News - Celebration of the faces that make Brand India shine
It was, as Union minister for civil aviation Praful Patel described it, an evening that celebrated the 'All Is Well' spirit of Brand India and the extraordinary individuals who made it possible. Presenting the first All India Management Association (AIMA) Managing India Awards, Patel said, "All awardees this evening have truly redefined the way the world looks at India."
Life came full circle at the awards ceremony for R P Goenka, chairman emeritus of the RPG Group. "Thirty years ago in this hall, I got a tiraskaar (rebuke) from a cabinet minister," Goenka said, accepting the lifetime contribution award. "So, when I heard that a cabinet minister was presenting the awards, I thought I must accept the puraskaar." Goenka's journey from tiraskaar to puraskaar was as much the nation's journey, Patel pointed out. "We have leapfrogged from being unknown and unrecognised," he said.
A big facilitator of this transformation has been the media, which got its recognition as a powerful driver of Brand India. The Outstanding Contribution to Media Award went to India Today Group chairman and editor-in-chief Aroon Purie. Presenting the award to Purie, Mediciti chairman and acclaimed cardiac surgeon Naresh Trehan traced the growth of the India Today Group from "two rooms in Connaught Place to one of the most responsible and diverse" media houses of the country.
Purie reminded the audience not to shoot the "good messenger". He said, "In a country where there's so much bad news, quite often the messenger gets shot. But the media has been a good messenger. It is a great institution and we should cherish a free press." Describing the media as a "noble profession," Purie urged journalists not to forget the fundamentals of their profession in their quest for TRPs and readership.
If the media is the world's window to India, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UID) will give Indians a new thread to be bound together despite their diversity. Giving away the Pathbreaker of the Year Award to UID chairman Nandan Nilekani, the civil aviation minister said the project was not only about creating an identity for individuals; it was also about giving the country a new identity.
Nilekani, who has been seeing his family only on weekends in the last eight months after taking charge of the UID, described those working with him as a set of people committed to public service.
It turned out to be a mini-Infosys reunion when Nilekani's "ex-colleague", N. R. Narayana Murthy, the company's chairman and chief mentor, said, "This is a unique occasion. After eight years, I am receiving an award with Nandan on a common platform." Murthy, who received the Most Admired Indian Award, was his usual selfeffacing self in his speech. "This will motivate me to work harder and smarter," he said.
The other awardees at the glittering ceremony included Rahul Bajaj, chairman, Bajaj Auto; Vir Sanghvi, advisory editorial director, HT Media Ltd; and Rajkumar Hirani, director, 3 Idiots
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