In our list of India's Best 50 - the 50 Most Employable Students from the Class of 2021-23, we feature MBA students who have walked that extra mile and done that little more to stand out! One of those featured in today's story, Prashant Chaudhary, has shown an incredible amount of passion to achieve his true potential. Read on and find out his story!
The following are Prashant Chaudhary’s set of responses to a questionnaire floated amongst MBA graduates to determine the top 50 Most Employable MBA Graduates of the Class of 2023. Amongst the massive number of entries and responses being evaluated, Prashant's story and profile stood out. Here's his story in his own words.
Name an instance where you wanted something and went out of your comfort zone to achieve it OR Tell us the biggest risk you have taken so far in your life.
This question takes me 13 years back in the past when I was in 6th standard. My family and I used to reside in a village, and the closest English-medium school was 10 kilometres away. At thattime, I was accepted to Aligarh Muslim University, and my parents granted me the entire freedom to decide whether to leaveor not leave home. At the age of 12, I left home as Idecided to accept that admission. That was the biggest risk that I had unknowingly taken. I made all the decisions regarding my behaviour during those years of living alone, including whether to smoke, drink, watch porn, use foul language, and other undesirable habits that were both widespread and widely accepted as cool. These decisions could have changed my life and luckily, I chose the right side.
When was the last time someone relied on you? OR What did you do which was purely for someone else - a truly selfless act?
I am part of the CSR committee at JBIMS, Mumbai. Being a part of this committee, I have got several chances of giving back to society. But if I must mention just one act which was purely for someone else, it was to raise a fund of 1.2 Lacs for a residential school for intellectually challenged children based out of Karjat, Mumbai. We paid a quick visit to this school that is run by one of our alumni in order to chat with them and provide them with some essentials. But as soon as we saw those kids and the purity they radiated, our hearts melted.Since they just had two rooms and extremely limited amenities, we wanted to go above and above to help them get better infrastructure and medical facilities. With the assistance of all the donations, I'm happy to say that we were successful in achieving this.
Tell us about a time when you disagreed with an opinion/idea/decision. What did you do about it?
I come from a rural background. Caste prejudice is a harsh reality that is still present in rural areas. I come from the so-called upper caste and there are several instances where people coming from other backgrounds have to face atrocities. In one such incident, one boy from the upper caste (Lets say Deepak) passed a vulgar comment on a passing by teenage girl from the lower caste. Her brother, let's say Kapil, who was with her, objected, and I also stepped in to stop it. But Deepak slapped Kapil during this which made me angry. I brought up this issue with the village elders, got Deepak to apologise to Kapil and her sister, and got the elders to warn Deepak's parents not to do it again. In my village, atrocities have decreased as a result of this episode, and individuals from lower castes now feel safer.
What is the one thing you can claim to have some level of expertise or depth of knowledge in - it could be anything - a subject, a sport, a hobby, a venture, an initiative that has led you to do deep work in that field?
EducationI was a first-year engineering student when I first started teaching. It was solely for managing my expenses but as I moved ahead, it became something very near to my heart. I began by teaching as a Home Tutor and moved on to teach in local coaching in Aligarh. Later, after graduation, I rejected PPO from Cummins India to work in Unacademy as an Educator. Even during my MBA, I continued to mentor students for MBA entrance exams and GDPI. Coming from a rural background, I strongly believe in this quote by Allen Bloom: Education is the movement from darkness to light.
If 10 Million Dollars (approximately INR 75 Crores) is given to you to use it any way you deem fit what would you do with this corpus?
My first and primary obligation is to my parents, who I've seen working in farms to make me successful. I'll immediately keep half of this money for my parents to improve their quality of life. The other half I intend to use for the largest of my objectives, which is to transform India's agricultural sector. I'll establish a non-profit agriculture association that works to bring farmers together to create autonomous farmer unions. To ensure that farmers receive a fair wage for their labour, the group of these unions will establish the price for crops, choose the purchasers, and monopolise the market. I will continue to spend the money for these two halves as and when needed, and I will invest the remaining sum in a variety of assets.
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As per government tax payers' data and our assessment, only about 6,00,000 Indian taxpayers earn an annual 'salaried' income of INR 30 lacs or above. And only 11,00,000 Indian taxpayers earn a 'total' income of INR 30 lacs or more.
Have you ever considered how much time it would take for you to be amongst these top 0.5% earners in India?
Find out here!