It was a fine sunny morning during the month of February and we were rushing to the class after a fulfilling breakfast. Pouring over the article last night which was aptly titled “Impacting on Society: The Lost Debate within IIMs”, I was wondering what the author who also happens to be my Professor for the course, Dr. Somnath Ghosh was trying to convey when he said IIMs are only focusing on improving the management practices of corporate India while neglecting the management problems of public systems that play a very critical role in development and nation building. With a curious mind, I punched the attendance on the biometric system and waited for him to arrive.
As soon as he entered, he started discussing his intent behind the article. He explained, starting from the Jawaja experiment by Professor Ravi Mathai whose initiative led to imbibing a sense of purpose among his students in joining the development sector to the history of Pradan and his first-hand experiences in the development sector, all were awe inspiring. He insisted the role that IIMs should play in performing cutting-edge sub-sector research and improving the livelihoods of rural India.
Initiatives like micro-credit system and integrated development were brought to the surface and discussed vividly for clearing the bottlenecks and making the rural economy financially sustainable. With the majority of our population still residing in villages and rural to urban migration on a rise, our only hope for a sustainable economy is to develop the rural pockets and reduce the income disparity among people.
He also enlightened us with his own struggle over the years of dealing with authorities in institutions he was a part of to enhance the curriculum to inculcate the same sense of purpose among his students. Indeed it felt like an entire journey of 4 decades of India’s struggle in the development sector being discussed in a 90 minutes session. It was inspirational and I felt like this is something we all should be doing. We are in a far better position to execute this and if not we then who else can we expect to contribute to nation building.
I am very thankful to my Professor for including a course like “Society, Business and Management” in our curriculum. Courses as unique like this which are taught by the course curator himself ignites the curiosity and makes one ponder over their own purpose in life. It was indeed a classroom experience worth remembering!
About the author:
Bhushan is a PGP student of the 2017-2019 batch at Indian Institute of Management Kashipur. He enjoys reading and has a keen interest in marketing and analytics. After a 2 year stint in the IT industry, he is honing his skills to be a Product Manager.
Which ABG company would one want to work for and why?
With a 2 year stint in the IT industry pre-MBA and a summer internship at a Fortune 500 Medical technology company as a Strategy intern, I would like to make my career in Product Management. I like getting into the shoes of the customer, understanding their needs and pain points and designing solutions or products. With Fintech on the rise and financial inclusion the need of the economy, I would like to work for Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank Limited to deliver the privilege of banking to a large untapped population.
- Bhushan Murari
