LMA to Initiate and Collaborate for a Knowledge Economy: Acharya Dev Vrat

Ludhiana, December 3, 2018: LMA celebrated its 40th Anniversary & Annual Awards Distribution at a ceremony today. H.E Acharya Dev Vrat, Honorable Governor of Himachal Pradesh was the Chief Guest and conferred Six Annual Awards instituted by LMA and sponsored by Vardhman Group, Hero Cycles, Trident Group, Avon Cycles, Eastman Group & Bharti Enterprises.
Acharya Dev Vrat while addressing the audience said, Knowledge is now the most important resource for the development of any economy, and therefore its creation and dissemination should be the universal focus of policy makers, organizations, academicians and professionals. He emphasized that the process for transformation to a knowledge driven economy, was contingent on our efforts to develop the 4 Knowledge Economy Pillars, i.e Economic Incentive & Institutional Regime, Education & Labour, Innovation and Information & Communications Technology. He maintained that while it is important for the Nation to take concrete steps to improve its ranking at the global level, it is all the more important for land locked states like Punjab, Haryana and Himachal to create a sound base for development of knowledge economy. Acharya Dev Vrat asserted that it was important for LMA to involve entrepreneurs, academicians, practicing managers & students, and administration for the promotion of knowledge based entrepreneurship in the region. He appreciated the role played by LMA in creating a robust mechanism to support learning and entrepreneurship. He called upon members of the business community to contribute towards strengthening research and development efforts of the state/central universities through contract research, donations and participation in platforms for exchange of ideas and knowledge. He hoped that this region could become the global hub for R&D in the agriculture, textile & light engineering sectors due to availability of skilled manpower and necessary infrastructure and institutional support . Acharya Dev Vrat emphasised that LMA could play an effective role in designing curriculum & training especially the rural youth, for attaining the skills required by the industry. Honourable Chief Guest was happy to note that LMA was conferring an award to a young innovative entrepreneur, as it is critical to combine our traditional knowledge combined with formal education to create new products and services that have a far reaching impact on the society. Acharya Dev Vrat underscored the need for disseminating new knowledge to the people at an affordable cost through programs like Digital India. He asserted that it was our responsibility to bridge the digital divide for creating a knowledge nation, that is able to meet the challenges of the globalised world.
Mr. Jatin Singh MD,Skymet Weather Services Pvt. Ltd., delivered the keynote address on the theme. Empowering Through Weather Forecasting. Singh emphasized that in the times of frequent climate change and global warming, leading to natural disasters, it has become critical for the society to forecast weather. It was becoming increasingly important for the farmers, food processing organizations and also the governments to have reliable weather forecasts well in time, for planning of agriculture related activities. He maintained that it was important for all the stake holders to acknowledge the premise ‘forewarned is forearmed’.He added while the need for weather forecasting is established in agriculture other sectors like energy, foods, shipping and risk management could also tremendously benefit from reliable forecasts on a daily basis at a reasonable cost. He also shared, how accurate prediction of monsoons and also cyclones was preventing huge losses and also facilitating climate decision support systems.
The awardees were felicitated by the Honourable Governor Acharya Dev Vrat and LMA President Kamal Wadhera, Mr. Onkar Singh Pahwa, Mr. Mahesh Munjal, Capt. VK Syall, Mr. Inderjit Nagpal, Mr. D.K.Sindhwani. Distinguished Awardees of the year 2017 are LMA - Vardhman Award for Entrepreneur to Mr. Navneet Jairath, CMD, Metalman Autos, LMA - Dayanand Munjal Award to Dr. Manoj Kumar, Principal, DAVIET, LMA - Trident Award for Young Innovative Entrepreneur - to Mr. Jatin Singh, Founder & MD, Skymet Weather Services Private Ltd., Noida. LMA - Sat Paul Mittal Life Time Award to Late Dr. M. A. Zahir, Chairman, SBS, LMA - Hari Chand Award for Corporate Citizen to Mr. Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal, Chairman, Cancer Care Charitable Trust Jalandhar, LMA - Sohan Lal Pahwa Award for Emerging SME to Mr. Ashok Bhatia, Chairman, International Marketing Corporation Ltd. This year a special Cash Award of Rs. 2 lakhs was granted to Mr. Gurbachan Singh a progressive farmer by Vardhman Textiles for promoting the cause of Stubble Burning Free Farming, thereby mitigating the adverse impact on environment.
Dr. Sandip Kapur, Sr. Vice President proposed the Vote of Thanks to the Chief Guest Acharya Dev Vrat for setting the agenda for LMA Members to collaborate and contribute in the development of a Knowledge Society in the region. He also expressed gratitude to the Awardees, Sponsors, District Administration, Members of the Executive Committee and the Members for making the event a success.

LMA-Vardhman Award for Entrepreneur of the Year 2017-Mr. Navneet Jairath

Born in 1950 in Ludhiana in a family of limited means, Mr. Navneet Jairath had humble beginnings and worked his way right up absorbing the fundamentals of business on the ground to shine as a star in the fabrication and assembly firmament with Metalman Auto Private Ltd. aka MAPL serving today as a one stop shop for both the Automotive OEMs and the Construction Equipment Industry.

Having completed his education from Arya school and Arya college, Ludhiana, Mr. Navneet began his career by taking up the job of a clerk in Dhanbad in 1969 in Karam Chand Thapar Group. To gain practical experience, he worked as a Factory Manager in another company before returning to Ludhiana to join his brother’s business in 1974. A year later , Mr. Jairath started his own business only to partner with his childhood friend Mr. Bikramjit Bembi to mark the beginnings of a firm in the name of National Electroplaters (now National Industries), with the support of State Govt. scheme for the educated unemployed.

Today, with his vision and single-minded focus on quality, he has been able to establish 10+ plants across India under the Brand Metalman Auto serving prominent customers like BMW, Harley Davidson, Bajaj, Hero, TVS, Royal Enfield and many more.

The journey that began 32 years ago with Metalman’s incorporation as a small scale unit way back in 1989 has consummated with its acknowledgment as a large scale group of reckoning by the Govt. of India underpinned by a staunchly loyal and ever widening consumer base that renders it its unremitting support in exchange for excellent product quality that Metalman delivers.

Engaged in manufacturing of Sheet Metal, Tubular Fabricated Assemblies Sub-Assemblies with In House Surface Treatment facilities such as Ni-Cr Plating, Cataphoresis Electrolysis Deposition (CED Painting), and Epoxy Powder Coating & Phosphating, Metalman Auto provides holistic solutions to all fabrication needs and currently also caters to Global Automotive OEM’s, Heavy Fabrication & Construction Equipment Industry, Off Road Vehicles & White Goods Industry. Its R&D Department is capable to meet all design and prototyping demands of its customers within a stipulated time with the support of its In-house Tool Room housing state of the art machinery to manufacture all types of Tools, Jigs, Fixtures and Gauges suited to its products.
A Bajaj TPM Excellence award winning company, Metalman has recorded a turnover of more than INR 750 cr. serving OEM’s in India and abroad. Mr. Jairath who takes care of the overall Operations as Managing Director of MAPL shares the ambitious vision with his team of growing Metalman by 200% by the year 2022,grossing sales of over 2000 crores.
LMA – Dayanand Munjal Award for Manager of the Year 2017

A personage as resplendent as a jewel - its radiance that knows only to transcend the outline of its halo – the “Jewel of India” awardee by Indian Solidarity Council, Prof. (Dr.) Manoj Kumar, functioning at present as the Principal of DAV Institute of Engg. & Technlogy (DAVIET), Jalandhar is a brilliant researcher and academician, besides an able administrator and researcher par excellence.
A BE (Electronics & Tele Communication Engg.),1990 batch, Mr.Kumar completed his M.Tech in 2001 followed by a PhD. With a rich experience of 27 years to his credit and outstanding contribution to research in diverse fields of ‘Optical and Wireless Communication’ with the rarity of an authorship of 96 published research papers and 8 Engineering textbooks .

He is the founding faculty of DAV Institute of Engineering & Technology, Jalandhar, and has raised the institution right from its inception to its current stature. Prof. Manoj had been instrumental in bringing about a complete transformation and repositioning of the institute. In 2010, he joined CT Group of Institutions, Jalandhar, as Group Director. He masterly administered 17 institutions of the CT Group for 05 years and incubated the idea of introducing CT University. In 2015, the Hon’ble President of DAV College Managing Committee invited him to join back his parent institution as Principal to which he accepted out of his love and passion towards this great institution. He has introduced novel teaching methodology to improve teaching pedagogies, focused on research and publications, collaborations with industries and foreign universities for better placements. Hence, he has contributed effectively in every segment with a mission to take DAVIET to new horizon of success through his teaching & administrative skills.

He established Centre of Excellence with M/s Sofcon India Pvt. Ltd. on ‘Industrial Automation & Embedded Systems’ at DAVIET. He also established Centre of Excellence in ‘Cyber Security & Cyber Forensics” at DAVIET, Jalandhar with M/s Sedulity Solutions & Technologies, New Delhi to organize various Research & Development and Training programs based on latest and emerging technologies for Students, Faculties, Law-Enforcement Agencies, Corporate Professionals, and Research Scholars. Under his able guidance, the institute was accredited by NAAC with grade “A” and recognized by UGC under section 2(f). Under his stewardship, DAVIET has been conferred with the status of ‘Host Institution (HI)/Business Incubator (131)’ by MSME, New Delhi, under the scheme “Support for Entrepreneurial and Managerial Development of SMEs through Incubators” in 2018. He has organized/chaired a large number of International and national conferences /FDPs/STPs/ Workshops.Dr. Manoj Kumar has the distinction of being one of the top 25 academic leaders across India, recognized by Wipro Mission 10X.

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LMA – Trident Award for Young Innovative Entrepreneur of the Year 2017

A determined leap of faith was what led journalist Jatin Singh to part ways with a vocation of 15 years and venture into an entirely unfamiliar and skittish sector as agriculture to concretize his long endeared vision of setting up a weather imaging company - a brainchild based on the premise - ‘forewarned is forearmed’. A journalist, Mr. Jatin knew it had never been easy for the media houses to reliably gather weather related data and a concept facilitating hassle-free access to accurate and timely weather information would find quick currency and traction.

This is when Skymet Weather Services Pvt. Ltd. came into being, in 2003 with Mr. Jatin Singh as Founder & Managing Director. The company had a modest beginning, as providers of weather information and infographics to television and print media. However, with his dogged pursuit and steely resolve, Mr. Jatin managed to helm his company to a position today, where it is most sought-after to provide weather solutions for sectors as varied as energy (distribution and renewables), shipping, agriculture (advisories and remote sensing based crop yield, acreage and health estimation), and risk (agriculture and energy) management in India.

Today, Skymet’s services also serve majority of India media houses – Zee News, Aaj Tak, Sahara Samay, Mint, Times Now, ABP, The Hindu - providing them their daily staple of weather services and graphics.

Skymet has also forayed into wind and solar forecasting for renewable energy companies by running its own meso and macro scale NWP as well as into marine forecasting. It is working closely with NGOs to improve farmers’ plight in different remote blocks of many states in India.

Skymet also recently launched a weather website that allows a common user to get accurate weather information for free. When cyclone Phailin hit the Eastern coastal regions of India, Skymet became a referring point for forecast along with international websites like Accuweather. Skymet has developed many software tools for weather and climate decision support systems.
Skymet accurately predicted Indian monsoons during 2012, 2013 and 14 before Indian Meteorological Department did and released its report in a press conference.

Skymet Weather Services has recently raised 4.5 million dollars in Series B funding from multiple investors led by Asia Pacific, the investment arm of UK-based media firm Daily Mail, General Trust plc (DMGT).

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LMA – Hari Chand Award for Corporate Citizen of the Year 2017

A philanthropist to the core, Mr. Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal is a British businessman who has been championing the cause of humanity since his early youth dedicating most of his public life to either organising camps for the needy and the diseased or making impassioned speeches at charity events to educate people to do away with archaic beliefs that en-shackle them.

Born on 10th May, 1958 to “Sant Singh Dhaliwal” in “Bir Rauke” a village in district Moga, Punjab, Mr. K.S. Dhaliwal did his matriculation in 1977 from Government School, Patto Hira Singh. He did his senior secondary from Khalsa College, Amritsar, and took his degree in Bachelor of Arts, before emigrating to the UK at a youthful age of 27 years. He built a successful business in fashion clothing retail and wholesale plus a property portfolio.

In 1991, Mr. Dhaliwal set up the “Sant Singh Dhaliwal Trust”in the name of his father with a clear aim to reducing female foeticide, discourage adolescent marriage of girls, and mobilise access of educational resources to the poor. The charity is doing well with Mr.Dhaliwal being a consistent contributor of above Rs. 8 lac per annum to it. . Married to Manjit Kaur and blessed with two sons, Rajdeep Singh and Randeep Singh, Mr.Dhaliwal has had consistent support from his family both in his business and charity initiatives.

Having lost his father-in –law to cancer in 2006, Mr.Dhaliwal decided to wage war against the ignorance of the disease. He literally walked his talk by ardently participating in walking events for many charities in 2002 and continues to walk 200 miles per month till today to garner funds for cancer research. Mr.Dhaliwal is the global ambassador of charity World Cancer Care. World Cancer Care was set up to help provide people with cancer detection facilities. The charity has tested thousands of individuals all over India for a variety of cancers, helping in both the detection and education of prevention.

The camps cater to cervix and prostate cancer along with breast and other forms of cancer. Instead of taking donations, Mr. Dhaliwal inspires individuals to sponsor camps directly by requesting them to co-ordinate with World Cancer Care to help organise the same in their respective villages.

With a life committed to selflessly serving humanity, awards and honors have prolifically trailed the works of this Good Samaritan. Having taken an early retirement at the age of 47 with a singular cause to devote more and more time to the cause of humanity, Mr.Dhaliwal is today spearheading his efforts full time to the prevention, eradication and cure of Cancer.

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LMA – SOHAN LAL PAHWA AWARD for Emerging SME of the Year 2017

An altruistic mission backed by a simple philosophy aimed at alleviating the society of the bane of physical and financial insecurity, by making people part of a marketing initiative that made perfect sense in India, was the singular motivation behind Mr. Ashok Bhatia’s conceptualizing “International Marketing Corporation (IMC)”. His simple philosophy stems from a very basic but cardinal question:
In this fast-paced world, when everyone is in a race to accumulate comforts and securing a luxurious future, making his “present” all the while so stressful, is there any guarantee that he has been left with any less stressful future?

In 2007, IMC came into existence with Mr Ashok Bhatia as the chairman and Mr Satyan Bhatia as Managing Director geared up to embark their journey towards, '" Healthy Living with Herbal Products." This enabled people to partner with IMC and build their own Network, without worrying about financial constraints. Herbal Products became the backbone of the company as Mr.Bhatia believed that being born in India was an opportunity and now was the time to use and leverage utmost the potential of ancient accumulated legacy of the wisdom of our sages on the little-known benefits of herbs that being immunity builders can put up a brave defense to even chronic diseases and bring a revolution in the country. IMC promotes herbal products not only as energy boosters; it has developed herbal remedies for almost every disease including skin related ailments.

With its unique marketing model, IMC not only helped people to start their own business but by eliminating middlemen the products became more affordable with the business associates not needing to share their profits with anyone. In a short span of a decade, IMC has grown and become leading company in India with products that are approved by Ayurvedic Drug Department and Government of Uttrakhand and are 100% vegan. The goal of IMC is to promote Swadeshi products in the domestic and international market via Network Marketing and eliminate the role of middlemen. By promoting Herbal Products IMC aims to bring back the century's old science of Ayurveda that holds the secrets of disease-free life by consuming medicines made of organic and natural herbs. Being plant based, IMC’s products do not have any side effects and can heal even the most deadly diseases.It’s been a decade now that IMC has been tirelessly working to fulfil its vision," to promote indigenous and eco-friendly Products and preserve the natural resources of the country." A slew of CSR initiatives conspicuously marks the heritage of IMC.

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LMA – Sat Paul Mittal Life Time Achievement Award for the Year 2017

Resolving organizational dilemmas and conflicts, demonstrating abstruse management concepts through simplistic real-life scenarios, delving into historical perspectives and linking their essence to modern day contemporary management practices - all got done as effortlessly by Dr. M. A Zahir as when he’d recite an Urdu couplet or two making compelling sense out of simple words that rhymed magically. Revered as a thinker, consultant, guide and teacher, Dr. Zahir influenced almost everybody who had the good fortune of developing even an acquaintance with him.

Born on 18th December 1942, Dr. Zahir started his career as an officer at Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), Bombay (1966-68). But his love for teaching beckoned him and he formally joined Banaras Hindu University (1968-72) and Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla (1972-77) and then finally shifted to Punjab Agricultural University in August 1977, as Professor of Business Management and later as Dean on 01-04-2000.

He retired in December 2002 but was given the exalted position of Professor Emeritus, for two years. However, a year later he joined as Advisor & President H.R., Trident Group of Companies whereupon having served for two years, he resigned to establish his own Institute of Management, Synetic Business School.

An academician with a profound knowledge in Organizational Behaviour & Strategic Management, Dr. Zahir got nominated by Government of India as Director, on the Board of Allahabad Bank after nationalization of major Indian banks (1970-77). He was also the former Director on the Boards of Vardhman Spinning & General Mills Ltd., Abhishek Industries Ltd., Metro Tyres Ltd. and Ludhiana Stock Exchange.

Of late, he had been serving in the capacity of Director on the Boards of several companies, such as Hero Cycles Limited, Highway Industries Limited, Hero Honda Finlease Limited, Rockman Industries Ltd., Sohrab Spinning Mills Ltd., Ralson India Limited, Praneel Innovations Ltd.,Majestic Auto Ltd., Trident Cotton Ltd.

A prolific writer and keen researcher, he contributed around 50 research papers published in different journals of repute and also authored a book titled “Facets of Business Management” which was published by Medallion Press, in 2003.

A recipient of Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009 from Punjab Commerce and Management Association and again from From Modern Technology Management Institute (MTMI), Maryland, USA in the same year, Dr. Zahir had guided seven Ph.D. Researchers & over 100 MBA and M.Phil. Research Projects in different areas of Management Dr. Zahir helmed the Ludhiana Management Association (LMA) - as its President from 1995 -97. He also served as President, SPICMACAY (Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music & Culture among Youth) Ludhiana Chapter from 1985-2002.

Dr. Zahir was an acknowledged “Management Guru” in this part of the country. Close to his heart were SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) which according to him, were the backbone of industrial development of Punjab but were generally given short shrift by most Management Institutes.

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Honouring of Mr. Gurbachan Singh a farmer of Tarn-Taran district of Punjab for Eradication of Stubble Burning: A Role Model
CITATION
The air we breathe in, makes up the most important component of environment impacting us. While the environment is being adversely affected by Stubble Burning, the entire nation has been blaming farmers every paddy crop season for giving health hazards to the society. The authorities are now taking strict action against farmers involved in the practice to curb the problem, but Mr. Gurbachan Singh a farmer of Tarn-Taran district of Punjab has truly come out as a pathfinder and torchbearer in combating this issue.
Farming 40 acres of land along with his brother, he has not burnt stubble in his farms since 20 years. He vouches that, not burning stubble and reusing the land as it is for sowing, actually brings in added advantages to the crop in terms of yielding a better quality of produce without usage of fertilizers and pesticides. The stubble from last season gets converted into manure which is high in nutrition, moisture content and crop friendly microbes. As per him, a farmer can save at least Rs 5000/- per acre on input cost of Ploughing and Irrigation.
Taking inspiration from him, almost all of the farmers in Burj Deva Singh village of Tarantaran District have stopped burning the stubble and have been following Mr. Gurbachan’s approach. Krishi Vikas Kendra of the concerned area acknowledged his efforts and have tied up with him for spreading awareness in this regard in the surrounding villages as well. Mr. Gurbachan, being a humble and a firm believer in God, happily visits the villages and educates the farmers about the benefits of reusing and not burning stubble. He being a farmer himself understands the psychology of other farmers and makes them understand this by making a connection of farming with the teachings of Guru Granth Sahib. He involves Guru Nanak’s message of “Air the Teacher, Water the Father and Earth the great Mother” to motivate people to respect and conserve the natural resources. He even plans to spread this message through the medium of “Prabhat Feris” in the villages.
Initially he faced many obstacles in convincing people for this concept, but he gradually started overcoming this by showing the results practically. He even offered personal compensation to farmers in case his methodology doesn’t prove to be effective. But actually, no one has come up to him for compensation till date, as they see better yields for themselves using his practices.
He has been to 35-40 villages with KVK in this regard and has educated about 2000 farmers in nearby villages of the district and some in Karnal as well.
Apart from imparting spiritual and scientific knowledge in this regard, he gives technical advice to farmers for using happy-seeder machine in conjugation with combiner machine to save on time and energy. Here, the only constraint for the farmers is that, not all of them are able to afford happy-seeder machines which are quite expensive and is even rented at very high costs.
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