This train will teach them basics of business
Mumbai: Passengers: 18 to 25-year-olds
Route: Delhi to Kanyakumari
Duration: 18 days
Destination: Entrepreneurship and leadership
Unlike most train journeys, passengers hopping onto a 16-bogey train at Mumbai Central on Wednesday aren’t waiting to reach any destination. For the youngsters on board, the journey itself is their destination. The excursion organised under the aegis of the Tata Jagriti Yatra aims to inculcate entrepreneurial skills among the 350 youths on board.
From the dabbawalas of Mumbai to the barefoot college in Tilonia, Rajasthan, to Anand in Gujarat, the group will explore innovative ventures, interact with role models and get a dekko into social entrepreneurship.
“The aim is to get the youth to connect with the genius of India and the focus is on enterprise-led development. Today, enterpreneurship and enterprise are no longer a luxury, but a necessity and we hope to spark interest in the youth,’’ said Shashank Mani, an ex-IITian and one of the founders of the concept, adding that they hope to make this an annual feature. The group had organised a similar trip called Azad Bharat Rail Yatra in 1997 and many of them felt their experience deserved to be shared with others. That’s how the seeds for this journey were sown.
Explaining that the format wasn’t a classroom session but a see-and-learn experience, another organiser Raj Krishnamurthy offered an insight into their itinerary. “There will be conferences inside the train and stopovers to meet role models such as scientist R A Mashelkar (who formerly headed the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), Dr M S Swaminathan who is known as the ‘father of the green revolution in India’ and Ela Bhatt who founded SEWA,’’ he said.
The youths would get a peek into successful enterprises, be it the Kuthambakkam village in Chennai which is acclaimed as a ‘model village’ or the sprawling Technopark in Thiruvananthpuram which is a hub of IT offices. The eclectic bunch will also participate in six televised panel discussions which will dwell on topics such as ‘poverty to self-help’ and the ‘power of one’.
They received applications from 10,000 youngsters and finally selected 350, including 25 foreigners. The youngsters who are waiting to hop on are predictably high on adrenaline. Suman Chennamaneni (24) from Hyderabad couldn’t have hoped for a better platform. An arts and law graduate who has dabbled in social ventures since he was 21, he said, “I recently interned with an NGO which promoted small entrepreneurs such as plumbers and electricians through the internet. I am keen to learn how social models are scaled up and made sustainable.’’
Breach Candy resident and dentist Neha Parekh is excited about interacting with likeminded youngsters. Summing up the excitement is a blog post by a youngster from Chennai, Abhishek Seth, who says he expects the trip to be “a turning point in his life’’. They may just throw up many success stories in the making.
Madhavi Rajadhyaksha I TNN
Mumbai: Passengers: 18 to 25-year-olds
Route: Delhi to Kanyakumari
Duration: 18 days
Destination: Entrepreneurship and leadership
Unlike most train journeys, passengers hopping onto a 16-bogey train at Mumbai Central on Wednesday aren’t waiting to reach any destination. For the youngsters on board, the journey itself is their destination. The excursion organised under the aegis of the Tata Jagriti Yatra aims to inculcate entrepreneurial skills among the 350 youths on board.
From the dabbawalas of Mumbai to the barefoot college in Tilonia, Rajasthan, to Anand in Gujarat, the group will explore innovative ventures, interact with role models and get a dekko into social entrepreneurship.
“The aim is to get the youth to connect with the genius of India and the focus is on enterprise-led development. Today, enterpreneurship and enterprise are no longer a luxury, but a necessity and we hope to spark interest in the youth,’’ said Shashank Mani, an ex-IITian and one of the founders of the concept, adding that they hope to make this an annual feature. The group had organised a similar trip called Azad Bharat Rail Yatra in 1997 and many of them felt their experience deserved to be shared with others. That’s how the seeds for this journey were sown.
Explaining that the format wasn’t a classroom session but a see-and-learn experience, another organiser Raj Krishnamurthy offered an insight into their itinerary. “There will be conferences inside the train and stopovers to meet role models such as scientist R A Mashelkar (who formerly headed the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), Dr M S Swaminathan who is known as the ‘father of the green revolution in India’ and Ela Bhatt who founded SEWA,’’ he said.
The youths would get a peek into successful enterprises, be it the Kuthambakkam village in Chennai which is acclaimed as a ‘model village’ or the sprawling Technopark in Thiruvananthpuram which is a hub of IT offices. The eclectic bunch will also participate in six televised panel discussions which will dwell on topics such as ‘poverty to self-help’ and the ‘power of one’.
They received applications from 10,000 youngsters and finally selected 350, including 25 foreigners. The youngsters who are waiting to hop on are predictably high on adrenaline. Suman Chennamaneni (24) from Hyderabad couldn’t have hoped for a better platform. An arts and law graduate who has dabbled in social ventures since he was 21, he said, “I recently interned with an NGO which promoted small entrepreneurs such as plumbers and electricians through the internet. I am keen to learn how social models are scaled up and made sustainable.’’
Breach Candy resident and dentist Neha Parekh is excited about interacting with likeminded youngsters. Summing up the excitement is a blog post by a youngster from Chennai, Abhishek Seth, who says he expects the trip to be “a turning point in his life’’. They may just throw up many success stories in the making.
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