B-school students should become change managers in India. They only have to commit, said American civil rights activist and former Democratic Party presidential nominee, Rev. Jesse Jackson.

In his 40-minute lecture, Jackson made the students of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta take multiple vows to make this change happen.

“You……the management students……are the ones who are most expected to change India. Everyone is looking to you,” he said.

Management graduates are privileged with the power of knowledge which comes by virtue of their exposure at premier B-schools. “You know things (by virtue of studying in a management school), you should feel good that you are a dream-maker, you are blessed to break the family cycle….. but what is important is – do you care?” he asked them.

Inspiring management students to take effective measures to fight the ills plaguing society, including racism, gender bias and poverty, he said: “Whatever affects us directly affects others indirectly. We live in a one-row house; we can live in different rooms and speak in different languages…..but if the house is on fire then the rooms cannot be saved.

“So we need to realise that our neighbours’ destiny is our destiny. Therefore we must fight racism, gender bias and poverty. If Gandhi and Netaji could do it with their resources, then we are blessed with management education — we can do it, we must do it and we will do it.”

According to Jackson, there is an urgent need to globalise human values, education, women’s rights, children’s rights and environmental security.

Poverty is destructive Acknowledging the fact that India is a land of geniuses, he said: “Some of the best minds in the world today are minds from India. Gulf nations export oil, some export cocoa, some export diamonds. There is brain drain here and India is exporting brains. The Indian brain is being put to work to change the world.”

However, despite achieving technological advancement and capital concentration, a significantly large portion of the country’s population is still trapped in poverty. “Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction. It cripples the mind, weakens the body, and makes us dream less. This generation must work towards ending poverty,” he pointed out.

The brain, according to Jackson, is like an orange. “All of us have brains. God is a genius — he has given us brains...he does not make orange juice. God gives us the orange but we have to peel and squeeze it to get the juice out….. to get the genius out.”

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