Sitharaman appeals budding entrepreneurs to contribute to

Defence MinisterNirmala Sitharamantoday urged the management graduates to contribute in the area of public administrationinstead of thinking only about getting jobs.

"...Look at bringing in reforms, bringing in modernised ways of administration and doing a lot of work so that India as a country is better governed.

"Look at services that reach people (and) not just to MNCs (multinational companies), may be Indian-origin MNCs require your service but public administration also requires help from the people like you," she said while addressing the 7th convocation ceremony of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Raipur, in Sejbahar here.

Sitharaman said, "I would think it is important for you to not just think in terms of getting jobs only but to look at what you can contribute to the society as individuals, as entrepreneurs and as administrators".

"I think you should think out-of-box (and) not just rush to (get) jobs...think about new work," she added.

Sitharaman cited prevalence of "a lot of conflicting ideologies".

"In these challenging times, where there is a churn at global level, there are a lot of conflicting ideologies," she said.

Sitharaman cited how a socialist country like China is opening up its economy while the US and European countries are becoming more and more protectionist.

She also appealed to the students to keep themselves updated about the latest technology and skills.

Many public sector institutions in India in need of better management techniques wanted to optimally use the resources they have, she said.

"Today many of them (public sector institutions) suffer from having excessive overheads, and as a result, they are not even competitive. So you people who are graduating from this premiere institute ready yourself not just to get into MNCs which have well-made systems of governance, but also get into public policy, public service and government service and suggest how to make efficient administration,better management of resources, (ways to) make them competitive," she said.

Sitharaman said, "You have a big challenge before you and immense opportunities which were not existed before".

Management students should also do something to become entrepreneurs, she added.

Speaking on the occasion, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh appealed to the students to be fearless.

As many as 147 post graduate students of the 2016-18 batch, 49 PG students from the 2015-17 batch, 10 PG students from the 2016-18 batch of working executives, and 8 students of the management fellow programme were awarded degrees on the occasion.