Opinion A showpiece of synergy

The museum is the oldest in Mumbai and the second oldest in the country. It came into existence as the result of the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. The authorities made a replica of everything that was sent to London and it was to house these copies that funds were raised by Bombay’s merchant princes. A wonderful building in classical Palladian architecture was completed in 1872.

Sadly,over the years and on account of neglect and disinterest,the building and its exhibits lost their lustre. In the mid-’90s,when my wife,as the Head of the Mumbai chapter of INTACH (The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) “discovered” the museum,it was in a state of total degradation. Huge chunks of plaster had peeled off the walls; naked wires were dangerously exposed; the interior gildings and decorative details had faded and whitewashed over and the exhibits were difficult to see through the encrustation of dust that layered every glass case.

Tasneem persuaded the Municipal Corporation of Mumbai,which owned the museum to allow INTACH to undertake its restoration. They agreed on the condition that funds be raised from the private sector. Rahul and Neeraj Bajaj met this condition with a generous donation and eventually a trilateral trust deed was signed between INTACH,the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation and the Municipal Corporation. The uniqueness of the deed was the recognition that the restoration project needed to draw upon and leverage the diverse but complementary assets of each partner,viz the Municipal Corporation to overcome systemic inertia,expedite approvals and provide supplementary matching funds; the Bajaj Foundation for finance and relevant advice and INTACH for technical expertise and project leadership.

A decade of effort and there is only one word to describe the transformation — extraordinary. I say this conscious that readers might discount the partisan judgment of a husband but my views are shared. UNESCO for instance awarded the project its highest accolade of excellence in 2005 — one of only two projects worldwide to receive this accolade that year

Why do I believe this small and specialised project has broader significance? The answer to my mind lies in the complexity of contemporary economic and social development. The government must of course bear preponderant responsibility for addressing the aspirations and concerns of its citizens. But in today’s connected,competitive and resource constrained world the government does not have all the tools. It needs the support of the particular expertise and resources of business and civic society.

To some limited extent,government and business have started to share a common platform. This is partly because of the altered relationship between the two. In the days of the license raj business were supplicants of the government. This is no longer so. The traditional antipathy that government had in bringing businesspersons into policy discussions has,for instance,diluted. Witness the number of businessmen that sit on government committees and the nature of the interaction between officials and the various industry federations. It is also because business does realise that they cannot remain cloistered within their corporate domain. They have to be more broadly engaged; else they run the risk that society will revoke their license to operate. But this sharing is still episodic,personal and unstructured. There is no formal vehicle through which the uniquely distinctive skills and assets of say Unilever (marketing and distribution),WIPRO (IT),Reliance Industries (project management),and HDFC (financial innovation) can be pulled together in partnership with the government to identify and promote income and employment generating opportunities. Most people believe that a partnership between the government,the private sector and civic society is impossible to structure. One reason why I have pegged this article on the museum project is because it belies this view and offers an example of what can be achieved if indeed the government,the private sector and civil society do successfully leverage their respective strengths and assets towards a common goal.

The challenge,of course,is to sustain excellence. It is one thing to execute a project with a defined goal and timetable successfully. Another to ensure that it is run continuously to comparable standards. The restoration was successful because the individuals involved were uniquely committed. The question is whether the museum will be run equally well. I do not know the answer,but I do know that like any developmental project it will depend on whether the Municipal Corporation is able to institutionalise the idea of excellence that motivated its restoration.

The writer is chairman of the Shell Group of Companies in India. Views expressed are personal