Mr. Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, delivered a riveting guest lecture at IIM Indore on February 27, speaking about reforms in the postal sector. A graduate from Harvard University and an MBA alumnus of Stanford University, he gave a managerial perspective of his previous stint with the Ministry of Communication and information Technology. Delivered as a case study, Mr. Scindia described with much panache and poise, his plans, the obstacles and the eventual denouncement of his mission for the Department of Post.

Underlining the significance of management education, he emphasised that management education was about what one could give back to the system. He then seamlessly transitioned into the main topic of Postal sector Reforms, describing the Indian Postal System as one of the best distribution channels in the world.

With roughly one and a half lakh post offices, most of them in the six lakh villages of India, the postal system has immense potential for the distribution of all kinds of products, including pharmaceuticals, consumer goods etc. However, this cannot be used right now, he realised, citing the lack of efficiency and excellence in the existing system. He needed to fix the core business of the Post which is delivery of mails, money transfer, banking services and other services. Thus, Project Arrow was born.

Speaking about his brainchild, Project Arrow, which has been an initiative to revamp the existing postal system - both in terms of delivery and execution, as well as look and feel and infrastructure of post offices, he delved into the ideation process - listening to the grievances of the postmen.

The project has led to improvement in delivery of mails (from 70% to 99%) and money orders. This was implemented in 50 post offices, and later expanded to 2000 post offices. He fought and won for the postmen, the right to a shoe allowance and a stationery allowance, and the right to send their children to Kendriya Vidyalayas- to give them a secure future.

His initiative, Project Arrow is still being implemented with zeal by the Department of Post, and has been nominated for the Prime Minister's award for National Change. The successful implementation of his legacy has been possible because of his insistence on managerial best practices, including a "Blue Book", a Standard Operating Procedure that would be followed throughout the project. The Pan-African Postal Union (PAPU), an African agency o co-ordinate matters relating to postal delivery in Africa, sent a delegation of 70 members to study Project Arrow.

He concluded with three important learnings for all the audience to remember:

    1. Change is the only thing that is constant in life.
    2. If you want to be successful, only the paranoid survive.
    3. The softest pillow is a light conscience.

The talk was followed by a Q &A session where he responded to questions fielded by the students - questions about the viability of Post in the 21st century, the feasibility of using Post for selling various other products and services, and the recognition given to the post offices etc.

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