little choose one from the other.

Having said that, I believe the future will be ideas driven through mobile and digital platforms where medium could also become the message. Real People, Real Stories SHARED in a Real Way is the future of Public Relations. Understanding the drivers to human emotions & creating a compelling narrative is where science will provide the edge to creativity. This year, I saw a glimpse of the future during the judging the Cannes Entries as jury member.

In India, LTE will bring both data and device disruption rapidly and those who (clients and consultancies included) are not prepared for it will be marginalized. Talent development continues to be an area of concern for me, both organizations and professionals need to invest in continuing education to sharpen their skills to stay in the game. We will need to bridge the gap between the talk and the walk.

8.If you were to hire budding communications professionals, what would be the key attributes orqualities that you will be looking for?


Besides the technical skills that we may specifically look for, this is what we generally look for in an Astrum Counsellor:

• You are deeply committed to a career in reputation management
• You are able to synthesis complex problems into clear understanding
• You can write great copy in English and you are good public speaker
• You challenge the conventional and are entrepreneurial in getting things done
• You pay great attention to detail
• You are always hungry to learn and forever in pursuit of excellence
• You always put your team ahead of yourself
• You are apolitical and set the bar high in professional conduct and ethics
• You are not afraid of working with smarter and sharper colleagues
• You are not clock watcher and you can easily multi-task
• You work comfortably in a high-tech and a high-touch environment
• You are self-assured and dos not fear failure
• You always speak your mind while respecting the views of others
• You are multi-faceted and pursue your passions beyond work
• You celebrate diversity in age, gender, faith and culture

Anything else that you would like to share with us?

Thank you for the opportunity to invite me to share my views with the readers of Vikipedia. I wish Vikram and the team best of luck. Forum such as this, encourage discussion and debate and add to the body of knowledge in public relations which is the need of the hour. (By arrangement with

http://www.vikypedia.in/

)

PrezSpeak: PRCI hoists flag at Bombay University!

As we cross the 9,000 mark in the global page-views of PRapport, we have some more happy news to share.

The viewership in the US has crossed 4500 and in India 4000!

PRCI has successfully worked out a deal with Mumbai University’s Journalism department.

They have agreed in principle to actively participate in YCC not only by encouraging their students to join in, but to ask over 80 (yes E I G H T Y) colleges teaching mass media courses to start their own YCC activities.

To begin with, we will run a contest on our 10^th Global Communication Conclave theme – Digital Now; What Next – among all mass media students and pick up a 3-member team to be sent to Kolkata. Once we finalise the format, we can run similar exercises in journalism colleges across our Chapter cities and for a final team for YCC session at Kolkata.

I am sure, we can have students from at least Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kochi, apart from the host city Kolkata.

Mumbai University is planning to hold an all-India meet and asked for our involvement and support. PRCI will be partner. Our logo will go on all material, including mementos. The theme will mostly be ‘The Changing Trends in Communication’ and the plan is to involve media persons as well.

Mumbai University has also requested us to nominate people from our ‘Guest Faculty Pool’ for lectures time to time. No problem. We have enough and more people.

Finally, Mumbai University is oganising a workshop on Development Journalism for media educators from different government and private institutes, pan-India. It will be a virtual class room. You will be happy to know that your President – National Executive will anchor and be the Resource Person!

Meanwhile we had a group of BMM students from Tilak College (pictured)

to our office and we planted the idea of YCC in their minds.

Meanwhile, some hackers found it worthwhile to hack into our web site last week. We quickly detected and now had the site shut for a couple of days. Now its up and running.

Before I sign off, here is the customary stats table on PRapport. 

Pageviews by Countries

Entry	Pageviews
United States	4570
India	4004
Germany	198
United Kingdom	59
Hong Kong	55
Singapore	51
France	40
United Arab Emirates	24
Portugal	24
Spain	14

Till I have some breaking news....

Satyagraha to Storms in Parliament: Political Communication comes a long way

By S.Narendra

(Former Information Adviser to PM, Principal Information Officer &

Govt. Spokesperson)

Political communication, the oxygen of an open, functioning democracy like India, is at the present moment choked with vituperative confrontation. Te recent parliamentary proceedings and the TV debates have left much to be desired as far as the behaviour of our political leaders. The political institutions supposed to be dedicated for leading the healthy discussions at national and State capitals have become non-functional and alternative channels like media and social media have taken over. In this tit-for-tat era, it is instructive for students of communication like me to take a look at the evolution of political communication from the freedom movement to the present. I am sure, as you read, you will agree with me!

 

Political communication (PC) is the oxygen of a democracy like India. When it purposefully moves through the body politic, it will keep the heart and mind of the democratic polity healthy. It follows from the premise that the PC comes from many voices and in many hues, making the Indian democracy vibrant and colourful. One of the  most respected scholars on Political Science, Earnest Barker in Reflections on Government calls democracy as the revolution by consent. He pays a great tribute to India by reproducing the preamble to our Constitution as his Forward to another book of his. According to Barker, this preamble epitomises the best in western social and political theory that developed over three centuries. The preamble, along with the chapters on Fundamental Rights, (of which the rights to freedom of expression, practice of faith and profession, are critical parts), and the Directive Principles of State Policy set the framework for our political communication.

Charkha - symbol of the original political communication

The evolution of political communication in India runs parallel with the political development of India from the 18^th century. This background is essential for understanding PC. The inspiration for political communication and its broad socio-political agenda came from decades of freedom movement that preceded Independence. It initially addressed the elites of India at home and the political opinion makers in Britain. Leading intellectuals of the time  such as Gopalakrishna Gokhale and Srinivasa Shastri  adopted the British political communication styles and modes as they believed in changing the colonial rule while working from inside. In contrast, Balagangadhar Tilak and several others wanting to change the system while remaining outside of it, took a more strident stand. Tilak’s famous statement:’ Freedom is My Birth Right’ echoed in his newspaper Kesari, stands out and posed a direct political challenge to the British. With this began the political communication of confrontation. Gandhiji’s differed from Tilak in so far as the means for achieving this birth right. His peaceful civil disobedience, that set the tone for freedom struggle morphed into mass Satyagraha movement. This was a mission, a medium as well as a message all rolled into one. It galvanised the ordinary people who were recipients of political communication and became its messengers.

Wrapping PC  around symbols drawn from the common man’ s everyday life such as making of salt, making one’s own cloth from  Charkha and Khadi (to teach self -reliance), burning of British cloth (Swadeshi) for infusing national pride and arouse anger against colonial suppression of Indian enterprise were part of Gandhiji’s master stroke series! In an era when there was no media, the use of symbols (wearing the trade-mark lion cloth, half dhoti and displaying of bare chest, and symbolic acts like Dandi march, fasting, travelling by III class coaches, courting arrest, prayer meeting followed by discourse, Prabhat Pheris all became the political media and the message of  a mass movement.

Scholars’ Perspectives: The broad features PC adopted by leaders at this stage of India’s political development very tightly fits in with the definition of ‘political communication’ given by leading scholars on the subject. R.E Denton and G.C Woodward in their Political Communication in America characterise it as the ways and intentions of message senders to influence the political environment. Another view is that  the key  factor that makes communication ‘political’ is not the  source of a message, (sender and form of communication such as speeches, media coverage, ordinary citizens’ ‘talk’, public discussions) but its content and purpose. Another group of scholars emphasise the ‘strategic nature of political communication in which the role of persuasion in political discourse is critical. It is noteworthy that PC has to be ‘strategic’ strategic’ for influencing public knowledge, beliefs and action on politics. For some writers, PC covers verbal or written communication as well as visual representations such as dress (Gandhi cap, wearing of Khadi clothing, dhoti, by politicians), make –up, hairstyle (Indira Gandhi’s famous silver streak and wearing of simple sarees in public appearances) and party symbols and various other props to establish political identity. In PR terms, we call it as Image management.

Allow me to get into some nitty-gritty since its relevant in the context of current political communication scenario.

A writer regards strategic  political communication (SPC) as comprising ‘PC that is manipulative in intent, that utilises social scientific techniques and heuristic devices to understand human motivations, human behaviour and the media environment, to inform what should be communicated and what should be withheld, with the aim of taking into account and influencing public opinion, and creating strategic alliances and an enabling environment for the policies of the political establishment-at home and abroad. The PC that emanated from the freedom movement leaders stands up remarkably well to all the above cited academic frameworks and attributes  defining PC.

Initially, available media in the form of newspapers, pamphlets and widely publicised petitions to the Imperial government in London complemented the political campaign for gaining Indian representation in the governing system of India. Then came the trend of leaders of freedom movement like Gopalakrihna Goghale (The Maratha, Servants of India Soceity journal) and Balagangadha Tilak (Kesari) starting  their own news newspapers. Having one’s own communication vehicle also increased the political clout of such leader-publishers. Gandhiji’s Harijan and Navjeevan were not only his political instruments but also vehicles for propagating his social reform mission. If one glances through the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi running into more than one hundred volumes, he was an incessant writer of letters and most of them were loaded with political messages. Separately, publishers of newspapers in different languages arrived in support of the struggle for independence, especially after Gnadhiji took over its leadership. These newspaper owner–publishers were observers of the movement as reporters or even commentators. At the same time, they became participants in the freedom movement by making their newspapers as its  campaign vehicles. It was not usual for such owner-publishers to hitch their newspaper to one or the other leader. These publications came to be known as ‘nationalist newspapers’. Their credibility and influence (if not their circulation) grew in direct proportion to the government’s action to block them. It was not unusual for literate participants in the struggle to make a digest of news relating to the movement published in newspapers and circulate among the people who had no access to them. In my own house in Mysore, my elder brother and sister and their friends were engaged in this work. The word of mouth played a significant role in rallying the illiterate people.

Media’s Legacy: This ‘participatory role’  of Indian newspapers had a profound impact on the way the newspapers functioned, including  their content  in the first decade of independence. The newspapers could not shed their perspectives and orientation as less than critical followers of leaders. As Inder Malhotra, a senior journalist noted in a newspaper column that the newspapers adulation of leaders made them blind to the blind–spots of leaders who had now become rulers. If one examines the contents of newspapers of this period, they continued the practice of reproducing the speeches and statements of politicians and official press releases (the practice of printing verbatim Rastrapati Bhavan’s daily press notes of President’s engagements - an imperial legacy-  was stopped in 1972). Among the staff, political correspondents outnumbered the other reporters, causing heavy coverage of political news. Only a shock like the Indian army’s debacle in the Sino-Indian war of 1962 made them sit up, get out of their awe of erstwhile leaders of the freedom movement and  ask questions normally raised by journalists in a democracy. Of course, there were exceptions to this practice but such exceptions were drowned out by cheer-leaders. PC had to wait for many more years to emerge as communication for empowering citizenry to hold the rulers accountable. This clearly establishes that PC as a theme and its consequences for the evolution of economic and political policies deserves deeper academic studies.

Immortalised at Sabarmati

The Government Media: On the colonial government’s side, there were a few newspapers like the Statesman, Civil and Military Gazette and others.The government’s political communication translated many times into brutal action against the freedom movement, like incarceration of its leaders, mass lathi-charge and censorship of newspapers.

This action had twin effects. The first was the case for freedom emerged stronger, attracting an increased number of people into the struggle. The other was to make the political opinion in Britain to sit up in horror and search for a compromise. Not only the press in Britain but also the media in the US began to focus on the freedom struggle and the political communication, indirectly.

As and when the British government came up with constitutional reforms like Minto-Morley Reforms, later Montague and Chelmsford Reforms and the Cripps Mission, the government made efforts to put across its point of views through the official machinery. An Information department was created within the Home affairs department. The Indian involvement in the  first and second World Wars moved the  government to scale up its  information (propaganda) dissemination machinery .The radio, named AIR/Akashavani came in 1927 and acquired the tradition of working as the megaphone of the government. Ownership of radio sets was limited but as a novel electronic media wielded a great influence and increased the velocity of the word of mouth. The PR wing of the government-Press Information Bureau (PIB) was set up in mid-1930s. Its first chief J.Henessy in a first of its kind submitted an official report containing PIB’s performance to the government. In this meticulously compiled report, he tried to correlate the use of government money on PR and media relations with the output and impact. In table after table, he records the column centimetres of space gained in newspapers through press releases and other activates. Perhaps this was the first and the last such attempt by an official media unit to hold itself accountable to the money spent by it.

                   The author                 
         sunarendra@gmail.com  

The birth of official journals like the defence magazine Sainik Samachar (Ruskin Bond was associated with it), PIB and AIR during the Raj laid the foundations for the development of a larger official media system after Independence. The launch of five year plans for socio-economic development in 1952 moved the  government to expand this official ‘publicity’ set up with the addition of field publicity vans  for contact with the people, an advertising wing (DAVP), Song And Drama division for harnessing folk media, and the Publications Division for publishing books and official journals like Yojana, Kurukhetra (for publicising CD or Community development movement, an idea of S.K.Dey, a favourite of Nehru). Doordarshan made its appearance in 1959 but acquired momentum in 1970s with SITE experiment. While the official media machinery’s stated role was to spread awareness about development among the people for bringing about their participation in it, in practice they have been used by governments of all hues for political communication. The never ending  debate about their use and abuse by governments in office  is now part of political communication and electoral code of conduct for contestants in elections. (https//Spokesperson,blogspot)

Next: Post Independence Period.

PRCI Kerala Secy has new role - Heads ARSCK, launches Kerala Club Times

KOLLAM: Kerala Club Times, official Newsletter of the Association of Registered Social Clubs of Kerala (ARSCK) was officially released at a function held at Ramavarma Club, Kollam by the President T.Vinay Kumar.

Vinay Kumar, who is also the Secretary of Public Relations Council of India (PRCI), Kerala Chapter, handed over a copy of the publication to Adv. Philip Abraham, Secretary of  Ramavarma Club Alleppey (picturted).

Advt. Jacob A Panampunna, President of Rama Varma Club, Kollam, Association Secretary G. Anil Kumar, Co-ordinating Editor Advt. Jays John, Association Treasurer Josekutty Xavier are also seen in this picture.

Expect the unexpected! PRCI Chandigarh Chapter holds interactive session with professionals

CHANDIGARH: Over 30 members of the Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) participated in a highly interactive session on “What do corporates look for when selecting a PR Agency’ organized by the Chandigarh Chapter of PRCI at the Chandigarh Press Club.

PRCI Chandigarh Chapter Chairman Aneesh Bhanot
addressing the session

The Panelists included Mr. Priya Ranjan Vaid, Head, Public Relations, Internal Communication and CSR, Bharti Airtel Ltd and Ms. Ritu Nag, Head, Media and Communications, Max Hospital, Mohali. 

The session was moderated by Mr. Aneesh Bhanot while Ms. Renuka Salwan talked about the latest initiatives of PRCI.

I have a point, too! 

During the session, discussion took place on whether a corporate should hire a large, national agency or a boutique agency which focused on local geographies.

The plus and minus points of the various options were analysed and discussed in detail.

Mr. Priya Ranjan Vaid and Ms Ritu Nag then explained the various criteria and focus areas a corporate looks at when hiring a PR Agency.

They also gave their opinion on whether an external agency is required or if an Internal PR person can suffice and what is the right time for a company to opt for an external PR Agency.

According to Mr. Aneesh Bhanot, Chairman, PRCI Chandigarh Chapter, “The session was highly informative and helped upgrade the knowledge and skills of the PR fraternity. It would help the PR industry to grow and develop further in the region in a structured, professional manner.”

Highly attentive delegates at the session Expectations from PR!

From FDI ‘threat’ to Bhujia to ‘Pepsi Tomatoes’ in Parliament!

• Mule in a Turf Club-IV
• A Communicator’s experience - Licence Raj to Economic Reforms

This TVC just about sums up PEPSI story in the reforms saga!

By S.Narendra

(Former Information Adviser to PM, Principal Information Officer

and Government Spokesperson)

Continuing the series ‘Mule in a Turn Club’ on challenges faced by communication machinery during the transition from License Raj to Reforms and how one dealt with stubborn officials and politicians when some sections feared that FDI would mean direct threat to homemade Bhujia...

If we want to eat bhujia  with  our meals as a side dish  or mix it with  ‘Bhelpuri’ or just munch, we go to a corner ‘Halwai’ shop or a ‘Kirana’ shop,  tear off a  packet with the  salty stuff dangling  from   a string of air-tight packets. Often the packet bears the familiar names like Haldiram, Bikanerwala or MTR. No one in India had imagined in 1990s  that some Indian  city specific ‘Halwais’ would become international brands with a huge range of packed ready-to-eat food stuff successfully competing with MNCs like PEPSI. It may sound strange when I recall that in 1992, our Parliament was discussing a dire threat to the Indian Bhujia coming from FDI .

Another East India Company?: India seems to have begun her economic development journey with a deep suspicion of  foreign  firms, especially MNCs. This was somewhat natural because the nation was fighting off its memories of an exploitative East India Company that had morphed into a colonial empire that had systematically underdeveloped its colonies. Mrs Indira Gandhi had launched an all out fight against transnational or multi-national corporations painting them as predators. PEPSI  that had entered Punjab in 1988-89  as a joint venture  with Indian firms such as Voltas and RPG group ,with  promises of  2,50,000 jobs in militancy –hit Punjab itself and an equal number outside,  but  reneged on its  promises. The political system reacted adversely when P.V.Narasimha Rao government liberlaised the FDI guidelines and FIPB was discussing the PEPSI proposal to up its investment to $100 million and diversify its operations  from selling sweet bottled water to food processing,

On the one side, the government was  desperately trying to attract foreign investment by  mounting   road shows for foreign investors,  and simultaneously assuring  the domestic political  and public opinion that it would allow only such foreign investment that does not hurt Indian businesses. Ironically, the sections that were bitterly opposed to FDI were twitting the government that it had nothing to show as FDI one year after liberalizing the economy. The government was looking upon this as an ‘anchor’ investment in the sense that once a transnational corporate like PEPSI show confidence in India, the move could encourage other biggies  to follow suit. The Opposition parties along with some business houses had picked PEPSI’s plans to introduce Bjujia as the ordinary person was familiar with it and, therefore, his (or her) ire could be aroused .  

PEPSI Public Affairs in Play: As per a study by a management school alumni, there were 20 Parliament debates spread over half a decade, and  monumental PR campaign, including  a rare concession by a powerful PEPSI to alter its brand name to Lehar PEPSI. India was not yet allowing foreign brand names. The company’s ‘public affairs’ was working overtime to win its sub-continental  game. This  strategic public affairs campaign  was  moving on three fronts  but had kept the rich and large  ‘contract farmers’,  as its core ( Indian land ceiling law  was a hindrance  to  food processing companies like PEPSI  that wanted to  partner with and procure  from single or  few farm producers. This was overcome by ‘contract farming’.  It had engaged the contract farmers through agricultural extension work including provision of seeds and farm technology for growing imropved varieties of Tamatoes, chillies, potatoes and other farm produce needed for its pizza hut and other eateries. PEPSI also claimed that it was offering remunerative prices to contract farmers. By initially making the Punjab government’s Agro –Industries Corporation as partner, it had co-opted the state government, with the approval of the centre. P.M. Sinha   as  CEO of its Indian arm was keeping the government in good humour. At the other end, through aggressive market research, PEPSI had reached out to the young consumers as well as a long supply chain of service providers, transporters, small and big retail outlets). The MNC had organised regular visits by MPs, MLAs and media to contract farms in Punjab. In its own business interest PEPSI had effectively implemented a very successful CSR (of sorts).

PEPSI Tomatoes in Parliament:  Of the dozens of debates on PEPSI controversy that took place in Parliament, the one in 1992 was remarkable for the turnaround in the political fortunes of  PEPSI. When members from the left and BJP were attacking the government for allowing PEPSI to enlarge its operations, the Parliament members from Punjab rose in unison to counter the criticism. Some of them even produced in the  House the new varieties of Tomatoes, chillies they  were growing with assistance from PEPSI to support their argument that  PEPSI FDI was in the  long term interest of farmers. Suddenly, the debate was no longer between the  opposition and the government but was between the members of the House. In a moment, the technological benefits accruing to a backward traditional sector like agriculture from FDI got showcased. And, all the other sins of commission and omission from the PEPSI venture thus far were forgotten. When PEPSI enters a territory you can expect   Coca Cola and its  McDonalds to follow. And,20 years down the line, its  tag line ‘Dil Mange More’ has  become a  common expression. its present international CEO Indra Nooyi  presents PEPSI India as one of the most profitable arms, with sizable export earnings.

In the  first wave of liberalisation, the  government was careful to assure that FDI would be allowed only in limited number of sectors and certain sectors including defence were designated as “strategic’ and no FDI was permitted and yet the government  faced fierce opposition. FDI in media was an anathema then. Contrast this with 2014, when NDA government announced FDI in defence and Railways,. there was not even a murmur of protest.

A Budget Surprise: Outside the government there is an incorrect  impression that the prime minster and the cabinet would be privy to all major budget annoucnements. The reality is that the cabinet, sometimes even PM ,come to know of the  key budget  proposals an hour or two  before the presentation of the  budget in Parliament. Mrs Gandhi as PM did not know that her finance minister,  Morarji Desai, would propose to bring agriculture under the wealth tax in his 1967 budget. As Morarji Desai was concluding his budget presentation, she passed on a chit to him to withdraw it. In 1992, budget of  Dr.Manmohan Singh, there was an announcement to cut subsidies to DAP (nutrient) fertilisers and reduction in the price of Urea by 10%.The PM was taken unawares. That evening, the then agriculture minister.  Balram Jhakkar, threatened to quit.

At this time around, the farm sector was on the decline decline. The opposition, particularly BJP, had initiated a grapevine campaign that If India enters the World Trade Organisation, farmers would not be able  grow their own seeds. Widespread disquiet was   spreading against Rao’s  steps to reorient the economy to come to terms with market forces. The small cut in fertiliser subsidy , was both untimely and  impolitic as this  played into the hands of opponents of reforms who were already proclaiming the government to be pro-business and  anti-farmers and anti-poor.

This situation required some deft handling at the  political  level by the prime minister. He cleverly set up a committee under an MP belonging to the left parties to review the fertiliser subsidy and bought time. This also bailed out the finance minister who was in a hurry to cut all subsidies for reducing the budget deficit, as required under the IMF/World bank terms. In the meanwhile, on the communication front, as head of DAVP and concurrently being the government Spokesperson,  I  had to equivocate a lot for a while. I delayed publication of any print material on the subject until the concerned department gave me clear answers to a list of key questions that I had submitted. The Parliament committee report on fertiliser subsidy that came months   later led diluted the Budget proposals and a larger political consensus on the subsidy issue.

Reforms With a Human Face; Prime Minister Rao was criticised as a ‘reluctant reformer’ for not supporting some drastic reforms like conversion of the  Indian Rupee on capital account. He was also damned as a ‘populist’ for steeply enhancing spending on Rural Development and introducing several schemes like centrally funded school midday meal, Targetted Public Distribution, Group Insurance for farmers and the poor,  Employment Assuracne scheme for agricultural and migrant labour, a $500 million National Renewal Fund for retraining workers affected by disinvestment or downsizing  of PSUs and many others.

Narasimha Rao was  first one in PMO to have faced the political dilemmas of an economic reformer in a transitional society and  an economy with people at  several economic levels. He was under pressure from his own finance minister who was pressing for faster market orientation of the economy with its  greater integration with the  global scenario. While offering full political backing  to  Dr. Singh,  and  commerce minister P.Chidmabaram, the prime minister chose to cede the title of ‘reformers’ to  these gentlemen, while he set out to address the larger constituency of the poor and the disadvantaged who were likely to bear immediate costs of  economic changes. As he explained to me, this was not due to electoral compulsions alone but a genuine concern for large sections of fellow citizens who could be left behind by market forces. In his own  words, reforms must be ‘calibrated’ to suit each politico-economic situation in order to make them sustainable.

As mentioned in the previous article, he used the AICC session held at Tirupati in April,1992 for propounding his view that the government will take on a new role on behalf of people who are outside the market forces. He accepted my suggestion to use Gandhiji’s description of the disadvantaged as Daridranarayan who would become the government’s main concern.

Reforms with a Human face: Giving a briefing to me and his junior minister for Rural Development, Rameshwar Thakur, for ‘publicity’, the prime minister told us that our job was to convince the rural India  and the poor that the government was not about to abandon them. He said that he wanted to create a ‘social safety net’ that was to be the main focus of our publicity. Rao also gave the title to this campaign as  Reforms with a Human Face. That message was to be woven into all his public speeches.

Following such  instructions, I   travelled  to states frequently to get a firsthand account of the progress of  pro-poor schemes and arrange for human interest stories that could be used in TVCs and advertising campaigns.  There were more than 60 odd schemes spread over several ministries with low disposition to  officiai information. It was also a fact that very often they did not possess the latest information and were unfamiliar with the  requirements of  a  sustained campaign. We began to compile   a monthly report of progress  of schemes and  sent out our own teams  for gathering human interest stories which could be used in  media.  My orgationisation, PIB,   had earmarked funds for arranging  group or individual media persons field visits. My advantage was that the PM was not put off by media reports of misuse of government schemes and he took them as vital feedback. However, his worry was that the states were using the central schemes for deriving political benefit but the blame of ineffective implementation of programmes was laid at his door. This was a political problem that had to be dealt through political communication whi h was failing. In order to make the village Panchayats aware of the funds available for various schemes in their jurisdiction, we tried to use village walls as media but it needed local cooperation.

  The author                 
         sunarendra@gmail.com    

My attempts to introduce fellowships for interested media persons in reporting social and rural development   got caught up in bureaucratic red- tape. For the first time, we organised a three-day Social Development Conference for Media by inviting representatives from all ovber the country for interaction with policy makers in Delhi. This first attempt clearly showed that regional mediapersons’ professional inadequacy in reporting social change issues. As such change takes place over time, it was not breaking news. Both Doordarshan and Radio, as a result, became the principal vehicles for mounting programmes on such vexed themes. As audiences began to access satellite channels and other media, such public service programmes on official channels made the latter less and less popular. Communication is politics in the sense that it tries to influence people in one way or the other and the practitioner can be surprised by unintended outcomes from his efforts.

All in all, the communication attempted for the human face of reforms left us with mixed results. Writing about my experiences now in 2015, make me wonder about the political fortunes of Chandrababu Naidu, the new AP CM,  who is re-enacting a Narasimha Rao act; and, so also that of the present Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is projecting pro-poor stance, shedding his label as a pro-business CEO of Gujarat. 

(www.https//Spokesperson.blogspot)