IIM-Lucknow girl, Paridhi Verma with only 10pc vision has landed a job despite all obstacles

Paridhi Verma, a 21-year-old visually impaired girl from Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, has surpassed everyone’s expectations and landed a job. There were many who thought that such a feat would be impossible for this young girl with her severe visual impairment. However, her recent offer from a micro-finance bank as a customer relationship executive has left everyone pleasantly surprised.

Paridhi was just 19 years old, the youngest in her batch when she joined one of the top business schools in India. Paridhi's honest and blunt response to her visual impairment has always left quite a few stunned. While talking to Hindustan Times, she said, "Yes, I have a disability. I suffer from macular degeneration with visual impairment up to 90 percent. With 10 percent vision, I may have to take a slightly different path than others. Macular degeneration is a very rare disease and occurs in one in seven lakh people. It is incurable and progressive in my case."

Paridhi was always good academically and that's why it was a shock for her as well as her parents when her grades started dropping drastically in the fifth standard. Initially, her parents thought she was not studying properly, but after she got some colour in her eyes on Holi, her parents took her to the doctor, who prescribed glasses. With the glasses having no effect on her vision, she underwent many tests and was diagnosed with this rare disease.

It was very difficult for Paridhi to grasp the situation and her falling grades were also getting her worried. However, having been spiritual from a very young age helped her in overcoming all the obstacles. With time and maturity, she tells Hindustan Times that she became a more confident and self-motivated person.

She then went on to do her BBA from ICG, Jaipur and also holds a diploma in mass communication and video production. Paridhi initially wanted to crack the civil services but decided to prepare for the Common Admission Test (CAT) after a friend suggested it to her. She cracked the exam after only a two and a half months of preparation.

Describing her initial days in the institute as a struggle since she was living away from her parents for the first time, Paridhi tells The Times of India, "Initially, I was not able to manage because preparations involved a lot of reading. At home, dad read out lessons for me. There was a time when I thought of quitting, but then my seniors came forward and volunteered to help me overcome my challenges. I have a disability, but I focus only on my abilities."

Understanding the importance of writers in a case such as hers, she tells Hindustan Times, "Normally, in an examination, one writes his/her own destiny. In my case, my destiny was in my writer’s hand. I consider myself lucky to get wholehearted support from well-wishers since childhood. God has been kind to me."

She never let her disabilities be a hindrance to her personal growth. She was a part of the team that won the under-18 state-level football championship in the tenth standard. In college, she learned how to play the guitar and formed her own college band that later even gave concerts. She has also walked the ramp at a college festival.

Paridhi has also received many awards recognising her perseverance, determination, and resolve. In her final year of college, she was felicitated with the 'Woman of the Future Award' in 2015 by the government of Rajasthan. Her parents have also received another award by the Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarth on her behalf on Daughter's Day.

A single child, she describes her parents as her support system and is grateful that they never sent her to special schools and ensured she got the best education from reputed schools.

Her dedication is nothing but proof that nothing is impossible if you are determined to achieve something and make a successful life out of the path in front of you.

Image source: Storypick
Content source: YourStory.com

Enterprise Development Programme on Digital Marketing by NIESBUD in Kolkata in February 2017

Enterprise Development Programme on 'How to earn money as freelancer in Digital Marketing' conducted by The National Institute for Entrepreneurship & Small Business Development (#NIESBUD) in Kolkata on 25th & 26th February 2017.

IITs set to increase seats by 460 in 2017

More engineering aspirants are likely to realize their dream of studying in the country's premier technology institutes this year, with the IITs readying to increase their intake by 460, taking the total number of seats to 11,032 from 10,572.
The seats will mostly be added in the new IITs.

The IITs in Bhubaneshwar, Hyderabad, Ropar, Jodhpur, Patna, Indore, Mandi and Jammu have sent their proposals to their respective senates and the Joint Entrance Examination Board. The final seat matrix for the 2017-18 academic year will be brought out by the JEE board once the senates clear the proposals, which, say officials, is the most likely outcome.

"This shows that these IITs have been able to improve their infrastructure and can now accommodate more students," said Y Udaykumar, co-ordinator of the Joint Seat-Allocation Authority of the IITs and National Institutes of Technology. There are other IITs, like the ones at Dharwad, Goa and Tirupati, which still operate out of rented campuses and have not been able to hike their student strength. Besides, none of the older IITs has sought a hike in seats, hinting at a space crunch in these institutes.

There is only one possible hurdle to a hiked intake: some of the IITs going in for scrapping some of the unpopular courses, where seats have gone vacant.

"In a meeting on February 3, the HRD ministry gave the go-ahead for closure or suspension of some of the unpopular disciplines in order to cut down on seats going vacant," an IIT official, who attended the meeting, said on condition of anonymity. The HRD ministry , in fact, has directed all centrally funded technical institutes that participate in joint counselling to revise their seat strength only after a proper review of vacant seats, employment opportunities, national requirement, faculty strength and available infrastructure.

"The senate of each institute is likely to take a decision in this regard within 31st March 2017," the official said.

(Source: The Times of India, Kolkata dated 2017-02-19)

Working from home more stressful for some


It May Save You The Commute, But Blurs Boundaries Of Work And Personal Life: UN Study

Using smartphones, laptops and other technology to work from home may help you do away with rush hour traffic, but also lead to longer working hours, higher stress and sleeping problems, according to a new UN study in 15 countries including India.

“This report shows that the use of modern communication technologies facilitates a better overall work-life balance,“ said Jon Messenger, co-author of the joint report by the UN International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Eurofund. The study is based on interviews with workers and experts in 10 European Union member states, Argentina, Brazil, India, Japan and the US.

The study identified several types of employees using new technologies to work outside the employer's premises, including regular home-based teleworkers, workers performing occasional telework and information and communication technologies mobile work (TICTM). It highlights positive effects of teleworking, such as greater autonomy on working time and better work-day organisation, and reduced commuting time resulting in a better overall work-life balance and higher productivity .

On the down side, teleworking "blurs the boundaries between work and personal life, depending on the place of work and the characteristics of different occupations," Messenger said.

People teleworking tend to work longer hours, and have higher levels of stress as a result of overlapping paid work and personal life.

The analysis also shows that regular home-based teleworkers tend to be more likely to report sleeping problems in general, when compared to those always work at the employer's premises,.

“In India, survey results indicate that a higher proportion of TICTM workers work long hours (defined as more than 48 hours per week) than office-based workers (66% compared to 59%),“ it said.

As telework becomes more prominent so too has the need to disconnect, with France and Germany beginning to look at arrangements at the company level, and at existing and new legislation, such as the “right to be disconnected“ in the most recent revision of the French Labour Code, the report said.

There are distinctions between home-based teleworkers who seem to enjoy better work-life balance and `highmobile' workers who are more at risk of negative health and well-being outcomes, it said.

The report recommends promoting formal part-time teleworking so that people working from home can maintain ties with co-workers and improve well-being.

(Source: PTI, Geneva)

Parimal Merchant spoke on Family Managed Business at EDI Kolkata on 2017-02-13

Challenges and Opportunities in Family Managed Business - a talk by Prof. Parimal Merchant, Director, Asian Institute of Family Managed Business, Mumbai at Enterprise Development Institute, Salt Lake, Kolkata on 2017-02-13 afternoon.

IIM-A first-cluster final placements held

The first cluster of the final placement process for the postgraduate programme (PGP) class of 2017 was held on 2017-02-13 at the campus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A).
The firms that participated in Cluster 1 comprised of three cohorts ­ investment banking and markets; management consulting and private equity, venture capital and hedge funds.

"The list of Cluster 1 recruiters included regular partners such as Accenture Strategy, A.T. Kearney, Bain & Co., Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, McKinsey & Company, Oliver Wyman and others," said a statement from the placement cell of IIM-A.

"This reinforces the strength of the general management programme at IIM-A. McKinsey & Company made the highest number of offers, 15, in Cluster 1. Finance companies offered roles in investment banking, private equity, venture capital and capital markets across functions and geographies," added the statement.

IIM-A has always had an extremely rich mix of firms from diverse sectors. Consulting firms, offering management consulting roles across geographies, continued to hire in large numbers, it said.

The second cluster will be held on February 16, 2017. Last year, more than 110 companies participated in the IIM-A placement process. Around 100 students had then opted for their dream applications, which gave them the flexibility to build careers in sectors of their preference.

Infosys extends helping hand to IIT-Kgp

Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic arm of IT giant, has signed an MoU with IIT-Kharagpur to fund travel (preferably for women) to 'Top International Conferences' and the research on the antiquity of Indus Valley, which is being carried out by the premier institute in association with the Archaeological Survey of India.

The initiative has been jointly undertaken under the leadership of Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murty and IIT-Kgp director Partha Pratim Chakrabarti. "While advanced education helps us leap forward, studying ancient civilizations enables us to reflect on the culture of bygone societies. Infosys Foundation recognizes the importance of both and is committed to supporting pro grammes in both these areas," Sudha Murthy said. Murthy, one of the members of the board of governors at IIT-Kharagpur, had earlier donated Rs 5 crore to Presidency University . "It will be a great initiative as the decision will inspire many more women research scholars and students to come up with some very innovative work, publish journals or papers and take part in internationally acclaimed global conferences," added Chakraborti.

Every year, over 250 students participate in international conferences. Murthy has proposed to provide Rs 20 lakh from her own resources to support women students for such conferences. "Such conferences have been beneficial to students in networking for their doctoral and postdoctoral programmes. With support from Infosys Founda tion, eight to 10 meritorious girl students will be selected by a committee at IIT-Kgp to be sent to top conferences. These students will have Infosys Foundation mentioned in their presentation," added S K Ray, dean (postgraduate studies research).

Anindya Sarkar, lead investigator of the Indus Valley project, felt the funding had come at a right time when "we just unearthed some old Indus valley settlements in India. We are seeking permission from ASI for excavating a specific site and the grant will be used for studying the causes of climate change using latest techniques of isotope and faunal analysis."

(Source: The Times of India, Kolkata dated 2016-10-23)