President of India, Pranab Mukherjee addressed the founding class of the Management Programme in Public Policy (MPPP) of the Indian School of Business (ISB) today in Mumbai. The class comprised professionals from the public, private and social sectors. Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, he said, “I wish to see each one of you as an agent of change. You have been trained at one of the world’s finest management schools which has equipped and empowered you to respond to any challenge, and in the process, contribute to the task of nation building.”
Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, and MoS, PMO (Personnel) was the Chief Guest at the graduation ceremony, which was held on Sunday. He had lauded ISB for pioneering such a programme and urged the students of the Programme to take the lead and serve India. “You are now in a position to become the torchbearers of the ‘Start-Up India, Stand Up India’ campaign. We are going through a formative phase where we are headed for a rising India. I invite ISB also to be a part of it.”
“The time has come for the private and public sector to work together,” said Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman, Bharti Enterprises, who delivered the key note address. Stressing that ISB would be partners with the government in moving forward on the development agenda, he urged the government to make use of the graduating class more effectively in governance. The MPPP is offered by the Bharti Institute of Public Policy and the Centre for Executive Education at ISB.
Terming the founding class of MPPP, a unique class, Rajendra Srivastava, ISB Dean and Novartis Professor of Marketing Strategy and Innovation, stressed that their diversity set them apart from other business schools and that the students should leverage it to progress. “You are now a community of experts and we are creating a community of practice. Use your network and connections to work for the country now,” he said.
Founding class
The founding class of MPP comprises executives from the Indian Railways, Department of Posts, Indian Telecom Service, Food Corporation of India, Ministry of Defence, Niti Aayog, the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy, Yes Bank, Rashtrapati Bhavan, DLF Group, UIDAI, Tribal Development Department, Dalmia Bharat, IMRB International, Pratham, Transparency International India, Indus Towers, and Vodafone and others. In total there are 40 professionals from the Public, Private and Social Sector.
The students were taught by some of the best minds in policy making, academics and industry such as Shyam Saran, former Foreign Secretary and Chairman, Research and Information System for Developing Countries, Jairam Ramesh, Member of Parliament, Shashi Tharoor, MP and Former MoS Ministry of External Affairs, Professors Laurent Jacque, Phil A Uhlmann, and Larry Weiss from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, among others. Professor Prajapati Trivedi, Senior Fellow (Governance) at the Bharti Institute of Public Policy, ISB and Former Secretary, Performance Management, Government of India, served as the Programme Chair of the MPPP