Pathbreakers: Ex-president Abdul Kalam's man Srijan Pal Singh

Looking at his situation at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, Srijan had everything going for him - securing an admission without any prior work experience, being elected as the general secretary of the Student Council, a summer placement with a topnotch consulting firm which converted into a pre-placement offer, a compensation package many would envy and a gold medal for being the best all-rounder student of the 2007-09 batch to boot.

But Srijan Pal Singh had something else chalked out for himself. He happened to be in the very batch that faced the wrath of the global meltdown most the number of recruiters and the offers made had reduced considerably. Amidst all the tension of securing that one job, Srijan took the call of letting go of an offer from a much sought-after consulting group and followed his instinct.

The PGP batch of 2009 was the first to interact with former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam on the campus, in their classroom. It was for the course he was taking for the students of second year, the 'Globalizing Resurgent India through Innovative Transformation (GRIIT)' programme. Srijan was one of the 80-odd students who opted for the course, which was a much sought-after elective. But he was the only one who chose to stay connected with it even after he graduated from IIM Ahmedabad.

Today, over a year and a half after his graduation day, Srijan, to many's surprise, has stayed away from the corporate world and works full time at Dr Kalam's office, travelling with him, attending conferences and lectures and working on a project which he had presented as a second-year student.

"As students Dr Kalam had asked us to work on the concept of PURA (Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) and we had to find possible solutions to achieve it.

I had presented an idea where development was looked at with an enterprise angle to it, the whole contention being that development should not be always looked upon as a liability for the government," says Srijan, an engineer from Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), Lucknow.

"I am right now working on setting up the PURA enterprise, which would be a network that will link up various rural and small scale enterprises, support a better lifestyle in rural areas through capacity building, skill development and business generation," adds the 26 year-old.

How easy has it been making this unusual career choice and staying with it?

Srijan laughs, "If I would not have chosen to do this right now, I would have never done it.

While at IIM Ahmedabad and in the position I held there, I got numerous opportunities to meet and interact with people from the corporate world, alumni of the institute and several others.

Most of these people I met had that one big dream still unfulfilled, the dream of trying that one thing. But the opportunity cost had become so big for them now that letting go of what they had become was very difficult for them.

I was at an advantage. All I had to do was let go of my secure consulting job."

Besides being actively involved in the GRIIT course while it was on from September to November 2008, Srijan took up a post-graduate internship with Dr Kalam where he was developing his ideas.

Finally it was time for him to end his internship and take up a fulltime job, for which he had already made his employers wait.

What exactly is the work you've been doing?

I have been working on the PURA project, which is to be launched as a separate mission later this month. The PURA Corporation will be managed like a welloiled enterprise. We already have working models, such as in Varna in Madhya Pradesh, that we want to replicate throughout the country.

What is the goal?

The essence of the PURA Corporation is to generate jobs through the creation of enterprises at the micro level. These enterprises would be based on core competencies and on servicing the primary economic activity of the PURA. Each PURA would comprise of a cluster of villages sharing basic assets like roads, markets, advanced healthcare services, education facilities and electronic connectivity. The size of a PURA can vary from 10 to 50 villages. India has six lakh villages and we will need approximately 7,000 PURAs to cover them.

How much will the project cost?

We estimate that each PURA will need an investment of Rs 60 crore over seven years. But after this initial injection of funds, they have to be sustainable. The core idea is that development should be through empowerment, through enterprise, not charity.

Are you planning to rope in the corporate sector?

We will require many corporates to participate. We believe they will chip in because there is tremendous potential for growth in rural areas. Globally, more than three billion people live in villages, usually in a condition where their talents and resources are underutilised. PURA is about harnessing their potential.

- Subbu

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