IIFT commemorate 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on its 56thFoundation Day

Shobhana Radhakrishna, Chief Functionary of the Gandhian Forum for Ethical Corporate Governance and Dr. Ravi Chopra, Founder Secretary of the Centre for Gandhian Vision and Values addressed students and faculty at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) on the principles of ethical corporate governance. The eminent Gandhians were invited to speak at the prestigious B-school as a part of the celebrations on the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and the institute’s 56th Foundation Day today.

Speaking on the ‘Ethical Leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and its relevance in Governance’, Smt. Shobhana Radhakrishna said, “Simplicity that I found here was in Gandhi too. The most important thing for him was action: making sure that we walk on the right path. There are 3 principles enunciated by Gandhi: Satyagraha, constructive activities (social work), Akardhrashti (level observance) which required in business as well as in personal life, leadership - to get along with people and Shramdan– who work hard, punctually, having simplicity within. These are must for ethical leadership. Always ask yourself 'who am I? what are my duties?  and what am I doing? It will help you to grow in the long run. He always cherished Bhagwat Geeta as the best book for self-management.”

The Assessment and Development Centre at IIFT was also inaugurated by Prof. Manoj Pant on the Foundation day. The vision of the centre is to strive for excellence in maximizing organizational effectiveness and employee’s engagement by identifying and developing Human Resources through psychological assessment and development services. The potential areas where ADC can render its services are career counseling, personality profiling, entrepreneurial trait identification, leadership development, etc. The ADC would look forward to providing services to all business organizations and government missions as well depending on their need. IIFT has experienced faculty having expertise and competencies in the area of human resource management, behavioral sciences, marketing, finance, operations, trade, and business. With the faculty bench strength, ADC is fully equipped to take any consultancy and training assignment in the area of change management, competency mapping, succession planning, identifying the leadership pipeline, besides providing training in the area of leadership, conflict resolution, design thinking, data analytics, logistics, and supply chain, and marketing

The Foundation Day event also saw the release of a new book titled ‘A Basic Guide for International Business’ edited by Dr. Vijaya Katti, Dean Administration (Academics) and Sh. S. Balasubramanian as well as the release of Yagya – the annual Hindi Magazine of IIFT. Ex-Faculty members and employees were honored for their contribution to IIFT.

Prof Manoj Pant, Director, IIFT, said, “The 56th Foundation Day is an important milestone for IIFT which over the years has grown to become a landmark institution in India. Since IIFT was founded on the Gandhian principles of ethics, values, and transparency it is fitting to have such eminent speakers address us today as we also commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.”

The programme began with the lighting of the lamp by Prof Manoj Pant, Director, IIFT, followed by a welcome address by Dr. PK Gupta, Registrar, IIFT and Prof Pant. The programme included a rendition of bhajans titled 'Gandhiji ke Priya Bhajan'. The entire staff, faculty members and students graced the ceremony with their presence and celebrated the special day reflecting the beginnings of the Institute and its significant development since inception.