Ashok Lavasa is well-versed in the power of positive change and the will required to achieve it.
Throughout a long career at executive level in India’s Civil Service, his work in the global corporate sector, accomplishments as an author and climate action advocate, and a commitment to equality and social justice strengthened during a year at Southern Cross University, Ashok emerges as a man of the world and, more pertinently, a man for the world.
In 2019, for example, Ashok was one of India’s three Election Commissioners overseeing a nationwide push for improved voter education and participation. The resultant general election attracted more than 650 million of a potential 900 million voters over 75 days, including an unprecedented turnout from women, people with disabilities and the transgender community.
With such an achievement, it is little wonder Ashok was named Southern Cross University’s 2019 International Alumnus of the Year. Mind you, he also had other runs on the board.
To explain, 25 years earlier in 1996, Ashok was instrumental in another important campaign, this one playing out at a country cricket ground in Lismore rather than at the ballot boxes of what was then the world’s second most populous country. (India now ranks No.1).
“The Hit Racism for Six cricket match was important,” says Ashok, speaking from his home in Gurgaon, near Delhi. “It was in response to the race-based rhetoric coming from newly elected federal MP Pauline Hanson.
“Ms Hanson’s views were divisive and damaging. Even more worrying was the momentum she gathered.
“This was the catalyst for the cricket match and I am proud to say we gathered our own momentum. Vice Chancellor Professor Barry Conyngham was there. The Mayor of Lismore, Jeff Champion, was there. Robin Osborne, editor of the local Morning Echo newspaper, was there along with other media. The international students were there too, even those who did not know a thing about cricket.
“The goodwill we sought to engender carried through. It also allowed the University to actively demonstrate its commitment to equality, diversity and inclusivity, and its strong duty of care to current international students and those pondering study in Australia.”
Ashok was already 16 years into his Civil Service career when he came to Southern Cross University to study a Master of Business Administration (MBA). He describes it as one of the most important years of his life.
“My family and I were based in Chandigarh, this bustling city in north-west India, when I successfully applied for a scholarship through AusAID,” he says. “I had always been fascinated by Australia and for me, my wife Novel, daughter Avny and son Abir, Australia was a revelation.
“On our first day, we drove to the beach and had our first dip in the Pacific Ocean. It was bliss. It was also Avny’s birthday. Everything felt right. I did not bring any preconceived notions to Australia. I resolved to see for myself and to always have an open mind.”
During the next year, Ashok and his family revelled in their Australian experience.
“Every Friday, we packed the car and took off somewhere. Our biggest trip was 7000km in 19 days, from Lismore to Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and back. I had a travel agent mate and even he was asking me for advice.”
Nevertheless, Ashok never lost sight of his MBA. All these years later, he maintains it bestowed invaluable academic validation for the work he took on after returning to India.
“My MBA gave me so much confidence as I ventured into fields like operational research and transnational management,” he says.
“It expanded my skills and my horizons. It taught me time management as an asset for life and career, and it provided IT experience that was not the norm in India at that time. Those skills were so in demand when I came home.”
Speaking of home, Ashok was born in Jaipur, capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan, and was educated at military school before studying, and then teaching, at the University of Delhi.
He joined the Indian Civil Service in the early 1980s, whence began four decades of public service during which Ashok assumed leadership positions including India’s Finance Secretary; Environment Secretary; Civil Aviation Secretary; Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Power; Joint Secretary in the ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Department and the Department of Economic Affairs; Principal Secretary of Power and Renewable Energy; and Election Commissioner. In September 2020, he was appointed Vice-President of the Asia Development Bank.
An accomplished author and climate action advocate, in 2015 Ashok led India’s official delegation at the COP21 climate conference where the Paris Agreement was negotiated.
Such experience, coupled with a lifelong curiosity, has enabled Ashok to form a world view that is both philosophical and practical. He says three challenges hold the key to a better world – preserving, promoting and strengthening democracy; proceeding with development, especially in impoverished countries, while also preserving the environment; and finding the resources through public-private participation, with particular focus on youth interaction.
Such objectives represent Ashok’s ongoing belief in, and commitment to, positive change – whether it comes about on the global stage or in cricket matches in the countryside.
“Campaigns for good always vary in magnitude, but their impact is always relative,” he says. “That is another invaluable lesson I learnt at Southern Cross University.”
