Ansari plainspeak at IRMA: Look beyond being a placement agency

He said: “I wish to touch on the aspect of placements,which have almost become the raison dêtre for management institutes. I think it is critical to emphasise that the principle objective of an educational institution is to provide education and not to become a de facto placement organisation.”

He added: “The last two decades have changed the ground rules for our economy in a fundamental manner. The total expenditure of the Central government has gone up 10 times from Rs 95,000 crore in 1989-90 to Rs 10 lakh crore in 2009-10. But the outcomes are not yet commensurate with outlays,and the objective of inclusive growth through inclusive governance still evades us in some measures. The winds of global change have percolated to the rural and village level,and global developments on economic,agriculture and trade issues have a profound impact on the lives and fortunes of rural citizens.”

He said it is important to understand the role and extent of influence of the placement market on the curriculum of the institutions,the type of students it attracts and the type of careers and professions the students choose to pursue after their graduation.

He added that though India ranked first in the world in terms of milk production,the per capita availability in the country is still lower than the world average.

“The macro picture about milk is not too encouraging. The per capita availability of milk is still lower than the world average of 279.4 gm. We have been unable to keep pace with the growing domestic demand for milk at about six million tonnes per annum,as annual incremental production over the last 10 years has been about 3.5 MT per year. Besides,80 per cent of milk produced is still handled in the unorganised sector and only the remaining 20 per cent is equally shared by cooperatives and private dairies,” Ansari added.

Others present on the occasion were Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Fakirabhai Vaghela,IRMA Chairman Y K Alagh,Director Vivek Bhandari and members of the board of governor.