IFFCO: When Awasthi is in his element!

There was no complaint made during the proceedings of 47^th AGM of IFFCO and the one who complained for lack of space must be regretting later as delegates after delegates reminded him of AGM of other co-operatives where empty chairs greet the Board of Directors. It was Gulab Dhwaj Singh from Maujpur who interrupted MD’s speech and complained of two issues-lack of sitting space and the fact of Area Managers being sidelined in IFFCO’s affairs.

A usually cool MD U S Awasthi first heard him out patiently and before giving his scripted speech turned to answer his queries first. On sitting arrangement if he said sorry, on the issue of Area Manager he came into his managerial form cataloguing the merits of his decision.

 “You are thinking of a few individuals while we have the good of entire organization in mind when we take a decision. If an organization does not change with times it gets drowned with it, said the MD extolling the virtues of Field Officers numbering 500 who have been made active in parts of the country in IFFCO’s new avatar.

“They communicate directly to the top management through cyber media and if this is not digital revolution what else is”, a passionate MD asked. And we have not removed area managers we have only supplemented them with new breed of area managers who are our field officers, Awasthi raised his pitch of voice displaying sternness and the mettle that makes him one of the top managers in the country.

 “In fifty years of IFFCO’s history no decision has been taken such which can be faulted for being impulsive or taken on the hoof and its because of this soundness at arriving at a decision that we stand here today”, said Awasthi amidst thunderous applause.

Later several delegates praised Awasthi for his contributions in making IFFCO the model of success. If Biscomaun Chairman Sunil Kumar Singh called him a magician, Bhavana Gaundlaya of Gujarat said only can he fulfill Prime Minister’s dream of doubling farmers’ income. While Sadhana Yadav from Maharashtra counted herself lucky to have him as her leader, Manjeet Singh from Moga found him a messiah of farmers.

Given Awasthi’s leadership and the trust of farmers in the brand IFFCO, Haldhar Sarkar of West Bengal wanted IFFCO to enter into the banking sector to help the farmers and Amar Singh Sakhani of Himanchal wanted IFFCO to enter into food processing field.

The other star speakers who have been eulogizing MD without fail in all AGMs were again there. They included Ankit Parihar, R Ramachandran, Sunil Khatri, Shashi Kant Dwivedi and several others. They all demanded Padma Award for the MD.