Tenth Foundation Day Celebrations

2nd Oct. 2009: HINDI PLAY – “Lala Hardaul” by Hum Theatre Group, Director: Mr. Balendra Singh

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3rd Oct. 2009: SEMINAR ON INSTITUTION BUILDING

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On the 10th Foundation Day of Indian Institute of Management Indore, a seminar on Institution Building was organised where an array of influential speakers spoke about the topic. L N Jhunjhunwala, the chairman of the institute launched the 1st issue of the “Indore Management Journal”. N Ravichandran, the Director of IIM Indore marked the beginning of the seminar with an inspiring speech.

The first speaker, Former Chief Election Commissioner, Mr. J.M. Lyngdoh provided insights on how democracy in the electoral process is essential for the people of India. He started his lecture by explaining the foundation, history and journey of the election commission, the technological advancements in the electoral process like the introduction of the Electronic Voting Machine. He also highlighted the role of various former election commissioners like S.L. Shakdhar and Peri Sastry and the conflicts between the Chief Election Commissioners and the political executives. In response to a query on the effectiveness of a two party system, Lyngdoh said that such a system cannot be forced upon a democracy like India and would be very ineffective with two parties which have near identical policies.

Ms. Mirai Chatterjee, Coordinator, SEWA Social Security talked about building membership based organizations and institutions. SEWA, the Self Employed Women’s Association was founded by Ilaben Bhatt in 1972 for the welfare of the women working in the unorganized sector. The organization today caters to 11 lakh women in 9 states. In the lecture, Ms. Mirai talked about the journey of SEWA as an institution, its growth and its role in helping the poor, down-trodden and vulnerable women in becoming self-reliant. They opened the SEWA bank by pooling the savings of these women and the bank has grown from RS 40,000 to a 100 crore institution. SEWA is also working in the field of social security, healthcare, childcare, insurance etc.

Ms Prema Padmanabhan, Medical Director-Sankara Nethralaya, shared the story of creation of Sankara Nethralaya from its incubation period to growth phase along with the reasons and circumstances that led to its creation. The institute has been conforming to its vision of providing world class eye care to those who need but could not afford by maintaining strict quality protocol, constantly researching on cutting edge technology and serving the bottom of the pyramid almost free of cost. She stressed on the role of education provided by the institute in carrying forward the dream. “Colleges produce students, institutes produce ambassadors”. Ms Padmanabhan also discussed about cost implications of their mission, ways to maintain their financial sustainability and strategic planning of their future growth.

The fourth speaker for the 10th Foundation Day of IIM Indore was Dr. V S Rao, director of the BITS- Pilani Hyderabad campus. BITS Pilani has always been known as one of the top engineering colleges in India and a leader in using innovative practices to impart education. Dr. Rao spoke about two aspects of the BITS Pilani story- The growth of the institute and the path breaking Practice school method. Having started in 1901 as a ‘Pathshala’, BITS was among the leading universities in India to have started using the university system; collaborations with the best universities of the world like MIT, Boston etc; an integrated degree program allowing immense flexibilities; an online examination for admission and offshore campuses. Among the most innovative initiatives to have been adopted by BITS Pilani from the west is the practice school- a seven month internship program for students. The idea has become very popular among both students and organizations- so much so that close to 200 stations visited the campus for projects this year.

The 5th speaker of the day was Dr. M N G Mani who spoke about Institution Building in Social sector. Dr. M N G Mani was the Dean, Vivekananda University. He spoke about how management graduates can make a difference to the social sector and what skill set one requires to be successful in this sector. He explained the contribution of management graduates by citing examples as to how two IIM graduates went on to actually renew the Blind People Association, Ahmadabad. Having explained the opportunities that lie at the footsteps of the present management graduates citing requirements in UN, UNESCO and other world bodies, Dr. Mani said that compassion for human beings is the most important quality followed by visionary leadership skills, good communication, developing positive attitude, mastery in technology and dignity of labour.

The final speaker of the enthralling day was Justice SB Sinha, Former Judge of the Supreme Court of India. Needless to mention, it was a fitting end to the finale with Justice Sinha’s interactive lecture. Justice Sinha spoke about the unexplored area of management-judiciary relationship and stressed on the importance of the same for the future. With the number of pending cases in India which is expected to dramatically rise with education and development, there is vast scope for judicial reforms. And this is where managers come in- to plan and bring about timeliness, quality and sensitivity in the judicial process. Hence, Justice Sinha said that “the managers at IIMs need to be sensitized to this issue.

It was followed by a classical musical recital by the great Ms. Kalapini Komkali, daughter and disciple of Pandit Kumar Gandharva.

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