CANVAS – A Talk Show
Headed by the learning forum, this talk show is an IPER initiative for enhancing the communication skills with more emphases on expressions. Held on 1st May 2014 at auditorium and had eight students of MBA 2nd semester involved in the discussion on topics that plays a very significant role in any individual’s life.
Expectation of youth from the upcoming government is on the rise with range of concerns including ‘corruption’, ‘unemployment’, ’employment opportunities’, ‘quality education’ and ‘FDI (Foreign Direct Investment)’.
With a backdrop of general elections, the current government is trying to showcase its achievement and defend areas where the opposition is painting a grey picture especially on its economic record. In the latest effort to defend its 
economic record in the run-up to general elections, India’s Congress party-led government has released shining data about foreign direct investment in the country. The Finance Ministry announced that India has attracted more than $300 billion in FDI since 1999, and more than 90% of that came during the last nine years, coincidently when the Congress party ran the country. Amid all the questions about whether we are seeing a repeat of the 1990s emerging market crises, show emphasized on taking a note of the fact and see the positive side of the situation. “Noteworthy, is to see where big multinationals putting their long-term bets. Are they buying companies and building factories ?” ,quipped Mohit Sanmukhani, student moderator at canvas. Whatever said and done, canvas felt that our nation desperately needs a “Clear & Caring, Efficient & Enlightened government”. We need a government that serves people instead of harassing them.
In an impromptu show like this , there are topics where every mouth had lots to speak and one such topic happens to be corruption. Corruption can have many forms such as dishonesty, manipulation to start with and moving on to bribery, crime, fraud, extortion, demoralization, nepotism, profiteering and many more counting to countless. Not only in India, its a world-wide menace that has entered languidly in all aspects of life. It encompasses grass root level to the top of hierarchy, politics to education, rich to poor, government to private players, roads to field. Almost each and every sector is embodied in it. “Recently, read a blog and it quoted that British retail giant Marks & Spencer (M&S) is attaching strict anti-bribery clauses to agreements in India as the company moves ahead with its expansion plans in the country. M&S currently operates 25 stores in India through a 51:49 joint venture agreement with Reliance Retail Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries”, points Nitesh Agrawal,one of the student moderators at CANVAS. The event saw suggestions/measure that should be undertaken to curb this menace like :
1. Preventive measures to strike the root cause of corruption should be taken.
2. The complete system whether it is bureaucrats, the judiciary or the police, there duties should be made more transparent & accountable.
3. The process by which natural resources are being allocated to private sectors must be made transparent and desired to serve public interest.
We know for sure on the basis of statistics, that about 50% of India’s population is less than 25 yrs. This is exactly similar to the situation that China was in almost a decade back. The way they tapped their advantage to boost their economy and prosperity is a story that many papers/blogs have carried out and they still carry. Our concern is on our preparedness to tap the opportunity – both at individual level and at government level.The government needs to ensure that enough opportunities are created to cater youths. Youth, on the other hand should optimize opportunities to map employment expectations and meet their expectations. Deliberating further, some of the steps that can be taken are,
1. Tax Exemption
2. Grants for job creation
3. Weighted deductions for the cost of new hires & their training costs could be used to encourage job creation in public sectors.
4. Privatization & disinvestment
5. Promotion of SMEs. Apart from above, many other sectors are there that seek immediate and urgent attentions like- Health, Agriculture, International relationships etc.
But will the opportunities suffice ?? Canvas discussed another side of the coin. Grey area and one of the concerns that made its way to the talk show. By rough estimate there are 49% of youth below 29 yrs and if we compare the infrastructure then MNC’s provide better facilities and a better , work environment. Some may not agree.
Well, at least this is what the survey of ILO (International Labour organization ) reports. More alarming is the percentage of unemployment is increasing rapidly as it was 3.5% in 2004 ,3.6% in 2007 and 3.7% in 2011.
It was also pointed out that all of the ‘UNEMPLOYMENT’ is not because of lack of opportunities but lack of right skill packed EDUCATION. The current Indian education structure lacks practical sessions and focuses more on theoretical education. Many a times, the theories too lack the level needed to join a workforce. The education system need to be revamped with right mix of course to map the various career fields that have sprung up.
The right-fit gist of canvas outcome can be stated as –“More Job Opportunities, Growth in Economy and adopting the latest of technologies for Benefits to Consumers”. Canvas served as good interaction platform for 300+ students to express, debate and share with Krati Badani,Gurleen Singh Khalsa, Surbhi Sen,Nitesh Agrawal, Mohd Fahat, Avijit Shukla, Ajay Pandey ,Mohit Sanmukhani, and Jayant Bhardwaj as student moderators.
Talk Show had eminent domain experts including Prof. (Dr.) Hersh Sharma, Prof. Mahesh Soni and other faculty members to analyze the situation and moderate direction of the show if needed.
This event was covered and documented by me and my team members Najmuddin Saify and Ruby Yadav
