The Hindu Business Line : Philanthropic acts need not be trumpeted from rooftops

Story so far: I sit through a speech by Rahul Bajaj at a B-school fest, where he emphasises the duty of the elite towards society. I wonder if there is a need to adapt the curriculum of our management courses to the real needs of the country, by ensuring that the students come face-to-face with the problems that the masses suffer from.

Episode 157

It was with images of Rahul `batting' that I'd left you, last week. "The fact that most of the students who pass out of an MBA do not have any kind of exposure to the reality of life in our vast country cannot be denied," writes S. Mahesh, who is pursuing his MBA at GLIM (Great Lakes Institute of Management).

"They enter MBA institutes and leave with huge pay packets, which experience leaves them bereft of any knowledge of the struggles faced by the majority in India. The fact this exposure, or the lack of thereof, might play a huge role in future that they shape also is undeniable.

"The number of MBA curricula that cater to this demand of current day life could perhaps be counted off the fingers of one hand. At Great Lakes however, this problem has been identified, and students as part of the curriculum have to necessarily undertake a project, in which they go out and identify a group of powerless people, and work towards helping these people empower themselves." Interesting!

GLIM's approach

Mahesh explains how they do it in GLIM: "The project involves steps, where initially the students go out and find a group of individuals who are in some way disadvantaged compared to the rest of society. The projects taken up vary as widely as serving cancer patients, to working with NGOs in slums to help stop alcoholism, to working with differently-abled children. One of the primary conditions for the project is that its final goal is to set in place a system that can perpetuate itself. The students, while helping physically and financially, will simultaneously work towards putting in place a method by which the people who are the target will be able to help themselves in the future."

Read on: "This is more important than just a temporary helping hand, or even a long-term service relationship. Powerlessness can be overcome only by the people who are powerless. This is what we believe. And more importantly, power and its use in leadership, can be understood fully only when one knows the problems faced by those who are relatively disadvantaged, to whom life on a day-to-day basis is a struggle. This project thus not only exposes the students to reality, but also sets them thinking about how to solve the issues faced by such people. The prime fact that is driven home is the difficulty in setting out on such a project, starting from gaining acceptance to coming up with a solution that is long term and self-perpetuating in nature."

View of life

This opportunity afforded to students at Great Lakes has in many ways changed the way the students view life itself, recounts Mahesh. "For most of us it is a view into a world which we never knew existed, the dark underbelly of our society. Quite a few of us were troubled by what we saw, and the project did set us thinking about the whys and the hows of the issues that we saw people facing.

"It also made us realise that there are no made-to-order solutions to the problems that our country faces today. The amount of work that has to go in to even scratch the surface of the problem is colossal. But at the least, we are now aware that problems exist, and perhaps that is the first step to finding a solution.

"While Mr Rahul Bajaj made his speech, quite a few of us at Great Lakes were revisiting our projects and appreciating the wisdom of his words. It just reinforces the fact that such programmes are a necessity in any B-School curriculum of today, if we are to take any large steps towards trying to solve the myriad social issues faced by our country." Thanks Mahesh for that detailed exposition. All the best!

Social awareness

"Dear Swati, as a management student myself, I think it would be fitting if I share my thoughts about the need for social awareness in the management courses," writes Sriram Kannan. "These are booming times when we find excellent market conditions coupled with lucrative job offers for talented individuals across all management educational institutions. The importance of social awareness has not been more relevant in any other times than it is today.

"In some cases, management graduates pass out in flying colours but with little or no exposure to the socio-economic conditions of the society they are going to serve or work in. It dawns on them only when they are unable to proceed further in real-time situations, which demand extensive interaction across varied sections of people. Social awareness among management graduates can be imparted by allocating specific goal-oriented projects to them during their project work sessions.

"In recent times, trends have also indicated that more and more management graduates are becoming `social conscious' and are trailblazing along the unexplored path of societal development and knowledge empowerment." Perhaps, we can count Mahesh and his friends, among those treading the `unexplored path'! Thanks, Sriram.

Far removed from reality

"To a certain extent, this week's issue takes off from where the last week's one left," says Krithivasan. "Yes, certainly there is a need to align today's curriculum to what is happening around us and the need to be socially responsible. It is a fact of life that majority of urban youth are too far removed from realities of life to understand the travails of the poor. May be to a certain extent it borders on hatred." Frightening! "Going for one session of so-called social service, cleaning up the streets or beaches or distributing pencils or papers to school children and posing for photographs with banners, is not the need of the hour. What is required is sustained, long-term participation and willingness to get associated in socially relevant causes and issues. That attitude needs to be taught in all earnestness." Important point, Krithivasan, I agree.

"Dear Swati garu, application of `principles of management' to address the social problems and the idea of `batting for India' and the consequent feeling of sacrifice and responsibility may contribute to the uplift of the poor to some extent, but it is almost impossible to fill the gap between the haves and the have-nots in a capitalistic society/economy," writes P. V. Sudhakar Rao, Deputy Manager, SBI, Ongole. Daunting, yes, but should we give up, Sudhakar?

Scope to learn from life

"Dear Swati, various social problems need to be tackled in our country. There is much scope for management students to apply their learning. This could give them satisfaction. The best gift that management institutes can give students is the ability to learn from real life." Thus writes Anil Kumar Pillai of SMS, Cochin. He suggests that the annual management conferences can look at social problems facing the country, as a topic.

"If each B-school takes up an issue and formulates a strategy and implementation plan, almost all the issues facing our country can be eradicated. It would be tough but with the active participation of students and faculty, it is possible," hopes Anil. "We have an excellent depository of management expertise in our country whose services are confined within the walls of the management institutions or, at the most, in conferences, consultancy, etc. We have academicians and faculty with rich industry experience teaching our management students across the B-schools. Can't we all together make a difference? Where else can we get excellent case studies?" Pertinent questions, Anil.

"Dear Swati, being Rotarians, we visited the polio-plus booth in a colony. After seeing the unhygienic and pathetic sanitary conditions of the colony, one of us said that we live in heaven!" Thus begins the mail from R. Thesinghrajan, Sr Development Officer, LIC of India, Ooty.

"There is a management college very close to the colony and all the students pass by the colony everyday. I wondered whether any of the students had visited the place even once. A visit would help students have practical experience about the lifestyle and economic conditions of the people of the colony. There is also an opportunity for the students to help in empowering the women of the colony through the concept of self-help group.

"Let the students do their internship in urban slums and rural areas so that they would know the real India, and this experience may help them when they become decision makers in corporates and other organisations. Let our students apply their learning to the local situations and improve the living conditions of the poor for a better India." But the blame may not lie on the students, as they generally have loads to study.

"Dear Swati, of late your column has been boring and monotonic," writes R. Sridharan from Pune. "But, I try to fish out something interesting — but there is always a deception in the end. Please put some real-life experience that is also charming and interesting." I appreciate your point, Sridharan. The problem is that most real-life problems can be deceptively unspectacular.

"Dear Swati, I am a 17-year-old living in Kozhikode, and I was really touched by what you wrote, that it will truly be a New Year only when all of us as contribute to helping the poor rather than spend money on food and dance... and there is so much wasting of food too!" reads a mail from Antony.

"I write this because this was the exact thought I had when I was attending a New Year party, and I was very happy that there were many people sharing this thought with me on the day. Take care and keep the good work going!" Yes, there's hope, Antony.

*********

Out, on a cold night...

A few days ago, there was an unusual meeting, in my office. The usual suspects, Gupta and Chandru, were there, when I entered the boss's room. The odd man out was Mithoon of the company's PR agency. He was talking about corporate philanthropy. "Don't look it as just the latest fad! It is your passport to join the club of biggies like Bill Gates... " he was saying. I switched off, mentally, because I always thought of him as `myth-one', living in his own imaginary world.

Thankfully, he left after pushing a proposal that may cost Rs 5 lakh, of which 90 per cent would go for publicity and only the balance for giving away to the poor, in a gala function. When the door closed behind Mithoon, we all laughed. "If you can sanction me Rs 50,000... " I began, and paused to get everyone's attention. "I can organise a philanthropic occasion, provided you can keep awake at 2 a.m. and walk with me the streets of the neighbourhood." They were all game.

Thus we assembled near the church at the end of the road, in the wee hours. And we went about draping the homeless, sleeping on the pavements, with kambals or woollen sheets, which I'd bought with the grant! Occasionally, one would wake up to ask, "Why? Who?" and we replied, "This sheet is for you. We are friends from the neighbourhood..."

Around 4 a.m., when we were about to disperse for a quick sleep before reporting to work, Gupta was telling boss, "I wish we had added a tag to the sheets to say, `courtesy' our company, and arranged for press photographers."

The boss simply waved him away, "Corporate philanthropy need not be trumpeted from rooftops." Valuable lesson, I felt, not only to Gupta but to many publicity-hungry honchos. Send in your thoughts by Friday.

SWATI_CA@HOTMAIL.COM

Blog at: http://Swati-CA.blogspot.com

More Stories on : Education | Economy | Swati CA

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Shelter: Better to buy than pay rent

Can Apple's iPhone upset the mobile cart?

Tax factor in arriving at dividend decision

Stiglitz cautions against capital account convertibility

Service tax on residential complexes

Computers vs costing

Philanthropic acts need not be trumpeted from rooftops

Just Do IT

A tax poser from a CGHS beneficiary

The potential to learn from mistakes is enormous

Managed well, alliances can create value

The heart of communication