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Harikrishna Nibanupudi

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Harikrishna Nibanupudi

Employed

ICIMOD

Brief description about me

Born in Coastal Andhra Town of Gudivada. Raised in a lower middle class environs in Hyderabad. Obtained primary, higher and secondary school education in a local Government school. Deep interest in society, politics, social work and philosophy has decisively cut short potential career in Badminton in the teen years. Graduated in Psychology and than moved to communication and journalism. Failure to make a career in these fields prompted me to chose my next best interest-social development. Fifteen years on i see no reason to regret my career shift as my work never stopped giving intellectual kick, decent livelihood and a sense of satisfaction. On the personal front lives with a large family of parents, wife, sisters, brothers, nephews & grand nephews. Besides work and family, spend substantial time in observing and writing on social, political and development issues and connect with the world through my own web site and social media.

Couple of years from now

In the next five years, i will be completing:
a few major projects on disaster risk reduction in the Himalayan region, complete my doctoral research on International relations,
develop necessary capacities, wisdom and aptitude to contribute to global strategies and practices in disaster risk reduction and development.

In the Next Ten Years;

Develop and publish innovative and path breaking approaches to international cooperation in development management with a particular focus on disaster risk reduction. Develop tool kits, guidelines and policy papers on international cooperation and develop professional and institutional capacities.

In the next Fifteen Years;

Develop new course curriculum, teaching modules, institutions and faculties in International cooperation. Retire as a professor from a leading University or mentor from a leading institution in international cooperation and development management.

Degree that I recommend

Academic training in public policy/development or environmental economics/strategic management are some of the degrees that will be useful make effective contributions and grow in my career.

My achievements

I'm proud of my parents who nurtured me right values and culture.
I'm proud of my siblings and friends who shaped my ideas and guided me to right thinking and education.
I'm proud of mt teachers in the schools and colleges who helped me develop necessary intellectual foundation.
I'm proud of all the institutions who employed me so far for developing necessary professional skills and capacities.
I'm proud of the communities in South Asia who welcomed my interventions, made me a better person shown me real purpose of life and helped me grow in my career.
I'm proud of my wife for her ability to trust me blindly and motivate me every day to remain positive, innovative, effective and resilient.
What ever i have accomplished in the course of my life and career is all because of the above. Specific list of my accomplishments is immaterial.

Thoughts on Education system of our country

We need to understand the context in which our education system operates today. In today's context in India, education system as a whole seem to lack vision, motivation, leadership and drive. The system has become a self serving industry, which seeks to survive and continue with out any social purpose. This seeming pessimism is supported by the facts and figures that tell us that there is a large scale enrollment in schools but half of the primary school children can't read a simple paragraph and higher school children can't write one simple paragraph in their mother language with out mistakes. Thousands of Government schools in India suffer from absentee teachers and funds allocated for education of siphoned off. We need to enhance accountability in government schools, develop vocational studies, create better working conditions for teachers and better learning conditions for pupils. Investment on education at all levels must be increased and education options must be diversified.

Important lesson learned

Your are what you are because of the family and friends in your formative years-You are never greater than them no matter what you do.

There is no reason for you to feel proud of your country of community. Feel proud to be part of today's human kind with evolved cultures, civilization and intelligence. Countries are made of people not by geological boundaries.

You are previlieged to be where you are now. Neither regret your status nor abuse it. Always use your position to help under dogs to come up, even if you feel that they will not be thankful and will achieve greater heights. Your real accomplishment lies in making people and institutions develop bigger than you and make greater contributions.

You only know, what you know. You don't know what you don't know. Therefore never stop learning until your last breath. Learning and sharing will always keep you active, agile, young and alive.

Keep working with a focus and positive intent. But don't own the results.

My family background

My father, Late NVR Chandramouly worked for the Government of Andhra Pradesh as a research officer. My mother has been a pillar of support to him and to the family to nurture five of us, their children. My mother is one of those millions of women of India whose contributions and sacrifices to families and to the country never acknowledged but because of whom the society has been able to function harmoniously remain at peace and achieve all round growth. The same qualities have been imbibed to great extent by my three sisters and complimented by my wife. All these women in my life are lot more talented than me, have greater leadership qualities and maturity. But they lend them to me to do what i'm doing today and hog some respect and lime light in the society.

Qualities needed to become a successful leader

I don't believe in the the adage that says leaders are born. I believe that leaders are partly nurtured and partly self made.

The essential qualities of a leader are;

Definite sense of purpose for a collective good
A clear vision that compliments the purpose and that represents the collective thinking
Ability to articulate the purpose and vision create larger ownership
Ability to put collective interest above the self and family interest
Ability to bring people together and take them along to achieve the vision.
Honesty, transparency, accountability and discipline
Education, wisdom, tact, diplomacy and decisiveness.

Important decision

As a child the first important decision i made in my life to demand my father to subscribe to a children magazine called 'Chandamama'. That decision introduced me the pleasure of reading and made me a voracious reader as i grew up. And, all that i read shaped my future decisions.

My decision to opt to study civics and economics, psychology, philosophy and sociology by resisting the family and societal pressure to study science was a corner stone for the work i do now with great joy and sense of accomplishment.

My decision not to marry in my twenties was crucial to protect the family economy and welfare. However, reversal of that decision at 40 after seeing my future wife also proved to be crucial to provide appropriate direction to growing nephews and bringing new life, color and positive energy in to the family.

My role model

I never thought of a role model.However, i have been inspired and continue to be inspired by simple people with great resilience. I don't know their names.

Ensuring success

To nourish my intellectual growth, i depend on reading emerging development literature. To feed positive and progressive inputs to my personality, i interact with simple people in daily walk of life, go on a pilgrimage, interact with communities in project areas of my work. Occasional teaching of and interaction with young students in colleges fills me with new learning and ideas.

My strongest skill

Ability to forecast outcomes, thinking several steps ahead of others, thinking out of box and innovate, strategic thinking and contingency planning, communication, writing, public speaking and negotiation.

Prioritizing team interests, creating harmonious work culture, sense of humor, empathy, interpersonal communication, firmness, transparency, truthfulness and diplomacy.

Influenced by

My greatest influence was my mother-for her tremendous sense of responsibility for the family, ability to plan and manage a large family with meager resources, ability to connect the family with society with grace and diplomacy.

Similarly, my wife is also a great influence in my life for her guts to give up rocking career in the United Nations to dedicate time for my large joint family and to pursue her Entrepreneur dreams.

Out side the family, i drew inspiration from Professor Anil K Gupta at IIM Ahmedabad for his relenting pursuit to promote a culture of innovations.

I have also been influenced by what i read about lord Rama and Mahatma Gandhi for their tremendous resolve and stamina to stand by the truth and make personal sacrifices to live life as example to the human kind.

More about myself

I'm deeply worried about increasing consumerism, hedonism, corruption and cultural pollution created and perpetuated by institutions like, polity, judiciary, media and religious platforms who are supposed to guide the human societies. I believe its time each one of us sit up, take responsibility and work towards reforming these institutions to ensure safe and sustainable future for our children.

Initiative to develop a country

All professionals must put organizational productive interests and country development interests above their petty self interests.

Each professional must accomplish defined tasks with complete dedication and honesty.

All professionals must understand that the skills, education that they have developed and opportunities they are enjoying are a contribution of the larger society and came at the cost of many others who lost out due to reasons that are beyond their control. All professional must feel a sense of responsibility to the society and the under dogs and apply their skills, resources and capacities to reduce poverty and suffering in the society.