Governor’s address at 30th Annual Chapter Convention on Quality Concepts at Hyderabad

Address by Shri CH Vidyasagar Rao, Governor of Maharashtra at the 30th Annual Chapter Convention on Quality Concepts organized by the Hyderabad Chapter of the Quality Circle Forum of India at 10.00 am on 1st September 2016

Shri T Harish Rao, Hon’ble Minister for Irrigation, Marketing & Legislative Affairs, Government of Telangana, Shri Balakrishna Rao, Chairman of the Quality Circle Forum of India, Shri A Shyam Mohan, Chairman Emeritus, distinguished Founder Members, Shri K Manohar Hegde, Vice Chairman, Shri D K Shrivastav, Executive Director, Shri Vishal Karan, Honorary Secretary, members of the Governing Council of the Quality Circle Forum of India, representatives of various organizations, delegates, ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning and greetings to you.

I am indeed happy to associate myself with the 30th Annual Chapter Convention of the Quality Circle Forum of India. I congratulate the Hyderabad Chapter of the Forum on the occasion of successful completion of three decades of service to society and the nation.

During the last 30 years of its meaningful existence, the Hyderabad Chapter of the Quality Circle Forum has made immense contribution to the socio-economic empowerment of the country. Through its work in the area of employee excellence, the organization has helped various organizations to improve and upgrade the quality of their services, improve the performance of their employees and make them willing partners in the progress and growth of their organizations.

It is indeed gratifying to note that since its inception, the Quality Circle Forum of India has trained thousands of employees from hundreds of organizations.

Even though quality improvement of an organization cannot be measured in quantitative terms, it is fair to say that the Forum was instrumental in bringing about positive change worth crores of rupees through its work such as quality improvement, productivity improvement, cost reduction, delivery performance improvement, workplace improvement and safety improvement.

The annual convention is one of the most important activities of the Forum. Over the years, the Annual Conventions have become a platform where participants from various public and private sector organizations present their quality improvement projects and success stories. It helps others to learn about the best practices.

I am very happy that the Hyderabad Chapter recognizes the achievements of organizations promoting and practicing the best concepts of quality.

I congratulate the Hyderabad Chapter of the Quality Circle Forum of India for its excellent work and for its all important work of bringing quality consciousness among organizations and individuals. I also congratulate the organizations supporting the Quality Control movement that were felicitated today.

Ladies and gentlemen,

One of the remarkable features of democracy and free economy is the ‘choice’ these offer to the people. While democracy enables people to select the best candidate and best government to serve them, free economy offers them a wide choice to select the best quality of product and service, which is affordable, accessible and excellent.

The opening of Indian economy can be said to be the turning point in making our business and service organizations competitive and quality-conscious. It gave the people freedom to demand the best quality product and efficient service.

Ladies and gentlemen,

At a time when India is poised to take its place on the global stage, it is imperative that quality becomes the mantra for the progress of the nation in all areas.

India’s onward march to becoming a leader in the manufacturing and services sector hinges entirely on quality of products and services we produce and provide.

More than 2300 years ago, Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle had said, and I quote, “Quality isn’t an act, it’s a habit.” In other words, Quality is not an accident. It is a continuous process.

The example of Japan often comes to our mind when we speak of quality and precision. The world has seen the tremendous progress made by Japan after World War II. Change of work culture, observance of values and thrust on quality became the mantra of its progress.

During his visit to Japan, the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi had said that India can learn many things from Japan, from primary school education systems to manufacturing systems to inculcate an attitude for continuous improvement of quality.

Thrust on quality helped Japan to reinvent itself. In the same way, thrust on quality will help us become global leaders.

I can tell you that India needs your organization and your movement more than before. Yours is a non-profit organization. But it is producing enormous social and national profit.

The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has unveiled three ambitious prgrammes ‘Make in India’, Digital India and Skill India. Your role has become even more important in the present context. The success of these missions needs quality improvements at all levels and in all organizations.

The question is, where do we stand today ? Allow me to say that we have to go a long way in bringing quality consciousness among our citizens.

We need quality consciousness in every walk of life, be it in education, healthcare, Swachch Bharat or delivery of any service to our people.

Ladies and gentlemen,

India has emerged as the most youthful nation in the world. It is estimated that by 2020, the average age of an Indian will be 29 years, that is 8 years younger than the average age of a Chinese or an American.

Youths are going to be the drivers of our economy and development. Our success in taking advantage of the demographic dividend, depends on how we convert our youths into productive human resources through education, skills and values.

Our success depends on how we educate our youths through quality education, how we equip them with skills and most importantly how we make them stakeholders in the progress and development of the nation.

However, more than ever we want our education system deeply rooted in ethics and values. Ethics and values are the foundations of quality.

Today these very basic values are eroding. Renewed thrust on ethics and morality will improve the quality of delivery of public services. It will reduce corruption in all walks of life.

I would like to suggest one more thing here. Women constitute nearly 48 per cent of our population.

A survey conducted by an American think tank covering 22000 publicly-traded companies in over 91 countries, showed that companies employing 30 percent and more female executives earn more profits. So it makes sound economic sense to employ more women. I would like to appeal to the Quality Circle Forum to involve more women in the quality movement.

There was a time when India was a leader in various areas of human endeavour. India’s contribution to the field of innovation in science and technology and in many other areas was remarkable. I am quite confident that commitment to quality in all walks of life and strict observance of ethics and morality will help us recapture our lost glory.

Ladies and gentlemen,

As Governor, I happen to be the Chancellor of 20 universities in Maharashtra where nearly 3 million students are pursuing higher education. During my meetings with Ministers, Vice Chancellors, academicians and students, I am laying utmost emphasis on improving quality of education. Unfortunately, there is no quick – fix solution to improving and sustaining the quality of education and higher education. We need cooperation from governments, universities, college managements, administration, faculty and all other stakeholders to achieve quality norms. I will appeal to the Quality Circle Forum to guide how to form Quality Circles in universities and colleges to promote the culture of excellence.

As Governor, I also have the constitutional responsibility for the administration in the scheduled areas. A lot needs to be done to empower the tribals, particularly tribal women and children and to improve the quality of services provided to them. I am happy to state that we could do a lot to empower tribals by discussing the problems of tribals with various stakeholders and understanding solutions to those problems. Thanks to some of the most progressive notifications issued by my office, in respect of allocation of funds to Gram Sabhas in Scheduled Areas, in respect of job reservations for tribals and in respect of granting them powers over forest produce like Bamboo, Honey and Tendu leaves, lakhs of tribals have been benefited. This we could achieve by following the principles employed by Quality Circles. We need to see how and whether the quality movement can empower the lives of our tribals and rural masses.

I think all of us must try to build and sustain a ‘Culture of Quality’, in our country. The beginning can be made from all our organizations. They must be proactive in seeking process improvements which will enhance overall product and service quality.

Before I conclude, let me say that we need a culture of quality and excellence in sports urgently. Hyderabad has shown us the way at the Rio Olympics. Hyderabad must provide leadership to the nation in introducing the culture of quality and excellence in sports also.

I saw an article in the souvenir brought out by QCFI on its Silver Jubilee, which says that quality circles are relevant not only to industry but also to governance at large and to delivery of services to the people at the bottom. It would be good if we could extend Quality Circles in politics too !! We need in quality circles for good governance also. These circles will help us to convert our Swarajya into Surajya.

I am happy that the man behind the ‘Mission Kakatiya’ Shri Harish Rao is present in our midst.

Mission Kakatiya is an ambitious program of restoring more than 45000 tanks and lakes in Telangana. By restoring almost all the tanks, more than 250 – 270 TMC of water will become available to the people, particularly the poor farmers for agriculture, irrigation, livestock, and drinking-water needs. Shri Harish Rao could achieve this because of his commitment to improving the quality of life of the people and his genuine concern for the farmers. Harish Rao must have achieved this through deliberations with all stakeholders and consultations. This is a success story of Quality Circle. I think Quality Circle Forum must take cognizance of such wonderful projects which empower millions of people.

On that note, I congratulate Quality Circle Forum of India Hyderabad Chapter and its Head Quarters, also at Hyderabad, for their excellent work and wish them success in their future endeavors for the National cause. I wish all of you fruitful deliberations.

Thank you.

Jai Hind !

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