As I stand at the juncture between my first year and second year at IIM Indore, a lot of memories are floating afresh in the firmaments shaded with the hues of experiential learning and social consciousness. As the mission statement of IIM Indore reads itself, “IIM Indore seeks to be a contextually-relevant business school with world-class academic standards that develops socially-conscious managers, leaders and entrepreneurs”, the course structure is interspersed with events that aim to impart the social conscience through on-ground learning and achieving a perspective on the truthful realms prevalent in the society. One such aspect of Planet-I is manifested in the form of the “Rural Immersion Programme (RIP)” which is organised in the second term of MBA curriculum, wherein the students from the first year get to spend a whole week in one of the villages of Madhya Pradesh undertaking activities aimed at fostering a positive change in the mindset of the villagers or working towards exchanging thoughts on change and sustainability in the long-term over the week.
Under RIP, the entire set of participants is uniformly divided into groups of 4 each, based on their own choices. The entire programme is organized in coordination with the Madhya Pradesh Mantralaya, Bhopal. However, coordination with the Block Development Officers and Nodal Officers about their travel itinerary is left to the students. The entire week is characterized by visits to various blocks in the district where students critically analyse the execution plan of numerous government schemes and survey villages to observe the actual level of implementation. Through this process, they assess the challenges that are faced in the execution of the schemes while identifying operational gaps that could possibly be bridged through better planning and management strategies. The students submit a report of their analysis and make suitable recommendations that can prove to be helpful, not only at the rural administration level but also at the district level. The entire programme is oriented towards ensuring that the participants get a chance to apply their classroom learnings to a real-time environment. Additionally, the programme offers the students a chance to explore the rural markets and identify implementation gaps or business opportunities, which can help fill these gaps.
Which ABG company you would like to work for and why?
As a student who has recently completed his internship in a financial firm and having strong inclinations towards exploring the nuances of corporate finance, I would like to work for Aditya Birla Capital for the sake of the plethora of learning opportunities and the exposure that ABG would provide. Aditya Birla Capital brings all its financial solutions under one roof for a smarter money managing experience. Be it insurance, mutual funds or loans – all of the financial needs are covered under the four pillars of Protecting, Investing, Financing and Advising and this aspect is truly beckoning as this ensures a wholesome learning experience per se and would provide a serious kick-start to the career of a fresh MBA graduate.
- Siddhant Tripathy