IIM-C students to assist in work in tsunami-hit areas of Japan
Shiv Sahay Singh

Students from Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta will assist in reconstruction work in the tsunami-affected areas of Japan where the natural disaster early this year claimed many lives besides leaving a trail of destruction.

Thirty-four students of the Visionary Leadership in Manufacturing Programme, a joint initiative of IIM-Calcutta, IIT-Madras and IIT-Kanpur, receiving cooperation from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), will work in the tsunami-affected areas of Japan under extreme climatic conditions, said A. K. Chowdhury, head of the VLM Office at IIM-Calcutta, here on Monday.

“This opportunity will expose them to the limitations of current technology before the forces of nature. They can also learn directly from the Japanese practices of risk management,” Mr. Chowdhury said.

The students will take up the job in the last week of February next year and they will be helped by engineers from Japan in this endeavour, he added.

Excited

“We are excited about the opportunity to contribute in reconstruction work of tsunami-affected areas in Japan. During the one-year programme we have created a community feeling with Japan which we will try to give back to the country,” said G. Nagarajan, a student.

Mr. Nagarajan said he was deeply moved when Professor Shoji Shiba, a renowned international expert in the manufacturing sector, kept his promise to teach the students at IIM-Calcutta in April this year despite his centurion mother being hospitalised and his own home being damaged in the tsunami.

“As students we are happy that through our little contribution in reconstruction work in Japan we can thank JICA and Professor Shiba for his efforts,” said another student, Arun Sankar.

The year-long programme includes a compulsory two weeks industry visit to Japan where the students will visit Hino Motors, Mitsui Chemicals, Toyota plant, Toyota Museum, Sony Archives, and Shinsei Bank in February 2012. It is during this visit that all the students of the fifth batch of the institute will work in the Tsunami-affected areas.

The VLM Programme was started in the year 2007 after an Indo-Japan Cooperation Agreement, signed by Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh and the Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, in December 2006.

The programme is supported by National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Human Resource and Development and the Confederation of Indian Industry.