1978/1980 – AVIATION MINISTER - P. L. KAUSHIK

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s Emergency had ended and in the elections that followed, her party – The Congress – I – had lost to a Coalition of parties, known as the Janata Party (or People’s Party).

Mr. Parshottam Lal Kaushik was appointed as Minister of Civil Aviation and we in Air-India, waited with bated breath to see what the new administration had in store for us.

For decades and in fact, since the nationalization of the airline in 1953, the country had had the same political party at the head of Government and Mr. J.R. D. Tata who had founded the airline, had been given a relatively free hand in running it.  This had started at the time when Jawarhal Nehru had been the first Prime Minister after Independence and continued under his daughter Indira Gandhi.

We did not have long to wait.  JRD was removed as Chairman and Air Chief Marshall P.C. Lal (retd.) was appointed as our new Chairman.  It was a very sad day for all the old timers who had started with the airline when JRD was at the helm.

The impending arrival of the Air Chief was a cause of anxiety for many employees, particularly those in the Commercial Department and for me, as the Commercial Director.  But more on this in another chapter to be written.

Getting back to Mr. Kaushik, a name hardly anyone had heard of.  He came from an obscure background from the state of Madhya Pradesh.  All we knew was that he spoke mostly in Hindi and did not smoke nor drank.  We were advised to refrain from drinking liquor in his presence.  I met him on a few occasions and he appeared rather aloof and difficult to get close to.

Three episodes of interest come to mind when I think back to the period while Mr. Kaushik was our Minister.

MR. KAUSHIK’S VISIT TO THE U.K.

I happened to be in New York on a business trip when I received a message from our CEO, Mr. K.G. Appusamy, that Mr. Kaushik was traveling to the U.K. on a business-cum-personal trip.  The “business” part was a review of the appointment of our General Sales Agent (GSA) in the U.K.  The Ministry had received a number of representations from Indian Travel Agents in the U.K. which seemed to indicate to the Ministry that the entity which had been appointed was not quite “kosher”.

Hence the Minister took it upon himself to personally review this appointment and Mr. Appusamy wanted me to be present in London during this review.  

Apparently, the Minister’s trip was a last minute decision and hence, I took the next flight from NYC to LON getting there a few hours before the Minister’s arrival on a Saturday morning.  I had a quick shower at a hotel close by, changed into fresh clothes and received the Minister on arrival. 

Mr. Kaushik’s brother-in-law was at the airport to receive him and take him home for the weekend.  I arranged a lunch at the airport to which I requested the presence of Capt. Druba Bose, our Director Operations, who also happened to be in London.  As an aside, I told Druba not to have any alcoholic drink because of the Minister’s views on the subject.

Imagine our surprise when the Minister’s brother-in-law asked for a couple of Gins & Tonic.  Needless to state, both Druba and I had soft drinks.  Just to be on the safe side, I requested the Airport manager to arrange for a private car to take the Minister and his brother-in-law home.  The latter agreed to collect his car the following Monday.

Mr. Kaushik instructed me to arrange a meeting on Monday at our office in the city and gave me a list of Travel Agents who should be invited to attend.  I conveyed these instructions to Mr. Manek Dalal, our Regional Director and we met about 8 to 10 Agents.

Without exception, each Agent told the Minister that he should have been appointed as the GSA.  The Minister asked each of them to indicate the volume of business he had generated in the previous 12 months.  He then compared these figures by the productivity of the GSA in the 12 months  prior to his appointment.

He also asked each Agent to indicate if he was dissatisfied with the  commission he was getting from the GSA and received a negative answer. The Minister then met some of the Agents individually after which he informed the group that he was satisfied that Air-India had appointed the best entity and asked each of them to work in harmony with the GSA.

Later on, he congratulated Manek Dalal and me on our wise and correct decision regarding the appointment.  He further stated that such representations could not be ignored considering that we were a Public Sector Undertaking and it was the responsibility of the relevant Ministry to ensure that we acted quite transparently in all such dealings.

It was very reassuring to hear these words of congratulations which I passed on to Mr. Appusamy who had arrived a few hours after the meeting.

Mr. Kaushik stayed on for a few more days in London and both Mr. Appusamy and I kept him company.  This period was particularly difficult for Mr. Appusamy as his fluency in Hindi was rather inadequate so much so that when we saw off the Minister on his flight back to Delhi, Mr. Appusamy’s first remark to me was – Inder, get me a drink.  I really need it. We immediately repaired to the nearest bar.

An interesting incident took place one night when the Minister by mistake came out of his suite and knocked on the door of his Personal Assistant  whose room was next door.  He wanted some information and after receiving it, found himself locked out of his own suite.  The Minister’s P.A. did not want people to see the Minister in his spotless white pajamas and promptly woke me up.  I called the Night Clerk who opened the Minister’s suite with a Master key.

IATA’S TRAFFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE

IATA, the International Airlines Travel Association, has a number of Committees and the Traffic Advisory Committee (TAC) had as its members, the most senior Marketing & Sales executives of 15 to 16 airlines.  I happened to be a member from 1976 to 1980 when I left the airline.

The TAC met at different locations twice a year and I invited the Committee to hold its March 1979 meeting in New Delhi

To make this visit a memorable one for its members, I arranged for a number of lunches and dinners to be hosted by important Indian Travel Trade Organisations.  This would give an opportunity for senior members of India’s travel industry to meet these executives from various airlines, such as British Airways, Pan American, Japan Airlines, Air France and Lufthansa.

As the host airline, one dinner was hosted by Air-India.  There was one hitch in that by Government decree, we were not allowed to serve liquor at such occasions.

I hit upon an idea whereby a Cocktail Party would be hosted by the Travel Agents Association of India immediately prior to our dinner.  We were offered a very nice villa which had adequate lawns both in the front and the back and hence, the TAAI cocktails were held in the front lawn while the Air-India dinner was held in the rear lawn.

Unfortunately, this maneuver did not find favour with the then Aviation Secretary who not only refused my invitation to attend, but also decided to complain about my “flouting the rules” to Air Chief Marshall P.C. Lal.

The Air Chief upon hearing my side of the story, felt that while I had definitely hit upon an ingenious way to offer liquor to our guests, suggested that if I found myself in a similar quandary in the future, I should find a location “a few hundred yards away” for our dinner.

TRAVEL AGENTS ASSOCIATION OF INDIA – ANNUAL CONVENTION

The Association of Indian Travel Agents (TAAI) held its 1979 annual convention in Kathmandu (Nepal).  One of the events was a luncheon in honour of the Mr. P.L. Kaushik, the Indian Civil Aviation Minister.

As Air-India’s Chief delegate and a Speaker at the convention, I was invited to attend and found myself sitting opposite the Minister’s Personal Assistant (PA).

The PA said to me that he was aware that I visited Delhi on many occasions.  He also said that he knew that I left Delhi immediately after my meetings.

The PA went on to suggest that it would benefit me if occasionally, I paid a “courtesy call” on the Minister at his residence (not in the office).  He hinted that bringing a suitable gift would be acceptable. He mentioned that many of my colleagues in the airline always spent an extra night in Delhi to make such “courtesy calls” not only on the Minister but also on senior officials of the Ministry. When I heard this, I wondered if this was one of the changes in the culture that Mr. Appusamy had spoken about.

I told the PA that on principle, I was opposed to making such courtesy calls as I did not want to be seen as trying to curry favour. Further, such an approach was not part of the culture that I was brought up in. If the Minister wished to meet me, all he had to do was to send me a message. 

What surprised me was that the PA did not drop the subject.  In fact, he went on to say that the Minister was aware of the then ongoing ‘Inquistion” against Air-India, being conducted by the Committee on Public Undertakings (COPU).  He said that I was the scapegoat because the two principal characters had left the country and could not be subpoenaed and brought before the Committee.  Further, a relatively senior AI officer had turned approver and was supplying information to COPU.

I was confident that I knew who these persons were and when I gave the PA three names, he said that he could neither confirm nor deny.

The PA added that the Minister had, on his own initiative, ordered an enquiry into my finances.  When nothing untoward surfaced, an enquiry was held into the financing behind the farm owned by my father-in-law; an enquiry which also revealed nothing suspicious. He assured me that as far as the Minister was concerned, I was an “outstanding member of the staff”.  

However, he cautioned that there were some jealous colleagues of mine in the airline as well as some bureaucrats who were not happy that at my relatively young age, I was in the grade of Additional Secretary to the Government of India.  He reminded me that I was now a senior Civil Servant having been appointed to my current post of Dy. Managing Director “at the pleasure of the President of India” and hence, very much in the public eye.

I thanked him for his comments and also informed him that I could not change my thinking and would not be making any “courtesy calls”.   I would, however, in the future, be keeping a low profile. If the Minister wanted to see me, all he had to do was to send for me.  We parted on very amicable terms.