Chat with Rohan

It was a chat with a difference. One-to-one and heart-to-heart. One where experience met with the aspiration! Experience being the one coming with lifetime practicing on policymaking and being at the helm of government’s top-most think tank, NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant as its CEO and the aspiration being Rohan Kochhar, young and versatile, Economics graduate, Master’s in Public Administration from UCL, UK and Director, Public Policy, SKOCH Group. The youthful exuberance Rohan exuded that was self-evident moment the chat was kicked off, that kept Kant at his sharpest best and the ones who watched, spellbound. The response from the side of experience was seamless and crystal clear that was a stimulating delight for the audience. Aspiration remained focused on eliciting more that could create a common meeting ground as a takeaway for everyone.

Debates on policymaking aren’t of much interest to the common man. These do not generate TRPs nor attract investors or advertising. And for the informed, there is no such platform, either for inputs or learning – there is a vacuum. SKOCH-TV fills this much-needed gap and brings to you its maiden episode ‘Chat with Rohan’ that features Amitabh Kant in his full glory. In an another first, nearly 700 live audience watched the chat with a titan live and gave it thumbs-up. A few who had their lifetime opportunity to interact with a stalwart like Kant also captured the value of a live presentation.

Responding to the question of acquiring and retaining talent to build India 2.0, Kant said that the very fact that government has allowed lateral entry shows its commitment. The corridors of NITI are abuzz with more than a hundred young professionals who left Harvard, Yale and Princeton etc. Their approach is disruptionist.

Startup ecosystem is another disruption. The mindset of people needs to change. Without manufacturing, India can’t grow. Wealth creation is to be done by private sector, government can be a catalyst.

Kant added that we must make states compete—only way to grow. The next stage of transition can come only through improvement in performance, challenge being one route. For Aspirational Districts we have 49 indicators – Panchayats, BDO, Collectors, MPs and MLAs, all are competing.

On the question of convergence between schemes, Kant said that impact of schemes like Swachh Bharat will be felt for over five to six decades and its best outcome will be preventive healthcare. Reforms are inevitable and in months to come, there will be a huge transformation.