Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey, MoS HRD visited the Indian Institute of Management, Shillong today. On arrival, the Minister was taken for a first-hand view of the premises at IIM Shillong’s current campus, including the auditorium where Dr. Kalam had delivered his last lecture. During his visit, Dr. Pandey was welcomed by the Institute’s fraternity, post which he had an interaction with the Director and faculty members on various issues of regional and national importance. Visibly happy with the strides of progress made by the institute, Dr. Pandey encouraged the gathering to exercise continuous efforts in the days to come, so as to be able to maintain standards to meet both national and international expectations. He remarked that it is amply evident that each member of the Institute has been working from the heart. This sense of ownership is what will further the cause of institutional building.
Another facet of responsibility that the honourable Minister felt IIM Shillong should persistently take up is in ensuring its role as a catalyst focusing on the developmental needs of the India’s North-eastern region where the Institute operates from, thereby making itself accessible for overall growth of NER apart from imparting quality higher education to the students from across India. He congratulated the efforts of the Institute’s leadership in meeting PM Modi’s vision towards holistic societal development. The job of the Institute’s stakeholders, given their rich expertise is to draw new ideas and explore areas for innovative practices, which he was sure would assist in further building the dream for New India. During the interaction, the Director of the Institute shared the success stories of the Institute through the persistent achievements of its student and faculty community during its 10 year span of existence. He further informed the Minister regarding the support through DoNER and NEC towards setting up of the APJ Abdul Kalam Center for Policy Research & Analysis. “The Center aims at achieving developmental framework on six key areas such as Tourism, BPO, Logistics, Handloom and Handicraft,” remarked Prof De. “In addition, the Center for Development of NER set up since inception of the Institute is assisting in capacity building to ensure employability of the youth of this region. The students of IIM Shillong have also initiated Nurturing Minds wherein students of local schools are being given quality tuition in the area of science and mathematics, keeping up the urge of Dr. Kalam for transfer of knowledge to the underprivileged.” In his culminating words, Shri Pandey urged the community of faculty members to work in tandem with the overall aim of moving from assistance in ‘Look East’ to Áct East’ vision of the country and ensured all out support to the Institute in its initiatives.