The Honourable President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee addressed the founding class of the Management Programme in Public Policy (MPPP) of the Indian School of Business (ISB) at a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Congratulating the founding class for successfully completing the course, Shri Mukherjee expressed his wish to see each of the students as a change agent who could contribute significantly to the task of nation building through the success and effective implementation of programmes such as Digital India, Swachch Bharat and Stand Up India - Start Up India. Click here for the full speech.

Earlier, Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, and MoS, PMO, Personnel presided over the graduation ceremony held in New Delhi on Sunday. He lauded the ISB for pioneering such a programme and urged the graduating students to take the lead to serve India. “You are now in a position to become the torchbearers of the Start Up India, Stand Up India campaign. We are going through a formative phase where we are headed for a rising India.I invite ISB also to be a part of it,” he said.

Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman, Bharti Enterprises & Chairman, Advisory Council of Bharti Institute, congratulated the graduates saying  they would soon be contributing to the growth of India in several ways. Terming it a unique class, Rajendra Srivastava, ISB Dean and Novartis Professor of Marketing Strategy and Innovation, said “You are now a community of experts and we are now creating a Community of Practice. Use your network and connections to work for the country now.”

Pradeep Singh, CEO Mohali campus and Deputy Dean, ISB welcomed the gathering which included the graduating students, their families and faculty and said  that MPPP  is a historic programme that we launched and I am delighted at the pioneering spirit displayed by everyone.   The flagship programme of the Bharti Institute of Public Policy offered in association with the Centre for Executive Education at ISB, reflects two principal commitments of ISB, namely to engage with the government, industry and community to make a practical impact and to carry forward the BIPP’s commitment to public policy as a discipline.

The Founding Class of the MPPP, comprises 40 senior bureaucrats and officials from the all-India Services like IAS, IPS, IES and IRS, apart from the Indian Railways and private sector executives. The participants, with an average work experience of 16 years each, underwent the intensive but unique hybrid programme that included classroom and online instruction from world class faculty that included policy makers, practitioners and international experts in governance and policy apart from ISB and its partner School, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.