Processes Archives - Page 4 of 7

Not Six Sigma

The dabbawalas of Mumbai carry lunch boxes from homes to offices. They are often said to hold a Six Sigma rating. The claim goes back to a Forbes article of 1998. Ragunath Medge, the head of their association, told Forbes they made a mistake “almost never, maybe once every two months.” The reporter turned this into one mistake in 8 million deliveries.

The author, Subrata Chakravarty, later said: “Forbes never certified the dabbawalas as being a six-sigma organization.” He added: “six-sigma is a process, not a statistic.”

In 2010, Harvard Business School added a case study on them, The Dabbawala System: On-Time Delivery, Every Time.

The Deming Prize

In 1998, Sundaram Clayton became the first Indian company to win the Deming Prize for total quality management. In 2010, Business Standard reported: “India has the largest number of companies, outside of Japan, that have been recognised for excellence in quality.”

Failure-Based Design

In 2019, the lander of Chandrayaan-2 crashed on the Moon. Before Chandrayaan-3 was launched in July 2023, ISRO’s chairman, S. Somanath, explained what had changed. “Instead of a success-based design, we are doing a failure-based design in Chandrayaan-3,” he said. “What all can fail, and how to protect it? This is the approach we have taken.”

Chandrayaan-3 landed near the Moon’s south pole on August 23, 2023.

The Golden Peacock

In September 2008, Satyam Computer Services won a Golden Peacock award for corporate governance, in the category of risk management and compliance. It had won a Golden Peacock governance award before, in 2002.

On January 7, 2009, its chairman, Ramalinga Raju, admitted in a letter to the board that the accounts showed “inflated (non-existent) cash and bank balances” of 50.40 billion rupees. The award was withdrawn.

PRAGATI

PRAGATI stands for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation. On this platform, the Prime Minister reviews large projects with officials. On December 31, 2025, Narendra Modi chaired the 50th PRAGATI meeting. It reviewed five projects costing more than 40,000 crore rupees. Since 2014, the platform has reviewed 377 projects.

Prepone

Prepone: to move something to an earlier time than planned. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries list the word as Indian English.

Kal: yesterday, and also tomorrow. The Rekhta dictionary gives both meanings of the Hindi word, “the day that is coming” and “the day that has passed.”

Before Rahu Kaala

On March 6, 2026, Karnataka’s Chief Minister Siddaramaiah presented the state budget at 10:15 a.m. instead of 11 a.m. Rahu Kaala, a daily period of about ninety minutes that many regard as inauspicious, began at 10:30 that day.

He later said that his family and officials had advised him to avoid it. “I didn’t want to disappoint them or hurt their feelings,” he said. “This is the first time in my political career that I did so.” He added that he still does not believe in good or bad times.

Without the Master’s Knowledge

The Arthashastra, the ancient treatise on statecraft attributed to Kautilya, sets rules for the king’s officers in Book 2, chapter 9. They are not to act without first bringing the matter to the knowledge of their master. In the English translation: “they shall undertake nothing except remedial measures against imminent dangers.”

Waiting for Delhi

On December 24, 1999, hijackers took over Indian Airlines flight IC-814 and brought it down at Amritsar. The plane stood there for about 45 minutes, according to Sarabjit Singh, then the head of the Punjab Police. Other accounts give 40 or 74 minutes. Then it took off again, and the hijackers flew on.

In Delhi, the government’s Crisis Management Group was deciding what to do. “No one was willing to take a decision and in that confusion no instructions were passed on to Punjab Police,” A.S. Dulat later said. According to ThePrint, officials in the Amritsar control room waited for instructions from Delhi that never came.

Draft for Approval

The Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure governs how files move in India’s ministries. Its phrases include “put up the file to Section Officer,” “orders of the appropriate authority may be obtained,” and “draft for approval.” The office manual of the Tea Board defines one more term: “‘Competent Authority’- The Chairman of the Board.”