Good Morning, Shri Shekhar Dutta, respected President Dr. Pratap Chandra Chunder, Distinguished Guests, Media Representatives, our Faculty, Staff and Students a very warm welcome to all of you at our Annual Convocation, 2007.  

We are privileged to have you amongst us Shri Shekhar Dutta. It is an occasion of added joy as we have come to know that incidentally today is your birthday. I take this opportunity to extend our warm wishes on behalf of the Institute on this occasion. 

Mr Shekhar Dutt assumed charge of Deputy National Security Adviser on 1^st August, 2007 after relinquishing the charge of the Defence Secretary. An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1969 batch. Mr. Dutt is a recipient of Sena Medal for gallantry. He is a Graduate in Science with, Physics and a Post-Graduate in Development Policy and Planning from University of Swansea (U.K.). During his tenure as Defence Secretary, a number of initiatives were taken towards increasing the pace of modernization as well as bringing about greater probity. He helped evolve a 'Make' policy enabling conceptualization and manufacture of defence equipment in the country.  

He has also served as Secretary Defence Production and, in the Ministry of Defence as Joint Secretary during 1991 – 1996. During this period he was Director in the Board of Defence Companies such as Bharat Electronics Ltd., Bharat Dynamics Ltd., Bharat Earth Movers Ltd., Mazagaon Docks Ltd., Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd. and Chairman, Goa Shipyard Ltd. He was Involved in the partial disinvestments of Bharat Electronics & BEML which resulted in these companies being listed In the Stock Exchange. Earlier in the mid 1980s he was Director (Navy) in the Ministry of Defence. 

He served as Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Government of India in 2003-2004.

 Mr. Dutt has held several key posts, which include Director General, Sports Authority of India (2001-2003). With the Government of MP he served as Principal Secretary, Department of Tribal and Scheduled Caste Welfare and Principal Secretary, Departments of School Education, Sports & Youth Welfare, during the period 1996 – 2001.

 In his capacity as Principal Secretary in the Departments of School Education, Sports & Youth Welfare (1996-1998), Mr Dutt was credited with the introduction of an innovative programme called Education Guarantee Scheme in which the community panchayats owned and ran the schools. The scheme helped in universalizing elementary education in Madhya Pradesh to a great extent. Mr. Dutt was also Director of Command Area Development in the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India, looking after the development of Command Area of more than 80 major Irrigation projects of India. He was also Chairman of the Mahanadi Command Area Project and took part in the development of the Command Area of the World Bank aided Chambal Project.

 We are equally fortunate that the eminent educationist of our country, and the former Union Education Minister, Dr. Pratap Chandra Chunder, as President of the Board of Governors, is guiding us and presiding over the function today. Sir, it is indeed an honor for us all to have you here at our Annual Convocation, 2007.

 This Convocation, like, some of those in the past, is both a landmark occasion and a day of reckoning. A landmark occasion for the best and the brightest who would be officially recognized before they emerge from the portals of the IISWBM to establish themselves as the prospective leaders of our world of business and industry in the foreseeable future.

 It is also a day of reckoning because the speech of His Excellency, Professor Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at last year’s Convocation when he had urged us to generate a large number of societal transformers and entrepreneurs to help promote economic development in India, particularly in rural areas. He also said that generation of entrepreneurs was important and observed that recent experiences indicated that the economic progress was due to the contribution of a large number of small entrepreneurs. He stressed that India needed such entrepreneurs in large numbers for developing and transforming the village clusters into sustainable economic units.

 That gist of what he had stressed that day, in a way, echos what one of our founding fathers, the late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minister, had emphasized 54 years ago. As the first Business School of the country, he had reminded us, we were entrusted with the task of creating a pool of managerial talent who could guide the industrial progress and, more importantly, look after the welfare of the working population. That is something, we can, after even more than half a century, claim with both pride and humility, to have consistently achieved as has been evident from the very distinguished business managers, entrepreneurs and leaders which our Institute has produced over the years.

 Looking back at some of the significant events and developments here at our Institute, I shall mention a few to give an idea of the variety to all those present here.

 We ran several new courses and held several much talked about seminars apart from the regular presentation of research papers. We organized two courses on Disaster Management, and also a Certificate Course on intellectual Property Rights Management and Law, a seminar on Energy and Global Warming, a three day Orientation Course on Sports Management and a Public Lecture cum Panel Discussion on ‘Sunderban Biosphere Reserve-Threats and Management Strategies’. For the first time our Institute was privileged to host MDP/Orientation Programme on Modern Method of Project Management for Directors of National Council of Science Museums, Government of India. Our Bio-informatics wing organized a six day Industrial Training and Workshop on Biotools. A five day MDP of the Jute Manufacturers Development Council, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India was also held in our premises. A workshop on ‘Advanced Operations Management- a Cutting Edge to Profitability’ was organized by the MBA department. A Panel Discussion on Draft Comprehensive National Sports Policy 2007 was held in collaboration with Bengal Olympic Association.

 Our Institute has started a new programme with the ‘Institute of International Management Consultancy of Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences’ of Germany. This is the first MBA Program with ‘Management Consultancy’ specialization in India. The first year will be in IISWBM and the second year in Germany. The degree will be conferred by the Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences.

 During the year the four departments of PSM have been accredited by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA).  

The Department of Environment Management has successfully completed a number of research and consultancy projects : Environmental Impact Assessment Study for Multipurpose Riverine Jetties at the Haldia Dock Complex, Kolkata Port Trust and Socio-Economic Impact Assessment Study for proposed integrated power project (4 X 800 MW) near village Darlipali in Sundergarh district of Orissa for NTPC Ltd., were the major ones.  

Currently, this department is undertaking some research and consultancy projects such as the Socio-Economic assessment study and preparation of R & R Action Plant for Rammam – III Hydro Electric Power project at Lodhama, Darjeeling, sponsored by NTPC Hydro Ltd. and Implementation of Resettlement & Rehabilitation Action Plants for project affected person of Sagardihi Thermal Power project, Dist. Murshidabad, sponsored by West Bengal Power Development Corporation Ltd., Kolkata.  

Our expertise in Health Care and Hospital Management has received significant recognition. IISWBM has been awarded the Professional Development Programme for Senior Level Doctors of North Eastern State under the much focused NRHM (National Rural Health Mission).  

Our relationship with De Sales University was further strengthened when they hosted one of our members of the faculty for training, at their cost, in Education Technology and their admission rationale and process.

Many out here and elsewhere may not be aware that our Institute has been actively involved in the training of Heads of Schools in the East on both administration and technology, thanks to the sponsorship support of the De Sales University. The objective has been simple enough, to keep our target trainees, all distinguished professionals in the field of Education, abreast of the changing environment and of the evolution in Technology and Human Resources. 

We have also been proud to host, along with the British Council, a unique programme that involved teachers from various Management Institutes in and around Kolkata at a workshop in which all the skills of the highest form of pedagogy could be imparted to them. Six eminent resource individuals from Britain flew down to ensure the success of the programme. 

In the whole process, we proved in our own way how concerned we really are about putting societal needs above our own and prove that we mean what we state when we mention "Social Welfare" by imparting the required and the latest skills to those who, in turn, would do the Nation proud.

 You would also be pleased to learn that two of our students have earned the prestigious scholarship award from the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE), the world’s largest body of energy professionals. For your information, AEE, India Chapter, located at IISWBM, has won the best Community Service Award in 2007. The Energy Management department has been awarded by WBREDA to prepare a prospective plan for Renewable Energy. Our work on ground water modeling continues. 

Sir, you will be glad to learn that the Sports Management Department which you supported to start in 2003 has made significant strides this year. Our submissions on the draft National Sports Policy 2006 have been appreciated by the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports as well as the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission. The Ministry has asked us to submit a proposal on how the National Sports Development Fund could be made a more effective instrument to achieve excellence in sports at the International Level. The Sports Management Department has entered into research, exchange programmes and Video Conferencing with American Universities. I also wish to point out that a student of our 2006 batch was offered an excellent placement in Dubai. It is also very heartening to report that the Indian Olympic Association has given recognition to the IISWBM by nominating its Director to serve on its Sports Commission.

 Among some of the important visitors at our Institute were, among others, His Excellency, the Governor of West Bengal, Mr. Gopal Krishna Gandhi, who inaugurated the P. C. Sen Centre for Advanced Learning for students on the ground floor of the Institute. Also came calling were the Union HRD Secretary who was immensely impressed by the manner in which the Institute was being run, Dr. Alan Hunter of the University of Coventry, UK, Mr. Graham Snape, the International Trade Adviser on Education and Training and Ms. Fiona, International Trade Adviser of UK Trade and Investment, Professor Frederich Bock of I-IMC under Ludwigshafen University, Germany and Mr. Asok Mohan Chakraborti, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal. 

Dear Students, Rules exist to govern behaviour, but rules cannot substitute character. In the years going forward, it will be your reputation – for integrity, judgment, and such other values that will determine your success in life and in business. A generation from now, as you watch your children graduate, you will want to be able to say that whatever success you achieved was the result of honest and productive work, and that you dealt with people the way you would want them to deal with you. All of you have come of age at an amazing time. As you leave IISWBM, you have the skills, both hard and soft, that not all possess. You have awareness of global inequity, which we did not have when we were your age. You have more than we had; you must start sooner, and carry on longer. And I hope you will come back here to IISWBM 30 years from now and reflect on what you have done with your talent and your energy. I hope you will judge yourselves not on your professional accomplishments alone, but also on how well you have addressed the world's deepest inequities, on how well you treated people a world away who have nothing in common with you but their humanity.

 May the Almighty provide you all the strength and His Blessings to fulfill all the responsibilities that you take up and may you succeed in all your endeavours to make us proud of the fact that you were with the IISWBM.

Thank You!

.