Shared Vision for Community Development- The SCIT ISR Panel Discussion, Aug07, 2015

An interesting panel discussion was conducted on the topic “Shared Vision for Community Development” which had panellists from different parts of society. Dr Sudhir Sharan, professor at SCIT, moderated and drove the discussion in an interesting direction by focussing on how corporate social responsibility has gained momentum in recent times and what metrics must be employed to measure development in an economy. Conversations took place around key areas of policy and practice where community development can make a difference and how this contribution could be recognised and supported. To assist this, an impressive array of speakers discussed their vision and exchanged views and opinions.

The panel involved,
• Professor Satyajit Majumdar Chairperson of the Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, School of Management and Labour Studies
• Mr Sarang Pandey, a project director at Lokpanchayat
• Ms Swetha Ranganathan, social entrepreneur at Apnishala
• Ms Mary D’Souza, founder of Aditi Learning Foundation
• Mr Abhishek Jain, CSR Manager at Cognizant

The panel crackled with energy and exchanged ideas, while Dr Sudhir Sharan displayed an innate sense of pacing questions to the panellists.
The panellists explored key areas of policy and practice such as poverty, health, education and agriculture. The discussion helped students realize that community development can make a valued difference.
One of the key concern discussed was the integration of philanthropy and business by instilling awareness in the youth that an individual must simultaneously consume and conserve to achieve social, economic and ecological balance. The discussion took an interesting turn when Dr Sudhir Sharan put forward the point regarding the development indicators that benchmark the performance of an economy in all aspects. On this point, the panellists addressed various factors such as education, healthcare, economic factors and environment conservation.

The panel included various perspectives provided by the panellists and ended with a lively panel and plenary discussion on taking the vision forward.
The panellists had a fruitful discussion and concluded that community development is a part of sustainable development and provides common connection to nature. The Earth belongs to one and all .People already have skills to collaborate and have good intentions to give to others willingly. To make a community sustainable, one must be thankful to society for consumption for their potential and the rest will follow. One must reduce needs and simplify life and choose what one really wants.