World Humanitarian Day: Aug 19, 2011

Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB), in association with Concern Worldwide, hosted the World Humanitarian Day Observation on 19th August, 2011. Organised by the  Social Responsibility Cell (SRC) of XIMB, the theme for this year was ‘People helping People’. The chief guest for the occasion was Mr. T. Nanda Kumar, Member, National Disaster Management Authority; and the event was presided over by Mr. Dipankar Datta, Country Director, Concern Worldwide; Prof. S. Parsuraman, Director, TISS, Mumbai and Mr. Mihir Bhatt, Founder, All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI), Ahmedabad. 

The event started with a candle march by the students, and the eminent speakers discussed various topics ranging from the strengths and challenges facing humanitarian aid workers in India, various ways in which ordinary citizens could contribute towards helping humanity on a daily basis, and appealed to the audience, especially the youth, to commit to helping humanity on a daily basis. 

Mr. Nanda Kumar spoke about the issues that lead to a delay in humanitarian aid, and also presented solutions that could help eradicate this problem like better delivery options, the leveraging of science and technology and public participation in humanitarian aid. Mr. Mihir Bhatt enumerated the problem of corruption in humanitarian work. He then suggested that in order to mitigate this problem and ensure a more accountable and transparent process, a multi-stakeholder approach is required where parents, businesses and civic society commit to eliminating corruption in humanitarian work. 

Prof. S. Parsuraman announced the launch of a Masters Program in Social Work with a Specialisation in Mental Health, in association with XIMB. The SRC launched their Donate Blood campaign and Fr. P.T. Joseph, Director, XIMB inaugurated the software used in this campaign which lists the blood group information of the donors.

Participants from colleges such as United School of Business Management, Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, Institute of Management and Information Science, PJ College of Management and Technology, Bhavan's Center for Communication and Management, Centurion School of Rural Management, Biju Pattnaik Institute of Information Technology and Management Studies, BRM Institute of Management and Information Technology, and Utkal University also attended the event.