27 SBI youth for India candidates awarded

CHENNAI: The valediction function of the SBI Youth for India Fellowship was held on March 3, Saturday at the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation. Professor MS Swaminathan presided over the function and Arundhati Bhattacharya, Deputy Managing Director & CDO, State Bank of India was the Chief Guest. Twenty seven SBI Youth for India fellows were awarded certificates on completion of the one-year fellowship programme.The SBI Youth for India fellowship is initiated, funded and managed by the State Bank of India in partnership with three of the reputed NGOs, namely, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, BAIF Development Research Foundation and Seva Mandir. The first batch of fellows which includes four women worked on a variety of rural development projects across seven states and one union territory. The purpose of the SBI Youth for India fellowship is to provide a framework to enable educated youth, particularly from metro and urban centres to work for a brief period with rural communities and connect with their aspirations. The Tata Group, MindTree and Capgemini have supported the programme.The fellows made presentations about their work at the function and screened  a few documentaries. Two publications were released on the occasion by Arundhati Bhattacharya. While Ajay Parida, Executive Director, MSSRF welcomed the gathering, Geeta Verghese, Coordinator of the SBI Youth for India programme, spoke about the objectives of the fellowship.