Village goes digital, courtesy XLRI

From The Telegraph

XLRI student Himanshu Singh with village pradhan Manu Singh Sardar on Sunday. (Bhola Prasad)

Seventy-year-old Manu Singh Sardar had a dream for his village Janumdih in Potka block of East Singhbhum. It came true on Sunday for village boys like Rohit Sardar, an eighth grader, with a digital twist.

Manu Singh, who dropped out of school in Class VIII but went on to become a Mundari poet and village pradhan, always wanted a library for Janumdih.

XLRI students and NGO Kalamandir fulfilled the elderly man’s vision with some 21st century extras thrown in.

While Kalamandir constructed the library near its grass-mat training and weaving centre, XLRI students collected the lion’s share of the 500 books in Hindi, English and Bengali. XLRI students also donated a computer with Internet connection and a webcam to the library that Manu Singh inaugurated on Sunday.

So if Rohit and his friends were excited about Aesop’s fables, Champak, Tintin and Tinkle comics as well as textbooks, they were completely in awe of the Internet. “I know about www dot com and Google,” smiled Rohit, pronouncing each word carefully.

His school, Mutkeshwardham High School, Harina, doesn’t even have a library.

The general management programme students of XLRI who did most of the project’s legwork sounded moved with the digital gateway.

“This was a social project for our group of 10 students, a part of the course where we take up a sustainable social project and implement it. Though it is a part of our curriculum, it gives us pleasure to see villagers happy. If they use the Net and read books, they can achieve so much,” said Himanshu Singh, part of Team XLRI.

He and other students — Deepak Suri, Devesh Thakur, Gaurav Sharma, Mayank Gupta, Ravjit Kokardekar, Mandar Buddhikot, Tanveer Anwar and Paul Jacob — went around telling villagers about books and Internet. 

A computer-trained local youth, Satyajit Barui, will maintain the system. Villagers can learn to browse the Net and chat on the web with anybody, even the district administration if needed. “We will convert this hub into a full-fledged computer system and shift the library to a bigger area. We will also appoint a librarian,” said Monica Bhatia, Kalamandir co-ordinator.

The Telegraph asked Rohit what he would search on the Net.

 “America!” he grinned.

Feeling low? Talk to your XLRI buddy

- Empathy, not ‘gyan’, sets apart B-school project for troubled teens with activities to beat the blues

From The Telegraph



XLRI students during a session under Samarthya at Motilal Nehru Public School in Jamshedpur earlier this week

Students of XLRI have been there, done that. They know how vulnerable teenagers are when bouts of depression and low self-esteem hit them.

Though they are seen as corporate honchos in the making, they are making sure they have time for troubled teens between 15 and 18 with a project called Samarthya — The Human Potential Centre.

Launched on July 23, the project, if it catches on, can be a boon for Jamshedpur that is grappling with student suicide. After all, those between 15 and 18 years go through two board exams, pressure to excel in academics and crack entrance exams, campus love, heartbreak and increasingly, body image issues where pimples and obesity are major triggers for depression.

Samarthya aims to help older students at school discover their potential, control emotions and share thoughts with someone who understands.

A group of around 10 students from Business Management (BM) and Human Resource Management (HRM) are already taking sessions with the teens. The first took place at Motilal Nehru Public School (MNPS).

Teenagers fearing the dreaded G-word — gyan — or preaching will be pleasantly surprised.

“It is not counselling. We don’t sit with students and solve their problems. It is beyond that. We take sessions on emotions and try to help them deal with them. Each session is dedicated to one emotion and we conduct activities on it,” said Smriti Khanna, a second-year HRM student and part of Samarthya.

A session on anger, for instance, will start by letting students vent out on paper, asking them to write down their impulses when they feel furious. Then comes a lively discussion on how to get out of this negative emotion.

“The teens don’t want gyan. We help them to know themselves through experiential learning and discover what lies within. At times they also ask questions on how to behave in a given situation. We share a lot,” said Smriti.

“It is a great initiative on the part of XLRI students to reach out to the school-going youths of the city to help them understand the purpose and meaning of a happy life,” said I.S.F. Irudayaraj, a senior faculty member of the B-school who conceptualised the programme.

Samarthya has an ambitious year-end goal of reaching out to 700 students, rolling out the programme in many schools. It also wants dedicated members for each class to ensure continuity and create a sort of buddy system.

Principal of Motilal Nehru Public School Ashu Tiwary sounded happy with the programme. “Students gel well with these bright B-school students as the age difference isn’t much, so they open up. It will help them keep negative thoughts at bay,” she said.

Samarthya ' The Human Potential Centre, under the guidance of Prof. I.S.F. Irudayaraj.

From Yahoo News

Students of XLRI have been there, done that. They know how vulnerable teenagers are when bouts of depression and low self-esteem hit them.

Though they are seen as corporate honchos in the making, they are making sure they have time for troubled teens between 15 and 18 with a project called Samarthya ' The Human Potential Centre.

Launched on July 23, the project, if it catches on, can be a boon for Jamshedpur that is grappling with student suicide. After all, those between 15 and 18 years go through two board exams, pressure to excel in academics and crack entrance exams, campus love, heartbreak and increasingly, body image issues where pimples and obesity are major triggers for depression.

Samarthya aims to help older students at school discover their potential, control emotions and share thoughts with someone who understands.

A group of around 10 students from Business Management (BM) and Human Resource Management (HRM) are already taking sessions with the teens. The first took place at Motilal Nehru Public School (MNPS).

Teenagers fearing the dreaded G-word ' gyan ' or preaching will be pleasantly surprised.

"It is not counselling. We don't sit with students and solve their problems. It is beyond that. We take sessions on emotions and try to help them deal with them. Each session is dedicated to one emotion and we conduct activities on it," said Smriti Khanna, a second-year HRM student and part of Samarthya.

A session on anger, for instance, will start by letting students vent out on paper, asking them to write down their impulses when they feel furious. Then comes a lively discussion on how to get out of this negative emotion.

"The teens don't want gyan. We help them to know themselves through experiential learning and discover what lies within. At times they also ask questions on how to behave in a given situation. We share a lot," said Smriti.

"It is a great initiative on the part of XLRI students to reach out to the school-going youths of the city to help them understand the purpose and meaning of a happy life," said I.S.F. Irudayaraj, a senior faculty member of the B-school who conceptualised the programme.

Samarthya has an ambitious year-end goal of reaching out to 700 students, rolling out the programme in many schools. It also wants dedicated members for each class to ensure continuity and create a sort of buddy system.

Principal of Motilal Nehru Public School Ashu Tiwary sounded happy with the programme. "Students gel well with these bright B-school students as the age difference isn't much, so they open up. It will help them keep negative thoughts at bay," she said.

XLRI-XITE coaching initiative for SC/ST students to enable admission without reservation

From PagalGuy.com

First batch of XITE’s MBA coaching program

Neha Badrai (22), currently pursuing a Bachelors of Business Administration (BBA) from Xavier Institute of Tribal Education (XITE), had never considered doing an MBA. Originally from West Singhbhum in Jharkhand, this Scheduled Caste (SC) student decided to give it a try since her institute in collaboration with XLRI School of Business and Human Resources, Jamshedpur started a new SC/ST MBA coaching class last September. For Neha’s batchmate, Anupama Soreng, on the other hand, the new course was like a dream come true since she always wanted to do an MBA. Born into a family of farmers, Anupama is keen to break the mould and take on a corporate life. Both the girls are eagerly awaiting a chance to do well in the ensuing MBA entrance exams.

Neha Badrai, Final Year BBA student at XITE

The primary idea of these classes was to secure SC/ST students entry into MBA institutes sans the ‘reservation’ route. According to Father E Abraham SJ, Director, XLRI, and one of the pioneers behind the idea, the idea is to help SC/ST students achieve dreams on their own. “Jharkand has a huge number of SC/ST students who do not have the best of opportunities in life. Though the government has provided them  reservation in government b-schools, as an educational centre, it is our duty to help these students to do well in life on their own terms.”

Towards this end, XLRI has given XITE a grant of Rs 1 crore to be used over a time-frame of 5 years. These funds have been allocated to set up the infrastructure for running the coaching classes, building a computer centre, and towards creating publicity through advertisements. The actual coaching is carried out by a set of enthusiastic PGDM students of XLRI, in a bid to give back something to society.

Having finalised the plans for these classes during the second half of 2011, the authorities had  little time to advertise or promote the course amongst students of the state. Thus, the first batch of 24 students, were those pursuing their third year in BBA from XITE itself and are now in the final year of their course. In addition, the coaching classes began in September 2011, which gave the candidates little time to prepare for the entrance exams. Yet, the students took the exams but none of them fared too well.

According to Father EA Augustine SJ, Director for Xavier Institute of Tribal Education, the idea this time is to expand the advertising range of the course not only to heavily-tribal infested places like Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Chaibasa and Dumka in Jharkhand but also other states like Bihar and Odhisha.

Praising the efforts made by XLRI students in lending a hand towards training of the SC/ST students, Father Augustine said, “The XLRI students put in a lot of work towards this project.  While a couple of teachers from XITE had been asked to look in on the classes, everything from the course structure, to the teaching sessions as well as individual mentorship had been provided by the XLRI students.”

The concerned XLRI group of students are as enthusiastic about the coaching classes as the SC/ST students are.  One such, Chandrani Bhattacherjee,  said that the proposal to start such a project was received well among the students. “We sent in a group mail about the project to the batch and were overwhelmed with the number of students willing to work on it,” Chandrani told PaGaLGuY.

Initially, a few XLRI students interacted with SC/ST students to understand their requirements. “While most of them seemed comfortable with Quantitative Aptitude, English seemed to be the weak point for many,” Chandrani said. She added that once a rough idea had been formulated about the requirements of the students, a core group of about 20 students was formed to handle the coaching classes in its entirety, including deciding a formal course structure.

Sneha Joshi, another XLRI student connected with the project said that the core group drew upon their own coaching lessons while preparing for MBA to form the course schedule. “We asked for regular feedback from the students and altered our teaching methods accordingly,” Sneha said. She added that each one of the SC/ST students in the coaching classes had been provided with a personal mentor from amongst the XLRI student community.

XLRI has also approached a number of coaching institutes to help with the mock test papers for this year’s classes. “We have finalised a deal with one of the coaching institutes. It will provide us the mock test papers at a fee. However, staff members at XITE will be in-charge of conducting the mock tests,” Father Augustine said.

In the first stint, classes were held five times a week and students travelled from XITE to XLRI and back by a bus specially arranged for them. A similar schedule will be put in place this year too. As yet, the coaching provided was free of coast but the idea is now to levy a minimal fee of  Rs 1000-1200 per month. “If we do not charge a fee,  students will not take the classes seriously,” said Father Augustine. He also specified that while the  coaching provided to students will be XAT-specific, they are free to appear for the other MBA entrance exams too.

The enrollment process for the classes will begin around the second week of May. The new session of the coaching classes is scheduled to begin from 2 July, 2012.

Aparna Banerjee - Retailing Hope

This write up appeared in the Dec 25, 2011 issue of The Week.

She was 17 when her father quit his job. As money grew scarce at home, the entrepreneur in Aparna Banerjee came out. She started manufacturing transformers. In the first three months her turnover was Rs:18,000; in four years it went up to Rs:1.8 crore. At 21, she quit the business and decided to pursue higher studies. One thing was clear, she wanted to be her own boss.

“My father dreamt of me joining the administrative services,” said Aparna, 37. “But I never saw myself working under people, I wanted to be an entrepreneur.” In 2002, Aparna met a US-based friend who wanted her to do a management degree there, because the US nurtured entrepreneurs. Aparna demurred and said things were getting exciting in India. She joined XLRI, Jamshedpur, for a MBA in supply-chain management.

Simultaneously, she started work on a distribution model involving micro-management. The project aimed to connect urban customers with rural suppliers. Aparna also wanted to help women scale up their businesses by removing bottlenecks in the supply chain. She devised a model which provided services such as storage, inventory management and transportation. 

The real breakthrough came in 2006, when she took this idea to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,  who asked her to start with a pilot programme. “I also met  President Abdul Kalam, who asked me to bring in the rural perspective to the project,” she said. Thus, Project Sukanya was born.

Aparna sold some property she had and invested Rs:42 lakh in the project. She had to fight prejudices and the regular challenges to make the project commercially viable. Five years later, she is launching Project Sukanya in five states—Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir and Tripura.

“I was heard only because I was adamant and had a good education,” she said. “Almost 95 per cent of the people would have otherwise dismissed me as too young and inexperienced.” Project Sukanya is now a public-private partnership, linking 1,341 NGOs to urban consumers. Aparna has around 96,000 people as suppliers and another 4,893 are enrolled in her grassroots entrepreneurs programme. She plans to sell  products through kiosks, franchisees and shops. “Our three-year projections are Rs:1,000 crore,” she said. The project is supported by banks, state governments and various Central ministries.

“I want to be one of the best entrepreneurs in the world and I want to be able to share my profits with society,” she said. It is just not about helping society for her, the thrill lies in making a difference without the charity tag.

Memorable moments? Many. But one stands out. A woman came to her office for help. “Her son had met with an accident and was on the verge of having a leg amputated,” said Aparna. “She and her husband could not afford the medical bills, so she came to me for help. She said she knew to make handicrafts.”
Aparna guided her to start her own venture. “I asked her to employ people and train them to make the handicrafts,” she said. “She became one of our regular suppliers. Eventually, her son recovered.” To give hope is the biggest thing, said Aparna. It for that bonus that she works 21-hour days, and to ensure that Project Sukanya has a fighting chance in the world of mega-retailers.

Invitation from XLRI: Fr Arrupe Centre for Ecology & Sustainability

Dear friends

I am happy to invite you for inauguration of

Fr Arrupe Centre for Ecology and Sustainability (FACES)

at the

Learning Centre, XLRI

at

11:00am on January 14^th, 2012

I am happy to share that Dr Ajoy Kumar, MP East Singhbhumi has accepted to be the chief guest at the function. Dr Harish Hande, Managing Director, SELCO-India and Ramon Magsaysay Awardee 2011 will deliver the keynote speech on the theme of “Sustainable Energy for Rural and Under-served Markets” on the occasion.

While Dr Ajoy Kumar needs no introduction for the citizens of Jamshedpur, I am pasting a short note on the Centre and on SELCO and Dr Hande below.

---

Fr Arrupe Centre for Ecology and Sustainability is a multi-disciplinary activity centre at XLRI to provide thought leadership to promote policies, practices and dialogue which have impact on holistic and sustainable development of society and enterprises. The Centre will engage in three key activities of

(1) Knowledge Creation (e.g., undertaking and sponsoring research on and documentation of sustainable programmes, enterprise models and practices),

(2) Knowledge Dissemination (e.g., organizing conferences and roundtables to provide a platform for sharing sustainable models of development) and

(3) Knowledge Application (e.g., providing thought leadership for “Embedded Sustainability” through consultancy / MDP / capacity building programs).

----

SELCO Solar Light Private Ltd. (SELCO-India)  is one of the largest solar technology providers in India, having reached more than half-a-million people by installing solar lights in 120,000 households, microenterprises, and community facilities.

By achieving this scale, SELCO has demonstrated that the poor can indeed afford sustainable technologies and maintain them. SELCO adopts a three-prong strategy for reaching the poor -  it offers “customized products” by designing solar technology applications to specific needs of the customers (e.g., 2- or 4-light system for the home, head lamps for night workers like midwives and rose pickers, or electricity for sewing machines); it provides “doorstep financing” by linking the customers with credit institutions, like rural banks, cooperatives, even self-help groups; and it provides “doorstep service” through prompt, personalized help through its wide network of service centers.

For his work Dr Harish Hande was awarded the 2011 Ramon Magsaysay Award (considered to be the Nobel Prize of Asia)  as a recognition of “his passionate and pragmatic efforts to build social enterprise that brings customized, affordable and sustainable electricity to India’s vast rural population, encouraging the poor to become asset creators.”

Dr Harish Hande is a B.Tech (Hons.) from IIT, Kharagpur, and holds a PhD degree in Energy Engineering from University of Massachusetts, U.S.A. He was awarded the Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2007, and was also the recipient of Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy (U.K.) 2005 and 2007, and Tech Museum Award (USA) 2005. In 2008, he as featured by Business Today as one of the 21 Young Leaders for India’s 21st Century, and by India Today among the 50 Pioneers of Change in India

Besides being the Managing Director, Board Member and Co-Founder of SELCO Solar Light Private Ltd. (SELCO-India), Dr Hande is also a Board Member of E+CO (USA), Greenpeace-India and Small Scale Sustainable Infrastructure Development Fund (S3IDF), India.

We look forward to your presence and request for appropriate coverage of the event

Thanks and regards

Madhukar

==========================

Dr Madhukar Shukla

Prof (Strategic Mgt & Organisational Behaviour)

& Chairperson, Fr Arrupe Center for Ecology & Sustainability

XLRI School of Business and Human Resources

CH Area (East), Jamshedpur 831001, Jharkhand (India)

XLRI Class of 76 Sponsored Unnati Training Program for Children of Farmers who Have Committed suicide In Nagpur

The first batch of 18 students have completed the first Vocational program designated 'Office Assistant' and all 18 have been placed.

The second batch has now commenced.We hope to progressively enroll more children affected by parental suicide. For the moment--the beneficiaries are other rural and marginalised  poor  in the Vidharba region

To date we have contributed about Rs. 4.7 lakhs--which is partially paying for the program.

Donations: Donations are accepted towards:
1) Corpus of the trust
2) General purpose of the trust
Donation cheques should be made payable to "Research and Development Association of India, Nagpur". All donations are eligible for tax exemption u/s 80-G of the Income Tax Act.  Please mention your name and address so that we are able to send the receipt with the 80-G income tax exemption certificate.

Contact Details:
1) Dr. Dadarao Bankar (Secretary): dada_bankar@yahoo.com ; (M) 09422152551
2) Professor Prabhu Shende (Treasurer): prshende@rediffmail.com ; (M) 09822699031

RDAI_NAGPUR - Research and Development Association of India

Mandar

108, Surve Layout

Chhota Tajbag,Nagpur

Nagpur - 440024.

Maharashtra

Karmayogi : Dr. Dadarao B. Bankar

Tel : 0712- 2744300  (9 am - 9 pm)

Feel free to call Dr. Bankar directly .Please mention, Class of XLRI'76 ',when you send your donations

XLRI brain to boost not-for-profit business - Professor Madhukar Shukla joins seven to co-author teaching manual on social entrepreneurship

From The Telegraph

Madhukar Shukla with the Academic Contributor Award at his Jamshedpur residence on Tuesday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

A mentor in the steel city is leading the way to author a social entrepreneur’s bible in India.

XLRI professor Madhukar Shukla, who heads the institute’s Social Entrepreneurship Trust, will team up with seven academics from across the nation to produce a teaching handbook on social entrepreneurship to guide faculties and students alike.

Shukla, who was presented the Academic Contributor Award for 2011 by the Villgro Innovation Foundation and IIT-Madras’s Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, conceptualised the handbook that the group aims to pen within six months.

Shukla co-authors are Shambhu Prasad of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar; Harish Hande of Faculty of Management Studies, Banaras Hindu University; Sourav Mukherjee of IIM-Bangalore; Ankur Sarin (IIM-Ahmedabad); P.K. Biswas, Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal; Satyajit Majumdar, TISS, Mumbai, and Krishna Tanuku of Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad.

He explained that few dealt with social entrepreneurship as a subject in India. “There are many who would like to take up social entrepreneurship as a subject or start a social venture. As most of them tend to get no support, the teaching handbook has been planned to streamline issues and topics in the area for their benefit,” said Shukla, a faculty member of organisational behaviour and strategic management.

The group of professors met at the Khemka Forum on Social Entrepreneurship at ISB-Hyderabad to discuss the initiative in November.

The handbook will comprise guidelines for starters, besides an outline of related courses offered by institutes and professional bodies and classroom material such as case studies, articles, documentaries and research papers.

“We will upload it on the Internet. It may also be given the shape of a social networking site or website. We may later publish hard copies,” Shukla said.

The professor has been driving force at XLRI, which acts as a link between students and financial institutions to help them start their ventures.

Parichay, one of the businesses started by students on completing the social entrepreneurship course at XLRI, has been employing tribal artisans to churn out bamboo products in Jamshedpur.

The other ventures started by XLRI graduates are Dream4others, Samanvay and Green 4others.

“Social entrepreneurship is an exciting and active playground. However, to make a positive change you need to know what is happening in the sector,”said Payal Randhawa, director of Delhi-based Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation, which is eager to support the teaching handbook project.

“Academics are very important, as they know their field better and are connected with young minds. The handbook will be the first ladder in sharing ideas with the community of social entrepreneurs,” Randhawa added.

XLRI to map speedster minds

From The Telegraph

Sanjeev Varshney, a marketing faculty member of XLRI, at the behavioural marketing research lab in Jamshedpur on Monday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

For XLRI, thrills on wheels for teenagers are all in the mind, which needs some urgent and hi-tech probing.

Young drivers swerving through busy roads, speeding and honking incessantly and cutting through fellow motorists are attitude problems.

Changing them will prevent accidents, hope the experts. Close on the heels of the tragic death of Mohammad Ayazuddin, former Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin’s son, who speed-crashed on an imported bike and more than a month after two teenagers were crushed to death in Ranchi, XLRI decided to map the brain of youngsters to understand the deadly thrills of speed.

The research lab of the premier B-school of the country, inaugurated on September 17, will undertake the study on drivers between the ages of 16 and 25 years to try and find a comprehensive solution that can be later used for social campaigns.

“We hope that the study brings about a change in teen attitudes with respect to behavioural and emotional aspects when they take to the wheel,” said Sanjeev Varshney, an XLRI marketing department faculty member.

He added there had been a surge of the number of road mishaps — most involving youngsters — in the recent past.

“We are very interested in trying to find out the lure of speed as far as schoolchildren and teenagers, who are most prone to rash driving, are concerned,” Varshney said.

Varshney, also the brains behind behavioural marketing research lab, expressed hope that research would help reduce the number of accidents.

“Youths need to change mindsets in order to undergo behavioural change. Thus, armed with the research results, we will definitely create social campaigns against speed,” Varshney said.

According to initial plans, the group of students selected for research will have to undergo a written test to help researchers peep into driving attitudes.

The respondents will participate in a group discussion in front of cameras. To know cognitive and emotional responses better, the target group will also play video games, wherein their behaviour will be measured directly by a direct response time machine. XLRI also plans to collaborate with the district administration to make the research a joint effort between the B-school and East Singhbhum traffic department.

Welcoming the move, traffic DSP J.N. Singh said the administration would support any research XLRI undertook to help curb mishap casualty.

Divine season with joy of giving at XLRI

From The Telegraph

Durga Puja in the steel city will be celebrated with a touch of B-school philanthropy this year.

Organised by XLRI, Joyfest or the Joy of Giving Week will start on October 2. This year, the campaign will have new initiatives, which aims to promote acts of kindness like giving one’s time, money and skills freely to the needy.

The festive holidays will not be a barrier for volunteers from B-school, NGOs and corporate firms who will be taking part in the campaign.

Apart from Vastra Samman, a clothes collection drive, which will be held in collaboration with New Delhi-based NGO Goonj and giving dry ration to the needy, the campaign will also host an eye donation camp through XLRI and Roshni, a city-based NGO.

Another NGO, Cause for Change, has come up with the idea of collecting usable medicines and donating them to those who need them.

“There are many who have unused medicines at home. Most of the time we throw them away even if they have not crossed their expiry date. We will first collect medicines, segregate them and then donate it to primary health centres where they actually need it,” said Joydip Paul, one of the partners with the NGO.

A group of XLRI’s entrepreneurship students have decided to recycle used A-4 sheets into notebooks, which will be distributed to city and rural schools for the underprivileged.

Management students will also train village women in business development skills.

Kalamandir, another Jamshedpur-based NGO, will distribute mosquito nets in the villages of Dumaria and Potka blocks.

Say Hello to social change

From The Telegraph

Father E. Abraham, the director of Xavier’s Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur, is an authority on human resource (HR) education. He has authored several research papers and books on HR practices in Indian industries. Under his leadership, XLRI has turned into one of the top management institutes in the country. His insistence on ethics and social responsibility in the B-school curriculum has become even more relevant in an environment of corruption in both the government and private sector in India. In an interview with PRASUN CHAUDHURI, he reveals how B-schools can bridge the rural-urban divide and groom future leaders with a conscience and empathy for the underprivileged. The Village Exposure programme is XLRI’s way of making future managers socially responsible.

Why did you introduce the Village Exposure programme?

You must be aware that XLRI is quite different from other management institutes. We emphasise a lot on students being socially responsible and sensitise them to the hard realities of rural India. Villages in India have not benefited in an equitable manner from the country’s high economic growth in the last two decades. So it’s imperative for management students — future leaders and managers — to bridge the yawning gap between rural and urban India. The three-day Village Exposure programme seeks to play the role of a catalyst in ensuring there is all-round, inclusive growth across India by exposing future leaders to rural life. It is an elementary effort towards sensitisation of students who come from a predominantly urban background and have limited exposure to village life.

Do you think one can understand rural India in three days?

lNo, it is not enough. That is why I say this is an elementary effort. We’ve been organising village visits since 2006 but now we are making this programme more formal. Now students go for it in the initial stage before they start their one-year or two-year courses. This is meant to orient them to the situation in rural India from the very beginning. And, actually it’s more than exposure — they have to stay there, live with the villagers and eat with them. For most of them it is a rude shock. From this year we are taking the process a notch higher by getting students to apply organisational behaviour studies to real-life situation. For instance, when they visited a farmer’s market they analysed the supply chain and tried to diagnose the problems. Then they found out ways to solve these problems so that farmers can earn better and get fair returns on their hard work.

In other words, students are now taking up bottom-of-the pyramid projects [The phrase is used in reference to the development of new models of business that target the poorest socioeconomic group, often using new technology] whereby they can contribute towards solving day-to-day challenges of villages located in and around the campus. This is how many of the students voluntarily stay in touch with the villages for several months. Some of them keep visiting on weekends till the end of the term. In a few cases, they maintain the link even after they have passed out.

Do you think most MBA graduates nowadays have tunnel vision as they are groomed to maximise profit for business houses rather than protect local communities or the environment?

Across the world, including India, most organisations in their quest for profit maximisation have often overlooked the short and long-term damage to the silent stakeholders and the environment. However, in the last few years, many forward-thinking organisations have embarked on a “triple bottomline approach” in which due importance is being given to embedding sustainable practices across various aspects, including economic performance, environmental issues and social dimension (labour practices, human rights, society and product responsibility). Yet, a lot more needs to be done and organisations across all sectors have to keep pushing to embed sustainable practices across their respective industry and organisational value chains. It is possible for organisations to “do well by doing good”.

Can unethical practice among business leaders — vis-a-vis 2G spectrum or the Satyam scam — be stemmed at the root if B-schools insist on teaching ethics?

Yes. If management institutes instill a sense of ethics in students, MBA graduates will certainly think twice before undertaking wrong business practice. Their conscience will remind them that if they go to jail, the corporation’s reputation will suffer in the long run. However, undertaking short-cuts or unethical practices to gain market share or increase profitability is fundamentally wrong irrespective of whether one gets caught or not. Our primary intent in making “business ethics and corporate citizenship” a compulsory course for all students is to shape responsible business leaders for tomorrow. But, I also believe that such a course in a management institute can only work if a sense of ethics and empathy is inculcated in students at home and school from early childhood.

XLRI, Santa Clara in pact to promote Social Entrepreneurship

From The Financial Express

Jamshedpur: The XLRI School of Business & Human Resources has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with California-based Santa Clara University (SCU) to promote and foster social entrepreneurship in the country. 

 

The two institutes have decided to collaborate whereby XLRI is to be the Indian partner to manage and support Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI), the signature programme of the Center for Science, Technology & Society (CSTS) of Santa Clara University.

GSBI (Global Social Benefit Incubator) is a globally-known incubation programme, which was started by the Santa Clara University in 2003.

Each year GSBI screens and selects around 15-20 social ventures from across the globe and incubates them by providing technical inputs, mentoring support and some grant to make them investor-ready.

Speaking to FE here on Sunday, XLRI Madhukar Shukla, who will be coordinating the partnership said though talks regarding collaboration with Santa Clara University had commenced around August 2009, formalities like signing of the MoU between the two institutions got completed on March 11.

Since its inception in 2003 there have been about 30 GSBI alumni social ventures in India, which include some of the globally well-known organisations such as Gram Vikas, Jaipur Rugs, Drishtee, Mother Earth, Husk Power Systems, Video Volunteers, Naandi Foundation, etc.

As GSBI’s Indian partner, XLRI Jamshedpur would identify and recommend Indian social entrepreneurs to GSBI for incubation and access to seasoned Silicon Valley mentors. In addition, XLRI would also partner with SCU to conduct due-diligence on the Indian applicant to ensure appropriate potential and quality.

As the Indian partner, faculty from XLRI would also provide such post-incubation mentoring support to the Indian social ventures.

“GSBI is a one-year incubation programme which comes with a grant of $25,000; on getting selected each incubatee goes through a month-long rigourous mentoring done at Santa Clara which takes their social entrepreneurship project to the point of being readily acceptable to the investor who is looking forward to investing in such projects,” said Shukla, adding that Santa Clara’s mentoring makes good the gaps in the project plan being presented by the incubatee, while also correcting assumptions in the business plan if they were not matching with reality, besides offering him/her tips for pitching the right things before investors.

XLRI social entrepreneurship conference roundup

From Samhita.org

Last week of January each year XLRI, Jamshedpur sets the stage for a series of dialogues propagating social development. National Conference on Social Entrepreneurship is an annual feature at XLRI to provide a common platform for stakeholders from the social sector to share, learn and interact.
"We wanted to play an active role in the growth of the social entrepreneurial sector. Conference was one way to facilitate this growth," said Prof. Madhukar Shukla. 

Professor Shukla has been the primary architect of this initiative and is also a social sector evangelist. 

The objective of such a conference is to serve two purposes - to showcase innovative social models and to provide a common platform for all stakeholders in the social sector to interact.

"We realised that there were some very remarkable models and solutions to India's developmental problems, which were practiced by the social entrepreneurs. It is ironical that many of these solutions are not known in the mainstream," said Prof. Shukla.

Correspondingly, the conference has showcased such innovative examples like Goonj's work in recycling clothes, CRD's "Rickshaw Bank", Mann Deshi's bank which is run by illiterate rural women, or Pratham's Read India campaign etc and has helped reach these ideas to a wider audience.

"When we started in 2009, there weren't any forums which brought the stakeholders in the sector - the social entrepreneurs, development sector professionals, government agencies, academics and interested students - together. Our purpose was also to provide a common platform for them to come together, exchange views and experiences, and to build partnerships," added Prof. Shukla.

The theme for this year's conference was ‘Youth, Development & Social Entrepreneurship.' The three day conference started on the 28^th of January saw an active participation from social entrepreneurs, potential entrepreneurs, stakeholders, experts and practitioners alike.

The uniqueness of the conference was its interactive and informal nature. The idea behind this initiative is not to have an annual event but to facilitate development of a community of like-minded people in the sector. A community can be built up only if the design allows for two-way interactions, discovering common grounds and forming partnerships.

This is why not only the design of the sessions, but also the entire event was geared to facilitate interactions and conversations. For instance, the speakers/ resource persons and participants stayed in the same residential complex, had longer tea and lunch breaks, had evening forums for interactions, etc. - all these were conscious part of the design.

"While we invited some developmental/social sector professionals as the speakers and resource persons, even among the participants, we had professionals with long and rich experience in the sector. By making the conference more interactive, we also tried that their experience also becomes a part of the collective learning of the community," said Prof. Shukla.
 
Speakers at the conference included successful social entrepreneurs and practitioners (list of speakers). Participation from the youth was very high and in sync with the objective to make the youth aware of their social responsibilities.  

"Youth is not mere a drop in the ocean; youth is the ocean in a drop - what we at Pravah do is to help young people discover that ocean in the drop," said Ashraf Patel, Founder, Pravah.

Thought provoking speeches by the likes of Anshu Gupta, Founder, GOONJ, Mujib Khan, Founder, Bhumi and Vishal Talreja, Founder, Dream a Dream inspired many young minds in the audience. 

"When we talk of being the change we want to see in the world, it is not just "the world out there"; we are also talking about the corruption which is in there ourselves. Social change needs to start from personal transformation." - Mujeeb Khan.

The three day conference was also an eye opener to aspiring social entrepreneurs for the challenges of starting up. Solomon Jaya Prakash, Country Director, Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, Manisha Gupta, Director, Start Up! And Vijay Shukla, Partner, Setu Ventures explained the strategies of starting a social enterprise.
"A Business Plan is not something which you write to get funding from others. It is like the layout of the house you would like to build and live in. Your B-plan should work along with your other operational plans," said Manisha Gupta.

For many young people and the "novice" to the sector, this was their first exposure to this sector. For them, the stories and solutions which the social entrepreneurs shared themselves were the major learning from the conference - in the sense of knowing that not only such solutions existed, but are also possible.  
For many others, meeting other co-professionals the conference provided a meeting ground to learn from each others' experiences. They also explored the areas of collaboration and partnership.

XLRI shoots the full picture

From The Telegraph

Power point presentations make way for the full picture.

Students of XLRI’s social entrepreneurship course are making short five to seven-minute films to share their learning “on the field”.

The latest celluloid offering is Ek Koshish, a short film made on primary education in the state by four final-year students — Rajiv Sengupta, Prashant Singh, Kumar Ankit and Diwakar Kaushik.

This trend started from the batch of 2010. Different groups under the social entrepreneurship course have already made four short films, on topics like women contract workers, street hawkers, platform urchins and state primary schools.

Students felt filming observations was a better way to document what they had observed, rather than just presenting papers and slides.

“Filmmaking is a creative way to capture what we learn during our rural exposure. Though the report and presentation are a must, filmmaking enriches the learning experience. We can be more expressive,” said Diwakar, involved in the making of Ek Koshish.

Social entrepreneurship professor Madhukar Shukla welcomed the initiative.

“Students can capture nuances and emotions through films which is not possible in a detailed study report. Visuals have a different impact altogether. The field visit is a part of the course, where students learn about rural life and their problems. Students can also keep the films for their records,” said Shukla.

XLRI also plans to make filmmaking compulsory as a documenting tool but nothing has been made final.

“Shooting a film can be a unique experience, but there’s more to that. Last time, when a group of students interviewed and filmed women contract workers and screened it for us, we got to know their problems from a personal angle. It triggers the motivation for change,” said Shukla.

The course, an elective one to promote social ventures among students, is a two-term one of six months’ duration in the second year for business management and personnel management and industrial relations. So far, four social ventures after course completion have rolled out —Parichay, Dream4others, Samanvay and Green Leaf Energy.

XLRI’s national platform for youth

From The Telegraph

Jamshedpur, Jan. 14: Social entrepreneurship is high on XLRI’s radar this month.

After the success of its previous two national conferences related to the social sector, the top B-school is hoping for a hat-trick with its third, to be held from January 28 to 30. The theme this year is Youth Development and Social Entrepreneurship.

The three-day event will bring around 20 prominent experts on a common platform. Padmashree and Magsasay award winner Deep Joshi will give the inaugural address.

“The conference aims to provide a common space to development sector professionals. There will be discussion on what could be improved in various types of social sectors. This year, the conference will focus on the involvement of youth in the social sector,” said Madhukar Shukla, event co-ordinator.

The conference will have three broad categories — challenges, opportunities and getting started — with diverse topics such as involving youths to volunteer, creating markets for marginal producers, promoting livelihood and employment, leveraging technology for social development, options for funding and investments and supporting the eco-system for social entrepreneurs, among others.

“Each session will be addressed by three or four practising social entrepreneurs and development professionals. The participants will also be able to interact with the speakers in a free-wheeling interface,” said Shukla.

The event is open to all. Corporate organisations, NGOs and students will have to pay a registration fee of Rs 8,000, Rs 4,000 and Rs 800, respectively.

Those who want to attend the event can also log in at seconference@xlri.ac.in

MBA student (Ankit Kumar - 2011XLRI) finds a win-win in Bihar's desolate farms

From DNA

There are still many months to go before Kumar Ankit can stick the management-graduate appellation to his calling card.

Come to think of it, this is just the time to worry for his classmates, for placements and pay packets season is nigh.

Not for Kumar, though. He is going the other way — he seeks to provide employment to 50,000 farmers in Bihar in the next two years.

It was with this target in mind that Kumar entered the post-graduate diploma in management (or MBA) course at the Xavier Labour Research Institute, or XLRI, as it is more popularly known, in June last year.

The computer engineer is working round the clock to realise his dream even as he squeezes out time for his management studies. Hailing from Gaya —- the land of Lord Vishnu and Gautam Buddha — Ankit was deeply affected by the plight of farmers who had no sources of income within his home state, and had to migrate to distant Mumbai in search of jobs.

This fuelled in him the desire to start something that would generate jobs that would curb migration. While scouting ideas that would could work, Ankit noticed the Pongamia (called dithodi in Hindi, Karanj in Sanskrit), a biodiesel producing plant indigenous to Bihar, which grew on wastelands. He found the locals were oblivious to its uses.

“Bihar has 10 lakh acres of wastelands. And it has several thousands of farmers who are jobless. So if farmers could be encouraged to start planting pongamia, not only will we generate another source of energy and make good use of the wastelands, but also check migration,” said Ankit.

Today he is the executive director of Green Leaf Energy Pvt Ltd, an enterprise he started in June 2009, just 15 days after joining his MBA course, with an initial investment of under Rs 10 lakhs, under the guidance of professor Prabal Sen, chairperson of XLRI’s Entrepreneurship Development Centre.

Green Leaf has now entered into contracts with about 700 farmers for cultivating pongamia and about 1.25 lakh saplings have been planted.

Ankit’s target is to reach 1 lakh acres in the next two years, in districts like Gaya, Nawada, Jamui, Banka, Kaimur, and Aurangabad, whereby about 50,000 farmers would get employment.

But chalking out the project and implementing the plan was as exhaustive as it could get.

“I needed support from the Bihar government. I requested professor Sen to write to chief minister Nitish Kumar seeking support. After this I met S Vijayaraghavan, the investment advisor to the Bihar government, as well as principal secretaries and other officials,” he said.

Sen said he noticed the passion and intensity with which Ankit was pursuing this idea and thus extended all help. “This project can create a new movement in Bihar where, at the moment, there is no big system for alternative sources of energy, barring gobar gas.”

Ankit’s perseverance and encouragement from Sen eventually lead to the government giving funds to the tune of Rs 26,700 per acre.

Sen said Green Leaf will get support from the government under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) to cover material and labour costs for plantation activities.

“We realised that NREGA funds can be used for cultivation in private lands of small and marginal farmers for growing particular crops, and pongamia is one of those crops,” said Sen.

The pongamia sapling takes about three years to grow, during which, farmers would get monetary support to the extent of Rs 12,400 from the government. After this gestation period, farmers would sell the oilseeds to Green Leaf, which would then crush the seeds to extract bio-diesel, and, in turn, sell that to oil companies such as Bharat Petroleum.

Ankit said post gestation, a farmer can get up to Rs 20,000-25,000 per acre annually by selling the seeds to Green Leaf.

“Our next phase is to have a nursery of 13 lakh pongamia saplings on 500 acres. We have recruited local youths to create awareness among the farming community about this. We have also taken some loan from Punjab National Bank for the administrative and marketing activities,” Ankit said.

"Interschool Musical JoyFest" for "Leh Relief Fund" (Oct 2, Tata Auditorium 5pm-9pm)

Dear all

 

to generate funds for the Leh-Relief operations by http://www.prgya.org/ we are organising Inter-School Musical JoyFest as the finale of Joy of Giving Week: Jamshedpur Joyest on October 2nd, Tata Auditorium (5pm - 9pm)

 

Our aim is to raise another Rs1-1.5lac through the sale of the passes (each for Rs 100/-..... or more if someone wants to contibute :).

 

I am writing to you for your help in promoting the event and sale of the passes  through your contacts. The passes are available with me (madhukar@xlri.ac.in )

 

thanks and regards

 

madhukar

 

Joy of Giving Week (Sept 26 - Oct 2, 2010) - Invitation & Appeal

Dear friends

 

As you may be knowing, like last year, we at XLRI are partnering in the Jamshedpur JoyFest: Joy of Giving Week (Sept 26-Oct 2, 2010).

 

Working together along with the Jamshedpur Schools, executives of local companies, Rotary Club, local NGOs, we have designed a number of initiatives to celebrate this Festival of Philanthropy. Some of those are given below (also available at http://www.tatanagar.com & http://jamshedpurjoyfest.blogspot.com )

 

I am writing to appeal to you to participate in this initiative. I am specifically writing for your support for 3 key initiatives:

 

1. Vastra-Samman:

Like last year, we are collecting wearable clean clothes, which will be sorted and distributed to the needy through the help of NGOs and other organisations which work in deep interior villages of Jharkhand.

 

2. Ann Daan:

Given the drought in the Jharkhand villages, we are also collecting dry ration which can be distributed to the needy. We would invite your contribution in 1Kg/ 2Kg/ 5Kg packs of:

- "Usna" (Parmal) or "Arwa" Rice

- Daal

- Grams

- Chooda

- Sattoo

 

I am happy to share that Tata Steel Corporate Sustainability Services have kindly offered all their community centers to be the collection points. I am enclosing the list, where you can reach your contribution.

 

3. Leh Relief Fund:

We are also doing a fund-raising campaign for http://www.pragya.org  who is working for Leh Disaster Relief. Pragya is an award-winning organisation which was founded by two XLRI Alumni - Garrgi Banerji (88PMIR) and Sunil Pillai (87PMIR) - and has been working in the Himalayan regions in the area of livelihood promotion, green energy and medicinal plants.

 

To support their work, we are organising an Inter-School Musical Festival in Tata Auditorium on October 2nd, 2010 (5pm-9pm).

We aim to raise funds through sale of passes (anything in the multiples of Rs 100/), and through corporate sponsorships.

 

We will be grateful for any help or lead

 

thanks and regards

 

madhukar

 

 

 

 

Joy of Giving Week (Sept 26^th – Oct 2^nd, 2010)

Planned Initiatives/ Campaigns

·         Nukkad-Natak: These will be organized by XLRI students in public places from Sept 25^th to raise awareness about the Jamshedpur JoyFest and various campaign.

·         Make Jamshedpur Plastic Free City campaign: Plan to raise awareness, and campaign with the help of local companies, schools and civil society organizations. Awareness to be created by video-clip contests, and encouraging the school children to take this as an issue for the Design for Change Contest (see later)

·         Design for Change Contest: Promote the contest among the schools –  which encourages the school children to identify an social issue of their concern, think about a solution, and then implement it. The contest  has already started and schools can participate in it from today till Oct 2^nd.

·         School to School: S2S is GOONJ’s nationwide ongoing initiative which aims to channelise the underutilized material (pencil boxes, books, school bags, uniform, shoes, toys, etc.) from the cities to thousands of resource-starved schools in villages and slums, which lack basic infrastructure and facilities.

·         SHG Training: XLRI students in partnership with Kala Mandir will conduct a module on “basic accounting” which will be launched during this week, and will be an ongoing program for volunteerings.

·         Ann-Daan: Collection of rice, dal and moodi from schools, households, community organization, corporates, Rotary members, etc., and  will be distributed in the villages of Jharkhand through NGOs and other organization s which work in interior villages.

·         Health Camp: XLRI students with medical degrees, along with volunteer medical practitioners, will hold health camps to provide free medical check-ups, and distribute basic medicines in the rural and slum areas.

·         Vastra-Samman: Like last year, this will focus on collection and distribution of wearable clothing from the city and distribute them in the villages through the help of NGOs.

·         Career Counseling in basti/ under-privileged schools: XLRI students will visit the schools and provide a group career counseling session to the students.

·         Inter-School Musical JoyFest: This is being organized on 2^nd October in Tata Auditorium as the concluding function. This event will raise funds through proceeds and sponsorships for Leh Relief.

In addition, SIGMA has also planned a daily calendar of activities (e.g., A Day with the  Elderly, XLRI Labour Day (“Serving those who serve us”), Tree-Plantation Driev, A Day with the Specially Enabled , etc.), which will involve the entire community of students, faculty and staff in acts of volunteerism and giving.

Young India Inc (XLRI) backs needy kids

From The Telegraph

Preparations for Kshitij are on in full swing at XLRI in Jamshedpur on Friday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Aug. 20: More than 400 underprivileged students across 40 schools from the steel city have a date with Kshitij, the annual flagship extravaganza with a conscience, to be hosted by the CII’sYoung Indians Team at XLRI tomorrow. 

Jusco chairman and Tinplate Company of India Ltd director Bushen Raina will inaugurate the daylong event, now in its third year, at the Tata Auditorium, while prizes worth more than Rs 35,000 will be distributed by East Singhbhum deputy commissioner Himani Pandey. 

Tinplate is this year’s official sponsor of the event, which, as its name suggests, seeks to help less-privileged schoolchildren reach new horizons of achievement through a host of competitions such as quizzing, painting, singing and dancing. 

Aishwarya Kalyan, a member of the external linkages cell of the premier B-school said that the CII Young Indians network in XLRI was led by student Harsh Jhawar under the guidance of professor M.G. Jomon, and comprised 26 team members across management streams of XLRI. The CII Young Indians’ XLRI chapter worked to provide a leadership platform to young minds at the B-school, with a focus on nation building initiatives, including socially relevant development projects in the areas of education, employability, youth affairs and health. 

Kshitij is an important vehicle and platform to fulfill those ends, say organisers, as it actively involves children of vernacular medium schools and project schools of the steel city. 

“Kshitij helps boost confidence among students who hail from the economically weaker sections of society. They have talent, but they need opportunities and encouragement to display and hone it. This platform can really help them strive for betterment in their lives,” said a senior professor of the B-school. 

Last year’s event had been a resounding success, said the organisers, which prompted them to reach out to more less-privileged students this year. 

Members of the external linkages cell said, it was only because of sustained efforts of the Young Indians network at XLRI that Kshitij is being able to help more children every year. Active involvement from the faculty and students at XLRI and generous support from the industry have made this event a success, they said.

XLer's Social Venture Products @ The Red Bean, Hyderabad (Aug 12-17)

Folks,

 

one of our '04 batch alumnus, Malavika Sharma, now runs a social venture, RAICO, at Ranchi - which is in rural handicraft sector; RAICO works with 360 rural women, provides them with training and design.

 

RAICO products will be on sale during the Indian Food Festival at THE RED BEAN in Hyderabad as part of their Indian Food festival – 12^th August to 17^th August

 

THE RED BEAN,

Level 3 & 4,

“GACHIBOWLI CENTRAL”,

Vinayak Nagar, Near Subway,

Gachibowli, Hyderabad

 

Product lines (hand embroidered and Zardozi work):

Kurtas – for ladies and gents / Suit pieces / Saris and stoles / T-shirts / Dokra work / Chawoo masks / Jewelry (bead jewelry – shell, wood, glass etc) and lac bangles / Madhubani paintings  and garments etc

 

for a sneak peak to the kind of saris please goto the URL:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070328&id=1102322247&l=459648b888

and for Gents kurtas:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2071236&id=1102322247&l=0a04cd8d30

 

RAICO also takes orders – so you can order at the stall or directly send your request to Malavika (malavika_s0 [at] yahoo.com ) 

You can contact Manjesh at +91 9507037903 who would be managing the stall – for more details.

 

ciao

madhukar