Opinion

Dear All,

It was a good start to the new year with the Delhi Government launching its ambitious odd-even experiment to address the growing menace of pollution.

Noida, where our corporate headquarters is located, too saw some experimentation in terms of changing the weekly off and suggesting staggered timing for work and of market opening and so on by District Administration. Overall, this year took off on a serious note - with a solid statement on Pollution and Environment from government and all stakeholders including common people and the Corporates. What better way to reiterate our commitment to environment than embracing this initiative which shall ensure that Pollution is controlled and ... thousands of trees are saved and new trees are planted.

As a small measure, we declared five days working in a week, requested employees to car pool and use public transport as far as possible, staggered our office timings ... to contribute towards Government drive to control pollution.  To become eco-friendly and to save paper, we have also decided to turn our in-house journal Opinion into an easy-to-read digital format. This will ensure all our people read this beautiful summary of a quarter at a time, and pace, convenient to them. While we have started this on an experimental basis - much like the Odd-Even rule in Delhi, I am sure we shall get encouraging feedback to sustain this initiative.

 Every new year many of us take many new resolutions to follow. It is a nice way of reviewing our weaknesses and strengths and try to curb the former and add to the latter. One weakness that I sense has gained momentum this past year is our inability to give attention to our physical and mental well-being. Thanks to the incessant innovations in technology, we have grown hugely dependent on it, and also highly engrossed and obsessed with it. This leaves us with little time to jog, walk and do exercises and even to share moments of proximity and togetherness. This is becoming a concerns for Corporates across the world and it is time we took corrective measures to ensure we do not become victims to technology. There should also be a proper work life balance.  Small, little steps shall go a long way in ensuring our physical and mental health and family life, which is integral to our professional competence.

I anticipate 2016 to be full of new challenges and exciting opportunities. With the economy still showing some resilience as against many other economies of the world, I think there is an opportunity for all of us to expand our horizon, look for new markets, bring innovation in our products to stay ahead of competition, strengthen processes, and focus on customer satisfaction. This will keep us all in good stead.

Happy new year once again!

With best wishes,

T. Dev Joshi