Scholarships for students from rural areas

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With a thrust to tap the rural market, the Asian School of Business (ASB), Thiruvananthapuram, is starting a Post Graduation programme in Management by admitting students hailing from the rural areas on a scholarship basis. The programme encompasses rural marketing, innovation and entrepreneurship, ASB director Prof S Rajeev told a press conference here on Friday. Once trained, they will be able to maintain close relations with the customers and tap the market potential of a particular area. Scholarships will be provided by the George M Thomas Foundation, he said.  Growth has almost reached its brim in cities, therefore in the future, it is expected to come from the two-tier cities and rural India, he said. The rural and semi-urban markets are large enough to accommodate a major portion of the potential market. Tremendous innovations are going on in the rural sector. But, unfortunately, most of them are not getting due attention. When a business personnel with rural upbringing is tamed under the course, he will have the “fire in the belly” to work towards goals and attain fruition, he remarked.  The scholarship will be provided to nearly 39 students in one batch, which may contain a maximum of 60 or 120 students. A 50 percentage scholarship will be provided to one student each from various Indian states who have completed their schooling in rural areas and the maximum number of eligible candidates could go up to 25. A 25 per cent scholarship will be provided to four students and 10 per cent scholarship will be given to 10 students. Students who have scored a 50 per cent marks for degree are eligible to apply. Candidates will be selected after conducting an interview and group discussion. Apart from academics, the residential programme comprises accommodation, free laptops and breakfast.G Vijayaraghavan, Member-secretary of the  board of governors and Prof Ramakrishnan, outgoing Director and George M Thomas, Patron of ASB, too spoke.  The school, that envisages to rank among top ten management schools in India in the next ten years, is situated in a serene green building campus that possesses LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification that saves a 20 per cent in power consumption and another 30 per cent in water consumption. The school has also initiated a rainwater harvesting drive along a 100 meter stretch on the campus.