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That’s a $5 million decrease in core funding between 1997 ($20.8M) and 2000 ($15.8M), or a 24% decrease in 3
years. It must have been a little terrifying to watch that year after year, the funds were growing smaller and
smaller, and there didn’t seem any way to stop them. It is impossible to stop a leak if you don’t know where it is or
you refuse to acknowledge it.
With decreased core funding, the staff had to decrease, further reducing morale. When bad things happen, they
happen in pairs. And worse piled on worse, while funding and staff
had decreased, operating and infrastructure costs had increased.
Had ICRISAT reached the point of no return?
When Dar became Director
General, he energized ICRISAT
into a proactive mood. No
more waiting for things to
happen; they had to make
things happen. Thinking had
to become dynamic, not
stagnant, not unchanging; it
had to look into the future, not
simply lament the present.
The image of ICRISAT had declined and the future looked dark. So
they adopted an organizational structure based on programs – it
didn’t work. They invested in biotechnology – it didn’t work. They
took other steps – they failed.
After the year 2000, ICRISAT went into proactive mode. Dynamic
and futuristic thinking were predominant. I strongly believed and
had the confidence that there was value worth restoring. This
called for a fundamental shift in the way we were doing business,
adopting new strategies and inventing a new organizational
culture. And we introduced a new credo in ICRISAT, which is
–Science with a Human Face.
When Dar became Director General, he energized ICRISAT into a proactive mood. No more waiting for things to
happen; they had to make things happen. Thinking had to become dynamic, not stagnant, not unchanging; it had
to look into the future, not simply lament the present.
The path not taken had to be taken now. There had to be a paradigm shift, an elemental change in the way they
were doing things. This called for, Dar said, ‘adopting new strategies and inventing a new organizational culture.’
And institutionalized a new thinking in the institute: Science with a Human Face. When all you see is science with
a non-human face, you have essentially divorced yourself from society, even from reason.
Was not Dar singed by the heat of pessimism that spread through the air and wilted the flower of hope? No. He
was a survivor. He had been poor and now he had overcome poverty. He believed in himself; he willed himself to
succeed as some of the villagers in his hometown showed they could. ‘I strongly believed,’ he says, ‘and I had the
confidence that there was value worth restoring.’ You have to believe in yourself; you have to believe in others –
even when, or especially when they no longer believe in themselves!
Inspired by the External Program and Management Review (EPMR) panel’s suggestions, I set forth
overhauling the Institute’s vision and mission, redefining research strategies, mapping a new structure and
Primate Change? Or Climate Change?