by Punjabnewswire4u
MOHALI, DEC 2
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today
announced that Punjab would soon become a 'Educational Hub' in the country with
the establishment of ISB – a world class institution in business management studies
and the prestigious national level institute of higher learning – the Indian
Institute Science Education & Research here in the knowledge city.
Addressing a distinguished gathering comprising faculty,
students and the dignitaries here on the inauguration ceremony of ISB, Mr.
Badal said that apart from these, two more institutes of repute – National Food
Bio-Technology and National Institute of Nano-Technology were coming up soon in the vicinity of knowledge city, which would
usher in a new era of quality education in higher learning and research.
The Chief Minister said
that he was confident that the unique model and the ambience of the prestigious
ISB Mohali campus would encourage and promote free thought process for
professional learning. He said that the
concept of modern management being taught by the experienced faculty at ISB
will have a strong local flavor that would result in the upliftment of the
rural and spread new ideas for further developing small and medium enterprises
for which Punjab was known for.
Mr. Badal congratulated of
Mr. Analjit Singh of Max Healthcare, Mr. Sunik Kant of Munjal group, Mr. Rakesh
Bharti Mittal of Mittal Group and Mr. Atul Punj of the Punj Lloyd group for
their active support in cherishing this dream as two years back when this
superb infrastructure was barren piece of land, was now transformed into a
magnificent institute.
The Chief Minister
mentioned that Punjab attained a growth rate
of 6.74 percent as against target of 5.90 percent growth rate in the 11th
five year plan. The state had already
created a revolution in the education because of our strenuous efforts Punjab had jumped from the 14th position to
the third position in the National educational Development index. To boost higher education across the state,
the Punjab government had already set up 8
universities and 17 new degree colleges.
He hoped that ISB would be a new trend setter and continue to invest in
human resources to become a school at par with Harvard or a Wharton.
In
his address on the inaugural ceremony of ISB Mohali campus the Union Finance
Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram asked the faculty and the business partners of ISB
to further make concerted efforts for emerging this prestigious institute as
world class institute in the near future.
He said; “I firmly believe that talent is evenly distributed throughout
society. What is missing is opportunity. My deepest regret is that many of our
universities are teaching shops, with poor infrastructure, outdated textbooks,
poor pedagogy and methodology, and untrained teachers. What we need is
world-class institutions. ISB is one of a handful of such institutions in India.”
Mr.
Chidambaram highly appreciated the efforts of the Punjab government especially
the Chief Minister for taking personal pains by providing 70 acres of land for
establishment of state-of-the-art ISB campus at Mohali, adding that this
institute would prove to be a milestone in transforming the economy of Punjab. Mr.
Chidambaram said that investment in terms of human resources never goes waste rather
it yields rich dividends in the future. He
appreciated the initiatives of Mr. Badal in setting up 8 universities in the
state to impart higher learning to the students. Mr. Chidambaram however said that the number
of universities should have been at least 18 instead of 8 because the need of
the hour was to build a superb educational infrastructure to enable our youth
to be gainfully employed. Mr.
Chidambaram also lauded the immense contribution made by the four key-partners
Munjal group, Punj Lloyd, Mittal Group and Max group in setting up of this
renowned institution. Felicitating these
key players, Mr. Chidambaram said that these
industrial houses have returned much more to the society through this
benevolent gesture than what they had actually earned from their business.
Mr. Chidambaram asked the students of
the current academic session not to the swayed by the greener pastures rather
they should concentrate to serve their motherland after completing their studies
because there was no dearth of opportunities as well as challenges here in India. He said: "What is it that you want to be
after you leave this campus? There will be a temptation to take a job in
another part of the world. Seize the opportunity - but please remember, there's
no other place in the world that can challenge you like India. The greatest challenge is
building India. He quoted India was the only country in the
world where there was the great challenges like adding 10000 MW of power every
year and building nearly 120000 KMs of roads every year besides catering to the
enormous needs of drinking water and sanitation to the ever swelling population
year after year.
The Union Finance Minister admitted that the
quality education was quite expensive due to the heavy investments involved in
creating the best infrastructure besides engaging the most talented and
experienced faculty and therefore it was not within everyone's reach. He however, said that undoubtedly the
educational loans had played a major role in shaping the destiny of our
youngsters by providing them opportunities to pursue higher education be it
medical, engineering, management etc. thereby realizing their dreams. He said he has often asked the bankers to be
liberal in providing loans to the students for higher education and mentioned
as on today 24 lakh students had taken educational loans worth Rs.52000 crore
and efforts were still on to enhance the ambit of these loans to accommodate
more and more aspirants for seeking opportunities in higher education.
Striking
a personal note, Mr. Chidambaram said: “I would love to have the chance to
audit a lecture at ISB. And if you invite me to teach, I can teach you how to
make mistakes.” Referring to bondage
with one's Alma
matter, Mr. Chidambaram said that I am sure that in the future you will return
to your campus. I have returned to my own business school on a couple of
occasions, and I believe that you can take yourself out of business school, but
your business school will stay with you.”
Earlier, the Chief Minister along
with Mr. Chidambaram jointly unveiled the plaque crafted by the legendary
architect and founder of Rock Garden Nek Chand to mark the formal inauguration
of the ISB. They also lighted a lamp and
planted trees prior to the inaugural ceremony.
Earlier, the Deputy Chief Minister
Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal had deliberations with the Union Finance Minister Mr.P.
Chidambaram during lunch and later on had a round of the entire campus along
with Finance Minister and other business partners.
Prominent amongst others who spoke
on the occasion included Chairman of the Executive Board Mr. Adi Godrej, the
outgoing Chairman Advisory Board Mr. Analjit Singh, Dean ISB Ajit Rangraker,
Deputy Dean and CEO ISB Mohali Ms Savita Mahajan. Chief Secretary Mr. Rakesh Singh and Mr.
Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. SK Sandhu and Special Principal
Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. KJS Cheema.
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