Speaking at the third Annual Convocation of the International Management Institute, Kolkata, Jawhar Sircar, CEO of Prasar Bharati and Vice-President of the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union, raised a thought-provoking question: “Is Kolkata losing its charm as a knowledge centre?”
Since the days of the British Raj, Kolkata has been a pioneer in the fields of science, rational thought, literature and Western education. Mr Sircar spoke at length about the various factors that contributed to making this city the Capital of Thought and Vision. Kolkata was among the first cities to embrace Western education.
The elite of Bengal travelled to foreign shores, making a name for themselves wherever they went. Eminent persons such as Raja Rammohan Roy were instrumental in bringing about reformation and rational thinking to this land, while the rest of the country wallowed in its prejudices and age-old religious constrictions.
Calcutta University surged way ahead of its contemporaries because it had broken away from the prevalent caste fixation and orthodoxy of its times. The first Indian multilingual printing press emerged in Kolkata, giving a major boost to the propagation of education.
Political issues
This golden period continued for Kolkata even after Independence, until the late 1960s, after which the decline became quite visible. Mr Sircar then went on to explain some of the major issues that were responsible for the same. He observed that political instability in Kolkata was a major factor responsible for the city’s decline as a knowledge capital.
In a bid to appease the lower-level bureaucracy, educational institutions were neglected to such an extent that it led to a significant migration of academicians seeking better opportunities. While other States provided significant economic contributions to their academic institutions and attracted the best brains, Kolkata got mired in potential controversies.
However, despite the dreary situation, even today Kolkata remains synonymous with culture. Mr Sircar also said that with the emergence of IT, things can still brighten up. If we can leverage this powerful tool, Kolkata can still regain its lost glory and leverage its strength as a knowledge capital once again.
Sanjiv Goenka, chairman of the B-School, conferred the Institute’s Post-Graduate Diplomas in Management on the graduating students and congratulated them for coming this far.
Place on academic map
While being nostalgic about the legacy of IMI and the innate desire of the visionary leader, late Sri Rama Prasad Goenka, to nurture the IMI to its full potential in eastern India, he said the Kolkata chapter of IMI has crafted a special place in the academic map of the country, in just five years of existence.
He highlighted the role of IMI Kolkata’s faculty, systems and procedures that support its mission to deliver competitive and ethical corporate leaders of tomorrow. IMI Kolkata’s academic collaborations with globally recognised institutes, such as the University of Tours and University of Bourdeaux in France, Sichuan University in China and North-South University in Bangladesh, were highlighted.
Goenka concluded by urging the graduates to use their professional knowledge to create better living conditions and greater prosperity not only for themselves, but for the people around them and society at large, as they will always be flag-bearers of the institution. Dr Arindam Banik, Director of IMI Kolkata, thanked the dignitaries for their unstinted support.