Ahmedabad: Dainik Bhaskar Group along with Ramesh & Sharda Agarwal Foundation announced the setting up of the “Dainik Bhaskar Merit-Cum-Means (MCM) Scholarship” at one of India’s premier business schools with a legacy of creating global leaders, the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, on the memorable occasion of the 75th birth anniversary of Late Shri Ramesh Chandra Agarwal
Shri Ramesh Chandra Agarwal is not only remembered as a media baron and a visionary who nurtured Dainik Bhaskar Group to reach its pinnacle; but also, as an inspiring personality who believed and lived by his principle of giving back to the society. To take his set-values forward and as a small tribute to his tremendous efforts towards upliftment of society through Education, Gender Equality and Women Empowerment, the MCM Scholarship is being established with a vision of promoting students who are meritorious, but lack means to provide for their higher education which is relatively expensive in India.
For this initiative, Dainik Bhaskar Group and Ramesh & Sharda Agarwal Foundation intend to invest Rs. 50 million over a period of 10 years initially, besides envision such scholarship programs with many other educational institutions too, going forward.
Some of the salient features of the MCM Scholarship at IIM Ahmedabad are mentioned below:
- 4 students will be selected each year through a holistic selection approach based on merit and means, for up to 50% scholarship on tuition fee towards a 2-year course in MBA / MBA-FAMB stream
- The shortlisting will be based on 50% weightage given to a student’s academic merit while the balance 50% weightage to the family’s annual income of below Rs 15 lacs
- In each batch, 1/4 th of the Scholarship recipients will be reserved for female students
- A 5-member committee comprising of 2 representatives from DBCL, 2 from IIM-A and 1 outside expert, will interview the candidates for awarding the Scholarship
The Scholarship will be initiated in January 2020 for the academic batch of 2019-21 and is planned to continue for the next 10 years
Following this development Sudhir Agarwal, Managing Director, Dainik Bhaskar Group said “Shri Ramesh Chandra Agarwal, our Chairman and my beloved Father was a great visionary and a person of values who touched many lives with his simple being and high thinking. He was known to be easily approachable and was fondly referred to as, ‘Bhaisahab’ by people around him. As we celebrate his 75 th birth anniversary, I feel deeply honoured to be a part of his legacy and on behalf of the entire Dainik Bhaskar Family, through the MCM Scholarship, I would like to pay a lasting tribute to his philosophy of giving back to the society and empowering the lesser privileged. His simplicity, modesty, ability to connect with people and the zeal towards business growth and betterment of the society will continue to inspire us in all our future endeavours.”