• IIM Ahmedabad: Students pledge to fight corruption
• Envisioning a Corruption free India – A Panel discussion at IIM Lucknow
• IIM Lucknow Noida Campus hosts industry leaders under its ‘Leaders Interaction Sessions’ program
• Derek O’Brien conducts quiz at IBS Gurgaon’s BLITZKRIEG 09

IIM Ahmedabad: Students pledge to fight corruption

Manjunath Shanmugam was a well known and respected alumnus of IIM Lucknow, batch of 2003. His was an unwavering voice that spoke out fearlessly against the oil adulteration practices that he observed in his area, as a Marketing Manager of IOCL in Lakhimpur, Uttar Pradesh. On November 19 2005, the light was blown out and the voice silenced forever when he was brutally murdered, his body riddled by six bullets.

Manjunath’s death shook the world and once again brought the corruption rampant in our society onto the surface. What happened was not something out of place. Several people in PSUs and several other organizations faced menacing threats to prevent them from speaking out against malpractices. But Manjunath, unlike most people, remained unfazed by threats, and did his job honestly.

Manjunath’s death was a wake-up call to the nation, especially the young generation, reminding them of the importance of integrity in each action of theirs. The onus is upon this generation, to set an example of exemplary ethical conduct and to report any unethical practices that they come across so as to take India forward into a corruption-free era.

On November 19, 2009, students and faculty across 25 colleges nationwide came together for candle light prayer meets to commemorate Manjunath’s fourth death anniversary and to take an integrity pledge to remind the nation of what Manjunath died for.

At IIM Ahmedabad, one of the institutions where the candle light prayer meets were held, students from different programs came together and bserved silence to pay respect to Manjunath and pledged to fight corruption in every form.

Manjunath Shanmugam Trust

To ensure that Manjunath was delivered quick justice and that his killers were appropriately punished, the Manjunath Shanmugam Trust (MST) was formed on 23 February 2006, Manjunath’s 28th birth anniversary, by members of the international IIM alumni network. The broader vision of the trust is to build on the network, skills and resources of the professional corporate community, to help improve governance in Indian public life. MST has a small, focused group of Trustees and Advisory Board members drawn from corporate India. Volunteers are spread across the U.S, UK, Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong and India. The Trust has instituted the Manjunath Shanmugam Integrity Award to honor and encourage person/s or institutions who are working to uphold the values of truth and honesty in Indian corporate, government or public life.

MST also set up India’s first national RTI Act helpline in association with noted NGO Parivartan on Nov 19th 2006, to mark Manjunath’s first death anniversary. This was discontinued after a year to opt for a more decentralised approach, by funding local initiatives across the country.

Envisioning a Corruption free India – A Panel discussion at IIM Lucknow

Manjunath Shanmugam Trust and Hindi Section of IIML held a panel discussion on the topic ‘Envisioning A Corruption free India on November 17 at IIM Lucknow. The event was held two days before the 4th death anniversary of Manjunath, an IIML alumnus who lost his life fighting against corruption. His death anniversary was remembered by organizing a Candle light march across top management colleges of India.

The panel discussion aimed at increasing awareness about deep rooted corruption of our country and discussed ways through which we can fight against it. The discussion focused on: How to fight against corruption using RTI; how Manjunath and his ideology are relevant in today’s India; and how can educated elite contribute to build a corruption free India?

The event was graced by the presence of many distinguished personalities who shared their enlightening thoughts with the students of IIML and other prominent colleges of Lucknow.
The key speakers of the panel were:
Dr. Devi Singh, Director, IIM Lucknow
I.B. Singh, Senior Criminal Lawyer of Allahabad high court
Dr. Jitendra Chaturvedi, Founder of Developmental Association for Human Advancement which is popular as ‘DEHAT’
Dr. Sandeep Pandey, Magsaysay Award Winner (2002)
Vikram Singh, Ex. Director-General of Police, UP

The event opened with key note speeches from each of the leaders. Dr Singh shared his thoughts on the role of education in making India a corruption free nation. He focused on the some key issues that are crippling India and informed that bribery has remained an inherent part of Indian Society and illustrated the fact by giving an example of a corrupt constable being a more sought after groom than an honest school teacher. He laid emphasis on the requirement of a support system to combat corruption.

Singh asked the youth to follow a zero tolerance policy towards corruption and quoted the bible by saying ‘The wages of sin is death’. He was unhappy with the sorry state of affairs in the country and quoted “If it is possible to remove capitalism from America, then it is definitely possible to remove corruption from India”. His message to the youth was to become a winner rather than running after money all their life.

Dr Chaturvedi, the well known social activist and the winner of Manjunath trust award in 2009 gave some valuable insights from his experiences in working with the villagers and empowering them with the usage of RTI act. His speech inspired one and all to fight against bribery and eradicate corruption from India. He talked about the Forest Management Act of 1865, and how it was used against the illiterate workers even after independence. He narrated the success stories about his experiences and how the effective use of ‘Mass RTI’ as a weapon has empowered villagers to lead a better life.

IIM Lucknow Noida Campus hosts industry leaders under ‘Leaders Interaction Sessions’ program

Deepak Verma, COO Emergent Venture India, addressed IPMX students at the Noida Campus of IIM Lucknow, on the topic The Renewable Energy Opportunity in India on November 16, 2009.

Verma said that there are two key drivers for the growth in Renewable Energy: Energy Security and Climate Change. Currently only 9 percent of total power generated in India is contributed by Renewable Energy installations. Some of the sources of Renewable Energy are Wind, Biomass, Cogen, WTE, Solar and Small Hydro. In terms of Cost per Unit, Conventional energy stands cheapest at INR 1.80 while Solar Energy is costliest at INR 14.00.

Verma also talked about Potential roadblocks to the expansion of Renewable Energy. Due to global financial crisis, obtaining long term debts for such projects is difficult. The market for Carbon Credit is also volatile with uncertain future after year 2012. Higher Subsidies are required because of higher risks and costs as compared to conventional sources.

Arvind Singhal, Chairman Technopak, had a leadership talk on Future Growth Engines of Indian Economy at the Noida Campus of IIM Lucknow. He was addressing IPMX students under Leaders Interaction Sessions program.

Singhal said that there is continuous expansion in the Consumption Basket of a typical consumer and that leads to the emergence of new sectors. He said that dramatic changes in the consumption basket have pushed the categories like Telecom, Jewelry and Watches, Transport and Leisure, higher up in the market size. The mass class of India consists of around 400 million consumers who are decision takers. He said that consumption can be classified in into Need based merchandise and services and Aspiration based merchandise and services. This will have a fundamental impact on the nature of jobs that will be created in the coming years. Currently less than 30 percent workforce is employed in Services which will account for more than 60 percent in next 5 years. His top three picks of sectors for opportunities are Healthcare, Retail and Education.

Derek O’Brien conducts quiz at IBS Gurgaon’s BLITZKRIEG 09

BLITZKRIEG 09 a two-day management and cultural festival of Indian Business Sschool (IBS) Gurgaon was held on November 14 and 15 at IBS campus, Gurgaon. The students Council of the MBA school organized the much awaited annual event that welcomed the students from over 200 MBA schools and corporates alike to participate in the colorful occasion.

Subhash Bansal, Manufacturing Director, Gillete India Ltd inaugurated the management festival on 14 November. The top MBA schools that participated were: MDI Gurgaon,IMI New Delhi, Fore School of Management, New Delhi, TAPMI Manipal, BIMTECH Greater Noida and ITM Gurgaon.

The main attractions on inaugural day were ‘Goonj’. The War of Bands and Zephyr, The Biz Quiz that was conducted by renowned Quizmaster Derek O’ Brien. A cross corporate team of Accenture and Citibank was the winner of Zephyr and ITM Gurgaon appeared as winners at the Goonj respectively.

The second day at the festival of this MBA school was equally fun-filled and exciting. The day had a bouquet of events and activities that engaged the crowd. Abhinay The Dramatics competition was won by IBS Gurgaon. A talk show followed soon after the dramatics performances. The topic of Talk Show was ‘Expectation of Corporate from upcoming managers’. The panel in the talk show constituted of business leaders like Sandeep Bansal, Director, Silicon Biztech Pvt Ltd; Rajeev Kabra, CEO, Telegent Teletraining, Ajay Chowdhury, Founder & CEO, Benifys Pvt Ltd, S.T. Kalairaj, Sr. Manager, Market Research Dept., Ranbaxy Ltd, Rishi Mehra, Academia, IBS Gurgaon and Prof. PC Verma, Dean, IBS Gurgaon, The Moderator for the show was Nitin Bhatia from ANI.