Session on Social Entrepreneurship at SRMS CET, Bareilly

A session on Social Entrepreneurship was conducted at Shri Ram Murti Smarak College of Engineering & Technology, Bareilly by Janhit Jagran. The session was conducted with the objective of making students aware about social entrepreneurship. Dr. Ankita Tandon, Assistant Professor, FMS- SRMSCET, Bareilly hosted the event.

Janhit Jagran is an initiative by the Dainik Jagran Group to encourage and support the citizens to solve the pressing challenges facing the country. Its partners include Deshpande Foundation, FITT, Pradan, WaterAid, PHFI, UNESCO, and PLAN.

Mr. Pradeep Shukla- Senior Editor, Dainik Jagran led the initiative and discussed in detail the seven major societal concerns of our country which are preventing India from progressing. These are

• Illiteracy – problem of high dropout rates between high school and graduation
• Lack of access to clean water – Every second rural woman spends an average 1.5 year of her lifetime in fetching water.
• Lack of opportunities for youth – high unemployment among youth, many of whom are not skilled for the available opportunities
• Poverty – India ranked 97 out of 118 in Global Hunger Index
• Low women empowerment – only 25% female participation in workforce
• Pollution – Cost of air pollution equals 7.9% of GDP
• Poor healthcare access – Doctor:Patient ratio of just 1:1700

Janhit Jagran encourages potential and existing social entrepreneurs to submit ideas to it, which are then evaluated by domain experts. The winners are incubated at the Jagran Centre for Social Enterprise. Ideas can be submitted online atwww.janhitjagran.com .

Selected winners also get to be a part of IdeaFest, an annual fair for networking with corporates, NGOs who would like to buy the idea and implement it. Past winners in 2015 have included Anuradha Gupta for Environmental Conservation, who was felicitated by the Prime Minister himself, Krishna Pal Singh for Water Conservation, Piyali Bhattacharya for Healthy Society, Gopal Zavar for Women Empowerment, Sushant Kumar Singhal for Educated Society, Virendra Dayal for Poverty Eradication, and Abhishek Pandey for Population Management.

Mr. Rajesh Ram, Operations Manager and Trainer- Dainik Jagran took the session further and told the students about his life’s journey. He was followed by Mr. Durgesh Nandan, Founder and CEO of ‘In Motion’ who inspired students with his real life experiences. His inspiring speech instilled a feeling of self-dependence in the students and motivated them in their career pursuits.

Dr. Mamta Gaur, Faculty In charge, FMS- SRMS CET, Bareilly extended the vote of thanks to the dignitaries and thanked the attending students.