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“The business of business is business”, said Milton Friedman but the
corporate world of the 21st Century has come to realize that it
cannot alone be the case anymore. Social Responsibility has become
an intrinsic part of the corporate activity. Realizing its
significance, IIFT has taken initiative to include Social Awareness
Programme (SAP) as a part of the curriculum for the MBA (IB)
Programme. The objective is to expose every student with some of the
main issues which our society is facing today. To promote this,
fifteen NGOs were identified covering the social and economic issues
such as:
i) Old Age
ii) Poverty
iii) Disability
iv) Child & Human Welfare and Health Care
v) Women Empowerment
vi) Shelter
vii) Child Education
viii) Environment
ix) HIV/AIDS Awareness
The students were attached with the identified NGOs viz.,
Deepalaya, Prayas, HOPE, Smile Foundation, Prerana, HelpAge, Naz
Foundation, Jagori, Udayan Care, Salaam Balak, Astha, Score
Foundation, Aashray Adhikar abhiyan, Development Alternatives and
AID Awareness Group.
The students working with these NGOs try to understand their role
as well as the problems of the society which the NGOs are focusing
which help them in becoming tomorrow’s global managers with a human
face. Such a formal arrangement is not the only thing that the IIFT
students have done as their way of giving back to the society but in
fact, the first year students of IIFT (Batch 2004-06) have formed a
Forum called “Koshish” to help those lesser privilege persons of the
society. They have tied up with NGOs to provide them whatever
assistance they need and also do projects with them thus indicating
that for students of IIFT social responsibility is not merely a
token thing but a gesture straight from the heart and that the
students genuinely care for those lesser fortunate than them.
The first year students also briefly worked for the Tsunami
victims by assisting an NGO in providing logistical support,
reaffirming the fact that IIFTians have a sense of commitment
towards society.
Thus at IIFT many forces have been simultaneously working to
better the conditions of the under privileged and add momentum to
the increasingly growing belief that business cannot be delinked
from the society anymore. A successful manager has to be sensitive
to the needs and problems of those around him and he cannot afford
to live in isolation. And so IIFT has equipped its students with the
sense of responsibility long before it becomes mandatory for
everyone in the corporate world.
IIFT Students helped saving a Life.
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