Addressing the 37th annual convocation of Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA), child health reformer and Padma Shri paediatrician Dr Abhay Bang appealed to the graduating batch "not get fooled by the luring packages", instead suggested them to take up challenging roles to make a difference in rural development in the country.
"Today, you are faced with bigger challenges of inequality, jobless growth, global warming, farmer suicide, bank scams. There are bigger challenges than what we faced like malaria, malnutrition and mortality about 40 years ago. Now, we have a larger population, therefore there are bigger challenges and responsibility," said Dr Bang, Director, SEARCH, Gadchiroli (Maharashtra), Chief Guest for the Convocation of the graduating students of Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Management (PGDRM and Fellow Programme in Rural Management (FPRM).
"Don't sell your life for the sake of money. There is no dearth of money. In stead, IRMA Graduates must go where the problems are, not where the facilities are," added the child healthcare reformer here on Saturday.
Having modern resources such as information technology, digital and bio technology, mobile technology at their disposal there are infinite possibilities globally to address the need of rural development.
Dr Bang further mentioned that a lot is required to be done on the front of tribal development as there is no data to indicate the state of healthcare in tribal communities. "There is a problem in tribal health. We are trying to develop a picture of healthcare in these community. But there is no data," he said.
As a chairperson of National Expert Committee on Tribal Healthcare, Dr Bang appealed to the graduating students to create new models for tribal development and become a pioneer.
Placements
Total 177 students were awarded the PGDRM and one FPRM diplomas. IRMA Director, Hitesh Bhatt said, "As an indication of increased engagement of business as well as development sector with the rural sector, the batch received 315 job offers from 114 recruiters."
The average offer by private sector increased to Rs 12.17 lakh per annum against Rs 10.57 lakh last year. The average package from development sector - NGOs, Cooperatives and government departments, stood at Rs 9.42 lakh.
Highest offer stood at Rs 46.50 lakh, while lowest salary was Rs 3.5 lakh - consciously chosen by the IRMA students.
This year, 18 students had received pre-placement offers (PPO), while Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) emerged as the single largest recruiter with 16 offers. Cooperatives recruited 30 candidates.
Leading multinational recruiters included Tolaram, Afriventures, Godrej Agro, Cargill, ITC, Zuari, Mars International and KPMG. As many as 16 students accepted offers from government departments and NGOs such as BAIF Development Research Foundation, Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society, Jeevika and Livolink Foundation among others.