Recommended Reading

Bridgital Nation - Solving Technology's People Problem

By N. Chandrasekaran, Roopa Purushothaman

It is 2030. India is among the world’s top three economies. All Indians use advanced technology to either do their job or get their job done. All Indians have access to quality jobs, better healthcare and skill-based education. Technology and human beings coexist in a mutually beneficial ecosystem.

This reality is possible. It is within reach. With Bridgital.

In this ground-breaking book, N. Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, presents a powerful vision for the future. To the coming disruption of artificial intelligence, he proposes an ingenious solution, where India is perfectly positioned to pave a unique path from the rest of the world. Instead of accepting technology as an inevitable replacement for human labour, India can use it as an aid; instead of taking them away, AI can generate jobs.

Chandrasekaran and his co-author, Roopa Purushothaman, chief economist of the Tata Group, survey the country for inspirational stories of resilience and determination, and seek the ideal way to bring Indians closer to their dreams through on-ground application of a cutting-edge approach called ‘Bridgital’. This brilliant concept addresses India’s biggest challenges by bridging the huge chasm between rural and urban, illiteracy and education, aspirations and achievement. From healthcare to education to business, the model can be applied in various sectors, and, by a conservative estimate, it can create and impact 30 million jobs by 2025.

One of the country’s foremost industry leaders and pioneers, N. Chandrasekaran brings his expertise of over thirty years with the Tata Group to offer a blueprint for building a prosperous India, where everyone is included in the growth story.

(Foreword by Mr.Ratan N. Tata)

Permanent Innovation

by Langdon Morris (Author)

Innovation is the process of creating new ideas and turning them into new business value. Permanent Innovation is the process of doing it continuously, as a matter of strategy, method, and habit. It happens in organizations that embrace innovation as a core value, practice innovation as a core methodology, and produce innovation as a consistent output. The notion of permanent innovation may at first be startling, and it may even seem to be a contradiction. The concept of permanence implies stability and the absence of change, while the concept of innovation implies constancy of change and novelty. Combining these two, however, yields an important synthesis: the practice of innovation not as an occasional occurrence, but as a repeating process of value creation and organizational adaptation. In these times of accelerating change and increasing competition, Permanent Innovation is an absolute necessity. This book is about how to achieve it.

(Source: Publisher)

The Idea of a University

Edited by Apoorvanand

Modern universities around the world have developed not only as centres of knowledge but also as catalysers of social mobility. In a hierarchical and divided society like India, university campuses have been the only spaces where students could find opportunities, and the confidence, to break social barriers.

Today, however, universities in India are facing an unprecedented crisis. They are being forced to rethink and redefine their role and are constantly under the scanner, with governments, political parties and other stakeholders questioning their ways of functioning. Can the utility of an educational institution be quantified? Is its primary task one of nation building or cultivating nationalism of a particular kind? Should universities only focus on making their students employable or should they be preparing them for a future that includes active political engagement with the state and society?

The Idea of a University examines these issues through essays by teachers and academicians located in different academic spaces. They reflect on how a university works, the historical evolution of central and state universities in India, the current state of different higher academic institutions in the country and the many challenges to academic freedom in the past, and now. A thought-provoking book that seeks to engage teachers, students and intelligent readers everywhere.

(Source: Publisher)