Great feeling indeed

It was a great feeling to be back with so many colleagues of SBI yesterday.  I had a pleasant invitation a few weeks back to be at the customers meet in Udupi when Mr Ashwin Mehra, CGM of Bangalore LHO visited the branches.  He was very informal and friendly with all the guests.  SBI hosted a musical evening with dinner to all its valued customers.  I took the opportunity to greet and appreciate the services of Manipal and Udupi branches. We found that me and CGM were already friends in the social website LinkedIn.

About ten days back, another invitation came from SBI stating that this time Shri Krishna Kumar, MD from CO would be visiting Mangalore/Udupi/Manipal during 26-27-28 Jan 2012.  Naturally, the CGM, GMs, DGMs, AGMs and a host of senior officials of SBI Bangalore/Mangalore were hosting an event to honour achievers at different branches of Karnataka.  I was asked to join them for a dinner on 26th and address a session on Leadership Development on 27th Jan after lunch at Summer Sands Resort, Ullal.  What a strange and wonderful opportunity to be at my alma mater for over 21 years?  I did spend the day on 27th Jan.

9th Leadership Lecture at TAPMI was delivered by Ms Chitra Ramkrishna

Ms Chitra Ramkrishna, Joint Managing Director of NSE Ltd., Mumbai delivered the 9th Leadership Lecture at TAPMI, Manipal on December 02, 2011.

Manipal

Manipal (Tulu/Kannada : ಮಣಿಪಾಲ, maṇipāl) is a university town situated in the state of Karnataka in India. It is a suburb within Udupi city and is administered by Udupi City Municipality. It is located in the rocky hinterland of the Malabar Coast of south west India, about 8 km (5 mi) from the Arabian Sea. From its location on a plateau, it commands a view of the Arabian Sea to the west and the Western Ghats range to the east.


t is situated 5 kilometres from the temple city of Udupi, and is 65 km (37 mi) north of Mangalore. Manipal was previously part of the Shivalli village panchayat. The name is derived from Mannu palla Anglicised to Manipal. Mannu means mud and Palla means lake in Tulu Language. This lake to which Manipal owes its name still has a pride of place in this university town and it offers boating facilities. Manipal was once a barren hill with few trees. This hill was transformed to a University town by Dr.T. M. A. Pai starting in the 1950s.


MANIPAL, according to me, stands for two great visionaries - Madhav Pai (Dr TMA Pai - the founder of this mini-metro, who was a doctor, banker, edupreneur, philosopher and a Padmashri), his nephew Ananth Pai (T A Pai - a banker and accomplished administrator as Chairman of Syndicate Bank / LIC / FCI as also Union Minister for Heavy Industries / Civil Supplies / Railways/Steel & Mines, and a Padma Bhushan awardee), Net-worked, Inclusive & Innovative, Progressive, Academic and Learners Paradise.

Power of Women?

Today, I did Airport receiving duty in the early morning to meet Dr Ms Madhura Chatrapathy from Bangalore to Mangalore/Manipal.  She was invited by me as Chief Guest for the evening Dist Meet of Lionesses of Udupi-Manipal etc clubs.  As is well known, she is an entrepreneur herself and also a motivator cum trainer besides being a senior Rotarian, having travelled world over.  It is a pleasure talking to her or listening to her lectures / presentations, in particular on Women Entrepreneurs and Women Power.

Extra Curricular Activities @ TAPMI

TAPMI Manipal

No doubt, academic rigour is the USP at TAPMI, Manipal.  However, Management Students at Post Graduate level in an autonomous B-School learn many things hands on and outside the class room.  Right from the first day, they are subjected to work in groups under the mentorship of a Faculty Member.  Team Work is a buzz word throughout the two years of they stay on campus.  Academic world may term it as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) but TAPMIans indluge in several social activities too like blood donations on the Republic Day (26th Jan) and Independence Day (15th Aug) every year. 

Some students form into a group called OMEGA to associate with the local Micro, Small and Medium Industries and work with them.  While understanding their day to day problems in material handling, product designing, marketing and sales, financial concerns and so on, they also offer some workable solutions too.  Some of the groups are called Welfare Committee or Social Endeavour Group and so on.  These students visit the NGOs, Orphanages, Old age Homes, Villages adopted, etc to render some help.

One of the events last year was visit to a local unit called Balaniketan in Udupi.  Lions Club of Manipal members and their families joined in the endeavour.  Besides donating funds or physical assets these visitors engaged themselves in spending a full day with the in-mates, planted sapplings, played music and dance or games and so on.  It was a thrilling and memorable experience to both sides - the inmates and visitors too. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=12415567&op=1&view=all&subj=100000225111119&id=789560053

I know of a few names of Social Entrepreneurs. To name top three from AP I have in mind are Dr Parameswara Rao of Bhagavatula Charitable Trust in Dimli near Vizag, Dr Vikram Akula of SKS (Swayam Krushi Sangham) Microfinance fame and Dr C Sankurathri.  Dr Rao's story is very interesting and older than Dr Mohd Younus entering Microfinance through Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and winning a Nobel Prize in 2006. The profiles of each of these gentlemen are mind-boggling.  If not Nobel Prizes, Government of India can seriously think of awarding Bharat.......... (I am watching all those discussions and demands on TV about Sachin to be honoured with Bharat Ratna).  My view is that any national awards are to be given to those individuals who made a remarkable changes in the lives of millions and sacrified their own lucrative careers.

You may find a very interesting video clipping on Dr Sankurathri. Please click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7miqEjnGL60&feature=youtu.be

Here is another story of an unsung, unheard and unwept hero from Andhra Pradesh. Over 25 years back, Dr Chandrasekhar Sankurathri suffered the worst loss of his family due to a heinous act of terrorism in an Aircraft in Canada. He is simply great that he is rendering yeoman services to poorer sections by providing eye care services in memory of his lost family. Government at Centre and State should immediately recognise all such individuals and honour them.

Mushrooming B-Schools in India and Pseudo Ranking Surveys

The first ranking of B-Schools in India in 2010 was carried out by Career-360 (monthly). The researcher physically visited our campus in Manipal travelling all the way from New Delhi and had first hand discussions with Students, Faculty and Staff. Their claim is that they adopted a scientific input-process-out mechanism to collect data, visit the campuses, interact with faculty and students to arrive at the rankings. The 50 Schools list is being disputed by some; while some notable players have not participated.

We have over 2,000 B-Schools - in public (Govt backed and University Depts), private or (psedo) foreign collaborated Institutes. There are multiple regulators like UGC, MHRD, AICTE, AIU, DEC, etc., and several Associations like AMDISA, AIMS, AIMS-International, etc. About 25-30 types of Entrance Exams are being conducted and Coaching Centres are flourishing day by day. In India, at least 15 to 20 such Surveys are being carried out, of late. An aspirant is getting confused. The latest entrant, interestingly, is Dun and Bradstreet, India to carry out a thorough professional exercise on all related aspects.

Hence, how will a genuine MBA-seeker get authentic ranking to freeze his choice School? Will the recuiters be able to identify good Schools from average ones? Whether age of the school or faculty (intellectual capital), location, accreditation, placement record, publications and research, physical infrastructure and ambience, library-computing facilities, student-faculty academic and other achievements, etc are all properly captured in all such ranking surveys? Do we need to have a regulator for such ranking exercises? Should it be carried out once in a year or more than once? Like Credit Rating Agencies being overseen by SEBI, do we need some intervention or governance of all these bodies/agencies? There are many such questions to be answered to take the B-School Rankings seriously, at least in Indian scene.