What are the challenges in setting up a healthcare NGO? How can NGOs use technology to augment their education initiatives? What are the elements of the Indian Trust Act of 1882? A one-day workshop on setting up NGOs organised by the the Centre for Emerging Market Solutions (CEMS) provided answers to such questions in addition to offering insights on the challenges of setting up and running NGOs. Noshir H. Dadrawala, Founder, Centre for Advancement of Philantrophy gave an overview of the laws governing voluntary organisations in India and spoke about the difference between a “Trust” and a “Society.” Trusts are easy to register and members can remain trustees for their lives even with just two members, while Societies need to have at least seven members and have to conduct an Annual General Meeting in a participative process. Gloria Benny and Jithin Nedumala, spoke about their education-focused NGO, “Make a Difference,” which they stress has “stopped thinking like an NGO” and has begun acting like a service provider. By 2103, MAD hopes to reach 7000 children in 39 cities through 3000 volunteers.
The “Clean and Green Drive,” an initiative by the Operations and Sustainability Council brought together the ISB Community in an effort to clean the campus. Around 20 members of the community participated and worked for more than an hour outside the SV1 Amphitheatre collecting around 10 bags of garbage that consisted mostly of incorrectly disposed glass and plastic items. Through this initiative, the students realized the extent of maintenance task undertaken by the campus gardening team and also understood the impact of their negligence on the environment. The council hopes to organise this drive annually with increased participation from students.
Time is ripe for universal healthcare in India. The country fares dismally in terms of infant mortality rate (47/1000 live births) and maternal mortality (212/100,000 live births) even when compared with other Asian countries such as Sri Lanka. The threat of non-communicable diseases escalating in the coming years also looms large. To add to these woes, healthcare costs are so high that 28% of rural residents and 20% of urban residents are unable to pay for their healthcare needs. The government so far has done little – only about 1% of GDP is spent on public healthcare. But this is about to change. The government aims to increase the expenditure on healthcare in the twelfth five year plan to 2.5% of the GDP. Enumerating this and other changes that will take India on the path to universal healthcare, Dr Srinath Reddy, founding member of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) spoke at ISB about the need for universal health coverage in India and his recommendations to the government on the same. PHFI, a public-private initiative that seeks to redress the limited institutional capacity in India for strengthening training, research and policy development in the area of Public Health, had organised a symposium at ISB recently.
For more information on PHFI, please click here
“There is nothing you can’t do. You just need to have the right attitude.” Harold (Terry) McGraw III, Chairman, President and CEO of the McGraw-Hill Companies, was answering a question on what advice he would give the graduating Class of 2012. McGraw was at ISB recently for an informal conversation with Professor Reuben Abraham, Executive Director, Centre for Emerging Markets Solutions (CEMS). From the Eurozone crisis and Indo-US ties, to the education business and the future of publishing industry, McGraw spoke about a wide range of issues. He asserted the importance of private sector involvement in higher education and also stressed on vocational training to address the needs of a growing economy. He was excited about how technology was making an impact in education and spoke about his company’s partnership with Apple Inc. on content for higher education.
Students of the Class of 2012 have selected Arun Pereira as the “Professor of the Year for Elective Courses” for the exceptional teaching of “Entrepreneurial Decision Making” and Prashant Kale as the “Professor of the Year for Core Courses” for “Competitive Strategy.” This award is decided by the students through a preferential system of nominations. Professors Kale and Pereira received the maximum number of preferential nominations as a percentage of students taught by a professor in a course. Students were effusive in their praise for their favoured professors:
“Entrepreneurial Decision Making is one course I will never forget. Professor Pereira’s classes were a treat – I have ingrained the concepts. He is an amazing professor! He knew how to keep the class in tune with what he was saying. His method of conducting the class, with quick checks and 12 sentence write-ups, was awesome!”
“Professor Prashant Kale made case discussions extremely involved and forced the student to think. I looked forward to every class of competitive strategy.”
Santosh Mohanram, PGP student of the Class of 2012, was one of the two winners of the global Student Leadership Award bestowed by the Graduate Business Forum (GBF). This annual award is given to a student who displays leadership skills at the global level and makes an impact within the graduate business community or society. Mohanram was chosen among nominees from the top 50 business schools across the world for his contributions to the highly impactful peer-to-peer learning programme. Prashant Ivaturi, President of Graduate Student Board at ISB, was also one of the five finalists for this award. This is the first time that both nominations from ISB were the finalists in the Global Leadership Awards. Jim Deveau, Founder, GBF, announced that ISB would host the forum’s 30th anniversary event the following year.
The Theatre Club at ISB treated the School to two very different plays recently. Written and directed by the president of the club, Nitisha Singh, “Siski” depicted the inner struggles of a scarred woman through memorable performances by Sagarika Chakraborty, Nishi Ratnam and Neha Khandelwal. The seriousness of the first play was soon forgotten by the “The Park,” a witty adaptation of Manav Kaul's original. This play was performed by Arjun Mehra, Abhinav Kimothi and Varun Sayal.