The two-day Entrepreneurship & Rural Development Conclave 2024, organized at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar has come to an end. The conclave, organized in association with Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Govt. of India, IIT Ropar and ERDC had elaborate discussions on the importance of entrepreneurship and rural development among the youth of the nation. During the concluding ceremony, around 1000 NSS students from different professional and technical institutions and universities were administered with the oath of being job creators rather than being job seekers.

Prof. Shreepad Karmalkar, Director, IIT Bhubaneswar interacted with the students and highlighted the elements of an entrepreneurial mindset, namely – value for money, initiative, communication and problem solving, which need to be developed right from the school level. He pointed out the similarities and differences between research and entrepreneur mindsets. He discussed the value for money in detail, and advised the students to learn about how wealth is created, much like how electricity is created. He asked them to start keeping an account of their money and time spent as a prelude to becoming an entrepreneur. He also introduced the students to videos on entrepreneurship available on the internet.

Delivering the keynote address, Shri Chetan Sahore, National Head, ERDC said that the solution to unemployment is entrepreneurship. He shared how the central government state government and educational institutions are working in tandem to enhance the scope for entrepreneurship. He emphasized on the creation of an ecosystem for the students to develop ideas to provide solutions to the problems of the rural India and the community around them. He urged the schools, colleges, universities and governments at all levels to come together in this mission.

Speaking on the occasion, Smt. Sarita Patel, Regional Director, NSS focused on the social values of India, which need to be revived to achieve real development through economic growth. Shri Amit Shukla, Founder, EasyGov and Empower Panchayat mentioned the significance of developing the skills for creating a good product and selling it to the target market as the basis of entrepreneurship. Shri Dayanidhi Urmaliya, National Advisory Board ERDC on Rural Entrepreneurship spoke on rural development for achieving the target of Viksit Bharat by 2047.

Dr. Soobhankar Pathi, CEO IIT Bhubaneswar Research Park delivered the welcome address and Dr. Sivaiah Bathula, NSS Coordinator, IIT Bhubaneswar proposed a vote of thanks. Dr. Nidhi Gautam Prabhakar, National Coordinator ERDC coordinated the programme.