“The greatest gift you can give someone is your time; because when you give someone your time, you are giving them a part of your life that you will never get back”

As PUMBA strives to contribute its bit towards the society by means of SOCIAL PROJECTS undertaken by the students, my mind reels back to 7^th January ’07 when we, as budding managers, got our first insight into our social responsibilities at NATIONAL SEMINAR ’07- “social responsibilities of corporate sector”, organized by PUMBA at Le Meridien, Pune.

It was a day of enlightenment, a day when we realized how much the corporate sector owes to the society and most importantly, a day when we took a glimpse at what CSR (Corporate Social Responsibilty) is all about, how it is operating and how we, as the future of this sector, can make a difference by contributing not just monetarily, but by being a part of the process.

As we, at PADC, bring to you a few of the social projects undertaken by our students during their trimester break wherein they “live” amidst the under-privileged and “make a difference” in their own innovative ways, we do not seek to publicize our efforts towards a noble cause, but rather set a benchmark for all upcoming corporate citizens.

[To know more about our social projects, click here.]

But before everything else, let us spare a moment to appreciate the initiative taken by PUMBA to enlighten its students and society about their social responsibilities. NatSem, i.e. National Seminar ’07 was a complete eye opener for those who believed that corporate world was just a steep ladder up the “money & prestige” pyramid. What NatSem taught us was that with every step we trod, we must be able to reduce a step at the bottom. That is to say, there’s no harm in racing up the ladder provided we can uplift more and more people above the poverty line. The basic idea was to teach us “fundamental duties always come incorporated with fundamental rights”

A heart rendering curtain raiser set the sails to a voyage that left an imprint in the minds of one and all present. It was a commendable effort to address an issue as sensitive as this in an equally sensitive manner. We would like to extend a word of appreciation to Ms. Priyanjali, batch of 2008, for lending her voice to the same and giving it the kind of personal touch that made it all the more effective.

[To view the curtain raiser of NatSem, click here]

Four “thought provoking” sessions, a cluster of eminent “thinkers” and a “thought process” that will hereafter, never cease to exist- that’s my take on NatSem ’07. And I guess most of my peers will agree with me.

The inaugural session was set in motion by the traditional “lamp-lighting” ceremony followed by a welcome address by Dr. Anil Keskar (Head of the Department, PUMBA).

Mr. T. Pradip Kumar (CEO, Suzlon generators) graced the occasion as Chief Guest and shared his views on “CREATING VALUE THROUGH PUBLIC-PRIVATE SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS”. Information through innovative examples was the best part of his talk.

The keynote address was delivered by Mr. P. G. Chitale (Former MD, MUSCO), who chose to interact with the students with close to life and personal examples.

When our Honorable Vice- Chancellor, Dr. Narendra Jadhav took the dias, it was an hour of harsh scrutiny of the present yet an optimistic vision for the future. Where on one hand he announced University of Pune’s endeavor into the “Adopt a Village” scheme, he also emphasized about micro level social responsibilities of the University like Syllabus revision, soft skill classes for students in the rural areas etc.

As we dispersed for a short tea break after a vote of thanks to the dignitaries by Dr. B. V. Sangvikar (Professor, PUMBA), almost all of us had realized the importance of CSR and were eagerly looking forward to the next few sessions of brainstorming which would teach us how to go about such a noble initiative.

The first panel discussion “Moving Beyond Corporate Social Responsibility”, presided by Dr. (Capt.) C. M. Chitale (Dean, Management faculty, University of Pune) had the likes of Mr. Glenn Brass (Head HR, SG Software India), Mr. Noshir Dadrawala (Director, Indian Center for Advancement of Philanthropy) and Mr. R. Nalbalwar (Head HR, Hindustan Coca-Cola India Ltd) to interact with us and elucidate our queries regarding the same.

After a well organized sumptuous lunch, distinguished speakers like Mr. M. A. Athavale (Ex- President, ICSI), Mr. Shrikant Paranjpe (CMD, Paranjpe Schemes Ltd) and Mr. Gopal Pethe (Director- IT, Symantec) enlightened us on “Civic Organization and Social Entrepreneurship” under the chairmanship of Mr. Mukund Rathi (GM, Project Director, ESSAR Group).

The final panel discussion followed after a short tea break wherein we got an overview of “Business aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility”. This session was presided by Dr. D. K. Abhyankar (Former Dir. Gen. - MCCIA) and included a multitude of eminent panelists like Mr. Yatrik Vin (VP, NSE), Mr. Sunil Nikhar (Founder and President- Pyxis Software), Mr. J. Kalyanraman (VP- Human Capital Management, HCL Comnet) and Mrs. Pramila Kalive (Head, Zensar Cares).

The day came to an end with a valedictory speech by Mr. Ashok Joshi (Director - INDSEARCH) where he sought to address certain core issues regarding CSR.

What made our NatSem more thoughtful was the “attention to detail” which is integral in every event we undertake to organize. More than one of the dignitaries congratulated the seminar cell for thoughtfully christening NatSem ’07 as “social responsibilities of corporate sector” rather than the usual jargon “Corporate Social Responsibility”. That itself symbolizes the cornerstone of PUMBA’s endeavor towards making a difference.