IIMB hosts felicitation ceremony for the PGP batch of 2021 on May 28
28 May, 2022, Bengaluru: “Not only did the institute sustain its excellent standard despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic, it continued to execute its social responsibility with utmost commitment. There was exemplary work done by the entire IIMB community to fight against the pandemic and lend a helping hand to the less privileged. Moreover, in January 2022, IIMB handed over medical supplies and equipment, totalling Rs 20 lakh, as part of its CSR activity, to the Primary Health Centre in Kodichikkanahalli, to help upgrade its current medical infrastructure. The PHC has done outstanding work to help fight the pandemic,” said Professor Rishikesha T Krishnan, Director, IIM Bangalore, in his address to the students of the Class of 2021 of the two-year full time MBA: Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP), this evening.
The Director was speaking at the felicitation programme for PGP students, who graduated in 2021. The programme was held on campus, today.
Highlighting the recent achievements of IIMB’s entrepreneurship hub NSRCEL, Prof. RT Krishnan advised the students with innovative business ideas to reach out to NSRCEL for help in launching ventures of their own. “The world today is facing challenges at all fronts – be it geopolitical tensions, be it trade tensions, and more. It is up to you all, to use your learnings to come up with innovative solutions and make a mark”.
In his message to the former students, Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty, Chairperson, Board of Governors, IIM Bangalore, said, “I am sure you are waiting to change this world. However, the world how it was, when you entered IIMB, is dramatically different from the world today - everything has changed, every industry is disrupted, most of the beliefs are found to be wrong. When the pandemic hit the world, no one had a clue how to manage it. Doctors like us, who have spent our entire professional life in the healthcare industry, had no idea how to handle the dreadful disease. Policy makers had no idea what policy implementation had to be done to control the epidemic. Everyone was clueless.”
“But in less than few weeks everything started happening”, he added. “Doctors like us realized how to control Covid. Every doctor knew what medicines to give. Policy makers understood the benefit of various restrictions they imposed. This taught the world a very important lesson - that is resilience. The power of resilience, coupled with being creative, imaginative, thinking originally and unconventionally, being respectful, embracing the unknown and pushing the boundaries, will help you adapt to any critical situation and provide solutions to the society's new challenges.”
At the ceremony, the students were led by their programme Chairpersons, current and past: Professor R Srinivasan (also faculty, Strategy area) and Professor Padmini Srinivasan (currently Chairperson of the Centre for Corporate Governance & Citizenship, and faculty in the Finance & Accounting area).
Deans Chetan Subramanian, Rajendra K Bandi and Sourav Mukherji, Professor U Dinesh Kumar (Decision Sciences), Professor Dalhia Mani (Entrepreneurship), Professor V. Ravi Anshuman (Chairperson and faculty, Finance & Accounting), Professor Gopal Mahapatra (former PGPEM Chairperson and faculty of Organizational Behavior & Human Resources Management), Professor Mukta Kulkarni (OBHRM), Professor Jitamitra Desai (Chairperson and faculty, Decision Sciences), Professor Ashok Thampy (Chairperson, Master of Business Administration, One-year fulltime programme and faculty in the Finance & Accounting area), and Professor Sushanta Kumar Mishra (OBHRM) were present.
In a unique feat, Shri Sunil Agarwal, ADGP, Govt of Karnataka and PGPPM 2021, and his son Shubham Agarwal, PGP 2021, shared the spotlight when both donned their special robes at the felicitation organised by IIMB this weekend. The proud Mrs Agarwal was all smiles as she was flanked by them in several photographs.
Col (Retd.) SD Aravendran conducted the event with the support of the programme offices and administrative staff of IIM Bangalore.
The former students received mementos from the IIMB Director. They were cheered by their families too, many of whom had made the trip to Bangalore to capture the proud moment forever.
The felicitation ceremony for the PGP batch of 2020 will be held on May 29 (Sunday), 2022. Felicitation for the Classes of 2020 and 2021 for the PGPEM, PGPPM, EPGP and the Doctoral programmes was held on May 27 (Friday), 2022. The ceremonies are being livestreamed on the institute’s YouTube channel.