SBI Vice-President motivated LPU Students to be Change Makers

Jalandhar: The Vice President at State Bank of India Foundation, Nixon Joseph, reached Lovely Professional University today and sharpened LPU students thinking to be great professionals, policymakers and social entrepreneurs with a holistic worldview. Guiding students about ‘Youth for India’ fellowship programme of SBI Foundation (SBIYFI), he Invoked students to accept India’s rural challenges to help India emerge as the next ‘Superpower’ as soon as possible. Quoting the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi’s quote “If the villages perish, India will be no more India”, he asked students to have a radical shift in mindset to make villagers active partners in India’s development story.” Department of Industry Interventions at LPU Division of Industry Interface had organized the guidance programme.
Explaining about SBIYFI fellowship programme, VP Nixon Joseph informed: “It is a movement that transforms India’s best young minds, especially socially motivated youth, into change makers. This 13 month program is a platform to work with experienced NGOs who are working at the grass root level. This not only provides fellows with a better understanding of ground realities but also an opportunity to ensure an evenhanded and effective growth path for India.”
The SBI Youth for India Fellowship was conceptualized to accelerate growth and development in the rural sector by bridging the urban-rural divide while transforming fellows into caring citizens with a more holistic worldview. Launched in 2011, this fellowship programme is presently, running at 32 locations across 9 states of the country in partnership with 7 reputed NGOs and near 100 fellows. SBI YFI offers a wide range of projects that cover the entire range of rural development. Fellows can either choose to work on an existing project or can implement a new project in a focus area of the partner NGO. SBI YFI ensures that all necessary support and guidance are made available to the fellows.
In fact, as urban India strives to emerge as the next superpower, rural India continues on a never-ending journey of many social-ills. To make India’s growth story a truly inclusive one, it becomes imperative to help many millions of people residing in rural India. Rural India is continuously suffering in the absence of access to adequate productive assets, connectivity, intellectual and financial resources, which are the bases for various social problems. On these lines, supported by State Bank of India, the fellowship offers students the best platform in the country to follow their heart and help solve rural India’s most pressing challenges.