AIESEC is a non-political, not-for-profit, independent and entirely youth-run organization. The 60 year old organization takes pride in being regarded as the international platform which enables young people to explore and develop their leadership potential for them to have a positive impact in society.

The 27^th of this month saw people of assorted age groups, colleges and organizations stream into the India Habitat Centre, dressed in formals, to attend the Delhi University’s Youth to Business Forum 2009 organized by AISEC. The event acted as a meeting ground for students and professionals to share ideas and perspectives regarding the role of young leaders in India Inc.

The session commenced with the speech of the Key Note speaker Mr.Salman Khurshid, Honorable Minister for Corporate Affairs. He spoke at length about the scour of the business profession, namely corporate greed, and how greed was causing any number of disasters on this planet, be it depleting natural resources, climate change, receding glaciers or the Economic Recession. He reiterated that in spite of measures to raise awareness society keeps repeating its mistakes, and hence as the youth, the progressive generation of 2010, it falls upon us to make a difference. ‘Every time one thinks of change, one thinks of youth, and globally we are ironically becoming the young nation,’ Mr. Khurshid said. He stressed on the importance of the role played by young people in India and stated that he and the government had high hopes of our young and enthusiastic generation.

This rousing speech was followed by a panel discussion on “Young Leaders of India Inc.” moderated by Mr.Suresh Rajpal, CEO of Visnova Solutions. The panel consisted of Mr. Pradeep Gupta, President of TiE; Mr. Ajay Mehta, CEO of Interactive Television; Mr. Pranay Das, Marketing Professional for Ernst and Young; and Mr Anupam Yog, Founder and Managing Director of Mirabilis Advisory. Mr. Gupta spoke about the three things they expect to see in the youth today: Insight, expectations and responsibility. On the subject of insight, Mr Gupta said that corporate India is always on the lookout for fresh new ideas and innovations because there’s a ‘completely new world out there.’ Mr. Ajay Mehta, tackled the three characteristics that the youth should work on developing, namely the desire to remain ambitious, hungry and foolish, to be driven by one’s passion and to refuse to let others order your life. ‘An entrepreneur’s highs are higher and lows are lower than that of most people,’ he said as he explained that entrepreneurs often meet with failure and must not let the fact daunt them.

The third speaker, Mr Pranay Das presented a slideshow at the outset of his speech, addressing topics such as the Hindu rate of growth, Domestic consumption and Economic overviews. Mr. Das raised some very important questions, one of them being, ‘How short sighted is corporate India?’ According to him it is rather worrying that corporate India never cares to think more than thirty years into the future. Indeed this lack of futuristic insight makes the Indian Corporate Sector rather short sighted and inefficient.

The session was concluded by Mr. R. Sreenivasan, co-founder of Career Launcher, who ended the discussion on a very inspiring note by saying, ‘Pursue what you are passionate about, and be passionate about what you pursue’

If the fizzled out university elections deflated your spirits, the storm filled intra-college politics ought to give you a new high. Lady Shri Ram College, which made the news the last academic year with their email campaigns organizing corridor blocking dharnas have decided to add a new chapter to DU online politics: Blogging.

A mass email announced the setting up of the LSR political blog: lsrkiawaaz.wordpress.com. The blog is moderated by an anonymous group which calls itself LsrKiAwaaz. The purpose of the blog is apparently to “create a mature ground for political contestations and reasoned discussions on issues that have anything to do with college.” With an invitation extended to students, alumni, professors and principal alike the blog aims at bringling up old allegedly unresolved issues such as inflated café prices, semester system etc. as well as tackling some new ones such as the commercialization and privatization of higher education and the rather politically charged question of whether LSR should join the Delhi University Students Union. The last of the listed issued was one which saw great contention in the form of heated debates and discussions with a number of students demanding an alternate students union or an initiation to DUSU politics. The reason for this demand, according to one comment on the blog, is “not because the university student politics is any better, indeed it is much worse, but because they at least have complete and utter autonomy and can take up student causes without fear, even if they be against college administration”.

With just a single post up the blog has already roused great interest and is sure to see much political action in the near future. In any case it has proved once again how politics is slowly acquiring a whole new quite virtual dimension. The group LsrKiAwaaz quaintly declares as much in its little attempt at self justification:

“We believe that a consolidated effort at re-opening democratic spaces is the need of the hour. And because this space is not easily accessible to us in the real world, LSR KI AWAAZ is an attempt at creating it in the virtual world.”

Some Comments on the Blog:

neha says:

This is amazing. Yes, I do think it’s time that we started debating issues. When was the last time we were allowed to say something without being told that we are being disloyal to college? Sure hope those are not charges made against us this time. Well done guys. Way to go.

TBR says:

We cannot begin to congratulate you for this effort. It
is difficult to start something new. It’s sometimes even tougher to
pick up the pieces left over from a pretty ruthless clamp-down and
start something up again — that requires, often, more courage, more
resilience, for you are working with the knowledge of what
repercussions this might have. As far as TBR was concerned, we knew
things would never be easy or cordial, but we had not anticipated the
extent of the backlash. You witnessed it, experienced it, and have
returned. Hats off to you people.

Ex-Exec says:

[The college authorities] do it because they can, of course. They have the power, and they can therefore, manipulate. However, the fact that they had to resort to such persecution not only exposes the falsity of their outwardly calm, articulate and democratic appearance; it also tells you something about how intensely insecure and hollowed out their control is.

crazyblacklab says:

The problem as I see it is that our own elected union has no power to operate. We apparently have student representatives there to voice our problems and treat us fairly but inevitably they get cowed down by the rather dictatorial college administration.
Take a certain Staff Adviser of the (… …) societies for example who arbitrarily decides on who to send for prestigious inter college competitions without either holding a fair audition or even consulting the society unions. If the student representative in this case who supposedly has complete authority finds herself dictated to by a Staff ‘Adviser’, it shows the small measure of control students are allowed over their own college life.

Delhi university, in a recently established agreement with a non profit organization, Dhriti has introduced an entrepreneurship course in certain colleges across the varsity. A three-month entrepreneurship course was initiated in SRCC, and then went on to be conducted in Ramjas, Gargi and Miranda House. The specialty of this course is that instead of just sticking to conventional theoretical practice and guest lectures; it encourages the students to initiate their own venture with the help of a live project. Dhriiti is a unique organisation that promotes and protects Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) and helps build and create a spirit of entrepreneurship amongst the next generation of Indians, the youth.

How do I make money out of my passion? What if I start my own business? But how? What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur? Who’ll support me?

If these are the questions which come into your mind every now and then and if you think you have the aptitude to start your own venture, then you don’t need to stop on these questions anymore, for all you wanted to know about entrepreneurship is now be available to you in Delhi University.

The concept of entrepreneurship among the youth is a highly new concept in India while it has been going on successfully in the US and its counterparts since a long period, and this course is here to promote just that.

The next session starts in the third week of October in LSR. Colleges like Miranda House and LSR have also started their own entrepreneurship cell to promote entrepreneurship among its students. Ambika Ghughe, President of the Entrepreneurship Cell in Miranda House states, “Academic inclination in Delhi University is high, but not directly in tune with what is required in the real world. Students, through this initiative, get the feel of how initiatives are taken in a corporate world, and view the same not from the point of view of an employee but an employer.” The cell has also recently collaborated with the Miranda House Vatavaran Project dealing with recycling and plans to take it on a higher level.

The students also get the opportunity to interact with prospective funders based on the credibility of their project via the course. The course is also supplemented with an exposure trip to study the working of an enterprise. Last year the students were taken to the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF). All that the students require to be a part of this course is to have the attitude, aptitude, an idea, and the zeal to bring it to life.