Manasa Manthana 2011: National level paper presentation competition held at AIMIT

Mangalore, October 22: Throughout AIMIT, St Aloysius College, Mangalore, a new ambience of knowledge and sustainability was dawned with 19 participants and vibrant entrepreneur V K Talithaya.

MansaManthana, the national level paper presentation competition with a prime agenda of sustainability management, was held on Friday, October 21.

The Inauguration programme of Manasa Manthana started with a benediction song and was followed by lighting of 'diya'. In his inaugural address Mr. Talithaya, President, Primacy Private Ltd, shared his enriching insights and defined sustainability management as “living a world behind for future generation”.

According to him the three elements profitability, economic growth and sustainability have to be looked at simultaneously. He emphasised on 'sustainability' issues regarding waste management, energy use, land use and bio-diversity, and also recommended measures to uplift them. He said, “Sustainability should not be just a mantra to be chanted, but one needs to implement it in concrete ways.”

Fr. Denzil lobo, director of AIMIT, spoke of the changes that have been taking place and said that there is no limit to knowledge. He said that knowledge has been growing in exponential manner and that our system of education in India, therefore has to be changed to train our youth to be creative and innovative, rather than concentrating only on memory based learning and preparing them to excel in exams.

He said that symposia like Manasamanthana help students to come up with innovative ideas. He appreciated the theme of sustainability Management for Manasamanthana and enthused the gathering of young students to work towards building a better, cleaner and healthier planet to live in for the next generation.

Rev. Dr Oswald Mascarenhas SJ, chairman, MBA dept, spoke of system thinking to solve the problem of sustainability. He said that ultimately everything comes down to the concept of ENERGY, and that we need to move from knowledge economy to value economy. “Yesterday's solutions cause problems of tomorrow”, he said and unless we have clear systems approach to this problem we would be where we are now.

Fr Joseph Rodrigues, Rector also shared his insights and focused his speech on what is Manasa and Manathana and how Manasa Manthana helps the business schools to cultivate ideas. He mentioned that Jesuits all over the world are concerned very much about ecology and that all the students of Jesuit Institutions throughout the world would work towards making this planet a better place to live in.

Finally the inaugural ceremony culminated with the vote of thanks which was proposed by Mr. Milton Peres, student co-ordinator of Manasa Manthana.

The grand finale started at 2.30 pm that was moderated by Mr. Manoj Louis, the four finalists was judged by Fr. Oswald Mascarenhas, chairman MBA-Dept. and Smitha Jesndasan.

The panel discussion constituted of two halves – first half was 7 minutes presentation by each panellist and the second session been open question and answer session. The finalist as well as judges made an intricate analysis on sustainability management and also some of the possible and feasible solution to make a fact.

The valedictory programme of Manasa Manthana 2011 was graced by the presence of Fr.. Ozwald Mascarenhas SJ, chairman of AIMIT, Dr. Rowena Wright, Dean of Academics, Dhanjaya K Faculty co-ordinator.

First runners up was tied between two teams one is from St. Joseph Engineering College Ms. lin and Mr.Lanston pinto and St. Aloysius college, Mr.Baijnath Pandey and Mr.Sujith k.m. The winner of Manasa Manthana 2011 were Mr. Sourabh and Tilak alva from NITK, Suratkal.