How IIM students lit up a village

But two years down the line, they feel proud of paying the fine as the little mistakes they made has "lit up" lives of 30-odd families of Chakarpurwa village, which shares its boundary with the IIM.

"The fine realised by the students was utilised to electrify the village. Our students unknowingly contributed for a bigger cause," chairman of IIM-L's Committee for Social Initiative, D S Sengar, told PTI.

The story of this secret contribution started in 2006, when IIM-L's students were asked to visit a nearby village as part of a social initiative programme on World Poverty Day.

"During their visit the students found that Charkarpurwa, which shares its boundary with the institute sans electricity, though it was very much within the city municipal limits. At that time we decided to adopt the village and take up the electrification issue with the authorities concerned," Sengar said.

Subsequently, the IIM team approached senior officials including district magistrate (DM), chief development officer (CDO) and even the commissioner, but their request of village electrification was turned down.

"We were told that being a small village, it does not figure in the list of rural electrification," Sengar said. Refusing to give up, the IIM authorities once again

approached the electricity department with the same request. And this time, they were told that the department could electrify the village, provided the people contribute 25 per cent of the electrification charges.

An estimate of Rs 4.25 lakh was prepared, that meant that the poor people were required to pay at least Rs one lakh for electrification of the village," he added.

At this juncture a novel idea hit upon the IIM authorities and they decided to rope in students for the noble cause.

"In a bid to inculcate sense of self-discipline and transparency in working among the students, we decided to realise fine from those violating the institution's norm," he said.

Within a year's time the IIM-L realised Rs 55,000 as fine, but it was still short of the required funds. Then we approached the director with a request to grant us another 55,000 and sought his permission to use the same for electrification of the nearby village, to which he readily agreed," Sengar said.