Xavier Institute of Social Service - [XISS]

A panel discussion on the Budget 2020-21, which was recently presented in the Parliament, was held at XISS Ranchi on 7th February, 2020. The members of panel included Dr. Amar E. Tigga, Acting Director, XISS; Father Pradeep Kerketta, Assistant Director, XISS; Dr Himadri Sinha, Head of Programme, Rural Management; Dr. R.K. Agrawal, Head of Programme, Human Resource Management, Prof. Prashant Jha, Faculty, Finance Programme; Dr. Bhabani Prasad Mahapatra, Faculty, Marketing Programme along with faculty members from across other Programmes. Dr. Tigga began the panel discussion with the introduction on the Budget 2020-2021 highlighting its importance and the implication it is going to make on the Management Institutions. He also discussed that how the budget is never made in a day and involves a lot of effort from Ministry of Finance. Dr. Mahapatra, who was also moderator of the panel, set the tone for the discussion with highlighting the interesting points of the budget planning and its history. He stressed on the pre-budget discussion to be a practice so that the citizen can come together, discuss and understand the nuances of the budget. The students across various departments also participated in the panel discussion.

Ankita Chaudhry, a student of RM spoke about the reduction of fertilizer subsidy and its implication while Akshat Uniyal from HRM spoke about the need for the educated and bright minds of India to go back to the rural areas and contribute the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors to prosper. Another student, Nupur from IT spoke about bridging the gap between the digital awareness and financial independence in the rural areas and how this issue has been addressed in the budget while Ankit Kumar from Marketing spoke about the new tax slabs introduced in the budget and how it has led to a lot of confusion among the citizens. Dr. Agrawal threw light upon the increase of fiscal deficit and its implications talking about how it leaves little scope for investment in the private sector. He also spoke on the budget estimates for being too optimistic. Meanwhile, Dr. Sinha pointed out that the budget is more vision driven rather than mission driven. There has been a slack in the implementation programmes for the funds allotted during the last budget. He also stated that the funds allotted to MNREGA have reduced from last year which is a matter of concern. Father Pradeep Kerketta spoke about the social development and posed an open question as to whether the budget has given a roadmap for the future.

Adding further to the session, Prof. Prashant Jha stated facts about the expectations of the citizens and what was actually delivered through the budget. He spoke in detail about how the trade wars were not addressed in the budget and how DDT was a boon for foreign investors and capital market. The session ended with a question and answer round by the students. The panel discussion was effortlessly carried on by Behazat, a student from Marketing-1; while the student moderator was Sakshi Sukrity a student from HRM-2 and the vote of thanks was given by Prateek Gupta, a student from HRM-2 marking the end of the

The Dramatics club of XISS-Aawaz participated in Rush 5.0, the Sports and Cultural festival of IIM, Ranchi organized from 1st- 2nd February 2020.Team Aawaz highlighted various societal issues such as human trafficking, Alcohol abuse and injustice towards the women in the society through the Nukkad Natak. The event was held on 2nd February ,2020 at the Sports Complex, Khelgaon.,Ranchi in which Team Aawaz secured 1st position. XISS congratulates the team on their achievement and wishes them all the best for their future endeavours.

A Two -Day Faculty Development Program titled “Embracing Self Learning in Research with SWAYAM” was organized by Xavier Institute of Social Service (XISS) in association with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur from 15th to 16th January 2020. Mr.Shib Sankar Das from the Centre for Educational Technology, IIT Kharagpur, Director (Acting ), XISS, Dr. Amar E. Tigga; Assistant Director, Fr. Pradeep Kerketta S.J; Superior XISS, Fr. Xavier Soreng, S.J; Head of Programs, Faculty members and research scholars from various academic institution and students of XISS were present at the occasion.

The Acting Director, XISS, Dr. Amar E. Tigga in his inaugural address highlighted the importance of self learning in the field of academia and research. Dr. Tigga also added that more than 300 students as well as many faculty members of XISS have registered themselves in various courses offered through the SWAYAM Platform. Fr. Pradeep Kerketta, Assistant Director, XISS in his inaugural address, shared with the participants the meaning of the Jesuit values and the alignment of the Jesuit values with self-learning which would ensure overall development of an individual.

Dr. Rik Das, the SPOC of (SWAYAM Program at XISS) discussed in detail the need of SWAYAM and its relevance in today’s time. He added that the purpose of SWAYAM is to stay relevant in the context of contemporary dynamic knowledge pursuits. He also stated that this program will help in developing strong problem solving skills, experience meaningful learning and increase one’s curiosity of learning.

The Session was then carried forward by Mr. Shib Sankar Das, Centre for Educational Technology, IIT Kharagpur who was the resource person for the first day of the FDP. In his address, Mr. Das stated the importance of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) and SWAYAM in today’s ever-evolving time for academicians, researchers and practitioners. Mr. as also provided hands on training to the participants about SWAYAM platform and addressed their queries and concern with great zeal and enthusiasm.