Noida: 8th Asian Network for Quality Congress 2010, the largest international quality management event in India was today formally inaugurated by the Dr.V. Krishnamurthy along with delegates from other participating countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. One of the uniqueness of this event emerges from the fact that the ANQ 2010 is also being co-hosted by the national quality bodies of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal along with India which is the host.

“Quality for Inclusive Growth of Asia”, the theme of ANQ Congress Delhi 2010 is taken from ANQ Goal of ‘Quality of Human Life’ The ANQ WAY states:” Various regions of Asia form Asian Network for Quality with the Goal of contributing to creativity, integration, prosperity and quality of human life in Asia through a strategy based on constancy of purpose, knowledge creation, voluntary spirit and system approach to improvement; living the Asian Way of harmony in diversity, mutual respect and austerity; following Core Values based on honesty, flexibility and self-control.”

It is believed that the “Asian Way” can make a useful contribution in developing an alternative model, different from the western model which is based on GDP, through a new definition of quality that may lead to prosperity in a holistic way, in balance with the nature and within the composite nature of the human being.

The keynote address at the inaugural session was delivered by Mr. Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India. Other keynote speaker at the inaugural session included Professor Shoji Shiba, Internationally Renowned Management Expert & Teacher

As the ANQ provides a platform and the opportunity for enhanced mutual sharing and learning of the knowledge and experiences obtained through the research and development and practices in quality performed by the member organizations, the technical sessions have been designed in such a way so as to address transformation needs of an entire nation across its various sectors, viz: Manufacturing and Infrastructure, IT&ITES, Services, Healthcare, Government, Education, Social &Environment to bring about prosperity in a holistic manner.

On this occasion Dr. V. Krishnamurthy, Chairman – National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council and Chairman of the ANQ Congress, observed “the ultimate aim and objective of this gathering should be towards an inclusive growth, benefiting all sections of the society and all regions of Asia. It is imperative to reduce the wide disparity amongst the people of Asia in terms of economic prosperity and general health.”

Attended by 1000 participants including 250 delegates coming from 20 countries of Asia, USA & UK, 200 high quality technical papers covering seven streams would be presented (Oral & Poster) during the congress. This year’s event promises to take the ANQ Congress to a truly international level.

It is necessary to mention here that going by the APO (Asian Productivity Organization) data book 2009, there is vast difference in many parameters concerning productivity. For example labor productivity varies from as low as 5- in one country to as high as 95- in another country over scale of 100. Similarly the growth in labor productivity varies from -4.0 to 8.7 percent in manufacturing sector and from -3.0 to 5.9 percent in case of service sector. (India by the way registering highest growth of 5.9 in service sector).Considering that ASIA accounts for 60% of world population, there is enormous opportunity, which is available to all of us over the platform of ANQ, by way of sharing our best practices, benchmarking key indices to march forward as ASIAN block.

On this occasion Dr. Giridhar J Gyani, Secretary General Quality Council of India observed “Inclusive growth necessarily need to adopt a long term perspective and is associated with long term growth. For growth to be sustained in the long run, it should be broad – based across sectors. It should also be inclusive of the large part of the country’s labor force. It should focus on productive employment rather than mere income redistribution and this is where quality comes into play.”

He further added “Indian Government’s development strategy is inclusive growth. It means an emphasis towards more equitable distribution of income and building capabilities in terms of attainment of better health and education. In present context the contribution of service sector to national income (GDP) is around 60 percent followed by manufacturing around 22 percent and agriculture being 18 percent of GDP. The fact that around 58 percent of India’s population earns its livelihood from agriculture and agricultural – related allied activities ( such as cooperatives, fishing, diaries etc.) compared to only 10 percent dependent on organized service sector is a matter of concern, it would require drastic initiatives to have more equitable income distribution.”

Considering that India’s economy is headed in a new direction – striving to touch double digit annual growth rates, the on going congress provides us with excellent opportunity to listen to the experts coming from Key Asian Economies, which have excellent track record in achieving economic growth as well as have scored very well on human development index.