Architect of Innovations

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, is spearheading India towards industry 5.0. He believes that the economic or industrial growth of a country is only possible if it is supported by good logistic and infrastructure. He has been the architect of many state-of-the-art innovations in the field of roadways and highways.

Led by a ‘Nation First’ attitude, Nitin Gadkari has worked towards cutting the cost of infrastructure projects without compromising on quality. To help India reduce its massive crude oil import bill, he is working to strengthen the ecosystem for alternate fuels such as ethanol, methanol, and others that can be made from domestically available resources and help farmers increase their incomes. The achievements of the honourable minister are many. In his talk as chief guest at the recently held convocation ceremony at Sri Balaji University, Pune (SBUP), he inspired the students and dignitaries gathered through his futuristic approach and uncanny ability to bring to fruition seemingly impossible projects. Corporate Citizen brings you excerpts from his talk

Investment made in education is investment in building the future of a country. And knowledge is the greatest power in the 21st century. The conversion of knowledge into wealth is the future

- Nitin Gadkari,
Union Minister for Road Transport andRoad Transport and HighwaysHighway

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, speaks on education, environment, infrastructure, entrepreneurship and more.

Knowledge is the greatest power in the 21st century

Certainly, you have the potential to become officers and CEOs of many companies in the country. And I am certain that you will all do great work in different sectors of society in the future. Investment made in education is investment in building the future of a country. And knowledge is the greatest power in the 21st century. Innovation, entrepreneurship, technology, science, research skills, and successful practices, all come under knowledge. The conversion of knowledge into wealth is the future. The power that you have gained in your chosen subject today will definitely shape the country’s future tomorrow.

Another important philosophy that I strongly believe in is that no one is wasted, and no material is waste. It depends on the use of appropriate technology and an appropriate vision of the leadership that helps you to convert waste into wealth. That is why, the knowledge that you have gained here, the instruction, enlightenment and morals that you have received would have developed your sense of duty, leadership, and personality. And this is very important

Now there’s quality education

When I inquired about the number of private universities in Pune that impart such quality education, I was told that there are 14 such institutions. There was a time when there were only government run universities. But gradually there has been an exponential increase in the number of renowned universities with good ratings in the private sector as well. People are now well aware of the kind of quality education being imparted in these universities.

Education must reach all people, this much is a given. It must be omnipresent and at the same time its quality should be maintained.

When I was serving as a young Vidhayak in the Government of Maharashtra, I was part of a committee constituted to make a report on the condition of primary, secondary and higher secondary education in the State and submit the report to the government. After touring through the state for 15-20 days we returned to Mumbai. I told our chairperson that our report could be written in just four sentences. He asked ‘How’s that possible?’ and I replied, “Where there was a school building, there were no teachers; where there were teachers, there was no building; where both building and teachers were available, there were no students; and where there were all three, there was no education.”

Entrepreneurship is very important

I have been an average student. I used to play cricket and was a student leader and hence my focus on studies was less. In those days, Matriculation was in the 11th standard. I was eager to become an engineer. But I had scored 52 per cent overall. In science stream subjects, my score was 49 per cent and I couldn’t secure a seat in engineering as it was mandatory to score above 50 per cent in science subjects. Sometimes, it makes me laugh that I have been awarded honorary degrees from four universities in Maharashtra. I told them that it was awkward that they were presenting me with these degrees when I could not secure an engineering seat by myself. One degree was presented to me by Panjabrao Deshmukh Agricultural University, one was from Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, one from Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad, and the fourth one was from Nanded University. Three of these are related to Agricultural Science.

I always maintain that an institute of management is very important, and human resources are very important. But most important of all is the institute of entrepreneurship. And your appropriate vision, your political will, and your strong commitment play a very important role in entrepreneurship. And Pune has taught me this well.

We import fossil fuels worth Rs 17 Lakh Crores. How to reduce our imports and increase our exports will be the most important thing to achieve for Atmanirbhar Bharat. Within ecology and environment, waste to wealth assumes special importance

Tryst with Dhirubhai Ambani

When I was a minister in the Maharashtra government, I was given the onerous responsibility of constructing the Mumbai-Pune Express Highway. Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani was the head of Reliance at that time. Reliance had submitted the lowest tender for the project, at Rs 3600 crores. Legally, the lowest bidder should have been given the contract. But my conscience told me that this project could be done with Rs 1800 Cr and Rs 3600 Cr was an overpriced quote. Obviously, everyone from Balasaheb Thackeray to Pramod Mahajan told me that if legally the proceedings were correct, why was I opposing it? I told them that this project could be completed at half the price. When I did not sign the tender, it finally got rejected. Mr. Dhirubhai was also quite perturbed saying that in spite of being the lowest, their tender got rejected. He asked, how would I make the road, it was not the job of the government. I was quiet for a while but then I couldn’t contain myself anymore. So I told him that if I was not able to construct the road I would shave off my moustache. But if I was able to make this road then what would he do? I slipped away from the conversation after a while.

Where there’s a will....

Having rejected the tender process, I created the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Limited (MSRDC) and formulated a plan to construct the road. I had come to Pune, and the construction work was to begin shortly. There was a press meet arranged at the Patrakar Bhavan in Pune. After the entire presentation on the highway project was done, there was a question-answer session. There was a very renowned journalist, Mr. Prakash Kardaley, Resident Editor, The Indian Express, Pune. He asked me very politely, “Mr. Gadkari, how much money do you have?” To which I replied that I had Rs 5 Cr. He asked how much would the road cost, and I said Rs 1800 Cr. “How much time would it take?” “Two years,” was my reply. He laughed and asked, do you politicians expect us to write whatever you say? I said, “No.”. He said you have Rs 5 Cr, you have rejected a tender of Rs 3600 Cr, and you say that the project will be done in Rs 1800 Cr, how do you expect us to believe you? So, I said to him. “If there is a will, there is a way. And if there is no will, then there is only survey, seminar, discussion, committee, and sub-committee.” I escaped the rhetoric that day but I was happy that after two years the road was complete, it cost only Rs 1600 Cr and saved the government Rs 2000 Crore.

Pat from Dhirubhai Ambani

And when this expressway work was going on, Mr. Dhirubhai invited me for lunch. He was a very large-hearted man. Mukesh and Anil were also there. This was a few years before his death. As we all sat down for lunch, he said, “Nitin, I’ve lost, and you have won.” I said, “It’s not like that, I’m like your son, it’s only your blessings that helped me to undertake the project.” He said, “I have a wish; I am the son of a simple schoolmaster, yet I have earned so much respect and credibility in life that if I want to, I can put together Rs 5000-6000 Cr in a few hours. I am no more worried about myself or my family. I care about my country. I have been keeping a watch over your work since I didn’t think that you would be able to achieve this. However, you are doing splendid work, I saw from the airplane. If we have more people like you in the country, we can hope to have a bright future for India. My felicitations to you.”

Later Mr. Dhirubhai told me that there was a hospital in the name of his mother being constructed near the old Mumbai-Pune Highway. He wished that I could inaugurate the hospital. I told him that it would be an honour and asked him about the date for the same. He told me that it was scheduled to be inaugurated on Dussehra festival day. I told him that we have an important Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) programme on Dussehra and have never missed it since childhood. He said, “Don’t worry, when will the programme finish?” I said, “At 10 o’clock”. He said his airplane would pick me up, I could come to the venue to attend the function, have lunch and by 5 pm. would be back at Nagpur. I came, and left after attending the programme.

We need people who get things done

Later when our government was not in power, I was the Leader of the Opposition. Vilas rao Deshmukh was the Chief Minister and Chhagan Bhujbal the Deputy Chief Minister. During that time, Bill Clinton, then President of USA had visited the Bombay Stock Exchange. Narayan Rane and I were the Leaders of the Opposition and therefore we also attended the event. It was a very small hall. Mr. Clinton finished his speech and he felicitated Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani. At that time, Dhirubhai called me over and introduced me to Mr. Clinton, and said, “Meet Nitin! He is like my son and he is the man behind all the flyovers and other construction you see in Mumbai today.” He also mentioned the Worli-Bandra sea link. He blessed me and praised me generously before Mr. Clinton. He had no qualms about the fact that he could not get the contract to build those roads. He was rather happy that eventually the roads were built. That was also an indication of his large-heartedness.

I would like to say that a strong political will is very important. Back in the day, Balasaheb Thackeray gifted me an acrylic sheet with a sentence written on it. I still have that gift with me. It says, “I like people who can get things done.”

There is no dearth of experts in our country who can analyse and tell you why a particular work is not getting completed. But how to get it done? How to overcome the hurdles and accomplish a particular task? That is where the role of a strong political will comes into play. Knowledge is important and resources are also important. But a strong political will and commitment are equally important. I strongly believe that a financial audit is very important but a performance audit is far more important than a financial audit. No one is perfect and no one can claim that he is perfect. Knowledge alone cannot bring perfection. Knowledge is undoubtedly very important, but certain matters require teamwork. You need the strength to bulldoze your way through these challenges. As an individual, you may be a very sharp, intelligent, and qualified. But how to get things done together with others as a team is also equally important.

"There is no dearth of experts in our country who can analyse and tell you why a particular work is not getting completed. But how to get it done? How to overcome the hurdles and accomplish a particular task? That is where the role of a strong political will comes into play"

Inspiring Big B

About a month back, we were shooting a programme on road safety for TV18. I was with Mr. Amitabh Bachchan throughout the day. A small boy from among the attendees stood up and shared his thoughts with us. Mr. Bachchan had been given some dialogues to be delivered. He was not comfortable saying that to a small boy. I was touched by his simplicity, grace, humility, modesty, and respect toward others. So, knowledge is essential. But you see, knowledge, wealth, and power, these traits can lead to ego and arrogance in a person. But qualities like humility, courteous conduct, elegance, decency, simplicity, compassion, tolerance, spontaneity, kindness, and empathy are like ornaments that help to beautify or enhance one’s personality.

So, how to develop this team spirit and teamwork once you land in your respective roles at senior levels? The importance of knowledge cannot be underestimated, but the human relationship between two people is also of great importance. Your empathy, compassion, and thoughtfulness towards your subordinates are very important.

There is a mathematical equation that you all must have studied. It goes like this, “The work done by a person A is A squared and the work done by a person B is B squared. So, the total work done is equal to A plus B the whole squared. And the answer to this equation is A squared plus B squared plus 2 times AB. This denotes work achieved when you work together as a team. Twice AB is a result of collective team spirit.

The feeling of oneness

I would like to share one of my experiences. This was when the expressway road was not there and the construction work was going on in the wilderness of the Lonavala-Khan-dala forest area. In those days, there were not many amenities or infrastructure available for the workers. Naturally, they had to face a lot of hardship working there. There was an executive engineer on the site. Once when I was visiting the site, he asked me if we could provide him with a mobile phone, so that he would be able to connect with us, as he was located so far off. He was absolutely right. I went back to my office and informed the department about the requirement for a mobile phone. My financial advisor informed me that we could not buy a mobile phone using government funds. I was in a fix as I could understand the difficulties the engineer was facing. Finally, I bought him a mobile phone with my own money. That man had tears in his eyes. These people working at different lower levels in an organisation give their best when they realise that you are treating them as humans with equally compelling needs and wants. You should have a kind and compassionate attitude towards them.

Just by using power derived from rank, money, or authority, you can only achieve that much. Respect should not be demanded; respect should be commanded. If you deserve it, you will certainly get it.

Character is defined as one’s behaviour in the dark. Your behaviour in public life is nothing but a charade. Your conduct while you are away from the public eye denotes your true character

Your conduct denotes your character

So, the answer to ‘How to get work done?’ lies in your relationship with your subordinates. I am a political leader. Along with one of my friends, I visited the house of a political leader sometime back. We could hear the sound of cups and saucers while we were waiting for him in the living room. He was having tea inside, but he never offered us. That made me wonder how this person gives so many long speeches about noble causes for society and love for the nation and he hasn’t even offered us tea. That would be a typical common man’s reaction. Had he offered us even half of the tea he was having, we would have perceived an entirely different image of him based on his actions. These are the small but very important things based on our behaviour in our personal life, business life, social life, political life, and professional life. And character is defined as one’s behaviour in the dark. Your behaviour in public life is nothing but a charade. Your conduct while you are away from the public eye denotes your true character. This is the most important key in your life.

Knowledge alone will not help you succeed in life. It can help you to get a job and get power and status in life. But what kind of person are you? How is your conduct and behaviour with your seniors, your subordinates, etc? How is your demeanour when you are interacting with others? What is your personality and character like? Are you kind, gentle, compassionate, and empathetic towards other human beings? All these traits do make a difference. If you think that you are a topper and a distinction holder, so are scores of other people. What differentiates you from them are your human qualities, conduct, and demeanour. To become an efficient leader in your field, you must consider inculcating these qualities in your personality besides your knowledge and expertise.

Let not Atmanirbhar stay a dream

I would like to share a small thing with you. We have so many different kinds of people in our country. Different castes, different attires, however we are still one nation. Our country is made up of different socio-economic characteristics. The income of our agriculture and allied sector is 12% of GDP, manufacturing sector is 22 to 24% and that of the services sector is 52-54 %. What I want to tell you here is that unless this 12% goes above 24%, the dream of an Atmanirbhar Bharat will be very distant. It is imperative to bring technology into the rural, agricultural, and tribal India, where poverty, hunger and unemployment are rampant, and empower it to create employment potential and opportunities for development and growth.

Till such time water, power, transport and communication, industry will not grow. With industry, comes capital investment. All these lead to employment potential. Therefore, without industry and investment, there will be no job opportunities and without job opportunities, there will be no growth of per capita income and GDP. And without these two it is impossible to eradicate poverty.

Turn waste to gold

Technology can be of different types, but I want to talk to you about ‘need-based technology’. We must know what our needs are, what raw material is available, and what waste material is available. As I said before, waste material is also a strength. You would be surprised to know that Nagpur sells sewage water to the Maharashtra government for Rs 300 Cr., every year. When I first suggested to our Mayor, Anil Sole, that we will sell the sewage water, he would not believe me. I said everything is possible and now Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) buys water from us for its Koradi and Khaparkheda thermal power plants for Rs 300 Cr.

With regard to solid waste-to segregate it from sewage water, rooftop solar can be used. Segregated solid plastic waste can be turned into fuel. Organic waste can be put in a bio-digester to create methane and from it, we can extract green hydrogen or CNG. But in the creation of green hydrogen, there is an incurred cost of power to the tune of approximately 70 per cent. If we can provide power at the rate of Rs 2.60 per unit, then we will be able to sustainably extract green hydrogen from sewage water which will run scooters, cars, buses, trucks, industry, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, everything.

The economy is important, as is the ecology and environment. We need to work on new solutions which are cost effective, pollution free. There are opportunities everywhere. People can turn problems into opportunities

Greenfuel to counter pollution

Green hydrogen is the most important technology amongst futuristic technologies. We import fossil fuels worth Rs 17 Lakh Crores. How to reduce our imports and increase our exports will be the most important thing to achieve for Atmanirbhar Bharat, and those will be the first steps towards us becoming a super-economic power. The pollution situation is very grim today. The three most important pillars of society are ethics, economy, ecology and environment. Within ecology and environment, waste to wealth assumes special importance. And if you all foray into this field, there is great potential for profit.

There is a shortage of semi-conductors that are needed in the automobile sector as well. The total size of our automobile industry is Rs 7.5 lakh crores, and this industry brings in the maximum GST to both central and state governments. It has given 4.5 crore jobs, and a lot of exports. All reputed automobile brands, barring a few, are from India. I visited Pune and I launched the Mercedes’ Electric Car, Blue Energy’s LNG Truck, Bajaj E-scooter, and also went to Bangalore and launched the TVS E-scooter. There are around 400 start-ups working on E-scooters. And that’s why I feel technology and research are very important. Proven technology is also very important along with economic viability. If there is no profitability there is no use for the product. Proven technology, economic viability, availability of raw material, and marketing of the finished product - only when these unite can you reach your goal. There will be many such projects which will be important for our country’s development.

We need to work on new solutions

Major countries, including European and American are making deals with India. We have huge opportunities. If we take those opportunities, back them up with technology, take a look at whatever is needed to be imported worldwide and research on it, it will be beneficial for us. It will generate wealth and employment, and the country will progress. Agriculture, rural, and tribal sectors offer huge scope as a means of availability of raw material. In Vidarbha, where many farmers committed suicide, we set up 1,500 wells, rivers were cleaned and repaired, so it is now “Gaon ka paani gaon mein, khet ka paani khet mein, ghar ka paani ghar mein”. If everyone tries to plant even one tree each, our country’s ecology will change.

The economy is important, as is the ecology and environment. We need to work on new solutions which are cost effective, pollution free. There are opportunities everywhere. People can turn problems into opportunities and opportunities into problems. Education and knowledge both are important, but it is not necessary that an educated person will be a good person, humanity for mankind is very important too. I wish all of you do the same.