K C Chakrabarty: Transitioning from student to professional lives - some
reflections
Convocation address by Dr K C Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India,
at the V.V. Vanniaperumal College for Women, Virudhunagar, 24 March 2013.
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Assistance provided by Shri Suddhasattwa Ghosh in preparation of this address is gratefully acknowledged.
1. Dr. M. Narendra, CMD, Indian Overseas Bank; Dr. (Smt.) P. Selvameenakshi,
Principal, V.V. Vanniaperumal College for Women; Shri S.M.S. Manickavasagam, Secretary
and Smt. M.M.N Jikki Mathavan, Joint Secretary, V.V. Vanniaperumal College for Women
Managing Board; distinguished members of the audience and dear students! It is, indeed, a
great honour and pleasure to be here in your midst today to deliver the Convocation Address
at this college of eminent credentials. I am proud of the fact that I have been handed this
opportunity to deliver this convocation address at a college, which was inaugurated by one of
the leading freedom fighters and statesmen of our times - Bharat Ratna Hon. K. Kamaraj,
someone whom I deeply admire. The academic excellence achieved by your college over the
past five decades is a glowing tribute to the vision of the man who introduced free mid-day
meal scheme in schools and free education up to 11th standard for poor children during the
1950s.
2. To be amongst bright young students is always a refreshing and feel-good
experience and whenever such an opportunity comes up, I quite look forward to it. Let me
begin by congratulating all the students of the College who have successfully graduated in
their respective academic disciplines and are receiving their degrees today. Convocations
are special as they simultaneously signify both - a conclusion as also a commencement.
They logically conclude a formal learning exercise and hence, provide an occasion for relief,
fulfilment and joy for the graduating students as well as the faculty members. They are,
however, even more special, because they commence a lifelong informal learning as
graduates step out into the University of the World - step out with dreams, hopes and
expectations into the terra incognita of life. In our days, when we passed out, it was not a
dream but a nightmare, because of the difficulty in getting employment. Though over time,
considerable employment opportunities have come up across various sectors, especially the
services sector, finding a fulfilling job remains as big a challenge as ever. However, I am
confident that this venerable institution has prepared you to face and surmount all challenges
that life throws at you. I am privileged to share this special day with a bright set of
youngsters, who, I hope, would turn out to be the highly successful financial and social
entrepreneurs of the future.
3. This Convocation ceremony marks a major milestone in your career. It not only
indicates the culmination of the hard work you have put in over the years, but also marks
your transition from students to professionals. I know only too well the time, effort and
dedication that are needed to acquire such important academic qualifications. I would also
like to take this opportunity to congratulate members of your families who are present here
on this very important day in your lives. I am sure they have contributed greatly to your
success and fully share your moment of glory. You should always remember that, but for the
support and love of your parents and families and the dedication and commitment of your
faculty members here, it would not have been possible for you to reach this milestone in your
lives.
4. In a country like ours, education is not only the key to a brighter future; it is, often,
also a key to survival. Using education as a primary strategy, our visionaries and pioneers
have aimed to harness, particularly the potential of girls and women, to learn, lead and act on
their vision of change for themselves, their families, their communities and the nation. Pandit
Nehru famously remarked, "You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of
its women". The Beijing Declaration at the Fourth World Conference on Women (1995) noted
that, "Women's empowerment and their full participation on the basis of equality in all
spheres of society, including participation in the decision-making process and access to
power, are fundamental for the achievement of equality, development and peace". In India,
there has been a perceptible increase in literacy rate amongst women from 53.67 per cent
(Census 2001) to 65.46 per cent (Census 2011). However, there is still a large gender gap in
literacy at 16.68 per cent which needs to be bridged. In this context, it is extremely gratifying
to note that your College has been doing a remarkable work in empowering women of this
region by providing them access to quality higher education ever since its inception about
half a century ago. I am glad to learn that this institution has received the Best Women's
College Award consecutively for the last seven years. However, let me hasten to remind that
such accolades place even greater responsibility upon the college, its teachers,
administrators and students to work harder and keep up the good name of this august
institution.
5. For years, women in India have almost silently supported the stability of our
society's cultural institutions and the continuities and consistencies of their ethos. However,
today, the contours of the world we live in are changing dramatically. The space for growing
up and living has new co-ordinates. Educated, armed with knowledge and skills, women are
entering in a big way the world of occupation, career, profession, competition and
achievements in their own right and are creating a space where the emphasis is on
expressing themselves and being accepted as independent, autonomous beings.
6. Our women are now more confident about their ability to discover and identify their
personal capabilities as also to discover a vision of life beyond that defined by social
structures and the network of relationships. Today, they encounter the possibility of creating
a world beyond their visible horizons and boundaries.
7. Empowerment of women, gender discrimination and violence against women have
become subjects of serious public discourse as also sociological research in India in recent
times. Several attempts have been made through the years to study the status of women in
India and these studies have clearly brought out that the participation rates of women in
economic activities are very low. The Draft 12th Five Year Plan document released in
December 2012 has noted that there has been a consistent decline in workforce participation
rate (WPR) of women since 1980s but the decline seems to have accelerated between
2004-05 and 2009-10. The decline in female labour force participation has occurred in both
rural and urban areas, though the decline is much sharper in rural compared to urban areas.
8. The Human Development Report, 2013 presents the Gender Inequality Index, which
is a parameterized indicator of the inequality in status and opportunities for the women in the
population. Its assessment is based on three parameters viz. Labour Market, Empowerment
and Reproductive Health. It is disappointing to note that on the status of gender inequality,
the report places India at a lowly 132, which is a fall of three positions from the previous
report. Our ranking on gender inequality is in stark contrast to our claims to being a
progressive society and a developing nation. It brings into sharp focus the urgent need to
implement effective measures for quickly reversing this position. Each one of us, cutting
across professions and positions in life, have an important role to play in making this
transformation.
9. Prior to independence, the gender divide within our labour force was an accepted
norm. Especially since the 1970s, scholars and activists have challenged the inequalities that
had been established and have fought to reverse them. These inequalities included unequal
wages for women, relegation of women to unskilled spheres of work, and restricting women
as a reserve army for labour. These scholars and activists have also sought to focus on
class-consciousness in this discourse, recognizing the inequalities not just between men and
women but also within social structures such as caste, tribe, language, religion, region or
class. In recent years, the focus of such deliberations has gone beyond treating women as
useful members of society and now also focuses on empowering them to decide the course
of their personal lives and the right of self-determination. I am glad that the
V.V. Vanniaperumal College is playing a transformational role by churning out a
knowledgeable and empowered lot of women year after year, who can claim their rightful
place under the sun.
10. Lack of education and empowerment of women is also reflected in the extent of
disparity between the proportion of financially excluded men and women. That women in
India are much more financially excluded than the men is evident from the fact that as of
March 2011, only 21 per cent of total bank deposit accounts were held by women and these
accounted for just about 12 per cent of the total volume of deposits. Similarly, women availed
only 18 per cent of the total small credit from banks in 2011. Therefore, initiatives to
empower women should, necessarily, include strategies to link them to the formal financial
system by providing them access to deposit and credit accounts.
11. However, considering the centrality of banks to the nation's economic order, their
role in women empowerment cannot be restricted merely to linking them to the formal
financial system. The banking and finance sector in India has emerged as a significant
employer of women, though related data suggests that there is still tremendous scope for
improving their presence in this sector. The financial sector, in specific, requires its
employees to possess traits of passion, conviction and compassion that the women display
in abundance. The sense of empathy and understanding that the women possess enables
them to earn respect and acceptability of their co-workers. Expert studies highlight that
women are more adapt in dealing with concerns of employees, shareholders and customers.
They are not only good at collating and combining information, their better intuitive abilities
also helps them to make informed decisions. As leaders, the women bring in an environment
of strength, confidence, inclusiveness and trust. It is no wonder then that women have risen
remarkably to the top in the banking sector in both - the public and private sector in India. I
urge this bunch of young women graduates today to choose finance and banking as their
career option where they can really excel and serve the customers and society with
distinction.
12. As you must be aware, the Hon'ble Union Finance Minister Shri P. Chidambaram
has proposed in this year's Union Budget that an all-women public sector bank will soon be
set up, which will predominantly employ and lend to women. This is, indeed, a very welcome
step and will also, in a sense; help take forward the Reserve Bank's financial inclusion and
financial literacy efforts, which also strongly focus on women's awareness about and access
to financial services.
13. The world of banking has, in fact, been a mirror of history at large. "Money makes
the world go around", the saying goes. Banking activities resemble a wheel turning
continually. Banking in India too has gone through many phases. While historians can slice
the past into countless slivers, in terms of transformational change, there have been only a
few inflexion points in post-independence banking in India.
14. The first was the enactment of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 which brought in a
comprehensive and formal structure of bank regulation and supervision in India. The
nationalization of banks in our country in 1969 marked the second such point. It generated
forces that took banking beyond the elite class to the masses. It led to the establishment of a
very substantial infrastructure across the geographical expanse of the country and was, thus,
a critical trigger for financial outreach of institutions and empowerment of the common man.
The third inflexion point in banking was the financial sector reforms initiative that was
launched in the early 1990s.
15. These reform measures were initiated and sequenced to create an enabling
environment for banks to overcome the external constraints - these were related to
administered structure of interest rates, high levels of pre-emption in the form of reserve
requirements, and credit allocation to certain sectors. One of the major objectives of banking
sector reforms has been to enhance efficiency and productivity through competition. As you
know, the Reserve Bank is currently considering issuing licenses for establishment of new
banks in the private sector.
16. This changed environment and the internal compulsions arising from greater
competition and the need to improve market shares and/or profitability is resulting in the
banks' quest for greater efficiency and an effort to reposition themselves, given the realities
of the environment and their internal strengths and weaknesses. This also generates more
possibilities and greater opportunities for young graduates and post-graduates like you. The
Reserve Bank too now recruits a certain number of people every year. It is a wonderful
opportunity that aspirants like you can look forward to, and prepare for, every year.
17. We live in an age of unprecedented opportunities. But, with opportunity comes
responsibility. It is for tomorrow's managers to carve out their own place, to know when to
change course and how to keep themselves engaged and productive throughout. To do
things well, one needs to cultivate a deep understanding of oneself - not only the strengths
and weaknesses but also how one learns, how one works with others, what his or her values
are and where he or she can make the greatest contribution. Because only when one
operates from strength, can true excellence be achieved! It is, therefore, for all of you to keep
on learning, understanding yourself and your environment, so that you always stay ahead of
the curve as far as success in various life roles is concerned.
18. The emerging challenges in the banking and finance sector call for a new, more
dynamic, aggressive and challenging work culture to meet the demands of customer
relationships, product differentiation, brand values, reputation, corporate governance and
regulatory prescriptions. Understanding and dealing with difficult transitions would be the key
for youngsters like you while designing strategies for the organizations that you will be
eventually joining. While leadership skills, the ability to multi-task and manage competing
imperatives will be the necessary ingredients of the new generation managers, the
oldfashioned qualities of desire to learn, a strong sense of professional ethics, an enquiring
mind, a strategic view, the qualities of humility and empathy, a willingness to embrace
practical experience, and an eagerness to adapt to new experiences would continue to be
critical. I am personally convinced that the women folk enjoy a head start when it comes to
being able to multi task and manage competing imperatives.
19. Dr. Charles Eliot, the eminent educator at the Harvard University, was often asked,
"How had Harvard gained its reputation as the greatest storehouse of knowledge?" His reply
used to be "it is because the freshmen bring in so much of it and the seniors take away so
little of it". The witty professor had, of course, said it in a lighter vein. I am sure all of you
have made the most of what your College offered you and are taking away a rich
treasuretrove of learnings from here. The inputs that you have gleaned as part of your studies here
would surely give you the foresight to see things before the curve, much before others do.
20. Before I conclude, there are three basic messages that I always like to convey when
I get to interact with students. All of you have completed your student life and would be
entering into professional lives shortly. With the academic credentials that you have attained
at this institution, I am sure all of you will be able to build up successful careers. My first
message to all of you is to never be complacent in life, because complacency is a short cut
to failure. Plan wisely during your good times so that you have enough resources to live
through the bad times. My second message is that though bad times are inevitable, they are
definitely not permanent. So, don't be discouraged and disheartened. Stay positive and keep
on working hard and the good times will return. My third message for success in life and in
your professional careers is to be information literate. Retain the curiosity to seek and
assimilate knowledge and to use this knowledge for taking decisions in an unbiased manner.
This will help in ensuring that the decisions you take are in your best interests and in the
interest of the organizations you work for.
Conclusion
21. We live in exciting times and as you stand on the threshold of a new life - I trust you
will continue to cherish the ideals and dreams of youth, after all, they are what make life
worthwhile. While you must rejoice and celebrate your achievements, you must also realize
the enormity of responsibility that would now be cast upon you. The knowledge and skills that
you have acquired here and the values you have imbibed, must be utilized in not only carving
a niche for yourself in the professional field that you choose but also in making a difference
within your homes, your society and the country. You must work with a commitment towards
upholding the values that your teachers and your Alma Mater has imbued within you. This
would, perhaps, be the perfect "gurudakshina" to your teachers and to the institution.
22. I wish all of you every success in all your future endeavours.
Thank you.