IIMA Confluence 2008 Dedicates its Final Day to Look 'Beyond the Frontiers'

IIMA Confluence 2008 Dedicates its Final Day to Look 'Beyond the Frontiers'

The fourth and final day of Confluence 2008 was entirely dedicated to how the world should move ahead and look at wealth creation in the wake of various shocks. Thus, all the events and speaker sessions revolved around the aptly titled theme for the day ‘Beyond the Frontiers’.

Speaker Series

The Speaker Series continued on the third day of Confluence 2008, starting with a session by Ms. Ela Bhatt, Founder, Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) and Dr. Dipak C. Jain, Dean of the Kellogg School of Management. The speakers gave a unique blend of thoughts related to radical and non-traditional ways of wealth creation.

Session started with the formal introduction of speakers by Prof. Biju Varkkey, faculty at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Ms. Bhatt gave insights about her organization SEWA and on the ways ahead in the current scenario. She recalled how her organization was making profits from the second year of operations since its inception in 1972. She quoted, "Self-employment and self-reliance of women have paved the way for their success." SEWA has trained women and this has considerably decreased deaths in slums, increased the usage of contraceptives, and above all, increased the employment for women.

In today’s world, employees are sectored into ‘Public’, ‘Private’ and the unorganized or ‘People’ sector. "Private, Public and People sectors are interdependent, but People have always been controlled by public and private sectors which only tried to suppress them," said Ms. Bhatt. "Working poor have to organize themselves to form organizations. Only this will lead to their sustainability and eradication of poverty which India is facing ever since independence," continued Ms. Bhatt.

Ms. Bhatt said, "The current crisis started with the global financial crisis, then turned into an economic crisis and this will soon be followed by an unemployment crisis the extent of which will be hard to predict." According to Ms. Bhatt, the way out from this situation is by building new financial structures, for which institutions such as RBI and the IIMs will be highly relevant. At the same time, she reminded that climatic changes would also form a part of these challenges. "Simultaneous co-operative growth of economic, natural, human and knowledge capital is essential for a way out," said Ms. Bhatt. Simplicity, non-violence, dignity of labour and human values are essential for economic growth, according to Ms. Bhatt, who also felt that women empowerment and corporate social responsibilities were necessary for the nation to grow.

Dr. Dipak Jain, who was making his first ever talk at any of the Indian Institutes of Management, termed the current scenario as being different from the September 11 crisis. He said, "The crisis that we are facing today is endogenous in nature and is mainly because of systemic problems." "Wealth has a meaning far beyond money, and for us Indians, culture is our wealth and that is the biggest source of wealth which can never be destroyed," opined Dr. Jain.

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* Contributed by -
Ravi Shankar,
IIMA Confluence 2008,
Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

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