City colleges make it to semi-finals

BANGALORE: Mahavir Jain College and Seshadripuram First Grade College made it to the Semi Finals of the SIFE India National Championship 2011. They were ranked among the Top 20 colleges across India. The students received appreciation from the eminent judges panel of leading business executives from distinguished organisations like WNS Global Services, KPMG, PWC and HSBC. SIFE has risen from the approximately 100 students from 8 colleges it had in 2003 to now almost 2,500 students from 65 participating colleges and over 240 active projects, impacting close to 65,000 people in various parts of India. 72 projects were undertaken last year alone by about 1,250 students who spent 1,70,000 hours, directly impacting 13,000 people who have been able to generate substantial revenue through the alternate livelihood.Keshav Murugesh, Chairman SIFE India and Group CEO, WNS Global Services said, “Despite being amongst the fastest growing economies in the world, India still has plenty of socio-economic issues. We at SIFE India feel that rather than leaving societal needs to the government or business sectors alone, communities and citizens need to be mobilised into finding out the society’s most pressing problems and solutions by changing the system, spreading awareness and persuading our people to take new leaps. I personally believe that the spark we can get from the youth - our leaders of tomorrow - will be a learning in itself.” Speaking on the occasion, Chief Guest, Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC Ltd. said, “I am extremely delighted to see how organizations like SIFE India, a one-of-its-kind revolution, has a huge potential of transforming the face of our nation in years to come.” SIFE India this year, added to its network five additional cities - Chandigarh, Bhopal, Nagpur, Bhubaneshwar and Nasik, apart from the existing major metros. It was also among the top four finalists at the Paris World Cup in 2006. The team was third in 2008 at the Singapore World Cup, and ended up at second place in the Berlin World Cup in 2009.