Students lay out better plans for govt schemes

LUCKNOW: Eleven finalist teams got the chance to present their ideas to promote the government’s much talked about gold monetization scheme as well as ways to tackle the high infant mortality rate in the country. The event saw these teams presenting their ideas to the World Gold Council and Save the Child foundation at sessions held on the first day of IIM Lucknow’s annual fest, Manfest-Varchasva 2015.
Putting forth their ideas of encouraging people to invest their household gold, Abhishekh, Palak and Nidhi from SPJIMR, Maharashtra, said the first step should be gaining the trust of people. “First and foremost, the information about gold monetization is scattered so even for those who want to opt for it may not do it, assuming the process to be lengthy. Secondly, for Indians, gold has a traditional importance and we are sensitive about it. To compel them to take out their gold and invest it, we will have to provide them with reliable and transparent information about all the steps their gold is going to go through. So the best way to disseminate all this information would be through a universal website,” said Abhishekh.
Several such novel ideas came up in the session addressing the issue of infant mortality in India. Students presented their ideas to ‘Save the Child’ foundation. Citing examples from abroad, Nayan Tilak and Sahil Kapoor from IMT, Ghaziabad, suggested, “One of the major causes of infant and child deaths in India is poverty. To tackle that, we can get one urban family to adopt a rural family. Apart from helping them financially, the urban parents can also give guidance to the rural ones about better parenting. The practice is prevalent and has proved efficient in Brazil.”