IIM Shillong emerged as winners in Wipro’s Earthian sustainability programme awards which received a participation of 600 teams from all over the country. They were awarded a prize of Rs. 1.5 lakh, beating the twenty-five teams which qualified to the first round and nine teams which made it to the final round.
The paper submitted by the team consisting of four second-year students Rutwik Phatak, Vijendra Kumar, Shupriya Singh and Himanshu Singh, and guided by Sanjeeb Kakoty, an IIM-Shillong professor, worked on the issue of ‘Alternative Systems for Development’.
The paper was titled ‘A study on societal transformation through efficient management of commons’ and explored how communities can be empowered by encouraging community-based resource management. As part of their research and analysis, the team had visited two villages, one in Meghalaya and the other in Maharashtra.
Earthian is Wipro’s sustainability programme for schools and colleges aimed at fostering better approaches to sustainability among young people. Under the programme, a team of maximum five members, guided by a faculty member, is expected to study a particular issue related to sustainability.
Wipro outlines basic themes from which the teams can choose one or more of their choice. The students plan to invest the prize money in societal development activities. IIM-Shillong has won the competition for two consecutive years now.
