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The inaugural event of the IPM Social Internship 2022-23 was conducted at IIM Indore on March 21, 2023, in the presence of Prof. Himanshu Rai, Director, IIM Indore, and Prof. Shruti Tewari, Chair, IPM. The IPM programme provides various opportunities for its participants to develop social consciousness, and one of these is the 6-8 week social internship after their second year. During this internship, the participants collaborate with different government organizations, NGOs, CSR wings of companies, and research institutes to work extensively on societal issues.
The social internship for the IPM 2021 batch, which has 122 participants who opted for campus placements, will take place between April and May 2023. Through this internship, the participants will acquire the necessary exposure to become socially conscious and contribute positively to society.
During his inaugural address, Prof. Himanshu Rai shared five wicked problems that the nation is facing, including income and gender inequality, issues in urban and rural areas, lack of environmental conservation practices, and the absence of entrepreneurial spirit among the youth. He also shared various initiatives taken by the institute to address these issues. IIM Indore is contributing to the government’s One District One Product initiative by helping four districts in Uttar Pradesh and one in Madhya Pradesh to identify one local product and contribute to reducing income inequality. The institute has also contributed to improving traffic in Indore. Additionally, the establishment of the Centre of Excellence at the institute has provided a platform to address water, sanitation, and hygiene issues in the country. The institute will provide training to 4800 ULBs in the country and has received a grant of Rs. 19.95 crores from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The CoE will also mentor and guide the youth who wish to establish their startup in the field of sanitation and cleanliness, thereby enhancing the entrepreneurial spirit. Prof. Rai highlighted the Rural Engagement Programme, which provides students with a platform to live in villages, identify and understand problems, and offer solutions. “The difference between an average privileged male and an underprivileged woman in this nation is of 80 years. We are 1.4 billion Indians, and together we all can make a difference. It’s time to identify problems and look for solutions to make a difference to this nation and the world as a whole,” he said.
Prof. Shruti Tewari encouraged the batch to be open to experience and explore the realities during their internships. “Try to come out of your comfort zone and be purpose-oriented. This social internship is going to help you identify your purpose in life, what you are passionate about, and help bring about change in your life and society,” she said.
Launched in 2011, the IPM programme is a unique innovation of IIM Indore, aimed at producing socially conscious and contextually relevant managers. The social placement programme serves the dual purpose of providing students with professional working experience in a social backdrop while allowing them to apply their interdisciplinary learnings in solving real-life social problems in association with other organizations. The programme is initiated by the students and executed by an elected student body called the Social Placement Committee.
With 100% placements, the batch has secured a total of 127 offers for 122 students who opted for the campus placement process. Of these, 72% of the total offers are from CSR sectors, while 22% of the total offers came from social impact organizations, marking the first time such organizations have participated in the programme. Social incubators were the third most popular sector, followed by research institutes & think tanks, and NGOs.
The majority of the roles offered were in research & insights, data analysis, corporate communications, marketing, and field research. However, this year also saw an increase in roles offered in the domains of finance & investment and impact measurement, broadening the scope of exposure for the students. This year, a total of 33 recruiting organizations participated in the programme, with 52% being first-time recruiters. Prominent CSR recruiters included Capgemini, TCS, JM Financial, Tata, Biocon, among others. The prominent social incubators that participated were CIIE.CO from IIM Ahmedabad, NSRCEL from IIM Bangalore, and Viilgro Innovations Foundation. The research institutions & think tanks cohort included PRS Legislative Research, FemLab.Co, Institute of Chinese Studies, among others. The notable NGOs that participated were Room to Read, SEWA International, and Magic Bus India Foundation.