Dear Colleagues,
The Indian Railways (IR) is undergoing a rapid transition as new age customers, technology and enhancement in productivity bring about a 360-degree cultural transformation in the organization. The human resource (HR) function is expected to play a key role in shaping this adaptation and contribute significantly to success of Indian Railway’s strategy in the near future.
HR is expected to play a critical role in the strategic intent of IR in partnership with other functions in the organization by organizing adequate manpower and new age skills among new and existing employees. The role of HR has moved beyond its traditional avatar beyond recruitment, selection, training, payroll and industrial relations. It has become more business-oriented where it is directly involved in every strategic decision. HR specialization is now a popular subject in business school curriculum globally and HR managers occupy prominent positions in senior management and organizational decision-making. As the only civil service dedicated to HR management, the Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS) has evolved and established itself as a functional Service despite having faced significant resistance from various quarters throughout its 40 year long history.
It has been my honour and privilege to be part of this specialized fraternity that has offered me the rarest of rare opportunities to work alongside you all and develop myself over these years. The recognition received by the Service today is the result of hard work, struggle and sacrifice of many of our seniors and fellow members and it would be apt if someone among us takes up the task to chronicle this and recognize such contributions.
The service has carved a niche for itself gaining recognition inside and outside Indian Railways especially as the significance of the Human Resources function gains prominence in organizational management. It is now well established that HR is not anybody’s or everybody’s job, especially so in Indian Railways, which is a highly complex organization given its large employee base, myriad skill categories, and the variety of tasks that HR managers handle beyond the traditional norms to include whole set of welfare activities and organization’s social responsibilities.
I am fortunate in getting opportunity to head this highly talented cadre of fellow officers and remains overwhelmed with the warmth each of you have showered on me over the years and now. It gives me immense pleasures to see how you have rejoiced over this development in my career and I wish each of you were able to see similar moments in the course of your careers. I am a firm believer that we have several jewels in our midst who have excelled and made valuable contributions to our nation and to Indian Railways and who can well do more, provided they are given the appropriate opportunity. While the long struggle for getting our professional dues have been successful to some extent, I foresee we yet have miles to go. Someone has truly said, “Ideas change, attitudes change, manners change, fashions change and change is order of the day”. I urge each of you to take up new initiatives in your respective workplaces and raise our achievements a notch higher to adapt to the change.
I also take this opportunity to laud the current in-house effort to develop a vibrant and dynamic website and see this as a harbinger of things to come. The website is a step towards helping each of us learn about our individual and collective achievements, showcase our talents beyond the workplace, disseminate latest developments, news, research and opportunities in the HR arena.
The role of HR is increasingly dynamic with this function driving organizational efficiency and productivity. The role of HR managers is expected to be vastly different from the orthodox one many of us have lived with. We need to rise to face new challenges as reskilling employees in new technologies such as Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics takes center stage, as automation becomes key driver of productivity, as policies are aligned to demands of large sections of workforce belonging to the millennial generation, and hierarchies in the organization to promote greater transparency and agility in decision making. I am confident that with your efforts, Indian Railway HR managers will soon gain recognition as industry and functional leaders across the Government of India and private sector by making them ready for the future opportunities and challenges. HRMS is a bold and futuristic initiative in this direction. I appreciate every one of you who has contributed in this massive task.
Last but not the least, I would emphasize our efforts should not stop with this website to showcase our skills and capabilities as it is mere a beginning. Instead, it should serve as an example to many others to undertake similar new initiatives which will inspire all of us to take our collective achievements a notch higher. Further, I take this opportunity to thank you all for every little effort you have rendered to get recognition to our cadre and congratulate you on this excellent team effort and hope that the available information and other features in this website motivates each one of us to do better every day. We have miles to go and need not stop till we are proud of everything we are doing.
With best wishes and anticipations.
Dr Anand S Khati, FMS
MSc, MBA, LLB, PhD