Session by Sri Mulyani Indrawati

Managing Director & COO, World Bank

at MNIT, Jaipur (India)

“India has the maximum number of young people and these young people would enter the labour market in the next two decades. In this way, the world’s largest workforce would be from India by 2030. Though youth is having a lot of opportunities but the globe is waiting for them as job creators. Future is in your hands. Because there are less young’s in china, there are more opportunities for you people.” These words by World Bank’s Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer Ms. Sri Mulyani Indrawati motivated the young students, including me, sitting in the audience. She was addressing the students on the subject “Equal opportunities” on Wednesday, September 23, 2015 at the MNIT campus, Jaipur. She further said that “There are total 11 nations all over the world for labour force participation. India comes at 6^th position in this respect. Now India is in position that it requires more and more of job opportunities. India’s growth is expected to be 7.5% this fiscal year. Its economy ranks on number 4 across the globe. Now, India needs to work on the area of girl education and skill development.”

Dr Indrawati focused on the women education and employment. She said that approximate 50 million young women are not even educated and they are not having any work except their traditional job and this is the reason that they are not able to contribute in the growth process of an economy. India should attract the opportunities for all. On the other hand, there is lack of nutrition in children and women which adds to the situation. If any country works for making the women the healthy and productive workforce, then World Bank is ready to help. If women are healthy enough and they do some job, then only they would be able to work for the education and development of the coming generation. In the private sector companies, it is mandatory to have at least one female member as the board of directors so you can think that how many opportunities are there available for the women. She also focused on the problems regarding the transport system for women. She praised the new taxi system of Ranchi, Jharkhand, taxi for women only. She said that it is a very good step. To make the women’s job easier, such problems should be eradicated.

To make youth the global leader, we need to focus on the quality education. She praised the schemes launched by the honorable Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, like Skill Development Programme and Make in India. On this occasion, the vice president (South Asia), Ms. Annete Dixon and some other delegates were also present. The session was very enlightening and inspiring for the students in the audience. The program was directly web telecasted to the IITs and NITs.

Divya Sharma (MA Economics)

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A session with Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Sri Mulyani Indrawati was organized by MNIT & World Bank group on “the power of aspirations and the importance of equal opportunities”. Mrs. Indrawati oversees the new global practices and cross-cutting solution areas which bring together the best expertise from across the Bank Group and from partners to help tackle the most complex development challenges. In addition, she oversees other administrative vice presidencies and functions, including the Integrity Vice Presidency, Sanctions Board Secretariat and the Office of Evaluation and Suspension. She served as Indonesia’s minister of finance in addition to being the coordinating minister of economic affairs. 

During her interaction with the students of MNIT and with 180 other institutes across the country, which were joined by live webcast, the World Bank COO, talked about how the leading agency is acting as an agent of change. It was a pleasure hearing her speech in which she pointed out how India is expected to grow phenomenally and is now the 4th largest economy in the world and with this is among the most important players in the world. In her view , for India to realize its dreams we must focus on – making youth productive ,removal of barriers to inclusion and on creating job opportunities for all. In between her speech she even mentioned how India is close to her heart due to cultural similarities and pointed out that the ties between India and Indonesia date back to times of Ramayana. She keenly answered our questions which ranged from shadow banking in china to World Bank’s projects and implementation aspect.  Despite being on tight schedule, many a times she pointed out the hands of those left unanswered and at other times praised some young enthusiasts.

On a whole the session was an enriching experience where we got a golden opportunity to not only meet her but interact with such great leaders of the world- as her! She motivated us and reminded us of how we all are central to the story of Indian success in the 21^st century. We are the future and we can make it bright!

Apoorva Devanshi (BA Economics Honours)