"I am truly delighted to be in your midst this morning. I compliment my friend Shri Hari Shankarji and the Singhania family for instituting these awards along with the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, in recognition of excellence and leadership in various fields of management. Your choice of awardees in the last two years and this year testifies to the seriousness with which you have undertaken this project of great national importance. I have the highest personal regard for each of this year's awardees. They are truly leaders, not just in their professions, but also in our society. Each one, therefore, is a role model for our coming generations. They have all contributed to the development of our nation. I hope they will continue to inspire younger generations.

This function which is taking place in New Delhi, should in fact be taking place in Lucknow so that the people of Lucknow could have participated in it. I do wish young persons across the country to pay attention to the good work being done by the best and brightest in various walks of life and seek inspiration from them. Many of our awardees are known to audiences in places like New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. Even then, their shining examples should be known in every nook and corner of the country especially among the young people. But I would like young people in cities like Lucknow, Patna and Raipur need shining examples to listen to and become familiar with your contribution and your thoughts. Therefore, I wish that these award function should rotate from place to place.

I am concerned about the unequal pace of development in different regions of our country. We all know that in the last two decades, the rate of growth of our economy was around 6%. But this is an average across the country. There are regions that have in fact experienced an average of 8 - 9% growth over this period. There are other regions that have remained stuck at 3 - 3.5% growth during this period. This imbalance cannot continue. Particularly when the regions legging behind constitute large chunk of our population. Unless, these regions catch up process of growth will remain uneven and give rise to social and political unrest. We must accelerate the pace of economic growth in the less developed regions of the country.

Institutions like yours must analyse the reasons for the backwardness of some regions and come forward with pragmatic and focused strategies to accelerate development, both rural and urban. In States like UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan, you must engage the region's political leadership and help them understand the imperatives of development.

I sincerely hope IIM Lucknow will pay special attention to the development potential of states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and improve the quality of management in this region, both in the private sector and in the public sector. Awardees like those who have been selected after careful selection can inspire managers to follow the example set by our distinguished awardees and strive harder for excellence.

I do recognize that there are no shortcuts or purely managerial solutions to our problems. The development challenge in this region is comprehensive and our response has to be broad-based and multi-pronged. As I told the North Region Chief Minister's Conference, some months back, the political and business leadership of this region has a lot of thinking to do on realizing its potential. Its share of national income is below potential. In human development indicators, the region lags behind western and southern states. The time has come for the region to take a great leap forward. This requires both hard work and creativity. According to a study prepared by Dr. Bibek Debroy, if present trends continue, by 2020 Punjab would be where Germany is today, while Uttar Pradesh would be where Punjab is today. This cannot be an acceptable outcome. We must correct these stark inter-regional imbalances in development. One wonders where Gujarat and Tamil Nadu will be, but we cannot allow these sharp inter-regional imbalances to continue.

I am aware that the Central Government has an important role to play and it will do so. However, there is much that can be done by State Governments, and they should. The Northern region can cooperate in many areas to provide a superior resource and infrastructure base. The region is criss-crossed by rivers. States should establish cooperative mechanisms to manage water resources - both in quantity and efficiency. The region has a power deficit of over 10%. Here too, states can cooperate to promote better generation and utilization of power across the region. These two sectors have a direct bearing on agricultural performance and improving power and water management would ensure that this region continues to be a leader in agricultural development and continues to remain the granary of India.

You are all aware the Northern region lags woefully behind on human development indicators. The region has to invest in its people. This does not require huge fiscal resources. It requires a committed political leadership. Look at the example of Kerala. In purely economic terms it is not one of our more developed States. Yet, Kerala has human development indicators that would be the envy of many developed countries. By investing in the capabilities of its people, Kerala has empowered its people. They have been able to make the most of opportunities across the world. Kerala managed this transition in human development by investing in the capabilities of its people. The time has come for States in northern region to also invest and invest adequately in people.

The region needs both investment in primary education and in higher education. It needs more investment in technical education and vocational training. While the Central Government is willing to provide a supportive policy environment, State governments have to do much more to capitalize on the emerging knowledge economy. Uttar Pradesh desperately needs forward looking and modern leadership. The people of Uttar Pradesh need a government that will invest in their future. They need a leadership that is thinking about the future. In recent years, Uttar Pradesh has been held back by a leadership that only thinks about the past.

Far too much of public attention has been focused on the legacies of history, and not enough on the potential of the future. I hope your leadership awards will inspire the people of Uttar Pradesh and other Northern States to think into the future by seeing how these business and societal leaders have transformed their business and our society.

What will differentiate one state from another is the quality of governance. States must pay special attention to the challenge of improving the quality of governance, both in local and state administration. They must improve the quality of public services, and make them more effective and efficient. We need a leadership that has the vision to ensure that government institutions perform better, attitudes change, and taxpayers get their money's worth. Leadership, in the final analysis, is about tapping the potential of the followers. It is about challenging people to seek new horizons.

I hope your awards will serve wider purpose. These awards are not about complimenting individuals. They should be about inspiring society at large. I congratulate the awardees and the organizations associated with the highly prestigious awards."