Community Services
Plan for emphasizing Humanities and Social Sciences
IndSearch has always believed in the importance of a multi-disciplinary approach to professional education and has constantly included a strong emphasis on social sciences and humanities in management education. The IndSearch library, for example, has many seminal volumes on social issues, IndSearch Research Projects have always emphasised social dimensions of economic issues and IndSearch has been an active participant in activities to contribute to Social Change through innovative programmes like Lab to Land - Taking Technology to Rural Areas, Women Empowerment in under-privileged sections of society, Ethics and Business Decisions and Environmental Awareness.
Government and Corporate Social Responsibility
Some issues in corporate governance are creating undesirable impacts on the Society. It has, t herefore, today's management education develops leaders with the capacity to think broadly about the impact of their decisions on stakeholders, on societies and on the natural environment. Business Schools can teach a specific set of skills that will develop integrity and integrated thinking amongst the students. IndSearch has taken the initiative in this direction to sensitize its students on Individual and Institutional Integrity, Responsibility, Accountability and Transparency, Ecological Awareness and a deep and genuine Respect for other religions and cultures.
Lab to Land Programme
Started by IndSearch in 1999, the Lab to Land Programme is run by IndSearch-ACME, the main objective being Techno-demystification or teaching the basics of computers to rural students. It is essentially a social service activity carried out by IndSearch. The target students belong to the Shri. Jayprakash Narayan Vidyalaya of Khed village in Karjat Taluka, located at a distance of 114 km from Pune. The Bharatiya Samaj Vikas Sanstha, which runs the school, was founded by the eminent social worker Dr. Kumar Saptarshi . Dr. Ashok Joshi is the Founder Trustee of the Sanstha.
IndSearch-ACME conducts 15 one-day sessions at the school during an academic year with a team comprising of one ACME faculty member and 8 to 9 student volunteers. The school has provided space wherein IndSearch has set up a lab with 11 computers.
This gives the students a chance to practice their computer skills after learning the basics. Students belonging to eight, ninth and tenth standard participate in the programme and are awarded certificates on completion of the course. The students are taught introduction to computers, DOS and Windows Operating Systems, Microsoft Office, etc. The sessions are made more interesting with the help of a laptop and sometimes a digital camera on occasions like Independence Day. These visits give IndSearch students an opportunity to experience village life and develop teaching skills. The enthusiasm of the village students and even the villagers is reflected by the warm welcome and delicious meals provided to our team members.
Environmental Management Education
At present, this module is offered to IndSearch IT, HR and Marketing students, which covers the concepts of ecology and environment, management of the environment and related problems to help management professionals to appreciate socio-economic dimensions of our environment. It is proposed that this module should be further strengthened by creating awareness about the environmental aspects in society, with special emphasis on the peculiarities of developing societies.
Women Entrepreneurship Development Programme
Empowering women is the need of the society and it is one of the thrust areas of IndSearch. IndSearch has been organizing this workshop successfully for the last 12 years. The workshop aims at upliftment of the under-privileged women in society through Entrepreneurship Training.
The workshop includes sessions on General Management and Entrepreneurship Concept, Quality, Time & Stress Management, Finance & Costing, Marketing Concepts, Loan Facilities for women. The classroom training is followed by an interactive session where successful women entrepreneurs share their experiences in building their own businesses.
Approxiamtely thirty participants enroll for this programme every year.
This year was the twelfth year of conducting the workshop. The Twelfth Women Entrepreneurship Development Program, organized by IndSearch, Pune, in collaboration withIndian Affiliate of the International Council For Small Business Enterprises, Rotary Club of Pune Metro & Jagruti Seva Sanstha, on 7th and 8th October, 2011
The program was inaugurated by Dr. Madhavi Mehendale, President, Rotary Club of Pune Metro. Dr. Ashok Joshi, Director, IndSearch was in the chair. In his speech, Dr. Joshi said, “The management training will enhance the capabilities of women participants to make their business economically viableand will give them self-confidence and increase their decision-making abilities.” He also gave the participants guidelines, which would help them in running their businesses efficiently.
This workshop was attended by women belonging to the low-income group, having or wishing to start their own small or tiny businesses like selling small grocery, providing tiffins, running beauty parlor, tailoring etc. The workshop sessions included the concepts like Basic Management and Entrepreneurship Concepts, Quality and Time Management, Finance & Costing, Marketing Concepts, Stress Management, Bank / Loan facilities for women etc. The classroom training was followed by an interactive session with three successful women entrepreneurs, Mrs. Rajeshwari Dhotre (Nursery School), Mrs. Manjusha Dhotre (Making Tiffins), Mrs. Monika Palande (Beauty Parlor) who shared their experiences in building and running their own businesses.
Prof. Y. K. Bhushan, President, Indian Affiliate of the International Council For Small Business Enterprises and Senior Advisor & Campus Head, ICFAI Business School addressed the participants at the Valedictory session. He appreciated IndSearch’s vision and the consistent efforts made towards the upliftment of the under-priviledged women. He congratulated the participants for choosing to undergo such a training to carry out their businesses more efficiently and effectively. Prof. Bhushan also gave away the Participation Certificates to all participants.
Prof. Ashwini Joshi, faculty member and Incharge of Women Entrepreneurship Development Cell at IndSearch, coordinated the workshop. The workshop was partly sponsored by Rotary Club of Pune Metro.
IndSearch conducted another five month programme involving 14 weeks of classroom training in marketing, finance, project management, operations management, banking and also included internship for 2 weeks for Women Entrepreneurs. The programme was supported by SIDBI.
One more programme which IndSearch was associated with was "Women empowerment through enterprise". The programme was sponsored by Canadian Consortium of Management Schools in collaboration with AIMS and funded by CIDA |
