Date:28/03/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/03/28/stories/2004032813040300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Bright youngsters should join politics'

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, MARCH 27. Anil D. Ambani, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Ltd., urged the graduating students of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B), to take interest in the affairs of the State and aim for a career in politics. Speaking at the 29th Annual Convocation of the institute here on Saturday, Mr. Ambani said there was a need for bright young people in the field of politics today.

"The world belongs to the youth. Around 75 per cent of the population consists of those below the age of 40. But, in contrast, 60 per cent of the politicians in the country are above the age of 50, and 72 per cent of the Lok Sabha members are over 50 years of age," he said.

Giving examples of persons such as Sachin Pilot, Omar Abdullah and Jyotiraditya Scindia, Mr. Ambani said more younger people were now embracing politics.

"You have graduated at an important time in the history of the country, which is a time of opportunities and challenges. India will rightfully occupy the place of an economic superpower in the global arena in the near future, and the youth will have a significant part to play in this growth," he said.

All growth should be based on four important principles - learning, opportunities, values and ethics, he said.

Extolling Bangalore for being the "technology capital" of India, Mr. Ambani said the city had produced business gurus of India such as Azim Premji, N.R. Narayanamurthy, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and Vijay Mallya. Bangalore represented the power of the youth globally, he said.

As many as 210 students were awarded postgraduate diplomas in management at the convocation. Seven students were awarded the title of Fellow of IIM-B, while 56 received the postgraduate diploma in software enterprise management. Twenty-six students of the first batch of the postgraduate diploma in public policy and management also received their diplomas.

S.M. Datta, Chairman of IIM-B, handed over the diplomas to the graduating students.

The gold medal for securing the first rank in postgraduate diploma in software enterprise management was given to Sundararaman Ramesh, while the gold medal for all-round performance in this category went to Bhasker Basu.

Harsh Agarwal received the gold medal securing first rank and Vijay Ravindra Borkar and Kaushal K. Vaidya received gold medals for securing second rank in the postgraduate diploma in management. Rajiv Srivatsa K.R. got the gold medal for the best all-round performance in this category. Hasmukh Adhia bagged the gold medal for academic excellence in the course in public policy and management.