Being able to meet and listen to one's heroes is always a very special and uplifting experience and over four hundred students and faculty members of IIMB got the chance to do just that on October 18, 2011. The event was the EPGP Seminar Series, featuring the 'Missile Man of India', Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India. The huge audience listened with rapt attention while Dr. Kalam spoke for over one hour on the topic 'Empowering India' and his vision of seeing India as a developed nation by 2020.
In his characteristic style and in reference to the ongoing events in the country, Dr. Kalam started off by saying that corruption is all-pervasive today and is not the exclusive territory of politicians. Emphasizing on the need for personal ethics, he then asked the students to "work with integrity, succeed with integrity". Elaborating on his 'Vision 2020' dream of an economically developed India, he outlined the ten pillars of development that will help make this dream a reality. He mentioned that he wanted to hear the "song of India", referring to the incident where a young girl had told him about her brother who lived in the USA and only talked about the excellent living conditions and opportunities available in the United States - the "song of USA". Displaying his trademark wit, he said that today "even (US President) Obama is singing the song of India". He exhorted the future business leaders to think innovatively and pursue objectives that lead to nation-building and help to blur the dividing line between the rich and the poor and also bridge the urban-rural divide. He spoke of his dream that the nation will have over 7,000 interconnected PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) clusters encompassing over six lakh villages which will result in the overall economic development of the nation.
Tracing the three phases of India that he has witnessed over his lifetime - from being a British colony to a newly independent nation struggling for self-sufficiency to becoming a fast-growing economic superpower - he said that he had also witnessed a change in the youth of India over the years. From asking, in the 1990s, "How can we sing songs praising India", they graduated in the 2000s to saying "We can do it" - today, the youth are asking what they can do for their country, reflecting their urge to give back to society in any way they can. "This is a great transformation," he said. He also emphasized the importance of academic institutions in nation-building and articulated his wish of seeing IIM Bangalore (the "indigenous IIM") as one of the top ten educational institutes of the world. On this topic, he said, "Great research leads to great teaching which then leads to great research again."
Dr. Kalam also inaugurated 'Prayaas', a social responsibility initiative of the students of the Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management (EPGP) - a small attempt to "give back to India". The event involves life-changing interventions for under-privileged people and aims to provide a platform to connect healthcare service providers that are interested in serving the base of the pyramid with persons who need the service. The programme, started last year, has grown in scope to involve the following:
- Providing artificial limbs for amputees - partnering Jaipur Foot organization
- Returning eyesight lost due to Cataract and other eye-related conditions - partnering Vittala International Institute of Ophthalmology
- Correcting cleft lip and other facial deformities - partnering Cape Craniofacial Foundation
It is an attempt by the EPGP students to show the world that it is not only our choice but our duty to give back to the underprivileged sections of society.
After a brief interaction session with members of the audience, Dr. Kalam signed off with his message for the EPGP students - "Ignited mind of the youth (600 Million in India) is the most powerful resource on the earth, above the earth and under the earth". It is a message that all the students will treasure and surely carry with them forever.
Being able to meet and listen to one's heroes is always a very special and uplifting experience and over four hundred students and faculty members of IIMB got the chance to do just that on October 18, 2011. The event was the EPGP Seminar Series, featuring the 'Missile Man of India', Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India. The huge audience listened with rapt attention while Dr. Kalam spoke for over one hour on the topic 'Empowering India' and his vision of seeing India as a developed nation by 2020.
In his characteristic style and in reference to the ongoing events in the country, Dr. Kalam started off by saying that corruption is all-pervasive today and is not the exclusive territory of politicians. Emphasizing on the need for personal ethics, he then asked the students to "work with integrity, succeed with integrity". Elaborating on his 'Vision 2020' dream of an economically developed India, he outlined the ten pillars of development that will help make this dream a reality. He mentioned that he wanted to hear the "song of India", referring to the incident where a young girl had told him about her brother who lived in the USA and only talked about the excellent living conditions and opportunities available in the United States - the "song of USA". Displaying his trademark wit, he said that today "even (US President) Obama is singing the song of India". He exhorted the future business leaders to think innovatively and pursue objectives that lead to nation-building and help to blur the dividing line between the rich and the poor and also bridge the urban-rural divide. He spoke of his dream that the nation will have over 7,000 interconnected PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) clusters encompassing over six lakh villages which will result in the overall economic development of the nation.
Tracing the three phases of India that he has witnessed over his lifetime - from being a British colony to a newly independent nation struggling for self-sufficiency to becoming a fast-growing economic superpower - he said that he had also witnessed a change in the youth of India over the years. From asking, in the 1990s, "How can we sing songs praising India", they graduated in the 2000s to saying "We can do it" - today, the youth are asking what they can do for their country, reflecting their urge to give back to society in any way they can. "This is a great transformation," he said. He also emphasized the importance of academic institutions in nation-building and articulated his wish of seeing IIM Bangalore (the "indigenous IIM") as one of the top ten educational institutes of the world. On this topic, he said, "Great research leads to great teaching which then leads to great research again."
Dr. Kalam also inaugurated 'Prayaas', a social responsibility initiative of the students of the Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management (EPGP) - a small attempt to "give back to India". The event involves life-changing interventions for under-privileged people and aims to provide a platform to connect healthcare service providers that are interested in serving the base of the pyramid with persons who need the service. The programme, started last year, has grown in scope to involve the following:
- Providing artificial limbs for amputees - partnering Jaipur Foot organization
- Returning eyesight lost due to Cataract and other eye-related conditions - partnering Vittala International Institute of Ophthalmology
- Correcting cleft lip and other facial deformities - partnering Cape Craniofacial Foundation
It is an attempt by the EPGP students to show the world that it is not only our choice but our duty to give back to the underprivileged sections of society.
After a brief interaction session with members of the audience, Dr. Kalam signed off with his message for the EPGP students - "Ignited mind of the youth (600 Million in India) is the most powerful resource on the earth, above the earth and under the earth". It is a message that all the students will treasure and surely carry with them forever.