Staff Reporter

Kozhikode: Activities of the Social Services Group (SSG) of the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIM-K), prove that there are many things other than lucrative career options with lofty pay packages that IIM students have in mind. The SSG has come out with an innovative scheme, “Meal a month,” under which students donate the equivalent of a meal every month towards funds for social causes. The SSG started a school scholarship plan under which school kits were distributed to needy, deserving students selected in consultation with school authorities in the beginning of the academic year. The kits comprised essentials, such as uniforms, notebooks, pencils and umbrellas. So far, 70 students have been provided assistance in this ongoing programme, says Sanjog Jolly, second year student of IIM-K and member of SSG.

Another programme that the group has launched was an “internal education drive” for the IIM-K community members after an on-campus effectiveness and dedication survey. This is to equip them with skills to perform their day-to-day activities better. Spoken Hindi classes have been conducted for the support staff of the institute, which includes security and housekeeping personnel and others, by Balakrishnan Nair of the Gandhi Peace Foundation, Kozhikode.

“We are also giving lessons to the boys in our canteen in basic English and mathematics. The canteen boys are around 20, from outside Kerala and semi-literates,” Sanjog says. He feels that it is still early days for both the concepts and the ongoing initiatives stand to benefit a lot of people in the long run.

The SSG also provides monetary support to a pain and palliative care centre Kunnamangalam.

“We had donated Rs.27,000 for the purchase of medicines for 36 chronically ill patients in the Kunnamangalam area in Kozhikode. Also, recently we gave a cheque for Rs. 15,000 to the pain and palliative care centre, Kunnamangalam,”

Sanjog says. Corporate social responsibility is a buzzword in industrial circles with more and more companies actually encouraging their employees to take up social activities and other social causes, in association with non-governmental organisations. “It is a good application of theory. Personally for me, the experience is invaluable,” Sanjog says. To keep up the collective spirit, the SSG has only members, and no office-bearers or leaders. There are now four members from the senior batch (second year students) and as many from the junior batch (first year).

Pramod Dubey, member, SSG, agrees with Sanjog. “The members are socially committed, but this does not mean that other students are not socially committed. They also contribute towards social causes.”